A Cow's favorite lunch meat?

I didn't manage to get as much stamping as I hoped done yesterday but I did get one card made and I'm quite happy with how it turned out! The finished size is 4 1/4 x 4 1/4.



Some people ask me how I come up with ideas - so let me expound on my thought processes on this card and how it came to be. First I saw a sketch online I wanted to try (this was a weekly sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers). Next I went to my stamp drawers and tried to find an image that would fit the approximate shape of the focal image on the sketch. I was lazy yesterday and literally decided I had to pick SOMETHING in the first drawer I opened. The sketch is really a taller image...but figured the cow would work. Then I grabbed a coordinating stamp (the cow spot stamp from High Hopes) and sat at my table. I stamped the cow. I started with the thought in my head that I was going to do a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card...with a black base and a white spotted background. But when I tried that...the image got lost and didn't stand out. First off...too big of a card...too little of a background. So I cut it down to 4 1/4 x 4 1/4. Still didn't like the cow spotted area as the big background. So I went in search of some other paper. I love red/black/white as a color combo...and I found the red patterned paper in some stuff my Secret Sister sent me a while back. So...back to the table with it. Ultimately, I tried several variations of the red/black/spotted/white color layouts until I decided I liked this best. Next, I needed a saying or something to go on the upper right (per the card sketch). I went online and searched "cow quotes" and ended up with a lot of choices. I tried to print in an oval (the shape on the sketch) but didn't have much luck. So, instead I opted for a circle (using wordart). I printed it out and then punched it out. Layered with a scalloped punched circle. It still needed something so I added the big brad to the center (a gift from another Secret Sister from a couple years ago) Also, as a side note...none of this is actually attached to the card base yet. I always save that for last. I pierced my holes. Used dimensional adhesives to pop up the saying and then the front was complete. I still needed to do the inside (the answer). I printed it on a piece of paper. Then attached my card base to the piece of paper with temporary adhesive so that the answer would print where I want. I put the piece of paper back in the printer and printed. Once I had that completed...THEN I attached the card front to the base...and the card was done. Whew! :-)

So...do you want to know what a cow's favorite lunch meat is?????

Bull-ogna! :-)

Have a great day!

Jane

High Hopes Design Team Entry

You all have heard me mention High Hopes Rubber Stamps before and how much I absolutely adore them. Well, they have a 'Guest Designer' spot available and I decided to apply. If you are interested in applying you can find the details HERE.

The challenge was to use this sketch:



I ended up flipping the sketch and modifying it just a wee bit in order to make it work for my Posing Bunny image. The image in relatively large and when using the sketch in a vertical presentation it took up the whole card front and really hid the layers behind it. So I flipped it to a horizontal presentation. I also had the same issue with the greeting (greeting is by Clear Dollar Stamps). Even though I chose one of the smallest greetings I had...it just didn't fit anywhere on the sketch. So, instead I chose to add the greeting directly to the image panel.

Here's my sample:



Details:

I decided to "paper piece" some of the features of the Posing Bunny. I stamped the image on white cardstock twice and then again on pink and yellow paper. I cut out the different portions that I wanted to piece (the hat, the ribbon, the lace on the hat and the bunny tail). I still wanted more dimension so I ran the pink hat portions through the cuttlebug with the Swiss Dot embossing folder. Next I colored my bunny using prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits. I then used my Frost Blue Copic marker and outlined the whole image to make it pop. And lastly I glued all the pieces onto the colored image. I also used dimensional adhesive on the tail to make it stick out.

Here's a close up of Posing Bunny:



So...what do you think?

Jane

Case-A-Sister-Challenge

Good morning every one! As many of you know, I belong to a group of stampers called the Sisterhood of Blogging Stampers 4 (or SBS4 for short). I haven't met any of these ladies in person - but we are committed to visiting each others' blogs and encouraging each other along the stamping way. One of the things we do...is challenges. This month we have a challenge going on called the "Case a sister challenge". We are supposed to visit the other SBS4 blogs and choose a card that one of them made within the last month and we are supposed to copy it in a way that is recognizable. It doesn't have to be exactly the same but it does need to be similar enough. We don't say WHO we are casing...but instead the other sisters make guesses and there are prizes involved.

Anyways, that's the story behind this card. If you'd like to "play" along and make a guess of your own...the SBS4 sisters' blogs are all listed to the right of my blog. You can go check them out and guess who I am CASEing.



