Thanks...

...I think.


Let me explain. Whenever I sit down to create a new card or work on a new art element I do some of my best work alone. I think more clearly, and I find it much easier to design when I am by myself, but I always have a "post-design" ritual.


If it is during the daylight hours, I run my card by Little Miss. The thing I like about this approach is two-fold. First of all, she is brutally honest. If she doesn't like something I have done she will tell me flat out, and let me tell you, if you haven't had your bubble burst by a four-year old, you should try it sometime. The second part of this gamble, however, is she will always tell me something nice about even my very worst cards, which proves to me that she has a kind heart and is empathetic to the feelings of those around her.


Either that or she is preparing for a future career as an HR director for some large computer/software corporation. I can almost hear her in my mind right now:


"Well, Tom, I'm sorry to have to come here today and tell you that your new tattoo that shows all of your co-workers nekkid running down the length of your arm is considered offensive, and the row of strangely accurate voodoo dolls lined up in your cubicle might be creating a 'hostile work environment' for those around you, so those things have to go. But, I must say, your latest manifesto against the 'Capitalist Corporate Man' that you had delivered to the CEO and the Board of Directors was all spelled correctly and did not contain a single comma splice. Nice job with that! Now, if you will just go with these gentlemen out the door..."


I bet Tom will even thank Little Miss for her approach one day.


Now, if it is after hours for the pre-schooler I go to the next best critic in the house, the dog...err...my husband. I finished this card the other night and showed it to the husband, and do you know what he said?
He actually looked right at me, and (most sincerely and without a hint of the danger that he was putting himself in) said, "Wow, honey! I really like that. It's like a real card."


I'll just let y'all digest that for a couple of minutes.

Now, those of you who are faithful readers know that I like to watch Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, all of those great nature type shows, so I'll try to relate what he said to one of those shows. You know those penguins all waiting to jump into the water that has that one killer whale just waiting right there for a tasty little Oreo-cookie looking treat? Now, you know that one penguin that gets all cocky and thinking that he is invincible so he is going in the water before everyone else? Does it ever end well for that penguin? It does not. And the last look you see upon his face right before he gets to meet Shamu all up close and personal like is the exact same look that was on my hubby's face about 0.2 seconds after he gave me that "compliment".


I haven't seen that kind of backpedaling since Ringling Bros. Circus was in town and one of those high-wire guys was on a unicycle trying to get from one end of the rope to the other. I have to give him credit, because he suddenly found a lot of great things to say about everything on my craft table, including a piece of cardstock that had a coffee stain on it and nothing more. I think I am going to have to catch him off guard a bit more often. It is almost as much fun as stalking my UPS man.


As for the card, I have spent a lot of time admiring from afar the talents of Michelle Zindorf and telling myself that one day I would try some of her brayer techniques out myself. This card is the result of my first try at it. Here are some details on how I made this card. I started using my Martha Stewart circle cutter (thanks for this tool, Martha!) to cut a 1 3/8" circle out of a post-it note. I stamped the image onto my stamp-a-ma-jig so that I could use it as a guide to line up where I wanted the moon to be on the glossy cardstock.


When I had it lined up I held down one corner of the imaging sheet so I could slip the moon mask into place. Then, it was time to get down with the brayer. I started by putting Baja Breeze ink over the entire piece of cardstock. After that I brayered/sponged Pacific Point and Basic Grey onto the bottom of the cardstock, then sponged some of the Pacific Point in the upper right corner. I lightly sponged a little Grey onto the top part of the sky.

I removed the mask and then lightly sponged some So Saffron ink onto the moon to add a little dimension to it. Next I lined up the imaging sheet so that the moon outline on the stamp met the edges of the masked moon on the cardstock, then stamped the house image using Black Staz-On. The green mat under the card is Kiwi Kiss that has been swiped with the same color ink as well as Basic Grey ink.

I encourage you to try some of these new masking/brayering/embossing techniques to see what kind of art you can come up with. And if your hubby/significant other tells you that this one looks like a real card, call me. I'll come post your bail.


