you make me smile!

I love getting email notifications letting me know someone has posted a comment on my blog! I made this card for all of you--the special people that take time out of their busy days to visit my site! Thank you! It puts a smile on my face that people actually appreciate my craftiness--your support means the world to me!

Once again, I hit the old scrap box to find the paper for this card. These are two of my favorite colors together--olive green and purple. The green designer paper is by Basic Grey, and the purple designer paper I can't remember who makes. I am so bad at writing this stuff down when I'm making cards. I used the curvy scissors on the purple paper and mounted it on the Basic Grey. The flower image is my new stamp by Hero Arts, such a refreshing break from their typical designs. This one is funky! I used the stem and leaf stamp from In Full Bloom to give the Hero Arts stamp the look of a real flower. To bring color to the flower, I actually inked up the image first with markers in Old Olive, Bravo Burgundy and Elegant Eggplant and then stamped it onto Very Vanilla. Using my old standbye technique, I rubbed Ranger Ink in Tea Stain all over the flower image. The sentiment "you make me smile", is part of a 6-piece stamp set by Hero Arts. I use these sentiments all the time!

I just have to share this other photo with you (sorry it's not a card).
I'm tickled it turned out so well (click on it to make it larger and better to see)!My youngest son had his band concert last night, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to bring my new camera and practice taking pictures. Remember, I recently bought the brand new Nikon D40 SLR camera as a treat to myself. Now, I'm sure most of you know from experience that it's SO difficult to take good pictures of any event at a school. Usually the pictures turn out dark and out of focus, or, worse yet, the picture proudly displays the heads of the people sitting directly in front of you!!! Last night, I went to a nearby staircase that overlooked the concert and tried to take a picture from there so I could get the whole group. Now, I'll be honest. I'm quite fuzzy on the f-stop/aperature/shutter speed information you should posess if you have a SLR with manual control features. I knew that if I was so far away, I could zoom in. I also knew that since the light was minimal, I should open up the f-stop to it's widest opening, which was 4. Lo and behold, THIS is what I came up with!!! This was NOT using a flash! I'm TICKLED it turned out....and better yet, it was in focus! Woo-hoo! Maybe I'm not such a big camera doofus after all! Maybe there's hope for me yet!