What This Woman Wants

I have missed stamping and swapping and all the friendships I have made online along the way. As soon as I finished my 'Seasons of the Forest' cards, I went looking for another swap. Barb (another favorite SCS'er) had a new swap, "What Women Want". I read the description and headed into The Refuge. There on my desk was my one and only Pure Innocence stamp from MFT. I had not yet gotten around to putting her away after she had arrived several weeks before, mostly due to the fact that my desk, floor, shelves, etc had been completely buried for many months. Fortunately, last weekend I thoroughly, though admittedly not completely, cleaned the Refuge. Serendipity; It was as though she was waiting for this moment.Too hokey? OK, well, there she was on the desk anyway.

Next I went to Tuesday Morning Sketches(#188) for my plan, as I have long been a fan. (I'm a poet and I did not know it) (I guess I am more tired than I realized, sorry)

This woman loves to watch and listen to Princess A make music. She has played the violin since she was seven and it is a joy to see her on stage, rare though those occasions may be. On Friday and Saturday, March 8th and 9th she was due to participate in the Eastern Regional Middle School Music Festival, invitation by audition only I have to brag, but it has been postponed for a week due to our excessive snow fall on the 8th. Therefore on March 16th, I will be there in the audience excitedly waiting to see her and the rest of the orchestra.

What a woman wants is to see and hear her talented, hard-working and beautiful Princess perform on the violin






Card Details:
Image: MFT
Sentiment: N/A
Cardstock: SU, GP
Ink: Memento
Tools: Marvy Corner Rounder punch
Coloring: Prismacolor markers
Embellies: Martha Stewart ribbon, SU button



This post is also being linked to Loves Rubberstamps Challenge Blog (Week 42) - Anything Goes!

Love my Elzys!

Today was my first foray back to stamping in a few weeks. What better way to come back than with a card for "My Favorite Stamp Evah" swap? I had trouble with this one only in that it was so hard to choose a stamp - I don't have one favorite. I sure do adore those Elzybells, though!

Given the chance, Princess A would spend all her time in the swing; alas there is school, and violin lessons, and homework, and practicing, and chores, and... well, you get the idea. But this little Elzy has no such constraints.

The sketch is from Sweet Sketch Wednesday (#47) with one of the elements removed, which seems to be my method lately.

Thanks for sticking with me through my 'radio silence'. I hope to be able to find more time to stamp (among other things) again.







Card Details:
Image: Elzybells Art Stamps
Sentiment: SU
Cardstock: GP, SU, DCWV
Ink: Memento
Tools: Nesties, SU punch
Coloring: Prismacolor markers
Embellies: paper piecing

Every Little Girl is a Princess

I made this card for celestial_stamper's "I'm a Princess" swap over on SCS. I have had this stamp set forever, but as I tend to put off assembling stamps, this one got shoved in a drawer. Now that I have been getting more and more into unmounteds, I pulled her out and inked her up.

Missy B Designs sold this set as a fundraiser for children's cancer research and it is now sold out. I don't believe it will be available again. Sorry to be such a tease, but like I said, it is an old set...

The sentiment is from the same set, and so true, don't you think? At least I hope Princess A remembers this when she starts dating - if he doesn't treat her like Royalty, he is not worth her time. Since she is only 10, I don't think I need concern myself right now.

The crown paper is from Imaginisce. The White is Georgia Pacific 110 lb from Walmart, believe it or not, and the Pink is from SU.

I used the D'Vine Swirls embossing folder cuz I liked the way the swirls kinda matched the swirls in the crowns. Her dress was paper pieced from the Spring Matstack from DCWV; again echoing the swirls of the crowns. The baubles came from a recent swap and the "princess" is mounted on pop-dots. Finally the sentiment is stamped in Pretty in Pink (SU) to match the cardstock.

Around her neck is a jewel embellished with Cotton Candy Stickles; the hem of her dress is trimmed with Crystal Stickles.

Princess A has already requested one of the extras for her own.

Lands' End Elzy

It is Saturday and for once I am organized and ready to participate in the Super Saturday Challenge! This week a sketch invented and hosted by Gabby. Though you should go check out both Mel's and Joni's entries as they are FABULOUS (and also because those two ladies are the hostesses on other weeks).

So here she is, my little Elzybell. Every time I look at her I am reminded of those matching raincoat and rain boots sets at Lands' End. I have always thought they were so cute, but couldn't justify the cost. Especially as Princess A isn't overwhelmed with desire for them.

It is hard to tell in the photo (and frankly hard to tell on the card), but the bottom-most background has subtle water colored flowers. The raindrops are made from a Fiskar's Texture plate run through the Cuttlebug with an old mouse pad. The flowered panel and the flowers in the paper piecing are the other side of the blue water color background. This is how I make sure my colors match and papers coordinate. Pretty slick, eh? All cardstock and dp is from SU except for the white which comes from PTI. I almost forgot to mention that Miss Elzy and her matte are cut out with Nestabilities via my faithful Cuttlebug.

