Big news.

This will be my last post until next week. (trip ya know?)

but I wanted to say I got cool mail today! The brand new Just Cards magazine has cards of mine in it! :)

What's funny is that I sent them so long ago I had a hard time recognizing them. Teehee.

So that's cool and I thought I'd share!

Stampscapes Class with Jodie

Tonight I took a class at my LSS called Spooky Stampscapes. It was with Jodie. She's great. She's from Canada and my regular readers will know how I feel about that. (I like Canada)

The first thing I did was use this applicator thingie by Colorbox to make a background around this awesome moon stamp. I truly do not like the applicator thingie. If you are interested in one, it's a piece of foam on a stick, it's by Colorbox and I'm sure any stamp store will sell you one. Now this is NOT the look it's supposed to give:
It's the background part, other people who have skills in this did WAY better and their backgrounds looked like cool Northern Lights but mine looks like toddler art. :( I LOVE how the simple image stamps look so striking on it though. So this card is not trash, but I was learning ya know?

Next we used this stamp called "tonal applicator" it looks like a pear made out of dots. Jodie says, "stamp this on your scratch paper, ok I don't want to see you making THAT shape again!" OK, so how you do this part is you tapa tapa tapa over and over with it, then reink and start again. You do it in different color values until you get the look you like. Then stamp your trees and birds and whatever. SOOO COOL!!!
I loved it so much I bought a sheet of glossy and made 4 more!



This next one I messed up, I accidentally did the moon in black, you are supposed to stamp the moon in a mid range color. But with the encouragement and imput of everyone in my class and Jodie I was able to make something of it. "No Erin, more gray!" "DARKER, go DARKER" "Now blue!" "No stop! no purple!" I still think that it would be better if I'd not done the black but it's still ok.

I sorta fell in love with this "spooky tree" didn't I?

Ok, gotta go, we seem to have misplaced our cruise tickets and somehow it's all my fault! :rolleyes:

ETA: Tickets were found right after I clicked "publish post" Brian had stuffed them somewhere for safe keeping. SEE it's not ALWAYS my fault!

and also you need to go to www.stampscapes.com and look around, amazing samples and step by step tutorials!

More Eat Cake Graphics.

So the phrase is Green Grass. I think this phrase goes with EVERY cute card. I mean, you slap that phrase on a card and BAM! it can be used for your best friend, your best friend's kid, to cheer up, to congratulate, to encourage, anything! I think it might be my most used phrase. The kid is Eat Cake Graphics. He reminds me of my boys and pretty much EVERY young boy I know who loves to play in boxes.
I showed these robots earlier this week and commented that maybe they should have been gray like metal. I like them either way honestly they are so silly cute. But tonight I really noticed that they are on sticks. So robots on sticks? hmmm I'm not sure they are robots now? Maybe they are like puppet robots? If they are not functional robots they don't have to be gray right? Oh and either way I felt they needed googlie eyes. I LOVE it when googlie eyes land cool ways, like the dude on the left is looking at the kid and the dude on the right is looking at the dog. Too funny!



I have a stamping world concern to discuss! Why oh why is "gray" spelt either "gray" or "grey" and isn't one way the paper company Basic Gray/Grey and the OTHER way the "new" color from Stampin' Up Basic Gray/Grey? I can never keep them straight. Not to criticize Stampin' Up but it is confusing to me! Couldn't they call it Great Gray or something? I mean all the other colors have two part names that start with the same letter, surely they have some clever person working there who comes up with this? I only bring it up because I really like both! Basic Grey and Basic Gray, I love you both, but don't know which is which. I'd like to order some of the Basic greycoloredpaperandaccessories from my SU rep next order but will I look foolish if I spell it wrong. (Now is the time for those of you who are regularly horrified by my poor spelling to roll your eyes at me!)

Ok, I got that off my chest, I feel much better.

