Just had to share this sweet little scene that I snapped this morning before I sign off for our long Memorial Day weekend.  The rose is from our garden and was covered in glittery raindrops — I couldn’t resist bringing her in! And the peony?  She came from the grocery store of all places.  Ahhhh…

Back Tuesday,

My Grandma always signs her letters “loads of love” — and I don’t know anyone else who does. So when I saw this Father’s Day stamp set by Hero Arts I did a happy dance:

I plan on getting out the scissors and performing surgery on the stamp to lop off the “for Dad” part so that I can make my Gran a card — can’t wait!   (And since it’s a clear stamp, I can always stick it back in place to make cards for Dads, too!)  Check out all the details on this card and see LOADS more sneak peeks of the summer Arts & Crafts catalog over on Hero Arts.

Can you believe it’s Friday?  I sure can’t!  Do you have fun plans this weekend?  I have Monday off for Memorial Day, hoping to make it out to the coast before the oil slick does.  And today I’m hoping to make it out to The Domain with my friend Libby — another Anthropologie store is opening here in town at 10 am today, yay!

Loads of love,

I had tons of fun making this card for the Hero Arts 2010 Summer Arts & Crafts Catalog — and even more fun making a video showing how I did it.

Can you tell from the title that J and I have been watching old 80’s TV shows?  Like MacGyver, Magnum PI and the A*Team. Hee hee. Why don’t they make shows like that anymore?  They ruled! What were your favorite 80’s TV shows?  I’d love to hear!

All joking aside — I have been wanting a ruler stamp for sew long now — yay!  (Today must be Bad Pun Day, ha!) Can’t wait until June 1st when the catalog is released and you can see all the other yummy stampy goodness.

And!  There are lots of contests + giveaways going on the Hero Arts Blog — check ‘em out, some are ending soon!

Hope your day rules,

Today’s project that I did for Hero Arts is totally inspired by the sweet, lovely Danni from ( oh hello friend. ) The colors, the doily, the little package…

Have you seen her blog yet?  No?  Then you are in for a treat!  Grab a cup of coffee or tea and get comfy.  Then click on over.

Ah, I see you are back.  Are you smiling?  Do you feel a sort of happy peace?  Hope so, because that’s how I feel every time I visit.

Now then, want to see the more details and learn how I stamped the box?   And see the stamped shimmery doily up close? Well then, it’s all here.

Wishing you a day filled with happy little things,

Hi everyone!  Did you have a good weekend?  I sure did — I was busy stamping projects to share with you, as I am the featured blogger over at Hero Arts this week!  YAY!  Love it when it’s my week, it’s always so much fun!

And!  This week is extra special because we’re showing sneak peeks from the soon-to-be-released Summer Arts & Crafts catalog, like this cutie egg and coffeepot!  Want to win a goodie bag of new stamps?  Click on over right here.

Have a delicious day,

…as our prairie rose. She’s growing right outside the kitchen window and her cheerful blossoms begin the day with a smile.

Most years, just as she’s coming into full bloom we get a huge hail storm, or a wind storm, or some-other-Texas-size storm — everything’s bigger in Texas, you know — and then I miss getting any photos at all. But this year I think I hit the jackpot.

And wouldn’t you know it? Just heard that there are severe thunderstorms on the way.

Wishing you luck in capturing the rosy moments this weekend,

I think sympathy cards are so hard to make.  I try to distract myself from thinking about things too much by trying new techniques.  For this card I tried two techniques.

First, I scribbled little squares with markers all over the Silhouette Vase stamp, then misted it with water that had perfect pearls in it and stamped it on white cardstock.  I tried it again with brighter colors too — you can see the sparkle on it better — it’s super hard to capture in a photo, but it’s really pretty in person.

Then for the second technique, I wanted to try and make the card look like an old ceiling tile — you know, the kind that are in old hotels?  Oh, I just love them.

To do that, I dry embossed a cream notecard with a new Tim Holtz embossing folder (see supplies at the end of the post), then sanded it and rubbed the edges with distress ink. I think this would look neat with gold metallic ink rubbed in too — but I didn’t think of it until the card was finished.

Then I misted the whole card with the water and perfect pearl mixture.  Can’t have too much sparkle, right?  Especially when it’s subtle, like this.

Supplies: Hero Arts Silhouette Vase and cream notecard. Tim Holtz collage embossing folder by Ellison. Tim Holtz pumice stone distress ink, perfect pearls by Ranger.  Cuttlebug machine used to do the embossing.  Momento markers — you can use any water based marker for this technique, or if you try it with Copics, mist with blending solution instead of water.

Just had an email that another friend had a family member pass away.  Sad.

Back tomorrow with a happier post, maybe about the sweet prairie rose that is starting to bloom in our garden.

Wishing you sparkles and sunshine,

I was so excited to meet some local artists at the Renegade Craft Fair! The first was Leslie Bonnell, owner of The Stitch Lab. Her shop carries tons of awesome fabrics like this sweet deer and stove — that I have no idea what I’m going to do with just yet, but had to have!  Her shop also carries wool felt — that I do know what I’m going to do with.  More on that later.

Next I met Kathleen McTee, who teaches at the Stitch Lab.  So glad I got to do a stamp carving with her! She is awesome.

I couldn’t believe my luck when I got to meet Jenny Hart, owner of Sublime Stitching — this ain’t your gramma’s embroidery! She has an online shop where you can order this cute pattern and sew many more, and a super fun blog, too!

And last but not least, I watched a demo by Jennifer Perkins of the Naughty Secretary Club. She is mega cool. I want to make some of her style jewelry — but I don’t know if I’d work up the courage to wear it!  Sure would be fun to try tho, wouldn’t it?

Does your town have a local craft scene?  I’d love to hear!