Sweet Little Couple

Well.....I'm in anniversary card mode this week for my upcoming card sale.  This Anniversary card (which says Happy Anniversary on the inside) was stamped with a photo stamp from Stampsmith.  She has the most beautiful photo stamps.  I stamped it with Memento Ink on Matte Coated paper.  This paper is much like glossy but the finish on it is matte instead.  I like it very much!  The image was colored with copics.  I even colored a lot of light blue on her veil.  It really made the veil look more see thru.  The big flowers are some that a friends shared with me.  She said that she got them in the wedding department at Michaels.  I colored them with copics and then colored some paper and punched out the little flowers.  The pearls are from Queen & Co.  I wasn't sure what paper nor design I wanted for this stamp.  As I was heading for the scrap box, there was the decorated paper, just sitting there.  Perfect!!  I wanted some 'lace' and the EK Success border punch was just perfect.  Lacy without being fussy.  I wondered if I could use the border punch to do my corners and after a littly playing....Yeah!.....it worked.  The patterned paper is mounted on a cream base.  Enjoy!!

More Wedding!

Here are a couple more wedding cards I did for my upcoming sale.  The one with the purple dress is a case from a gal on SCS.  Here is her original card.  www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1488064?&si=wedding   I changed the color scheme and added a different CB folder for texture.  It is hard to see but there is lots of glitter to make it sparkle!  The lavender paper has a beautiful glimmer to it.  It is more wonderful paper from Paper Temptress.  You can click on her logo on my sidebar!

Below is the other wedding card I worked on.  It was also inspired by a card on SCS by ncsunikki.   The card has a gate opening and is very simple and classy.  The inside says....To the happy couple.  The dark layer is some thinner dark blue paper that is really shimmery with gold in it.  Really classy.  ALSO some Paper Temptress paper.  So......go ahead and click on her logo.....you KNOW  you NEED some of this paper!!

AND finally another wedding card!!  I'll be done with wedding cards for my sale now!  The LOVE was embossed with white diamond embossing powder and is glittery.  The pink was sponged over the embossing.  The soft pink layer below the LOVE is a piece of vellum from.......you guessed it.....Paper Temptress!!  She has a TON of wonderful vellum colors!  The pink was just perfect for this card.  The little heart rhinestone was given to me from Hero Arts for Honorable Mention of a card I entered into one of the blog contests.  So......there you have it! 

Double Duties

Well.....today is a double duty design team day.  I have two design cards to post today.  The first is my design card for Artful Sentiments by Kimm's copic challenge.  You can link to the master challenge post to the right on my sidebar.  This week's colors are a true indication that fall is on the way.   This time last year I was in New England leaf peeking and I sure wish I was back there again.  The fall color back East is WAY more beautiful than out in the Pacific Northwest.  I even had to go through all of our pictures last night just to reflect on our wonderful time there.  So....in honor of the beautiful fall colors that are surely happening in New Hampshire and Vermont, here is my challenge card.    The scene stamp is from Hero Arts and is colored with the required copics plus a few extra colors around those to give depth.  I was a little dissappointed in the way the colors scanned.  The patterned paper really is more the color of the image.  When you scan dimensionals, it tends to make the color of the paper change.  The leaves of the tree are mounted up.  The little paper leaves were in my stash from a 'must have' purchase from the LSS several years ago!  This card in itself was double duty as it is the Midnight Madness sketch challenge of the week!  MMSC21!  ;-)

Next is my design team card for The SweetStopSketch Challenge 24.  This is my first posting as part of Korin's Sugar Baby team.  What fun!  You can click on the Sweet Stop pink badge to the right and see the sketch challenge for the week.  We have a wonderful line up of Sugar Babies for the Challenge team.  Make sure you take a look at their wonderful creations too!   I have had this cute little Penny Black dog since last Thanksgiving and it was time to use him.  I knew right away that his horn would have to be out of the box!!  He was colored with copic markers.  The dotted paper on the bottom of the heap is some of my hoarded patterned paper that I have vowed to use as much as possible.  The swirly layer is the triple dimension technique from the Technique Junkie Newsletter and it actually a treble staff stamp.  The layer just under the sentiment is a technique I had submitted to the TJ newsletter called Rubber Thwamping.  I think the technique has been around a while but I don't know from where.  I used lentils for my thwamping!  This is the same technique that I used for my card for the TJ blog hop a few days ago.  So easy and fun. 

