Stamps, Paper, Scissors

A funny thing happened...

as I was clearing the soon-to-retire sets off my stamp shelves. I found a bunch of sets that had not been used since last year; in fact...cough...some were ones I ordered on last year's preorder and I'd only used once or twice. Ack! Tomorrow we'll be able to preorder sets for the next catalog, so if I don't get a little more use out of these now, they may sit there until they retire. And that, my fellow addicts, would be a tragedy.

Since I liked the sketch challenge on SCS (SC182) last week, I decided to use Zoofari and have a bit of fun. And I was also very pleased to be able to mount up Outlined for Fun, a set I bought out of the last catalog and which went on the dormant list before I could even use it. Since it's not on the retired list and it's not on the dormant list for the next catalog, one must assume it's in the soon-to-come Fall Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog (aren't we glad we don't have COLLECTIONS anymore? I always think of phone calls from those agencies during dinner...not that I have ever gotten one, but still...)

Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Zoofari, Wonderful You, Outlined for Fun; Paper - Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue, Basic Black, Whisper White, So Saffron; Ink - Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Tempting Turquoise, Brocade Blue, Sahara Sand, Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Creamy Caramel, Certainly Celery, Ballet Blue, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, Basic Grey, So Saffron; Other - Aquapainter, gold eyelets, white gel pen, light blue and black gingham ribbon, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" square punches, dimensionals, sponge wedge

Isn't this STINKIN' CUTE?!?!? Now, if I were living in Kalamazoo still, I'd add an inside verse that went "from all of us in the 'Zoo". 'Cause that's what we call our town, back there!

Well, it's that time of afternoon, when the card makers of the world kick off their shoes and take a little siesta. Card making is HARD WORK, as I keep telling my family. I don't think they believe me, though. Ta!

Fun & Fast Notes

Moving on with our festival of uninked SU! Rubbah, I present Fun & Fast Notes:

Ingredients: Stamps - Fun & Fast Notes, All Scallops, Canvas, Polka Dot; Paper - Certainly Celery, Cameo Coral, Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Ink - Basic Black, Cameo Coral, Bashful Blue, Apricot Appeal; Other - Black gingham ribbon, Stampin' Write Markers (Basic Black, Cameo Coral, Bashful Blue, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery), Vintage brads, sponge wedges, dimensionals, Scalloped & Classic Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders)

This stamp set is one that is so simple to use that you can make very nice simple cards or you can gussy it up as you see here. I simply colored the image with markers and relied on the sketch to do the rest! I used the Mojo Monday sketch #43 from Julee Tilman's blog Poetic Artistry. The color combination is one of my favorites lately. I have to say that I have been groovin' with the Cameo Coral lately. When I first signed up with SU!, it was one of those colors I just couldn't cotton to, but lately I've found myself using it quite often. With this combo, I like to add the black accents to really make it pop, especially the black stitching! I've found, though, that when I've been doing ----- a lot ----- of -----------stitching-----that--------it-----can---sort---of----be---hard---to stop----ack-------HELP!

----well (STOP!) the weather has cooled down considerably and I was able to turn off the air conditioning. I'm going to go put my feet up and doze for a bit, letting the cool breeze play over my face; the reward for successfully making it to church and back. Tah!

Celebrating liberty

Actually, the liberty I'm celebrating is not only the liberty we enjoy in our country, but the liberty to go to my upline's meeting last night! Now that Dan is off for the summer, he has started to take on some of the softball parent duties, allowing me to go to Sharon's meeting. And since I got to go to the meeting, I made swaps! This month's theme was anything patriotic or summer.

And you know what? When I was pulling all my about-to-retire stamp sets out of my shelves, I found a couple other sets I'd never used, including this one, The Free & the Brave. So that's the set I chose to use for my swap card:

Ingredients: Stamps - The Free & The Brave, Celebrate Everything; Paper - Night of Navy, Real Red, Naturals White; Ink - Whisper White, Real Red, Night of Navy; Other - gold brads, Real Red striped grosgrain, dimensionals, sponge wedges, Word Window Punch.

Just a quick update on Dan's job situation: everything is still up in there air, but there are hopeful signs, so keep praying!

Well, I'm off to see what we're doing today...I'd like to stamp, but there is all that laundry I was trying to keep up with, so I guess I'll be stamping in between loads! Tah!

Seriously Sassy

We now return to our regularly scheduled program: The Stampin' Up! Uninked Rubber Blitz!

