52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge

While blogsurfing today, I checked in on this blog, and decided I could easily play along.

I don't remember the manufacturer of the "confetti" paper I used for the image layer and the card base, but the olive green accent layer is from one of the Michaels house-brand collections. The green image is by Power Poppy inked with Tsukineko VersaMagic "Hint of Pesto," and the barely visible background stamp is Impression Obsession's Cover-a-Card "Pine," inked with Tsukineko VersaMagic "Cloud White." I also used my MISTI stamp positioner.

I'm posting this to 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

Update!

Well, sort of. I saw another card-crafting challenge I wanted to play along with, so here's another:

I'm entering this one into 52 Christmas Card Throwdown's 52CCT17-15 Triple Time Challenge. I'm not sure what white cardstock I used, nor which red ink (although that was probably Ranger's Cranberry), nor what dark red cardstock. The stamp, however, is a Peddler's Pack background stamp.

Crafty Me

I love rubber stamping. Been doing it—off and on, of course, like all hobbies—about the same length of time I've been counted cross stitching. And because it's been that long, it's a counter-culture thing, on the "weird" end of the "cute v weird" wars in stamping. Back in my letter-writing days I loved using stamps to decorate both the letters themselves and the envelopes. Then came the electronic age, and it's kinda hard to stamp an email. More recently, I've been participating in holiday card exchanges and took up stamping the cards for those (and, of course, the cards I send out to friends and family and family friends).

Then BFF-J relocated to Annapolis because the economy is so very seriously sucktastic here in what used to be a truly massive military-industrial complex. So besides keeping up with each other with emails and Facebook, I've been on a mission to keep her snail-mail box occupied with stamped cards, shooting for at least every couple of weeks, and not just holiday-ish occasions, to let her know she's missed and not forgotten. To that end, I've spent a chunk of my tax returns on a new storage system for my stamps (and I'm very happy with these cabinets!) and a variety of new tools and papercrafting toys and papers. And found, through a stamping magazine, a blog, which of course leads to other blogs.

What I've found thus far falls very heavily in the "cute" end of the spectrum. Which is okay, really, because what I'm looking for is more in the realm of layout kinds of things more than images. I've seen some really beautiful stuff. And some ugly stuff. And some genuinely ugly stamps. One thing I honestly do not understand is the fascination for the stamps from Magnolia—mumps-cheeked faces with little black beady eyes (think Little Orphan Annie filled in) and neither noses nor mouths. Frankly, I find them creepy looking. But that's the nature of things: one woman's "creepy" is another's "adorable" (insert hurling emoticon here).

I also haven't had much luck finding stamping bloggers/blogging stampers who lean toward the "weird" end of the spectrum, leaving me with some nice layouts, but otherwise insipid works.

I really need to start photographing my efforts. I sure hope BFF-J is saving my masterpieces for posterity.

Great Giveaway!

And it's going on over at Deep Inside Missy!

Progress on Mary

I started her in the motel on Friday night, then got more done on Saturday during our little GTG.
This table is just a few feet inside the door, so there was lots and lots of natural light streaming in…so much that I never did need a lamp! Here's a bit closer view:
The fabric is Picture This Plus' "Heritage" in 32-count Lugana, and the fiber in use is Gentle Art Sampler Threads' "Mulberry."
There are more pictures of my trip to Alameda over at Slouching toward Rivendell, taken during my all-too-brief cycling tour of the city.

Star Cup Stanley Wars

A link to this Bruins blog showed up in one of my favorite hockey message boards (the Caps official board). I don't agree with the Malkin/Han Solo matchup, but the others are pretty amusing. I have to admit, though, that I heartily agree with the board poster who compared Sindey Crysby with Jar-Jar Binks.