One stamp, four cards, five challenges

I found lots of great challenges this week, but I couldn't quite decide what I wanted to work with...digi stamps? recycled materials? pop-ups? I just couldn't land on any one idea. As they say, It must be fall, I'm feeling a little leafless.
But Saturday morning we got up early and headed to one of the many Shopping Villages that populate East Coast Suburbia. Armed with a 50% coupon for A.C. Moore, generously posted by the Scrapmaster, we braved a classic Corvette show, a dog store where we found 4-foot-long rawhide sticks for our foot-long dogs, and finally found refuge in the craft super-store. I had a bit of a time deciding what new thing I wanted to add to my crafting arsenal, what with my handsome hubby playfully poking me in the back with those rawhide sticks up and down the aisles, but finally chose an EKsuccess rubber-and-wood stamp featuring a tree with hidden images and countless coloring possibilities.
As you can see from the photos below, I really fell in love with this stamp. It certainly reminded me what an art stamping is: getting a perfect, every stamp is its own challenge! I tried my hand at hand-coloring multiple ink colors onto the stamp with Marvy paint markers, and am worried that I've found yet another obsession.
I made four cards using different versions of the stamp, inspired by five challenges:
1) Tuesday Trio sketch #35
Supplies: Tree stamp, Marvy LePlumeII, Recollections cardstock, Core'dinations cardstock, stash paper, HP printer, Colonna MT typeface

2) Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #72
Supplies: Tree stamp, StazOn ink, Sakura Gelly Roll pens, Recollections cardstock, K&Company Designer cardstock, ribbon from Target, Cricut personal cutter, SCAL software

3) clean&simple sketch #109
Supplies: Tree stamp, Marvy LePlumeII, Recollections cardstock, HP printer, Colonna MT typeface, Recollections cardstock, K&Company Designer cardstock


4) Cute Card Thursdays sketch #131 and Colour Create Challenge: White + Embossing
Supplies: Tree stamp, clear Melt Art Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel, Marvy LePlumeII (just a touch to create the watercolor effect), clear Inkssentials ink, heat embossing tool, scalloped circle stencil, Recollections cardstock, Pre-embossed Vintage White stash paper, HP printer, Colonna MT typeface

Thanks to all these blogmasters for the inspiration! Hope you'll check them out.

And for those of you who know of our dogs, Allen was spooked by the height of the rawhide sticks and Walt got both of them through two doorways before we got the groceries unpacked. They ate them in less time than we spent in line at A.C. Moore, but we certainly got plenty of entertainment for our buck!