Birthday Wishes....

Somedays do you feel like your life is spinning a little out of control as your to do list gets longer and the hours in the day get shorter? I think I've felt that way now for about three months...uggh! Hence, this very late birthday card that I finally got in the mail this week. I really have adopted the "better late than never" adage, especially as of late. This little set is from one of my favorite stamp companies...Verve Stamps. They have beautifully designed unique stamps, but my favorite is their saying sets....they always have really great sayings that I haven't been able to find anywhere else. Go check them out, especially for Valentine's Day! Their Hearts on Fire is my FAVORITE! So much so, that it's permanently inked on my body. (Don't read this part mom!) They will also be having a new release party in a couple of days on the 15th. Check them out you won't be disappointed. =)

This little bird comes from a set called Birthday Surprise. Isn't she cute? It's not one of the newer sets, but I love the swirly cue's on most of their sets...very girlie...I need girl power over here, I'm being smothered by the testosterone....Lord help me! Ha! I must be in a blue mood, which is strange usually it's pink for me, but I find myself being drawn to blue's this month. Must be the winter color or something. The blue used here is Buckaroo Blue (a retired SU color) but you could substitute Bashful Blue or Ballet Blue. Mounted on the base color is Barely Banana. I embossed a circle in the middle using my circle Spellbinders Nestabilities and then cut a scalloped circle out with the scalloped set out of the same Buckaroo Blue paper. The bird was stamped in Pallette Noir black ink which you can find at Ellen Hutson's store and the colored with copic markers in the following colors - BV08 Blue Violet, BG09 Blue Green, Y19 Napoli Yellow, R14 Light Rouge and RV17 Deep Magenta. I love my copics because they enable you to blend several colors together to get almost any color you could want. I bought mine from Ellen Hutson awhile back because she spent a lot of time with tutorials and putting sets together (and she was having a really great sale!) I utilize her site often so I felt it only right to buy from her as well. Expensive investment, but soooo worth it! The image is stamped in Buckaroo Blue on Whisper White CS then mounted on Buckaroo Blue paper. Both were punched out with the Marvy Uchida rectangular scalloped punches white in the Mega size, Blue in the giga size. The present and saying are from the same Verve set and the present has a dimensional behind it. Ribbon is retired SU organdy ribbon. Hope you are find some inspiration today and that you will be back soon. Happy stamping!

Starting out on the right foot....

So last year's blogging here at Bunker Thoughts was mediocre at best. One of my goals for the New Year is to attempt to blog on a more regular basis. Thanks to all of you who have stuck by me! =)

Blogging isn't the only thing that has gone by the wayside in the last year, unfortunately, so has my stamping. I did get some cards made for the holidays and a few other things throughout the year, but I am really hoping to get some scrapbooking caught up in the very new future. I know I might be a little behind on the front of digital scrapbooking, but my interest has been piqued for some time now. Recently I decided to venture down that road. After I finish this post, I'm going to try my hand at my first digital pages. Stay tuned for the result (crossing fingers).

In the meantime I had the need for a wedding card and I wanted something a little different, so I pulled out one of my favorite Papertrey Ink sets, Quilter's Sampler. Being a former, sometimes, and someday again quilter....the set holds a special spot in my heart. The colors were the wedding colors and that became my inspiration for the card scheme. The card color is Pink Pirouette (a retired SU color) and Close to Cocoa. The border on the bottom is also retired SU paper. I stamped the quilt blocks in Close to Cocoa and then colored them with my copic marker in R14 Light Rouge. Speaking of Copics, my friend Sharon Harnist has a great tutorial over here at the JustRite Stamps blog today on coloring with your copics. She is AMAZING and I could go on and on about the beautiful things she creates but you should just do yourself a favor and go look for yourself. While you are over at Just Rite Stamps you should check out their stuff....very fun stamps! (insert enabler vibe here - ha ha!) Back to the card, the saying was also stamped in Close to Cocoa, the ribbon is a white satin scrap I salvaged from somewhere (?) and the quilt blocks were stamped on the reverse side of the designer series paper used for the little border I punched them out using the 3/4" square punch from Papertrey Ink and then bordered them with close to cocoa using the Marvy Uchida Extra Jumbo Scalloped Square punch. It is fairly simple compared to some of the other amazing art I have been seeing lately, but I like the way it turned out. Speaking of Papertrey Ink, it's a great time to head over to Nicole's blog and check out the pre-release sneak peeks she is showing. I love the tree set....until later this week....

Happy Stamping!

Shimmer Paint

It's all the rage have you heard? The new shimmer paint from SU. I ordered some on the advice of a friend and have been having a great time playing with it. It adds a new level of sparkle and well, shimmer, to all your holiday and everyday projects. I used the silver shimmer paint over both the Night of Navy and Suede paper from SU to create the backgrounds on these cards. The stamp set is by Inkie Dinky Doo. The snowflake border was created with a Martha Stewart punch.

