Sassy & Sweet Notes

Midnight Runner

The light from the setting sun was really pretty tonight...but I got outside with my camera just a bit too late to catch much the light still in the barnyard. Dang it... But I did snap this cute photo of Runner (Dixie's Midnight Runner) as he contemplated chewing on this weed. You can barely see just a hint of the setting sun in his left eye. What a looker, eh?

He wants to be friendly, but he has a CRAZY mother who doesn't let us near him. She kicks dirt up over he back and shakes her long pointy horns at us. Of course, if my ta-tas were as huge and swollen as her udder is right now, I'd be more than a little crazy too.

Raggedy Angel

Here's another "oldie but goodie" stamp, from the Raggedy Angel set (1997) from Stampin' Up! I think she's adorable in her primitive little dress and heart string, so she's another one of the OLD sets I recently added to my stash. Gotta love eBay! *grin*

I think she has a sweet face, and that hair! After I had her painted, I added some Crystal Fine glitter (from the Martha Stewart line) to her wings. I like that it adds sparkle without hiding the details of the painted image below. But still, that wasn't quite enough country glitz, so I also added a few mists of Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist. That's more like it!

a little bit country

I wanted to make a thank you card for a friend, so I inked up the cowgirl from my recently released Cowgirl Up! set from Whipper Snapper. Of course, I had to include Tiny Tim in the scene as well -- he's such a ladies man!

I stamped the images in black StazOn ink and painted them with a water brush and re-inkers. Instead of using a bouquet stamp for her flowers, I chose to use some paper and felt flowers instead! I created a little mini bouquet and used some seriously strong white craft glue to adhere them to the card. To country things up a bit, I spritzed the entire card with Coffee Shop colored Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels. It added a bit of rustic charm, and ooh-la-la shimmer at the same time!

Meet Dixie's Midnight Runner!

This is Dixie's Midnight Runner, the newest little guy to the farm. Runner was born today (July 28) at 2:30pm. Welcome to the farm, little guy! Enjoy that shade while you can!

He is as black as black can be! And he has BIG feet!! And he seems to have really pretty steel blue eyes. We can't get very close to him yet, because Dixie is CRAZY mama cow. With big, pointy horns!

Following Dixie to the water trough...

Following Dixie back to the shade tree. He gets around pretty good for being about 4 hours old!

Mmmm, milk!

Meet Stewie!

This is Stewie, Princess' new little fella. Stewie was born last night (July 27) at about 10pm. Welcome to the farm, little guy!

His first day on the farm!

Bath time! Princess is a good mama cow!

Dinner!

Watching his new friend, Dixie's Midnight Runner, on the other side of the barnyard.

2:30pm: Dixie has her baby!

Just a quick update.... our brown Dexter, Dixie, just had her baby!More on this later!

a new baby!

Princess, one of our Dexter cows (the one that looked like a hippo during the last few weeks of her pregnancy), had her baby last night! She delivered him at about 10pm. We're happy he's here and seems to be strong and healthy, but DANG IT we were REALLY hoping Princess would have a GIRL this year. ARGH! Princess!!

We thought for sure the third time would be a charm (her first two were boys). We really are going to tie pink bows on her belly next year!

I'll get some photos this evening...

North Woods Stack o' CUTENESS!

I was just going through the card images on my camera and realized I haven't shared this project yet. About time I did...but quickly, 'cause it's bed time for me. **yawn**

The image, North Woods Stack, is stamped on kraft colored cardstock in black Memento ink and colored with Prismacolor pencils. I used Gamsol and a paper stump to blend the colors. I used a white gel pen to add white highlights to some areas. Pretty simple!

If you would like more info on this technique, I have a short Prismacolor & Gamsol tutorial on my Tips & Tricks page. The images in the post have been replaced with links (THANKS to Typepad - groan), but if you click the links the images will display.

I wrote the tutorial almost 3 years ago, and it remains one of my most popular blog pages. It's worth noting that Memento ink was not available at the time I wrote the tutorial. Now, I mostly use Memento ink with this technique, although StazOn does work nicely. You just need to be careful with StazOn, as it can bleed.

Yeehaw!