Have a great day everyone!

Jane

Monday...Monday...

Well, after a week off from work...it's time to go back (yuck!) It's dark and cold outside...and it's 6:30 a.m. inside. Double yuck! Although I should be thankful to have a job. Yesterday's classifieds was a total of 6 pages here...that included the legal stuff, the jobs, and the items for sale. Ouch! So, I guess I need to be happy and get up and go to work. Just wish I was a morning person (not a night one) and that my job was closer. Adding two hours a day of driving is for the birds. I did ask Santa for a Bluetooth compatible phone...maybe that'd help pass the time.

I guess you probably came here for artwork, eh? Not to listen to me babble. So...without further ado - here is my next creation...



The cute little giraffe and saying are from High Hopes Rubber Stamps. I absolutely adore their images!

Well, better go get showered and dressed. Need to stop and fill up the gas tank before I hit the road today. Have a great one!

Jane

Check this card out!

I won some blog candy from Crissy over at Crissy's Art 'n Heart a couple weeks ago. I knew I'd won some stamps. What I didn't know? Was that she was sending me the sample card as well! Wow...I would have been happy with just that! It is gorgeous! But you will have to see for yourself.



And just so you can see it better...here is a picture of just the card...



Isn't it stunning? Aren't I lucky?

Sorry I didn't post for a few days. We were having technical issues with our camera and computer communicating. But they seem to be getting along better these days. LOL.

Have a great Tuesday!

Jane

Guess what???

You all know how much I LOVE my High Hopes rubber stamps right?

Some times when I see new images, I want to play with them first before investing money in them. Especially stamps that require a lot of coloring (since that used to be hard for me to do...notice the term USED to be! LOL). I searched the gallery at Splitcoaststampers and found some people that had made cards with the images. Then I emailed them and asked if they'd be willing to trade images. Chrissy was awesome about it. She emailed me a big envelope full (which then caused me to go to their site and spend $130!)

Chrissy's artwork blew me away! It turned out that she is not only on the Design Team for the company...but she is also one of the Illustrators (who draw the images for the stamps). And...she's amazingly sweet to boot! So we've traded images a couple times now and we've got to know each other a bit. And, until recently she only displayed her artwork on her gallery at Splitcoaststampers. But I'm happy to announce that she has finally started her own BLOG called Chrissy's Art and Heart. She offered some blog candy and I entered...never in a million years did I think I would win. But I DID! I'm so excited to have new High Hopes rubber stamps to play with! But I'm even MORE excited that Chrissy has started a blog so everyone can see her artwork. Make sure you check it out!

Jane

Ahoy there matie!

I traded for some of the new High Hopes Images from Chrissy again. Chrissy does some amazing work...if you'd like to see more just click on her name to view her SplitCoastStampers gallery.

This pirate is one of their new releases...isn't it adorable?



I couldn't resist using lots of gold embellishments for my little pirate!

Thanks for looking! Guess I have to go to work since I didn't find me a treasure! LOL.

Jane

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

Raining Anywhere?

We've had the strangest weather here lately. May usually holds 100+ degree days for us. This past week we had rain and temperatures down in the 70's! Wow...I've been loving it! Unfortunately, I'm sure the hot weather will soon be back. In the meantime, I became inspired and made this card.



The little boy is from High Hopes. The saying is from Clear Dollar Stamps...it's from part of a set that will be released in June. Shhh...don't tell anyone that I'm already using it! :-) The saying just fit this little guy perfectly and I had to use it. You'll be seeing more of the set late next week when I can start sharing my previews of the June releases.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. Take a moment tomorrow and remember those who we've lost.

Jane

High Hopes Horse

I was stamping some images for a swap and I messed up this image. Normally the image shows the whole horse. Well, I don't have him mounted yet and I was just using the plain rubber...putting it down onto paper and pressing on the back. Sometimes this isn't the easiest thing to do because as you are putting it down and picking it up you can make it smudge. This guys hooves got smudged. SO I couldn't send him in the swap. But I wasn't going to throw him away either! Instead I colored most of him and then trimmed and cut out a portion of the image. You'd never know I messed up the image because I chopped off the part that was damaged.



