Happy Camper

The new Cupcake Inspirations Challenge is up and it's a color theme!  

This was a good opportunity for me to play with some of my neglected supplies. I pulled out my Perfect Medium and some coordinating Perfect Pearls for dusting and created this fun card! (All available supplies will be listed at the end of this post.)

Club Scrap Happy Camper stamps and charms.

I recently discovered a new product by Purple Onion Designs - clear mounting stamps.

These clear mounting stamps can be used on acrylic blocks and the different stamping platforms/tools on the market.  The clear stamps can easily be removed after stamping, stored, and used over and over again. They can also be cut down for custom sizing. No more sticky glues, foam mounts or Tack n Peel are necessary! Check out my video to see it in action.

There are some new colors of Perfect Pearls coming soon. I'm so glad I rediscovered this old favorite. I have a few more ideas/techniques for using these colorful pigment powders so stay tuned!

Click here for more color inspiration from the Design Sweeties and I'll look for your artwork in our gallery!

SUPPLIES LIST:

Below you can find a list with all the products used today. Links to multiple online shops are available. Just click the static image below to be redirected to the LinkDeli product list. When the bookmarklet opens, click your favorite store link below each item. Compensated affiliate links may be used – that means if you make a purchase using my links, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support of my work on this blog!

Rangerink.com has a new loyalty program where you can earn points when you complete activities like making a purchase, creating an account and referring a friend. You can redeem the points for rewards from Ranger Ink Retail Shop. There are lots of new products coming soon, so sign up to earn 30% off your first retail order! Click here to start shopping!

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STOP and Smell the Roses!

My grandfather always had roses in his garden. Red ones, and they smelled good too! He also planted climbing roses that grew up around the front porch. (My dad is the handsome teenager on the right!)



When I was little, I would sit on the porch and pop off the thorns on the stems and he would get so mad! He always threatened to "pop" me, but he only did that once...He said he kept a switch on top of the refrigerator. When my sister and I would argue or get in trouble, he would point up there and say, "I'll pop you with that switch if you don't behave!" There wasn't really a switch up there, but we believed it! I don't remember what I did to get "spanked", but I remember the aftermath. It didn't hurt anything but my feelings and I remember throwing myself on the bed in the guestroom and carrying on for a LONG time. Poor Papaw...he kept saying he was sorry and patted my back trying to get me to quit crying. I must have been such a little brat because I milked that for awhile AND I told Memaw when she got home! He would playfully "pinch" us after that, then pat us and say, "You know Papaw loves you!" Good grief we were spoiled!

These American Beauties remind my of Papaw's roses...

[caption id="attachment_5218" align="aligncenter" width="519"] JFF Rubber Stamps American Beauties stamp image. Colored with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers (Pinks and Greens) on Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth Premium Cardstock and backed with Club Scrap® cardstock from the Paradise collection. Crystal and Lime Stickles and for sparkle. Memento Ink in Rose Bud for the inked edges.[/caption]

UPS just delivered my Spectrum Noir alcohol markers Wednesday and I couldn't wait to try them out. I watched a ton of tutorials on blending, tested them out on scratch paper and jumped right in with a no-line coloring technique. With a little more practice, this might become my new favorite medium!



I designed my sentiment in Photoshop Elements and printed on the Spectrum Noir card stock. I saved the .png file so that I can print and repeat as needed.

[caption id="attachment_5221" align="aligncenter" width="987"] Jury Duty, Beyond the Mountains and Bigelow Rules fonts.[/caption]

I was worried at first, but I didn't get any smudging when I colored over the lettering with the markers. I love how the Rose Bud ink matches the markers!

The American Beauties stamp is available in the JFF online store and it needs a good home. Not only is it beautiful, it can be any color you want!

BLOG CANDY ALERT!

 (Enter the challenge to win a gift certificate!)

CLICK HERE to join the challenge and see more inspiration from the design team!

Do more of what makes you happy!

 

Challenges entered:Spectrum Noir Anything Goes Challenge

 

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Sorry about the mess, but we LIVE here!

I live in a frat house.

Not really, but it feels like it sometimes! Two sons, a cousin, my husband and the dog. All male. I am the odd "man" out! I have to say that they are all pretty awesome housemates, though I am sure I get on their nerves with my constant nagging about mess. Hey, it's in my nature! I think it is a female trait to want things clean and organized. I can't help it! I used to kill myself cleaning when my kids were growing up. Saturday was my cleaning day, if there weren't ball games! I've gotten lazy in my old age, or is it that I realized that it wasn't the most important thing in the world to have a spotlessly clean house? Probably a little of both. It has taken 26 years for them to wear me down though!

You know you are doing something right when you can't wait to get home every day. This quote sums it all up for me.



I'm going to make this into a canvas because I love it so much! Don't you love the Just For Fun Rubber Stamps collaged row houses stamp?

