One of our newest favorite stampers, Christi, posted on her “Blessings On Paper” blog a couple of fabulous recipe cards, and one using a Stampendous stamp. We think her projects are so cute that we could just eat them up! And we really can’t wait to try the recipes! Giving handstamped recipe cards is one of the cutest gift ideas we’ve seen for Christmas or any time. Here’s hoping your family has a wonderful Thanksgiving full of fun food and stamping!

Monkey Bread Recipe Card

Stampendous Products Used:

• SSC137 Changito the Monkey Perfectly Clear™ Stamp Set (to find this sticker, ask your local retailer. Find your local retailer here)
• SSH34 Medium Rectangle Acrylic Handle

This nice French FDC was sent to me by David, thank you!

The stamp was issued on October 24, 2009. It commemorates the  French artist Jean-Jacques Waltz alias Hansi (1873-1951).

::sigh::

i’ve been incredibly unfocused.

i’ve been trying to work everyday. but, sometimes i just stare at my screen for an hour and do next to nothing. so, i’ve started a goal for myself to help kick start production. i do well with goals. so… a NEW design everyday for the next 60 days. from there, i’ll decide whether or not to do an extension.

so…

DAY ONE : HANDLE WITH CARE
…as simple as the back is, it actually took quite awhile to design. sometimes the most rigid designs take the most fine tuning. my concert ticket business card took hours, and the design was already put in place by ticketmaster… so, point proven. but, it was worth it… one of my best business cards to date. anyhow… handle with care…

since it IS the season for thanks… i have a little “thank you” card to share!

i wanted the colors of the card to “seasonal”, but still soft and pretty, so i chose to use yellows and oranges with just a touch of brown to add some contrast…

!!!

I started with a muted orange cardstock for the card, then added a warm brown block as a backdrop for the rest of my elements.

Then i took a square of plain white cardstock and lightly sprayed it with SMOOCH SPRITZ in GOLD GLOW, then i used an ANTIQUE BROCADE STAMP inked with ANCIENT PAGE ink in SUNBURST to create the background block for the card.

Next, I sprayed another piece of white cardstock with the GOLD GLOW spritz, and stamped 2 “wood grain” flowers and 3 “thank you print” flowers from the PRINTED FLOWERS set using the SUNBURST ink.  Then i stamped 2 “solid thank you” flowers and 1 “large thank you” flower from the same set onto white cardstock using YELLOW OCHRE FLUID CHALK INK. when the ink dried, i spritzed them lightly with the GOLD GLOW spritz. when all the inks and spritz had dried, i cut out the background and the flowers.

I added the background piece first and topped it with a piece of ribbon near the bottom. i then arranged and adhered all the flowers, having the large “thank you” flower at the lower right.

buttons at the centers finished off the design.

inks and spritzes are all by CLEARSNAP, stamps are by HERO ARTS.

One more project from TAFE, this I had to create stamp, postmark and envelope using some australian theme. So I have chosen Australian Inventions such as lawn mower, eletric drill and the boomerang.

Celebrate National Family Caregivers Month November 2009 by signing the petition letter for a United States postage stamp honoring family caregivers. The National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) is in need of 2,000 more signatures and you can be one of them! Visit NFCA’s Web site by clicking here and then click on the U.S. Postage Stamp button on the home page to submit a letter to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee. And please pass this message along by posting it to your Facebook pages, Twitter, or other networking sites. Every signature helps!

by ANDREA McCALLUM

A TEEN who murdered a dad-of-two in an unprovoked attack has been jailed for life.

Thomas Main, 18, kicked and stamped Michael Wood to death in Aberdeen in June this year.

Mr Wood’s face was “smashed” during the attack and he died from his injuries.

Today (Monday) at the High Court in Livingston, thug Main was jailed for life after he previously admitted killing him.

Judge Lord Bracadale said the murder was “unprovoked” and ruled that Main must serve a minimum of 13 years before he can be considered for parole.

Defending, Mark Stewart QC, said Main had left school at an early age and had “drifted” into a life of drink and drugs.

He said: “It was the combination of his taking drink and drugs on the date in question which led to the incident which resulted in the attack and death of Mr Wood.

“There’s nothing which I can say which in any way explains or justifies the assault on Mr Wood – the apology I’m instructed to make will mean little to those affected by Mr Wood’s death.

“There is some understanding of the extremely serious nature of what occurred that day.

“There is some insight reported in the report in to the full extent of what he was responsible for and there is some indication that he understands the consequences of his actions.”

Lord Bracadale said to that the unprovoked attacked on Mr Wood involved Main “forcing” his victim down a flight of stairs and stamping on his head whilst he was unconscious, resulting in his whole face being “smashed in”.

He added: “This was a very serious assault which went on for some time.