Skiing Santa

This week's High Hopes blog challenge, hosted by Nikki, is "Make it Sparkle & Shine". For my project, I chose Skiing Santa (fitting for the temperatures we're having). For sparkle & shine, I added lots of Dazzling Diamonds ultra fine glitter to the water, Santa's hat, and the sentiment tag. I also used shimmery polka dot ribbon, shimmery and sparkly buttons from Bo Bunny and Autumn Leaves, and even some silver thread to join the buttons. The sentiment I chose is from my Beach Bum set from Whipper Snapper. It seemed fitting... that Santa, enjoying his holiday!

I find sparkle and glitter one of the most difficult things to photograph on cards with my amateur card photographing lighting setup. But I'm OK with that... it's all about the creative process. Right? Right! If you can't see it, imagine it. *grin*

The image was stamped in black StazOn ink and painted with a water brush and re-inkers. I used a 2-Way glue pen to adhere the ultra fine glitter to the areas of the image I wanted sparkly.

I encourage you to join the fun in the High Hopes weekly challenges. There are always more details on the High Hopes blog, and did you know that every week there is a drawing for free stamps from the previous week's challenge participants!? It's true! Join us!

Happy Sunday!

Betsy the Bee Keeper

I sold off a few old Stampin' Up stamp sets recently, and have been looking for even OLDER sets that I have wanted for some time.

Meet Betsy. She's a Bee Keeper, and one of the "newest" old (1999?) Stampin' Up sets I've added to my collection recently.

I think she is adorable, and I had a ball painting her up and making this card. She fits in nicely in my collection -- I have an Aunt Betsy, and my sister has a "thing" for bees! (Cute bees, not scary bees...)

I think Betsy the Bee Keeper will be at home on my shelf for a long, long time.

Vintage Postcard Kits

Next week at CHA, Crafty Secrets is releasing new Vintage Postcard Kits. I have thoroughly enjoyed making samples with the kits for the CHA booth! The images in the kits are absolutely perfect! I'm working on Christmas & Halloween, but there are other themed kits as well that are just as fun.

Here is the first sample I made using one of the large Christmas images. The kits come with die-cut chipboard shapes, the images, as well as a small stamp set that coordinates with the theme of the kit. Putting the postcards together is so fun and easy. I used a thin white glue to adhere the images to the chipboard shapes and used a nail emery board to sand around the edges -- this makes them nice and tidy! I added ink to the edges to warm things up a bit and make the overall project look more primitive. I added a simple rusty wire hanger with a rusty jingle bell for decoration.

The chipboard is a beautiful vanilla color -- not dingy brown or grey like so many chipboard items we're used to seeing. Being lighter in color gives a wonderful surface for stamping and inking! I used a sponge applicator to apply various shades of brown Distress Ink from Ranger. I really laid down the color -- I could have done a lot less inking, but love the aged look of the inks on the vanilla colored chipboard. Then, using images from the small stamp set included with the kit, I stamped the images directly on the chipboard in brown and black ink. I spritzed the entire project with Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist for some subtle shimmer.

To adhere the chipboard star to the wire hanger, I sandwiched the wire hanger between the star and a vintage button. A glue dot on the star, and a glue dot on the button, when smashed together hold like you wouldn't believe!

I have another Christmas postard to show you as well, but I need to snap some photos! Stay tuned for more!

If you would like to see more samples of the Vintage Postcard Kits, check out the Crafty Secrets blog. Sandy has shared several of the designer projects there. You will LOVE them -- the inspiration is endless! AND, Sandy's doing a give-away, so check it out!

Christmas in July

This week's High Hopes blog challenge is Christmas in July! I chose to use Tropical Santa because with temperatures in the 100s here, poolside is the only place to be!

I stamped Santa on natural cardstock and colored him with Prismacolor pencils, and used Gamsol and a paper stump to blend the colors.

I decided I didn't quite get enough of my crystal snowflakes last winter, so I pulled out the glass glitter and the snowflake punches and went to town! A little holiday sentiment from my Whipper Snapper set called Snowman for Peace fit nicely on the snowflake.

Join the challenge...more details on the High Hopes blog, along with loads of samples from the other design team members!

A Cowgirl's Thanks

Did you check out the wonderful designs posted in the Whipper Snapper Featured Designer Gallery today!? I'm telling you, the featured designers WOW me every month! I love their creativity, style, and humor!

