Happy New Year

Art by Kristy Christopherson

As promised, the new domino art stamps are here and ready to ship. Kristy Christopherson is making samples, one of which is shown above. Isn't this a gorgeous necklace? I will be posting more in the days to come, so be on the lookout!

From my house to yours...Happy New Year! May you have a happy, healthy, prosperous 2008! Looking forward to great things in 2008.

Talk to you next year.

The year is winding down...

This little guy is one of my favorites. I have no idea who makes the stamp, but he seemed a natural for this technique.

2007 is winding down, and in the last few days of the year I like to reflect on the past year and my goals for the coming year. I have made a lot of new friend this year, and I am thankful for them. I am thankful for all the new customers I have. I am thankful that I am reasonably healthy, as is my family, and even though we are poor in money, we are rich in the things that count.

My wish for you is to have a safe, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

My husband and I are huge New England Patriot football fans, and last night's win was fantastic. They are now undefeated in a regular season. Can they win 2 playoff games and then the Super Bowl? We certainly hope so and will be right there rooting for them on each game.

I have lots to do, so I will sign off for now. See you soon!

Merry Christmas!

May you have a joyous and wonderful holiday season, with family and friends.

New Images Coming Soon!

I'm excited! New stamps coming soon! These stamps fit perfectly on a domino and there are 17 to choose from. I have the plates all made, I just have to put them on the website, which I will try to do this week.

Shopping's Done! Whew!

I've been so busy lately, I hadn't had time to do ANY Christmas Shopping. I was beginning to worry, but this morning my daughter called, the granddaughters were with their other grandmother, and did I want to go shopping? Can you spell relief?

My hubby and I had decided what to get the oldest granddaughter, Rachel (I can't tell you what it is, she might read my blog), told me which store to get it at and where it was located in the store. My daughter and I went to the store, and it wasn't there! We went through every article in every part of that section, and it wasn't there! I was beginning to panic! I finally tracked down a salesperson, and he said, "Oh, my employees packed those up to send back." Now I was really starting to panic. However, he looked in the stockroom, and lo and behold, they hadn't been sent back yet! Thank goodness his employees were inefficient!

Then we had to shop for the 4 year old. With all the toy recalls, what to get her? We finally settled on a 4-in-one doll carriage for her new baby doll that Santa's leaving, and some play food for her new Dora kitchen (also from Santa).

Would you believe I'm still making Christmas cards? I still have about 12 to make. I think I can crank them out tomorrow. I hope so!

It's very hot and humid (sorry to all you who are in the north and midwest with your snow and ice storms. I would welcome some cooler weather. It just doesn't seem like Christmas when it's this warm.

Well, we attended my hubby's Christmas party last night, and a Christmas party tonight, and I'm about all done in. We only have a get-together with my brother and sisters from out of town next Sunday evening, and that's fine with me. I need to make time one evening to go with the granddaughters to look at Christmas lights. We have some lovely decorated homes in our neighborhood, and then we go to the next town to look at theirs, and it's always a fun time.

So, it's off to bed for me. I hope you have sweet dreams, and have a restful day tomorrow. And remember to take some time to craft.

Cards for the Troops

All the Christmas cards to the troops have been mailed. Yippee! I had a request from a captain for cards for the troops to mail home, and thanks to Melissa, a TAC angel, I have cards to send them. I've gotten all my personal Christmas cards done and in the mail, and I'll be posting more here.

Tim Holtz has graciously allowed me to post a link to his blog. If you haven't checked it out, please do! He's doing the 12 tags of Christmas, with lots of different techniques that would be good for cards year round. I've put it in my links section, but here it is again... http://timholtz.typepad.com/.

Have a great crafting day!

The Stockings Were Hung...

I wanted to share this Christmas card I made for my youngest granddaughter, Emilie. I used real wallpaper for the wall, brick paper for the fireplace, stamped the fire, and used stickers for the snowman and stockings. The hearth and mantle were scraps of paper where I had used up some leftover alcohol ink and look like marble in real life. It was an easy card to make, and I'm sure she'll like it.

