So, it's been a while......

Seems like I was a little stamped out, huh? It's been quite a break has it not? To be honest, I think I lost more than my mojo.... there for a while I think I lost a little bit of myself and found just how much of a difference hormonal balance can make - but that is a subject for a blog in itself.
Looking forward to catching up with all my bloggy, crafty buddies and to starting new creative journey with a.muse|studio. There's nothing like a change of direction to shake things up, right?

I think I am officially stamped out....

I thought I was just having a hard time getting back in to it again after the long break over the Thanksgiving/Christmas period, but I think I am actually stamped out! For a while anyway. I'm very much hoping it's not a permanent thing because I have way too much money invested in this hobby to just walk out of my craft space and never enter it again.
Why this gloomy announcement? In the last 3 days ( 3 day weekend, don't you know?) I have not produced one card! I have spent a ton of time reorganizing supplies and checking out challenge blogs and referring to the very cool sketch book I got for Christmas and NOTHING! Not one card at the end of it all. I'm so frustrated, plus I feel like I wasted my precious time away from the day job! So, I'm going to take a wee break from crafting and from reading blogs and hopefully I will miss it so much I'll be back before you know it.

Past and Present

Like lots of you, I have been cleaning up my craft space recently and in a box at the bottom of a closet, I came across this card. I don't remember when I made it, but I do remember being very proud of myself when it was done - and I don't even think it was an original layout, I think I CASE'd it from a swap but the details are long gone, so if this was your card and you were in a swap with me 3 or 4 years ago, I apologize for not giving proper credit :)
Anyhow, I was looking at it and remembering how pleased I had been with it and thinking about how stamping trends have changed and how my stamping style has evolved and I couldn't help myself, I just had to give it a makeover.

I used the same Kaleidoscope stamp pad with a different sentiment because I originally intended to use a heart as an accent but didn't have one the right size, so I used a felt flower instead. I tried the paper flower from the post below, but it didn't look right either. I can't tell you how many hours I spend farfing around looking for just the right embellishment - it's a sickness, really, I think. I quite like how it turned out though. What do you think? Which is better?

Kay's Kindle :)

All my life I have loved to read. I love all sorts of books (except the Harlequin romance type books - they just don't do it for me) and I am a very, like clockwork, regular visitor to the local library. There are piles of books all over the house, especially in the places where I am to be found - by my chair, by my bed, in the bathroom...... I drive a lot for work and I listen to audio books to pass the time. I love every thing about books, the smell, the shiny jackets, the feel of the paper - you get the picture!
So for Christmas this year, my DH got me a Kindle! I wasn't sure how I would feel about an electronic book without the book smell, the shiny jacket etc but I am happy to say I am LOVING it. It is so easy to use, I was downloading and reading within minutes. And let's discuss all the FREE books. Amazon has hundreds of free titles which are enough to keep you reading for months and if that weren't enough, I found this really neat blog called Books on the Knob which will alert you to the latest free titles. Since some of titles are only free for a limited time, this is really helpful. I also found the Kindle Books forum which opens up a whole new world of authors and book people.
If there are any other Kindle lovers out there, please share any tips you have or other great sites you may have stumbled across. I don't think I will every give up my books totally, but it is just so easy to hit that one click button and add another book to my library.

Freezing in Florida...

.... I know you won't believe me, and those of you in the northern states will be especially skeptical, but it is so unusually cold here in Florida that we have iguanas freezing and falling out of trees for heavens sake! It's all right though because I went shopping today and picked up some new sweaters (because I only own 3 sweaters - I do live in Florida after all) and ordered a jacket from Overstock.com, so the weather will undoubtedly return to normal again. Luckily I have family in Scotland, so I will be able to use all the purchases next time I go over. As we found out last year, even if we plan a summer trip, that doesn't mean gloves wouldn't be useful.

I was going to shop yesterday but it was really, really cold and even the thought of new "stuff" couldn't tempt me off the couch, so I surfed around and found this tutorial on Dawn McVey's blog. How super cute is that? So I made this:

which was okay, but I didn't LOVE it - and I didn't think it looked nearly as cute as Dawn's, maybe because the scallop punch I used was the yellow Marvy one which doesn't have such deep scallops as the SU one she used? Anyway, in a light bulb moment, I decided to try the flower punch I just had to have from The Angel Company and have hardly every used and made this:

which I liked much better, especially after I added some stickles. I also scrunched my layers up tighter and didn't bother with the button.
Which do you like best?

Happy New Year!