As you may recall, I left off with Seriously Sassy next on the docket, so here is what I made:

Ingredients: (All supplies Stampin' Up! unless noted otherwise)  Stamps - Seriously Sassy; Paper - Dots & Dashes DP (retired), Basic Black, Green Galore, Pixie Pink, Cool Caribbean (retired); Ink - Versamark; Other - Cosmo Fine Glitter, Fire & Ice Rhinestone Brads, Gold Glory EP, Detail Black EP, Heat 'n' Stick powder, Tempting Turquoise marker, Basic Black Journaling Marker, black gingham ribbon, Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain, Hodgepodge Hardware Styled Silver, Scalloped & Classic Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), journal & pen (Target $ Spot)

I knew I wanted to use this image from the set because it reminds me so much of Laurel, who is going to receive this journal as a gift from me. I decided what I wanted to do is to paper piece it. Here's a close up of the medallion:

I used Heat & Stick powder on the Sweet part of the image and put some turquoise glitter on it. Then I outlined it with a black marker for oomph.

I used some of this retired Dots & Dashes paper from a couple of years back, before SU! started making all the paper double sided. This is one of my favorite sets of paper and I have been hoarding it, but no longer!

I wrapped the front of the very cheap dollar spot journal with one pattern and used another one for the end paper:

I didn't bother covering the back, because it was awkward to go around the studs that held the elastic closure. This was a lot of fun to make and Laurel had darned well better appreciate her GOJUS new journal (thought I'd left that out, eh? LOL!) I already told her this journal is not to be thrown about and should be treated with care...we'll see how long that lasts! And now, of course, I have to make one for Emily.

And now for something serious (though not sassy!): for those of you who were around at this time last year, here we go again. My husband's job is once more slated for possible elimination due to possible budget cuts. I'm mobilizing as many to pray as I can, so if you are a praying person, send some prayers up for him please! Last year, God was gracious to spare his job for him after the prayers of so many friends! Right now I'm confident that whatever He wills will be the best for us and that He will provide. But prayer is always a good thing! Monday night is the critical budget meeting with the school board, so there is no time to lose. Thanks so much for your support!

JanTink's (maybe not so) Amazing Spring-Summer 2008 Retirement Prediction List

Okay, every catalog I do this, and most of the time I do very well, around 80 percent. EXCEPT for the last time, where my average was woefully low, only 43%.

Given that, I had thought to get out of doing it again this time, but apparently there are people out there just clamoring to know what I think will retire. And since I am such an accommodating sort, I went and grabbed my Spring-Summer Collection and had a bash at it. But before I go on, I have to issue my standard disclaimer:

JanTink's Amazing Retirement Prediction list does not constitute in any way, shape or form, a completely accurate list of what may retire at the end of the Spring/Summer 2008 Collection. Readers who base their purchases on what JanTink predicts may be in for a nasty shock and it will be their own fault, not JanTink's fault. JanTink only does this because people DEMAND it of her now...sometimes she wishes she'd never started! So don't blame her!

Now that that's out of the way, I think that SU! is going to be weeding...that is, they are going to be cleaning out those flower beds! They have a ton of flowers and I think they are going to be removing quite a few of them to make way for other designs. However, this list was hard to do because sets that normally I would think would be on the outs may just end up on the dormant list instead because SU! has said that new sets will be around at least one year before they are retired...and there were quite a few that I would have put on the list, but they were new in the catalog this time around, so I had to take all those out of my list...at least...I think I got them all out. Sigh...my BRAIN HURTS, Mr. GUMBY!

Anyway, here it is, in page number order. The real list comes out on Sunday, so we don't have long to speculate how correct I am:

• Never-Ending Joy
• Give Thanks
• Peace to the World
• Block Party
• Festive Favorites
• Eat Cake
• Voila
• Voila Accessories
• Be Happy
• Scatter Sunshine Wheel
• Simply Said
• Kindness Wheel
• Dilly Dally
• Dilly-Dally Party Wheel
• Dilly-Dally Baby Wheel
• Dilly-Dally Friends Wheel
• Dare to be Darling
• Greetings Galore
• Tagger’s Dozen
• Perennial Favorites
• Artfully Asian
• Take Three
• Unfroggetable
• Lily Pad Wheel
• Whale Wishes
• Here Kitty, Kitty
• Yappy Day
• Meow Wheel
• Good Dog Wheel
• Bugs & Kisses
• Ahoy Matey
• Matey’s Map Wheel
• A Beautiful Thing
• Seasonal Whimsy
• Polka Dots & Paisleys
• Polka Dots & Petals
• Petals Wheel
• Wild Rose
• Beautiful Life
• Just Like You
• Basics Outline Wheel
• Bud Basics
• Ginormous Flowers
• Doodle This
• Doodle Wheel
• So Much
• Blossoms Abound
• Noble Deer
• On the Fly
• Touch of Nature
• Background Basics
• All in a Row
• So Happy
• Big Pieces
• Sweet Shapes
• Dots are Hot
• Carte Postale
• Leaves a la Carte
• Trimtastic
• Seeing Spots
• Spot On Wheel
• Office Accoutrement
• Totally Tabs
• Labelicious
• Stamp of Authenticity
• Sweet Sampler
• French Flair
• Baroque
• Dotted
• Print Pattern
• Flower Friend

