Cowgirl Magnolia

I've had my eye on this little cowgirl, and was able to stamp up a few of them from a friend's stamp she received for her birthday. Still had the Gabrielle papers out, so I used them again for this card. The flower is crocheted (by me!) with a brad from the same Bo Bunny collection in the middle.

Gabrielle Daisy

This is a card I made up yesterday morning with one of the images I colored earlier in the week. This Daisy image is one of my all time favorite images...reminds me so much my little Kyli. The papers, blings, and butterflies are all part of Bo Bunny's Gabrielle collection. The image is colored with Copic markers.

Artful Giraffe

I'm sharing with you a card I made this morning with a stamp I bought yesterday! That almost never happens! This adorable giraffe is from The Artful Stamper and I picked it up at the LSS, Priceless Scrapbooks. He is stamped with Momento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics. Took my markers and few prestamped images to play with yesterday at Priceless. This guy had just arrived the day before and he had to come home with me!
The dsp is a safari stack from DCWV. Card stock is early espresso and more mustard. I dug into my stash and found these African style beads and some fibers to dress it up a little. Some dark brown square brads were also in the stash of neglected supplies. I remember using these fancy fibers a lot. I'm thinking they need to make a comeback! The image layer was cut with the Wonky Nestabilities die. It's in a more squared shape, I just cut a second time half off the paper to get the rectangle shape.

Forestry Tour Thanks

For my summer professional development opportunity, I applied for and was chosen to attend the 2011 Florida Division of Forestry Teacher Tour. The tour included four days of touring and learning about the forest industry from the science behind growing the trees, managing forests, and protecting natural resources, including endangered species, to all the products that are made from trees.
Some of the products absolutely amazed me! Thousands of scents and flavors are made from the turpenes in pine trees (turpentine). Ya know that burst of minty freshness in your gum, mouthwash, or toothpaste....turpenes. And the lavender scent in your fabric softener....yup! And so many others. The screens on many of our tvs, cell phones, and computers are made from a form of cellulose, another bi-product of the timber industry. And the list goes on and on!
Besides all the learning and riding around in a bus to all the different sites, they kept us in a most amazing style. The food was incredible!! Various companies sponsored the meals that were served each day. Seafood, BBQs, and so much more it would take too long to describe. I felt totally pampered in my hotel suite...king size bed (just for me!!!), big screen TV, fully equipped kitchen including a dishwasher (not that I needed one!). We didn't spend much time in our rooms, but it was oh so comfortable for the time I was there.
So....the mission is to send thank you notes to the various entities that sent representatives to be a part of our tour and open their facilities to enhance our learning experience. I have twelve thank yous to send out and these don't even include the numerous companies and individuals that sponsored each of us to be able to go on the trip. A shout out goes to Georgia Pacific who sponsored me and two other teachers on this trip. I can't begin to imagine how much it cost them to pay my expenses! Besides all the different state and national forest groups that we visited, we also owe thanks to Rayonier, Rock Tenn, Renessenz, The Weeks' Family Tree Farm, Dee Dot Ranch, and West Fraser Saw Mill.
The card above is the card I mass produced to send as my thank you. What other choice did I have than to use Lovely As A Tree? Use the baby wipe technique to make a variegated ink pad for the pine tree image. Card stock is crumb cake, early espresso, and garden green. Gold Krylon paint pen adds a faux layer.
I didn't really mean to bore you with so many details about my trip....it really was one of the most interesting trips I've ever been on! Most of you probably stopped reading long time ago. But if you're still with me, thanks for stopping in and happy stamping!!! BTW...did you know that the labels on cardboard boxes are done with GIANT rubber stamps? 

Stars and Stripes Stella

Holidays tend to be pretty laid back around here, so I had time to play with another challenge. This time I decided to dig into the stash to play along with the girls over at Totally Stampalicious. Their challenge this week is to make a card with stars and stripes in honor of July 4th. Red, White, and Blue was completely optional, but I used plenty of those colors and lots of glitter, too. Breast Cancer Stella's sign was the perfect place to add a small message from a little dollar set I've had around for ages. Had red and blue sparkly papers, but had to make my own white....well, I hadn't found the stuff I had in the stash when I decided I had to make my own sparkly white. The blue striped glitter paper had its own adhesive, which made it super easy to make a striped background for my card. Thanks for the great challenge, ladies. I've missed playing along with ya'll on Mondays!

Beta You Thought I Forgot

When I woke up this morning, I had a pun in my head inspired by this guy and some stickers I found in my stash while cleaning up the stamping asylum the other day. This is Dory, our beta fish. Even though he is male (don't know how they can tell, but that's what the store told me when he was purchased) he is named Dory because of DGD's fascination with Finding Nemo. He's blue, so therefore, his name must be Dory!
Anyway, the pun that came to mind was "Beta you thought I forgot your birthday." To add to my inspiration, I decided to check out what the challenge was over at SCS today since I have no specific plans to fill up my day. Today's technique challenge was faux silk with a twist. I knew right away that I could incorporate this challenge into my beta card because I could make a background that looked like water. Here's what I came up with:

Faux silk with a twist is basically crinkled up tissue paper that is glued down to card stock. I used a pale purple tissue and attached it to my card stock with Mod Podge. I sprinkled some Dazzling Diamonds glitter all over. The twist was to add some other kind of sparkly color to it, so I added a spritz or two of purple pansy Glimmer Mist. The fish, seaweed, and starfish were made using outline stickers and Glitter Ritz microfine glitter. A tedious technique, but I love it! Here is a closer view of the glittery fish:

Well, now I have some other projects to do that are on the required list of things to get done. At least they involve some stamping :0)