Procrastination...or is INSPIRATION???

Hi there, everyone!!
Here it is, (almost) the end of my first semester of grad school, and I am SWAMPED!! So what better time for a blog post?? :)
Actually, I visited Verve Visuals' Blog Hop for their new stamp set releases, all centered around thankfulness. Go check them out at the Verve store...they're on sale all weekend, and they are lovely!
I have been so inspired by all the gorgeous creations by the Verve Divas that I wanted to share a couple of my own pics.

I recently spent some time at a scrapbooking weekend thrown at the house of my friend Becky, (which is a GREAT excuse for the girls to get together and gab and scrap and listen to music and share pics of their families...if none of your friends have thrown one of these, I suggest you jump on the bandwagon! Invite your girls over, make some snacks, set up tables, and you'll be AMAZED how much you will inspire each other!!)

So, while all the other ladies made scrapbooks of their children, guess who made Christmas cards?? That's right, yours truly! Here are a couple of examples of my handiwork of a couple of weeks ago...

Because this was not in the recent past (like, you know, within the past hour) I don't know if I can give credit for all the elements, but I will try...the CS is from PTI's Perfect Match collection, and I'm going to take a stab and say it's Ripe Ovacado. (I think. I'm sorry if that's wrong.) The stripey BG is is some that I picked up that very morning at Jo-Ann. (They were having a great sale!) The tree images are from a stamp that I am ashamed to say I opened and no longer have the top of the package, so I can't tell you what they are, but I got 'em at Micheal's!! Now, here's my favorite part: I LOVE STICKLES. I have just begun to use them, and I AM IN LOVE! Those trees are just dab-dab-dabbed all over with green, and the a little gold on the top for the stars. I colored in the trunks with a colored pencil. The trees are stamped on white paper, which I sponged all over and smudged with my Inkssentials blending tool in Versamagic Red Magic chalk ink. 

I love this card, and I SO wish my cell phone took better pics...(nope, still haven't replaced the camera...) because this BG, while it looks an orangey-red in some spots, it's actually a gorgeous mauve that I also picked up at Jo-Ann that morning. (Grrr...one day I will post good pics again, I swear!!) Oh right, right...the details. The image is from the same set as the trees above, which I stamped with Versamagic Perfect Plumeria chalk ink, (also sponged around the edge of the paper, creating a "frame" effect with another piece of white...) embossed the ornament image (those scrapbookers were in awe over my EP skills, I must say...), and then colored in with my Marvy Brush Markers.I added a couple of bling-y brads, and a pretty, silky ribbon, VOILA!
I made a few more cards that I would like to post, because as a newbie, I'm still teaching myself techniques and experimenting, and I actually created some pretty cards that I really like. So keep your ojos peeled for more to come! And feel free to tell me what you think!! I like comments!!