For those of you who are finished with your Christmas shopping, you have my highest regards. I haven't even started yet. I know what I'm getting the 10 year old, but I have no idea what to get the 4 year old. There are so many toys that have been recalled that it's scary. I hate to buy her clothes only, so I'm in a dilemma. I'll figure it out, though....I always do.

I've just about finished my Christmas cards, and have most of them addressed, just waiting for stamps, so a trip to the post office is in order. It's a madhouse this time of year. I still have to sort out some cards that are going to the troops and get them in the mail, so I think 1 trip to the post office is going to have to suffice.

I'll be back soon with some more Christmas cards, but wanted to share this with you.

It's me again...

It's me again! I had a brainstorm after dinner and decided to make this card. I love the colors. It's not showing it in the scan, but the poinsettia is pink, and the 2 colors look gorgeous together.

Just wanted to share.

More Christmas

Good afternoon! I've been a busy girl today. After making out my Christmas Card list, and checking it twice, I found that I don't have anough cards made. And this is after I made 200 cards! Of course, I mailed off 140 of those to the troops.

So, I got busy, and made 10 more, but I still have a few more to make to have enough for MY list. And hubby hasn't given me HIS list yet!

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few more cards for inspiration.

This card is a matchbook card.I really like to make these cards, and they are soooooo easy!



I liked the look of this card....very soothing with the blues and purples. In case you didn't know it, blue is my favorite color.

And a snowman card. I love snowmen! This is another matchbook card. The scan doesn't snow it, but there are also white snowflakes stamped along with the blue ones.

I hope you have gotten some inspiration today, and I hope you get some crafting done.

I have a busy weekend ahead...making more Christmas cards, going to dinner with my daughter and her family, and tomorrow we'll be going to the cemetary to put the Christmas flowers on my parent's graves.

Christmas Cards

Good afternoon! Hope all is well in your little corner of the world.

Here is a sort-of Christmas card. At least it's an idea. I love this painter elf, and use him quite a bit. You could have him painting a Christmas background, or change the colors of his clothing and have him painting Easter eggs, or birthday backgrounds...the possibilities are endless. I stamped him and masked him before stamping the background stamp. The more paper you leave around the elf, the more background you will mask, leaving an area the elf hasn't painted. The elf is available from http://www.mypapermoon.com. Just type painter in the search box.

Isn't he fun?

Being in Florida, I couldn't have Christmas without some "Florida-style" cards. Here is one of my favorites...



The stamp is from The Angel Company, and is stamped on acetate. It's colored with markers and paint and layered on crushed aluminum foil. I love the colors...flamingo colors, and this card would be perfect for children or grandchildren.

One more Florida-style card:



This one is also done using the painted foil technique. I love the lights on the palm tree, which I colored and then added crystal lacquer to make them shiny and have texture. This stamp is also from The Angel Company.

I'll be back soon with more Christmas cards to share.

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We enjoyed the day with my daughter and her family. Of course, we ate too much, but that's normal for Thanksgiving. My favorite part of the whole meal is mashed potatoes, gravy and turkey. I could do without anything else but that, even though there were lots more goodies to choose from.

I will start uploading Christmas cards, with the hope that it will inspire some of you. Even if you don't have the exact same stamps, you might have an image that will work. Christmas is only a month away, so you need to get busy, if you haven't already started making your cards.

I also want to thank Sebastian Elementary School for making cards for the troops. They are priceless, and I'm sure the recipient will be as happy to get them as the kids were to make them.

Ta ta for now

Tear Bear

This little bear was fun to make and really easy. It's supposed to be made with mulberry paper, but I didn't have any, so I used silk paper....still turned out cute, don't you think?

Anyway, I just wanted to share this cute little creation. I will definately be making more of these!

All you need is mulberry paper and a bear pattern. You use a wet paintbrush to go around the pattern, tear the paper, and glue it together. I used chalk around the edges to give it definition, and drew in the eyes, nose and other facial characters. Pink chalk on the cheeks, and you're done....if you want to be. You can add glitter, put clothes on your bear, pose it around objects (like cupcakes), have it holding objects. The possibilities are endless.

These would look adorable on cards or scrapbook pages.

