Garden Girl

Happy Friday! Here's a nice-weather card I made using this sweet little Gardening Girl from Lilac City Designs. She looks like she's enjoying spring! Or at least, winter in Florida like we are right now on our vacation. :-) I colored her with Koh-i-Noor pencils and Gamsol.

Enjoy the day and the upcoming weekend! I'll have another project tomorrow and SUNDAY is the big Club Anya kickoff and blog hop so be ready - the fun starts at NOON {Central Time} over on the Club Anya blog.

Club Anya Meets VLVJan04!

Happy Thursday! I promised I'd be back and here I am! I have my final Viva la Verve card for January - this is VLVJan04 {with a twist of flowers}.

As soon as I saw it I knew it was a perfect sketch to feature the fabulous Anya from The Greeting Farm. This is Teacher Anya. She's so sweet!! Check out Jessica's blog post for a big announcement -- CLUB ANYA is about to launch!!! There's going to be a blog hop on Sunday so check back {Jess has all the deets for ya!}.

My flower twist is in this yummy Basic Grey patterned paper - sooo pretty! I pulled the whole color scheme from it before I started coloring. I'm such a fan of Anya, these images are really fun to color and play around with. The sentiment is from Little Paper Shop's Chirp set.

I will be back with more Anya on Sunday, and some other fun things in between too of course! Happy stamping!

LPS Monday - No Lion!

Monday already?! I for one am not ready - tomorrow morning {early, early, EARLY} the kids and I are leaving for Florida for 2 weeks to visit my parents! We are all so excited but really...not ready yet! Too much left to do before we go!

Well, it is Monday though, and that means a new card from Little Paper Shop! I got my goodie/welcome package from the SUPER-generous Julia and I broke out some new stamps right away to create this card!

This card uses Jungle Fun - I love these adorable animals!! I decided to play along with Mandy's sketch over on the Limelight Papercrafts blog, although I know I am late with the sketch from this week. It is still a good one so that works for me! The colors are Summer Sun and Chocolate Chip. I stamped the lion in Palette Noir and colored with Copic markers. I masked him off and stamped the AMuse oval so he wasn't "floating". The main image is up on dimensionals.

After I stamped the leaves on the Summer Sun background piece I painted the entire panel with Sunflower Shimmerz. Love my Shimmerz!! I get mine from Limelight - the ribbon is from there too. Somehow extra stuff always jumps into my cart. *wink*. Here's a sunshine angled view so you can SEE the Shimmerz...

Did you know you can color Dew Drops {or generic "faux" Dew Drops} with Copic markers to make custom colors? It's one of my favorite quickie embellishment tricks and I used it here!!

Thanks for visiting today! We're leaving first thing tomorrow to visit my parents. Due to some unexpected things with the kids last week, I got a bit behind so I may not have a blog post for tomorrow or Wednesday, but I will be back on Thursday at the latest with more STUFF! If I get the packing done and a few minutes to relax you can bet I'll be stamping tonight though. My mom can't WAIT to see the kids so you know I'll be stamping as soon as we get down there. WOOHOO!

My Sketch World ~ Unicorn

Today's card uses the January sketch from My Sketch World and digital images from The Greeting Farm. Fun fun! That unicorn could not be cuter. Colored with Copics, cut out a second one and put it on dimensionals (the unicorn), cloud template for the background. The rest is just PP and cardstock per the sketch. I got that AWESOME ribbon from Limelight Papercrafts, that stuff is the best, I need more already. It perfectly matches Summer Sun and that is my "go to" yellow. Have a great Saturday!

PPS & Belli Wednesday

Wednesday time again! Today's card is a three-fer...sort of. I was aiming for combining the PPS Design Team challenge {use flowers} with the Belli Challenge for the week {use reinkers} and the Viva la Verve #3 sketch with a twist {click here}.

After kicking DH off the computer to shrink down my little cuppy cakes to fit the sketch and reprinting, I went to work on this card. Most of the coloring of the cupcakes was done with Aquapainters and reinkers. Belli Challenge #51 - check! The Viva la Verve sketch with a twist of pink {a little more than a "twist"} - check! Notice anything *missing*? After all that {took me awhile to get it just right}, I forgot flowers!! And really, the card doesn't NEED flowers. A little late to be noticing that oversight, huh? *sigh* Well, anyway, it does use these super cute cupcakes from Whimsey Studios, available at Pink Papery Studios. So sorry, no flowers for you today, but visit the other PPS ladies for some floral inspiration.