[caption id="attachment_5087" align="alignnone" width="533"] Just For Fun Rubber Stamps Collaged Row Houses stamp paired with Club Scrap® card stock. Yellow and Crystal Stickles for sparkle. Velvet heart from my stash.[/caption]

I had the little velvet heart out on my craft table to add to another project, but it was perfect for this one!



I designed the sentiment in Photoshop Elements using the fonts Bigelow Rules, Jury Duty and Beyond the Mountains. The sentiment was designed to print on a 4.25 x 5.5 card panel, so that I can print and repeat as many times as I like!



Blog Candy Alert! Just For Fun Rubber Stamps (JFFRS) hosts a monthly challenge and the randomly chosen winner will receive a gift certificate to shop in their online store. Your project must include a rubber stamped image somewhere in the design. You DO NOT have to use a JFF stamp to be considered for the gift card,  but if you DO use a JFF stamp you will receive a second entry into the drawing doubling your chance to win! Sounds like a sweet thing to me!

[caption id="attachment_5131" align="aligncenter" width="399"] CLICK HERE to join the challenge and see more inspiration from the design team![/caption]

 

Do more of what makes you happy!

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Color Me Happy!

I joined a photography challenge on January 1 called The Great 365 Project hosted on Diane Downs' photography website/blog and started posting my photos on Instagram . The January 18 daily prompt was "multiple" and I had just received my essential oils and bamboo diffuser from UPS! Don't you love this essential oil storage box ? I was really surprised to discover that my 30ml bottles fit in all of the slots. Lots of room for more oils!



I started pinning essential oil diffuser recipes on Pinterest and decided to make a little recipe book to keep with my supplies. I found this quick and easy, GLUE FREE, book tutorial on Club Scrap's blog. At 3x6 inches, it is the perfect size for what I wanted!



Isn't that card stock gorgeous?! It is from Club Scrap® 's January Color Me Happy kit. I used the sunshine stamp from the art nouveau unmounted stamp collection, and the sophisticated script alphabet from Concord and 9th and a small wooden alphabet stamp set from my stash to create the label on the belly band. The metallic dot is included in the embellishment pack with the (CMH) kit.



There are plenty of pages inside, 14 if you include the front and back inside covers, to house my collection of recipes! I created a .png file using the recommended fonts in the Club Scrap January 2017 Scrap Rap for my recipes so that they would be easy to print and trim out.



The spine cover makes it look so "finished"!





I'm linking up to the January 2017 Color Me Happy Club Scrap Blog Hop for a chance to win a Club Scrap gift certificate!

Do more of what makes you happy!

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Toucan Play at THAT Game!

This was Eudie and Bert.



Eudie was my Grandma, Aunt Bert was her older sister. Aunt Bert only had one  child, who she affectionately called "Son". Grandma, on the other hand, had 9 children and 27 grandchildren. Boy,  Aunt Bert liked all the action at my Grandma's when she'd come visit! Only problem was that they would argue constantly AND talk at the same time! I think Aunt Bert secretly enjoyed the attention and making Grandma mad! I'm sure everybody in our family has a funny Aunt Bert story, she was a character. This is one of mine.

I liked taking road trips with my Grandma in her "little Honda" with the hatchback. This particular  trip, I had to ride in the backseat because Aunt Bert was riding shotgun. I was about 11-12 and we were driving home from New Orleans. Grandma stopped at a little diner and we got some chicken dinner boxes to go. We got back on the road and Grandma asked Aunt Bert to hand her a French fry. It must have been a little hot because Grandma started coughing. And coughing...Aunt Bert kept asking what was wrong like Grandma couldn't hear. I got nervous because she was swerving all over the road and I (and my chicken dinner) was rolling all over the backseat! Finally, Aunt Bert grabbed Grandma's  face, turned her head toward her and said, " Open your mouth and let me see!" Grandma screamed and slammed on the brakes (middle of the highway!) and yelled at Aunt Bert,"Are you OUT of your MIND?" Aunt Bert just shrugged and turned back to her chicken dinner that was tucked in her lap and said,"Well, I was just trying to help!" Grandma just stared at her and all you could hear was the click of my seatbelt as I quietly tried to put it on. Aunt Bert daintily picked at her chicken and said," See what you did? You scared everybody!" Grandma said nothing, jerked the card back onto the road and white knuckled the steering wheel the rest of the ride home. I was a little "ascared" of her because I'd never seen her that mad. Meanwhile, Aunt Bert chatted away like nothing happened. I was still holding a piece of chicken when we pulled into our driveway an hour later!

These chunky toucans made me think of Eudie and Bert!

