Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Black Magic

Today I am posting the cards that we will be making in a coming up in July at Priceless Scrapbooks. I borrowed one of the layouts from a stamper on SCS and I will go back later and get her name and give her proper credit. It is the card with the black magic technique done as the background. Here are the cards:

The dsp used on a couple of the cards is from Bo Bunny. I used Brilliance white ink and Prismacolor colored pencils to do my coloring. A few accents were added using a white gel pen.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

A challenging color challenge

A second post from me today because I finally got a chance to play in one of the SCS challenges. Tuesday is the day for the color challenge and the colors today were a bit intimidating. I love Bermuda Bay, but on the fence with Dusty Durango...I could take it or leave it....but Crushed Curry????? Well.....I'm not a big yellow person anyway, but this one just never grew on me.  I was a little surprised that this card came rather easily. I wasn't real sure where I was going with it as I made it, but in the end, I am rather pleased with what I came up with. (don't look too closely or you will see that my sentiment is slightly crooked)
I used the SU! set Kind and Caring Thoughts and used markers to color the image. I tapped the tips of the flowers with the orange marker to add a little color to the ends. I added just a bit of glitter to the flowers. The scallops around the wide oval punch were done by punching two of the scallop oval punches and putting one each on the top and bottom. The little bit of empty space in the middle was done with the modern label punch. The rounded edges of that punch are just long enough to peek out from under the oval and finish the scallops around it. The conchos are from Close to My Heart and have been in my stash for about 300 years! I think that's about it for today...thanks for stopping in!!

Greetings from Florida!

I paid a visit to Las Vegas Stamps in search of a particular image and found this cute stamp while I was there. This is just so classic, I had to have it! As for the card, it is what it is...5 1/4" square of Pacific Point card stock. I used a Martha Stewart border/corner punch combo to make the next layer from Tangerine Tango. The little shells hiding on the next layer are from a Bo Bunny set I picked up a while back but had never inked up. I was amazed at ow realistic the images were and I will have to playing with that set a bit more! The main image was colored with Copic markers. The orange and blue color scheme was very deliberate...GO GATORS!!!!!
BTW....I found the stamp I was looking for that caused me to go to the Las Vegas Stamps site, and a lot more potential purchases. They have some of the most unique images!!! It was my first visit to their site, but surely won't be the last!!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Bentley Jailbreak

Bentley has made a break for it!! After nine long months on the inside, he has made his debut! Bentley is one of the four new sets released by Totally Stampalicious last week and in honor of two of the new sets (Bentley and JJ Pregnant) we are making baby cards as this week's challenge at the TS blog.
I tried to keep Bentley in monochromatic tones and added just a hint of color with the red on the little heart on his ball and chain. I repeated that design in the ball and chain I added to the sentiment. I made the chain by punching 1/2 inch circles from a piece of black card stock and then going back over the scrap and centering the punched circle in a 3//4 inch circle punch to get the little rings. Now I have to say that getting these little rings linked and glued down was a bit tedious and I almost gave up. But I figured if Bentley could do nine months, I could spend a few more minutes getting this chain together and here it is!
Now the background paper is actually part of a bag hubby and I got from a gift shop when we went to visit Fort Clinch on Amelia Island about seven or eight years ago. It was one of the few day trips we took while I was on spring break. (We really need to do that more often) The bag was made to look like an old newspaper, so I just cut a piece of it out, distressed it by crumbling, inking, and tearing, and then adding it to a piece of black card stock that had been embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.
The edges of the images layer were done with the faux burnt edges technique that I learned last summer over at Splitcoast Stampers. Tear the edges, and distress with three progressively darker colors of distress inks. I used Brushed Burlap, Walnut Stain, and Black Soot. Just a little sponging on the label to give it a more aged look. Image is colored with Copic markers mostly in the warm gray family. Wow! That was involved! I really need to work at doing some clean and simple cards!
Now, if you want to play along and win fabulous prizes, just make up a baby card and post a link to it from the TS blog. I'm headed off to the very same thing even though I'm not eligible to win any of the prizes. Let's see what you come up with!!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Birthday Turtle


I had a few scraps of Cottage Wall dsp in a little bag that I laid on my new work desk while doing my stamp room overhaul. I love this paper with my favorite purple and green color combo! I think there are just a couple of little scraps left after making this card, so don't be surprised if you see one more card made with this paper...can't bear to just toss it!

