Fairy Name - just for fun :)

Your fairy is called Hex Goblinglitter

She is a bringer of riches and wealth.

She lives in places hexed and tainted by black magic.

She is only seen in the light of a shooting star.

She wears black feathers and rose petals. She has gentle green wings like a butterfly.

Get your free fairy name here!

Family, Great Food & Hospitatlity

"Hector Kabande was raised in a household where the most important values were family, great food and hospitality."

Hector Kabande was born in Mexico but came to the US to study Hotel Management. He developed a love for cooking while a student and now plays an important role in the upscale restaurants of the Lucerna Hotel. His special ingredient is HOT PEPPERS! He has a blog where there are some recipes but he doesn't share everything as he has an upcoming cookbook. You can see what he is sharing here. I like the Cilantro Sauce and Avocado Salsa :) Let me know what your favorite is!

#11 from 12 from 3

Remember way back I did the 12 from 3? well I am still using the cards up form that first batch LOL so here is another one I finally finished off - I added the little ballerina girl - I have no clue who makes her she was in my stamped image stash - YEP I AM USING THINGS UP! If you know please share as I like her and I think there will probably be other "stick" people I might NEED to acquire somehow LOL!

I colored her with my Copics B00, R22, E00, E31 and R32. added a little bling and she was ready to go! Used it for a swap I was in to write a short note to my partner. I hope she enjoys the card.

Thanks for looking today! Happy Sunday!



later...................

More "N" Notes

So again she says to me - Mom I need a few more cards so I grab my Cuttlebug and another A2 Embossing folder and which these two up with the last of my embossed "N's" from before. Used up the last of my Kraft brown colored card stock that I had cut and also some precut pieces of a maroon (not sure why it looks orange in the pic - sorry about that) with a slight pattern on them. After running it through the Cuttlebug it looked pretty cool. Again the end of the May Art Polka Dot Ribbon and walah! 2 more cards for her to use :)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

later..................

"N" Notes

My daughter has been working on Thank You notes and still needed a few more so I whipped these up for her the other night.

I rant he white cardstock through my Cuttlebug and made the circle impressions but thought it was to stark white still so I ran my Cognac Palette ink across it to add a touch of color. Then I found some lovely May Arts Polka Dotted Ribbon in my stash and added it across the front. I then grabbed the last few of those "N's" I had made for her cards before and used them with the scalloped circles on the top. I "tamped" the Cognac pad on the tops of both the embossed "N's" and the scalloped circles to add a bit of color too. Then I mounted them onto green background cards that matched the embossed "N's" to tie it all together. I thought it rather a simple but striking card. What really made my day was when my dd came in the craft room she saw one sitting to the side that was done and said she liked it! Now that I like to hear!

Thanks for stopping by to look!

later.....................

WinWatermark Tut - Just the basics!

Well everyone if you were lucky enough to get the WinWatermarking program and are wondering now what to do with it here is a small tut to get you started - complete with screen shots! I hope it is helpful to someone :)

Open WinWatermark and this is the screen you should get:

Click on the button that says Add Files:

Switch the top tab from Images to Watermarks and then click on Add Text:



Your screen should now look like this:

CLick the WinWatermark in th top box and you will get the following screen



At this point you will enter in the text you want then select the color and enabling background or shadowing, play around till you get something you like, then click OK.

I choose a white text here for you to be able to see but you will probably want to make yours differently and then use the tools on the next screen to make it more transparent.

Again, just play with it till you get something you like.
You will get a box like the own below showing your watermark in the upper left corner.
Using the controls on the lower right move your text to the location you desire.

Use the sliders on the right in the middle to adjust your watermark to your liking.

The next screen begins your save process and you will need to choose a destination file first then you hit the blue arrow to continue the next step.



You will be asked what type of file you wish to save as. Most common is the .jpg which is what I choose here:



Then you will be asked to click Start


After the image is processed your screen will ask if you want to be taken to the
destination folder.

that's it!
Your pictures are marked now.

You can also crop in the program and some other things too but before doing so I would suggest to play with an image you don't mind messing up LOL just in case or make a duplicate of your image you are working with.

Have fun and let me know what other tricks you find the program does.

Good Luck!