“You have previous convictions of assault – one of which involved a weapon – and you were under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

“These are incriminating facts which will increase the length of imprisonment.

“I do take into account you age, that there was no weapon used and it was not pre-meditated.”

Relatives of Mr Wood present in the court room were elated and whispered shouts of joy when Main was handed down his sentence.

Main, was aged just 17 when he kicked 43-year-old Michael Wood “like a ball” so hard it left the distinctive pattern of his shoes imprinted on him during the attack in Balnagask Terrace late on Tuesday 9 June.

Headlock

The court heard previously that dad of two Mr Wood had split from his wife, suffered from an alcohol problem and had been on a binge with friends.

Main, who had five previous convictions for serious violence, had in turn been drinking vodka and Jack Daniels and was described as being “hyper” before he began punching Mr Wood in the face.

In evidence, the court heard previously how Main grabbed the older man in a headlock and during the struggle they both fell down stairs.

Main fell on top of the unconscious Mr Wood, breaking his fall.

But almost as soon as the teenage thug got to his feet again,he started kicking and stamping on Mr Wood’s head.

As he stamped on Mr Wood’s head one witness heard what he described as a ‘big snap’ – but still the attack continued.

Mr Wood was rushed to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after but he died from his injuries.

A Post Mortem examination later revealed his entire face had been “fragmented” with only his jaw bone still intact.

Main initially denied any involvement.

However he later admitted punching Mr Wood and kicking him “like kicking a ball” although claimed he had not meant to kill him.

Police earlier described the assault as a “cowardly and brutal attack on a vulnerable and defenceless man”

See more of our pictures at our Flickr site and videos at our dedicated channel,  Deadline TV.

barielle “sand-al chic” over zoya “felicity”
topped with covergirl boundless color “disco dazzle”‘

fauxnad plate stamp

The economy has hit a lot of companies hard. But one company that has been able to, so far, weathered the economic storm is Tomas’s Concrete. They are a small company that has been able to keep busy throughout this past year do to the excellent work they are able to perform. I personally use Tomas’s Concrete when I have large concrete projects on some of the REO properties that I work on.

They produce some to the best stamped concrete in the area. The owner, Tomas Gonzalez, is a great guy to work with and can help with all my design needs.

http://tomascomcrete.com

Doodle 275 - Art Stamp

I decided to finally make a nice stamp for when I do digital doodles.  So I’ll use that as today’s doodle!

I can’t resist a sale on stamps. It’s simply impossible. Which is why when I went to Joann’s the other day on an entirely different errand, I had to pick up this guy and put it to work:

But it didn’t stop there. I remembered some old music books for piano that I had saved during our last cleaning purge.

And I’ve never met a pun I didn’t like.

Ta da! Stamp sale + salvaged items from my house = gift tags and stationery!

STAMP
Structure aluminium anodisé + assise polypropylène -
Design sobre pour ce fauteuil. Utilisation intérieure et extérieure !
Fauteuil intérieur et extérieur Rubix
Existe en coloris : BLANC et ROUGE
Lot de 2 fauteuils : 170.48 € TTC

Yes, and i tell you why. So the whole story began yesterday afternoon when i left to the doctor of the university for that certain stamp for my PE lessons. Everything was fine until he asked me to give him the papers with the analyses my doc made in order so she wrote on my paper that i can’t do sports. Ok, here comes one thing, it would hurt him so much to put an idiot stamp on that paper and leave me alone??!!!! Like i wouldn’t have million other things to do than to run to the cardiology and do those stupid things for me. And after all this would be the 9th year since i’m not allowed to do sports, so why would this be different???!!!! The 9th and the last in the same time! I don’t even want to hear about something like this anymore! I mean if i would be wanting to do aerobics or whatever they do there i would have been applying to sports university and that’s all, and not for languages. It’s an idiot concept that someone invented in order to keep students “healthy”… yeah right! Like there wouldn’t be any other way to do so.

Anyways, now preparing to go to university to pick up my legitimation, and traveling tickets and then if i can do it in time to head to the PE lessons just to listen to the teacher’ moaning that i haven’t yet given her my paper. God gave so i won’t make it in time and i won’t have to go. Anyways, it would be a total mess to catch the train since i have it from 4:56PM and i have my lesson until 3:30PM… ahaha easy thing? It’s not, it takes more than an hour to arrive to the train-station from there. and i’m not wanting to spend my money left on taxi and there is no direct bus line to here…. ya, and first i still have to come home to take my luggages, i’m not that crazy to take them with me to the other side of the city

After all the bad stuff, i forgot yesterday to announce it proudly: 10/10 at Finnish test. Now all-together i have 43/40 xD.