Matchbook Card

I had fun making this card. I used a red cardstock, which I sprayed with gold webbing spray. I stamped the letters f, r, i, e, n, and d on red textured cardstock with black ink, using typewriter stamps, and punched them out. I then covered them with crystal lacquer and let them dry.

While the letters were drying, I took some clip art and went over it with "Old Paper" distress ink to give it an aged look, and burned the edges.

I folded the cardstock, which was cut into 12" x 4-1/4" so that there was about 1-1/2" flap on the bottom, and then folded the top so that it just barely goes behind the flap. I used the Scor-It board to make scores on the flap, and then put a brown in to age it. I used a "stitch" stamp to stamp between the scores for more texture and highlighted the scores with a darker brown ink.

After the letters dried, I adhered them to the cardstock, along with the image of the lady sitting in the chair.

I cut a piece of white cardstock slighly smaller than the inside of the card, and put it behind the flap and stapled it (so I will have something to stamp the sentiment on inside the card).

Viola! Done. A very easy card that looks very aged.

My Travel Card

Happy Friday! I hope today was good to you. It's been a long week, and I'm glad the weekend is finally here.

As promised, I'm trying to update my blog more often. Today I want to share a card I made. I'm not good at collage, but I'm trying to force myself to do it more often, so I become better at it.

I tried to use background stamps that would add texture to the card without it being too lumpy. You know how the post office hates lumpy letters! Anyway, let me know what you think....

It's been so cool for the last week, and I'm loving this weather. I wouldn't mind if it stayed like this year round. We've had lows in the 60's at night, and highs in the 70's during the day. Just about perfect, don't you think?

In upcoming posts I will share some of the Christmas cards I've made. I get bored easily, and making the same card over and over and over is just not my cup of tea. So, at the beginning of the year I challenged myself to make 5 cards a month, so by December I would have 60 cards, right? I decided each month I would make the 5 cards the same, but each month would be a different card. I was doing really well, and some months the creativity was there and I would make more than the 5 I was supposed to make. I was really chugging right along. Then I got a note from Soldiers' Angels that they were going to try to send 140,000 cards to the troops for Christmas. Now, I have a soft spot in my heart for the soldiers, since my step-son is among those deployed in Iraq. So, I got busy and made Christmas cards like crazy. You would have thought I was Santa's Elf on deadline. Yesterday I mailed 140 cards. And....I still have about 20 to send to my close friends and relatives that enjoy my handcrafted cards.

Now, here's the best part. I sent a note to my granddaughter's 5th grade teacher asking if they would like to make cards, too, and I would furnish the supplies. The teacher (who's husband is also overseas) thought it would be a good project for their "Caring for Others" module, but she's going to take it a step further and see if the whole elementary school can participate. That's 750 cards! Wowsa! I'm excited!

Talk to you again, soon!

Altered CD's

Whew! It's been some time since I've posted! But rest assured, I haven't been slacking, I've been busy making Christmas cards for the troops (140 of them), as well as helping my son-in-law start a t-shirt business. And I've taken over the accounting at my day job. And I'm working on a new sheet of stamps.

Anyway, I wanted to show you an altered CD that I did some time ago. It was a lot of fun.

I started out by painting the CD with acrylic paints. Just take a few colors you like and dab them on. You can add loose glitter at this time, if you desire. Let it dry completely. Then stamp background images using Staz-On ink. Then I used a clip-art image that I distressed to cover the hole in the CD. Cut a piece of acetate the size of the CD and stamp more images on that, making sure you don't cover up the clip art completely. I adhered the acetate to the CD using crystal lacquer. After it was dry, I mounted the whole thing on black paper, and framed it in a frame.

I'll be back soon with some more art....

Polished Stone

This is a card made with a polished stone background.


Good morning! I have had several people ask me about the Polished Stone Technique, so today is their lucky day.

This technique can be done using a couple of different inks, so I'll cover them both. You MUST use glossy cardstock for this technique to work properly.