Have a great weekend everyone! If you get a chance, check out my friend Lydia's booth at Maker Faire...it is sure to be great. And, before I close this one, I want to give a little "WooHoo" to my friends, Kim and Cecile, who were picked to be on the Stampin' Up Survey Panel. This means that out of thousands of folks across the country that entered a chance to be on this team, these two ladies were selected to help steer the direction of new products for Stampin' Up, and in return they are going to be getting some free goodies from Stampin' Up! I just can't tell you how happy it makes me as a demonstrator to see my customers benefit directly from the company. Way to go, ladies!


That's all for now! I'll be working on my regional swaps this weekend, so there will be new pictures up soon. I hope that everyone enjoys the weekend weather and until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

A Card and a Hat Trick...

...is my offering for tonight. The card I made on Tuesday and just haven't had time to post yet. It is a card that will be in this month's Christmas card class, and here it is:


Not a complex design, but sometimes the prettiest ones are monochromatic (except for the Chocolate Chip) and simply designed.

This one really showcases how easy it is to use the scalloped edge punch. You can see how nicely the two edges line up, which is made super simple by the little "hash marks" on the base of the punch. You basically just center your cardstock, note which marks you are in between, then punch your center first. Move to the side and punch it out, and repeat on the other side. If you follow this pattern every time your scallops will line up no matter how many layers you add.

And, for the hat trick. This morning at 6 a.m. Little Miss came to my bedroom to tell me that her throat hurt. I gave her some tylenol, checked her temperature, which was normal, and let her sleep with me until time to get up for school. Checked her out again, she said she felt fine, no temp, so I took her to school. Today happened to be field trip day and I had agreed to drive her and one of her friends to tour the HEB. Now, everything was fine when we got there, but then I noticed that she was being very quiet, which is not Little Miss' style at all. By the time we got to the chocolate milk portion of the tour, and she said "I don't want any, I just want to go home" I knew I had a sick kiddo on my hands.

We leave right away, with me having to turn over the other little girl to the teacher (I still feel so bad about that!) and came home to call the doctor who agreed to see us in just a couple of hours. I go to feel my little one's head to find that she is burning up, which was confirmed with a temp of 103.6. Off to the doctor where she was diagnosed with "viral pharyngitis", which is basically a really bad sore throat that is not strep. I figure, good enough, we'll just weather this storm and everything will be ok.

I get her home, and within a couple hours she has vomited multiple times, is running a horrific fever, and now starts telling me that her tummy hurts "really, really bad". Now, let me tell you the good thing about being a paramedic: you are equipped to handle emergencies. You know how to remove yourself from a situation and systematically break it down bit by bit until you come to a "working diagnosis" and go from there. You know the thing about "good things", though? There is always a "bad thing" to go with it.

The bad thing about being a paramedic who happens to have a sick child with fever, vomiting, and really bad belly pain is you remember every single kid you ever took to the hospital to get their appendix yanked out. I made a quick, cursory call to my pediatrician in an attempt to hear, "I think this is just part of her viral course, just keep pushing clear fluids and wait it out." What I got instead was, "If it were my kiddo I would already be out the door on the way to the hospital".

You don't have to tell me twice.

We get to Dell Children's and get through triage and into the back where we are put into a very nice, private room so that Little Miss can be evaluated by the doc. We are met by a doctor that we are familiar with, not necessarily in a good way, who proceeds to roll her eyes when I tell her about the progression of today, and then tell me how kids who "really have something wrong with their belly" won't do this or that or the other. Then we are told that "I've seen 50 kids today with this same thing." Let me tell you something. I don't give a rat's patootie about the other 50 kids. I'm not a bad person for saying that, either. I care about the one kid that I brought in for an evaluation that my husband is going to end up paying for because we know how "great" our insurance is. After a couple of hours we are sent home with the doc trying to save a bit of her name by saying how "I'm not saying it couldn't be appendicitis, I just don't think it is" and telling me to watch her for the next 12-24 hours.

Like any mother would need to be told that.

