Merry Christmas

Stamps by Dream Impressions.

Let us remember the reason for the season, as we remember Christ's birth.

I hope you and your family have the happiest of Christmases. I wish you Peace, Happiness, Love, Joy, good food, good friends, the love of your family, and an abundance of good tidings throughout the New Year.

Santa Elf

Good afternoon! It's chilly in Florida, and I bet it's cold where you are, too. My husband's family lives in New Hampshire, and they have been snowed in for awhile, sometimes without power, and were looking to get more snow. They will be having a white Christmas, to say the least. I hope you are staying warm wherever you may be.

This card was made by Andrea C., using the Santa Elf stamp from My Paper Moon. This was an easy card to make, since there was no coloring of the image involved, and it looks very nice. I like the buttons and washers she used on the gifts.

I really love snowflakes, so I made this card using a die from my Cuttlebug. I put frosted glitter on the snowflake. I also stamped a small stamp and punched it out and adhered to the middle of the snowflake, then adhered that to a piece of blue ribbon. Another quick and easy card.

That's all for today, but I'll try to post again tomorrow. Stay warm.

A Moment of Thanks

Good morning! I'm sorry to have been away a few days, but it's the Christmas season and things are starting to get hectic, with all the festivities that go along with the season.

I want to take a minute to share with you a website called Moment Of Thanks. You can send a message to the troops, a picture, or a video. Let's not forget the men and women who are not able to be home with their families for the holidays this year because they are off defending freedom.

I think I shared this card with you last year at Christmas, but I wanted to share it again. I stamped the image (from The Angel Company) onto acetate and colored the back side with markers and acrylic paints. The acrylic paint is opaque, where the markers are transparent. Then I scrunched up some aluminum foil, then opened it up and mounted the acetate over the aluminum foil, adhering it with brads. I mounted this on a piece of dark green cardstock and mounted that on the tan card.

I will talk to you again soon....

Reindeer

Reindeer, originally uploaded by mypapermoon.

Good afternoon. I hope you are staying warm in your corner of the world, if you live where it's cold. It's hot in Florida, so I would actually like a little cooler weather for Christmas.

I wanted to share this little guy with you. He's not finished, he still needs embellishments, but he's layered on handmade paper and colored with colored pencils. He's available from My Paper Moon.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Another Snowman

Here is the Hero Arts snowman again. He's a lot of fun to play with, I think because he's so easy to color, and he looks good. Anyway, I wrote the "let it snow" with a white glaze pen by Sakura. The snowflake was punched and then I put glitter glue on it. I scored the background cardstock with the Scor-It scoring tool. There is some glitter on the hat and scarf, also.

I'm going to keep it short today, but I'll be back tomorrow with another card.

Hope you are having a crafty day.

Santa Tag

Good evening! I've had a busy, busy day, but I have a few minutes to share this tag I made for one of my granddaughter's gifts from Santa. I colored a tag with light blue dye ink, then covered my brayer with magic mesh and rolled it through some gesso, which I then rolled over the tag. You can't see it very well from the scan, but it's definately there. Then I stamped snowflakes randomly on the tag and applied icicle stickles. While that was drying, I distressed some stickers with blue dye ink, and applied them to acetate that I had cut to the size of the tag. Then I wrote "from Santa" with a permanent marker. I punched a snowflake from light blue paper and applied it to the acetate, then punched the hole where it was supposed to be. I applied blue stickles to the snowflake and let dry. When it was dry, I layered the acetate over the tag, threaded blue ribbon and viola....it's done. It's very sparkly in real life.

My legs are about to fall off. We spent most of the day walking through the flea market and another store, then this evening we walked through Sam's Club, and now I'm tired. I think I'm going to take a shower, and prop my feet up and read awhile before bed.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Holly Christmas

This was a very easy card to make, but looks so elegant. I embossed the image with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, then colored it with markers. Then I put stickles over all the colored parts. I stamped the Merry Christmas From The Partans and 2008 with a Just Rite Stamper (I have the round wooden one), punched it out and mounted it on a piece of red cardstock that had been punched with a scallop punch. I was very pleased with the way it turned out.

