Happy Holidays!

Season's Greetings to all of you, and Best Wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year!



I'll be taking a break to spend time with family over the holidays. I won't be posting much (if at all) over the break, but rest assured, I'll be back after the New Year.

This last holiday card of the season uses a Technique Junkies technique from the latest newsletter called Watercolor Resist. The snowflake background stamp is one I've had kicking around for years, and I'm not sure who manufactured it. The snowflake stickers are K and Co.

Merry Christmas!

Hey, Honey...Do you have any more cards made?

I thought I was through making Christmas cards days ago, but oops!, not so. The deal I have with my DH is that I make the cards, and writes them out and addresses them {bless his heart!}. Everything was going fine until I heard him utter those dreaded words, "Do you have any more cards made? I need like 8 more." Huh? Oh no!

I needed some cards, and I needed them fast, so I CASEd a few of the cards I had already made. This one is a rework of the "Snow" card a made a couple weeks ago. I used the same layout and technique (Technique Junkies Faux Designer Paper), but I changed the stamps and colors. The stamps on this card are from Inkadinkado, Memory Box, and I Brake for Stamps. I used a variety of inks, but the basic colors are gold, cocoa brown, olive green, and brick red.

Enjoy this last weekend before Christmas! We got about 8" of snow today and there's another storm headed here for Sunday, and then a little more snow forecasted for Christmas Eve. Looks like were definitely going to have a white Christmas here! My plan is to get my last minute shopping done tomorrow and spend Sunday snowed in and doing my Christmas baking.

Holiday Tea

Today is Tea Party day at smARTworks. Design Team member Peggy Lamb picked the theme for this one...ovals. I managed to sneak some time to make a quick card using a couple of my favorite smARTworks stamp sets, Chickadee Wishes and Pine Bough. I did a masked frame technique from Technique Junkies with the pine bough stamp and Fluid Chalk ink in warm green and chestnut roan. I stamped the chickadee with chestnut roan and watercolored it with various dye inks. The printed paper is from Memory Box.

Have a great day!

New Challenge at Starving Artistamps!

I hope you can join us! The challenge this time is to design an incredibly cool CLEAR card using acetate or transparency film. It's your choice what size and shape to make your card, and you can interpret the "clear" requirement as you wish. As long as it contains a clear element it counts! You card doesn't even have to contain Starving Artistamps or DoodleFactory image. But... all cards using Starving Artistamps images will be posted in our gallery.

Everyone who participates will be entered into a drawing for a Santa's Sweet Shoppe set with matching Sweet Shoppe sentiments. Don't worry, if you already have the set...if you are the winner Tracey will substitute for other stamps of equal value! All you need to do is head on over to the Starving Artistamps group on Paper Craft Planet, post a reply to the challenge thread, and attach the photo or post a link to where your card can be found. If you can't post for some reason you can also email your card or blog/gallery link to strvingartistmp@aol.com

Here are a few more details: All cards must be submitted on or before December 30th. The drawing winner will be randomly selected and posted no later than December 31st. The tag or keyword for challenge cards in the Papercraft Planet or Splitcoast Stampers galleries is SADF1208.

For my card, I used the gingerbread house from the Santa's Sweet Shoppe set and colored it with Copic markers. I made a window card using a piece of acetate that I embossed with my Cuttlebug, and then filled in the debossed areas with Star Dust Stickles. The white accents are done with a white gel pen and Magenta Peel-Offs stickers. A few rhinestones here and there just seemed to add the proper amount of bling.

Come on...show us your stuff!

Are you Ready?

Are you all ready for Christmas yet? I'm not. But, at least I think my cards are done. Maybe. I've made about 40 of them, and almost all of them are different. I did make a few duplicates toward the end just to speed thing up a bit, but I really don't like "mass producing" like that, LOL!

I made this card today, and it's one of my absolute, all-time favorites. I just love the bright colors and the black and white accents and those cute little elves...makes me giddy just to look at it. The stamps are all from Starving Artistamps: the images are DoodleFactory Santa's Sweet Shoppe, the sentiment is from the Casual Holiday Greetings set, and I also used the Dots and Circle backgrounds. I stamped everything with Adirondack Pitch Black ink and colored with Copic markers. The green patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. I think I might do some holiday baking tonight.

