Loads of Love - Color Throwdown #100

You will not believe what kept me from stamping last night..........a bug!  I'm not saying I was sick.  I mean an actual bug!  This has to be a first!  About 6:00 pm I realize my air conditioning isn't cooling.  It's getting uncomfortable in the house.  I discover the outside compressor isn't coming on.  Well, hubby is out of town, so I call my dad.  He gives me several (time consuming) suggestions to try and remedy my situation.  None of it works.  So, tired and disgusted, I decide to call it a night.  This morning dad comes over to try his hand with no luck.   I run off the my son's baseball games while dear dad stays behind waiting for the serviceman.  Turns out a bug, more precisely an earwig, had crawled between the electrodes in the compressor.  I wouldn't have believed it but dad saw it with his own eyes.  The serviceman was gone in about 15 minutes.  I was out $72 bucks!  I'm just thankful that's all it was!  A new unit might have cost me some stamping supplies!

In the end it turned out that the extra time gave me the opportunity to think about card ideas for the Color Throwdown.  It's their 100th challenge and they are celebrating!  The girls are giving away over $1600 dollars worth of goodies!  Check it out HERE and get all the details.

The final piece of this card came after I had time to think.  I made my own clouds to place my sentiment.  It was fun to do and I think they turned out pretty good!

Another Day, Another Card, Another Snow Day!

Yes, you read correctly, another snow day. I think this is our 4th. Already the school district has taken away every in-service day between now and Easter, PLUS shortened our five day spring break down to four. Still, I LOVE SNOW DAYS! I stamped all day except for the time I was shoveling!

I have tackled 8 challenges today! At this rate I will have to post more than one a day, since all the challenges only run about a week. Now to be honest, I did combine on most cards. So, a color challenge with a sketch challenge, etc. I have more to tackle so it's almost a prerequisite.
This sketch comes from Mary Jo aka Techno Stamper. I was immediately drawn to it because I love working with circles. I've been wanting to make this card for a couple years now. I had the image from Crab & Company all stamped, colored and ready to go. The thing I lacked was inspiration. This came to me pretty quick. I went with the same DSP I used a couple days ago. It's an oldie, but I LOVE Pink Passion, Pretty In Pink and Pumpkin Pie together. The sentiment I printed on the computer. The stacked hearts are from Loads of Love.I hope you don't mind seeing retired sets. I used a lot of them today. I want to give them some love before my order of new stuff comes next week! See you soon!

I have been a lazy in my posting again. It's not that I don't have cards to post. I do. However, since Christmas I have been taking a little break. I actually made these cards before Christmas. Made a few of each and bundled them together for my daughter's teacher, Mr. Czizek. So, guy cards were the order of the day! I used Loads of Love and a really old retired set, What's Brewin'. The sentiments in the truckbed are an assortment of SU stamps from my set. I won't bother to mention each one. If you really want to know, you can contact me! I also used a lot of retired paper in these cards. Lots of retired In Colors from 2006. It's almost gone, just a few pieces of True Thyme and Vintage Violet left! Anyway, I plan on posting more this week! I have a blog award to post and to give away, too. Stay tuned!

Loads of Love Birthday

I don't have a lot going on this week, so I may be posting quite a few things. I chose Loads of Love today because I needed an image to water color. I've done a little watercoloring in the past but I always was frustrated with the results. I had read on Julie's site, Paper Pleasing Ideas that water color paper does not show the brush strokes from markers. It's true!!! I am thrilled with the results!!! I didn't completely fill in my image, I tried my hand at shading, then I went back with my blender pens and pulled the ink into areas I had not colored. I know when I first started stamping I hated the idea of coloring an image. I wanted things to be quick and easy! Now, I really enjoy coloring. Think of how much fun you had coloring when you were young and enjoy the process!!! It really doesn't take that much time and what a difference it makes in your card. The sentiment comes from Birthday Whimsy and the candles in the back of the truck are from Tagger's Dozen.