scramblin....

My days are blurring into my nights around here! I have been very very busy getting ready to launch my new stamp company. Who woulda thunk so much works goes into all this! Ok, well, i would have guessed it was a lot of work but adding it on top of a busy life with 2 under 3 and my makeup business has been about to side swip me! I guess thats why they call it a busi-ness, huh? haha.

And bringing up those 2 under 3. Poor baby gabe! I think he's teething but he's just been a bit fussier than usual and his 2 year old brother doesnt seem to be very helpful with nap times. Gabe is still eating 2 - 3 times a night! And acting so hungry everytime. Today we had his 4 month check up (um, he's almost 18 pounds so perhaps i should just feed him less! haha, actually his weight is right where is should be for his height so he's just a plain ol' big baby!). But the extra attention needed has put me a little behind.

Speaking of behind...for all those who i've hosted swaps with, i'm SO terribly sorry i'm behind! I completely blame myself for hosting during a time i knew would be busy! I wasnt going to and then thought, well i can handle it, and i'm just plain behind. EVERYTHING is going postal today!

So no sneak peeks today BUT i found a pic of a card i made a while back that i apparently just forgot to post. woops. haha. It was from a challenge over at Paper Craft Planet. The challenge was to use Black and White as the main colors with just a pinch of other color. Here is my sympathy card using Gina K Designs Comfort and Peace... (FYI - did you know Gina K was once a makeup artist? it's true! Well, i say once because i think she's a tad busy now and doesnt do it professionally anymore, but once a makeup artist always a makeup artist in my mind!)



I used a cuddlebug folder on the white to give it some more depth. The flowers are from the comfort and peace set as well but they are stamped on a separate white piece of paper and then adhered over the embossed paper.

I hate that i havent been posting those sneak peeks BUT i have to mention the fact that i havent been able to find my camera charger ANYWHERE! I have searched and searched but was unable to find it since our holiday travels. I have dedicated entirely too much time trying to find it creating disasters as i look. Well, i found it today! Whew! I made a layout i was quite happy with for the Funkie Munkie Scraps design team but wasnt able to take a picture of it. Once my camera is charged i'll go over to the store and snap a pic. :)

Soon i'll be in the process of doing a major craft weed-out of stamps and such. Just time to do that again since they accumulate so quickly, don't they? Plus the extra moolah will be very helpful in the business start up costs. But i gotta get caught up here before i get to post all that! haha. I'll post what sets i have available here on my blog when i get them all set up.

Ok, back to the grind of getting some things accomplished. The baby is asleep and i dont know how long it will last but i'm going to do everything i can while it does! :)

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free stamps to military stampers

Marie, owner of The Greeting Farm, is doing something spectacular for all those who have a dad, brother, sister, son or daughter in the military... she's giving away a free stamp set! And adorable Ian stamp set at that! Take a look here...

Isnt he CAH-UTE! It's just such a great thing she's doing! You can read all about the makings of this stamp set

here and here

But while you're at it why not look at some of the other fabulous stamp sets marie has and support such a generous new stamp company! :)

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Sneak Peek of Paper Makeup Stamps!

I cant believe it was last thursday that i posted last? Where does the time go??? Well, i'll have you know i've been hard at work finalizing a few things getting closer and closer to the Grand Opening of Paper Makeup Stamps! I'm sure as you might guess there is a lot that goes in the Behind-the-Scenes action of a stamp company.

Ok, without much further ado... i want to introduce Diem's Faeries! Ok, so they may not be called that in the long run, but i am working with a FABULOUS illustrator on these faeries. She seriously rocks. And to have someone who gets me so well (even though i dont know how she is completely in my head) is awesome. There will be 4 Faerie's released in the grand opening with more to come. I really think you will love them. I can gush over them because it isnt my artwork this time. (i'm always so critical of my own!)

Here's "Jaina Fairy". I call her Jaina Fairy because she looks like one of Jack's little friends (and his first "love") Jaina. Isnt she adorable!!!



I actually made this card for my illustrator to thank her for her hard work and helping me to make my dream come true! You cant see it in the picture but she is just covered with teeny tiny sparkles ala spica pens. I also added some extra stickles to her wings to make them super duper sparkly.

I used Jen del Muro's "Sketch for you to try" from this week for my layout inspiration. Here's a bit more on the deets...

Cardstock: Groovy Guava (SU), Soft Sky (SU), Aqua Mist (PTI), Chocolate Chip (SU)
White Paper: Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper: Designer Print Series (SU)
The little details...
Colored with: Copics
Cuddlebug Embossing Folder - Swiss Dots
Bling - Darice
Ribbon - Michael's
Flowers - Prima
Brad - sugar coated by Doodlebug
Swirl cut from Home Accents by Cricut
Butterfly punch by Martha Stewart
Stickles in Cinnamon, Waterfall
Charm from Whimsy Stamps (they sent it as a gift with my order!)
Cat's Eye Chalk ink - Prussian Blue, Chestnut Roan

Since this is the first peek of the fairy stamp line - i would love to hear your feedback!!!! Leave your comment here and i will choose 1 person at random to win this stamp for free!

