Squirrels Everywhere!

Good morning! Guess what tomorrow is? It's time for the new releases over at Clear Dollar Stamps! So today I need to finish up with showing you MY sneak peeks.

The next set I'm going to showcase is called "Just Nutty". It's a set of 25 stamps for $12.99. 11 are word staps and the rest are images. There is a whole standing squirrel and there is the head and butt of another squirrel (so you can hang him from the tree branch or similar. Of course, there are also nuts and acorns and such to finish the scene.

First sample:


Second sample:


Third sample: (this one didn't photograph well...the green is really a darker green color...came out kind of neon in the photo)


The last stamp that I worked with this month is another single stamp...of a seal. He/she should go for $1.99. I'm not sure of the stamp's name but you can find him/her under the August new releases or under Single Stamps.

First sample:


Second sample: (this one was a color challenge to use purple...and a challenge it was! I also used the ball from another set "Dog Toys" on this one.


I hope you like all the new release stamps. Make sure you go over to Clear Dollar Stamps tomorrow to check out the other new releases (I only showcase a small portion of the new ones). Also, I encourage you to check out my fellow Design Team members' blogs to see their artwork. They are all listed on the right hand side of my blog.

I know I still have to draw for the blog candy. Just had to finish up the reveals first. Thanks for your patience!

Have a great day.

Jane

Waterfall Card... Doggie Style! ;-)

This is the second card I made with the new set from Clear Dollar Stamps. This set is available August 1st. Also, I used Cocoa (he's a single stamp released a few months ago but still available) I colored the card using my new copics from Clear Dollar Stamps. And if you want to make one of these for yourself...you can find the tutorial HERE on Splitcoaststampers.

This is what the card looks like completely closed...then as you pull down on the ribbon the flaps start folding back revealing one square at a time. It's a "wow" card and not that hard once you've made the first one.









For the background I put several of the stamps onto my acrylic block and stamped the cardstock randomly in brown ink. I printed the saying on the computer (hint...print once on regular paper...then place your cardstock on top of the printing on the paper using temp adhesive...then put the paper back in the printer and print again. Perfect alignment without waste of cardstock.

Hope you enjoyed today's sample. Will be back later to post more!

Jane

Last Day for Candy Entry! And another sneek peek!

Today is the last day to enter for your choice of any Clear Dollar Stamp set (limited value). See this entry for details!

Ok...on to the next Sneek Peek. Today I am featuring a new set called "Doggie Toys" (5644) It's a set of 7 stamps for $3.99. A great set to coordinate with any dog stamps you currently own. It has two phrases "Good dog" and "Friend", along with a doghouse, a ball, a fire hydrant, a dogfood dish, and a bone.

This first card is a simple card but one of my favorites. I stamped the doghouse and then I wanted a dog to go IN the doghouse. I thought I'd have to use a bigger dog and just have him peeking out (do some masking) but instead I found that one of the pups in the Fresh From the Farm set fit perfectly in the doorway. I just used a marker to mark up just one of the pups (there are four in a line on the stamp) and stamped him in the doorway. The saying on the card is also from Fresh From the Farm. Finished size of the card is 4 1/4 x 4 1/4.



I made a couple other samples with this set...but apparently Blogger doesn't want to let me post any more photos at the moment and I need to go to work. So I will try to post later. One is a waterfall card that I really like...so come back to check it out!

Jane

Sneek Peek - Ernie Elephant - Available Aug 1st

The hardest part for me each month...is deciding which set and which sample to lead off with for the New Releases over at Clear Dollar Stamps. Hmmm...let's see I guess today we will start with this sample.



The elephant stamp here is called "Ernie the Elephant". He is sold all by his lonesome (not in a set) and is reasonably priced. I colored the image with my new Copic markers. The background has been run through the cuttlebug with the Swirls Devine embossing folder. Then lots of piercing. I love how soft this card turned out. How perfect for a new baby boy!

Lori will be stocking the new Cuttlebug embossing folders starting August 1st. So make sure you add some of those to your order as well!

For this next card I decided to use Ernie in a whole different way. Just by changing the colors he's makes not a mellow baby card...but instead he makes a bright cheerful birthday card good for all ages.



On this card I also used the Wagon Wishes set. I used just the balloon (in the Wagon Wheels set the balloon is attached to a present...I just inked up the balloon part and added it in triplicate to the end of Ernie's trunk). That's one of the great things about the clear stamps - makes it very easy to place things just where you want them. The word "Celebrate" is also from the Wagon Wishes set. I accidentally messed up and used an old stamp of the month to create my background (where it repeats the words "Make a Wish" over and over again) but you could use any birthday greeting here.

On both cards I'm showing today I used my new nestabilities rectangle dies. It's in the grapevine that Lori is going to start carrying these as well! I hope so...then I can truly do one stop shopping! LOL.

