Exciting weekend....

Here they are... my two rodeo champs!!

This weekend we had a banquet for the saddle club my daughters compete in... it was a proud moment for mama :)

My daughter, on the left, faced many road blocks this rodeo season and still managed to take reserve champion (2nd place :) !! Whooo hoooo. I could not be more proud of her! She had to deal with the very  traumatic death of her champion horse two weeks before the first rodeo of the season. The horses name was Shadow, she and my daughter fit together perfect. My daughter took her time and trained this mare herself. She even won a saddle with Shadow... it was a HUGE accomplishment. You see most of the kids that compete in rodeo buy very high dollar horses that are trained by someone other than themselves. Not my girl... she takes pride in her patient training and hard work and always give the horse the credit for her wins. She and Shadow were quite a team, she had a love for this horse that was strong and true. The story behind the death of Shadow makes grown men cry, it was a true tragedy. I may share this some day, but for now just know that is was heart breaking and a horrible thing for young girl to witness. My girl was determined to go to the first rodeo, I did  not think it was a good idea but we took her. She rode my husbands horse in the first event... it did not go so well. She could hardly see through her tears, she declared her hatred for Sable (husbands horse) and I decided it was best to go on home. A week later her daddy left to Afghanistan for 6 months. She was sad, it was so hard. About a week after he left she started working with Sable, my husband's horse. She worked daily with her and slowly but surly made progress. She competed in every other rodeo of the season and managed to take 2nd!! She worked so hard, and showed such grace through this trying time in her life. I reminded her yesterday that the Lord shined through her during the entire time. What a blessing.

My "adopted" daughter also won a buckle!! She took 4th place!! She was such a trooper through the entire season! She stood by me and my family and supported us and loved us through the hard times. I am so blessed to have these two fantastic ladies in my life.... thank you Lord! 

So... I did manage to carve a really cute custom order stamp this weekend. It is of the wedding rings but with names under the rings :) I loved the look and posted the personalized stamp in my shop.

The end of the month is here... if you have not yet entered the August giveaway be sure to go to the post and enter :)

Sooooo excited!!!!

I HAVE BEEN FEATURED!!!!! Yea! I am so excited! I woke up my kids to tell them about this :)
isavirtue purchased a stamp from me last week and was soooo kind and featured me in her blog! The great thing is she said some very kind words about my work, made me smile :) And.... I did get a sale because of her post and.... more exposure.... and a huge confidence boost ;-)  How cool is that!
Check it out here
http://blog.isavirtue.net/2011/08/sunday-seller-getting-hooked.html

Three pretty flowers, Hand Carved Rubber Custom stamps

You all know I LOVE custom order stamps!! :-) I love carving them... love the images.
I was given the challenge to carve 3 flowers, no stems, no leaves, just the bloom. I needed to carve a hibiscus, and African lily, and an African violet. I looked through some images on google to see what these flowers looked like, then I drew a few sketches. I was confident about the hibiscus and the lily, but the violet... well, I was just not sure how I was going to make it into a stamp. The first one I carved ended up in the little bag next to my desk.... the trash bag :-( I tried to add too much detail to that one and it just did not work... but the second carve was a success!! :-)

Here they are...

I love comments.... let me know what you think :-)

Williamsburg VA inspired these new stamps!!

As some of you may remember, when my husband returned from serving in Afghanistan for 6 months we took an exciting trip to Washington DC. We also toured Historic Williamsburg VA.... I am soooo HOOKED on this city!!
We got off the tour bus and stepped back in history. All of the citizens act as though they are living in the year 1774. Wow what a home school trip that was... I love live schooling :-)

I would like to introduce a few of my new stamps that were definitely inspired by our recent trip. But first, a few fun pics from Williamsburg!

This was in the fiber/yarn shop... I spent a lot of time in here...
It was great!!

This was the beautiful Apothecary Shop

Being served Hot Chocolate, it was like drinking chocolate syrup!!

Here is my husband at the blacksmith shop, he wants this gun to
ward off future gentlemen callers for our daughter :-)

Here are my new stamps.... let me know what you think.

This is my FAVORITE... I have this thing about ink and quill.
I bought two sets of quills and ink while there... pretty cool!

I will get a lot of use out of this stamp... I love to border tags and such to give a
vintage feel.

I don't know why some pics show up on their side here, but they do :-(
VA was full of beautiful gardens and birds. My husband loves this stamp.

All of the new stamps can be found in my shop!

Finished a cute custom!!

Hi Friends!!
This weekend sure flew by fast!! I have been busy planning the upcoming school year for my two quickly growing children!! Can't believe I have one in her second year of high school!!!! We are excited about the school year... at least I am :-)

I had a really cute little custom order stamp I had to get done this weekend. It was a lot of lettering in a not a lot of space :-) But... I got it all in and think it is adorable. I love getting custom orders... I love to carve out the ideas of someone else, people are so creative :-)!!

