I am so sorry.......

I have been MIA, but I am still dealing with these severe headaches/migraines. So, please, forgive me for being such a bad blogger, but just as soon as this is under control I'll do my very BEST to post more often. I have some exciting news for you though. Betsy, the owner of http://www.innovativestampcreations.com/ has asked me to be a permanent part of her Design Team. And yours truly (yep, me :D:D:D) said yes. It came as a total surprise, but I am excited as well. Betsy has some really cool stamps. In today's post I have the newest releases, yes, that is right, today is the day you can purchase these cool stamps. They are not mounted, but are so deeply etched that they really don't have to be mounted. My first card is done with the Birch Tree Paintings stamp set which is just out of this world. The tree stamp has so much detail. Have a look at my card



Birch Tree Paintings



Recipe:






Paper: SU Chocolate Chip, recycled moss colored cs from http://www.limelightcrafts.com/
PTI white


Ink: SU Mellow Moss, VersaMagic Spanish Olive, Chalk Box Creamy Brown, Chestnut Roan and Dark Brown
Stamp: Birch Tree Paintings
Accessories: Tim Holtz distressing tool, Foam Tape

Did I promise too much? This is truly a fun stamp set.

For my second card I used a technique I had never tried before. I know I am living behind the moon and I just never tried it. I bought some chalks when I first started stamping almost 2 years ago now, and they have been in my supply closet ever since. The stamp set I've used is called Natures Silhouettes II and these wild flowers just screamed for the popping pastels technique. I stamped the image on my card stock with VersaMark ind and simply rubbed the chalk of my choice over it. I had tried something different before, where I used the same stamp with Le Plum markers and and ink pad, but I did not get the desired effect, so I just went for the popping pastels technique and love it. What do you think, does this technique work for this stamp?

A friend indeed

Recipe:


Paper: PTI white, SU Certainly Celery, Pink Passion


Ink: VersaMark, Su Certainly Celery


Stamps: Nature Silhouettes II by ISC


Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder Swiss Dots, silver half pearls, pink half pearls, dimensionals


Pebbles Pearlescent Chalks

IRL this image is all shimmery and just the perfect touch for this card.

All right. I promised you three cards so last but not least I have another one that was done with the Nature Silhouettes II stamp set and I got the idea for this one out of one of my way too many stamping and card making magazines. It is a very simple card and would actually kind of pass as a CAS card, because all I did here is stamp the silhouettes. This ISC stamp set comes with a few Spanish sentiments to choose from and I decided to go with the "Gracia's" since I would say that most everybody knows what that means ;P. I am bilingual, but Spanish is not one of them, so all the Spanish words I know I picked up watching Dora the Explorer with my daughters :D:D:D:D. Ask me anything in German and I'll be good to go, but Spanish is not it, so I'll have to find out what the other Spanish words mean before I stamp with them.

Here is my "Gracia's" card

Recipe:
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, PTI Kraft
Ink: PTI Vintage Cream, Chalk Box Creamy Brown
Stamp: Nature Silhouettes II by ISC
Accessories: Foam Tape, dimensionals, Kaiser half pearls

As I said, a very simple card and I did that because I did not want to take away from the beauty of the images. I grew up in the country. I mean serious country. The small village I grew up in back in Germany only had about 400 people living there. Everybody new each other (for the most part) and the thing about Germany, when I grew up the key was always in the door and everybody could just walk in, without having to fear that something would be missing. Can't do that these days. Anyhow, where I grew up we were surrounded by forest and fields as far as the eye went. As kids we were always out and about and playing outside and we never had a dull moment. From most of our outside playing sessions we would bring home wild flowers. My Mom and Grandma (Oma, is the word for it in German) always welcomed those flowers because of their natural beauty even if they were weeds, LOL!. Sorry, I just had to share a little something about my childhood with you.

My friends, this is it for now, I am off to get some chores done, but I hope you enjoyed today's post and that you'll find some time to head on over to Betsy to see what all she has to offer. Betsy is super fast shipping as well. See you all later and thanks so very much for stopping by.

Hugs,