at last

I have drooled over Lovely As a Tree for years now. But for some reason, I never bought it. I earned a free stamp set and now I finally own it! When it arrived, I could not wait to use it! And for some reason, the image that was calling out to me was the large maple tree. At least in my mind it's a maple. And for some reason, the season just had to be fall. My favorite season. I know summer is preferred by most people, but summer is just plain too hot for me. I'll take the crisp air and gorgeous colors of fall any day over the humidity and heat of summer. 

I used black StazOn ink for the tree image. I stamped it onto water color paper and then used the Scallop Tag Punch and made a tag. Then I got to work with my AquaPen. I started with Cherry Cobbler. Added a bit of Pumpkin Pie and Crushed Curry. A tree wouldn't feel right to me without a bit of Old Olive. And the trunk is done with Soft Suede. Then I pulled a little of the trunk's color down and painted the ground and finished that with Old Olive. A wash of Soft Sky finished the background. 

Texture was the next element I wanted, so of course I put my embossing folders to work. Woodgrain and Square Lattice. Gorgeous Grunge provided some visual interest. And I popped up the greeting twice with Stampin' Dimensionals. And voila! My first card with a stamp set I have admired from afar for so many years. 

Happy stamping!

this means war

Spring has finally sprung in the great northeast! How do I know, you may ask? Well, it's not the temperatures. They vary wildly. Just yesterday it was so beautiful out that I was running errands in a t-shirt. But we had a fire roaring that night just to stay warm in the living room! I know that spring is here because of our dog, Remy. Here he is. Isn't he just adorable? Yup he is. And I love him tons.

It's a good thing that I love him tons. Especially in the spring. So, let me tell you how Remy tells me that spring is here. Every time he moves, twitches, shakes, rolls around on the floor, brushes by the couch, sneezes... he leaves behind massive amounts of puppy fur! There are dog hair tumbleweeds under every piece of furniture in the house! And the moment I have them all swept up, he drops more hair. It's an unending war between me and Remy hair. So, it's a good thing that he's so dang lovable. I guess we'll have to keep him.

The good news is that winter has lost it's icy grip on my world. I'm starting to think about the flower bed that needs a bit of attention. I know that when I finally make the time to go out and tend to it, I'll find itty bitty green things doing miraculous things! But today, I only had enough time to put together a card featuring flowers. It's pretty cute too!

I used one of my favorite techniques for the multi colored flowers: coloring an acrylic block with marker, spritzing it with water, and stamping onto paper. I make my own patterned paper that way. Incredibly quick and easy for a big payoff!

Happy stamping!