I am getting a great response to the August give a way!! I am so excited to have all of the new followers!! If you have not yet signed up be sure to check it out here:
http://gettinghookedoncrafts.blogspot.com/2011/08/summer-is-not-over-yet-august-blog.html

Let me know what you think of the custom... I am encouraged with every comment :-)

Summer Give Away for August's Blog Special!! Summer is not over yet...

Every month I have some sort of blog special and this month is a BIG ONE!!

Summer is still in full swing here in south GA and the beach is still calling my name. Although when I walk into some of the stores lately I think there must be some confusion about what season it is. Winter clothes are hanging on cloths racks, and Christmas decorations are on some shelves!!
NOOOO!!!! It's still summer!! My favorite season of the year and it is not over yet :-)

So, this month I want to remember that it is in fact still summer (as if the heat is not screaming that reality :-) !! I am giving away not one, not two, but three hand carved rubber stamps.... and guess what??? They are summer/beach stamps!! :-) And.... they will come to the winner in an adorable hand made bag with the stamp images on it!!

you can find these stamps listed in my etsy shop to your right

Entering the drawing is EASY!!

All you have to do is be a follower of my blog and post a comment to this blog post and you will be entered into the drawing!! ( if you are new to blogger, to follow my blog you will need to hit the follow button at the very top of the page... you must be a follower to be entered into the drawing ) I will write your name on slip and place all of the names is a basket.

..... if you want to increase your odds of winning there are a few ways you can have your name entered again!!

If you mention this give a way on your blog and post a link to this post, I will put your name in the basket a second time!! ( just let me know that you linked me :-) by leaving another comment)

and one last way.... for every stamp you purchase in my etsy shop in August (see the link to your right) your name will go in again!! So... if you buy 3 stamps your name goes in 3 more times. Just let me know you made a purchase so I can get your name in!!

***You must  be a follower of my blog and leave a comment to be entered***

My wonderful daughter, who is always asking me if she can help with my etsy shop, will be drawing the name from the basket.

she sure is enjoying her summer.... it is not over yet :-)

The winner will be announced on my blog within the first week of September.

(I will also personally contact the winner)

Thanks for following me!! :-)

Sometimes simple is best... and this is how to make it

Sometimes we need a simple card to just say hi, to just let someone we know we are thinking of them. Nothing fancy, keep it simple and small. Sometimes simple is best.

Simple and super easy... here are the steps, and I will reveal one

 of my stamping secrets!!

First start with a cream colored card stock that measures 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 ... I buy a Pre- cut packet of them at Hobby Lobby... so easy!

Fold it in half

Now gather a few supplies for stamping on the image...

You will need crayola washable markers (part 1 of my stamping secret) the adorable bird stamp with shout out, can be purchased here  http://www.etsy.com/listing/76412431/hand-carved-rubber-stamp-bird-with-shout

and a Q-tip

After lots of playing with stamps I have discovered a few tricks to inking and image transfer that I am going to share with you all :-)

Washable children's markers work GREAT for inking a stamp you want multi colored.They are cheap, they wipe right off of the stamp, come in all the basic colors and transfer beautifully onto paper. A little note of caution though.... I use the markers for cards and things that do not include photos... I am sure they are not photo safe. Also, if you are working on something that you do not want to last for a very long time these may not be your ink of choice. I am not sure how long the true color will last, not sure how much fading they will do over time.

Next, use the colors you choose to color right on the stamp. I colored the bird blue, the shout out black, the branch brown and the leaf green.

These markers are very wet, you should have plenty of time to color the stamp with out the ink drying.

If you were to stamp the image now you would end up with streaked uneven color, after trying a few different ways to make the color look just like a stamp pad was used I came up with a trick... step 2 of my secret :-)

Take a Q-tip and pat over the stamp, being sure to slightly turn the tip with each color so you do not transfer colors.

Line the stamp to the edge of the paper and transfer the image... just beautiful!! :-)

How cool is that!! I am so proud of my technique :-) A versatile and cheap way to stamp :-)

Next, I stamped the "hi" in the shout out. I have a set of very tiny letters that work great, but you can always hand write the "hi" and that would be great as well.

Because I am just using one color for the letters I used a black ink pad.

Next I broke out the cricut.

I used the song bird cartridge. I cut out the bird house with the flower cut out of the middle.

Now, if you do not have a cricut you can always cut out a house shape, I think that would look good also.

The next step is tearing off a light orange/yellow piece of paper and gluing it to the back of the bird house  so it shows through the flower. Add a little dab of glitter glue to the center of the flower, I used a copper color.  Then, use some thin ribbon and tie a bow leaving long enough ends to fit the card. Adhere the ribbon to the card, and adhere the bird house to the card just slightly over the ribbon. Finally, I colored in the birds belly with a colored pencil and dotted the birds eye with a fine black marker.

And there you have it! How easy is that? You may want to adhere you ribbon a little straighter  than I did though, lol :-)