Fishing Lessons

Stamps - There She Goes; Miscellaneous B&T paper; Inks - Memento & Chalk Inks; Copics, Spicas, silver gel pen.

The rest of the sentiment says: teach a man to fish and he spends all day drinking beer (or something like that). I thought it was of kind of funny, especially with the image stamp....wonder now if this is how "fish tales" started???

A Stack of Twilight Goodness

Front of card

Close-up of the stack of goodness

All Stamps, CS (unless otherwise noted), cardbase & ribbon - A Muse; Ink - Memento; Copics, Spicas, Marvy Tombow; textured CS (for table legs) & liquid glass - CTMH.

My first card (there are 3 of them) for the AMAP Challenge #3 (inspired by Twilight). Of course I've launched myself in the novel/series "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer...and whoa did I come up with a pack of ideas (and speaking of packs.....A Muse needs at least one wolf stamp.....), unfortunately time constraints and lack of appropriate stamps is cutting off my creative juices. But it's been fun coming up with some "Twilight"-inspired card ideas. I've made copious notes so as time permits (and stamp designs become available), I'll be able to whip out another dozen cards like nobody's business!!

Twilight Trinket of Love

Front of Card

Close-up of Bella's "bracelet"

Stamps, Cardbase, ribbon - A Muse; Inks - Memento & Versamark; Platinum Embossing powder; Spica; Heart Gem; Stardream CS; Marvy Punch

In my first AMAP Challenge #3, I hint that A Muse needs some sort of "wolf" stamp.....had I had a wolf stamp, I could have made a proper bracelet for Bella. But I have to work with the supplies available to me. So here's the diamond heart "charm" that Edward gives to Bella.....naturally it doesn't sparkle nearly like a diamond would - but you get the point!!

I think the sentiment stamp has been discontinued....but I LOVE IT......and use it often because, well because it says it all quite simply.

Fast Food - Twilight Style

Card Front

Close-up of "Eddie"

Close-up of.....aaahhhh...hhhhmmmm.....dinner???!!!

CS & Stamps - A Muse; Inks - Memento & Chalk Ins; Copics; Spicas; Marvy punch

Ok, my third and final card for AMAP's Challenge #3. This one is admittedly, slightly sick - and technically for all of those BOOK-Twilight fans, this card is incorrect on so many levels....but I work with what I have and this is it!! It's a fun card to do and since I am a fan of Twilight, it IS fun to poke a bit of fun at the movie too.

The trickiest part of the card.......making the deer "run"........I had to perform a bit of surgery on the clear stamp, position the legs from a "standing" position to a "leaping/running" position and I had to stamp FAST (because those legs wanted to stand!). I hope A Muse comes out with a true pine tree (or a grove of pine trees) because I didn't like the looks of any of the trees I had. And no knock on A Muse - generally the variety of trees can meet nearly every stamping need I have - just not when I need a forest of pines.

Freedom Rings

Stamps, inks, markers & metallic CS - CTMH; B&T - Doodlebug; Stardream CS; Stickles; Star brad - Making Memories

I can do this quick and easy type of "coloring" for this stamp and another CTMH stamp...just one swish of color and another swipe of another color and WHAM - you're done!!! More of that stinkin' cute Doodlebug paper and the Stardream CS really adds to the whole festivities feel. Kind of cool how you can create the whole thing by mixing and matching - even when you're limited stamp-wise.

Wishing you ALL a wonderful (and safe!!) 4th of July!!!

Circled Stars

Stamp & B&T paper - ???; Stardream CS; Star Brads - Making Memories; Inks - CTMH

Another way simple & easy card and LOOK - there's actually some stamping done on the front of the card!! What can I say - I work with what I have available and with my financial resources being quite limited, I need to make do with what I've got in my stash. Next year, I'm hoping to splurge on more 4th of July themed stamps, but until then I think simple will work!

Lots of Stripes & Stars

CS, Metallic CS, Stamp & Ink - CTMH; B&T - ???; Star Die cut - QuicKutz

I was pretty thrilled when I found this paper - I already had the card idea....just needed to find the paper since I really didn't want to do all of that stamping. I really like the stitching detail on this B&T paper. I don't have a huge variety of 4th of July stamps, but I'm finding that I've got quite a collection of appropriately themed B&T paper.

Stars & stripes forever...

Glittered July 4th

B&T and CS papers, markers - CTMH; Stamp - Hero Arts; Stickles; Deckle Edgers - Fiskars

Oldie but goodie!! Another 4bar card. Since I can get 4 of them from one sheet of 12 x 12 CS, these are really economical when I need to do mass production.

Uncle Sam's Hat

CS & Metallic CS - CTMH: B&T - Doodlebug; Hat embellishmen - Jolee's Boutique; Fiskars Deckle Edgers; Photo corners -???

