Merry Christmas

I thought I'd share my mass produced card this year. I can't believe it took this long to figure something out but then I haven't been in the Christmas mood either.

My card was an image from Artistic Outpost. I did the Tim Holtz method of using the Cut N Dry Felt pad. I inked up my stamp in black Archival ink and stamped it on the cutNdry. Then I used my Distress reinkers to put the colors where I wanted them. I used Brick red for Santa, weathered wood on the bottom and a couple greens on the top. Then all I have to do is ink up my image and stamp and it's all colored. Store the 'pad' in a zip lock bag. The distress inks don't bled into each other so you don't have to worry about that either. I LOVE the distress inks and reinkers! I stamped the image onto my cream naturals paper and trimmed close. Then I layered on some forest green cardstock. Now this I got from work, they were some folders they had made up and were going throw them out! I took them out of the garbage and told them NEVER to throw anything away. LOL

The red background paper is some DP I got at a scrapbook store in Missoula, MT. It's prettier in real life. Since it was so thin and hard to stick, I cut it and ran through my Xyron. The card on the left was the first one I did and I didn't like the hinges I put on the side so the rest don't have that (why I grabbed that for the picture I don't know) and the one on the right was using up the left over scraps of DP! I ended up liking that one best. I used my white pen and dotted around the images.

The embellishments are punched branches using Martha Steward punch and a snowflake cut from a garland I picked up at HL (can you tell it's the only place to buy stuff in my town?) To give it a vintage look, I used some caramel alcohol inks on them to dye them. Pretty cool huh? Anyway, that's my card this year to most people. I did make a few special ones for some people but I really like this one now.

Merry Christmas Everyone and thanks for visiting.

(Check back for more days of Moose soon)

MORE MOOSE!!

So I broke down and ordered more Riley Moose stamps from Hanna stamps when she had her after Thanksgiving sale. (Thanks for the great service!)

I only have had time to do one more right now but thought I'd share that with you now. I made 2, one for each of my kids as kind of a prequel to coming home for Mom's cooking for Christmas.

It's hard to see from the picture but the base white cardstock was ran through my Wizard with the cuttlebug snowflake border on the bottom half. The striped DP is from a stack I got at Hobby Lobby last year. On the top 1/3, I have a piece of snowflake vellum that I ran the through my printer to get the greeting, Home for the Holidays. I really don't know why I don't use that option more often for greetings that I don't have or will only use a couple times.

HINT: Did you know you can emboss what you run on vellum right from your printer if your fast? Have your EP ready as soon as it comes out.

The ribbon, button brads and snowflakes from from HL too. My image was stamped on a square piece of watercolor paper that I cut from my nesties (along with the layered scallop piece). I find it easier to cut my piece first then stamp. I also do my wizard sandwich backward. My cut board on the bottom, cardstock I'm cutting, die, then spacer and then embossing plate. I find I don't cut my spacing plate and can see what I'm cutting easier. It works for me!

I colored Riley with SU markers along the edge and drug the color in using my aqua painter. The cupcake papers were colored with a copic marker (I now have a couple with a bunch under the tree....I bought them and told DH that was my present) I will have learning curve but can't wait to play with them! The frosting was liquid applique with red glitter sprinkled on and heated to make it look festive! Then I dotted the scallop edge and sent them off with some cash for food for finals week.

Stay tuned, I have more 'days of Riley' in the works when things settle down and I get some Christmas stuff done...like put up a tree! Yes, it's the 18th of December and I don't have it up yet. I'm wondering if it's even worth it now!

