Little Darlings

Congratulations to Scrapgirl who started her own business - Little Darlings Stamps - and is featured in the Love to Stamp store! Angie was already very accomplished so it is not surprising that her rubber stamps are awesome! The only reason I didn't have a hard time choosing which stamp to purchase is that I love cats. This stamp is definitely a "Little Darling" LOL! The other reason I chose this stamp is that it reminds me of Florida summers spent at my Grandparents' house. I always helped my Grandpa, whether it be working outside at his house or working with him somewhere else. They had a big white 2 story house with a big pool and big extra lot that was bordered on the far side by a creek that he had a pump connected to for watering. Watering what? Anything and everything! Once I even accidentally watered my Grandma ROFL though she didn't laugh at first after being hosed down with smelly creek water. Grandpa had orange, lemon, grapefruit, tangerine, banana, loquat, avacado, papaya, fig and mango trees, plus grew tomatoes, cucumbers and many other veggies. I watered Grandma when she was trying to show me how to water the tomato plants properly. Grandpa got a kick out of it but he knew better than to bust out laughing too hard until Grandma had time to chill out. Everything he did always included a wheelbarrow or two depending on how much stuff he had to lug around or transport from one place to another. My Grandparents were 100% Polish, and my Grandpa had a strong accent up until the day he passed away in the summer of 1994. Grandma just passed at the end of this January. I miss them both terribly, but the good memories this stamp brought back made me both smile, laugh and also get teary-eyed.

I stamped and colored it 3 different times. This last coloring was with my newly won Letraset Promarkers. I this background was perfect for it, but no matter what, I could NOT figure out any embellishments to add to it! I looked through my ribbons, buttons, flowers and everything else and nothing seemed right to add. All I could do was mat the image and background onto nice pink paper to match the flowers and call it a card. It is going to be an encouragement card for a wonderful lady in our crafting family who is fighting cancer. I hope it cheers her up and helps her endure another round of chemo by thinking of the beautiful summer days ahead with blue skies and grass ready for her toes to run through.

Just in case you are wondering about the background used, it is a piece cut from a 12x12 scrap paper out of the "Teddy In The Garden" set of Miss Elizabeth's. Yes, from the Dollar Store. Miss Elizabeth is one of my best friends! When I first got interested in scrapbooking and cardmaking, I found these sets when I was shopping and I kept collecting as many as I could. So many of them are awesome and I was terribly sad that they quit making and selling them!! Even today if I ran across them I would buy them again. I purchased multiples of most that I did buy, but some have become my favorites and I have had to be careful not to use up every last bit for making cards so I would have some full sheets for my scrap albums that I have not started yet! I bought some just for the patterned papers and not the backgrounds like this. The rest of this is the three bears on lounge chairs and is adorable, but not suited for cardmaking using an image stamp like this, but I will definitely use it with a sentiment! I wish I could turn back the clock and knowing that these paper packs were not going to last long, I would buy even more of them! Between these, the stickers that matched, the wooden stamps, glue sticks, and everything else I spent $1 on, I saved a lot of money that I promptly spent at the local scrapbook store or Hobby Lobby on the good stuff. Of course, my husband does not by any means think that I SAVED any money at all! I always had a knack for saving money and STUFF. So I always had some stashed cash to spend on more STUFF! Yes, I am smiling too :o) The majority of us are crafty ladies in more than one way, and again the majority are married and know EXACTLY what I am talking about and can probably hear their own husband's saying something like that to them at some point (or over and over LOL).

So, I hope you enjoyed my reminiscing a little, as I enjoyed it a lot. I am grateful that I am getting any blog traffic since I am so new plus have not been as consistent as I would like. I am also grateful as well as amazed to have followers! I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU!!! I don't have much to offer so it is thrilling to have followers and my hubby gets tickled when I shout out that I have a new comment or follower hehehe. I did just get through another phase of "Spring Cleaning" so I have bought myself a little extra crafting time for now, but still have so much to do in the basement that hubby has made me again promise to spend time on daily sorting through the boxes. I am a procrastinator of sorts, but most of that is due to the poor condition of my spine and the rest is that I can always find something else to do ;o) Plus, I am the bookkeeper for his business and my office is at home and I really should be spending more time on that so I have less time to craft than I like to have. When I do look through blogs for challenges I get so caught up in reading, browsing, following DT or submissions to their blogs, etc. If I didn't have to sleep, eat, and leave the couch I would be on here 24/7 and enjoy every minute! Of course, if I don't do some more unpacking and sorting in the basement, my craft area will not get worked on and it needs so much more organization! *Sigh* Guess I had better be saying goodbye now so I can get some sleep and get something done tomorrow.

Many, Many Blessings to you all!! Deborah

P.S. I am excited that I am going to have my watermark soon! Laurie from Doodle Pantry has been awesome in designing and working with me to get one done, and I love her work! Of course I will need to learn how to apply it, but I am excited just to picture it on my work in my head! If you are in need of a watermark or even blog design (yes, I need that too!), Laurie is great and I highly recommend her. Visit the Doodle Pantry Store (click this link then click Browse Store) to find awesome digital work, some free, and the blog design and watermarks to purchase. Have a great day or night depending on where in the world you are!

Challenges I am entering this card in:

Little Darlings - Contest using LD stamp
Crafty Emmas CES Challenges - #39 Clean and Simple
Prairie Fairy Fridays - #54 Summerfun