Buggin' with a Young Artist

"Mom, do you love your cuttlebug?"
"Not as much as I love you." (Brilliant mom moment)
"I love you and your cuttlebug too."
And it's true. My 4 y.o. son loves to crank that handle and see the results. Doesn't everyone whose been bitten by the bug? I debated for a long time and then was reminded that you can use a 50% off coupon at Mike's and get one into your price range. So I plunged a few weeks ago and got one. I'm lovin' it (I know ™ McDonald's Corp).



These cards were all made with the bug. I particularly love the Wild About You card. Fiskars leather texture plate with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in a variety of colors rubbed lightly over the embossed portion. The green sponged background on the alligator was a happy accident. I was inking from an ink pad and then misting a sea sponge with water, well my water mister and Stampin' Mist mister feel a lot a like and I grabbed the wrong one. Or did I? I love what it did to the colors.
The Best Fishes background uses the Fiskars bubbles texture plate on Tempting Turquoise I didn't think it popped enough so I gently rubbed with white stazon. I stamped the fish on a pc of Whisper White, colored with pencils and blended with gamsol. Then I masked each fish and brayered cool carribean over the whole piece. I used the white Signo Gel Pen to make the bubbles. Then I attached the fish layer to the bubble layer with orange Making Memories brads (from my pre-SU days, forgive me Shelli for I have sinned).
The Bee Happy Card used the Fiskars hive texture plate, colored with some Tim Holtz Distress Ink. The stamp is from Stampendous and the splatters of color are courtesy of the spritzer tool. Another new toy.
The umbrella card used the Fiskars rain texture plate on a piece of card stock from the Far East Mat Stack from DCWV. I ran it through the cuttlebug then sanded off some of the embossed bits to really pop the rain out. This card is for my Uncle Ed who is recovering from hip replacement surgery. The message inside says "Heard you were under the weather, hope you're right as rain soon." Ed is married to my Aunt Alice who is undergoing chemo for breast cancer. Prayers for them are always appreciated.


The last card is one my son (ain't he cute) made for his cousin's birthday. I stamped the image he colored it, he cut the crab out, I cut the tight spots on the claws. He ran it through the Cuttlebug and used the snail to adhere it to the card. He was SO proud of himself and I was proud of him too.

Catching up

Sniff, Sniff

It's time to say good bye to some of my stamp sets, at least as far as demonstrating goes. No more Natural Beauty, no more Right at Home.
The cards here were made and given a way months ago. Robin's birthday (using Natural Beauty) is March 1st and Cippys birthday (using chipboard with acylic paint, a bit of chalk and a few NSU brads) is in the beginning of April. But the images linger in my camera and now you can see them too. For the green card (always artichoke one of my fav colors) uses stamps from Right at Home and the Word by Word background. This card was part of a mixed bag set one of the birthday girls purchased.
I bought these sets before I became a demonstrator and I think I will hold on to them for a while. I love to color and these are great sets for my colorful therapy. Of course I could sell them (after July 1st of course) and just use my son's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coloring book for my coloring fix....Nah! I'll keep 'em.
I fell asleep while putting the boy to bed again. So this post is going up very late. I will post again tomorrow (or at least later this week). Be on the look out for "Buggin' with a Young Artist".