There is a little poem going around in some of the groups I belong to. No one has acknowledged who wrote it, so I will list it as anonymous until someone lets me know who wrote it. In case you haven't seen it yet, I wanted to share it with you. It goes like this:

Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace?
Or a Cricut, I said, with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him, "Hi Santa, " I said
"You know....good little girls should be in their beds."
"I know I should Santa, and now I've got caught.
But I was just so excited To see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look in this room where you work."
He shook his head quickly, and left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear.
"You've got enough crap, I'll see you next year!"
--Anonymous

I can totally relate to this poem, as I'm sure a lot of you also can relate to it.

The weather here is going downhill. It's getting windy and supposed to rain. I notice the whole east coast is having horrible weather today, so keep dry and warm where you are, and I'll check in tomorrow. Until then....

Do something crafty!

Season's Greeting Card

Hello again... This is one of my favorite stamps. I have no idea who made it, but it was one of the first stamps I got after discovering the joys of stamping. I put a red bow on the wreath, and colored the image with alcohol markers. There is a light dusting of glitter on the snow.

It sure doesn't reflect our weather here in Florida. It's 78 degrees right now! This is ridiculous. I had to turn the fans on last night to be able to sleep. And by the weekend I've heard it's supposed to be really cold. No wonder we all have colds down here. If you wait 5 minutes, the weather will change.

I've been busy getting stamps ready to mail to the Rubber Road Adventures design team. I can't wait to see what they come up with. What's even more fun is I have met one of the gals on the design team in person. I used to have a scrapbook store and Beki would stop in when she was in Florida. How cool is that? I love to meet people I have met online. If you haven't checked out the site, please do so. The addy is http://www.rubberroadadventures.com/.

Well, I'm off to do some chores. I hope you find a few minutes today to be crafty.

Poinsettia Card

Good morning! It's a beautiful, sunny morning here in Florida. I hope the weather is behaving where you are.

Here is another Christmas card I made for this year. I forget what it's called, but I love the look. The poinsettia (stamp by The Angel Company) is stamped on cardstock, colored, and cut out. I put icicle stickes in the center for shine. Then it's layered on a piece of glossy cardstock that was treated with alcohol inks. That was layered onto a piece of cardstock that folds to open from the left to the right . The cardstock base is folded to open from the left (mistletoe layer). The base of the poinsettia cardstock is layered on the pine needle background. I know it sounds confusing, but in real life it's simple and very pretty.

Here is a link to the Land 'O Lakes site, where you can print out to/from gift tags, as well as tags for food and name tags: http://www.landolakes.com/promotions/Free-Gift-Giving-Labels.cfm.

I hope you are enjoying the Christmas cards I'm sharing.

Punched Frame Card

Good afternoon! I apologize for not posting over the weekend, but I just ran out of time. Saturday was my hubby's company Christmas party, and this year they did it a little different. Usually everyone goes out to dinner and the company spends lots of money, and when we are done we can say we've been out to eat and that's about it. My hubby is such a good cook that this year he offered to cook the Christmas party fare, and we had it at his employer's home. The money that was saved is going to go to some needy families for Christmas.

Even though my hubby cooked all day, and served during dinner, it was a rousing success, and everyone commented on how they enjoyed the closeness and the food better than when we all meet at a restaurant, so I guess that's what we will do from now on.

Anyway, I dropped him off Saturday morning, and I went shopping the rest of the day, until time to return for dinner. I spent more money than was on my budget, but I got my granddaughters Christmas from Santa, as their dad has to take a mandatory week off from work after Christmas, and it's with no pay.

Today I want to share a card I made using a corner punch for the frame. I got the idea (and instructions) from Becca Feeken at Amazing Paper Grace. She has amazing projects. Here is my take on the project:

This card uses a corner punch, and is very easy to make. You can make rectangle frames, and I would think you could make circles as well. I think she has a tutorial on her blog, so I will have to check it out. All you need to be able to do is draw lines and punch.

I will post more cards this week (and onward until I run out).

Let it snow...

Good morning! It's a beautiful day in sunny Florida! But, I like snowmen, so here is another card using the Hero Arts snowman stamp.


