Singing Cowboy

This Singing Cowboy was one of the plates in my very first Artistic Outpost order. I still remember stumbling onto the AO site somehow and falling immediately in love with the stamps. I ordered this plate, and the Serenity plate. Actually, I wanted them all! A few months later they put out a Design Team call and I knew I had to submit. I have loved every minute of working with these stamps, and I still do. I do need to try another color with this little guy, though. I always go for the Aged Mahogany Distress Ink.

Let's see what we have here...

Some Basic Gray
SU! fibre
Primas
mm rub-ons

Square Bombshell

Now is that an oxymoron or what? Square bombshell. I do crack myself up! I figured since it was an election year I should get into the spirit of things. You know, "honest politician" and all that rot. There you have it. That's the sum total of political proselytizing you'll find here. Aren't you glad there's some place safe?

If you remember a purple Bombshell Angel from about a week ago, you're not losing it. However, this is not the same card. It's the same stamp, and similar colors, but quite different.

Artistic Outpost Little Witch

This is from Artistic Outpost's new Vintage Halloween plate, isn't she adorable? I mixed her with Rusty Pickle paper, and lots of silver embossing, cord, and gems. The black piece under the silver cord is velvet ribbon, it's just scrumptious! I haven't mastered taking pictures of black velvet or Elegant Eggplant. They always just show up as a void with no detail or dimension. I hope to eventually capture these two. I am slowly getting better at taking pix, but I don't enjoy photography AT ALL, so it's hard. If you would all just come over to my house, I'd show you the cards in person, then I wouldn't even have to bother with a camera. There's a cold Diet Coke or a hot cup of coffee waiting here for you, if you don't like those, I'll run out and get what you do like!

Summer's Last Hurrah! Beach Day!!

Those of you who live on or very near the beach, just know that I'm jealous! Those of you who can fit into this outfit, I'm a little jealous of you, too!

Stamp: Penny Black
Paper: SU! & BG LilyKate

Moonlit Night

This is from one of Artistic Outpost's newest sets, Vintage Halloween. It is just one of the greatest Halloween sets ever!! I've made several projects with this set, and I can't wait to share them all with you over the next few days! The paper is Rusty Pickle, I've really enjoyed working with it. The little gems are from Doodlebug. You can get the gems, glitter and flock all in Beetle Black-so fun!! I used Ranger Black Sparkle embossing powder all over this card! SPARKLE!

Bombshell Angel

Well, it has been a while since I got the girlies out, so I thought I'd better do some Bombshell stamping. This is one of the first Bombshells I got, and I really like her because she's so versatile, like a paper doll for big girls! Bombshell Stamps will have a drawing for a $100 shopping spree sometime soon. All you have to do to enter is sign up for the newsletter.

Young Frankenstein

This card has two interesting aspects. First, the stamp was a RAK I got last year when I was BOOED on SCS. If you have never BOOED anyone, you really must join the fun. You give Halloween themed gifts to two people, and they each give to two people and so forth. Just Google it. You'll find signs, poems, and lots of ideas. Anyway, I know this stamp is just a dollar stamp or thereabouts, but it stamped beautifully, and I really like the image, I think he's cute. Sometimes you don't have to spend a lot to get a nice stamp.

The other sort of interesting dollar item here is the acrylic frame. I go shopping with my sister when I'm in Denver, and one of the places we frequent is Big Lots. Sometimes you can get some pretty good stuff. She recently got both of us a ton of Basic Gray stuff, and some really pretty flocked metallic Heidi Grace paper. Well, when I'm with my sister, sometimes I buy things I really have no idea how to use. She's really a very bad influence. I think it's pretty obvious which one of us is the good sister. Oh, but I digress. The frame. What the heck? You do know why they were at Big Lots, right? Most people were too smart to buy them, so they went to the great retail failure purgatory that is Big Lots. Fortunately for Big Lots, there are people like my little sister and I who are happy to waste our money on acrylic frames. We do our part. So, Frankenstein, or rather more accurately, the Creature, is under glass here.