Here's another card I made using images from Cowgirl Up! I stamped the girl in black StazOn ink and loosely painted her with re-inkers and a water brush. I stamped the flowers on a separate piece of paper, painted them the same way, cut them out and adhered the bouquet to my card with foam dimensional adhesive.

The little sentiment is from one of my sentiment sets from last year called Sweet Expressions. It's full of small sentiments just perfect for little tags.

Hope you're having a super Monday!

Introducing Cowgirl Up! & Halloween Fun

It's that time again! Time again for this month's cling set release with Whipper Snapper!

I have been having so much fun with the sets for this month, and I cannot WAIT to see what the Featured Designers have been creating! I feel like I repeat myself month after month, but really -- it's just so much fun!

This month there are two sets being released, and I really can't choose a favorite.

I made this card using images from Halloween Fun. The set is packed with witchy goodness and several fun Halloween sentiments.

Most of my scene cards are masked, but I decided to make a card that didn't require any masking at all. Rather than masking the bottle and frog, I stamped them on a separate piece of paper, cut them out, and adhered them to my card using foam dimensional adhesive.

I did something a little different with my sentiment banner. Because I used twine around the main image, I also decided to use twine to create a couple of stitches on the side of the banner. This was easy to do with a really small hole punch. The twine threaded through the holes easily, and I was able to make a little knot on the backside to hold the twine in place.

I also added lots of shimmer to this card using Marvy Twinklette pens. They really lay down a lot of color, so I only added a few dots to an area before my next step. Because they're a water based product, I used my water brush to move the color around just like paint! It worked like a charm! But I'm not sure you can see it in the photo... (click the photo to see it larger). And if you're wondering, atyou Spica pens from Copic are also water based and will work in this same way.

As I was putting this set together, it occurred to me that it would be a great set to combine with Chicken's in the Kitchen and What's Cookin'. All of those cooking implements and sentiments ... what a fun combination! The Halloween Fun set doesn't have bubbles for the cauldron, but if you want bubbles you can borrow the bubbles from Fish Friends or Swimmin' By. And don't forget Spooky Expressions, which released last year. There are lots of great Halloween expressions in that set that would work perfectly with Halloween Fun!

The other set being released this month is Cowgirl Up!, a fun girly set featuring a cowgirl, lasso, her chickens, her beverages of choice, several sentiments, and more! I shared a sneak peek card using this set, here.

Click on the images for a larger view...

What's even more exciting is that I get to introduce five new Whipper Snapper Featured Designers! Be sure to check out the galleries and blogs of the July/August Featured Designers as they showcase these sets! You're sure to be impressed!

The Who's Who of July/August Featured Designers:
Heather Pulvirenti
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/inglishrea
Blog: http://heatherpulvirenti.blogspot.com

Kimberly O'Rosky
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/kauai17
Blog: http://sunshinydayswithkim.blogspot.com

Leigh O'Brien
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/leigh_obrien
Blog: http://sunflowerstudio.typepad.com

Lisa Kind
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/lakind
Blog: http://kindcreations.blogspot.com

Susan Liles
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/susiestampalot
Blog: http://susiestampalot.blogspot.com

and Me! Anna Wight
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/sweetmissdaisy
Blog: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com

Just a reminder, you can see all of the projects current and past Featured Designers have uploaded to their SplitCoast galleries by viewing the Whipper Snapper Featured Designer Gallery. Have a look -- it's a great place to find all KINDS of great inspiration!

Have fun!

dust it off

The head-to-toe adorable and endlessly crafty Val Stangle posted a card on her blog today using an older Hero Arts stamp called Watercolor Coneflower that she found stashed in a box of Hero Arts stamps she recently dug out of her supply cabinet.

Knowing I have that stamp too, I left her a comment and said that my Watercolor Coneflower stamp was probably dusty, too! In true Val form, she sent me an email and issued a bit of a challenge telling me to dust it off and create a 10 minute card.

And well, when Val tells me to stamp, I do. You just do.

I inked the flower with Marvy Brush Markers, spritzed the colored stamp with water, and stamped it on my paper. I added a bit of inking around the edges of the paper layers with a sponge, and chose a sentiment from my Blooming Expressions set from Whipper Snapper. A button and some Creative Impressions twine finish it off.

