Happy 4th of July!

This has to be the best day of the year for American citizens...the day we declared our country to be free and independent and then fought for it! And we are still fighting to keep our country safe! Hug a soldier or veteran today, or say a prayer for those in our military! God Bless America!

It's also a good day because today is Paper Makeup Stamps day 3 of sneak peeks for the July release. Today we are previewing the monsters collection. Let me tell you there are some really cute ones out there. If you haven't seen any of the current monsters collection at PMS, check them out here. They are right up there with the Beautiful Day Fairies collection!

The first one I'm previewing today is Calder with Waterwings. (Katie told us Calder is Scottish and means rough water...watch out Calder!) He is the cutest darn monster ever! Just look at the expression on his face! Precious! I guess monsters are afraid of the water! I colored him with a green copic marker that was too bright for my monster, so I went over it with a W-3 gray marker so it matched the dp better. (That's the great thing about copics...you can layer color over color with wonderful results.) The dp is an old one of SU's called Cutie Pie. I also used Bashful Blue and Rose Red cardstock. The red cardstock was run though the Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder. I punched circles from the background dp with a 1" punch, then paired them with these Page Pebbles that I've had forever. Crystal Effects was used on the waterwings and flippers, and I added these Rain Dots to mimic the splash of the water. The sentiment is from PTI's Star Points set. Someone is out there yelling to Calder, "Just do it...jump!!" The layout is a Taylored Expressions one from a couple of weeks ago.







The next monster preview is called Caliope Camping. There are a few Caliope monsters in the collection. I especially like this one because of my love for S'mores! This little monster also comes with this great sentiment!
Another cutie, don't you think? I love the way the fire came out! I colored the entire fire with a yellow copic marker, then went over the bottom half with an orange marker, then finally the very bottom with a red marker. I then took my blender and blended the colors together. I added orange stickles to the bottom portion and yellow to the top. In the light it shimmers like the real thing! There is liquid applique on the marshmallow and the drippings, too. The dp is SU's Good Morning Sunshine paired with Summer Sun and Chocolate Chip cardstock. I got the layout from Amy Rysavy's blog and this one is by her guest designer Tammy Fielder. I had to search for it because I always print out sketches I like, keep them in a binder, and refer to them all the time! I am terribly sketch challenged, so the sketches everyone posts are INVALUABLE to me and I like to give credit where it's due! Amy's blog is full of great sketches and here's the one I used.

So are you in love with these monsters or what? If you like these, then please go to the PMS blog and the DT blogs (listed on my sidebar) to see what they've done. I've seen them and they are absolutely fantastic! So please take a look! Please remember that on Tuesday, July 7, these images will be available. They are all in digital form and will be available in rubber later as well. We are having a blog hop, and PMS always puts on a great hop with a secret message you will decipher after visiting all the DT blogs! The hop will be all day, but the party begins at 8:00 CST in the PMS forum. We hope to see you there!

I hope you all have a great celebration today, see some fabulous fireworks, eat some great food, and spend time with your loved ones! Thanks for stopping by!