Happy Sunday!

Well, I could share a card with you...but I don't like how it turned out...so I don't HAVE to share it! Nah, nah!

Instead I thought I'd share a couple non-stamp related things. One is to tell you that I've decided it's time for me to do something about my weight (again). And to that end, I will probably start a weight loss blog here soon and will place a link to it from here. So if that interests you (if you like seeing me in pain and starving! LOL!) then you can visit that blog as well. I plan on doing Weight Watchers. It's worked for me in the past. I've followed the diet plan on my own in the past but didn't attend meetings. This time I'm going to attend the meetings and my neighbor is joining with me...so hopefully those will both be positive aspects.

Anyhow...when I got this email from my aunt today I laughed and laughed. Maybe it's just SO funny to me because I'm starting to think about the diet mentality...but hopefully you'll enjoy it too. Without further ado...here's some humor for your amusement!


PURINA DIET

Yesterday I was buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for Athena, the wonder dog , at Wal-Mart and was about to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a dog. On impulse, I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina Diet again.

Although I probably shouldn't, because I'd ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story.)

Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me.

I told her no; I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's ass and a car hit us both.

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard!

WAL-MART won't let me shop there anymore!!!

Basic Masking Tutorial

The limited supply challenge for this week on Splitcoaststampers is to use a non-halloween animal stamp to make a halloween tent card. I figured it was a prime time to do a tutorial on simple masking.

I will be using a hippo stamp and adding a witches hat. The easiest way to do masking is to use post-it notes (at least that's the easiest way I've found. So here are the two stamps I'll be using and the post-it notes.



The first thing I'm going to do is make my mask. So I'm going to stamp the witches hat on the sticky portion of the post-it note. After stamping you are going to cut out the mask just inside (or on) the line.



Now...take the same image and stamp it onto your cardstock. Here I've stamped it onto white cardstock.



NOW, you are going to use your mask. Take the post-it image and place it directly on top of the stamped image on the cardstock.



Once your mask is in place you are ready to stamp the next image (in my case the hippo).





Now remove the mask and your image is finished!



I could have stamped a single hat on white cardstock and cut it out and then just glued it on top of the hippo's head. Sounds easier right? But if you are doing multiples (or if you don't want the cut/paste look) then masking is the way to go. If you're using clear stamps then masking becomes even easier.

Masking can be used in many ways and can be used for more indepth techniques. With masking you can place items inside other items (like placing items "inside" a basket), you can make things sit on top of other things (like a dog sitting on a chair) or you can build scenes with items in the front and then build backwards...masking as you go. It may seem daunting but hopefully the step by step pics makes it easier to understand! You can also do "reverse masking". For example you can make your mask, place it on the image and then sponge blue ink around it to make it look like blue sky. Or...I also use a variation of masking to do my coloring at times. I will stamp my image on glossy cardstock and then cut portions of it out (say all the flower parts I want to be red), then stamp the same image again and cut out different portions (say all the flower parts I want to be yellow)...repeat for each color you plan to use. Then you basically use it template. You lay it over the areas you want to color (so only those areas are exposed and sponge on ink), then use the next template. Sometime I'll show that technique. For now...here is the finished card I made with the basic masking!





Hope you enjoyed!

Jane

More Fall...ya'll :-)

Here is my second "fall" card for my ArizonaStampers swap. This swap it doesn't matter if the cards are different...they just have to be the same theme. So, mine are different this month. It's called an Above and Below swap...and you send a card to the person above and below you on the sign up list.

This card uses a TAC stamp set...and alcohol inks for the background. I love how this background looks just like a countertop in your home. Cardstocks are from CTMH.



Hope everyone is having a great week! It's almost over!

Jane

Another way to use alcohol inks

I saw this posted on another blog and thought I'd try it out. You use baby wipes and alcohol inks to create a mixed muted coloring for solid stamps. I'm not sure I love it...and it stained my stamp (is it safe to clean rubber with the blending solution???) But it is pretty.

Anyways, here's the steps I took.

1) Choose 2 or 3 coordinating colors for your image. Set a baby wipe (or 2) on top of a plate or something you don't mind getting stained (I just sat on top of my Crafter's Sheet...LOVE THIS THING!) Then drop droplets of ink onto your babywipe...not touching but close together...in a random pattern.




2) Immediately take your stamp and use the inked area on the baby wipe as your ink pad.



3) Stamp on your paper. I was using a photo paper (matte) and it tended to stick to it (not sure why). I had better luck just using plain old white cardstock. Here is the finished image.



Anyways, just thought I'd share my new attempts at trying something new. Hope you enjoyed it and maybe it sparks an "ah-ha" moment for you. Maybe you'll find a way to branch off from this even. If you do...make sure you come back and let me know!

Jane

Please vote!

I'm trying to figure out what to do with my blog. What draws you to a blog and keeps you coming back? I'll be allowing votes for a week. So it's time to put in your .02. (How often do you actually get ASKED for your .02???) ;-) Better take advantage of it and answer the poll listed above. You may choose more than one option from the list.

Jane

Artwork as promised! Fall is here!

Well, Fall is ALMOST here. Are you thinking leaves and pumpkins yet? I am SO ready for some cooler weather. In the interim I decided to pretend it was Fall and make a couple seasonal cards.

This first card was from the tutorial that I mentioned previously. Almost all stamps are CTMH (the exception being the "cutest pumpkin in the patch saying which is from TAC).

Here's the front view of the pop-up card standing up:



The coolest thing about this card is that it collapses and folds down for mailing in a standard size card!

Here's the frontal view of the card folded for mailing...



And here is a side view of it folded (to give you an idea of the mechanics)...



And then I decided to make a "simple" card. Ever have a card where it just won't cooperate with you? That's this card. I'm still not sure I'm thrilled with it. But it's good enough for the swap I need it for. All stamps are from TAC.



Ok...am I forgiven for not posting as much artwork this week?

Jane

Doing the HAPPY DANCE!

Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah, I got a job offer, I got a job offer.
(if you have kids...do this to the tune of "It's my birthday").

Dang it, that's an animated emoticon that's doing a happy dance...but I can't figure out how to make him bigger OR how to make him start dancing! Anyone have more experience than I do?

The job pays a little less than my last job, benefits cost more, further from home...but I think I'd really like the people and the environment. And it's NOT a computer programming position! It's a Business Analyst position. So still playing and massaging data...but not the nitty gritty programming. The range on the position is $33-42,000 and they are offering $40,000 - near the top of the range. Not sure if I can get them to go any higher or not. And the health insurance costs over $1000 per month for a family! That's outrageous! I'm pretty sure I could get an independent insurance plan for less and that may be what we end up doing.

I do have an interview set up next week working for the State (in a similar position). So I'm not sure what to do. I'd say my chances of getting offered it are pretty high (my friend works for the State and says generally they only interview 3-4 people). First they sent me a letter - and when I hadn't replied within 2 days to set up an interview they called me this morning. They still had 3 time slots available. I know for a fact that their benefits are to die for. So I may "accept" this job but say I can't start for 2 weeks. Then interview with the State next week but tell them I have another offer on the table and I need a decision quickly. That way I may have held up the current place a bit - but I wouldn't have cost them anything in training me. I don't want to start there and then have to quit. But I also don't want to sell myself short.

Regardless, for now I'm happy, happy, happy! So nice to have the stress relieved and know we're not going to run out of savings!

I PROMISE I will post artwork late tonight. I printed off a tutorial for a new type of card (new for me) so will get to work on creating it just for YOU! ;-)

Jane