So I bring my one kiddo home, where she immediately spikes her temp back up into the 103 range again. Let's just say that I plan on giving Dr. Crocker a nice little email sometime tomorrow, once I can see my doctor again and make sure that Little Miss is ok. And, God forbid, if another ER trip is in her immediate future, I will travel in another direction with her so that she doesn't get blown off like she did tonight.

OK, I am climbing down off the soap box to get back to my sleeping baby. I hope everyone has a good night, that everyone's kids are happy and healthy, and that the sun will shine a bit brighter on us tomorrow!

Until next time....

Kim

Are you lookin' at me?

Well?!? Are you lookin' at me? That is what this squirrel seemed to be saying to me this morning when I caught him trying to make off with my hummingbird feeder. Let me tell you something about squirrels. They are sneaky. Oh sure, they look all cute with that fluffy tail, sitting in the grass eating acorns and stuff, but deep inside, there is a dark, seedy side to squirrels. Just look at this one...working on unhooking the feeder from my tree. Now mind you, my dog is asleep less than 5 vertical feet from this occurance while the little rodent is attempting to commit petty theft.


I go outside with my camera thinking that I will document his thievery for the record, and he just looks up and gives me the stink-eye. Look at him there, all big and bad and not concerned for one iota of a second that I have caught him, red-pawed, trying to take my hummingbird feeder away for his own nefarious purposes. Makes you wonder what happened to him that turned him into the daytime burglar that he has become.

I know that some of you will wonder why I feel this way about such a cute, innocent woodland creature. I promise that someday soon I will post a story about my experience with a squirrel while visiting our nation's capital that will have you running in fear every time you see one of these bushy-tailed beasts, too. I will tell you this much: squirrels easily feel threatened by bushy pony-tails on top of your head. More to follow.

So, to continue with this "are you lookin' at me" post...how about some cute, glittery, heart shaped eyes? Yes, I know, they are attached to a skull and crossbones, but they are glittery, and everyone knows you can't be scared of stuff that is glittery. There are rules of etiquette about this. If Jason Voorhees had just bedazzled that hockey mask up a bit no one would have run from him. Heck, he would have been the life of the party out there at Camp Crystal Lake!

Here is the rest of this card that I made using the cute Halloween set, "Just Jawing".



I wanted to keep the overall effect pretty simple with only two colors of cardstock, but I gave it some dimension using the Weathered Stripes Cuttlebug folder on Baja Breeze card stock, then rubbing the panel with Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze ink to rough it up a little. The flower was stamped in Baja Breeze and rolled in Pacific Point, then cut out and added to the skull using dimensionals, and the eyes are done with Stickles, which are one of my favorite ways to add glitter to anything.

Believe me, if I could I would put Stickles on my dogs because they make everything prettier. Of course they are onto me and whenever they see glitter come out they generally walk away quickly so that they don't look like they spent the evening drinking sangria and watching Xanadu or something.

Finally, one last card that I had the time to get finished. This one will be in my Christmas in October class. I love the "Snow Swirled" set and have all kinds of ideas on how to play with this one. We have been doing so many red and green Christmas cards that I wanted to change the focal color of this one to a deep purple, so I went with Elegant Eggplant, backed up with Bravo Burgundy and Old Olive.

The background is stamped using the two snowflake stamps in the set and the olive and eggplant ink. The tree was stamped first with eggplant, then I lined up my stamp-a-ma-jig and overstamped it with Versamark (This should go to show you what a great tool the stamp-a-ma-jig is!) The two images matched up perfectly, and then I was able to apply Iridescent Ice EP to the entire tree. I cannot describe how shiny and iridescent this is IRL...I could not get a photo that did it justice. You will just have to come to my class and make some of these beauties for yourself so that you can see it.

I hope that everyone has a great day! Enjoy the gorgeous weather, but keep a wary eye out for squirrels. You never know what they are up to!

Until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

World Card Making Day...

...was so much fun for me! I want to send a special thanks to everyone who came out to Wine Styles to spend some time with Lydia, Neelam, and myself. I only wish I could have been feeling better, but I did manage to get some good rest last night and now I am a bit more confident in my survival of this bug.