This one's for you, Stampin' Gal Val!

Visit Val's blog Creating Paper Sunshine -- she sure does!

An Oldie but Goodie

I recently sold off some of the retired Stampin' Up sets I haven't shown enough love to, and thought I would look for some of the even OLDER sets that I've wanted for some time. Quilted Quotes, from 2001, has been on my wish list for some time, and I was lucky enough to find it on ebay last week -- unused, even! I broke it out tonight... it's delightful!

What are some of your favorite oldies but goodie sets?

By the way, if anyone has spare old Stampin' Up catalogs they would like to pass on, I'd give them a good home! And I'll pay shipping! I'm interested in 1995 or earlier, as well as 1997-1998, 1998-1999, 1999-2000. (This list has been updated since originally posted.) I only want 1 of each year, so please don't expect me to take BOXES of them off your hands. *grin*

Another recent ebay purchase I made is a pair of old Wiss pinking shears. They came in their original box. I used them on this card! They're old, they're heavy, and the best part...they were made in the USA. They're perfect!

a sneak peek, a cold drink, and good advice!

How about we kick off the weekend with a little Whipper Snapper sneak peek, a cold beverage, and some good advice!

Monday July 20th marks the release date for my July Whipper Snapper cling sets ... and like every month, I'm having a BLAST with the new sets! The "waiting to release" part of being an illustrator and designer is the hardest part!

I love how this project turned out! For added dimension, I popped two corners of the main image panel up on foam adhesive. The other two corners are stitched down with some zigs. All of the edges were inked a bit, and don't you just love that Cosmo Cricket paper! I think it's very country/prairie/cowgirl looking!

The images were stamped in black StazOn ink and painted with a water brush. Her knees make me giggle... And do you see Tiny Tim! How fun for him to make an appearance in a stamp set!

This weekend the temps are supposed to settle in below 100*... an icy beverage will still be required.

Cock-a-doodle-dooo!

Hand Carved Simple Bird

Here's another card made with one of my hand carved stamps. I used the same ink, and similar papers as other cards made using other hand carved stamps. I like the country look to the projects I've made with the stamps.

I think this card needs a little something, though. Maybe a little greeting tag tucked under the button...  I like how the stamps don't necessarily stamp perfectly every time. I think it adds to the charm and "handmade" quality. Oh what fun I'm having!

Fairy Princess Gift Set

Not too long ago, I put together this little gift set for a young friend of mine. She likes ballet, and I thought she might also like cute fairy princess things (from Michael's). I chose a small journal, list pad, and a pencil for her to capture some of her memories and important things. In case you're wondering, her name was written on the white tag, and glitter was added for lots of fairy princess sparkle.

In addition to the small journal and list pad, I also included some small clear stamp sets and a clear block so she could have some fun stamping in her journal -- I know she has ink pads, and so does her mom, so she'll be all set for stamping! Instead of wrapping up the stamps completely, I made a little paper wrap for them and secured it with a ribbon bow. Quick and easy, and I think it's flippin' cute! *grin*

I'd be a fairy princess if I could be, wouldn't you?

...three fat cows...

Dixie, Princess and Queenie were bred late in the year last year, so instead of having spring babies, they're getting ready to calve soon. We noticed some "ooze" on Dixie today, which surprised us since we were kind of expecting Princess to be the first to deliver. Even with the "ooze", we're not placing bets on Dixie calving first. Dixie has shown "ooze" for at least a couple of weeks prior to delivery in the past, and there's no telling if this year will be the same. They're all looking a little plump and uncomfortable, that's for sure.

This is Dixie... she doesn't seem to be as big (wide) as she was last year, so maybe she's got more time than she's letting on. Of course, all of the girls were really lopsided today from laying in the barn out of the sun, so this might be her "small" side. Her udder isn't as ENORMOUS as it was last year either (which is a good thing...)

This is Princess... she's showing a bit of "ooze" too. Just not as much as Dixie. Who knows, maybe she will be first to deliver! We are CROSSING all of our fingers and toes that this year Princess FINALLY delivers a GIRL! This will be her third calf, and the first two were both bull calves. Come on, Princess!! Alan keeps telling her he's going to tie pink bows on her belly... can you imagine!

