Life is Good

Here's a bright card that I created while watching the snow fall. I wanted something bright and cheery! I chose the Party Paws-Bamboo set. He's this adorable little panda holding a giant flower and butterfly. I stamped him with my Memento Tuxedo Black onto the Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock sold by Crafter's Companion. I will tell you it makes a HUGE difference when coloring!! The colors do not bleed at all. You can see that by the dark grey I used on the bear. Nothing bleeds at all. I wouldn't use anything else when I color.

I colored him in using my Spectrum Noir markers (Blender, PL1, PL2, PL3, JG7, LG5, OR1, OR3, IG10, IG2, IG1, FS2, PP1, CT1, CT2, CT4 and BT1).  I hope you can see the subtle sky, shadow under his feet and shadowing on his belly/face I did with the IG1 marker. Gives a ton of dimension to your images.

I stuck him behind this little Polaroid type frame I had with a perfect sentiment snuck in there...Life is Good. I chose a coordinating patterned paper, a little sewn embellishment at the top and glued to my kraft base. Fun and cheery card for any occasion. Hope you enjoyed my project.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I can't believe 2013 has come and gone (good riddance for many reasons!) and 2014 is upon us. With my son's birthday party, his actual birthday, and many Christmas celebrations, I'm starting 2014 a bit behind on my crafty projects. So, I'll be posting several projects over the next couple of days to catch up.

My first project is a pretty little card that can be sent to a friend to simply put a smile on their face! I used the Stamp-It Australia, Ornate Accessories for this card design along with Distress Inks in Tea Dye and Old Paper. I stamped them onto kraft paper. I also used Memento Tuxedo Black and Memento Luxe in Grey Flannel. I wanted it to have a worn, comfortable look. I also used my Dew Drop in Cosmic Copper (for the ornate circular frame and the text block). When turned in the light, it gives a slight sheen. I also spritzed on a few bursts with the Memento Fireworks spray in Desert Sand. Next time, I'll use even more!!

 

I then distressed the edge of the kraft piece, stamped onto my tag and used a yellow brad for a pop of color in the punched hole of the tag. I adhered that with foam adhesive to the stamped background and then used foam adhesive on the back of that to adhere to my pretty watercolored patterned paper I chose. You can just see a peek of it, but it's really very pretty. Thanks for stopping by!

Santa Bear

I have another Christmas card I have created. I'm using these as my cards for family members and friends so that everyone gets a unique to them card. Plus, I get to give away these cards I'm creating and let people enjoy a handmade card from us this year. Photo cards just never happened. Hey, when you're a photographer, your family is the LAST to get photographed. Well, there's always next year, right??

I've got an adorable bear dressed as Santa from the Popcorn the Bear, Santa Bear stamp set from Crafter's Companion. He's a bigger stamp, which I love because then he becomes the focal point! I stamped him with Memento Tuxedo Black on white card stock. I colored him in with Spectrum Noir markers (TN1, TN2, TN3, TN5, TN7, IG3, IB1, DR1, DR5, DR6 and Blender).

I ran my patterned card stock from my stash through my Cuttlebug using my Darice Harlequin Embossing Folder from Crafter's Companion. It adds just a little bit of texture to the card.

I added a snowflake, small rhinestones to the edges, and a simple sentiment in the center from the Sentimentals, Christmas Magic set. I stamped it in white ink on a piece of red card stock from my stash. I freehand cut the edges to give it some interest. I adhered that and the snowflake with the Crafter's Companion square foam adhesive. LOVE those.

There you go! Hope you enjoyed my little Santa bear card. Thanks for stopping by.

Crafter's Companion Monthly Challenge

Happy hump day! I've got a fun challenge for you to participate in and make it over that hump in the week to the weekend of what I'm sure is packed full of holiday festivities.

Join the Crafter's Companion monthly challenge for December with the theme of RIBBONS/TWINE! I chose to use the Stamp-It Australia Twinkle sets for this project. I used the Christmas Happiness and Believe for this card. I inked them up with Memento Tuxedo Black and stamped them on my kraft piece.

I then took the snowflake images from the Believe set and inked those up with my Distress ink, Tea Dye and stamped them here and there. I wanted them to be pretty faint, but fill in the open space!

After I stamped it, I then colored in the holly leaves with my Spectrum Noir markers (CG1, CG2, CG4) just to give it a little color.

After that, I rubbed some of my Delicata, Golden Glitz ink here and there on the card to give it a sheen when you turn it in the light. See the photo below (hopefully you can see the little bit of shimmer). Adds just a little gentle sparkle. Dab it on your finger and just kind of swipe it across the area you'd like.

For the little bits that look like snow, I used my white spray mist and flicked on the color.

Once dry, I glued on my pretty aqua ribbon/trim at the top. I then took another piece of this awesome red fiber I had in my stash for a loooong time and wrapped that around the top. I taped it onto the back; you'll never see it! I then glued my kraft piece to my white card base and there you go! Vintage Christmas card DONE!

I hope you play along with us this month. Pop on over to the blog to enter! Read all the rules and details there as well. You have until

Lawnscaping Winter Blog Hop 2013

Welcome to the Lawnscaping Winter Blog Hop! I'm very excited to be participating in this hop :) As you can see from the image above, the theme for the hop is WINTER!! What better timing, right? For my project, I chose to make a Christmas banner for my china cabinet. I had purchased this simple banner kit this past fall on clearance (under $4!) so I couldn't wait to get started with decorating it. 

First, here are the details for this fun filled hop. There will be LOTS of prizes. The specific information about the sponsors and prizes can be found by visiting the Lawnscaping home page. Leave comments on every blog that is participating in the hop for your chance to win. You can leave comments up until Sunday, December 15 at 11:59pm EST. 

You should have arrived from Taylor Usry's blog. Next, you will want to move on to Karin and continue hopping!!! Good luck and enjoy the winter blog hop from Lawnscaping.

And now on to my project...

Here is the banner I created for the winter themed project and then close ups of each pennant to show you the details I used. I have listed the products I used below (some items are from my stash so I don't have those!). Thanks for stopping by and enjoy hopping along!!! Thanks for visiting.

Supplies Used:

KIT-Banner Kit by Canvas Corporation

PAPERS-Teresa Collins, XMas Ads (newspaper print & red and white deer); Little Yellow Bicycle, Christmas Village and Brown/Black Dots; others in my stash

STAMPS: Sweet Stamp Shop, Monogram It; Stampin' Up!, Stitched Stockings; Technique Tuesday, Kids Are Cool by Ali Edwards; Pink Paislee, Sentiment Series; Lawn Fawn, Winter Gifts, Milo's ABCs, Into the Woods, Winter Sparrows.

INKS: Memento, Tuxedo Black; Memento Luxe, Pistachio; Versamagic, Sugarcane; Distress Inks, Old Paper, Iced Spruce, Festive Berries, and Tea Dye.

SPECTRUM NOIR MARKERS: DG2, DG3, DR5, DR7

OTHER: Kaiser Craft, chipboard letters; Maya Road, Snowflake Transparencies; Stampin' Up!, Stitched Stockings Punch; Crafter's Companion, Spray & Sparkle Glitter Varnish-Iridesent; Mister Huey Color Mist, Warm Calico and White. 

ADHESIVE: Crafter's Companion, Foam Squares; Xyron, Mega Runner.

CardMaker Magazine Joint Blog Hop

Happy December! Today, I'm participating in the joint blog hop with Crafter's Companion and CardMaker Magazine. I have a cute little Christmas card for you today.

I used a kraft colored card base (yes, I'm slightly obsessed) and some festive green patterned paper from my stash. I then stamped and colored in the image which is from Mulberry Wood-Giving. I love the sweet moose artwork! I used my Spectrum Noir markers (FL3, BT7, PL3, JG5, HB3, OR1, BP5, CR10, DR3, CR3, LG3, LG4, LG5, GB1, GB8, GB9, GB10, TN4, TN7, IG2, IG4, BG2 and Blender). I cut out the image in a rectangle shape and rounded two corners to mimic the corners I rounded on the card base and patterned paper piece. I then distressed the edges to add interest.

The sentiment is from the Stamp-It Twinkle, Believe set. Very simply stamped in black on white cardstock and I cut in a rectangle and distressed the edges as well. I glued that down underneath the moose image. I then added a few clusters of white pearls as well as adding some white spray mist which I unscrew the top and use the actual wand and dotted the mist on over the drawn snowflakes on the stamp.

Here is the list of amazing designers participating in the blog hop:

CardMaker

Kendra Wietstock

Mary Dawn Quirindongo

Stacy Morgan

Khristen Foss

Laurel Beard

Chrissie Tobas

Alice Golden

Stacy Harper Watson

Denise Coulter
Christiana Reuling

Michelle Woerner

Roxanne O'Brien <<<YOU ARE HERE!>>>

Trena Brannon

Leah Lucescu

Rosemary Dennis

Tenia Nelson

Stephanie Severin

Jennifer Ingle

Latisha Yoast

Taylor Usry

Crafter’s Companion

Please visit all the blogs listed above to see the amazing projects created for this special event and be sure to visit the Crafter's Companion USA Facebook page and fill out the entry form there for your chance to win some AMAZING prizes. 

Two Prize Packs will be given away on the Facebook page.  Each will include a stamp, 2 six-marker sets, an embossing folder & a CardMaker Subscription. 

Have fun hopping around!!! 

Good luck :)

H-OWL-iday Card

I just adore owls. So I grabbed my Mulberry Wood-A Christmas Gift set and stamped them with my Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad onto the Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock. I colored them in with my Spectrum Noir markers (CG1, CG2, CG3, CR1, CT1, DG2, DG3, DR5, DR7, FS3, CR11, EB1, EB2, EB5, TN7, BT1, JG2, BT5, IG1, IG2 and the Blender pen). After I was done coloring, I cut around the image leaving a slight border.

For the card, I chose a kraft colored base (all my cards are 4.25x11, scored and folded to 4.25x5.5). I chose two scraps of holiday paper I had on hand and my Centura Pearl cardstock. I embossed the snowflake background with dies I have. It creates an embossed look without cutting it. This works great with this Centura Pearl stock because it's heaver. I ran it through my Cuttlebug several times and it pushed the dies into the paper but didn't cut through. Worked perfectly. Here it is on an angle so you can see how that looks.

I chose to put everything on a diagonal for interest. I cut and glued down the snowflake embossed piece, and then glued the patterned strips over that. I trimmed them to the edges of the card. I then took my owl image and used foam adhesive squares from Crafter's Companion to give it some dimension.

For the sentiment, I had some kraft colored stickers on hand. I used the "With Love this festive season" from the Sentimentals-Jingle Bells set. It fit perfectly onto the sticker. I snuck that in behind the holly on an angle as well. And finished! I hope you liked my card.

HAPPY CRAFTING!

Friendship & Flowers

I've got a cute little card that would be great for sending to a friend just because! It would brighten up her day I'm sure.

I have a tutorial showing you the steps I used for coloring, with my Spectrum Noirs, this little girl image which is from Sheena A Little Bit Skethy-Busy Doing Nothing. Please see below and I hope it helps you with any shading questions you might have. Once you get it down pat, it's super easy. Just takes a little time to color, but I do LOVE to color...

The sentiment is from the newest Crafter's Companion release called Everyday Sentimentals which are available on November 22nd. You will definitely want these!!!! Trust me :)

So, let's get on with it!

#1 - Start with coloring her face. I used FS2 for the full coloring of it all. It lays down a nice light base.

#2 - I went in and added some simple shading under the sleeve, elbow, hairline, eyes, wrist and fingers with FS3. I went in with just a touch of FS6 for a few spots. 

#3 - I colored the "sky" in with BT1 and you can see it's not fully even like a sky with clouds would be. I then color all over with the blender to smooth out any marker lines.

#4 - I colored the center of the flower with GB5. And I flicked on the yellow for the petals with CT1 and went back around the center of the flower to add darker highlights in CT3. The ground was colored in with DG2 and I went in with darker areas with DG3. 

#5 - I colored her dress using PL1. I wanted to show you the difference between the dress without and with shading from #5 to #6. You can clearly see how much detail the shading adds in the next photo!! For the hair, I used an all over color of EB1 and went in with some darker areas in EB2. I used the palette blending method (see THIS video on YouTube for instructions) to add in the darker areas you see with TN7. I use this method allllll the time. Seriously will change your coloring!

#6 - I went in with the palette blending method again using PL2 to pick up PL4 and added in the dress areas. You can see the difference, right? You just want to add in some shadows in her dress where fabric would normally look darker; folds, neckline, by the bow.

#7 - I chose to color her bow in grey using BG2. 

#8 - Again, with the palette blending method, I picked up BG8 with my BG4 marker to add in the bow shadows. 

And here's another shot of the finished card. I hope my stepped out photos helped you with seeing a coloring project from start to finish. Thanks for stopping by!

For the One I Love...

I'm back again with another card I created for the newest release from Sheena's A Little Bit Scenic-Seascapes! For this card, I chose the puffin image. I just LOVE these birds (no, they are not penguins!). I watched a special once on these fascinating feathered friends and their beauty is just breathtaking. I'm an animal lover anyway :)

I used my Spectrum Noir markers (IG1, IG2, CR10, IG6, IG8, BT1, OR1, OR2, GB5, GB6, DG4, and Blender) to color him in. Generally I will Google the image I'm coloring for a specific animal or flower to get the colors accurate and true to life. That's a great tip in case you're unsure. Puffins have more than just orange on their beaks. They have a strip of yellow! Stunning colors...


I colored him and diecut him out in a simple circle shape. I used BT1 to color in a "sky" around him although it's hard to see in the photo since it really is subtle. I then took a piece of vellum and used my Flowers & Vines embossing folder from Crafter's Companion.

I have a simple kraft card base, to which I glued the embossed vellum onto. I then took a strip of an olive green to match the grass under the puffin's feet. I used a die to cut the scalloped shape out as well as the small dot pattern. I then glued that to the vellum.

For the sentiment, I simply used the "For the One I Love" stamp from the Bebunni Peek-A-Boo set. I cut a pennant shape on one end and used 2 small staples in an X pattern on the end for interest. I glued that down to the olive scalloped shape. I then used my foam squares and tucked the puffin circle behind the little pennant sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

Seashell Discoveries

Hi there! Since it's getting colder, and winter is upon us, I wanted something to remind me of the warm days of summer. What can I say? I like the warmer weather vs. the cold/snow/ice! This set I used is from the brand new release from Sheena's A Little Bit Scenic-Sea Shells.

I took my Spectrum Noirs and went to town coloring all the seashells. I used FS3, FS6, EB1, EB2, PL1, BG4, GB5, GB6, GB7, GB10, BG1, BG2, BG6, BG8, BG10, TN7, CT1, BGR1, and the blender pen and colored them all in. I then cut out each one and set them aside.

For the base, I chose an aqua shimmery cardstock to look like the sea, and then a brown panel that mimicked the sand. I stamped the sentiment from the set on a plain white cardstock with black ink and cut it in a simple strip to go across the card at the bottom. Once I had all that glued on, I just used foam squares and started layering them until I liked the placement.

Here's another shot from the side:

I love the summery feel! Did you?

Crafter's Companion November Challenge`

Crafter's Companion has a new Holiday/Christmas challenge for November. One lucky winner will be chosen at random to win a £30 / $30 voucher from Crafter’s Companion, Ltd. For my project this month, I used the Mulberry Woods set that I LOVE (I have a thing for owls) called Wish Upon a Star. 

I used my Memento Tuxedo Black to stamp my owls onto a white card base. I then colored it in with my Spectrum Noirs (CT2, CT4, TN7, TN8, EB1, EB2, GB10, GB6, GB8, EB5, TN2, DG3, PL4, LV2, CG1, CG3, DR1, DR7, DR5, IG1, BT1). I also used a glitter pen I have to add a little sparkle to the snow, stocking tops and the hat on the large owl. It's hard to see in the photo. 

I went and sponged on my Distress Inks in Evergreen Bough and Tea Dye to add to card base. I did use BT1 to add a "sky" around the tree, but I wanted a little more to draw your eye to the image. 

I stamped the Celebrate the Season sentiment in the lower right corner from the Sentimentals-Jingle Bells set in Delicata, Golden Glitz (coming soon). I heat embossed it to make it stand out on the card. 

I hope you'll join us this month and enter the Crafter's Companion Holiday/Christmas challenge.  It's a great way to not only get some of your holiday cards done, but to also have a chance to win some goodies. Simply make a project – a card, a scrapbook page, a box, a bag, a tag, a bookmark, a bit of home decor, an altered journal….anything that has Christmas or winter theme with a Crafter's Companion product.  You can find more info here. The Design Team will also choose their favorite top 3 creations.  If you are a chosen you will get a blinkie to display proudly on your blog. There will be a CARD OF THE MONTH winner, as well.  If your card is chosen as card of the month you will be featured on the Crafter’s Companion newsletter. You will also get a blinkie to display on your blog.