FREE WATERMARKING PROGRAM

TODAY ONLY TECHY DOWNLOAD
GO HERE
WinWatermark is a professional all in one image editing software. It helps you add text and image watermark to any pictures to protect them from unauthorized distribution. WinWatermark is not only watermarking tool, but rather useful and simple photos processor. You can personalize your photos using attractive frames, crop image size to meet you need, resize images with high quality, rotate and rename your pictures, and convert your images to other image formats.Features:1. High speed and high image quality (including powerful Image Processing Engine, which based on MMX- SSE & 3DNow! Technology)2. Support almost popular image file formats (including Image Decode/Encode Engine, which can read and write many image formats)3. Easy to use software (create your artwork in visual mode, what you see is what you get)4.
Batch convert mode.

Sailing

I made this card from mostly scraps in my scrap bin :) I love being able to do that! Yes in fact everything but the base card is from there. If you don't already do that you ought to challenge yourself to give it a try and see what lovely work you can come up with.

The bottom layer of "water" was from a background swap on a Yahoo group, I believe it was made by Lisa Gifford. I cut it with my wavy cutter on my Cutterpede and affixed it to the bottom of my base card. The sailboat was stamped with VersaFine Black Onyx Ink and then I cut it out with my Cutter Bee scissors. Very tricky since some parts of it are just the line :) I thought I might lose the flag for a minute so I had to hurry to stick it on the water LOL!

Then I used scraps of paper to stamp the various parts of the sail boat on again to make the sails and the base and the falg. Then I cut and glued them to the sail boat to give it some flair. I really liked the striped sails! Again the flag was a bit of a chore being so tiny but I got it on there :)

The sun also was stamped on white paper and then I used my Copic makers to color the outer edges with a light Yellowish one and then took a more Orangy one to add lines along some of the outer edge area and then also colored the middle in with it. I kept looking and looking at it and thought it needed little something still so then my 3D Crystal Lacquer fell over when I was opening one of my drawers to get my adhesive and I figured ok glaring sun while out on the ocean ....it works! i added the Crystal Lacquer to the entire sun after cutting it out too.

As for the adhering of the parts well you can't just have a totally FLAT card when you are talking about sailing and moving water so I used different size of foam adhesive and you can see here in the following picture that the sun is out farthest (regular foam adhesive the excess from the dots) with the sailboat next (using the black super sticky from Jodys sale - look back for that one - hope you don't miss it!) and then the water flat against the card base.

Thanks for looking in everyone - hope you have a wonderful day.


later......................

wondering if I am the only one.....

I sometimes find stamped images I like but don't want to really invest in the stamp yet so

I will go in search of someone who has them and will trade or will

put a small package together for me to buy.

Now having been in several swaps along the way and also stamping images at get together's and such I almost always use white paper and black ink. Sometimes embossing them if I have the stuff with me. If I am making a package to send to someone I use only images I myself would use, clear crisply stamped without edge marks or all cocky on a paper or a gazillion images stamped together and not cut so close that you HAVE to cut the image out to use it.

Well I am really dissapointed with 2 batches of stamped images I bought lately. They were stamped on non white paper, most were very lightly stamped meaning not a good impression and on the dark ones the edges showed where they had been inked also instead of just the image. The papers were cut all cooky so that you couldn't layer a rectangle or use a cutter to even them out to layer up you HAD to cut the actual image out to use it.

I guess it really irks me as I paid good money for them and now

when I see them sitting there I don't even want to use them. What a waste.

So a little advice when you are stamping images to give away to someone else give only what you would like to have received in return- QUALITY!

Oriental Beauty

I made this following a sketch #16 challenge by Katharina on her blog. She is also giving away some blog candy if you go here you will find the details :)

I don't have any Sugar Nellie stamps or images so I improvised with an Oriental Beauty that I found in my stamped images stash. She was stamped and embossed so I used my Copics to add some color to her and then turned her over and "tamped" her onto a piece of blank cardstock to soak up any ink that was sitting on top of the embossing. Yep I still ended up with inked fingers but not so bad LOL! This was a fun sketch with lots of layers and pieces parts to put together, although her sample was a square card I think it turned out quite nicely on a regular A2 card.

