I'VE BEEN TAGGED

I've been tagged by NANCY RILEY, iSTAMP. I have gotten to know Nancy through this blogging adventure I have been taking and she has turned in to such a wonderful friend. I hope that one day we can meet in person. It would be great to finally meet and do this stamping thing, that we love so much, together.

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. You can see NANCY'S amazing blog HERE.

2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself (on your blog, we all want to know them).

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 things about myself:

* My closest friends know that I do a weird thing with my aqua pens. As I'm coloring with them the bristles sometimes spread apart on the ends and you know you can't color in small areas this way without getting way outside the lines. How do I fix that? I lick the bristles. So if you see me watercoloring ever so often you will also see my licking the end of the bristles. Yea, weird, I know. They're my brushes, right?

* I like to watch scary movies so this time of year is one of my favorites because that's about all you can find on TV around Halloween.

* I am NOT a morning person. My favorite thing to do is stay up until about 3:00 every night and sleep til 11:00. The problem is that when you have to get up at 6:30 to get an 8-year old ready for school this makes staying up late very tiring. Yes, half the time I do it anyway and then go back to sleep after he goes to school.

* I love dogs. I have 2 beagles that stay in the house with us and they probably get treated better than a lot of people do. Riley is my 6-year old male beagle and is the typical black, red and tan color. Lily is my 4-month old little girl that has stolen our hearts and she is red and white. She can tear up anything in the house faster than you can blink your eyes. Good thing we love her so much.

* You probably already know this but I LOVE to create. To get an idea in my head, put it down on paper (or a stamp) and then to see the final product, well, that's exilirating for me. I don't send out near enough of the cards I make though. I could probably start my own greeting card store.

* I am an only child and I have an only child. Just ask my husband how spoiled we both are. Yes, he spoils us and he is WONDERFUL.

* I had my one and only child when I was 35. It seemed to take forever to get pregnant but God knew when the right time was. Garrett has been the most wonderful thing that has happened to me and my husband. I stayed home with him until he started kindergarten and that was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life. I would take nothing for those precious years we got to spend together.

Since so many people have already been tagged I'm only going to tag a couple. They are:
Jody Morrow - Confessions of a Ribbon Addict
Jan Tink - StampsPaperScissors

Perfect Presentation #2

I like this card better than the first one I did with this set. I thought I would try double layering the scallop border and I think it gave it a nice touch. I punched some red cardstock out with the 1/8" circle punch and layered them on the scallop border to match the patterned paper. I stamped the small snowflake from the stamp set in Versamark on the red background paper. Now, on to a different set. TFL!!

Stamps: Perfect Presentation (Hostess); Paper: Real Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Dashing Designer; Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Versamark; Accessories: Slit Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Paper Piercer and Mat Pack, Brads, Non SU Dotted Organdy Ribbon, 1/8" Circle Punch.

My New SU Hostess Set

I couldn't wait to get some ink on this new set. After seeing this beautiful card Nancy Riley made I was so glad I picked this set from my last order. Nancy used the Winter Bright Scrappin' Kit on her card but I don't have that kit yet so I used the Dashing Designer Paper. I struggled pulling the card together but I'm very happy with how it turned out. I used the tab punch as a layer underneath the circle stamp but it didn't show up very well against the patterned paper so I outlined the tab punch with my Old Olive marker. TFL!

Stamps: Perfect Presentation, See You Around Jumbo Wheel; Paper: Real Red, Old Olive, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Dashing Designer; Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, River Rock; Accessories: Punches - Photo Corner, Tab, 1-3/8" Circle, 1-1/4" Circle, 3/4" Circle, and Horizontal Slot Punch, Brads, River Rock Ribbon, Jumbo Wheel Handle.

Halloween Bag

I created this bag for a friend that wants to give it to a precious 4-year old in her neighborhood. It should hold lots of candy for him.

I used Booglie Eyes for the creature images and watercolor crayons to color them in.

