Ahhhhh.......

Monday, Monday, la, la, la-la-la-la-la-la........

Did you have a relaxing weekend? As relaxing as this guy below?  Hope so!

My cousin-in-law QUIT her job and I'm so happy for her! I know some of you might think it's crazy in this economy but from what she's told me, she was OVER worked and UNDER appreciated - so I give her credit to throw in the towel.

I embossed this image with black powder on watercolor paper and used my Distress Markers to color in.  I had to add a There She Goes bee between the sunflowers due to a smudge - but I think it worked out pretty perfectly!

Her last day was Friday and we went out to celebrate!  We had FUN, FUN, F.U.N.!!!

Oh - and because I know she's a blog reader.................

You are MY Wonder Woman Julie!

Enjoy retirement!!!

Have a great day!

Thanks for your visit!

FTL207 - Happy Birthday

Wow - it's been a while since I participated in the Clean and Simple sketches but I was able to this week for Sketch # 207.  I made a birthday card for my cousin using some masking.

First off - I stamped and embossed this Stampabilities balloon stamp and then masked the balloons.  Then I masked off the rectangular portion of the card with post-its and used three different gradients of Distress Inks.  They look VERY close in the picture but were a bit more defined in real life.  I drew in the black lines with my marker to separate the colors.  Then I colored in the balloons with Distress Markers and gave them a quick spritz of water.  This is not watercolor paper so I got a bit worried that I ruined the whole card, but I hit it with my heat gun and we were back in business.  A PTI sentiment and some scrolly stamps...........and this card was complete!

Here's the sketch I followed:

Have a great day!!!

Thanks for your visit!

LCS -Day Three - Happy Birthday!

Have you participated in Lucy's Card Sketch week yet??  I hope so!  Today is my Day Three card and it's a very bright birthday card!!  I think I edited it with highlights a bit too much!  Oops!

I decided to go back to my DCWV 'citrus' pack for this birthday card and even though it's been freezing here this week in CT - why not send out a card that makes you think 'spring'?   

I don't think the card needs much explanation......but here's the sketch I followed:

Have a wonderful day!!!!!

Thanks for your visit!

Special Delivery!

I FINALLY inked up this Stampabilities stamp after buying it last October!!  Now, I only colored up two of these images because my coloring is pretty slow-going, but I did have fun making them.

I colored them up using my Distress Inks and water pen.  You can't see all the shimmer on the card, but it's there!!  I finished it up with an Inkadinkado sentiment.   Just a few more days to go 'till Christmas! Hope you are ready!!


Thanks for your visit!

Craft Show Week - Day 2

Hello!  Today I'm showing you some stamped candles I made for the craft fair.  Now - it WOULD of been smart to take some pictures of the candles BEFORE packaging them..........but.......I forgot to and I didn't want to unwrap them.  But, I think you'll get the gist of them.

First up are the snowflake candles.  Snowflakes came from my Inkadinkado set.

Next are my 'teacher' candles.  The apple stamp is from Stampabilities, and the apples on the cover are from Studio G

Lastly, are the butterflies from Studio G:

To stamp on candles, you stamp your image onto tissue paper that you'd use inside a gift bag.  It didn't matter much what type of ink you stamped with.  For the apple, I colored the image in with my Marvy markers.  Next, you cut out the image (you don't have to cut it out right to the image line) and I used a tiny bit of adhesive to hold the image on the candle.  Lastly, I took wax paper and wrapped it around the candle and heated the image with my heat gun.  The candle will melt a bit grabbing the image to the candle.  Peel carefully and you have a stamped candle!

The idea to recycle tomato/blueberry containers for my packaging came from Kerry at Kerry's Paper Crafts.   I 'believe' she got the idea from someone else, but I saw it on her blog.  It really worked out perfectly for these candles!  Thanks Kerry!

See you tomorrow for Day #3!!



Thanks for your visit!

Happy Retirement!

My friend and co-volunteer, Gretchen - who just took the ride with me to North Carolina recently retired from her job in NYC!  I'm so happy for her (and us at CT Humane because maybe we'll see her there another day or two!)

I used my Snoopy stamp again, which I colored up in mid-June.  This is perfect for a retirement card and for Gretchen, since she's such a dog-person....or a CSL/CDL (Crazy Shelter Lady/Crazy Dog Lady) as my husband affectionately calls us!!

It's quite a colorful card huh??  Lots going on there.......but I think she'll like it and I'm so happy her loooooooooong commutes to NYC are part of her past :)   Now she can go to her beach house and chillax like Snoopy!


Thanks for your visit!

Snoopy's Father's Day Card

I never got around to post the card I made for my Father-In-Law for Father's Day.  I've had this stamp since October and I finally used it!!

My father-in-law isn't one for hanging out on the beach that much...but as long as he's under an umbrella, he's happy!

Thanks for your visit!

Totally Hues Challenge#2 - Here's the Scoop!

Heather Pulvirenti of Witty Title Here started color challenges on her blog.  It's called Totally Hues and I was able to participate in her second challenge.  The challenge was to use: Aqua Mist, Ocean Tides, Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Fizz.  I colored up this Happy Hoppers image last week with my distress inks on watercolor paper.  The stamp is called "You snooze, you lose" and I agree!! LOL



I used three layers of Nesties dies and I embossed the middle panel with a PTI impression plate to replicate the waffle cone.  I added glossy accents on the ice cream and an A Muse sentiment.

Here's Heather's challenge if you want to play along!

Thanks for your visit!

House Mouse & Friends Challenge #89

Happy Sunday!!!  Wow - we had HIGH winds all day Saturday. Hopefully it will subside today. The good news was that I spent the majority of the day in my craft room!  I got a bunch of OWH cards done and also put together cards from images I colored during the week.

Today I'm showing a stamp I bought back in October and finally colored up. It's called "Hammock Hibernation" from Stampabilities.  I'm 'just' under the wire for the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge blog.

I stamped him with Stazon on watercolor paper and colored him in with my distress inks.  My brown paper is showing up as black in the picture and the green layer is embossed with a PTI impression plate.  The sentiment is from MFT.  He looks like he's got "No Worries" huh?  Hope this is how your Sunday goes!!!

Thanks for your visit!

Ribbon Burst Tag

I wasn't sure what to call this tag.......but I've had these ribbon burst (yep - that's what I'm calling them) for about 2 years! I got them from Ikea and I thought they'd look great on packages, but they never went on any. So when I was trying to come up with another type of tag - these jumped out at me!

I had three of them.....chartreuse, purple and emerald green.

So, quickly......I embossed a Memory Box stamp in silver for the background and then used distress inks to cover the tag.  I cut a smaller Nesties tag and used a Stampabilities To/From stamp and inked it up as well.  Added a button and some ribbon....then the ribbon burst and....three more tags were in the bag!

Thanks again for stopping by and leaving your feedback :)

Maria