Birthday Girl x 2

Well, this is a little bit of an old card. I sent it to my niece late last month. But, I have another niece who turns one today, so I have a similar card for her, just with a "1" instead of a "3". I love making cards like this that I can easily use over and over, making it new but changing a small element to the card.

I have a crazy weekend ahead of me - my in-laws are here, but that means lots of fun for my kids. We are off the the bread store for free cookies right now - YUM!

card info: notecard, images, papers, sentiment by A Muse, ribbon by May Arts, Copic markers, white gel pen, pop dots.

Gardening with Farmer Hare

Hi everyone! I've been absent from the ol' blog lately, but I've been stamping, just needed to take a little time for other things. One thing I've been doing is tending my water-logged garden. We had four days of rain here and my newly planted snow peas took a bit of a beating. I've got to get out some stakes or wire for the plants before the rains come again Thursday and Friday. While it was raining last week, I made up this card. I love the carrot garland - it is fun to use it as a border or a frame.

I am a bit partial to farming images, too, since I have farming kin. My grandfather always had this wonderful garden that yielded an amazing bounty. My dad is a great gardener, too. I don't have much space, but I do love that I can plant things and watch the progress with my kids. Farmers (and their families) are special people and some of the hardest workers - I appreciate their hard work!

card info: images and sentiment by The Saltbox Studio, notecard, papers and ribbon by A Muse, Copic markers - apricot, warm gray no. 2, blush, new leaf, burnt umber, sand, cool shadow, Spica green glitter pen, pop dots.

Have You Appreciated the Teachers Yet?

I made about 24 of these cards for my kids' teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week. I found that when I was teaching, I was always in need of thank you notes, especially at the end of the year, so I thought the wonderful women who teach my kids could use some, too.

It was so easy to do these, too. I was able to stamp 12 of the ABC panels on one 8 1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock with very little waste. I also used the largest acrylic block I had to place the letters just right, so it went very fast. To spruce these up a bit, I added glitter to the chocolate frosting, Diamond Glaze to the apple and black flocking to the bee. It was an afterthought, so that didn't get photographed. Just pretend, ok?

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend. I am looking forward to some fun with my family and maybe a few friends, too.

card info: notecard, papers, images and sentiment by A Muse,
Copic markers - sepia, burnt umber, crimson, grass green, Triplus fineliner - yellow.

Bees and Brads

I haven't been able to participate in Heather's spark challenge lately, so I decided to try to get it done before Friday. Since I had The Saltbox Studio stamps out on my desk, I searched through looking for something I could do with those. The bees just buzzed at me as the way to go and this is what happened. I ended up using colored pencils, one of which I thought was a watercolor pencil, but then it didn't blend with the blender pen I was using, so the background blue is a little off. Oh, well. I was just glad to get to play along this week.

With the husband out of town and my health returning, I hope I will get a bit more stamp time in the next two days or nights.

card info: images and sentiment by The Saltbox Studio, notecard and papers by A Muse, colored pencils, brads by S.E.I., stickles.

Quick Invites

I've been down in the crafty dumps the last few days since getting sick and it is just hard sometimes to get out of there. I'm trying, but I'm not there yet. So, I thought I'd go ahead and share an invitation I made for just a few family members for my son's First Communion. We are going to have brunch here for my family after the Mass. But instead of sending out an email, I decided to make invites. It really is so nice to get real mail and I am glad I took the time to do this. I computer generated all the info, stamped the church birdhouse from The Saltbox Studio and highlighted a few areas, added it to the top of the invitations, and 1-2-3, quick like a bunny, I was done! I love when something goes so smoothly.

Have a great Wednesday!

Oh yeah, check out Tami's new blog! She is one of the A Muse Instructors in Minnesota.

Just A *Wee* Bit Naughty

Happy Sunday everyone. I have been seriously under the weather the past two days. It has been rough for my kids because they are not used to seeing mom sick. But my wonderful David has been great getting so much done around the house for me. Just needed to give him a big ol' pat on the back.

One thing that did brighten my weekend, though, was seeing my policeman card as COtW! Now, this is completely a departure from the innocent, Catholic school girl image I portray on the Internet (and real life). But, literally, it was the only design that I made that I liked with Johnny Copper. No research was done on my part for this card, but boy, could I go for some cake right now! You can find more on this on the A Muse Newsletter blog. I also have a few cards in the "Inspiring Ideas" and one in the "Oldies but Goodies" sections. I even have a card featured on the Elzybells blog this weekend as a kick off for the May Guest Designer series (which are A Muse Designers and Instructors).

I hope to be back soon with some fun cards. I have Teacher Appreciation week ahead of me and I have been asked to make up a set of thank you notes for my son's teacher for Thursday, so I will be in mass production mode (might as well make some for my daughter's teacher, too, right?). Have a beautiful day!

card info: images, sentiment, papers, notecard by A Muse, black cardstock, glitter by Stampendous, Copic markers - manganese blue, warm gray no.4, baby skin pink, lemon yellow, black pen, pop dots.

Happy May Day!

Hi everyone! I cannot believe it, but I have had a blog for almost one year. I wasn't sure how much I would like this, but it has been fun and I've met some really nice people along the way. So, for all of you who regularly check in on The Stamping Shac, this card is for you. A huge thank you to all who come by to read and see the creations, especially the ones who have taken the time to leave me comments or email me.

If you haven't already checked out the great new items from A Muse, head over to the
online page which shows some wonderful goodies for papercrafters. If you are looking for the Mainly Men card kit, look here. It is on a different page, complete with an album of card designs made specifically for the kit (only kit contents were used to make those cards).

When you have a moment, let me know what you think. I'd love to hear what things are on your lists. Remember, Mother's Day is coming up soon, so you moms out there could drop a big hint!

Happy May Day!

card info: notecard, papers, image and sentiment by A Muse, Copic markers - robin's egg blue, new leaf.