Queen Summer

I just finished this card up yesterday. It's for The Red Cat's Vintage Fairytales swap. Once the stamp was FINALLY carved, I just colored it with chalks, sprayed on a fixative, and edged the card with black. This is from Walter Crane's Illuminated tale, Queen Summer.

The Only Thing Better Than a Friend

My wonderful friend, Tyra, hosted a wonderful swap, Chocostampaholics, focused on a wonderful food, chocolate. This is my contribution.

In order to figure out how to make it move, I had to take apart my beloved FIRE card by Mama Wolf, Wood6, CampFireLady, and Turtle Love. Fortunately, I was able to salvage the FIRE card and get my chocolate card moving.

I would tell you how to make a card like this, but it's kind of hard to explain. I think you're just going to have to get your hands on one of these and dissect it. It's easier to make than it looks.

Pooh Stick Bridge

This is my second (and probably last) attempt at painting a card. Although I LOVE the effect, I HATED doing it. I still have a few more of these babies to paint. If you want one, you're going to have to make me a sweet deal. ;0)

The blue/green background is watercolor, and the foreground is acrylics. This card was for my Classic Pooh swap.

Ray

I carved this layered stamp just for fun. I think I got some of that bad PZ, though, because I couldn't get a good stamping. I even recarved a time or two. In the end, I kind of like the "staticy" look that Ray has. It's kind of like seeing him on an old T.V.

I knew I wanted Ray to have a black and white background, and I initially planned on using a napkin for the background. Yiker told me about this neat technique, and I wanted to give it a try. First, I stripped the napkins down to just one layer. Then I laid out my 2.5" x 3.5" pieces of cardstock on a large piece of paper. Saran wrap formed the next layer. This is the glue that holds the napkin to the cards. Finally, I put the napkin on top, completely covering the saran wrap, covered it all with another sheet of paper, and ironed the napkin onto the cards. I checked periodically to make sure the saran wrap melted. Finally, I let everything cool down, and then I cut my cards out. I've posted a picture below.

Although I haven't used these cards yet, I think they're really neat. If anyone wants them, let me know.

Breaking Free

I carved this stamp for the Escher swap. I happened to have some origami paper that worked perfectly for the background. This card was SO easy to make, so I made about a gazillion.

Let Old Wrinkles Come

This is my 1^st attempt at painting an LTC. This card is dedicated to and inspired by Esmerelda. I collaborated with Esmerelda on the last Challenge Card. Es and I aspired to make two stand-alone cards that fit together to form a third card. I’m pretty glad that I don’t have Es’ permission to post a picture of her part of the card here, because my card looks much better when it’s not next to hers. :o)

Es and I based our set of cards on a Shakespeare quote. “With mirth and laughter, let old wrinkles come.”

Georgia Peaches

This is the second version I made of this card, and it's my least favorite. Made for Bobguyman's Layers swap, this stamp is three layers, each a different color.

Jorge is a Frog

When Desi listed the Paul Frank swap, I had never seen any of Mr. Frank's artwork. I mainly joined because I wanted to show some support for my good Facebook friend, but I ended up having a blast making this simple card. The green paper has velvety polka dots, and it's perfect for a classy frog like Jorge.

Geometry Junkie

When Hornicorn hosted a Now and Then swap, I used the opportunity to carve a new family stamp. We are now calling ourselves 'geometry junkies' on the trail. (We used to be fungus amugus.) Although I love this stamp, I don't particularly care for this card. I may use the stamp for another card in the future.

I knew that I didn't want to cut around this stamp. Instead, I masked the stamp an misted orange around it. The mist was found in a clearance bin at Hobby Lobby. It was in a little squirt bottle.

The second photo contains one of my first signature stamps. It was carved in 2007.

Pool of Tears

I hosted a Classic Alice swap for April Fool's Day, and, again, I had a hard time deciding on an image. I ended up choosing an illustration by Mabel Attwell. Although this card looks pretty simple, I spent a lot of time experimenting with it. I ended up using Prismacolour pencils and blue watercolor paint. Each card is backed with a fun pink playing card. Since the playing card was slick, I covered the inside of it with gesso so that the adhesive would work. The card's info was stored bookmark-style in a handy slot between the two cards.

A Generous Fellow

This is my middle son, Eli. He gave away a stack of my LTCs last year, so I dedicated my Unfortunate Events card (from Esmerelda's swap) to him. This card contains lots of symbolism. The ruler at the bottom represents Eli's love for math and his birth order (2) or age (7). The paper with text that I used for hair represents Eli's love for reading, and the chalk board represents his status as a homeschooler. Eli's plaid shirt shows what a stylish fellow he is, and it accurately represents the way Eli prefers to dress. He always buttons the top button.

This background was designed on the computer and printed. Eli's head and neck were colored with chalks, and his hair and shirt were fussy cut from scrapbook paper.

Through the Crosshairs

I'm a HUGE Gary Larson fan, so I couldn't resist joining when 4 Little Piggies listed a Far Side swap. I had a difficult time deciding which comic to duplicate. I ended up choosing this one because it didn't need text. Although there are about 100 errors in this stamp, I like the LTC. I painted these with watercolors, and the black on the top and bottom is cardstock.