Ok...guess I gotta run off to work. Have a wonderful day!

Jane

I love this Giraffe!

I seem to be on a giraffe kick lately. First the High Hopes one and now the one from Clear Dollar Stamps. Meet Gigi the Giraffe!



For the card design I followed sketch challenge 186 over on SplitCoastStampers. Gigi is colored in with my new Copic markers that I bought at Clear Dollar Stamps. I bought two sets...definately NEED more! LOL. Love how they look.

And on another note...guess what my hubby picked up at the thrift store yesterday? A set of over 100 prismacolor pencils in the original wooden case for $5! I paid around $40 for my set of 48 of these...so $5 is a ganga deal! I may try to trade my set of 48 prismas for some more Copic markers or a set of nesties. Or sell them on ebay and use the money for that. Haven't decided quite yet. Just know I now have an extra set.

Have a great day everyone...Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go!

Jane

Playing with New Toys!

Guess what finally came in the mail? My much dreamed about Copic Markers AND my first set of Nestabilities! I ordered the rectangles for my starter set. Hmm...now which to get next??? Hmm.

So, have you seen Nestabilities? Most of you probably have. But for those of you who haven't this is what they look like...



They are just (ever so thin) pieces of metal that you can run through most die cutting machines (I used my cuttlebug). The pieces will cut AND emboss (if you have a tan embossing mat...which I still need to buy). So for now all I can do is cut. But they are sized just right so every shape has a scallop that goes with it. Or if you have the embossing mat you cut and emboss with the same die. Here's a sample I made using my friend's circle nestabilities and her embossing mat. The embossing is a little hard to see on the white but it's there in real life I swear! :-)



The other purchase I made was two sets of Copic markers. Because I'm on the Design Team for Clear Dollar Stamps I got a ganga deal and bought two sets (each with 12 markers). I was afraid these would be really hard to use and that I might not like them. But I love them! And now I definately need more so I can do more shading! I'll be showing a few cards towards the end of the month where I used the markers. They are Design Team projects so I can't share QUITE yet.

I'm happy with both my purchases. The only other small purchase I made (I got $100 from our tax rebate that I could spend on what I wanted) was one of the Swiss Dot Embossing Folders. I'm disappointed to say that I ordered it several weeks ago and it STILL isn't here. I contacted the company after about a week. They said the order had got held up at the company that processes their credit cards (nothing wrong with the cc...just a glitch). But I still haven't seen my order. Grrr. Right now this embossing plate is one of the "hot" ones and it's often sold out. It was in stock when I paid for it. I'm wondering if it went out of stock between the time I placed the order and the time they realized there was a problem with the order. I guess it's time to send another email. Sigh.

Jane

Blog Candy!

I am still amazed at all the people who choose to visit little old me. I can't believe I hit 20,000 visitors! That is amazing! I love it when people come and visit. I love it even more when they leave comments! LOL.

In honor of hitting the 20,000 mark I've decided it's time to give away blog candy again.

Hmm...next question is what should I give away????

How about a stamp set of YOUR choice from Clear Dollar Stamps valued at $10 or less. (And yes, there are a fair amount there for that price.) In order to get the stamp set you must first go visit the site and look around and make your decision on which set it is that you'd want. Then come back to this post and leave a comment with your choice. Do some window shopping before making your choice. Because if you win, this WILL be the set you get! I will be selecting the winner on the 31st. So come back and see if you've won (or at the very least make sure I have a way to contact you!)

Good luck!

Jane

Is that a FROG in your pocket?

So, what is a girl to do when she doesn't have any new artwork to share? She goes digging through old stuff trying to find something new to her readers. I think this card qualifies. I made the card for a Secret Sister so I don't think I posted it. All stamps are from Close to My Heart.



You can see how I popped up part of the frog to hopefully get the dimension of him actually coming OUT of the pocket.



You probably won't be seeing much new artwork in the next couple of weeks. I need to buckle down and start working on my Design Team stuff for August. I can say the sets I got to work with are really adorable!

Well, I guess I GOTTA go to work. LOL. Have a great day all!

You Croc Me Up

This is another card I made with some of the High Hopes images I traded for. This is a much simpler card but I still like how it came out. I made the saying with Karen Foster Snap Stamps and punched it out with SU's word window punch.



Hope you like it!

Jane

High Hopes Stretch Card

I was able to trade for a few images of High Hopes new Jungle Line of stamps. This guy is called "Stretch". Isn't he/she adorable? Hmm that name could go either way.



I've traded for even more images...so you'll be seeing lots of High Hopes in the future. I have to trade for images because going to their site is just darn dangerous! Last time I went there I had a hard time keeping my order below $100! Their newest stamps are these jungle stamps and also a line of pirate stamps. Cute, cute, cute! Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous! LOL!