I had found the Background paper with the pattern in my scrap file and used it with layers of a textured red which I marked with my white opaque marker to look like sewing - sort of!
I kind of thought it looked a bit nekkid still with all the white showing so I grabbed my Landscape Palette Inkpad and my stipple brush and dabbed it up some :) you can see here how the color kind of brings it all together a little better than stark white.

The sentiment I used was from TAC Be Still T-2890.

Thanks for looking and have fun looking around at Katharina's site :) I think it is cool she translates to English for us also!

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Layers and Colors again

I keep revisiting this 4 layers and 4 colors theme as I really like it I guess - or maybe it is cause I keep messing up and sending the card to the wrong person LOL! Anyway here is another one using that as a base guide. My 4 colors are purple, pink, white and 9yellow-brown. ok so I had to stick a little bit of a mixed color in to get the hat and hair right - it didn't work both being the same color and I didn't think to make the hat purple until after LOL!

Another Tilda image I got in my image batch I purchased and used again my Prisma WaterColor pencils and SU blender to color.

The background is done with my Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folder and then I used my New Canvas Palette Palette ink to run over the top high lighting the diamond pattern.

The little pink side thing and tag with the flower are from doodlebug design inc. Spring [tags & tabs] cardstock sticker sheet that I found in my stash! LOL! Should dig around more often I think!

I am actually trying to use more of my stash up - no reason it all needs to sit unused PLUS then I have an excuse to buy the new fun things that come out as I have used up all the old right?!?!??!?! Sounds good to me but getting everyone else to believe it is another story! ha ha

Thanks for coming to check in today! Watch for some blog candy soon - I am approaching 2000 hits and I think that is worth celebrating.

later..........................

Jumping Rope ..... errr Ribboon!

This is another of the Tilda images I had received in a pack I bought of stamped images. I colored her using my Prisma Color pencils and used my SU blender to pull to color in and around. I used a piece of ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon for the jump rope. Paper is from DCWV Pocket Full of Posies pad and then solid color card stock from the Paper Place, Wellington, OH. I added some Stickles on her wings to make them sparkle, it is hard to see in the scan but they do :) I also used some of the SUPER STICKY foam dots to mount her on top. I love those things! If you missed my post about Jody's sticky sale then hurry and scoot back a few days and look for it. It is a great bargain!

This was for a swap on Swap-Bot that I was in. I used it for writing a note to my partner :) Yes I do make cards for fun too! LOL

thanks for looking today - have a wonderful Sunday!

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Luminox Watches

Not that long ago I mention a place called LA Police Gear where you can
find some great bargains for police, hunting and military gear...
well now I find they feature Luminox Watches too!

These are high quality watches that are great for that man in your life.
LA Police Gear is now an Authorized Dealer for Luminox and is offering a 20% discount,
a 2 year factory warranty and FREE next day air shipping! That is an awesome deal!
I was intrigued by the story behind Luminox which is a true American success story,
a true example of the phrase "necessity is the mother of invention.”
Luminox was founded by Barry Cohen, a watch maker who saw the need for
making watches more visible in low or no light situations when he learned of a Swiss self-powered illumination system. Today Luminox can be found in over 30 nations.

Take some time to look at the various styles offered - I am sure you can
find something for that special man in your life!

Balloons

This was the sight outside my house last night :) What a joy to watch them floating in the sky and then a night time light show like fireflies buzzing on and off :)

Hope you all have a Happy Saturday!

Card coming tomorrow!


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Direct Marketing

Direct Marketing - how about a specialized list not just some willy nilly bunch of contact information that isn't pertinent to your business. DCMG makes lists specific to your needs. They offer “deadly accurate direct mail lists and telemarketing lists” so let list broker help you move your business in the right direction. Are you looking to contact retiree's or perhaps new businesses in the area or maybe a list for direct mailing? Whatever your need give DCMG a try. Bottom line is they are there to help you make money!

Tilda with Balloons!

I needed some birthday cards for friends so I got out my new stamp that I finally broke down and bought - a Tilda one :) She seemed just right with her balloons!

I just love these Magnolia images - they are adorable. I have tried to color them with my Copic's as I have seen others do but I get better results when I use my colored pencils. They are softer and look more blended. I need to keep practicing with the Copics.

