Finally I stamped! Finally I have Kim Hughes stamps!

So yesterday my Cornish Heritage Farms order arrived. CHF ships super fast. I'm always amazed.

So I was just playing with the sets I got and decided to use them all in one card. *just one image from each of the sets*
I'm sure it's clear but I wanted this to look like those cute notes passed in school. Then I thought the doggie looked a little like these dogs me and my friends used to draw in school so I stamped him on the notebook paper too. The puppy and the "puppy love" are Kim Hughes *the link is to her blog, not her stamp collection* stamps. I LOVE her. Then the notebook paper is the lined paper background stamp and the background is the dots background stamp. I embossed the dots on the background. I didn't mind that it wasn't perfect and had stray embossing powder because I was doing the whole torn sheet of notebook paper look.

I actually bought the notebook stamp for my scrapbooking. I think it will be cute for journaling. :)

It's done... and so am I

I finished the wall paper removal. It was horrible.

I'm super tired, my back and neck hurt like never before and I didn't wear gloves, so my skin on my hands is all weird and also my hands hurt.

So I won't be making a card for today.

I'm super glad that it's all over though.

No more stamping!

I will not be stamping anymore until the danged wall paper in my bathroom is down. Giving it dirty looks is not working.


In other stupid news. Ribbons and Bows Oh My's Shocking Pink satin ribbon, although lovely, is NOT the same color as the awesome pink satin I've been using lately. I find this news, of course, to be devistating, especially as I orderd unspeakable quantities of it. I have sent an email to Johanna asking if she knows where she got the magical pink ribbon. It's the prettiest ribbon ever. I must have several hundred yards. (or at least 50?) This should be in no way a critisism of RABOM, it's not their fault I fell in love with irreplaceable ribbon.

In awesome news, I got my first birthday present of THIS year! So it was only NOT my birthday for like a week. *Have I shared my theory that it's your birthday from the FIRST gift/card you get till the LAST?* Is it your birthday? If not, A Very Merry UnBirthday To You!
In related bad news I'm gonna be 30 when this current birthday is over. (I figure you don't age till it's over right?) POOP.

Well typing on my blog doesn't seem to be removing wallpaper either, so I rekon I'd better get to work.

stupid wallpaper.

departure.

Yesterday I made two cards that were not in my normal cutsie style. Sometimes a girl needs a less cute card.

Thinking of You card was really super simple. It took like 5 minutes to make. The flourish thingie is by Inique Boutique. Their stamps are really cool and super inexpensive! The whole set of these was $3.99! The phrase is by Green Grass Rubber Stamps. I stamped it all with vintage sepia versafine ink then enbossed with copper powder.
there is so much shine on the embossing I took a second pic.
This next one has House Mouse! Now those of you who have known me for 3+ years know that I used to be a FREAK for House Mouse. I had like 50 of their stamps at one point. I have ONE now. And this ain't it either! Back when I was House Mouse Freak I hosted this HUGE opened ended swap. It worked like this, "I have these 50 stamps, if you send me images of ANY ones I don't have I'll send you whatever you ask for in return." There was HUGE interest and for months I got packages of images in the mail. I love that I did it now because I have hundreds of images of House Mouse, but seriously, my friends, do not do an open ended swap like that! It took FOREVER! :)

So anyhow I pulled these cuties out of my giant box of House Mouse images and colored them with my copics. The sky is cool gray 1. I'm going to have to get mine refilled. I believe this is the best color. I use it to add shadow to almost everything. Like the flowers, I only have one shade of golden yellow, so I did the shading with cool gray no. 1. The water, I only had a too bright blue, so I colored it with the blue then went over the whole thing with cool gray 1. I love that color. It's also what I do shadows under stamped images and the outlining effect if I do that. I also used my glossy accents on the rain drops. I love glossy accents. :)
Side note: I don't ever know what to do with these huge HM images. I mean this is cute, but I feel like it's too simple ya know? I think that's why I like simpler line images, seems like there is more cute fun stuff I can do with them.

It's Bella Time.