Materials used:

• Glossy cardstockLeafing Pen (gold, silver or copper)
• Alcohol (or denatured alcohol)
• Dye re-inkers (or Pinata alcohol inks)
• Domino with felt on it (I used velcro on the domino and the felt sticks to it)

Directions:

Using Re-Inkers:

1. Using glossy cardstock, take your dye ink re-inker (any color), put some on the felt on the domino and completely cover the piece of cardstock you are going to use. You can use several different colors, applied one at a time, and blend together where they meet for a really neat look.

2. While this is drying, shake up your Leafing Pen.

3. You can either apply the leafing pen ink to a piece of felt (just dot it), or dot it on the cardstock. Then take the domino with felt and smoosh it around.

4. Spritz with alcohol and watch the leafing pen separate. It looks just like marble.

5. If you aren't happy with it, spritz it again, and rub the wet leafing pen around, then spritz when dry.


Using Pinata Inks:

1. Using glossy cardstock, take your pinata alcohol based ink(any color), put some on the felt on the domino and completely cover the piece of cardstock you are going to use. You can use several different colors and blend together for a really neat look.

2. While this is drying, shake up your Leafing Pen.

3. You can either apply the leafing pen ink to a piece of felt (just dot it), or dot it on the cardstock. Then take the domino with felt and smoosh it around over the inked paper.

4. Spritz with denatured alcohol and watch the leafing pen separate. It looks just like marble. You can also use the clarifying solution that comes with the Pinata Inks instead of the denatured alcohol.

5. If you aren't happy with it, spritz it again, and rub the wet leafing pen around, then spritz when dry.

The scans don't do this technique justice, because you just can't see the leafing pen and how it separates very well, but it is a really fun technique, and makes you cards look really elegant.

First Place Art!

The above card was made by Jean of Jeans Art Dolls (www.jeansartdolls.com) and won first place in the Blue Hill Fair "Art" Gallery. Very nice! Congratulations, Jean.

If you haven't taken a look at her gallery, I urge you to do so.

Card made with no stamps...

In one of the Yahoo Groups where I'm a member, we were asked to make a card using scrapbook supplies and no stamps. This is what I came up with....

I used a rub-on for the image, matted on white, put a few eyelets and ribbon on and viola! I was done. It was more of a challenge than you would think, tho. I kept wanting to reach for my stamps! LOL

I really don't like rub-ons. They never seem to want to "rub on" for me, and I end up rubbing and rubbing and rubbing and.....

Anyway, I was happy with how it turned out and wanted to share.

Encaustic Art

Good morning!

I'm trying to stay cool and beat the heat today, so I wanted to share a new favorite technique with you today. It's Encaustic Art, and very easy to do...

In this piece I used blues and greens crayons.

Here are the supplies you'll need:

• cardstock
• Staz-On or permanent ink
• stamps
• crayons
• aluminum foil
• iron

And this is how you do the project:

1. Stamp your image with a permanent ink on your cardstock. You can't stamp the image later, it won't stamp.
2. Cover the bottom of your iron with aluminum foil and turn your iron to a low heat setting.
3. Turn the iron upside down, so the aluminum foil is facing you and is flat. Scribble on the aluminum foil, melting the crayons.
4. Turn the iron over and swipe across the cardstock.

You can add layers of color as you go, and you don't need to make the entire thing color...some white showing through will give it interest.

A variation of this technique is to iron the paper after stamping your image, and while the paper is still warm, color the image, then run the iron back over it to melt the wax. When I do it this way, I don't take my time and try to stay between the lines, I just want the colors to be where they should be if it's a detailed piece.

Hope you have enjoyed this technique and will try it out soon!

Another Take on Foil Stamping

Card made by Pam Fuda

Here is a variation on the Foil Stamping that I gave you. Pam Fuda of Australia, has kindly agreed to let me post her card and instructions here.

Pam's variation is called Candy Wrapper Cards because rather than using plain old foil you use the wrappers from different colored foil wrapped candies to color the image. Here is Pam's version:

"Stamp your acetate with Stazon or a permanent ink and let it dry. Then run the image thru a xyron machine to make it sticky on the inked side. Now working on the back side tear small pieces of the coloured foil and lay on the image where you want it. Keep putting various colours on till the whole image is coloured to your liking. This sounds very tedious but it really isn't bad. If the pieces are small I find using a pair of tweezers the easiest way to lay the foil down and it does go fairly quick once you get the hang of it.

