Finally

I won this stamp on ebay last year and have been avoiding it ever since. LOL. I just wasn't sure what to do with it; my previous attemps fell flat and ended up in the recycling box - not even good enough to be called a RAT. I think I can live with this - it's done with Prismacolors and I distressed the edges a bit with a nail file.

Where Have You Been All My Life?

I bought some of this the other day - it is better than any other similar tape runner I have tried, even the SU one! It gives a few minutes to straighten things if the first attempt is slightly crooked.

Stitching on cards

The weekly challenge on ink-stains is to sew on a card, something I have never done before. It could be sewing by hand or machine but my bobbin thread is acting up so I decided to try embroidery, which was my previous addiction (bc, before cards). I stamped 'love' from the SU 'Wonderful Words' set and stitched over it. The background stamps are SU 'Pretty Paisley' and an unmounted (the hearts) from Qwikart. That wrought iron punch is still giving me grief but I persevere.

My Dirty Little Secret

This is where it happens. The rest of the house is tidy, honest it is!

Shower Invitations

Our neighbors had a baby girl on the 22nd and I was elected (drafted?) to make invitations for a baby shower. Here is a sampling of the fourteen I have made so far, with one close up. Whoever said 'pink and green should not be seen' was SO wrong! Think about it. Flowers!

Recycled Valentine

I am the queen of recycling. We recycle everything and have hardly any garbage. Hurray for us. This is a recycled valentine, which our daughter sent last year. It was much bigger so I cut it down, inked the edges in Lipstick Red, layered it and added the raffia ribbon. The raffia is also recycled from the top of a pasta gift set. The white background is hand made paper - gives the whole thing a homespun look. Teehee - I am sending it back to her this year and wonder if she will remember it.

Kiss from a Rose

Apologies to Seal. This was a sort of challenge after Holly made a card with the imprint of her lips. She posted a wonderful pictorial tutorial with instructions to pucker up to your Versa Mark pad. EW! I tried a few times with disastrous results. Then I tried the pucker wearing my usual lip gloss and this gorgeous garnet EP. Voila! Success! The rose is done with my new Prismacolor watercolor pencils given to me by my son for Christmas. I need to work on my blending technique.

First Card

Here it is! My other blog shall remain a secret to all but a select few (and the possible rest of the universe) and I can be as snarky as I like there. Here, I will try to be nice and, hopefully, feature the artwork of some of my cyber card friends.

Mister rooster was a challenge done for ink-stains (www.ink-stains.com), a place I spend way too much time! This challenge was to stamp on patterened paper. The stamps are all from Qwikart (www.qwikart.com); the rooster is almost TOO big for the usual size card. Stamper's secret (shhhh) - I stamped the word 'rooster' slightly crooked and that's why the embellishments are glued at an angle. Ahahahaha. It makes everything look lined up!