7 Days of Moose - Day Seven

Wow, it's hard to believe the 7 days are over. I finished up this one during a snow day. Perhaps you saw Bismarck on the Today Show or the Weather Channel last Friday? We had a heck of blizzard.
This was taken out my dining room window when the snow had let up. The drift behind the tree was 4 feet high! We had over 9 inches of snow with 40 mph winds gusting to 50. There was a bigger drift behind the barn. Don't worry, Moose and his friends were cozy in the barn during the storm. Most of the time they are outside. Horses prefer being outside unless it's wet. Moose spent 2 years of his life in the barn while he was being shown (he's a registered American Paint Horse) and he prefers to be out, but not during this storm. Two of our horses are barn babies and would stay in most of the time if I'd let them (but I don't like to clean the stalls) and the mare (girl), Duchess hates being in
So today's card is Moose getting the tree and I knew it needed a snow background. I stamped him with black Stazon on a piece of acetate about 3 X 4 inches and used Adirondack markers to color him on the back side. Then I ran it through my Xyron with permanent adhesive. The snow is the fake stuff you find at Hobby Lobby or Menards for villages. I got a huge bag for about $2. Then put it in a ziplock bag, put your acetate in, shut the bad and knead the snow onto the piece. Shake it off good and set aside. I cut a piece of white cardstock and ran it through with an oval nestie to cut a frame. I use an ATG gun for adhesive on all my cards. HINT: ask for one for Christmas if you don't have one! They are great and the refills are cheap. I took a piece of cardstock the same size as the frame and stamped a few evergreens in hunter ink on it. You can kind of see it in the picture. I glued those together and layered it on a brown piece of cardstock.
The embellishments are the evergreen punch from Martha again but this time held on with snowflake brads I found and forgot had forgot about. I'm sure that hasn't happened to any of you right? I put glue pen on them and dipped in glitter. Nothing says snow like glitter right? HINT: to keep brads safe while drying, I have a small piece of Styrofoam to stick them in. The tree brad was with the snowflakes but it was a pewter color. I put glue on it and dipped in green glitter. You can color almost any brad with embossing powder. Heat is a little and dip in colored powder and heat again. Let cool in the Styrofoam. You can also color silver ones with alcohol inks.
I layered all this on my 5 X 7 card and used striped DP and green cardstock. No it's not a ticket punch, it's a small 1/2 inch circle one! I wish I could remember who to give this credit too. I saw it on another blog a while ago. Save money, buy stamps not punches when you have something else that will work. The saying at the bottom right is a sticker that says "Snowy Days and the snowflake on red is from the same set.

This ends the 7 days of Moose. I hope you enjoyed them as much as my daughter has getting them. When I get more Riley stamps, I will post more days of Moose. But until then. I'll leave you with a picture of me and my REAL Moose.

Happy Trails

7 Days of Moose - Day Six

SKIING MOOSE

I think people would look twice if they saw a moose swooshing down a ski slope. Ok, they would probably think a moose couldn't knit or sit and have coffee either. But we sure like to think my "Moose" could do these things...we even have a voice we all use to say things we think Moose would.

This is a 5 X 5 square card. I stamped Riley (All moose stamps by Hanna Stamps) in black and colored him with SU markers on the antlers, scarf, hooves and skis. If you look real close you'll see pink ribbon on the tip of the skis. My daughter just bought a new pair of K2 skis and she said they have the pink ribbon for breast cancer on the bottom. Part of the purchase price goes to research. Pretty cool huh?

Do you know the difference between antlers and horns? Horns are permanent, antlers are shed in the spring. Deer, Moose and elk have antlers. Buffalo and cows have horns.

I colored his body with pencils again. I used a silver pen for the ski poles. Next I went over the whole stamped image with an embossing marker and covered with clear powder and heat embossed. This keeps the image masked while I stamp the background. Then I stamped the trees (SU retired) in hunter green dye ink. I tore a large piece of post it in a mountain look pattern and sponged a light blue in above it. I ran a couple lines of glue from a pen and sprinkled glitter. I decided to add a evergreen brad.

The image is layered on white ran through the snowflake cuttlebug folder and layered on snowflake DP. The corner evergreen embellishments are punched from white and green paper with Martha Stewart punch. I find these are hard to glue down. HINT: run them through a Xyron sticker maker. It's easier to run the paper through before you punch although it's harder to get the backing off but you can punch and run through but they don't always 'catch'. Try both ways, to see what works for you. The snowflakes are from a garland I bought at Hobby Lobby (that's a tip that won my prize.) I found this 9 foot garland and realized I can cut them apart and have tons of snowflakes. I put some glue and glitter on these and glued them on with "The Ultimate" glue. Any clear drying glue should work too. The best part is it was still thin enough to send without extra postage. I think DD will get this card today! I better hurry and get the last one mailed so she doesn't have a preview! But, I doubt she has time to follow old mom's blog anyway.

