Ahhh Monet. Well not really, but it reminds me...

Today I'm continuing my quest to feature every company who generously donated prizes to the Austin SCS Shoebox Swap. And today I'm also realizing that at the rate I'm stamping these days, this little endeavour may take me well into next year to complete! But I will trudge on, slowly but surely... :-) Today's card features stamps from smARTworks. I love this image, it reminds me of a Monet! I used the watercolory direct to stamp method, where you color right on the stamp with a marker and then mist it with a little water before stamping. After it dried I painted over the entire image with Crackle Accents, to get a cracked glass look. I love Crackle Accents, but I have to tell ya - it can totally change the colors of your image! I was inspired by last week's Color Throwdown - Taken with Teal, Certainly Celery & Purely Pomegranate. I didn't have a Pomegranate marker, so I used it's close cousin Rose Red. Well when I painted it with Crackle Accents, it turned more of a hot pink! Eek! But, it's not terrible. The whole thing didn't photograph very well, but it's mighty pretty in person, I promise! :-)

So have you ever visited smARTworks? I highly recommend you do! They have WONDERFUL images, owner Susan is a super nice lady, and I know I've raved about them before - they have THE BEST acrylic mounting blocks on the planet!! I promise you - if you treat yourself to some, you will LOVE THEM. I have two bins of blocks on my desk - my wonderful The Clear Thing blocks that I ALWAYS use, and my bin of other random blocks that just sit there collecting dust. I know, I sound like a commercial. But nobody is paying me to say this - I MEAN IT!!! My hands appreciate me treating them this well. :-D (but if I HAVE convinced you, make sure and mention me when you place your order bc Susan also offers an incentive program!!) :-D

Ok my sweets, duty calls (ie naps are close to ending!) so I must wrap this up. Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: BFL-01 Floating & HSD-Hummer from smARTworks
• Paper: Taken with Teal, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
• Ink: Taken with Teal, Stampin' Up markers
• Accessories: Spellbinders Labels 8 die, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, Crackle Accents, American Crafts velvet scallop ribbon, staples, silver brads

Thoughts of a Stamping Diva...

This is one of those stamp sets that as soon as I saw it, I *knew* I had to have it IMMEDIATELY!!! And yet, inexplicably, it's been sitting on my shelf for months (yes, I said months!!) without seeing so much as an ink pad. It's a crime, I tell ya!! This sassy little diva is from smARTworks. The set comes with a bunch of different sayings you can use in her thought bubble (or wherever!), like "I'll cook and clean tomorrow", "I'd rather be stamping", "Do I really need one more stamp? Yes, yes I do." and the cutie I used here (words I live by!), among many others. I LOVE IT!!!! (Yes, I just yelled at you. Sorry.) So... when you rush on over to smARTworks to buy it for yourself, make sure and tell them that I sent you, because they have a nifty reward program and I want to be earning me some SmartBucks! The set is called Thoughts of a Stamping Diva... ;-) Thanks for stopping by today!

Vincent Van Sow

I just realized I never posted this card on here! And since I'm messing around with Facebook at the moment, checking to see if my blog posts will show up in there, I figured there's no time like the present to post it! LOL! I made this card for our Hambo challenge last week on Paper Craft Planet. It also played along with the sketch and color challenges on there. I've mentioned before that I just LOVE this Faux Van Gogh stamp from smARTworks. This time I paired it with my Artist Pig from Hambo and this cute sentiment, which actually can also be used as a signature on the back of your card. I considered cutting off the piggy's ear, but decided I just couldn't do it. LOL Thanks for stopping by - and don't forget to scroll down to see my Hambo Christmas Challenge card below! :-)

• Stamps: Artist Pig and Good Impression from Hambo Stamps, Faux Van Gogh #2 from smARTworks
• Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Basic Black, Neenah Solar White
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for coloring pig, SU for painting
• Accessories: Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls, brads, black & clear glaze pen

By the way - if you're on Facebook, say hi! I like having friends. LOL

Starry, Starry Night

Do you have any stamps that just make you completely happy? Ok, most of my stamps make me happy - but this one just makes me smile from ear to ear when I look at it!! It's from smARTworks, and it's called "Faux Van Gogh #2". This is my favorite painting, but more on that in a minute - I'll tell you about the card first! I decided to play along with the Featured Stamper challenge over on Splitcoast tonight. This week it was Wendybell, and I chose this card of hers to CASE, because I loved how she did the sentiment, I thought it looked somewhat like a painting hanging on a wall. :-) I already knew I wanted to use this stamp tonight, so I had that in mind as I looked through her wonderful gallery. So I used her layout, and I distressed the edge of the white mat because she seems to like that, but otherwise I pretty much changed everything about my card! I chose the sentiment "So Happy" because this stamp makes me so happy!! I basically stamped purely for fun tonight, even though I really shouldn't have, because I have about a zillion and one OTHER things I should have tried to get done. But... I spent most of the day cleaning my disaster of a house, so I figured I had earned it. Hopefully my DT bosses will see it that way too, LOL! I colored the stamp directly with my markers, then attempted to do cracked glass over the image - it didn't really crack them much, and the few cracks that are there are really difficult to see. Oh well! And of course I had to grab the D'vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder, just for fun. I love this stamp, I hope to find time to play with it again... especially in the next week or so, to make a birthday card for my Uncle Bruce (keep reading...) :-) Thanks for stopping by!

• Stamps: Faux Van Gogh #2 from smARTworks, Fancy Flexible Phrases from SU
• Paper: Brilliant Blue, Ballet Blue, Neenah Solar White
• Ink: Brilliant Blue, Stampin' Up markers
• Accessories: UTEE, Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls folder, oval punches, hardware, star brad, grosgrain ribbon, Jody ribbon

So are you hanging on the edge of your seat, wondering why this is my favorite painting?? Well - for those of you who've been with me for a while now, I mentioned some time ago about my Uncle Bruce. Uncle Bruce has been playing guitar & singing for as long as I can remember, my life has been filled with family gatherings sitting in the livingroom listening, humming & smiling as Uncle Bruce played. One of the songs he plays is "Vincent" by Don McLean. Do you know it? "Starry, starry night. Paint your palette blue and grey. Look out on a summer's day, With eyes that know the darkness in my soul..." It's such a beautiful and sad song - just as Vincent's life was beautiful and sad! Well what the heck, here it is, if you're at all curious!

(The sound doesn't work on my laptop, I sure hope that sounds ok - I'll check it on the other desktop tomorrow....!)
And now I can't resist posting this as well!! In November 2000 I got to see my favorite painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City! Yay!! :-)