Is she done?

Well, honestly, I don't know. How sad is that??

I worked and worked on this for several days. As I said before I've been in the mood for white pencil on this background color. I thought she (Oak, Ash & Thorn from Third Coast Rubber Stamps) came out lovely, especially when I cut around pieces of the leaves and curled them up a little bit.

The first mat is multiple colors of Distress Inks (Vintage Photo & Frayed Burlap) applied with a blender tool. Then I stamped a wood grain background from Rubberstamp Ave with Walnut DI. Finally I added more leaves in white.The second mat was just a nice piece of brown card stock, but I outlined it with one of my new spica pens. Of course since I had the spica pen in hand.... Perhaps you can see a tiny bit of sparkle in her eyes? Yup! Had to add the spica there too!

I attached some of the gorgeous ribbon I bought by the yard at the (not so) LSS to the gold card base. After attaching the matted image I still feel that there is something missing.

Something perhaps on the bottom right? Dunno. I couldn't think of a single sentiment that belonged there. Well, at least none that I have! :) Maybe some dew drops? Ahhhhh!

So, maybe she's done. Maybe not!

Thanks for visiting!

Christmas... already?!?

I'm sure you've seen them by now. Tons of Christmas cards hitting the blogs. Blog hops, challenges, groups... you name it. Some of my very favorite bloggers are already deep into making their annual stash. I'll let you in on a secret. I'm a procrastinator. Seriously, I usually start my Christmas cards sometime in December (after I've made a list) and don't finish until sometime in January. Yes, that's right, January! If I don't see you before 'the big day', chances are pretty good that I'm making your card the night before! (I know, I know - it's awful. But I've learned to live with it.)

This year is different! I can hardly believe it, I've started my cards already. Now I'm in the mood for some eggnog.... ;)

This first one is definitely my favorite. It came out exactly how I envisioned it - and really, how often does that happen? I've been feeling in a bit of a 'kraft' colored mood, and when I saw this lovely deer from Inkadinkado I knew just what I wanted to do. First I masked off an area using torn post it notes, the covered it with white ink (Ranger's Snow Cap) using a cotton ball. I moved the post it's in a bit and repeated the process with Frayed Burlap distress ink. The deer was stamped with white over the brown (I had to overstamp a couple of times to counteract the damp DI). Finally I sprinkled some Ranger Holographic ep around the edges & heated it. I love the way this turned out!

Now, for my second one I used mostly the same process, just different colors. I don't like this one nearly as much - but I think I know what to do to make it better. I used Pine Needles DI instead of Frayed Burlap this time and for some reason the white tree just would not show up. I imagine it has something to do with the different ways of formulating different colors of ink? Dunno, but it sure was frustrating! I didn't want the tree in white ep, so I used the Holographic one again - still, not what I wanted. Like I said though, I think I know how to make the next one better - I'll do it on a green background instead of kraft. Keep your fingers crossed! :)

Now all I have to do is keep track of the Christmas cards I've made until it's time to use them! LOL Won't that be a Christmas miracle!

Thanks for stopping by!

A touch moody.

So, I had this great idea. I was going to take the Agapanthus stamp (Stampendous) and stamp it, emboss in clear, then color the background with purple & black inks. Ummmm, yeah. The purple I used ended up almost black (whups) and I'm *still* trying to find a background for it.

However!

Once I saw where I was getting too dark I did a second panel - this time with a lighter gray center! I really intended this to be an all black & white card, but when it came time to mount the panel I just had to use this blue bling cs from Bazzill. Yum. :)

Well, you decide if you think the blue fits!

The deets: Agapanthus stamped with versamark (on white) and clear embossed. Weathered Wood and black distress inks applied with a cotton ball (yes, I'm SO technical). That panel was mounted on black, then attached to the blue bling cs. I used my nesties to cut two circles and stamped the word Dream on the smaller with colorbox Frost white (yes, I know you can't really see it in the pic, but the angle to show the glitter was totally wrong to see the ink! Argh!). I used some great gray/silver ribbon from Archivers around the bottom & attached the circles using pop dots.

At the end I decided to add a little bit of Stickles (don't I *always* end up using some bling??) on just the line flowers (not the solid ones) in two different colors. Diamond and another clear one - it looks more greenish, diamond always looks more gold to me. Then I added a line of gray/silver glitter pen around the nestie embossed line on the blue circle. What can I say? I was on a roll! :D

I love how this came together... simple, but moody. Hopefully I'll figure out how to mount the purple/black panel - I do have some ideas, but....

Hope you enjoyed your visit! Next post I'll show you my very first Christmas card of the year!