Baby Announcements

In a previous post I mentioned that I was making baby announcements for friends. Well, it took some time, but they (all 25 of them) are done. What should have been a simple thing was not. I stamped all the images I needed and then took them with me out of town to color. After coloring them all, I started cutting them out. I got all of the safety pins cut out and about a quarter of the babies by the time I got home. I started to put together the first card and discovered that the colored images didn't match the paper (both were Pretty in Pink). Shock and horror! So my first thought was that my pen was running out of ink, so I used my reinker to reink it. This still didn't work, so I borrowed my demo's pen. I very carefully checked the color with the paper after each image (yes, I'm a bit OCD haha) and it matched perfectly. So, I relaxed and colored in all 25 babies and 25 safety pins, and then cut out all 25 safety pins - they are the easiest. I also ordered another pen. The next morning, to my horror, they didn't match! Well, there are only 2 variables to this...the pen and the paper. I always buy GP cardstock, so I didn't think that would be the problem, but I had used a new ream of paper. So I went to Michael's and bought white cardstock. Guess what - it WAS the paper. The image matched the paper perfectly the next day, (I finally smartened up and only colored one image as a test!) so I finished the cards. What a mess. But, finally, all 25 are done and delivered. The moral of the story? Even if the paper is the same, it's the paper's fault! :)

Stamp A Mania's Eagle

I love this stamp! I made these while my mom was here. The first one is Embosses on black and matted with Tempting Turquoise. The EP is a mix of Stamp A Mania's silver and Desert Sky. The second card is embossed in black on a shimmery, almost metallic green paper matted with black.

New House Mouse Stamps

My mom got me some new House Mouse stamps at the convention. All Fired Up and All Fired Up 2, Count Mouse and then I bought The Graduate from HL's clearance.

French Lavender Fields

While watching the Tour de France ride through the lovely lavender fields, I decided to get this out and make a card. I used watercolor pencils and then painted water over it. I backed it with purple and used a darker purple for the photo corners.

B & J's Art Stamps

I made this at the B&J Make and Take while at the convention. I believe this is a new stamp, because I don't remember seeing him before. He is awesome and I will probably be buying him soon. I inked up the background stamp with a yellow, a blue and Indian Rouge. After stamping the Indian (oops Native American) I embossed it all with Fire EP. You can't tell in the scan, but it is clear with iridescent sparkles in it. I then stamped the swirlies in the blue before embossing the edges with the Indian Gold EP.

I've had this stamp for more than 2 years and it has never been inked before this. I saw a card example at the convention using browns like this and thought it was so wonderful, so here is my version. The cat is from After Midnight and I used my new Copics...E57, E29 and E33 to color it. The background cardstock is from a Neutrals pack I got at Michael's by AC. I added the three black brads and was finished.

Hopi Kachina Card

I just love this Hopi Kachina from Stamps Galore. I've had him for several months now, but this is the first time I've used him. The background and the swirls are from B & J's Art Stamps and the background speckles are from SU's Prehistoric Paintings. I used Inkcredible inks...Desert Peach for the center, Harvest Gold for the edges and speckles and Passport Green for the very edges and the swirls.