Blog Hop Winner Announced!

Congratulations to: TONILEA!

Tonilea is the winner of our Classic Decor blog hop candy!

Please send me your mailing address and we will get your Classic Decor Stamps, Classic Decor Sentiments and Cling cushion right out!

Tonilea's comment:

I am still chuckling as I write this! The folks in this blog hop have to have the best sense of humor on the internet! Not only are the stamps and sentiments clever, wonderful and useful, they provide the artist to use any and all of their talents and creativity. Wonderful fun!

thanks
tonilea

BLOG HOP DAY!!

Hooray!! You did it! You made it to the end!

I'm so glad you stuck with it because I've got the candy :o)

Here are the final cards in the hop,

the blog candy info can be found at the bottom of this post!

(this is my favorite card out of the bunch. I love Mrs. Poose!)

Mrs. Poose is so spoiled. Look at her with her fancy collar!

Flowers in the vase:

Flower soft in colors christmas green, shamrock, bright pink, poppy red, baby pink.

card inside:

I made the card above and decorated the chandelier with clear austrian crystals.

Then I decided I wanted to see what it looked like colored crystals and made this

card using the smaller chandelier.

Austrian crystal chandelier accents.

Idea to note: use the oval frame as a mirror and reflect another image.

I hope you enjoyed our new release blog hop! If you love these stamps and don't want to wait for the random drawing and want to take advantage of the 3 day only Blog hop special visit the website today. (don't worry, you can still enter the drawing and if you are our winner we will let you choose a different set of stamps and coordinating sentiments with cling cushion instead!)DECO

R STAMPS:

You can find the new stamps here:

http://starvingartistamps.com/doodlefactory_classic_decor.html

http://starvingartistamps.com/sentiments_classic_decor.html

And now for the BLOG CANDY....

All you need to do to enter to win the

COMPLETE COLLECTION OF CLASSIC DECOR UNMOUNTED

STAMPS, CLASSIC DECOR SENTIMENTS WITH CLING CUSHION

...is post a nice comment about our blog hop (on this post) and be sure to leave a way to

contact you. The winner will be chosen randomly.

We are going to leave the blog candy open until SUNDAY July 12th, 2009 midnight Eastern time. The winner will be announced no later than Tuesday July 14th EST.

If you arrived at my blog independently, and didn't make all the stops on the hop

You can start at the beginning by visiting our company blog:

www.starvingartistamps.blogspot.com

Random NYC photos

On the way home from Uncle Eddies memorial service we hit some major traffic in Jersey and John decided that the quickest way home would be to cut thru NYC to get from New Jersey to Long Island. Normally I opt for going up and over via the George Washington bridge (thru the bronx) or even settle for cutting thru Staten Island but heavy traffic on a Saturday evening made him think NYC would be the quickest of the 3 routes. Needless to say I was a little apprehensive. Although John works in NYC and drives there daily, I myself can count on one hand the amount of times I have driven in the city. Add to my nerves the fact that I was driving my very large (and powerful 8.1 liter V8 -insert manly grunting) but not very responsive or known for its handling Chevy Avalanche in a place where aggression, speedy lane changes and quick braking is the expected driving technique. My big black behemoth was amusingly out of place amongst the two doors coups, taxi cabs, bike delivery boys and infesting pedestrian population.

Fortunately sometimes MIGHT makes RIGHT and I managed to muscle my way in after much tailgating, some quick lane changing, and lots and lots of avoiding double parked cars (All you people in NYC, just so you know double parking is illegal!) we manage to get to 34th (or something around that number) street and have to cut across to get to the mid town tunnel or at least that is what John was telling me we did. Due to all the jaywalkers, backed up traffic and double parkers I had some time to snap a few photos of our 1.5 mile Jaunt from NJ to the midtown tunnel.

Its really not possible to feel the immensity of NYC in any photo. In person its much much bigger, busier and chaotic than a still photo can possibly capture.

broadway and 34th street

Empire state building reaching way way way up into the clouds.

(my favorite photo)

church photos

John's Uncle Eddie passed away unexpectedly before Christmas. He and his wife lived in Florida and after his passing the family decided to bring his ashes up here to be buried near his son in New Jersey. The service was last weekend in John's cousins church. The church was lovely and I managed to snap off a few photos before the service.

I wish you could see how nice this looked in person,

the arches and stain glass windows were beautiful.

The entire inside of the church has incredibly archways and domed architecture

and all of the arches are hand painted. This photo was taken where I was sitting

The statue up near the ceiling is larger than it looks here.

