Mother's Little Helper

It's the most crazy time of the year...

Long time, no see!  I've asked myself how it was that I could stamp and blog almost daily while out of town, but haven't posted once in the week since I've been home?  It's been a whirlwind of insanity around here, and I'm paying the price for lots of procrastination.  We've had various and sundry Christmas parties to attend almost every night.  Yesterday, I fought the crowds at the mall for several hours and got the bulk of my shopping done, but there are still a couple of stops I need to make.  And for the first time, The Burrage Holiday Newsletter will be hitting mailboxes after Christmas.  *sigh*

As a Christmas present to myself, I'm going to let me off the hook: it's all going to be okay, and next year I'll get my holiday game back on.  2007: I'm not at my holiday finest, but 2008?  Watch out, Martha! 

Speaking of the wrapping up 2007, here's a sample for Jen's last Sketch For You To Try of the year.  It's a great one for a long, rectangular image.  This is my first time to get this Rubber Romance Diva, Bunnie, inky.  I paper pieced her robe in Chatterbox patterned paper, and colored her in with Copic Sketch markers.  The highlighted cup o' mocha is one of the mugs from My Favorite Things' Hot Stuff set.  The color scheme was based on this week's Splitcoast Color Challenge, to use Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi, and So Saffron.   Be sure to check out Shannan's take on the sketch; it's sure to get your inspirational mojo going!  And if you use the sketch and upload it to your SCS gallery, use "SFYTT" as a keyword so we can be sure to check it out.

Supplies used -- Stamps: Rubber Romance Diva Bunnie, MFT Hot Stuff, A Muse mini oval, Paper Salon Monogram Builder; Paper (all SU! unless otherwise noted): Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi, Georgia Pacific white, Chatterbox patterned paper;  Ink: Brilliance Archival Graphite Black, Elegant Eggplant, Going Gray; Accessories: Copic Sketch markers, ribbon, Sakura Glaze pen, brown Liquid Applique, foam mounting tape.

I'm hopeful I'll get a chance to stamp in the next couple of days and make updates here and there, but in case I don't, I wish you and yours a cozy, joy-filled Christmas.

Storms of Life

It's kind of a gloomy day in these parts. On the outside, it's beautiful fall weather. The sun is shining, the temperature will be in the seventies for the majority of the day, pumpkins are on porches, etc. But in Tulsa (the closest major city to where I live -- about 20 miles away) it's dark, indeed. Yesterday was a big vote for a River Parks project that would have totally revitalized the city. Among many other initiatives, it would have created an area along the Arkansas River reminiscent of San Antonio's River Walk or Oklahoma City's Bricktown, which in turn would have brought tourism, jobs, and a new energy to a city sorely in need. Despite the best efforts of many, the measure was defeated, and it will be another 10 years or so of decline before another generation tries once more. *Sigh.*

This card is for today's sketch challenge as well as for two of our friends who helped spearhead the abovementioned effort. The sentiment is computer generated and reads, "Friendship is shelter from life's storms." The stamp is one of the Rubber Romance Divas -- Tiffany is her name. She's wearing a lovely trench coat in Purely Pomegranate, with a dash of Twinkling H2Os. Her bag and creamy complexion are from Copic Sketch Markers, and her umbrella is from Cricut's adorable Doodlecharms paper pack. Her hair is styled by Copics, with Twinkling H2O highlights, but she's a little miffed because she thinks they're chunky and not well-blended. You know what I tell Tiffany? You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Maybe if she'd tip me better...

Supplies used -- Stamps: Tiffany by Rubber Romance, Faux Ribbon by Paper Trey Ink; Paper: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White, Doodlecharms patterned paper by Cricut; Ink: Brilliance Archival Granite, Purely Pomegranate; Accessories: Twinkling H2Os, Copic Sketch Markers, SU! ribbon, computer and Susie's hand font, 3-D Dots, Watercolor Wonder Crayons.

Featured Stamper Sunday -- Jenn Balcer

Today's Featured Stamper for SCS's Sunday Challenge is to case a card by an SCS legend, Jenn Balcer. To analogize, if SCS were the world, Julie Ebersole would be it's Oprah. And Jenn Balcer would be one of the first people she would put on her invitation list to her Legends Ball. Let's say that Jenn Balcer might be Toni Morrison or Dr. Maya Angelou. In other words, Jenn Balcer is the shizzle. I chose this card of hers to CASE 1) because it's gorgeous and 2) because it gave me the opportunity to play with my new Rubber Romance diva stamps. Isn't Melanie stunning? I wish I could pull off wearing a hat and heels like those while out for a day of shopping...

Here's how I changed my card up:

1. Different color scheme -- I wanted to use the SU! Fall Flowers designer paper, so I built my colors around Old Olive, Soft Sky, Really Rust, and River Rock. I knew I wanted to use my Copic Sketch Markers, and because I prefer Brilliance Archival ink to use with those, I selected the Brilliance Coffee Bean ink pad which looks a lot like Really Rust.

2. Different embellishments -- I wanted a little bit more of a tailored look (and I didn't have any of the cute Queen & Co. tiny flowers that Jenn used), so I opted for brads on Melanie's hat band and ribbon.

3. I added the tissue paper coming out of her bags. I think this is such a neat touch, and I first saw it used with this stamp by Ana Wohlfarht when she was the guest designer for Jen del Muro's blog.

Supplies used -- Stamps: Melanie by Rubber Romance; Paper (all SU! unless otherwise noted): Old Olive, Soft Sky, Really Rust, Paper Trey White, Fall Flowers dp, random tissue paper; Ink: Brilliance Archival Coffee Bean; Accessories: Copic Sketch Markers, mini brads by Queen & Co, SU! ribbon, 3-D Dots.