All my good intentions for crafting last week were derailed by a nasty bug which confined me to the couch - couldn't go to bed, because I couldn't breathe when I was lying down, so I ended up sleeping in the recliner, fortified only by Alka Seltzer cold and Robitusson. Yuck!!
So 2010, eh? Doesn't it sound futuristic? I also spent quite a lot of time last week watching Dr. Who on Netflix, so I am currently somewhat of an expert on futuristic. Given the mad dream I had last night, I obviously need to watch something else because apparently the combination of Daleks and cold medication is not a good one!
I also managed to read the new Stephen King novel "Under The Dome" which my DS gave me for Christmas. It is a MASSIVE book - over 1000 pages - but I do love me some SK, so I was up to the task. Not one of his best, IMHO, but still very readable. All in all, it could have been worse.
We typically host a party on New Years Eve, but in the circumstances (and in the interests of not infecting the whole neighborhood) we kept it to a dull roar with only a couple of our closest (bravest!!) friends. Champagne and fireworks and the chance to have actual conversations with people made it a rousing success. I might just do the same again next year. It was much easier to clear up later too.
In other news, I finally made it back to the craft room today. I was finishing up some Valentines for OperationWriteHome. Lounging on the couch for a week also gave me lots of time to blurf and I found some really neat free vintage images at The Graphics Fairy, which inspired this card. If you like vintage images you will have a field day looking around this site. This was one of my favorites, don't you think it just cried out for some Basic Grey and some lace?

I also want to apologize to all my bloggy buddies at Ocean's 11 because I have neglected them all (and this blog) terribly over the last couple of months. I'll be back visiting and commenting, I promise.


So Happy New Year to all of you out there in blog land - it's my sincere hope that 2010 will bring you all what you hope for.

It's beginning to look a lot like.........

Life has been a blur for me for the last month and I've barely even seen a rubber stamp, never mind had time to create anything. Next year I am starting early (umm, didn't I say that last year? I think I might have...) Anyhoo, I have some time off work over the Christmas period and I am planning some selfish creative time.

Hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas and that Santa brings you everything you have been wishing for.

OWH Blog Hop Winner

Thanks so much for all the kind comments on both of my hops. There was only one prize though... (that's the drum roll!)

I asked my veteran to pick a number and he said 45, which makes the winner Night Shift Nancy! Nancy, please contact me so I can get your "God Bless America" set in the mail.

Angel Art Blog Hop

I know!! Two hops in one weekend... I didn't realize when I signed up that they would be so close together, but I made it.
This hop was put together by my fellow Angels and it's just perfect for this time of year - the theme was "Holiday Cards and Tags in 10 minutes or less" - who couldn't use some inspiration of that kind?

Because this is an Angel Company blog hop, most of the products youwill see used are from TAC. My first card uses the set Simple Joys and it truly couldn't have been simpler! It was inspired by a card I received in a recent swap which was made by Shirley Hotop. I tweaked it up a little, but the concept is all hers - thanks Shirley. I stamped the image with versamark, embossed it with gold and silver embossing powder, "stickled" it with icicle stickles and mounted it on a scrap of gold card (non TAC ) then mounted that on to Cuttlebug embossed cardstock. Simple!!



Easel cards are so cute and so easy! Under 10 mins, really :) I stamped the main image from the Vintage Santa set in Palette Burnt Umber on TAC Ivory cardstock, distressed it and ran some Brilliance Galaxy Gold around the edges. ( I didn't notice it had smudged in to the image until I edited it in Picasa..... oh, well!) He was mounted on TAC green cardstock. The paper is from TAC's Reece collection, the sentiment comes from the same Vintage Santa set and the ribbon is also TAC.



The last card was the easiest of all! It actually looks better IRL but regardless of how many pictures I took, it always came up looking a little blah. I'm sharing it anyway... The paper is from TAC's Amelia collection (one of my favorites!) and it uses one of the labels that is included. The sentiments are from two retired sets, JustBe 9another of my favorites) and Trendy Holiday Tags.

Melisa is next on the hop and I know you are in for a treat! She does some fabulous work and has been featured in the Angel Company catalog.

Here is the complete list of bloggers, just in case some of the links are broken.

Laurie W
Teresa
Jamie
Diane
Jen
Rita
Shirley
Julie
Kim
Laurie U
Kay
Melisa
Stacy

Operation Write Home Blog Hop

Welcome hoppers! If you've been following the hop from the beginning you should have landed here from Caryl's blog. If you just dropped in randomly from cyberspace, you caught me participating in Operation Write Home's Veterans Day Blog Hop.

Operation Write Home is a group of crafters from across America (and beyond!) who make handmade cards for deployed heroes so they can keep in touch with their loved ones at home! We serve all branches of the military in all deployed locations, including those stationed aboard ships.

We also make "Any Hero" Cards. News from the homefront—even from strangers—is a treasure to those far from home. "Hero Mail is great," says one Chaplain. "I go out and pray with the soldiers before missions and I hand out Hero Mail." Letters are distributed to those who rarely get mail, or to those most in need of encouragement the day the box arrives. "It helps to know that we are remembered!"

The challenge for this hop was to create an Any Hero card and a Valentines Card (the next big holiday we are all frantically making cards for) I spent last weekend creating, and got so caught up in it all that I forgot to take pictures of the Valentines cards so I'm sharing two of my "Any Hero Cards instead. These cards were made with paper from K&Company's Army Collection and the sentiment is from The Angel Company's "God Bless America" set. It's got a bunch of sentiments which are just perfect for cards or scrapbook pages with a military theme and I'm giving one away today. All you have to do is leave a comment by midnight on the 15th and I will have my veteran pick a number at random to decide the winner. Don't forget to leave me a way to contact you and thanks for stopping by!

Now hop on over to see what Dawn has been up to! I "met" Dawn on the last OWH blog hop - you will love her blog!