Pretty simple and straight forward birthday card - not really an special techniques just turned out pretty cute :)

The supplies I used were:
Magnolia Stamps
Cognac Palette Ink
Prisma Watercolor Pencils
SU Blender pen
Oh Yeah T-2586
Versamark Onyx Black ink
Scrap Papers

If you are in the US and looking to buy any Magnolia stamps I searched on E-Bay for this one and got a decent price. You have to watch the conversion rates and the shipping as it is probably coming from the UK. There are several online stores also that sell them so shop around it might save you some pennies :)

This is also my entry for Cute Card Thursday's challenge :) Birthday Cards.

June Sticky Sale INFO

Confessions of a Ribbon Addict
GO THERE NOW! She is having her June Sticky sale. I got some last month and they are AWESOME! I have placed an order for this month too as I find I keep reaching for them. I do hope she makes this a monthly or semi monthly thing as they are wonderful.

Also this month she is introducing us to a new product for making shakers - check it out.
Click here now!

Tell her I sent you :)

Social Spark - a new way to get noticed

A new community of bloggers and advertisers is here! SocialSpark is a great tool to use for advertisers to get their product info out while bloggers can socialize with other like minded bloggers and create a community of friends.

I did a little bit of searching this AM after signing up and found this profile
another piece of the puzzle
when I did a search for rubber stamping. I have to be honest in that I didn't thoroughly check this out so I am not sure what all she blogs about but I was touched by the fact that she deals with autism and also is a rubber stamper!

At the Social Spark profile page there is a click-able link at the top that will take you right to the blog, you can check out others blogs by following the link.

I like that on Social Spark you can search by key words to find like minded bloggers and also that advertisers can do so to find you :) I am a little confused about how the whole thing works but I think that I will enjoy browsing around and seeing how or this or that relates and how you can find more info on the ins and outs of how things work there. It will grow on me I am sure as other social networking places have :)
There is a way to get messages and also you can leave props both good and bad for other users, there are charts to show their ratings and blog traffic and a whole wealth of other useful information for those needing to know all that info LOL! I mostly blog for fun but am not opposed to making a few dollar's and friends along the way!

I do wish that they had a beginner's tutorial to follow - if they do I am missing it but it would be nice to see a page "how to get started" or something to better explain to new users the ins and outs of how it ought to work.

Give Social Spark a try - it seems like a great place to get noticed!

Sketch Something Challenge

Another Stamp Something Challenge I went back to was a sketch. I love sketches - it is a challenge in that you have a specific format to keep to while yet another challenge to find an image to fit with that format. Colors aren't usually an issue when they aren't specified I just pick something I like usually the pattern first then find colors to go with it, as was the case for this card. I choose some DCWV Pocket Full of Posies paper that has a little bit of texture and sparkle to it then paired it with some solid white and blue paper to create the layers for the sketch.

I used several colors from my Palette Ink pads for this card: Landscape, Seascape, Cognac, and Noir. The Cognac was the tree base and then I used the Landscape over it for the tree top. The Seascape was used to make the "sky" on the top circle.
The stamp sets I choose were both from TAC (ha ha bet you would of never guesses!) and they are: A Little Spring TAC - APril 26
and

Oh Yeah T-2586

I also used this cool pen to add the white dots along the scallops of the blue circle. it is a Permapaque - Opaque Pigment Marker from Sakura. If you see one grab it and give it a try - great for doodling with and adds a little flair to your work with darker papers.

Have a wonderful day ...hope it is better than mine as I sit and wait for the House Dr to call as last night the ceiling downstairs caved in due to our water heater leaking which once again when I said something to several people all they did was tighten it up but within a few days it was leaking again and well now a whole floor issue to deal with and a ceiling issue downstairs along with the carpet being soaked to the gills down there too!

ahhh the joys of life :(


later..............................................

In the Wild Something Challenge

The challenge was for wild animals - these qualify don't they? I mean you wouldn't find them in every neck of the woods would you? Yeah I know they look cuddly adorable but watch out that lion packs a mean ROAR! and that hippo might sneak up on you and tip you in his water pool. You just never know!