And in case you didn't recognize her, this is also Princess. I've done a little photo editing for our younger audience. *grin* She really is quite rotund!

And this is Queenie. We suspect she'll be last to deliver. But they're on their own schedule, not ours, and they'll deliver when they're good and ready.

We have had some issues with coyotes recently (they got a number of our barnyard chickens one night last week  **CRY**), so we decided to move the three expecting cows into the barnyard together rather than one at a time while they deliver. There's safety in numbers, and the three of them should keep the coyotes at a distance. At least we hope. There shouldn't be any more free dinners for the coyotes. **bleep bleep bleepin' coyotes**

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the events. Calving is always a bit stressful for us, but it is so fun to have the babies on the farm!

The neighbor's longhorns came over to investigate the situation and say hi to the ladies in the barnyard. They exchanged greetings "mooo", "moooo", "MooOOooOOOO", and then they went about their business of eating grass. I do believe it was still 100 degrees when I took these photos. Set, sun, set!

Note: If you're new to reading my blog, you might not know that we raise Irish Dexter cattle. They're a small breed, raised for both milk and meat production. There's a "Dexter Cattle" link to more posts about our herd in the Categories list on the right side of the page. You might be surprised at what you'll find in my other posts about the herd. Enjoy!

Upsy Daisy

This week's High Hopes blog challenge is called "Upsy Daisy", and is hosted by ME! The challenge is to incorporate daisies into your project, whether they're part of the image, you use daisy colors, or even use daisy embellishments! It's totally up to you... as long as there's something to do with daisies included.

I chose to use several different images for my design, as well as yellow and white as my primary colors. I started with the country stand, and created a flower stand using lot and LOTS of the daisy flower pot image. I also used Ally Rose and the bale of hay (one of my favorite images!) to finish off the scene.

The images are stamped in black StazOn ink and painted with re-inkers and a waterbrush. I added some 2-way glue pen to some of the flowers and sprinkled on some ultra fine glitter for sparkle.

I think Ally Rose is just about as cute as they come. I had some cute red and white keds when I was a kiddo, and they were great fun, so I made sure to paint her with red sneakers.

I can't tell you how many glue dots and foam adhesive dots I used on this project. Some of the layers are two or three layers high. That's a lot of dots! Note to self... order more glue dots.

Anyway, be sure to check out the details of this week's challenge on the High Hopes blog later today (I think my post will be live before the challenge post). You will also want to see the projects the other designers put together for this week as well. I've seen them and they're FABULOUS!

Happy Sunday!

We've got a Winner!

Tonight I ran the random number generator to see who the lucky winner of the rug is...  Congrats to #119, Barb Hardeman!

#119: Anna, you're so sweet to think of others. I thought the Rooster Rug was so darling and would have gone well at your house! The three year old boy we are caring for (plus his 1 year old twin sisters),while the parents serve in Afghanistan, would love to have a "town" to play his cars with. He is a huge car buff! I follow your blog diligently, I wish you would teach classes on your watercoloring technique, you're the best! Thanks for the opportunity to enter to win this fabulous rug...
Barb Hardeman

Congrats Barb! Get in touch with me and I'll put you in touch with CSN Rugs so you can claim your prize!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment for the rug -- I'm glad this was a good choice for the give-away!

Chicken Portraits Part 5

I know it's not nice to pick favorites.... but this little guy (and I do mean little!) ranks right up there with the OTHER favorite chickens on the farm! ...see, I get away with it by having more than one favorite...

Wiley... he's just the CUTEST! He loves to fly up and land on my shoulder. Though, sometimes he misjudges his landing and ends up landing on my head, but it's forgivable. He also gets very excited when I make happy chicken noises -- he comes running to find me and crows for me! What a charmer... It's so difficult to get across in photos the true size of Wiley. He might stand 8 inches tall. Maybe. If he's standing tall. He's nearly knee high to a grasshopper. ...a Texas-sized grasshopper, that is!

While I'm picking favorites, here's another! This is Tipsy Frizzlewinkle, as named in the pullet naming contest I held a while back. Tipsy is part frizzle and part Silkie. She's really come into her feathers now, and is sooooo frizzled and soft!