I know that Doodlebug stuff can be almost sickeningly sweet...but I can't seem to stop myself from LIKING it soooo much BECAUSE it's so stinkin' cute!! Love, love LOVE all of the B&T paper that Doodlebug comes out with and I especially enjoy these "themed" papers. One sheet can make a heck of a lot of cards and there's usually NO waste or scraps.

Although there's no stamping on the front of the card, the inside has a stamped sentiment. Another super fast card playing with paper!!

One Little Flag

Stamps, inks & CS - CTMH; Flag toothpick - Wishing Well; Fiskars pinking edgers

VERY simple card. I love to find little "goodies" that aren't necessarily stamp-related and incorporate them into the card. Usually they are much more affordable, you get a ton of them (great for sharing with your stamping buddies) and it's always a cool little twist on what might possibly be a rather ho-hum card. It felt like I made about a billion of these babies (they are 4bar sized cards). Quick and easy to do and pretty flat for mailing!

Go Fly A Kite!!

All stamps, ribbon, B&T CS by A Muse; Inks - Memento; Koh-I-Noor Woodless Colour Pencils; Spicas; Copics

See the pretty Spicas SHIIIIIIIMMMMMMmmer....

AMAP Challenge 2 - for this challenge, the card is to be "ribbon-inspired"..........and I didn't want to just wrap some ribbon around the card or a bow or a knot or a noose......I wanted it to MEAN something, man!! So I thought and I thought and I thought - because there's really nothing else to do when I'm at my day job (because a mindless monkey could do what I do at my day job...) and low and behold......I came up with a kite with a super long tail.....made of RIBBON!!

Stackem High...

Cupcake stack - Taylored Expressions; circular sentiment - Papertrey Inks; B&T - Target $1.00 bins(!); circular CS & button - CTMH; Ink - Memento; Copics; Stickles; Marvy Punches; DMC Cotton.

The Taylored Expressions cupcakes are just border-line "too cute"....but most of them squeeze by and they are a lot of fun to color!! Took the cue for colors from the nifty B&T from Target ($1.00!!) - they're bright & happy.

Today Creepella and I are hoping to hit the movies, we both want to see "The Proposal" and since Chef Bo-Bo Head isn't wild about it - we're going to go without him......and we'll stuff ourselves with popcorn & cola Icees too!! We do love our Sandy-movies!!

Factory Or Barn??

Cardbase - Memory Box: Image stamp - Stampin' Up; Sentiment CS and B&T- CTMH: Inks - Mementos & Tim Holtz' Distress Inks; Koh-I-Noor Woodless Colour Pencils; Copics & Spicas; Foam Mounting Tape.

Chef Bo-Bo Head says, "So is it a factory or a barn??".........there will never be a chance of me getting big-headed about my stamping. Not when I live with the 2 Stooges - I'm telling you!!

I only have two of the T.H. Distress Inks and I'm starting to goof around with them now....and since I haven't really done a whole lot with them I'm just wondering what all the fuss is (and no, I'm not really a fan of the T.H. "style" - I know a lot of stampers are.....but it's a bit too messy for my taste)??? Perhaps if I knew how to use them properly I would be dutifully impressed - as of now though - nil to zilch impressiveness. Guess that gives me incentive to get back to stamping!!

Cupcake Martooni

Cupcake Martini stamp - Obsessive Impression; sentiment & tiny circles - Hero Arts; CS, B&T, Liquid Glass - CTMH; Inks - Memento & CTMH: Copics; Stickles; White Gel Pen - ??

This was a fun one - I sponged & added little dots to the sentiment layer to match the B&T. I just made a couple of these to sell and POOF they were gone!!

Gardening Gnome

Gnome & mushrooms - Stampin' Up; Sentiment & Cardbase - Papertrey Ink; Inks - Memento & Versafine; Copics & Spicas

When Creepella came to say goodnight she about fell over when she saw all of the Copics that were spread out on my desk. Let's see, I had 3 shades of blue for the hat, 5 Copics for the flower & 2 for the stem & leaf; the shoes were 3 shades of orange; the pants were done in 3 Copics, the shirt was 3 shades of red with the "ruffle" & very dark seams comprising another 3 Copics, face & hands were done with 2 Copics, hair & beard had 3 Copics; grass had 2 shades of green, the sky was 1 Copic and finally the mushrooms were (no kidding here....) 9 shades of various Copics.

And of course I threw in a couple of Spicas for just a hint of shimmer.

Creepella thinks I'm crazy - so does Heidi and yes, it did take me a VERY long time to finish coloring (I made 3 of these cards and I always stamp my envelopes)...but since one of the things I really enjoy about stamping is the coloring I guess it's quite all right for me to hunker down and bond with my Copics.

When Chef Bo-Bo Head saw this card....he REALLY liked the mushrooms!! He kept asking to see the stamp - when I showed him he laughed (the mushroom stamp is pretty small, I just stamped it multiple times).