M'ija Stamps

Charcoal look

2011-11-23T01:35:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post tonight while I'm still awake! :)While I was spending time (oodles of time!) over on Pintrest I saw something that really caught my eye. It was a video tutorial about using a black and a white pencil over kraft paper with OMS to mimic the look of a charcoal drawing. How awesome is that?So, I looked through my file of digis (printed some time ago) and decided that Poppy from Crafts and Me would be perfect to try this out. I think I got a little heavy handed, but practice will make me better at it (this was my first attempt). Don't be afraid to try it!

So after I colored her according to the video I cut her out with a nestie using the Out of the Box method I linked to in the last post. Since the square die wasn't working well I trimmed off two of the sides to make it fit better and added the sentiment stamp to balance the right side. This was layered over two pieces of black card stock that was punched with a Martha Stewart punch then over another nestie shape (a TJ technique) colored with Distress Ink.
The final layer isn't a layer at all - actually it's a line drawn in black pen with black pencil right up next to it that I blended outward with OMS to give it depth. After rounding the corners and adding some white ribbon it was ready to go. :)
I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving filled with the best food, friends & family, and thankfulness that defines your day together!
Thanks for dropping by!

Mi amiga!

2011-11-13T17:41:00.001-07:00

While I'm not back as quickly as I wanted to be, two weeks is *much* better than two months, right? :)
I have been getting back into the swing of making things just for fun instead of projects on a deadline. It's an entirely different way of being creative. I much prefer doing things on my own schedule... probably why I've never tried out for a design team! ;)
This card was made with my other purchase from Saturated Canary - isn't she a sweet little digi? (although I admit, I have my eye on several more) The whole card is very simple, just perfect for a quick note. I cut the base down to 4 1/4 by 4 1/4 to fit the size of the digi better.

The girl was colored with copic markers and a touch of white pen then cut out using the Out of the Box technique I linked to last time. You might notice that the original illustration and my girl have a bit of difference in the hair - unfortunately some of the wispy areas got (ahem) chopped when I was fussy cutting. I did my best to clean it up so that it looked natural... but those are the hazards of fussy cutting! :D
The background was colored with a mix of distress inks (Pumice Stone & Weathered Wood - I have no idea why it looks so bright blue in the pic) and the edge of a scalloped circle cut from text weight paper. I did add a little bit of clear spica pen in the water droplets with a drop of Glossy Accents over the top for grins, but you can't see it at all in the picture. :(
I measured and drew in the lines with a cool gray copic pen (*not* a marker) then went over them with the clear spica pen. I stamped the sentiment with Weathered Wood distress ink but the base is so textured that I went over it with the same copic pen to get down in the lines. I went over that with the spica pen too. Isn't it a total bummer that you can't see any of the sparkle? The final touch were the pearl colored dew drops - love the way they look. :)
Thanks for dropping by!

It's been TWO months??

2011-10-31T02:36:00.000-06:00

I can't even believe that it's been that long! Let me just tell you, the last couple of months have been a whirlwind of activity.
My cousin was in the home stretch before her wedding and we were right there pulling with her! :) I had offered (months ago) to cut her favor boxes on our die cut machine. Little did I know that it would prove so very difficult! Note to self: don't offer to do something that you will have to "learn" before you can do it... it just doesn't work out well! The whole thing finally culminated in me realizing and admitting that I just don't have what it takes to operate Funtime (the software our cutter came with) and buying MTC. In the end, they did come out well, and I'm *very* glad that I was able to do it for her and her groom. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures when they were completed - all I have is some iffy pictures taken at the reception.

There were three different types of boxes - pillow, pinch & gable - and several styles of both the pinch and the gable. I spent a day with a bunch of family right before the big day folding, adhering, stuffing, wrapping with ribbon and affixing stickers (which came with their invitations) to keep everything together. We had a great time! We also folded programs and made tissue paper and organza flowers for the rows of seats at the ceremony. I can't believe we did all that in one day!

The other main thing leading up to the wedding (besides the shower) was the bachelorette party. There was a time ( a very long time ago!) that I was quite the party girl. We had quite the time - my crafty girls and I - coming up with all sorts of crazy things to make and do! ;) We made matching shirts for the girls that were there (and I used my Crop A Dile for major craftiness! and had to hunt at a bunch of stores for more eyelets) and a "veil" that would put ANY bride-to-be in a shame-coma! We were on a roll... cupcakes and jello shots, jewelry and flashing lights, matching shirts and indecent straws... we had it all! I can't show you pictures of that night, but maybe someday I'll get a picture of one of the shirts and post it. We truly outdid ourselves - and I can't thank my girls Robin & Jess enough for all their help.

Also, in my spare time, I've been volunteering in my son's classroom. So far I've been helping do the weekly testing on Thursday mornings and helping log the kids into their reading program each morning. Oh, and I just went through my first major PTO sponsored event - the Halloween dance. Hoo boy! That was a whole *lot* of hours... rewarding, but exhausting!

So finally, after all of that, I want to share the wedding card I made. Hopefully neither the bride or groom will think to check in here before they open all the gifts and cards! I found this lovely bride image at Saturated Canary on Etsy. You may recognize her style of images from a well known stamp company... but I'll let you discover who and where for yourself if you're interested.
I arranged a verse found online with the image in PSE and printed it on card stock. Using the Out of the Box technique I cut both the bride and the sentiment out then embossed the edges of the nestie around the sentiment. She was colored with copics and I went over the verse (and a bit of the dress) with a clear spica pen for a little sparkle. The light blue panel was scored on my Martha Stewart board (using the envelope triangle makes diagonal scoring a snap) then punched with a MS punch. I dotted dimensional pearls where the lines crossed and allowed it to dry. A darker blue base (already cut), some ribbon, a white pen and a rolled flower completed the card. Boy, it sounds a lot easier and quicker than it really was! :)

Thanks so much for dropping by! Hopefully things will settle down now and I'll be back to regular (ish) posting!

The days are just flying by...

2011-08-28T15:56:00.000-06:00

Somehow I've managed to survive the last two weeks. I'm not sure how, exactly, but I'm quite thankful! :) The boy (Finally! Already?!?!) started kindergarten (can you tell that I'm a bit conflicted?) and made it through his first full week. His first "week" was actually only a few days - this last week was the full deal. Of course I took pictures on the first day of school... he was NOT impressed. Actually he was quite the little booger about the whole thing. Well, look:

:D I may have gotten two other pictures that were even worth editing!
While I know that starting Kindergarten is a trial for most kids - this has been especially challenging for us. Talk about a grumpy kid! And since he's my kid there is NO possibility of a nap after school. *sigh* Let's just say that there have been a lot of "interesting" evenings around here!
So. Due to that whole situation (and a few other things) I have had a half finished card sitting on my table for more than a week. It's still patiently waiting. Hopefully the cat doesn't do anything destructive before I get back to it! Another thing that has caught my eye is this melted crayon project. I got so excited that I bought all the supplies already and am just waiting for a few minutes to begin melting. I'll let you know how it goes!
The final thing I have to share with you is something I've been sitting on for a while. In my last post you saw that the lovely Lauren sent me a tower of gifts. :) Well, those gifts were some awesome crafty stuff (of course!) and included this awesome shadow box kit that I dove into right away! (literally, the day I opened it I started working on it - and didn't stop for days!)

As you can see, there is a LOT going on! :)
The base was covered with a piece of watercolor paper that I with Distress Inks. I added a little bit of water to the background & blotted it to make it more interesting. I stamped with more DI while the background was still wet and allowed it to dry. Once dry, I adhered it to the base chipboard piece and went over some of the stamped lines with a Spica pen. The frame pieces were adhered to the base then painted with the Pearl dabber from Tim. Why does it look silver? I have *no* idea. Maybe it's the combination of Pearl dabber and raw chipboard? Once those pieces were dry I used Glossy Accents to glue in some glass glitter to the inside edges. I guess I was still fascinated by the geodes we saw up in Estes Park. :)
The saying was printed on a sheet of printable transparency - actually I had to do this several times. The original used a font that was too delicate (it was practically invisible!) to compete with the underlying components. I to cut it out and try again. The second time I ran it through the Xyron and adhered it to the acrylic cover - BIG mistake! That one had to be peeled off and then I had to clean the acrylic... not something I suggest! This one is lightly adhered around the edges of the frame (to keep the glitter in and stop any slipping). Although you can just see where I stamped a flower on the edge of the frame with DI before adhering the transparency. I actually thought up the saying myself - it relates directly to how I wanted to encourage the boy to make friends in Kindergarten. :)
Finally I added the die cut leaves (colored with DI & spattered with water) and the rolled flower (also colored with DI but a bit of Distress stickles and PP mist added) to the corner to help cover some of the adhesive. On the back are a couple of tabs to help it stand up.
On the whole I am quite happy with how it turned out! I do wish that my font was bolder (it's harder to see IRL) but not enough to keep me from enjoying it.
Thanks for dropping by! Hopefully things will mellow out a bit and I'll see you soon! :)

A party for my friend

2011-08-13T12:30:00.000-06:00

When I was still a working girl I made a lovely friend, Joan. Her birthday was this past weekend and we were invited to her party up in Estes Park. It was a lovely day up in the mountains - with just a touch of rain and gorgeous temperatures! :) My boy was able to climb rocks (which he told us over and over on the way up that there were good rocks to climb there, no THERE!) and take his first turn at a pinata. I often miss those friends that I made at BMA... hopefully we'll see each other more often now.
Here is the card I made for Joan's birthday - I hope she loves it!

I found this gorgeous Inkadinkado stamp at Jo Ann's a while ago. Actually, I found two stamps with similar images, this is just the first to be featured. :)
The glass was colored with a mix of Copic markers and distress inks with a water pen. The flower was colored with watercolor markers and a water brush. Unfortunately, you can't tell that I followed Dina's instructions for adding dimension to the flower. I don't think I used enough pressure to really get the petals popped up. *sigh* Oh, well.
The mat was just a piece of kraft paper run through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. After inking the embossed section I ran it back through to flatten it. It's always best to cut it to size *after* you've embossed and flattened - the paper always seems to stretch in unexpected ways. Everything was edged with more distress ink in either brown or blue, except the ribbon (seam binding! yay!) which I colored completely with the same DI color. Once it was all put together and photographed I added a bit of black Spica to the center of the flower. Figures! :)
One more thing to share before I head off. I received a surprise package in the mail from my lovely friend Lauren early this week. In the box was this:

Why, yes! That is a lovely card there on the left... and a three part prezzie on the right! :) What's in it you ask? Well you'll just have to wait and see! :D
Thanks for dropping by!

Inspired by a gorgeous card!

2011-08-01T01:18:00.000-06:00

I finally managed to get my hands on some seam binding. Seems like practically everyone is using it these days - tying bows, double bows, dyeing it, scrunching it.... It was absolutely impossible to find locally so I broke down & ordered a roll of white from EBay figuring that I could dye my own. Guess what? It takes color *beautifully*! :D
About a month ago I saw a card done by Jennifer over at Our Change of Art that really stuck with me. I loved the bright pop of color(s) against the white background and the cut out was inspired! I went in the opposite direction (inspiration isn't the same as CASE, lol) with black instead of white, thick instead of thin, horizontal instead of vertical, more instead of less... well, let's just say I "made it my own"! :D

There are several things that just don't show up well in the picture. First, all those ribbon strips *sparkle*! I used a generous mix of Starburst Stains, Glimmer Mist, Perfect Pearls mist and Color Wash sprays. I had to get creative with the orange ribbon, but I had at least two values of each of the other colors. (that's why it looks dark and light on each ribbon - it's by design, not poor camera lighting!) IRL you can see the shimmer from nearly every angle - not so much in the pic. There was no real technique here, basically I just spritzed and dragged the ribbon through then scrunched and let them dry. Easy but I had VERY colorful hands for a few days. ;) To finish them I cut a piece of white cardstock to size, ran it through the Xyron and adhered the ribbon in layers. I trimmed the ends and taped them down with scotch tape then added some foam tape to the back for height.
The butterfly (Rubber Cottage) is another thing that looks much, much better IRL. I stamped the image in black then cut it out using a craft knife and a lot of patience. (A lot of patience, this is my 3rd attempt.) Once I cut the interior sections I ran it through the Xyron and attached two layers of Sunkissed Fantasy Film to the back. The film is a yellow/golden color with purple overtones. And although you can't see it in the pic I spritzed the butterfly with a golden Glimmer Mist as well. The body was painted with a gray/purple Starburst Spray. Finally I outlined the black portions with a black Spica pen. It completely bums me out that you can see the film but *none* of the sparkle! :(
The ribbon panel was popped up on the black card and the butterfly was adhered with Glue Lines (just like glue dots, but and inch long so they're manageable) along the body and part of the wing. As a final touch I added dots of Stickles to the wings over the film, but it didn't stick well after drying. I imagine they're falling like rain by now! :)
Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you again soon!

My best friend's birthday and a sad day

2011-07-28T15:15:00.000-06:00

Everything seems to conspire at once, doesn't it? Almost immediately after my last post I found out that a friend from high school had passed away. It seems so strange - here we're not even 40 yet and already death has visited. :( I guess we try to prepare ourselves for the deaths of our (older) loved ones, but it rarely crosses our minds to prepare for it to happen to someone our own age (or younger). Rest in peace, Tricia.
In much happier news, my best friend (born a mere 6 days after me) came over to celebrate our birthdays with me last weekend. She is a true delight! Smart, funny, honest - I could go on for hours! :)
Here's the card I made for her:

I got the idea from a card at Archivers that I saw recently. They used a different Pixie stamp but didn't have it in stock. This is Paisley Pixie from Stamping Bella - isn't she cute? My girlfriend has brown curly hair (well, me too just not as dark) which is why I chose to color her with dark hair. :) I stamped Paisley on a piece of nice white card stock and masked the flowers. After blending in a little DI in the center I removed the mask and colored the flowers and pixie with a mix of Copics, Smooch, colored pencil, Perfect Pearls mist, Stickles and Spica pen. Whew!
Once the image was fully colored I used the TJ technique called Out of the Box to cut her out with my Nesties and Cuttlebug. If you'd like to see a tutorial on this technique you can find it here on SCS. After it was cut out I edged it with more DI (being very careful not to bend the overhanging pieces). Paisley was popped up over a piece of Basic Grey paper and a simple white ribbon (which I added some stickles to!).
Here's a close up look at Paisley - you can get a good idea of the shine IRL:

Thanks for dropping by! Hopefully the card I'm working on now will come together in the next day or so - posting twice in one week, can you imagine?? :D

It's time for a little reflection

2011-07-14T01:06:00.000-06:00

Mostly because it's my birthday today! :)
At just over half way through the year (and how did *that* happen, anyway?) I took a little while to reflect on the things that I wanted to do this year. Just to take stock. So far, I think I've done OK. Not great, there are some spots that could use some improvement, but there have been some personal goals that I made definite strides toward. As long as I'm moving forward, it's still good - right? :)
One of the things that I haven't been so good at is posting as often as I wanted to. Now, I could give you the whole song and dance, but it seems unimportant. *You* didn't come here for that! I had to look down my sidebar and remind myself Blog Without Obligation! After all, I do this for fun! :)
Just a few days ago I received a goody from my good blogging friend Lauren. Yup, I won the blog candy! I must say, I've been drooling over her cute Ami's since the beginning - so of course I fell in love with this adorable little guy and whined so much that Lauren took pity on me and sent me a beginners set of fabulous stuff to try my hand at it. (note to self: stick to stamping) Let's just say that the results were, um, not pretty!
The other cool thing was that the annual stamping show (the "biggest" one, but that isn't saying much) came last weekend. Just in time for me to pick up a few cool things. I only bought one new stamp (bummer!) but loved it so much that I made a card right away. Here, lookee:

It's a bit hard to tell in this pic, but the purple stamped panels (Lost Coast) were popped up and then the blue panel was double popped up. (Is that how you'd say it?) I used a ton of coloring mediums on these - Distress Inks, Copics, Smooch, Starburst Stains, white chalk pen, white gel pen, black and white Enamel Accents, Glossy Accents... you name it! Unfortunately, the white circles in the pic just look like glaring white circles. IRL some of them are soft (chalk pen) and some are shiny (smooch) and a very few are opaque (gel pen). On top of that, some of the circles were colored with Starburst Stains (which have mica and dye) and look AMAZING in person - but here they just look black. *sigh*
Same thing with some of the circles on the purple panels. *double sigh*
Anyway, I just want to say thanks today and everyday.
Thanks for dropping by. Thanks for commenting. And thanks for letting me share what I love to do... with you!

She's a tease!

2011-07-03T16:59:00.000-06:00

My mojo, that is! I'm positive that she's at someone else' house, laughing her head off and eating cookies! Dang it! ;D
Anyway, I *do* have a couple of cards to share today. The first is this wintry card (wishful thinking?) that doesn't qualify for the OLW challenge (over at Simplicity) because I did both masking AND sponging. Ah well, it does make me a bit happy:

The sentiment was a freebie digital image from Raindrop Echo Designs that I found some time ago. I was inspired by a card I saw recently that had a cute image softly colored inside a pierced circle - I just took it a little farther. I printed the sentiment on a regular sized piece of card stock & cut it down to card size. The panel and the circle were measured then masked. The snowflakes (Katzelkraft) were stamped with VersaMark then embossed with iridescent ep. I sponged Tumbled Glass DI in the masked area then removed the masks and pierced around the circle. Finally I lined up a clear ruler and outlined the main portion with a black pen.
This next card is nearly painful. I took me (literally) eight days to complete! First I printed the freebie digital fairy (Ike's) on the same piece of paper from the previous card. I colored the fairy with copic markers and smooch, then trimmed her out (she was originally sitting on a cloud). Unfortunately, this is when my laughing mojo took to the road again....
For several days I tried to fit the fairy together with another digital sentiment. It never did work out. *sigh* Then I happened to place her over this card looking for some color inspiration. I loved it! On the other hand, I just don't like to make the same card more than once, so I thought I would change it up a bit. Then as I was floundering (yet again) I ran across this sketch from the Lily Pad July CCC. If you've followed me for a while you know that I'm not usually good with sketches. This time however, everything just fell into place!

I used a brayer and the Hydrangea pad from Ranger to create the background panel. The flowers (Hero Arts) were stamped using Pearl Paint Dabber from Ranger. The moon (Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers) was stamped in gold paint dabber, then covered in white smooch, then coated with Sugar Cane Glimmer Glaze (nothing like being decisive, right?). It looks a lot more dimensional IRL. I dotted some "stars" around the base card and the colored panel for added interest - then added a tiny gem for one more star.
The two bottom panels were cut from some leftover paper that was brayered and edged with paint dabber. The sentiment (Rubber Stampede) was stamped in Versafine - I didn't notice until I used my last long enough piece of colored paper that the rubber was wonky on the block. Grr! I couldn't handle even *one* more delay, so I just left it as is! After assembling all the pieces, I edged the oval with black spica pen and outlined the rectangles and oval with the same.
Finally! :D
Thanks for sticking with me... and thanks for dropping by!

I think I'm getting better?

2011-06-23T00:22:00.000-06:00

Hmm, possibly the mojo is trickling back? Dunno for sure, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! :)
This card came out of nowhere... no plan, no idea of what I was doing! I (finally) inked up this gorgeous stamp from Stampers Anonymous that my very best friend gave me. I've wanted this stamp for some time - the girlfriends always come through, don't they?