7 Days of Moose - Day Five

How fitting that Riley Moose is a cowboy too! I mean after all, my Moose is a horse! LOL

Riley was colored with markers and pencils again. I used a silver pen for the belt buckle and this is the first time I've ever seen metalics show up this good. The star brad has HOWDY written on it.

The DP is SU that is 2 sided and I cut the circles with a large circle cutter. Then I sewed them together with a a fancy stitch. The ribbon is twill that I stamped the horse shoes on. HINT: when stamping on fabric and ribbon, hold your stamp down a little longer to allow the ink to soak in. All this was layered on a background stamped with brands background stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms in black.

7 Days of Moose - Day Four

We're onto day 4. I suppose some of you, if anyone is following perhaps you are wondering why 7 days? Well that's all the Riley Moose stamps I have at the moment. I suppose I will have to buy some more but I think Christmas presents might preempt my stamp purchases for a while.

Onto Day 4

Sick Riley was so appropriate to send to my daughter and her husband and he is fighting a buldging disk in his back from a car accident 4 years ago. When I mailed it I didn't know that my daughter also had come down with a terrible cold. So bad she went to the doctor who told her to stay home. She did as much as she could but classes are important. This arrived just in time to cheer her up so I was happy. I picked brown and blue since that is the color in her bedroom. I found the paisley paper at a scrapbook store in Montana when I was visiting. Same color method (I promise tomorrow I use something different...is it Christmas yet? I want my Copics!) The brown lace look border is a Fiscars punch. I've had them for a long time and keep forgetting about them so I pulled them out of my drawer and set them on my desk so I will remember to use them. I used a word window punch to cut out the greeting layers. Then I did holes in the ends and added ribbon. I wish I could tell you where it was from but I got it in a prize package from Midwest Stampers Yahoo group Tuesday tip winner! I actually have some good ideas. :)

7 Days of Moose - Day Three

Here is day 3: It's Riley having a cup of coffee and cupcake. This image is so fitting for my daughter and me....we love our coffee and or tea. We both love muffins and or cupcakes and baking. We spent a lot of time sitting around with our feet up just chatting while sipping our drinks. This was colored again with the Prismacolor pencils and then went over with Gamsol. Coloring that way is fun but I am really starting to think I NEED (OK Want) Copic markers. They will be on my Christmas list this year. I used the square nesties for my layers this time and put them together kittywampus. Do you like the layers? They are paint chips from Lowes! I found these while browsing one day. What drew me to them is the size. Look at the green bottom layer that went through a cuttlebug folder; it was a HUGE paint chip I picked up someplace and I wish I remembered where. The bad thing about them is after they go through the cuttlebug, it cracked the color so I used a green pad and highlighted the raised areas. I just wraped some ribbon around it. The ribbon is left over from my daughter's wedding projects last year. I have tons of left over ribbon so anytime I can use it, I will. This card is 5X7 inches.

7 Days of Moose - Day Two

Onto day 2. If you are following along, thanks! Please leave a post so I know people are looking.

Jammy Time has special meaning to us. Last Christmas my son had his girlfriend over for a few days. Danielle was such a great girl and after a day of shopping we came home and I said, "Jammy pants time" and we all ran to our rooms to put them on. I was bummed when they broke up.

Anyway, day 2 is sleepy time Moose. Again he was colored with the pencils and layered on nesties. The saying was made with Just Rite Harmony stamp set and Brayton font. They are rectangle blocks that you can put your letters on, a whole phrase if you want. I stamped that on a Wizard spellbinders Ribbon tag in Sage Ink. I then added the flowers. HINT: These are bunches of white flowers I bought at Hobby Lobby in the floral department and took apart. This makes very reasonable flowers and if you get white, you can die they yourself with reinkers. Anyway, I attached them with eyelets and my Crop-a-dile. How did I ever live without that? I can't believe all the things it cuts through too. I admit, I do use a regular punch most of the time since I have a hard time seeing just where the hole will punch with it but when something is thick, the Crop-a-Dile is worth every penny....Ok, I admit, I used a coupon at Hobby Lobby. LOL