I'm not quite sure these marble columns are real. They have a clear coat on them that

doesn't look like what you would seal real marble with. I wonder if these are incredibly

well painted faux marble or poorly sealed real marble.

From far away they were really quite handsome.

After the church service we went to the funeral. Uncle Eddie's ashes were laid to rest

in a vast and tremendous cemetery with more crypts than I have ever seen in any other cemetary. There were hundreds of them. They were everywhere. I happened notice that a good amount of those crypts were of substantial size and engraved with Italian last names. I didn't recognize any of the names on the crypts we passed as possible crime family names but I watched the Sopranos so I know there are lots of them in New York and New Jersey. I would have taken photos but the rainy graveside service started right away.

After the services we went back to John's cousins house for what turned out to be an

"Irish" funeral. (I was designated driver and refrained from the spirits)

Johns cousin's house is quaint. Although he is a bachelor

John's cousin has a talent for mixing interesting historical and vintage pieces, sports and guy memorabilia, hand painted furniture and feminine botanicals for what has got to be one of the most eclectic yet comfortable houses I have ever been in. Its part museum and part English cottage. Its a cosy little old house filled with interesting artifacts that makes you feel like you can kick off your shoes, settle in on one of the many mismatched chairs and enjoy time spent with family and friends.

new cards

Here are a few cards I did to submit to the Stampers Sampler.  Stampers sampler is probably my utmost favorite magazine as it contains more cards for the cost than any other stamp magazine published.  

The first few cards I made were for their holiday art card call: 

Stamps used: Starving Artistamps "crash landing witch", sentiment from Witch trio set, clouds set and silhouette graveyard.  Paper from Die Cuts with a View pets stack.

This card uses stamps from Starving Artistamps "flying wedgie witch", clouds set and haunted house from our DoodleFactory collection. Papers are from assorted companies. 

Fence punch is Martha Stewart.   Oh and P.S. if you liked Martha Stewarts drippy goo halloween release punch from last year you will be exited to hear that due to its overwhelming popularity they will be re-releasing it again this year!

Well, this card isn't quite a halloween  card, I got off track a little bit.  But at least it shows that

you can use the halloween witch for other things once halloween is over!

Stamps: balloons from simple birthday set and "old hag witch" and sentiment from Witch Trio set. Papers are from Die Cuts with a view Pets stack.

I liked my cards so much that I just couldn't bear to part with them. 

So I made two of each.  I did a couple of them slightly different but not by much. 

The next two cards are my submissions for the call for beads on cards. I'm not so sure I knocked these out of the park but they went in the envelope too:

Stamps: Starving Artistamps flower bunch, Sentiment from Simple and Sweet sentiments set.

Paper from Basic Grey's urban prairie.

Ok, this next one is some bead over kill.  I think I should have used smaller beads.  Originally I had the beads as the top layer of the center of the sunflower, but then decided that was a little excessive and decided to add an additional top layer to frame the beads. It worked out better: 

  

If I decided to recreate this card I think I would skip the border and/or try it with smaller beads.  

The Calm before the Storm

Have you ever heard the expression the calm before the storm?  Thats what Saturday morning is right before they open the show to the shoppers.   I took these photos a few minutes before the Akron, Ohio Adventures in Stamping show started.  I figured you might be getting tired of photos of my displays so I will spare you more shots of our booth, but I did want you to see how my new sign came out:

this shows the middle of the back wall of the booth,

what you are seeing is 10' of the 20' across.  

Various vendors finishing up some last minute details. 

This is the far right isle of the show.   You can see a tiny bit of

our displays in the left (black table cloth, wooden shelves.)

This is the next isle from the far right.

You can see a section of our unmounted displays 

(the first two carts on the right of this photo)

behind us is Just for Fun Rubber Stamps owned and operated by Rick and Deb.

Rick's nickname for me is "Trouble" and he likes to razz us a lot about how long we take to drive to a venue.  Jezz, you take a few extra hours (about 5 actually)  to get to a show in Virginia three years ago (due to massive traffic delays and bridge closures, so not our fault! ) and they never let you forget it! 

Also, interesting to note, unbeknownst to Rick, one of the other promoters we work with also calls me "Trouble".   A title that I have unfairly received I tell you!

Other side of that same isle.

These are my neighbors to the right of me. This is also the first front row of the show. 

