Happy Halloween

Here's a Halloween card that I made with Bianca. When I saw the witch boot brads by Making Memories, I had to have them even though I had no idea what I would use them for. Witch footwear is always irresistible. When I got them home, I realised that they were the perfect size for tiny insect legs and that Bianca would look fetching in a pair of them. My background paper is the Night & Day Specialty Paper from Stampin' Up. I think that it gives the card a slightly Gothic feel. This is my favorite card that I have made with this stamp.








The second card I'm sharing today features our newest additon to our line of EccentriCatz stamps, Party On Charlie. Party On Charlie captures the moment that my daughter, Obliviana, who at the time was three years-old, put a Hello Kitty birthday hat on our cat while he was asleep. Being the snoozer that he is, Charlie didn't notice the hat until Obilviana's excited squealing woke him up. I'm terribly pleased with the way this card turned out. I stamped the letters with my Wordsworth Small Cheery-O's clear stamps. I've recently become enamored with Copic markers and I used them to color Charlie as an orange tabby instead of the Persian/tabby mix that he really is.




We'll have five new image stamps coming out within the next month and I'm very excited to share them with you. Also, we'll be doing three Heirloom Pro shows during the first half of 2010--Grapevine, Portland, and Seattle.

More Elbow Surgery

I just had another elbow surgery, so I'm posting a few cards that I made over the last couple of months. Carol and I are gearing up for another stamp release in April. Then you'll be able to find us at the Heirloom show in Puyallup, Washington, in May and in Grapevine, Texas, in July. We're busy so we can bring you more bugs, plants and a new theme (still a secret) to our line of products. Happy Stamping. BTW, as always, if you want to see the "recipe" for these cards, please look in my SCS Gallery.

As Merry as a Cricket

Wow. I'm experiencing really bad "medicine head" today. I took some cough syrup with codeine in it last night and I don't think that it has worked its way out of my system yet. The world seems to be moving in slow motion and I am moving even slower. I apologize if my post today is scattered and disconnected. It's the medicine head's fault.

I made this card of Helen last week and it was incredibly fun to work on. You can see the recipe for this card in my SCS Gallery. I'm feeling so merry inside about making this card that I decided to put Helen and her accessory sentiments on sale for 30% off this month. No coupon code needed. Just shop until you drop.

Speaking of crickets on Vespas . . . I really do enjoy seeing people riding Vespas. Oblivianna and I see a woman on a pink Vespa zip by us most mornings while we are waiting for the bus to arrive. Also, when we were in St. Augustine, we saw one of the female park rangers from the fort there wearing a skort and riding a Vespa. Just the thought of a National Park Service employee scooting around on a Vespa made me giggle. I wanted to take a picture, but I couldn't get my camera out quickly enough.

TTYL and Happy Stamping in the meantime.

-Molly

The teacher strike is over!!!

I'm breathing a big sigh of relief here. I didn't know how much longer we could last. Miss Moo starts preschool today and it would have been very disappointing if Oblivianna couldn't go to school as well; but last night the teachers' union voted to accept the school district's latest proposal and we're starting school today . . . nine days late. At this point, I'm just grateful we're starting, but I'm sure later on in the school year when we're missing scheduled vacation days and adding on days to the end of the year to make up the time, I'll be more disgruntled.

So here I am at 6:30 a.m. uploading cards and waiting for Oblivianna to get dressed so I can take her upstairs and help her get some breakfast. This is one of my most favorite cards that I have made in a while. I used the "Stinking of You!" sentiment on the inside, so this is a good card for just about any time you feel like giving a card (except for when you need a sorry for your loss card). Also, the Rain Drop bubbles are irresistible. When I was editing the card I zoomed in and I could see myself taking the picture of the card in the reflection on the bubbles. For this card's full recipe, visit my SCS Gallery.

Well, Oblivianna is all dressed. She's wearing an ensemble of grey tiger-stripes from Gymboree's Classroom Kitty Collection and when I say ensemble, I mean an ensemble of tiger-striped everything . . . shoes, socks, pants, and shirt. I tried to talk her into toning it down a little, maybe wearing a pink shirt or something, but she's made up her mind. That's my girl. Enjoy your day. I'm going to enjoy my 3 1/2 hours alone while Miss Moo is at preschool. Happy stamping.

School Strike Day 7

Well, it's day 7 of the teacher strike here in Bellevue. The school board is holding a special meeting that parents can attend and express their views about the strike and any legal action that the district may be able to take. The PTSA sent out an e-mail recommending that all parents wear black shirts to identify themselves. Black shirts! Why not black arm bands and black veils! I feel as though I should show some sign of being in mourning for the loss of freedom I'm experiencing due to Oblivianna not being able to go to school. Seriously though . . . seven days of no school that we're going to have to make up at the end of the school year . . . with no resolution in sight. At this rate, Oblivianna will still be going to school on the Fourth of July! One funny thing is that Oblivianna keeps telling people that she is on strike, instead of the teacher's being on strike. It's pretty hilarious.

