July 4th Fun (And What I've Been Working On)

Now starts crunch time for Convention - countdown 14 days! I joined four organized swaps, so I better get my rear in gear, huh?

We had a great Fourth of July weekend! On Friday, Little Missy and I drove to my parents' for some stamping with Mom, Dad's birthday party, and fireworks at Jumpin' Jacks. I'll share his birthday card with you tomorrow.

Then off to the Catskills for some camping, bonfires, s'mores with friends... My husband and I can't go anywhere without some type of exercise equipment. He had already planned out a 40-mile road ride loop around Hunter Mountain, which turned out to be just beautiful! And the dip in the Schoharie Creek afterwards was perfect!

Yes, and on the downtime while he was biking (we have to take turns), there was also some stamping. I worked on my Simply Adorned Charm insert swaps.

I am in three charm insert swap groups at Convention plus one mail-in swap, so I'll be sharing these and other swaps over the next couple weeks while there isn't much new stuff happening. There will be a lot of stamping happening, but the same stamp, color, glue, repeat - not new stuff... you know what I mean. Not gonna count how many swaps I have to make, 'cause that would be too scary to say out loud!

This is the 1 x 1-1/4" charm, and these things are so much fun to make! It is a challenge to figure out what little part of the stamp would look good in this little area, and what kind of technique to use to pretty and bling it up. I watercolored with watercolor crayons and embossed the whole piece with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. This one was inspired by Mary Rindal in the Stampin' Addicts Summer Mini blog hop.

Stamps: Elements of Style; Paper: Whisper White; Ink: Basic Black, Versamark; Accessories: Aquapainter, Brights Watercolor Crayons (Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie), Iridescent Ice embossing powder.

Thanks for stopping by!