Santa's naughty boy list

Ooooh, Sassy Stella has her mind on all kinds of ways to warm up on a cold winter's night. I hope Gus is ready! If you are new to my blog, these characters are some of my favorites. They come from a stamp company called Bugaboo and are available as a digital stamp. You can spend hours browsing though all of their images. So many cute stamps and funny sentiments.

I love to color these stamps because they are simple. I usually dont do too much blending or shading on them since they are so cartoonish. I always add bling by way of stickles to give them some added oomf. PErfect stamps for the beginner cardmaker who is a little overwhelmed with the shading that I generally do on the whippersnapper animals.

My friend and card making buddy, Kathy, used ther versitility of the digital stamps to resize them to a larger size and is creating the cutest calendar out of them for 2012.

Happy Stamping!

Santa Called....

I know the office Christmas parties are probably scheduled and happening soon...I dont know why but this one really reminded me of an office admin giving a message to her boss...hmmm, now where in the world did I ever come up with this idea...Lol!

What many of you probably dont know is that I decided to give up the mortgage business. I worked in this field for 13 years and was ready for a change. Our bank was closing our branch which led me on the job search. I was blessed to find one in the mortgage business and one in a totally different field. I opted for the new adventure and am working as a registrar at our children's hospital.

My stress level has gone down significantly and I no longer have a boss that's on Santa's naughty list.

Now onto my card...It's Stella from Bugaboo making another holiday appearance. This time I used the following Copics: c3, c5, c1, e57, e11, r02, e01, r46, y17.

Who's been naughty???

It's the first of many cards from Bugaboo stamps with my Stella and Gus friends. I went to a scrap booking retreat a few weekends ago and I went a little crazy designing Christmas cards. I designed 14 of them so you will have plenty of inspiration this holiday season.

Sure, I made cute cards, religious, cards, animal cards...but my favorite are always the funny little nasty ones. "Be naughty, Save Santa the trip". Maybe this one would be good to leave under the mistletoe for your sweetie (wink, wink)

The copics I used are: y38, 100, e35, g17, r02, e01, r02, r46, c5, c1

Happy Stamping!

Christmas shopping is underway...

And that means it is the season for Psycho shoppers!

Proudly, I am one of them! Before we dive into the details of this card, let me just vent on a few things...first, I wasn't digging the 9pm start on Thanksgiving. I liked it so much better when my first stop was about 5am. That was Black Friday. I could spend more time with family on Thanksgiving Day, sleep on my turkey, and spend most of Black Friday shopping. Starting at 9 pm means I am about toast by 7am. Not to mention it's much colder in the overnight hours.

This year, I headed out at 9pm to go to Toys R Us...no way! Got there and the line wrapped around the shopping center. Instead, decided to stand in the Target line for hours til they opened because I "needed" more stuff there. Target does an excellent job with crowd control and organization. Walmart should take a lesson. Now there is a place for Psycho shoppers...how about that lady who pepper sprayed a crowd...over a barbie car...seriously????

Okay, now onto my card...Stella is the perfect lady to voice her opinion on the psycho shoppers. I got this one on the bugaboo website right before my last retreat.

The paper is from the doodlebug line and the Copics used are: c7, c1, rv06, 05, e01, bg01, & r35.

So if you have time to paper craft at this time of year, stop by the bugaboo site and send it to your favorite psycho.

Happy Stamping!

Fight Like a Girl!

With all of the hustle and bustle that goes on in our lives this time of year...the presents to buy, the clothes to find, the cookies to bake, the trees to trim, the cards to address...take a moment to pause and remember those who are less fortunate that we might be.

A cancer patient has one wish this Christmas: to find a cure so that they can spend many more Christmases with their families.

Do you know someone fighting? Send them a card and let them know that you are behind them and they are not forgotten.

I made this pink card as a reminder to Fight like a girl!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just finish watching the parade? waiting for the turkey to be done? feeling so stuffed you cant move? It doesnt matter, I'm just thankful that you took a moment to stop by today.

Stella, my favorite bugaboo character, has something to say about every holiday! Thanksgiving is no different and perhaps you can relate to her wisecrack about the "turkey".

Enjoy the rest of your day and rest up...tomorrow is Black Friday! I'll be heading out the door tonight around 10 and braving the rabid shoppers for the door busters.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Merry Kiss my....

It's never too early to start making Christmas cards....but geeze Louise, it is still too early for radio stations to play 24 hours of Christmas music!!
We send out about 75 cards every year so I'd have to start, oh...Dec 26th if I wanted to get that many done. We always do picture cards, sorry. But if your list is shorter, you might be looking for some ideas.

Bugaboo stamps, who we loooove for Gus and Stella, has an array of our favorite characters to wish our loved ones a happy holiday. Gus must be a distant cousin of scrooge with the one I chose to use. His little tushy was adorable, so I could hardly resist. I printed the image twice for the card so I could cut out the tush and pop dot it for extra effect.

You know you love this card...now who are you going to make it for?

