Good morning! Have you ever had one of those days, or weeks, that you just couldn’t get anything done? I’ve had a week like that in a way. I have gotten outside and worked in the yard. The flower bed needed a good weeding, hostas needed replanting and the back needed some trimming. Wednesday afternoon I had some errands to attend to and it was late when I finally settled down. I did get some new rubber. However, I’m not at liberty to upload any of the cards that I’ve made with it. You’ll have to wait to see those. Yesterday morning my phone started ringing at 8:30 a.m., and didn’t quit until noon. That’s when it started raining and my mother called wanting to know if I was going to Home Depot. Now this was the second call from her that morning about Home Depot and flowers in their Wednesday advertisement. Being the good daughter that I am, I got dressed and went to pick up mom. We did go to Home Depot where I bought all the baskets I needed for the year and mom picked up only one. Of course, it was now 1:00 and time for breakfast/lunch/dinner. I say that, because when you have lunch with mom, it’s always breakfast and most times it’s the only meal you eat for the day. Needless to say, I got home at 3:00 and proceeded to answer more emails and more phone calls. What a day – I finally got into the stamp room around 8:00 last night and did manage to get this week’s SCS Sketch Challenge done and another new image colored.

To change the subject a bit, some of you have emailed me about my trigger finger. It’s still acting up and actually getting a little worse. I noticed this past week that my little finger on the same hand is actually numb now. I at first thought it was caused by the way I do some of my distressing techniques, which is why you haven’t seen any heavily distressed designs from me lately. I’m now thinking that it is something else. A number of years ago, I separated my right shoulder. Yes, I was acting goofy but it wasn’t intentional. I was in charge of a Fall Festival at my girls’ elementary school, and I was sitting on the uneven bars while we were discussing the haunted house. When I swung off, my body went forward but my right arm stayed behind me and I heard a pop. I ended up the emergency room, while my husband went up to school and handled last minute details for me. I finally made it back to the school at the end of the festival but wasn’t able to help with much. Anyhoo, my right shoulder always pops. When I do a swimmer’s arm to loosen up, my shoulder pops. It isn’t popping and I have a knot on the top. I’m beginning to think that I might have a pinched nerve in my shoulder that is causing the trouble with my hand. I will be making phone calls today to the various doctors to make some appointments.

Well now that I’ve babbled a blue streak and some info I’m sure you truly aren’t interested in, let’s talk stamping. This is the card that I have finally gotten done for this week’s SCS Sketch Challenge.

I colored the pirate image with Copic Markers, and then cut it out using Circle Nestabilities. The main background panel is Basic Gray that I stamped the Big Paisley on using black ink. The card needed a little pop so to bring in more of the red from the pirate, I stamped the same Big Paisley in red on red. I drew a few doodles, and used the Inkssentials White Opaque Pen to make the white dots.

Stamps: Simply Single Pirate, Ahoy Matey and Big Paisley from Lizzie Anne Designs

Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, SU Real Red, Basic Gray and Basic Black

Ink: Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black and Archival Jet Black; SU Real Red

Accessories: Copic Markers, Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities; Ranger Inkssentials White Opaque Pen; Pilot Black Gel Pen; Ribbon; Mounting Tape

I hope y’all have a great day and I’ll catch ya later!

Good morning all! It’s that time when I pick the winner of the Rubbernecker Bucks. I ran the Sequence Generator at Random.org and believe it or not, the very first post was the winner. Vicky Gould!! I know you love Rubbernecker and am quite sure that you will put this Gift Certificate to good use. I’ve sent you an email, but if you see this before you get it (I’m having some down time today), contact me!

Ahoy ye mateys, it’s TREASURE HUNT TUESDAY @ RUBBERNECKER. If you are new to the Treasure Hunt, you can find the first clue and all the deets for playing along on the Rubbernecker Home Page. I’m very pleased to say, that Linda Duke has agreed to join our Design Team as a permanent member, and she is offering up some Rubbernecker Bucks on her blog, Linda’s Works of Heart, today. Not only does Linda have Rubbernecker Bucks for you, but so do I!

In order to win, leave a comment here on this post, telling me what you’re favorite style and/or technique of stamping is. I personally love to distress or to ink my image, mist it water and then stamp. Is there a name for that? I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday morning.

