Mother's Little Helper

Confessions of a Procrastinator...

Boy, I'm just all about airing my personal transgressions these days, aren't I?!  Heaven knows there's plenty of blog fodder to be found there... But before I get too navel-gazey (<-- that's a technical term), I'll have you know that today's mea culpa actually does pertain to stamping.

A few months ago I was contacted by a very nice lady and stamp company owner named MaryAnn.  She wondered if I might be willing to create a few card samples for her using her delightful images.  Of course, I was flattered, accepted, and selected some images to play with.  You saw a bunch of samples I made with her Hula Bunnies in, oh, when was that?  Yeah.  DECEMBER.

I received a gentle reminder email from MaryAnn over the weekend that made me want to crawl under my desk and assume the fetal position to escape the tornado of self-loathing that was surely going to tear through my craft room.  It's MARCH, for heaven's sake!!! 

I tried to examine the reasons why I put this particular assignment off so badly.  Of the six images I signed up to work with, I still had two that had yet to see ink.  Was it this one?  Was this the reason I was avoiding making good on my end of the bargain?

Of course not.  I can do a surfing cartoon bunny wearing a grass skirt and sunglasses in my sleep!  You know that!  (By the way, this awesome layout was created by my friend Kristen Dubosque and can be found on her blog here.) No, no, it wasn't the surfing bunny.

It was

THE FLOWER!

I assume you all know that I have a teeny-tiny little complex about my ability to stamp floral images.  I think it has something to do with the fact that I am a serial plant killer in real life.  Anyway, when I selected the images I wanted to work with from Stamp LaJolla, I chose a stargazer lily because those are my all-time favorite flowers.  They were the main flowers in my bridal bouquet, and both times I was in the hospital having my boys, I received beautiful stargazer lily arrangements; I now associate their scent with my two greatest blessings.  Ordering that stamp seemed like a good idea at the time...

I had painted myself into a corner.  Should I send MaryAnn back the stamp with the cowardly admission that I just couldn't do it?  Or, should I download a little Rocky theme music, pull myself together, and face my floral fears?

Here's my Apollo Creed, inked up for your viewing pleasure:

And here's what it looked like after a round in the ring with me:

Yeah.  As my Project Runway BFF Christian would say, "It's pretty fierce."  Go ahead.  Click on it to see it really big.  You know you want to...
Allow me a moment to gloat.  Now remind me I should have done this three months ago and to get my butt to the post office PRONTO!

Supplies used:

Surfer Celebration -- Stamps: Hula Bunny Ridin' the Waves, Celebrate by Stamp LaJolla; Paper: Ballet Blue and Wild Wasabi by SU!, dotted patterned paper by Doodlebug Designs, speckled patterned paper by Creative Memories, waves patterned paper by Flair; Ink: Brilliance Archival Graphite Black, Brilliant Blue by SU!; Accessories: Copic Sketch and Spica markers, Liquid Applique, oversized brads, Creative Memories wavy cutter, foam mounting tape.

Apollo Creed's Lily -- Stamps: Stargazer (large) and Happiness Comes Through Doors by Stamp LaJolla; Paper: Purely Pomegranate by SU!, Georgia Pacific White, patterned paper by Making Memories; Ink: Brilliance Archival Graphite Black, Purely Pomegranate by SU!; Accessories: Copic Sketch and Spica markers, white pen, Making Memories Ribbon slot tool, SU! ribbon, Dimensionals.

Bloggers Challenge # 31

Today's Bloggers Challenge was to use the layout used for the 'Everything Baby' card on the bottom of page 141 of the current Stampin' Up! catalog.
I modified it a teensy bit, because I wanted to kill two birds with one stone (you know me, always on the look out for a two-fer!) and make a sample for Stamp LaJolla while I was at it.  A lot of stamp companies that travel to various stamp and hobby shows prefer standard sized cards because they fit their display boards better.  So rather than using the long note size as pictured in the catalog, I converted the sketch to fit a regular ol' 4.25" x 5" card front.

