I Could Play All Day . . .

That's if I had nothing else to do. Unfortunately, I must address some domestic duties. Why I fired the maid, I'll never know . . . LOL.

Here a couple of cards I made with the Silhouette Blooms I set from Cornish Heritage Farms. I have so much fun with these stamps that I think I need the other two Kim Hughes' silhouette-type stamp sets. I'm hooked on the watercolor thing with markers and a fine mist spritzer. I feel like an artist! I've always wanted to learn to paint, especially with watercolors but haven't gotten around to it yet and don't see taking on anything more as being practical for the immediate future. I could buy a how-to book or two and the supplies, but then I'd end up feeling guilty about not getting around to using them. I have enough unfinished projects around here that already cause me a sufficient amount of guilt.

Back to my cards, the bottom one was inspired by a card in the current edition of Papercrafts Stamp It! Cards magazine. What the photo doesn't show is that the design is stamped on the inside of the card with only part of it showing through the window, which was cut with a Nestabilities die. I added the scalloped frame and was delighted to learn that the circle die fit inside the scalloped die (Nestabilities) enabling me to cut the frame in one pass through the Cuttlebug. For the top card, because the branches were mostly pink, I inked up my stamp with my Baby Pink ink pad and then added the brown detail with a marker. For a little color variation, I also ran a Carnation Pink marker lightly along the edges before spritzing the image and laying it down on the paper. The thing I've discovered with this watercolor technique is that I'm never quite sure if it's going to "turn out" until I lift the stamp and that there's always a little feeling of triumph when it looks good.

Materials & Tools (Best Wishes card): Colonial White, Baby Pink, and Chocolate cardstock; More to Adore paper packet; Baby Pink, Bamboo, and Chocolate ink pads; Chocolate and Pink Carnation markers; Cornish Heritage Farms Silhouette Blooms I stamp set; Designer Ribbon Rounds Chocolate Collection; Edge Distresser tool.

Materials & Tools (Hello card): Colonial White and New England Ivy cardstock; New England Ivy and Bamboo Ink pads; New England Ivy, Pansy Purple, Olive, Indian Corn Blue, Sunflower, and Goldrush markers; Designer Ribbon Rounds New England Ivy Collection (retired); Cuttlebug w/Nestabilities Classic Circle set.

As I was so windy at the beginning of the post, I'll exercise some self control in ending it. Marv is cleaning, most recently sorting through an icky pile of mail that's accumulated in a basket on the buffet. After asking me 100 questions regarding what to save and what to throw, he asked, "Just use common sense, huh?" My question is, "Do men have common sense?" I will leave you with that point to ponder . . . Later!!