Enjoy! Happy Stamping!

I think this might be my backup favorite....

This is the last card I made using the Serenity Now set for my friend's birthday present. It turned out much better than I thought, considering I almost never use these colors...so not the earth color girl. This is another one, where I found the green patterned paper (source unkown) in my stash and thought...I can make this work for a different look. I also used the little green ring from my stash. I had picked these up at Joann quite a while back and wasn't sure how I was going to work them into a project...but my thought was originally scrapbook pages...I liked the center of the flower idea. I think it came out nicely. I also like the embossing line I created from my rectangular nestabilities. We are off to finish out our birthday celebrations for the DH's birthday. Hope you have a happy Sunday and can get in some stamping.

Happy Stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps: Serenity Now (MFT Stamps)

Paper: Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White (SU) and Patterned Paper (Source Unknown)

Ink: Pallette Noir Black, Fresh Snow (PTI), Copic Markers E09 & E27 Pants, Y000 & G93 Mat, E00 Skin, YG63 Shirt

Acessories: Nestabilities Rectangles, Prima Flower, Small Frame (Joann)

Second to last....

Sorry I am posting a little late today. I have spent the majority of my day at birthday parties for kids and Lowe's shopping for table saws. Don't all get jealous at once. Needless to say...that errand is done and now, we have to gather some burly guys to get the enormous thing out of my truck. Uggh!

So, back to our card. There is only one more to go after this one. Are you loving this set or sick of the series? I hope you are enjoying them. There were fun to make, but definitely a challenge to make them look differently and only use on stamp set. =) This one came about because I foudn this purple and green scrap of paper in my paper scrap stash and it looked like lilacs to me. My favorite flower for spring. Maybe even my favorite all time...hard to say...there are so many great flowers. =) Tomorrow will be the grand finale. The final Namaste card I made and the final I will show you. Until then, Happy Saturday and Happy Stamping!


Recipe:
Stamps: Serenity Now (MFT Stamps)
Paper: Whisper White, Mellow Moss, Pale Plum (SU) and unknown Patterned Paper
Ink: Pallette Noir Black (PTI), Mellow Moss
Accessories: Moss Wide Organdy (SU Retired), Giga Rectangle Scalloped Punch (Marvy Uchida)

A Sad Goodbye....

Today is a sad day if you are from Colorado (at least if you've been here for awhile). A piece of our heritage has disappeared into the sunset today as one of our newspapers folded. What does that mean, you might be asking yourself? Why is that significant? I believe it is important not only to us as Coloradans, but it should be an important wake up call to everyone in the world. It marks a turning point in our future. It leaves me wondering about the future of our newspapers in our world. It is so easy to log on and get your news or watch the news on television, but the real objective news is only found in print. The in depth coverage of our daily lives, can only be found in the newspaper. It remains one of the tangible pieces of our history that is left in our very electronic world. If this trend continues for the newspaper industry, where does that leave us? If we sit by and watch newspapers become a part of our past, do we risk the ability to have objective news? Further than that, are we risking the ability to form an opinion based on facts? The Rocky Mountain News is one of many newspapers across our country threatened by extinction. Todays paper listed at least a dozen across the U.S. The Rocky Mountain News lost their fight today. A monument for nearly 150 years in Colorado is now gone. It breaks my heart a little. My grandfather worked for the News for nearly his entire life. Our family, our neighbors and our friends all read the News. Growing up it was a staple on our breakfast table. I continued that tradition in my own family. I am not sure why I was compelled to share this with all of you, but I thought it was important to pay tribute to this newspaper and the people who worked so hard for so long to make sure all of us had the news. To pay some respect to those who put their heart and soul into this paper. Thanks for reading, more stamping talk will be here tomorrow. If you would like to read more about the Rocky Mountain News or see the last issue, click here.

Did you know....

...that pink is my favorite color...hence this is my favorite card in this series. I think this was a natural occurence due to all the testosterone that flows freely in my house. I need something girlie to counteract it...pink seemed the simple solution. Not that my whole house is pink or anything, I just have pink here and there in accessories and such. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

Sometimes things just come together perfectly, that was the case with this card. I also love this silver hardware from SU. I originally bought it to share with my mom, but have since decided, I may have to save my pennies to get my own set....it is by far my favorite. I am going to try something a little different with this post, in hopes that I will hear from you all out there. I am going to post the recipe at the end of the post instead of within. If you will leave a comment letting me know which you prefer, that would be swell. Well, off to volunteer at one school today. Hope you are enjoying your day...thanks for stopping in.

Happy Stamping.

Recipe:
Stamps: Serenity Now (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Regal Rose, Whisper White and Bella Rose DSP (All SU)
Ink: Black Pallette Noir (PTI), Regal Rose (SU)
Markers: Copic Sketch RV20 (Shirt), E00 (Skin)
Accessories: Silver Hardware (SU), Ribbon from Hobby Lobby