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I'm in love with a Munkie

A FUNKIE MUNKIE! hehe. Today i went into a new scrap store close to my house and - OMG! I fell in LOVE! I mean my heart was swooning all over the place! The gals that own sure do know what I like. hahahhahaha.

For starters... they have BELLAS! My heart could have leapt out of my chest right then and there! Then i saw the copics! And all the bling! Oh me oh my i was in HEAVEN!

And a further bonus - she loved the faerie image from Paper Makeup Stamps! YIPPIE! She said they would love to carry the stamp line in their store because they strongly believe in local business!

Then i showed her my blog to prove that i was as die hard a copic and bella fan as i claimed to be. And she said she'd like me on the design team! I'm sure i need to actually submit some stuff with things from their store and what not first. But still! Cloud 9! I am on CLOUD 9!

I was very very bad, and bought. I didnt buy a ton, but i did want to get a few things that i could be using for their design team! *evil smile*
Here's my loot...


A bella sentiment stamp
A bella baby stamp
a copic ciao marker
2 packs of kaiserkraft pearls
2 packs of kaiserkraft bling
6 sheets of patterend paper
1 sheet of polkadotted texture cardstock (bigger than swiss dots, SO cute)
a bag of the cutest darn buttons alive
and
a fantastic primsa swirly bling thingy

All of that for 25 bucks! And that included TAX! Great prices!

And here is the card i made today with a bella and sentiment i already owned BUT she had them for sale in the store. I'm going to go and take my card to her tomorrow and resist buying anything else! but i am taking friends that i'm sure will buy things. hehehe.



Here i used StampingBellas Craveabella and Cheers.
Patterned paper is Amplified Summer of Love by American Crafts (it's double sided - patterened on one side, solid brown on the other)
Cardbase is by Bazzill (sorry i forgot to check the color but if you need it let me know and i'll check it to my swatch book)
Bling is by KaiserKraft
Flower is Prima
punch is Branch by Martha Stewart

Thanks for stopping by!

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How do you like your stamps?

I'm still working out some of the kinks to this new stamp company. :) So excited about it still i want everything done yesterday! For the most part I have all the people in line that need to be in line and the ball is definitely rolling! But i have a question for you....

How do you like your stamps?

From a general consensus i gathered previously (and because it's what i like best) I'm going with unmounted rubber for my stamps. But there are still so many ways to do unmounted rubber!!! So i thought who better to ask but my faithful blog readers! When you buy stamps, what do you prefer, it to be already on cushioned ez mount? Do you like it when you get to cut it out, or when they do it for you. Do you like it completely naked (lowering cost and shipping price) so you can do to it what you want?

I'm very interested to know! You can leave a comment here or you can email me at my temporary stamp company email addie.... (or my regular email addie - that works too)
PaperMakeupStamps@gmail.com

Thanks so much everyone for your support!

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Pink Cat Challenge and a little sneak peak

Wow - i have had some crazy past couple of days working on things for my stamp company! I'm so excited!!! I'll get sneak peaks to ya as i get them! (including one for today!)

But let me also say that Pink Cat Studios has an awesome challenge that pretty much gives you a free digi download right from the start! AND the winner will get a free stamp set of their choice! Now THAT is a fun challenge! Read all about it here on their blog!

Here is my card using Lily Fairy from Pink Cat...


The sneak peak i mentioned is the sentiment on the card. This is one of the quote stamps from my stamp line! I'm going to have lots of quotes because i'm pretty much addicted to them. :)

Now a little bit more about my card...
I made this card with my girl, Christi in mind. She's having a bit of a rough time with some health stuff and i wanted to send her a card to let her know i'm thinking about her. I'm actually kinda counting on her resting and not reading this post before the card can make it to her! But if she sees it ahead of time, oh well. It's prettier in person anyway! :)

I used copic markers to color her in and used a cuddlebug embossing folder, some primas, ribbon, brads and bling to finish it off!!!

Thanks for stopping by today!!!!! I'll have some more sneakies for you soon!

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A little nutty squirrel

2009 is HERE! And what i've wanted for quite some time is finally coming to fruition! I'm starting my own stamp company!!! I'm so excited i cant even contain myself! I'm still working on designs and such but i'll slowly be adding in some sneakie peeks of what is to come. :)

First - here is the card i made for my hubbie's bday on friday. I'm still tweaking the design just a wee bit. The image on the card is one i hand drew. :) So here he is... nutty squirrel...



