If this blog was a kid, I'd be in big trouble for forgetting to pick them up from school for a month. (Sorry, just saw the original Japanese Dark Water. Seriously, don't ever be late to pick anyone and stay out of the elevator.) I am sorry, loyal readers, I have been distracted by my two other bloggy sites, Handiscrapped and my Stampin' Up gallery (which is still more than half filled with corporate filler projects. I will eventually upload enough to make the site less cookie cutter boring. No offense to cookie cutters. I 
freakin' looove cut out cookies. Hmm...that's an inspiring thought. If I can get my pain under control well enough to maintain uprighthood, those of you taking my Woof/Meow class jusAAXt may be nibbling pet-shaped goodies over your dog and cat projects.)
freakin' looove cut out cookies. Hmm...that's an inspiring thought. If I can get my pain under control well enough to maintain uprighthood, those of you taking my Woof/Meow class jusAAXt may be nibbling pet-shaped goodies over your dog and cat projects.) Check out Revco with a flower on his head! He was not exactly thrilled about it, but he looked so cute how could I not get Scott to snap a pic or two. I can't wait to scrap my little floral friend!
Have I got some new things to show off? Sure! I love the old retired Stampin' Up "Stipple Rose" stamp and the Fiskars border punches, so I put them together to make these purple rose cards. I colored directly on the stamp to get the various colors onto the image. I was concerned that the ink might end up too dry to print once I was done coloring the entire stamp, but lo and behold, breathing on the stamp worked! 
Next up, a little 6x6 page I made as a prototype for one of the make-n-take projects for my Stampin' Up open house. The subject is a sweet little rat who we (Raleigh Rodent Rescue) adopted out to a wonderful home. I used the "Enjoy" set from the mini catalog. I love the journaling box stamp. It's too bad it doesn't fit any of the punches, but if it did, it would probably be too small to really be useful. I fin
ally got around to altering these mini clipboards! I'd been meaning to make these chipboard clipboards into wish list holders for my customers to use while they work on their projects in class, since they often think of things they need while crafting. I usually jot it all down, and I still will, but this makes it easier if they don't want to ask me for help or if they have a long list. I covered each board in paper (a tape runner is surprizingly effective for altering chipboard) Added the Hodgepodge Hardware bits (I can't believe that they'll be retiring in July! Stock up, peeps. I am!) and stamped the office style images to go with the business-y paper. I'm really into these kind of designs. They remind me of playing in my grandfather's office when I was a kid. All that cool carbon paper, erasers with brushes on them, blue no-copy pencils, and forms of all kinds. I loved trips to the office supply store. That's where I bought my first real stamp--a self-inking frowny face. I'm not sure why I wanted the frown in particular, but it got a lot of use, disagreeing with anything it was stamped upon. I loved those little packs of cap erasers in unusual colors you couldn't find at the school store, not to mention the triangle shaped pencil grips that helped reduce the huge writers' callous I always had before the days of laptops. Sure I still love going to office supply stores, but I just can't seem to find any of those great small and dusty places anymore. Just big box suppliers with hundreds of the same product stacked to the ceiling. I still pick up mailing tags, clips of all kinds, pens and other things, but the ambiance isn't the same. It's fun to have these retro-office supplies to take me back there, anyway.
ally got around to altering these mini clipboards! I'd been meaning to make these chipboard clipboards into wish list holders for my customers to use while they work on their projects in class, since they often think of things they need while crafting. I usually jot it all down, and I still will, but this makes it easier if they don't want to ask me for help or if they have a long list. I covered each board in paper (a tape runner is surprizingly effective for altering chipboard) Added the Hodgepodge Hardware bits (I can't believe that they'll be retiring in July! Stock up, peeps. I am!) and stamped the office style images to go with the business-y paper. I'm really into these kind of designs. They remind me of playing in my grandfather's office when I was a kid. All that cool carbon paper, erasers with brushes on them, blue no-copy pencils, and forms of all kinds. I loved trips to the office supply store. That's where I bought my first real stamp--a self-inking frowny face. I'm not sure why I wanted the frown in particular, but it got a lot of use, disagreeing with anything it was stamped upon. I loved those little packs of cap erasers in unusual colors you couldn't find at the school store, not to mention the triangle shaped pencil grips that helped reduce the huge writers' callous I always had before the days of laptops. Sure I still love going to office supply stores, but I just can't seem to find any of those great small and dusty places anymore. Just big box suppliers with hundreds of the same product stacked to the ceiling. I still pick up mailing tags, clips of all kinds, pens and other things, but the ambiance isn't the same. It's fun to have these retro-office supplies to take me back there, anyway. 