• Paisley

• Amazing to Zany
• A to Z Accents
• It’s Your Birthday
• Circle of Friendship
• Wonderful Words
• Curvy Verses
• Well-Worn Alphabet
• Well-Worn Numbers
• Best Friends Alphabet Upper
• Best Friends Alphabet Lower
• Best Friends Numbers
• Rough Edges Mini Alphabet
• Glad Tidings
• Haunting Halloween
• Illuminations
• Jolliest Time of the Year
• Keep Christmas
• Outlined for Fun
• Summer by the Sea
• Bright Bulbs Wheel
• Arachnophobia Wheel

People always want to know what I base my predictions on. Basically it depends on these factors:

• How long has it been in the catalog? While some sets, like Lovely as a Tree, have great staying power, others outlive their popularity eventually and are retired.

• Are people talking about it? If I don't hear much chatter on SCS about a set, I figure it isn't selling well.

• Am I tired of it? If I loved it and I am tired of it, chances are other people are too.

• Have I sold it to someone? Sets that don't sell don't last.

• What kind of set is it? A set that has finely drawn pen-and-ink style images usually has a short shelf life. Cat and dog sets only are around for a set amount of years before they are retired to make way for new ones. Specialty sets, especially those involving masculine hobbies, have a short shelf life.

• How easy is it to stamp with? Some sets look like they'll be a ton of fun until you get them and find out what a PITA they are. And then people start talking about that and sales drop.
• How will getting rid of that set affect the balance of the catalog? Usually, entire sections are not decimated and all new ones brought in, so you have to think "if they take this one out, will they have enough sets to create the right balance?"
• And finally the very most important factor: sheer intuition. In other words...I'm GUESSING! LOL!

So that's how I do it. And hopefully I get a better score this year. I mean, I have a REPUTATION to maintain!

And I don't have a card today. I felt lazy. I guess I used all of Friday's card-making mojo up by making two cards at a time yesterday. Luckily it's Friday and that means NO SOFTBALL, which means I can get downstairs and stamp tonight. Ta!

 

The cards are in the mail...

I have to confess, that I have a stamping disease I have not revealed to you yet, you who have heard about all my OTHER stamping diseases. But this one is so shame-making, so hideous, that I hesitated to reveal it to you.

It is called Stamper's Postal Avoidance Syndrome (SPAS for short, pronounced SPAZ). Some of you may have this same disease; it consists of the inability to actually MAIL the cards you stamp to anyone!

Remember before you were a stamper? 'Member that? How you would actually (excuse me while I try to control my gag reflex) BUY cards? And send them in time for people to receive them? 'Member?

I do! I used to send cards to people UNTIL after I started creating them myself. Oh, I didn't come down with SPAS immediately; my first cards went out on time because I was so EXCITED about them!

But then, oh, then...the rot set in. Since I didn't have to...ack..BUY cards anymore, but could make them anytime I wanted to, I would put off making them, often until it was too late to get them in the mail on time. So I was left with the classic conundrum all people with SPAS have:

Do I:

• Send the card late?
• Not send the card at all?

As you can imagine, the second choice is the one that people with SPAS often choose! And pretty soon it moves on to the second stage of the disease:

• Do I bother to make a card at all since it will only get there late?

As a result, people with SPAS end up with a stock pile of cards, usually of a general nature, that when they look at them to see if one will suit their mother or their best friend, they will cry, "Oh, gee...NONE of these cards are right! I should make a card just for them with those stamps I just bought! Really!" And then they don't. So they don't send ANYTHING.

But there is hope for us with SPAS: recently I've founded a new society for those with my disease! It's called Stamper's Postal Avoidance Syndrome Sufferers Totally In Control, or SPASSTIC for short! Our society is devoted to learning how to control our SPAS so that we actually mail cards out for the occasions that we used to, on time! In every way, every day, I am getting better and better, I tell ya!