7 Days of Moose - Day One

Those of you that know me, know I love horses and my most favorite horse of all time is Moose. I've owned a lot of good horses (and some bad) and he is by far the most naturally talented horse of all. Sometimes I think I did a disservice by not continuing to show or sell him to a show home. Not that I didn't have offers but for some reason, Moose stayed, I just couldn't bring myself to let him go. So now he's 14 and I've had him for 13 years. He's the horse I'm riding in the profile picture. Oh, yes he's very big too.



Since I have a horse named Moose, it was natural I guess that I started collecting "Moose" things and people started collecting them for me. Stamps had to be included as one of those collectibles. I usually don't do 'cute' per say but the Hanna Stamps "Riley Moose" ones were just to "cute" to pass up. So today I will start my 7 days of Moose. These cards are all being sent to my daughter in Montana. She has had a hard fall with finishing up her senior year at UM in Geophysics and knee problems, with the possibility of surgery looming and she's been on crutches for 2 months now.



Onto the Day One:

Since my daughter loves to knit, this one of a Moose knitting was the first stamp in my cart. I did a layer of stripped DP and used the cuttlebug folder for the blue portion. I used the nestibiltities for the greeting; Live Laugh Love which was a stamp by Just Rite. The Moose image was stamped in black and colored with colored pencils and went over with Gamsol, the Gamsol technique of coloring. After attaching it to the layers, I knew I had to have some yarn (aka fiber) on there someplace so I attached a piece with a Fastenator brad.

Be sure to come back. There are 6 more Riley cards.

Ceramic Ornaments

I found these ornaments at Hobby Lobby, regular price $1 but got it on sale. They aren't as fine a grain ceramic as the ones SU use to sell years ago but the price was right! My idea was to use Tim Holtz crackle paint and stamp on that. Well, FYI, it doesn't stick. After it dried it was falling off so I started to peel it off. Fortunately it stuck in a few places on the edges and did tint the white ornament a nice ivory color. I stamped the image of the vintage Santa in Palet black and colored with chalks. I like the vintage look with the cracked paint. I think it turned out pretty nice. What do you think?

Then I stamped the back and found out they aren't perfectly flat so when I stamped the greeting, I inked up the UM image on the acrylic block with red StazOn and then took it off and rubbed it with my fingers to transfer the image. All images are by Artistic Outpost.

Next I outlined the ornament in Krylon leafing pen and sealed.

After I took the picture, I did add some white liquid applique on the hat and cuffs on the Santa. I'm not sure I really like it though.

The picture isn't as clear but you can get the idea of where I put the liquid applique.

So head out to HL to get your ornaments (they're in the Christmas craft section) and see what you can come up with. Make these for little gifts, package add on, hang around a bottle of wine or for your own tree.

Alzheimers

This terrible disease has touched and hurt so many families, including mine. Both my mother and grandmother died of it and I was thrilled to see that Carolyn King created a stamp set that donates to the alzheimers assoc. all profits for Gina K designs http://www.ginakdesigns.com/

I ordered 2 sets today, one for my daughter too. She also has some GREAT blog candy, like over $1000 worth of stuff. Besides Gina K designs, donors are PaperTrey Ink, Stamping Bella and Just Rite Stampers. Individuals have also donated including Deb Anton, Jen De Muro and Susan Lils. All you have to do is make a card, post it and send it to someone as a thank you for all their doing. Here is the card I'm sending to Central Dakota Nursing Home in Jamestown, ND for all they did for my parents.

The image is by Inovated Stamp creations and greeting by the Angel Co. I used a Spellbinders nestabilites and the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. I wish I knew the paper but I don't I bought it on vacation in Montana. Even if I don't win the blog candy, I have won by sending a card to my parents caregivers all those years. I encourage you all to join in http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/ , purchase the stamp set (it's a great one), support the vendors that donated and thank a caregiver and please, give to Alzheimers.

