SCS CC150

I made this card for another one of those color challenges on SCS. This was for CC150-Real Soft Bayou. I wanted to make this card on Tuesday but then I got sucked in to working on the website updates for the new stamps. (BTW, the new stamps are here!) I liked the idea of using Real Red along with Bayou Blue and Soft Sky. I also decided to CASE myself and do a different colored version of my Bee Thankful card. I didn't really want to use a lot of red so I tried using a minimal amount hoping that it would pop out of the card, but not overtake it. I think that I succeeded at that. I decided to be a perfectionist tonight, which meant that I had to redo Beatrice. Being the space case that I am, I colored Beatrice's bonnet first and at that point I was going to make the bonnet all red. Of course, when I water-colored in her face, the red ink bled a little bit. At first I was just going to let it go . . . maybe edit it out before I posted it, but then I decided to do it right and try again. The second time around, I water-colored everything first and actually let it dry (gasp!) before coloring in just the bonnet's ribbon with a red marker. I had to walk away from my stamping table while the image was drying because the temptation to continue working on the card (and probably end up smudging it) was too great. Anyway, I'm happy about making this card, because although our Bee in Bonnet? sentiment is my favorite one, I hadn't yet used it on a card. You can see all of the technical details of this card (what stamps, paper, etc. I used) in my SCS post of this card.
So, I mentioned earlier that the stamps are here. They actually arrived yesterday but I was at Miss Moo's gymnastics class (Miss Moo=3yo DD#2) and the mailman couldn't leave them at the door because they required delivery confirmation. I had to wait until this morning to pick up the stamps from the post office. Carol came with me and we opened up the box right there and it was terribly thrilling looking at the new images. I was a bit giddy and had to hop up and down just a tiny bit. Can you tell I spend my day with bouncy daughters who cannot stand still for a microsecond? It rubs off on me even though it drives me crazy when they do it.
I thought ahead, so I had my Kai scissors in my purse and a pre-addressed envelope to AJ, and we cut out some stamps and mailed them to her immediately. With any luck, they'll get there tomorrow. They should. She only lives about 20 miles away.
When we got home, I went to work mounting one of each stamp onto wood blocks while Carol suffered through some laser printer installation trauma. I think that I got the better work load in this case, although I'm sure that we'll have to get it figured out soon. Anyway, the stamps are lovely and I'm going to have a grand time over the next several days making card samples for our website. The new images will be available for purchase as both unmounted and mounted stamps on February 1st. We'll also offer mounted versions of our existing images. If I get some time, I'll try and post a sneak peek or two in the upcoming days. For the most part, mum's the word though.
Hasta luego,
Molly

Hazzah!

Our new stamps are shipping tomorrow!!!! We'll have them by the end of the week, which means that we will start selling them on February 1st. Yay!!! (Okay, enough exclamation points, I know.)

D@mn Ugly Card

Ack! I didn't mean to go an entire week without posting to the blog. I made this card on Monday for the Splitcoaststampers weekly Technique Lover's Challenge. This was TLC #151--make a heart pocket card. (BTW, I always think of the Technique Lover's Challenge as the TNT challenge because it says Try a New Technique on the front page. Doesn't TNT sound more exciting than TLC? I'd much rather play with dynamite than give tender loving care. Okay, I've never played with dynamite, but it still sounds better.) So, about the card . . . it is quite possibly the ugliest card that I have ever made. I debated for four days whether or not I was going to post it, but I finally decided to share it as an example of what NOT to do with our stamps! I think that there are certain elements of the card that are good in theory: the eyelet border, the cute button brads on the heart, the Valentine-y colored Beatrice. However, they just don't work together . . . or separately for that matter.
In other news, we received our wood blocks for our next round of stamps. Yes, we're going to sell mounted stamps, but don't worry, we'll still sell unmounted stamps as well. (Phew, that was a run-on sentence if there ever was one.) We're very committed to selling both kinds of stamps because there are "extremists" in each camp who won't buy a stamp because it is unmounted or mounted, even if they really like it, and we need our customer base to be as broad as possible. Anyway, we received the blocks. They came packaged in two boxes--one weighing 50 pounds and the other weighing 20 pounds. Carol and I both had to carry the 50 pound box and we almost slipped on the ice on my street and then I almost dropped the box on Carol while we were going down the steps to the basement. Of course the block sizes are all mixed up and we need to sort them out. I'm thinking that will be a job that I'll give to Oblivianna (my oldest daughter, and no that really isn't her name . . . we just call her that sometimes because she is a little spacey at times). I'm sure that it will be fun for her for the first ten minutes and then she'll want to quit. Then I'll have to use it as punishment for when she misbehaves. That's good, I guess. We're running low on fresh and effective punishments.
That's all the news in the Eccentric Imaginatrix for right now. Maybe I can make some more ugly cards to share this week! I'll leave the making of the pretty cards to AJ.