Main Image: Kenny from High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Background Stamp: Stampin Up
Cardstock: Stampin Up
Ink: Marvy Black and Stampin Up

This is one of the cards I made with my friend this weekend. She's a SU consultant so I was using most of her supplies.

Enjoy!

Jane

Happy happy Friday!

I'm always SO happy to see Friday come around again. Don't ask me why...'cause now I've started working part of Saturday's as well. But at least Saturday's I work from home and it's OT so it's not so bad. Still feels like Friday means the weekend is starting.

In honor of Friday...here is a card that's sure to make you smile!



Isn't that duck adorable? He's from High Hopes Rubber Stamps.

Have a great day!

Jane

Just chicken in!

This was a quickie card I made yesterday.



Chick image is from High Hopes Rubber Stamps, chicken feet prints and saying are from Stampin' Up.

I drug the edges of the orange cardstock with scissors to distress it a bit. All the rest is pretty straight forward. A very simple quick card!

Enjoy!

Jane

Just Ducky...

Good morning! Well, as good as a Monday can be! ;-) I didn't sleep worth beans last night. Probably 'cause I took a nap yesterday - but I kept it short and didn't think it would affect my sleep last night. Bah humbug. Now I'm starting out the day tired and grouchy. Hopefully an hour drive with the window down and the stereo blaring will help with that. :-)

Anyways, wanted to share my next new card. This image is also by High Hopes Rubber Stamps. I kept the layout VERY simple because there is a trick to this card that I'll show you in just a minute. Here is the card all put together...



And what is unique about it you ask? Well, the main image is held on with magnets. So the front portion (yellow mat and all) will pull off the card and can be stuck on a magnetic surface and kept as a magnet. There is another magnet under the layered paper on the base card...that's how the main image is held on.



I thought I'd take it one step further and make "sayings" for the duck and put them on magnets...but forgot that they'd repel going the other direction...so that didn't work. Oh well, cute as is.

I best be getting dressed for work. This might be a long week. One of the four of us is on vacation - so that makes things a little more chaotic. And I'm her backup person for membership (which takes about 1/2 the day on Tuesdays and you have to take the system completely down...so you need to be quick and accurate). I've only done it a couple times...so wish me luck tomorrow! I think we also have a meeting with the Director today. Not sure what that's about. She seems to be on our case a lot lately. She must be catching flack from further up the management chain.

Have a great day!

Jane

New Artwork!

Ok...buckled down and finished TWO cards last night! Wanted to hop on and share one of them with you for now.

This adorable bunny stamp is from High Hopes Rubber Stamps and is called "Posing Bunny". Isn't it cute?



I love all the details and the softness of this card. My husband didn't like it as well as the second card I did. But this one is probably my favorite of the two. So I'm sharing it first.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Jane

Multichallenged!

Well, yesterday I only got around to making ONE card...so I made sure I made that card count! LOL. It meets 3 challenges...

#1 - It meets sketch challenge #165 from SplitCoastStampers
#2 - It meets the color challenge from SBS4 (lilac mist, garden green, bamboo and buttercup)
#3 - It meets the "Girl's" theme challenge AFSS6 from Stampin' When I Can



The image is one of my new ones from High Hopes Rubber Stamps. I didn't have a garden green" marker so settled for Key Lime instead. Hopefully that's still close enough for the challenge. Oh, and then I discovered that the light that I use to take pictures in my lightbox...is hot enough to MELT my markers. ARGH. I think I ruined about $20 worth of markers. I heard a "popping" noise and when I looked over the plastic on the markers were bubbling up and melting.

The reason I only got one card stamped yesterday was because we had a family outing. We took the kids to a nearby park where they stock the "lake" with fish. I don't "do" fishing...but I can sit in a a chair and read a book and take pictures of them! LOL. They really don't do a lot of fishing either and I don't think we've ever caught anything there...but they have a good time trying.

Here's my hubby:



Here is our oldest son: (I can't seem to get a good picture of him these days!)



Here are a couple pictures of our youngest:



This one he said he looks like he's hugging his two best friends! ;-)



Well, that's all for today folks. I have lots of artwork from others to share this week - hopefully I'll get a chance to do some more cards of my own today as well.

Jane

Forgive the lack of links today...my computer won't let me have two windows open for whatever reason. Grrr.

What's Up Chicken Butt?