First I brayered some Ranger dye ink onto glossy paper (Hydrangea, I think) then stamped the angel in black VersaFine & clear embossed it. Once it had cooled I painted the angel with bleach - several coats in some places. It dried blotchy (the glossy paper, I think) but I thought it still looked cool enough to use. I painted some Glimmer Glaze (in Sugarcane) on the flesh parts since I didn't like the blotches on her face and a bit of white Smooch on her wings (although, as usual, you can't see it in the pic). Finally I trimmed her out as closely as I could and added a light coat of Perfect Pearl mist - which shows up as lighter, splotchy looking color especially in the purple areas near the top.
I stamped the border along the edges of the card base and embossed in clear again. After cooling, I masked them off and colored them with a Q-tip and 3 - 4 colors of Opalite ink to match the dye background. I also dotted some smooch and glimmer glaze to tie the two parts together. The embroidery floss was added (although I still question the gold strand - yes, it's actually a muted gold IRL) then popped up the stamped panel over them.
On a completely different subject, I also learned how to make the picture much, much bigger. I haven't tried it before, so I don't know if the size will interfere with sidebars, etc when posted. Do let me know if it takes a long time to load, or if it looks wonky - *please*? Thank you! :D
Thanks for dropping by!

Still with the low mojo

2011-06-14T15:46:00.000-06:00

Ugh. Do you run into 'down' times? You know, where you don't even want to face all your stuff? I think about it, but then I just don't get in there and create very often. *sigh* Of course I've also run into problems with my signature here and on my email. They've both been upgraded recently - all the hard work I did to figure it out the first time has come to nothing! Grrrr. I think I've got this one fixed, but Yahoo is a whole 'nother story. What a time sucker! (Not to mention that I joined Pintrest - which is an *excellent* way to avoid getting my craft on!)
Anyhow. Enough grumbles.
I've had this digi from Crafts and Me printed for a few weeks. Actually, I have a bunch printed (why waste an entire sheet of paper on one image, right?) that are just waiting for some coloring. I'm pretty sure the ink is dry by now! :) I didn't really know where I was going on this, it just fell together at the end.

I colored the image with Copic markers and filled in the glass dome with Glossy Accents and some iridescent glitter. The green vines/leaves were cut from two different dies and fitted around the panel. The ribbon was actually dyed with reinkers some time ago - sorry I don't know exactly what they were anymore. I masked the area above the punched edge (Martha, of course) and stamped/embossed in clear. The final touch was some little pink gems.
All in all, it's fairly simple. I do like the finished card - especially since I usually struggle with pink!
Thanks for dropping by!

Agnes

2011-06-01T15:01:00.000-06:00

One of the adorable stamps that I've gotten recently was Agnes, which is a Ketto stamp by Stamping Bella (sorry, I can't link directly to the actual stamp, just to the Ketto page. *sigh*). I haven't had much time (or mojo!) lately, but I needed a quick & cute card to send to someone special. Agnes was my first choice! :)

I also used a premade card by Doodlebug designs. These are tri-fold cards, plain on the front and inside but with a pattern on the folded portion. Did that make sense? Found these at Archivers last time I was there and loved the bright, bold colors.
As you can see, after coloring Agnes with Copic markers, I cut her out and adhered her so that she shows through the window. I used some really nice paper from Xpedx to stamp and color her on (it actually *is* wonderful for Copic blending) but I didn't take into account how THICK the paper was! Oy, what a mess to try and cut this image out. If you compare the original image to what I ended up with you'll see that I clipped some parts off - I just couldn't face anymore fussy cutting! :D
Here is a shot of the interior. I just *had* to use this hysterical sentiment! It says: "If you can't be a good example, be a dire warning." It's PERFECT for the person that I sent it to!
You can slightly see the doodles I did on the pattern - nothing too obvious, but there is some VersaMarker and Spica pen in areas.

Hopefully I'll be back soon with my mojo intact. Although I seem to be interested in things other than cards right now - bought myself a small art journal, we'll see what happens!
Thanks for dropping by!

Granny rider!

2011-05-21T23:42:00.000-06:00

Have I mentioned that I love Mo Manning?:D
We had the first of our area stamping shows recently - this is one of the gems that I picked up while I was there. This particular stamp is an actual stamp (polymer) from Stampavie called Mummu's Bike, although you can also get it as a digital image in Mo's shop. Isn't she awesome? :)

(as always, click for a larger view)

Other than the coloring, you can see that this card is fairly simple. After coloring the image with Copics I cut it out with a large oval nestie, then matted it with a piece of white paper (that was spritzed with pearl mist from Ranger). The background paper is from Basic Grey and the punched piece is a dark grey-brown done with a Martha Stewart punch. A little white satin ribbon and a bow completed the card. I should mention *how* I tied that bow - a VERY HELPFUL video tutorial on YouTube by Jak Heath which rocked my world! :) It's just like using a Bow Easy - but with your fingers. You don't get much cheaper than that!
Funny story about why I haven't posted in so long. I also bought some really cute Stamping Bella stamps & spent a bunch of time coloring one until it was *perfect*. Before I could cut it out and make a card, the cat (which we've only had 6 weeks or so) was up on my table and managed to knock down a bunch of ink pads (from nearly 3 feet up) onto my table. Of course the lids fell off. Of course they landed ink down... right on top of my *perfect* image! All that was left to do was laugh! ;P Turkey cat!
Thanks for dropping by!

Phases

2011-05-06T15:31:00.000-06:00

Do you find that you go through phases with your stamping style? Not necessarily major differences, but perhaps types of images (and coloring methods) that you gravitate toward in stages. I've been moving toward coloring images with pens and pencils and away from a looser interpretation with color washes and collage-y type elements. I wonder if I'm the only one?
Don't get me wrong, I've always *appreciated* a gorgeously illustrated and colored image. But I was never very good at coloring, shading, highlighting - in other words, making it look good! ;) Now that I'm (much) older I really appreciate the time and effort that it takes to learn how to do it well. I only wish that I'd gotten started sooner and had more time to practice.
This card is the reason why I ask! I feel like I've breached a wall, made it into that 'zone' where colors come together the way they're supposed to! :)
(As always, click for a larger view.)

Unfortunately (as ever) the picture really doesn't do this card justice. She (ching-chou kuik's Serenity) looks pale and, umm, uninteresting here. IRL she is quite lovely - with the most delicate shading I've ever managed. This lovely lady is actually a mermaid, but I wasn't feeling very mermaid-ish so I used a circle Nestie to cut out the main portion of the image.
The base of the card was cut from thick black card stock, then embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. I dabbed on two colors of green and rust Opalite ink (remember those?? LOVE 'em!) for a little extra color. The shimmery gold card stock wasn't exactly the right color - so after cutting it with a Nestie, I ran a Copic around the outside edge to make it match her robe better.
The vines were, ummm, interesting! ;) These were all cut from black paper using one corner vine die from Cuttlebug. I think I used six? Maybe seven. Either way, once they were all cut out I snipped them apart and arranged them around the main image panel. Trying to get them arranged in a pleasing way took a *very* long time. Well over an hour - and it's not that big! In hindsight, I should have dabbed the vines with Opalite ink *before* adhering them down, but I didn't. I was just extra careful not to get ink all over!
Serenity was colored with a multitude of Copic markers and a variety of other goodies. :) There is a hint of Pearl colored Perfect Pearl spray painted on where the light from the candle shines. There are touches of green smooch on her robe (which show up as black in this pic)(*sigh*). There is quite a bit of gold, yellow and tan Spica marker around the gold edges of her robe. Some Glimmer Mist along the leaves and vines surrounding the moon and a little dab of Glossy Accents wherever there were beads in the image (hair, necklace, earrings, etc). Here's a little better side view:

Thanks so much for dropping by!

SSC April blog hop!

2011-04-25T13:54:00.005-06:00

It's time for the SSC blog hop! :)This is the inaugural hop, click here to go to SSC (another lovely site to join with lots of fun things going on). Our challenge this month was to create a card with the theme of the season you're in. (for me, it's spring... for others, not so much!)
I had an entire map of what I wanted to do, the stamps (digi & rubber) picked out AND my paper chosen before I even went to my table. I ended up using the stamps and paper - but the map just went by the roadside! See? I can't even handle my *own* sketches! :D
I am fairly pleased with how this card came out, even though it only looks minimally like my intended card. I *love* my new rubber from Stamping Bella - this is Gertie from the Lulu collection (you have to scroll down a bit). (On a side note, shipping was fairly priced even though they came from Canada and my order shipped pretty fast too!)
Gertie was stamped with Black Onyx VersaFine several times on white card stock. I colored her face, arms, legs & the very top of her dress with Copic markers. The skirt was stamped on a light blue paper and touched up with Copic and Spica markers. After cutting out different portions of each image, I adhered them all down to the base image. I've used this technique before here and here (Level Up from Technique Junkies) and it still surprises me with a very subtle dimension that looks awesome in person. It is, however, a lot of fussy cutting - especially when you don't think about cutting the springy curls before you get started!
The butterflies in her hair were colored with Perfect Pearls and Spica pens. The rest of the butterflies (MS punch on Kioshi paper) were colored with a mix of Perfect Pearls, Spica, Distress Stickles and Distress Stain (Broken China on the blue ones). The flowers were also cut from some Kioshi paper and embellished with Spica and PP.
The sentiment was a freebie download from Gingerloft that I retyped in a different font using PSE. The sentiment was cut with Nesties, swiped with Broken China Distress Stain and spritzed with Ranger's Perfect Pearl mist. Once dry, I edged it with Chipped Sapphire DI and used my Xyron to adhere it to the base (a very shimmery white).
The final touch were the 'beads' around the edge. I measured in from the edges with a clear ruler and marked the holes with a piercing tool. After erasing my lines, I went around the edge with my Glossy Accents and made little clear beads. Unfortunately, doing it by hand means they aren't all the same size - but the clear ones I had were *way* too big! This gives you control over the size... mostly! ;)
You can get a hint of how shimmery this card is IRL in this close up. Between the Perfect Pearls, the Spica pens, the Distress Stickles and the Perfect Pearl spray - well, this card is *alive* in person! :D
Thanks for dropping by!

The next easel card!

2011-04-19T22:41:00.003-06:00

Like I said I would last time - I made another easel card! :) This time I took the easy way out and did a rectangular card base... much, much easier! Unfortunately, the pictures really don't do it justice. *sigh*
Here you can see just the front panel. Isn't that a lovely image from Crafts and Me? The Sara Burrier images are gorgeous! (and they just released another that I'm dying for!)
I colored her with Copic markers and a Spica pen. If you look really closely you can just barely make out a blue outline around her - she isn't just floating in all that white space, promise! :) Once I had the panel cut and the corners rounded I added a little Glossy Accents to the bubbles and around the edge of the panel (which was then dusted with a really light blue glitter). That panel was then mounted on an awesome piece of dark blue/green/purple paper then mounted on shimmery white card stock. The shell and beads were from my stash, as was the silver embroidery thread.
Here you can get an idea of what I used on the base as a stopper. I really wanted to use a set of pearls that I had - but they weren't the right color (too creamy on a *white* base). Anyway, I used some blue Dew Drops, a couple of clear drops (floral dept at Mike's), a couple of flat backed pearls and some tiny drops of Glossy Accents. Hopefully it looks like jewels at the bottom of the ocean. :)
I didn't include a sentiment yet, mostly because I have no idea of who this will go to/what it will be for. There's plenty of space at the bottom to add it later, which is (I think) the beauty of this kind of card!
Thanks for dropping by!

Long time no blog...

2011-04-14T14:36:00.003-06:00

Although I've been *really* busy! :)
The boy had his fifth birthday - which required much house cleaning (how does it get that dirty??) and food prep. We had decided to do his birthday party on Saturday so that more people could attend - which was also his (FAVORITE!) cousin's birthday too.
In the midst of all this madness, I decided to make my very first easel card. Oy. That was NOT a smart choice! Don't get me wrong - it was much easier to build than I thought it would be. On the other hand, if you've never made one before, a circle easel card is not the place to start! :D
I started with this cute fairy image from Mo Manning printed on white card stock. I colored her with a mix of Copics, Spica pens & Sakura glitter pens. The dotty background technique is something I need to work on, but it looks OK here. It needs more contrast, I think.
I cut out the image and both layering panels with nesties. Both the image panel and the next (pink) layer were popped up with dimensionals. I used a gray Copic marker on the bottom purple layer so it would stand out against the base (and did the same to the base layer at the very end).
The base card (white, but not very visible here) was cut out of super thick card stock with my Curvy Cutter. This was difficult to say the least - cutting through *two* layers of thick c/s was not easy and left some pretty ragged edges. I think this particular card would've worked MUCH better with a thinner base card.
The purple layer on the bottom was stamped with the Hero Arts dots background (versamark) then stamped with the sentiment (colorbox) before adding the butterfly (MS punch). To keep the butterfly popped up I used a little glossy accents underneath the top set of wings (did that make sense?). Once dry (it stays dimensional) I added a little more to the bottom wings and the glue 'bumps' and held it down until it adhered. This lets you add as much dimension as you'd like - even in very tight spaces - and still lets you pop things up at an angle (which is tough with dimensionals).
The worst part of the experience was trying to get everything aligned on the circle! The ribbon was the most difficult, although the fold on the base piece was nearly as challenging. I'd recommend doing either a square or rectangle the first time. Actually, I believe that I *will* do one of those next time! :)
Thanks for dropping by!

I tried another challenge...

2011-03-31T15:30:00.003-06:00

But somehow managed to fail at the very last moment! :D First, I should say that I joined yet another group - SSC. Which brings me up to five. *sigh* I like some of the things that they're doing over there - really it's newer than something like SCS so it seems to be easier to do things. Anyway, I joined and found a challenge that was to use only one stamp on your card. Surely I could do that!
Hmpf.
I pulled out Maribel (one of the most gorgeous stamps EVAH!) and started creating. Apparently she's been sitting long enough that there were some issues. Not sure exactly what the problem is - my technique? The rubber? Suffice to say that I had the devil of a time getting a clear image - this was the best of the lot.
I stamped her using Walnut Stain Distress Ink on glossy paper (it was the only brown ink I had that worked with the dp) then lightly colored it with Milled Lavender and finally buffed it with a coat of white chalk ink. I attached that layer to a piece of the dp (it's the reverse of the brown & blue stripe) with curled edges.
The base started with a lovely dark brown card. I layered a piece of the dp, then layered a piece of brown punched paper over that. I cut some flourishes (QuickCutz) using my Cuttlebug from the same brown as the base and attached them to the stamped layer. That's when I realized that I really wanted some shimmer! :D
Ranger just came out with a new set of Perfect Pearls (Cafe) and I couldn't resist the brown. So, using a water brush I painted the brown PP on the flourishes and the punched piece. Planning ahead would've made this a lot simpler!
The little flowers were kind of creamy yellow, but that was fixed with a little Milled Lavender and white chalk ink too. Some half pearls and I thought I was done... oh, right up until I *had* to paint some of the cream color PP on the flower centers! *lol* (and then I realized AFTER I took & edited this picture that one of the pearls fell off! grrr)
Once everything was dry and adhered together I realized that I needed a little something more in the bottom right. This, of course, is when I completely forgot that I was only supposed to use ONE stamp! Sure enough, I stamped the sentiment in Walnut Stain & dusted it with more PP. THEN I remembered why it wasn't supposed to be there! ;D
Oh, well! It was just lovely to play with Maribel anyway!
Thanks for dropping by!

I actually completed a sketch!

2011-03-23T21:14:00.004-06:00

I'm not sure why I'm sketch challenged, but I am. They always look so fun! Somehow though, whenever I try one, it ends up in a pile of scrap paper and sheer frustration. Oy!
I happened upon a blog post about Sarah's birthday and blogoversary sketch challenge and thought that it looked like so much fun that I had to try it. (see? I keep getting caught up in the excitement!) I must have been totally out of my mind because it wasn't enough to just do the card - I made a bookmark too! :)
This is the set that I finally came up with. I fell in love with this paper from Little Yellow Bicycle and bought two sheets (the leaves and the one with the birds) of 12x12. Like I said, I'm sketch challenged so this used almost *all* of the bird paper and half of the leaf paper. Jeez!
Here's a better look at the card by itself. I used soft green card stock for the base - I believe I cut it to 6 1/2 by 8 because I couldn't see a way to fit everything on an A4 card. The three background panels and both bird panels are matted on light blue card stock. The main sentiment/image panel is matted on the soft green again.
The stamped bird (a clear stamp by Fiskars) was stamped on a small panel taken from the bird sheet - there was very little design in that area so it wouldn't compete. I inked up the bird with VersaMark first, then with a mix of Distress inks (Chipped Sapphire, Peeled Paint & Broken China) and finally gave it a little spritz of Perfect Pearls mist (in Pearl). Finally I stamped the sentiment over the top with Walnut Stain DI. Once that part was dry I went over the word "Fly" with a gold Spica pen. Actually, there is quite a bit of Spica pen on this card. All three bottom panels have Spica on the leaf outlines and the base green layer has doodles on the top and bottom. Some light blue dew drops and the ribbon completed it. (which sounds easy, but I assure you that it was *not*)
As for the bookmark.... Well, nothing was as easy as it should have been! ;D
I started with a small panel of the bird paper - I really didn't want to waste any so I just measured around the bird instead of going with an accepted size. I used some acetate that had been run through an embossing folder to position my flourishes and then poked them with a tool. I used two strands of each color floss on the different flourishes. I did try to match that dark blue bit on the bird - but it was so dark that I had to pick it out and try again. *sigh* Once I was done sewing I used Glossy Accents on the bird for dimension and shine, along with more Spica pen against the stitching.
I used the reverse side of the paper for the green mat. It has a subtle wood grain print that is gorgeous - too bad it doesn't match the soft green from the card! :) On the back of that is a layer of the leaf paper to cover all the stitches. The butterfly was an afterthought - I'm still not sure it was a good one. It is glued down, but the wings pop up - how long till they get torn off? :)
Anyway, there you have it. Several days of work! I am so very jealous of all the crafty people that can whip up a card in an hour. Even *more* jealous of people who can easily follow sketches!
Thanks for dropping by!

C & M fairy again, and a revision

2011-03-14T00:02:00.005-06:00

After posting my last card I realized that I wasn't happy with the bright blue butterfly. Unhappy enough to actually go back and change it (which is something I *rarely* do).
Well, here:
I wasn't entirely sure of the color or size so I changed them both. This is actually from the same Martha Stewart punch - it's just the larger size. I punched it from the same kraft cardstock as the image panel, stamped it with a Basic Grey flourish in Colorbox white ink before gluing it down in place of the original. I'm *still* not sure that it's the best thing for that spot. I do like it much better than the original blue one. Enough that I'm willing to leave it alone now. How about you? Would you leave it alone? :)

Now for the new card. Strangely enough, it uses the same digital stamp from Crafts and Me, in the exact same size, on a background of kraft and brown cardstock. I also used the same brown pencil, a white pencil, white Colorbox ink and flourishes from Basic Grey. It looks entirely different though! :)
For this card I used the Out of the Box TJ technique to let her wing hang over the side of the nestie die cut. I outlined the fairy in white pencil and did all of the interior coloring with one brown pencil. Yes, *one*!
The next layer is stamped with the Basic Grey flourishes (several from the set) in white ink. I used a Martha Stewart edge punch to mimic the flower that the fairy is holding. That piece is layered over a piece of dark brown cardstock that was also punched with the MS flower edge to give it some depth. I ran some thread around those two layers with a few simple beads for interest. I really wanted to add a sentiment, but just couldn't find one that fit the mood. *sigh*
Finally I stamped the same flourishes on the base card using Antique Linen Distress Ink. I also used the SU! ticket corner punch on the base to echo the fairy panel. You can't see it in the picture, but there is a bit of Spica pen around the layers and on her wings. Not much, but IRL it adds a subtle shine. *Love* that!
Thanks for dropping by!

