Bugaboo Digi Stamps is sponsoring this challenge….. (THANK YOU Jody).  If you know me and my sense of humor, it will be no surprise that I had to go with this guy:

Meet Gus and he is not happy that he’s another year older.  Love that sentiment, I think I’ll start demanding a recount myself next year!

I sort of messed up on the balloon which resulted in me having to trim Gus and cover other minor “oopses” with some twine.

Gus is just one of many funny and humorous digi stamps, so be sure to check out Bugaboo Digi Stamps.  Lots of wonderful digi stamps, from fairies to funnies and gorgeous silhouette type digi stamps as you will see when you head over to the Sisterhood of Crafters.

So head over to The Sisterhood of Crafters to get more inspiration from the Sistah’s and then join us by Getting Digi With It.

Can’t wait to see what you guys come up with!  Until next time…..

Supplies Used:

(Note…. papers are from scrap basket – old Fancy Pants Designs – The Daily Grind)

I made a quick card using On The Line stamp set from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff.  

Quickly colored with Copics then cut out.  The dotted card stock panel & the “baby boy” strip are from an old DCWV pack which I don’t even have the name anymore (so I wasn’t able to provide a link in the supplies list below).  However, the “baby boy” could easily be replicated with alpha stamps and embossing powder.  Like I said, it was a quick card, which I finished about two hours before the shower.  I used a black Copic marker to color the baker’s twine a solid black.

Now before I start dinner, you guys might want to head over to Lindsay’s shop at myGrafico because they are having a Retirement sale which means HUGE savings on some awesome sets. 

Head over to Lindsay’s blog for a complete list of her stamps that are retiring and check out her cool St. Paddy’s card.  LOVE how she created the rainbow, literally had one of those “slap my forehead thinking why I hadn’t thought of this” moments .

Oh and tomorrow (I keep forgetting) I’ll share the sweet award Alexandra Lundgren awarded me.  I better get going, I smell something burning……  until next time!

Supplies used:

I for one am so glad this work week is almost over.  This “cold one day, warm the next” is wreaking havoc on me.  The afternoons are really bad, especially when it warms up or the winds are out of the south, because I get very, very (lethargically) tired.  And that means that IF I sit down to craft something after work/dinner, it takes me twice as long.  Perhaps that why I am most creative early in the mornings.  Too bad those creative ideas always seem to strike me as I have to walk out the door to work.

But enough about that.  Although I did not have any coloring mojo this past weekend, I decided to color up one of the magical mermaids from Sweet Pea Stamps, knowing that the magic of these fantasy stamps would win out and hopefully turn out ok.  Since I have not colored up any of the stamp images from ©Elaine Cox’s Plate #164, I chose ©Elaine Cox’s Pinkie:

(click on the picture to see it larger)

I’ve been dyeing to use Graphic 45’s Oceania paper from the Tropical Travelogue Collection so for once, I matched the Copic colors to the paper.  I generally tend to just color (in front of the TV) and then find paper to match the colored image.  The sentiment is from ©ching chou’s Plate #25.  And considering I colored her up before I got my new glasses, she turned out ok:

I really love the blue/green color combo.  Like you couldn’t tell, right?

I’m entering this card into the following challenges:

• iCopic Challenge #69:  (ooohhh how perfect is this?)  Blue Green Copics
• Top Tip Tuesday #70: Mystical, Magical & Fantasy

That’s it for me tonight.  I have a dental appointment in the morning, oh joy!

As always thanks for stopping by……  

Supplies used:

NOTE:  The rhinestones are retired Studio18 Rhinestone Strass from International Greetings.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

I went home at lunch today and finished my Courage card.  The card stock for the base is from my old Stampin’ Up! supplies and the Sunflower paper is from PSX (retired).  I wanted to use it though because of the Sunflowers – Kansas connection.  I’ve also used Lindsay’s Decorative Doilies, cut from some brown scrap paper.  The ribbon is from my left over jar of ribbon odds n ends.

The lion is part of Crafty Secrets Wizard of Oz set.  I stamped him onto acrylic watercolor paper, which has a linen type finish, with Jet Black Archival Ink because I had intended of using watercolors.  However, I colored him with Copics and was quite pleased with the results.

