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!

Another bandanna card

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

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! :)

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!

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

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!

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!