SO BLESSED!!

Today started out stinky---literally STINKY!

I woke up at 1:00 am to a stinky house. A skunk had let loose under our home. YUCK! Not the best way to start my day. I was cranky and a bit bitter. However, we have started a no complaining rule in our house. So, I was forced to find the blessings in this day:

--I have a home to get skunked
--The bedrooms and the bathrooms are not stinky (so our clothes are not stinky)
--We have zoned heating so I can turn off the heat where it stinks and air out the house without freezing the bedrooms or wasting electricity
--The dog did not get skunked
--It is unseasonably warm today (supposed to get to 60F) and sunny
--The skunkiness is on the opposite side of the house from my stamping stuff
--DH's stinky running clothes don't smell so bad (in comparison)


Then I got online this morning and two of my stamping buddies (Shelly and Judy) had a challenge: A card with "So Very _____________", with no flowers, and using the colors Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip and Soft Sky (which I substituted Cool Caribbean since I am Sky-less). So that inspired this card with even MORE blessings:

--I have so many stamps that there are ones that have not seen in in MONTHS (true for all the stamps used on this card)
--I have friends to stamp *with* (though they live FAR away)
--I have plenty of clothes to wear to keep me warm while I am stamping (it is 45 F in the house)

So, here, finally, is the card.

It was inspired by CPS #39. Not sure if I took too many liberties with the bottom and the ribbon, or not. But it is a great sketch to work with! The zipper pull also says *blessed*.

Materials Used:

• Stamps: Zoofari, So Very, and Polka Dot & Paisley by SU!
  
• Ink: Dark Brown Fluid Chalk Ink, Certainly Celery, Cool Caribbean


• Paper: Water Color paper, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Cool Caribbean


• Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayon (Chocolate Chip), Watercolor Brush, Dimensionals, Sm. Corner rounder, Ribbon, Zipper pull ,
  

Thanks for stopping by--Have a BLESSED day!

Sweet Baby Zebra

This is for a color challenge. The proposed colors were Groovy Guava and Soft Sky, but Emily graciously provided alternative colors: Bashful Blue and Apricot Appeal.

I thought that this combo called for a baby card. I thought this was a great time to CASE myself (see Rhino card). Also, I did not want to use black or brown with it because I wanted the card to stay soft and low contrast--so I used Going Grey as the neutral. Since I do not have a waterproof grey, I stamped the Zebra in VersaMark then in the Grey dye (classic) ink. Then I embossed the image with clear embossing powder.

The background is stamped with Pick a Peta and the little flower from Little Pieces. The grey is stamped off and the flower is stamped with Bashful Blue Craft (pigment) ink.

The fibers enhance the baby theme (they remind me of my babies' afghans) and qualify for the {Cardvaarks} "eat more fiber" challenge.





Materials (All Stampin' Up! unless otherwise listed):

• Stamps: Zoofari, Pick a Petal, Everyday Flexible Phrases, Little Pieces
• Ink: VersaMark, Going Grey, Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue (Classic and Craft)
• Paper: Whisper White, Naturals-White, Bashful Blue, Apricot Appeal, Going Grey
• Accessories: Coluzzle, Corner Rounder, Decorative Scissors, Fibers (source unknown), Gingham Grosgrain, sponge, Stampin' Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Keep Stamping!!

Just Zoo It!

I like the set Zoofari, not sure if I can love it. I do not send out many young kids cards--and I am not sure it is appropriate for cards for grown ups. I did try today--to make a grown up card with it. What do you think???



I had a lot of fun making the background (Pick a Petal and Little Pieces). And of course, I love water coloring!! I used the Taken with Teal re-inker for this one. I took my time layering the color.

For more info on this card see HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and being patient while I SLOWLY rebuild my stamping momentum!!

Inspired...

Sunday is the Featured Stamper Challenge on SplitCoast Stampers, and this week is Cambria Turnbow. I chose this card to CASE. I am sure you can see that the card I completed looks almost NOTHING like Cambria's card and you are thinkin':

"Jules, I just don't see it!"

And I would say, "Me neither."

LOL!

I tried, I had patterned papers cut, punched, and mounted, but it just didn't look good at all. So I use what I had left and made this card.

The similarities are: patterned paper, the Zoofari stamp set, polka dotted organdy ribbon, sentiment on a word window punch, and machine stitching. So this card is undoubtedly inspired by Cambria's card. Thanks Cambria!!

Materials used (all SU! unless otherwise noted):

• Stamps: Zoofari, Hugs & Wishes
• Paper: Orange Pindot (Making Memories), Stripe (KI Memories), Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Creamy Caramel, Not Quite Navy, Natural White
• Ink: StazOn Jet Black
• Accessories: Sewing Machine and thread (Singer), Watercolor crayons, Aqua Painter, Stampin Dimensionals, Orange polka dot organdy ribbon (Offray), Brad

I would try to CASE another card from Cambria's WONDERFUL gallery, but this one took me WAY too long to get to finally come together. Perhaps another day!

Monkey Business

Here is my first Zoofari card. I had to start with that little monkey he is so cute. The layout was inspired by Beate's sketch for this week (HERE). I forgot to add a sentiment. So after this picture was taken--I added a sentiment--NOT GOOD. So I just did not take a second picture nor will I link this picture on Beate's Blog. I guess the most important thing is that I had fun making this card!! Right?

This stamp set is one that when I first saw it I said to myself "Hmmm, I am not sure about it, but I know JeanneS will make me want it later!" And sure enough, she got it, and is doing wonderful things with it. I also purchased it since I do not have any cute or kids stamps, nor ANY animals.

Materials (all SU! unless otherwise noted)

• Stamps: Zoofari
• Papers: Daisy pp (unknown), Orange pindot (Making Memories), Stripe (KI Memories) Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, White Natural, Really Rust
• Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Old Olive, Cool Caribbean, Close to Cocoa
• Accessories: 1-3/8" and 1-1/4" circle punches, small corner rounder punch, Coluzzle, 3-D glue dots, Fine Black pen

I like how he turned out (also happy to use up some pp scraps, too!)!

Thanks for stopping!