Don’t forget that the Treasure Hunt runs from 4:00 a.m. PST until 9:00 p.m PST (7:00 a.m. EST - 12:00 a.m. EST). I’ll be back a little later with my color challenge card, hopefully. I still need to finish weeding the flower beds that I started yesterday. I also started digging up some Hostas that have been planted along the front walk and are now being choked out by the ground cover. I have two more to go and since today is supposed to be beautiful, I’m going to try and spend the better part of the day outside.

Good Monday morning! I had such an excellent Mother’s Day yesterday. Both of my girls were here at the house and then we took dinner over to my mother’s. My sister stopped and picked up the chicken, and I got the DQ ice cream cake! Other than that, I sat and watched old movies all day – good times!

This week’s Rubbernecker Blogger Challenge, RBC09, is to use a circle or circles somewhere on your card. If this is the first time you’ve played in the RN Blog Challenge, you can find all the details and more information on this week’s challenge on Jeanne’s Blog, Inky Paws.

A while ago, I shared a few cards with you made with Inchie images from the Out of Africa Collection. I mentioned then that they were part of a set, but that I would show the rest to you later. (If you wish to refer back to the original post, you can find it here.) Well, later is now! Actually, if you visited the Rubbernecker Booth while at the Akron Stamp Show, you saw these cards in person.

All the images were colored with Copic Markers and raised on heavy weight chipboard coasters. For the first card, the coaster was colored with Sharpie Black Marker. For the subsequent cards, the coaster was covered with black glossy cardstock. Square Nestabilities were used to make the background panels for each of the images.

Stamps: KK Originals Background Collection Spiral Background SKU:59-04 KK; Goddesses Collection We Be Jammin SKU:41-25 KK, Star Keeper SKU:04-01 KK, and Zeke from Rubbernecker Stamp Company

Paper: Georgia Pacific White, Black, Glossy Black

Ink: Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black

Accessories: Copic Markers, Heavy Weight Chipboard Coaster, Ribbon, Spellbinders Nestabilities

To see other samples for today’s Rubbernecker Blogger Challenge, please visit the blogs of Broni, Kittie and Jeanne.

Oh and by the way, for Mother’s Day my girls gave me a pair of purple Crocs and a planter for the deck. I’m sure you’ll be seeing pictures when we get a little sunshine and no rain and clouds. Have a great day!

Well, today was Stamp Club. We were to start at 10:00 a.m., and by the time most of the girls got here it was pushing 10:30. I had one who was out of town, and at the last minute, I called my sister to come over. Carrie had left a comment on yesterday’s post about my tag and her earring being the embellishment. Carrie is not a stamper - she’s a cross-stitcher. She’s bought stamps, I’ve given her supplies, but she has never really gotten into the stampin’ thang. Today was the first day she actually had sat down and made a card.

This next picture I told Mallory I was definitely putting on my blog. She had come in and sat down next to her Aunt Carrie and needless to say Mallory had to start acting silly.

The tag I showed you on Friday was their last project of the day. I think the girls had a great time looking through all the old jewelry to find their embellishments. I had two other cards for them to make today.

This was the first time this set had seen ink. I stamped the bird in Archival Jet Black, and then water colored with reinkers. Something quite interesting happened while I was water coloring the image. I had too much red on the bottom, and the blue wasn’t quite dry and bled into the red. To offset the running blue, I decided to paint just a touch of River Rock and look what color I got – a peachy looking color!

Stamps: Flannel Plaid and Spring Song by Stampin’ UP!

Paper: Canson Watercolor; SU Soft Sky and Blue Bayou

Ink: Ranger Archival Jet Black; SU Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, River Rock, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip and Ruby Red

Accessories: Tsukineko Sponge Dauber; Watercolor Brush; Brads; Ribbon; Mounting Tape

This last card, I can’t say that I am really happy with. I finished it up late Friday night and I loved the image, but the background was driving me nuts. I stamped Perfect Plum on Pale Plum paper. My Club Ladies today stamped Pale Plum on Pale Plum, and the effect was much softer and a much prettier card. For the image, I stamped the lilacs, then over stamped the script and sponged the edges.

Stamps: Rubbernecker Valentine Collection How Do I love Thee SKU:246-13 from Rubbernecker Stamp Company; Blossoms Abound and Flannel Plaid from Stampin’ UP!

Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; SU Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and Basic Gray

Ink: Ranger Tim Holtz Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Inks; SU Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Old Olive and Always Artichoke

Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch; Ribbon; Mounting Tape; Tsukineko Sponge Dauber

I hope each of you had a great day. When my Club Ladies left around 4:30, I crashed on the couch and had a nice long nap.