Another digi stamp

2011-03-07T14:10:00.004-07:00

I've run across some really gorgeous things lately. First there was this stamp from Crafts and Me in the UK. Ok, there were some others that I loved as well, but Poppy was the one I bought. ;)
Then there was this painting (also available as a digi stamp) which just jumped into my imagination and wouldn't let go. Still hasn't in fact (I'm actually working on another card with the same stamp also on kraft & using white pencil).
This is what came out of that inspiration:
Poppy was printed on kraft cardstock then allowed to dry for several days. All of the white was colored with a pastel pencil (not wax or oil based) then rubbed with a sponge (or finger!) and reapplied until I liked the depth. Unfortunately, I learned that pastel pencil sort of dissolves under stickles. Originally the wings were *very* white! :D
Her hair was colored with several different shades of brown pencil (regular colored pencil, not pastels). I colored the leaves and the flower with pencil at first, then went over them with smooch for extra pizazz. If you look closely you can see that I cut and embossed with a nestie (curved rectangles) and used some Distress Ink around the edges. I wanted a bit more definition so I ran the white pencil around the embossed edge and then smudged it so that it would look soft IRL. I don't know *why* it took on such a hard edge in the photo!
The sentiment was actually a part of a flower stamp from Hampton Art done in Colorbox ink on the same kraft paper. Some of the dots are done with white smooch - too bad I couldn't get it to show well in the picture. *sigh* Both the flower and the butterfly are done with the same color of blue smooch - although looking at it now I want to make the butterfly larger and not as solid colored.
The base card was embossed in the cuttlebug then attacked with stickles. Ok, maybe just rubbed a bit! ;D
Thanks for dropping by!

Have you seen my missing mojo?

2011-02-26T23:48:00.004-07:00

If so, would you ask it (ever so nicely) to return to me? Thanks, I'd appreciate it! ;D
I will admit that I've spent much of what I had on a new blog background. Which isn't perfect yet, but *is* a WIP that I intend to finish up soon!
I do have a card to show you. Not spectacular, but worth showing I think. Somehow it went completely sideways - you see, it didn't want to be what I intended! I was trying for the Neutral Shadows technique again, but a little altered. Well, look:
I stamped the image on a piece of asian newspaper (that I adhered to white c/s for strength) and embossed it with white powder. Using a small stippling brush I added Antique Linen Distress Ink around the branches and a little Peeled Paint to the leaves (which is not a part of the technique, but I couldn't resist). It didn't look the way I wanted it to - in fact it was *ugly* - so I spritzed it with Perfect Pearl Mist and set it aside to dry.
The background was another piece of the paper (again, backed with white c/s) and edged with more Antique Linen. I found the soft green ribbon in my stash and added it to the card. Once I added the main stamped panel I realized that it was too blah looking. I found some soft green Radiant Pearls in my stash and brushed some *very* diluted color over the back panel.
The white embroidery thread and asian inspired coin were the final touch before adhering the whole thing to a white base.
So. Not at all what I wanted, and certainly not as exciting as I planned. But in the end I think it works fairly well.
Thanks for dropping by!

Returning to a more familiar style

2011-02-15T00:49:00.003-07:00

Recently I've been doing a lot of coloring with pencils and copics. There is always so much to learn - new techniques, old techniques that I've never done, new mediums... you name it! Don't get me wrong, I love to try new ways to do things, but sometimes I start to feel like a "jack of all trades, master of none". How about you?
This week I returned to my inky roots (no, my actual roots didn't get inky!) and got my hands dirty. Boy, were they dirty! :D
This gorgeous image is from a set by Hampton Art that I found at Michael's (they have a 50% off coupon this week!) recently. I paired it with a technique from the new TJ newsletter - Neutral Shadows. I think it would have gone a lot easier if I actually had stencil brushes (which I bought a GIANT set at JoAnn's tonight for $2.99 - expect to see this technique again!) to do it with. The stamp was embossed with white powder on white paper then (theoretically) brushed with a neutral color of ink (I used Pumice Stone DI). I couldn't leave it looking quite so plain IRL, so even though you can't see it here (I say that a lot, don't I?) it was spritzed with Ranger's new Perfect Pearl mist and sparkles like crazy!
The background piece started out as a plain piece of white c/s, run through the Clockworks embossing folder with Pumice Stone ink on one side. While the ink was still wet I dusted it with Heirloom Gold perfect pearls then spritzed it with Midnight Blue Glimmer Mist (instead of water) to set the perfect pearls. The piece(s) down the side are a Cuttlebug die cut - unfortunately they don't put any label on their products so I don't know the name of this die/set and I couldn't find it on the Provo Craft site. It's actually two of the same edge die, heavily colored with Pumice Stone and dusted with perfect pearls to match the background.
Although the stamp set came with some gears, they were too intricate for me to feel comfortable cutting them out. Instead I inked up the embossing folder again and used that to stamp on a piece of grunge board and cut that out (once it was cut out I inked it heavily and dusted with pp also). The world nail head was silver and didn't look good at all, but that was fixed with a quick dab of Latte alcohol ink. It isn't clear in the photo, but there was a bit of black lace woven through the teeth of the nail head before I attached it with pop dots to the gear.
The final element was the black enamel accents. I found a flourish that I liked, embossed it on a piece of leftover acetate and used that for a piercing template on the card. I didn't pierce deeply, just a pin prick! Once I had the design ready I went along dotting with the enamel accents (whoops, do *not* pay any attention to the flub!) I also used some white enamel accents along the side (on the die cut), but it was much too stark so I dusted those with even *more* perfect pearls while still wet!
I'll admit, this card looks pretty cool in the picture. Trust me on this, IRL it's shiny and dimensional and very, very cool! I *love* it! And I loved getting my hands dirty! :D
Thanks for dropping by!

Another Just Some Lines

2011-02-07T14:34:00.004-07:00

What can I say? This little girl image from Just Some Lines has the *best* hair for me to learn how to color! :) I have practiced on some other images, but they're not ready for their public debut yet (heh, or maybe ever). You should know, there is *at least* one more card with this little girl coming - with black hair (yup, I think I've got it figured out! woo hoo!).
So, as I said last time, I watched a great video about coloring brown hair on YouTube. I'll admit that it isn't perfect - but it is far, far better than anything I've managed to produce when left to my own devices! ;)
Once again I used the Level Up technique from TJ - this one came together a little better than the last. It's just a matter of learning where to cut your layers and which parts will look best on top. This particular one only has her legs colored on the base image. Then a layer with the shoes, the dress and her face. A layer with her hair and arm next, followed (finally!) with the top layer of hair. I think I left enough support this time! ;)
In case you're interested in this sort of thing, I used E25, E33, E51 & a touch of E57 for her hair. I also used C9 & 7 for her shoes, BG10 & 72 for her dress and E00 & 21 for her skin. Unfortunately it's almost impossible to see that the flower in her hair and the one in her hand was colored with red Smooch.
The base layer of the image was stamped with the Hero Arts Friends definition stamp (after I masked her legs) with Scattered Straw distress ink. Once that was dry I stamped the HA polka dot background and heat embossed with an embossing powder from Cow Town called "Cow of Many Colors" - isn't that a great name? :) It changes color the longer you heat it - which is why some of the dots look almost green/blue and some look orange/gold. Awesome!
The base layer was cut with nesties first - then I glued on all the layers for the little girl. Running it through my 'bug with all the layers seems to smash it down a bit - and I didn't work this hard just to smash it! *lol*
After it was cut I edged the panel with a little Antique Linen Distress Ink, added a bit of lace and some pearls and called it done. You can tell that I popped it up a bit over the dotty background paper. What you can't tell is that the yellow of the definition stamp and the yellow layer actually go very well together. They very, very nearly match.
I swear the camera has a mind of it's own. *sigh*
Thanks for dropping by!

Two different looks

2011-02-01T13:55:00.004-07:00

First, let me say that these two cards are the *same* card. I bought an adorable image from Just Some Lines and couldn't wait to color her. :) I used a Technique Junkies technique called Level up - which requires a significant amount of fussy cutting (not my favorite thing to do!) but allows me to color messily. This particular image was printed four times on a sheet of paper, then certain parts of the image were colored, cut out and adhered over the base image. Make sense? ;)
As you can tell, the scrapbook paper I used for the last card I posted was still on my table. So I used that for the color palette, mat and flower accents. The girl was colored with a mish mash of pencils and OMS - Copics around the edges. The sentiment was printed on a sheet of card stock and cut out with a nestie. Of course I used the same 'dotty' technique around it - it looked a little too plain without! Some smooch and pearls on the flowers and part of one of those swirly flourishes and I thought I was done.
A bit later, I was trying to color black hair on a different image. Oy! Now *there* is something that truly defeats me! I finally got the bright idea to see if there were any tutorials on YouTube - sure enough, I found a couple (that I will attempt to try at a later date) that made it look doable. Somehow I ended up watching several different videos about coloring hair, mostly with Copics, and I found this one. I pulled out several of my Copics (close to, but not exactly the same numbers as she uses) and gave it a try. Wow! It being my first try I wasn't expecting much - but I was amazed at the results. Unfortunately, (a) the hair was colored with markers and looked too vibrant with the girl done in pencil; and (b) I was working on a girl that was printed about 1/2 inch larger than the original image used on this card. *sigh* (I am working on a Copic colored version of this card - look for it sometime soon.)
The good thing about watching the video was that it gave me some ideas about coloring hair - even with pencils. However, there was no way I was going to be able to match the size of the image again exactly (save those files!) and I just didn't want to waste a bunch of time trying to get close enough.
So I did what any crafty crafter would do... I used an eraser! ;D
I erased a roundish section of hair in the middle of that larger area and a smaller section on her bangs. After adding some yellow, red & brown to those sections I went back and added a touch of black to the ends and where her part would lay. Not a lot! Just enough to give it some more contrast and dimension.
Aside from the fact that this picture is better (go figure - this one was taken *inside* because it is literally 5 degrees outside today and the other was taken *outside* a few days ago when it was nearly 70 degrees) I can honestly say that she looks more dimensional to me. How about to you?
Thanks for dropping by!

Totally not my style!

2011-01-26T01:05:00.004-07:00

You know how sometimes you're creating a card (or whatever it is that you create) and it sort of takes a left turn somehow? You're left wondering what happened - that wasn't AT ALL what you envisioned.... How 'bout when it not only takes a left, but flips a u-turn? ;D
That's *exactly* what happened here!
I loved these darling birds from Marker Guru (a freebie), and the idea of using these pearls on a line (bridal area of Hobby Lobby), *and* this background technique I saw here (which is absolutely stunning).
Honestly, I colored the birds two separate times. The first time is what you see here, although I also colored them in green and then didn't like them with the background. They were colored with a variety of copics, probably with something like 5 different colors. I'm still working on my blending skills! :)
I actually printed several copies of the birds in the same size. One I used to make the background (three different colors of cool gray plus blender pen) and one with the purple birds that I trimmed out. After I colored the background I cut it out with a nestie oval, covered it with VersaMark & embossed it with holographic glitter EP from Ranger. The birds were glued down with some Glossy Accents.
I used some ruffled ribbon (where did I get that? I need more!) and a Martha Stewart punch for the top & bottom edges. The flourishes were cut using a punch that my dear friend gave me for my birthday - and even though you can't see it, they were covered with the clear spica pen. A little heart stamp and some London Fog Memento ink and I was all done.
Still a little confused, though.
Thanks for dropping by!

Triple threat (or maybe treat?)

2011-01-18T22:27:00.006-07:00

Somehow or another, no matter how much I promise myself, I don't seem to get here and post as often as I'd like to! Hence, the triple treat! :) Unfortunately, all three of these cards are on a base of *very* shimmery white card stock - which made my camera *very* unhappy! I've done my best to make them look better - but, well, they aren't the best pictures... bear with me!
Up first is a card that uses acrylic paint. Honestly, I chose that medium because I'm determined to play along with the UPC challenge going on over at Tyggereye Arts . One medium a month? I can DO that! :D First I stamped (with versamark) and clear embossed the Agapanthus stamp (Stampendous) on the white base. Next I tapped out some pearl paint dabber onto my non-stick craft sheet. Just a small drop of Tumbled Glass reinker was dripped next to the paint. First I swirled just a teeny bit of ink into the paint (and painted using both a brush & my finger for a softer look) then as I got closer to the center of the flowers I added more reinker to the remaining paint. IRL this actually has quite a bit of depth for being so light.
I used the ribbon trick I learned at Archivers this winter for the ribbon at the base, then added a nail head that was almost an exact color match for the paint (how often does THAT happen?). It looked a little plain - no problem - a little Glossy Accents and a clear gem made a statement without taking over. :)
This second card also used acrylic paint - just in an entirely different way! Can you see it? No? :D
I dabbed the same pearl paint dabber onto my non-stick mat (much larger area this time) and used it as my stamp pad for the flower stamp (Hero Arts). I had to use my Stamp-a-ma-jig and stamp it several times... apparently the thin lines of this stamp mean that the paint dries out faster than I would've believed possible! Once the paint was dry, I used a Ranger nib and Stormy Sky ink to color parts of each flower. Once that was dry I added some white pencil for shading inside the petals and some gray Copics around the stems and flowers for depth. The vine (a bitty stamp from Inka, I believe) and the sentiment (River City Rubber Works) were both stamped in Stormy Sky to match the flowers. If you look closely, you might notice that some of the words in the sentiment look lighter (almost faded) than others. That's because I highlighted those words with my clear Spica pen - just a select few that I felt could use a little extra attention. They stand out beautifully IRL.
This final card came about because I fell in love with Karen's card here. Mine is nowhere near as elegant as hers - she is a true master!
Instead of popping up my panel, I chose to cut out a frame with my nesties. You can just barely see it (even IRL) but there is a vine-y/leafy stamp clear embossed on the paper 'frame'. The flowers (Clearly Inspired by Paper Inspirations) were stamped using a mix of greens, blues and lavender Distress Inks. The sentiment (Wordsworth) was stamped with Peeled Paint Distress ink then clear embossed.
This card is one of the *very* few that actually took more time to do than time to explain! It took me a lot of time working with finicky placement (and RE-placement) before I was satisfied. In hindsight (*sigh*) I would just stamp the flowers THEN cut the frame. DUH! :D
Either way, I really *do* like the end result... and I *will* try this again!
Thanks for dropping by!

Thinking of You

2011-01-09T14:10:00.003-07:00

Well, technically, thinking of *me*! :)
We finally had to put our kitty down, it was past time. She was starting to really suffer - but it's a hard thing to do. Once I finished my 'day of crying' I sat down at my table and started working on a new card. The Hero Arts contest was for masking (so that decided the technique) and I haven't used my big flower stamp in a while (there was my stamp!) so it was pretty easy to pull it all together.
Originally I intended to have the flowers build from the bottom right. Heh. That's what I get for not double checking the orientation of the card after masking it! :D If you look very closely you can tell that when I stamped the text inside the flowers I did the *same* thing over again (what can I say? It just never occurred to me to check that!)
So, anyway, I stamped the main flower then masked the outside of the image and stamped the text inside. Then I masked the inside of the flower and stamped the 'parts' on the space that was left. Then I masked the large flower & the outside of each partial flower & stamped the text in those. Shew! That was a *lot* of masking!
Then I used a couple of different Copic markers to color the blues and the shadows (and the very light violet). I also used a new white pencil to add highlights to the flower petals - it's a pastel in pencil form. (It's a lot brighter than the usual white pencil, but it smudges a lot so you're seeing two or three layers here.)
Somehow, this sentiment seems like it was made for this card... so I didn't even try to resist! What you can't see is the sparkle I added to the sentiment, the inner score line and some of the petal lines. Which is a bummer - it's very different looking IRL. I'm still not sure about the ribbon - this is the *third* thing I tried! I guess I like it enough to leave it there for now... maybe I'll find another option later. *sigh*
Thanks for stopping by!

The missing Christmas cards

2010-12-31T13:34:00.003-07:00

Here I am again! It's all about feast or famine! ;D
I thought I'd just post a bunch of the Christmas cards which I never managed to get on here over the last month. I don't think I'll do much of an explanation of each, but of course I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have!

This first one has a removable ornament (wooden, Kaiserkraft) that was decorated with distress inks, glitter & bling. I made it so that it could be used as an ornament on the tree.

Here's a decent shot of what it looks like with the ornament removed.

This particular card is not really a Merry Christmas card - but then it's for a Jewish friend so it's better to be non-denominational, right? :) The tree (SU!) was stamped on watercolor paper & embossed with a clear ep. The 'snow' was done with glittery ep and rock candy distress stickles. Love the feeling this gives me!

I made this one using a technique I saw on SCS last year at Christmas. I loved the card and just twisted the tech a little bit (by only using white ink & white perfect pearls). The angel was trimmed out of another sheet, painted and then coated with glossy accents.

This one was all about the fun stamp & coloring with Copics. Although there is a little Flower Soft on the hat & boots.

So there you have it. A last final blast of Christmas! Not that I managed to put all my cards up - in fact, several of my favorites never even got their picture taken (there's that Christmas rush again!). On the other hand, you must be terribly tired of Christmas Cards by now, anyway! :)
Thanks for dropping by!

Aftermath

2010-12-31T12:49:00.004-07:00

It's been nearly a month since I last posted! While I won't say that I'm sorry (remember that whole Blogging Without Obligation thing?) I do feel like I've been neglecting one of the things that I enjoy.
December was, to say the least, a bit hairy (literally!). We started out with the idea that dh was being laid off, but found out on his *last* day that he was offered another position. It was quite the relief! Then, since the job thing had be secured, we went and adopted a dog. Every boy needs a dog, right? Well, it seems that we may have gotten DH a shadow instead. ;)
This is our new addition, Lila. She came to us from the Humane Society - she was owner surrendered. She is a very good dog (so far, at least) and we haven't had very many problems at all. If I had to list the problems she has, it would be that her previous owners just didn't do well by her. She doesn't really know how to play (ball? what's that?) and she is quite timid (backyard? by myself?? um, no!). I can't really tell yet who is more wary, the boy or the dog! :) At least she isn't wrestling him to the ground!
In other pet news, our kitty is desperately ill. I think it's time to let her go - very, very soon. She's lost so much weight that she weighs less than five pounds. Although we've tried the medication, she is not recovering at all. I'm horribly saddened by it, but trying to remember that it's a part of life - and she's had a good, long life. She has quite the personality (not *exactly* loving, and she bites!) - anyone who says that animals are interchangeable hasn't ever met *my* kitty!
Then, of course, there was the Christmas madness. Let me tell you, the week(s) leading up to Christmas are hell on a 4 year old's attitude! ;) Although we did take time to go see Blue Man Group (thanks to my dad) and everyone had an awesome time - even said 4 year old! If you ever get the chance to see them, do it! Way more of a 'show' than a concert. Highly entertaining!
I think I'll post a second time today - adding cards to this post seems like not a good idea. Look for that one in a few minutes!
Thanks for dropping by!

Are you tired of Christmas cards yet?

