Oh Alice challenge...Hooka are you?

"Who are YOU?" said the Caterpillar.

This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, "I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."

~Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,Chapter 5

Welcome to the mad world of Wonderland! Once again we are here to inspire you to create great things! The Caterpillar (Absalom) was the wisest creature in Wonderland. At least he thought so, and so did most of the others.

He is a fascinating character because of his wisdom, and his lack of understanding metamorphosis. Kind of a weird oxymoron, don't you think? Our challenge this week is to use either a caterpillar or a butterfly in your project. If you'd like to go one step farther, use a definition or dictionary paper in your design (any subject is fine).

If you are fortunate, you may find yourself wisely winning your choice of three 4x6 reprints from our sponsor, Maigan Lynn Beaudoin Shaw. FanTASTic!! Maigan is such a delightful artist, and the team appreciates the chance to work with one of her images! I actually worked with Maigan's mermaid images awhile back on the very first DT I was ever on so colouring up this image was a nice trip down memory lane.

Click here to go to the 'Oh Alice' Challenge blog to see the challenge details and the eye candy the DT created with this fun image. Cheers...Andi xoxo

Impression Obsession stamp handle- oh how I love thee....

Those of you who have met me have probably heard me RAVING about Impression Obsessions magnificent stamp block. I have had the privilege of meeting the owner of IO Mitra this past summer and I saw her demo'ing stamping backgrounds with background stamps. I have to say at first I wasn't very interested when I saw what she was doing because I HATED stamping backgrounds as I always miss parts of the image no matter how hard I try. So I am standing there not paying too much attention until out of the corner of my eye I see her roll the background stamp once onto her paper...and it came out perfect!!! So of course I elbowed my way to the front of the group to see more of what she just did. I asked very nicely (aka demanded) if she could do that again. She inked a large 5.75x5.75 stamp....positioned it on her paper...rolled it once...and again it was perfect.

HOLY COW.........

 I asked how it worked for finely detailed stamps and she very nicely showed me. She placed a much smaller detailed stamp on her large block, inked, rolled and out came a perfect image.

THUD....sorry that was me fainting.

I found my new love. I could not stop telling Mitra how much I loved loved loved this handle and must have one asap! She hooked me up quickly...perhaps to get the crazy woman professing her undying love away from her hee hee... and off I went. I ran home with my new handle and forced Sheila at SGD to carry these in her store now..now...NOW!!!!!!

I have become a very brave stamper let me tell you! I used to very hesitantly get my stamp ready for inking, tried lots of different layers, foams, soft surfaces, hard surfaces, etc etc etc and would stamp my image and no matter what it always took me a few tries to get a clean image. I tried everything everyone told me with no luck. I don't know if it's because of not being strong enough but I had terrible luck. Mind you, my stamper friends pretty much all shared this feeling and our garbage was filled with wasted (pricey) paper with half stamped images on it. Now with my IO handle I stamp once with ease and brag about it to everyone I know. Constantly. And again if you have met me you can vouch for that hee hee! Not only does it stamp super well for me but I can also fit more than one stamp on the handle and often stamp multiple images at a time. You read that right! And of course I do it with more bragging and a cocky look on my face lol! Rarely does it not stamp cleanly and if it doesn't I know before I even look at it because I knew my roll across my paper didn't have pressure on all sides of the block.

Ahhh Mitra....sooo happy I met you. And I have to say I have been buying up the Impression Obsession stamps like crazy! Must haves are the beautiful amazing swirls (I took this to a crop and it was one of the most used and borrowed items) and also any of the cover a card stamps- my fave being the branches. Now all us SGD diva's have one and truth be told it's usually on back order and doesn't get a chance to hit the floor because of the waiting list to get one. Which you should probably put your name on ;)

For a picture tutorial on how to use the Rocker Block (actually called the Mega mount but I have always called it rocker block because it rocks my world lol) click below to go to the IO blog and see one of their DT's picture tutorial!

Tutorial

Below I have included a card I made using the deelish swirl stamp..sigh..bliss. Okay enough chatter from me today. Here is one of my fave crafty sayings that applies here....If you are having trouble sleeping at night...it's because you don't own this must have tool. Just sayin! Cheers- Andrea

**Please note I am not being paid or anything by IO or SGD to rate this product. I just love it that much**

Cute Card Thursday with Kraftin' Kimmie stamps...