I made this for the Stamp Something blog challenge - again another one I missed over the last few weeks but I love the challenge to fit a theme and create something so I went back to finish it.

The other goal was to practice with my Copic markers. I think the only way I am going to get anything decent with them is to color color color! I really like how my leaves turned out on this one. I was using the gray to add some shadow while still having color involved. I also was using my colorless blender to pull out to create light and dark tones. (Check the lions feet for the best one I got here) I stamped the images with my Noir Palette ink and let it dry a LONG time and then zapped it with the heat tool also just to be sure. Ok so it wasn't that long you now I am not that patient when I want to get coloring! he he...

I think they did well with that combo of the ink and zapping with the heat gun as I didn't get any bleeding.

I used some foam tape to add dimension to the letters and the animals after I matted them on some black to make a sort of frame for them. Here you can see the dimension from the side.

Other things used were:

Hip Hip LE T-2594
Hollo's paper
Palette Noir
Landscape
Spare Parts Letters
Jungle LE T-2593
hmmm what is that sticky stuff on the back the white called - can't recall now but it is fun to use!
Copics: C3, B60, YR20, YG11, E53, Colorless Blender

thanks for stopping by today!



later.........................................

Faux Something Challenge

I made this faux Brick background for a challenge on Stamp Something Blog. it is a past challenge but I wanted to go back and catch up the ones I missed while life was crazy busy here. Check out the spotted texture of them just like a real brick. I would love to say I was following the TJ tutorial from April 2008 (if you go there tell Pat I sent you) and that is why but really it was some funky stuff laying on the top of my CTMH inkpad that did that. I don't know why it is that way it looks dried out and has all these bits and pieces of yuk on top. Well I wasn't paying attention and rolled the brayer onto it already so I figured what the heck - it is just paper right.
Well this is what I ended up with and I liked it very much :)
No need for a splatter stamp or to somehow "spray" on top to get the look.

this is the finished card which I was also practicing my Copic coloring on. Not so sure on it as the markers covered up the stamp lines inside the flowers which I think are just pretty on their own but I do like the shading of them, darker at the base and lighter at the top.

I have been needing thank you cards for many things lately so that is what this one is :)

Here are the technicques and supplies I used:

Faux Brick TJ April 2008
Landscape Palette Ink
L'Amoure Red Palette Ink
CTMH Barn Red Z2104
innovativestampcreations - Oriental Nature Elements ONE8HH
Clearly Wordsworth - words on front and inside
Copics YG63, R29, BV23

Thanks for looking.


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YUMMY Treat!

Are you ready for a YUMMY Treat? I am and I have to admit I have been indulging in my Chocolate Chip or Butter Pecan ice cream from Schwans lately! The heat has been horrid here in Ohio so it seems like a nice reprieve at the end of the day...LOL
Oh yeah and always be fair - 2 scoops - one for each hip! ROFL!

This was a piece of oval chipboard that I punched a hole in then used a brad to affix a bit of ribbon on to give it a little oomph. I didn't edge it or anything because the card it is on didn't need it with the color scheme I used. I used red line tape to affix it since the ribbon made it stand off the card a bit.

Now you see why the ice cream reference This little beauty is holding a triple turn chocolate cone! YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Check out her pink bikini! LOL I put a small crystal in the center too - she needed some bling you know!

I colored with my Copics using Roo, R22, RV02, E37, E31 and my colorless blender. I used a bit of a dabbing action on the bikini so that the black ink wouldn't bleed. I used my Palette Noir pad though so even when I did color over the ink it didn't give me a problem.
The cow is from TAC An Udder Birthday (T-2642) which I have absolutely fallen in love with! It is not just a birthday set as you see but can be used for a variety of things! YUMMY is from The Good Life (TAC-2626). Paper is from Hollo's and DCWV Paper Stack.

Here is the finished product!

Have a YUMMY day!


