Christmas is here!

Been a slacker. Here are two cards I made at Paperdoll's Collage Art Card Making Class.

Below is made with rubber stamps and a tacky old card, cut up to look less overpowering. The silver was a border around the entire card and it had a silver christmas tree in the middle... yikes!


Next up is just a bunch of paper put together. I love it. Musical paper and stamps make me want to know what it is and what it sounds like. Maybe it's a dirge or a horrible composition. It could be the Itsy Bitsy Spider for all we know!

Chandelier Happiness

Using some of the stamps I just got! Yay! I have always wanted the Chandelier stamp from Impress but wasn't sure. I still love it and finally bought it since Impress is now selling to retailers! I so want to take a field trip up to the retail store... I better start saving!

(Chandelier from Impress/Savvy, Scalloped dots from A Muse, Sentiment from Wordsworth).



The curtain is neato but I'm never sure if I'm using it in the right manner. It's too refined for my general stamping personality but I like it a lot. So, here it is.

(Chandelier from Impress/Savvy, Sentiment and dotted circle from Cats Life Press, Curtain from Stampers Anonymous). All supplies were bought from Paperdoll!
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my newest stamps

I have purchased a lot of new stamps lately. Joann has a lot of new clear stamps that are on sale and become about $5 per sheet so I just cannot resist.


As a nurse, I see lots of sick people. I often wish I could make and give some of them get well cards, but I can't since that would be crossing boundaries. My mom, who lives on a small island however, seems to know a lot of people that become ill or are taking the "Journey Home," as I like to call it. So I get to come up with get well cards that I think I would prefer than the run of the mill Get Well cards. I think the cards above and below are ones I'd like to get if I were having to deal with cancer and surgery. (Sometimes I feel like I sound insensitive when it comes to a person's well-being so if I do, I'm sorry).

The Buddha stamp is from Inkadinkado. Flourish from Impress. Sentiments both from Wordsworth (I'm pretty sure).


Okay, I know I make a lot of "sympathy" cards but my mom requests them. I guess shopping for them isn't any fun so I have the honor of making them for her. I don't mind making them though. I like try creating beautiful sympathy cards with a meaning. I especially like to use birds that are looking up because it seems that they're looking to another place.

Bird is a newbie for me, from Inkadinkadoo. Flourish from Judikins.


On to a happier note... my friends have just purchased and moved into a new house! I've been wanting to use the tree paper for something special and now I have found its purpose! I don't really care that it looks like fall and the current season is spring... Anyway, the house is new for me. I don't know who makes it but I will find out later and post it here. Thanks for looking! I'd like to hear comments if anyone reads this. Cheers!

Red :: Black :: Silver

I had the ugliest bulk envelope box... now it's bearable. I'm a lazy, sloppy paper-coverer so you can see heaps of raw edges and creases. I just like to "MacGuyver" ugly things to look at least decent. I really want to get the Crop-A-Dile Big Bite but I am too lazy to go to the store that is carrying them. For the tag thingy, I just glued it, along with the brads on (bent the tabbies so they wouldn't show) with Diamond Glaze, my version of most peoples' duct tape. My experience with the Diamond Glaze is that it hold better and smells better than Krazy Glue. Another plus... it makes things shiny!



I absolutely love these stamps from Cats' Life Press. They're both so me. I'm not good at collaging but I think these would be so funny in a great collage. Or as a *hint hint* to a hairdresser or seamstress. [All stamps Cat's Life Press, except for the polka dot background on the "no clothes" card. I believe that's Impress.]


Four of the schools I have attended in my lifetime has had red and black, or red and white as the school colors. I wonder sometimes if that's the reason I like these colors together. Hopefully I don't get too attached to the colors of my other schools though... two involve that ugly royal-grape purple. Yuck!

Birds and Ocean

My friend, who was a successful private-practice dentist in Peru and basically "nothing" here got into a dental health program at my alma mater, Pacific University. Congrats!