Okay, that's enough of my rant completely unrelated to card making and stamping except that trying to keep Oblivianna from getting too bored and fighting with Miss Moo too much has taken up stamping time. Here's my card for the day. The color scheme for this card was inspired by Miss Moo's snuggly blanket from Target. For the full recipe for this card, look in my SCS Gallery. The two main ingredients that "tickle my fancy" on this one are the Twinkling h2os that I used to paint the wings and the crown and the Hero Arts gem that I placed on her crown. Who doesn't love a little shimmer and bling on their cards? I'll admit that I got a little carried away with the scoring and polka dot placement, but I think that it gives the card some texture.

That's all for today, folks. Happy stamping.

An Unwanted Extended Vacation

Who wouldn't want an extended vacation, you ask? Well, if the extended vacation is your child's summer vacation from school, I can think of thousands of parents here in Bellevue who could do without having their kids at home. Still. The school teachers in our fair city are on strike and school didn't start on Tuesday the 2nd as it was supposed to. It didn't start on Wednesday the 3rd either. As it is now, the school district website says that schools are closed until further notice! Ack! That's all I can say. I really do love Oblivianna and Miss Moo, but I was very much looking forward to having the days to myself beginning in September. I'm concerned. How long can this go on?

So, how are these days at home with my children any different from what we've been doing the entire summer? There is quite a difference actually. For one, the part time nanny that helps keep me sane during the summer months went back to college. I'm flying solo now. Second, we are traveled out. We have no where else exciting to go and nothing that we're dying to see. If my daughters have to take a car ride that is over twenty minutes, they start to worry that this is going to be another one of those long car rides and they start checking around for their portable DVD players and books to read. Third, the girls have spent way too much time together. They easily get on one another's nerves. They get bored with each other but then they need each other to keep entertained.

So, to keep myself entertained, I've been making cards. I try to ignore the high pitched banter between Polly Pocket and Barbie. I don't worry about what a giant mess the play room is. I just try to stay in my card making world and when that doesn't work, I lock myself in my office and play Spider Solitaire. Anyway, here's a card that I made with Barry. I wanted the card to have a sort of heavy English pub look to it, so that is why I used the dark greens, reds, and blues. I'm pleased with how the card came out. I had to make the tag twice, because my husband pointed out that bar fly should be two words and what I had looked like a newly created adverb, "barfly." Try using that in a sentence. It doesn't work well. As always, you can see the list of ingredients that went into making this card in my gallery on SplitCoastStampers.

Feeling Floridian

I'm sure that this blog is suffering from abandonment issues by now. I can only say that I'll try to do better, but I know better than to make any promises beyond that.

We recently returned from a trip to Florida . . . I know . . . hurricane season isn't the best time of year to be visiting that part of the United States, but you do get cheaper lodgings at Disney World. We didn't spend our entire trip at Disney World, dividing our time between the St. Francis Inn in St. Augustine and my father-in-law's house in the middle of nowhere thirty minutes outside of Gainesville. While we were in St. Augustine my sister-in-law and I couldn't resist checking out the local stamping store, Claire's Collectibles. Holy Moly! I've never seen so many stamps crammed into such a small space. SIL and I had a great time combing through the store's inventory and one of the stamps I came home with is this palm tree border stamp made by Custer's Last Stamp. On the plane ride home, I decided I needed to make a card using these palm trees and our ladybug, Edna. After all, Edna is one road tripping ladybug and she probably loves spending time drinking margaritas in Key West. You can see the "recipe" for this card in my gallery on SplitCoastStampers.

So here's another hot topic at my house right now . . . Christmas. Now that Target has prematurely moved out the school supplies to make room for Halloween costumes, many American children are fantasizing about how they're going to dress up. Not my girls though . . . No, Oblivianna and Miss Moo have decided that it's time to get ready for Christmas. I told them that I wouldn't be pulling out the Christmas decorations for at least another three months, but my lack of participation hasn't cooled their enthusiasm in the least. There is a quote in one of the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary that says something along the lines that "Ramona believed that if she just had some paper, scissors, and tape, she could create anything in the world." This quote describes Oblivianna perfectly and she is putting her scissor and taping skills to work making Christmas decorations for the play room. She's made garlands, trees, signs, red scarves for her stuffed animals . . . the list goes on . . . all while playing the Wee Sing for Christmas album on repeat for hours at a time. I'm trying to grin and bear it for just a few more days until school starts on Tuesday while praying that the teachers in our district don't strike as they are threatening to do. The teachers need to work, not only for the sake of our children's education, but for the sake of parents' sanity.

We have a rather "boring" Labor Day weekend planned. DH will be finishing up the installation of baseboards and crown moulding upstairs and I will be doing laundry, and hopefully making cards. I've spent this week cleaning out my office and I feel as though I can move on to something else. Even though I may not have an exciting weekend planned, I hope that some of you out there do.

Happy Stamping

-Molly