Pretty Slick!

I got Photoshop Elements awhile back, and I was happy with it then, but now that I've learned to use it a bit better...Man! Is that software slick! This was a pretty lousy photo; it was taken at an odd angle, the colors were washed out, and it had a serious case of fish eye distortion. But, after a few quick adjustments...not bad at all.

This little cutie, I call her Clara, is from the DoodleFactory Winter set available at Starving Artistamps. The sentiment is also from Starving Artistamps. I colored my Clara with Copic markers, and since she's wearing her jammies, I popped her up on an embossed background panel that reminds me of a bedspread. So here she is, ready for bed on Christmas Eve. When she wakes up in the morning, she'll finally get to see what Santa brought. Little Clara sure looks wired, doesn't she? She's not going to sleep a wink. Oh yeah...she believes!

Happy Holiday!

'Tis the Season...

to be behind on everything! Just a quick post tonight because I really should be making cards rather than posting cards.

This one uses two techniques from the latest Technique Junkies newsletter: Painted Mesh and Torn Frames. The focal image is from Inkadinkado, and the Canvas background on the card base is Stampin' Up. The patterned paper is from Prima Marketing.

Have a great evening!

Snow

It snowed here today, so it's actually starting to look like Christmas!

I made this card using the Card Positioning Systems sketch for this week (CPS-94). This card also uses my new favorite Technique Junkies technique: Faux Designer Paper. The only thing I don't really like about the technique is the name. It should be "Real Designer Paper", LOL! I used a variety of inks on this one, and a variety of stamps: the flourish is from Stampinback (I Brake for Stamps), the snowflakes are Rubber Stampede, and the sentiment is a Memory Box stamp.

Why are you still sitting there? Go stamp something!!!

Aaak! Only 19 Days 'til Christmas!

I really need to get cracking on my Christmas cards...I'm only about half done, and they still need to have inside verses added and get addressed and stamped and mailed out. Yikes! Can you guess what I'm doing tonight?

Here's a card I made the other day. The stamp is from Memory Box, colored with Prismacolor pencils. I love MB images, and because they're small, they are also quick to color. I used my new nesties to cut the ovals, and my new Score-It board to emboss the gold panel. How in the world I lived this long without a Score-It Board, I will never know. I seriously love the thing!

The light green panel behind the gold one uses a cool Technique Junkies technique called Pearlized Gesso. I did it on a piece of printed paper that I wasn't too crazy about, and I just love the results.

Enjoy the day! I'll be back with another card tomorrow.

Coco

I didn't realize it while I was making this card, but it looks an awful lot like a card Lisa Somerville made. Thanks for the inspiration, Lisa!

I used yet another great technique from the latest Technique Junkies newsletter, called Masked Frames, and all of the stamps I used are available from Starving Aristamps. I layered my frame onto a mat with a scalloped oval cut in the center. Then, I mounted the frame layer with foam tape onto a piece of cream cardstock stamped with the Dots background. I stamped Coco the bear onto white cardstock, colored him with Copic markers, cut him out, and mounted him with foam to the cream background. I finished everything off with a pretty snowflake sticker from Kay and Co.

Enjoy!

Like Magic!

I followed the directions for the Faux Designer Paper technique in the latest Technique Junkies newsletter, picking my colors and stamps as I went. Like magic, I ended up with the swirly, pink, shimmery paper goodness that I used for the background on this card. I used shimmery cardstock as a base and Versamark Dazzle for the resist part of the technique so the whole piece has a soft shimmer that I wish you could see in the photo.

The green glitter swirls at the top of the card were my own brainchild. I had just taken my new Nesties out of the blister pack and wondered if the thick acetate would emboss. Yeah, it embossed great! Don't throw that stuff away! I flipped my piece over and filled in the debossed areas with green Stickles. Way cool, if I do say so!

I used a variety of inks on this one, and the stamps are from Inkadinkado. And of course, I couldn't resist adding a few Dew Drops. And speaking of Dew Drops...I know they seem pricey, but I have only two bottles of them, and I used them all the time. Both bottles still look full. Seriously. They go a loooong way!