Again, I didn't use traditional Christmas colors, but the colors I used work. I used the same little snowflake stamp stamped with Versamark, and also "let it snow". The snowflake is punched and I applied sparkly clear glitter, which doesn't show in the scan.

I'm off to work on some more snowmen, so I'll sign off for now. Hope I've inspired you and you get some time to be crafty.

Snowmen

Good morning! I hope you are having a wonderful day! The weather has warmed up here and we are back to Florida weather. I'm glad. I'm still congested from my cold last week, but if the weather stays good I think I can kick this thing. I have it in the first place because of the weather. Hot one day, cold the next.

Anyway, I have another snowman to show you today. This is the same stamp as yesterday, from Hero Arts, but I've changed up the background some.

Again, I am using non-traditional colors, but they work. The background has a snowflake stamp and the "Let it snow" stamp that are stamped randomly in Versamark. There is some glitter on the buttons and the cap, although it doesn't show at all in the scan.

Tomorrow I'll show you another version of the same stamp. Until then, do something crafty!

Another brrrrr day...

We are having a very cold day today. When I got up this morning, it was 44 degrees. Now I know some of you are snickering and thinking that 44 degrees would feel like a heat wave. But here in Florida, we aren't used to having temperatures that cold, so to us it's very, very cold.

And so, I have to show you another snowman Christmas card.

This little guy is a stamp from Hero Arts. I didn't want to use traditional Christmas colors, so I chose pink and green. Besides, I had ribbon in those colors that I wanted to use. You can barely see it in the scan, but I used a small background snowflake stamp, also from Hero Arts, with a versamark pad to make a little background for the card. I really like the way this turned out. I have some others to show you, using the same stamp, but they will wait for another day.

I hope you get to do something crafty today! Stay warm, wherever you are....

Frosty

It's rather chilly today, and going to get colder. Naturally, my thoughts turn to the snow so many of you all are getting.

I love snowflakes, and that would include snowmen. I remember making them as a child. Mine never were quite as fancy as the ones we stamp, but they were fun to make anyway. I think the best part was getting to go inside afterwards and drink hot chocolate. Yummmm.

For today's card, I chose a stamp from Stampabilities. I colored the snowman exactly like the image on the stamp. Even the shadows. Easy to do with copic markers. It's layered on a background of snowflake paper by Hot Off The Press.

Lisa Vollrath has started her Christmas countdown. If you haven't ever heard of this before, she counts down to Christmas with 25 days of freebies. There is a link on the sidebar that says Lisa Vollrath, which will take you there. Or you can click here.

I hope I have inspired you, and I hope you get to be creative today

December

Oh, my goodness, I can't believe December is already here! It seems like just yesterday it was summer.

I apologize for not posting for the last little while. I have truly been under the weather for over a week. It started with the scratchy throat last week, and by Thursday I was severly congested in my head and chest. I would wake up every morning with a migraine, which means Imitrex, but also with a sinus headache, which would only go away after standing in the shower with the water as hot as I could stand it, blasting the top of my head. So, I didn't do a whole lot of anything. I filled a few orders, and that was about it. Not the way I wanted to spend a 5-day holiday, let me assure you.

Now, on to better things.



I have made a variety of Christmas cards this year, and I want to share some of them with you. I think this has become my favorite. The scan doesn't do the card justice. In the scan there is a shadow on the card because of the dotted swiss texture, which isn't there in real life. But it's a cute, cheery card. The stamp was one I got at Michael's for $1, and it just begged to be layered on the red dotted swiss paper. To cover the seam between the paper and the embossed cardstock, I just put a green ribbon that matched the "cheer" in the glass, and it was done. I made several of these, and some of the scalloped circles are green and some are red. I'm not sure which is my favorite yet.

I'll post another card tomorrow. Hope you have a wonderful day!

Two more days....

until Thanksgiving! I can't wait to sink my teeth into the succulent turkey, the creamy mashed potatoes and gravy, the cornbread stuffing. I would rather have seconds of the food than eat the dessert. Yummy!

What are your plans for Thanksgiving? We will get together with my daughter and her family. We will have enough food to feed the entire neighborhood. But that's okay, I love leftovers just as much as the first time around.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving memory?

