From the Garden ~ the Wall Art

Who knew it would be so hard to find a nice, white frame? Ugh!



I just got this retired Hostess set from Tonya, and this is my first creation with it. Given my love for watercoloring, this set and I will get along famously! Wish I could have gotten a better picture, though. It looks really nice in person... said the egotistic stamper...

PS~The sentiment says: "If you do not have a smile, I'll give you one of mine." (Isn't that nice?!)

Frank N. Matchbook ~ the Concept

It seemed like such a cute idea at the time... Soooo, I challenge you to come up with your own monster matchbook for halloween treats! My inspiration for Frank here, was the scalloped edging I was doing for another project. I am hoping I will get a jolt of mojo and comeup with a good nose for him. Poor guy can't smell the chocolate he will contain! Any ideas? ***By the way - his "bolts" are arrows from the My Way punch, rounded off with the corner rounder two times. Clever, huh? I know ~ amazing.***

More Halloween Experimenting...

Rememeber when Vamp sent me these super cute pirate stamps? They will complement the new SU set, Just Jawing - you know, the skull set - so perfectly! I cannot wait until mine get here!! Here is what I came up with in the meantime. I really just wanted to play with new InColor combinations, and then the whole skull-thing hit me... It is different... I had fun coming up with this one. Opinions?

DumDum in Seatbelt

Ok, I don't usually put personal pics in my blog, but how cute is she? My baby puppy girl, Lily is my girlie-kins. I'm one of those dog-dorks. I love my baby girl! She is on her way to her doggie hotel, nay "Pet Resort", since we are on our way to the beach!

Since we are talking about the beach - we are in Maryland's OC. Ocean City that is. Fun! Here are a couple of purely selfish picures of my boys for my own benefit... :) ***For those of you rolling your eyes, I have another cute (IMHO!) Halloween card set to post tomorrow, so check back! *** ....Hint: Skulls ROCK!.....

My First Attempt at ATCs

StampVamp over at Stamp Happens sent me the cutest ATC, and asked that I do one in return. This is what I came up with. I'm on the fence about it... what do you think?

Halloween's A-Comin'!

Can you believe it? I love halloween - it is a fun time in my house... Obviously, I am catching the fever, 'cuz this is what erupted from my fingertips when I sat down to stamp today! I SO hope this means my mojo is coming back from it's extended summer break...

I'm going to stun you by telling you little bit about this one... I cut crooked strips of Sahara Sand and taped them together to create the siding of the house, then smeared my sponge (which had remnants of Perfect Plum from another project) across each plank to make it look older and more rickety. My spider's web is the corner of the Cheesecloth background stamp, and the spider, witch and black cat are from the oldie-but-goodie Bitty Boos set. I used Jan Tink's WICKED "Moonlighting" technique to make my witch pop in the moonlight and sponged the sky with Elegant Eggplant. I watercolored the ground & oak tree from Lovely as a Tree. I made an extra set of shutters, so they are propped up on dimensionals.

Cute, huh?

Happy to report the Bellas were indeed easier to work with. I am also THRILLED to report that the new SU catties arrived and I am so excited about them! The Fall/Winter 08-09 Idea Book & Catalog is one of the best I have seen in years! Of course, my checkbook isn't nearly so ecstatic...

These girlies, though not SU, were part of that sisterly swappin' tin I mentioned before. I believe that the images and coloring were both from Tonya, aka StampVamp, and certainly the colors are right up my alley! I am going to miss Wild Wasabi when it heads off into the sunset on Monday... What a great color!! I really wanted to add some stitching along that awesome scalloped edge, but honesty, Blogettes, I am whipped! Or lazy - but I'm thinking the fatigue-factor gives me a pass...

Another Sisterly Tin attempt...

And, finally, for now, my last sisterly tin creation for a few days... I'll do something with that cupcake girlie soon, but right now, I got me some NEW SU to get ordered! I'm obsessed - how do I ever scale that initial order back to an acceptable amount??? Really - tell me! That is my mission for the weekend. Oh, yeah, and the Oympics (oooh, they just lit the torch! I'm all tingly!!) We are sports freaks in this family... Big time! Go USA! Woot woot!

Happy Stampin' (UP!), friends!

Look what I get to play with now...

My blogging, stamping sisters Kim (InkeyPinkers) & Tonya (StampVamp) combined to create this little goodie tin... well, Vamp made the tin, but the monkey image came from Kim, was colored by Tonya and then sent to me to "do something" with. Gotta tell ya - that isn't easy! The Bellas should be easier... I'm hoping! The little love-monkies are cute, though! I used Crystal Effects on the balloon and Everyday Flexible Phrases (all SU, of course!) plus some Basic Color eyelets in Creamy Caramel and Real Red. Cheated and used a Cuttlebug, but will be retiring that bad boy for the NEW Sizzix BIG SHOT for Stampin' Up! Oh, baby - hang onto your seats for that news...

Sympathy Cards Suck...

Bum deal. I hate making sympathy cards. I hope our friends know how much love went into this one. 'Nuff said.

More Window Fun...

...All the leaves are brown...

...And the sky is gray...

Can't you just hear "California Dreaming" when you look at this one? I love the trees, but I went a little overboard with the autumn sky! I feel like I need a sweater, even though it is near 100* here!

Again, I struggle with composition for this set... I need to go stalk the SCS galleries for ideas. Just think, Blogettes, this set will be available for you to earn for FREE in just a few days! You know you want it!

WICKED Awesome Punkins

Do you like a challenge? Yeah, me too! I read Jan Tink's WICKED challenge for this week and IMMEDIATELY hopped up to play! ...to the COMPLETE disregard of my chores... sssh!

Isn't it fun? My favorite part is the evil punkin "sneaking" up on the gooberish one! Can't you just picture him playing some Halloween tricks on the big guy? But alas, in my haste to try out this groovy masking technique, I negleted to read ALL the SCS rules... I used a retired SU alphabet (Crazy Alphabet). Hmmph! Well, boogers!

I, of course, had nary a full half sheet of any chosen color besides So Saffron (I really would have preferred to NOT have the card base yellow!) so this card was made from scraps! ...you DO save your scraps, right?!! Anyway, I wish I'd have been patient (yeah, right) and completely read the rules, 'cuz I was anxious to share this one!! That, faithful Blogettes, means you get the exclusive! You should feel honored, and maybe a little lightheaded...