A Great Husband

My fabulous husband (look, you can see his shoulder, right there on the right, just next to me...) took me to Madison, WI last weekend for dinner. He's been trying to take me to this great place, Quivey's Grove, for a long time. So he decided to book a room off Hotwire and take me last Saturday. OK, so that's so sweet, but EVEN better he looked up about six stamp/scrap stores and took me on a little shopping tour. He even sat in the car and read a book while I shopped! What a guy.

I made these next two cards with DP and stamps I bought on that trip. I'll have to edit later with actual manufacturers.

The square card uses a Lockhart stamp, which I colored with my Copics. I also bought this "Shapeabilities" from Spellbinders to make the tag.

This card is a tri-fold. I used some fabulous DP to cover the front two panels. I love all of the color! The stamp is from PrintWorks, which I found at this little regional chain in Wisconsin, Scrapbook & Stamping Memories. I love the image so much and it is really simple to color in with Copics.

OK, I do realize that every card I make is crooked in some way. I guess that is something I should strive to fix.

So now I am back to reality. I am writing a paper for my summer class on the Constitutionality of School Fees. Yes, they are Federally Constitutional, but some state constitutions require FREE schools. Illinois is one of them, therefore I am scratching my head about the annual registration fees. Hmmm...

Have a great day!

Two more cards

This card took on several new faces until I finally got something that looked good. At first, it was intended to have the Elzy on the card below...but for some reason it didn't work. (Something to do with horizontal and vertical spacing, I'm sure.)

I don't remember the manufacturer of the stamp set with the trees (I bought it at Archivers), but the sentiment is the first of Verve's Plain Janes. It is beautiful, and it stamps perfectly.

I can never quite come up with the right sentiment for this Elzy, but I think this works. I used the Pretty Little Papers that I bought at A Muse in Seattle, and also I paper-pieced Elzy's dress. I LOVE paper-piecing.

Addition: Verse stamp by PrintWorks Collection, Inc. which I purchased at Hobby Lobby. It is a clear set of eight verses.

Have a great day!

Amuzapalooza

I was excited to receive a call from my LSS The Cottage Stamper that I won the 1st prize from their Amusapalooza celebration. Woohoo!

It is a cute little red bag (back left) filled with fabulous AMuse products, including two of their new clear stamp sets, card blanks, pretty little papers and new Christmas stamps. The Cottage Stamper also included a package of inks from Colorbox.

I never win anything, and now I've won this and also a set of Creative Play stamps from Patti Gingrich's blog. My luck must be changin'! I am so blessed.

Another Copic Card

This seahorse and oyster by Outlines Rubber Stamp Co. was colored using Copics and Spica Glitter Pens. I also used a pearl embellishment in the oyster and dimensional bubbles (some of which cannot be seen in this photo), which give it a whimsical look.

This card is going out to my good friends Rusty and Leanne on Whidbey Island, who have just built their dream home. It has a view the water and snowcapped Mt. Baker from the entire northeast side of their house. It is just grand, and they are wonderful people who deserve such a blessing. We enjoyed a fabulous dinner catching up with them.

Savannah Sparkles

I found this Cosmos & Mimosa dress from the Le Fleur Couture line by Lockhart Stamp Co. at Stampadoodle. It is perfect for a note to my Savannah, who truly sparkles.

Turns out Lockhart Stamp Co. is from Redmond, WA, same place as Microsoft. Just a little geography trivia.

The "You Sparkle" sentiment must be a Stampadoodle original, as there is no information on the stamp itself. I love this sentiment, it fits just about anyone on any given day! All of the paper is just scraps, so I don't know where it came from. But the exciting part of this card is that it is colored with Copics. I love the sketch tip, makes coloring so easy. I'm not a "shader" or a "blender" yet, but I love the functionality of Copics.

I have a few more Lockhart stamps on my wish list!

Jumping for (Macie) Joy

I've been busily stamping for the past few days and have really enjoyed a few new stamps. I ordered Melanie Muenchinger's "Jumping for Joy" from Gina K. Designs. I absolutely love the dancing zebra...reminds me of my happy Macie Joy. So I made this very quick card for her.
This set is so versatile, comes with many sentiments and adorable characters.

I also used AMuse's new polka dotted card stock, and adhesive ribbon that I picked up from Michaels. The sentiment is from Autumn Leaves "Everyday Sentiments."

We made it!

Ayden and I made it to the Amuse boutique. It is a tiny shop in North Seattle.

Isn't he precious? Ayden is a cancer survivor (Neuroblastoma--a rare childhood cancer) but you would never know that by spending any time with him. He and I had a fabulous two days, riding the bus all over Seattle. That was his only request, "Ride the bus?" and how could Auntie deny that adorable little face?

Back to the stamps, A Muse was very fun and as always there were many, many cute stamps. As you can see in the window, they made paper lanterns of their new cardstock...very fun. We missed Amuseapalooza in Seattle by about a week, but I was able to see the new Christmas stamps at my LSS, The Cottage Stamper in St. Charles, IL.

Also on my trip, I stopped at Stampadoodle, one of my mom's favorite stamp stores. (Their web site just doesn't do the store any justice. It is fabulous!) They have tons and tons of wood mounted stamps and also Nestabilities. I found this fabulous crab from Impression Obsession. I am experimenting coloring it with my Copics. Not ready for prime-time yet!

I've been stamping and organizing since I've been home. Later I will post my newest cards and my new stamp organizer. Hope you're having a fabulous summer!