Sometimes a stamper will be lucky enough to find a background that is awesome. That is the case for this card. I bought a package of stationery because I loved the pattern on the front ... and let's face it, because it was on sale cheap! I think I paid fifty cents for a package of six cards and envelopes. Cheap is good.
I cut the front panel to fit a white card base and attached it to the base. The challenge was green, but the background was elaborate and needed a simple image. What is simpler than a leaf, especially this one? I stamped it with Adirondack's Lettuce ink, colored the leaf and the circles with Copic markers, and mounted it on dark green card stock. A simple ribbon, a little foam tape on the back, and the card was ready to go.
In case anyone reading my blog gets the idea that the only inks I use are Adirondack and Marvy Matchables, it is not because I don't have others. Some stampers are paper hoarders. I am an ink fanatic. I love the colors of all the different inks and have an extensive collection. Every time I think I have found the ultimate ink, the manufacturers come up with something new to tempt me. I yield to temptation.
I think of it this way: I don't smoke, I don't drink, and I don't date boys who do. This justifies all those ink pads, doesn't it?

I made this card in answer to a "Throwaway Collage" challenge issued on one of my groups. The card was to be made with things we might throw away that were on our stamping table and in our supplies.
I found a brown card base I had made but decided not to use for a different swap. Next came a collage background out of my scrap box. I had made this background several years ago and decided now was the perfect time to use it. Another scrap, this time in pink, completed the background for the rest of the collage. The image had been sent to me in December as an extra for a Mystery Swap challenge. It was stamped in brown ink on white card stock, so the colors had to be changed. I used Adirondack's Peach Bellini and Shell Pink ink pads to make the change, mounted it on a burgundy scrap and placed it over a burgundy skeleton leaf. Three buttons and corners sent for the Mystery swap completed this card.

The next card was made for a "She Sells Seashells by the Seashore" challenge. Card Base: Pale Peach Card Stock: White glossy Kromekote; dark red Inks: Marvy Matchables' Pale Orange, Adirondack Cranberry Stamps: Seashell (Inkadinkadoo); Hello (Unknown source) Using Pale Orange stamp pad, color white glossy card stock by rubbing on glossy card stock in one direction. Allow to dry. Stamp seashell three times with Cranberry ink and mount on dark red CS. Cut a narrow piece of the ink treated glossy card stock and mount on dark red card stock. Stamp "Hello!" on the lighter color and mount to a peach colored card base. Attach seashells to card with foam tape. The scan shows the card base to be pink, but it is actually a light peach.

Where is my wonderful tulip-filled signature? Who knows! I hit the delete button one too many times, and away it went. Since I can't figure out how to get it back, I will sign off as

Jane

This ATC was made using the Coffee Cafe clear stamp set from Elemental Doodles. The base was SU's Close to Cocoa card stock, and the tan card stock is from Magenta.
The inks used are Marvy Matchables' Dark Brown, Brown and Terra Cotta. The embellishment is a clear acrylic tag from Coffee Break Design, and I colored the back of it with Copic's E08 Brown marker. After letting the alcohol ink dry, I turned the tag over and stamped on it with Jet Black StazOn. Two copper brads finished the ATC, and it's now in the loving arms of the US Postal Service on the way to North Carolina.
Last night was a cold, cold night in north Texas, and the cooler weather the last few days has slowed spring down so that we have longer to enjoy the beautiful flowers. Along the highways bluebonnets are in full bloom, and the Indian paintbrush has also started blooming. The pink Indian hawthorns in our yard are almost in full bloom. Texas has over 5,000 varieties of wildflowers, and it's wonderful to see them each year. Soon the highways will be lined with pink and white primroses. My grandmother always grew them in her flower bed, but she called them Bouncing Betties. That's an appropriate name for them since they sway in the breeze and look as if they are bouncing along life's highway.

This card was made in response to a Mystery Swap Challenge issued on a group I belong to. The package I received contained a lot of items to be used ... or not. I chose to use the background paper which had been made with a shaving cream technique, ribbon, image, tulle, and buttons.
I mounted the shaving cream background on a hunter green card, and used burgundy and white CS for the rest of the card. The image looks a little dark, but that is because the burgundy tulle was wrapped around the image before it was mounted to the burgundy CS.
This card is long overdue, but I had lost, er ... misplaced ... the package. The card is done and will go in the mail today.