Here's mine: A couple of years ago my daughter was going to cook the turkey. It was her first time with the turkey, and she assured me and my hubby that she had things under control. She got up at 5 a.m. (unheard of for her) and got the bird in the oven. When we got there later, my hubby opened the oven door to baste the bird, and the oven caught on fire. He slammed the oven door closed, the flames went out, opened the door, flames erupted again. The house filled with smoke and the smoke detectors went off. Now, her house is very large, and with tile floors, the smoke detectors reverberated. Very noisy. We opened all the windows and doors and cleared the house out. Come to find out, every time she checked on the bird, she added water, so eventually it overflowed the pan and dripped on the element, causing it to catch fire. She assures me this will not happen again.

I hope you have been enjoying the fall cards I've made. Have a great day!

Only a few more days...

...until Thanksgiving! I love this time of year, with it's wonderful smells of good things cooking, the crispness of the air, and thoughts of friends and family. This card makes me think of living in the north, when the leaves would change to beautiful colors and you could take long walks in the woods.

Alas, living in Florida, we don't see much of that here, which is why I love using this stamp from Innovative Stamp Creations. As I'm coloring in the leaves, I can pretend I'm walking in the woods, dancing with the leaves.

The background was made with alcohol inks and staz-on inks.

If you are reading this through a feed, you really should visit the blog. There you will find lists of favorite sites and blogs, as well as other inspirations. Check it out.

And last, but certainly not least, if you are shopping on my website, you can use coupon code Turkey08 at checkout for free shipping on any order over $10 that is shipping within the U. S. This offer is good until November 30th.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Another Autumn Card

I love this leaf stamp from The Angel Company. This stamp is stamped on glossy cardstock that has been colored with alcohol ink. Then I cut it out. I used my little teeny tiny kai scissors, and boy are they sharp!

For the brown background, I applied gesso to a piece of cardstock, and while it was still wet, I brushed some pearl-ex over it.

The ribbon was silver, but I put some light alcohol inks on it, and gave it a little color. I stamped hello fall and the 2 leaves on white cardstock and colored them with markers, then punched out the circle. The larger circle was punched from brown cardstock, and I used markers to make it "plaid".

I hope I've inspired you today, and you have a wonderful weekend. I hope you get to be crafty, too.

Happy Fall

Here is another card using the fall leaf stamp from The Angel Company. It's stamped on glossy cardstock and colored with alcohol inks, then cut out.

I then layered it on 2 pieces of silk paper (kind of like mulberry paper, but very smooth).

I stamped Happy Fall and the border with a Just Rite Stamper stamp using brown chalk ink, then stamped a leaf twice, once with brown and once with an ochre color. I punched this out and layered onto a punched scallop circle, and layered onto a brown polka dot ribbon, which is layered on the silk paper.

I hope you have enjoyed this card. I am currently working on Christmas cards, and will start showing you those shortly. I still have a few autumn cards up my sleeve, though, so be on the lookout for those.

It's cold here in Florida, and we've had to bundle up to stay warm. It's a good time for hot soup and sandwiches and staying indoors and working on crafts.

I hope you have a crafty day.

Autumn

Autumn is one of my favorite times of year. The weather has cooled, I can open up my windows in my house, and it's just a beautiful time. Unfortunately, we don't have leaves that change colors as you do in the north, but I still like the cool, crisp weather (and being able to snuggle at night).


Here is an autumn card I made:



I love making this background. It's simply white cardstock, then I smeared it with a distressed pad (I either used Antique Linen or Old Paper). After it dried, I smeared it with a white Brilliance inkpad. I let that dry, then drew in my "boards" with a black marker. I think it looks like old lumber, don't you? I stamped the leaves on some "fossil stone" paper I had left over from another project, and then cut them out with scissors and adhered to the cardstock. The stamp is by The Angel Company. Hope you enjoy.


Have a wonderful, crafty day!

And we have a winner!

Good morning! I know you have been anxiously awaiting the winner of the holly cuttlebug embossing folder, so without further ado.....

I used a random number generator found at http://www.random.org/, and it chose #14.