The Holidays are Upon Us!

Does it even seem possible that tomorrow is December already? I'm still not sure where July went and now Christmas is right around the corner. Geez!

Since Christmas is right around the corner, I decided to make some holiday cards. This one uses the Christmas Tree stamp from the DoodleFactory Sweet Shoppe set, available from Starving Artistamps. That cool Quilted Frame is one of the techniques in the latest issue of the Technique Junkies newsletter. Most of the papers are from my scrap pile. The tree is paper pieced, and I added some shading with a Copic marker. The frame and tree are popped up to add some dimension.

Happy Holidays! {Yikes!}

Still Saying Thanks

My friend, Jacquie, sent me this pretty stamp for my birthday. This is just one of the cards I've made with it...I'm finding it to be very versatile and easy to use. Thanks, Jacquie!

The layout for the card comes from Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge #203. I stamped the tulip (Rubber Stampede) with Chestnut Roan Fluid Chalk Ink onto a background I made using the AI Float technique from Technique Junkies (June/July '08). The brown/white patterned paper is from Basic Grey (Sultry), and the rest is from my huge scrap pile. (Where DO all those scraps come from, anyway?) I used some Cuttlebug embossing on the pink corners, and cut the scalloped square with my Nestabilities. Some ribbon and Dew Drops finish everything off.

Thanks for looking, and have a great Saturday!

Lucky Me!

I received this beautiful birthday card from LaVerne Wilson, a fellow Technique Junkie. This was a completely unexpected surprise that arrived right on my birthday, and it is truly lovely. You can't see in the picture, but the hummingbird is all glittery and the Camouflage (Technique Junkies Oct/Nov 08 newsletter) background is so deep and rich and interesting.

Yes, lucky me. Thank you, LaVerne!

I am also fortunate in that I have enough vacation time at work that I could afford to take this week off for no particular reason. I am cooking dinner tomorrow, but other than that, I have nothing in particular planned. So far, I've organized my craft room, taken an extra art class, colored my hair (I don't mind being 50, but a girl's gotta draw the line somewhere, LOL), and I've spent plenty of time noodling around in my newly organized craft room.

While I was doing all that organizing, I came across this card that I don't think I ever posted anywhere. It uses a technique called Black Magic, and I'm not even sure where it originated. Basically, you stamp a solid image with white ink onto dark cardstock (I used Brilliance Moonlight White ink on black), heat set the ink, and then color over it with Prismacolor pencils. The final step is to highlight with a white gel pen. The stamp I used is from Magenta and so is the printed vellum on the inside of the card.

Well, gotta go get ready for tomorrow.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

The Results are In!

One is the luckiest number! The lucky winner is Irene from The DoodleFactory! Irene is a new cardmaker so this little stash of ribbon should come in handy for her. Congratulations, Irene!

An speaking of stashes...I'm embarrassed to tell you that 50 feet of ribbon didn't even make a dent in mine! So here's what I'm going to do. Each of the 5 runners up will also receive a consolation assortment. Just email me with your mailing address, and I'll send your goodies right out.

Oh, and about turning 50...it's really not a bad thing. I did have a few days leading up to the big event that were a little tough, but because it is a milestone and as such, it is also a time for reflection. But as some of you pointed out, there are some very good things about being this age like wisdom, confidence, and self-assurance. Being 50 is a gift that I am happy to have received, and I am looking forward to the next 50 years!

I'll be back later with a new card and a RAK to share!

Now for that Card I Promised

Kind of a simple one, but I like the way it looks like a pile of presents. I made the ho, ho, ho paper by stamping a Starving Artistamps sentiment over and over. If you have a stamp positioner, like a Stamp-a-ma-jig, it's easier and quicker to do than you might think. The little Santa hat is from the DoodleFactory Winter set, also available from Starving Artistamps. The other two printed papers are Basic Grey.