I haven't played with bellas in a while. Then my friend Joanne was selling hers and I scooped them up SUPER cheap. You really don't want to know.

So I need some cards and this is what we have:

This pregnant one with the teddy bear is one of my favorites. It came out shortly after I ordered a different pregnant Bella and I tried to convince myself I didn't need TWO pregnant Bellas. But turns out I did!
This one is called PMSabella or PMSbella or something. Anyhow I think she just looks happy and like she's having a good night of "me time" I imagine her DH is out and she's watching American Idol or some other show that is a guilty pleasure. Actually, that's just it, she's the guilty pleasure bella! Course if I had her figure I'd just be pleased standing around doing nothing. There should be a bella that is just looking in the mirror all happy that she's so rocking hot.
I think you can use this car one for anything. I have a friend who has been having car troubles, so this is a pick-me-up for her.

After I took that pic I decided it needed some glossy accents on the car. It is still wet but my baby is going to get up soon so I decided to just take this close up. I'm sure you can imagine what it looks like on the whole card. (But see how it's cloudy in places? that's because it's not all the way dry)

See how I used all the same papers and embelishments on these? I LoVe to do that. Less mess to clean up and they all went super fast.

Oh I went to this large art store her. A local store (It's Redi arts on Hendricks if you live here, you HAVE to check it out). I got 4 copics, to flesh out my collection. They only had expensive ones, not the less expensive caio ones my LSS sells. But I can't wait for anything, so I had to pick them up. 4 markers $25!! OUCH. But they are nice, and they can be refilled and they last a long time anyhow. Besides going in that art store is a treat. They have amazing stuff. :)



All stamps Stamping Bella EXCEPT "Be Happy" is SU and "You're so cool" is Green Grass Rubberstamps.

We all know I don't know who makes the paper, although I LOVE it.

Of note: I have like 3 square inches of red cardstock left. :( It's on my SU order though, so don't worry!

hippo, delight, sad, hi.

I didn't realize I have 4 totally unrelated cards to share today, but sometimes that's the way it works out.
Hippo card. The hippo and his cute butt tattoo are Gina K. The "L*O*V*E" is from the retired So Many Sayings SU set, the paper is from the dollar spot. This is the very last of my awesome pink satin ribbon! :( I ordered two spools of what I HOPE is the same ribbon from RABOM, so I'll let you know. I colored with copics. I drew that grass line myself with a pen.
Mint! I have been wanting mint paper for some time. This is the retired Mint Melody paper. Apparently everyone hates it. Not me though! Good news for me, I got PLENTY in the mail recently! :) The stamps are SU as well. I think they were last year's SAB set. I love this set. It's one of my favorite sets ever.
This card is for a sad reason. It's a RAK for a young mother who has cancer. If you are so inclined her name is Jill and she would love your prayers. She has two daughters, one about 3 and one 3 months. The cancer has spread. It's not good news.
The card uses the scraps from that salt paper I did, then a Hero Arts stamp.

This card is one that looked so much better in my head. It's not total poop, but it's not really what I had in mind. I had never covered chipboard with paper though so that went smootly and I am happy with that. No stamping either!

Oh guess what you will not see anymore on my blog! "I colored with my prismacolor and copic markers". I sold all my prismacolor markers last night. I figured out I'm really always prefering the copics so I will just buy what I need to finish off my collection of those. Or maybe I'll win a set from Gina K? A girl can always dream can't she?

And justjohanna sketch cards too!

I loved this month's justjohanna sketch so much I had to make 3 cards with it.

all images justjohanna.

Special Deal on justjohanna stamps.

justjohanna is having a special deal. You can get a bundle of 4 stamps at 25% regular price! Here is a link to the Special Deal.
I made a card with just one of the stamps from the Special Deal.

Isn't she a cutie?