[caption id="attachment_4815" align="alignnone" width="3294"] JFF Rubber Stamps Chunky Toucans and Man in the Moon stamps. Club Scrap® Color Me Happy card stock, Comics digital kit speech bubble, and By the Seashore beach grass stamp. Diamond stickles for sparkle, white Signo Uniball gel pen for highlighting the necklace and polka dots on the bikini. Perfect Pearls mixed with water to watercolor the images. Vintage Photo Distress Ink to frame the edges of the card stock.[/caption]

Those bikinis are hilarious!



The Man in the Moon stamp image fit perfectly in the Club Scrap Color Me Happy cutapart!



Check out the JFF January Card Challenge - Anything Goes!! and join in the fun with a card of your own. The winner will receive a gift certificate to shop in the JFFRS online store! AND no, you do not have to use a JFF stamp to enter!

Do more of what makes you happy!



 

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Say Cheese!

This CA-RAY-ZEE had a birthday yesterday!



I liked the birthday card I sent her so much, I just had to make another one like it for the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge starting today!



The sponsor for this week's color challenge is Lawn Fawn and they are generously providing a prize of a stamp set and 6x6 pad to our randomly chosen winner. My card showcases the Lawn Fawn Clear Acrylic Stamp Set Say Cheese  paired with Club Scrap® card stock.

[caption id="attachment_4703" align="aligncenter" width="4875"] Click here for a great tutorial for the starburst background pattern. Images were stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Ranger Superfine Gold embossing powder, and colored with Faber-Castell gelatos.  Images were then fussy cut and adhered to the card front with foam tape. I added some Stickles diamond glitter glue for bling and some Glossy Accents to the camera lens for shine.[/caption]

Check out what the rest of the design team created here, then go make a card and enter the challenge!

Do more of what makes you happy!



Gallery Entry:

Fawny Flickr Friday 

 

 

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♫ It's Carnival Time!♫♪

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIq4FH01FiU]

Louisiana carnival season has begun! January 6 is called Epiphany or Twelfth Night (since it's twelve days after Christmas) or Kings Day (hence the King Cake tie-in?). It marks the moment in the Bible that the three kings arrived in Bethlehem to behold the baby Jesus. Traditionally, Epiphany is considered the last day of the Christmas holidays. You can now say "Happy Mardi Gras!", wear purple, green and gold, buy and eat king cake and take down your Christmas decorations! I plan on doing it tomorrow...ugh!

In the meantime, I made a festive card to celebrate! I used the JFFRS Stamptangle Celestial Montage stamp image. This image kind of reminds me of some of my Mardi Gras decorations...



The image was stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with Ranger Ink Silver
Super Fine embossing powder. The image was painted with a mixture of Perfect Pearls True Gold and True Red pigment powder and water. The background paper is Club Scrap®  cardstock and embellished with metallic dot stickers from the CS Color Me Happy embellishment pack .



I'm off to get motivated to take down Christmas and put out the Mardi Gras bling. Hmmmm, I might need a little king cake and coffee first!

There's still time to join the JFFRS "Anything Goes" January Challenge for a chance to win a gift certificate to the JFFRS online store! Details here! AND there's a 40% off sale through January 15...

Do more of what makes you happy!



Challenges entered:

PDE Linky Party #154 "Anything Goes" 

Crazy For Challenges #357

Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog Something New 

 

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Giving Thanks

I'm thankful for a lot of things in my life, even the bad things. The bad things made me a better person and appreciate the good things even more. I must have done something right, because the universe rewarded me. These people make me believe there is good in the world and to "Be the Good"!



I have to brag on my husband a little bit. Chris planted a fall garden this year, with the help of our boys. I thought he was crazy. He is doing a "no till" garden with cardboard and homemade compost. It looked like a mess at first, now I just need to shut my mouth and let him do his thing. He planted red clover and rye grass as a cover crop to provide nutrients, aerate the soil and hold moisture. All the new sprouts are Italian and elephant ear garlic, carrots, Swiss chard, broccoli, turnips, cabbage, mustard and collard greens and muscadine vines for jelly.  It looks like the universe might reward us with a bountiful harvest!



This sweet guy was very patient while he waited to be petted during the photo shoot! When he's had enough and wants attention, he'll sit on your foot and lean on you. He's getting bossier with age!



In honor of Thanksgiving, I made this card to remind me to pay it forward, give thanks for all of my blessings and to be the good.

[caption id="attachment_3978" align="alignnone" width="3648"] JFFRS stamptangle pumpkin medium and JFFRS stamptangle eclectic garden stamps. Club Scrap cardstock. Copper foil embossing powder. Sentiment stamped with a mini alphabet stamp.[/caption]



I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, eat lots of good food and spend quality time with family! Be the good!



This card was a winner at Cards in Envy!



Challenges entered:

colourQ Challenge #368



The Card Concept #62 Thanksgiving



Cupcake Inspirations Challenge 385



Cards in Envy Thank You Challenge 

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