Ok...that was the first saying I had for this card...but I opted for "What's Up at Your End?" instead. This is my first Spring Fold card. I found the directions HERE on Splitcoaststampers. A huge thanks to Sandy for sharing her directions!



The image is another from High Hopes Rubber stamps. It's called Henrietta's BackSide and can be found HERE. I love these images and am having so much fun coloring them with my new prismacolor pencils! Thanks to everyone who granted my wishes and traded HH images with me! For the saying I printed it out on the computer and punched it out with a SU tag punch. Then trimmed just a bit and punched another tag from the brown and layered it.

The fold looks really complicated but it's quite simple. This folds down flat for mailing.

I have a couple things going on stamping-wise.

I've applied for Gina K's Design Team. I really like her (feel like I know here from SCS) and love her stamps...so would love to be chosen. I'm sure there will be MANY qualified people applying though. So, keep your fingers posted!

Also, I'm currently on the Idea Team from Clear Dollar Stamps. It sounds like some changes may be coming there as the owner is revamping the program. Right now she has an Idea Team and a Design Team. Sounds like she may be moving to just a Design Team. I guess this is what they call "growing pains" probably a good thing for her. Sounds like I'll have to apply for the Design Team if I want to continue on (will have to wait and see what her requirements are - but in general I've enjoyed working with her so probably will reapply).

Anyways, that's it for today. I'm working on cleaning the house a bit. My niece is babysitting the kids tonight and me and hubby are going out for my birthday (a day early). Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Jane

A Boy and His Frog

My mojo has returned after a brief hiatus. :-)

Between last night and this morning I've made 4 new cards. SO, keep an eye out for new artwork! Also, I'm nearing 10,000 hits on my blog and I'm going to be having a contest for blog candy when I do...so keep coming back (the more times you visit...the faster blog candy becomes available!)

Without further ado...here's one of my new creations! This guy is another image from High Hopes Rubber Stamps. I received him in an image swap. He's colored in with Prismacolor pencils and I used odorless mineral spirits to blend the pencils. The background papers are from Stampin' Up (thanks to my friend Concetta!) and I used a Stampin' Up background stamp on the blue to give it some texture. Then I used an old CTMH stamp to make the "dirt" under his bare feet. Also, if you look closely...there are some TINY screwhead brads that I used as the fasteners on the boy's overalls. I love how it turned out! Hopefully you do to.

I'm going to post a couple pictures of the card from different angles. Also, you can click on the photos to view them larger.





Enjoy!

Jane

Cowboy Style

I made this card with another High Hopes Rubberstamps image that Crissy A.(aka #1artist4highhopes) sent me. The coloring in the photo doesn't look as good as it does in real life. But I love this image. What a cutie!



Here it is a little closer up:



High Hopes has so many cute images. You can check them out here on their online catalog. You can buy the stamps either mounted or unmounted. And no, I don't work for them or design for them. Just think their stamps are adorable and want to share my enthusiasm! (Oh, and BTW my birthday's in a couple weeks...hint, hint! LOL!)

Ok, on to other things. I got an email from Craft's Fifth Avenue (one of our local scrapbook stores). I am on their Design Team. Normally they hand us a bag of supplies and we use whatever they give us to design our project. This time the email said they were giving us a $15 limit and we get to pick our products. So I'm planning on stopping by tonight and getting some supplies. Not sure exactly what I feel like making...but I'm thinking maybe a set of cards with the holder for them.

I'm also stamping with a friend tonight. So hopefully more goodies to share in the week to come. Happy Friday all!

Jane

High Hopes Piggy

I want to send a huge thank you out to Crissy A. (aka #1artist4highhopes) for sending me an envelope of High Hopes images. She is one of the major designers/artists for High Hopes Rubber Stamps. She draws the images that they then make into stamps. I'm just loving their stuff! If you want to see even more of their images you can check out Crissy's gallery on SCS.

For this card I used the newest sketch challenge from SplitcoastStampers. Here's the sketch...



And here is my card:



The paper for this card I got at Target in their $1 spot. 12 sheets for a $1 and it's cute stuff! Both of my boys are into piggys...I may just have to make another of these and make them into valentines for me to give to them. I've already been thinking about maybe doing something simple for their classmates. I always have the best of intentions but then run short on time. But maybe some little bag toppers with candy for them to give out? Wait and see I guess.

Have a wonderful day!

Jane