So there you have it........a double post for today!!  Now get off the computer and get back to your stamping!!

My 100th Post ....Woo Hoo!!

How exciting!  Today is my 100th post!  Sure doesn't seem like I've posted that often!  I do hope that you have been enjoying them all.  Here is a wedding card that I designed for my upcoming card sale.  I just got the Cuttlebug cut/Emboss set at the LSS a month ago or so.  Almost forgot I had it!   My inspiration for this card came from Faith (Markie's Mom on SCS)....She does have wonderful ideas.   A few weeks back she did a cream wedding card.  It was quite beautiful.  .  BUT try as hard as I could, I just could bring myself to do an all white card.  It just wasn't working.  So I grabbed this Mica/Metallic paper from Paper Temptress.  It is either a blue looking light silver or just a very light blue.  I'm not sure which but it gave my card just the right touch of color AND a wonderful shimmer on top of that!  I hope you enjoy......AND head on over to Paper Temptress to get some of this beautiful paper.....you KNOW you NEED it!!  I'm not employed by her....just a really satisfied customer.  Sorry the photo is kind of dark but that was the only way I could get that wonderful paper to show it's beauty!

Back to normal

Well.....here is something that is a little more my normal style.  Just plain ol' flowers!!  Colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol.  I have always loved this PSX image.  Really fun to color too.  I have vowed this year to use up some of the decorated papers that I hav been hoarding for years!  This cards used two different pieces.  Added a little glitter for fun and there you have it!  Enjoy!!

Art Doll

Look on yesterday's post if you want the Technique Junkie Blog Hop information!!

Well, first of all.....I must say that Art dolls were never on my creative scope. I've always considered them on the edge of freaky.   BUT when you are on a design team sometimes you need to do things that are beyond your normal scope, right?!!  The face, body and arms/legs are stamps from one of the vendors (Alluring Impressions) of this issue of the Technique Junkie newsletter.  When I was given the stamps, I thought...."How in the world am I going to use THESE?"  So, after googling 'art dolls' to remind myself exactly what they were and how to go about making them look decent, I dug through my stamps.  As well as the ones I had received I used some leaves from Fred Mullett and See-D's.  I grabbed my Gerber daisy stamp from Tac and started to create.  It took me a while to come up with the color scheme and I must have spent 30 minutes trying to get the 'skirt' to look right.  I think I'll make one more (I'm thinking yellows and rust the next round) and let another designer play with the stamps!  The layer under the doll is a piece of Polished Stone.  The bottom card layer is Triple Dimension using the Fred Mullett parsley stamp.   I hope you enjoy my departure from my normal style!

Technique Junkie Blog Hop!!

Hello, blog hoppers!  So......didn't you just LOVE Beth's Decorated Pretties!  If you didn't arrive here as part of the TJ Blog Hop.....you will want to start HERE at the Technique Junkie Blog to collect all your 'treasures' to be eligible for the prize.  This month the prize will include special items you'll need to do some of the techniques in October's newsletter........Isn't that great!  Here is what is included:

- Pkg of Paperclay for Petroglyphic
- I jar of Smooch ink
- Micro Pearl Pearl Ex for Jeweled Acetate
- Glitter for PK Glitz Technique
- 3 Stamp Sets
AND a $10.00 Gift Certificate from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

This is how the blog hop will work.  Start at the Technique Junkie Blog.  You will be collecting 'treasures' along the way.  At the very last blog, tell Pat your 'treasure' answer to be elibigle for a super prize.  Each blog will be featuring a sneak peak of one of the techniques from the October TJ newsletter AND an image or product from a Technique Junkie vendor.

I chose a technique that I happened to submit!  It is called Rubber Thwamping!  Isn't that a funny name?!  I really love the effect that it gives.  That darling show girl is from Two Nancy's Art Stamps.  I call her Lola.....I call any showgirl Lola....you know.... Barry Manilow's song!!  Now you are going to sing it all day, aren't you!  On my card I used four different colors of ink with the technique as well as some embossing, but the technique looks good with only one color too.  I also used the technique on the outer edges of the black base and embossed it with gold.  OH!  don't want to forget.....see that sparkley black layer under the image?  That paper is from the Paper Temptress.  It is just perfect to add that dark layer with a hint of gold sparkle.  You really NEED this paper!