Jane

Diet Coke and Mentos

My kids just crack me up. We've started giving our kids the choice of cash or a party for their birthday. They also get their choice of a family activity and their choice of a cake. My kids have birthdays about a month apart.

Well last month was my oldest son's birthday. He chose cash. In the past we've literally had the cash they bought what they wanted and I gave them the left over cash when they were done. This past month my husband was the "holder of the cash" and he did buy the two playstation games my son wanted but the excess cash never made it back to my son and he never asked for it. He was happy with his two new games.

Last night the youngest one comes up to me. His birthday is Sunday. He tells me that he wants ME to hold his money because HE wants the left over cash! LOL. He's too smart for his own britches some times! (He's turning 8).

Here are some recent pictures of the boys doing a "diet coke and mentos experiment":

First you go buy 2 liters of diet coke (we bought multiple so both kids could try it). Then you buy a package of mentos (I'd recommend a full pack per bottle - we did half a pack and didn't get the results we really wanted). Then you complete the following steps...

1. Carefully set up the bottle of diet coke in a wide open area. We had a little plastic tube that came with our mentos (at the $1 store!) that was just for "loading". Anyways, get it all set up to go. We also used a small stick to keep the mentos seperate from the coke till everyone backed up.



2. We used a stick to keep the mentos from dropping into the coke until we were ready.



3. Then the appointed child pulls the stick out and RUNS so they don't get doused with diet coke.



4. Enjoy the sight of the spewing diet coke.



I think the record height for this is around 20-30 feet in the air. Ours was more like 10. But we used about a 1/3 of a tube of Mentos. So I'd try a whole pack. Supposedly salt and a few other things also cause an enhanced reaction.

Well, I gotta get ready for work. Have a Happy Friday!

Jane

Good morning all!

Time for more Charlie! Can you tell I had a lot of fun designing with Mr. Charlie?

This is a little 6x6 scrapbook page I made.



It uses a clear wheel stamp for the background with Desert Sand ink (Close to My Heart). Then Charlie is stamped in black and colored with prismacolor pencils. Cute but simple layout.

All stamps were new releases for July over at Clear Dollar Stamps. Go check them out!

Jane

Ok...back to the scheduled programming! :-0

I wanted to share some more of my creations made with Clear Dollar Stamps. This card once again uses Charlie Frolic and this one uses another new wheel stamp for the strip behind Charlie.



Guess what I did this weekend??? I placed an order for my FIRST nestabilities and my FIRST Copic markers! I only had $100 to spend so had to be kind of picky. I got one set of rectangles (solid and scalloped) at 20% off (sale for the 4th). And I got two sets of 12 markers from Clear Dollar Stamps with my design team discount. Amazingly how fast that $100 went! LOL. Both orders have shipped and I should have new play things by next weekend! YAY.

Ok...off to work with me. Have a great day.

Jane

Cheyenne's Day

Today is the 11th anniversary of my daughter Cheyenne's death. She was 15 days old. The previous day we had been told by the nursing staff that her chances of survival had gone up from 50% to 75%. That day was the first day I took "off" from going to the NICU. Instead I went with my husband to his workplace and made up a birth announcement on the computer and sent out some email updates about how well my surviving two triplets were doing.

This is Cheyenne - taken on her 14th day of life - I celebrated each week with a new 3x5 card...



We brought the camcorder with us to the NICU that evening for the first time. When we showed up we were told to wait outside because a baby was coding. I knew it was one of mine. I asked and they confirmed that it was Cheyenne. My husband went off to use the phone to call his Mom. I waited outside the door. They came out and updated me. She'd dropped her heart rate and she'd been down for almost 20 minutes. I asked IF she survived what her quality of life would be like. They said she'd be severely brain damaged from the lack of oxygen. I asked if we could make the choice to discontinue efforts. They said we could. So when my husband came back we talked about it and had them discontinue efforts.

They took her off the vent and handed her to me in the blanket. She opened one eye and looked at me as if to say goodbye. We took turns holding her and touching her. Occasionally a doctor would pop into the "family room" to check and see if her heart was still beating. Even though she was (for all purposes) dead they had to wait till her heart quit beating before they called her time of death. And because they'd given her so much medication to try and get her heart beat to accelerate...it seemed like it took forever before she was finally gone. This is the only "movie" I have of her...and it's still somewhere on the original 8mm tape. We've never viewed it or put it to regular tape.

I grew up as the only girl in a family of boys. My Mom was quite masculine as well. I wanted a daughter to do all the girly things with. When I was pregnant I'd always say there were two girls for me and a boy for dad. Well, with Cheyenne my dreams for a daughter died as well. There would be noone for me to dress up and do their hair. Noone to take shopping. Noone to teach to bake. Noone to buy an ezbake oven for.