Here is the Verve sketch, for comparison:

Please visit the other Belli Challenge girls as well, and leave everyone some love! All the links are on my left sidebar.

Twinkling Tuesday - Rockstar Style

Welcome to another Twinkling Tuesday! Time for another sketch by Miss Madelynn. Do you love it? This was a good one. Can you believe she's only 8?? She'll own her own papercrafting business by the time she's 20!

Here's my take on the sketch:

I had to leave off the corner adornments due to my choice of background paper, I didn't want to take away from those COOL silver foiled stars! Really simple card actually, 4.25" square. The main image is new from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps, and that is just one stamp. Isn't it ROCK STAR?? I love it. I cut out a second image of just the guitar and popped it up on dimensionals over the main image. I added a tiny hint of Coal Shimmerz on the flourishes to simulate smoke. Don't know if I achieved that, but that was the goal, LOL!

ETA: for all those that have asked me WHERE you can get your very own Flourised Guitar stamp {because you all need one!}, you can buy it HERE at Addicted to Rubber Stamps. They have exclusive rights to that image for awhile, and I can see why they wanted it!

Thanks for dropping in! Be sure to visit the rest of the Twinkettes for more sketchy inspiration! {Links on the left sidebar}.

LPS Monday - Construction Zone

Happy Monday!! Now, normally I wouldn't say such a crazy thing, LOL, but I am excited today to participate in my very first Little Paper Shop {LPS} Monday!

We had a big "family time" weekend, and an unexpectedly long one at that as my DH was off work on Friday due to the cold weather. Since it was the all boy channel around here I was inspired to pull out the Caution-Construction Zone set and get to "work"!

Since this is a manly card, I needed a manly color combination. Splitcoast Color Challenge to the rescue! This is for this week's challenge, CC201. The colors are Kraft {I *heart* my Kraft!}, Not Quite Navy and Baja Breeze. Yum!

I stamped the bulldozer in StazOn so it would smear the interior lines just a tiny bit when I colored it with my Copics and get the black streaks running through the yellow of the image. All good construction site equipment should be a bit sooty and dirty, right?! I stamped it again on scratch paper and colored just the bucket, then cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals {you can see it if you click the BIG view}.

I colored over the windows with a blue pencil and then added some Sky Blue Shimmerz over the top to simulate glass reflection. I masked off the dozer and stamped a shadow underneath with my ovals, and then watercolored the rest of the "dirt" around it in a lighter color. I had to add some Shimmerz there too - sand sparkles! I did the clouds with my cloud template and a sponge {Baja Breeze} and hand-doodled the box around the image with a Not Quite Navy marker.

Hope you have a great Monday! Be sure to visit the rest of the LPS design team for lots of fabulous inspiration from The Little Paper Shop! {Links on my left sidebar}.

Whiff of Joy 14 - Lizzie

Happy Sunday! Today I waned to share a card that I made last night using this wonderful image from Whiff of Joy. This is Lizzie with Muff - isn't she GORGEOUS?? Over on the Whiff of Joy Challenge Blog they posted a contest to make a card using the colors purple and green (and a WoJ image of course!).

To create this card I stamed Lizzie on white cardstock using Memento ink. I colored her in with Copics in varying shades of green and purple, and hand-drew the little shadow under her feet. I left what I thought should be the "fuzzy" parts of her outfit uncolored, and when I was all done I added some White Flock to those areas using a Quickie Glue pen.

I ran the darker plum piece through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder and then mounted it on a scalloped long rectangle Nestability I had already cut (the same with the Lizzie image). That background panel is on dimensionals, and Lizzie is on double dimensionals. Added some beads to a stick pin from my Pretties Kit (Stampin' Up!) and put it through the ribbon as a final touch.

I have to tell you, I had a really fun time coloring this image. She is just fabulous, and perfect for coloring. Next time I may try pencils & OMS for coloring just to see how that turns out. Let me just say, if you don't have any Whiff of Joy stamps yet...you need some!

Thanks for stopping by - I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Viva la Verve - Week 2 Sketch

Loving the Viva la Verve challenges for January! My card today is actually for the Week 2 sketch & twist - I made it last weekend but didn't get a chance to post it until today. The "twist" this week was to use bling. That part...not exactly challenging for me, LOL! Here's my card:

I used the Lily the Fairy digital image from Pink Cat Studio - is she not the CUTEST?? Melissa posted that she will be making a whole set of Lily as a fairy! Can't WAIT to see those images, let me tell ya! And I have all boys, LOL.

