Dearest Baby

I borrowed some Paper Bag Studios stamps from a friend, and made several images for later use with them before returning. I'm actually not sure why I chose this one; sometimes it strikes me as an image for a sympathy card. But I left it without text and perhaps it would work for an adoption card or just a vintage card featuring a little one.

Autumn!!!

I know, it's summer still ... but I'm ready to make fall cards! I made this one a few weeks ago with some Paperbag Studio stamps I borrowed from a friend. It's obviously meant to be a photo negative, but once I had this idea, I made a bunch of images this way. For some, I used this sparkle black, for others, I used a deep brown mica. This is the only card I have actually completed, though next week I hope to use the image for a few more cards. I liked the idea of the rainbow look behind the trees ... there is hope that with the dying season of fall, there will be rebirth...

This was done using heat and stick powder to emboss with, then brushing metallic powders over the stamped image.

Letters from Grandma

I thought of my French grandmother when I saw the script on this, and the picture of the girl just seemed to go with it, so I thought of the lovely letters my Grandma would send me. We absolutely adored her, she was the ultimate grandmother ... loved to talk to us, write to us, and generally make us feel special when she or we would visit each other. She would always teach me a little bit of French, because I loved the language, and usually at least a couple of her sentences in her letters would also be in French.

The girl and script portion was done very quickly, several weeks ago, but then I got stuck. I won't embarrass myself fully by saying how much time it took to get it done, but it was ridiculous! I simply could not make it "work." In fact, I still am not happy with it, but it was either settle for it like this, or never finish it. :-) I may take a portion of it off if I can figure out how to better it. Someday. !!!! But I got another idea for this cute little girl that I will try out tomorrow ...

Another boyhood card

I dreamed about stamping all night last night! I want to return the the borrowed Paperbag Studio stamps Saturday, and have not really gotten to use them as much as I had hoped, so my dreams were all about trying to use each one at least once before returning them (the next day, according to my dreams), but all these college students were sitting at my craft counter playing games! I tried to move to another large table, but they joined that one, eating pizza that I was sure would mean grease all over my cards. And so it went ... I was vastly relieved to wake up!!!

It turned out to be too busy for much stamping; this card was the only one I managed to do! Happily, tomorrow seems to be a fairly clear day!

boyhood

My last week to play with my friend's Paperbag Studios' stamps! I hope it is a relatively uneventful week!

I think the printed paper is from provo craft, but I'm not certain. The '57 chevy and "remember" text are from Stubby Stamper. I purchased the chevy for Cuban-themed cards; those 50's vehicles (now with Russian diesel engines!) are pretty much the only ones that Cubans are able to own. I suppose the vehicle "ages" the car, but it seemed right!

Family collage

I love these collage stamps from Paperbag Studios! This stamp is one of my favorites. I do wish I had used a lighter green for the dragonflies. I had just meant to put a couple in the top part of the card to give a little balance, but the color was so dark, I then needed balance on the lower part! :-)

Sisters collage

I don't know if these two are supposed to be sisters, but that's what I think of when I see it this image. I am borrowing a bunch of Paperbag Studios stamps from a friend; I wanted to make sure that if I get to a place of being able to order some of them, I would actually be able to work with them.

Though I absolutely love the look of collage, I have done little of it. I had a day about a week ago to work with these stamps, and just could not get anywhere. I have a perfectionist streak which dramatically affects how much work I get done. Because I am very aware of my inexperience and lack of knowedge, I spend an ridiculous amount of time making decisions in my cardmaking. Today I was determined that instead of taking ten minutes to decide if I should stamp an image in a certain place, I was just going to "do it!!" When I found a background paper I liked, I resisted (well, after a minute or two!) looking for a "better" paper. Once I had the card more or less done, I stopped myself from continuing to play around with the embellishments.

So, whether the card is a technical success or not, I am delighted with it because I did not second guess ( or 3rd, 4th, 5th guess!!)myself at every step!