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4 Layers 4 Colors - again :)

I grabbed this adorable little girl (SU Summer by the Sea) and stamped her on white paper from Hollo's . Then I used my Prisma Watercolor pencils and my SU Blender pen to color her in. I don't like the too wet curled paper look I get when using my water brush so I found that the blender pen works well :) I then used some DCWV paper more white and a base of green from Hollo's also. It is a little flecked has a nice look IRL. I also added a string of ribbon across to fill some of the empty space LOL. It was a scrap I had in my ribbon basket. The sentiment is from TAC Spring/Summer 2008 GWP's and I used my Versafine Onyx Black ink to stamp it.
The 4 colors are white, green, pink and purple :) Not a usual combo but they worked I think.

Thanks for looking!



later....................................

#9 Card from 12 from 3

Tea for Two?
Well that was the stamp set I choose to use on this card :) it is from TAC (T-631). I used my Versafine Onyx Black Ink to stamp the teapot and the mugs right onto the patterned paper. I used the Copic G000 to color around the things to make them stand out a bit more. I used the YG63 and E11 Copics to color the leaves and the top of the tea mugs to give it some color. Then I used a bit of cotton to dab on some Versamark Ink and put clear embossing on to the tea part to give it a liquid look. Hard to see here but it looked pretty good.

Thanks for looking!



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Share Vacation Memories

Who doesn’t love Family vacations?

If you dare say “me me” then think again back to when you were a kid...
remember how much fun it was!

How cool would it be if you could share those memories with anyone you wanted to?

That gorgeous sunset you saw while relaxing in your chair on the beach, the Northern Lights if you’ve been lucky enough to see them or what about that silly grin on your little one’s face as they discovered something new. The whole family standing around to meet Mickey! Wherever you happen to be for vacation, remember to grab your camera and snap away at all the sights you see along the way, from zooming down the interstate to rest area rowdiness (you know when you just have to stand and shake the wiggles out!) Don't forget when the big sister "accidently" dumps her ice-cream cone full of animal feed on her brother's head and all the animals mob your little brother...oh wait maybe not that - it was scary! Yes, I really did that and yes it really was an accident! I swear!

Now you CAN share these memories and moments with custom photo cards Photo Cards .

Check out this darling angel as she flies over the open field.

There is plenty of room to have a custom greeting written on the front without altering the beauty of the picture. Inside you can add the balance of the greeting or a sweet sentiment to go along with it. Right now it is summer time and we all know that many memories are made – why not share them with everyone else too. Go check out what CardsDirect has to offer! Hey and put me on your mailing list too – I want to see what memories you created!

Remember too that the Christmaas messages you see on the site are just examples, your greeting can be whatever you want!

# 5 Card from 12 from 3

Isn't the ladybug adorable! It is a CuttleKids Die :) I ran it through twice once in red and once in black and cut to make it this way then. It is mounted on foam tape on the front of the card. The edges of all the papers are done with my Landscape Palette Ink Pad and the stamping of the words is done with my Versamark Onyx Black pad. I used my TAC- Squiggle Ladybug set (TA-2153) and my Wishing You (T-1205) for the flower and the sentiment. I cut the flower out with my little CutterBee's after coloring it with my Copic markers - R22, R20 and YG63. Funny they looked a lot more pinky red when I made it but photographed more orangey.

Inside I used a second flower to carry the theme in also. I gave this to my niece with her birthday present when I finally saw her last week. Her birthday was in March :( I wish it hadn't been so long but time seems to get away from us all so easily.

Thanks for peeking.

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Deborah's Blog Candy

Over at 7 Miles Up 2 Nothing my list friend Deborah is offering some blog candy
to celebrate her 3 month blogging anniversary! Woot Woot!

Hop on over there and check her blog out and wish her a happy day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Thank You Notes

I made these thank you notes for my dd to use for after her party :) They are run through my cuttlebug to emboss the N and then I used my circle and scalloped circle punch to make the centers which I adhered atop some cute polka dotted ribbon I found in my stash - probably May Arts :) Seems to be my favorite LOL! The paper is DCWV and is the pinky-purple of the top picture. I don't know why the second one changed the color of things but it I wanted you to be able to see the impression as well as the texture of the paper. Odd lighting and camera stuff I guess. Anyway this is a simple card but for Thank You's I think simple is good.

She is writing away LOL and I need to get more made actually but will be different colors as I am out of the pinky-purple paper! he he


Thanks for checking Stamping Stuff out! I appreciate you all coming by!


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