Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Blog candy redirection

I've been creating, I've just been very remiss in taking pictures and posting...

But, check out what I stumbled upon this morning...BLOG CANDY worth over $250 Canadian (including StarvingArtistamps - one of their DT is expecting and wants you to guess the gender of the baby). Check it out here and good luck. I'm off to put my guess in now!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

An SU! card...

It is with a bit of a heavy heart that I post an SU! card. My demoship is about to lapse and, although I was going to place that required order before month-end, Stampin' Up has gone a bit too "Big Brother" on me (I won't bother going into details, as I'm sure the news is out there if you look hard enough).

I have never advertised the fact that I am an SU! demo, I don't run classes, I don't have workshops. I *do*, however, salivate publicly about their awesome cardstock and matching colours and I *do* greatly appreciate that they allow me to call myself a demo and get a discount so long as I spend a minimum amount of my craft funds with them. I have a couple of friends that place the occasional order from me, but that's it.

I am not on a design team (nor do I expect to be on one any time in the near future), but as you can tell from my *personal* blog, I do like other things...many other things. I also consider myself a very thankful person and feel that I need to give credit where credit is due. To this extent, I feel it shows my appreciation when I can not only provide the info on the products I've used, but where I have bought them (especially noting stellar customer service. I worked in the retail sector for a long time and it was a rarity indeed to get written acknowledgement of a job well done, but when you did, it went a long way...). I also like to hyperlink...therein lies "the rub" as they say.



Anyways, although I own a great many SU! stamps, this is one little gem that I missed out on, but managed to get a few images from my pals (thanks Kristina) on the Canadian Express Image Swap on SCS. It's called Woodland Cottage and reminds me of quite a few of the country homes I saw while back in Ireland.

The card itself is Always Artichoke and I've used Basic Black to mat the image. The DP is from an old stack, so I'm guessing it's DCWV (not linking since I'm not sure ;) ) I've used the SU! Word Window punch to punch out the Doodlefactory sentiment and the tab is embellished with an big SU! eyelet. If the picture was better, you'd be able to see the Crystal Effects (again SU!) on the windows.

I still love SU! and will continue to purchase their products. I will find a current sideline who could use the occasional bit of help to meet her minimums and put her on "speed-dial".

So, now I should have more money to spend on all those other glorious toys out there...it's not all bad then!

(guess I should make a big paper order before month-end...)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Bright birthday

This is an image I got from the Canadian Express Image Swap on SCS. It is called Monstah Bash and is from Stamping Bella (thanks Crystal!)


How fun are they???

They are coloured in "experimentally" using my Copic markers. I was playing with my blender pen when I managed to achieve the gorgeous swirl pattern on the lilac monster in the middle. I'd tell you how I did it if I could only remember (now I have to go back to experimenting all over again!) The sparkly bits (if they even show up) are my Copic Spica markers - sooo pretty!

Again, I've used my Cuttlebug embossing folder to add texture.

The balloons come from the retired (it's a good thing I don't get rid of my retired sets since they always seem to get more use once they've retired than they ever did when they were current. I guess I'm a bit of a "late bloomer") SU! set, Favorite Teddy Bear (I've even spelled favourite like SU! does since *they* named the set). They are popped up on dimensionals and their string is the (you guessed it) retired SU! silver cord. I think they've reintroduced the old elastic silver cord in the new mini catalogue, but this is *not* it!

Circle Nesties, ribbon from Michael's (unknown manufacturer) and the SU! corner punch finish off the card.

Cardstock: Brilliant Blue, More Mustard, Real Red, Lovely Lilac and Basic Black. I can't remember what white was used, but probably Staples brand ultrasmooth...