Naturally, doing this technique, gives me the excuse to just have to buy some candy cause I need the wrappers and once opened oh gosh, the chocolate has to be eaten and not left sitting out on it's own."

This sounds like a dream come true! Stamping and eating chocolate. My kind of technique!

Hope you've gotten some inspiration today!

Foil Painting Continued

As promised, here are 2 scans of my foil painting. Very easy, and they really look elegant in person.


The easy instructions are in my previous post. Give it a try, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Foil Painting

Good morning! Yes, it's still morning here.

I tried a new technique this past weekend, and the results were stunning. I need to scan a picture so you can see what I mean. And it was very easy to do.

I stamped on acetate with Staz-On, let dry, then colored in with markers. Next I crumpled a piece of aluminum foil and put behind the acetate. I attached the "sandwich" to cardstock with brads (or eyelets). It was gorgeous! I really must scan it.

Another technique I want to try is encaustic wax. I think it's so cool, and I remember doing something similar as a child. We would shave crayons into waxed paper, then put leaves on top of that, then more waxed paper. Then iron. The crayons between the waxed papers would melt and hold the waxed paper together, and the leaves were added embellishment. I think I remember making a frame for this and hanging it on the wall. So now I just need to get out the old crayons and play.

Below is one of the t-shirts that are available from My Paper Moon. You need to check them out. I'm adding more as quickly as I can.

There is a storm in the Atlantic named Chantal, but she's moving north, so we don't have to worry about her. The next one is rolling off the coast of Africa (so I've been told), so I'll have to keep my eyes open for that one.

Ok, need to get to work, so will talk to you soon.

Scrapbooking T-Shirts and Stuff

Wow! I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted anything! My only excuse is that I've been very busy!

I have new Scrapbooking Maniac T-Shirts for sale on my website....www.mypapermoon.com, but I'll give you a little sneak peak here...


These are done up on white t-shirts, and are very cute. I'll be adding other t-shirts, so be sure to check back often for updates.

I've been on a mini vacation, since I was last here...I visited with my sister and her family in Ormond Beach the end of June through the first part of July. We had a lot of fun and I got a little tan.

I also have joined Soldier's Angels, a very worthwhile organization which helps support our troops. You can visit their website here: www.soldiersangels.org. I have joined some of the card teams, since that is what I do best, but there are all kinds of teams there and many ways you can help to make a soldier's life brighter.

Well, I promise not to stay away so long....

Until we meet again.....

Hello...

Hello....I know I haven't been around much, but it's a busy time at work, a busy time at My Paper Moon, and I have a sick kitty to take care of, so I've been neglecting my blog.

The picture above was a scene I made. Lots of masking, including the circle. I like the way it turned out, though. I got the idea from Brigitta at Rubber Stamp Chat, http://rubberstampchat.net/. You need to head on over there and check out her gorgeous scenes.

I've also recently joined Jeans Art Dolls, another chat and gallery. You might want to check that out also. Lots of good stuff there. The link is http://www.jeansartdolls.com/. Very friendly people.

Now on to my sick kitty...he obviously was in a fight with another animal. I noticed a small place on his paw, but he's and inside/mostly outside cat, and he's not the friendliest cat in the world (except when he wants to be). Anyway, that was on Friday. By Tuesday it looked much worse, was much bigger. On Wednesday I took him to the vet. They found another puncture wound on his back near his tail. Anywho, they gave me antibiotics to give him and sent him home.

Zoom ahead to Tuesday. I gave him the last dose of antibiotics, but he didn't seem any better, so I called the vet and took him back. The place on his back had scabbed over, but there was a big pocket of pus and his foot was still oozing. So, I had to leave him in the kitty hospital overnight. They gave him an anesthetic, then lanced and cleaned the place on his back and worked on his paw. I brought him home Wednesday morning and he was not a happy camper. We now have a different antibiotic, which seems to be working.

So, that's where I've been....talk to you again soon.

Chalked Backgrounds

I found this neat technique for backgrounds and wanted to share.

