Not in the Cards...

My very wonderful friend, Lydia, asked me if I'd stamped this weekend. Well...I inked MANY stamps yesterday, but I didn't really come up with anything I was happy with. In fact, I was a bit perturbed with some of my attempts. But, I decided to share anyway, in the spirit of creative transparency.

I saw a beautiful example of a technique called emerging color while surfing SCS in the Eastern Blooms gallery. It is by Julie Davidson, and I wanted to CASE it to see if it might work as a card for my upcoming Stamp-A-Stack in two weeks. It turned out to be very easy, until the last step. I couldn't get my brayered layer dark enough to block out the original pattern I had created underneath! I also had trouble with stray Clear Embossing Powder sticking where it shouldn't. After two tries, I was done with that. Julie, yours is BEAUTIFUL, though.

In the middle of the day, I went to Patti Montijo's house. She's a fellow demonstrator I have sought out because I want to try to find some other stampers in this area. Patti lives about 20 min. from me in a beautiful house with a beautiful craft room that makes you feel like you're in a treehouse! There's no way you couldn't find that space inviting and inspiring. Patti's workshop featured an extensive comparison of the different coloring options that are available, both with SU! products and other tools. There were 7 of us there, and we had such fun!

The stamping community is so warm and welcoming, and this group of gals is no exception. Patti and three of her friends that were there make up the group the Stamp Maniacs. They gather once a month, have lunch, and spend the rest of the afternoon teaching each other how to make a card each has designed. Patti showed me some of the samples of their work. Jaw dropping creativity, I tell you! There were also 3 gals there who had very little stamping experience. They loved it, and we whiled away a few hours in the best way possible. It was a great experience.


Before going to Patti's, I had also played with one of the chipboard frames in my collection of accessories. Again, I was trying to come up with a simple, elegant design for SAS. I really like the Haiku Designer Series Paper I purchased, and I also have a bunch of rub-ons that were gifts from convention that were begging to be put to use. So I inked the frame and then began to ponder the options.

Sometimes, I think I think too much, and this is one of those times. I couldn't decide about the sentiment, so I'm giving you a chance to speak your mind. Which one do you prefer? Sentiment or no sentiment? With it, I think it makes the knot of Whisper White satin ribbon look like it's sandwiched. Must be that time of the month...

Before dinner, I ALSO played with a new stamp set that I purchased on my last order. It's called Party Hearty, and I bought it because some really creative gals saw the image of the party hats in a row and immediately transformed them into Christmas trees. A set that does double-duty? LOVE that. I colored my hats using the new Christmas colors of Kiwi Kiss, Real Red, and Baja Breeze. I didn't get the entire card finished before I went out with my dear husband, so when I went back to my craft table this afternoon, it was sitting there minding its own business when I squeezed the last drops of Old Olive out of the reinker, splattering them onto this card-in-progress.

I know when to walk away, and that was the sign to do so. So, even though I'd like to be creating, it's not in the cards (HA!) today. Guess I'll go to the grocery and try to make some decisions there. Wish me luck!