You have to see this paper...

"...it's made out of wood!" Those were the first words out of my mouth to my dear friend Molli when I saw the paper that I used on this card. Her response, "isn't all paper made out of wood?" And my quick retaliation, "yeah, but you can tell with this paper!"

So, I'm a little rediculous! It just so happens that I'm not alone because my dear hubby thought that the paper was pretty freakin' sweet too. Then again, I was making him hang out in a scrapbook store during his 4 day Florida vacation! (This was prearranged, I did a lot of research before I finally decided to go here!) Anywho, I decided that I was not brave enough to be "trendy" alone so, I picked up a couple of sheets and brought them back to Montana. This Florida paper was sent to both coasts and I'm pretty sure I heard Laurie say "wood, really?" when she opened the envelope. Normally, for our swaps we send each other paper and embellies. I chose to send paper and a sketch. Without further ado, here's a bit about what I made for this month's swap card!

I used the wood paper to stamp the sentiment, Olivia the owl, and her branch from Sweet 'n Sassy stamps. The ink is Stampin' Up black and I used my green copic marker on the acrylic dots in the corner. I used Gamsol (I don't actually used Gamsol. I use generic odorless mineral spirits also called artist quality turpenoid. However, people generally know what Gamsol is and it's less to type!) and my trusty Crayola twist up colored pencils on Olivia and the leaves. Olivia is stamped on some Bazzill white cardstock and the leaves are stamped on the wood paper. I cut out the colored leaveds and popped them up. Inside the card says "Good for you!" and I think I know just who I'll be sending this card to! I think I'm going to try a new challenge blog too. It is April Fool's day and since I was the butt of one joke today I think I'll take advantage of the special twist in this challenge!

Do you have any tips for using wood paper? Thoughts? Ideas? (I'm not a fan of blog candy...only because I never win it but if you actually follow me and comment...I may be inclined to perform a RAK!)

Blogger is a jerk!

I don't know what happened but apparently Blogger ate all of my images. I'll check back this afternoon and if they haven't reappeared, I'll reload them this evening. Hope you had fun reading my grumbly rumbly!

Waltzingmouse and Stamping Around - A challenge made in heaven!

(This is my second post of the day. To see my TMS submission, please click here.)

I'm on my way to a 1-year-old's birthday party. (I made this piggy bank for her birthday.) To make it a bit easier to handle this adventure I got a bit crafty this morning. I used the Stamping Around Inspiration challenge as, well, my inspiration. I picked up the pretty colors and the stacked plates as elements in my card. To be honest, I am pretty excited about this card because it is pretty different from the cards I normally make. I was inspired by the Raise The Bar challenge to mix it up...and I did! I actually sewed. More than that, I sewed beads onto the card. This is my first experience with Gamsol and colored pencils too. All in all, I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out.

A Hallmark Holiday and a Tuesday Morning Sketch

So, I don't make cards for people. Well, I make cards and give them to people, but I don't make cards for people to give away to other people...this is confusing. I don't make cards for hire. But when my mom asked me to make cards for "provider's day" I caved like a piece of limp celery and found myself struggling to make something. I wanted it to be simple and durable because they were going to be passed around the office for signatures but, I didn't want them to look like I just slapped it all together. So I picked a sketch (Tuesday Morning Sketches #38) and got to work. I made three cards and gave myself heartburn. I'd say "never again" but I know I'll give in to my mom again!

SRM Stickers has inspired me...

...to make a baby card! First of all, I'd like to thank Get Sketchy for introducing me to SRM Stickers. Secondly, I'd like to thank SRM for making an incredible line of stickers that I REALLY want. In fact, I want them enough to make a baby card! *Gasp!* So, for any of you who know me well, you know that I'm not going to have kids until after the hubby and I go to Europe on vacation. (That same group of people also knows that I'm about to graduate with 6 years' worth of student loans coming due in November!) So, pretty much what I'm saying is that I'm not having kids any time even remotely considered soon...or so I hope! But my friends are...
So, I made this card for the next happy lady that I know who happens to become impregnated with a female form of these so called "babies." (Can you see why I'm not all gung-ho for my own yet?) I had a lot of fun making this card though. It gave me a chance to try my hand at faux stitching...and then covering it up! Which lead to my first experience with Stickles...and if you give a Stephanie a cookie...
Anyway, I used letter stickers for the first time in ages. And I used a new trick I picked up a few Frugal Fridays ago on the Scrap Our Stash blog (the base card is from the packaging for the stickers)! I used this week's Get Sketchy Sketch #30 (and blog hop EXTRAVAGANZA!) for the layout of my mini card. Well, it was a 4x4 mini card until I saw the packaging for the stickers and then it turned into a 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 card! I'm still claiming it's a mini! Hope you like it. I'm going to go practice saying "your baby is so cute" for a while, I've got at least 9 months with most of my friends! ;)