The coloring on her feathers is so unique! Each feather has a light colored center that creates a nice center stripe. Then, there's a nice mixture of chocolate brown and gold, which gives her such a great appearance.

Another cutie in the coop is Curly Que, who is also part frizzle (you can tell by her curled feathers), and part Golden Laced Polish. Her feathers are so very soft too, just like Tipsy's feathers!

Her head feathers make me laugh, the way they curl straight forward. And her beard curls up around her cheeks... so cute!

I have more frizzle cross babies growing up, too! This is another frizzle/Silkie cross. She wasn't too pleased that I put her up on the "BIG CHICKEN" perch for her photo op. She didn't stay long. CHEEP CHEEP CHEEP!

And there's THIS crazy little chick! This little gal's (I'm hoping it's a girl, anyway) feathers are black with silver coloring, and I can't WAIT to see how pretty she gets as she continues to grow! If you think you're having a bad hair day, just remember... it could probably be worse! I tried to get more photos of the babies, but they don't exactly hold still for much more than a fraction of a second. I'll try to do better!

Here are some of the Golden Comet girls. They're not quite old enough to lay eggs yet, but they've been eyeballin' the nest boxes in the morning, so I know it's just a matter of time before I'll be gathering 40 some-odd eggs in the morning (not just from the Golden Comets). The cafe in town should be thrilled!

The Golden Comet ladies are a nice bunch of pullets. I'm really pleased with them, actually. I've never raised Golden Comets before. We bought them because we could guarantee that we were buying hens (and not roosters) just by their coloring when they were chicks. They're a cross between a Rhode Island Red hen and a Rhode Island White rooster. The chicks that hatch will carry the coloring of their gender -- this is called "sex-linked". As chicks, the little pullets are golden yellow with darker gold striping down their backs, and the little cockerels are pale yellow. This makes it easy for hatcheries to gender identify the chicks. And makes it easy to buy only hens! They should lay a nice sized light brown egg... come on, girls!!

Last month we lost the best rooster on the farm, Lefty. Before he died, he fathered about a dozen chicks that were hatched out by Crazy Dark Brown Hen. This little guy is one of them! His coloring is so striking, and like his father, he is quite friendly. I'm hoping he doesn't grow out of that... He's still quite young and isn't so sure about leaving the safe walls of the coop just yet. But he's perfectly content hanging out in one of the unfinished windows watching the events in the chicken yard!

And speaking of Lefty... here is his other young heir to the farm. Isn't he handsome in his black and white feathers and ultra cute cheek feathers (which he got from his mother). You can see more of this little guy here, and here.

Those are all the photos I have to share today... more coming soon!

PS: If you want to read more posts about chickens or the coop, you'll find Poultry and Chicken Coop in the Categories list on the right. In fact, you'll find all kinds of things to read about if you visit the Categories list on the right! Dexter Cattle, Goats, Life on the Farm (includes all of the farm related posts), and even a link to my encounters with Texas-sized spiders. Which I will have you know, I have spared you from the recent encounters... you can thank me by sending spider killing (but chicken safe) spray. Or booze.

Cluck cluck!

You could win!

What's this? A rug?! Yes, a rug! This is a Fun Time Country Fun Kid's Road rug, and it could be yours for free!

Not too long ago, I was contacted by a gal from CSN Rugs who asked if I would like an area rug to use in my home in exchange for writing a review, OR I could offer to give a rug away to one lucky reader! Well... the decision was easy! Of course I chose to do the give-away! ...then the hard part came... choosing the rug!

I was VERY tempted to choose a rug featuring chickens. I think this rooster rug is particularly nice. That's the rug I would have chosen if I was keeping the rug.

But instead I thought a fun rural scene road rug would be more fun to give away! Not only would it be great for a kid's room, a family room, or outdoor covered patio, but it would be fun thing to have at Granny's house too! Or the babysitter's house! ...or the neighbor's house! Or if you don't have kids, what a great gift this would be to someone who does!

The rug is 4'3" x 6'6", made of 100% nylon with non-skid backing (though you might want to add an additional non-skid mat underneath).

I have always loved these kinds of activity rugs. I didn't have one when I was a kid... we made our own roads in the dirt, outside. But a rug like this would have been LOVED by me, my sister and brother!

Anyway, let's get to it!