And the winner is...Adair, who wrote:

I have many wonderful Christmas memories. Some of my favorites was when I was a kid, we would go to Grandma's on Christmas Eve who lived 200 miles away. We would buy her a tree, decorate it and go to bed. She still had the decorations my Dad made as a child that we would lovingly put in the tree.

Congratulations, Adair. Please send me your snail mail addy and I'll get your prize in the mail to you.

I would like to thank everyone who participated. I have read all the entries and laughed with some of you and cried with some of you. I appreciate you sharing your favorite memories.

Embossing Folder Giveaway!

I hope everyone had a safe Halloween. It's been raining off and on here for the last couple of days. I like lazy Sunday afternoons when it rains. I've been reading a lot today, and my hubby has a pot of chili on the stove. Mmmmm. Can't get better than that.


I have the above Cuttlebug holly embossing folder to give away as blog candy. But you have to do something in return. I would like you to leave me a comment and tell me what is your best Christmas/holiday memory. It can either be as a child or as an adult. I will give you a week to think about it and post, and I will draw a winner randomly from the entries. So that would mean that on November 10th I will draw a winner and post it here. You will need to let me know how to contact you, or check back after that date to see if you've won.
Do something crafty...

More Halloween Inspiration

Some Halloween inspiration for you!

by Randy Schoolcraft

by Randy Schoolcraft

by Becky Partan

by Becky Partan

by Andrea Cloutier

by Becky Partan

Have a fun filled day!

A Halloween ATC

Here is an ATC made by Andrea Cloutier, using the Grave Girl stamp from My Paper Moon. I think the background makes this ATC really stand out.

So, how is your Friday going? I hope it's going great for you, and I hope you are getting to do something crafty.

Remember that there is only a week left to place an order and get a free awareness ribbon stamp (See the sidebar to the right). Don't delay, get your order in today.

Next week I will be giving away some blog candy, so stay tuned and have a great weekend.

More Halloween

Good afternoon! I hope you are having a wonderful day.

Because it's only a little over a week away, here's another Halloween card:

This card was also done by Randy Schoolcraft using stamps from My Paper Moon. Randy is a wonderful artist, don't you think?

The weather is still gorgeous. I think fall has finally arrived in Florida. At night I have the windows open and the cool breeze makes for wonderful sleeping weather. How's the weather where you live?

I'll post another Halloween card tomorrow. I hope one inspires you! Have a crafty day.

Uncle Jumpy

Good afternoon! The weather here is beautiful, and I'm enjoying every single minute of it!


This card is on the homepage over at the Midwest Stampers Yahoo Group. It was an ATC I did for the Dark and Scary Night Trading Card Swap. Believe it or not, there are 5 stamps on this little card. Here's how I made it:

Using glossy cardstock, I stamped the skeleton sitting on the gravestone first. That also included the bats and the moon. Then I stamped the bare tree. After that I stamped the scaredy cat and Uncle Jumpy. I love Uncle Jumpy. He's so nervous about everything! He needed something else to be nervous about, so I stamped the raven stamp and then cut it out and placed it on Uncle Jumpy's hat with a pop dot. I colored the sky with markers, but they smeared and left lines. So, I painted the sky with Twinks, which also smeared, but when it finally dried it looked kind of cool, so I left it. I colored the grass with copic markers. Also the moon, and then put some stickles on it to give it that old harvest shine. All in all I was pleased with the way it turned out. All stamps are available at My Paper Moon.

I turned off my A/C at home, and I'm going outside and enjoy some more weather now. Hope you have a crafty day.

Happy Thursday

Good morning! Or should I say afternoon, since it's almost that time. I know I've been neglecting you, but I've been very busy with the orders from the virtual rubber stamp convention over at Rubber Stamp Chat. It was a smashing success, I'm happy to report. But, I had to make a bunch of stamps, so it didn't leave me much time to update my blog.

With Halloween approaching, I thought I'd share some cards with you. This card was made by Randy Schoolcraft, using stamps from My Paper Moon. That poor skeleton doesn't know what's about to hit him.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, because my hubby and I usually dress up. We start the planning process months in advance, and have been known to still be sewing right up to the start of the party we usually attend. We usually go as a pair, but last year I struck out on my own and went as Cruella DeVil. It was such fun. The year before we won 1st place as the Queen of Hearts and the Royal Jester. We don't have any plans to dress up this year, since we don't have a party to go to. So, I will have to revert back to my normal self, which is a pirate. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Tonight is my oldest granddaughter's first chorus concert, and my hubby and I are attending. I remember my own chorus concerts when I was in school, and then my daughter's concerts when she was in school, and now Rachel is having a concert. I love to hear choral music, so it should be fun.