Oh yeah, and I have some birthday blog candy to offer, as well. I turned 50 on Thursday (ugh!), and I thought I'd have a little contest. Just leave a comment on this post telling me what's so great about being 50. And if you're feeling a little snarky because you're nowhere near 50 yet and feel the need to crack a joke, don't hold back, I can take it. Besides, my friends have been cracking wise for a couple of weeks now...I've probably already heard it all anyway. You have until 11:50 pm EST. I'll pick a random winner, and the prize will be a 50 foot assortment of ribbon from my personal stash. (Don't worry, Jacquie, I'm just making room for the pretties you sent me!)

Good luck!

eta: They say the mind is the first thing to go, LOL! I just realized that I never said which day I would draw the blog candy winner. You have until 11:50 pm EST tonight, November 25.

Taking a Break

I've got lots going on right now, so I'm going to be taking a break for a few days. I'll be back next week though and I might even have a new card or to to show you. Have a great weekend!

Look Ma...No Stamps

That's right--no stamps were inked in the making of this card. The holly medallion is one of Becca's circle medallions that everyone's been making lately. I finally sat down and gave it a try. I embossed the background with my Cuttlebug, brayered Versamark ink over the embossing, and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. So there you have it...embossed embossing! I layered everything with some ribbon and a couple of scalloped circles that I highlighted with a white gel pen. The bling in the center is so much nicer in real life...very sparkly and oh so pretty.

Stamp on {or go stampless}!

I {Heart} Snowmen

Here's another card that I made with the DoodleFactory Winter set available from Starving Artistamps. I love snowmen, especially this quirky little guy. I colored him with Copic markers, cut him out, and mounted him on a red mat that I embossed and highlighted with Brilliance Moonlight White ink. The striped DP is actually stamped using the Stripes BG from Starving Artistamps and embossed with red tinsel EP.

Enjoy whatever you do today!

Circle me This

I'm happy to report that I actually got my act together this week and made a card for the smARTworks Tea Party challenge. This one is hosted by Donelda, and her challenge was to use circles on a card. Ooooh...and me with a brand new set of scalloped circle Nesties! How could I not participate?

My stamps, of course, are from smARTworks--I used the kitties from the Have a Heart set and the sentiment from Forget your Age. I colored the kitties and also the yellow mat with Copic markers. That pretty printed paper is from my new pad of Basic Grey Urban Prairie. The urge to hoard it was strong because it's soooo pretty, but I was a big girl, and I took a deep breath and used some. There...it's done, LOL!

This card also uses this week's sketch over at Papercraft Planet. I just joined over there and it's a very cool place. If you stop in, be sure to say hi!

Christmas Tree

Is it just me? I find that the hardest thing when posting to this blog is figuring out a title for the post! I feel pressured to come up with somthing profound, or witty, or even just descriptive. Clearly, I don't work well under this kind of pressure, LOL!

OK, now on to my card. I just finished up a batch of cards for Starving Artistamps using the DoodleFactory Winter set. This card incorporates the present and snowflake images from that set as well as a sentiment from the Casual Holiday Greetings set. I used a red glitter pen to add the ribbons to the packages and highlighted my snowflake star with a gold glitter pen. Those are Dew Drops in the corners, and I stamped the sentiment around the outer edge of the card with Brilliance Rocket Red Gold Ink.

Doodles on Top of Doodles

I decided to play along with the Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoast today, and as I was thumbing through my copy of Dave Brethauer's Card Design book looking for layout ideas, I spotted an image with a frame around it. "Hmmm," I thought, "I can doodle that frame around any image!" So I stamped my reindeer from the DoodleFactory Winter set and did just that! I love the way it came out!

My little reindeer is colored with Copic markers. The background papers are just scraps of cardstock stamped with the Stripes and Lil' Squares background stamps from Starving Artistamps. The sentiment is from the Starving Artistamps Casual Holiday Greetings set. The white dotted line under the sentiment is really just a row of pierced holes.

If you're a DoodleFactory fanatic like me, you'll want to click on over to the Starving Artistamps site and check out the latest release...it's called Santa's Sweet Shoppe and it is CUTE!

And, Here's Another

This is actually the first card I made for CPS #89, and I almost tossed it in the trash. It didn't come out as I had envisioned leaving me disappointed with the whole effort. But, now I look at it and let's be honest...I've made worse cards. In fact, this one don't look half bad anymore, LOL!

