Hello!

Thank you everyone for the wonderful wishes for my trip, it was fantastic! We went to three cities (Boston + NYC + Newport) plus a few day trips. Besides the AMAZING normal site seeing we also got a chance to go to three stamps stores (Paper Source + Chica Ink + The Ink Pad). I am going to start a new column with stamp store reviews because I always love to know whether a store is a dud or a gem. Later today I will post my full reviews.

Today's card is a fun mixture of stamps from the sale at my LSS. The main image is from Magenta and was such a joy to color. I used Y23, YG95, YG99, BG10, B01, R39 and E33. I loved playing with this 'through the window' coloring, which I stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on Georgia Pacific paper. I stamped the blue CD with a background stamp from Hot Potato Stamps in Tempting Turquoise. HPS has a lot of really great thick images that are perfect for backgrounds.

The card base is Purely Pomegranate (I actually convinced myself to use it, I overcame a tinch of hoarding HOORAH!). I also used the PP ink for the sentiment 'Hello' from My Favorite Things, which I stamped on GP CS. The ribbon is from Wal-Mart. I am oddly cheap with ribbon. I know it is some people's stamping passion, but IMHO simple looks better.

Well, I'm off to catch up on some sleep. The airline lost one of our bags on the way back (and the way there) so let's just say the stress level is a little high over here. However, I should be back later today for those reviews and I am looking forward to playing with all the rubbah I bought along the way (my very first Thomas Kinkade stamp as well as some A Muse and others).

Elyssa