That's all for now. Hope you have a crafty day.

Becky

Online Rubber Stamp Convention

Have you ever attended a rubber stamp convention? Then you know what fun they can be. Have you ever attended an online rubber stamp convention? They can be just as much fun. You can shop from the comfort of your home, in your jammies, if you please, and you don't have to feel guilty about wasting gasoline. Head on over to Rubber Stamp Chat and see what all the buzz is about. They are holding an online stamping convention in the Convention Hall. And lots of companies to choose from, just like a real convention.

My Paper Moon has a "booth" there, with a couple of ways to save some moolah. You can get free shipping on orders over $10.00 by using coupon code RSCFS at checkout, OR you can get 20% off any stamp items by using coupon code RSC20 at checkout at My Paper Moon.

Hope you have a wonderful weeked. I plan on filling orders... :-)

A new language?

Card created by Elise H.

The above card was made using the large awareness ribbon from My Paper Moon. I think Elise did a fantastic job, what do you think? I like the cuttlebugged background.

Have you ever noticed that stampers have a language of their own? I was just looking at the previous paragraph, and in particular at the word "cuttlebugged" and it made me chuckle. Now, if I said I cuttlebugged a background to my husband, he would look at me with a blank look, but if I said the same thing to a stamper, they would know right away what I meant. What other words do we have that are our own language? Let's compile a list by leaving a comment.

Today the weather is cooperating with my body shop experience (they are painting my boo boo), so all is well.

I hope you have an inky day.

Give Thanks...

I needed to make an ATC depicting Thanksgiving or something we are thankful for. I chose the pumpkins, which are colored with Copic markers. I'm kind of getting the hang of highlights and shadows. I think I did a pretty good job of coloring, what do you think? The stamps are pumpkins and Give Thanks from My Paper Moon. I actually made a couple of versions before I got this one that I liked.

I added a few more blogs for you to check out to the right: Paper Friendly, Artistic Extras, Tip Junkie, and Free Collage. Check them out.

The weather here is looking like rain again today. This is not a good thing...I had a fender bender that I need to get repaired. Okay, I crunched the side of hubby's truck when I ran into my daughter's van. Remember that? It's been awhile. Anyway, hubby has been arguing with the insurance company, and I finally took it yesterday to be repaired. The body shop got the wrinkles out and was going to paint it today, but with the weather being so rainy and wet, we decided to paint it tomorrow. So, I am driving around with a truck with primer on it. At least it's not wrinkled any more.

If you haven't visited the website in awhile, as time permits I am putting techniques on there, so check it out at http://www.mypapermoon.com/. If there is a technique you would like to learn, please let me know, and I will do my best to get it on there.

Hope you have a crafty day...

The Joker

Stamp Artist: Leigh Snaith-Brunton, the Sharpie Domino Queen

Good morning! Isn't the domino necklace stunning? Such detail, done with Sharpie markers. One of my favorites. The stamp is found here.

I have been busy! I have had quite a few orders that I've been busy getting out (this is a good thing), and my website has been wacky (this is a bad thing). I spent all day Sunday trying to get it fixed, but the server was down. It finally came back up, but there is still an administrative part that is still down. Grrrrrr!

I have added another blog to the list. It is a site with 101 different techniques for the cuttlebug, and the name is Mel Stampz. Check it out!

It's already been raining here, and it's looking pretty overcast outside, so with that I'll leave you. Do something crafty! :-)

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I have shown you this ATC made by Shelly Hinkle before, but it goes so well with this month's Breast Cancer Awareness Month that I wanted to include it again.

For every order I process this month, I will send a free small awareness ribbon stamp, but you must use coupon code Pink-Blog at checkout.

