Ho Ho Ho

It seems like a hard time to find things to post. I have started working on Christmas presents, but it might be a bad idea to post what I am making before the 25th. I have made a couple of birthday cards, but the recipients haven't received them yet. I am working on a couple of things to try and have published, but you aren't supposed to blog about them until you know they aren't going to be used. Humm...not much else is left! So, I decided to post another card from my upcoming 10 in 10 holiday card class. I promise to think of something else to post soon.

For my card, I used images from the Impression Obsession Ho Ho Ho set (CL248). So cute! I colored the Santa with watercolor pencils and a blender pen and added some decorative paper from Bo Bunny Press.

I feel as though I have been a Christmas card making machine lately. The good news is that I think I have all my cards made for this year. If you need more Christmas ideas, I have posted quite a few cards on my Color Whimsy blog.

On an unrelated note, I wanted to thank the anonymous person who called Angela's Monday morning and left a message saying that they had seen my name on the 97.1 Wash FM website. I emailed the station to collect my Panera Bread gift certificate. Woohoo! Man, I love Panera's, and I think I will like free Panera's even better!

IO DT Challenge- Make a Wreath

It is time for another Impression Obsession Design Team challenge, and this time the theme was "make a wreath." The irony of my card is that I used a clear stamp set (CL238 Fall Wreath) that has a wreath image in it. Essentially, I put that wreath aside, stamped a bunch of individual leaves from the set, and made my own wreath. The good thing about doing that is that I got to use up lots of my Basic Grey Indian Summer scraps. It also allowed me to make a much larger finished wreath. To finish the card, I added my favorite new saying (Share Gratitude A5517), some gold pearls, and a gold ribbon.

Do you love wreaths as much as I do? Check out what Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, Kathy, and Shirley created.

10 in 10 Christmas Classes

It is that time of year again. I just scheduled my 10 in 10 holiday card classes. I was a little slow in reserving dates to teach at Angela's, so I ended up with weekday nights. I apologize to all the weekend class people that I wasn't able to get a weekend date.

The card I am posting today is one of the quick cards we will be making in the class. The stamps are by Impression Obsession, the paper is by Bo Bunny, and the image was colored with Copic markers. It is hard to tell from the picture, but I used a gold Spica pen on the package to add a little sparkle.

I hope to see some of you in class!

And it continues...

Yep, another card using the Which Witch set. And yep, I paired it again with some Basic Grey paper. That is my theme, and I am sticking to it!

There really isn't that much to say about my card. I cut the circle from one of my Nestability dies and colored the witch with Copic markers. Wow, I really didn't have that much to say!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Continuing a Theme

While I had my Which Witch set out from Impression Obsession, I decided to make a couple more cards. For this card, I stamped the spider from the set three times onto cream cardstock using black Memento ink. I colored the spiders with my Cool Gray 5 Copic marker and then added a saying from the same set. I chose my Copic markers for the saying to match the Basic Grey paper I used in the background.

I am running out of time to post Halloween cards, so I guess I better post the others soon!

Okay, Okay...

I can take a hint. A person doesn't blog in a week and a half, and the phone calls and emails start to arrive. I guess it is time to post something.

Sorry I haven't shared anything on the Stamp Journal blog, but I have been working on a few classes rather than personal stamping or participating in challenges. I am almost done with my annual "10 in 10 Christmas" class, so I will be posting info about that soon.

In the mean time, I wanted to share a treat bag I made for Halloween. I was inspired by the eyeball border from the Impression Obsession "Which Witch" set (CL241). I knew it would be fun (and a little gross) to pair with some eyeball candies. The only problem was that once I designed the bag in my head, I couldn't find any eyeball candies. My good buddy Marilynn found some at Harris Teeter for me so that I could finish my project. Thanks Marilynn! Of course, I had to ask her, "Doesn't it creep you out that I brought plastic bags to your house to collect eyeballs?"

Here is a side view of the bag:


I used the Accu-Cut machine at Angela's Happy Stamper to make the bag, but if you don't have access to an Accu-Cut machine, it should be easy enough to fold a paper tent of your own and punch a window with a square punch. I stamped the eyeballs onto cream paper with black Memento ink and colored the irises with E53, B12, BV02, and YG11 Copic markers. I spelled out my saying with Technique Tuesday's Williamsburg font and glued all of my pieces down. I thought it was a fun project and different from the candy corn and "Happy Halloween" bags I usually do.

