Bad Friend!!!

I messed up big time!! I forgot my friend Erin's birthday yesterday, and now I'm just so mad at myself!!! I have a history of being bad about birthdays . . . mostly because I just don't care about my own, so I think I project my distaste for birthdays onto everyone else. It took me 50 years to realize that recognizing and remembering someone's birthday is important, if anything but to let your friends know that you're thinking of them. So, I had been doing better about remembering that . . . until yesterday. Ugh!! Of course, Erin was really sweet about it - I would expect nothing less from her. But I mean, what could she say - "Yeah, Karolyn, you SUCK as a friend for forgetting my birthday!!" That's what she should have said . . . but she didn't. So, I'm doing my best to make it up to her. I hope she'll forgive my horrible character flaws when she sees her birthday card.

Isn't she cute?!! This image is one of my new craft stamps from Janlynn Corp. called Floating Softly. She's illustrated by Frances Mahon, whose images I was introduced to by my friend, Terri. They're BIG stamps, which is always a struggle for me. I wanted to showcase the main portion of the image, so I did sort of a modified Spotlight Technique by stamping the entire stamp on the main lavendar panel, then stamping it again on white cardstock, coloring it, and cutting it out with my Rectangle Nestabilities to focus on the main portion of the image. Cute, huh? I just love these darling little fairies - I have three more that I plan to use for more cute fun in the future!

I colored her with my new Lyra pencils and Gamsol. I've recently been studying a couple of designers (Paula Tracy - Paper Possibilities and Linda Heavens - Heavens Created This) that are just amazing with these Lyra pencils. I love the look of the Gamsol/pencil technique, but have always struggled with it myself. Paula and Linda seriously just ROCK this technique, so I figured if I purchased the exact same products that they use, that my coloring would be miraculously transformed!! Uhhhh . . . no. It didn't exactly work out like that. But I really like these Lyra pencils, and plan to continue to work with them. I'll also continue to study Paula and Linda's designs . . . and hope that my coloring begins to improve.

Stamps: Floating Softly (Stamps Happen)
Paper: Grapesicle CS (Poptone), Green Apple CS (Poptone), Blu Raspberry CS (Poptone), White CS (Neenah)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Sweet Plum (Memento)
Accessories: Lyra colored pencils, Gamsol, Stampin Dimensionals, Rectangle Classic Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, 5/8" Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon (American Crafts), Button (Doodlebug), Scrapper's Floss (Karen Foster), Quickie Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Shimmery Chalk (Pebbles)

Thanks for stopping by!