Just checking in...

Wanted to pop in and say I'm still here. I haven't felt well for the past week, so my creative pursuits have taken a back burner. I have a few more things to get taken care of, and then there are some ink and stamps calling my name!

Feeling Punchy

Are you a punch-happy stamper? I know I have a huge collection, and I was delighted to see these awesome ideas for more ways to use them at Craft Critique. If you have a scalloped circle punch, then you absolutely have to check out all the cool ideas that Pam at Paris Estates has.

Happy punching!!

Flower Pounding

Our ground is currently covered in snow, and I for one am ready to start seeing some flowers! Along those lines, I decided to pull out some cards I made last year by pounding some leaves and flowers from our yard. This is a very fun technique - simple and a great stress reliever. Collect various colored flowers and/or leaves, then grab some white cardstock and a hammer (a mallet would also work as long as it's fairly heavy). Next, position your flowers onto the cardstock, then cover it with something. I used parchment paper so I could see what I was doing, but plain newsprint or even copy paper would be just fine, too. Next, hammer away! You're pounding all of the gorgeous pigments from the flowers into the paper fibers, so you need to hit it pretty hard.

It's really fun to see what colors emerge from the flowers - the deep purple "so kind" card was from a burgundy mum, and the circular wreath type image was made from white flowers that are very similar to a hydrangea. I really love the leaf image from our Japanese maple, too. I know I'll be making more of these cards as the spring flowers appear, then through the summer and into the fall.

You can also use this technique on natural fabrics like cotton or linen; there are some gorgeous samples out there that quilters have created!!

Credits: "so kind" and "thinking of you" by Wordsworth, "Delight" verse by Uptown Designs. Patterned papers from K&Co

Scrapper Extraordinaire

I must admit that I'm much more into cardmaking than scrapbooking - at this point in life, I generally don't have large blocks of time to spend crafting, and I love that I can crank out a completed project in just a few minutes. Well I stumbled onto Keeping It Real sometime last week, and was really inspired by this British scrapper. She has such amazing detail in her work, and it's fun to see the unique ways that she uses the various products. Seriously, even if you're not much of a scrapper, check out her amazing blog! I promise you'll enjoy the eye candy...

Cards for Troops

There are several people currently collecting cards for our troops, so I just want to encourage all you stampers to get involved!

• Denise B is having a great drawing for some amazing goodies for all those who donate
• DDDZStmpn is collecting cards as part of Operation Mom
• For any of you fellow demos, sprtchick on SCS is collecting card fronts and making them into full cards and donating them. What better way to clear out your stash?!?

Please, PLEASE consider donating some cards. Whatever your feelings may be on the war itself, these men and women are risking their lives and deserve our support.

Another silly card

OK, one more slightly sarcastic creation to round out the week. I've always loved this saying - I first saw it on a T-shirt in a catalog somewhere, and I actually clipped it out and slapped it on the fridge. Such a good reminder to think before I speak (which admittedly I'm not very good at), especially as I'm representing the King! Now on to the stamping part... The image itself is by Emerson by American Art Stamp, which I paired with the saying from River City Rubber Works. The little swirl on the caramel paper is from SU Like it a Latte. I colored the image with Twinkling H2Os, which hadn't seen the light of day in awhile. Kind of fun to rediscover our neglected supplies, isn't it? I finished it off with a bit of hardware and some American Crafts ribbon.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Need a smack?

So there's a story behind this card. I stumbled onto the stamp sometime last year, and nearly spit all over my monitor after reading it. Looooove it! (But may I also add that I'm thankful that the Lord doesn't operate that way, or my head would be somewhere near Des Moines...) So anyway, ATRS had a big sale earlier this year when they rolled out their website redesign and I broke down and bought it. I have it sitting on my stamping table, and then finally made this card on Monday to send on to a fellow stamp-loving-sister-in-Christ. Had a lot of fun with it, and it still cracks me up every time I read it!! This is the same patterned paper from Making Memories that I used on the birthday card, and the sentiment is from Custer's Last Stamp. Colors were toned done with some sponging, edges distressed, and then finished out with some Michael's ribbon and a prima flower.

In other news, I think our camera needs some help. I was looking at some of the pictures I've taken in the last month or so, and the images are just not right. They're not sharp, and the colors are off, too. The camera took one small tumble that I know of when the kids accidentally bumped it just after Christmas, so now I'm wondering if something in there is out of whack. Time to do some internet sleuthing - hopefully it's just something I did with a setting somewhere...