I used a Starving Artistamps butterfly for the image (of course), stamping the dark one with Fluid Chalk Raw Sienna and the light one with Brilliance Moonlight White. The script background is highlighted with a bit of Raw Sienna ink, and the Textile pattern BG is a Technique Junkies tech. called Dry Embossed Wash. I also added a few Dew Drops and some paper piercing just to finish things off.

Thanks for looking!

Starving Artistamps is Sponsoring CPS #89

That's right. The sponsor for Card Positioning Systems sketch #89 is none other than Starving Artistamps. Hop on over to the CPS blog for the sketch AND a sweet 20% off discount code for Starving Artistamps or DoodleFactory stamps!

Here's my version of the sketch. I used the large silhouette Poppies and Columbines for my main image. The two background panels use the Fern Leaf Tooled Leather background, and the sentiment is a partial from imprint from "thank you for being there" in the DoodleFactory Fairytale set. I stamped the image with Fluid Chalk Chestnut Roan, and the BG is stamped with Versamark. The printed paper I used is from the new Basic Grey Offbeat collection.

And before I go, let me just say that I am soooo happy that Daylight Savings Time is finally over. Good Morining, Sunshine!

ETA: and here's another one!

Where Did October Go?

Seriously. How can it possibly be the end of October already? I love this time of year so much, and it's over in the blink of an eye--hardly seems fair!

So while I can still post them, I guess I'll share a Halloween card with you today. The background paper (no clue who makes it) is folded using a Technique Junkies technique called Pleated Paper. No rocket science to the technique at all: it's just paper folded accordian style with the folds accented with chalk ink. Simple, but kind of fun.

The image is a dollar stamp I picked up at Michael's colored with Copic markers.

Enjoy!

Let the Raking Begin

Take a look at this pic of my front yard. Can you actually see any of the yard? Now look at those trees...still plenty of leaves to fall. Yikes! As pretty as they are, I have to admit that the raking thing can get a bit old. Oh well, guess what we'll be doing for the next couple of weeks, LOL!

This was the last good weekend around here for leaf peeping, so we took advantage by going for a long walk on the Greenway on Saturday. Here are a couple of pics I took along the way. The first on is a Wood Duck we spotted in Beaver Pond. He kept swimming away from me, so this was the best I could do. Part of the trail goes through a farm, and the second pic is the view looking over a field of cabbages.

And last, but not least--or maybe it is, I'll let you be the judge--Here's a card I made this weekend. The leaf stamps are from Memory Box. The leave is a solid stamp, which I colored directly with watercolor crayons and then spritzed with water. I stamped onto watercolor paper that I had also spritzed lightly with water. After everything was good and dry, I stamped the veins and drew in the leaf outlines.

Just for Fun

What is it about cupcake stamps? I'm not often drawn to a particular thing (OK, except for flowers), but I find that I just can't resist cupcake stamps. These are from an Inkadinkado set I picked up at Michael's last weekend.

I colored them with Copic markers and added Dew Drop "cherries" to the tops. The printed paper is Basic Grey, and the layout comes from Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge 197.

Fall Folliage

I went out for a walk the other day hoping to get some pictures that I can use as reference shots for a painting. For those of you who are familiar with this area, I was out on the Greenway heading North from Copper Hill Road in East Granby, CT. The foliage is right at peak here, and I was out late in the afternoon, so the lighting was amazing. I took TONS of pictures, and thought you might enjoy seeing a few of them.

More Penguin Cuties

This is going to have to be a really fast post...don't want to be late for work.

I used my Serendipity penguin stamp again on this one, but this time I colored them with Copic markers. The snowflake panel is a Technique Junkies technique called Cuttlebug Highlights. I used Brilliance silver ink for the highlights.

Well...gotta go. Have a great day!

By Jove!

I think I've got it! I just finished this pencil painting, and it was FUN! I didn't feel like I was struggling with it the whole time--I just worked on it and enjoyed the process. I'm so pleased with the way my little birdie came out, so if you don't mind, I'm patting myself on the back and tooting my own horn.

The piece is about 8x10, done with Prismacolor pencils on matboard.