Using my new stamp from Impress... the light blue flourish thingy. Goldish-green flourish I think is Judikins. Bird is Cats Life Press. Sentiment is Amuse. Went overboard with the Stickles glitter.

Partially inspired by "Harold" (see below). Same flourish as above. Bird from Impress. Don't know where the sentiment comes from. Mini ric rack from my grandma's old stash.

Weekend at the Oregon Coast, Canon Beach. Beautiful sunset reflecting off the estuary.
"Harold" (we named him) the seagull that begged for food multiple times a day.

One (Stamp) Love

The common stamp is from Stampington Co. I love it, although I really don't know what to do with it. Here's a couple of things I came up with...


[Sentiment from Cats Life Press.]



[Signature background, damask and flourish from Judikins (used the other half of the stamped paper from the card in the previous post).]

[Damask and flourish from Judikins.]

Variety Pack

Hi. Been back to stamping once or twice since starting my new job. Here's a few I made...

Quick and simple. There's a little sheep on the onesie in white that you can't see. [Still don't know who makes the onesie and sentiment is AMuse.]



Sentiment is opposite from the one above... I guess that's the circle of life... [Tree background, flourish and damask are Judikins. Bird is a miniature version of the one I'm in love with from Invoke. Sentiment from My Sentiments Exactly.]



Another simple card. [Stamp from Paperbag Studios.]



My friend wearing a hat I knitted.

Simple Cards, Knitting, and Sewing

Hi! I've finally made some cards! I am obsessed with this bird from Cats Life Press and I keep finding myself using it in the same place with the words in the same place (bird right side and words upper left). I also love Stickles.

Thank you from Impress. I used Stickles as accents.


I went crazy with the orange and yellow Stickles.

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Here's my Knitted and Sewed goods. I started knitting in December so don't laugh... I also cannot seem to get my scarf to uncurl. I think I'm just too lazy to do much about it though. Below is my second-made scarf, encircling a reusable java jacket that I made. It fits paper cups from your local java joint. The first scarf I made was lost the day I finished making it! So sad.

My first hat. I had to put the "Monkey Business" pin on to hide a couple holes I made.


Hope you're all having a good day and take care!

Motivated by an email

I got my first email from my cards today (WhatUpEchidna@gmail.com)! I feel SO special. I also feel like I REALLY need to start posting more. So here's a Christmas card I selvaged from this other style that really needed something else (in other words, it was too boring for me). I have to tell you that I am in love with Stickles right now. Oh, the hat is colored with prismacolor pens and the white parts have liquid appliqué added and puffed with the heat gun.


This is a thank you card that I made into Christmas gifts. I sent packs of 8 or 10 (depending on how lazy or motivated I was feeling) to family and friends. It's also the style that I auctioned off at school to help my senior class! BTW I'm almost a full fledged nurse! Just need to take the NCLEX and have someone hire me!


Well, take care. Hope you had a fantastic Christmas and I wish you all the best in the new year. I hope that I can create more cards to share, but I am now engrossed with knitting (my newest hobby, started 1 month ago!). I'll post pictures of my scarves and hat later. Cheers!

More Stuff Made on Maui

Hello. I finally got my pics from the cards I made back on Maui. Here are a few of them... I made them upolad small so they would not take up too much room.

Insomnia got the best of me...

Here is a card that I made in the wee hours of the morning. I couldn't sleep and decided to stamp... until 0430. I'm not the happiest with it, but the card makes me smile... I miss the beach. I made others but those are my samples for my make and takes (and cuter, I think).

(A Muse Surf Shop, Fence, Waves, and sentiment. Ribbon is "wavy". I just omitted glue on the parts that I wanted to stick up a bit.)

You're Cool!