Blue Moon Caardvark Challange

This card is for a challange on the Caardvark blog. It's called "Blue Moon" and you are to use blue or a celestial theme. I went with blue. Although I also have those stars, so I could claim that I guess too.
To make this neato background I took a sheet of watercolor paper and put it on this huge board I have for these messy type projects. The I added several drops (didn't count) of aqua reinker to a water spray thingie. With water in it. I sprayed the heck out of the paper. Really good and wet, Then even added some drops of the reinker straight on the paper. After that while it was still super wet I put corse salt all over it. Then let it dry over night. In the morning I brushed the salt off (some stuck) and this is what I got. I also sprayed the star ribbon stuff with the mixture too, it was white.
all stamps are by justjohanna.

More small cards. *see the trend?*

This giraffe one uses "Just So Hippy" by Gina K. I colored with chalks and a waterbrush. This is a new coloring technique for me. Glossy accents on the heart/balloon. It's tied on with that string see? That sticker that says "love" came in the mail with a magazine ad.
close up.
Next is a bug. I don't know who makes this image, it's the cute bug Linz gave me for my Birthday. (my last year birthday that I just got yesterday! ;)) He is also colored with chalk and water. There is stickles on his wings. The "bugtastic" is by TAC.
close up. the stickles are yellow, not orange, not sure why they look orange.

I'm really trying to make these smaller cards super popular. They are so fun and fast and cute.

Ok, time to go! Hugs!

Happy Birthday to me!!

LOOK:

These all goodies are from my good friend Linz. The blue cards are a whole pack of handmade "e" monogram cards she made me! The stamp is a cute bug.

You: But Erin, I have your birthday down in my book as May 9th

Me: That's right!

You: Wow your friend Linz must be really early

Me: yea, you think that ok! teeheehee

*dat's an inside joke, you send me a pile of cupcake and stamp goodies and I'll put a joke that is just for you on my blog too!*

Speaking of giving me gifts, (and what a great topic it is!) I found out who my BCBW SS was. It was Faith. Now let me tell you something, Faith embodied the spirit of the Secret Sister. She paid attention to my posts and figured out things I would love. She got to know me better by doing this and picked perfect stuff. I'm thrilled with the gifts I received, but even more thrilled with the friend I have made. I mean I knew her and we were friends before, but it's deeper now because of the careful attention she paid to me over these few months. I feel loved. It feels nice.

Ok, I'm off to look at my new goodies more.

Would you believe this package came right while I was making pink cupcakes?

ETA: the cupcake stuff came from Target.

And here's pics of my today cupcakes:

*live in the area? come on over, I can't have all these cupcakes in my house with this diet, they are strawberry!*

Triceratops in lilac.

Look, it's another mini Valentine's Day card!
I did the head twice and put it up on foam tape see.
I didn't have any paper with the pink AND the lilac color so I used my marker to color in some of the hearts on this pink/white paper. It's one of my favorite tricky tricks.
supplies; copic markers in pale lilac, lilac, pale pink, dark pink, cool gray 1, and black; whipper snapper Triceratops stamp, Gina K Just So Hippy set, for the phrase, The Paper Studio "Baby Pink Random Hearts" patern paper.

I added a subscription thingie

So in case you are worried you might miss a post you can now get them delivered to your email inbox.

:)

justjohanna catchup

I have a BUNCH of justjohanna projects to show you.

1. Kissing Fish. The paper has all that design, all I did was cut out fish stamped on the orange paper and put the bling. Super easy but cute too. :)
2. Mini card with scooter. I love this scooter. I love mini cards.

3. Chocolate cake. That's all I have to say about this. I mean it's chocolate cake, what's not to love?
4. I'm not sure you can tell right away, It's "one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" Get it?
5. Cake, it's yummy, you love it.
6. Fish and bird kissing. I love that. Also fish tail used as flourish.
7. This one is a Valentine's or Love card, only it's made with Christmas stamps! used 4 different stamps and only parts of each to form this image.

8. This balloon is colored with watercolor pencils and watercolor paints.
9. another scooter notecard. This one features a paper pieced background.
10. the scooter again (one of my favorite images) with butterflies. Colored with watercolor paints, on watercolor paper.
11. Cherry on top cupcakes. YUM.

Inky Raccoon.