Now honestly the next entry will be only tomorrow… if i can make some time after all the meetings with old buddies… so waiting for it

Historical Impressions were inserts that could be pulled from boxes of 2003 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts.  With a hobby filled with manufactured letter patches, I’m really surprised this concept didn’t stick around.  As you can see these cards feature a rubber stamp containing a facsimile cut signature.  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather pull one of these from a pack instead of a letter patch of some no name rookie.  Back in 2003 I pulled one of Mickey Cochrane, but it has since moved to a new home.  I’ve always thought these looked cool and are great for those people that can’t afford a real cut signature for their collection.  Most of them are serial numbered to 350 copies, but you can find parallels limited to fewer numbers.  I say bring these back and ad in a few relics to them.

The Division Bell Soon To Be A Royal Mail Stamp Pink Floyd Management have been in touch to tell us that Pink Floyd will receive the accolade of being featured on a UK Royal Mail postage stamp on 7th January 2010. After the success of Royal Mail’s recent British Design Classics stamps, they have created a series featuring only classic UK album cover designs. Available from Thursday 7th January 2010, it includes the 1994 UK Number One album The Division Bell, which went on to sell more than 10 million copies around the world. Designed by Storm Thorgerson with Keith Breeden, the cover depicts two massive heads, created by Sculptor John Robertson, placed in the East Anglian landscape, which in turn suggest a ‘third face’, echoing the album’s themes of contradictory communication. The self-adhesive stamps are printed in two separate sheets of 25* There is also a souvenir sheet (223 x 188 mm) including stamps with water-activated gum’.* (The sheet containing ‘The Division Bell’ also has album covers by Coldplay, Blur, New Order and The Rolling Stones).

Doctor David We Presume! David Gilmour is among a host of Cambridge figures set to be awarded honorary degrees by Anglia Ruskin University. A total of 21 high achievers will be recognised in ceremonies in Cambridge and Chelmsford, the sites of Anglia Ruskin University’s two campuses. David is a former student at Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology (CCAT), a forerunner of ARU. He will be made an honorary doctor of arts at a ceremony at Cambridge Corn Exchange on November 11. The university said the award recognises his outstanding contribution to music as a writer, performer and innovator. (Pictured: David Gilmour on top of the Cambridge School Of Art float that won first prize in the 1965 rag week. Click to enlarge)

Sometimes i wish time would pass by a little more faster than it’s passing by usually. Like for example yesterday and today. Yesterday because i truly hate Tuesdays since the only lesson I like is the British Culture and Civilization every second week. And the rest is just boring crap and stuff i don’t like and i’m not interested in, since i don’t see the point of Phonetics and the more the General Linguistics based in Hungarian literature while studying English and Finnish. The last thing i have ever expected was to have something based on Hungarian literature which i must confess (whether some might consider shameful or not) i hate… and even more those people who study it and think they know everything and they are the smartest people on the Earth…let’s get back to reality.

I can’t believe that there is no train going directly to Tg. Mures. I wanted to visit the next weekend some of my old classmates but there is only train with connection so i have to change them. Ok, this wouldn’t the be the end of the world but the biggest problem is that those are personal trains and they do stop at every small village and go like a snail, so it would take up to 3-4 hours to arrive there. I could go home with that energy i spend to go there, and the distance by the way is half to the one i have ’til home. It’s annoying to not to have a direct train to such a big and medically important city in the country.

Today… went to university for nothing, as usual on most Wednesdays to go to there at 10AM. Waiting for the rest of the people and the teacher i saw some of the 2nd or the 3rd year coming to the class where we were supposed to have the lesson, so me got fed up of it and went to buy the gift to my dad for his birthday on Saturday. yes, that’s the reason why i’m going home again tomorrow afternoon…if i will have some luck and will be able to get my legitimation and traveling tickets from the secretary of the university in time to arrive to the sport lessons too. And then wasn’t in the mood for Beowulf, aka Old/Middle English Literature. And now home and preparing to leave to the university doctor for a SINGLE STAMP for the piece of paper i need to give to my PE teacher me is not wanting to do stupid aerobics… had enough of it while in the 6th grade and been at some of the lessons held.

Peace and see you on Friday!

Christmas Party Invitations

My husband and I just finished making the invitations to our Christmas party – yes, he helped! – and I’m really happy with how they turned out, so I thought I would share.

Here’s how we made them:

1. Purchased  A2 and A7 size cards from paper-source.com and a stamp from impressrubberstamps.com.

2. Designed the text in Photoshop and printed onto the A2 cards.

3. Cut the corners of the cards using a rounded corner paper punch.

4. Applied the stamp to the card using silver ink and then immediately sprinkling silver glitter (Martha Stewart Glitter Collection) onto the ink and shaking gently so that the glitter adheres to the ink.

5. Glue the A2 card onto the silver A7 card.

6. Cut the corners of the A7 card using the same paper punch.

7. Spray a light adhesive over the stamp/glitter area.

That was the easy part, now on to planning the party!