Spring has sprung, and nothing says spring more than new baby birds in their nest waiting for their parents to feed them.
This card was made for a Spring challenge using Stamping Up's Close to Cocoa CS for a card base and Basic Grey's Two Scoops Collection for the background. The image from Clear Art Stamps was stamped with StazOn's Timber Brown on a piece of Kromkote CS. The glossy Kromkote had been colored using a green Marvy Blending Blox. The image was mounted on an ivory CS and then on a slightly larger piece of blue CS. Raffia was tied around the card and embellished with a feather from a poor little unsusupecting bird. The image was then mounted over the raffia using foam tape.
I was pleased with the way this card turned out even though the colors probably don't speak as well of spring as Easter pastels do. I colored the glossy CS one day when I was playing, looking for a background for a completely different card. It was not what I needed for that card, but it is a good lesson in never throwing scraps and experiments away!
Spring looks as if it has come to north Texas, and now we learn there is a cold front on the way this afternoon which will drop the temperatures to upper 30s by tomorrow night. No wonder there is an old adage down here: "There's nothing between the Panhandle and the North Pole but a bob wahr fence." To those of you not versed in Texas talk, bob wahr is also known as barbed wire.

This card was made in answer to a challenge ... pick two colors to use on the card but no white was allowed.
The aqua and brown background paper from DCWV was perfect for this. I added a strip of SU's Close to Cocoa across the front of the card. The three diamonds were square-punched Bazill CS, and the circles were punched from Close to Cocoa scraps. I stamped the image on more of the aqua Bazill CS and punched them out with a 1" punch.
The image is from clear stamp set by K&Co.

Today's blog might well be titled "All About Me" since I hand carved the main image.

The card base is a light gray CS stamped down the side with what I mentally refer to as my "feather" stamps. The stamps are by Judith and are listed as "Design Leaves", but I'm okay with calling them feathers. At the bottom left is a stamp our son and daughter-in-law sent me from the Netherlands. Next to that is an eye and the number 13, one of my favorite stamps from Eclectic Omnibus. All of the stamps on the background were inked with Adirondack's Denim.

The cat was stamped with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with Lapis Lazuli embossing powder from JudiKins.

I cannot say which companies supplied the embellishments since I nearly always take them out of packages and store them in containers without making a notation of the manufacturer or supplier. I'm not even sure which tree shed the leaf before it became a skeleton leaf, but it has definitely taken a navy dye bath. Time spent writing information down is time that could be spent stamping.

Today was a cloudy, chilly day which proceeded to be a wet, cloudy chilly day as the rain has continued to fall. There's sunshine inside me though because I was able to have lunch with my best friend who is here from Colorado Springs to play with her new and only granddaughter. I'm sure I'll see her more often now that Miss Mati is a beautiful little fixture in the proud grandmother's life.

This card is another one designed using the Elemental Doodles Firecracker USA stamp set. I heat embossed the Liberty Bell on a piece of CS using several coats of Lapis Lazuli EP from JudiKins. The varigated background paper is a teabag folding paper by Impression Obsession. I stamped the stars and fireworks bursts with Marvy Matchables Crimson Lake and Adirondack Denim dye inks. This was mounted on a piece of chipboard covered with red mulberry paper.

The background paper is from Doodlebug Designs, and the card base is Classic Red from the Paper Company. Navy strip is by Bazill.

This set of stamps is so much fun to work with. There are two things that I have found I like about the Elemental Doodles stamp sets: 1) They have both images and sentiments in the sets, and 2) they fit in a standard CD case.

When clear stamps first came out, I thought I would probably never buy or use them. I was a diehard rubber and wood mount fan. Since space is always an issue with stamps, the CD cases have worked out well for me. I still love my rubber stamps, but the clear polymer stamps are easy to store and to travel with.

Now I have to run take a peek at my new kitchen cabinets! We have been without a kitchen for almost a week, and it will be nice to be able to cook some place other than in the bedroom!