Happy Stamping!

I demand a recount!

Wow...Mid Novemeber already??? Where has 2011 gone? Before you know it we'll be ringing in another new year. Have you thought about any new resolutions? I made 2 last year and uggh, didnt quite live up to either of them. One of them was to make birthday cards for all of those I send them to. You would think that would be easy...not so much. Maybe next year, along with the looming diet...

So here is a head start. I pulled out another Stella image from Bugaboo with one of her snappy sayings to get the job done. Patterned paper is ala Doodlebug. Their paper has such fun colors. Perfect for a birthday card.

Happy Stamping!

Save the hooters!

And I'm not talking about owls! I wanted to get a head start on October's breast cancer awareness month. I figure if anyone wants to recreate the idea, this will give you more times.

Lots of scrapbook stores are in the beginning stages of planning their Scrap Pink Crops. I know Simply is and I can't wait. I never miss the chance to donate to this great cause. If you are looking for other ideas, Etsy is a great place to purchase pink ribbon goods or get creative ideas.

My card is made with Stella, who is a character from Bugaboo. Stella is always sassy and I love her saying for the support ribbon. This stamp can be used and colored to match other awareness campaigns. Bugaboo sends you a digi image with the words on the sign and another one with the sign blank. I saw another card with a saying that would go great with Stella: Cancer picked the wrong b$#!& to mess with!

I had some left over scraps and decided to make one of the cupcake picks that are all the rage these days. You could use this scalloped embellishment to attach to lollipops, peppermint patties, or even add to a plant or flowers.





Blessings to those who continue to fight the battle!

Best Witches!

Hello stampers!

I bought this sweet little witch stamp way back in the spring on the bugaboo website. I have literally been waiting for months to use this sweet little girl. Bugaboo has so many different "brats"...I personally think they are much too cute for being brats....that said, they also have a variety of furniture, steps, benches, and even a broom to sit on.

As usual, you can't see dimension on a scanner. The little girl is popped out using a pop dot and then her knees and feet are popped again. I was excited when I saw this paper at Simply (Sorry, I always forget to note the paper company). It looked just like a twilight sky, perfect for flying around on a broom stick. I used the spooky fence border punch by Martha Stewart for the border.

Of all the cards I've been making lately, this one might be one of my all time favorites.

In case you are wondering, here is a list of Copics that were used:c-1, c-5, e00, e01, e35, e37, y17, bg 10, yr23, v17.

Happy Stamping!

Hot Enough for ya?

Happy First Day of July!


Sounds like it's gonna be a scorcher, as July usually is. But that's okay, as long as it doesn't rain, I dont care how hot it is. Any days of rain, means the installation of our pool will be delayed..yes, a pool! My hubby agreed, after much fuss from a cute little 7 year old and her mom, to let us put a pool in the back yard. I don't think I would have begged quite so much had I known how much work the preparation was going to be....electrical permits, fence permits, pool permits, sand delivery, fencing the back yard...I don't recall seeing any "help wanted" signs for a pool boy though.
I made the card pictured above using a bugaboo digital stamp but didn't like the saying that he came with. I think it was something like "At my age, you can wear anything you want". I searched online for a good saying but wasn't coming up with anything worthy of Gus. I was toying with "I'm bringing Sexy back" and even enlisted the help of my facebook friends. They came up with some cute ones but I ended up using "Hot enough for you?" so it could apply to Gus or the weather.


I used this image on a Father's Day card for Steve, since we ordered the pool the day before.

Happy Stamping (and keep praying for no rain...at least during the daylight hours)

The Countdown is on...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II is only about 2 weeks away...okay 2 weeks and 1 day away. My crazy husband wants to get tickets to the midnight showing at I'm not sure that Abby would make it.

I made this bookmark for my grandma who has been visiting from PA. She had never read any of the Harry Potter books before and has spent a lot of time over the past month reading them and watching the movies. I think she has 2 more books to go before the new movie debuts.

Bugaboo had a terrific sale on their digi images last month (50% off) so I bought everything that had been on my wishlist, which included this cute little Hagrid image. They have all of the other characters from Harry Potter but Hagrid was the best one.

I used a makeup puff with my ink pad to dirty up the background of the green and brown paper. Don't forget the back side when you are making a bookmark. I used Copics to color Hagrid and colored pencils and gamsol to shade him in.

when I finished coloring and went to place the image onto the bookmark, the white cardstock was so screaming white that I had to do SOMETHING! I used a brown colored pencil and went around the entire image and blended it outward with the Gamsol.

As a final touch, I added a piece of ribbon. Hope Grandma likes it!

Droopy Boob-day to you!

Stella is back with more birthday greetings! Bugaboo stamps offers the stamped image of our dear Stella but I made up the saying on my computer. I know I've seen the saying in the past and thought it went perfect with this stamp. The card design in sweet and simple. Great card to duplicate by the masses for all of your friends!

Happy Stamping!

It's your birthday, have a ball!

