Wild Ride!

What kind of a card do you send to a guy who rides motor cycles? The very butch, hardcore, manly kind, right?


Do you think the above card would qualify as butch and very manly? I highly doubt it, hehehe. Not to mention, I later realized the guy's bike was red, not blue. Moreover, I am not happy with my colouring AND I mailed the card far too late to actually arrive on time. But, it is what it is and I hope the recipient will like it anyway once it arrives in France. :)

Sometimes, the harder I try to make a card special, the more I fail. Perhaps, it is better to relax and just have fun than try too hard?

The stamps:
B1083 - Bonjour by Stampabilities
and
4127K - Born Wild! by Penny Black

The Cloud Die is from My Favorite Things!

Wishing you many happy (and relaxed) stampin' hours! Isabelle

Baby Shower

One of my friends in South Carolina is expecting her first baby (a boy) in September. I had already thought of the kind of card I would make for her, before the big day. In my mind, I had envisioned something with a pregnant lady.

However, when her friends were organizing a surprise shower for her (much sooner than I had ever anticipated), the idea for my card (and the time to make and send it) changed very quickly.



That's because everyone was asked to bring a children's book or two to the shower. Unfortunately, I couldn't go to South Carolina to join the celebration, but I was able to contribute a couple of books and thus this card seemed appropriate. Even more so, when one of my books was "Brown Bear, Brown Bear". A huge coincidence, but very welcome, in my book (pun intended).

I hope the baby shower was a huge success and the mom-to-be went home with a whole trunk full of books.

The deets for my card:
I1090 - Bedtime Story from Stampabilities
and
Happy Bearthday Embossing Folder from Sizzix
Copic Markers

Wishing you many happy stamping hours and a glorious weekend! Isabelle

An Apple A Day

When I first started buying rubber stamps, they were all rather small in size. That was around 1987. I mostly used them to stamp the envelopes for the many, many letters I used to write at the time.

In fact, in 1979 I had a very artsy roommate who used to draw intricate and elaborate scenes on her envelopes. Her envies were a work of art and I used to treasure each and every one. She was the first person who 'demanded' I never mail out any letters in a boring, blank envelope. Because I possess absolutely no drawing abilities, I just used stickers to decorate my mail. Until I found rubber stamps!

When I moved to South Carolina (in 1994), I practically lived at my local stamp store, LOL. It seemed to be around that time when stamps started to get bigger, too. There was the whole PSX botanical series that looked gorgeous embossed in gold.

Way back when, I often refrained from buying certain stamps, simply because I was intimated by the thought of colouring them. Times have changed. Some images may still be a challenge for me, but mostly I just enjoy the whole colouring process now. In fact, it has become my favourite part of stamping, oddly enough.



This Happy Hopper stamp has been in my collection for a little while, and frankly, colouring the apples worried me, LOL. But, the proud owner of a few Copic Markers, I figured I better give this image a whirl. What better way to practice than an image that felt like a challenge? After all, one advantage of stamping is that we can always try again, right?

HMLR1047 - An Apple A Day from Stampabilties

Wishing you many happy stamping (and colouring) hours - Isabelle

A Very Mice Day...

...to you, my blogging friends!



The cheesy background was stamped with two different sized daubers and 'The Big Cheese' by Whippersnapper Designs was watercoloured.
DR1047 - Very Mice Day is from Stampabilities

Fine China

It really bugged me that Biggly's plates looked like pancakes in my previous card. My husband saw it and straight away he exclaimed: 'nice pancakes!!'

Thus, I re-did the same card in different colours.

If only second chances were as easy in life as in stamping, eh?

The stamp:
LR1017 - Balancing Act by Stampabilities.

Come back later today, as I'll have a chicken card for ya!

Cheerio - Isabelle

Balancing Act

While Biggly is doing his balancing act, I realize that colouring is another one altogether, LOL.

Yes, I see now that the plates that Biggly is balancing look like coins - or pancakes! Hmmm, I don't think I will be colouring these plates yellow again anytime soon. :)

The stamp:
LR1017 - Balancing Act by Stampabilities.

Cheerio - Isabelle

Hammock Hibernation

Don't you envy 'Pebble', as he enjoys a lazy afternoon in his hammock?


