I've Inked Up the Rest of My Stamps!

I decided the way to get the rest of my stamps inky -fast- would be to stamp them out for RAKs to send to my crafting friends. I challenged myself at the beginning of the year to ink up all unused stamps BEFORE buying any new ones, and I've done it! So, just to make things fun (and see if anyone is paying attention) I've decided to do a give away. Leave me a comment on this post and I'll choose at random a lucky follower to receive a package of stamped images. Happy Stamping!

Christmas Card Challenge

Sherri at the Stamp Shack has posted a Challenge/Swap - make 5 Christmas Cards each month all year so we will be "ready" when Christmas rolls around next year. I only made about 5 cards total this year, so I thought this would be a good challenge to try. I am also planning to add 5 addresses each month to my label program, so that I'll have everyone's name and address in the computer and ready to print on a label when Christmas rolls around again. Here are this month's card creations. I stuck with the same basic layout for each of the cards and made 6 instead of 5! I used Bazzill card stock, studio g and Holiday Clear Stamps on both the fronts and on the insides. The circles were cut with my coluzzle. They were colored with Bic Mark Its and watercolor pencils, and of course, I added a few dollops of stickles!

Happy Birthday!

One of my challenges this year was to be on time with my birthday and holiday cards. Here are a few samples of some birthday cards I made - each only took 10 minutes or less!

I used my cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder to make the backgrounds. I attached a ribbon on the panel and then a piece of "card candy" that my bff Cindi gave me. That was all attached to a colored panel, which was attached to a white card. Inside is stamped "celebrate".

The blue cards are made the same way, only instead of flowers and frilly ribbon, I used a panel made with a calendar stamp I got at Judy's Scrappin' and Stampin'. Her suggestion was to circle the birthday and write in the year. I thought it was a great idea!

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors..Literally!

I was feeling a bit lonely this weekend, so I decided to make these wintery friends from -you guessed it- leftover fence pickets, fence bolts, a few scraps of polar fleece and a little bit of paint! They were super easy to put together and tons of fun too.

For the snowmen I watered down a bit of white paint to create a white wash. I used that to paint the snowmen. After that dried, I painted on the eyes, mouth and buttons with black. While that dried I painted the fence bolts orange and once they dried, glued them into place. The hats and scarves were cut, folded and stapled to the picket from the back.

The Santas were painted freehand. I used snowy accent paint for the beards and fur on the coats.

The Penguin was white washed and black features added in. Hat and scarf were stapled into place. I used two orange fencebolts to create his beak.

So, as you can see, in this case, good fences make good neighbors!

Hello, Baby!

Well, I've managed to use up two more sets of stamps I had been hoarding. I have a friend whose daughter is going to have a baby, so I knew I'd need a card eventually. I got the idea for two of these from my bff, Cindi. She always makes great cards! You can check out her blog here. Anyway, I'm off to ink up some more of those unused stamps. Judy (Judy's Scrappin' and Stampin' in Orono) is having a 50% off sale on most of her wood mounted stamps through January 31. I have to get all mine used up so I can catch her sale!!! Darn those New Year's Resolutions!

I'm on a roll!

I've been hard at work, making cards and ATCs for swaps. I've stuck to my pledge and haven't bought anything...plus, I used EIGHT stamps I hadn't used before! Here are some of the cards I made.

One of these days I'll learn how to do a slide show!

Happy New Year!

I decided to take a pledge at the Stamp Shack for the "crafting" new year. Here it is:

- I will try to use all the paper, embellishments, stickers, and such that I have BEFORE I buy any more.

- I will use all my unused stamps at least once BEFORE I buy any more.

- I will try to create something, or at the very least, work on something, every day!

- I will let myself buy an item if it is going to help me use up one I already have:
for example - buy cardstock to match pattern paper that I already have.

I think I can stick to these. But I may need help.....LOL

So far, so good. Hee hee. Today I made a set of Artist Trading Cards for a swap to send to my friend, Sarah, in Australia. The swap was called It's all in the EYES. I would have posted a picture, but can't find my card reader. Guess I should have added "I will organize my studio so I can find all of my supplies" to my pledge. Sigh. Maybe tomorrow.

Happy New Year Everyone!

PS I used two stamps (never before inked) for this project.