Home from a little stampin' weekend in El Paso

I feel so blessed to have great stamping friends to go and hang out with! I was able to spend the weekend in El Paso with my buddies Jody and Tracy this past weekend. Tracy lives in Lamesa, Tx, a little town outside of Lubbock. She drove out to Jody's house last Thursday. I flew out to El Paso on Friday. We have another friend named Tracy that lives in El Paso and she came over as well to have a good old fashioned slumber party. We shopped until we dropped, gambled briefly at the casino (for me of course :), ate really good food, stayed up late stamping and giggling, and had the best time all around. We really know how to trash a room when we stamp don't we? I will photograph some of the things we made a little later. I need to get back in the groove here at the house now. Reality bites! I had so so much fun I can't wait for the next time!

A Muse Stamp of the Week challenge # 2 Kissing Couple

This week over at the A Muse site the stamp of the week is The Kissing Couple. Here is my card for the challenge.

Van De Walle's Go to the Fair

My kids had Monday-Wednesday off this week from school because of a teachers conference so we enjoyed a 5 day weekend. We were originally supposed to go to Mardi Gras to visit my friends in Slidell, LA for our annual tradition of parade watching and bead catching. Unfortunatly my car broke down and was in the shop for several expensive days. We had to cancel the Mardi Gras trip which is very sad for us. We have been going for years and we have so many fun memories from each trip! I had my daughters car available, so we decided to attend the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo. This year my husbands family was being honored and had a special display in the Hall of Fame exhibit hall. I wanted to take my kids to show them some of their heritage. The exhibit will be moved into the Institute Of Texan Cultures after the rodeo closes which is very cool. I took a few pictures to show you the displays. Van De Walle Farms was a major influence in San Antonio's farming community and then they became famous for the picante sauce in 1985 up until last year when they sold the company. They were the original Belgium imigrants at the end of the 1800's that migrated into Texas by way of Galveston. They settled in the South San Antonio area and the rest is history.

My husbands grandpa is responsible for the building of the San Antonio Market downtown now known as El Mercado. It was his vision to have a fresh fruit and vegitable market area for all the local growers to sell their produce. Its very cool to know my kids have such a great heritage.

The kids also rode a few rides, ate some junk, pet some animals, and watched the rodeo and we got to see a Brooks and Dunn concert....We had a lot of fun!

A Muse number 2 for the evening

This little image is just so sweet I couldn't pass her up! I used my glittery Spica pens to color her dress and her heart. The brad is also from the Target Dollar spot. The ribbon is from Michael's. Paper is from SU and from A Muse. Enjoyed myself with a little late night stamping. Its been a few days so I am happy to get back to it again.

A Muse Sweethearts

These little guys started out brown then I didn't like them brown so I flipped my card stock over and went for a pink design. I love their facial expressions! These are A Muse square notecards with some SU designer series papers that I thought I would try. I love pink and brown. The little heart brad was found at the Target dollar spot. Marvy scallop punch and smooth punch were also used. A Muse ribbon.

Amazing

Here is a card I made a few days ago but I haven't had my camera to upload. I finally resorted to using the scanner like I used to use. I really miss my camera. The colors seem washed out and the card seems so flat. I have forgotten how much better cameras make your work look. This card was made using the new Amazing SU set and the greeting from One of a Kind. I also used Basic grey papers and celery CS. Hardware is by We Are Memory makers.

Today I attended a stamp class for A Muse stamps at my LSS, Memory Depot. We made 6 cards and had a lot of fun. I might post the cards after my camera comes home again tomorrow. Fellow SCS'er Geeta(aka Texaslonghorns/ Craftyengineer ) is the A Muse instructor and we always have a lot of fun in her classes. I can't wait for the Elzybells class next month! The 4 SCS attendees sat together at the same table today and I don't think we stopped talking the whole time we stamped. I really have enjoyed being able to stamp with friends. I rarely get to do that. Anyway, I hope to stamp more this week, I still have lots of rubber to ink up!

2 designs one card

To watercolor or not to watercolor? That is my question. I origianlly

wanted this card to just be simple and clean looking. But then I stared at it too long and thought that it should be colored in around the flower petals. It was looking naked to me. I fooled around with it and colored it in anyway and now it looks like this:

so messy or not messy? What do you think?

New Rubber and some new cards

From The Garden is the Level one Hostess set I decided I needed when I placed the new catty order last week. It just seemed like it had potential. This is stamped on watercolor paper and colored using watercolor crayons. Its ok for a first attempt. Not my best work but I am out of practice.

This set is called Pretty Amazing, and well, it's pretty amazing I was able to make a card using it! I am suffering from stampers block at the momment and its really annoying me. I have a few more cards that I will show you in a few days.

Such a Deer in Guava/Cocoa/River Rock

"Moose You finally gets inked" should be the title of this post! I bought the Moose You set last summer from the new SU catalogue because it was *so cute*, then I absolutely had stampers block about it. I think I am finally ready to get creative with it. I am starting small with the deer because that big moose intimidates me. Besides I need some Thank You cards after the holidays and some how this works in my brain as a Thank You!

• Ink: River Rock, Guava, Close to cocoa
• Paper: Cocoa, Guava, River Rock DS paper and CS, Vanilla shimmery paper
• Accessories: Guava stitched ribbon, Hiedi Swap Ghost shape flower, big brad, window punch, air art spray tool

Snowbunnybella

It has been a long dry spell for stamping at my house. With the chaos of the holidays and my husband and children all being home the entire time, I just could not stamp. I started this card a week or more ago when I had these colors out. I finally decided to keep it and try and make something of it. Its not very neatly assembled....sometimes when I upload I see mistakes that I didn't know are there. I received this stamp as a gift from a friend and its so cute! I had to give it a shot!

• Paper- Papertrey white, Bashful Blue, Going Grey
• Ink- Versafine Black, Colorbox chalkink Ice Blue, Watercolor Crayons in Bashful Blue and Cocoa, White Craft Pigment Ink
• Heidi swap Ghost Shapes snowflake, SU scallop punch, White mini brads, Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder, 5/8" grograin ribbon, Art Institure Glitter