Birthday Gal card

I made a couple cards for some friends birthdays and this was my creation. The oval is cut with Nestabilites circle...hint (note to self) make sure you put the CUT side up on the Wizard spacer plate....double check! Don't ask...it happens. The image is from I Brake for Stamps and I colored it with a blender pen and chalks. I used diamond glaze on the balloons and set it aside to dry while I worked on the rest. All paper is SU, I used barely banana for the card base and the layer under the white image. I used perfect plum and my circle nestie for the bottom layer and the old olive emblishments were cut with a Wizard die too. The tag is from a punch and the flowers are from a bunch that I picked up at Hobby Lobby and tore apart. I mounted them with eyelets. The ribbon is from Dollar Tree. It's amazing the things you can find there. Oh, and the greeting inside reads: "We're not old, we're recycled teenagers." I love that! The picture doesn't really do it justice but I thought I'd share it anyway.

Plans for credenza

Since I can't seem to get ambition to make plans good enough to even think of asking money for, I'll try to explain what we did.

First figure out your size. I wanted 2 foot deep X 4 foot long....that makes 2X2 slides. DSIL bought some of the lumber but didn't think that when he purchased 1X12 lumber, it's milled down. He cut and glued the pieces using large clamps. My side pieces are 22 3/4 inches. Which is fine BUT it makes more work cutting the shelves. You can make it a single tall unit also. After I was done and worried it might not fit, I was wishing I would have done that but now I'm glad I didn't, I have work space for my wizard!!

The shelves were the hardest thing to figure out how to actually them in. I had first thought of saw blade grooves but the logistics of getting them even and lining up was mind boggling. DH came up with using corner molding.

Now, it's not a cheap thing to build. I so wanted acrylic shelves until I priced them. I think it would have been over $10/shelf, maybe more. I just remember that wasn't an option. It was going to be hard to get the right size and cutting the 3/8" pieces I was told was very hard to do without cracking....just what I need a piece ruined. I was lucky to get things on sale but I think it still was over $225.

Here's a picture of building.

Each piece of corner molding (L shaped) was glued and stapled down. (I held, wiped the excess liquid nail and pounded the staples that didn't go in all the way....then threw the ball for our border collie....hold, wipe, pound, throw, repeat.....102 times) We marked 1 inch apart and drew lines. This left a little over 3/8 inch between each piece. Do some math, your pieces might not be the same size. The shelves rest on the top, they don't on an edge. We started down 2 inches. If I could do it over, we would have gone down a little more so we could have put the L brackets on the inside instead of back. My unit has 102 of these molding pieces glued on, each end piece and the middle piece had them on 2 sides. Each was cut the length of the board. I was lucky to get the molding 1/2 off when our Home depot closed. I also bought a 1 piece sheet of wood for the top of the credenza that was 2 X 6 foot. I didn't have room for the full 6 feet so cut off 6 inches so I could have a little over hang in the back and sides. You can't have it on the front or it will get in the way of your shelves and labels. .

Here is the unit upside down as we were putting the bottom. We glued and screwed everything together. I used 1 inch pine for everything but the back and shelves. Since mine wasn't going to be against a wall, I wanted something nice on the back so bought a 3/8 inch piece of nice plywood even though I had the lumber for the back, DH thought it would make it too heavy.

The shelving is made out of a material generally used for backing of furniture bought in 4 X 8 " sheets. It has a finish on one side. Since my sides weren't 2 feet, it took a lot more cutting to make the shelves fit and since we aren't cabinet makers, some fit in spots others wouldn't. But they all slide well and I love it.

Next it was time to finish it. Since the shelves had a finish, I didn't need to do those also. But I did have to use a left over piece of the back for 4 of them (chose to to the bottom 2 that are farther apart) so those 2 needed finishing. I can't imagine how much work it would have been to stain and varnish 52 of them!! After the 3rd coat of varnish, DH put on the 6 casters and it went in my room to be loaded.

That was work! Unloading the binders (which I couldn't wait to do) and figuring out the categories...see the mess? It's much better now, trust me!