2010-12-08T23:37:00.006-07:00

I hope not! Especially since I said that you would be seeing this stamp from Unity some more! :) Today I'll show you two different takes on the same thing.
For this first version I marked off a quarter inch on all sides of this kraft cardstock base with a white pen before stamping the greeting with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. After covering the edges with post it notes I added some snowflakes (from Katzelkraft) in Tumbled Glass and Frost white. Then I added more Frost White (being careful not to get any on the sentiment) using a cotton ball. Yes, a *very* expensive tool! :D I painted the inside of the tree with more Frost White and a water brush - but it wasn't as opaque as I liked so I added some white chalk pen.
Can you see the slightly darker snowflakes? Those were added once the Frost White was dry by stamping with Versamark Frost. It added some glimmer, but took away some white - it was a sacrifice I tell ya! You can also see a scattering of white half pearls that were added just before I called it done.
This one has an entirely different look. This was stamped with a red DI (Barn Door, I think) on an off-white base. I found some ribbon in a similar color of red and used the same technique I learned at Archivers to attach it (using Tim's Tiny Attacher). The only thing you really can't see in the picture is that (once again) I painted the tree white - this time I used Ranger's Pearl dabber. IRL it makes the pearl look like it belongs there!
The base actually came from a blog candy that I won a while ago. I think I forgot to mention it here - but it was AMAZING! Quite the stash of goodies! Here, look:
A gorgeous card, some stamps, bling, buttons, inchies & a book of inchie images and a lovely set of square cards with envelopes. WOW. Ali does some really beautiful things - you should go check out her blog. (and I would like to note that I do *not* enter blog candy things UNLESS I already subscribe to the blog in question - so, yes I *do* love her schtuff!) (not that anyone has ever questioned me but I felt like I should be clear!) :)
Two totally different cards, eh? Except that they both fit (mostly) into the CAS style and they'll both mail exceptionally well!
On a completely different note - if you look on the sidebar you'll see a new button. I'm taking a free Skinny Mini ecourse on textures using PSE. So far so good. We're only on day three (of 10 days) so we'll see if I manage to do anything worth sharing! Wish me luck!
Thanks for dropping by!

More Christmas cards

2010-12-02T14:56:00.004-07:00

I really have gotten into the Christmas spirit! :)
A couple more cards are done and there are a few more coming down the pipe. I'm impressing myself!
This one may end up being my favorite of the year. I love how the embossing came out! The angel was stamped on a really light brown/cream cardstock with Distress ink (Brushed Cord, I think) then colored with white and french gray pencils. I added some Spica pen to parts of the dress (although you can't see the sparkle in the picture) and edged the panel with Walnut Stain. The second layer was colored with Brushed Cord and a blending tool, then overstamped with the same color. I brushed on some perfect pearls & spritzed with water - uber shiny IRL! The white panel is watercolor paper which was stamped with versamark and clear embossed. Finally I mounted it all on a base made from the same brown/cream cardstock as the first panel. Although there is no sentiment (or ribbon!) I really like the elegant feel of this card.
This card has a totally different feel! Much more scrappy - even though it's not *at all* what I had in mind when I started. The stamp is from Unity (one of their Itty Bitties - great buy!) and is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. You'll be seeing more of this one for sure!
So, stamped in Brushed Cord on kraft cardstock. I filled in the tree with stickles (one of the clear ones, but it has a green tint which was perfect for this). Originally, I had planned to leave this on a kraft card base - imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had stamped it *upside down*! Grrrrr!
That was when everything took a left turn.... I used a nestie to frame the image with some paper by MME. It has tons of glitter - in a very similar color to the stickles I used. You can see that I added a double layer of ribbon - but did you see that I also added beads? Yup, hand stitched!
Hope you enjoyed a little peek into what my Christmas cards are looking like! Thanks for dropping by!

My freebie from A Day for Daisies

2010-11-26T00:44:00.004-07:00

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...

2010-11-15T23:28:00.004-07:00

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

2010-11-10T00:45:00.004-07:00

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

2010-11-02T00:12:00.005-06:00

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!

For my cousin...

2010-10-25T23:31:00.004-06:00

If you knew my cousin, you'd know that she's one of the most vibrant people alive. Always with a funny story (usually a hysterical story!) or a joke. She's having a hard time right now, and I want her to know that I'm keeping her in my thoughts. So this one, Jess, is for you!
I wanted this lovely digi (from A Day for Daisies) to look like you were seeing her through the trees. And since the trees that I have didn't look right, I used this fabulous background stamp from Hero Arts.
First I printed the digi on regular cardstock, but when that proved to be difficult to work with I figured out how to print on a small piece of watercolor paper. Once that was printed (and dried overnight) I started painting it with a water brush and some Distress Ink. First I coated it with Stormy Skies - being careful not to get water/ink inside the digi - then I went over the bottom portion with Chipped Sapphire. It was an accident that I pulled the Chipped Sapphire up in a circular motion - but I thought it looked like those nights when you can see a sliver of the moon and a faint impression of the whole thing.
The digi itself was colored using pencils on her hair (no OMS, I didn't know how well it would work on w/c paper & didn't want to try it with this one), a mix of red and white perfect pearls on her wings, silver pen on her dress and white smooch over the moon.
The background image was stamped on regular cardstock (several times - I kept smudging it!) with black VersaFine. I cut the digi image out using a nestie, then placed over the stamped background where I wanted it to be and stamped again (so you could see the plants over the moon). Then I used a light touch with a pencil and traced around the circle before moving it. I used the foam pads with the same colors of Distress ink to color the main panel, then set it aside to dry.
Once dry, I cut the hole in the main panel and edged it with the same silver pen I used on her dress. Used the corner chomper on the corners and stamped the sentiment in Platinum Planet (Brilliance). (oh, and added the tiniest bit of Dusty Concord to the bottom edge - just cause I could!) Finally, I centered the digi image, popped up the main panel, mounted the whole shebang on a black base and Voila!
(in reality, I had to do the main panel at least four times and the digi at least as many to get a mostly smudge free card. this actually took me almost a week!) (at least I love it, right?!)
Thanks for dropping by!

Now I'm in a coloring mood....

2010-10-18T22:54:00.004-06:00

You may have noticed (or not!) that I've added a widget to the side of my blog. It's for a place called CDAC - Crafters Digital Art Center - and it has an amazing array of goodies for the digital stamper. I'm no purist, if I love the image I'll use it, but digital stamps are something of a different proposition. :) Coloring them can be difficult! But, if you go poke around on CDAC you'll find lots of information about, well, just about everything digi related.
I find using colored pencils (and sometimes markers) to be the easiest way to color these printed 'stamps'. Now, I'm no expert! I've spent a lot of time studying the different posts that Marianne Walker has done on coloring. My coloring has improved significantly since I found her - and she certainly inspires me to try new things.
In the spirit of finding CDAC and getting caught up in digis, I used a lovely freebie from Mo Manning for this card. Isn't it the sweetest image? :)
I printed the image on regular white card stock. After it dried overnight (sometimes I hit it with a heat gun - otherwise it tends to smear when using OMS) I started coloring with pencils. Mostly I used my favorite Lyra Polycolor pencils, but I did have to fill in some of the colors with Prismacolors also. I did a lot of blending with OMS (odorless mineral spirits) and a lot of adding more layers of pencil in order to get the depth of color I wanted. After I finished coloring the image, I went around the outside using a warm gray Copic marker (see, Marianne ROCKS!) to give some dimension. I then cut and embossed with a circle nestie.
The base card is one of the precut letterpress papers you see all over (for use with the Epic Six & letterpress kit). Let me tell you - it takes embossing from a folder like a dream! :) This card was embossed using the Cuttlebug folder (twigs?) and then lightly brushed with Antique Linen to show the embossing. Since that wasn't enough for me - I also went over the raised portions with a clear Spica pen too - even though you can't see it! You also can't see the tiny bit of Smooch in the main image - the hearts and some streaks in the straw - but the lighting was all wrong today (storm a comin' - snow tomorrow?). The ribbon was just folded back on itself using (an indecent amount of) Scor Tape.
Soft and sweet. And it makes me happy! :)
Thanks for dropping by!

It's not another book...

2010-10-11T13:14:00.004-06:00

But it is another image from A Day for Daisies! :)
This one is called Skirt of Flowers - isn't it lovely? Sorry the picture isn't all that great. Between the shimmery paper and the white smooch ink I thought the camera was going to have a nervous breakdown! Even post processing didn't help that much! :)
I actually started with a completely different card in mind, but as you all know, detours abound in the cardmaking world.
I started by printing the image on regular white cardstock & cutting it out with a nestie. Once she was colored (with Copics and colored pencils) I got a little carried away with coloring the background... it just ended up looking dirty. So, I cut her out! :) NOT my favorite thing to do - but I really loved the way she was colored and didn't want to scrap it.
The oval paper is from Reminisce and was cut with a nestie. The image is adhered on top and then lightly outlined with a warm gray copic for dimension. I loved the shimmery paper so much that I pulled out some white Smooch and added some touches to the dress and hair. It actually works quite well over pencil!
The background paper is Basic Grey; the corner punch is from Martha Stewart. Can you see some shimmer around those edges? I used the clear glitter pen from Sakura - both around the edges of the BG paper and on the lines of her dress. IRL this is one shimmery, sparkly card! :)
Thanks for dropping by!

Another book cover

2010-10-04T22:51:00.003-06:00

Apparently I'm in a 'mood'. Do you do that? Create the same type of project in bursts? I seem to go through phases - this time it's notebooks! :)
I don't really do very much with digital stamps, although I have some, mostly because printer ink doesn't seem to go very well with my usual coloring methods. There are some images that I make an exception for - this is where I got the one I used for today's post. Aren't they gorgeous?! Love them! (and I can blame Mel for it since she's such an enabler!)
This notebook also started life as a cheap purchase (dollar bin at Michaels anyone?). Have I mentioned that I'm also in a brown phase? I bought a roll of luscious brown wrapping paper at the Container Store recently and *needed* to use it for something more lasting than wrapping boxes.
I started by prying off the covers - careful not to bend the spiral coil - and covered them with the wrapping paper & PVA glue. Unfortunately I don't have any sort of punch to make the holes look good after covering so they look much better on the outside. After gluing the paper to the front, I take a sharp knife and make three cuts in each hole. (both long sides & in the middle) Then add a little more PVA with a small brush and fold each half down into the hole with an orange stick (or whatever fits). This is *very* patience-testing work! (hence, the inside does NOT look as good as the outside)
I printed the Wind In My Hair stamp onto regular white card stock (I tried better/thicker stock and it just jammed up the printer. *sigh*) then trimmed to an appropriate size for the cover. She is mostly colored with pencil and Distress Ink but there is also a touch of Copic marker. I've been trying very hard to increase my skill with pencil - I'm pretty thrilled with the results! DI was applied with a water brush for the background (sky and ground).
Once that was all dry I roughed up the edges and applied some yellow DI to the edges. The background paper is from Basic Grey - also roughed up & edged with DI. I used Matte Mod Podge to glue both pieces to the cover and give a little protection. (note: do NOT turn a wet piece upside down - even for just a moment - and think it will all be ok! It won't!) Since that altered the brown wrapping paper a little, I covered both sides with Mod Podge as well (on both covers).
I added the flower to echo the flowers she's holding in her dress. All three flowers were colored with DI and a tiny bit of Smooch, then coated with Mod Podge as well. Except the dew drop! :)
I think I have the perfect person to send this to.... And perhaps she'll forgive me for not working too hard on the Ami's. But when the muse strikes..... :D
Thanks for dropping by!

The crafty post!

2010-09-29T00:15:00.004-06:00

Ok, so technically it's not Tuesday anymore. But it *is* just barely Wednesday - does that count? :)
I thought this book deserved it's own post (and I didn't know if I could fit this pic in with the last post!). It's something I've done a few of - actually they're pretty easy to do once you get the hang of it.
Isn't it lovely? :)
This started out as a plain notebook from Target (clearance, even!). I started by prying apart the binding and slipping both covers off. Once I chose my yarn (yes, yarn - it's actually called ribbon yarn and is getting *much* harder to find these days) I was ready to wrap.
If you choose to wrap a notebook like this there are a few tips that I can give you. Before anything else, decide if the area where the binding goes looks ok - paint, sharpie, ink or otherwise color it to look good. Measure enough yarn to wrap the right edge of the cover - I used red liner tape on the edge & folded my yarn in half. This will completely cover the edge and make for a nicer finish. Apply whatever adhesive you choose to use (this was a combo of red liner tape, xyron & Fabri-Tac) to both sides of the cover and start wrapping from the bound edge. The first wrap will have to completely overlap your leading edge, but after that you can wrap overlapping 1/2 to 1/3 of the preceding edge. I chose to cover the corners of this book with metal findings from Tim Holtz, but with a little forethought you can make that last edge look professional enough to escape notice. :) If you (or the intended recipient) will be dropping this in a purse from time to time you may want to use some Fabric Tac and nail down some of the edges. Otherwise the yarn may get pulled out of whack and look bad. If you're just using it at home, don't bother!
As I said, I used some Tim Holtz book corners in a sort of antique-y gold color. To match the feel of them I matted the main panel with a piece of gold card stock that was embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder and punched with a Martha Stewart corner punch.
The main panel is a stamp from Lost Coast Designs. I stamped it with black VersaFine on a piece of letterpress card. Yes, I bought some letterpress card - even though I don't have anything else related! :) Thick, luscious paper! I had to use a *very* light touch with the water brush - it is NOT built like watercolor paper. I used a couple of different Distress Inks to color the columns, her wings and the 'sky', but the woman is done with colored pencil. After it dried I gave it a quick coat of Matte Mod Podge for protection.
Thanks for dropping by!

Settle in, it's going to be a long post!

2010-09-27T00:50:00.005-06:00

If you're like me you're always searching for a better way to organize your stuff. If you have perfect organization skills, then this post is *not* for you! :)
Most recently I've been needing a better storage solution for my Cuttlebug stuff. Back when I didn't have very many dies/embossing plates/nesties I decorated a box and used that. While pretty, it wasn't easy to find what I was looking for - and we all know that means - you don't *use* it! My nesties outgrew the box and, for a while, I kept them in a small photo holder (cheap at Target, just one of those 4x6 plastic jobs). It worked as long as I didn't buy any of the larger sizes dies - yeah, the tall nesties and the embossing plates didn't fit at all.
Enter Office Max.
Or maybe I should say *I* entered Office Max! :)
While we were there a couple of weeks ago I picked up a package of these three pocket page protectors. While I'm sure that plenty of people have tried page protectors - these are different. They're thick, really thick. You can't really tell from their picture, but these are constructed a little differently than you might think. The front pocket is about 4 1/2" deep, the second (middle) pocket is about 8 1/2" deep. The third pocket is 11" - imagine a page protector with two pockets, then add another sheet of the plastic to the back to create another full page size protector on the back side. Am I explaining this well enough? :) Anyway, that back sheet is important - trust me!
So I brought the package home and brainstormed how I could 'fix' them to be perfect.
You'll need a hot knife (Don't have one? Go *get* one! You rarely need it, but it's irreplaceable when the occasion arises) with a melting edge instead of a knife edge, a metal ruler, an x-acto knife, a cutting mat and a piece of cereal box (I used the backing from one of the Cuttlebug embossing folders). I used a magnetic cutting mat, which made working with that slick material much easier, but you can use whatever you have.
It isn't easy to see, but if you look closely you can see that my hand is in the front pocket and the cuttlebug piece is in the last pocket. That faint line across where the top of the cuttlebug piece is - that is the top of the middle pocket. You can also see that this stuff is translucent, but *not* transparent. That should give you an idea of how thick and sturdy this stuff really is.
I measured my embossing folders and decided that my middle pocket should start at the same height as the top of the first pocket. Once the measurements were done I lined everything up on the cutting mat. I inserted the board piece in the third pocket. That's very important. You want to use the hot knife to melt the two middle pieces together, but you *don't* want to melt into the final sheet of plastic.
So, insert the board into the third pocket, line up the ruler and start melting! :) No need to go all the way from one side to the other. Embossing folders are wide enough that they won't fall through if you leave a half inch on either end. We did have a couple of missteps, nothing major (yes, DH helped a lot). Make sure to leave plenty of space above the bottom pocket edge before sealing (I sealed more than one pocket shut before figuring that out) about a quarter of an inch seemed to be perfect. If you do seal one shut just insert the x-acto knife into the open edge of the bottom pocket (with the blade facing up toward the top of the page) and gently slice open.
Here you can see my hand in the newly created middle pocket. The board piece is still in the back pocket. I wish I had thought to add something to the front pocket - but you'll just have to trust that I didn't seal it shut! :) I think the most important thing to note here is that the third pocket is still undamaged. It's not only helping the structural integrity, I could make more pockets on the back if I needed to.

Whew! Are you bored yet?We're almost done ! :D

Dh helped me figure out exactly what to do to make four pockets on the front (for smaller dies). If you decide to do this (and you need help) let me know and I'll try to explain the process. It's very similar - you just have to be careful where you put the board when cutting and melting. Here are some pictures of what it looks like now:
The embossing folders fit beautifully side by side. The best part is that their weight doesn't cause even a little sag. Excellent for putting in a three ring binder (this is a 3" binder - it barely fit all my stuff!).
Here you can see what the quad pocket looks like when finished. It's the perfect size.
I love how this came together. Everything about this project worked beautifully. I'm here to tell you that it's not only easy - it's ridiculously easy! I'm really glad I didn't let the 'unknown' stop me. Thanks for making it easy on me husband! :)
And thank *you* for dropping by!
See ya tomorrow for a crafty post! :)

I've been MIA

2010-09-20T14:04:00.004-06:00

Although I do have a fairly decent reason! :)
First is the new computer. If you've ever had to move all your stuff from one computer to another - you know it's never as easy as you think it will be! The networking with Win 7 is, ummm, not as clear cut as I'd like and makes it difficult when your pictures are over there and your software is over here....
Strangely enough (since it's September) we've also had a rash of wildfires in the area. Nothing too close to us but they've been very destructive. Just a little west of us was the major one, the
most destructive one in the history of the state! Ten square miles, tons of people left without homes, clothing, food. It's just awful. We actually had ash raining down on us from that one. There was another south of us, one north (and the high winds blew so much smoke toward us that it smelled like a bonfire outside our house - everyone got sore throats from that!)
and then yet another west of us. It's been unreal to see the devastation. Thankfully every single one has been contained now (if not totally out) even though the wind did *not* cooperate.
Today I am thankful for the hundred (plus) firefighters that came from all over the country to help.
Anyway.
I have a Halloween card to share, which is odd since I think this might be the first one I've ever made! :) I used a TJ technique called Splash 'n Stick from the Aug/Sept 2010 newsletter. Although I *did* change it up a little - there was no splashing. :D I like my clothes to be Alcohol Ink free!
The sticker is a laser cut sticker from Mrs. Grossman's line. All alcohol inks came from Tim (of course!). The background piece was also done on glossy with Tim's AI, then stamped with an image from Creations Unlimited. The truly deep black color is some velvet paper from Doodlebug, it's such a deep black color that it made the sticker look almost gray. Go figure! I did add some black Distress Stickles to the birds to help them stand out - they seemed to just fade into the background otherwise.
Unfortunately this is one of those cards that looks much more interesting in person. Even though I have the original - when I look on the screen I think it needs something more. I promise - IRL it's very 'done' looking! :)
Thanks for dropping by!

She's done... and she's gorgeous!

2010-09-07T14:04:00.004-06:00

I think I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was working on something special that I couldn't show you yet. Well, the time has come! :D

First, let me say that I've been hunting this stamp for a long time. I saw it (on a post to the TJ group) and just fell in love. Unfortunately, the company in question wasn't producing them any more. What's worse is that I found out in May or June that they had sold the entire line to a company that isn't (even now!) on the internet. Oy! Anyway, a couple of weeks ago was the annual stamping show that I always attend (birthday money! woo hoo!). This year it was a little farther away - and I was hesitant to go that far. Thank heavens I did! The new company (Stamp On It) that owns the Nicole Croy line was there - and I finally got my stamp! :D

First let's take a look at the actual panel with the Nicole Croy stamp: (sorry about the acrylic blocks in the pictures, it just couldn't stand by itself)

There is an awful lot of stuff going on here! The first thing to note is that this was done on a piece of sticky back canvas. I'm really impressed with this stuff - it never lost it's sticky (and I abused it horribly!). The woman was stamped with Brilliance black on a piece of canvas about 8" by 4". Once dry, I went to town with just about every liquid medium I have - there are colorwash sprays from Zia, Glimmer mists, Starbursts and Memories mists. It literally took me a week (or more) to get the colors the way I wanted them. I sprayed and blotted, painted with color and just water, sprayed some more and let dry, blotted with bleach water... it was truly crazy. The canvas held up beautifully through the whole thing.