Quick Post

Our web store grew this week! Our accessories section is greatly improved and has everything our customers need to use our unmounted stamps. Yay! This is something that has been in the works since we decided to sell our stamps unmounted but was delayed for various reasons. We're thrilled that we're finally able to sell products like EZ Mount and acrylic blocks.
Also, we recently took on a "guest designer." Her name is AJ Otto and she's another Pacific Northwester just like we are. She's just a hop, skip, and a jump down I-5 from us (or a slow crawl depending on traffic). You can visit AJ's Blog to find out more about her and see some of the samples she's created with our stamps. AJ will be helping create samples for our webstore using our new stamps. We're happy that she's working with us. Not only does she design lovely cards, she has a much steadier hand for coloring than I do.
In the meantime, Carol and I are hard at work preparing for the new Eccentric Images stamps that we'll be releasing soon (no official release date yet). I'm not going to give any specific spoilers about what we'll be including, but I will share a hint . . . our swarm of bees will be growing.
Thanks for looking.
Molly

Made Time to Stamp Yesterday . . .

and I'm pretty pleased with the results, especially the card with Brutus. (Once again, my coloring on Beatrice isn't that great, but I like the layout and color scheme on that card.) The DP on Brutus' card is by K&Company. I don't know when that particular paper was released or even if it is still available. I am one of those people who buys DP when it goes on clearance and then lets it sit around for months on end before I figure out what to do with it. All of the rest of my paper supplies are from Stampin' Up. When I first started stamping, I told myself that I would only buy stamps from Stampin' Up and that I would get all of my papers and accessories from the big craft giant or from an LSS . . . cheaper that way. It didn't take me long to realize that you just can't beat the SU quality of card stock and have the benefit of it having color coordinated inks . . . not that it isn't possible to find good quality card stock, etc., but it is inconvenient to have to drive from store to store trying to find an ink that closely matches.
I've been meaning to share another bit of information for a few weeks now (since Christmas, actually). Just about every year my MIL picks out a book for me for Christmas. She usually tries to find something by a North Carolina writer since that is where she is from. Now, I don't know if this writer is from North Carolina, but MIL managed to find a "card-making mystery" for me to read. The title of the book is Murder and Salutations by Elizabeth Bright. I checked on Amazon and there are two other books that start off the series, Invitation to Murder and Deadly Greetings. I haven't yet begun reading Murder and Salutations so I cannot give you any kind of book review at this time. I'm just wondering, what kind of cards is the main character of the book making that they bring about murder and intrigue? Are the victims in the stories card makers themselves? Is there death at a shoebox swap? Murder on a Stampin' Up cruise? Design team decapitation?
Now the gears of my imagination are starting to turn . . . there are all sorts of tools at my stamping table that could be turned into a weapon. I'm constantly telling my daughters to stay away from the CutterBee scissors because they are so pointy and dangerous. Ribbons and hemp twine could be used to strangle someone in fit of card envy. Then there's that paper piercer! It already looks like a weapon. What SU set would someone kill for? Snow Globe? Cowboy Christmas? Wild Wild West? Currently, on eBay the bidding on a Wild Wild West set is up to $95.40. Isn't being willing to bid hundreds dollars for a set of six stamps only a hop, skip, and a jump away from being willing to kill for them? I have to finish this post by saying, watch your back. You never know when some sick serial stamp killer will lace your DP with deadly poison so that when you get a paper cut, it will be your last.

Made Time to Stamp Yesterday: Photos

Another space bug . . . and first post of 2008!

Below, meet Neil the first beetle to land on the moon. I love the way Carol drew the space suit with all of the joints in the legs for Neil's skinny limbs and how his antennae stick out of the helmet. I think that this image and any of our other space bug images would be great for "male" cards. As a mother of two girls, my first instinct is to "think pink" when it comes to buying stamps, but there have been plenty of times when I've needed a stamp for a card for a boy (my oldest daughter would rather hang out with boys than with girls--she went to an army tank-themed birthday party just last week). I have one rocket stamp that I've overused on cards for boys, so it is nice to have some new options in my stamping cupboard. Not only could I see using this stamp on a card for a little boy, I probably wouldn't hesitate to use it on a card for one of my teenage nephews as well.