We were in the front row, to the right. This is all the booths to our left across 

from the front entrance. With over 50 vendors at this show, it was a good location.

I didn't get much time to shop and I really wish I had. There were several vendors at this show that I didn't know and wish I had been able to check out their offerings. I did manage to stop at the one booth that I had a shopping list for.  Outlines rubber stamps. Another must have company to check out.  You really need to see their displays in person though, photos really do not do this companies products justice. I picked up a huge, glorious assortment of sparkly austrian crystals, soon to grace the fronts of my cards I hope!

A little known fact about us. We frequently travel with one of our dogs.

This is Joshua, he is our 7 lb chihuahua.  He loves to travel with us and has been doing

so for all of his life.  Sometimes he has to stay back at the hotel and sometimes he is allowed

in the venue.  It depends on the location and promoter.  We tend to stick with the same chains

of hotels and with over 60 days on the road Joshua has come to recognize them very well.  He feels right at home right away when we check into our room.  

"Seriously? It's 8am already?  Do you REALLY have to leave at this ridiculous hour?"

"Stop taking my photo mom, I just want to go back to bed!"

Well, I hope you have enjoyed a few glimpses from our trip!  

Tomorrow I have a couple of new cards to show you :O)

These are the people in my neighborhood

I thought I'd take a moment to upload my latest show pictures from the last show we did before we head off to Akron, Ohio for Adventures in Stamping this weekend.  Last post I mentioned I wanted a new smaller sign to fit in with my Wall O' cards backdrop.  I will be picking up my new sign on tuesday, right before we leave for Akron.  

Here is a picture of the digital version of the sign. I am very curious to see how the sign will turn out compared to its little digital version.  So while I was in "new sign mode" I somehow diverted to "new logo mode" and managed to wrangle a super special doodle out of Irene.  It's Doodle ME! (o.k.. a cuter, thinner, younger me, but me none the less!)  I'm totally jazzed about being doodlized.  Granted she was kind to me and took some liberties, but you will notice a few of my features.. such as my straight blonde hair, blue eyes, full lips and a round nose.  

and here she ("I") am digitalized and ready to be printed on our new sign:

I will post follow up photos  of our booth with the new sign in Akron when we get back.  

Our previous show was in Allentown, PA.  I had some extra help for this show: 

My beautiful niece in all her Starving Artistamps accoutrements. 

She loves to do shows with me and this show she was especially helpful. 

She and I unloaded the entire trailer by ourselves during a bit of drama

when my sister realized she was missing her wallet and spent the first 

couple of hours of show set up on the phone canceling all her credit and bank cards. 

(post script: she dropped her wallet before we even left home, the police

called her monday morning. No cash was in it but she did get her coach wallet,

 drivers licence, photos, and all her now canceled cards back.)

 

Booth shot after set up was complete.

Oh, so the title to my post.. These are the people in my neighborhood

(my fellow stamp vendors friends)

This is Sam.  Sam is so cool.  I call him "other John" ... actually, I call him and his wife  Debbie 

"other us" because so many things about them reminds me of John and I.  We have the same

taste in products, the same over stuffed booth philosophy. The same affinity for big black trucks and pimped out custom trailer set ups.  I especially adore Sam because John and him get along like peas and carrots.  

Here are some other stamp gypsies I adore...

MaryKay, the brilliantly talented owner of Stamp Camp rubber stamps. She has a fabulous

eye for stamp designs, definitely worth checking out her wonderful line of stamps.

This is Kathy of Sea Side Stampin' ink.  They are out of Maryland and put on 

The coolest annual stamp show in Ocean city, Maryland. It goes on on the same

weekend as a HUGE car show. All weekend are hot rods and vintage cars crusing up and down the main road. Lots of  traffic and exhaust fumes in the air but super fun to do.  

(plus there are DOLPHINS in the ocean there, that alone would inspire me to go... the crabs are a good bonus too!)

This year we are talking about crashing at Kathy and Joe's (meet Joe below) house for the show.  And all we have to do is bring them a couple dozen NY bagels... can you say sweet deal!

This is Joe, Kathy's husband.  He looks like a big ol' teddy bear here but sometimes he sports  a Harley doo rag and other Harley gear and then he looks like a bad-a** biker dude.  He also loves the guitar so I suppose we will be doing some jamming while we are crashing there. (him more the jamming , me more the scratching out some sort of tune with my rudimentary guitar playing skills.

This is actually a pic of John from the show in Philly.  

I figured I would throw it in here because my husband is so darn cute an all.