There, that's it. if you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Stamp Storage Questions answered

Thank you everyone for your kinds comments. Since I posted, I have had a few chances to use my 'unit' and it's fabulous! Just by pulling out the shelf, I can see every stamp in each category. No clutter on my work space either!
The shelves are made out of a press board that is finished on one side. I had originally wanted to use acrylic sheets but they were very cost prohibitive, I don't remember exactly how much but want to say about $8 for each shelf, take that times 52.... $416 just for the shelves. Plus I was told it was very hard to cut without cracking when it was that thin. As it was, I think it was close to $200 in materials but I was lucky to get things on sale since our Home Depot was closing.
My stamps with the tack-it-over glue on stick but peel off nicely. My other stamps sit on there easily without any slipping, even when the shelves are all the way out and at a slight angle. I counted a few shelves to see how many stamps, the ones that had the most stamps on had over 60 with lots of room to spare.

With my new workspace on top I'm able to keep my Wizard out so I might actually use it more.

I am thinking of drawing up actual plans and maybe selling them for $10. It wasn't too hard to make and anyone that can saw a straight line with a circular saw and use an electric drill to set screws should be able to make one or take it to a relative, friend or woodworker. It would make a perfect BD or Christmas present for any stamper!

It's FINALLY FINISHED!! Rubber stamp storage

After a year of planning and trying to convince my dear hubby that it would work, I have my Rubber Stamp Credenza!

I've been through it all, storing my unmounted stamps in CD cases, binders, EZ mount folders and anything anyone else has said works for them, I came up with this. Sure, it's not for everyone but boy is it slick for me and I'm sure there will be other people who will think the same.

My unmounted stamps were falling out of binders, getting lost, forgetting about them....(the list goes on). I knew there had to be a better way. I always had binders open and out and they took up so much valuable work space. CD's just didn't hold enough and the cost to buy those and find what was in them, to me, seemed like a waste of money, let along try to find the CD cases.

So, here it is, my self designed stamp credenza with 52, 2X2 foot square shelves for my stamps.
Basically it looks like a paper storage unit but the difference is the shelves are 1 inch apart and slide out. The bottom 4 shelves are 2 inches apart so I can put some mounted stamps on them.
I have a new 2 X 4.5 foot workspace on top and best of all, my stamps are organized and I can easily find each category put them back. Here are a couple shelves pulled out. They stay up when they are out, will pull completely out if needed and I can put sheets of images on them if I want. If you wanted you could make a 1/2 size one or taller one to work for you or smaller shelves. It has turned into a wonderful idea...and thanks to my hubby for all his help! I was teasing him while we were working on it that I had 3 people who wanted us to make one for them. He gives me this dirty look and says this is it. Then when we were about done he says, "I suppose our daughter will want one too." I said I didn't think he would make another one. He said for her, yes. LOL

Now that everything is organized, I can maybe find time to stamp!!

Tell me what you think.......

Encaustic Wax Horses

Spend a little time looking at the websites with Encaustic Wax art and you'll want to explore it yourself.
I was completely enthralled with the look and of course had to buy the wax and the iron. (No, crayons aren't the same type of wax, it doesn't move like the real stuff) I probably didn't need their craft iron but the price wasn't out of line and I leave it out to use for my other card making needs.
It takes a lot of playing to get it to look right, trust me, I wasted and used up a lot of glossy cardstock on things that didn't look good.
On this card, I stamped the horses first on the glossy cardstock with black archival ink. The stamps are from Sutter Stamps: http://store.sutterstamps.com/ They have awesome animal (especially horses) and scenic stamps for great prices.
Next I started moving the blue aroundthe sky to look like thunderstorms. I used the tip of the iron to color the horses and then with the green on the iron, I placed it on the bottom and then with the iron flat on the paper, just pulled up to make the grass look like grass. It's hard to explain but once you play, you know. Here is the site I got my stuff from and they have some awesome tutorials. http://www.encaustic.com/
Here are the tutorials, since they're a little hard to find: http://www.encaustic.com/techniq/LTStechniq_index.html
Like I said, it's fun to play with and if you never do a landscape, the wax makes great backgrounds too.

