This is funny - I favor the "Fly" ATC over the "Murder" one yet I received more requests to trade for the crows! I am trying to find a polite way to tell people that I don't particularly care for any of their ATC's available to trade.....any suggestions? A friend told me to ignore the request but then it sits behind my ear and nags at me. In the past, I told the person that I liked a card that had already been traded and would they create another similar one for me. I will probable try that one again on the request that I have been ignoring so far!

Arrgh!

ok - frustration is setting in.... I can't get my stinkin' email subscription to work! This post is just a test to see if my home email will get the new post.

More ATC's for the Central NY stamp day in October

I created this first ATC for a swap for the Central NY stamp day in October. The figure is from Lost Coast Designs and is a part of a set called 3 Flying Flower Girls. I cut out the figure, masked off the face and button, then sponged with Stampin' Up orange ink. I cut up an old (the price was 50 cents) murder mystery paperback...after reading it of course.... then used Timework masks from Tim Holtz and sponged with Stampin' Up Eggplant Envy ink. The flourish is Autumn Leaves Clear Stamps By Rhonna Farrer: Flourishes V.2 that I bought at A.C. Moore. I used a white gel pen to highlight. The work 'FLY' was stamped with a movable type stamp.

This next ATC was a group Make 'n Take. Boy, were they blessing me when they saw that they had to cut out the crows! The stamped image is also from Lost Coast Design, called a Murder of Crows. I thought this was very appropriate to do right before Halloween! I did the same masking technique as above and popped up the top crow with some 3d dots.

Email subscription service - finally!

I think I am higher than average when it comes to being computer savy but boy, did I have a long process trying to get an email subscription service for this blog! (and I still don't know if it is right!) I tried to use the basic one that Blogspot offers but it does not have an email option - doh! I ended up at FeedBurner and had to do a lot of clicking around that site to get activation and the html text...then back to Blogspot to edit my page. What a pain!

So do me a favor and subscribe just so I can justify the time spent on this!

Really cool stamps!

Check out this line of stamps from Stampotique Originals!

ATC Nautical swap

I created this ATC for a nautical themed swap at SplitCoastStampers. What an effort just to mail to Canada - you have to fill out a customs sticker even though you are only sending bits of cardstock!

The sailboat stamp is from Stampin' Up Winds of Grace stamp set and the compass rose is from Class Act. The compass rose was first stamped off then stamped here for a lighter look. I popped up the sail using 3D dots and glued on twine and ribbon. The rest of the sailboat was color washed with slate grey ink (same ink for compass rose). The wave is just a curl of paper with white gel ink applied.

CNY May ATC swap

Wow am I a slacker! I had visions of publishing to this blog at least twice a month, maybe more, but I only want to post stuff that I am especially proud of. That still isn't much of an excuse since this ATC is from May! Let's see if I can't catch up...


Here is an ATC I created for the May stamping gathering held in Syracuse, NY. I used grey card stock for the background and all of the images were stamped with Palette Hybrid Noir Black ink. The line of fractions is from Paper Bag Studios. I added this for more visual interest on the left side of the umbrella man. He is stamped on Tim Holtz's Grunge Paper (go to link then click on "Grungeboard" on left) , cut out, sponged edges, and popped up with a 3D dot. The Grunge Paper works great when you have to cut so close because it is very hard to tear. Umbrella man and the rest of the stamps are an unmounted set called Mini Muse that you can find at Stampers Anonymous by clicking on "Cling Mount Sets #61-65" on the left and then scroll down to the second line. How cool are these?! and perfect size for ATC's!

CNY February 2009 shoebox

This is my "shoebox" project for the CNY stamping day in Maine, NY. All the materials are from Stampin' Up except the yarn (which I got at the dollar store - gotta love that!).

I started by cutting 3 sets of tags, the off white a bit smaller than the black. I stamped the tree image from "Lovely as a Tree" set with Handsome Hunter ink.

The background is Really Rust card stock that I stamped with the Print Pattern background stamp dipped in bleach. I then stamped with French Script using Chocolate Chip ink. I cut the background into 2 different size strips and glued them onto Chocolate Chip card stock.

Assemble the tags and glue down as pictured and you are done! This makes a really nice masculine card for any occasion.

A tip on bleaching - make sure you rinse your rubber stamp off as soon as you are done stamping so as not to damage the rubber. Also, a well ventilated stamping area is probably a good idea too!

Aquarius ATC

I created this ATC for a signs of the Zodiac swap. Naturally I picked my own sign as I was born at the end of January - right in the middle of Aquarius. This is the text I put on the back of the card…

The Water Bearer
January 21 to February 19

Air Element
Astrological symbol is waves
Gem is amethyst or aquamarine -
I was born in January so there is
a garnet bead attached instead!
Friendly, humanitarian, honest,
loyal, original, inventive, independent,
intellectual
On the dark side....Intractable, contrary, perverse,
unpredictable, unemotional, detached

kmk24 Endicott, NY 3/31/09

I embossed the pot using verdigris embossing powder on black card stock then popped it up with 3d dots. The ‘water’ is a dryer sheet that I coated with ModPodge tinted with blue ink. The background is Kraft card stocked stamped with Stampin’ Up’s Linen background stamp and Close to Cocoa ink. The base cardstock is a metallic bronze paper from CutCardStock.com. I added a garnet bead knotted on twine – the gem for Aquarius is either amethyst or aquamarine but since I am a January baby and I love garnets….! I can’t wait to see what the rest of the Zodiac cards will look like since I have to wait more than a week to check my mailbox!