SC147 - Splitcoast Sketch Challenge

This card is for this week's sketch challenge on SplitcoastStampers. I really like participating in these challenges and I have missed it the past 3 weeks so I'm going to try and get back in the saddle and do these every week. The girls over at SCS are known for their great sketches.

I did the faux stitching on the patterned paper panel with the All in a Row stamp using Very Vanilla ink. I wanted it to show up good against the chocolate cardstock. I used my Fine Lace background stamp on the Cocoa cardstock. I don't know if you can tell in the picture or not but I put Glassy Glaze Enamel on the flower stamp and it's so shiny IRL. I then sponged the edges of the vanilla cardstock with Groovy Guava. Next, I inked my Linen background stamp with Groovy Guava, stamped it off once and then stamped the vanilla panel with it to give it a soft effect. TFL!!

Stamps: True Friend, Fundamental Phrases, Fine Lace, Linen, All in a Row; Paper: Groovy Guava, Choc. Chip, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla, Apple Cider Designer; Ink: Close to Cocoa, Groovy Guava, Choc. Chip, Very Vanilla, VersaMark; Accessories, Photo Corner Punch, Brads, Sponge, Cutter Kit, Choc. Grosgrain Ribbon, Glassy Glaze Enamel.

Wedding Card

I made this card for a friend to give at a wedding. She wanted a card to match the colors that they are using. I'm not sure if the card is elegant enough. Give me some comments please.

The flowers are embossed with SU Glossy Glaze Enamel and very shiny in real life. I outlined them in gold with my SU Zig Painty pen to match the gold cord on the card. TFL!!

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, All Year Cheer II (retired); Paper: Choc. Chip, Regal Rose, Very Vanilla; Ink: Choc. Chip, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, VersaMark; Accessories: Gold Cord, Gold Brads, Glassy Glaze Enamel, Zig Painty Pen.

To One of My True Friends

This is the first card I have made with this set. I wasn't sure I was going to get it but of course changed my mind after I saw all the great cards made with it by all the stamping guru's out there.

I stamped the flower on the main image on vanilla cardstock and then stamped it again, cut it out and raised it with a dimensional to give it more of a 3-D look. I used my crop-a-dile for dry embossing on the rust cardstock at the bottom of the patterned paper. I layer the word window punch with rust behind the vanilla piece. I used "Weathered" background stamp on the cocoa cardstock. That's the first time I have used one of my background stamps in a long time.

I have a special friend that this card is going to. You know who you are. Thanks for always listening to me and lending me a shoulder when I need it. TFL!!

Stamps: True Friend, Weathered; Paper: Really Rust, Groovy Guava, Close to Cocoa, Wild Wasabi, Vanilla, Apple Cider Designer; Ink: Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, Choc. Chip, Close to Cocoa; Accessories: Circle Rhinestone Brads, Punches - Scallop, 1-3/8", 1-1/4" and 1" Circle, Word Window, Crop-A-Dile, River Rock Ribbon, White Gel Pen.

New Toys

Today I went with a friend to the StampScrapArtTour in Chattanooga, TN. Oh my, did I ever think I had died and gone to heaven. There were so many awesome booths there and so many toys that I felt like I was in Santa's workshop for the stamp-a-holic. I came away with lots and lots of fun stuff and lots of new techniques. I used one of my new toys on this card, "Twinkling H2O's". If you haven't used this watercoloring tool you need to try it. The colors are so vibrant and sparkly in real life. The colors matched up very good with my SU cardstock. TFL!!

Stamps: Baby Jesus is Born; Paper: Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranate, River Rock, Rose Red Designer, Confetti White; Ink: Black Stazon, Close to Cocoa (sponging on the edges of the Rose Red designer paper); Accessories: Twinkling H2O's, Brads, Paper Piercer and Mat Pack, Photo Corner Punch, Cutter's Tool Kit, Non SU Wide Organdy Ribbon.

