"More Brains"

My all-time favorite horror movie is "The Return of the Living Dead". I have watched this film over and over for the past 20 years or so. When I was at a stamp expo a while back and I happened upon these stamps, it was a real "no brainer" to buy them!
I like the way the fingerprints turned out. I just used my own little digits and some Real Red ink from SU. The stickles didn't photograph well, but they look better in person.

I shall call him, ... Renfield.

One of my all-time favorite horror films is the original "Dracula" with Bela Lugosi. I always recite certain lines from the film everytime I watch it. "Listen to them, the children of the night. What beautiful music they make". LOVE it! I can't remember for the life of me where I got this stamp (Kenzie?), but he is so fun! He reminds me of "Renfield", from Dracula with the flies and all.

I need a snappy sentiment for this guy. Any ideas?

It's no big secret...

It comes as no surprise to the people that know me to see I am beginning to get giddy as September nears. That means that I can begin to start decorating for Halloween! Yes, I did say, BEGIN to start decorating. I got alot o' crap! It helps to have my birthday in September when all the cool Halloween stuff starts coming out in retail stores. This is by far my favorite holiday. I love the fall weather and the smell of pumpkins burning from being lit by candles. I love dressing up and having (or going to) a costume party. I enjoy being scared and I love to watch all the scary movies on cable for the month of October. I usually do this late at night by myself as the men that I reside with (a 38 year old and a 10 year old) are a couple of sissies! Someday I will lure the boy over to the dark side, but until then I get all the popcorn to myself.
This is just the beginning of my Halloween creations. I can't wait to really get started!

Sugar and Spice...

My dear friend Chris' daughter just had a baby girl named, Kaylee. I thought this was a good reason to color in another DustinPike free digi image and make an adorable baby card. I don't have too many opportunities to make baby cards so this was fun.

My favorite part is coloring in these great images! Sometimes I just sit and color for hours. I find it a very therapeutic and calming way to deal with the stresses of everyday life.

Swingin' New Pad

My dear friend, Dani and her new husband bought a home and just moved this weekend so I wanted to make them a "congrats on the new pad" card. I have recently become addicted to Dustin Pike's artwork and his freebie Wednesdays. Every Wednesday (or Thursday) he releases a free digital image on his blog site. I was not open to the whole digital images concept when I first heard of it, but now that I have worked with some, I can honestly say that I really like them and LOVE the price. My Copics work just great with the printer ink and I get a great image every time instead of smearing ink or not pressing hard enough. I got this monkey image from Dustin's freebies and I LOVE the way the card turned out.

Mister Fancy Pants

I just adore this image from The Doodle Factory! I have had him colored in for a few months now and just couldn't figure out how to use him. I thought the "fancy pants" sentiment was cute and I just reused a card I made at a workshop that I didn't particularly care for, and viola, a new card!

My DH keeps trying to get me to sell my cards in the next yard sale to make some money. He just doesn't understand that I make my cards to give away and I don't like putting a price on my creativity, but then again, we are going to need money to move in a few months. I'm still purging for my big yard sale and I am being a big girl and parting with some crafting supplies and even some Hello Kitty stuff, so that's a pretty big deal already. What the hey, might as well throw some cards into the mix huh?

Summer Color

With summer quickly coming to an end, I am trying to use some of my photos depicting the glorious colors of summer. I spend far too much time perusing my garden for "cool" subjects like snails and praying mantises(spelling?) and trying to catch a humming bird in flight. I love to take photos of vividly colored flowers and plants. I like to cheat and use the photos as my main image on the cards I make. It cuts down on coloring time that's for sure. My son starts a new charter school next week and I am so excited for him! What a great opportunity for him right now. I am excited for me as well, now I get to get busy being creative before I have to pack it all up and relocate yet again.

Good times.

Birthdays, birthdays everywhere...

August is a busy month for my family aside from school starting and summer coming to a close. There are multiple anniversaries and birthdays this month. My son turned 10 on the twelfth, my husband and I celebrated our thirteenth wedding anniversary on the tenth, and my sister(in-law) turned thirty nine today - before me! I sent her this cute little card to help her cope with the pain of being so close to 40. Nothing says, "Cheer up!" like a Whipper Snapper critter!

I colored this little cutie with my Copics and gave the flames some sparkle with Stickles. Nothing too involved, but it turned out pretty cute.

The Happiest Place on Earth ...really, it is!

Seems as though I fell off the face of the earth, but I just had to take some time and enjoy life with my family. This past July, all eleven of us went to Disneyland for a week. My mother-in-law is a wonderful lady who likes to have fun with her family. She planned this trip for all of the grand kids and adult kids to go play in the sun in So Cal, and play we did!
I haven't been to Disneyland for about 18 years, and I was more excited than the kids who hadn't ever been there. The rides we so fun, the lines were so long, and the heat was so hot, but I was in Disneyland! It was a great trip filled with lots of good times and wonderful memories to cherish. I did get caught up in the crazy underground world of pin trading at Disney. Quite an expensive hobby, but fun just the same. I got to show my son where I was born (Newport Beach) and where I grew up (Huntington Beach/San Fernando Valley)and where I used to work. Now that I have been back to LA, I want to return very soon to bask in the culture that Southern California has to offer. Besides, I didn't even try to get started visiting the stamp and scrapbooking stores down there.....

My son, Gryphon (pronounced "Griffin") waiting for the dizziness of the Tea Cup ride to subside.