The stamp is a brand new addition to the Stampabilities Gruffies line:
PR1026 - Hammock Hibernation

Laundry Line

Seems everyone is doing laundry this week. The Penny Black hedgehog earlier on, now these brand new 'Gruffies Bears'. My washing machine has been rumbling all day, as well. While I wish I could follow this environmentally conscious critters and dry my laundry outside, I'd be breaking a serious subdivision regulation. Regardless, it's been rainy and cold all day, so that option is out anyway.
The rain is supposed to turn into snow by Friday, as another winter storm is headed this way. Depending on the temperatures, we may indeed expect up to 8 inches of snow.
Of course, this is when I am supposed to head to the airport, so hopefully, the weather, the traffic and the airline will be okay.

Anyway, these cuties are brand new from Stampabilities. There is a whole line of Gruffies and you can find them at The Stampbuzz.

For the card above I used:
PR1025 - Laundry Line
coloured with Prismacolor Pencils & Gamsol, as well as markers where I wanted deeper, more saturated colour. I added a little Fun Flock to the socks and the pink towel in the grass.

Incidentally, Stampendous now carries 26 yummy colours of Fun Flock. I'll be placing an order with Stampendous early next week, so feel free to contact me if you'd like to add to the order. One bottle retails for $2.60, but at The Stampbuzz it can be yours for only $2.05.

Lovely Lily

Woohooo, I actually stamped!

The time between my receiving this beautiful calla image and the time I finally inked it up has been far too long. Actually, it's been too long since I inked up, period!


The purple flower was stamped on a Fabriano Medioevals Soft White deckle-edged card that I tore in half, and watercoloured with Adirondack Ink. Initially, I had planned on adhering the piece more to the right of the eggplant card stock (it looks black here) and tying a yellow ribbon along the left edge. But when I did not like the look, I sprayed the eggplant cardstock with Gold Glimmer Mist to snazz it up a tad. Of course, the subtle gold shimmer does not show up in my scan. In the future, I hope to post better pictures of my creations - taken with the brand new digital camera my wonderful husband just got for me. This will not be anytime soon, as I need to learn how to make the pics leap into my computer all by themselves. :) Besides, the 'leaping software' has yet to be installed and we have been rather busy with other projects, these days.

For years, I believed that calla lilies were all white. While I still like the white ones, I was absolutely delighted a few years ago, when I realized they indeed grow in various colours. Still, I wanted to try my hand at a white one here and once again, the finished project is very different from what I had planned.

I had stamped the image on a piece of smooth, white cardstock with black Memories ink and coloured with my Koh-I-Noor pencils and Baby Oil. To make the white blossom pop, I added and lovely blue shadow all around it. Then, I stamped a sweet sentiment to the right of the flower, embossed in gold.

Because the sentiment was a tad crooked, I cut the edges of the card stock to even it out. Only, I kept cutting and cutting and while the edges were still not straight, the card was certainly getting too small. You know how it goes? You cut and cut and in the end it's still too small, hahahahaha? (Sorry, I had to inject a little weird Swiss humour here).

The only way to salvage my image was by cutting it out and 3D mounting it on a new piece of lovely, green shimmer paper which I then adhered to a blue card. I even used a different sentiment and this time, which I stamped to the left of the lily.

Most of the time, I don't plan my cards too much. I stamp the image, colour it and take it from there. But then again, that may be pretty obvious by now, LOL. Today, I did plan ahead yet the outcome was very different. How about you? Do you plan or do you go with the flow?

The stamps:

F6679 - Lovely Lily by Impression Obsession
CR1070 - Hope all is well by Stampabilities
and
M369 - Lovely Way by My Sentiment Exactly!

Healthy Eating Habits

'nuff said?

The stamps:

DR1096 - Fruits & Nuts
and
KR1048 - I Dream of Cake

by Stampabilities

Lavender Bouquet

Although I am mad about the colour purple, I am not crazy about lavender - the flower. I do like this new Gruffies Bear though, and I sincerely believe the flowers he is sniffing resemble lilacs (which I adore) rather than lavender. What do you think? Do they look like lavender or lilacs?


For my card I used:
KR1050 Lavender Bouquet by Stampabilities
ST2414 - Hello Friend from the Bear Squares Clear Set by Will n' Way
and a couple of Rain Dots to embellish the corners.