Our society has a creed which we follow, called the 2 Point Plan for Perfectly Postal Projects:

1. Make a card.
2. Send a card.

That's it! Make a card, send a card. Simple, no? We call it "gettin' postal wiv ya". In that spirit, since Father's Day approacheth and since it takes 2 days for a card to get from here to Kalamazoo, I had to take a break from my SU! current virgin rubbah and visit some retired SU! virgin rubbah; specifically a set I bought a couple of years ago with the idea I could make cards for my in-laws and my dad called The Back Nine. And in the course of things, it retired without ever having seen ink. But it is virgin no longer! I made two cards this morning! Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - The Back Nine (retired), Twill, Thoughts of Father; Paper - Sahara Sand, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Naturals White, So Saffron, Ballet Blue; Ink - Stazon Jet Black, Craft Basic Black, More Mustard, Always Artichoke, Ruby Red; Other- Keytag punch, Detail Black EP, Ruby Red Stitched Grosgrain (retired), Vintage Brads, dimensionals, sponge wedges, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, aquapainter, Basic Black marker.

Is it not GOJUS?!?!?! (YILM!) This is one intimidating stamp to watercolor, because you have to sort out what the different parts of the montage are and make decisions on what colors should go where so you can actually make sense of the image.

I am LOVING this new Twill background that I got fairly recently. It was something I threw on an order to make it to hostess level. I was peeved, originally, when I saw it in the catalog because as a weaver (a former hobby, which can lead to talk of a totally DIFFERENT disease dealing with not being able to ever get rid of old hobby stuff, but I digress..), I knew that twill is a cloth with a diagonal pattern and this pattern is not diagonal. But I stamped with it and I really love the texture, don't you?

This card is for my dad, who has recently taken up golf again after a hiatus of a number of years. Originally, he quit because he was frustrated with his game. My dad doesn't do anything if he can't do it well. He's very good at lots of things, but if he doesn't do something to his own exacting standards he won't do it at all...and they wonder where I get that...LOL!

I loved the color combo so much that I came up with all on my ownsome, that I repeated it for my father-in-law's card:

Ingredients: Stamps - The Back Nine (retired), Sanded, Thoughts of Father; Paper - Sahara Sand, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Naturals White, So Saffron, Ballet Blue, Ruby Red; Ink - Stazon Jet Black, Basic Black (craft & classic), More Mustard, Always Artichoke, Ruby Red; Other- Word Window punch, Detail Black EP, Ruby Red Stitched Grosgrain (retired), Vintage Brads, sponge wedges, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, aquapainter, Basic Black marker.

Again, GOJUS!!! (YILM!) My father-in-law is a really nice guy...and I have been really bad about remembering to send him Father's Day cards and birthday cards...oh the TOLL this disease has taken on my personal relationships!!! Oh, the HUMANITY!!!

I'm happy to report that the cards are in the mail! Oh, and I had to make special sentiments inside for each one. My father-in-law's has your standard corny greeting:

But my dad's required a joke, since my family loves funny cards:

Trust me...he'll love it (and so will my mom...really!!)

Now, for those of you who wish to join SPASSTIC, I am still working out the initiation requirements, how much chocolate you need to send me, and so on. In the meantime, I promise to go on to the next set on the list for the Stampin' Up! Uninked Rubbah Blitz! Stay tuned!

All in the Family

I'm sorry, but when I think of All in the Family, I don't think of a stamp set. I think of the classic television show with Carol O'Connor and  Jean Stapleton. My parents used to watch it and so the theme song got embedded into my brain, you know:

Hee hee...I actually bought this set to try a class idea suggested by a customer of mine, who saw it on someone's blog: a family name frame. I've yet to make one (though I am gonna!), but I pulled it out today for the Stampin' Up! Uninked Rubbah Blitz AND to make my husband a Father's Day card:

Ingredients: Stamps - All in the Family, Family Accessories, All Holidays, Family Phrases; Paper - Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Summer Picnic DP; Ink - Basic Black (Classic & Craft); Other - Stampin' Write Markers (Bashful Blue, Blush Blossom, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Real Red, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Only Orange, Brocade Blue), 1 3/8" circle punch, My Way punch, Black Detail EP, Vintage Brads, black gingham ribbon, Pumpkin Pie 1/4" grosgrain, dimensionals

Isn't this STINKIN' CUTE!!!! (YILM!) This card was WORK (but FUN work!), I'm telling ya! First, getting all those little parts lined up was challenging. I found the easiest thing to do was to stamp the heads first, since they are the widest parts, then to turn the piece upside down to stamp the torsos and the legs...it makes it easier to see where you are stamping. I had fun giving Emily and William their softball accessories, but I had to draw in Laurel's cell phone.