Once I was happy with the color I started adding the 'extras'. Out came some Tim stamps (the birds, the edges & some flourishes) and Distress Ink. I didn't use black because I was afraid of the whole thing getting too dark - so the birds are Chipped Sapphire and everything else was either Pumice Stone, Frayed Burlap or Vintage Photo. At the bottom I also used some other grungy/flourishy stamps from Stempelglede - but by then in was *very* hard to see them!

At that point I realized that it was almost impossible to read the sentiment. After painting the edges with glittery stuff, you couldn't really see the black ink. I liked the way it looked around the edges but had to do something for the words. Sharpie to the rescue! Yup, I used a black sharpie and went over all the letters. :) (and the outline of the woman)

I had been working with the wings (separate, but meant to work with this stamp) on another little piece of canvas at the same time - but I wasn't liking the results. Instead I used Tim's wings (just masked off one side & then the other) and white Lumiere paint. I did have to stamp them twice - they're very detailed - and I didn't get great coverage even then. In then end though, I really like the final look.

The last thing I did was put the canvas on a piece of backing from a paper stack to give it strength. Once that was cut to size I edged the whole thing with black satin ribbon (and double sided sticky tape).

Since the whole piece was much to big for a card, and I didn't want it to get damaged, I decided to frame it. I found a frame at Michael's (half off coupons rock!) and altered the backing board. You can see that I used a feather stamp (from Stamp A Mania) with versamark randomly on the black backing. Then I dusted a couple of colors of Perfect Pearls over them. I randomly stamped the feather some more and added the other two colors from the set on the 'top' images. If you could see it in person, you would be able to tell that there is a bronze color, a purplish color, a blue and a green all mixed together - very shimmery and pretty. (and if you look closely you can see my pencil marks for centering the angel piece. ;) whoops!)

For the final picture - here it is all in one piece! I *love* the way this came together! The woman, the sentiment, the birds, the wings... it just speaks to me. She has been framed, but I couldn't seem to get a good picture - just imagine another thin line of black around the outside (it's a very simple frame). I've just been sitting and admiring her since I finished - don't tell me I'm the only one who ever does that!
The only problem I have left is... where should I hang her? :D

Thanks for dropping by!

Have I mentioned that I'm a little ecclectic?

2010-09-03T00:18:00.004-06:00

You just never know what will happen over here! :D

Last time was steampunk - this time, not so much!

The stamp is Tin Can Mail by Inkadinkado. I started by stamping the image in Brilliance Coffee Bean on a light piece of card stock. Not quite tan, but not white either. After rounding the corners I started using different Distress Ink colors to age the edges (which is actually a technique from TJ called Burnt Edges) and the center. The flowers were colored with two or three colors of DI using a water brush. Once it was dry I colored the butterfly with gold Smooch and set it aside.

I ran a piece of brown c/s through the cuttlebug with one of Tim's embossing folders and rubbed gold brilliance ink on the raised portion of the design. A darker brown base and two pieces of scrapbook paper (edges aged also) and I was ready to assemble. At least I *thought* so until some ribbon called my name! Then the dew drops started in...

Well, at least I stopped there!

I'm still thinking about that ribbon. It's really too high, but any lower and it obscures the butterfly. *sigh* Cut if off? Leave it alone? Dunno.

What do YOU think?

Thanks for dropping by!

Er... steampunk?

2010-08-23T00:51:00.005-06:00

Have you ever had one of those days that what's in your head refuses to come out? You know, the kind of day where you start with an idea (and even a specific person in mind) and end up somewhere so different that you're left wondering 'What the...?'
I *had* that day! :D
Just so you can get an idea of how not even close I was - picture me sitting with some grunge letters and wings (covered with shiny pink paper) and a circle card that I'd covered with a gorgeous misty purple scrap paper. With flowers. And glitter.

This is where I ended up:

Yeah. Um....
This doesn't even bear the slightest resemblance to what I *thought* I was doing. Heh.
I started by laying down some of the text papers that Lauren sent me (Hi Lauren! Are you proud of me?!) in a very random fashion. (Yes, this was supposed to be a part of the original card.) The first thing I did was spritz the whole sheet with Moon Shadow Mist in Tawny Turquoise from Lindy's Stamp Gang. After that was dry, I stamped the sentiment from River City Rubber Works in Chipped Sapphire DI (and then went over it with a fine point black pen - but only in the center of the letters). I cut the piece down & rounded the corners, then inked up the edges with more DI. Down one edge I ruffled some tape - it almost looks like masking tape but it's really made for scrapbooks - and stapled it in place with Tim's stapler. It was at this point that I could tell there was no use fightin' it! :D
The other portion of the text paper piece was embossed with the Clockworks folder from Cuttlebug. The raised portions were lightly rubbed with both Chipped Sapphire & Black DI, then had a little silver Krylon pen applied (and buffed with an inky cloth -it was too bright & shiny otherwise). This piece was stapled on to a piece of black c/s which was then adhered to the black card. The sentiment piece is popped up on some black foam dimensionals that I got from TexasJodyLynn over at Confessions of a Ribbon Addict (which are awesome - go buy some!). The final step was to outline the base card with the same silver pen. Oh, wait, the *actual* final step was to add some Rock Candy Distress Stickles to parts of the gears! A girl's gotta have bling! :)
So. Not at all what I expected.
But I think I love it all the more for it's surprise appearance!
Thanks for dropping by!

I got the most awesome card, EVAH!

2010-08-17T13:47:00.005-06:00

I desperately wanted to send my friend Lauren some sticky back canvas - she needed it! - and there is just no way I could send an envelope all that way with just one thing in it. So, I sent her this card that was made with (what else?) sticky back canvas! :)

The canvas has proved surprisingly easy to work with, although I'm going to have to work on getting a straight cut. ;) The flower was a stencil (how long have I had that, I wonder??) that I pulled out of deep storage. I painted it with a combination of Distress reinkers, calligraphy ink (for a richer, deeper red) and some smooch inks. Although you can't tell from the angle of this picture, when I stuck the canvas down I stuffed some cotton under the flower to give it dimension. IRL it looks pillowy! :) I hand stitched around the edges (I also need to work on those skills!) with black floss on a piece of thick white c/s which was then attached to the base. I also stamped some subtle flowers on the black background (they were stamped with versamark). All it needed after that was a thin edge of gold and a piece of ribbon.

Yesterday, I received a surprise package from the lovely Lauren ... and I got the phenomenal card she made with the canvas lotus that I sent her in the 'canvas' package! Woo hoo! :D (isn't it seriously gorgeous? I placed it front and center on the wall in front of where I create - so inspiring!)

I admit, we send each other goodies quite frequently but she really went ALL OUT this time! An amazing stash of paper goodies, sticker goodies, some grunge, and the card: which really, is to DIE for! Thank you, thank you ever so much sweet Lauren! (and even though DH is giving me the stink eye - I'm working on a return!)
Thanks for dropping by... (and drop by over at Lauren's place, I promise you won't be disappointed!)

Mono squares

2010-08-13T12:02:00.005-06:00

Recently (ok, not *that* recently!) I had an idea for a project with these 1 inch squares. The idea never panned out, actually it morphed into something completely different, but I still had about 20 or 30 of these stamped squares littering my table. Do you sometimes have a light bulb moment? That's exactly what this card was! I had been moving these squares around for ages - suddenly I knew exactly what to do! :D
I trimmed a card base out of a piece of black c/s and trimmed the mat out of the left over section. Once I had the mat ready I chose the best inchie squares (all inchies were Inka stamps with brilliance black ink) and laid them out. As soon as they were down I knew I needed ribbon - sheer black in this case. As soon as the bow was on I knew it needed a little something more. This bird came from a set by Fiskars - strange that I haven't used the bird that I bought the set for yet! After trimming the bird out (he has a swirly/vine type nest under him originally) I spritzed him with pearl glimmer mist. Once dry I popped him up and attached him, but didn't like the way the glimmer mist looked. So - trusty Tim to the rescue! :) A light coat of Rock Candy Distress Stickles & a bit of drying time, a few dew drops, et voila!
I swear it took longer for me to write it out than to do it. Which happens so infrequently (I'm a slooooow stamper usually) that I think I'll just spend the rest of the day grinning like a fool!
Thanks for dropping by!

A baby shower

2010-08-09T13:55:00.005-06:00

Although it seems like all the family schtuff should have quieted down by now - it hasn't! Yesterday I attended a baby shower -lots of family there that I haven't seen in years (sheesh, it sounds like I *never* see family! :D).
Anyway, I made this card for the mom to be. Originally I started with a *completely* different card in mind. About half way through I realized that what I had planned was *not* going to work - so I went off on the baby tangent! :)
As you can see, I started with a circle base in a metallic finish. The quarter moon shape was cut from some of my Kioshi stash. I ran a clear glitter pen around the flowers and the stems - why does that never show up? I sewed very loose stitches through the ribbon & gathered it before attaching it to the back of the Kioshi paper. This is where I ran into trouble. Since I was near the end of the roll (and didn't want to 'waste' any) I used way too much! So much that I had to add *triple* layers of foam tape around the ribbon to support the moon - and I probably should have use four layers. Note to self: use less ribbon, or finer ribbon in the future!
Sadly, I didn't have any teddy bear stamps that worked with the scale of the card. I scoured the internet looking for just the right image and finally settled on this one (which came from a site where you can print off coloring book images). You can see a close up view of the bear here - I used two different techniques from TJ - one called Level Up and one called Paper Peeling. The bear is subtly dimensional (I never remember that I don't like fussy cutting until after I've started and there are *four* layers on some of his parts!) and a little fuzzy (from the peeling). I used a couple of distress inks and a copic marker to color him. The sentiment is from a clear set by Inkadinkado (found at JoAnn's several years ago).
Thanks for dropping by! :)

101st post!

2010-08-03T14:17:00.003-06:00

Well, I certainly *never* thought I'd write so many posts! It seemed like such a simple thing to start a blog, more of a lark really. Who knew? :)
Most of the family is gone back to their homes now. The only one left is grandma - she'll only be here another couple of weeks & then she'll fly back to KY. It's still a little strange to me that she doesn't live here - of course it's a little strange that they ALL don't live here anymore! Things are headed back to normal, summer is starting to wind down and I'm feeling a bit more crafty. I can't imagine how women with more than one child ever manage to get anything done!
For one of our last family get-togethers I made this card for my cousin (to go with a gift - her & her SO recently bought a house!).
I know the picture doesn't do it justice. I had to take it at night (which I haven't done in a long time) and try to 'fix' it with PSE. Note to self: only take card pics during the day! Still, you'll get the general idea.
The base was black c/s, stamped with a damask background using VersaMark Champagne. The glimmer from the ink looks like dust in the pic - but IRL it's a subtle shimmery echo of the wrapping paper I used. Have I mentioned that I'm a little nuts for wrapping paper? I'm sure that I have well over fifty rolls - enough that we have to keep them in TWO places! DH thinks I'm a little nutso. :)
The glasses (and sentiment) came from the same clear stamp - I cut them apart to use them how I wanted. You can't see very much detail, but both the glasses and the champagne were colored with spica pens. I did add a little DI to the champagne - it needed a little more yellow. Of course I added a little bling on the burgundy ribbon - I wouldn't be me otherwise! Very simple card - but it went beautifully with the gift!
Thanks for dropping by!

Holy buckets, it's CRAZY over here!

2010-07-26T00:18:00.004-06:00

It's finally starting to wind down though! :)
This month has been a whirlwind of activity. There have been three different family visits (a niece, SIL/BIL/nieces AND aunt/uncle/cousin) all within a couple of weeks. Not to mention the shopping trips (well, aren't family visits the best reason to shop? I blame it on those crazy SIL's of mine!) and the get-togethers. Then we had a family reunion of sorts - people I haven't seen in at least a decade! Not to mention my birthday, my best friend's birthday (we've known each other 20 years!), two upcoming baby showers AND my little man started swimming classes.
Whew!
No wonder I haven't touched ink to paper in almost two weeks!
I thought I'd drop by for a minute and post the card & gift I made for my friend's birthday. The card was actually a sketch from SCS, but I can't remember which one! Maybe when I get some extra time (ha-ha!) I'll head over there and try to figure it out.
I think the biggest inspiration was the lotus stamp. I found it at Michael's a while ago - it's a Studio G stamp (from the Soloz line) so I think it was only a $1. I really love the size & the lines. For this one I stamped the flower several times on watercolor paper & colored it with a water brush and Distress Ink. Once they were all dry I cut out the petals & popped them up on a base image. The center was actually a piece of sticky back canvas that I also colored with a water brush & DI. In order to give it dimension in the center I stuffed two 'heads' of q-tip cotton under the canvas before I glued all the petals down. I *love* how it came out! Obviously, you can't see the glimmer, but I wouldn't be me if I hadn't added some Spica pen to the petals and outline. ;)
Here's a nice close look at the flower - I just love how the color came out. Mostly I used Chipped Sapphire - but there's also a touch of Dusty Concord. The center is mostly Scattered Straw with some shading of Tattered Rose. Oh, the sentiment is also from Tim. :D
This next thing was totally CASE'd from the cover of (Stamp & Scrap???) a magazine earlier this year. Honestly, I can't remember which one right now. Assuming that I ever get some down time (riiiiight, I'll do this right after I figure out which sketch challenge I used!) I'll have to find the original magazine & update this post. I remember being stunned by how beautiful it was - must be why it stuck in my head! :)
To start I stamped & clear embossed a lot of black paper. I used a 1 inch punch to cut out the pieces for the background, then dipped the edges into more clear ep (using my melting pot). The background is actually the velvet backboard for a shadow box that I picked up at Mike's with a coupon. After spacing the squares out & gluing them down, I ignored this project for way too long! (which ended up in a total panic when I realized just how close her birthday was!)
To do the butterflies I colored both sides of a white paper with distress inks & stamped a little bit with water/glimmer mist. After it dried I used a couple of Martha Stewart punches to get the 3 different sizes of butterfly. I glued them down with glossy accents after deciding on an arrangement (which was harder than I thought it would be).
Once more my love of bling surfaced & I added Rock Candy stickles to all the butterflies. Since that didn't seem quite enough, I added Diamond stickles to some of them too! :) I totally bums me out that you can't see any sparkle in the picture - you'll just have to believe me!
You'll also have to take my word for it that it looked about twice as cool *inside* the shadow box. I'm not certain why - but it bumped up to another level when it was all put together. Enough so that DH was feeling a bit covetous! :D
Thanks for dropping by! :)

Cleaning day!

2010-07-11T23:51:00.003-06:00

This morning I uttered the most dreaded words known to husband: we need to clean the bathroom. Oy! I'm sure his heart sank into his toes! :D So, yes, we did clean. Both bathrooms and the horrible pit of despair that is the laundry room. Now it (practically) sparkles!
Of course that meant that I couldn't be crafty today. I would much prefer stamping to cleaning - but I sure do love the feeling of having a clean(er) house. Perhaps I got into the cleaning groove because of this card? As I've said before, I have some hispanic roots, and let me tell you - my abuela could have put Mr. Clean to shame!
This certainly reminds me of the style of colors you often find in Mexico. Lots of bright blue with touches of orange & pink. While I don't often create with this color palette I find it almost soothing in a way. Not that you're likely to see me *wearing* this combo! :D
The base card was stamped with a circle stamp from Recollections using Brilliance gold ink. The two background pieces are from Basic Grey and the main image is from Inkadinkado. Both pieces from BG were roughed up around the edges and then inked. The brown piece was inked with blue and the white with green (both colors were used on the flower as well).
The flower was stamped on regular white cardstock with VersaColor ink (in Pinecone?) then colored using Distress Inks and a water brush. Once it was dry I trimmed it out and added some glossy accents to the underside to give dimension. (I added GA to the tips of the petals, the stem & at the base of the leaves. The best part of doing this is that you can vary the height of the GA while you apply it. Once dry you get a more natural, gradual dimension which I find works well with things like flowers. Also, it's almost impossible to tear the finer pieces once the glue is dry! After it dries, just add a little bit more GA, position it on your paper and let it dry a second time - it should only take a minute or two.)
I really felt that this needed a little more sparkle (shocking, right?) so I went over all of the brown ink with my clear Spica pen. I loved the effect so much that I had to take a close up picture! If you look closely at the brown parts of the image you can see what looks like little flecks of white -that's not dust! It's a little more pronounced than glimmer mist, but not as 'in your face' as a glitter pen. I really like this in between sparkle.
Finally I finished off with the sentiment in Brilliance gold and some brown dew drops to ground the background panel.
Although this isn't my usual style, I love how it came together in the end. And, to be honest, it makes me feel a teensy, tiny bit like home.
Hope you like it too....
Thanks for stopping by!

Very nearly the same card...

2010-07-04T23:35:00.003-06:00

I must have been in a very nautical mood! Although I admit, I do love this stamp but it rarely sees the light of day. I can't even think of why!
The stamped panel had the same treatment as the last card (lots of dripping glimmer mist) - actually were both cut from the larger sheet I made in the beginning. As you can see, I used black Versafine instead of blue, and there was no stenciling.
The really cool thing about this one was the punch shape. I saw a tutorial on Amazing Paper Grace (3 parts) on punching with the MS corner punches to make awesome shapes. As soon as I saw this one I knew it was perfect for this card - it looks so much like a compass or ships wheel! There was a little extra glimmer added to them after they were punched, honestly I loved them either way. On the right side you can see the edge punch that goes with the corner punch I used. The only other thing I really used is the 'black' (hah! those are NOT black) dew drops. Perfect for this particular card, but a really disappointing color in general. Just sayin'.
I hope you had a fabulous 4th of July with lots of food, family, fireworks and SAFETY! :)
Thanks for dropping by!

Another TJ techie

2010-06-28T22:47:00.005-06:00

Holy moly! Stop the presses! I believe I've actually been well for almost a week! :D Funny how you take it for granted when you feel well, but when you have a rough winter/spring it means *so much* to feel healthy. It sure does feel good to be at 100%!
Since I've felt better I've been diving into some of the TJ techniques - some for challenges, others just for fun. This particular one is an older technique called Stenciled Collage. I had never tried it before, but it was enough fun that I'll be doing it again!
Generally speaking you use a stencil and white ink over a background piece (mine happens to be a piece that I covered with glimmer mist, starburst stain & distress ink with perfect pearls) then stamp in a similar color as the background (Majestic Blue VersaFine in this case). I was very pleased with how well the stamped portion came out - but I'm not in love with the card. I'm not exactly sure what, but something is missing. Perhaps it's the fiber? Dunno. You can get the idea of how the color/glimmer went in streaks across the paper (my own idea, even!) *and* you can see some of the glimmer from the VersaMark Frost I rubbed on the raised portion of the background paper. The light was *perfect* for taking this picture! :D
Anyway, thanks for dropping by! Hopefully I'll get good sunlight tomorrow & will be able to post the second version with this stamp (but not the same technique!).

Pulled Glimmers - a TJ technique

2010-06-23T15:59:00.005-06:00

I've been working away (ever so sloooowly...) on this latest card. Last week I was down with yet ANOTHER illness, this time thanks to the boy. *sigh* Why can't he give these little gifts to his dad??
Anyway, here is my interpretation of one of the newest TJ techniques called Pulled Glimmers. I think I'll need a little more practice choosing colors, but the technique was pretty easy. The card itself is smaller than I usually work with - I believe it ended up being a 4x4 inch card.
The dandelion area is from a frame stamp by Hero Arts. The fairy (with the sentiment) is from Rubber Stampede. Both were stamped with Versafine Black over the glimmers background. Since it *is* glimmer mist you'll just have to take my word for it that it's much more sparkly in person! :)
The background flourish is also from Hero Arts and was stamped with Dusty Concord Distress Ink. I added some glitter pen to the image because it just didn't have enough bling!
Thanks for stopping by!