You will need:
Chalk
Cotton balls
Baby Wipes
Matte cardstock

Rub the chalk into the cardstock, using cotton balls. I used several different colors of chalk. When you are done, wipe the chalk with baby wipes, blending as you go. The baby wipes will set the chalk, so no sealer is needed. I let dry naturally, but you can speed up drying time with your heat gun.

Your paper will have a textured look.

When dry, use Staz-On ink to stamp your image.

Happy Birthday Scotty!

Happy 22nd Birthday, Scotty! We are proud of you!

---

Scotty is serving in Ramadi, Iraq with the 3rd ID. This is his second tour of duty there.

Wild Thing and Dessert

Today's art is an ATC made by Andrea Cloutier, a member of my design team.

I don't have any techniques today, so instead I will give you a recipe I just got from another stamper. I haven't made it yet, but it sounds delicious, and I can't wait to try it.


Pina Colada Pudding

1 box 4 serv instant coconut pudding
1 can 14 - 16 oz pineapple (tidbits or crushed) chilled if possible
1 container non dairy desert topping (cool whip) thawed if possible

open - dump in a bowl - stir - serve.

This is an easy dessert for a last minute dinner or holiday.

Hope you have a wonderful week!

Inchies

I love spring! It's one of my favorite times of the year. It's warm, but there is a breeze to keep it from being so hot. I haven't turned my air conditioner on yet, and dread the time that I have to do that, so I'm just enjoying the weather.

I have discovered a new papercraft...Inchies. The jury is still out on whether I like to do them or not but I did make 20 last night just to see how it went. They are SMALL!!! There is hardly any room at all to work with. The worst part was trying to cut out teensy images.

If you'd like to see what I'm talking about before I get mine posted, just do a google search and you will find lots of sites.

That's all for now...talk to you again soon.

Crayon Resist Technique

All images copyright My Paper Moon

---

This beautiful card was done by Shelly Hinkle, who shares this technique with us.

Materials Needed:

• ¼ Sheet Glossy White Cardstock
• White Crayon
• Non-Smear Black Ink Pad
• Dye ink Pad (I use a Big & Juicy Pad)
• Brayer or sponge*
• Kleenex

1. Stamp your image or images in black on glossy white cardstock. I left a space open to stamp my saying later as I think it looks sharper that way.

2. Color with white crayon where you would like a highlight (white area) to be on your image or images.

3. Brayer over the image to cover the entire glossy cardstock piece. Start with your brayer off the glossy cardstock and then brayer repeatedly back and forth over the card stock until you achieve a deep, glossy color and finish. You may need to re-ink your brayer. By starting with the brayer off the cardstock you avoid getting smudges from the brayer at your starting point.

4. Let dry.

5. Use Kleenex to rub the crayon off your images and then buff your whole piece of brayered cardstock with a fresh Kleenex. The crayon will have acted as a resist in any areas where it was when you brayered the ink.

6. Stamp greeting or saying stamp on front of card, if needed.

7. Finish card as desired.

*If you don’t have a brayer, you can sponge ink over the images.

Candle Stamping

Today we will make this candle.The supplies you will need are:

white tissue paper
stamps of your choice
dye inkpads
white candle
waxed paper
heat gun
glue stick

First, stamp your images on white tissue paper.

Cut out around the images, leaving about 1/8" to 1/4" of tissue paper.

Using the glue stick, lightly put 1 dab of glue on the image to hold it in place on the candle, and arrange the images on the candle until it's pleasing to the eye.

Using the waxed paper, place it around the images and candle. Use a large enough piece so that you have a "handle" to hold. It will need to be tight around the candle.

With the heat gun, heat the waxed paper. You will be able to see the tissue paper heat into the candle. Keep the heat gun moving at all times so you don't melt the candle. You only want the tissue paper to disappear.

At some point you will need to remove the waxed paper and re-arrange it in order to heat the candle where the "handle" was.

Remove the waxed paper and viola! A beautiful candle to give as a gift or keep for yourself.

Great Freebies!

I know it's been awhile since I have posted. I've been really, really busy making stamps, doing swaps, and more.

