Anything Goes!

Stamps: Girlfriends Live Well; Paper: Webster's Pages Lifes Portraits DP collection; Copics, handmade flower

Quickly posting my Woodware Challenge card for this week!!  As always, you are invited to join in for a chance to win a free WWUSA stamp set!!  Head over to the WWUSA Blog for the deets and to see the awesome inspiration the DT created for you!! 



I'm in Las Vegas this week with DH as you read this!!  Yahoooo!!  We're attending the "2011 ASD Trade Show" with my cousins who own a small boutique in NM (where they sell my cards and crafty items of their own!).  This trade show is for retailers and wholesalers to see what's new and place orders for product being showcased in over 40 categories -- cooking, cosmetics, clothes, jewelry, (yes crafts!), toys, home decor, etc. etc.!  There are over 3000 exhibitors !!  Whew!!  It should be fun to see "other" new products just hitting the market. We'll have plenty of time for other touristy stuff to do while we're there too!

BTW, I hear "Viva Las Vegastamps" is where I want to hang out!!  See this You Tube tour of the store!   Anyone out there in blog land been there??  What did you think?

Thanks for stopping by today!   Hope you come back tomorrow for the launch of a NEW challenge and Design Team news!!

Have a blessed day!

New Mexico at it's Best

Hi All,

Had such a great time visiting with family and seeing so much beauty while home this past week!  We attended my cousin's son's wedding, went to the Balloon Fiesta, took the train into Santa Fe for shopping, eating and site-seeing, and had a great time with my family.   The weather was absolutely gorgeous every day, how I miss that about New Mexico!!  I enjoyed every minute!



I took tons of pictures at the Balloon Fiesta and posted some of them here on this Flicker Account:  2010 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta   I hope you get a chance to view them. This is just one of those things that photographs can't compare to seeing it in person.  You must make it there at least once in your life time! 

Here on the left are two of my sisters: Tina (L) and Judy (R), with the amazing Jester Balloon.




This Noah's Ark Balloon was MASSIVE and fascinating with all the detail of the animals hanging off the sides!!  Just amazing!!  (Remember, more Balloon photos here!!)

In Santa Fe we did lots of site-seeing, some shopping -- mostly browsing (although DH did buy me a gorgeous necklace) and lots of eating!  The picture here is one of the many stained glass windows in the St. Francis Cathedral Basilica.

These are photos of some of the shopping, so colorful, so unique, and just such a great place to be!

Gorgeous, right?  It really was wonderful, I'm so blessed to have roots in New Mexico and understand the culture and the beauty of the area.  It is a wonderful place to visit, and a great place to call home!  I hope you get a chance to visit some time -- let me know if you do!!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

My Studio

I know everyone can relate. It just made me laugh tonight, so I snapped a pic and thought I'd throw it up on my blog. I've been stamping most of the evening, getting my Challenges done and trying to figure out what I'm going to do for next week's card club (yikes!). I finally stopped to get some pictures and take a brain break (I think a martini is in order, don't you?!?) and as I looked back and saw my desk as I walked away, I was quite amused, how the heck did that happen??!!

Thomas Kinkade - I'm in Love!!

It's been weeks since I've blogged...and stamped...but life brought priorites. My sister Judy had an abdominal hysterectomy (I know, TMI !!) on Thursday (Dec. 18) so I spent several days before that getting ready for Christmas so that I could devote my time to helping her out while she was in the hospital. I stayed with her in the hospital (and wow, the hospital was Hollywood caliber) and then stayed with her the first night when she went home. So I didn't get much hobby time, but the important thing is, she's recovering as expected and I am greatful!

This is Judy So! Now I'm home again, all the Christmas shopping, wrapping, baking, mailing is done. And that means I have time to stamp!! Woo Hooooo!!! Today I worked on getting caught up with my stamping challenge obligations from the last couple of weeks.

Supplies: Thomas Kinkade image, SU Short & Sweet stamps, brads, Nestabilities, Copics, Crystal Effects, brads, Versafine Black Ink, paper piercer, wallpaper, Pale Plum, black, and white cardstock.

This card is for Julia's (aka artystamper) DDC for last week. She sent the Doubledog Dare gals a Thomas Kinkade image to create a card with. I love coloring, and I love the detail, so I couldn't wait to get started on this.

I started by coloring the image with copics. I used a black fine pen to redraw the well's lines and some of the stones so the image stood out a little. Next I covered the well with Versamark and embossed it with clear EP. I masked over the oval shape of the frame and sponged Rose Red and Summer Sun ink outwardly from the image. Then I used Flower Soft in Heather and Lilac to make all the flowers around the well look dimensional. Matted the picture several times in black and Pale Plum cardstock and the bottom layers is wallpaper. (See wallpaper chatter above!) Finally, I die cut a Nestabilities bookplate tag and punched out the Word Window shape from SU to frame the sentiment. Attached that with brads. Yeah, it took awhile, but I enjoyed getting lost in the image and seeing it come to life.

Thanks for checking in! Anne

Maiden Voyage

Having to start a blog is like someone telling you that you have to go back to school and take that Spanish class you somehow avoided. Ughhhh!! But, it's become more and more obvious that as my passion for stamping grows, I need more community in my life. So here you have it. My new blog. I don't expect to be able to keep up with some of my favorite bloggers (there's SOOO much talent out there!!), but I do want a place to house my stamping thoughts, some of my art, and allow me to teach and share how much I enjoy this hobby. You can see my entire gallery on Splitcoaststampers.com here: Itsapassion . Thanks for sharing my journey!