Some yummy Italiano!

Well I've been a slacker blogger once again!!! I told you I wouldn't feel bad if I didn't find time to stamp these days - but - having cards MADE but just being too lazy to blog them, now that's plain silly!! So I thought I'd get my act together today and do some posting. :-) Today's cards were both made with the FireCracker Designs by Pamela set Italiano! It was love at first click for me when I saw this set in Pamela's store. We went on vacation to Italy back in fall of 2002, and I love love LOVED it!!! So much amazing history, architecture, art... and my favorite thing of all... THE FOOD!!! I love Italian food in this country, but holy cannoli is it even yummier in the motherland!! So, go figure, for these cards I was most drawn to the images of food and wine! LOL! This first card was made to play along with Beate's latest sketch challenge. (oops, which was actually hosted this week by Sharon!) I chose the DP because it sorta looks like the tile floor in a little Italian restaurant, yes? And can you tell, that's an image of the Roman Coliseum behind the sentiment - a little hard to notice since I stamped it tone on tone. I love the architectural stamps in this set as well as the food. :-) I cut out most of the images on these cards - LOL - I didn't even realize I was doing it until Pamela pointed it out. I'm that addicted to cutting out my images, it just happens second nature. :-) (but I do have my fingers crossed that Pamela will create some diecuts for this set now!). On to the pizza card - this time the sketch comes from Pamela's challenge. She also said to go monochromatic, so that's why there's so much red going on with this! This time the DP is supposed to look like a red gingham tablecloth in a cute little pizzeria! You know I like silly stuff, so I LOVE this sentiment! And check out the little Leaning Tower of Pisa charm on the ribbon - that was biding it's time in my stash, waiting all these years to be used with this stamp set. :-) Ok... you know I gotta do it... I can't talk about a trip without boring you all with a photo!! This is a pretty yicky photo of me, but oh well, I have to tell you about this... when we were in Tuscany, we got to have a cooking lesson from an actual Tuscan chef! We stayed in a little hostel in a small hill town called Certaldo. The place looked a little shady when we checked in - I mean, we don't ever stay in 5 star hotels when we travel or anything, it's usually little mom & pop B&Bs (usually recommended by Rick Steves!) - this was our first hostel and this place had a sort of musty smell to it and I had my doubts I had made a good choice (plus we were a bit old to be doing the hostel thing, really!). But then - we got to have this amazing cooking experience (I love to cook, btw!) and hang out with the chef and all the other guests at the hostel, who were from all over the world - it ended up being one of my favorite memories from this trip! Ok, enough nostalgia, time to do some cleaning before the naps end! Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Italiano from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Handsome Hunter, Ballet Blue, Sage Shadow, White, The Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Sage Shadow, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Cuttlebug, CTMH mini brads, vintage ribbon

• Stamps: Italiano from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, White, The Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Cuttlebug, Spellbinders dies, Fiskars border punch, rickrack, Jody ribbon, embroidery floss, Fiskars tag punch