Crying woman

2010-06-12T15:12:00.004-06:00

If you've been reading for a while you know that we've had illness galore around here this year. *sigh* It's been a wild ride, and looks to be even tougher ahead. Between the three of us getting sick at the drop of a hat, summer arriving with all of it's activities, long term family issues and DH's condition continuing to worsen with no answers in sight - well, we've really hit a wall.
Ugh.
So, not so strangely, it finally came out in my crafting. I have to say that I really love this image - it's evocative even if it's not comfortable. And it seems to fit the mood around here lately! :)
The main image is from Non Sequitur. All of the flourishes are from Stempleglede. First I covered some white c/s with Milled Lavender DI. After rounding the corners I used Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord to stamp flourishes around the edge.
On a second piece of white c/s I stamped the woman with black VersaFine and colored her with Lyra pencils. I cut the oval using nesties, then inked around her & the flowers with more Milled Lavender. More flourishes with Dusty Concord and a final edging with black completed her panel.
Although it's not completely obvious in the picture, the oval is popped up for dimension - which allowed the use of a few of the ubiquitous little rolled flowers. You can find an awesome tutorial for them here - it's actually very easy to do, just a little tedious. They came out super dark looking in the picture, but IRL they were the same color as the card base on one side and the same color as the flowers on the other (with a spritz of glimmer mist).
Thanks for dropping by!

Hero arts poppies

2010-06-06T23:06:00.003-06:00

Finally my mojo came home! :) Maybe just for a visit, but boy was I glad to see it!
So, as you can tell from the title, I'm back loving on the Hero Arts flowers. This time I found myself drawn to the poppies image (that isn't reversed).
For this card I got a little inky! You may not be able to see the full effect in the picture, but there are tons of layers of stuff going on here. First I inked up a piece of white c/s with Scattered Straw distress ink. Then I stamped over it with versamark Frost with a diamond pattern stamp. While it was still damp I spritzed it with water (it makes the ink move a bit - subtle, but there). You can see the diamond pattern, especially when the light hits the sparkly versamark.
Then I stamped the word Love all over the background in Scattered Straw. The extra layer of ink really makes a difference even though it's the same color. Once that was dry I stamped the HA flowers in brown Versafine and let it dry. I used my Lyra pencils (white, golden brown & a couple shades of green) to color the image. I thought it needed a little bit more oompf so I used a brown pencil along the left side of the flowers/stems to give a little definition.
The butterfly is from a Martha Stewart punch - he has a light coat of stickles but the light was not cooperating. It was actually punched from the same paper that I used to mat the main panel (Far East stack, I believe). Finally I used the ticket corner punch (from SU!) and a couple of colors of green embroidery thread. Once everything was in place on the card I realized that I needed another little pop of white. Out came the pearls! :D
I love how this finally came together. Slightly more masculine colors than I envisioned, but right up my alley when all was said and done. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the mojo is in town for a while!
Thanks for dropping by!

A labor of love

2010-05-31T13:50:00.003-06:00

So, I don't know about you, but there are times that my mojo just goes on vacation without telling me first. This is one of those times! Urgh!
Anyway, thankfully I have several different cards ready to post. This card was made using instructions from the Technique Junkies newsletter. It was actually a very involved process, perhaps what you'd call a labor of love? :)
Using metal tape from the hardware store (which was not part of the TJ instructions, but it *was* what I had on hand). If you look very closely you can see the ends of the tape butted together - it just doesn't come in a large enough size - so I had to lay three pieces on a piece of cardstock to give it some stability. I ran that piece through the 'Bug with one embossing folder, sanded the embossed design then flattened it. Finally I ran it through with a second embossing folder. The background was colored with alcohol inks and the leaves and branches were colored with copics.
While it doesn't sound like a lot of work when I write it down, trust me when I say that this was not a quick project! Because the metal is so eye-catching I decided to keep it as uncluttered as possible - even refusing to add a sentiment! :)
Thanks for dropping by... oh, and if you see my mojo will you tell it to call home? Thanks! :D

More Hero Arts flowers

2010-05-21T11:20:00.004-06:00

Hi there!
I haven't had much time to post lately, spring has finally arrived here in Colorado! We did get our traditional snow storm after the lilacs bloomed, but this year it didn't kill all the flowers. With all the lilacs around the house we have the most delicious scent in the breeze - love it! Most days we're getting upper 60s to mid 70s temperatures which is perfect for yard work. Even if we're getting rain storms in the afternoon. :)
I haven't had much time to blog with all the yard work, so I'm planning to put at least a couple of cards in each post for a while. Starting... now!
Today I'll show you two different takes on the same stamp. This is a Hero Arts stamp that just screamed *poppies* to me as soon as I saw it. For the last year or so I've been kicking myself for not getting some of my grandmother's poppy seeds while she was alive (so yes, I planted some this spring). She had a little section of poppies that had these flaming orange/red flowers that were amazing. Since it's doubtful that my poppies will be awesome this year, I made some with paper! The image was embossed with black ep on white paper and then colored with a variety of Distress Inks (Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Scattered Straw, Peeled Paint & possibly one or two others) and a water brush. The next panel was colored using the blending tool and Distress Inks also. Once the panels were attached to the black base card I added some faux stitching with a black spica pen. I also put just a touch of black stickles in the centers of the two open flowers. I believe the sentiment was from Serendipity Stamps - once it was dry I went over that with the spica pen also. Simple, yet bold!
I'm afraid that I just couldn't get a really good picture of this second one. Something about the light and the colors just wouldn't show up well for the camera. You can see that I used the blending tool with more Distress Inks on white cardstock. This time I used Spun Sugar, Scattered Straw & Dried Marigold. Basically I just added color to paper in well blended 'blobs' until it looked good. I allowed it to dry (although you could use a heat tool) then stamped the same Hero Arts image with embossing ink & dusted it with bronze Perfect Pearls. You can see the shimmer in the picture - but you can't see the bronze color! *sigh* I used a circle cutter to trim it out and edged it with Brushed Corduroy. That piece was matted with a piece of mulberry paper that is almost the exact same color as the Dried Marigold DI. I matted those on a piece of brown cardstock that I rubbed with Brushed Corduroy (the brown was just a shade too light) then popped up on the background piece. The background was a piece of scrapbook paper that I also blended some Distress Inks on - just so it would match! :) I'm not entirely certain if it's actually done, but nothing I've tried to add has looked very good so far. Guess it's done unless I have a Eureka! moment.
Thanks for stopping by!

Something you'd expect, and something you wouldn't!

2010-05-10T13:53:00.003-06:00

Hello!
I hope you all had a fabulous Mother's Day! I had a lovely weekend in honor of the day. First DH & my son took me to the stamp show that was about an hour from here. It was much smaller than it had been back in the day, but I still managed to get some great goodies. After the show (the boys went to the Lego store while I was occupied) we all went to dinner at my favorite mexican restaurant. Yum! Saturday was a not so great day for child behavior, but we did try out a new recipe - Pad Thai from the Six O'clock Scramble. I've been wondering if their service would be worth it, and I can say that the Pad Thai recipe was delish. On Mother's Day DH & I went to have brunch at the cheese shop then took some time in the afternoon to go to the park. Oh, it was a fun (and food!) filled weekend! :)
Now on to the stamping!
This first card doesn't have much stamping. Yup, this would be the thing you weren't expecting. I just fell in love with the springy colors of Basic Grey's Kioshi line and bought a few pieces. I loved that little bird on the sticker sheet and felt like he needed to be front and center. :)
I used two different patterns from the line and some of the card stock stickers. The branch was supposed to be a flower stem but I liked it better as a branch. You can't tell at all from the picture (the light isn't very good today) but there are lots of glittery accents over the whole thing. All of the flowers (even *in* the bird), the branch, the leaves and even the dragonfly are glimmery. Most of the glimmer was added with Spica pen except the dragonfly which was attacked with Mica Magic reinker. Can you tell that the top piece of card stock was popped up to frame the circle window? No? Told you the light was iffy today!
This second card is more my usual style. The stamp is a digital stamp from The Stamping Boutique. Don't you just *love* it? I printed the image on regular white card stock and colored it with colored pencils. The edges were distressed with Distress Inks in Weathered Wood and Stormy Sky, then the edges were painted with some Shimmer mist (yes, with a teeny tiny paint brush!) Again, since the light is so iffy, you can't tell that I used a glitter pen over all of the little stars. You'll just have to trust me! I really wanted the background flowers to flow up and over the edges of the main image, but couldn't figure out a good way to do it without making the inside look like it was gone over with a cheese grater. You might be able to tell if you look very closely that the metal tags say 'Believe' and 'Magic'. I'm pretty sure that these tags came in a bunch of Christmas themed tags about a million years ago. They seemed to fit this theme equally well!
Thanks for dropping by!

Since I can't get anything else done...

2010-05-02T14:55:00.004-06:00

I swear this has been the year of sickness! If you're keeping track at home - headaches over Christmas and into the new year, a really nasty cold, double ear infection, my neck got thrown out of whack (by sneezing! of all things) and now DH has shared his horrible cold with me! Usually he doesn't get sick, but he had to stop taking his daily medication (reacting badly with his liver) and he caught this cold like a day later... coincidence? Yeah, I didn't think so either. THEN we got home from visiting family last night and the boy was ill. Poor little mite, he *so* hates throwing up! Lemme tell ya, this is not the house you want to visit! :P
Ok, rant over (for now....)!
I've had a few things waiting to be posted, mostly they're more along the lines of CAS than my usual style. It is interesting to see your own style morph and change according to what you've been looking at. I have no doubt that I'll be back to wild inky fun soon - but in the meantime:
How's this for mostly CAS? :) The sentiment is from Unity (new at Archivers!) and the flourish is from Hero Arts. Both were stamped with white ink on kraft paper. The ribbon was actually white - but I fixed that with the blending tool and some Tumbled Glass distress ink. If you click the picture to make it larger you'll be able to see that the crystals are a light pink and there are diamond stickles over parts of the flourish. Oh, the special thing about those crystals? They're from a nail art set - they were the only ones I had that were small enough to use on these flowers without overpowering them.
There. See? CAS is callin' my name!
How 'bout another? This card was inspired by something I saw over at Dina's blog - not the actual card, but the layout. For some reason I really loved the way it looked at set out to create one of my own!
The sentiment is another from Unity (they came in the same package, I think there are 3 or 4 more). Besides the kraft colored base, the rest of the paper is from the Linen Closet stack from DCWV. A little bit of cuttlebug embossing on the darker blue piece, some colored pencil and a touch of crystal bling were all that I added. I'm lovin' those sentiments from Unity! :)
Thanks for dropping by! :)

It's probably the hardest thing I've ever done...

2010-04-28T14:43:00.004-06:00

Seriously.
My darling friend Lauren sent me some ultra fun papers to use for stamping stuff. Mostly old book pages, but a few other interesting things (like comics in spanish!). Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I have *never* torn book pages before. I'm a bibliophile - can't help it. Books are to be loved and respected. I thought I might have a heart attack when I heard the first quiet rrrriiiipppp! (and it doesn't help that dh was making fun of me at the time, asking if I needed help with my book burning!)
Then I got into a whole 'nother realm of difficult. After tearing, gluing and gessoing I had a piece of neat looking paper - but no idea of what to do with it! Finally I settled on this:
which is not at all like something I would usually make! It's a bit wonky (on purpose, I swear!) and kinda busy for me - but I like it.
The Hero Arts grass stamp was inked with Ranger's archival brown color and stamped on a piece of my collage paper. I used several colors of Distress Inks to add color to the piece - but then cut most of them off when I decided to cut it into a circle. More of my collage paper was covered with an orangey-brown color of mulberry paper, then glued down with mod podge and a touch of reinker. The background card was rubbed with a gold mica magic reinker, which I also used to edge the strips. Although you can't tell from the picture, there is a lot of glimmer and shine going on!
As the final touch I added one of Tim Holtz's epoxy stickers (also glued down to collage paper) as a dangling charm from the embroidery floss.
All I can say is - this *really* stretched my comfort zone! And Lauren, you better be proud of me! :D
Thanks for dropping by!

A little somethin' that was up on Flickr

2010-04-22T23:27:00.004-06:00

And I've finally gotten around to putting it up here! :)
This Hero Arts image was stamped on watercolor paper with permanent ink and colored with Distress Inks. Mostly I used a water brush to add color, but here and there I added color with the blending tool.
The butterfly was colored the same way, but on a second piece of watercolor paper & cut out. Since I wanted the wings to be popped up (but not with the pop dots that I have, they're too thick) I came up with another solution. I used Glossy Accents on the back of the wings - built up until it was a thick as I liked - and let it dry. The best part of doing it this way is that I was able to add more dimension at the edges AND I was able to take it out to the very edge of the wings. That's awesome because they can't be crushed in the mail! :D
Although you can't see it in the picture, there are little bits of sparkle here and there (spica pen, mostly) for interest. Oh, and the lozenges were also cut from a second piece of watercolor paper - these were coated with GA for shine then glued in place. After all, practically *every* card needs a little shimmer and shine, don'tcha think? ;)
Thanks for dropping by!

Whew!

2010-04-13T23:47:00.004-06:00

It's been a wild few days! I finally felt well enough to return to Zumba class last week. Man, you can really tell when you've been out for a while. Thought I might keel over for a little while... but there was no time because....
There was all the prep (and house cleaning!) for a certain little boy's 4th birthday. Whereupon I think I lost my mind - there was enough food for an army, and trust me, there was no army here! :) Since I've been so sick, and DH has been having trouble with his health, we only invited adults - all of Z's favorite people. Talk about an embarrassment of riches - that kid made out like a bandit!
Sunday I finally broke down and got a haircut - six inches! Yup, still feeling that weirdness in the shower. You know, when you've still got plenty of conditioner but you've run out of hair? ;)
So I thought tonight would be perfect for a short post. You may have noticed that I added a link to my (new) Flickr account over on the right. There are some things that I post over there before I get to them here, this happens to be one of them. I *love* this card. Simply adore the way it came out!
As you can see, that big flower from Hero Arts is still calling to me (and I'm not done with it yet!). This time I stamped it with white ink on vellum two times & cut it out. Using scissors, I curled the petals up on one flower & down on the other before gluing them together. The center is filled with Glossy Accents.
The panel was a piece of white c/s brayered with Waterfall and stamped with white ink. Not even a hint of shimmery stuff (I know! Shocking, right?) The paper ribbon is from K & Co, but I did color it with some distress ink - I *think* it was Scattered Straw. There are a couple of pearls on the paper ribbon, but they are hard to see in this shot. Once it was all glued down I added some piercing (this particular piercing is a TJ technique, but you could do it freehand) and faux stitching to finish it off.

Here you can see the pearls better and get an idea of just how full the flower looks. I just love it! :D Not practical at all for mailing, which is kind of a bummer, but great for hand delivery.

Thanks for dropping by!

Dropping in real quick...

2010-04-02T23:57:00.004-06:00

Ugh. I'm *still* sick. Two weeks of ear infection, two different antibiotics, two visits to the doctor... yuck! Sorry this is going to be such a short post, but I'm off to bed as soon as I've finished here.
Haven't been making too much the last few days, but I do have something interesting. :) Remember the wood flower from my last post? This time I used the wood as a background - you can see it much more clearly this way.
Looks like wood burning, doesn't it? A long time ago my Grandpa V. used to do wood burning. He could make the most intricate (and beautiful) patterns and pictures. There are other fond (and funny!) memories associated with his wood burning hobby, and this card brings them all to the front of my mind!
Once again I used the birch wood panel. I stamped the flourishes (Inkadinkado) with Brilliance Coffee Bean ink, let dry and went over parts of it with a Uniball Signo pen (yes, technically this is the bandanna technique too!). The bird was from an entirely different experiment - it was stamped with Coffee Bean on kraft paper, colored with pencils and coated with Distress Crackle paint. The sentiment came from the Love Hurts plate at Non Sequitur.
Thanks for dropping by!

A card... from someone else?

2010-03-26T15:14:00.005-06:00

Why, yes! I *do* have a card from someone else! Lookee:
Isn't it fabulous?! :) My lovely friend Lauren and I have been having lots of interesting chats. She's getting more interested in 'technique-y' stuff and asked for some suggestions. Since there are *many* amazing artists out there, I was thrilled to send on some links! This is her first try at the Bandanna technique (you can see her post about it here) - and I think it's awesome! Not only is it awesome, but she sent it to *me* - am I a lucky girl or what? As if that weren't enough, she used her latest digi collage as the address label on the envelope! (now the postman loves her too!) If you get the chance you should absolutely go visit her blog. We must have diametrically opposed (yet strangely complimentary) skills. Well, she has SKILLZ! :) Some of the things that she does with text just blow me away.
Thank you *ever* so much Lauren! This will look absolutely amazing on my 'card wall'.

Ok, ok. Enough about my very fun mail day.... How 'bout something from me? :) If you've been following along for a while you know that I stumbled across a new (to me) blog called Simplicity. I'm not all that good at the CAS style, but she has inspired me to try again.
Once again I've used the big flower from Hero Arts, this time I cut it into pieces. What you may not be able to tell is that I stamped it on wood. Yes, wood! Last time I went to Archivers I found these sheets of wood - paper thin. This particular one was Birch. I used several colors of Distress Inks to stamp/color the flower. I used Diamond stickles for the center of the flower to add some sparkle (CAS does NOT mean bland!). The base and layer the sentiment is on were both stamped on sparkly white paper. The sentiment was cut and embossed with a long rectangle nestie before I popped it up. Truly, it looks better in person.

Thanks for dropping by!

Ugh!

2010-03-19T17:35:00.003-06:00

So you won't believe it. Two days ago it was 60 degrees, yesterday it was in the fifties... look what today brought:

Ugh is right! I think it's about 4 or 5 inches in less than twelve hours. What you can't see is that it's still snowing - and there's a wicked wind blowing really hard too. I thought we were past this point already. *sigh* No wonder I'm sick (again, still?). No wonder everyone seems to be sick! There was a pink eye epidemic in town (yes, our house got hit too) that was so bad that all the pharmacies in town were out of medication. ALL of them!
Ok, now that I've gotten all my boo hooing out... how 'bout something pretty? Something that says warm, springy weather! Yup, that makes a much better picture.
I started this card with a panel of watercolor paper. I used black archival ink from Ranger to stamp the Hero Arts image. Once it was dry I used a water brush and various Distress Inks to color it. A couple of things you can't really see in the photo: all three yellow coins (?) were colored and then covered with Glossy Accents to give them shine and dimension and the butterfly was cut out from a second piece of paper, colored and then had GA applied to the *underside* of the wings. This allowed the GA to dry like usual so that when I glued it on to the panel the wings had clear 'pop dots' underneath. This is a great technique if you just want a little bit of height, height with an angle or height that will support the entire surface. The wings on this butterfly will never be crushed by the post office. Ha ha! (boy am I tempting fate or what?)
The background papers are from a GCD Designs paper pack and the bamboo leaves are from Inkadinkado. Once everything was matted and stuck down I did a little faux stitching using a black pen with a very skinny tip.
I just want to go curl up in that picture....
Hope it's better where ever you are!
Thanks for dropping by!

