I'm Back!

Hi Stampers,
After a very long hiatus I'm finally back!  Did you know I LOVE stamping?  I'd forgotten.  Really.  When everything is put away, the stamp room is tidy, the surfaces dusted, it's hard to remember, but it comes back oh so quickly!
I had to stamp for my oldest- it was her birthday season.  Here is what I came up with:

She has a golden retriever puppy, she loves children's storybooks, so the Storybook Friends set was just perfect.  The puppy on the stamp has spots so I used a marker to ink up the puppy and omitted the spots making him the perfect golden color (I used more mustard).  I then took my aqua-painter and "bled" the ink from the outline to color him in.  Because puppies chew everything I used the triple flower punch to make a chomp in the corner, sponged all the edges, and then used the airgun thingy (yes, I'm sure that's what it is called, not)  with the cherry cobbler marker to spatter dots everywhere, because that's what puppies do!
The words are from Family Reunion- I love that set, so handy.  I used some of my new accessories for my bigshot- the embossing folder is called something and the eyelet edge is called Finishing touches.  The brad, alas, is left over from Sale-a-bration.  Did you know that we have a new Sale-a-bration coming soon?  Check back for details.
I love making banners- they are all the rage right now.  To make my banners I use the square punch and insert the cardstock in just the corner and punch- perfect banner edges and a great use for my square punch.
Thanks for stopping by!

Summer challenge

Hi Stampers!
Over at the SU-Only blog is a challenge for summer.  After 10 days of summer weather on the east coast I'm feeling it (here in the redwood forest, as I have said before, weather is subtle.  Your average day is 55, your hot day is 60, your cold day is 50, 'nuf said).  I even wore SANDALS last week!  When summer starts heating up, well, when it gets into June anyway, we leave the coast and  go camping.   Our family tradition is to go camping on the first Sunday after school gets out- we call it "overpack the car and go on a long, hot drive on a windy road"day, most everyone else calls it Father's Day.  I wonder why my husband is not usually his most chipper on his special day...
Anyway, camping is summer to me so here is my card:

It becomes more special when you see the inside:

I think I'm going to send this over to the SoShelli blog for her creative challenge as well
I'm going to miss the Under the Stars stamp set that I used for this card.  I also used Family Reunion and Teeny Tiny wishes.  I'm going to have to challenge myself to go a week without using Teeny Tiny wishes.  Do you have this set?  Well you should!  And if you need to order it right now you can go here.  It is clearly a good value.
My husband is a great dad and husband, even on overpack the car day, so I'm happy to make a special card just for him.
Thanks for stopping by!
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Happy Graduation!

Hi Stampers!
Today my youngest graduates from graduate school.  To say I'm proud would be an understatement- she has worked so hard and done so well- I amazed.  I stamped her a card that I'm going to show you today because she will see it first!

I made a little purse too, just because.  Do you ever do that?  Just because?  I hope so!
This little card stands up like an easel and I will do a tutorial on it in the future.  Because I will be busy with family over the next week or so posting may be sporadic if at all, so please bear with me!  I will return!
But back to this project.  As you can see I used Concord Crush as a base.  I am redundant this week using the rest of the retiring in colors as well, Poppy Parade and Pear Pizazz.  I used Teeny Tiny wishes Stamp set and Family Reunion- I love when I stamp "to my daughter" because they are so special to me.  My daughters, not the stamps ;O).  For texture I used an embossing folder which gave the purse a fabric look that I really like.  I matched the card to the purse (obviously), adorned it with punches, ribbon, brads, a rhinestone, and anything I could fit on a 3 x3" area!  Did I maybe over do it a little?  I hope so!
Thanks for stopping by!
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