I've Been on Vacation

I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a while. I just got back last night from a week in FL and the week before that was spent preparing to go. It seems like forever since I have sat down and stamped. Here is a card I created about a month ago. I thought I would post it and then start working on more things starting tomorrow.

Stamps: Season of Joy, So Swirly Jumbo Wheel; Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, White; Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive, Black; Accessories: Scallop Punch, Ribbon from Happy Me Scrappin' Kit, Slit Punch, White Gel Pen, 1-3/8" Circle Punch.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!

I have some great news. I have been chosen to be on the design team for Starving Artistamps. I am so honored that they have chosen me to work for them. I can't wait to get my first set of stamps and start creating. You can visit their website here to see what wonderful stamps they have and to also check out their other awesome supplies.

My Dear Friend

This card is a CASE of this card here. I really loved her card. I have been doing more square cards lately and I like the way they look. I just use my 5 in 1 envelope template from SU to make an envelope to match. The striped paper is from the Apple Cider designer paper out of the Holiday Mini catalog and the dotted Guava is from the designer prints out of the IBC. TFL!!

Stamps: Priceless, All Holidays, All in a Row; Paper: Choc. Chip, Wild Wasabi, White, Apple Cider Designer, Groovy Guava Designer; Ink: Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava, Choc. Chip, Close to Cocoa; Accessories: Groovy Guava Ribbon, Circle Fire Rhinestone Brad, Punches - 1-3/8", 1-1/4" and 1", Dimensionals.

Fall is PRICELESS

I have been wanting to use this word stamp ever since I got the All Holidays set. It's my favorite stamp out of the whole set. I tried to make this card look more vintage than what I am used to making. I sponged Cocoa on the outside of the Sky designer paper and I also sponged Cocoa on the Olive piece with the words. Then I distressed the edges of the piece of Cocoa underneath all the mats. This card also has 8 brads. Too many? Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way the card turned out. TFL!!

Stamps: Priceless, All Holidays, All in a Row; Paper: Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, Really Rust, Confetti White, Fall Flowers Designer; Ink: Choc. Chip, Really Rust, Old Olive, Soft Sky, Close to Cocoa; Accessories: Brads, Ticket Corner Punch, Crafters Tool Kit, Photo Corner Punch.

Z-Fold Club Card

This was one of my Club cards last month. Yes, of course I used Season of Joy, my favorite stamp set right now. It's the only time I have used this set with my Clubs believe it or not. I'm just enjoying the heck out of it for my own personal use. TFL!!

Stamps: Season of Joy, So Swirly Wheel; Paper: Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Purely Pomegranate, White, Holiday Harmony Designer; Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Basic Black; Accessories: Non SU Moss Ribbon, Hodgepodge Hardware, Sponge, Coluzzle, Non SU Decorative Scissors.

Season of Joy - I Love You

I promise I'll get off this stamp set very soon. I'm loving it for my Christmas cards this year but I will do more cards with different sets. This one is just Oh, La, La. TFL!!

Stamps: Season of Joy, So Swirly Jumbo Wheel; Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, White, Holiday Harmony Designer; Ink: Mellow Moss, Choc. Chip, Versamark; Accessories: Punches - Key Tag, Ticket Corner and Horizontal, Paper Piercer and Mat Pack, Non SU Ribbon, Jumbo Wheel Handle.

Bright Tag Card

I love these tag cards but I swear I will never make another one. This one took me 3 hours to create. I'm really happy with the final results but if I ever do decide to do another one it won't be so detailed. The Darling Doodles Designer Paper is really gorgeous and this card really showed it off. TFL!!

Stamps: Garden Whimsy, Vases in Vogue, Wild About You, God's Blessings, In the Spotlight; Paper: Groovy Guava, Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi, Brocade Blue, White, Darling Doodles Designer; Ink: Groovy Guava, Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi, Blue Brocade, Basic Black; Accessories: In Color Ribbon in Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava and Purely Pomegranate, Circle Rhinestone Brads, Green Stickles, Scallop Punch, Dimensionals.