One of Those Nights...

Oh my goodness - please tell me you've had one of these stamping nights too. I got this stamp (High Hopes) a few weeks ago and I've been dying to use it because it's so darn cute. So I finally sit down to play. I emboss the image and then get almost all the way done coloring it in, and then I see something. The base board on the floor behind the moose is lopsided. I didn't emboss it straight. No, problem right. I'll just turn the paper a little - straighten it out and cut it again. Wrong-o! I chopped the image too close and shaved off part of the wall socket. Sigh and move onto plan B - and mind you, I don't want to color everything again - I want to make a card. So I embossed it again, this time straight - sort of anyway. Then I cut out the colored moose and layered it on top of the new one. It looks like I meant to give it dimension but really it's just a flub-up. LOL.

So I'm excited! I got one cute moose card done. Let's make another. I ruined two sheets (front and back) of watercolor paper trying to emboss it again but never quite got a good clean image. So I think - I'll just stamp it with Memento ink, let it dry and then color with watercolor pencils. Stamp it two more times without getting a clean image and I'm getting really close to cussing. LOL. Finally I got it and sat down to color. I used my handy-dandy watercolor pencils and then moved onto blending with my aqua painter only to discover that on the bow I accidentally grabbed a regular old colored pencil and not a watercolor pencils. I'm getting to the point I don't like this moose anymore but I persist anyway. I will have moose cards for Christmas darn it! I ended up using my markers to color over the wrong kind of pencil and finally --- finally I have 2 moose cards.

Ah I guess we all have those kinds of stamping sessions, huh? LOL. On the blue card I used a chipboard snowflake with a button and glitter as an accent, and on the red one I used Diamond Glaze on the Christmas lights to make them look glassy. Both Christmas sentiments are from Stampin' Up!, and as I mentioned before, the moose stamp is from High Hopes. I bought it at
7 Kids College Fund - one of my FAVORITE places to buy stamping stuff. Go check them out - especially their Nestabilities dies!

I hope you have a great weekend!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Quick & Simple Birthday Card

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to share this card I made last night for my girlfriend's little boy. It's nothing new in the way of techniques, but I just love the way it turned out. The stamp is from High Hopes Rubber Stamps. I embossed it in black with clear power and then colored with my ZIG markers. Then I just used a leftover piece of wrapping paper from the gifts and used it as background paper.

I just ordered some more High Hopes stamps from 7 Kids College Fund and I can't wait to get them. Their images are SO adorable and really fun to color. I also ordered some beautiful flower stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps so I should have plenty of fun stuff to play with next week.

As for this week -- sigh. I just got over a cold and then I woke up this morning with a sore throat and a headache. I'm praying it's just allergies from the change of season but I feel lousy. We'll see what I get done today.

Hope you're all having a great day!

Hugs!

Sue :o)

Two Little Fishes

Here's another card that recently went into my shop. If the truth be told, I won't be upset if this one doesn't sell. :o) I just love this little fish stamp by High Hopes Rubber Stamps. They have some of the most adorable stamps out there. These little guys were colored with my ZIG markers, cut out and then adhered to the card on foam tape. The polka dotted paper is DCWV and I added some swirly dry embossed paper and clear dew drops as accents. The sentiment is Stampin' Up!

I've got a lot of new stuff in the works for the upcoming weeks, so I hope you'll check back often. I'm starting to experiment with digi-images and just purchased a handful of them to play with, and I've just ordered some new Halloween and Christmas stamps too. I've also decided to start posting some of my own personal art here on this blog - things I make for me as opposed to things I'm going to sell in my Etsy store. When I'm making things for my shop I tend to go with "cute" because that's what most people like, but for myself --- well --- I like to play with all sort of style and techniques. I make altered books and tags, I keep an art journal, I love to do quilling and punch art, and I even make my own paper sometimes. I've also been experimenting for the last few days with making my own paper flower embellishments instead of buying ones from the store!

Well, as much as I'd love to go downstairs and play in the craft room I'm afraid I'm off for a morning of errands. I think I need a personal assistant! LOL.

Talk to you soon!

Sue :o)

Bubbly Birthday Card

Here's a card I did this morning using High Hopes Rubber Stamps. I just love this little fish! All three of them were embossed and colored on watercolor paper and then cut out and adhered to the card on foam tape. Other cute touches include glitter on the flish, polka dotted dry embossed paper, birthday background paper and clear dew drops that look like bubbles. This card is in my Etsy shop right now! Don't forget to enter into my drawing for free cards this week! I will be drawing a winner on Tuesday night and posting the results here on Wednesday. Get the details here!

Well, it looks like I got my gardening done in the nick of time this morning! It's clouding up now and the radar is showing thunderstorms heading this way. My cat Mouse didn't even protest when I made her come inside so that's usually a sign that we're in for rain. We were planning on going to the zoo tomorrow morning but now I'm not sure that's going to happen as they're calling for rain tomorrow too. :o( I guess there's always next weekend.

I hope you're all having a happy Friday. I'm off to play in my craft room in between loads of laundry.

Hugs!
Sue :o)

Here Fishy Fishy & Blog Candy Alert

Here's a card I made the other day with this cute little fish stamp from High Hopes Rubber Stamps! I'm really getting into the clean and simple cards lately, but sometimes I just have to go back to my old ways of layering and embellishing. The fish was embossed and colored on watercolor paper and then cut out and popped up on foam tape. I then added swirly dry embossed paper and sticky back rhinestones for some bling. For the stampers out there, Crissy is offering some awesome candy on her blog! Go check it out here! She's giving away 7 fabulous prizes!
I hope everyone had a good week! We're going to the air show this weekend (whichever day isn't going to be rainy) so I'm looking forward to that. It's fun to go sit out by Lake Michigan and watch the big fighter jets. We've been having such crazy cool weather up here. I hope we finally get a warm spell so I can soak up some sun!
Have a great weekend everyone!
God bless!
Sue :o)

High Hopes Rubber Stamps Challenge #38 - Polka Dots

I've been watching the challenges on the High Hopes Rubber Stamp blog for awhile now and I finally found the time to participate in one. This challenge was to use lots and lots of polka dots. I think I achieved the objective. :o) The background paper (all by DCWV Animal Crackers) is polka dotted, and so is the ribbon and the punched photo corners. I also ran the pink and brown scalloped circles through the Cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder AND I added freckles to the little girl's cheeks. I always have a good time coloring the High Hopes Rubber Stamp images. They are WAY cute. If you feel like playing along with this week's challenge here's the link: http://highhopesstamps.blogspot.com/ If nothing else, go check out the awesome design team cards and gather some inspiration!

God bless!

Sue :o)