I have found a great site and wanted to share with everyone. They have freebies! Check it out at http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/. And while you are there, check out the rest of the site. It's awesome!

Have a great day, and I'll be back soon.

Masking Tape Technique

This is a very easy card to make.

You will need:
White cardstock (glossy or plain)
Masking Tape
Several colors or dye ink
(or Brilliance pigment ink if you are using glossy cardstock)
Stipple brushes
Small stamps

Directions:
1. Tear long pieces of masking tape off the roll and stick themto your clothes. (Yes, I know this sounds strange, but itremoves some of the stickiness so it won't tear your cardstock when you remove it later).

2. Remove the masking tape from your clothes and tear random pieces of the masking tape into strips. The narrower the strips the better.

3. Place the torn strips on the white cardstock (see picture below).

4. With your stipple brush, randomly apply your dye ink to the cardstock, leaving the masking tape in place. If you are using glossy cardstock, Brilliance ink looks great, giving it a glimmery sheen. If you are using regular cardstock, regular dye ink works well, too. See the following picture.

5. Leaving the masking tape still in place, randomly stamp your images all over the cardstock, the closer together the better. You can even overlap images if you desire. See the photo below.

6. Now carefully remove the masking tape. The masking tape will still be wet, so don't get the ink on your fingers and smear it on your beautiful card.

7. Trim the finished piece and fit it on your card and viola! A beautiful masterpiece.

Dragonfly Card

This card looks more complicated than it actually is.

You will need:

• glossy cardstock
• a couple complentary colors of dye re-inkers
• matte cardstock for the backing
• stamps of your choice
• page protector with 3 sides open
• brayer
• embossing powder
• heat gun
• pigment ink

I used Stampsations #371H-18 (Whimsical dragonfly) and My Paper Moon #03-178G (Take a Little Time ) stamps, which can be found here: http://www.mypapermoon.com

First you will need to prepare your glossy cardstock. To do this, cut 2 pieces 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 (you will have one left over for anothr project). Put several drops of dye re-inkers inside the page protector and smoosh around with your fingers. But not too much - you don't want to muddy the colors. Open page protector and put the glossy cardstock inside, glossy side out (back to back). Now run your brayer over the cardstock until it's mostly colored. Some white is okay. Remove from page protector and let dry.

Once the glossy cardstock is dry, stamp your image with pigment ink onto the glossy cardstock, apply embossing powder and heat set. Stamp sentiment in same way.

I cut the 2 apart, but you could just as easily leave them together.

Mount onto the front of your cardstock and you are done!

Easy card that looks good.

The Forest At Night

This card was made using green and purple dye inks. I stippled the inks onto white cardstock. Stamp the fir stamp a couple of times before reinking, giving the illusion of trees in the background. Keep stamping the fir stamp until you have all the spaces filled.

With a white Galaxy marker, put dots in the sky to represent stars. The moon was made with a circle punch and white cardstock. Mat onto an A2 card (4-1/4" x 5-1/2").

Seashore Card

Today we're going to make a seashore card, which can be used for thinking of you, get well, birthday, or actually any occasion. These are fun and easy to make. There isn't a particular technique, so let's get started.

1. On white cardstock, stamp the seashore stamp (My Paper Moon) about 2/3 of the way down the card.
2. Color in the rocks and the water with markers or colored pencils.
3. If desired, you can add some clear glitter glue to the water to give it sparkle.
4. With a white gel pen, go over some of the water to make waves.
5. Stamp the seagull stamps in the sky.
6. With chalk, make clouds.
7. For the sand at the bottom of the card, I mixed a few drops of a brown reinker with spackling compound until I got the color of sand, then applied to the card.
8. Embellish with a seashell charm.
9. Layer on a complementary color of cardstock.

It's Been Awhile

Good morning! It's been awhile since I've posted. No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, I've just been extremely busy. I still have to finish up my Quickbooks for the end of the year, and I went to an all day workshop and learned some new folds and techniques, which I want to share with you.

We still haven't had any cold weather. I guess we aren't going to have a winter this year. :-( I was really looking forward to having some cooler weather.

