New Green Grass Stamps

Good morning!

Today is a busy, busy day again. I wish I could stamp, but I'm afraid I won't be able to. My oldest is headed to San Diego for his church choir trip (there are 150 kids in his choir, we have a big congregation!), so I've got to finish packing his suitcase. I've got an allergy appt at 10a, and then it's off to pick him up from school early. He's got to be to the airport no later than 2p. Gosh, how I wish I was going someplace warm too! I'm a little nervous about him leaving. You always tell them to behave themselves when they are away from home, but really, do they follow your advise? I don't know, at 15, a boy, chances are good he'll be roughhousing in his hotel room with his buddies bothering his hotel neighbors! They tape the doors closed at night so deter the kids from leaving (they put some strips of tape across the door that breaks should the doors be opened from the inside, indicating to chaperones all is not as it should be with the occupants inside the room). I would appreciate some prayers for his safety while gone!

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This is a card I made yesterday with my new Green Grass stamps! It is the first time I've purchased these stamps. They come as one big red rubber sheet, unmounted, that you need to cut apart. EZ Mount is included with your order. It was easy to apply the EZ Mount (thus the name perhaps?) to the back of the red rubber. I bought the Card Greeting sentiments sheet, which includes 24 sentiments! They were a little difficult to cut out because they were so close together on the rubber sheet, but other than that, you cut them the same way you cut up your SU stamps. The stamps are used in conjunction with acrylic blocks. I am going to be honest, I'm having a little bit of a problem stamping my sentiment straight. I am familiar with using acrylic stamps which are easy to stamp straight because they are see through. But I have never tried using a rubber stamp on an acrylic block. I think it's going to take some practice to figure out how to get it stamped straight. I might even send Tammy, the owner of Green Grass stamps, an email asking for her advise on how to stamp straight! I'm sure there's a secret I'm just not privvy to yet!!! I can't wait to try some more sentiments! They are really beautiful stamps, and they stamp so clear! They are made with very high quality rubber, of that I'm sure. I was really pleased with the look once I stamped on my paper.

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For this card, I broke into my brand new Basic Grey 6x6 paper pads I bought from Michelle (Twisted Chick Creations) at her online store, Creative Threads (she says herself it's part clothing store, part fiber store, part community craft center). A few weeks ago, she had a great deal, 4 6x6 pads for $20! Let me tell you, they are GORGEOUS! I haven't ever purchased the 6x6 pads before, but I love them, I'll definitely order them again. The paper is scaled down for cardmakers! I'm not sure she's got any more of these bundles available right now (the pads are flying off the shelves like hotcakes), but I'm sure she'll get more in stock soon. Go check it out!

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Anyways, I digressed there for a moment, back to the card. I used a 6x6 sheet of the new Basic Grey paper (Perhaps/Deirdre), and a small piece of Perhaps/Red Riding Hood Basic Grey paper as well. I layered the Red Riding Hood over the Deirdre paper. Before gluing the Red Riding Hood paper down, I tied a golden organza ribbon around the piece and finished it off with a key charm (trying to convey "you've got the key to my heart"). For the main stamped image, I stamped the flower from Petal Prints first in More Mustard and then rock 'n rolled it in Rose Red ink. I did that numerous times on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. On top of the flower I stamped my new Green Grass sentiment in ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink in Dark Brown. I really love Colorbox Fluid Inks. They leave such a sharp, crisp image!

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Want to know a little secret? I submitted this card for the Green Grass Designer Call, which I learned about on Keri Sereika's blog (Pink Lemonade) last week. One of my stamping goals this year was to apply when a designer call was sent out, and to work toward getting on a designer team. Since I've had my eye on Green Grass Stamps for over a year now, I decided to go for it. It's my first time trying this, so I'm not expecting too much, especially since my "name" is just getting out there. But I'm proud that I'm giving it a shot. According to Tammy at Green Grass, they would like to have a decision made by the beginning of April! Be thinking good thoughts for me!