I printed Lily out and colored her with Copics. I made the flower into a bling, ticket corner'd the corners and added rhinestones. The colors are Pretty in Pink and (retired) Rose Romance. Designer paper is from Lily Kate from Basic Grey. Ribbon is May Arts and I painted the small flower with Pixie Dust Shimmerz Blings before I attached it with a rhinestone brad. Both panels are on dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by today! It is frigid here, even my DH is home on a "cold day" from work. Waiting for the weekend warm up!! Hope you have a good one as well.

{Little Paper Shop}

Good morning everyone! Well it's a balmy -17 here in Wisconsin right now, how about where you are?? A little warmer I hope!

I have a HUGE announcement to make, one I've been waiting to share for a couple of weeks now -- so I'm unbelieveably excited that TODAY is the day! I was asked to join the Design Team for {Little Paper Shop} and I am now "official"!! I have been a fan of Julia's designs since she opened shop so I was honored to accept.

Today is also release day for the January sets over at LPS, so check out this blog post to see all the new goodies. I need my package to be here right NOW so I can get started!! *g*

Well in the meantime I thought I would share a card I made a couple of weeks ago. I won the Global set from Julia on the LPS blog back when it released and I used it on this card. I had SO much fun adding the snow and the Shimmerz -- all the little details. What a great set! Seriously, when she drew my name, I sold my old Stampin' Up! Snowglobe set that I had been hanging on to for YEARS because I knew I wouldn't need it anymore! This is a clear set - perfect placement every time; it's fabulous. Here's a close up of the main image detail:

I colored the image with Copic markers, then painted the sky with Sky Blue Shimmerz. Once that dried I used a Quickie Glue Pen to add chunky "snow" glitter on the house and ground. I took an edge distressor to all of the layers including the Swiss Dots panel. Put it all together with some Ski Slope DP & rope and called it done. The colors are Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip.

Thanks for stopping by today! Stay warm!

Twinkling Tuesday

Hi everyone! Well it's Twinkling Tuesday today but I am sorry I don't have a card to share with you. Sorry! It's a really crazy week and stamping is on the back burner - right when I need it most. But here is the sketch for your inspiration - and be sure to visit the other Twinkies for actual card ideas! Oh, and Rebecca has some blog candy as well (not related to the Twinkling Tuesday sketch team).

Anya's Fashion Show

Do you not LOVE Anya?! She's from The Greeting Farm, a fairly new discovery for me but definitely love at first sight! She is seriously cute, and there is also a sweet little boy, Ian {you know I love the boy stuffs}, and really adorable animals, yummy treats and beautiful quotes. I can't build my collection fast enough!

So...the card. Well, Marie over on The Greeting Farm's blog had a contest for the Anya Fashion Show. Very easy, just use any Anya image you want and glam her up. GLAM?!?! I can do glam!

Since it was the long-awaited girl's {Scrapmania at Archiver's} night out on Saturday, I had this project tops on my list! Heather, Jess and I had SO much fun stamping and chatting - it was fabulous! If you've never been to a Scrapmania event, I highly recommend it. It's kind of a pain to pack for, but so much fun when you're there!

I took about 50 photos of this card trying to get it just right to show all the details. These were the best two that I came up with in the end -- EVERYTHING was bling'd, even the paper, so it was kinda tough. I'll give a quick rundown and hopefully the zoomed in shot can show some of it fairly well.

This card was SO MUCH FUN to make. I think I can honestly say it was the most fun I've ever had making a card. I started by stamping this sweet "Pretty Hat Anya" with Palette Noir and coloring with my Copics. I had printed off a bunch of sketch ideas and as soon as I saw Mojo46 I knew that was "the one"! I cut her out using the Cuttlebug and my circle Nestabilities. The silver glittered paper is Die Cuts With A View from the glitter mat stack.

Here's the close-up view:



Once I had the layout chosen and all the die cuts made, the fun began! I saw the large "diamond, onyx and amethyst" gem setting from Prima's Say it with Crystals that Heather had with her and I knew I had to use it. I put it onto the end of Anya's existing necklace and filled in the rest of the stones with clear rhinestones. Puppy got a matching jewel-encrusted collar. Stylin'!

Her hat --- can words even express how much I LOVE it?! I found this organdy and pearl flower in the stash, which was PERFECT, but it was still missing something. I got some great feathers over at Michael's {yes, I had to run out in the middle of Scrapmania at Archiver's to go to MICHAEL'S to get feathers! too funny, right?}.