I don't care how many years pass - I have never been able to find any sense to the experience we faced. I'm not a better person because of it (stronger maybe but not better). I was a good person to begin with. In general, with grief you try to focus on the positive things you got from knowing the person. When your children live for such a short time and their whole life is painful...it's impossible to find that something positive to focus on.

My beliefs in God have changed. I no longer believe in a micro God. A macro God that created the earth and that has a general plan for our life...that idea I can still believe. But a micro God who knows and cares about everything in our life. That I can't believe. I can't believe a micro God with "all knowing and all power" would allow what happened to happen. And I can't set foot in a church after the "family" I belonged to for several years then decided they needed to blame me for my daughters' deaths. When bad things happen it can't be God's fault so it must be the fault of the person it happened to. I was told by church leadership that I must have had my priorities out of line and wanted my girls more than I wanted God and that's why He TOOK them. I was also told that if it weren't for my lack of faith that I'd still have all my babies (like the McCaughy's). Not a single person from that church sent a card or offered to help in any way. No food was brought. No rides were given to the hospital (I'd had a c-section and wasn't able to drive). And when I called my pastor after Cheyenne died (after losing two children in two weeks time) he asked if I absolutely NEEDED him because he was busy with preparing for his son's wedding. I told him no...I guess I didn't NEED him. Grrr.

So I'm sorry if I offend anyone by stating my beliefs. And please don't try to "fix" my beliefs. They won't change. Believing in a macro God is the best I can do...and that's my own PERSONAL belief. I no longer will attend a church full of hypocrites who kick people when they are down. It's easy to be on the outside looking in. It's easy to say trite things about God and heaven and angels. It's a whole other experience to hold your child in your arms as their heart quits beating. And until someone has experienced this, then I wish they'd keep their comments to themselves and just offer their support instead of well-intentioned words gone wrong. (No, God didn't NEED my daughters more than I did...I also don't believe He TOOK my daughters - I do believe He RECEIVED my daughters...I don't believe things happen for a reason...etc...etc).

Jane

On a roll! More to share.

Well, I was inspired by one of my SBS4 sisters. Now I don't remember which one (sorry!) Their challenge was to use circles and she had circles all over the place on her card. I loved the idea of cutting the front half of the card in a partial circle. So I stole the idea! (Well, borrowed the idea...)

This is definately a girly card...for someone with a sense of humor! It was hard to get a picture with it closed because it just wanted to come open. Here's the best picture I got of it closed...



And here is what it looks like partially open...



The jeep stamp is from Victorine Originals and the saying is by River City Rubber Works (I think).

Hope it makes you smile today!

Jane

Happy 4th water bottles to share!

These are the bottles I made for my co-workers. The main image on the "pocket" is a Stampendous Changito. Then for the band around the water I used stamps from a $1 set I bought at Michaels. I think they turned out really cute. I only needed to make 4 of them....so my kids enjoyed the rest of the packets of kool-aid and making their own drinks. LOL.



And here is a side view so you can see the "band". I just cut off the existing wrapper an used it to determine the size of the band that I needed.



And lastly...a card to share. I made this for the newest sketch challenge on splitcoaststampers. I also attempted to combine it with the limited supply challenge but I ended up not quite meeting all the requirements for that (was supposed to be no more than 4 layers and I ended up with 6 by the time I matted two of the layers). The other requirements were using red/white/blue (met that one) and using 4 or less embellishments (met that one).



All stamps for this one are from Clear Dollar Stamps.

Hope you have a wonderful 4th of July!

Jane

Paint Can and Candy Bar Sliders

This paint can is one I worked on over the weekend when I went to my friend's house. There has GOT to be an easier way to deal with the handles. My friend sure enjoyed laughing at me while I tried to accomplish getting the paper around the handles. I think she may have even learned a few cuss words! LOL.

It was equally as hard to get a decent picture of. This is the best picture of the can (even though it included the tag and the candy bar cover as well).



I love how the little tag turned out (I tried to match the colors to the papers on the can)



Next I made the candy bar covers. I got the instructions for these off the Splitcoaststampers site under the Resources page.



It's a "slider" - so as you pull up on the ribbon the candy bar "slides" out.

I wish the pictures really did these guys justice. They are so DANG CUTE! Thanks to my friend Concetta for letting me play with her new Changitos!

Jane

New Changitos! (monkeys that is)

First off, I wanted to remind everyone that today is JULY 1st....which means it's time to go over to Clear Dollar Stamps and order your new releases!

Secondly, I thought I'd share a card I made on Sunday while stamping with my friend. She'd bought a bunch of new changito stamps (I just love these cute little guys). This image just makes me smile...so it's the first image I chose to make a card with. (Then I stamped images of all the others and brought them home to color and play with later.)



Hope it makes you smile too! Have a great day.

Jane