SOCK MONKEY'S GHOST!!!

You know how some people see the Virgin Mary in a potato chip and make like 4 billion dollars selling it on Ebay???

I think I've got a similar situation here on my Stampin' Scrub!! LOOK - IT'S SOCK MONKEY'S GHOST!!!!

Fall to your knees and immediately begin bidding on this monkey miracle!!

No, seriously, start bidding.

Really.

I am waiting for your bids.

In the meantime, I'll be waterboarding my local monopoly's DSL division employees. Yes, I am without DSL service again. They made me buy a new modem, which "fixed" the problem for about ten seconds. So I came home yesterday and had no DSL. Lights flashing everywhere. I'm really seriously studying waterboarding on the internet. I hear they break in like two seconds. Any who make it beyond that will be forced to BEHOLD THE TERRIFYING SOCK MONKEY GHOST!!!

I fully expect to have service restored nearly immediately.

So, sans internet, I decided to create last night. First, I took a bag of stamps - no, silly rabbits, POSTAGE stamps - that I had bought on the internet. You can buy them by the pound for collages. I bought them from a sweet lady in Florida.

First, I sorted them by color - red, blue, green, purple, patriotic. I pulled out all the weird modern ones. Not sure if I'll use those. Maybe I'll send them to some of you. I love the old ones that look like engravings, with fine sketch detail and a matte finish. Stamps used to be little works of art, and as I sorted hundreds and hundreds of them, I could see the time when it all changed, and they became artless clipart, with colors too bright, stark white backgrounds, none of that look of currency that they used to have. It's really pretty sad. Can we start a movement to bring back the old fashioned ones? I could look through them for hours. There were other interesting details, like on an Apollo stamp, the words "In the beginning, God..." Just those words. These days that would kick off lawsuits and constitutional amendments.

The nature stamps were particularly lovely. The butterflies with their scientific names and delicate shadows behind them...

And then, there were "metastamps". Stamps about stamps. Which I HAD to take a funny spin on. Since convention is - OMG IS IT JUST 10 DAYS AND A WAKEUP AWAY???

I cannot WAIT!! So I took the funniest stamps about stamping and added them to a card, with my beloved "Stamping Fun for Everyone" set.

This little lady (an abstract version of me, happily stamping) is dressed in the new Bella Rose paper from the upcoming catalog. Her stamping surface is clean, and she is wearing her favorite pearl earrings. Her hair is all stylishly poofy. She's dreaming of the "World Stamp Expo" in Salt Lake in OMG 10 DAYS, where she will do some "Stamp Collecting" in what can ONLY be called a FEDERATION of women!!!

Well, actually, I don't have a clean stamping desk and don't typically stamp all poofed and pearls, but the rest is completely true!!

Note the rhinestone I added to Glitzy Abe, and the PERFECTLY placed Rain Dot I added to the magnifying glass! I was so tickled with myself after that!!


I used some retired Stampin' Up! DSP I've been hoarding that looks like peeling paint - it was gorgeous. The card base is the new Riding Hood Red which is a beautiful color.

The table is made from some DSP I can't remember, and my lovely look alike is carefully colored with Copics.

If you think I didn't consider giving her some 1974 glittery blue eyeshadow YOU'D BE WRONG, cuz I totally did!!


Then I raised her and the table up with dimensionals.

Down the side I paper wove (weaved?) a strip of DSP into holes punched with my new Fiskars border punch I got at Joann's the other day. Why in the world I bought a punch 10 DAYS before convention is completely beyond me.

A word about punches though - you need to appreciate Stampin UP!

The Fiskars ones are okay, but the tree punch I use later in this post I actually had to STAND ON to punch. Stampin' Up! makes the best punches without a doubt.

I'm completely serious - stood on it with my full weight!!


Did I mention that convention is in 10 days?

Because it is. And I'm going. And here's proof. I got my badge and my bag voucher in the mail yesterday. Note that it says "Please bring this voucher with you to Convention - you will need it to receive your convention bag."

LIKE ANY OF US ARE GOING TO FORGET THAT?!?!? THE BAG CONTAINS FREE STAMP SETS FROM THE NEW CATALOG, THE NEW CATALOG AND OTHER ASSORTED GOODIES. MOST OF US WOULD WRESTLE THIS VOUCHER OUT OF THE JAWS OF A GRIZZLY BEAR IF NEED BE.

Sheesh.

Anyway - wow, I've never hit that little "Preview" button when working on a blog post before. Cool.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, SOCK MONKEY'S ghost!! Brrr - scawwy.

Well his ghost put me in a creeeepy mood, so I decided to work with my Pacific Point Blue cardstock again and get you all in the mood for Halloween!!

I was actually inspired by this stamp I found in my bag. I think this is just beautiful.

A deep blue, a haunting orange and a really stark style.

So I whipped out my Doodle Factory Halloween set and came up with this.

The card base is Pacific Point Blue, then a layer of Kiwi DSP from the Bella Rose pack, then more Pacific Point Blue.

I stamped the moon with craft white with the small circle from Simply Circles. Then I smooshed around it with a sponge dauber and did the same for the ground.

Then I jumped up and down on this tree punch to get three black trees and the foot equivalent of carpal tunnel syndrome. I highlighted the trees with my white gel pen and stuck them on the card with glue dots. I colored my little pumpkin head with copics, and stuck him on with a dimensional. I love how his arms drag the ground!!

Luressa got me those glitter pens from Target that I just love.

I used them to give him little eye veins.

Oops - I see now I forgot to color his stem.

Oh well. We'll pretend it's a SKULL BONE!!

tee hee... I love Halloween.

Now, onto another Joann find - a crackle finish glaze and this gorgeous fabric that inspired my next card. I loved the reds and oranges and yellows in the swirls. I recreated them with Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie and Ruby Red by taking the medium circle from Simply Circles (yeah, it was on my desk already) and twisting them on the card stock. To get the more open circles just use the Rock & Roll technique before stamping so that the center isn't inked. Really fun.

Then I stamped the coffee cups from Like it a Latte in Summer Sun and added Pumpkin Pie and Ruby Red with a blender pen around the edges. I cut them out, stuck them together and put them on the black scallop, which is stuck on with dimensionals.

Then I applied this fabulous glaze!!! In the old days you had to use Crystal Effects, let it dry and then gently crack it and hope for both "random" and not tearing your paper. With this all you do is put it on and wait - IT CRACKLES ITSELF!!

It is just gorgeous and looks just like broken glass or old china glaze.

I just loved the bright colors in this.

And yeah, coffee makes me HAPPY!!

Speaking of yellow and coffee, I had the new Vivanno smoothie thingy at Starbucks yesterday. I had the Banana, Orange and Mango one. Not only was it yummy and cool - barely sweet, which I like - but it has 16 grams of protein! Holy cow - that's great for me because I don't eat enough at all. The chocolate banana one has 21!!! Go try one immediately!!

Finally, I leave you with a better shot of my painting, since so many of you asked to see it. Someday I'll show you the other ones I've done - most of them are blue...

This was inspired by a painting I saw in Santa Fe of aspens in the fall and it always makes me think of that enchanting place!! it's acrylic on an unframed canvas and I think it's 6" x 4" or something similar.

















So until next time, Happy Stamping!!!