PLEASE NOTE!!  BETH had the wrong code on her blog (just before me!). 
Her code should be 'O'.

Oh! Yes!!  What is MY treasure for you?  My treasure is the letter 'W'.  Now, you will want to hop on over to Jane's blog HERE.

Below is the list of all the blogs on the hop....make sure you start at the beginning!

Technique Junkie

Shelly 

Manna 

Lisa

Beth 

Ann  (you're here right now)

Jane
Kimm
Chris 
Pat  (you'll enter with your answer here)

I'm DONE!!!!!!!

Well....this past week the housework was completly ignored and there are little tiny pieces of paper and glitter EVERYWHERE!  I just completed making my snowglobes for my upcoming card sale....all 24 of them!!  This year I did snowflakes and trees on the snow with little birds flying.    At least these were a little less (very little) intense than the snowman from last year!!  I sell them for $15 each along with a case to store them.  Last year, if people purchased more than one, I sold them at $12 each.  I may do that again this year.  NOW I can get back to the fun of card making again!  Hope you enjoyed the picture.   AND for those who have asked.....it takes about two hours or maybe a little more to do each one.  They fold flat to store.

Well.....since we are talking about enjoying pictures, I thought I'd share this one with you.  My mother, Charlotte, lives with us.  She has her own apartment.  The other day, she intercomed up to me and said, "Bring your camera, quick!"  I rushed down there and took this picture.  Isn't it adorable?  That is a little frog in the spout of a copper tea kettle that my mom has on her deck table.  So, sweet!!

Artful Sentiments Copic Challenge #27

Well.....our challenge comes a little early this week as Kimm has a wedding in the house on Saturday!  I pray she has THE most relaxed and joyful day!  Now for the challenge this week.  The colors, when scribbed out on paper, didn't speak to me much this week.  No stamp was really reaching out and crying for those colors.  So, on the hunt I went.  I saw this stamp and thought....Hmmm.....that stamp hasn't seen ink since I purchased it three years ago.  Maybe now is the time!  I originally colored it with a blue tin and green and purple fish but it just didn't look right so I reversed the colors and then it looked better.  I made the background piece with the three colors of the week along with the blender.  It is soooo easy to give yourself a little piece of decorated paper like this!!  Try it!!  After making this and looking at the scan I see that I should have probably layered the sentiment and the fish for more umph!  I used a technique called Drywall stitching from the Technique Junkie newsletter.  Such a fun technique and soooo fast and easy.  I really should be using it more often.

Artful Sentiments Copic Challenge #26

When I first started looking at the color combo given to us for this challenge, I thought....."Oh my....how in the world will I find a stamp for THOSE colors?"  After scribbling them on a scratch piece of paper and staring at them for a while, I remembered this stamp I got from the rubber stamp convention in March from Auntie Amy.  I've wanted to use it for a long time.  It was perfect!  I naturally had to add a few other colors, like a lighter yellow to soften the white behind the fish and words.  AND a few other yellows to go with the challenge color to give my wood a more realistic look.  You can't see it in the scan but I used Copic's Spica glitter pen on the image.  Nice for a guy.....not too much glitter but enough to jazz it up a little.  After my image was complete I looked around for something for the background.  I originally tried to so a sanded whitewash (a TJ technique) with a piece of black/gold sparkly paper from Paper Temptress.  But, after the sanding, it just didn't have the right color to go with the image.  I'll have to use the piece I made on another card though as it turned out very pretty.  Then I remembered that I had some faux wood pieces made for another card that I never completed.  It was perfect. The image is mounted on foam tape to raise it up a little.   I hope that it inspires you to create!

Soft Thanks

Here is my first attempt at using my Flower Soft.  I think I need a little more practice!!  The paper is from Die Cuts with a View.  The words are a new little set from Hero.  So useful. 

Don't forget to check in tomorrow to see the copic challenge card of the week.  Mine is a GREAT man birthday card using an image from Auntie Amy.

Shirt jpeg

Well......I thought it would be easier for everyone to grab the shirt if I just posted it!!  Cindy....Hope you get it this way as I didn't have an address for you (since you posted as anomonyous and I know lots of Cindy's).  Click on the picture below and save it from the bigger size.

