Greetings!

Happy apple dude and his pal worm wanted to say hi! (I’ve actually got a card made….SHOCK!!!!! But it will be for later.)

I promise I’ve been up to good stuff……….really COOL stuff! I’ll be back later with some paper crafted goodness!

Getting to know you…..

So I’ve been making friends with a new program on my copmuter…….illustrator! Here are a few bits of eye candy for you. I’ve been playing for 2 days and still have no idea what the heck is going on, but I plan to master it!

Hope you enjoy!

Hopefully I have some suprises for you all, and get back to being a proper blogger!

What the?????

I downloaded a big BAD virus last week onto my computer and had to start from scratch. I’m missing emails and who knows what else! Sorry that I’ve been so absent but the damage was worse then I thought.

On top of the bug, Ava officially started preschool which has been a BIG adjustment in our routines. And today I asked her how school was to hear: “I threw a car at Mason’s cheek and he had a bad ouchie”

Fabulous!

Because everyone wears them in France

In the mood for cute

The french toast came alive with color…..

Birds fell in love……..

And new friends were made………..

Jacksonbelle Tuesday…….challenge kick off!

Are you ready for some fun???? How about an Inkadinkado contest from Jacksonbelle! Here’s the deets:

Starting Tuesday, September 2nd, and every Tuesday in September, the Design Team and I will be posting a new Sketch! We’d LOVE for you to all join us! Wanna know what you can win!?

The grand prize winner will receive a $50.00 Gift Certificate to Lindsey’s store! 2nd Place, $30.00 and 3rd place $15.00! There will be a goodie package going out to ALL winners!! If you decide to play each week, creating a card based on all 4 sketches, your name will be entered into a random drawing and THAT person will also win a goodie bag!

SO, you are probably wondering what do you have to do!? You have to use Inkadinkado Stamps (newer…from this Spring-until now) as well as use one of our sketches that I will post here each Tuesday! You can enter as many times as you’d like! You are also free to post anywhere you’d like! We will post coordinating Keywords for the sketches if you are posting on Splitcoaststampers.com, we will all be able to see your card(s)!

Following the last Tuesday challenge, (Sept. 29th), you will have untilWednesday, Sept. 30th at midnight (EST) to get your cards in to Lindsey. After that, the Design Team and Lindsey will need a few days to decide on the winners! Be sure to check the Design Team’s blog each week for LOTS of inspiration using the weekly sketch!!! We hope you will have time to play with us and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!!!!

You MUST however email every card to Lynda at lynda.benden@gmail.com

Here is the first sketch of the challenge with the keyword: JBE018

Be sure to check out all the other DT for more inspiration with the sketch! I hope you join in on the fun!!!!

Card details: Inkadinkado stamp, Prima paper Angelique collection, queen and co vine felt, We R Memory keepers hardware

I have been a terrible blogger……

This week my rump is going to get back into high gear and get some challenges and DT work done. So to show a smidgen of what I’ve been doing this past week here are some drawings to tide you over.

A pinup girl inspired by the fabulous Gil Elvgren

I love her, but then again I LOVE pin up girls! And for something completley different…….

A little frech toast for your morning! He makes me giggle…….=)

Tomorrow I plan to sleep in, work out and shop a little….for me! And now that I’ve got my drawing deadlines out of the way then I will be stamping my fanny away!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Busy little bee

I did so much cleaning this weekend or really today that I am exhausted! Not only did I clean all the regular spots in the house but I tackled my craft room. I took a lot of paper, stamps and embellies that I wasn’t using and made a special design area for Ava. She came home and was so excited to have punches, primas, buttons and her copics in a basket just like mine. Hopefully this will help to keep her busy while I try to steal some time to play!

Besides cleaning I did manage to sketch and complete a few things:

I just love this little bathroom! I wish I had a girly space like it.

I saw the cutest Japanese fabric this week with fairytale’s on it. Red ridinghood, Cinderella, 3 little pigs and of course Alice were all embroidered in such a cute style. I was so inspired by it that I had to create my own little bit of Wonderland. I really like how the little mouse is coming out of the hat.

I will be back for Tuesdays Jacksonbelle challenge….with a card even! I hope you don’t mind me sharing my non-card stuff with you all!

The birds will sing, that you are part of everything…..

I had always known the song “Dear Prudence” by Siouxie and the Banshees, and while I was exercising about a year ago the song came on my Zune. And the lyrics were so pretty and just touched me, I pictured this girl who was sad and was being asked to join the world. The images just popped into my head and sat there living in me for the past year.

A couple weeks ago Sean and I watched ‘Accross the Universe’, the musical based on the music of the Beatles. And to my surprise the song is performed in the movie. It got me wondering if there was a story behind it so I googled it and found this from wiki. Which totally just made me love the song even more, that it was written so well that it painted the picture in my mind.

I started this last night, but really it was all laid out for me already, I just needed to do it. It makes me really happy to see Prudence on paper and out of my head. I’ve done watercolor, copic, prisma pencils and craft inks going on in this. I also didn’t have a canvas big enough to show her whole house, so she might be back soon.

Here are the lyrics:

Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It’s beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence won’t you come out to play

Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It’s beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence won’t you come out to play
 

This song just makes me fill with joy and hope. As someone who suffers from clinical depression I understand how Prudence feels and I want her to take that step outside the door. The past year has been emotionally challenging for me as well as my husband, but we are blessed to have been put in contact with knoweldgable doctors who have helped me to see the blue in the sky.

I hope if you are having a hard time this paiting and the lyrics might give you more hope for a better tomorrow. Or sometimes it’s only a better 15 minutes…..but you take what you can to remember how it feels.

Jacksonbelle Tuesday- new cosmo!

Hooray! This week’s Jacksonbelle challenge was to use some of the new Cosmo Cricket Jacks World paper. This is such cute, happy paper, so I had to use an image that matched. Last week I wasn’t sure what image I wanted to use so I ended up coloring this little pooch and he had been sitting on my desk just waiting for the right card. I was pretty pleased when I placed him on the papers and saw how nice he looked.

This is a super simple card, pretty flat so it’s good for mailing. I went around the edges with a black and red spica pen and doodled for a little something extra. And I have 2 square brads from We R memory keepers on there as a final touch.

Yesterday was a SUPER looooooooooooooong day with a trip down to the UW and a big meltdown on the way home by both girls. They were crying and screaming and I just started laughing because I felt so helpless stuck in traffic with them. Then today I have done a lot and it’s still early in the day……I’m looking forward to tonight when I can draw and color some images I have waiting for me.

Be sure to check out all the girls for more Jacks world inspiration! And we have a new member to the design team, Rachel..so be sure to say hi to her! Oh and Lindsey has a TON of new stuff in her store, so pop on over and peek around! I’ve also heard rumors of a sale coming up………..

Supplies: Stamps: Inkadinkado, Jacks world by cosmo cricket from Jacksonbelle.