Skunked ...

You know how I mentioned the other evening how with the Happy Camper set I'd acquired my first skunk stamp? Well, I no more than finished my post when Marv asked, "What's that smell?" Sure enough. The odor wafting in the breeze through our open windows was the smell of skunk! Cute as the stamp is, the smell of a real skunk is most unpleasant, and thus, we quickly closed the windows and suffered in stuffiness for a couple of hours until the odor dissipated. What a coincidence!

Now, about my card, to get the skunk to sit on the log, I had to mask him, and in the process, discovered a new masking material. While reaching for the Post-It note that I usually use for masking, a package of Avery 4x3-inch removable labels fell off the shelf. Having purchased them in error (I needed permanent labels), they'd been sitting on the shelf for a long time. As I reached to put them back, it dawned on me that they might work for masking, too. I stamped my image, cut it out and found that not only did my new mask work well, it is one that can be used again. When I was done, I just stuck it to the back of the stamp set's carrier sheet where it will stay stuck until the next time I need it. Cool!

I colored my image with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. If you're thinking that cutting around the skunk's tail was clever, I have to tell you doing so was the result of a happy accident. When I went to mat my stamped image, I found the image was too wide to look good on my card base. Thus, I used my paper trimmer to carefully cut down to the top of the tail and up to its bottom and then trimmed around the part of the tail that would extend off the side with my scissors. Make sense? Embellishments include a little paper flower held in place by a white Bitty Brad and a punched button that I sewed to the card with crochet cotton.

Materials & Tools: White Daisy, Indian Corn Blue, Sunflower, and Sweet Leaf cardstock; Magic Moments paper packet; Black ink pad; The Cat's Pajamas Happy Camper stamp set; Just Blooms Summer Posies Collection; White Bitty Brad; Martha Stewart Embossed Button punch; White crochet cotton; Needle; Black My Legacy Writer.

I have more energy today, although yes, Jeanne, I think you might be right about our crazy weather affecting the way I feel ... both physically and mentally. Overcast skies day after day are a real downer, and it's cool and damp, which seems to bring on a variety of aches and pains. Regardless of the weather, Marv went to the golf course, and so, for now, I've got the house to myself ... meaning I should get busy! Cleaning is so much easier and much less annoying when he's not here. Dusting around the big lout stretched out in his recliner and having to duck as not to get in the way of the television screen bugs the heck out of me. Ah, marital bliss. LOL. Ya know I love 'im anyway! I'll have at least one more card to show you later, so if you're in the neighborhood, stop back. In the interim, take care and enjoy the day!