Little Witch

I can't remember what the name of this SU! set is. I did something I've never done before, or after, I took one stamp out, this one, and sold the rest of the set. It was years ago, and I guess I just really liked this little witch and didn't like the rest of the set! Anyway, I still like this little stamp, I think it's a cute Halloween stamp. This card uses a SU! Ultrasmooth White note card/envelope. It's such a fun little size to work with, about 3x5. The metal BOO is from Hot Off The Press. They call them Brad Buddies. I'm not madly in love with them overall, but this one is cute. The cat sticker is from Crafty Secrets. I love ALL their stuff!!

Clear Artistic Stamps~Blackberry Fields

Here is another card using Clear Artistic Stamp's Blackberry Fields. I'm a little obsessed with the vine/border stamp. It's SO flowy, and pretty, and it takes up space beautifully! I love it in the background, it's gorgeous! I love it on envelopes, don't postal workers deserve a little spot of beauty? And I love it inside cards, too. See how nice it looks down there in the corner? Almost makes you afraid to write there! Am I right, or am I right?

Don't forget to stop by and check out the new CAS releases, one of the sets has a wonderful pumpkin! They will be released on the 14th, so don't miss it!

A Romantic Dog

I never used to like cutesy, but I love this Penny Black stamp, I just couldn't resist it! I swear, I'm turning into such an old softie! I used to be such a cynical old curmudgeon, I would have snickered disdainfully under my breath at the type of gal who stamped cute little doggies. Well, now I am that type of gal, so snicker away!

We started in-service yesterday, the students arrive Thursday. I'm not used to:

1. Getting up to an alarm. I don't think I went to bed before midnight the ENTIRE summer. That six am alarm HURTS!
2. Shoes. Do I really need to explain this?
3. Make-up. The most I did this summer, even for church, was a brush of foundation, a sweep of blush, a stroke of highlighter under the brow, and mascara. Well, I don't know if my eye liner and eye shadow went bad over the summer or what, but my eyes are NOT happy about the make-up!
4. Outfits.

I hope you all had a great summer! Let's all pray for our schools/students/faculty & staff this year. Try it, and see if you and your kiddos don't have a great year!

Swirl Garden

This sweet butterfly stamp is from Creative Play Stamps' Swirl Garden. It has beautiful curly antennae, but I'm not a good enough cutter to leave them on when I'm cutting! I stamped it in VersaMark, embossed in detail black, colored it with watercolor pencils, and covered it with Crystal Effects. Before the CE dried, I added a sprinkle of ArtGlitter Angel Dust. The little piece of paper is from Making Memories (note)worthy collection, which I am madly in love with! I love the paper, the flowers, and this little journaling notebook.

P.S. The VM pad is on sale right now, so if you need a new one, now's a good time!

Celebrate Today with Cake!

More of this coolio balloon paper. I promise I won't post anymore cards with it, but only because I don't have any more!

Butterflies

These sweet stamps are from Clear Artistic Stamps' Country Life set. Aren't they pretty? I stamped a couple extra butterflies, embossed them, colored them, and finished with Crystal Effects. I sprinkled a little Dazzling Diamonds on the CE while it was still wet. I try never to miss an opportunity to add a little extra sparkle! This is a big card, it's 5x7. There's a lot going on here, and I don't think I could have fit it all on an A2. BTW, you can mail this size with one stamp, whereas the square ones cost .17 extra. I don't know why that is, I don't try to make sense of it. I'm just glad this one goes for one stamp. Well, it would if I took about half the stuff off;)

A fisher of men...

This is a remodel. At one time, this card was fairly close to being CAS (Clean And Simple). Of course I'll have none of that! Some of us are happy to admit that we are given to excess;) I added the grass at the bottom, I love that stamp, BTW! It's so user friendly. You can layer it on top of itself and it still looks beautiful. I stamped on top of the lure in VersaMark, and embossed with Holographic. Finally, I did some doodling with the Stardust pen. You can see this Keeper plate, plus a sneak peek of the four newest plates at Artistic Outpost. I have really enjoyed working with Vintage Halloween, and I can't wait to show you the projects! The Sneak Peek of projects is soon, and two the plates will be ready for purchase on the 11th!!