Then it was a challenge to figure out how to do this greeting, as the images of me and the kids took up so much space on the front of the card. I finally cut it into bits, but it still didn't work until I mounted them on a circle...it's amazing how a simple circle behind different elements can just pull them all together!

I used the My Way punch to make the arrow, which is the first time I've used it since I bought it, so it seemed fitting to use it with a set that was virgin too. And I seem to be on an embossing streak lately...there's just something so nice about a greeting when it is embossed!

The blitz will continue with Seriously Sassy...stay tuned!

Bloomin' Beautiful

Well, the Stampin' Up! blitz of uninked rubbah continues with Bloomin' Beautiful! I'm very pleased with the Morning Soft voters...they've been giving yesterday's post lots of love! Thank you! So you Bloomin' Beautiful folks...don't get left behind in the dust!

This set was not on my first order from the Occasions Mini, but it certainly found its way there after receiving so many beautiful swaps from the Controlfreaks. Then it came and I put it aside to use it for a class...and somehow I just never did. It did see ink, though, when BFF Paula came over and used it to stamp up some images.

So it was with joy that I finally was able to sit down and play this morning:

Ingredients: Stamps - Bloomin' Beautiful; Paper - Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Very Vanilla, Porcelain Prints DP, Chocolate Chip; Ink - Basic Brown, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Sahara Sand, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron; Other - Chocolate Chip Taffetta ribbon, 1" circle punch, 1 1/8" circle punch (EK Success), Cutter Kit, Vintage Brads, Ticket Corner Punch, white gel pen, So Saffron, Creamy Caramel, Going Grey, Chocolate Chip markers, dimensionals, sponge wedges, aquapainter

OOOOOOOOHHHHHH prettttttiiiiieeeeeeee!!!!!! (YILM!!!)

I am loving this Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou and So Saffron color combo! I think this turned out, well, DARNED elegant! Looking at the list, I see that All in the Family is next, so tomorrow morning will probably be my time to play!

Our family life has moved beyond the everyone one up at the crack of dawn model so many of you with toddlers and preschoolers are experiencing. Even though they didn't really have to get up at 7 AM during the summer, my kids, when they were younger anyway, used to get up that early anyway. Now they are all sleeping at least until 8:30 or 9:00 AM  and in Laurel's case and often Emily's too, it can be much later! Giving me more time to stamp in the morning...a good thing since those 12 M and 1 AM stamping marathons are harder for me to achieve these days!

You'd think that means I finally get to sleep in, but nooooo, that's not the case. Now that I don't have a thyroid, I've been thrown into early menopause and I get woken up by a lovely hot flash every morning around 6 AM! Isn't being a woman just so FUN?!? I don't even need an alarm clock!

Well, softball is calling again...time to rustle the boy into the car for his game. Enjoy the card and don't forget to comment, you BB people!

Morning Soft

Thanks, everyone (at least, those who commented!) for the great comments! Sigh...this bloggin' girl just LOVES her comments!

Some of you asked about the background behind the lighthouse image. That is a background stamp from SU! called Sanded. It's one of my favorite backgrounds, because all you have to do is stamp, swipe the edges of the cardstock on the same ink pad and you have something very finished looking. The other one like that is Weathered. I love both of them! In fact, I am an old-style stamper (not to be confused with an OLD stamper) and I'm much more accustomed to using stamps to create nice backgrounds on my cards than using patterned paper.

Once upon a time, my children, the patterned paper selection was very lacking, so us stampers had to make our own!We used background stamps and filler stamps and we managed just fine without all this fancy paper! Hee hee!

Hey...how'd she get in here! ANYWAY...

It's time to move on to Morning Soft. I bought this set when the Spring/Summer catalog first appeared, and, like A Light Unto My Path, it was on my first order. And, like ALUMP, it was uninked all this time! Why? Why?

The truth is...I dunno why!

But I've rectified that now! Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Morning Soft, En Français, Canvas, Short & Sweet; Paper - Ballet Blue, Certainly Celery, More Mustard, Basic Black, So Saffron, Watercolor Paper; Ink - Stazon Jet Black, Basic Black Craft, Ballet Blue, So Saffron; Other - Word Window Punch, Photo Corner Punch, 1/2" circle punch, black gingham ribbon, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Aquapainter, detail black EP, gold brads.

