Deadbeat Designs

Novel Approach

Bodacious Backgrounds and Deadbeat Designs made their way to Friendswood over the weekend. Novel Approach is a great store, full of rubber stamps, paper and everything you would expect to find in a rubber stamp/scrapbook store.... only more!

Loads and loads of Deadbeat Designs stamps, of course!

Paper, paper....

and more paper!

And ribbon. Good grief!

The class went off without a hitch. This, however, was the rowdy table. There's one in every class!

Lots of colorful creations thanks to all the Memento inks.

Yes, Bahama Blue adds just the right touch!

Next up, Stamp Asylum in Plano and once again, the classes are full. Then I think I'll take a break until the Stamp Lauderdale Retreat in September. One can only take bodaciousness for so long!

August

It's not quite August but I don't have anything else to post so I thought I'd take this opportunity to play with the new calendar... which you can find HERE. Everyone complains about Texas being hotter than hell but I love it. Winter is my idea of hell or any time the temperature goes below 50 degrees. Nevertheless, since I don't have a stamp of a thermostat, here is a stamped representation of August in Texas.

But if you'd rather see a different version of hot air, here's an option. The background is one of the techniques we play with in the Bodacious Backgrounds class and you can see it HERE on this Youtube video.

Speaking of Bodacious Backgrounds, I'll be at Novel Approach in Friendswood this Friday. The class is full so if you don't have a seat by now, you're out of luck. I've been busy preparing class kits and making stamps for the trunk show as well as filling orders for other hungry stores. I've also been working on new images for Lynn's Stamp Lauderdale Retreat which is filling up nicely. Lynn is about to announce the deadline for sign ups so stay tuned. There are still a few $119 beach-front rooms left so if you think you might be interested, don't wait too long! There are even a few stampers from Texas flying over!

Stamp Antonio

I slept very well last night.

Yesterday I was at Stamp Antonio teaching another Bodacious Backgrounds class to 30 fun, enthusiastic (and loud) women. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Here's photographic proof...

Stamp Antonio's classroom is amazing. If you ever get a chance to take a class there, you should jump at the opportunity. In fact, you could do worse than a road trip to San Antonio for a weekend of stamping, shopping and dining on the River Walk and a visit to The Alamo.

If I ever go missing, please point the authorities in the direction of this bunch. I'm not suggesting they are violent but I'm not sure they have complete control of their enthusiasm - if you know what I mean. And if you don't, you're probably not a stalker.

The drive home provided it's own adventure. First there was an amazingly persistent rain storm. When did people forget how to drive in the rain? I'm from Houston so maybe it just comes naturally. Anyway, it rained for miles and miles. So I made a pit stop at the world's most fantastic Buc-ee's - on I-35 in New Braunfels, exit 191 if you must know. I'm not really the kind of person who gets impressed by what is essentially a convenience store/gas station but when the rest room is larger (and maybe cleaner) than my house, it's worth a mentio (and that's just the men's rest room). The whole thing is as big as my local grocery store and even sells meat and produce as well as a full line of Buc-ee's products. I purchased two bags of their yogurt-covered pretzels - one regular and one peanut butter-flavored. Anyway, it's worth the stop.

Then another stop for dinner, but wait! Why can't I get out of my car? I love my Mini Cooper and apparently it loves me back because it just didn't want to release the seat belt to let me out. After considerable effort, I managed to pull enough slack so that I could fold my legs up and slip out. Otherwise, I would have been sleeping in my car tonight.

By the way, this does nothing but inspire more hatred for the seat belt law. Laws should protect me from you and you from me - not me from ME! If you get a ticket for not wearing your seat belt it's a moving violation - this law only benefits insurance companies! Don't get me started.... too late, right?

Yeah, wearing your seatbelt is a good idea - but so is giving up ice cream.

And burritos.

And cocktails.

So let's have a law to regulate our food intake. Makes about as much dang sense.

Anyway, back at home and will start on making more stamps for the many orders from Stamp Antonio's customers. Hopefully they'll ship this week!

Stung

I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours last night watching (re-watching, actually) The Sting. As old people often say, they don't make movies like that anymore. It's not exactly a 'chick flick' but between Paul Newman's eyes and Robert Redford's smile, it ought to keep you interested. And then there's the amazing Robert Shaw a couple of years before he gets eaten by Jaws.

Of course, I should have been working on samples for this Sunday's class at Stamp Antonio. But why do today what I can put off until tomorrow?

Anyway, a few random things....

This weekend is the big Grapevine show. Googly Eyes and Stamp Asylum will both have a booths and Googly Eyes will be featuring a ton of Deadbeat Designs stamps. Plus you can find the new 2013 calendars and new alphabets as well! So if you're looking for something to do, head on over to Grapevine. Plus, it's air conditioned!

Also if you missed the Stampland classes at Stamp Salado, they'll be there, too!

As I mentioned above, I'll be at Stamp Antonio this Sunday teaching Bodacious Backgrounds. I don't think there's any space left but you never know - someone might decide to save their money for the next Tim Holtz extravaganza and drop out!

Novel Approach is next on Friday, July 27, and then Stamp Asylum on August 4. See you soon!

Red, White and Bluejays

It's only going to get up to 96 degrees today - we must have gotten a cold front! Hope your a/c is working and you're inside making something fun!

Here are a couple of July calendar examples. First, Armand A. Dillo was stamped in black and colored in with colored pencils. The stamp Happy July 4th in Memento Paris Dusk and mask with a Post It note. Stipple some Danube Blue around the top and stamp the Large and Small Fireworks in Lady Bug, Danube Blue and Encore's Silver. I went around the box left by the mask with a red pen - Stickles would also look good.

A similar idea here with the Trees and Hammock stamp as the centerpiece. I masked it with a Post It Note, and cut another mask to create a hill for the trees to sit on. Stipple Memento Bamboo Leaves for the hill and some Danube Blue for the sky. The same Lady Bug, Danube Blue and Encore Silver for the fireworks in the sky and the Happy 4th of July below the trees.

And for no particular reason, here are some blue jay feathers that I collected in my backyard. The still-unnamed-outside-cat is a homicidal maniac and although he usually targets the slower and fatter doves, he manages to nab a blue jay on occasion. I would like to think that he only kills the birds that crap on my car but he's probably motivated by opportunity rather than revenge. Anyway, here are the remains of a recent kill.

According to people who know about these things, blue jays are not blue at all. What appears blue is a unique brown pigment in their feathers which appears blue to us because of the way it reacts to light. I don't know why that matters, but there it is.

A lot of people are concerned with cats decimating bird populations. Even the Audubon Society wants everyone to keep their cats indoors to protect birds. I think it's the circle of life. Besides, when was the last time a cat crapped on your car?