Another bandanna card

2010-03-16T02:27:00.004-06:00

It's been a while since I last posted a bandanna card (my very first post to be exact!) I really do love the look once it's finished. The only problem is all that tiny little work with a pen! :)
I am a member of a swap group (we swap supplies through a Yahoo group - let me know if you're interested in more info) and managed to snag this background stamp from someone that had two. It's by Impression Obsession and as soon as I saw it listed I knew it would be perfect for this technique! Originally I saw this technique on the Ranger site (by Robin Beam) and then just a few months later it was in my TJ newsletter. I do love that newsletter!
Since I just received my shipment of the new Distress Ink colors (aren't they super delicious??) I thought I'd give them a shot. I believe there is a mix of Barn Door, Wild Honey, Mustard Seed and a little bit of Scattered Straw. I stamped the background with VersaFine Onyx Black and did the doodling with a white Uniball Signo pen.
The sentiment is from River City Rubber Works - an awesome place to shop if you ask me! I don't believe you can see it in the picture, but I also did a light spritz of gold Glimmer Mist on the same background stamp and applied it to the colored panel. Much like stamping with water, it makes the DI run just a little bit. Unlike water, it leaves a nice little glimmer behind! The sentiment was also stamped with VersaFine. As a final touch, I used the blending foam pads (with the same DI colors) to ink up the little flowers. Once they were dry I added half pearls and glued them down with Glossy Accents.
Hope you like it! Thanks for dropping by!

The big flower

2010-03-12T00:57:00.004-07:00

Back again! :)
I've been busily playing with a new Hero Arts stamp of a large flower. So far I've gotten 3 1/2 cards done (not quite finished on the 4th - but I'm sure you know how that is!) and I'm still loving it. I thought I'd show off the first two - see what you think!
This first one was kind of an experiment with colored pencil over textured card stock. I didn't go as well as I planned, in fact I had to pull out the OMS to get smoother looking coverage. That's OK though, I do like how it came out in the end. After I colored the flower I used an embossing tool and puffed up the petals and the very center. Once they were puffy I went back and really defined the edges and the yellow stripes by pushing down on them.
At first I wanted to leave the cut out area, well, cut out. But the base just didn't have enough strength to hold itself up. I also thought about using some acetate, but decided on this dark brown. One of the hot color combos lately has been blue with brown - I changed it up! :)
I also did some accents with Stickles (distress ones in Antique Linen I believe) over the yellow/orange pencil. I know the brown looks almost black - but the outline of the flower, the sentiment and the cut out area are all a nice brown IRL. On this one I added some faux stitching at the very end, unlike the real stitching on the next one!
This second card is one that I'm very proud of! I almost sent it to my friend Lauren (hi Lauren!) but decided to send her something more out of the box (it may hit here mailbox yet... we shall see!). This was a background done with a variety of Distress ink colors and a blending tool. Then I spritzed water on the craft mat and stamped the script background into it then on the paper. After I did that several times (my script stamp is about 1/4 of the size needed) I hit it with a heat tool to set the ink. I stamped the flower over the top (in brown Staz On again) and colored it in with a white prisma pencil. I *love* how it still shows the underlying colors but makes them look like ghosts.
After the flower was colored in I used another Distress Ink (Walnut?) to stamp the same script over where the water had 'bleached' it. (then I had to wipe the DI off the pencil - sheesh, a little forethought would have been nice!) A little bit of Picket Fence Distress stickles in the middle of the flower added the necessary bling. I used the same brown ink to stamp a portion of a stamp on the ribbon. Finally I used a single strand of white embroidery floss all around the outside. Boy, for someone who doesn't sew, I've been doing a lot of it lately! Once again this dark brown card stock (used for the base) shows up almost black in the picture. *sigh* I'm still working on my PSE skills. Yes, skills. They aren't mad enough to be skillz yet! ;D
Here's a closer look at the flower. I just *love* how this looks! I'll have to do it again (and again...).
Thanks for dropping by!

Not a card in sight! :)

2010-03-04T03:09:00.004-07:00

Last weekend (was it that long ago??) my best friend came on over for a visit. I *love* when she comes to hang out with me (okay, us), but this time was extra special. We were crafty! :)
My exceptional SIL dropped by earlier in the afternoon and somehow we ended up going to the fabric store. I know, strange but true. (especially since I don't sew even a little bit - and I already have some fabric gathering dust) While we were there I found (of course) some fat quarters to bring home... they just called to me. And I have no willpower. Sheesh.
But just look at the gorgeous colors of blue/green/gray - it's like ripples in a pond. (or tree bark according to DH when you turn in the other way) How on earth could I have resisted that? Or the other four patterns that jumped into my arms? Or the green one that my little boy just had to have (which his Gram made into a snake so at least it isn't gathering dust with the rest of my fabristash)? I just had to buy them... yeah, see the comment about my willpower above.
So anyway, once my chica had arrived and we had a little family time I had to pull out the new fabric for show and tell and do some oohing and ahhing. Before I knew it we had spent hours at the table together laughing and gluing. It was *awesome*!
I didn't take a pic of the journal that she covered (send me a pic chica!), but I did take a couple of my project. The book was a blank book bought at HL on clearance (87 cents!). The fabric was from my trip earlier in the day. The flourish is grungeboard from Tim Holtz, painted with a mix of paint dabbers from Ranger and Lumiere paints. I finished the inside with a piece of dark gray scrapbook paper so you couldn't see the edges of the fabric (or have them peel up). I believe the ribbon was from Target - the bridal aisle.
I wasn't sure just how long to make the ties (it's just glued on with Fabri-Tac across the back) so I guesstimated. I think they're a little too long to be practical so I'll probably trim those a couple inches when I get the chance.
I love the way this came out! I love the fabric, the flourish, the colors.... it's just yummy! :)
Thanks for visiting!

I've been very crafty!

2010-02-24T04:05:00.003-07:00

Although I haven't been posting very often, I have been *very* busy! Today I'll give you a peek at two different cards that started with the same idea but went completely different directions.
It all started with a technique from Technique Junkies called Alcohol Ink Press. Only one of my backgrounds was deeply enough colored to use for this particular project, but I had two of the man with the umbrella to use. Hence, two similar (but very different) cards!
This first one was closer to what I originally intended. The AI technique gave me a lovely background, although the brown color I used at the bottom seemed to lighten up considerably. This was backed onto a piece of glossy white card (so the colors were visible) and stamped on top with a Tim Holtz stamp using StazOn. I felt the man needed more 'umpf' so I stamped him on grunge paper and did my favorite thing of all time (NOT!) - fussy cutting. I lightly coated him with a turquoise/gold Lumiere paint that had been watered down a lot. I wish I could say that I stamped the flourish (also Tim Holtz) next, but that would be a lie! :) Instead, I did it the hard way... adhering the grunge man first, then lifting him up in order to stamp the flourish & dust with Perfect Pearls from the Patina kit. I did learn something important - perfect pearls do *not* stick well to acetate. I learned that by rubbing my finger across it and having to reapply the pearls! A piece of offset black card stock and a few dew drops later and voila!
The second one was more of an experiment with the grunge man. Also fussy cut from grunge paper, I treated him to a little different style. First I inked over the black image with Faded Jeans and Fired Brick (IRL the umbrella is *very* red but I couldn't seem to get a good pic). Then he was given a 'wet' coat, umbrella and shoe tops with Distress Crackle paint (clear). Once that was dry I rubbed some more blue ink into his coat and dabbed a little of the clear distress stickles on the top edge of the umbrella. The background (and grunge paper word pieces) were colored with Faded Jeans, Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick and Vintage Photo DI. They were a little too bright for the man, so I spritzed them with Graphite Glimmer Mist.
Once everything was dry I stretched a piece of copper wire mesh over the background and stuck it down to a black mat (using super strong red liner tape). The black mat gave me a way to attach the word pieces using the Tiny Attacher from Tim (which has the *most* adorable little staples - evah!). Some red liner tape to stick the man down and a sparkly gray card base and I was done with number two.
So there you have it. Two similar, but very different cards. Hope you like them!
Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine's cards

2010-02-15T04:36:00.004-07:00

Hello again!
I have a couple of v-day cards to share today. Both of them are a little different than my usual style. :)
This first one was the card for my hubby. Very simple, in fact it was inspired by a new blog I've been reading called Simplicity. Love it! Go visit, really! She has an amazing clean and simple style - but the impact is amazing.
I'm not usually a CAS stamper, but it seemed really appropriate for my hubby. He's not a flourish-y kind of guy. lol The main panel is watercolor paper with the sentiment stamped in Ranger's Archival ink. I used a piece of Cut 'n Dry to dab just a little bit of Memento Rose Bud over the sentiment, then used a water brush to smooth it out & give a watercolor look. Then I used a (very old) SU! background stamp with VersaMark and dusted it with Perfect Pearls in white. Finally I brushed Antique Linen Distress ink very softly around the edges & mounted the panel on a natural card base. Not sure why the picture came out so pink toned, IRL it's very soft & white.
This second card was for my little boy. He was thrilled with his 'alien robots'. (robots are a BIG thing in our house!) This little valentine is only 3X3, just cut from a basic piece of cardstock. I sponged some Peeled Paint Distress ink at the bottom, masked it with a piece of a sticky note & sponged black at the top. The robots and space ship were cut from some fun patterned paper that I found a while ago. I ran them through the Xyron & stuck them down. I cut a heart out of white card stock and inked it with Warm Red chalk ink, then coated it with red stickles. Finally I used a glitter pen to draw dots for stars - it is *space* after all! :D
Tonight I spent over an hour cutting out a bunch of these little robots & their space ships. I had stuck them down on the front of a couple of those magnets you get on your new phone books. Tomorrow the boy will have plenty of ships, robots, ray guns and planets to play with on the fridge. Hopefully he'll want to play with them enough that mom will think all that cutting was worth it!
Thanks for stopping by!

Something entirely different!

2010-02-05T02:55:00.003-07:00

So today I thought I'd give you a little glimpse into another part of my crafty life. And my personal life. :)
Last week was a little crazy around here. Dh & I had our 8th (eighth?!) anniversary. Unfortunately, our little boy was very, very sick for a few days. Not how I ever anticipated celebrating any occasion, let alone our wedding anniversary! We did finally get to go out for dinner later in the week, sushi followed by a stop at our favorite coffee shop. Aren't we just the party people? *lol*
I did manage to make us a totally decadent cake. I found the recipe on All Recipes (you can find it here) and adjusted it a little bit for our tastes. There is an *awesome* spice shop nearby in Boulder called Savory. They carry this amazingly dark cocoa powder called Black Onyx that I added to the recipe (at the end with a little milk) - which it why this cake is so dark. Yum! I left the chocolate chips out of the cake because I wanted to frost it with the German Chocolate Cake Frosting (dh's favorite). I've made this frosting a couple of times - don't overcook it (sorry Debs!) or it will turn into a solid lump on top of your cake. :(

So, now comes the 'crafty' part! I know I've posted before about trying to learn PSE and digiscrapping. This time I'll show you what I've managed to do! Everything here was a freebie that I downloaded off the web - even the template. I don't think it's completely done - I wanted to add some journaling, but the template didn't have a space for it and I'm not sure exactly where to put it yet. As you can see, he's still a funny man (even after so many years of marriage!) but is also a great father and wonderful person. Of course, he may not be particularly pleased when he sees this - but it might make for another great picture that I can use in a future page. ;)
Thanks for stopping by!

A little Joseph's Coat

2010-01-31T00:48:00.004-07:00

Don't you love Joseph's Coat? Honestly, I think it's my favorite technique of all time. Just the thrill of the 'reveal' - it really comes together with that final layer of black! :)
I'm not sure if you can see the occasional spritzes of white in the background of the Joseph's pieces. Originally it was a piece that I colored with cotton balls & chalk ink then tried some gesso techniques on. I didn't end up using this section on anything then, but I loved the colors - especially for this!
I believe this is a fairly new stamp from Hampton Art, but if you're looking for it at Michaels you need to look for a much larger rectangle. I used circle punches to get different sized pieces of the stamped piece once it was coated with ep.
The bird was given a little extra sparkle with a black Spica marker from Copic. I also used a little Pine Needles Distress Ink on the background piece since the original paper was a little too light (and yellow!). Otherwise, it's all pretty self evident.
Thanks for stopping by! :)

Back to bright!

2010-01-24T01:01:00.004-07:00

Hello again!
I've been creating like a madwoman at my crafty table. Although I've had some setbacks (crackle paint over stamped perfect pearls is NOT pretty) I've also had some success!
I got the inspiration for this from a little tiny avatar picture. Isn't it strange where we find the creative spark? :) It was a little picture that had pink swirling into orange and reminded me of a sunset. I loved it!
Although you can't tell, there is actually a lot of red in the background, but as it dried the pink sort of took over. Didn't expect that! I used Memento inks over a 4 inch square of glossy white card stock that I mounted on a piece of black c/s. The base is a 5 1/2 square premade card base that I bought at Hobby Lobby (I think - it was a long time ago). The tree (Tim Holtz) was stamped with Brilliance black ink and the sentiment (Cloud 9) was stamped with Brilliance gold and embossed with gold powder. The background swirls (Lil Davis) were also stamped with gold Brilliance ink. I love the way this turned out - so much different than the things I've been doing recently.
One more thing that I'd like to mention. In case you haven't noticed (I don't know if you can see it in a reader?) I updated the font on my sidebar titles and blog post titles to this fun little handwriting font. Be sure to take the time to check out all of her cool fonts (they're free!) and maybe submit your own while you're there. What you may not know is that this is a special font that I downloaded and the biggest 'fun' part is that you can see the new font even if it isn't installed on your computer. This was done by following a tutorial on Kevin and Amanda that you can find here. Not for the faint of heart - it's a pretty long and detailed process - but if I can do it, so can YOU!
Thanks for stopping by!

My poor neglected blog!

2010-01-17T21:39:00.003-07:00

Wow, it's been a long time! :( Like many people I know, I was sick over the holidays. You?
Unfortunately, I didn't get the normal cold/flu/virus thing that every one else does (well, actually I did, but that was later...). I suffer from something called Cluster Headaches. Now, I don't tell you this to garner sympathy or anything, but to share information with you. If you know somebody, anybody, that suffers with horrible headaches that come in groups and then disappear - please send them here to the Cluster Headache site for more information. If you, or someone you know, suffers from this and needs to talk to someone else with experience - I am always willing.
Ok, enough sermonizing!
You're here for the card, right? :)
I'll admit, I haven't done tons of stuff lately. I *know* that you don't want to see the last of my Christmas cards (are we all just a little tired of 'em?) and I can't bear to show you the big thing I'm working on since it isn't done yet.
But...
I *do* have this Valentine card done. DH called it 'industrial' looking. :)

The only thing I really don't like about this picture is that you can't see the subtle pattern on the red base. I found a stamp at Hobby Lobby that says Te Amo and just had to have it! You can barely see it IRL, but I stamped it in a pattern across the entire base. Just a subtle little touch!
Thanks so much for visiting today... promise I'll get back to posting ASAP! :D

Another post already?

2009-12-08T18:16:00.006-07:00

Yup! :) This one is a bit special since I made it specifically for the challenge over at Mo's Challenge blog. The challenge was to make a Christmas card for someone special using traditional colors. I hope these can be considered traditional!
Now, I have to say, I'm not warming up to digital stamps the way I thought I would. Why? Well, mostly because I have a ton of trouble printing them! It's definitely something to do with operator error (not Mo's files - those are awesome!) but I can't manage to get one printed that looks good in under an hour. Yes, an hour! It's going to take some serious work to figure out what the problem is - in the meantime I've added this fairy stamp (and a couple of others) to my wish list now that they're being made by Stampavie. Hope I've been good enough for Santa!
I fell in love with this fairy just as soon as I saw her. I could think of all kinds of ways to use her - Christmas theme just happened to come first. There are a *lot* of things going on here - let me take you step by step.
First I printed the image (about 15 times, but you knew that). Then I colored her with a combination of Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor pencils and Prismacolor pencils. Honestly I'm not all that fond of Prismas but the Lyras don't have as many shades and I needed some 'flesh' colors. My understanding is that Prisma pencils are wax based and Lyras are oil based - the Lyra pencils blend like a dream! Everything on that panel was colored with Lyra pencils and blended with either OMS or the Splender pencil except the flesh colors. Even the sky!
Once the fairy was colored I used my Xyron to adhere it to a piece of white card stock (I told you the printer was giving me fits!). Using nesties and my cuttlebug I cut & embossed the panel. By then I felt comfortable adding glue and glitter to her wings, stickles to the star and some Radiant Pearls to her dress and belt. I set it aside to dry and started working on the green piece.
The green piece started out as a plain piece of white card stock which I colored with Pine Needles Distress Ink. The tree (Stamp Oasis, I think) was stamped several times with the same ink. Using Matte Mod Podge I glued a piece of mulberry like paper (with those silver & gold flecks in it) to the top of the green. Once dry I used the ScorIt to score the edges and a paper piercer to pierce around that. Finally (although you can't see it in the picture) I ran it through my cuttlebug with the snowflake Impressability from Spellbinders.
Layers of muted gold card stock were added, then everything was mounted on a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 base card cut from decorative white/pearl card stock. That, of course, was also edged with Pine Needles. :) As the very last step I added the metal star clip and a Swarovski crystal to the top.
I wish you could all see this in person! It's very textured with lots of sparkle. And I *LOVE* my Christmas fairy!
Thanks for dropping by!

Christmas cards part 3!

2009-12-06T14:37:00.004-07:00

Still going strong on the whole Christmas card thing! I can hardly believe it! Like I've said before, usually I'm still making them *after* Christmas, but this year things are different! Somehow it always seems like 'cheating' if I make more than one of the same Christmas card - something I go to great lengths to avoid (including making a list of recipients in columns so that I know who will have a chance to see other cards I've made) (isn't that ridiculous?). Anyway, this year I don't think I'll have to worry about it at all. Am I crazy or what? :D
This first card is another inspiration from Kristina Werner's video series. I just loved the little ornaments she tied on with string! It's fairly simple, not a bit of stamping! I cut small circles from designer paper and edged them with a silver krylon pen. The letters are stickers (Making Memories I believe) and have a shimmery look to them in person. Not quite glitter they have more texture. I used Kristina's idea for tying them on with a strand of silver embroidery thread (two strands from a 6 strand piece). I did pop two of the circles up on pop dots - the J and the Y. A strip of the same designer paper across the top with some white and silver ribbon for edging completed the look. Oh, and if the blue base looks dirty or fuzzy - it's not. It has silvery/mica inclusions. Looks really pulled together IRL! :)
This next one is a little dark. The stamp on the main panel is from Katzelkraft (love them!). What you can't really tell from the picture is how that main panel was made. First I cut down a piece of white cs to a little bigger than the stamp. I used Broken China & Faded Jeans DI to color it. After it was dry I used Matte Mod Podge to adhere this really thin mulberry type paper (which has silver & gold metallic flakes in it) over the top. After that was dry I stamped with black (Staz On) but my pad was too dry so I stamped again with Memento. Because of the mulberry fibers it bled a little. After that was dry I went over the swirls and the trees with a clear glitter pen - unfortunately you can't really see that in the picture! I trimmed the image out, dabbed some glue around the edges and dipped them in glitter.
The next panel was a designer paper that I trimmed down and colored the edges with more Faded Jeans DI. Then I used Charcoal chalk ink and the grungy edges from Stempelglede to give it more interest. Of course the edges of this panel also had to be dipped in glitter! Some silver wired Christmas ribbon and a shimmery black base were all it took to finish it.
This next one looks far better in person. You can't really see the shimmer or texture in the picture - nor can you really see the lines of silver (around the letters, the sentiment panel and some of the background strips) that give it that 'WOW' look in person. *sigh*
This was a technique called Herringbone from the latest Technique Junkies newsletter. Basically strips of paper laid at angles, it took LOTS more time that I thought it would. The sentiment panel is popped up to allow the trim room to hang. I used the same letter stickers for the actual sentiment, but they faded into the background so I outlined them with a dark silver glitter pen. I sewed a border (using that same embroidery thread) around the panel for a little more texture. All in all I really like how this came out, but it's not something you want to make if you're in a hurry!