It's important, as I told Brian when I bought some dark gray pants the other day, "Gray is the new brown, which was the new black". You can pair gray with ANYTHING, because Stampin' Up said so.

bit of this, bit of that

I am having a hard time photographing single layer cards. I'm not sure why that is... Anyhow this one is all about playing with my new Papertrey stamps.
This card I really like. I used perfect pearls on the stars and one of those dome stickers Nichole sells on the ornament. Maybe it's too much shimmer? I don't know, but my story is, "You can use as much shimmer as you want at Christmas time" That's my story and I'm sticking to it. These stamps are all Papertrey too.
Well if Eat Cake doesn't want me to make a card of a dog peeing on stuff they wouldn't have made a stamp of a dog with his leg lifted would they have? And if this kid wasn't supposed to be peed on why does he have that look on his face? I mean it's not my fault I had to mask off the snowball that's hitting him and draw a stream of pee in is it? Then I just had to put some stickles glitter glue in the pee. Because realistic pee is creepy, but glitter pee is funny. That's a humor principle for everyone today, glitter makes icky stuff funny. I also drew in some extra snow lines, so the dog wasn't floating away in space.

New stamps

Earlier this week I got a huge box of stamps from Gina K. I ordered all the Carolyn King stamps and the Make a Wish set.
Brian and Stephen both love bears so I'm sure this little guy will be used over and over. I totally love how the Carolyn King stamps have phrases that go with each image. I have millions of phrase stamps but it's even easier to have them right there ya know? I colored this bear with watercolor pencil and blender pen. my favorite blender pen is Dove. (it's more like a marker but I think they still call it "pen")
This is from the Make a Wish set. I colored it with Tombow markers blended with waterbrush. I don't love this technique. You scribble the marker right on the paper then blend it. I couldn't get it to blend like I wanted. But it was something new to try so that's good. :) The background stamp is by Cornish Heritage.
I took this pic several times and I'm not sure why it's blurry. But in RL it's not blurry. It's a really simple subtle sympathy card. I really like this prhase for sympathy. I never say to someone, "I have sympathy for you" or anything like that but I totally would say, "Wishing you peace and comfort" so this is perfect I think. I have been on a long search for the perfect sympathy saying. Unfortunately it comes up a lot. I tell myself that by knowing and loveing so many people it's bound to come up more.
This is my number one favorite new image. It's from the Carolyn King collection as well (I got the set that had all of them) this little boy reminds me of my oldest son, who loves rain and puddles and has this stuffed puppy named "Puppy" who goes everywhere with him. I colored this with copic and Prismacolor markers.

New Cake

This one isn't so much a decorative cake as a YUMMY cake.

You take a normal white cake mix and all the stuff it says for it then add 3 tablespoons of any flavor jello mix. Then cook it like normal. For the frosting it's 1/3 cup butter 3.5 cups powdered sugar 3-4 tablespoons milk and the rest of the jello mix (smaller box of jello, makes 4 servings) then you mix that up and it makes frosting.

It's FANTASTIC. Really tasty moist cake and the frosting is totally different from any I've had. VERY flavorful and sweet but not crazy sweet like the buttercream I've been making. Delish!

ETA: I just ate a slice (I had only had a bite before) and it's REALLY sweet. It's good, but very, very sweet. The frosting is also very different from buttercream, it's almost sticky. I couldn't eat all the frosting, but then I never can.

Robot Family

This would be my little family. If we were robots. And had a dog.

The main image is Eat Cake Graphics. I just love this stamp. I rekon it's for a kid's card mostly. Or a really silly friend? Anyhow I love it. After I was done it occured to me I should have colored them gray like a normal robot then added color on the little accent pieces. I'll try that next time. I do like this super colorful one too though. I colored with prismacolor and copic markers. The patern paper is from the Nana's Kids paper stack and the little phrase is by Green Grass.

Random tip: I bet you ALL already know this but poor Erin just figured it out TODAY. Pick your patern paper out THEN color your image. I always get to excited to do the stamping and coloring that I do that then try to find paper that matches. I have a lot of paper, but still often would not have any that would "go" so I'd have to use solids. I do love cards with solids too but sometimes I wanted to use patern paper and couldn't. So that's the tip. And it's why these crazy robots match the paper.

In other news I got a KitchenAid stand up mixer today! It's dark red. Not that bright red one you are thinking of a darker red. I got the 450 watt one with the lift bowl. I got a great price at the outlet mall. Love that outlet mall. Anyhow there is a whole story about it and a photo on my other blog.

Snowball Fight!