What good is a gorgeous feather hat without a pearl-studded tulle veil?? Oh yes. I added a pearl-studded tulle veil. Come on! You know I had to. *g* She is a classic movie star!

At the end I went back and gave her a touch of blush and some light purple eyeshadow, just for fun. :) Oh, and here we are about halfway through Mania on Saturday night -- just don't look at me very closely b/c I look kinda funny. Jess and Heather look good though so I will post it. ;)


Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed Anya's walk down the runway. Wish me luck!

LLPC012 - Embellished Cupcake

Wow, it's the end of the weekend already! I've been meaning to post this card all day. Last night I went to Scrapmania with my friends Heather and Jess and we had a blast. I managed to get THREE {eek, only three!} cards done, and this is one of them. Quality over quantity!! {Right?}

Mandy over at Limelight Papercrafts posted her bi-weekly sketch challenge plus product focus, and I really wanted to play along since I hadn't done one in awhile. So this was one of the projects on my "must do" list last night at Mania. Here is the sketch:

as you can see I accidentally "mirror image'd" it, LOL. The product focus was to use textured elements.

My texture was the pink tulle, the satiny ribbon along the seam of the paper, and the pearls on the cupcake. I actually used textured and bling'd cardstock as the card base as well (but then I covered it up with patterned paper! oops!). The image is from Pink Papery Studios.

You still have a few hours to play along with Mandy's fun sketch!

Viva La Verve - Week 1 Sketch

You all know how I love my sketch challenges! This one is from Verve. You can read all about it here in the SCS forum, but basically it was to use the sketch and also some kind of hardware on your card. There will be a new "sketch with a twist" every Friday in January. Fun!

So, the day I saw this challenge (last Saturday), I had been to the LSS here in town to burn up the last of my store credit. One of the things that I bought was this Basic Grey butterfly paper from the Urban Prairie line. I LOVED it! Yes, I noticed it was a bit of a "brights" color scheme, but I figured I could work with it. hmmm.....

To be honest, I am not sure this card is actually blog-worthy. I am so mentally challenged when it comes to working with bright colors. But since I plan to do all the Verve challenges for this month, I thought I should go ahead and post it. Just...don't judge my blog on this card alone, ok? LOL! Ok here goes...

The "hardware" portion is in the form of the colored brads along the right side. The colors are Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, and Kiwi Kiss, along with that Basic Grey patterned paper. I colored the Cuttlebugged/dry embossed parts of the turquoise paper with a clear Spica glitter pen. The image is BRAND NEW from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps. I am really loving all my latest images, I will have more projects with them soon. Some great Valentine's Day stuff, some new backgrounds, Easter...you'll be in love too! I colored the bird with a Glaze pen and doodled around the scallop.

Hope you all enjoy your Thursday! It's been a busy week here, to me it feels like it should be next Tuesday already, LOL!

Pink Papery Wednesday & CBC49

Happy Wednesday to my fabulous blog readers! I have a fun card to share with you today that meets two challenges - WOO HOO!! The first is from Pink Papery Studios - Wednesday is our design team challenge day and this week Lindsay wanted to see METALLICS from us! I combined it with Chrissy's Belli Challenge, which was NEW STAMPS this week {CBC49} - well that's easy for me since I just joined the PPS design team a couple of weeks ago I have a bunch of images I haven't used yet!

I used this unbelieveably adorable 100% Natural stamp set from Pink Papery Studios in my creation this week. I am in LOVE with this stamp line from Pink Papery Studios. That baby is just so squeezable! For this card I used a piece of Metallic Copper cardstock that I ran through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder as my background piece. I colored the image in with my Copics and I painted some Sunflower Shimmerz on the petals. I colored a second image and then cut out the arms and popped them up over the original image with dimensionals. The yellow accent piece is from the Glitter Stack from DCWV and it's SUPER glittery. I have a Metallic Copper layer in the mat as well and copper cord to finish it off.

I tried for the angled shot to show the Shimmerz and dimensional effect, but it got a bit blurry. I think you can get the idea though. :-)

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to visit the rest of the Pink Papery Studios design team, and the rest of the Belli Challenge team for lots of eye candy, inspiration, and to DROOL over all the new and gorgeous stampin' goodies everyone is showing off. {Both link lists are on my left sidebar}. See you tomorrow!

Supplies, etc.: Stamps - Digital images from 100% Natural set, Pink Papery Studios. Paper - Metallic Copper, Glorious Green, GP 110# white and DCWV Glitter Mat Stack. Other - Copic markers, dimensionals, glue dots, MS border punch, copper cord, green grosgrain, Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots folder, corner rounder, Shimmerz paint in Sunflower.

