Still Alive

Contrary to popular belief, I did not in fact fall off the face of the planet...though I'm sure there are a few out there that may have been crossing their fingers.

Nope, I'm home from a mini vacation, one that by better half and I never seem to get tired of...that's right, Vegas, Baybee! Well, technically the trip was to Laughlin, to celebrate the first anniversary of my absolute favorite couple (and my oldest friend from High School), Jodi & Paul:

Happy Anniversary, you adorable little lovebugs, you!

But seeing as Laughlin is just a hop, skip and a jump from Vegas, well...really who can resist? And of course my dad having moved there a few months back is the perfect justification...thanks dad, for thinking of me when it came to your retirement house!

Ya know, before I left, I was in a serious creative funk. No Mojo at all...completely spent, do not pass go, do not collect $100.

BUT all that is starting to change now, because Martha dropped of not one, but TWO gorgeous SD4U kits for the month of October. One features (oh so appropriately) the gorgeous October Afternoon Hometown paper line and is packed with some seriously cute embellishments, some hand made and one-of-a-kind! The other features Cosmo Cricket's Haunted line. Have you seen it? Seriously the cutest Halloween line out this year!

And that did it.

It made me totally, completely, over-the-top excited to scrap again.

Is it weird that paper makes me this happy?

A Couple New Cards

I got bit by the cardmaking bug again. He's a sneaky little bugger...he usually creeps up on me when I finish a layout or two with a super cute paper line or color combination I adore! I just can't seem to file the scraps away because they're so pretty! Case in point...look at this yummy color combo from October Afternoon:


The teal and green are my favorite combo right now, I think because they're bright enough to work for spring time, but also dark enough to carry over into fall when matched up with the darker teal cardstock. I'm playing around a bit with stamp coloring techniques, too. I colored this Imaginisce butterfly stamp in with colored pencils and blended with gamsol and a blending stump.


For the card below, I actually filled in the stamp with watercolor paints and a water brush. This is a technique that I think looks really awesome when you get it down, which I obviously haven't yet...but I am really enjoying the learning process!




I really wanted to add some machine stitching to this one, but my needle broke the last time I used my machine, and I keep forgetting to get a new one. I suppose I could hand stitch it, but that'll have to wait until later. The day is far to sunny and perfect to spend inside, so I'm heading out to have lunch on a patio somewhere. Thanks for stopping by!