The Search is over

I saw both horses in the past 2 days. Tonight we made the deal for Deacon. The black and white.
He will be 2 years old officially January 1 as all horses birthdays are then but his real birthday is in March. I can's remember what his registered name is but his barn name was Deacon since he has white on this throat. I like it so that's what it's going to stay. Funny I have been brainstorming new horse names for a long time, that wasn't one of them and I usually don't like the names people game them.

Tomorrow night he will be sleeping in our barn. The owner is going to deliver him. I think I'll be happy with him. I think my stamping time might be cut a lot more with a new horse to work with as I train my own. Perhaps I'll loose a few pounds. I don't think stamping is a very good aerobic or weight bearing exercise! Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted on his progress and when I get time to stamp, I'll try to share with you.

The Hunt is ON!

After months of agonizing and realizing my Moose (the horse I'd had for 15 years) was starting to show his age and my kind of riding was hard on him, my husband and I made the painful decision it was time for him to find a new home. Now IF we had more acres and were allowed to have more horses where we are, Moose would have been retired with us. He was the most naturally talented horse I've ever owned. If I had sold him after the year I showed him, I could have got mega bucks for him but he was that once in a lifetime horse and I just couldn't do it. So we decided that he was to good of a horse to sell to just anyone, we would look for a forever home and he would be gifted to that person on the condition he died there and they take good care of him. Moose is the horse on the right above.
Our friend and neighbor Harvey had someone in mind, he needed a good quiet horse, didn't ride much, had another older horse that needed a friend and a farmstead about 20 miles from us that had been in the family for 150 years. It would be a good last home for Moose. I felt a little better when after he was loaded up his granddaughter Jayla, 4 years old came and was so excited. I held her up to pet Moose and told her that he was her horse now and that she had to take care of him for me. After I watched them drive out of our yard, I went in the house and cried like a baby. I do get updates and he's doing well. In time, I will go visit, right now, I still cry when I think about him....I'm crying now!

So, now it's time to find a replacement. It's not easy. The horse I had wanted, a half sister to Moose that looked just like him, sold. So I'm in a quandry. I'm looking at a coming 2 year old half brother of his, very loud marked (lots of white splashed on him and blue eyes, not my favorite) and a 2 year old black and white. Now I HAD my mind made up to get the 1/2 brother. After all, we have already owned 3 other horses sired by their dad and they have all been great. I mean how many horses would let a dog ride on them like Moose did in this picture?
Then a friend I used to show horses with sent me a card with a note that she did have one I should look at. SURE, this puts a crimper in my panties!! I like him too! He's a black and white paint, white legs, a little white on his neck and under his throat, she calls him Deacon. He's pretty cute too with a really nice head and the prettiest blue black I've ever seen! The prices are similar so that's not even e deciding factor.

So today we are going to look at Moose's brother in person. I hope after seeing him, I will be know which one I want for sure. I have a feeling that's not going to be the case. This is the horse we are looking at today:So, we'll see what happens after today. Hopefully I will have a decision made and a new horse in the barn by Christmas. The stall is all ready for him and maybe, just maybe I can be in the barn on Christmas Eve at midnight and hear him talk....
There will never be another Moose though.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Alcohol ink Foil

I used a couple Technique Junkie techniques on this card. The oak leaf is AI foil that I cut out with a Spellbinder leaf die and the background paper with the wheat on, if my take on Altered DP. It was a very muted paper and I added my stamping to it. LOL It's really pretty strait forward. The stamps are a set Gina K offered free with purchase last month and the brads on the bottom are from Michaels. The DP is from a Hobby Lobby pack and the orange is punched with a Martha Stewart punch (gotta love those punches she does, I also love her Chicken Parmasan recipe....but that's another post! I should post it, it's the BEST I've ever had). Anyway, I edged the DP with my gold Krylon pen, I love that look, a layer without layering. I hope you enjoy.
If you aren't a Technique Junkie, I would recommend checking it out here. It's a great way to get all sorts of ideas and techniques for a lot less than a couple magazines with great step by step pictures.

Clean and Simple Daisy's-Painted Panels

I am totally into Kraft paper recently and love the look of coloring white on it. On this card I opted for clean and simple, I used SU's Top note, stamped Flourishes Gerber Daisey's (My favorite flower!) and colored with Prismacolor pencils. This is all layered on a white base that I did painted panel technique from Technique Junkies newsletter. I know you can't see it to well but the layers of white strips are there! AND I actually took this picture outside in real light hoping it would show up better.