I love these stamps by Eat Cake Graphics. These are actually two seperate stamps, and there are a few others of kids playing in the snow that you can use to make different scenes. I stamped them on watercolor paper then colored them with watercolor pencils. I added a lot of stickles glitter glue on the snow. The little phrase is from a hostess set by SU. (the one where you can cut it apart and get tons of little phrases.)

More Halloween

This one is all TAC stamps and paper, colored with prismacolor and copic markers.
This one is made with diecuts from my new Making Memories paper and diecut pack. The green paper is fromTAC and I stamped over it with my spider web stamp. I also put crystal eyes on the bat.

Spooky Pumpkins

I got up early this morning, Stephen was up already, I snuck him out of the nursery, leaving his brother in sleeping. We snuck into the stamp room (which I'd like us all to call the Studio now so I feel more artistic, you do it to yours too!) and stamped. Stephen didn't want me to take a photo of his but he helped me take this photo of mine. It was good fun for us, we felt sneaky stealing time that usually we spend all together.

The pumpkins are Eat Cake Graphics, the "spooky" is one of those dollar stamps from Michaels or Joannes or whatever. I colored with prismacolor and copic markers. The patern paper is TAC.

Speaking of Copic markers. All That Scraps you may know is one of my favorite online stores. They have the coolest stuff and great shipping. I was checking out Copic markers on there for a friend the other day and saw this new assortment SU Marker Set. Two ladies, Jeanne Streiff and Amy Rysavy (Amy is the famed Amy R whose blog I read religiously, and this is Jeanne's blog which is also awesome,) Anyhow, they figured out the closest color matches to the SU colors. I know I am a fiend for SU cardstock so I was very excited about this. NOW, if you are local here in Jacksonville, I still think you should be getting these at Scrap n Stamp they are slightly cheaper IF you are a member of the club and get the 20% discount on them AND you are supporting your own local stamp store. If I were not here in Jacksonville, with the awesome store right near my house I'd definately get them from ATS. SO to make my point finally: If you can't get ALL of the markers (like most of us, if you can then that's awesome for you) then I'd think this set would be an excellent choice. Ok, point made.

SHEESH I'm long winded.

Today is the day!

Have you been on the fence about ordering Gina K stamps? If so today is the day to do it!

I'm sure you already have reflected on how today is September 11th. Well Gina is always working with causes though the Stamps for a Cause program. Today ALL her stamps are for a cause. 10% of stamp sales today with her go to support September 11, 2001 Children's Fund.

The details are on her website here: http://stampingfreak.com/. (I believe this link will NOT show this info after today)

I ordered everything I wanted last week (expecting shipment any day!) so I thought I'd share the info with you.

There's never been a better time to get the Make a Wish or Love You to Pieces sets, which benifit the Make a Wish Foundation and Autism Speaks.

Thanks Gina! It's inspiring... and enabling!

Halloween Cards... you know... again. :)

This card has no stamping. That's unusual for me. All the paper and the accents are from a paper pack by Making Memories that I got at Target. Making Memories patern paper is thick like how the Basic Grey (is it Grey or Gray I can never remember) is. I used my sewing machine to stitch the papers together.
These stamps are Eat Cake Graphics stamps. I used the MM paper pack again. I colored the image with my prismacolor and copic markers. Tied a bit of ribbon on and the card was done.

More City of David

I wanted to make more cards with the City of David set. (I'm making 12 of them for my MIL to use this year) I went on the SCS gallery for that set and found this card. (<--- click that, it's a link to an awesome card) I decided to do a CASE of it and this is what I made:
I do like it but I feel I took a LOT of the orginal design, and that's ok but not what I normally do ya know? I try to only take one or two elements.


I did love my coloring though, so I made another card with the same coloring and here it is:

This photo is strange, I tried several times, but the red is actually almost exactly the same as the ribbon. So it really is prettier in person. I usually don't worry about color shifts like that, but this made it look like I used burnt orange cardstock with maroon ribbon and that's not true! :)

They are both colored with prismacolor and copic markers. Glitter pen for the accents of glitter. Mary and Joseph are up on foam tape.

