I love Mushrooms...and some rambling

Especially on Pizza! But for some reason I love images of mushrooms. While I was coloring this image, I think I finally remembered why. Obviously, I decided to color this one green but I kept thinking it wasn't right, I kept wanting to grab red, I was wanting it to look like a Smurf home! I loved the Smurfs when I was younger and still have a few of them in the house. That was even my nickname for quite awhile, not because of my affinity for the cartoon, but it was because I dyed my hair blue and wore it that way for several years. I still have friends that call me that from back home. On to the card: another thing I am doing with my self challenge is trying to work with colors I don't use that often and different color combos, and trying new things. The images are from Simon Says Stamp. there are several little woodland creatures in the set alone with another mushroom or two. The mushroom was colored with Copic Markers and the hi-lights drawn in with a white gel pen and the dragonflies were colored with a Spica marker. The acrylic drops are clear but I used some Stickles behind them to make them shimmer. Katy did a tutorial on the ClearlyiStamp blog the other day talking about adhesives that Clear Dollar Stamps carries and I picked up that little tip. That is a great blog for tutorials by the way. 

A couple of weeks ago on Splitcoast there was a discussion about shipping times from various companies and how sudden growth had caused some companies to experience some delays. Since the discussion was talking about business growing pains I added a comment about understanding how that happens because I have had friends that have had the same thing happen with their businesses. Anyway to make a long story short Heidi from Simon Says Stamp contacted me and asked if she could send me some stamps to try. Of course I said sure! That was the end of the conversation, she didn't ask me what I like or styles I prefer or anything. So about a week later I have this package in the mail with five stamp sets in it. The selection she sent me was so funny, I think if I had gone to their site and picked them myself, I would have ended up with the same sets! Not only do they carry their own line of stamps they have lots of other stuff, including all the Hero Arts stuff I can never find in stores around here.

My SIL and I went shopping for paint last night. Kip and I are redoing the downstairs and I have been given kinda free reign to pick out the colors. Well, as long as they aren't weird combinations and the colors don't scream at you or sear your brain. Right now every room in the house is off white. I can live with that, and like the white space, but would much prefer the white to be paired with bursts of color.  Since part of this new space is going to be my creative area, I want something stimulating, not boring. So she is helping me pick out colors and asked what colors I like and since I love yellow that was one of the choices I gave her, but she kept showing me muted golds or varying shades. I finally had to show her YELLOW and RED! I did manage to find some samples that I think we might both be able to live with so stay posted to see what we end up with!