You can visit the Susan G. Komen For The Cure website here, and make a donation while you are there for this worthwhile cause.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Something fishy

Artwork by Jane in San Diego

The above card is gorgeous in real life. A scan just doesn't do it justice. It actually is 3-D, and the images are by My Paper Moon. The fish can be found here and the tassel can be found here.

Do you have any plans for the weekend? I just found out about Q-Fest, which is a local barbeque cook-off festival that's this weekend in a neighboring community, so I think we are going there. They also have a marketplace with arts and crafts, and I HAVE to check THAT out.

The weather has cooled off a bit and it's wonderful. I so look forward to this time of year. I like it even a tiny bit cooler. I like the colors of fall and the leaves when they change colors. That's one of the things I miss out on by living here, but I surely enjoy seeing photos of the fall foliage. Crisp mornings and cool days = wonderful.

Okay, I have some orders to get out and some invoices to do, so I'm out of here. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Do something crafty!

Happy Thursday!

Artwork by B. J. Kennedy

Good morning! It's been awhile since I posted, and I apologize. Sometimes life just gets in the way of what we plan.

The above tag was made by B. J. Kennedy, and features the "Friends" stamp from My Paper Moon. The heart in the middle of the tag is plastic and adhered to vellum, which is behind the cut-out. The bottom holds 2 cloth dolls. Incredibly cute in real life. The scan isn't so good because of the lumpy factor.

What have you been up to? I've been working on my Christmas cards. I have a few designs this year, and about 50 cards done. I actually have more done because I made some earlier in the year, but I put them away so they wouldn't get lost, and they got lost. I think they ran away.

I hope you have a wonderful Thursday. Be crafty.

Chocolate!

Now isn't this true? I made this ATC using a stamp from the Stampsations line at My Paper Moon. The coffee mug, chocolates and necktie were all stamped again, cut out and adhered with pop dots to make it dimensional. This ATC was made for a lottery in one of the groups I belong to. The theme was chocolate, and I immediately thought of this stamp.

Yesterday I added a link to my favorites named Go Make Something. I hope you've had a few minutes to go check it out. There is a technique there that I need to try out. It's styrofoam block printing, and here is the link: http://gomakesomething.com/ht/stamping/styroprinting/

If you try this technique out, please post pictures to your blog then leave a link here so we can check them out.

Be crafty!

You Make My Heart Sing

Good afternoon. Have you gotten to be crafty today? I haven't so far, but I will when I get home. I have some stamps to make, some orders to fill, and then I will sit down and work on some projects, specifically, an ATC depicting something to do with chocolate, and a card depicting something to do with autumn. I have already had my thinking cap on, and I'm good to go with the ATC. I am waiting on a stamp to finish the autumn card. Isn't that terrible? I own a rubber stamp company and yet I still am buying stamps from others. Actually, it's good for the economy, and I like to spend my money with smaller local stores and small internet stamp companies. I shy away from the big box stores as much as possible, and support the mom and pops.

Here is a card I made using the new gramophone stamp. This stamp makes a nice masculine card, and could be for any occasion.

I've added another link to my favorite links: It's a link to Lisa Vollrath's site, Go Make Something. Lots of goodies there for you to make, as well as some freebies.

I hope everyone on the gulf coast survived Hurricane Ike and is okay. My prayers were with you all.

Lunch is over and it's time to get back to work. Will talk again soon....

Becky

Heartprints Gallery

If you like embossing with the Cuttlebug folders, you will love looking at all the beautiful creations in this gallery. But it's not limited to just Cuttlebug. All kinds of pretty things here, and lots of inspiration. The name is Heartprints, and if you click on the gallery, the cards are listed by theme (and sometimes company). I found some very pretty eye candy here and wanted to share with you. I've added the link to my favorite links on the sidebar.

Becky

Your Journey

Card by B. J. Albrecht, image by My Paper Moon

We are all on a creative journey. Some of us may be new to stamping and just beginning our journey. What fun to learn new techniques and buy new stamps and supplies. Remember the first time you saw embossing powder melt? Everything is new and fresh. The world is our canvas.

Others may be in the intermediate stage, still learning new techniques, but now we have a knowlege of what the basic techniques are, and we have a lot of the basic tools. We are still thirsting for more. More variety of stamps, more variety of techniques, more variety of supplies. And we love to join swaps and see what others are up to, exchange ideas, and learn new things. Our journey is like an extended vacation. Still exciting and still lots of places to go.