I made this card for my parents since they let me stay with them for almost three weeks while I was visiting. They also let me use their cars, including my mom's precious Prius, pretty much whenever I wanted. Of course they're my family, but I think they really went out of their way to accommodate me. Anyway, I got three of these A Muse stamps during A Muse A Palooza... the two new stamps "you're cool" and little penguin, and the pool is new for me. The grass is practically a basic that every A Muse fan has. The green paper is from Target and is really stinky... actually, more like toxic. Woo! You get a good whiff when you open the package. Probably made in China.

This one's for Janene

Hey. I was bad and went to Paperdoll today. I bought these two new stamps (flourish from and tree birds--actually a "book belongs to" stamp, both from Impression Obsession) as well as a clear set of words (love) by Clearly Wordsmith, and had to use them... literally... there's a wedding coming up. I took forever in Paperdoll and Janene helped me pick out the perfect stamps. I made this tonight with Marvy LePlume II pens and some new inks that I got from Art House (Versa Color). I messed up on the scalloped edges with the blue and green so I used my finger to smudge in sky and grass. It might be just a bit over done, but I like it Hope you do too! Cheers!

Made on Maui

Here's a card I made for a friend that took me around hiking and dancing on my vacation. He's a bit of a partier and has a house good for dance parties. I gave it to him after he was talking about how big his place was for just him to be living there and he was impressed that the timing was so perfect.




Amuse sentiment, Judikins slippers or "flip flops".

Making cards in paradise

Hey all! I'm back in my homeland of Hawaii. Just visiting my family and old friends. It's been fun so far but I am constantly tired. Maybe it's my allergies to Maui (the sneezing and sinus stuffiness always returns when I return). Anyway, I brought over a few stamps, am buying a few Hawaiian stamps, and making some cards! I haven't really used the Hawaiian stamps yet but here's two cards I've made so far.

A thank you card for my mom's friend. My mom has a poodle and wanted it on the card (as I knew she would). I don't have all my tools here so I had to get creative with the direct-to-paper method in order to fill in the empty top portion. Making this card was super fun!

This card was for a childhood friend's surprise baby shower. Today was the day of the event and I crossed out all the days leading up to today. She's actually due in August so I stamped another calendar (A Muse) on the inside and filled it in for August. "Counting down" was individually stamped and cut out, similar to the other baby card I made. I'll post more when I get more done!

Kissy Birds

Another wedding this weekend! Cats Life Press birds (embossed), most embellishment stuff I got from Paperdoll. Yay!

Coming soon...

I recently found out that one of my best friends from high school is pregnant! So super exciting since he's a honeymoon baby. This is the card I made for them...


I don't know what the onesie is but the duck is from River City Rubberworks. I used snippets from the Willamette Week to do the lettering.

Challenge #8

This challenge is to make a card for an odd day of celebration. I am representing Turkey Lover's Month... that's June. The turkey is obviously happy because it's not being eaten... I love turkey because they're good to eat so I will celebrate Turkey Lover's Month for sure!

A super quick card made with A Muse stamps from clear holiday set.

Seaglass and Lilac

Hey! I made some cards a couple of nights ago. I got four new Color Box cat eye inkpads. Seaglass, lilac, orange and fresh green. I found that seaglass and lilac look pretty good together so I made a few cards with that color scheme. I also got new clear stamps from Craft Warehouse because they were on sale. They're the wavy, curly, viney ones from Technique Tuesday. It's cool because you can bend the clear stamps so some of the curlies have more of a curve than others. The bird is one of two of my first stamps that I ever bought; it's from Cats Life Press, another one of my fav stamp companies.




This last one I made last and although it didn't turn out as I had imagined, I think it's okay. I used Martha Stewart clear letter stamps. It sucks getting them off the backing and they're not all cut properly so I had to take an exacto knife to them. Oh well, it was MUCH less expensive than other brands and I like the small size of the font. Hope you like my cards!

Glitter Challenge

Here's my entry for A Muse's glitter challenge. Not too much glitter, but I like it that way... (it's on the steam). A Muse wavy background stamp, big block, and sentiment. Yum, coffee...