The weather lately has been picture perfect Autumn in New England weekend gorgeous here in my neck of the woods, so not much stamping has gotten done. I've been out enjoying Mother Nature's spectacle most of the weekend. Maybe I'll get some stamping in tonight during the football game, then again, maybe I'll sit in front of the game and do some knitting. So many crafts...so little time, LOL!

What about the rest of you? What'cha been up to this weekend?

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

It's World Cardmaking Day, and I was stuck at work most of the day. What the heck is up with that? I probably won't get a chance to make a card today, but at least I can share one that I made last weekend.

My DH bought me this cute stamp from Serendipity for my birthday last year, and this is the first time it's seen ink. Well, at least I used it before my next birthday rolls along next month.

I colored these little cuties with Prismacolor pencils blended with odorless mineral spirits. The paper is from my stash of scraps and I really can't remember the brand.

Enjoy the rest of the "holiday", and I hope you got to make a card (or two, or three, or more) today!

A Pair of Paper Pieced Pumpkins

Say that three times fast!

Today is Tea Party challenge day over at smARTworks, and I decided to play along. This time, the challenge was hosted by Peggy, a sketch challenge with a twist...the image panel had to be paper pieced. I love paper piecing and I'm addicted to sketches, so I grabbed some paper scraps and made up some calico pumpkins.

If you have a minute, grab a cup of tea and head on over to Susan's blog, In the Works at smARTworks, to grab a copy of the sketch and check out the other challenge cards.

There's Still Time!

Don't miss you chance to enter the Starving Artistamps Swedish Collage Challenge. Complete details are posted on our Design Team Gallery. You have until tomorrow to enter so why not give it a try?

I enjoyed making my first Swedish Collage style card so much that I just had to try another. This time, I grabbed some papers from my stash that I just had to have but have been hanging around forever. My layout was CASEd from a couple of the "genuine" Swedish collage cards on our blog. I loved the one with the torn paper and ball fringe, and another used a scalloped mat outlined with black dots. I combined those elements with Frozey from the DoodleFactory creatures collection and a Sun Spirit Studio sentiment (both availabe at Starving Artistamps) and came up with this composition.

This one was even more fun than the first!

This One is Growing on Me

I was not crazy about this card at first, but it really is growing on me. Maybe my objection to it at first was that it was just too easy. Other than the time it took for the watercolor wash background to dry, the whole this went together in less than 10 minutes.

Believe it or not, this was the first time I had done a watercolor wash for a background. Talk about easy. Just wet your watercolor paper and start painting. I used some cake watercolors I had on hand and just mixed colors right on the paper until I had something I liked. The tree image is from Inkadinkado and is stamped with Brilliance Graphite Black. If I did this one again, though, I'd use Stazon to get a really dark imperssion. For the mat, I picked cardstock that matched the colors in my image, taped them together from the back, and ran the piece through my Cuttlebug. Before trimming the mat to size, I temporarily assembled the pieces so that I could get the split to align with the horizon on my image panel.

Thanks for looking, and enjoy what's left of the weekend!

A Pile of Pumpkins

Well, really it's more of a stack, but "pile" sounded better. I made this card for Sketch Challenge SC194 over at Splitcoast Stampers. The stamps are from the DoodleFactory Halloween II Witch's Brew set available at Starving Artistamps. I stacked up the pumpkins and colored them with Copic markers. The papers in the color blocked background are scraps.

Happy Friday!

Fall is Here

OK...I am in total Fall mode now, the leaves are turning, the weather is perfect, everyone isputting out their mums and pumpkins, I'm craving fresh apples, and I've put on a couple of pounds for no reason whatsoever. Yup...it's Fall, alright!

Keeping with my Fall state of mind, I made Halloween cards this weekend. This one, made with DoodleFactory Halloween II stamps available from Starving Artistamps, cracks me up if I do say so (and I do)! Trouble the cat has just brewed up a potion and conjured up a spell that turned Lorelei the Witch into a pumpkin! He's definitely having more fun than Lorelei right now, but see how Trouble's getting ready to sneak off? Lorelei is soooo not gonna be happy when that spell wears off!

My scene is colored with Copic markers, and I used a slick trick that I picked up from Marianne at I Like Markers. The ground is colored a darker shade of green, then I used lighter markers to create the pebbled texture. The lighter color dots push the darker color away leaving a very cool texture.

