My freebie from A Day for Daisies

I mentioned that you could get a freebie from Tammy if you joined her group on CDAC, right? AND you can get a second for joining her email list! This image (A Magical Read) is the one I chose.
As you can probably tell, I colored her with pencil & marker like most of the other digis I've done recently. I used nesties to cut her and the mat out. The mat was covered by some of Tim's tissue tape, then rubbed with a little Pine Needles distress ink.
The background paper is from the Mariposa stack by DCWV (I think!). Three of the corners were also covered with tissue tape & distress ink. For some reason the ribbon looks black - I couldn't get it to look brown (it *is* a nice dark brown that goes well with her hair & the base card) with PSE. *sigh*
The sentiment stamp is from Club Stamp - I've actually had it for years.... I guess I've just been waiting for the right image to go with it! A few blue dew drops and it was all finished.
Thanks for dropping by!
And I hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Be afraid...

Be very afraid! ;)
Yup, I've started my Christmas cards! No, no... you're in the right place, I promise!
I'm not entirely certain what happened - this is *not* my usual M.O. at all. It must have started when I bought the new Holiday Cards magazine. Lots of eye candy in there!
I was bitten by the bug, you know - the bug that says "I can do that!" when really you should know better. *lol* Yes, I found a couple of cards that called to me and I thought I could give them my own spin. Let's just say that they were massive failures - but they led to cards that were my own design - so not totally worthless. :)
In fact, one of the cards that I was trying to CASE was used for pieces to make this first card. As you can see, this card is very CAS. A style I greatly admire and only get right once in a blue moon!
I recently saw a short video about 'painting' with pigment ink by Anna Wight and used the technique here. First the trees were stamped and before they dried I ran the water brush from the stamped lines toward the inside of the tree. The trees in front were give an extra coat of ink to add depth. If you look closely you can see a bit of stickles on the treetops and on the star, as well as some clear glitter pen over the sentiment and the ornaments in the trees. (all stamps were from a clear Hero Arts set) Fairly simple and CAS, no?
This next card uses my very favorite angel stamp from Clear Art Stamps. You may remember that I used her for my favorite card last year - she's still a favorite stamp! What a difference it makes to stamp in silver - it doesn't photograph well, but it's stunning IRL.
The background stamp (from Hero Arts) was stamped with VersaMark on medium blue c/s. After it was dry I used my Scor It to add score lines to the top and bottom. The angel was stamped with silver Colorbox ink on white c/s (does that stuff *ever* dry all the way??) and cut to size. I added the ribbon with a technique I learned at Archivers (it uses the tiny attacher from Tim - it's so easy I can't believe I didn't think of it myself!) and the gem before deciding to add the sentiment that comes with the angel. *sigh* When I tried to add the sentiment, the bulk of the ribbon & gem wouldn't allow good contact between the stamp & the paper. I had to get a little creative - hence the sentiment is popped up on a small piece of blue c/s and edged in silver. Just another opportunity to embellish, right?! ;)
While neither of these cards is destined to become this year's favorite, I'm still feeling awful proud of getting a head start! Have *you* started yet? :D
One more piece of news: if you like the digi stamps I've been using from A Day for Daisies you should head over to CDAC and join the group. Tammy is *giving* you a free stamp of your choice when you join! Not only that, but if you sign up for her newsletter she will send you a *second* stamp for free! At least go have a look - she comes out with fantastic designs every week! Hope to see you there!
Thanks for dropping by!

Just dropping in quickly

I'm a couple of days later than I usually like to be when posting, but we've had a bit of bad news, so posting may be more sparse than usual. :( (on the other hand, it may be that the muse will kick in big time - who knows?) And in other news, I had DH film a video of me using the hot knife for more organizers. Now I have to learn how to edit & post that... keep your eyes peeled for my debut!
I do have something to share, though! (are you sick of me and digi's yet?) Once again, I used a fabulous image from A Day for Daisies. Once again she was colored with pencils and a touch of perfect pearls. (I'm on a roll!) I did take the time to mask the image (something I rarely do, especially since it involves so much fussy cutting) in order to make the clouds with Distress Ink. I don't remember where I saw this technique - which is *so* frustrating - but it's very easy to do with a scalloped circle and ink.
The background papers are all Kioshi by Basic Grey except the white scalloped circle (which is white flocked paper). The blue piece was embossed with a cuttlebug folder in my Cuttlebug, then painted with perfect pearls in the recessed portion. After I printed the sentiment on white cardstock I cut it out with a nestie and edged it with a silver pen.
Thanks for dropping by!

A couple of (totally different) cards

I almost thought that I wasn't going to have anything ready to post today. Between Halloween and (yet another) illness I've been falling behind on the things I wanted to create. At the last minute I finished the card I was working on - and then I found another that was waiting in the wings! :)
This first card used a freebie image from DigiDrawn over on CDAC. I loved that giant pumpkin as soon as I saw it and just had to make at least *one* fall/Halloween card. :)
I printed the pumpkin on regular white cardstock and colored it with pencils - a *lot* of different pencils! I don't think I've mentioned that I go over the lines with a black fine point pen (after coloring) to really add definition back to the image. Just one of those things that takes time and patience but can make a huge difference!
For the moon I cut a circle out of cardstock & colored it with Distress Inks. I also pounced a little bit of Versamark here and there then dusted with gold perfect pearls before coating it with Rock Candy crackle paint. I printed the sentiment then colored it with the same Distress Inks (even though it looks tons brighter in the pic than it does IRL). The green paper was stamped with a large flourish and Versamark, then punched with a Martha Stewart corner punch and edged with black. After adhering it all down to the base card I traced around the edges of the green paper with a black Spica pen and added small black gems - does that surprise you? ;)
For this card I used a new technique from Technique Junkies called Puzzle Layers. I admit that it would have gone better had I actually read *all* of the directions before jumping in, but I think it came out alright in the end. The background stamp is from Lost Coast Designs and was stamped in black VersaFine on white cardstock. It was colored with a mix of brown Distress Inks then spritzed with pearl glimmer mist (I got nice even glimmer on the bottom, but the top got really blotchy! what gives??) and edged with a gold Krylon pen.
The smaller pieces were also stamped with black on white c/s but were colored with a mix of blues and a mix of yellows. The sentiment is from River City Rubber Works. Also with VersaFine on white, also colored with Distress and also edged with gold Krylon.
So there you have it! Two cards in one post! :)
Thanks for dropping by!