I'll have another post today in an hour or so.

Love my Shirt!

This is a story of a shirt.  A new shirt.  A shirt I really love.  A shirt with beautiful colors.  A shirt that really should have been paper!  ;-)  Well.....since I loved my shirt, I decided that it SHOULD be paper.  So, I scanned the material and printed the design out and made a card with it!  If you like the design, let me know and I'll send you a .jpg of the design.  The colors are just so rich and deep.  I haven't seen anything like it in the paper world so I thought that the ink spent to print was well worth it!  This will be one of the sympathy cards at my sale.  The inside sentiment says  "He leaves the best part in our hearts!"  That sentiment is from River City Rubber Works.  Enjoy!!

I got to meet with one of the local Technique Junkie members today!  Penny Yoder.  She lives within 10 miles of me.  We met for breakfast at a local restaurant and she told me about a fun week at the beach that she is planning for stampers.  You'll hear more about it in the near future!!

Inky Fingers and the Dentist

I normally only post once a day or less BUT since I'm getting ready for my sale in November, I've had to kick it up a bit to have enough cards.  Today I worked on this card.  The layout is the Sketch challenge this week on Splitcoaststampers.  The first time I gotten to participate in a challenge in quite a while.  I make four of each card so was busy punching and sponging the daisy pieces while my grandson, Zander, took his nap.  Had a dental appointment today too.  Got myself ready for the appointment then got Zander up, changed and fed to rush out the door for my appointment.  As I'm sitting in the dental chair, I remember  ......  sheesh!!......  inky fingers!  Here I was with yellow ink on both hands.  Hee Hee!  I'm going to have to get some of that ink cleaning soap, huh?!  The stamp was one I picked up at the last convention at a booth that sold the punches.  So fun to make!  The daisy was colored with copics.  The colored background pieces were run through Cuttlebug folders and lightly sponged.  The long narrow piece is vellum that is embossed using my Onare template.  Isn't it pretty!?

On the other hand (inky fingered hand), my dental appointment went fine.  I had some laser treatment done on my inner back tooth gums but the outer gum of the same tooth was not doing well.  My technician, Val, looked it over and painted on a varnish containing antibiotic....isn't that the neatest thing?  Hopefully that will help my gum to heal correctly.  I must say that my dental office, Synergy Dental, in West Linn, has been one of the best dentists I've ever had.  I originally went to them because they were a Mercury free office and I've had issues with Mercury toxicity.  With their help, I am now mercury free in my mouth!  They do such awesome work........same day crowns!!  Isn't that amazing.  My crowns are ready is about 10 minutes.  None of that waiting with a fake tooth.  Worth every penny!!  Val told me that there would be no charge today for my work........THAT was such a blessing!!  Thanks, Val!!

Thanks Squared

Sometimes I just want to do a card that is quick and simple.  No fancy nothing!!  So.....when I was at the LSS (Local Stamp Store) I found this great new stamp from Hero Arts.  I actually saw it as a sticker first.  Loved the way they had it colored with purple, pink and yellow and decided that it would look pretty neat colored up.  Fast too!  I first grabbed a different paper and when I was trying to find other paper colors for the mats, nothing was working.  So I started rummaging through my other papers.  Found this square and decided that it was perfect!  Colored quickly with copics and jazzed up with a little sparkle and it was done!  The words were cut out with my Nestabilities BUT the outside oval is from my 'old' Spellbinders oval set.  I love the way it isn't truly oval.  Different.  I hope you enjoy my quick and simple.  Tomorrow's card isn't as quick or simple!

This last weekend we had a birthday party for my oldest granddaughter.  She turned 7!  My how time flies.  I watched Breauna for the first four years of her life and we have a wonderful relationship.  While at the party, I snapped a few shots of the other grandkids as well.  Jimmy and Audrey were trying to play ping pong.....that was funny as they can barely see over the table!  All the kids had a blast throwing the ball for our dog, Gabby.  Gabby lives for the ball.  She will play ball until she is exhausted and still want more.  Zander had fun with the little playhouse and the play area.  Breauna had the most fun, of course, since it was her day.  We gave her a gift certificate to Learning World with a special day with Grandma along with some books.  She is starting to read and loves it.