Happy Thursday morning!  Whoa . . . do you know how dirty a room can get when you don’t move things to dust for months and months and months?  Like behind the television stand . . . those darn dust bunnies . . . well some were as big as my hand.  Now what does that say about me?  I would rather be creative and spend my time getting dirty with ink than getting dirty cleaning the house.  That’s what I’ve been doing the last couple of days and only have 2 rooms done.  But hey . . . it’s a start! 

I  have a couple of errands to run this morning and then I’m heading home to get dirty with INK!  Do I have any ideas?  Nope, we’ll just see what comes out of it.  But before I leave, I just want to tell you that Just For Fun Rubber Stamps is on the road this weekend and will be at the Greater New York Art Stamp Show in Smithtown, Long Island.  If you are in the area this is a great opportunity to meet Debby and Rick, the owners of Just For Fun.   Pop in the booth, look around at the fabulous displays, say HI to Debby and Rick, and then tell them that I sent you!  Who knows there might be a little surprise waiting for you.

I need to seriously hit the road now!  I hope you have a great day.

Good Monday morning!  I think I might be back on track and will be able to post more often than I have the last couple of weeks.  I have a special announcement today! 

A few years ago at Stampfest Orlando, I met the owner of Just For Fun Rubber Stamps, Debby.  She is the organizer of Stampfest Orlando and I’ve had the opportunity to talk with her both times I was there.  She also travels the show circuit, and Just For Fun is always at Stampaway in Cincinnati, giving me another opportunity to chat with Debby and her husband Rick.  Debby and I have talked over the past year and a half about how she wanted to start a design team, blog, etc., and where she needed to start.  Needless to say, with each of us having busy schedules, etc., the discussions never went any further.  This year after chatting very briefly with Debby at CHA and Stampaway Cincinnati, Debby asked if I would put together a design team for her and be the Coordinator.  This time, I said yes and here we are . . . Announcing the very first Just For Fun Design Team!

I am so excited to be working with this group of ladies, some new to the design team world, and a few you’ll immediately recognize as designers I’ve worked with before.  So without further adieu, and in no particular order, I give you the Just For Fun Rubber Stamps Design Team:

Broni Holcombe – Splashes of Watercolor

Heidi Blankenship – Embellished Dreams

Linda Duke – Linda’s Works for Heart

Sandy Sandrus – CleverIdeas

Starla Nelson – Exploring Creativity

Be sure to visit their blogs today, as each of them will be posting with images from Just For Fun Rubber Stamps.  I for one can’t wait to see what they’ve created for us today!

Here’s what I’ve created for today . . . a little Thanksgiving nostalgia.

The image was colored with Distress Re-Inkers and then the edges were sponged with Antique Linen.  When working with a cornucopia image, I always think of the song “Over the river and through the woods.”  If you are at least my age, you’ve got to remember it too!  It was one of those standards we always sung in grade school.  I found a copy of the words on the internet, printed them out, and gave them a little distressing with the Wrinkle Free Distress Technique.  It was then tucked in behind the image.  I made some frames using Spellbinders™ Oval and Square Nesties, and tucked them around the image as well.   I always forget to tell you this, but after I sew the background paper to another panel, I go back and sponge the edges with distress ink.  It tones down the white thread I use so that it appears more aged.

• Stamps:  G1624 Cornucopia from Just For Fun Rubber Stamps
• Paper:  Arches Watercolor; Prism Suede Brown Dark and Papaya Puree Medium; 7 Gypsies Market
• Ink:  Ranger Archival Coffee, Old Paper, Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo, Spiced Marmalade, Dried Marigold, Walnut Stain, Dusty Concord, Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany, Mustard Seed, Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint Distress
• Accessories:  Spellbinders™ S4-128 Classic Squares- Small, S4-126 Classic Squares – Large, S4-Petite Ovals – Small, and S4-139 Petite Scalloped Ovals – Large; Watercolor Brushes; 7 Gypsies Paper Fasteners; Papertrey Vintage Button and Jute; Computer; Sewing Machine; Tsukineko Sponge Daubers; Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fantastic day!

Hey y’all!  This month has been so hectic that I can’t even believe that we are at the end of October already!  I just don’t know where the days go.  Thanks to all of you for your prayers, well wishes and happy thoughts during the past week.  My mother-in-law’s service was just what she would have wanted!  I must say that those church ladies . . .  WOW . . . can they dish out the food!    My mother-in-law always helped prepare food at the church when there were lunches, services, birthdays, etc., and let me tell you . . .  her friends spared nothing.  There was food to nibble on during the entire day and then they actually served us a sit-down family dinner of fried chicken and all the fixin’s. 

Now that I’ve recouped some of my sleep and am trying NOT to rake leaves, I decided to spend some time in the studio today.  How many of you remember bubble lights?  I loved them as a child and when I found them in the stores when my girls were little, I couldn’t resist buying some.  I can sit for hours and watch the little bubbles  . . . totally wasting time being mesmerized. 

When I saw this stamp from Just For Fun Rubber Stamps, I had to have it!