On an unrelated crafting note, I went to Great Country Farm's annual pumpkin glow to see the 1,500 lit jack o'lanterns. It was truly a fun thing to see, even though it was hard to photograph!

IO DT Challenge...Winter

It wasn't hard for me to be inspired to make a winter themed card tonight. After all, the temperature dropped dramatically today, and I began to think about winter rather than fall. I am really hoping we aren't going to skip autumn altogether and move straight to winter....even if winter cards are fun to stamp.

To make this card, I stamped the Four Flakes (F2358) onto patterned paper from Memory Box using Blue Iris Colorbox Chalk ink. I colored the flakes with a uni-ball white pen and cut out images using a Nestability die. To accessorize the flakes, I added a ton of clear rhinestones. To finish the card, I layered more Memory Box paper and added a white ribbon.

Need more winter card ideas? Check out the cards by Daniela, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Kathy, and Shirley.

I'm Back!

I had such a wonderful vacation in New Mexico, but now I am back and back to posting. Did you miss me? Don't answer that.

For today's card, I used one of the latest Impression Obsession Leigh Hannan Halloween images. I just love this pumpkin chandelier. The stamp has so many fine details that I decided to color it using colored pencils. It is hard to tell from the picture, but I added some Candelight Shimmerz around the candle flames and added some Memory Box jewels to make my chandelier sparkle. To finish the card, I added some paper from Basic Grey.

Speaking of Impression Obsession, come back Thursday for a design team "winter" card challenge.

In non-crafting news, I wanted to post some pictures from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. I always enjoy going, but my friend Deedee scored us some VIP passes which gave us access to a seating area, free food and drinks, and real bathrooms instead of porta potties. It was an unbelievably wonderful day....thanks Deedee!

Before light, the dawn patrol goes up to check out wind conditions. This year they increased the dawn patrol to 10 balloons. When they "burn," they light up like fireflies. The effect is quite beautiful. Can you see the tiny dot on the right side of the photo? You will probably have to click the photo in order to enlarge it enough to see. It sort of looks like a star in the sky. That is one of the balloons in the sky. They are camouflaged in the night sky when the burners aren't going.

At sunrise, balloons start inflating. This year was a bit smaller, and only about 550 balloons participated. Some years they have 800-1000.

More balloons inflating. I loved the tie-dyed one!

Balloons starting to lift off.

We sat at the South end of the park, and the balloons flew right overhead.

Love some of those special shapes. Here you can see the football and soccer ball.

Sometimes the balloons are quite close to each other.

The balloons really start to fill up the sky.

I highly recommend seeing the fiesta at least once in your life. Of course, if you can score some VIP passes, it is so much better! :)

Quick Cards

Lately I have found that if I want to get any cards done, they need to be "quick and easy." I don't think you can make things much faster than the set of cards I made using some of my older Memory Box papers, rub-ons, and paper flowers. I did get a little slowed down by adding some paper cut from my Labels 8 Nestability dies, but for the most part, they were quick.


I hope everyone has a great week! I am off to New Mexico tomorrow to visit a friend, so I may not post anything here till next week. I did schedule posts for my Color Whimsy blog though, so it will continue to update while I am gone.

IO DT Challenge- Gratitude

Yep, it is time for another Impression Obsession Design Team challenge, and this time the theme is gratitude. Could I have been any more literal? I chose to use a saying that actually mentions gratitude. I was very close to grabbing my "thanks a latte" saying, but autumn papers and stamps were calling me.

To make the card, I layered many pieces of paper from the Basic Grey Indian Summer collection, including yellow leaf paper cut from my Nestabilities Labels Five die. Man is that paper gorgeous! I stamped my pumpkin (B7335) three times onto the Indian Summer paper and cut them out. To accentuate the pumpkins, I colored the crease lines with an orange colored pencil. To accent the pumpkins, I added some bows I made from some yellow hemp. To finish the card, I stamped Share Gratitude (A5517) onto the card and added some faux stitching with a brown marker.

Need more gratitude inspiration? Check out what Daniela, Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, and Shirley created.

Want to win some IO goodies? You have two opportunities.
1. Make your own IO gratitude card and submit it to Shirley. Information about the contest can be found here.

2. Dina has some awesome blog candy on her blog, and you can find it here.