I spent the whole weekend stamping so as soon as I get going, I have will have tons of new stuff to share so be sure to stop back.

A Season that Sparkles Challenge

IF YOU CAME HERE VIA A LINK FROM WHIFF OF JOY FOR THAT CHALLENGE, PLEASE CLICK HERE. THE LINK DIDN'T GO IN RIGHT WHEN I PUT IT IN. SORRY


Here is my entry for the Flourishes challenge, as always sparkly things are really hard to photograph. I embossed the the deer and greeting, rubbed Opalite ink on the Cuttlebug background and the snowflake (which is a mini-tree ornament) has glitter on it. Besides the satin ribbon and metallic green paper cut with a Spellbinder pendant is shiny too! Kraft paper...well I'm really into it right now. I sponged the edges with Walnut Distress ink.

Fall Anniversary

I have had this pumpkin stamp from Eureka for a couple years and just haven't been able to get it to look like I keep envisioning. I think I did pretty good this time, at least I like it.

I used my SU markers to color in the stamp, Pumpkin Pie on the pumpkin and Old Olive on the leaves. I misted the stamp just once and stamped it then cut it out with a labels nestie. Before I removed the die, I sponged Distress Old Paper on it. I layered that on a different label die in Artichoke CS. The DP from Hobby Lobby was layered on Red Riding Hood CS that I wrapped my great rafia lace arount. I stamped happy anniversary (Dream Impressions) on a smaller label die in Artichoke ink and did the sponging again. It's all topped off with a rafia bow. This is a 5 x 7 card.

I'm doing a lot of my cards that size, I was lucky to have received a BIG box of envelopes from a friend's mom who worked at Hallmark and 90% were that size.

Zindorf Inspired

If you have spent any time on Split Coast Stampers you must have seen some of Michelle Zindorf's creations. She takes so much time and does such great tutorials on her blog that is much appreciated by many. A while back she did a tutorial for a card similar to mine.

I didn't have all the colors she used inks I had mostly Distress inks and the shadow of the lighter mountains in the background are from mementoes gray and the tree is from Sunday International. I think the leaves coming off the tree onto the base is from Meer Images. The image piece is a 4 in square. I distressed the edge and rubbed Walnut distress ink on it. It's layered on a 5 inch base. I had planned on layering it a little more but really liked it without anything else but a few leaves trailing off stamped in Curry.

Then I did highlighting with a white pen on the trees, mountain tops and flowers in foreground.

I also made this one.

This one uses trees from I Brake for Stamps.

Which one do you like better?

Halloween!

Here are the cards I made to mail to my kids (ok so they are 27 and 23, they are still my kids!) I'm not sure which one goes to who yet but here's what I did.

Now the pictures on the left was taken on my picnic table...in the SNOW! Ignore the thing on the top of the card, it's a leaf I didn't notice. LOL

I used a retired SU set First I cut out the size of Hexagone I wanted on Eggplant CS then I embossed the cat with black EP and bleached it. When it was dry, I colored the cat with Prismacolor pencils then blended with Gamsol. I generally do my image first and then cut but sine I embossed, I didn't want that breaking up with all the pressure. I layered it with Lime green and Pumpkin Spice. The card base is Pumpkin spice that was embossed with the pumpkin Cuttlebug folder and I ran black ink over it. The greeting is stamped on a fancy Spellbinder tag. HINT: To get those to fancy sides to stick, I run them through my Xyron sticker maker. I have a spiral clip on the top of the image layers with a purple ribbon tied on. Yes, the ribbon is really a nice matching dark purple that didn't show up in the snow! LOL

The card on the right is a 5X7 card. I started out embossing the witch from I Brake for Stamps in black and then coloring in the moon with a Vermarker pen and embossing it with clear powder. Then I stamped the trees from various vendors on the bottom and embossed them in black too. I sponged curry, pumpkin spice around the moon and then baja blue, eggplant and black on the rest of the white. Next I stamped a few bats from Gina K by the moon. I layered it on black and Pumpkin spice (love that color!) and cut a fence with Martha Stewart punch for the bottom. I wish I would have made it extend the whole width of card though. Oh well. Then I stamped Inkadinkado leaves trailing behind the witch in black and in Pumpkin on the white card base. I stamped the greeting (SU) on a fancy Spellbinder tag along with a couple more bats and added a couple black button brads.

Hey, no DP on these cards!

Goodbye Sarah....

I really wish this card would have photographed better, it really was prettier in real life.