I finally made cards! (and publication news)

I sat myself down and said, "Self, are you a cardmaker or what?" and then I walked myself into my stamp room and made cards.
This one features a Stampendous stamp that one of my friends from The Stamp Shack got me. Who you ask? I dunno... it was a secret RAK to make me feel better about not going to this big meet they are all at right now! I covered it with cool clear beads. :)
I'm not sure about this card, and frankly I'm not sure about this set. :( I bought it to do Christmas cards with (go figure) and my MIL actually paid for it in exchange for me doing a set for her. WOW, I'm having a hard time. I have like three, not very cute cards made so far. I'm gonna have to go sneaking around in the SCS gallery for it I think.
This is for a friend who knits. The patern paper is one of those ones where I should have bought ten sheets, I love it. I usually don't save scraps but on this I did, I only have a few inches left! The girl is a Bella and I colored her with prismacolor pencils.

In other news I'm published in the September Vamp Stamp News! Page 18. That's all the info I have, as I've not seen it yet.

I've been really busy.

Will work for stamps!

So today some people I know are excited to say they have been chosen on a design team! Some are sad to say they were not.

I know for me, I'm totally dedicated to applying for design teams! I'm determined to get stamps and not pay for them! There it is, my shameless confession: I will work for stamps! (Picture me on the side of the road with a sign on a piece of cardboard Asela and I were going to stage this photo for me but never got around to it. Don't forget to picture my hair looking great AND I've lost weight so picture that too!) I mean I'm dedicated, I love ALL stamp companies and I like to make things. I have, like, no life and can spend hours a month making you cards that you can then own the rights to if only you send me a few pieces of rubber! Ask Holly of Eat Cake Graphics! We have this arrangement! I think she's liking it, she tells me so and she keeps sending me stamps. I know I love it!
Alas my hunger for free stamps cannot be abated by one company!(As much as I love Eat Cake, don't think I'm some big fat ingrate! I mean they are just the most adorable, go look.) So I am a professional design team applier. I figure it's good for me anyhow, toughens me up. I only cried over ONE team this month. Just the one time. I had a bad month a few months back and cried so much DH told me to just make my own team and give myself my own stamps. (I have no drawing talent, he just wanted to shut me up I think, meanie.)


What on earth is your point Erin?

Oh yea, I did have one. Ok, here it is. I'm just a regular girl, I like stamping. I like the internet and stamp companies and blogs and message boards. I will continue to apply for design teams! Just now I applied for one and I think you should too. It's with Starving Artistamps (link takes you to the design team call info) they have cool stamps. Everyone has cool stamps. I wish all you, my friends, the best of luck if you want to be on a design team, or several. I dream of a world where stamp companies send us all stamps spontaneously because they want nothing more than for us to use them. Ahhh we can dream can't we?

oh and if you ARE a stamp company and are moved to tears by my plea it's not just a catchie title, I will indeed, work for stamps so please contact me. ;)

Hugs guys, I hope this was funny for you and maybe you will get back on the applying horse!

huggeronies. And of course congrats to those of you who have recently been added to design teams! Your companies are lucky to have you as all my friends are wicked talented.

The cupcakes in their stand

I decided I needed to test them out in their stand before heading to church.

Cupcakes.

I did actually stamp something but it's a suprise to the girls who it's for and they read here so I can't show.

But I can show these cupcakes! They are for a church potluck tomorrow and I even have a neato cupcake tree thingie for them. They are lemmon with rasberry filling and buttercream icing. :)

They taste good. I've been really good on my diet but I had a single cupcake and it was AWESOME. There is no fat in rasberry preserves! There IS fat in buttercream icing and lemmon cupcakes. :( Oh well you gotta live a little, and they smell awesome. I'll have to go back to chocolate stuff so it doesn't tempt me.

Do you live in the Jacksonville, FL area?

If you are liking the cards in the above photo and can make it to Jacksonville, FL September 22nd at 1pm you can make them! I will be doing these three cards in a class at the store here. The store is called Scrap N Stamp here is their website. In the class we will be using prismacolor pencils with and without gamsol, tombow markers used as watercolor, and a spinner card. There may be an extra special cake too!

These cards all use the awesome Eat Cake Graphics images, and a variety of fun papers and even one of the popular spinner cards.

It's going to be fun! You won't want to miss it.

see ya there!