I'm still alive!!

Hi there ladies!!

Sorry that it's been so long since I last posted- geeze ya think I was on a very long vacation or in jail or something?

Nope, I've just been busy as usual and honestly I've had absolutely NO MOJO- eeeek! I've never really been in this bad of a funk before.......I'm almost starting to get worried. I look at my craft desk with no desire to do anything........sad huh? I've been cruising some blogs and gazing at all the wonderful creations on Flicker- I just can't find the motivation to get much done here.....waaah!

I did somehow manage to get a card made today- and I must say it's not my best work.........but I'll show you anyways.

I needed to make a card for my brother's upcoming birthday- and I admit I really struggle with guy cards most of the time. I just never know what to do for them? So I pulled out some of my "guy" type paper and used a fun Walzingmouse stamp to match the Spellbinders die cut. The sentiment is by Stampin Up and I found these 2 tiny brown buttons to matched so well.

I made this card last week (I like this one much better) ! I had the flower images stamped and cut out sitting on my craft desk for about 2 whole weeks ( geeze- no mojo again?)!  I based the background colors completely around the great button I found in my stash. The background stamp is from Rubbernecker and the big flower is from Hero Arts.

Today I stopped into Michael's and picked up some Fimo clay to play with.

Jane makes all these really fabulous handmade buttons (I've been drooling over them for weeks now) and I have had the itch to maybe give it a try and see what kind of buttons I might be able to make. I love trying new crafty things and seeing my card making mojo is no where to be found- I thought I'd play doing something different. I've got a handfull  made, but it's so dark and cloudy here and my lighting is just awful- so I'll take a picture tomorrow and show you what I made. I used some fun stamps for texture on some buttons- honestly mine just don't look nearly as fabulous as Janes do. Must practice more!

Fun Crafty news!

I got myself all signed up and ready to go for Scrapfest at the Mall of America this week too! I'm really excited to say I got into a Tim Holtz class and 2 Hero Arts classes- wohooo! I plan on meeting a bunch of other Hero Arts Flicker friends there- a bunch of us will be in the same classes. It's going to be so much fun- I just wish I didn't have to wait 2 months.

Off to watch a movie (Clash of the Titan's) and munch a big bowl of popcorn.

If anyone see's my mojo- please tell it to come back soon!

 Thanks for stopping bye :)

Inky hugs, Anne

New Rubbah!

Hi ya everyone!

Just popping in to say hello and show you all some new rubber I got last week. Unfortunately I have had absoluletly ZERO time to play with it- waaaah!!

I've been working, playing with my 6 year old when I'm not working, working some more, weekends are spent either cleaning up the house- doing laundry.....have had fun going out on the river with my brother on his boat. I've also been doing research on buying myself a brand new car-Yohoo! - test driving several models and looking for the best deal. I can't wait to pick out just the right one........if you saw my beat up old Honda Accord I'm driving you would see why I need a new car so badly. My mom has been having some minor health problems as well the past week.....and I probably need to go visit her this weekend too.......even less time to get crafting........waaaah!

Anyways, on to the new rubber. I went a bit crazy and got several stamps from Rubbernecker when they had their 4th of July sale (everything 20% off).

I just had to have these 3 lovely background stamps.......yummm....I've got a few ideas tossing around already......just need to find some time to play.


I couldn't resist these great "cocktail/drink " stamps either.....going to make some fun cards with these ones!!

I was oohing and aaahing over several foilage stamps and finally settled on these two lovelies........

and last but not least my freebie- yes I said "free" Santa college stamp. Rubbernecker always has this promotion where you spend so much $ and get to pick any free stamp- I LOVE it!! They have wonderful customer service too, Dave is the best!

Hopefully I'll actually get to ink these babies up soon and create some cards!!

I apologize for the really crummy quality photo's lately. My old digital camera finally died a few weeks ago and I've been to busy and too lazy about going and picking out a new one........maybe today I might go get one- who knows? I've just been using the built in camera on my Sony handcam....that's why they are so awful.

May you all have a fabulous day and thanks so much for stopping by!

Inky Hugs, Anne

Happy Friday......a card and a bunch of pictures

Hi there!! Sorry I haven't posted in a while- this time of year is busy for me. Lots of yard work to do and playing out in the beautiful weather with my hubby and son......not to mention working too!

Lets start with the card here I made for someone who needs some words of encouragment and cheering up. I used my Hero arts real poppy stamp- colored it with 2 markers and then spritzed it lightly with water before stamping. I had a scrap of overhead transparency laying on my desk so I thought "why not try printing a digi dragonfly on it and see how that works?". Worked great and it was soooo easy. I just added one little glue dot under the body to make it stick and folded up the wings for some dimension. Used a splattered paint BG stamp for the little ink dots, and a favorite sentiment from Stampendous. I scored the pink CS just to frame it up a bit.