I made it for a co-worker that got a new job and we always pass a card around for everyone to sign. This is an 8 1/2 X 5 1/2 card, a full sheet folded. It needed to be big for 40+ people to sign. If you haven't tried to make a card that big, it's a challenge that's for sure.

The image is Gerber Daisy's from Flourishes. I stamped it and then cut it with a Spellbinder Label. The overhang was cut and lifted over the die before I ran it through so it didn't cut. The 3 layers of DP is from a pack I got at Hobby Lobby. There are 2 layers on the bottom ( the blue layer had a border cut with a Martha punch but you can't see it in the pictures) with a wrap of Rafia lace my dear friend Maggie from England sent me. We have this deal, I send her things I can get here and she sends me things from England. I can't wait to go back and visit her again. Hopefully this time more than just a few minutes.

Back to the card, The good luck was stamped in Red Riding hood and is a Dream Impressions stamp. I colored the daisy's with Prisma colors and gamsol blended. and then I added a large white ribbon. By Sarah good luck and we'll miss you!

Clear Dollar Stamps color challenge

I've been very lax at being able to play in challenges and remembering to post them so this week, since it SNOWED, I figured I'd MAKE myself do it. So yesterday I locked myself in my stamp room (which I did get cleaned up some) and stamped. I got a lot done and by last night decided I better get going on the challenge. from Paper Craft Planet. The colors were Baja Blue, Silver, More Mustard and optional of Pumpkin Pie or Certainly Celery with White. Here's my card

I used the silver brads for silver and HAD to make the dog black using the Dog Days new set from CDS because my DD has adopted a black Newfoundland cross. I stamped him twice and colored him with Prisma pencils and blended with Gamsol. I cut out with Nesties and before I removed the die, I sponged Baja Blue on the top for sky and Certainly Celery on the bottom and used a marker to color in some shadow. Then I cut out the extra dog head and front legs and mounted it on top to give him some dimension. The DP is from the DCWV Pet Stack, and brads are from Hobby Lobby. I stamped the Puppy Love and paw print on some white twill for the ribbon with black ink. HINT: when stamping on fabric and ribbon, hold the stamp on it for a while to let the ink soak in. The card base is the Baja Blue that I used the diamond Cuttlebug folder on and stamped a few of the other stamps in the set in the empty spaces.

Now, I want to point out I'm a lazy stamper. I love the cards I see with all the layers and flowers and such but I mail 95% of my cards and want them to go with one stamp. On this card I was thinking of doing some sewing on it but there was green thread in the machine and I didn't want to change. This card will be mailed to my DD.

I looked out the window to see he snow and wind and this: YUK, it's only a week into October and the leaves are still on most of the trees!

Then while I was stamping, saw this out my stamping window, poor little birds were cold! Doesn't this just SCREAM Christmas?

I so had planned to work on Christmas cards but ended up doing only fall cards. Oh well, it's only what 11 weeks or less till Christmas, I have plenty of time.....if not, there's always next year! LOL

Clean up time

It's been a while since I've posted and I'm sorry if you are following. It's not that I haven't stamped (a little) but I just am not finding time to post! It's summer and I love to be outside and spend time with my dogs and horses.
Anyway, last night I went into my stamp room and it was such a mess. I decided I'm going to clean it's a very dirty word for me. I HATE to clean more than anything, I'd rather clean stalls in the horse barn than dust the house but company doesn't care if the stalls are clean.

So, I think this weekend it's clean out time. I looked in my drawers and see things I don't/won't use, like slide mounts and some bead and the list goes on. Things I HAD to buy and have never used are going to be put in a box and from there I'll have to decide what to do with them. I'm thinking of just donating to a school. So that's my plan. When I am organized again (this might take months) I'll start stamping....so then it will be I won't be able to find ANYTHING! LOL But maybe, just maybe I will be clutter free and it will be easier.

Wish me luck! I'll need it...if you can't find me....I'll be in the barn.

Blog Candy alert

Well it's not me but a friend has some good stuff.

http://stampnmad.typepad.com/mad_stamper/2009/05/blog-candy.html

Check out Janet's blog and leave a comment

Until I get time to stamp again and post.
Betty

Another Doggy Sympathy

It seems like I've been making a lot of these recently. This went to Bev in England on the loss of her dog Basil. Since Bev is such a wonderful stamper I was hoping this was special enough. Paper is from Dog pack of DCPW DP and stamp is Eureka. I colored with copics and put glitter on the wings. The brad was from my stash and the dog print ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

Again to Bev, my sympathy and I hope you got this by now.