Lots to Talk About Today

I'll start off with what I think is just the coolest thing...I got my first blog award thanks to Shirley at Card Art, Etc. "My first award", LOL, looks like my head has swelled and I'm already planning to receive more awards! Not really...I'm just excited to have received the I Love Your Blog award. I "know" Shirley from the Technique Junkies group, and she creates some of the most amazing artwork. Be sure to check out her blog!

Recipients of this award are asked to post the award, link it back to the person who sent it to them, and then pass it on to 7 more recipients. Not an easy task for me. Not because there aren't tons of deserving recipients, but because I never seem to have the time to find them all. And, as Shirley has already said, if you take the time to blog so that you can share your creations with the rest of us, you automatically deserve an award! But, I need to pick 7, so here they are: Donna at Serenity in Stamping, Barb at Stampelicious, Natasha at Palm Trees and Pogosticks, Rose Ann at Paper Delightz, Jacquie at Simple Reflections about Quilting, Cats and Kids, Linda at Linda Quilts Too, and Donna at Quilting Grandma. Thanks for sharing your creations with the rest of us

And...I have a card to share too! The stamps I used are from the DoodleFactory Witch's Brew set available at Starving Artistamps. My paper is mostly from my scrap pile (where to all those scraps come from?), except for the background, which is Cosmo Cricket Hello Sunshine. I used Brilliance Graphite Black ink and colored my spider with Copic markers. The sentiment is stamped multiple times using a Stamp-a-ma-jig to keep everything lined up. If you don't have one of those babies, run to your nearest stamp store and get one. Seriously

And finally, to close out this post, which I think may be my longest ever, I just wanted to share some photos I took while walking on the trail in back of my house yesterday. (Hmmm...longest sentence ever too?) We are just starting to see some color in the trees and the air is dry and crisp. My favorite time of year!

Are you Ready for a Challenge?

I hope so, cuz it's a fun one! Tracey over at Starving Artistamps is running one very cool challenge. If you've visited our Design Team Gallery Blog or the Starving Artistamps Blog, then you've no doubt seen the awesome cards some of her Swedish customers send in.

Well, that's your challenge. Make a card using that quirky, whimsical, colorful, and downright fun style! The complete details are posted on the blog, but I will tell you that you have until October 1st to enter and the prize is rubber, and lots of it, too. A full sheet of Starving Artistamps or DoodleFactory stamps to be exact. You don't even have to use Starving Artistamps images on your entry...although, if you got 'em, flaunt 'em!

This is my first ever Swedish Collage card. I used stamps from the brand new DoodleFactory Witch's Brew set. My paper, ink, and embellishment selections are too numerous to list, and most of them came out of my scrap and "what-will-I-ever-do-with-this?" piles. Give Swedish Collage a whirl...it's fun!

My Latest Pencil Painting

I don't have a card to show today because I haven't had a chance to take pics of the ones I made last weekend, but I've been meaning to show you my latest pencil painting anyway. I finished this about a month ago, and it seems like I worked on it forever. The piece is about 12" x 14" and is done entirely with Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils. I didn't use any solvents such as Gamsol...the blending is done by building layer upon layer upon layer of colors.

I did this piece in my studio class, but it's a Janelle Johnson piece and the pattern (along with several others) is available on her site if you'd like to give this kind of painting a try.

Go create something today!

A Card for Mid-Autumn

Because of my "day job", I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with people from many countries and cultures, and I am currently working with two groups of engineers; one group visiting from India, and the other from China. Today is a very important holiday in China...the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon or Moon Cake Festival.

I know this card doesn't have any Asian influences, but it does look like mid-Autumn, don't you think? The technique I used is Layered Collage from the latest Technique Junkies newsletter. For inks, I used Ranger Distress Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo, and Stampin' Up Pumpkin Pie Classic. My stamps are: Stampin' Up Sanded, PSX Oak Collage, Anita's leaf and dragonfly, and a maple leaf stamp that has no markings. A row of Dew Drops across the top finish off the design.

Happy Holiday to all of you of Chinese heritage!