In other business, my friend Etha sent me an award a while back. Thanks Etha! It came with a list of questions that I'm supposed to answer with one word... let's see how I do!

The Rules are: Pass this award on to five people, post on their blog to let them know you have left this award for them. And then answer a list of questions in one word!

1. Where is your mobile?…purse
2. Your hair?…obstinate
3. Your Mother?…gone
4. Your Father?… immaterial (if you asked about my dad - then healing)
5. Your favorite food?…carnitas
6. Your Dream last night?…surreal
7. Your Fav Drink?…Amante! (a brand of coffee)
8. Your Dream?…security
9. What room are you in?…living
10. Your Hobby?… stamping
11. Fear?…abandonment
12. Where do you want to be in 5 years?…here
13. Where were you last night?… out
14. Something that you aren’t?…fashionable
15. Muffins…chocolate
16. Wish List Item?…pencils
17. Where did you grow up?…Colorado
18. Last thing you did?…answer
19. What are you wearing?…jammies
20. Your TV?…off
21. Pets?…yup
22. Friends?…precious
23. Mood?…apprehensive
24. Life?…busy
25. Missing someone?…yes
26. Vehicle?…Xterra
27. Something you’re not wearing?…makeup
28. Fav store?…Borders
29. Fav Colour?…green
30. When was last time you laughed?…yesterday
31. Last time you cried?…worthwhile
32. Best Friend?…smart!
33. One place that I go to over n over? Target
34. Facebook?…nope
35. Fav place to eat? restaurant

Since most people I know have already answered these questions, I won't pass it on to any certain persons (I know, I'm a booger). However, if YOU want to answer them - feel free to snag the award/questions and fill them out! *IF* you would also be so kind as to leave me a link to come see your answers!
Thanks for dropping by!

More Christmas cards and a Black Friday tale...

2009-11-29T14:55:00.003-07:00

So, did you shop on Black Friday? For the first time ever I went shopping at 5am. Target was my destination (giant Lego set for $$ off) and it was an amazing experience! I had no idea that it would be so hugely crowded here in my sleepy town! The most amazing part of the experience was what happened at the end. When I finally got into the store I found that I had missed the ONE thing I was there for - totally bummed I decided to walk around and see if there was anything else worth buying. Sure enough, a little here and a doodad there - by the time I got to the registers it was a ZOO. I got in line, talked to a nice couple ahead of me, moved around a couple of times (when those little lights on top start flashing - move over!). Finally I ended up behind some women. Then it happened. One of the women in front of me decided not to buy one of the things in her cart... it was the Lego set! When she asked if I wanted it I could have fallen down out of shock! In the end I got what I came for (thanks to that lovely woman) and was in and out in less than an hour. Woo Hoo! Can't beat that!
Enough with the Black Friday story - how 'bout some cards?!
This first one is steadily growing on me. At first I wasn't sure that I really liked it that much, but I'm really liking the window. First I eyeballed where to put the snowflake border (Hampton Art) on the card base & stamped with Colorbox Frost White. Then I tore the bottom piece off followed by the middle piece. Using a piece of acetate I made a window between the top of the card & the bottom. You can't see the glue I used since I adhered it on the inside - but it looked awful in there!. So, using some scraps of white shimmer paper I covered the inside of the card and left a little distressed edge showing through the window. The sentiment (Stampendous) was also stamped in Frost White - positioned so that you could see it through the window. Some Katzelkraft snowflakes & flourishes were stamped with VersaMark Frost on the inside as well.

Next up is this CAS beauty - perfect for mailing! I used my nesties to emboss a rectangle design on the front of the card to frame the sentiment (Imaginisce) which was stamped with Peeled Paint distress ink (the snowflake is part of the sentiment and was inked with Broken China). The holly (Stampendous) was stamped around the frame with Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters DI, then colored in with pencils. I also stamped the Christmas balls (Recollections) with Peeled Paint then colored them in with pencils. Just a dab of OMS made everything look a little smoother. Finally a dab of stickles on the Christmas balls & snowflake made everything more festive! Since there is no bulk to this card it would be perfect for mailing.

Finally I'll show off my favorite card of the year (so far). This gorgeous angel image is from Crafty Secrets. She was stamped on white paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored in with a mix of Frayed Burlap, Dried Marigold, Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed Distress Inks. The background was lightly colored in with a light blue pencil and dabbed with OMS. Over her robe I used a Spica pen in Sand - unfortunately you can't see the shimmer in the picture. I used sketch challenge WSC105 from SCS for the background. These two papers were *perfect* to match the colors used in the angel panel. The one with the glittery swirl is from K & Co and the other is from Basic Grey. The sentiment (from the same package as the angel) was stamped first with black, then with Brilliance Cosmic Copper. Isn't she lovely?! :D

So, back to the crafty table to make more cards. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend and excellent shopping!
Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas cards, pt. 1

2009-11-21T03:42:00.005-07:00

Well, honestly, if I didn't know that I haven't experienced any unexplained fevers or desperate desires to howl at the moon I would be very worried! Why? My Christmas mojo has exploded! :) I don't think I've *ever* had this kind of mojo for one theme! And for me to be so early with my Christmas cards?! Unheard of!
Since I have too many to put into one post I thought I should break it up. Hopefully it won't take too long for the next installation, especially since I've already edited the photos. That is what really takes me so long between posts - the editing. Between my lack of skill and the fact that I don't do it everyday (so of course I forget what I've learned between sessions) I take way too long to edit each photo. It can take me upwards of an hour to edit one photo - how sad is that?
I digress.

Let's start with this one! Fairly simple, the Inkadinkado tree was stamped with Pine Ancient Page ink on white cardstock. Using Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain distress inks I colored the edges. You can just barely see some light flourishes (Katzelkraft) in the background - those were stamped with water (yes, water!) over the distress inks for a very subtle background. The white card base was also colored with distress inks, as were the edges of the green paper (Deja Views). Can you see the silvery looking dots on that green paper? That was just a glitter pen dotted over the background for interest. Some rounded corners, a little ribbon - et voila!

Up next we have this fun (and glittery!) card. I've been watching the Christmas card videos over on Kristina Werner's blog (awesome cards, btw) and was inspired by her clean graphic style to do this. First I adhered a piece of designer paper (MME Organic) to the base. The trees (Recollections) were stamped with Peeled Paint on a large piece of white paper. I sized the paper (after much trial and error) to cover the edge of the striped paper, be punched and still have the trees attached. Once I did all of those things I used a glue pen and covered all the white area with some Martha Stewart glitter. Then, just for grins, I added some to the sides of the trees! :) Ran the whole thing through the xyron and stuck it down. Finally I added the sentiment (also Recollections) in Frost White ink.

Now for something entirely different! This was CASEd from Mel's absolutely stunning creation. Really, you have no idea how much I love it. All I can say is that it's lucky that she lives so far away, otherwise I'd probably be caught digging through her goodies looking for it! (plus it could take me a while, cause that Mel? she's got goodies!) Anyway! I really tried to keep as true to the original as I could, given that I don't have the exact same supplies (or really cool mojo). My sky is a blue textured paper, but even though I love them I just couldn't convince myself to add all those knots. I'm all about instant gratification! Once again, the quickie glue pen and Martha glitter to the rescue! The hills, trees and ribbon tag were all from one sheet of 8x8 scrapbook paper. Torn (and cut) creatively it was just enough paper for this project (the card is a larger 5x7 size). Just like Mel I painted gesso on the trees. Unlike Mel I couldn't imagine beading the hills - so (yup, you guessed it) I ran my glue pen along the edges and glittered them up! Some on the sides of the trees too. The tag was cut and embossed with my nesties (but the paper was too thin to get a good impression) then painted with gesso too. A little ribbon, a sentiment and a star completed the CASE. Thank you Mel for inspiring me with your gorgeous original!

That's it for tonight. I promise there are more coming - including my very favorite on of the season (so far)! Thanks for visiting!

Playing with gesso

2009-11-10T02:24:00.004-07:00

Recently I saw something about watering down gesso and putting it in a spray bottle. I really thought that was an awesome idea - completely new to me, but apparently painters have known about this trick for a while!
It certainly wasn't as easy as I thought it would be - plus it was a *lot* more messy - but I did have fun with it.
First I brayered Creole Spice Kaleidacolor pad on a piece of watercolor paper, then sprayed (and dipped) the edges once it was dry. I stamped the tree in Charcoal chalk ink, then went over some of the dots with both a white pen and a silvery glitter pen (which was also used on parts of the trunk).
The sentiment was stamped on a leftover piece of the original watercolor paper in Charcoal ink - then went over with the same silvery pen.
I really like the final product, but it will be a while before I pull out that spray bottle again! (there are *still* gesso spots on all my pens and pencils!)
Now, back to Christmas cards! :)
Thanks for visiting!

Circle card - Kristina Werner's challenge

2009-10-31T01:19:00.003-06:00

Do you ever go check out the KWerner Design blog? She seems like the queen of CAS to me! Recently she had a circle card challenge on her blog and I just couldn't help myself! Usually I don't make too many circle cards, maybe it's because mailing them seems difficult? This time I made the card so that it would fit in a 5 1/2 square envelope. The challenging part will be if I actually *mail* it! lol
I used my curvy cutter from EK Success to cut the circle card out of a sheet of regular card stock. Then used the same tool to cut a window and the frame for the outside. I've had that gorgeous scrapbook paper from Hot Off the Press for a very long time - it's just so beautiful that I a) hate to use it and b) bought a whole bunch! I cut an acetate window and adhered it to the base.
On the inside of the card I used one of the small Tim Holtz masks (a floral one, sorry can't remember the name now) and went over it with Ranger's white ink. Once the ink was in place I felt like it needed some umpf - so I hand drew lines with my brown spica pen - just doodles! Then stamped the quote from Hellen Keller in Walnut Stain distress ink.
Since the frame paper didn't have much (if any) white on it, I stamped over it with Ranger's white ink using the Tattered Angels tree stamp (the branches portion). Once I glued it down over the window I realized that the circles weren't a perfect match - especially on the inside! To cover that mistake I ran white stickles around the outside of the window, let it dry, then ran Frayed Burlap distress stickles around the inside of the window.
I always like to add a few flowers around the edge of a circular opening - this card was no different. Because I was trying to match the color of the flowers and paper in the frame I had to do a little magic with different paints. I finally ended up using a couple of different colors of Radiant Pearls, let them dry & then spritzed with Graphite Glimmer Mist. Hah! Then I only used ONE of the flowers I had colored! :) But I did spritz the white ones with some more 'clear' Glimmer Mist. A couple of Latte half pearls from Kaiser and a little ribbon and called it done!
Yup, this was actually a very involved process! But I really like the final card.
Enjoy your day!

My first digistamp!

2009-10-23T15:02:00.003-06:00

I finally broke the seal! :)
Although there have been some interesting moments trying to print it (Vista *still* does not play well with others on the network) and some frustration with printing in black & white *only*, I finally got my first digi printed and made into a card. Woohoo!
The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil Too shop. I just *adore* this little angel. There are a few (ok, a lot) more images that I want to try, but Michael was my first.
A few of the details:
Michael was printed on our HP deskjet printer (it's pretty old) on Georgia Pacific white card stock. I wasn't sure that actual card stock would go through, but there was no problem with that.
Coloring was mostly done with colored pencils - Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor (I like these way better than prismacolors) - and OMS. The cloud that he's resting on was colored with some gray pencil along the bottom & then gone over with white Smooch. Sorry, I just couldn't seem to get a good picture of the shine! The other thing I learned is that my printer ink does not do well with Copics. If you look close at the bottom of the cloud you can see where I tried to add some sky color - and it made the black ink run a little. So, it's not perfect, but it's pretty good for a first try!
The cloud background was done with a scalloped circle and Distress Inks in Weathered Wood and Broken China. You can see that I went over the cloud tops with more Smooch - it gives you an idea of what Michael's cloud looks like IRL.
The edges were punched with a punch from paper studio, I wanted to go all around but I couldn't get it to line up nicely. Instead I used some of the star punched pieces and glued them around the edges of the layer. Those were given a little Smooch too! :)
Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoyed your stay!

An altered tin

2009-10-17T03:33:00.005-06:00

Ok, I'll admit it. I don't do very many altered projects. Mostly because I have *no* idea what to do with them when they're done. Nor do I have space in which to keep them! :) Plus I HATE to dust.
Every once in a while I get bitten by the bug of altering. I fight it, really I do, but it sneaks up on me and I end up altering like a madwoman (while muttering in my head). Really, I can only keep so many, and friends and family only *want* so many before they start avoiding you - especially when you're carrying something! lol
I digress. (an aftereffect of altering, I swear)
I saw this adorable little tin last time I was at Archiver's and it ended up in my basket before I could say no. What's a girl to do?
First I decided to cover all that white. After much rummaging I found some brown mulberry paper that looked fabulous pounced with my Mission Bells Brown Starburst Stain. I let it dry and covered the edges of the top and the base of the tin. Then some delicious green paper from GCD and a little red from Basic Grey. I used nesties for the oval & ribbon tag - everything else was cut by hand.
The silver edges seemed to stick out too much so I ran my Pale Gold Krylon pen around any silver edges I could see (and some edges of the paper). I used some white rubons that my friend got for me some time ago (sorry, don't know where they're from). Brown ribbon (also from that same trip to Archiver's) tied the ribbon tag on to the front. (anyone got pointers for getting those on - easily?)
But it was still missing something. More ribbon! :)
As you can see, I went a little wild with the ribbon at that point.
All of those pieces were tied to a length of the original brown ribbon (what?? I have a lot of ribbon!) then glued down. No, I don't imagine that they're on there permanently, but it should hold up to casual use.
So. Now what? What do *you* do with all those nifty altered items? Any ideas will be gratefully considered! :)
Thanks for dropping by!

Oh yes, the kraft mood continues!

2009-10-12T00:10:00.005-06:00

Good thing I bought a whole bunch of kraft card stock at the last show! :)

I see so many awesome things 'out there' that I just can't seem to contain myself. lol This particular one was inspired by a lovely card done on kraft with daises. Now, I don't happen to have any appropriate daisy images, but I thought this flower image was fairly close. Upon further reflection I realized that I didn't do very much the same at all! Much like the card that was inspired by Etha, this one took on a life of it's own. Don't get me wrong - I'm grateful that my mind works in such mysterious ways (usually!), but I really do *love* that daisy card!

I started by stamping the flower from the Brenda Walton Inkadinkado set on kraft paper with Desert Sand memento ink. Then I used a white, very light blue and light yellow prismacolor pencil to color it in. Except the stem which was colored with my new Zig chalk white marker (which goes on clear then dries to white). I trimmed out the flower piece, added the sentiment and edged the entire thing with more Desert Sand.

The background was stamped with Desert Sand - it's another stamp in the Inkadinkado set - and then dotted with the Zig marker in the center of the flowers. I popped up the flower piece on double foam dots, cut a slit for the ribbon, et voila!

I really love how simple and clean this looks!

Thanks for visiting!

Is she done?

2009-09-30T00:31:00.004-06:00

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?!?

2009-09-22T14:15:00.004-06:00

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.

2009-09-12T03:12:00.003-06:00

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!

Has it really been that long?

2009-08-31T16:17:00.004-06:00

I almost can't believe it! Time has been flying - so fast that I didn't even notice!

Anyhow, I have a little sumpin' to show you. Bright and cheery, more 'scrappy' than I usually do. All the paper is scrap paper from an 8 x 8 set I bought on clearance at Target a long time ago.

Well, what do you think? Bright, huh? :D Now, if only I knew a tween that needed a card! Only a couple of stamps went into the making of this one - the dragonfly (Inkadinkado) and the ABC's one (which is UM from a show many years ago - and unmarked!). Lots of Spica glitter pen (yay, new toys!) and a punch from EK Sucess. Fairly self explanatory - if a little wild.

Hope you're enjoying your day!

Inspired by Etha (hi Etha!)

2009-08-18T02:42:00.004-06:00

You know how sometimes you see something that inspires you, but you forget the details before you get time to sit and create your own thing? That's exactly what happened here! I saw this card over at Etha's blog and something about it really caught my attention. Honestly, I thought it was the layout (I really, really thought I CASE'd her layout! lol) but turns out that I was entranced by the colors!

Several days after I saw her card I had a chance to visit Archiver's and managed to pick up the same patterned paper. Then I set out to make a card with what I could remember of the inspiration piece. (that's how I do it, look at stuff, get inspired, wait a few days & then create my own without looking at the original - takes you on an awesome journey sometimes)

So, what you do think? Are they alike? LOL

First I spent lots of time trying to cut out a pleasing shape from the patterned paper. Then I pulled out a green base card and adhered the pattern paper (Basic Grey) on top. It seemed like it was going to be a romantic card for a while, but I didn't have anything like a fairytale castle - so I went a different direction. Some inking with Distress Inks (what else?) made the edges stand out. Then I used my clear glitter pen to trace some of the lines of the pattern, then stamped the dragonfly & traced that too. The green paper was too stark - trimmed the edge of that with a Martha punch & layered a stamped piece behind it. A little more glitter pen on the edges of the green... then some on the stamped piece. Sheesh! :)

Because I didn't plan very well (another danger of this type of journey) I had to glue the ribbon down on top of the patterned paper - so I added bling to make it less obvious! This thing shimmers like CRAZY!

Thanks for visiting!

AI Foil technique

2009-08-09T12:21:00.005-06:00

I love getting the Technique Junkies Newsletter. Such great ideas! I don't do nearly enough of them (not enough time in the day!) but I really liked the idea of this one. Especially since I *love* Tim Holtz goodies!

Now, I did alter the tech just a touch. You're really supposed to cover some cs with foil, then emboss it, then ink it. I like to change it up! lol

Instead I embossed cs, cut selected portions of the design out, inked foil, attached to foil to the BACK of the cs and embossed again. I really like how it came out! (so much that I'm working on another!)

The leaves were plain white skeleton leaves - of course they had to be dusted with Perfect Pearls! My new nestie ribbon tags and a couple of ribbons & I was done! I used a portion of a stamp for the tag (also dusted with PP) - it says 'Joy Beckons' here but the original stamp says 'Where you are, Joy beckons'. A lovely sentiment but way too big to fit!

Thanks for dropping in!

M'ija Stamps

Charcoal look

Mi amiga!

It's been TWO months??

The days are just flying by...

A party for my friend

Inspired by a gorgeous card!

My best friend's birthday and a sad day

It's time for a little reflection

She's a tease!

I think I'm getting better?

Still with the low mojo

Agnes

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Phases

SSC April blog hop!

The next easel card!

Long time no blog...

I tried another challenge...

I actually completed a sketch!

C & M fairy again, and a revision

Another digi stamp

Have you seen my missing mojo?

Returning to a more familiar style

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Thinking of You

The missing Christmas cards

Aftermath

Are you tired of Christmas cards yet?

More Christmas cards

My freebie from A Day for Daisies

Be afraid...

Just dropping in quickly

A couple of (totally different) cards

For my cousin...

Now I'm in a coloring mood....

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The crafty post!

Settle in, it's going to be a long post!

I've been MIA

She's done... and she's gorgeous!

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I got the most awesome card, EVAH!

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101st post!

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It's probably the hardest thing I've ever done...

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Whew!

Dropping in real quick...

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Ugh!

Another bandanna card

The big flower

Not a card in sight! :)

I've been very crafty!

Valentine's cards

Something entirely different!

A little Joseph's Coat

Back to bright!

My poor neglected blog!

Another post already?

Christmas cards part 3!

More Christmas cards and a Black Friday tale...

Totally not my style!