For those who couldn't make it yesterday, here is the full view of one of the cards that the ladies made. I love cards like this because it gets back to the basics of stamping. Three colors of cardstock (not counting the white), four colors of ink, and the entire card comes together in just a couple of minutes. Here are the details on the card:

Stamp: Pocket Silhouettes

Card stock: Baja Breeze, Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery, Whisper White

Ink: Pacific Point (for the sentiment), Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa

Accessories: Scalloped Edge Punch, Baja Breeze ribbon

I wish I had more pictures, but due to the fact that sometimes I am a dorkfish (if you don't know what that is, I encourage you to google Bill Engvall right this second) I forgot to bring my camera with me to the big event. I meant to bring it, but I forgot to put it on my list and if it isn't on the list, it isn't in the bag. Lydia remembered her camera, but none of us remembered to take pictures until the last 20 minutes of the event.

I will tell you that all of the cards were gorgeous, the company was fun, and everyone left with a smile on their faces. It was the perfect combination of stamping, friends, and fun.

I am hoping to spend some meaningful time in my stamping room today working on some upcoming projects. I hope everyone is having a great weekend, and until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

Does this sound familiar...

...to any of you ladies out there? Here is the situation:

Your husband gets sick. You, being the concerned wife, make an appointment for him to go see his doctor, take him there, take him home, go back out to the pharmacy to fill his prescription, come home and give him said medications, tuck him into bed, take care of the kid, the laundry, the cooking, the yard, etc., all while making sure to check on your husband in a regular fashion and make sure he is indeed still breathing and trying to recover. You do this for as long as it takes until he makes a decent recovery, at which time you still "pick up the slack" so that he doesn't get himself sick again.

Now, let us look at the next scenario.

You get sick. Your husband, whom you know loves you dearly, allows you to lay on the couch for about 20 minutes. Then he comes over and asks, "Hey, sweetie? The kiddo is hungry...what do I feed her?"

"She's almost 5, just ask her what she wants. Open the refrigerator. Throw a pop-tart to her. You have a degree from a decent university and spend your days making sure that a zillion people get the correct medications, you can figure this out."

"Oh. OK. So, what do I feed her?"

You get up off of the couch, look your sweet off-spring in the eye and say, "Honey, what do you want to eat?" You then give the child the item and lay back down on the couch so your body can continue trying to fight off the 101 fever you are now running.

Twenty more minutes pass.

"Mom? MOM? MOMMMMMYYYY!"

Husband: "Honey, be quiet. Mommy is sick. We need to let her rest as much as possible."

Child: "But I need mommy to help me find the glass slippers for my Cinderella."

Husband: "Honey? Can you tell me where the glass slippers for Cinderella are?"

At this point, I am glad that I have a half-way decent brain-to-mouth filter, because the first answer that pops to mind involves where I would like the glass slippers to go, and it is nowhere near sweet Cinderella's feet.

This scenario continues to play out until you decide it is easier to continue performing all of your normal day-to-day duties than try to get any kind of rest because your family thinks that mommy/wife has some kind of switch where we can put our fever and body aches on hold until everything else in their world is good. AARRGGHH!!!

I should not complain, I truly should not. I mean, I did get the hubby to fetch me a couple ibuprofen and a glass of tea to choke them down with. I'm just wishing that there was a time-clock installed in my living room so I could clock out for just a couple hours to get some really good rest. Then, to add insult to injury, my body decides to follow its weird Circadian rhythms and start waking up around 11 p.m., insuring that I will not get any appreciable sleep this evening.

Oh well. One thing is certain. Everytime a wife/mother/woman gets sick it reaffirms to her family that without her they are but a pizza delivery service away from reverting into a wandering tribe of nomads, scrounging around the land trying to figure out how to put the toilet paper on the roller or get food to magically go from the big cold box to the big hot box and then to the table on clean plates. This is a good thing for them to remember every now and then, even at the expense of a fever...LOL!

I hope everyone out there has a great weekend. I promise for those of you who are coming to the World Card Making Day event tomorrow that I am going to have my lysol hand cleaner out on the table and I will be sufficiently medicated to make it through our day. In fact, I am pretty sure that a couple hours of stamp therapy is just what the doctor ordered for me.

Until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim