WCMD 2014- Play Outdoors

Hi, It's me again, with another of my challenge cards for World Card Making Day 2014 Challenges at the Winnie&Walter blog.

This card is for Sketched w/ Julie- Challenge #5.  The sketch for this challenge is;

 And this is my entry!

The Spotlights were cut with Standard Circle dies from Spellbinder's and stamped with Scenery: Big Bang Confetti set by Winnie&Walter,

Ribbon:  Fireworks paper from Hot Off the Press,

Stamped image: Pure Innocence Cowgirl from My Favorite Things colored with Copic markers,

and Sentiment: "Play Outdoors" from The Big, The Bold & Fun set from Winnie&Walter.

Embellishment: Stickles by Ranger

I got the sentiment to curve around the bend of the card by snipping between the letters with my Cutter Bee scissors, just enough to let it bend. I didn't cut all the way through the stamp though.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing all the cards I had fun making this past weekend.  Again, as I mentioned in the first post today, the challenges are still open and you can post your entries or comments on the design teams projects any time between now and Saturday at 11:55 pm.

To visit Winnie&Walter's blog, just click HERE! See you again soon.
Mindy

Count Your Blessings

Hello, friends, Mindy here today with a card for this week's challenge at the Classy Cards 'N Such blog, #42 Buttons and Bows!

I started this card by embossing an A2 size sheet of card stock with the Daisy Flourish embossing folder sending it through my Cuttlebug machine. I then took the Memory Box designer Stencil Garden Stems and added Embossing paste to use as stems for my button and bow flowers.

To give the background some definition, I highlighted the embossing with a white pen, a touch of gold glitter and some Cantaloupe colored Liquid Pearls. It was then set aside to let dry.  I then took some ribbon, and made three small single bow flowers and adhered a single gold colored small Medallion Sparklers button in the centers. The bows were then adhered to the background at the ends of the stems to look like a bouquet of flowers, with a double loop bow tied at the bottom of the bouquet.

I also stamped a saying, Count Your Buttons (. . . and Blessings) on a banner strip and used  Joy! Foam Pads Large to give the banner some dimension and adhered it to the front of the card.

The whole time I was working on this card, the song "Button and Bows" sung by Doris Day was going through my head.  It was a little before my time, but parts of the song were familiar to me, and those parts kept repeating over and over all day.

I hope you will join us at Classy Cards 'N Such, by creating a card or two for our weekly challenge. They are so much fun, and you can possibly win a wonderful item sold in our online store. Be sure to visit our online store, and when you are ready to check out, use the coupon code MINDY-10 (all caps-no spaces) to get your 10% discount off your entire purchase. See you again soon!

Wedding Arch

June is the month a lot of couples get married. I found this birdcage die in my stash, and it looked like a Wedding Archway.  It had lots of details at the top, although I covered some of them with flowers, greenery, a ribbon, and butterfly. The birdcage die also came with the die for the tiny bird, which I punched twice to make a pair of lovebirds.

The card itself is made from the Neenah metallic white/gold card stock cut to an A2 size greeting card.  The background paper I used was the Silver Metallic card stock embossed with a  Swirl Frame embossing folder from Mpress and Nellie Snellen.  These items were all available from the Classy Cards 'N Such Online Store.  Their card challenge for this week is Wedding- Challenge #35.

After embossing the swirl frame on the silver stock, I used a rub-on from Autumn Leaves.  For the embellishment I cut the large birdcage from Xpress Blending stock, and trimmed of the bottom of the cage to leave just the legs. I then applied Silver Stickles glitter glue on the die.  While the Stickles was drying, I tied the white satin bow, die cut several sets of Distinctively Dies leaf set, and made 3 tiny folded roses from crinkle white paper ribbon.  The clear acetate butterfly was a die cut from Hot Off the Press.  When the glitter was dry, I mounted the birdcage to the silver background with Joy! tiny foam squares to give it dimension, then glued the bow to the cage and added the leaves and flowers. The final step was to glue the butterfly to the arrangement, and add the two "lovebirds" to the bottom of the card with foam tape.

I am adding this card to the Weekly Challenge #35 at Classy Cards 'N Such.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and the warm summer weather. Until next week, take care.
Mindy

"Don't Be Afraid to Sparkle" Art Journal Pages

Don't be afraid to Sparkle!

I love that phrase! I think everyone should be allowed to sparkle if they want. This is the left side page of a double page spread in my art journal. If you have visited my blog before, you have  probably noticed that I just love the Doll Stamps from Prima and designer, Julie Nuttingl. When I get an idea for a project using my stamps, I usually like to try them out, before stamping on my project.  That is one reason I purchased my art journal.

This page was started shortly after I purchased my PanPastel artist chalks and Faber-Castell Gelatos. I started making circles with the Gelatos and then blending them with a little water and my finger. I filled both sides of the double-page with circles of various sizes and colors. Then using the PanPastel chalks I shaded around the edges of the pages and in between the circles.  Several weeks later, I purchased a couple of clear stamp sets from Paper Wings Productions; Sparkle Sayings and the Stars and Sparkles.  Using Majestic Blue Versafine Ink I stamped the stars and sparkles around the pages, and the word phrases in the empty areas. When the ink was dry, I used the multi-sparkle Gel Pen to highlight the stars and sparkles. The larger sparkles were highlighted with Starry Night Stickles and Mermaid Glitz Stickles. I stamped a tiara and colored with Silver stickles on one of the large circles.

 Several days later I found a sheet of scrapbook paper in my stash, that had the giant Gerbera Daisies printed on it, and the centers were glittered. I cut out a few of them and used Gel Medium to adhere them to the page. I let that dry for several days, with weight on the book to keep the pages from warping. When I was chosen to participate in the Prima Doll Blog Hop, I stamped one of the Doll Stamps on the left page, with the Gelato circle masked, so it would look like the doll was standing behind it.

Stay tuned for page two (2) blog post to follow. Thank you for stopping by today!

I Love You, Prima Dolls -

By now you have probably seen where I am participating in a Prima doll Blog Hop starting August 6, 2013. It is going to be so much FUN, I can hardly wait! I have never really loved a special set of stamps like these Prima Doll Stamps from Julie Nutting's designs, and it all goes back to my love of dolls and paper dolls when I was younger.  My dolls were my playmates, and I loved making clothes for them and my paper dolls.

For this tag, I started by covering the Prima Doll Tag with patterned paper from the Botanical Paper Collection from Paper Wishes. The colors in this print are so rich and jewel-like I knew that it would be gorgeous with the Doll in the strapless dress. I stamped the doll on white card stock and colored her with my Copic Markers. After fussy cutting,  I adhered the image to the front of the tag and added a 3-D bow at her waist. I used a rub-on for the message "I love you" on the top right hand corner, and added two strips of printed ribbon across the bottom 2/3 of the card. I also added some "bling" using tiny acrylic stones to the top of the tag, and as accents at her neck and ankles. Next, I stamped a flower using a waterbased marker to ink my stamp then stamped it on watercolor paper.  I used my waterbrush to blend the colors of the flower, cut it out, and added it to my tag between the layers of ribbon. To complete the tag, I added Mermaid Glitz Stickles to the center of the flower, and a strip of ruffled ribbon to the bottom of the tag.

Before I close today, I just wanted to let you know that there will be more information coming on the Prima Doll Blog Hop in the weeks ahead. Be sure to tell your friends about the hop, and invite them to check out the posts, especially if they enjoy dolls, stamping, and paper arts. See you again soon.

Mindy

I've been Caught by the Fashion Police!

Have you ever prepared to leave the house, going somewhere, and your spouse or family member says, "Are you wearing that???"  I caught myself saying that to myself as I passed the mirror this past weekend.
When I was a teen, my Mother used to always tell me the "Fashion Police" were going to take me in for what I was wearing. That is what inspired this page in my Art Journal.

These pages should be for inspiration only, because I have trouble remembering what I did and when. I work on them in stages, a little bit at a time, for days and days. I think I started this page by spritzing on pink Smooch sprays and then added layers with Lime green and Ivory acrylic paints. I then used a large stipple brush to dot on layers of black and brown Memento Ink.  I then adhered apiece of book page and the cute little dog from my June Nesting Components kit from Paper Wings Productions.  I also adhered the large Prima Tag with a handmade doll from Julie Nutting's book Collage Couture. Her dress was pieced with scrapbook paper, and the rose stamp from Paper Wishes was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and colored with Copic Markers. I shaded around the doll image with PanPastel chalks and then added colors from the background page to help it blend in with the background.  I added a few Die-cuts from the PWP June Kit and journaled on them after adhering to the page. I added letters for the words "Fashion Police" from the sticker sheet in the June kit, and highlighted around each element with a gray Posca marker from Uni.

To finish it up, I added strips of light mint green ribbon with brown dots to the edges, some swirls and squiggles with the pale peach Posca marker, and a giant floral brad that matched the colors in the top right hand corner. I forgot to mention that the roses and the doll are popped  up from the surface with foam tape to give the page dimension. I also accented the folds in her skirt with some holly green Stickles glitter glue, and added two tiny flowers at her waist. 

These art journal pages are so rewarding to me, because when I finish, I feel as though I have added a piece of myself to the page.  Plus, I have tried a new product or technique that I have never used before to express my artful feelings. I hope you all try something new to stimulate your creativity, and have a wonderful Wednesday!  Please visit again.
Mindy

Peace, Love, and Margaritas

Fiesta in San Antonio is drawing to a close this weekend. The cards for today celebrate every day here in South Texas, not only during Fiesta. We have mariachis, sombreros, and margaritas that flow 365 days a year.

The backgrounds for these cards were made from the Firefly 6 X 6 paper pad from Prima, and the guitars were cut from the Folk Art Festival cartridge from Cricut. The phrase stamp, "Peace, Love, and Margaritas" the small sombrero, the margarita glass, and peace sign are all stamps from Mark at Deadbeat Designs.  The peace sign was stamped with the Blue Raspberry ink from ColorBox and the phrase, sombrero, and margarita were stamped with Tuxedo black ink from Memento. They were then colored in with my Copic markers and the margarita glass was highlighted with Icicle Stickles.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend, whether you are out enjoying the great outdoors, or staying in. I personally, am staying in this weekend to work on some cards for next month, Mother's Day cards for the 12th of May, and a new project for a dear friend who is having a birthday near the end of May. Thank you for stopping by for a visit, and don't forget to leave a comment on my blog, to be registered for my 1 year Blog-aversary Give-Away.  See you soon.

Mindy 

Happy Fiesta 2013!

Happy Fiesta, San Antonio, 2013!

It is party-time here in San Antonio. Although many think we party everyday, our BIG party event started this weekend through next weekend. Fiesta consists of lots of food, family, and FUN throughout the city. There are carnival rides for the kids, parades and pageants for the adults, and lots of food and drink for all!

There are also lots of arts and crafts on display and for sale all over the city, especially in the venues where the special activities are being held.

My card today, is a celebrating Fiesta card, with the Pure Innocence girl from My Favorite Things stamps. The Serenity set has the cute little girl sitting in a yoga pose, but works well for a girl sitting outside with her sparkler fireworks, celebrating Fiesta!  The letters spelling out fiesta, are cut from the Folk Art Favorites cartridge from Cricut, and the fireworks are from Deadbeat Designs stamps with a piece of twine used for their stick handle. I  stamped the Serenity Girl with  Memento Tuxedo black ink on white card stock, and then colored her with my Copic Markers. The fireworks were stamped with white Color Box ink and then Stickled over with Diamonds and Starburst Stickles. The die cut letters were cut from various colors of card stock, glued on to the black card base, then outlined with a white gel pen and glitter gel pen to really make them sparkle.

The weekend is here again, and if you are out celebrating Fiesta, celebrate responsibly, and have a wonderful weekend!

I Wheelie Like You and Blogaversary Giveaway

Hello fellow Card Makers!
Today's post is very special to me. First of all, it showcases one of my favorite stamps of the new season at My Favorite Things stamps, Pure Innocence- I Wheelie Like You! and secondly, it announces my first year blog-aversary which is coming up on May 9, 2013. 

I would first like to tell you about how I created this card. I started with a black A2 size card base, and added a strip of background paper, "Firefly" by Prima Marketing.  I then stamped off my Wheelie girl on a piece of white cardstock and colored her with copic markers. After shading her shirt, jeans, and face, I fussy cut around the entire image, leaving an 1/16" border. I also stamped one of the Bannerrific borders from Lawn Fawn stamps on the white stock, and added one of the sentiments from the Wheelie girl set. I then colored the banner in, also with my copic markers.  Next I adhered my girl and her bike to the center of the card with the banner down below. I took a piece of Leaf ribbon from my stash, and glued it to the left side of the card. I added flowers with Liquid Pearls in Heather and Flamingo, and the centers with Stickles- Firefly.  I also accented the background swirls in the paper with the Firefly stickles on the right side. As soon as the liquid pearls and stickles were dry, I added a matching journaling note from Firefly-Prima to the inside of the card, so I would have a light colored area in which to write a personal message.

Now for the FUN part!  Beginning today, Monday, April 15th, through Saturday, May 11th, anytime you leave a comment on my blog post, your name will be entered to win my First Annual Blog-aversary Give-Away!  My actual blog-aversary is May 9, 2013, and to celebrate this first remarkable year, I am going to give away a wonderful prize package, most of which is from Prima, one of my favorite companies. I don't have all of the items locked in for the prize package yet, but will have a picture and list within a few days. All I can tell you is that there are a lot of FUN things included for cardmakers, scrapbookers, mixed-media artists and art journalers!  So be sure to check back regularly, or sign up to receive an email when I post.  You can do that at the top right hand corner of my blog page.  Then you will know you haven't missed a post.

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope you all have a wonderful and productive week! I will return with more goodies and projects soon.  Happy Stampin'!

You're A Doll!

Happy Spring Friends!  Today's tag's are using my Doll  stamp from Julie Nutting, and Prima Flowers. The stamp name is Doll with Peasant Dress, and it is one of my favorites right at the moment. It is about 71/4" tall and fits on the 81/2" Prima Tag beautifully. I also can't wait to use her in my Art Journal, as she will be just the right size for the pages.

The large Prima tags are pre-stamped with a light stamping of words, but they are very light and hard to read. I inked around the edges with my Tim Holtz Distress ink in Salty Ocean and then stamped the doll stamp with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I paper pieced her dress with a piece of printed scrap book paper and colored her hair and skin and shoes with my Copic markers.  I also made a faux paper casting of flowers for down the left side of the tag, using my Australian flowers Bolilio stamp from Judikins.  The bunny cut-out is from the Folk Art Fiesta cartridge from Cricut. To finish off the tag, I stamped colored dots from my Smash Inks from K & Company behind the doll and tied a length of ribbon at the top of the tag.

My second tag uses the Doll with Peasant Dress stamp also, but I hand cut a different style of Peasant Dress for her. When you paper piece a design such as this, you can easily change the clothing with just a few stamping modifications. I just masked off the bottom flounce of the dress when I stamped the image, and then put the paper pieced long dress over the body parts. After base coloring with my copic markers, I used foam tape to adhere the dress. The background of this tag is another large Prima Tag highlighted with Crushed Olive distress ink and several stampings of a daisy stamp and polka dots. My embellishments for this tag were a stamped

piece of card stock with the Damask Background stamp from Paper Wings Productions with another faux paper casting piece off a button card stamp.  On the blog  from Paper Wings Productions (click here), you can search the archives for March 5, 2013, and Dana did a tutorial on the Faux Paper Casting Technique. It is very easy to do, and turns out really great in less than half the time and less than half the expense of regular paper casting.. I also used foam tape to pop up a punched out heart which I adorned with Hydrangea Liquid Pearls.(I also drew on a little necklace with the liquid pearls.)

To complete the embellishments, I added a piece of sparkly trim at the bottom of the tag, and a piece of braid tied at the top for a hanger loop.

There are six variations of the Julie Nutting Doll stamps by Prima that have been really popular. Most of the suppliers are already out of stock, so I am on several waiting lists for the stamps when they come in.
I read somewhere that there may be more coming out in July along with a book by Julie.  I have really enjoyed her designs so far, and am looking forward to seeing more from this designer.

Which leads me to mention that my "One Year Blogaversary" is coming up on May 9, 2013. Beginning about the middle of April, I will be promoting a Give-Away that will be held during my Blogaversary. I will have a prize package to give away, and you can place your name in the drawing just by visiting and leaving a comment on my blog during the contest period. More information to come soon!
I really do appreciate the visitors that leave comments on my blog, and this will give me an opportunity to Thank you in another way.  I hope you will tell your friends about my blog, and anyone that is interested in stamping, or mixed media art. Until I visit with you again, have a great week, and keep on "Stampin".

It's Time for Bunny Hugs!

It's time for great big Bunny Hugs!
Good day one and all, hope you are having a wonderful day.  The card for today is a very "blingy"(is that a word?) bunny card.

I stamped this huggin' bunny on white card stock with black memento ink. The bunny is from the Inky Antics Clear stamp set called "Bunny #2." There are two very cute bunnies in this stamp set, and I don't know which is #2, so I will just call this one the huggin' bunny.  I'll use the other in another card later this week.

I colored this bunny with my copic markers, because I can blend and shade colors better with my copics than all of the other markers I have. The background behind the bunny is the Dandelion embossing folder from Sizzix. I ran the gray card stock and embossing folder through the Cuttlebug machine, and then punched the small heart border punch from The Punch Bunch on the top left corner. It was so plain up there in that corner, it needed something.  I also attached a small tied bow in that corner as an accent. I used foam tape to pop the bunny out from the card, so the card would look more dimensional.  I also used adhesive stick-on letters to add the phrase, "Bunny Hugs".

I then started accenting the embossed flowers of the design with pink adhesive crystals, dots of pink liquid pearls, and lots of chocolate brown stickles. I didn't accent all of the embossed dots, just most of them! ( I probably did too many, but oh well, some of us just love our bling!) All I can say is that this is one SPARKLY card!

I want to thank you for stopping by for a visit today. I hope you have enjoyed this card, I know I sure enjoyed making it. Give someone you love a "Bunny Hug" this week, and have a happy Easter! See you again soon.

Spring Break 2013

Today is the first day of Spring Break 2013 here in Texas. In honor of all those who leave town to hit the water at the beaches near by, I have created this cute little House Mouse card titled "Sail Away".

The card base is a pre-printed card with glitter and sparkle squares. I stamped out a sheet of chevrons from Hero Arts stamps on their Pool colored paper, and then cut it to size for 1/2 of the card background. I used some silver thin background strips from Dazzles to divide the various chevron stamped panels, and then adhered a border around the entire stamped part.

I then stamped the House Mouse rubber stamp with Memento black ink on specialty stamping paper, and colored it in with my copic markers. I added some stickles to the water lines to make the water stand out, and give the card some motion. After cutting out the stamped area, I popped it up with foam squares to give the card some dimension, also.  To make the banner, I cut small triangles from white card stock, stamped the letters with Versafine ink and smugged a little chalk ink around each pennant, and then used a strip of Dazzles to "hang" them across my card. I also added a tiny grosgrain ribbon where the two backgrounds met, with a bow tied at the top of the card.

I hope the weather on the Texas coast is as nice as the weather casters say it will be; sunny with no chance for rain Monday through Thursday with highs in the 70's. The water may still be a little cool for playing in the surf, but there are still may other water sports you can partake of down there.  Have fun, stay safe, and have a great week!

When Irish Eyes are Smiling. . . . .

Happy Wednesday fellow papercrafters and cardmakers!

Today's post is a St. Patrick's Day card that I made, and I really like the way it turned out. I started out with a 4" wide strip of dark green card stock and cut it at 6" long.
I then scored it at 1" from the end and attached a rectangle of light green stock 4" x 41/2" overlapping just as wide as my red-line tape. This completed the card base.

For the embelishments on this card, I cut two more scraps of card stock; one from a peach and green muted background 3" square, and one dark green stock 2"x4".  The dark green piece was the leftover from the 4" strip cut from the 8"x8" paper pad. I adhered one strip of a yellow and green print washi tape and a strip of beige tape measure style washi tape leaving a space in the middle for my handwritten sentiment banner, "When Irish Eyes are Smiling".  I then handstamped the double dot strip clear stamp from Paper Wings Productions on the left side of the card, and stamped some clover plants from the Louise clear stamp set also from Paper Wings Productions. The stem with leaves stamp and teeny heart stamps made the clover plants, then I colored them in with my Copic markers. I printed the leprechan from an online copyright-free image and colored it with copics also.  To add just the right amount of bling I dabbed a bit of Stickles in Firefly to his shirt, tie, and socks. Foam dots poped him up from the surface of the card, and a bit of peach twine was tied in a knot above his head.

I have a bit of Irish in me, but it must be just a wee bit, because the Guinness makes me woozy! (even a wee bit!) I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead, and try to make some cheery St. Patty's Day cards. (even if you aren't Irish!)

Victorian Valentine

Victorian Lady and Peacock feathers! What else could be so enchanting? Today's Valentine card is a glossy finish background of peacock feathers from DCWV (Die Cuts With a View) mat stack, mounted on a greeting card base.  I also stamped one of the Victorian Ladies from the Hero Arts Stamp and Die Set in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and colored her in with Copic Markers. She was double stick taped to the left side of the card, opposite the printed peacock feathers. The sentiment medallion was also pre-printed on the background and had a very glossy finish. Even the Staz On ink blurred when I stamped it, so I had to wipe it off and stamp the sentiment on a scrap of regular printed paper and adhere with double stick tape. (I guess in my old age, my hands are a little shaky, even with my stamping block!)

Below the medallion, I added a length of lime green adhesive lace along with a strip of red and white washi tape.  To complete the bling on the Valentine card, I made tiny hearts from hot pink Stickles and let them dry until they were firm to the touch.  When they were dry, I cut out around them and adhered them to the peacock feather "eyes" with Glossy Accents.

I hope you are enjoying these Valentine cards that I am making. Hearts are one of my favorite shapes, so Valentines Day must be one of my favorite days for making cards. I hope you get some ideas for creating some Valentines of your own this year. Until tomorrow, happy stamping!

Party Hearty . . . It's Your Birthday!

Greetings fellow stampers and paper artists!  The card for today is titled "Party Hearty" it's your birthday, and is a paper pieced card that is similar to one I saw on a Paper Wishes blog post. I am a huge Paper Wishes Fan, and love their projects and supplies. This card is made using one of their Design Template tools kit #2.

Background paper #1 purple with lt. blue polka dots is cut from "A Beautiful Life" 6 X 6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye with the Vintage Label Stencil.  Layer #2 floral print is also from "A Beautiful Life and the Vintage Sign stencil. Layer #3 is a chipboard tag covered in a yellow print from "Sunshine" 6 X 6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye, and has the sentiment "Party Hearty" stamped in Versacolor black ink from the Birthday Greetings clear stamp set from Hot Off the Press. Each end of the tag was punched with a small hole punch, and a crinkled purple ribbon was looped through the holes around the edge of the design stack of printed papers.

The stacked flower was made by punching several layers from the scraps of paper I used, and then arranged with foam tape between the layers to give the flower depth. A single bow was tied with the same ribbon used in the tag and placed behind the flower.  Finally, to add some bling to the card, I added pink Stickles to the outside edge of the tag, and small coordinating stones and pearls in among the stamped letters of the sentiment.

If you have any questions on how this card was done, or any questions or comments, please feel free to leave me a message. I would love to hear from you. See you again soon.

Winter Wonderland Card

Happy Wintertime fellow stampers!
Today was another one of those dreary days here in So. Texas where I live. The only good things about this dreary weather is that we really do need the rain that we get, plus it gives me lots to time to work on cards.

Today's card is another winter themed card with papers from the Graphic 45 line," A Place in Time." The colors for the January embellishments and papers are in shades of teal, so I used some strips of the teal printed pages attached to the card base as my background. I punched a 3 1/2" circle from white card stock and used a new metal stencil I got with  club kit I belong to. Paper Wishes/Hot off the Press has a monthly club kit that features metal stencils. Each month you get a kit with 2 metal stencils and a newsletter with lots of ideas for using the stencils, on cards, tags, scrapbook pages and the like.  They also discuss how to use different techniques and products with the stencils to help you with your projects.  When I used to work at Stamp Antonio Arts, here in San Antonio, we sold a lot of the metal stencils. I just never learned how to use them, and never seemed to have the time to take any of the classes offered.

With this stencil of the ice skates, I first traced around the inside of the stencil with a Pigma Micron .005 fine tip permanent marker. I then removed the stencil, and went over the laces and shoestrings with a heavier tip .08 fine tip permanent black marker.I also traced around the boot and heel with the larger tipped marker. The next step was to color the boot, and I used my Copic markers in Aqua shades to color them. Finally, I colored the bow with streamers and the metal blades of the skates with Ice Blue Stickles. The instructions suggested Silver Stickles, but I thought the light blue would bring the card together, especially since I was using so much of the teal blue. To complete the card I cut a tag and stamped "Winter Wonderland" on it, and shaded the edges with Ocean Water Distressed Ink and tied some Caribbean blue twine around the whole card vertically and knotted it.

This time of the year when so many people are feeling depressed and blue, I like to suggest trying something new like stamping or card making to help lift your spirits. Just trying one thing new each day will help you boost your self esteem and help you feel like you really have accomplished something. So get out there and try a new technique, or even use new colors in your stamping that you have never used before. Then share it with a friend, and make someone else HAPPY!  See you soon.

Need a Little Pick-up?

Greetings Friends,
Christmas is just a little less than two weeks away, and who doesn't "need a little pick-up" at this time?  As I was rummaging through some of my stamps, I found this pick-up truck from Deadbeat Designs, and thought wouldn't that make a great card during all this Christmas frenzy.

I want to mention first of all, that this card is not finished!  It is still a work in progress.  I started out by making a trifold card from a sheet of heavy printed scrapbook paper. I stamped out the truck on white card stock, colored it with my copic markers and glitter pen, then fussy cut it out to adhere it to the front of the card, right on the edge. You can see the edge going down through the windshield. I left a little tab at the bottom for the phrase, also from Deadbeat Designs.
When you open the front flap of the card, you see the second page, where I have placed a Hero Arts  house, stamped on watercolor paper with StazOn ink and colored with my Inktense watercolor pencils. I then cut it out, and glued it to the far left of the card so it wouldn't show from the front. I also punched a cute little butterfly to put in the "sky" area.

Then as you open the last flap of the card, I added an area where I can stamp a sentiment, or hand write a personal message. Below this area, I added a flower and leaf cluster that I had in my copic coloring "goody box".  One of those items I was practicing coloring on, and when finished just stuck it in the envelope and never wrote down the stamp name or who it was from.   I need to add a little more detail to the front and second page of the card, maybe some trees or mountains, or maybe a cactus or two since I am in Texas.  If you have any suggestions, comment on this post and let me know what you think it needs.  I sit down and piddle with it while I am watching TV in the evenings, between Christmas chores and decorating.

I have also been working on my Christmas cards, and almost have them completed. I hope to complete them this weekend, so I can get them into the mail, and post the finished product on this blog.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and that you enjoy all of the happenings of the season. See you again, soon.

To Say Thank You!

I want to say Thank You to everyone who visits my blog. I really appreciate your visits and comments. From now through October 30, 2012, anyone who leaves a comment on any of my blog posts, will be entered to win a  drawing for a Christmas Greetings clear stamp set from Hot Off the Press. Remember: The more comments you leave, the better your chances of winning.