The rhinestone brad is also SU; the flowers it attaches a gift from one of my many Divine Secret Siblings rounds. The little bit of coloring was done with Prismacolor Markers.

Today is sunny and warm, but the clouds will be rolling in and this will be Princess A tomorrow. Even down to the blond hair, but sadly without the coordinating rain outfit.

Spring Fever (But Not in a Good Way)

What's this?! A second post in ONE DAY? Don't think it will become a habit, but I found this challenge from following Miss Sandra's card and could not resist.


The lighting here is not the best, but when I held the dp up to the photo of the pillows on my monitor, the colors really were the same...

Poor Riley has Spring Fever, but not in a good way. His thermometer is almost completely red; I don't think he will be getting out of bed for quite some time. Fortunately, someone has made him a bowl of chicken soup (charm courtesy of Hanna Stamps) and has fluffed his pillows and tucked him in with his lovely matching sheets.

Designer paper is from SU, as is the 'Certainly Celery' cardstock. The white is PTI; and what isn't paper pieced is colored with Prismacolor Markers

The layout is from SCS Sketch Challenge 02, but my main focus was, of course, the Hanna Stamps Challenge mentioned above

Fat Sunday

I admit it. This morning I let Princess A have birthday cake for breakfast. (We had leftover cakes from two different parties - what was I to do?) For a mid-morning snack she had Cheetos Puffs, while I had chips and dip. (Yeah, I know. No excuse for this.) Though Main Squeeze acted disgusted, I notice he also partook of the junk food diet day. There is no more junk to be had on the 24th (Mardi Gras) so I have dubbed today "Fat Sunday".

Ironically, I spent a good portion of the day working on my Mardi Gras cards for the Sisterhood. (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Cards is a group on SCS that swaps a different set of cards each month. A different hostess from the Sisterhood chooses her theme, collects the cards and trades them out to the other sisters.) Mary's theme was such a challenge for me. I had come up with an idea right away, but just could not make it work. Nor could I get that idea out of my head to make room for a new. (The space in there is clearly quite limited)

I have to give a big shoutout to Jan R, for had I not run into her the other day at NESC, I expect I would still be stumped. Fortunately for me, Jan was carrying some dp that was purple, green and gold. (On the back side, was the same print, but smaller and shaped as the #3. It occurs to me I may have inadvertently grabbed Dale Earnhardt paper. But am stumped as to how I know that he was #3...) But hey, it was the right colors AND it was from the sale bin! Not having any idea what I would do with it, but knowing it would very likely come in handy, I bought three sheets. Thanks Jan for showing me the way!

All stamps are the Voila set from SU. The dp is from Scrappin Sports & More (looks like I was right about that Dale Earnhardt hunch). Both the chef's tie and the covered dish are paper pieced onto a cut out of the chef from the same dp. (The silver card stock is from SU, however) His face and hand is colored with Prismacolor markers (light peach to be exact). All of these are popped up from the card with SU's stampin dimensionals. Finally, on his coat, I added self adhesive gemstones from Crafts Etc.
The final card may look simple at first glance, but it sure was a lot of work. And with a little help from Priority Mail service from the USPS, will arrive in MD on time!
Bon Appetit!!

Birthday Card from Mel

Mel is Princess A's very special stuffed rabbit. He goes everywhere with her and does everything. My camera tends to look much like Calvin and Hobbes with photos of this bunny doing all sorts of things. His favorite story is, of course, The Velveteen Rabbit.

Today Mel asked if he could be the one to make the birthday card for Princess A - her birthday is tomorrow. As you can see in the photo, he modeled it after himself. He is planning on buying out the entire supply of MFT's Flopsey Bunny line because of its remarkable similarity to him. (Yes he is a bit egocentric, but what else can you expect from a stuffed bunny?)

The bunny's overalls are paper pieced with the backside of the designer paper (from Imaginisce). All other coloring is with Prismacolor Markers. The bunny is MFT (as mentioned above) and the sentiment, hearts and flowers are all from the Loads of Love set by SU, as is the cardstock.

First Card of the New Year

I cannot help but think of The Polar Express and "the first gift of Christmas" as I post about my first card of 2009.

This morning I found myself without a plan for the "Who Loves Ya Baby" swap hosted by Tracey D. Looking for inspiration, I shuffled through my card stash. I should not have been surprised that the one that jumped out at me was made by my friend Sandra. I copied her layout, but the stamp, ribbon and paper piecing are my own.

All paper (other than the plaid) are from SU, the sentiment is also SU and the cow is from the $1 bin at either ACMoore or Michael's. Best dollar I ever spent; this is one of my favorite cow stamps. The ribbon is also from Michael's, I believe.

Looking back now, I see it is pretty flat. (Sandra's had used a pop-dot, but my image was not compatible with that idea). I probably should have embossed one of those green panels. Even so, I am still happy with how it turned out. I am in love with that ribbon, and even though there are eight of these cards, no two cows are alike. Truly they are "like no udder". Paper piecing the cow was one of my better ideas, I must say.

Happy New Year!