a CAS Damask Day

Today's card was inspired by the lovely and talented Jen Tapler of Jen Tapler Designs blog fame and her February 28th post. You would not believe how long it took me to find my Damask stamp this weekend! I went through all my stamp sets, then all my individual stamps, and finally found this among my Heidi Swapp ones ... literally, within the last 4-5 stamps I own! I'd ignored that group as I thought all I had there were some very large sentiment stamps. Well, I straightened a bit and sorted some loose stamps into holidays/seasons, so it wasn't all for naught!

stamps: Heidi Swapp's damask; paper: SU's Old Olive, Whisper White; ink: SU's Old Olive; tools: ek success' heart to heart xl punch

so this is love

My first valentine of the year, this one's based on the first Paper Craft Planet sketch challenge of the year, sk010210, posted this morning. It uses some new DP and stamps I recently purchased so is for the ssnotime120 challenge too! We got together with local extended family at my sister's house this afternoon to celebrate my Mom's b'day with presents, followed by cake and ice cream - a yummy concoction and new recipe my sis' recently acquired - before she had to get ready for work. Since returning home, I've been cooling it and inking up some stamps I'd not used yet while watching t.v. These are a couple I got last spring at the Great Lakes Mega Meet in Novi MI.

Unlike me, my chocolate's been around even longer. My buddy Pat and I attended a stamping get-together last January where we were to stamp for the troops at a LSS; I'd planned to kit up some treat bags but when we got there we learned the plan was for us to stamp some quick post cards ... so we had some chocolate for snacks while we worked and I repackaged the remainder to take home. It's been by my PC ever since and every now and then I grab a handful. So, pardon me while I eat the rest of my prop chocolate ...

stamps: BasicGrey heart mini stamp, Heidi Swapp love, Lizzie Anne's So Much Love (inside sentiment); paper: BasicGrey's sugared DP, Bazzill's unknown pink card stock, SU's Whisper White card stock; ink: Ranger Black Soot distress ink, Tri-C watercolor markers; tools: Marvy mega heart punch, dimensionals

a day late, dollar short?

OK, OK, so I'm still show-'n-telling Memorial Day cards ... but it was actually yesterday here in the states! We conveniently celebrate some holidays on Mondays to make for long weekends, and Memorial Day happens to be one of these. I just figure it gives us a longer timeframe to commemorate the day!

I made this card for a buddy of mine who I met at Kettering University when I started working there some 14+ years ago, became friends with, then later found out I was actually related to by marriage. Life is strange sometimes, eh?!

It's made with the alternate set of colors for this week's Splitcoaststampers color challenge 167, and Taylor's cupcake challenge 17 from last week. It's matted on whisper white, but that may be hard to make out on this picture - it's a scanned version of the card as I'm temporarily without camera. Have I mentioned that I'm addicted to challenges? Admitting you have a problem is the first step toward recovery, right?! Only this is one addiction I don't want to be delivered from, LOL!

stamps: Heidi Swapp's Remember, SU's Classic Stars jumbo wheel; paper: SU's bashful blue, certainly celery, night of navy, whisper white cardstocks; inks: SU's night of navy; accessories: SU certainly celery ribbon, star/circle brad look-alikes created from a couple Fiskar hand-held punches

nat'l bubble wrap appreciation day

yes, that's what my brother e-mailed me this morning ... along with an oh so slightly facetious "do you have a card made for that yet?" question posed to me!

well, it was a challenge, don't you agree? here's a quick one based on Beate's current sketch challenge. I used bubble wrap to ink the background in a few different pink inks.

side note: I recently received my new ATG tape gun wrapped in about 20' of continuous bubble wrap, then shrink-wrapped - no box! I considered that an interesting way to "box" orders! my brother Mark was the recipient of all that bubble wrap ...

and note: are you addicted to popping bubble wrap? try this link for some virtual pops!

stamps: Heidi Swapp love; paper: CTMH pink, white on hand cardstock; ink: ColorBox Burnt Sienna, Rose Coral, Warm Red, StazOn Jet Black; accessories: Prima Got Flowers