If you would like to enter your name into the drawing for the free rug, leave a comment on this post. I would love to know who will get to enjoy this rug if you're the lucky winner!

Thursday, July 9th at 8:00pm Central, I will choose 1 LUCKY name from all comments. Be sure you leave your name and email address in your details so I can put you in touch with the nice folks at CSN Rugs.

Oh, and there's free shipping to US and Canada residents if you win!

PS: Comments must be left on this blog post, not on Facebook, via email, etc.

Hand Carved Wildflower Bloom

I thought I would share another project I made using one of my hand carved stamps! For this stamp, I drew my design directly on the block (instead of on scrap paper and transferring it to the block) and carved it out. I used a white pigment ink by ColorBox called Frost White. While I love the look and coverage of this ink, it's quite a pain to have to heat set it. Pigment ink takes a lot longer to dry, so if you want to continue working away on your project, heat setting is highly suggested. Otherwise, you run the risk of getting your fingers, palms, workspace, other layers, and NOSE inky. Speaking from experience.

While I had the heat gun out, I decided I would actually emboss the sentiment to make it a bit more unique. Because the pigment ink is so sticky, I was able to stamp the sentiment in the same ink and then emboss it with clear detail embossing powder, which made it shiny! The sentiment is from my Friendly Expressions set, and reads "it's the little things you do that make all the difference".

I'm not much of a technique gal, so just having to dig out my heat gun is pushing the limits for me. Techniques usually require more space than I have available on my work table. For some reason, even though I have a 4' table, I always end up working in 12x12 inches of space, on a good day.

For more info on the tools used to make hand carved stamps, see this post.

Crafty Secrets Design Team Challenge: Tutorial

This month the Crafty Secrets design team has been challenged to put together a short tutorial or step by step how-to. Lucky for you, today's the day we all share our projects!

I was inspired by all of the different aprons worn in the images of the ladies on the Domestic Goddess Creative Cuts sheet. And since aprons are quite "in", I thought I'd make a wee little apron card for a friend!

I started by creating a template out of scrap paper. Once I had the shape the way I liked, I traced the template on the backside of a piece of folded cardstock. I traced the template on what would be the backside of the card in case I missed cutting off the pencil line, it would be on the backside and would probably go unnoticed.

I used a nice sharp pair of scissors to cut out the traced design. I like these Cutter Bee scissors. They have a really sharp blade, and the point really allows nice, clean snips in tight spaces. The paper I chose is from K&Company. It's double-sided, so it was easy to choose coordinating papers for this project. The green dots is the backside of the apples!

Once my pieces were cut out, I used a sponge applicator to ink the edges of the shapes. Then I used my vintage Singer tracing wheel to add some faux stitches to the edges of my apron and pocket piece.

I used small glue dots to adhere the pocket to the front of the apron. By putting a little curve in the pocket before adhering it to the apron, I was able to get a bit of dimension between the two pieces. This would be a good spot for a note, or some small utensils, or a to-do list!

I found some GREAT buttons in my stash that have slits, rather than holes. I chose to use them on this project, and threaded them with some beautiful green silk ribbon. The buttons are then adhered to the apron with glue dots.

For the inside of the apron card, I chose to use this sassy image of a gal holding a hot out of the oven roast, also from the Domestic Goddess Creative Scraps sheet.

I made sure to ink the edges of the layers inside the apron, and also added faux stitches to the layers as well.

I think the finished card turned out charming and fun, and I can't WAIT to pop it in the mail!

Now, if you would like to make your own version of this card, I've created a template for you! Have fun with it! Be sure to come back here and provide a link to your finished card! I'd love to see your creations! Have FUN!

Download Apron Card Template

You will want to check out the other projects being shared today by my fellow design team members.

Heartwarming Vintage Blog
Crafty Secrets Site

Vicki Chrisman
Lisa Zappa
Pam Hooten
Heidi Blankenship
Marisa Grosson
Vivian Peters
Michele Kovack
Linda Duke
Melissa Phillips
Michelle Van Etten

am i seeing dots?

This week's High Hopes challenge is Lots and Lots of Polka Dots! What fun! I do love polka dots, so this was a fun and easy challenge for me. If you would like to join the challenge, check out more details on the High Hopes blog.