So there he is! ACK! I'm so self critical of my own stuff. Once finalized, the squirrel and sentiment will be available in a set with some other things including another animal (that you'll just have to wait to see). :)

I would really really love ANY feedback that you have! Thanks so much!

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EtsyInspired Challenge #18

Welcome back to another EtsyInspired Saturday! Sadly this is my last round as a guest designer with the EtsyInspired group. If you've enjoyed seeing my etsyInspired challenge cards this past month, dont worry, i'll still participate in the challenges, they'll just come later in the week. :)

This week's artist/shop is Autumn Russell and she is giving away one heck of a prize! Any of the original artwork in her shop valued at under $55 will be chosen by the winner this week and she has some fabulous stuff in there so definitely check it out!

I had such a hard time picking my inspiration piece because she just has so many good artworks to choose from! I WAS going to do a tree. She has some pretty cool trees. Then i WAS going to do a butterfly, since she has a couple of gorgeous ones. Then i was going to use one of her child art pieces because, well, i just love them and if i had a little girl i would SO be buying one to put in her room! But in the end, i decided to go with this beautiful ballerina because after dancing for 18 years (you didnt know i did that did ya!) ballerinas just tug on my heart strings.
Here is her beautiful ballerina...

Now let me just say... i thought her coloring choices were beautiful and unique. How she made them look so darn good i dont know! I tried to use the same ones and wasnt nearly as in awe of my colored image as hers! haha. Still, once i added the patterened paper from DCWV's Old World collection it seems to wrap up a little better. The image is Bellarina from Stamping Bella. She was my very first bella i owned (of course, because i love ballerinas!)
Here is my card...

She is colored with copic markers and then i added some platinum stickles to her dress, around her neck and to her hair for some extra bellariffic ness. :)

Now go check out the rest of the EtsyInspired Design team including Janurary's Guest Designer... Christine Jensen
Ashley Newell
Joy Stagg
Lee Murphy
Lindsay Spencer
Ryann Salamon
Tanis Giesbrecht
Tiffany Johnson

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Very cool blog candy alert

2nd post for today! To see something crafty, scroll down, but WAIT! Read about this blog candy first! :)

Starving Artist Stamps is giving away their lastest valentine's day releases! (OMG i cant believe it's almost valentine's day already!) Go to this post to enter

Here's the stamps...





Now go check it out!

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Unity altered wooden box

This was a gift i made for my mom for christmas. I made a card this with sentiment from Unity Stamp Company a bit back and put it in my etsy shop and my mom told me she was about to buy my card out of my etsy shop just because she loved the quote so much. I told her that was totally silly and she'd get something with a quote eventually. So for christmas i had to do something with it!

Now here's something about Unity's quote singles... they are HUGE! I mean, no joking! They are very very large stamps and for 6 bucks, you cant beat it! So they are fantastic on a lot of things... cards, scrapbook pages, altered items... it's really a fab deal.

Here's my altered wooden box...



I was so thrilled with how this turned out! Even moreso because i was doing it the night before we left for Indiana! Now i'm obsessed with making more of them (though i havent yet). I bought the wooden box at Hobby Lobby for 2.99. Not to mention that they have sales on stuff like that all the time! I went the other day (and they had 30% off) but they didnt have any of these boxes in stock. bummer.

Now i already did a little tutorial on how to use crackle paint about 2 weeks ago. If you missed it, you can see it here. I love love love crackle paint! It makes things look so stinkin' cool! You might notice here that the crackle looks different than it does in the link post. The cracks are much much smaller and closer together. The only thing i did different was i waited longer for the crackle to "dry" (note: you do NOT let the crackle dry completely!) Also, the thicker the coat of crackle is, the larger the cracks will be. So it may take some practice until you can judge the size of the cracks before you even apply the top coat, but the great thing about crackle is it always looks good!

I painted the entire wooden box with brown apple barrel paint. I actually painted 2 coats which i usually do for the bottom layer. Let that dry completely then add your crackle medium. And like i said, i waited longer this time for the crackle to dry because i wanted smaller detail in the cracks. Then i applied an off white ACRYLIC paint. The bottom coat isnt a huge deal (sometimes i spray paint, even though the crackle medium says to use acrylic) but i always use an acrylic paint for my top coat. Those cheapie americana paints at the craft store are acrylic. After that dried completely i sponged/rubbed antiquing glaze around all my edges. I just love the antiquing glaze with the crackle. they go together so nicely. I actually did NOT add any further coats. the smaller cracks arent really bothered by no top coat.

For my front, i used the unity quote and colored it in with markers so that the various words would be different colors. I put it on a chocolate cardstock mat and was done with it. Super easy and looks so cool. I cant wait to do one for my craft room!!! :)

Thanks for stopping by today on this Holiday and i hope everyone has a fantastic 2009!!! I know i have LOTS in store for 2009 so i cant wait!

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