Speaking of stamp shows, I'm kinda jealous because last weekend Jen and Susan attended the StampScrapArtTour in Mesquite, TX, without me.  Jen even had the nerve to call me from there to tell me that Stamp LaJolla had a booth, that she was going to go chat it up with MaryAnn, the owner, and that she'd tell her 'hi!' for me.   I guess Jen and Susan aren't aware of the rule that my friends are not allowed to have fun without me, even if I do live hundreds of miles away.  It's just plain rude!

Anyway... Aren't these bunnies too much fun?  I don't know about you, but I kind of shoot the breeze with my images to figure out what's going on in their little world.  From what I understand, the white bunny is mystified by the hairy chests of his two buddies, who have suddenly gotten so cool they wear shades even when it's super cloudy and a wintery mix is in the forecast.  I didn't want to make the white bunny feel bad, so I didn't mention what was obvious to me: his friends are going through puberty ahead of him.  Which would explain their recent disinterest in Webkinz and NeoPets, in favor of things like text messaging and I.M.ing.  In the immortal words of Peter and the rest of the Brady Kids, "When it's time to change, you have to rearrange/Who you are and what you wanna be (sha na na na na na na na na/sha na na na na!)"

Supplies used -- Stamps: image and sentiment by Stamp LaJolla; Paper: Georgia Pacific White, Kraft, Perfect Plum; Ink: Brilliance Archival Graphite Black, Perfect Plum; Accessories: Cuttlebug, ribbon, paper piercer and mat pack, Copic Sketch markers, Fun Flock, Prima paper flower, gem brad, 3-M foam mounting tape.

BY/BUY THE WAY! Paper Pretties is gearing up for yet another new release on Monday night!   Yep,  Christie and the gang are introducing not one, not two, but THREE new sets!  The Prettie Party starts at 7 p.m. CST, so be sure to join us for lots of fun, chatting, and prizes, not to mention the crowning of the first CUTIE PIE!  What's that you say?  YOU want to be the first Cutie Pie?  Well, then you better get busy, because the entries are due tomorrow Sunday.  Check out the Paper Clip for all the details.  And while you're there, be sure to check out all the fabulous new ribbon in the Boutique (particularly the Seasonal section -- lots of yummy American Crafts valentine ribbon!  And yes, I do have an order on it's way to me...).  The Prettie Girls are giving sneak peeks of the new sets as I type this, so be sure to visit the C's (Christie and Charmaine) and the J's (Julie, Joanne, Jillian, and Jana) blogs right now.  This very second.  What are you waiting for?!  Go!

The Bunnies are multiplying like... rabbits!

More Hula Bunnies by Stamp LaJolla! These are such fun stamps to play with!  You can get them either mounted or unmounted.  These days, I prefer unmounted stamps for storage purposes.  I can honestly say that the unmounted stamps (with cling foam already attached) I received from Stamp LaJolla were the most neatly trimmed stamps I have ever laid eyes on.  Good stuff! 

I think this Bubble Bath Bunny is such a cutie.  As I was thinking about how I wanted to color her, I said to myself, "Well, real rabbits aren't purple, so maybe I should color her tan..."  Then I reminded myself that real rabbits don't take bubble baths or wear their ears in bows, so I could color her how ever I pleased.  This image was actually stamped three times: once on the background so that the steam and shadows would appear properly, once on white cardstock for me to color in Miss Bunny, and once on the purplish gray cardstock for the bathtub.  Miss Bunny was colored with Copics, and then she and the tub were cut out and glued on the background scene (don't you like her cute wall paper?).  The sentiment was stamped on top and then a little Liquid Applique was heated to make bubbles.  Cuteness!