I chose to paint the images with a water brush and re-inkers, and then go back and add dots in various shades with markers to add to the depth of color, and added whimsy. I like the effect! I'm not sure you can see it, but I even added dots to the twill!

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday ... we're having our BBQ dinner today, rather than yesterday. Thankfully, the weather is SUPPOSED to be a bit cooler (nearly 90 instead of 100+), and there's even a chance of rain. We'll see about that. We're not usually so lucky!

PS: All stamped images on card from High Hopes Stamps.

Moooo!

Happy Independence Day, to Mooooooo!

Card Recipe:
Crooning Cow: Whipper Snapper Designs; Dotted Paper: Melissa Frances; Paper Ribbon and punched stars: Cosmo Cricket (ribbons is a narrow strip from the strip sheet from the Honey Pie line, and stars are just punched stars from a different strip on the same sheet); Pearl Brads: SEI "guy"; Ink: Black Stazon; Image painted with a water brush and Stampin' Up re-inkers.

More Hand Carved Stamping!

Here's a project I put together using another one of my hand carved stamps. Something about these hand carved images begs for them to be stamped in a repeated pattern. This isn't something I find myself doing with other stamps, so it must just be these! *grin*

I carved the little bird, leaving the bottom portion of the block intact, so when the image is stamped, the bird has a little bit of ground to stand on. I'm really pleased with how the image stamps! I love the line the ground creates when stamped repeatedly like this.

The decorative band around the box slips on and off easily, allowing the box to be opened and the goodies inside to be used. When it comes time to put things away, the band goes back around the box, keeping everything inside nice and tidy.

I thought a set of carving blocks and blades would make a nice gift. The person this is going to likes things tidy, so I made a little cardstock divider for the inside of the box to keep the carving blocks on one side of the box and separate from the carving tool's side of the box (that pink handle is the carving tool). I think she'll love that part!

Here is the stamp -- the little speckles on the white part of the block around the bird are little flecks of brown ink that stuck to the block while I was cleaning it before I used it for this project. I got to looking at this photo, and those dots looked a bit like flecks of mold or something... not so. Just ink. They cleaned right off after I took this photo! I could have cut away all of the extra block around the bird, but I like how that part of the block provides kind of a handle for the stamp. And when I'm storing my stamps, they line up nice and neat, with all of the straight edges keeping things in place. 

I'm going to be doing a lot more of these little hand carved gems. They're so fun, and so different from my usual stamps! If you give hand carving stamps a try, come back here and provide a link to your project in a comment! I'd love to see your fun creations!

Hand Carved Stamping

I have the day off from work today as a holiday. I love days off! I had planned on sleeping in, but Mister Farley had other plans for me. He woke up EARLY and needed to go out. So, out we went. Half an hour later, as I was just getting back to sleep, Mister Farley's tummy contents decided it was time to evacuate.

Thank goodness I could get him to the bathroom floor before he up-chucked all over the bedroom floor. Gross...  Thanks for the nice start to the day, Farley!

Since I was up, I decided to clear my mind and simply stamp. Or maybe it's stamp simply. I hand carved a few stamps a week or so ago, and this little house next to an apple tree is one of the stamps I carved. I like the rough quality of images stamped with hand carved stamps. They're primitive...

I'm sure I was channeling the creative genius of Heather while I made this card. I can't use white ink and kraft paper without thinking of Heather and her delightful creations.

If you've ever carved your own stamps, you know how challenging and fun it can be! And, if you've never carved before -- well, I can tell you it's CHALLENGING and fun. *grin*

I recommend using Staedtler Mastercarve carving blocks. You can get them in all kinds of sizes, and they really do carve beautifully! I ordered mine from DickBlick. I also recommend using carving tool and blades -- you will want to have sharp blades. I use the smallest blades most of the time, saving the larger blades for larger areas/blocks. I've tried a few different kinds of stamping inks with the carved stamps and while most inks work ok, I like the look of heavier pigment or chalk inks the best.

Happy Friday!

Whipper Snapper Release!

I'm so proud, and excited, to be part of Whipper Snapper's Fall/Winter 2009 release!

175 new images just released and honestly, my shopping list is a mile long. Maybe 2.

Check out the ADORABLE new art! If you like images you can color, you're in for a TREAT!