Kraftin' Kimmie stamps is sponsoring this great sketch from Cute Card Thursday this week. I used one of the new Kraftin' Kimmie stamps 'Lavender the Quilter'. I actually made this card specifically for someone and I used their favourite colours...let's see if they visit my blog today and can figure out that it's for them hee hee.

Now...of course I have to admit purple is my fave colour too and as I have shared on my blog before it is clearly the best colour in the world!!!!!! Just sayin' hee hee. If you are feeling crafty today hop on over to the CCT Challenge blog to see how you can plan along and don't forget you can also get KKstamps at Paper Romance and they have a great weekly challenge blog too. Lots of ways to play, win and be inspired!! Cheers..Andi

Winner of the Kraftin' Kimmie stamps from my giveaway!!!!

The moment you have been waiting for....the winner of the stamps according to Random.org is.......

Manhattan Mandie

Congrats and please email me with your mailing info at ajmurdock@hotmail.com!

High Hopes Challenge- Make a Masculine Card...

Today's challenge over at the High Hopes Challenge blog is to make a masculine card. This was a bit of a challenge for me as I couldn't use my glitter and bling. At least according to my hubby most boys don't like those things lol. As per his advice I kept this card clean and simple- but couldn't resist putting glossy accents glaze on the froggy and the water hee hee. Had to make is shine some how! I used the High Hopes stamp Hangin' Around which can be purchased at:

High Hopes Stamps

Scrappingreatdeals

Paper Romance

Click here to go to the HHS challenge blog and see the rest of the DT creations and also how you can play along with us to win! Cheers, Andi

It's Kraftin' Kimmie stamps release time!!

**Please note Junior Krafty girls Jaime and Katie will be back later with their cards :)**

Today Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps is releasing their new November images! As you’ve seen over the last few days in our Krafty Peeks, Annie Rodrigue has created some totally awesome KRAFTY GIRLS this month! There are six images in the complete set and they are The Krafty Stamper, Annie the Artist, Mona the Seamstress, Natalie the Knitter, Lavender the Quilter and Sabrina the Spinner (who is shown on my card above)! Each one comes with it’s own matching accessory stamp and a bonus coordinating sentiment!

And Steven Leary is back with MILES THE MOUSE and his pals and they are having some frosty winter fun! You’ll get to check them all out in today’s November release day KRAFTY HOP!! You’ll meet Miles on Ice, Miles and Winter Friends, Skating Polar Pal, Skiing Miles and Mice Angels! Two of them come with sentiments too!!

If you have already been hopping along the next stop for you today is the super sweet and talented Tara. If you want to start from the beginning, just head over to the Kraftin’ Kimmie Challenge Blog! As you hop from blog to blog, be sure to leave a comment at each and every stop because some lucky stampers will win packages of stamps from the new release!! And when you’re done hoppin’, be sure to head over to the Kraftin’ Kimmie shop, because ALL the new images are NOW available!

Also we’ve got ‘Gimme Kimmie’s Kits’ again!! For those of you who just HAVE to have all the new images, we’ve got the perfect thing for you! It’s called the ‘Gimme Kimmies Kit’!!! Instead of clicking on each image that you’d like, you only have to click once to pick up a Gimme Kimmies Kit AND it’s at a discounted price!! What could be better???

Cheers, Andi

A KKS challenge with Sneak Peek #3

**Please note this is my second post for the day. Please scroll down for my Oh Alice post**

Today's challenge over at Kraftin' Kimmie stamps is to use funky fibres on our creations. I have had this red fibre since I very first started stamping as it was one of my first purchases from Stampin' Up lol! All these years I have hoarded it and finally put in a box to sell at the next garage sale and lo and behold it finally came in hand lol! I used another one of my new Miles images and more of last year's papers. Plus the cuttlebug folder I bought last year and didn't use before now. Boy oh boy I am so proud of myself using up my stash like this. I also added white flocking to his coat to help keep the poor guy warm as his tushy must be so cold from sitting right on the ice.

For the full challenge details and to see the rest of the DT creations click here to go to the KKS challenge blog. Cheers! Andrea