Sisters

Don't you love this stamp? As soon as I saw it I loved it. I can't help but think of my sister Birdie when I look at this stamp. She loves nostalgic things, and she has light brown hair while mine is very dark, and she is taller than me(even though she is younger). I don't get to see my sister very often because she lives in Mexico City with her husband and two kids. BUT I will get to see her soon! They will be coming in October for about a month and a half. We are very excited to see them and to hug them all...especially her little guy Damien who we have not met in person yet. Anyway, its not all vacation, they are coming for. My niece Dominic is coming to have some intensive therapy. Dominic was born with a cleft lip and palette. She has already had surgery to repair those, but she will be receiving therapy to learn to eat without her feeding tube. This is going to be huge for Dominic and for their family. We are just waiting to see what God is going to do through this therapy.

About the card above. The Sisters stamp is made by Cornish Heritage Farms from their Sandra Kuck collection. I used a brayer to ink up the image with Tuxedo Black Momento ink by Tsukineko. The image was colored using Prismacolor pencils, and blended with a Copic Colorless Blender. The pink paper is by Making Memories and the patterned paper on the left is from the Urban Couture collection by Basic Grey. The words on the right were stamped with Walnut Stain Distress Ink by Ranger, and additional shading and edging was added with the same ink.
One of the details that I love is that I had this neat scalloped lace that just happened to line up really well with the scalloped edge of the paper. I love when things work out like that!

I'm back...for now

It has been a long absence, but I am enjoying my summer to the fullest. We have been on my husbands family farm for awhile. My husband helps out with harvest every summer. And the kids and I have been enjoying farm life as well.

Such fun to get back to my computer only to discover that my friend Lauren gave me a fun blog award. Now I'm really feeling guilty about my blog neglect, lol.
So here are the rules:
1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Add links to those blogs on yours
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

And here are some great blogs that I enjoy:(I still haven't learned how to add a proper link...somebody feel free to help out this poor computer illiterate)

1. Lauren Nwachukwu - http://www.everythingaltered.com/

2. Vicki Chrisman - http://vickichrisman.blogspot.com/

3. Missy Coburn - http://johnmelissacoburn.blogspot.com/

4. Sharon Johnson - http://notimetostamp.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

5. Marianne Walker - http://ilikemarkers.blogspot.com/

6. Asela Hopkins - http://www.hopartstudios.typepad.com/

Well, I didn't completely follow the rules, but if you want to visit some great blogs here are some fun choices...enjoy.

Now, I came across this little tidbit recently...interesting:
"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe."

Cuttlebug Embossing Techniques

Get ready for a new class coming soon to a store near you (if you live in the Wilamette Valley *smile*). The new Cuttlebug Embossing Techniques class is currently being scheduled for the fall. The first ones will be in September. I will post the dates as soon as they are confirmed. Sooo...you have some time to save up for a Cuttlebug if you don't have one yet. Each class participant will need to bring their own Cuttlebug machine, and you will receive an embossing folder as part of the class. The class will include 10 different techniques and variations on those techniques. There are so many different looks you can get with these folders...SO much fun to play with.

I've been having a great time in the last week, with friends and family visiting from out of state, and out of the country too. My sister is here visiting from Mexico right now. She and her husband are pastors in the mountains of Creel. It is great to have her around for a little bit. We are hoping that all of us will be able to be together this fall. We haven't all been together since my dad died almost 4 years ago. In any case, having her here us a blessing, and we are thankful for each and every bit of time that we get to spend together. With that said, I need to go pack up my stuff and head to my moms house for a little more time with her before she has to leave.
Have a great day!

Young Artists

Just wanted to share a couple more inspiring pictures of young artists at work. In the photo above, they are working on a mini album. My sample is below:

Each person got to make it their very own. Stamping it in their own style and their own colors. They learned how to cut their own paper to get the different sizes of layers, stamped whatever they wanted in it, added the die cut words wherever they wanted to put them, and then learned how to use the Bind-it-All machine to put it all together. I love that every single album was completely unique and their own.
In my sample you might recongize some of the new Cornish Heritage Farms Scrapblocks stamps. Awesome 6x6" background stamps. I LOVE them! The kids loved using those huge ones too. The one on the front cover is Vintage Ledger, probably my favorite of the bunch, although I love all of the ones that I have...Vintage Ledger, Pin Dot, and Fine Houndstooth.

More Drift Creek Camp

Middle school boys are so funny! Look at the expressions on their faces. They volunteered to be in the picture though, so I'm guessing that they enjoyed themselves and ended up being pleased with what they made. I thought they did great! I wish I would have taken a close up of the card that the girl in the grey sweatshirt and jeans is holding...no names here... She made an awesome card by stamping those great Technique Tuesday flower petals on an alcohol ink background. She cut them out, adhered them to a white card, and stamped cute little tiny flowers between the petals before adding her sentiment. SOOO cute!
Remember that creativity and willingness to experiment that I was talking about? One the girls stamped this great Stampers Anonymous image on her face using Distress Ink. Surprisingly enough it lasted a whole day before finally being removed. And the cling mounted stamp was perfect for this because it had enough stability that she could press it evenly onto her face, but was flexible enough that she could wrap it around and get the whole image. She told me that she wants a tatoo that wraps around her eye like that someday. I wouldn't want a permanent image like that on my face, but I thought it looked cool on her in a temporary version like this.

Back from Drift Creek Camp

Have I mentioned that I love middle schoolers? I'm back from a great time at Drift Creek Camp. There were around 90 campers, and I'm not sure how many of them I saw, but I do know that we went through over 250 cards, and created more than 50 mini albums. I had a total of 12 different sessions with about 13 - 17 campers in each session. I love the wide variety of creativity represented in the great bunch of kids that came through. If I put a group of adults into a room full of supplies, gave them some basic instruction, then said, "Go for it, make whatever you want, and just have fun," I don't know what would happen. But when you do that with middle schoolers they just hop up grab some stamps they like and get started. They don't overthink everything, they just have fun creating. It is so refreshing. I will share more later, but right now I have lots of laundry and unpacking to do.