This is one of my all time favorite images. My friend Sherri gave it to me. I think it's by Stampa Rosa. Also in my search it appears that I should have colored the raccoon gray. Brian insisted brown, but I wasn't sure. Stephen said orange, and I was pretty sure that's not right. So enjoy his brown-ness and next time I'll do him up right. No wait, look, apparently they can be brown. (that pic is super cute!)

Any guess what size this is?? ;)

More mini love cards

Here are more small sized Valentines Day cards. (they are all 4.25x4inches)

I did that frot with two red shades for the mushroom. I like the redder one better.

For these two the foam letters and the patern paper are from the Target Dollar spot. This is the same pink satin ribbon that I used on many other cards. I'm almost out of it. It is very sad. :(

But super cheap cute paper and foam letters are happy! :)

Small Valentine.

I am loving the smaller size card lately. I'm not sure why, but I'm just really digging it. This card is 4inches by 4.5inches. I plan to just put it in a normal envelope. I could make a little 4.5 inch envelope, but then I couldn't mail it. And I want to mail it. (although, you know what would be adorable, a custom 4.5 envelope inside the normal envelope!)

supplies: boatloads of love and loads of love SU sets, copic markers, some random paper with stripes on it, smooth bristol paper (it's the white "cardstock" here, I read on a marker artist board that it's good for marker coloring so I ran out and bought some, I like it), SU ribbon, pink lemonaid stickles (I put them over red marker for a reddish/pinkish look, and that teensy heart in front of "friend ship" is a heart raindrop I got in Gina K's store. Oh and nestabilities for the scallop and embossed rectangle. And I always score with scor-pal.

More Eat cake! Fly a hairplane

Stephen calls airplanes, "Hairplanes" and helicopters are "hippycopters". This kid is so obviously Stephen that I think of this thing as a hairplane. Now to make it even more funny, this kid has a monkey. Does Stephen have a toy monkey? No! He has his brother who we call "our monkey" so you see this IS Stephen and Ethan.

The patern paper is American Crafts. The stamp is Eat Cake Graphics and I colored it with watercolor pencils and a blender pen. Oh the little "you make me happy" is from So Many Sayings, a now retired SU hostess set.
I made some other cards this week that were painfully bad. I just keept going too, I should have thrown them out. I'm considering putting them on here anyhow. I feel bad though I used really cute stamps, I'd hate you to go sour on the stamps because of my poo cards.

Step-By-Step... well sorta...

I decided to take pictures of this card as I made it for a fun step-by-step card. But then I got a stinky phone call that ticked me off and ruined my day and when I went back to the card I forgot all about YOU and how I was taking pictures. So some steps are missing. (Side note, if you have anything crappy to tell me please not today)

On to the card!

1. stamp and color your image TWICE. You only have to color the parts that will be on top twice. I stamped on glossy cardstock, I've not used that in a while, and colored with tomobow markers. You do get marker lines with this, I just try to make them as few as possible. Oh and I do color the under layer fully, I might not be as particular about it but I do color it.
2. Trim one the size you want and trim the other out so it is just the part you will pop-dot. (that's what we are doing here) *tip: i like to go around the edges of the cut piece with a black marker, right on the edge of the slice of paper, this makes it look better when you put it back on.
3. Enjoy cute toddler who is checking up on card progress.

***this is when the phone rang errrr***

As you can see, some layering happened and I pretty much finished the card. You attach the cut car with foam tape. I did cut a teensy slice for the top of the car. You can sorta see the effect I was talking about with the black on the edges.
BAM finished card! I'm not sure when I added it but some extra light gray marker shading under the car. What's fun too is you can use any color for that. I mean it should be a light color. (someone I'm sure has done it with a dark color and it looked great too) I used my neglected ribbon whatever punch from SU for the ribbon. I hate that punch I decided. Why not just cut a slit in the paper? Wow I'm in a bad mood. The black layers are glossy cardstock too. I really like that paper, I need to get more.

all stamps are by Gina K, the inside message says "getting lucky means finding your car in the parking lot". I don't know any of the paper supplies they are all from my stash. The non SU section, so I know they are NOT SU.