The Stampers' Sampler is one of my favorite stamping magazines, and I especially like the "Different Point of View" selections. It is always interesting to see the different cards that are made using the same stamp or stamp sets. This card is an example since it was made with the same stamp set that was used on the black and white card that was posted on March 18th.
Stamps: Elemental Doodle's Friendship Tea set; Ink: VersaMark; Embossing Powder: JudiKins' Metallic Detail Gold; Paper: Basic Grey Phoebe Collection, coral pink CS base, apple green and dark brown CS scraps, Cougar Opaque white, and coral pink by Core-ordinations; Cuttlebug flowers: With Love; Embellishments: Dew Drops from The Robin's Nest; and Mini Pop Dots from All Night Media
Stamp large teacup and saying with VersaMark ink, add gold EP and heat emboss on brown scrap paper. Mount on apple green scraps and then on white scraps; set aside. Cut brown designer paper from the Phoebe collection to 5-1/4"x4" and adhere to coral card. Use Cuttlebug to dry emboss flowers on a strip of Core-ordinations CS. Using a manicure buffer, lightly sand embossed flowers until the white core appears. Adhere to background paper. Cut floral strip of pink floral paper from the Phoebe collection the width of the card, trimming scalloped edges with scissors. Place on card; add teacup and saying using pop dots on saying for dimension. Embellish with Dew Drops.

This is another card made using Elemental Doodles' Firecracker USA stamp set.

Card base: Blue Bazzill CS

Red CS: The Paper Store

White CS: Cougar Opaque

Blue Designer Paper: Hot Off the Press Creative Pack

Dotted Ribbon: Unknown source

Ink: Adirondack's Blue Denim

Nestabilities: Plain Round, Scalloped Round

This card was so simple to make, and I thought the colors coordinated well. Blues are not the easiest colors to match, so I lucked out when putting this card together.

... Now I must take a few minutes for mourning the coming loss of my social life.

For over 13 years I have been a regular customer at Imprints Stamp Store in Ft. Worth, Texas. There were times when I felt as if I spent half my life and all my money in that store. I have met and become friends with many wonderful people in that store and have enjoyed fun, fellowship and food there as well as some fantastic classes. Imprints will be closing in June due to ... get this ... an owner who now thinks she has a life!

When Tina remarried a few years ago, she told us that her husband would be retiring early and that they wanted to spend time traveling and seeing this great country of ours. Little did we realize how quickly this would come to pass. Gary retired last year, and now that which we did not want to happen is about to happen.

The bad news is that the store is closing ... the good news is that there are still some great sales going on. The sales don't make up for the loss of the stamp store, but it helps soften the blow.

Good luck, Tina, and thank you for all the memories.

No inside pictures today ... I still haven't mastered the art of the digital camera. Why does that not surprise me?

This card was made using an assortment of stamps by A Stamp in the Hand with the exception of the black and orange butterfly on the front of the card. That stamp may possibly be an old PSX stamp that I have had for more years than I care to remember. The cardstock used for the background was Kromecote glossy. After stamping the flourish in brown, I stippled the CS with shades of brown dye ink. The other images were colored with big fat juicy markers from Marvy, and the butterfly on the front of the card was stamped with StazOn's Jet Black and lightly colored with an orange Copic marker.

Using a "cut and paste" technique, I cut strips of the background and adhered them to a purple card. I cut smaller images of the pen and the dragonfly and mounted them on green CS before placing them on the card.

The two butterflies faux postage stamps on the front of the card are stickers that were mounted to purple CS and then adhered to a rectangle of the stamped background which had been mounted on green CS. The butterfly faux postage stamp sticker on the back of the card was placed directly on the stamped background. I don't often use stickers, but these were appropriate for this card, which is my way of telling you that I have had them for so many years that I don't remember who makes them.

Thank you, friends and family, for reading my posts and leaving such wonderful comments. It's a beautiful spring day here, and I'm sending you hugs and best wishes for a great day!