I bought some citrus trees. I got a key lime and an orange (Tangelo, I think) tree. Right now they are just planted in big pots until I can decide where I want to put them in the yard.

Oh, good news! I am finally making it out of the 19th century and into the 20th. Yes, I know, this is the 21st century, but I'm not that technologically advanced. Anyway, I am finally getting dsl. I'm so excited. No more sitting around forever waiting for things to load. It's not the fastest dsl available (that would be 21st century), but it will certainly be faster than dial-up. Just need to sell more stamps to pay for it.

Ok, I'm outta here for right now. Talk to you again soon.

Cool Weather And Other Stuff...

Is winter finally upon us? I certainly hope so! We woke up this morning to much cooler weather. Yesterday I had on a sleeveless blouse. I can't ever remember wearing a sleeveless blouse in January.

It was very painful to have to get out of my nice warm bed and get ready for work, but I finally managed to drag my sorry self out of bed. Rachel and Scott must be nuts - they both had on shorts today!

The water temperature is 78 degrees, which does not look good for a hurricane-free season. The magic number is 80 degrees, and we are only 2 off and it's just January! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Enough about the weather.

I got a really cool gift from Andrea, on my design team. It's entitled "What's Your Sign?" and uses all the zodiac signs from the Moe Wubba Classic Collection.


Andrea stamped the images then decoupaged them onto puzzle pieces. Very cool. Needless to say, it's now hanging on the wall in my office.

Well, gotta get go for now...talk to you soon...

TGIF

Good morning! I'm sooooo glad it's Friday, even though this has been a short week for me. I'm tired and need to catch up on my rest.

If you would like to check out my My Space page, the url is http://myspace.com/mypapermoon. It's kind of cheeky, and lots of fun to load graphics and mess around. My jokester page, if you will.

Will do payroll today and close out the week, then try to move all my files to another computer. The computer I'm using here (at work) is not my original computer, and it's too slow. Last year we had 2 computers get struck with lightning. We had them rebuilt, and since this was the first one done, this is the one I got to work with. It used to be the one on the front counter, and it always had problems. Mine is now sitting on the front counter, so I'm going to transfer all the files and GET MY COMPUTER BACK!

If I have to deal with the local elementary school 6 more years I'm going to need blood pressure medicine or something. Late last year they put in those traffic bumps. Lots of them, and they are high. Also, the person who stands out by where you drop the kids off in the morning has a habit of talking to people, quite lengthy conversations, meaning the line doesn't move very quickly, and one of these mornings Rachel is going to be late for school. Then today, this jerk decides to drop his kids off before he starts around the circle, holding up everyone behind him. The kids weren't very fast at getting out of the car, either, so by the time we got to the drop off place, the bell was ringing. I hope Rachel wasn't late.

Okay, I'm going to stop ranting now and get to work.

Talk to you later...

Happy New Year - Late

Hello!

We spent the weekend in Savannah, where we visited with Scott's son, Scotty, who is in the Army and stationed at Ft. Stewart, Georgia. He'll be returning to Iraq for his second tour in the next couple of weeks.

We had a good visit, but let me tell you, it's going to be a l-o-n-g year!

We spent New Years Eve on River Street in Savannah, where we watched the fireworks at midnight. They were very nice. We came home Tuesday, and I'm trying to get caught up at work.

Hopefully, will get back in the saddle now (since there are no more holidays on the horizon).

Before I go, here is a poem for you...

A New Year, A New Beginning

The old year ends, a new begins
With pages clean and new;
And what is written on each page
will now depend on you.

You can't relive the year that's past,
Erasing every wrong;
For once a year - or day - is spent,
It is forever gone.

But don't give up in dark despair
If you have failed some test;
Seek God's forgiveness and resolve
Henceforth to do your best.

Resolve each precious day to do
Things good and kind and pure;
Though days and years may pass away,
These things shall still endure.

You know not where your path may lead
Nor what's beyond the hill;
But know that God walks at your side,
If you will do His will.

All things are possible with God,
Though days be bright or dim;
So do your best and know that you
Can leave the rest to Him.
- Author Unknown


Talk to you later....