I haven't posted in "forever".

Life has changed so much since I last posted. I haven't rubber stamped in forever either. I've lost my creative mojo and am in search for it. How have you found yours after losing it for a period of time?

I graduated with "Honors" and am now working with my Husband for our own Laboratory doing our billing. It has been very frustrating trying to learn on the job. School does not prepare you for the "real world". I always thought I would go to work in an office where I would learn from other more experienced people. At least we are making enough money now that we can hire someone to help me out.

On the other hand, because everything has been work, work, work, I have forgotten how to have hobbies and am now looking to regroup and do so. I just haven't figured out if/how I want to get back in to rubber stamping or to try something new.

Wedding Card Attempt

I have to say, I'm a little disappointed in how this card turned out. Live and learn. I used A muse stamp and MFT card stock for the actual image. Love the card stock. The papers were pretty too. I wanted to use grey as I thought the papers I picked would be a little more sophisticated. In retrospect, I think this would have looked better if the image were on a smaller piece of cardstock, especially, using white. The Amuse images are always small and I think that's why their cardstock is so much smaller. Proportionately their images are better on smaller paper. I really had fun using the cuttlebug embossing envelope for the grey paper and I think the ribbon and pearl brads are perfect for a wedding card. I am afraid to mess around with the card at this point though, because the wedding shower is at 2 today and I just don't have time to start over. It was still fun to shop for the stamp. That was another thing, I didn't really have time to order a stamp I really liked and the bride is older and this is a first marriage for her and she is not a "foofy" kind of person. I would have liked to have found a bella stamp or something just a little bit "more". Twelve more days til I graduate and just a few days after that I finish with finals and then I think I am going to do quite a bit more experimentation and class taking for my rubberstamping hobby=)

Here is the birthday card I needed to make. I was short on time, but think I made a cute little card for my 11 year old niece. She loves dogs and I don't have any cute dog stamps (yet!) and since she went to Build-A-Bear for her bday party, I'm kind of keeping in theme. I used my A muse bear and sentiment stamps and prisma colors for the color. I just love the little fiskars scallop edger. I think it dresses things up just a bit and needed/wanted one for my Bella stamps. I love cutting with it. Well, hope you enjoy. Off to bed and then studying for tomorrow and a little spring clothes shopping for the kiddies.

Coloring with Copics....

I've just been cruising around SCS.com and reading, among other things, about coloring with Copics. I was watching some tutorials and find them very interesting, but also very overwhelming! Some of these tutorials are done by some very talented people. I start to feel "way in over my head", so I left. I did find out how the pens are coded and wish I had the money and the talent to warrant getting the air brush system. That looks really cool. I need to get a blender pen. Now I understand how that works and it is very cool and would be very helpful. The whole shading concept is going to take some time, which I don't really have right now. So, I need to be patient and do what I can. There is some real talented stamping and artwork out on the blogs!

Now, I must go make another birthday card!

This is my first "Bella" card and I made it for myself. I have a pink Townie cruising bicycle that I love to ride. It has a bell on it and I feel a bit sassy on my pink bicycle, so this stamp really spoke to me...no pun intended! Anyway, I had to wait to buy my first Bella stamps and this was one of them. I am going to put it up in my cubicle at work. I hope that it will inspire my self-confidence, which sometimes lags, as a 50 year old woman back in the workplace learning something totally new for the first time in many, many years=) I also needed to do something creative today because I have been studying CPT medical codes re the cardiovascular system. I always get kind of anxious when I am studying about the heart and all of the different procedures that can be done. In some ways, it is very amazing to know something about this area of medicine and in other ways, it is just downright frightening. I got some other Bella's and Stella's (stamps) that I hope to be able to play with sometime in the near future. I have to be patient with myself and life right now. I knew going into this full-time work situation and schooling situation that February through mid-May would be tough. So I am in the thick of it...but I only have about 5 weeks left too.

I will really miss school. I have so loved going back as a mature adult and learning so much new information and earning A's. This is SO not what college was like for me at 17 1/2. I was even invited to join Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, which I did quickly, before they realized that they may have made a mistake in inviting me;-D

I know I need to make a couple of more cards this weekend for a birthday and the birth of a baby. I'm only a few months late on the baby card. By the time I actually get the card made and sent, the baby will be a toddler :-] I had to wait til I found the right stamps in order to make the card. My new Bella stamps came last Friday and I am sooooo looking forward to making actual cards this weekend and not just imprints. I got some Stella stamps too. I just love her attitude! ......until this weekend.

This is the second card. This is a card for my father who is retired and an avid golfer. I wanted to think a little bit about the colors I used on this card as my father is red and green color blind and I wanted him to be able to see the colors in their true glory!