Also, check out her Blogaversary candy...I've linked to the side some other blog candy.

Ok everyone, no more pet losses.

Unicorn Princess

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been sick. I finally went to dr. today (DH made me, he was sick of my coughing) and I guess I am sick. I have a sinus infection and after chest xrays, 2 days away from full blown pneumonia. I am so ready for spring I went totally out of my color comfort zone and made this card for my DD. I am still into digging out stamps that haven't seen ink in years and this is one that I didn't write the name of the maker on. I colored it with copics and cut it out mounted on nesties and dotted the bottom layer with white pen. The DP is by DCWP Kids pack and flowers from my stash. The punch is a Martha one. So come on SPRING, I want to get back to my earth colors! LOL

Raffia Lace trees

Back to my use of old negleted stamps. This is one made by Lindy's Stamp Gang. I inked up the whole stamp in a forest green and then took my brown SU marker and went over the branch areas then stamped the greeting on top with green ink. I'm not sure who made it but I THINK Inovative Stamp Creations. I cut it out with a nestie Lables die and mounted it on forest green cardstock. I layered it on some DCPW DP and added some very cool Rafia Lace my good friend Maggie from England sent me. Something the UK has that I can't find in the US! It is made in the UK and maybe someone has it in the US but it's sure nice to have someone to send me things...I send her stuff too.

Who's behind the door?

I LOVE this stamp what I call Castle door by Scottish Borders, but then I'm fascinated by castles anyway. LOL I stamped it on glossy paper in black ink that I had done the polished stone technique on using darker colors of browns and copper and gold. Then I cut around the door with a craft knife and layered it on copper Stardream cardstock. For the card base I used Fiscars stone embossing plate on a grey cardstock and then rubbed brown ink over it.
So WHO IS BEHIND THE DOOR?


Scottish Borders Viking dude!
I stamped him on white in black ink and colored with copics then went over to highlight with a silver metallic pen and cut him out.

Now the back of the castle door couldn't stay white so I ran a couple shades of brown Distress inks down it and drew lines for the boards and wood grain and took a gold pen to make the door handle.

Here is a close up of the outside door handle. I took a small piece of wire and looped it around a gold brad. The other embellishments are Spellbinders dies cut out of copper and bronze Stardream paper. Oh by the way, the cheapest place to get Stardream cardstock I've found is Envelope Mall . You do have to order 100 sheets of cardstock at a time but if you can split with some people it's only about 26 cents a sheet if you order 200.... that's with shipping! Have I mentioned I love this card!

FYI: I found out these stamps have been discontinued but Joyce assures me there will be new stamps soon....I can't wait!

I have to add I sent this card to my son and he tells me it's not a Viking but a dwarf. So it's a DWARF behind the door. LOL

Faux Mesh

While playing with my crimper and running some cardstock through 2 ways, I really liked the look and thought I'd try it with metallic paper. OH, I loved it. I thought it looked a lot like mesh so my version is here. I just ran it through one way and then ran the opposite and got this. This picture doesn't do the card justice. I almost wasn't going to post it but it did show the faux mesh so here it is. Horse Stamp by Stampin' Up! Background by Cornish Heritage Farms. The embellishements were colored with a copper Krylon pen and I was way to impatient to let it dry all the way so it smeared but it looked ok, (really it does) so I left it. I just drew the lines for the wood look on the cardbase. Really not happy with this picture!

Flower Time

I like to think of these as Gerber Daisy's. I'm not sure they are but let me dream...we still have SNOW! These flowers are from Inovative Stamp Creations and are colored with copics, pink, red and yellow and they blended so nice. I'm really impressed with myself. LOL Two were stamped on a long rectangle nestie and I cut one out. The tag is a Spellbinder die also, stamp is dream impression and I ran it through the dots cuttlebug folder. It's hard to see but there is a white layer on the card base. I ran used 2 CB folders for this, a flower one on the bottom...notice, no DP on this card.

Is it Spring yet?

Seriously! We had over 17 inches of snow and a blizzard recently and I am so sick of winter. I talked to my son in Indiana and they had 60 and the trees are blooming. I don't know who made this tree. It's just my wishful thinking...The bird is just one off an Artistic Outpost long stamp with a line of birds.

