A Unique Blog Hop

     I'm excited today to be participating in a Unique Blog Hop. I was invited to join in by Christina Franco who I know as fellow stamper, allamericanstampers, on the Splitcoaststampers site. We both like to participate in the challenges over there and have commented on each other's cards. She makes some beautiful cards! I hope you'll head on over and check out her awesome blog Blessings Ink.

     Part of this hop is to answer some questions about my stamping so here goes!

1. What are you working on currently?

                                               

One of the things I enjoy, is trying out new techniques. This technique was shared by Lydia/Understandblue as the weekly tutorial at splitcoast. She calls it stamp etching. It is a fun way to add some depth to open line stamps. It really breathed new life into this retired SU set. All it takes is a fine line marker and some "flicking" to add depth to your images. I will probably end up fussy cutting or tearing around this before adding it to a card. 

2. What's your style-what sets you apart?

I'm a very eclectic stamper and like to try all sorts of things, but one thing I do gravitate toward is more neutral or natural elements. The result is that I often end up with cards that are more masculine. Here are a couple of cards I made during the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges that fit the neutral/natural bill.

I don't tend to do a lot of coloring and I don't follow all the latest trends, but I have jumped onto the mixed media bandwagon and tried more mixed media techniques lately. Here's a tag I made mixing acrylics, ink and embossing powder,

I also like to use found items (just ask my family....they laugh at the things I pick up or keep to use later)

I kept these curly pieces of my squash vine that paired well with the shell fragments for this beachy card.
3. What Inspires Me and How Did It All Begin?

I love to create cards for the people in my life. This was for my youngest daughter. I enjoy creating things that are unique and special just like the people for whom I am creating the cards.

My husband is a pastor, and I also like to create cards that he can use in ministry.
Pinterest is a source of inspiration to me. I keep a (large) board of inspiration photos that I can peruse when I'm looking for a spark. I also do a fair bit of gallery gazing at splitcoast and keep a favorites board there for ideas and techniques to try.
I actually started scrapbooking before I got into card making. My foray into stamping began when my now 24yo daughter went to a 9th birthday party for a friend and they stamped frames and a gable box at the party. It seemed like it would be a fun way to connect with my girls and would (cough cough) save me lots of money on cards. Who knows how many dollars later, I'm still enjoying involving my kids in my stamping and making the cards my family uses as well as keeping a card rack in a store in our town where I sell some of my creations.
4. How Does Your Creative Process Work?Well, in a nutshell, messily!

This was my desk mid the week long marathon of challenges known as Dare to Get Dirty! Notice the coffee cup in the center...also a key to the creative process. I often have a book on tape playing in the background or sometimes a movie (one I've seen before usually) playing in the "movie pit" which is adjacent to my stamping area in our mostly unfinished basement. I have trouble visualizing things, so I usually place items onto my card and try them out till I get a combo that works for me. I often make two or three times as many elements as I need and those end up in my leftovers pile. I sometimes challenge myself to a day of "scraps only" creating. Here's a quick card I made using only thin strips of paper that accumulate and get bagged up from the trimmings at my tabletop cutter.

I've had a lot of fun thinking through these questions and am looking forward to tracing the blog hop backwards and reading what others had to share about their art.
Now it is my turn to move the blog hop forward. Today I'm introducing another stamper I met on splitcoast. Melissa and I served on a design team together and I love her blog. She and I have a few things in common I think! She describes herself as:a simplicity seeking, camera crazed crafter! I admire her clean style and I think you'll really enjoy her blog Oh, Smudge! Check it out and leave her some love!Be sure to visit Chris as well where my blog hop adventure began and thanks for the opportunity to play along!
Watch for another post soon, I hope, with another stamper to add to the hop. Thanks for joining along in the fun!