This ATC was made using Elemental Doodles' Coffee Cafe stamp set. I stamped the background and dark brown coffee cup with Marvy Matchables' inks on a piece of paper made from coffee. I bought a coffee paper notepad several years ago in Mexico, and it was perfect for the ATC. I punched three rectangles at the top of the paper and threaded sheer brown ribbon through it and tied it in a knot. Punched the corners and mounted it to a dark brown ATC blank. The corner embellishments which don't show up too well are stickers from Stampendous. The other coffee cup was stamped with Marvy Matchables' Brown ink on a piece of scrap cardstock. I then used a waterbrush over the design and colored in the flower using Copic markers. After cutting it out, I mounted it over the dark brown coffee cup and embellished the center of the flower with another tiny round gold sticker from Stampendous.
Tomorrow I will post another card I made using stamps from A Stamp in the Hand. With any luck at all, I'll be able to take a digital photo of the inside to show how the design was cut and folded.

A new day ... and a new card.

Stamps: Elemental Doodles Friendship Tea set

Card base: White Cougar Opaque cardstock

Overlay: Black cardstock

Top layer: White Cougar Opaque cardstock

Ink: Black StazOn

Markers: Copic

Pen: Sakura Micron .005

Instructions: Draw lines randomly on card. Stamp in black with small stamps in the ED set. Stamp large teacup on a scrap of white CS. Color in the tulips with Copic markers and cut out image. Mount to center of top layer on card with foam tape.

A neat feature of the Elemental Doodles' stamp set is that there are two different sizes of the main images.

I'm a tea drinker, but I liked the ED Coffee Cafe set of stamps so much that I ordered them. My next post will be an ATC using coffee as the theme.

I hope everyone who is reading my blog is having a wonderful, bright day filled with sunshine and flowers. Spring has come to our part of the world!

This is a card I made using the Elemental Doodles "Firecracker USA" stamp set. The card base is red overlayed with white cardstock. The bunting images were stamped in Marvy Matchables' Crimson Lake. A strip of red CS was placed over the top of the bunting, and on top of that is a strip of blue designer paper from Hot Off the Press' Creative Pack. The same blue designer paper was punched with a photo corner punch and with a round scalloped Nestabilities. The Liberty Bell and sentiment were stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed with JudiKins Opaque White embossing powder. The red circle is outlined with a gold marker. Small gold glitter stars embellish the top of the bunting.

This was a simple card to make, but since it was the first one I made using the "Firecracker USA" stamps, I enjoyed making it. The next card I design using this set of stamps will probably feature firecrackers since that seems to be the name of the game!

This is the first official day for my blog! Sweet!

Before I go any further, I would like to say a huge thank you to Michelle Baird of Shabby Creations for her beautiful blog design and for her exceeding patience with a client who didn’t have a clue about blogs other than reading them.

My next thank you goes to a new stamp company called Elemental Doodles. The owners have seen fit to name me to their Founding Design Team, and I could not feel more honored or thrilled. The company’s initial launch of stamps is due this month, and I hope all my stamping friends will check out their web site at www.ElementalDoodles.com to see what’s new in polymer stamps.

Thank you also to all the teachers I have been privileged to take classes from over the years: MaryJo McGraw, who delights in pushing students out of their comfort zones and who taught me that a dirty stamp is a good stamp; Judi Watanabe of JudiKins; Joyce Hazen of A Stamp in the Hand; Dee Greunig of Posh Impressions; Nathalie Metivier of Magenta; Michele Charles of Design Originals; Sue Giduck, author of Altered Art & Collage; Zana Clark of Stamp Zia; Lynell Harlow of Dream Weaver Stencils; Jackie Lewis of Inky Antics; Suze Weinberg of Design Studio; Beverly Seymour of BLine Designs; Angela Jones of Eclectic Omnibus; and Jen del Muro, who teaches classes in Copic markers.

Thank you also to my stamping friend, Nettie, who did a lot of hand-holding along the way to a blog, and to another stamping friend, Alex, who is an Enabler Extraordinaire.

My list of thanks would not be complete without acknowledging my extremely supportive husband, Bob, who has encouraged me, spoiled me and watched me grow as a stamper over the last fourteen years.

And to Michael, my youngest son stationed aboard a Coast Guard cutter in the frozen north, who said, "I have to tell all the guys on my ship that my mom has a blog!." Thank you for thinking that old moms can’t learn to jump through new hoops.