Ophelia

It's been a while since I inked up Ophelia from the Stampsmith and after being inspired by Bev's blog and her use of the Tapestry Peg stamps, I decided it was time.
First I cut out an oval using my nestie on a post it. I centered it on my white CS and then got to work with the Wisteria Frame set from Rubber Stamp Tapestry and then sponges around it with purple dye ink. After I removed the mask, I stamped a few more inside the frame then Ophelia in Sepia Versafine ink.
The designer paper is some I've had for YEARS, literally. I used the back side of a scrap for the MS lace punch. I used the MS branch punch for under the flowers. It's layered on Brown CS and embellished with a Spellbinder die swirl.

Twinkling Rainbow - Scottish Borders

The stained glass look was easy to achieve. I just brayered Ranger Wildflower multicolored ink on cardstock then went over it with Twinkling H2O's in the same color family on top with an Aquabrush. (I don't remember where I saw this but it isn't my idea) I then stamped the Celtic cross from Scottish Borders Stamping on that piece and mounted it on black. This is a top fold regular A2 size card. I ran the base through the CB dots folder and layered on a scrap of black under a piece of turquoise ran through a CB script folder and added a few black eyelets. It really shimmers IRL and almost looks like stained glass.

Hot glue embellishment tutorial

It's been a dilemma for ages, how do I get an Asian coin for my cards? Here's how I did it:

First I inked up my Chinese coin stamp with Versamark in and then put a large dollop of hot glue on my heat resistant craft sheet.
Immediately stamp into the glue and let sit for a few seconds.
















Next I remove the stamp and have the clear image which I trimmed and covered in gold Rub and Buff, the one on the left is a before and right after. If you have gloves, wear them when you put it on or you will have gold fingers! I took a craft knife and cut the square hole and used it on the card above. One of the best parts is it's very lightweight.







Recipe:
Stamps - Horse OnyxXmpressions other's unknown
Ink- Versamark and red Brillance
Black embossing powder
Gold Spray webbing
White mulberry paper, black, white and red cardstock
gold thread

Block Collage - London

Here's a technique from Technique Junkies newsletter. Stamps are from Scottish Borders.

I stamped the bridge in black and colored with Prisma colored pencils. The rest are stamped in Rangers Slate Grey. The hinges are from a QuickKutz die and the circles are from a Spellbinder die. They are cut from some silver CS I had for years (I've been stamping a long time!)

Clear Dollar Stamps Challenge- PURPLE

Purple, it's not a hard color, I use purple a lot, heck I was wearing a purple wool sweater....until you HAVE to make a card using it! I decided to try the Clear Dollar stamps challenge thinking it would be pretty easy. I was wrong! Here is my entry for the challenge. Since I can't resist Charlie Horse or come to think of it, almost any horse stamp so I knew it would be one of those in my collection. Then what shade, what, if any designer paper.... I chose this paper from the DCWP Kids pack. I colored old Charlie with my copics the color of my horse Moose. I used a silver pen to get his shoes a shiny silver color. The star eyelets holes on the top are covered with purple rhinestones (had to keep that purple color going). I stamped the greeting in purple ink and it is mounted in a SU frame and stuck on with lime green grossgrain ribbon.
At this point, I am thinking this could end up being the graduation card for DD's college graduation in May.

Celebrating Buttons long life and Mourning our loss

The time came today, we had our wonderful dog Buttons put down. She was 14, ancient for a dog of her size. She could no longer get up by herself and was falling a lot so it was time, it didn't make it any easier.


We got Buttons a little over 14 years ago, my wonderful brother sent up a puppy for the kids to 'play' with. We didn't want a collie/retriever cross puppy, we weren't sure what breed but really weren't ready for a puppy quite yet. We had lost our other old dog a week after we moved to Bismarck, he had a heart attack. Thumper was enough at the time. But just as we were handing this little black puppy back to my little brother who had brought her up, our 9 year old daughter starting crying and said, "You can send her back if you want but she's the best friend I've ever had!" My husband and I looked at each other and took her back and handed her to our daughter. We never regretted it.

Buttons was the alarm clock who got our son up; he hated to get out of bed. All I had to do is send her downstairs, she got him up. She pulled our daughter on her sled...backwards with the rope in her mouth. She went on long horse rides with us and lite up our lives wanting to play tug. When Thumper died unexpectedly at age 8, Buttons 3 at the time, cried while we buried her, she stood by the hole and kept wiping her eyes with her legs. She mourned with us, she would crawl up on the Lazy Boy with me and lay on me, her head on my shoulder. She weighed about 100 pounds. I think it was that point she befriended the cats and became their friend. All cats still love her and will miss her too.

