Colour Challenged

I was invited to do a sample for this week's colour challenge over at Splitcoaststampers and I was so incredibly flattered to be asked. I was thrilled!

The colours were:

Always Artichoke

Blushing Bride

Marine Mist

And there was a desert option to do embossed frames but more than 1 per card.

I can't resist desert so I had some of that as well as playing with the colours.

I was over in the States today and on the way over my truck got x-rayed along with 5 other ones. I guess it had to do with heightened security becasue of 9/11 and I can understand that. The border guards were very nice and it all went really quickly too.

But if I'd thought about it I probably wouldn't have gone across this close to the anniversary of that horrible day.

My Tool Man and I watched a slide show on the internet and the coverage on TV about it and it still makes me want to cry, thinking about all the people that died and remembering hearing about it on the radio and then seeing it on TV when I got home from work that evening.

My heart goes out to all of the people who lost loved ones.

But since I was there I decided to pop into JoAnn's and have a look around. And while I was there this cat stamp just followed me home. I just couldn't resist her and I brought her home with me and knew that I had to use her to make one of my sample cards today.

Cat card

Stamps: Inkadinkado

Ink: SU Basic Black craft, Marine Mist, Blushing Bride, Always Artichoke

Clear embossing powder

Just a Note card

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie, Hero Arts

Ink: Memento and as above

Copics BG72 as Marine Mist with BG70 and 79, R30 with RV21 as Blushing Bride and YG 99 as Always Artichoke with YG96 and 00

Emergency Flutterby Instructor

This was done for Mother Mark's Teapot Tuesday Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers.

This week we are visiting Coconut Creek, Florida. Butterfly capital of the world and home to the National Butterfly Behaviour Foundation.

The challenge was Top Gun inspired as well and since I am that age Top Gun and the Tom Cruise of that era made my teenage heart fo pitter patter. I knew exactly what I would do for this challenge which is about 2 out of control young butterflies wanting to do a flyby on the administrative offices to make the secretary spill her tea.

I enlisted the help of Lavinia from Kraftin Kimmie and thought that she could be the NBBF's Charlie. Maybe she could get those boys undercontrol to avoid poor Emma, the secretary, getting tea all over herself.

I took a different slant than everyone else for this challenge but I like what I came up with even if it is unconventional.

Stamps: Lavinia - Kraftin' Kimmie, Silhouettes - Stampendous, Sentiment and butterflies - MFT

Ink: Memento, SU Baha Breeze, Vintage Violet, Blue Bayou, Distress Ink Walnut Stain

Paper: Melon Mambo, Neenah Solar White

Copics: R80's for the Pink and B40's for the blue. Hair is assorted E's in the 50 and 70 range.

Extras: Tim Holtz Texture Fade, MFT Cloud Die

I stamped and coloured Lavinia and the butterflies and then cut them out. I stamped the silhouette stamps inking both of them only paritally and then masked off the skyling and sponged BB for the sky and VV and BB for the tarmac. Then I did my embossing. All the layers have WS on them to distress them. I layered everything up and there you go!

Zebra at Sunset

This card was done for this weeks CAS challenge and last week's colour challenge over at Splitcoaststampers. Stamps are from Coronado Island (silhouette) and Artful Stamper (zebra).

I cut a piece of white paper, sponged on More Mustard, Melon Mambo and Pacific point and blended it all to make a sunset, then stamped on the skyline. I stamped the zebra, jazzed her up a bit with some W copics and then cut her out and popped her up. I hand wrote the sentinment.

My Gran

My Gran used to love going on vacation to Hawaii. Mom and Dad have lava rock she brought home with her for us.

And she wore a mumu back in the 70's and 80's when that was "in".

I remember the swirly fabric and the smell of her perfume when I was a young child and we would sit together on her couch or out on her back deck.

I bought this stamp simply because it reminded me of my Gran.

She is in a nursing home now and doesn't really know anyone anymore.

Makes you realise that life isn't fair.

But what I'll always remember is my Gran, independent woman, widowed really young with a young son still at home. She moved to the "big city" and worked in a dress shop. I always thought that was so romantic, that she worked at what I thought was a very upscale ladies dress shop down town. I always thought she dressed so smartly too. If I'd known the word I would have thought she was chic back then. She ended up being an independent business woman and owne her own wallpaper business, Bertha's Wallpaper Patch. She sold it and hung it up for people. There must have been an artist somewhere inside of her.

She grew up poor in one of the poorest spots in southern Saskatchewan. Beautiful country if you ask me, the sandhills, but a hard hard hard place to try and farm and make a living. But they did it until my grandfather died when I was a small child of a heart attack and she was left to raise their youngest son on her own.

My Gran and the cereal she used to give us. The only time we ever got sugary cereal was at her house. Mom and Dad never told us we couldn't have it there but at home we were never allowed Lucky Charms or Corn Pops or Frosted Flakes. Gran got them for us though.

My Gran is the smell of fresh dried sheets on the line. Everytime I hang up my sheets or smell them I think if her. The sheets were always freshly washed and hung to dry at her house and there is just something about the way clean, line dried sheets feel and smell. It is pure heaven if you ask me.

My Gran was Yatzee and Uno. She was the best at Yatzee and could spot a full house across the room I swear. She knew exactly how to play the game to get the most points possible. Uno was a game she played with my brother and I when we were kids - it was easy to understand and fun to play.

My Gran was the baton she bought me when I was really young and S-O-F-T icecream. When I was even younger than the would be baton twirler me, she used to ask Mom and Dad if she could take us for S_O_F_T icecream. She would spell soft and then say icecream and we knew what was going on. I remember my parents telling the stories about it. I'm sure the way she said it was no accident... It was designed so we'd figure it out and it would be harder for Mom and Dad to say no to her if we were standing there begging!

My Gran in her chic mumu.

At least to my 10 year old self she was.

I loved her.

My Gran loved me.

I knew that and that was what was important.

Life is simpler when you're 10 and it's 1981.