Now on to some other stamping business!

2 weeks ago I went to the rubber stamp and scrapbook expo over in MN and picked up some new goodies to play with. A couple of distress inks (love these), some new rubber from Rubbernecker Stamps (love the big BG stamps and flourish), and some cardstock and an assorted paper pack, lots of envelopes for cheap, one Sizzix embossing folder (forgot to snap a pic of that), and a big old 8 oz. jar of Ranger clear embossing powder...since I'm obsessed with embossing everything lately!

 

The show was super busy and it was so incredibly crowded that I really didn't stay long (I don't like massive crowds of people- gets on my nerves). I got what I was looking for and hit the road!! I was a bit disappointed that many vendors from the last show were not there this year.......so sad as I was really hoping to watch some more fun demo's and get some more pictures.

Now on to some pic's I've snapped in and around my  property this last week. I live out in the wild woods on 7.5 acres and there is so much wildlife here it's crazy.  We have a mother fox and 3 kits currently living down at the end of the driveway in the drainage pipe (see my video of the babies on my last post), birds of every kind that are singing all day long, and the usual deer, turkeys, raccoons, and even some black bears on occassion.

We also have tons of frogs and toads around here too and we love them. My son and I go "hunt" for them on a regular basis to see what we can find. Here is one I spied hiding under the propane tank cover- isn't he cute? I love the piece of tree fluff/dandelion fluff stuck on his face!!

On Monday this gigantic snapping turtle came wandering through the front yard......maybe on her way to go lay eggs somewhere? It was BIG and scary- like 12 inches across- I steered clear of her other than to snap a few pic's. Those thing can bite your finger right off- EEEEK!

The last picture here is some of my favorite wild geraniums that are growing all over the woods here. I'm not kidding- there is a purple blanket of blooms everywhere------- I just LOVE it!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all enjoy the long Memorial day weekend!!

We are getting our pool up and ready to go for the summer and having some friends over this weekend for some dinner- drinks, and lots of fun! I'll probably hunt for toads and frogs and dragonflies with my son Joe, maybe we will even find the resident giant toad we call "Brutus" that lives in the pole barn- we haven't seen him yet this year!

Anne

Embellish Color Challenge and a short video!

I thought I would try a challenge over at Embellish magazine for the first time! Their requirements are to use the colors black, green, kraft, and to include at least one butterfly.

So I got out my Basic Grey green paper and thought I would also print a digi Hero Arts butterfly on green paper as well. It's hard to see but I lightly stamped the craft with the french script BG before stamping the flourish. Used a new EK Success border punch on here as well (I love this punch).  I darkened the lines of the butterfly using a Copic marker and added a few black Stickles to the spots for a little bit of shimmer. Added some satin ribbon and it's all done!

Stamps used: Rubbernecker french script- Rubbernecker flourish, Hero Arts sentiment, Hero Arts digi butterfly,EK Success border punch, SU Top note Die, Versafine black ink.


Now for some other wild news here in the woods of Wisconsin-
we have a mother fox who has 3 babies down in the culvert at the end of our driveway! I was mowing the grass about 2 weeks ago and scared the fox out of the drainpipe that runs under the driveway......and honestly the fox scared the crap out of me as well!!

I have seen mother fox running around the yard frequently the past 2 weeks and I've been trying to get a picture of her but she is too darn fast and I never seem to have the camera ready.  Just today as I was coming home from shopping I saw 3 cute little babies (not sure if they are called pups or what?) coming out to see this big old world (they are so small and soooo cute- squeal!)  I got a little bit of video as they were peeking their heads out and getting some fresh air and playing in the grass. I think one of them had a mouse in it's mouth.....mom must have brought it some lunch. I stayed plenty far away as mom is running around on high alert and I didn't want to scare her too much or get attacked by a crazy mother!

I'm not very good at the whole movie making thing (I've only done it once before) so don't expect anything fabulous.....shaky camera and all that stuff!




Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the fox video!

Anne

Play Date Cafe Challenge #29

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Hi there ladies!

I decided it was time to go visit the Play Date Cafe challenge blog.....I keep hearing about it on the Hero Arts Flicker pool and finally checked it out today! I needed to jump start my crafting so I thought I would play along with this weeks colors (lime green, leaf green, pale blue) ......which I must say I almost never use.......I don't know why as I really like this color combo!

I used my Hero Arts long stem poppy and a Hero Arts sentiment and also used a new background stamp I just got yesterday made by Rubbernecker (I went to the rubber stamp and scrapbook expo-  lots of shopping fun! )  I had every intention of sewing a nice white border around the edge of the blue cardstock but as usual I was fighting the darn sewing machine to not clog up the bobbin part. I get so darn frustrated with my sewing machine and my ability to not troubleshoot the problem........(I just might toss it out the window one of these days)!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to participate in some more Play Date Cafe challenges.

Anne