3 years ago I knew her time was limited, she had slowed down. At that point we all tried to talk DH into getting a puppy for her to train in since we thought we wouldn't have her that long. Finally we rescued Doogan and she perked up and seemed to get better. We started taking long walks again (the puppy demanded it) and she got healthier. We were sure she would have to be put down last fall but kept going and at Christmas with the kids home she seemed happy as ever. I think that added a few months to her life.

But all good things come to an end. She gave us so much joy and it was time to say goodbye. We will miss her but have to remember the good times she gave us. Goodbye Buttons my friend, say hi to Thumper.




Drawing at top by Erica Vojnich

One last word of farewell, dear master and mistress. Whenever you visit my grave, say to yourselves with regret but also happiness in your hearts at the remembrance of my long happy life with you: "Here lies one who loves us and whom we loved." No matter how deep my sleep I shall hear you, and not all the power of death can keep my spirit from wagging a grateful tail.

Party Dogs

I just love the Whiff of Joy Party Animal stamps and since I love dogs too, had to get this one. This is for my other nephew. Not sure I like what I did for the twill but what I pictured in my mind didn't work so this is what happended. I think Connor will like it. I colored with Copics. The paper is from a DCWV Green pad, Martha Steward border punch, hinge is a Qwik Cutz die cut out of gold metalic paper. and Spellbinder die buckle. Greeting is an TAC stamp.

Dragon Birthday

While the weather here is still WINTER and my horse waterer was working on Saturday, I'm trying to get ahead on some Birthdays cards. This is one I made for one of my nephew's. Not sure which one is getting this but I LOVE this stamp from Scottish Borders Stamping.
After I picked the stamp I remembered I had the DP from the Ever After DCWV pad I bought to scrapbook our trip to England 3 years ago. I still have good intentions to do it but really hate to scrapbook, even though this trip was full of memories. I colored the dragon with Copics and had originally used lime green for his tummy and tail but it just wasn't going to work with the paper so I colored over it with the lilac one. I liked that much better. Before I cut him out, I put packing tape on the back to give the tail and neck extra strength. Since this card is going to be mailed, I try to keep layers and embellishments to a minimum, plus it's for an 8 or 10 year old who really won't care much about the card but what's inside. The saying on the stamp is, "A dragon is for life not just Christmas. I used my nestie to cut the small squares and using my stamp positioner and Eggplant ink, I stamped the saying on them and with the eggplant pen, wrote OR on one because on the inside I used the Just Rite kit with Brayton font to say BIRTHDAYS. I used Large Labels nestie (I think that's what it is) to cut the background of the dragon from a piece of the DP along with a scrap on the inside and a Martha Stewart punch for some branches sticking out. The corner embellishment is the corner from the DP I cut out. Then all I did was add a few brads and some gold cord.

King of the Jungle

Here's a simple one I made for my son....to send him money in! The Lion is from Clear Dollar Stamps Zoo Critters set. The crown is a Grunge board that I colored with a Krylon gold leafing pen...I love those things!
The rust border is a Martha Stewart punch and I used a Cutter Bee thing to make the piercings on the top. It's one of those things I bought while having a 40% off coupon burning a hole in my pocket. I really rarely use it and don't find it as neat as I thought. Oh well. The HELLO greeting was stamped using my JUST RITE Brayton Font stamps and then I just cut a slit down the piece almost to the bottom and glued it to the back of the nestie. The card measures 5 X 5. I have tons more to share but not much time to post. I hope I get more done soon so stop back.

Let's be frugal

It's a tough economy that makes everyone try to be green and frugal (or thrifty or cheap!). So now is the time to use what you have and if you have to get something think about an alternative. I'll show you what I mean.
Here is a picture of some of my recent purchases at Hobby Lobby. I was armed with a 40% off coupon and they had embellishments and some jewelry 50% off. I used my coupon to get the Crop-a-Dile large copper eyelets (3/8 inch). I was also looking for something to embellish my brads for flower centers. I headed over to the jewelry department and on the way passed by the leatherwork area. Since my old hobby was leatherwork I stopped by to check it out. AH AH, they had silver 3/8 inch eyelets for $1.78, the copper crop-a-dile ones were over $5! They were a little longer but I thought they would still work (and they did!) so I grabbed them. The great thing about silver items, you can paint them per say with alcohol inks or a leafing pen. They also had some neat decorations that would push on (on paper in center) They were really cheap. After I headed onto the jewlery department and picked up some silver spacers (bottom of picture) for 50 cents, small brads fit in the center so it looks like a larger center for some flowers. Oh and they also had punches 50% off so I finally broke down and got a couple flower ones. (see previous post faux felt flowers)

So shop sales, look in non-obvious places and support your favorite stamp vendors.