The acrylic watercolor paper does soak up a little more of the ink, and I had to be careful of the ink bleeding outside the lines.  Of course it did bleed in some spots, but I just used a gray marker to outline which gives the image a little depth.  The crown is stamped with Jenni Bowlin Brown Sugar and colored with a gold spica glitter pen, cut and mounted with foam squares.  I took one square and cut it in half.

BTW, you guys will want to make sure and head over to eclectic Paperie because this and a whole bunch of other stamp sets are reduced……! 

I think this will be a “Thinking of You” card, maybe to someone who is needing a little courage.  A bonus is that this card will work for either a guy or a girl.

Checking the challenge blogs, found a couple this card will qualify for:

• Creative Card Crew #4:  Masculine
• Kaboodle Doodles #106:  Boys or Masculine
• Simon Says Stamp and Show: Anything Goes  (you guys need to see the DT projects…. blow-you-away)

That’s it for me tonight.  I think I’ll end this Valentine’s with a nice chunk of homemade brownies!  .

Until next time……..  

Supplies used:

I thought I’d pop in and share a much promised recipe.  I had promised the recipe to my friend on Facebook but thought I’d share it here.

Last week I fixed Butter Bean Soup and snapped a picture with my phone.  The soup is delicious, easy & fast to fix and I am not a big fan of beans.  However, there is a reason the beans are called “Butter Beans”.  Melt in your mouth!

Here’s the recipe but keep in mind that I rarely measure.

1 cup chopped carrots *

1/4 cup chopped onions*

3 tablespoons vegetable oil*

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups of water

2 (16oz ) cans of butter beans – drained

1 1/2 cup of diced tomatoes (you can use fresh tomatoes or a 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes)

salt

pepper

vegetable stock seasoning * (I’ll explain about this further down this post)

In a large pan, cook carrots and onions in oil until soft.  Add flour; cook and stir for approx.. a minute or two.  Slowly add water, continue stirring until smooth.  Add beans and diced tomatoes, salt & pepper, stir and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes (again, approximately….).

Now to the vegetable stock seasoning.  I use a seasoning from Germany which I believe you can find at your local grocery store in the specialty food section or maybe in the mexican section:

This is not a vegetable based seasoning,  but I use it and an all purpose herb or vegetable seasoning such as this (only I got mine in Germany and is a liquid vegie seasoning from Maggi:

I did scour the net and see that McCormick has a vegetable seasoning out:

Basically, just season it to your liking .  Trust me you can’t go wrong.  *Now about the carrots and onions…. sometimes I use more carrots and/or onions, sometimes I’ll add chopped celery. 

I haven’t tried it yet, but was thinking about adding some kind of shredded cheese before serving.  Maybe a sharp Cheddar.. I’ll definitely will let you guys know if it will make it any better!

And although I did not get any time in my craft room, I did get quite a bit accomplished (besides the normal house cleaning):

• Upstairs bathroom closet re-organized
• Boxes of stamp stuff labeled & priced for stamp store garage sale

but most importantly…..

• tax paperwork/receipts sorted/added and put in order for the tax preparer, woohoo!

And not to forget… got my copy of Breaking Dawn Prt 1.  Yes, I got out at midnight Friday night to get the DVD. 

Saturday night we watched Abby.  The little stinker was so tired but refused to go to sleep.  So she stayed up until Mom & Dad picked her up around 11pm.  Emma was at a slumber party and Gracy got to spend some one on one time with Mom & Dad, so we watched Abby.  Trust me, it’s a lot easier just watching one grandchild.  No fighting over toys.  Trust me when I say Abby took full advantage of that.  Digging every single toy box out of the “toy closet”.

(went a little crazy with the cell phone photo app)

Now I’m about done with laundry and am waiting for the snow to start.  Expecting 2-4 inches, which is really not much but it’s probably the only measurable snow we’ll get this season.

That’s it for me tonight.  I think I’m going to sit back and enjoy watching the Grammys tonight.

Until next time……