With a Cherry on top!

My friend Janice just gave me this sweet blog award. She is a wonderfully talented cardmaker- and design team member for Peachy Keen Stamps! I have enjoyed swapping cards with her over the years at Inspire Swap Chat. Check out her blog for some beautiful and really fun cards!  Thanks so much Janice-  I'm honored!


Here are the rules for this blog award:


1. Thank the person who gave you this award.

2. Copy the award and put it on your blog.

3. List three things which you love about yourself.

4. Post a picture you love.

5. Tag five people you wish to pass this award on to.

 
So I've got #1 completed, and #2 is done as well (such a cute award!)
 
 Here are 3 things I'll share with you all that I love about myself:
 
1. I'm not afraid to try something new- in fact I love trying new things- especially stamping techniques.
 
2. I'm a wonderful person to call when you need to talk about something difficult or stressful- I listen without interruption and offer my support in any way I can.
 
3. I'm a fun mother who is always willing to get dirty doing those gross boy kinds of things with my son- like digging up worms (I'm a real tomboy at heart so this is easy for me)!
 
 

I love this picture because it is so amazingly gorgeous and it reminds me of those summer nights when I'm outside catching fireflies with my son!

Here are the five ladies I would like to pass this award on to.

Barb- she is a talented stamper who is the just sweetest lady that always has something nice to say- and she lives right over in Minnesota so she's kind of a neighbor to me!

Jessie- my fun Irish friend who has a wonderful blog and is the Queen of cute recipe cards!

Nat- who creates the most amazing cards with Hero Arts stamps- everytime I visit her blog it just gets better and better!

Lin- who is the queen of challenges and everything she creates is just gorgeous- so much inspiration to be found on her blog!

Nancy- who is one of the most talented Hero Arts Hostesses- you must check out her fabulous creations!

I hope you take the time to visit their blogs- you will love what they create!

Inky Hugs, Anne

Smores anyone?

I know it's the middle of summer but we have been craving smores around here lately. But it's too darn hot to actually have a fire so I'll have to settle for a card version instead.

I pulled out my fun campfire stamp from Impression Obsession and got to work today on a fun fall smores themed card. We do have bonfires here on a regular basis once the weather gets chilly enough- and we frequently have the neighbors over or we go to their house and we always seem to make smores-all the kids just love them!

I used my Copic glitter markers for some real glimmer and shine on the flames and used my white souffle pen for the marshmallows. Found some punched leaves I had left over from last year in my drawer- thought that might give it more of a fall feel. Here is a closeup of the flames and marshmallows.

It was a struggle to get this card made today- my son had a friend over to play and I must admit I really find it very hard to craft when kids are running aroung the house like a bunch of animals! (we know they had fun-right?)

I think this has been the root of my whole mojo issue lately.......I'm embarrased to say this but with my son home all day it just seems next to impossible to sit down and craft- and I'm one of those types that needs my quiet time and space to myself with no interruptions or I cannot get anything done- the creativity just shuts down.

Is anyone else like this? So- maybe once school starts up again I'll get a bit  more time and space and maybe my mojo will come back in full force. 

Thanks for stopping by again everyone!

Inky hugs, Anne

Clay button expirament

I told you yesterday that I expiramented with making some clay buttons/embellies.  The Fimo clay was all on sale at Michael's so there wasn't very many colors to choose from- so I grabbed white, vanilla, a brown, and a gold color (thinking fall colors here). I also picked up some of the mold making stuff as I wanted to try to duplicate some buttons that I had at home. Only 2 of about 6 molds I made came out looking any good........I was a bit disappointed but what the heck- this is my first time trying this stuff.

Here are some dog bone buttons I made using a mold- and a few hearts which I used my woodgrain stamp on for a bit of texture. The hearts were white but I decided to paint them pink this morning. Acually I forgot to make the holes in them so they are just plain embellies- just stick them on with a glue dot-  and I made one plain round button too!

Next up are an assortment of brown and gold buttons/embellies! I had fun trying out different stamps to make fun textures. They are obviously not perfect- but good enough for my first try. These one i just rolled inot a ball and pressed flat. All of the stamps used are from Hero Arts. Can you guess which stamps I used?

I still need to get some shine on them- not sure exactly what to use but I've got an assortment of clear sealants out in the garage to play with.

I would really love to find a leaf mold for fall cards or even some bats or ghosts for Halloween cards.

I'm going to play a bit more with this over the weekend and try some square buttons or mix up some of the different clay colors together.

What do you think of my expirament? If they are really ugly just say so- I appreciate honesty.

Have a great weekend all and I'm trying to get my card making mojo going again too- I'm in the middle of a fun fall card as I type this- can you believe it!

Anne

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