Aftermath

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?

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

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

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

Be afraid...

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

Just dropping in quickly

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

A couple of (totally different) cards

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