The Dust Bunnies were a little tougher.  I don't have any patterned paper with me that fit the image to my liking (though I can think of a half-dozen different pieces I have at home... *sigh*), so I made my own by cutting large scalloped squares of colored cardstock with my Nestabilities, then cutting those squares into thirds and piecing them together.   Doesn't it look kind of like a slice of Neopolitan ice cream from the carton?  Again, I stamped the bunnies on the background paper, on a piece of brown cardstock to make their 'floor' and then on white to color them.  Isn't this a clever image?  Those aprons crack me up!

Supplies used -- Stamps: images and sentiments by Stamp LaJolla; Paper: Lovely Lilace, Chocolate Chip, Georgia Pacific White, various colors of textured cardstock from DCWV Mat Pack, patterned paper by Karen Neuburger and Marcella by K & Co.; Ink: Brilliance Archival Graphite Black; Accessories: Copic Sketch and Spica Markers, ribbon, Liquid Applique, Nestabilities.

Santa and Carter
We didn't have to go to therapy at EuroPeds today, so Carter and I had the whole day ahead of us with no agenda.  We decided to head on over to Frankenmuth (about an hour away) to check out Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, which is apparently the world's largest Christmas store.  I can definitely believe it -- it was humongous.  There was so much Christmas stuff in there, it was truly overwhelming, and you can only imagine what the crowd was like on a Saturday in December... One of the neat things is that they have Santa there for kids to take their pics with, but no photographer -- parents just use their own camera.  I don't know about you, but it always bugs me a tiny bit to have to shell out $10+ for a tiny 3"x5"  of Santa or the Easter Bunny with kiddo on the lap.  Carter wasn't too sure of what to think about Santa once he actually got up there on his lap, but at least he didn't cause a scene.  I managed to get several pictures and Carter managed to look adorable. : )

Tomorrow, Sean and Truman are coming for a quick visit (they leave on Monday night) so we are very excited!  Keep your fingers crossed that the predicted bad weather will miss us so their flight won't be cancelled or have major delays!

Hula Bunnies!

A few posts ago I mentioned that I had been sent some stamps by a company that wanted me to make some samples for them.  And here's the first one -- isn't it a hoot?!  It's one of the Hula Bunnies from Stamp LaJolla.  There are all sorts of Hula Bunnies -- you name it, and you can probably find a Hula Bunny doing it (cooking, playing soccer, taking a shower, dressed like a princess...).  I chose this particular Bunny because he reminded me of my friend Kristi (kmallett78 on SCS)'s son, Bo.  Bo is in the fourth grade and is a Master Hula Hooper.  Seriously, you've never seen anyone in your life Hula Hoop for as long as this kid can!  He discovered his talent while at Disney World.  The fam was waiting for the parade on Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom when one of the characters passed out Hula Hoops for the kids to play with.  Bo had a natural talent for it apparently -- he was so good and drew such a crowd that he was asked to join the parade!  And it's not just around his hips; he can keep it going around his neck, arms, while walking, you name it.  I have a DVD that he and his step-dad (aka Brad, my DH's law partner and best friend since the 1st grade) made as a goof one weekend called "Bo's Hula Hoop Workout"  -- it's hilarious, and if it ever got on YouTube, I know Bo would end up being interviewed on the Today Show and David Letterman.  The kid is a Hula Hooping prodigy.

Bo Bunny was colored with Copic Sketch markers then cut out and mounted on textured cardstock by DCWV.  The background paper is from one of Basic Grey's 6"x6" pads, and the base is Basic Black.  I threw a few oversized brads in the corner for good measure, and because I didn't have any matching ribbon here in the frozen tundra.  (By the way, it is so flippin' cold here in Michigan; my feet are like blocks of ice!  And snow is being predicted for the morning... Brrr!)

Supplies used -- Stamps: image and sentiment by Stamp LaJolla; Paper: Basic Black, textured green cardstock from DCWV Mat Stack, patterned paper by Basic Grey; Ink: Brilliance Archival Graphite Black; Accessories: Copic Sketch Markers, brads by Making Memories, 3-D Dots.