It's not often that I make a card for a boy...ever notice that most classes, kits, and magazines only seem to have girly cards? We need boy inspirations too!

Bugaboo stamps to the rescue! They have so many different stamps with the cute little stick figures, including this guy making a slam dunk. I colored him using some bright colored copics and didnt use any shading to keep with the simplicity of the stamp. I highlighted the basketball with crystal lacquer for some shine.

I used the "Its your birthday, have a ball" sentiment but you could also incorporate anything with "slam dunk".

If you haven't been to the Bugaboo site, stop on by and see all of the other stick figure children.

Better to be over the hill....

It's time for another visit from our dear friend Gus...Sorry it took me so long to get back to posting cards again. Life has been so busy over the past few weeks that my blog kind of took a back seat to a scrapbook retreat, my daughter's First Holy Communion, and about a zillion other things.

I should be back on track now to get the old blog back up and running. I went to a scrapbook retreat a few weeks ago and spent the entire weekend designing cards. I have a bunch to share with you over the next few weeks, and old man gus is my first one. Of course he is a Bugaboo character but the saying is from Artistic Impressions.

He reminds us to always look on the bright side...sometimes we need his wisdom to put it all in perspective.

Thanks coach! We had a ball!

Another Season of basketball has come to an end. Of course hubby came to me and asked me to make 3 thank you cards for our coaches. I believe his exact words were "I need three SIMPLE thank you cards. They dont need to be all elaborate or anything"....after 10 years of marriage, you would think that he would get me. "SIMPLE" isn't really my thing. You want SIMPLE and boring to go Hallmark. I like cute...and cute takes time...and STICKLES.

I found my sweet basketball girl on the Bugaboo digital site and like the other Magnolia stamps...they dont have mouths! UGGH! I added a mouth again. I just can't help myself! I did all of the coloring with Copics to match the team colors. No Gamsol today. She has 3 male coaches but I still had to sparkle something so I stickled the hair bow and the shirts. I also used a thick layer of glossy accents on the basketball too.

Ever make a card and put it all together and then start with the "I shoulda's". Yes, I had one of those moments on this card. I shoulda put a dark blue border around the basketball textured paper. Something just looks off to me, like it's not finished or something. I'll remember that the next time I make this card. I'm also gonna give an uggh to my scanner. It doesn't pick up my shading at all. My little girl looks all washed out, but in person she is colored and shaded quite nicely.



I'm sure the coaches wives and daughters will like them much more than the coach. Men! Wonder if any will end up in a scrapbook next to the team picture. Oh to dream....

Happy Stamping!

The Bra Facelift

If I went Braless, I could pull all of the wrinkles out of my face!

Oh Stella, how I love thee! You just tell it like it is...
I love this card for that great birthday dig or just a card you can send to a friend for no reason at all. How funny would it be to add "Have a Droopy Boobday" inside a birthday card.

Now lets get to the card making...Stella's hair was first colored with bright yellow Copic and shaded with orange. Still not bright enough, I added bright orange stickles to make it sparkle too.

What would a boob card be without adding a little oompf to the ta-tas? My dear friend Dolly taught me how to pop out the well endowed Stella. Take a peace of fun foam that you can find for minimal $ in the craft store...sometimes found in the kiddie craft section. Flip your stamped image upside down on the foam. Since I colored in blue, it is easy to see where I needed to pop her out. I took my stylus and pushed gently in a circular motion to push the paper out. When you flip the paper back over her ta-tas are popped out. I love the added dimension.

This raised paper also works great on animal noses and little round bellies.
Happy Stamping!

Gus lost his eggs again!

Happy Easter from our Grumpy Gus!

I told you to stay tuned for more stamps from Bugaboo digital stamps. How funny is this guy...
He just reminds me of a grumpy grandpap but still so cute. Also reminds me of how Ralphie from A Christmas Story might be as an old man on Easter in the pink little bunny suit.
I didnt flock his bunny suit but now looking at the card, I'm seeing that it might be a nice idea to do to give him some texture.
I pulled the paper from my ever growing stash but I believe that its from Doodlebug. I liked that it had some brown in it because that let me pull in some chocolate coloring for Easter.I used my spellbinders to cut the ovals and scalloped edges.

Happy Stamping!

Introducing Stella and Gus

Are you ready for cards that rival the well known Maxine cards from Hallmark? I have found the stamps that will help you create the snappy cards we have come to love. Bugaboo stamps offer Stella and Gus in the digital form and Totally Stampalicious offers them in the standard form. Vicki, from Simply Scrapbooks, is looking to order this line for the store.

I decided to use a combination with Stella and Gus together for their debut...I printed the digi on my HP printer that I believe is an inkjet printer. I didnt have any problems with the ink bleeding with Copics or Gamsol. If you do, try heatsetting with your heat gun before coloring.

I like giving Stella bright orange hair but you can change it to match the couple you are representing.

Inside the card says:
Its great to find that one special someone you can annoy the rest of your life!

Definitely stay tuned for more Stella and Gus...
Happy Stamping!