Ring around the Rosy, Dragon Picked Some Posies...

Do you know Dustin Pike? I just discovered his blog and am anxiously awaiting his opening of his new website. I admit I was not a fan of digi stamping, as I don't consider it stamping if there is no rubber involved, but this dragon and all of his cohorts have won me over! So no, I can never call it 'stamping', but they sure make for some cute cards! And for all you diehards (like me!) he is coming out with a line of rubber stamps starting in May!!

This cute little guy was a freebie at Easter time; the original image has him holding an egg with a chick. I put him into my photo editing software and removed the egg and chick and then drew in the missing part of his hand. A technique akin to masking in my mind. He is colored with three different shades of green Prismacolor Markers coordinating with the greens in SU's Bold Brights family. (This card and 5 others just like it will be sent off as part of jbmak's Color Family swap on SCS.)

The flowers are Doodlebug Paper Posies which I must have received in a secret sister swap, cuz I am certain I did not buy them. In fact I have no idea if any shops around here even carry them. A Cuttlebug embossing folder was used for the background and all cardstock except the white is SU. The white is GP.

I hope you love this guy as much as I do. As I told the swap hostess, I am going to have to just close my eyes to get these in the mailbox; otherwise I don't know how I will part with them!

Recycled Tea

This month's theme for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Cards is Green/Recycling. In other words, the card should be green and have something recycled on it. I had lots of fun digging these tea tags out of the garbage, I'll tell ya! Just kidding, I ripped them off tea bags I had yet to use, but I drink enough tea that I will go through them in a trice.

Image is from House Mouse Designs. Funny thing about this stamp. I always think it looks so relaxing (what I wouldn't give for a hot tub!), but then I think of mice in my tea and Eeew!

I stamped with Memento onto Georgia Pacific 110lb White and paper pieced (seems to be my "thing" lately) with SU dp. The edges are torn and inked with SU (Garden Green to be exact) then layered onto SU cardstock embossed with the D'Vine Swirls embossing folder run through the Cuttlebug. Tea tag is popped up with pop-dots and the sugar cubes are enhanced with glitter. As usual, non-paper-pieced sections are colored with Prismacolor Markers. Oh! I almost forgot - the steam is drawn over with a glitter pen. Gives a very subtle sparkle. You will have to trust me on that last detail.

This card has been given the Princess A seal of approval; she has already requested one for herself...

Lily's New Release

Lily is hitting the beach. Who is Lily you say? Lily from Pink Cat Studio, of course.





April 23rd is the big day - plenty of time for summer stamping!

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.

Cake Wrecks

Thanks to my sister, I have discovered a new and hilarious way to spend more time on the computer. Not that I needed more time online, but I just cannot resist. She posted a link on my Facebook wall asking if I still did cake decorating. (I don't do much decorating anymore - not that I did all that much in the first place - for it is far too painful for my hands [Have I ever mentioned that Lupus sucks?!])

Anywho, I was never a great cake decorator, but I was (thankfully) not as bad as the ones featured on Cake Wrecks; and they are from 'professional' decorators! What I like best about this site is not so much the cakes themselves, but the blogger's critique. Think about this... When you are with someone and something funny happens, you tend to glance at the other person and nod, smile or somehow connect to show you think it is funny, too. You laugh louder and harder if you are around who shares in your mirth, right?

Here I am, all by myself, laughing uproariously. There is no one here to egg me on, well, except for Darwin, who eventually will cackle right along with me, but as he is a parrot, I don't think that counts. Sometimes Princess A will be here and ask to see; inevitably those are the times when I am laughing at the ones totally inappropriate for the eyes of a 10-year-old. (Not so much the photos, though there are a couple, but the language used in the commentary)

The more entertaining the post, the more comments that have been attached. Most of which are just as risible. (Hey Mom! I used that word just for you - did you like it?)

(Did I happen to mention at the beginning that this is going to be an excessively long post? I didn't? Oops!)

Are you ready? It's my VERY OWN CAKE WRECK! (OK, not mine, exactly. It actually belongs to Shelley)


You may find this hard to believe, but this cake is, in fact, what was ordered. It is beautifully decorated - there is amazing dimension and attention to detail though I know it is hard to tell from this photo (Ack, I did not have my camera with me, only my cell phone, and I don't know how to send it straight to my blog, so I had to save it from my Facebook posting, hence the really bad resolution. Sorry) . Kudos to Waldbaum's in West Hartford for their superb undertaking of such a bizarre order.

Ah yes, you are wondering WHY someone would order this particular cake on purpose...

My chorus is soon to compete in the Region One Contest for Sweet Adelines International. Should we win (cross your fingers!) we will then be eligible to compete in the International Competition in Seattle, WA. Part of our preparation is to have coaches come for a weekend and show us ways to garner a few more points. One coach in particular, Joe, suddenly stopped during our rehearsal and asked, "what's that smell?" Not knowing where he was going with this we suggested perhaps he was smelling the coffee in the next room. He then followed up with, "is it salmon I smell? Salmon from Seattle?" Throughout the weekend, he would stop us every once in a while and sniff to get people thinking about earning our way to Seattle. (For me however, as this is a chorus of all women, I think a coffee reference would have been more appropriate...)

This past weekend we had another coaching session, but different coach. One of our members, Shelley, stood up and announced that her birthday was coming up, but since it was during Passover, she did not think her 80 best friends would appreciate eating chocolate covered matzoh. She brought this cake instead so we could all celebrate with her and at the same time pay homage to the reason we were all together that day. Happy Birthday Shelley!!

I wish I had a better photo so I could send it in to Cake Wrecks, for I am curious to see just what she would have to say, and what comments it would generate. Anyone out there have one you could send me?

My New Wolf

My AZ Bro carves. For Princess A's fifth birthday he made a frog and toad to go along with some story books he had purchased for her. Before then he had sent me a mouse when I admired the one he had carved for our mother. Mom has also been the recipient of a knitting frog and a duck sitting on an egg.

I wish you could see the themed chess sets. My favorite is the one of the buildings versus the angry trees, although the sea creatures are pretty awesome, too!

A bit ago, I sent him and email that if he was looking for something to carve I would love a real red wolf. I never knew he got that message until the other day when this guy arrived in my mailbox.

Isn't this the coolest wolf you have EVER seen? I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!

Thanks Kev!!!

Now I need to figure out his/her name...

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.