What's Happened to the Crooked Stamper?

Let me begin by telling you I have no idea what's happened. I have no explanation for what you are about to see. I am still me, but perhaps possessed by a different type of card-maker for just this weekend. Maybe. Perhaps. I have had very weird dreams the past few nights, and at one point the opinion was I'd been marked by (and possibly controlled by) aliens. I'm just warning you.

It all started when I pulled out a partial sheet of some Thickers I've had for about a year, and then grabbed some Basic Grey papers that would coordinate color-wise. The thing I like about BG paper collections is they all go together without too much thought. Still, I struggle. This is what came out.

The ribbon is reallyreallyreally old - perhaps 5 years old. I bought it because I thought it would go with everything, and as with things such as this, in reality it goes with nothing. Imagine my glee when I thought it passable enough to use on this card. :-)

Here is another one I made with the BG scraps and the same ribbon. Can you see the stuggle? These are not your typical Crooked cards, so I gave it a rest and put all that stuff away. Way too much work for two cards.

Then I went to work trying to salvage some badly-cut BG Christmas papers. I was making a set of these cards when I realized I'd mis-cut all the pretty papers and they were too difficult to layer on the Artichoke card stock. I set them all aside and started over with new paper, but I was sick about all those pretty scraps. Then I got a clue.

Just look how nicely this Nestie fits on the piece. Who said it needs to be a rectangle, hm? No one, that's who! So I cut it out, which solved that pesky edge issue.

This is what I made with the cut-out shape. Fun! I like these papers with SU Artichoke, so the Joy is stamped in Artichoke, and the embossed layer under the shape is also Artichoke. And FINALLY I got to use my Snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folder!

I rounded the corners of the Artichoke layer to better blend with the die-cut piece.

And check out that ribbon! It was in my stash of Miscellaneous Ribbons and it is a wonderful twill.

See how the ribbon 'goes' with the rest of the card? Very cool.

I made all six cards, bagged and tagged them, and moved on, feeling pretty good about my Save!

Since I was inexplicably in Christmas mode anyway, I grabbed this stamp (Viva Las Vegas Stamps, I think), which is absolutely one of my favorites. Too bad it is so seasonal!

Here is a close-up, mostly so I could do a close-up, but also so you have a chance to see the glitter I added for all the snow.

I am going to go make five more of these (already cut and colored and waiting for me), then put AWAY the Christmas stuff and work on some Halloween items.

In other news, I actually remembered to stop at Lowe's on the way to the market yesterday and picked up not one, but TWO, replacement bulbs for my dead halogen lamp. Got home and realized they were the wrong bulbs. How could I make such a mistake? Because I forgot I bought a new lamp a while ago, and these new-fangled light bulbs last for six years. SIX YEARS! No wonder it slipped my mind.

This morning I had to get dressed and leave the house to go back, return the bulbs and buy the right kind. Get home, put it in - should have been listening for the rattle. Rattles in a light bulb are never a good sign. Nope, DOA. Now I need to go BACK to the store and get a replacement. Until then I have mood lighting. Oh, well.

Off to stamp some more! Thanks for stopping by!