Cork Moose

Well, it's not really cork but cork paper I got from Evo, Evolving Images. It looks like cork but is paper!! I really like this as it doesn't add alot of thickness to your card. This is especially important with the new USPS rules and thickness and extra postage. I stamped the moose on the paper with black Archival ink. I got the striped paper at Hobby Lobby (gotta love it when they have 50% off paper) and someone gave me the corrugated cardstock. I even got the ribbon from Hobby Lobby also...50% off! It was a punch that made the bottom corner pieces.
It's not really a Wow card but I like it...It looks better in real life.
Moose stamp from Stampin Up! and Greeting from Dream Impressions.

Aged Tiles Card

Here is one I did using a stamp from Scottish Borders Stamps.
It's a technique from the Technique Junkie newsletter. I stamped the image and colored with Prisma colored pencils and blended with Gamsol and stubs. The piece of cardstock on the bottom right was a strip that I rounded the corners on. I was to cheap to purchase a punch that made those little strips so I made my own.

I hope you enjoy it!

My Horse passion

It's not summer yet, it doesn't even feel like Spring up here in North Dakota. It's very dry where I live and I'm so afraid we're going to go right into a long HOT, dry summer. So, we try to get our riding in now. It's easier to put on more clothes than take off more!

Last weekend DH and I loaded up our horses in our 38 foot long gooseneck with 20 feet of camper (living quarters) in the front. We finally got into the DeMores Riders campground on the east side of the Teddy Roosevelt Natl' Park. We were on the waiting list for 13 years! They only let 50 families in at a time and most never quit. Even if they die, the kids get the first chance to get take that space. Anyway, when you get in, you have 40 acres of fenced campground, water, electricity and best of all, a key to get into the ND Badlands. (It was an agreement made years ago with the park). Anyway, our camper has a kitchen and BATHROOM!! That's important.

THis is a picture of me and Duchess the first day out.

When I'm not stamping, I enjoy spending time with the horses and dogs. There's nothing like the outside of a horse for the inside of a woman!

Here I am on my horse Moose. If you can't tell, it was COLD last Sunday. We just completed a jump over a small gully.

Opalite Thistle (Scottish Borders Stamping)

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated my blog!

Here is a card I did using a Technique Junkie technique using Opalite pads. Basically I rubbed the Opalites on then sponged dye inks on. I stamped the thistle on the background in black and white inks. The stamp is from Scottish Borders Stamps. Joyce has tons of Celtic, English, Scottish, Wales, adoption stamps. Check out the website.

http://www.scottishbordersstamping.com/sbs_001.htm

The Thistle is a Scottish symbol. Since DH is a Scot and DD studied in Scotland, I thought it would be a fun card to send her.

Next I stamped the large Thistle on a square and small on smaller squares, I colored with Prisma Colored pencils and blended with Gamsol and blending stubs. I edged the squares with silver Krylon leafing pen.

Mini-Mister Giraffe

I received inspiration from Tim Holtz blog on making sparkle misters using Ranger Distress reinkers, Perfect Pearls and mixing in water. It's all done in the mini-mister, tiny little spray bottles. Recipe is 1 dropper (not drop) of reinker, a scoop of Perfect Pearls and fill the mister 3/4 full. He was right, they are addicting! You can make your own sprays so easy. I ended up ordering a bunch of the mini-misters.

This card (5 X 6.5") has the background made by spraying my mister made with Marmalaide Distress reinker and copper PP. I sprayed my matt cardstock (CS) with the spray, let dry and stamped the images on with gray, black and dark green dye inks. All images by Dream Impressions. I distress the edges with a thread cutter, like what Tim uses only I picked up mine at JoAnn for a couple bucks. I layered that onto black cardstock I distressed the edges on then added black eyelets.

My main image was embossed in black on a mustardy colored CS. I tore around the image and rubbed black distress ink on with foam cut and dry (I sound like a Ranger commercial). I layered that on black mullberry with raffia. HINT: To tear your mulberry paper easily, brush water where you want it to tear. I usually have an aqua painter with water handy for that. This is a morph of Technique Junkies Burnt edges technique

I wish you could see the shimmer in the background on this but alas, scanners just don't do justice to anything sparkly. :(