Still others are advanced stampers. We are still thirsting for knowledge, and love a creative challenge. We may be strictly stampers with the traditional supplies, or we may be branching out into mixed media and other forms of expression. I don't think we ever get enough of our craft. We continue to learn every day and we are not afraid to take risks, to try new things, to get our hands dirty. Our journey is everchanging, we are like gypsys, going wherever our whims take us. We have a lot of stamps in our passport. And what fun to be on such an unstructured journey.

Think about it. Where is your creative journey taking you?

Happy crafting...

Becky

Copic Ciao Markers are here!

Copic Ciao Marker sets are now in stock. I have 5 different sets to choose from, as well as the blender pens. You can see them here. I will be adding other sets to inventory in the near future. COPIC Ciao Markers are the perfect choice for beginning artists. These round shaped pens are made specifically for those who want to try markers for the fisrt time. Solid polypropylene body is both smooth and comfortable, for a perfect, controllable grip. And they are double ended, and have a medium broad chisel tip and a super brush nib. The alcohol ink is vibrant and lasts a long, long time.

This is a card I made for a contest in a Yahoo group that featured Stampscapes stamps. Although I didn't win, I liked the way the card turned out.

For those of you along the gulf coast, please, please take any necessary precautions you need to take. Hurricanes are nothing to sneeze at (I was in Frances and then a few weeks later, Jeanne), and conditions after a major hurricane are primitive at best. We were 3 weeks without electricity, had an enforced curfew, and were generally miserable. It's better to be safe than sorry.

I will talk with you again hopefully this weekend. Until then, do something crafty! :-)

Halloween is coming....and new images are here!

New stamps have been uploaded and are now available here.




This card was created by Randy Schoolcraft, using stamps from My Paper Moon. Randy has created several Halloween cards, which I will be featuring during the days and weeks ahead. Randy is a very talented stamper, don't you think?

It's been overcast here, and a little on the windy side, but the good news is Tropical Storm Hanna passed us by to the east. Now we just how to keep our eyes on Hurricane Ike.

I hope you have a great weekend!

New Stamps Coming...

Watch for new images, coming soon!


You'll like these Victorian images. They are perfect for collage.

I Can Spell

This little cutie is now back in stock at My Paper Moon, for those of you who were wanting her. She was featured on one of Michelle Zindorf's blogs, which you can see here.

Celebration Card

Another pretty card by Shelly Hinkle using My Paper Moon stamps. The colors could be changed to reflect YOUR favorite color. :-) Here is another card made with the same flower bouquet...

Notice how it's backwards? That's because it was stamped on acetate, and the back side of the acetate was colored, then layered onto smooshed up aluminum foil.

I am thinking about getting in some COPIC Ciao marker sets for the holidays. Let me know if you would be interested. There are several sets of 12, and a set of 144, and several in between. You can email me at mypapermoon512@aol.com or just leave a comment. The prices would be discounted off MSRP, but I'm not exactly sure how much yet.

Hope you have a crafty day!

My Overweight Condition...teeheehee

Here is another cute card made by my good friend, Shelly Hinkle. She makes a lot of sample cards for me, and I had to chuckle when I saw this one. I have been on a diet (since I stopped smoking and gained weight), but I'm hopeless, because I love all the foods she has listed here. So, how can I hope to lose weight when I'm a food-a-holic? I looked into Weight Watchers, and I can't afford Nutrasystem or Jenny Craig. So, I joined an online group called Spark People. It's a free site, and has a lot of cool, wonderful tools to help you on your weight loss journey. There are groups of people with like interests, and if you can't find a group you like, you can start your own. They have goals, and incentives, and a lot of low calorie high taste recipes. I have found a weight loss buddy (and even a few stamping friends), and I think I may succeed at last. So, if you have a few pounds to shed, check them out. If you join, tell them TheGlitterQueen sent you. :-)

I'm keeping my eye on Hurricane Gustav. I don't really want him coming here...we are still dealing with the water from T.S. Fay.

Talk to you again soon...