Oh no I have to go back to work.

Yesterday my parents were here all day and we had supper for my last night of vacation. After they went home I worked on some samples for I demo I am doing in May on Alcohol ink. I made a really good discovery. You may already know this but I have had this ink pad for years and have never used it. Last night after throwing sample after sample away after I stamped with Stazon. I just don't have a good thing to say about black Stazon. Anyways in one of the articles I was reading talked about Ranger Archival jet black ink. I say to myself "you have one of those" so I hunted it out, stamped with it and OMG. It will now own a spot on my desk top. Let me show you. Here are 2 samples I made. They are stamped with the same stamp from I Brake for Stamps. Which one do you think is better. Bye Bye Stazon.



Here are a few of the backgrounds I made. They are all different techniques.



There are also a few other tools if you don't have you might like to think about purchasing. The first thing is the Craft Mat. You can do anything on it. Glue , paint, squirt ink all over it for techniques, whatever and the best part is you can wipe it right off and you are not using all that paper under your projects. You can heat on it and I just love it. The other things there are the Tim Holtz applicators. You can get the sponge pieces and they are awesome for distressing. You seem to have more control with them than you do with a regular art sponge. Or you can use a piece of felt to do the alcohol ink techniques. I will be showing these at my demo and letting you try for yourself. I know you will want to add them to your gadget collection but they will be a gadget you go to over and over.



Well as much as I hate the idea I must go and get dressed for work. Atleast I am rested and ready to deal with all those customers who are always right. Whoever came up with that concept? :O)

I have not cooked a meal since last Thursday

It has been wonderful. Tomorrow is my last day of vacation and I won't be cooking this day either. I have been taken out and had meals cooked for me. Of course Thursday I will have to come back to reality, return to my real life both at work and at home. Until then though I am still on vacation. I managed to finish 2 cards this evening. This first one I have been playing with for days. I had made the background. That was easy enough but adding an image was a little tricky. Just couldn't get the look I had dreamed of. I'm using my Rose set from Flourishes again. It is one of my favorites. I don't think this stamp set could look bad on any card front.

I first embossed the background stamp with clear embossing powder and then sponged Mustard and Victorian Velvet Distressed ink over it. I used my Prisma pencils and Gamsol to color the rose and leaves. The next card uses another rose from the set. My first time for using it. I colored it the same way and cut it out. The back ground is watercolor paper sprayed with water and then with several Glimmer Mists. I added pearls to both.

Days 2 & 3

I have been having a real relaxing time. Spent yesterday with my daughter shopping and today with my husband, daughter and her boyfriend. We went to the fair, ate some junk food, had an enjoyable ride through the country and then home where I started the task of removing all the dead plants and replacing them with what we bought yesterday. Under the rubble of my dead banana trees I found 3 plants coming. Very happy about this. The front is looking quite nice now and we will have to get started on the rest of the yard. Well I have been staying up late and doing some stamping but haven't quite finished anything yet to show you but my son the computer genius made this picture for us. He took a picture of my husband and one of a pig and fused them together. We laughed so hard. It is fabulous. So I will share that with you tonight and hopefully tomorrow I will finish a few of the cards I have been working on.

Vacation Day 1

Well it's hard to believe the day is half over. I've done laundry, worked on April swaps that were not finished, addressed the rest of April Birthday cards, watched the video for the awesome card I will be demoing in July and now I'm getting ready to go out for Supper at the Smokehouse Grill. No work for me today. I'm on vacation. It's been great but it won't really feel like a vacation until about Sunday. Then it will sink in that it is half over and I'd better get moving. Tomorrow Robin are taking a mother/daughter day. We're going to Mt. Dora shopping and to Crispers for lunch. Here I come Stamping Station. Hope you have what I'm looking for. I was going to take a picture of one of my birthday cards from today but the cameras battery was dead so maybe I will have something to show you tomorrow. Until then I'm repeating to myself I'm on vacation!! Come On LOTTERY!!! Let's make this a real long vacation.

Hello Blog

It seems like forever since I have been here. This horrid schedule I work has left me with very little time and my creativity has gone. But today is a wonderful day. It's my last day of work. I have decided to take a vacation. So starting tomorrow I will be sitting at my desk and getting reacquainted with my ink and stamps. I have so much I want to work on before I'm back to work. So until tomorrow here is a picture of my beautiful daughter Robin.

A few minutes of play time

Do you ever save cards or sketches you see on other blogs or websites? I do. I get lots of ideas on shading , placement and using my Cuttlebug. I have a file on my desk top where I keep them and then I pick one out when I have time to CASE it. Yesterday I had a couple of swap cards that needed finished. The first one is a sketch I had saved and on one of my groups we are using it this month to make cards. I used my Scor pal to score a half inch all around forming a frame. I then sponged it with Broken China and then with Vintage photo. The little image is an unknown. I bought the stamp at a use stamped sale. Colored it with my Copics, cut it out with an oval nestabilities, sponged the edges of that and added another oval behind it.



Then I had a card to make titled Green, ribbon, friend card. I had sponged the background for another card I had planned but put it to use here. Ran it through the Cuttlebug. Used the same image. Mixed shapes and added a bow I made with a fork. Just learned how to do that and it works wonderfully. The saying inside says Life is always better with a friend by your side.



My last card is for a future swap. It's a Birthday card I will be using at the end of the month at my stamping get together. The rose is from Flourishes. Colored it with Copics. Saw a card made similar a week or so ago with these shapes. Loved it and here's my version.

Fire and stamping do not mix!!

Well I gave it my best shot. I tried Soot stamping. At my stamping get together yesterday I set a piece of paper on fire. Determined to not let this technique get the best of me I tried it once again this morning. I set the paper on fire. Husband & daughter carried on about the fumes. Opened the doors and waited for the smoke alarm to go off. What a family. I however did succeed in saving the piece and stamped a very small raccoon on the good spot.


He turned out quite well.



Here's my card



I'm afraid this will be my last attempt. I can just see the headlines" Stamper starts a fire that burns 1000s of acres making a card." So long Soot stamping.

Here is one of the mosaic cards we made yesterday also. I've added a bit of glitter and bling.



This is another card I made today. Started the background a few weeks ago after the last get together.

My working hours have not been kind but I am determined to find time to relax with my stamps.