Faux Felt flowers

I monitor a small message group that started a weekly challenge. This week it was "Use a stamp you haven't inked before using mellow moss, barely banana and eggplant." It was harder than I thought! Not that I don't have tons of stamps that haven't seen ink but it was hard to get things to go together as easily as I thought they would. Anyway I chose a Whiff of Joy Stamp I recently bought from the Party animal collection.
I colored the image with my copics and after I took the picture I put glassy glaze on the glass and bottle.

But the eggplant flower was made using Technique Junkies new technique of Faux Felt. It looks so much like the bought flowers after I curled it a little. I punched the flower first but next time I might try punching after. The DP paper is from the Spring package of DCWV paper I got at JoAnn's last week....I got a lot of new paper. I really didn't need it but, well you all will understand right? The border punch is Martha Stewart. If you want a better view of the picture, or any one on my blog, you can click on it to see a close up. After I took the picture and looked at it for a while I could see it needed something on the border. I did add some stick on pearls. I'm not sure I like them either but they might stay.



My inspiration for most of my stamping recently is Bev from Newcastle Upon Tyne in England. I love her blog, she has the most amazing cards on her blog. So thank Bev for all the inspiration and eye candy. I wouldn't dare do as much embellishments as you do since I couldn't afford the postage but I sure do admire your work.

Kilts

Anything can happen in a kilt....or so the stamp says! This stamp is from Scottish Borders Stamps and I just love it. 3 years ago our daughter did a study abroad for college at Stirling University in Scotland. We did get to visit her for a couple weeks and spent a week in Scotland, we loved it and can't wait to go back.

Recipe:
Stamp: Scottish Borders Stamps
Plaid DP is something I printed off the Internet years ago, I paper pieced the kilt and tie from this too but it's hard to see in the picture.

Nesties, cuttlebug folder, Copic markers, flowers from my stash and white fun flock to make the sporran on the kilt. Now you make ask what the sporran is from what I understand, like a purse for the kilt wearer...and according to DD, it holds the kilt down in the proper place. And in case you are going to ask, the answer is yes, nothing. :)

Life is Good Moose

Perhaps you have seen the LIFE IS GOOD T-shirts and mugs and such around. Usually they are accompanied by a cartoon image of someone rock climbing or skiing or something. I found a t-shirt at TJ Max with a life is good Horse so DH bought it for me. Well, it had this chipboard style circle tag on it and I knew it was going on a card for DD since she's the one that first showed me the Life is Good stuff. Besides, that coral color isn't fit for a guy! LOL
I had pulled out the skiing Riley for this but remembered DD still hasn't been able to ski this year because of her knee problems so decided that wasn't a good choice BUT, she has had some time to knit and finished the knitting the Dale of Norway sweater she's knitting for herself (I'll post a picture of it when I get one). She is still working on sewing it up. It's a little strange in that you knit this tube, then knit the sleeves and then have to use a sewing machine to sew down the body and CUT IT! Then you sew the sleeves on by hand. She was on the phone with me a lot when she was trying to get her machine set up (first time) so she could do that and get the guts to cut her sweater. She finally did it, has the sleeves on but had to give up and work on homework and then she got sick so it's NOT quite done yet, the crewneck has to be knit on. I did this card for her,colored it with Copics and used my JustRite block to stamp Congratulations on Finishing your Sweater inside. There aren't enough vowels to do it all! That was a bummer. She's been knitting on this sweater off an on for over 2 years (she lost the pattern for 5 months when she moved) so she's happy it's almost done. Next she's on to a Fisherman knit cable sweater for her DH. At least that's on size 7 needles and not 2 & 3!

