Topic for Discussion: "Stamper's" Techniques

Do you ever wonder if non-stampers "get" our cards?  I remember a thread on SCS about someone's friend commenting the cards she sent that had all the "headless women" (aka MFT) on them.  I also wonder if people "get" TCP stamps with penguins dressed up as all sorts of characters and then I remember penguins are always appropriate. 

The reason I bring this up is the following sympathy card.  I stamped with clear embossing powder, then used my new distress inks to get that gorgeous color (yes, I want every color of distress ink--what are some of your must-haves colors?) and embossed the whole panel twice with UTEE.  And it looked pretty good. Then I asked DH if I should go ahead with my planned cracked-glass technique and he said yes (I love that my DH knows what I'm talking about when I ask him these things).  Anyway, now I'm not sure if it's ventured into stamper's-only territory (remember you can click on the pic to enlarge).  As in, will the recipient be asking herself why I sent her a dirty, broken card?  You can be honest here, I personally still like it but I'm not sure I would do it again.

FYI: I used Wild Honey, Tumbled Glass, and Vintage Photo distress inks, then PTI chamomile on the "glass" after it had been cracked.  If you don't know about the cracked glass technique, you put on a thick layer of clear embossing--either two of UTEE(ultra thick embossing enamel) or many layers of regular.  Then pop it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes, take it out and bend your image where you want the cracks to form.  Then to show them off, apply some ink and then wipe it off-it will just stay in the cracks. 

This will be my last sentence because I don't want a sentence about "wiping it off" and "staying in the cracks" to be my last sentence of my post.  So I guess this one will be my real last last sentence. 

Invasion of the Blog Snatchers!

I know, you're going to look at today's cards and think to yourself, what alien has taken over Meg's blog today?  Can you count the number of ways this is Not My Style?

1) White card base (I'm just not a WCB type of gal!)
2) Jewel tones!!  Including PURPLE (PTI's Plum Pudding).
3) PURPLE AND RED.  Living together on the same card!  Right NEXT to each other!  (I was going to include this with #2, but I think it deserved its own bullet point)
4) Massive amounts of imperfection!!  That I LIKE.
Did you spot any others I left off?

I made a set of these for my MIL's birthday.  Here they all are:

I versamarked and white heat-embossed SU's Upsy Daisy on PTI's Scarlet Jewel, Plum Pudding, Ripe Avocado, and Enchanted Evening, then cut out the strips and pasted them back together onto a scrap square of cardstock.  And I must admit, the colors looked pretty good together.  But then I decided to do a little cracked glass technique, and wow, the colors just got so rich and beautiful!  And when I was melting the UTEE (ultra-thick embossing enamel), it melted the original white embossing and made it streak-which I  thought looked all artsy.   I cracked three of them, and the fourth one left alone.  Here's a couple more closeups:

In other Meg news, I recently started devouring books again.  You know how it is when you're reading an "ok" book and it takes forever to finish it?  Then you read a good book and you finish it in a day because you stay up all night reading it?  Then you remember why you liked to read in the first place, and start reading more and more?  And start checking out armloads of books from the library and amazon starts daily dropoffs of used books at your doorstep?

Or is that just me?

Well, the two most recently devoured book have been It Sucked and Then I Cried by Heather Armstrong (of dooce.com)--very funny and very good birth control (ha).  And then I picked up The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber.  Why?  I have no idea.  It's not like I even like historical novels.  But, oh my, once I started it driving home from Atlanta (edit: DH was driving, I was riding!), I stayed up all night to finish it!  Could not put it down.  It was certianly not a story I've read before, and that goes a long way with me.  I would say Sucked is about 4 stars out of 5, and Rachel is definitely a 5 out of 5.

Let me know of any books that have kept you up late recently!