If you have joined my blog family late in the day, you may not know how to make an outline plate for the Word Window punch...here's my Punchy Plates tutorial.

Now, in spite of some of you wanting to see this colored in with COPIC markers, I really try not to mix my supplies too much. When I'm showing this card to a customer, I don't want to have to say, "Oh, yeah..I colored this in with some markers that I don't sell." Instead, I used my Watercolor Wonder crayons and an Aquapainter.

I hope you like it... WHAT AM I SAYING?!?!? Of COURSE you like it! In fact...IT'S GOJUS!!!!! (YILM!)

One thing I did find about this set...it is VERY HARD to include the quote stamp in the set on the front of the card because the freakin' morning glory image takes up so much freakin' room. And I love the quote! I'm going to have to play with this some more, but now those Bloomin' Beautiful folks are going to want their turn next! Stay tuned!

A Light Unto My Path

(In which the author reveals what a comment junkie she is and the reader is urged to have charity on this obvious case of External Validation Addiction.)

Okay, you ALUMP people! Maybe I should have done this card FIRST, since those CAAM people have been pretty LAX about commenting on the Close as a Memory card. HEY, people, I figure *15 VOTES* ought to equal at least *15 COMMENTS* on the card I made for you and y'all have only left ELEVEN! I'm short 4 comments!

Now, I'm a patient person...I'll wait a bit longer. I don't want to yell at anyone, because for all I know some of you went out of town or had a medical emergency, like you stuck a stamp to your hand with Crystal Effects and had to have emergency stampectomy surgery or maybe your dog ran away with your computer keyboard (preventing you from commenting) and you've been looking for her and the keyboard everywhere. I understand these things come up. But us blogging types, we just LIVE for comments! (Don't believe a blogger who says otherwise!) We CRAVE them, like a junkie craves a fix...in fact, we are COMMENT JUNKIES! I am and I hate to tell you this, but there is NO CURE! Luckily, a comment addiction does not shorten one's life in the least, so you don't need to feel guilty for providing me my fix. Far to the contrary! You can be patting yourself on the back. Why? Because of this formula:

More Comments = More Posts
More Posts = Greater Likelihood I Will Post Something You Need to See!

You may find an idea for that birthday card or your next workshop or whatever! So COMMENTING is GOOD! And so is chocolate...but it's getting to the time of year when it will be too hot to ship chocolate (Sniff!) So do the next best thing and just drop a comment in the hat! You'll be glad you did!

It's a win/win. Right?

So, you ALUMP people...there were 14 votes, so lets get them comments rollin' in! And when you see what I have for you, you're gonna wanna comment! (YILM!) Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - A Light Unto My Path, Sanded; Paper - Bashful BLue, Night of Navy, Confetti White, Shimmery White; Ink - Night of Navy (Classic & Craft), Versamark, Bashful Blue, Lavender Lace, Regal Rose, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery; Other - Clear EP, brayer, white gel pen, Sakura Stardust glitter pen, slit punch, large & small tag punches, Cropadile, silver eyelet, Night of Navy 1/4" grosgrain, silver brad, Night of Navy pen.

Okay, you can pick your jaw up off the floor now. I know it's GOJUS!!!! (YILM!)

I decided to do Joseph's Coat technique for this set (for an excellent tutorial, go here.) But I changed it up a bit. I didn't use glossy cardstock, instead I used Shimmery White, which gave it a whole different feel. I went to my stash of inspiration cards, wanting to have another look at this gorgeous swap I got from Kim Van De Riet in one of the Controlfreaks swaps. I decided to copy the color scheme for the sunset and went from there. I painted the background by using my aquapainter and ink pads, but I used reinker dropped in the ink pad lid to paint with..it takes too long to build up color by squeezing the ink pad to get ink in the lid.

I embossed using clear embossing powder, then brayered over the top with Night of Navy Ink. I used an white gel pen to turn the light beam white, and used a Night of Navy pen to create a bit of contrast and a Stardust glitter pen to create some shimmer to the light.

So don't you just LOVE it?!?!? (YILM!) And the Sanded background...if you own ALUMP, you NEED the Sanded background! It's truly one of my favorites and you'd have to pry it out of my cold dead hands to get it away from me!

So...what's next...I forget...oh, yeah...Morning Soft! Stay tuned!