Recipe:
Riley stamp by Hanna Stamps
DP from SU
Hero Arts Zig Zag Stamp on coral paper in center
Decorative brads by Spare Parts

Celtic Rose

I had the worst weekend I've had in a long time! ND weather has been COLD and winter WAY to long. Saturday, DH was out of town working so I thought I could stamp the day away. Well, I noticed my horses eating snow, not a good sign. I went out and sure enough the electric waterer for them was froze up solid. I then had to haul out 40 gallons of water (10 gallons at a time) from the house since our outside hydrants are froze up. Then to even figure out why it was froze up, I had to chip away 6 inches of ice from around the cover we have on it to help insulate the stupid thing. TWO hours later I was able to get the 50 pound box off and find the outlet had shorted out and started on fire. To make a long story short....it took all day to get it unthawed (thanks to help from my trusty old embossing heat gun and a trip to town to buy a new heater for the tank) and working off an extention cord. Did I mention the temps were around ZERO F?
Needless to say I was exhausted so never got anything I wanted done, like enter a card for Clear Dollar Stamps guest designer. :( Oh well, I guess it was for the best, looks like I'll be busy keeping track of that waterer since it was leaking underneath which froze and shorted the outlet out. It means we need a new waterer. Oh, they are only about $400 too.


So, here is a card I had in my stash I made a week or so ago. I love this color combo of white and tan.

I wish this showed up a little better. IRL it's so elegant and a very simple card to do.

Recipe:
Celtic Rose - http://www.scottishbordersstamping.com/sbs_039.htm

Cuttlebug folder
DP from Hobby Lobby
Distress inks
Martha Steward border punch on ivory CS
Ribbon from my stash

Happy Hour Moose

It's been a while since I've used my Riley Moose stamps from Hanna Stamps and since I'm SO SICK OF WINTER, this one screamed for ink.

I colored him with Copics and stamped the drink, masked the glass and stamped the umbrella (stamps by Firecracker Designs by Pamela) and colored them too. Then my trick of putting packing tape on the back to make it sturdier when I cut out, morphed to put in on the front so it looked more like a glass. It worked!
The yellow flower was a Tim Holtz one that was an ivory color, I smooshed it into a yellow Brilliance pad to change the color. The red one was a white one off a group of silk flowers I bought that I sprayed with colorwash red. I don't remember who did the background stamp but that is stamped in lime Brilliance ink. Then it's just twill I had. I am going to send it to DD so used Firecracker stamps and stamped Happy Hour and a flower in the inside. I colored the flower with copics. I used 110 pound CS for the base but it still leaked through just a little. I think I'll throw some cash in this card to DD so she can have a Happy Hour. She's working hard this semester and I think will need it. It's pretty simple but she'll like it....especially the money! LOL

Panda

Well, since the old wagon from Clear Dollar Stamps got inked up, the Panda did too! LOL
I told you I was going to use glossy paper again. I did a tried and true technique. Versamark resist. I stamped the bamboo background on white glossy with versamark ink, heat set and sponged a little orange in the middle then brayered a lime green around it. Next I stamped a portion of the background stamp in black Palet ink on the right side and Kanji on the top left.
I stamped the panda in black and colored him with my Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol.
This card went to my son, the Wagon to my daughter.
Recipe:
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps and SU retired Bamboo background stamp
Black Pallet, green and orange dye and Versamark ink
nesties
Gold cord

Old Wagon

The timing was perfect last Saturday....DH was going to work and I had a weekend alone to stamp and my new stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps came in the mail! Well, these stamps hadn't seen ink yet so I didn't mess up my mission right?
This is a 5 inch square card. The piece the wagon was stamped on is a portion of a Labels nestie. I stamped the wagon in Walnut Distress ink, pierced the edges with a tack and then sponged ink with a piece of Cut N Dry foam. That stuff works really great to blend distress inks. I did old paper in the middle and Brushed Corduroy on the edges. I was pleasantly surprised it looked like leather! (even a co-worker said so when I showed her and I didn't even ask if it did! LOL)
Recipe:
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps
Nesties
Ruby Red, brown cardstock and DP paper
Ribbon

Celtic Horse

This is a stamp by Scottish Border Stamps

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


that I pulled out the other day. It wasn't going to end up that bright but after I colored it and was searching through DP, I found this and it worked the best of anything else I had. It's a clearance DP from HL. This time I stamped it twice on ivory CS, cut one with a large circle nestie and colored the image with Prisma color pencils and blended with Gamsol then edged it with a silver pen and cut it out the horse on one and mounted it on top with dimensionals. I layered that on a green galore scallop circle nestie that I ran through my cuttlebug with Argyle folder and rubbed the light blue Brilliance pad on it. The color is off on the picture it does look better IRL.


Recipe:
Stamps: Scottish Borders
Inks: Brillance and Pallet Black
Martha Stewart border punch and 1/2 inch circle punch
Cropadile large eyelets
Silver pen
Green twill
Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol and blending stubs