She's a tease!

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!

Still with the low mojo

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!

Long time no blog...

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!

Triple threat (or maybe treat?)

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

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

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!

Be afraid...

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

For my cousin...

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!

Pulled Glimmers - a TJ technique

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!

Hero arts poppies

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!

More Hero Arts flowers

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!

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

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...

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

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!

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!

Ugh!

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!

The big flower

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!

Christmas cards galore!

I'm baaaack! :)

I've been crafting Christmas cards like a crazy woman. I know, I know. Most people have already made and sent theirs... I like to 'age' mine first! :D

I do have some more in process (one is actually done but no pic yet) but I figured I better put these up before January... or later....

First up, a funny/cute card I made a while ago. It's a shaker card with a bunch of different glitters in the shaker part. Some Martha, some from Wally world - just a hodge podge. After I was done sticking it all together I wished that I had put less stuff in there - it's difficult to get it out of the way to read the 'funny'. Oh well, I don't make them very often so I tend to forget that less is more! The 'funny' says 'May Santa grant you the serenity to accept the gifts you can't return, the courage to exchange the ones you can, and the receipts to know the difference!' - which I think is hysterical! Ho, Ho, Ho! was stamped with an alphabet set from Hero Arts. Papers are from one of those scrapbook paper sets you could get at Michaels ( but I think they're either on clearance or all gone by now). Can you tell that I drew over the 'ribbons' with a glitter pen? Hey, Christmas is about BLING! :D

Up next is one made with one of those cheapie felt stocking shapes from Hobby Lobby (like ten in a package for about 2 dollars? this set came with white, red and green ones). I painted it with a silver paint dauber (from Ranger) and then dunked it in glitter. After it was dry I glued it to the background paper that I made using Tim's wrinkle free distress technique and cut it out. The aqua panel is edged with the same silver dauber, then raised off the navy panel which I ran through the cuttlebug swirl folder. Ribbon is from Target (in the wedding/invitation section). Since the folders don't reach all the way to the edges (grrrr) I used a silver pen to dot around the border - double dots on the bottom since I can't seem to line everything up 'just so'. (another grrrr!)

This next card was made with a clear set I bought at Wally world for *cheap*. And yes, you get what you pay for! :) I dig this angel tho, so I was willing to put up with (ahem) less than perfect. You probably can't tell, but the angel is on a piece of the same background that I glued to the stocking on the previous card. This little piece gives you a better idea of what it looks like IRL - and BTW, those gorgeous flourishes are from Bea at Katzelkraft. I *LOVE* those flourishes. The sentiment took a turn for the worse when I tried to stamp it in gold (you couldn't see it!), then went over it with a black glaze pen, then decided it looked too stark - so I brushed it with gold perfect pearls. Hmpf. It does look better IRL, sorta looks like a hot mess in the picture though. The stars on the angel's dress are colored over with a gold pen. The little stars near the top are leftovers from the Martha Stewart snowflake border (the style matched perfectly!) that I glued on.

This final one is something I've seen versions of all over. The top panel is shimmery white c/s run through the cuttlebug folder then cut with a small nestie. The inner card is also cut with a nestie so you can see the sentiment through the window. The ribbon is sandwiched between the layers and bling added to the ribbon. Since the bling didn't have anything to relate to, I went over the sentiment with a glitter pen (it says 'Peace' and is also from the cheapie Wally world set). That makes them look like they belong together - color and bling wise.

Since I'm putting up so many cards in this single post, I hope you'll forgive me for not listing the recipe like I usually do. If you have ANY questions about supplies or techniques, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you ASAP! Thanks for visiting!