Sunday, October 10, 2010

Everything AND the kitchen sink!

So the challenges for Hope You Can Cling to are still going strong, and I'm having a blast working on them, but way more fun checking out the almost 500 and counting entries in the gallery! I'm just constantly inspired (and stamp buying ENABLED) by the creativity of the papercrafting universe! I've favorited so much stuff my thumb hurts!!

But in addition to that, I had the Austin Shoebox Swap, which was a BLAST, a class in Houston, Regionals in Ft. Worth, a craft fair next weekend and my own stamp class, so October is a little whirlwindy.

So first things first! I made the following card(s) for the Austin Shoebox Swap, for a Hope You Can Cling to challenge by Sara Henton and for a swap I was doing with Yvonne and Chriss - a color challenge that I gave them for our monthly stampy dinner. It's a much beloved combo of mine, and now that Cherry Cobbler is one of my fave colors, I wanted to put it with kraft and blue. I made two variations of this card - one with Chic Boutique and one with Artistic Etchings - just for a different mood with the two different styles of Eiffel Tower. The one on the left uses Basic Grey Whites background paper and the one on the right uses Very Vanilla. They were very simple but super fun. I saw a card somewhere with some dark silhouette images in the foreground that I used for my inspiration, but I can't find the card now. I think it was Michelle Zindorf. Which one of these do you like better?
Then, this weekend, I went to Houston with my beloved Dana for a class with Kitchen Sink Stamps. Holy cow. This was the best class I've been to in a long, long time. Dana said what the class felt like was that very first time you ever stamped - when your mind was just blown and you squealed a lot. And we did squeal a lot.
Notice how we are goofing off and everyone else is working. :)

Their stamps are amazing - they have a very unique photographic quality. You stamp them in multiple steps with different colors to get this amazing detail. They taught us these incredible tricks about combining colors, making shadows, etc. And Maria, the owner and artist, and her family and team, including Makiko Jones, were just the sweetest, most fun bunch of girls. We had a bunch of Splitcoast peeps in the class so the day was just like a fun stampy family reunion.

Maria designed Texas themed stamps JUST FOR OUR CLASS and that's what we got to use - how cool is that? We made this cowboy hat corner bookmark and boot card that I'm sending to one of you. :)

Aren't they amazingly realistic? What fun!!

I hope you are having some sort of crafty fun this beautiful weekend.

15 comments:

  1. OOOOO...OMG..those cards are amazing!!! One day I will stamp with my Texas Peeps..I will!!!

    WV: GLEAL as in almost Glee but not quite...

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  2. This looks like SO much fun! Jealous. :)

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  3. That corner bookmark is amazing...as are the stamp images! Gorgeous!

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  4. Hi MARIA!!!!! Loved the photos, Lydia! Those Texas stamps are gorgeous! LOVE THEM! Glad you had so much fun! Hugs!

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  5. Oh, that cowboy boot with the bluebonnets is amazing! Love the hat, too, but those flowers just send that little boot over the top! Looks like a great time was had by all.

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  6. LOVE the boot card! And I like both the Eiffel Tower cards - maybe the right one a little more. What fun a Kitchen Sink stamp party must be!

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  7. Love all these cards, Artistic Etchings is one of my favorite sets, but I love the Kitchen Sink cowboy stamps, too. thanks so much for sharing these with us, I will be looking for a Kitchen Sink class in my area.

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  8. OMGosh!! These are gorgeous!!! Squealed over the cowboy hat!

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  9. It was great meeting you, Lydia! We did have a blast, didn't we?

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  10. It was great meeting you, Lydia! We did have a blast, didn't we?

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  11. I wish that I could have come with you guys it sounds delightful. Love the book mark and the card they are very pretty. I grew up in Kanab Utah and the mascot of the school is the Cowboys so this style is always near and dear to my heart. I was on the drill team and we were called the Lariettes and we even wore a garter with a wee bitty cap gun in it!

    Hope I win!!!!

    M

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  12. You're right, I'm lovin' the detail of those stamps (the fact that the one I saw was a Texas theme, didn't hurt, either!) I liked your card with the foreground image best, I think because of that and the polka dot detail on the Eiffel image. Have a great day!
    =D

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  13. um freakin' awesome!!! I love the layered colors!!! Gorgeous!!!

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  14. Lydia! It was so nice to meet you in Houston! I sure hope KSS can make it back to your neck of the woods again!

    Your projects look fab! You have certainly mastered the art of masking, my friend! :)

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  15. Hi, Lydia!

    What a delight it was to find you had visited my blog and left such a sweet comment! Thank you so very much.

    What a thrill and honor it was to meet you at the Houston Workshop. I am so glad that you and Dana enjoyed the day. Hopefully you both went away with a little bit of the love that we have for Maria's amazing stamps.

    I can't wait for spring so I can start blanketing my cards with Texas bluebonnets!!

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