I colored the image with Copic Markers, drew little bubbles with an Inkssential White Opaque Pen, and then added some dots of Ranger Glossy Accents.  The dots looked like bubbles, but after sleeping on it I decided to cover the entire bulb with Glossy Accents.  Now the bubbles look they are are inside the bulb and not hanging there.  The image was then die/cut and embossed using Spellbinders™  Long Classic Rectangles.  To marked where the branches came out first, trimmed them back to the marks and pulled them through to the other side before cutting.  I’ll show you this in a couple of days via video, I just didn’t have time when I started the project.

My friend, Sharon Johnson, sent me this luscious May Arts Silk Ribbon and I couldn’t resist using it on this card.  If you haven’t tried this ribbon, I would suggest it . . . FABULOUS to work with!

Oops, I almost forgot to tell you that once I colored the image,  I masked the bubble light and airbrushed some pale yellow over the background.  Even though you may not see it, I wanted the light to put off a little glow.

• Stamps:  H2356 Bubble Light and D2615 All Good Cheer from Just For Fun Rubber Stamps
• Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Memory Box Spiceberry; Prism Blush Red Dark and Herbal Garden Medium
• Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Ranger Distress Embossing and Old Paper
• Accessories:  Copic Markers and Airbrush System; Tsukineko Sponge Daubers; Ranger Glossy Accents, Inkssentials White Opaque Pen and Queen’s Gold Embossing Powder; Sewing Machine; May Arts Ribbon; Foam Mounting Tape; Spellbinders™ S4-144 Long Classic Rectangles – Small, S4-143 Long Scalloped Rectangles – Large, S4-140 Petite Ovals – Small, and S4-139 Petite Scalloped Ovals – Large

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’ve had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend.  I know I am  . . . it’s Talladega baby!

Happy Tuesday!  Hope everyone had a great day yesterday.  I had some errands to run in the afternoon and never truly got started stamping until the evening.  I sat down to color some new images that I have recently received, and ya know . . . the coloring mojo just wasn’t with me.  However, I did feel like doing something!  I looked around the room and remembered that I had colored an image some months ago and never got around to doing anything with it.

Well, I finally got it done.  I picked up this peony stamp from Just For Fun back last summer at Stamp Away Cincinnati.  I love the image and it was so fun to color . . . well at least that’s what I remember.

I wanted the red of the peony to stand out, so I chose to keep my card the colors of the sky and leaves.  Flannel Plaid (which is my all time favorite background to use with florals) was stamped on the background and the panel was scored every inch on the diagonals.  To highlight the scoring, I decided to sponge on a little Antique Linen Distress Ink.  Once I did that, the sky background of the peony was just too darn bright, so I added some Antique Linen there as well to dull the colors.  I truly tried to make this card with no sponging at all, but darn it all . . . I just couldn’t help myself.  I didn’t add a sentiment on the outside, because I wanted the card to be for any occasion that I might need it.

• Stamps: Peony from Just For Fun Rubber Stamps; Flannel Plaid from SU
• Paper: Prism Herbal Garden Medium; SU Cool Caribbean and Basic Black; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
• Ink: Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black and Antique Linen Distress; SU Cool Caribbean
• Accessories: Copic Markers; Corner and Scalloped Edge Punches; Scor-Pal; Tsukineko Sponge Dauber; Brads; Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far. I’ve been fairly lazy myself today. It took me forever to walk down to the studio and stamp a little. Mallory came home last night, and there just seems to be a lot going on in the house. Tomorrow I will be having the family over for a barbecue. My sister’s excuse for coming to my home, was that I grill better than she does. My mother used to always do something for every holiday, but now it seems that if Carrie or I don’t plan it, it doesn’t happen. So we did the morning phone call thing and planned the menu. Now I’ve got to dust and clean the bathrooms — household cleaning. Doesn’t she know that I would rather be creative than clean?

Talking about being creative, not too long ago I mentioned that I had been missing some fun in my stamping. Well, I have to say that over the last two weeks I’ve had more fun trying new techniques and just letting the mojo flow. I myself feel that I’ve done some of my most creative work recently. (No heckling from the peanut gallery.)

What I have for you today is a card I made for the Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. We were given pictures of hotel rooms from the Hotel Fox in Copenhagen, Denmark, as our inspiration piece. This is the room that I chose.

This is the card that I made.

I used a variation of the Faux Bleach Technique that I used earlier in the week. I stamped the flourish and a butterfly in VersaMark and heat set. The floral silhouette was then stamped in VersaMark but was embossed with clear EP. I sprayed the image panel with a Broken China/Pearl distressed pearlized spray, and then placed the image between two pieces of copier paper and ironed. As you can see from this close-up, embossed area when ironed takes on the color of the background paper. However, the images stamped in VersaMark and not embossed, picked up a faint color from the distressed pearlized spray.

The background panel was stamped with the flourish, embossed with clear EP, and then ironed (the faux bleach part of the technique).

• Stamps: SU Baroque Motifs and Happiness Always; Wildflower Silhouette from Just for Fun Rubber Stamps
• Paper: SU Whisper White and Basic Black
• Ink: Tsukineko VersaMark; Ranger Archival Jet Black and Broken China Distress
• Accessories: Spellbinders Plain and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities; Ranger Mini Mister, Pearl Perfect Pearls, Super Fine Detail Clear EP, Craft Sheet; Brads; Ribbon; Iron

I hope you all have a great weekend, and if you are doing family things – have a great time!