There are 27 acrylic stamps in this set, perfect for adding to your holiday cards, scrapbook pages, or home decorations.  Some of the greetings are even suitable for inside and outside of your holiday cards, both sentiments in one set.

I have used one of the greetings from this set on my card sample of the day. I stamped the greeting and holly design in Memento ink, and used my Copic markers to fill in the letters.

Next, I tied a bow from red sheer ribbon and adhered a green sheer ribbon band around the white base. Adhere the white base to the red card and adhere the red bow to the center of the green band.

Punch 7 holly leaves from green card stock with a Martha Stewart punch, and break down the sizing in the card stock and dry emboss vein lines on the leaves with a ball stylus. I then accented the vein lines with a green ink pen. Glue 4 of the leaves around and among the red sheer bow and 3 leaves clustered in the top right corner of the  card. I then stamped tiny snowflakes from the stamp set above the wreath in Baby Blue Memento ink.  Embellish holly leaves with red gemstones for berries, and use Stickles on the stamped berries and snowflakes to finish your card and give it some sparkle.




Now is the time to start working on your holiday cards.  Don't be like me and wait until the last minute to do your cards, or everyone on your list will be getting theirs for New Years!  Ho Ho Ho!

Two Projects to Share

 Hello friends,
I have two projects to share with you today. The first is an Artist Trading Card that I made for a special friend. She is always been one for adventure, and she is about to embark on another great one. So I made this tiny 21/2" X 31/2"  decorated pocket with card to send her, and she can even take it with her if she likes.
I started out with a 3" X 7" piece of printed scrap book paper, and folded it to within 1" of the top and stapled it with my tiny attacher by Tim Holtz.  I punched the top corners with a corner decorative punch, and stamped a beautiful butterfly stamp on a scrap of stock, colored it with copic markers, cut it out, used Stickles glitter to glam it up, then let it dry and cut it out!  I then attached the butterfly to the pocket with foam tape to make it pop out just a bit.

To make the card, I spritzed the background  (21/2" X 31/2") with Dylusions spray from Ranger, in several colors to really make it colorful. Then I attached the card which is a print itself from the Travel Travelogue paper collection from Graphic 45 papers.  It just slips in the little pocket for a greeting-to-go! You can also write a special message on the pocket front, or on the back of the ATC card like I did.  Janice, have a nice Trip!

The second project for today is a greeting card made from a deco arts mannequin stamp that I just love. I stamped it out on white card stock with black memento ink. The base stand of the mannequin was too large for the front of the card, so I just cut it off and stamped out a flat daisy to use as the base. All of the coloring was done with Copic markers and I accented the center of the flower and the star on her chest with Sepia crystal accents, just to give it a little texture. I found a lovely tiny rose print scrap book paper for the background, and stamped the cancellation stamp from the Tropical Travelogue Stamp Set from Graphic 45 in the empty space. It needed just a touch more to complete the card, so I added a ribbon with knot lengthwise around the card.

I love the phrase on her skirt that says; "Nothing is more important than this day!" So go out there and make it a good one.  See you again soon.

CROWN JEWELS theme ATC's for September

The second theme for the September ATC trade was Crown Jewels. Since there was so much in the press about Prince Harry's escapades while he was in Las Vegas recently, I decided to do a spoof of the headline on my Artist Trading Card.

On the front, I printed off the headline on a piece of white stock, and  inked the edges with black soot chalk. This was an outer pocket. Then on the inner pocket that slides out, I stamped the English flag stamp on white stock, inking the stamp with the fired brick and faded denim Distress Markers by Tim Holtz.

On the inner most card I printed a sticker that read, "personally I don't see what all the fuss is about!" and stamped an image of a large crown and embellished it with stick-on gemstones and lots of stickles to make it really sparkly!

It really caused a chuckle at the trading card meeting. Everyone broke out in laughter, and I was so surprised, it really made my day!

I guess they were expecting something else????????????

Have a wonderful day, and a great weekend. This only goes to show you that a little thing like this card can cause  laughter, which in many ways is considered the best medicine.