MTTSC4 - Cindy Walks On The Wild Side

Happy Twinkling Tuesday everyone! Ready for a new sketch? I had a lot of fun with this one, it was just my style! Also perfect for Miss Cindy out for a stroll from Pink Papery Studios. You can find her in the Simply Wonderland set. Here's my card:

As soon as I saw this sketch I knew I wanted to use this image. I just love how she's looking back over her shoulder! I masked her off and stamped the oval, then colored her with my Copic markers, and then I added Shimmerz on her hair and boots - Sunflower on the hair and Pink Poinsettia Blingz on the boots. Tough to see even in the angled shot so you'll have to take my word for it. I used white flock on her boot cuffs and hat puff - couldn't resist that! So cute in real life. I took a close up which hopefully shows a little more of the shimmer and dimension.

See that yum, yum, yummy background paper? Oh yeah, that's the new Basic Grey Bittersweet!!! Run, don't walk to get some. I LOVE the color combination in this packet and the patterns are delish. I got mine from Limelight Papercrafts {actually, I got two! ha!}. It came just in time to use on this card, thanks Mandy!! This pattern is just fabulous, it makes me think WILD.

I did double ribbon behind the main image, 5/8" chocolate chip grosgrain with 1/4" light pink over the top. I didn't tie off both layers of ribbon because it got too bulky and wouldn't sit flat so I had to revise that plan at the last minute! My cardstock colors are Pink Pirouette and Chocolate Chip.

The sentiment is from the Simply Bath set. Since all the Pink Papery Studios images I have are digi, I can easily change things around to suit my immediate needs - as you can see from the link that sentiment is originally one long line. Snip snip in Photoshop Elements and I have it perfectly sized and laid out for a circle. I really am loving the digital images - SO much flexibility!

Thanks for stopping by today! Make sure you visit the blogs of the rest of the Twinkle Team to get more inspiration for this sketch, and play along! Link your creation to Jessica's blog and if you upload to SCS or PCP use the keyword "MTTSC4".

Lilac City Designs - Applique Cat

Today's project features the latest stamp designs Kelli over at Lilac City Designs created before she took a family break from creating images. She is hoping to be back soon with more new designs, and more of those cutie patootie KIDS! This card uses the Applique Cat set.

Nothing too fancy here. I stamped the cat with Palette Noir and colred with Copics. I painted over the colored wings with Angel Wings Shimmerz. Some Black & Silver May Arts Ribbon and a bunch of circles I made with my nesties and viola!

Thanks for stopping by today. I have lots of great stuff to share with you this week so check back soon!

It's A Diorama!

Well as I said in my Monday post, we're still getting Christmas cards, so I can still share the last of the ones I had made throughout the fall and winter. :-) This is a diorama card. Kind of a putzy one, LOL, but still fun to make.

It was next to impossible to get a good photo of this card because of the stamped acetate layer I attached to the back of the front panel. I stamped snowflakes in silver ink and then attached it to the back of the patterned paper {cut the oval with my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug}. Then I used the Christmas Village {don't remember the real name} Cuttlebug folder on the back panel, and did a wash of Baja Breeze ink over the raised parts for some definition, tapering off toward the bottom.

I added 2-way glue and TONS of Dazzling Diamonds glitter for snow {on the rooftops, trees and on the ground of course}. I did Jody Morrow's Drunken Watercoloring technique on the little Snowman to add a bit of color. Stamped the sentiment and added some bling underneath. Put it together with sticky strip and added the ribbon for decoration.

Supplies, etc. Stamps - Merry and Bright & Best Yet from SU. Ink - Baja Breeze and Riding Hood Red classic ink pads and reinkers, Encore Silver. Paper - GP 110# white cardstock, Ski Slope patterned paper, Riding Hood Red, transparency sheet. Other - Aquapainters, rubbing alcohol, Riding Hood Red Taffeta, self-adhesive rhinestones, 2-way glue, sticky strip, Dazzling Diamonds, dimensionals, double-circle punch, scallop circle punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, scallop border punch, Classic oval nestabilities, Snowy Village embossing folder, Cuttlebug.

Blog Candy Alert!!

Did you see that Tracey over at the Starving Artist Stamps blog is giving away a set of the new Doodle Factory Valentine's images? I LOVE the Doodle Factory stuff, it's soooo cute and fun, and the sentiments are just my style. Go over and check it out!