Yoris Needs a Treat - DF info

I love the box that Jody [Confessions of a Ribbon Addict] made a few weeks ago and knew I wanted to try one with Yoris from my Starving Artistamps The Great Outdoors! I put a cello bag filled with Cranberry Trail Mix inside which was yummy [I had to buy me some too, after all]. The rows of grass are made using DoodleDads set - there are so many fun 'doodledads' in there to use with your sets! HA I gave this box to John and he said, 'I'm not a bear' and I said, 'yes you are' as I affectionately pat his belly, 'you're always asking me to feed you'. I remember my mom teaching me to cook and telling me the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. True Dat!

**Starving Artistamps Discount Code Update:
Take 10% off all Starving Artistamps and DoodleFactory rubber stamps - use this code savetenDB in the coupon code box at checkout. Then hit recalculate. **This discount is not for any non-Starving Artist or DoodleFactory stamps due to the rising costs of products, shipping & transaction fees.

Caught a Bug??

I have to admit, of all the images in The Doodlefactory The Great Outdoors, the squitos were my biggest challenge. They really like me (or my blood) but I don't like them because I have ultra sensitive skin so I couldn't help but think of what a pain squitos are irl when I was working with them. But, I trudged on through and actually like how this card turned out.

It would be so fun to send to someone who is sick - a get well wish. I paper-toled the clubhouse but it's hard to see from the angle I took my photo. If you have any questions about my card, feel free to ask in the comments/email me.

Yoris is Famished

After a long day galivanting around The Great Outdoors, Yoris is famished so he plopped himself down by some shade trees & set his 'Please Feed the Bear' sign up in hopes that the Beaver Family who was cooking up some delicious smelling burgers & hot dogs would have pity on him & feed him. After all, a bear's gotta take a break from hunting his own food ever now & then. The Beaver family came through & left him some food to tide him over until the next day.

Wheels & S'mores in The Great Outdoors

I had to make Sneeq on the bike for John; when we first saw the Doodlefactory Great Outdoors one of the first thing he said was, the raccoon can fit on the bike! So here he is, of course his feet don't reach the pedals but that's o.k.! It totally reminds me of my first time riding a horse at Half Moon Bay in CA, my feet didn't reach the stirrups and they were adjusted the best they could be. Not a good idea, I was trudging along just fine until my horse decided it wanted to go faster & went down the cliff to the beach - practically the whole time I was fearing for my life thinking for sure I was going to fall off - the stirrups kind of serve an important purpose in that respect! I was SO happy to have not fallen but I'm sure if America's Funniest Home Videos was there filming I may have won some $.

p.s. John was not home when I was making my card - he informed me that the bike's front wheel should have been angled upward so Sneeq was really doing a wheelie. Oh well.

Who doesn't love a good s'more? They are so easy to make, all yummy & gooey when you roast your marshmallow just right and are the quintessential snack for the Great Outdoors! That's why I chose to make them the focus of this Starving Artistamps card to show you some of the many possibilities for this set. How cute is it that the Beaver Family-Belvedere the dad & Bink his son are out camping & enjoying themselves in front of a nice fire roasting marshmallows so they could make some s'mores?!

P.S. if you haven't checked out all the FUN Doodlefactory stamps/sentiments - go to Starving Artistamps and do so! If by chance these sets don't tickle your fancy, there are TONS of other styles to choose from {silhouettes, unique sentiments, backgrounds, etc! - the store is chock-full of stamping fun for EVERYONE! Be sure to use this coupon code: dbakerdis for 10% off your order!! Just enter it in the box & hit re-calculate!

FS80: Huggy Bear Yoris

I was so excited to see my friend Jessie (Knightrone) as Featured Stamper 80 (FS80) on SCS Sunday! The challenge is to find one of her gallery cards & CASE it. I decided to take one of her cards I got from her IRL as my card to case when she was featured on Jen's SFYTT in July.

I used my new Starving Artistamps Doodlefactory The Great Outdoors set with Yoris the bear. I love the sentiments that coordinate with the set so much - and the one that caught my eye to use for him was 'hug a tree it feels good' - how funny is that?! I love the trio of trees illustrator Irene drew for this set - I used to draw the same Christmas trees as a kid and because there are 2 different sized trees, I used the smaller one so it looked like the tree was his security blanket.

I distressed my cardstock to make it look more rustic, like the real great outdoors (love the Distress Inks) here I used the Vintage Photo. My changes from Jessie's card are: cardstock, stamp sets, less brads, one less layer and flipped the sentiment & main 1/2 panel.

If you decide today you HAVE to get in on some of the fun that I've been having with these stamps & want to get some of your own - just click here, place stuff in your cart (Tracey sells EZ-Mount original & thin for mounting your stamps but you can pay extra for them to come mounted). Then enter dbakerdis in the coupon code box & hit re-calculate. 10% off your order! woohoo!

Nice Buns!

Here is Fern scoping out the Beaver Family's grilling dinner...showing off her nice buns!! Fern is from Starving Artistamps' Doodlefactory The Great Outdoors. Isn't she adorable with her long eyelashes & her sassy stance - looks as if she 'knows' she has nice buns...that's why I couldn't resist using these images together on a card!!

You Light Up My Life

I'll tell you in case you are a new reader to my blog, I have someone that lights up my life. Her name is Gabriella (Gabby) - my sweet, beautiful niece who is 28 months old and lives in another state. I have been blessed to visit her every 6 months since she was born. Since last Christmas we've had lots of 'dates' on the webcam and we talk on the phone about 2 times a week.

She called to tell me big news last night. She has been going 'potty' in the big potty for 7 days!! I'm so excited about it!! Well, that is not exactly what made my life light up. It was something my sister said happened Monday evening. Gabby was at the dinner table eating and out of the blue said, "I'm sad" and her mommy asked her why. She said, "I miss Auntie Donna" when my sister said that I got choked up. I didn't realize she knew what that meant, perhaps it's a combination of me telling her I miss her but for those words to come out of her cute self just melted my heart so I had to commit this to memory with a card & blog post. I know the only ones who can relate to something like this are those who live far from their loved ones as well. It was a decision I made 11 years ago when the thought of nieces & nephew were not quite a reality with one sister unmarried & the other married but with no desire to have children. Things sure have changed and my heart aches on a daily basis for them (tears flowing).

Onto the card now - I got my new Doodlefactory The Great Outdoors, a new release by Starving Artistamps. I know I'm going to have a ton of fun with all the images in this set and in combination with the sentiments? The fun will never end!! I used Pogue on my card, along with the lantern and fireflies. I attempted to make the 'light' around him (which John thought was am imitation of the glow around Jesus-ha ha) light up the night sky by layering my koh-i-noor pencils & blending with baby oil/stumps. He ended up saying he really likes the card, though!

P.S. Don't forget you can save 10% on your next Starving Artistamps order by typing dbakerdis in the coupon code box, then click re-calculate!

And here's a recent picture of the precious little girl who lights up my life & who misses me.