I picked up this cute little freebie digi image a couple of weeks ago. I'm pretty sure it's a Bugaboo, but I'll probably be back to edit when I discover that I'm wrong! I colored him with Copic markers. I added a little texture to his body and shell by using a clear Copic blender and just making little dots all over. There's that Cuttlebug embossing folder again in the background! Can you tell I love this one?

I have just a little homework to finish for my online reading class, and then I hope to be able to stamp most of the day...I'll clean tomorrow when hubby is off at work! 

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Friendship with Max and Whiskers

I needed a friendship card and I thought this cute image from My Favorite Things was perfect for the occasion. I love all the MFT images with the big pooches in them. Decided to use my newly purchased Max and Whiskers papers to go with it. I have to admit, the layout is completely borrowed from a card I saw on Splitcoast Stampers, but as it was one of several I printed out on one sheet of paper, I don't know who to give credit...I'm sorry! Card stock used was Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, and Bermuda Bay. Perfect colors for the Play Date Cafe color challenge. Image is colored with Copic markers. Thanks for stopping in today.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Totally Stampalicious Blog Hop

WELCOME to the fourth STOP of our
JUNE RELEASE BLOG HOP!
Totally Stampalicious will be giving away some really great prizes to THREE randomly selected winners
so be sure to comment on every blog to increase your chances!! The GRAND PRIZE
is ALL FOUR STAMP SETS from this
FABULOUS New Release!!
You only have until 9PM EST Friday, June 25th so get hoppin'!!

The Stamp Sets are available NOW at
Totally Stampalicious
and don't forget they are now accepting ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS as well as Paypal!!
They will also be offering FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE for a limited time on all orders over $50!!!

Now onto our fun and fabulous Blog Hop!! I just KNOW the Design Team has come up
with some really AWESOME eye candy to showcase our newest stamp sets designed by
Jodie Mackrell of Bugaboo Stamps!
Please know that our Free Digi Promotion is NOT offered with any of the Totally
Stampalicious Stamps by Bugaboo!

You should have arrived at my blog from Monique's. The fun all begins at the Totally Stampalicious blog, so if you came to my blog first, you may want to hop over the the TS blog so you don't miss out on any of the wonderful creations from the whole design team.

Here are my cards using two of the newly released images:

My first card uses the fabulously handsome, Chef Pierre. I used the Nook and Pantry papers from Basic Gray to go along with the sentiment that is on the inside of the card.

The sentiment says: "You're like fine wine....complex and a little fruity!" I love it!!
I have been wanting to make a clear card for a while now. The last time I gave into this urge, I ended up making about 6 of them before I got it out of my system. This one used Gus and Stella Marriage.
The inside says "then again, so does insanity!" All images on my cards were colored with Copic markers.

Now it's time to hop on over to Melissa's Blog to see what she's cooked up
for us!

And here is the entire Blog Hop line-up just in case there are any hiccups along
the way!!
Totally Stampalicious

Cindy Haffner's Corner

Monique - For The Love of Paper

Lynnor - Just Add Glitter

Melissa - My Paper Obsession

Laurie - On the Bright Side


Becky - Stampin' For Fun

Patricia - Stamping With Kokirose

Joycelyn - Stamps 'n' Coffee

Vicki - Summerthyme Studio

Stacy - Twinshappy

Sue - Coffeestamper (Splitcoast Gallery)

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Make mine a triple!

The ice cream cravings have been really strong lately, I think it's the really hot weather we've been having. It's not typically quite this hot in June in Florida. Usually into July or August before it gets as nasty as it's been lately. I finally gave in to the craving this afternoon. After spending the day at Silver Springs attraction with Kyi, I bought a half gallon of strawberry cheesecake ice cream to take home. I didn't make it out of the ice cream aisle though without also getting a little single serve container of chocolate chip cookie dough flavor for the trip home. Now, honestly, this really was a single serve container...very tiny! I could have eaten one of those whole pint cartons and claimed it was single serve, but the scale seems to know the difference and I would have regretted it in the long run. It was sooooo yummy!! Had to do a little knee driving, but it was worth it! Kyli was already safely dropped off at home before I went for that no hands approach to driving!
Anyway.....I have seriously had ice cream on the brain, and yesterday, I had to use this cute little set from SU! I've had it for months I think and never inked it up! I had never cut into these papers either, so those were the colors I ended up using.
Tomorrow is set for a major overhaul on my stamping asylum. I have a desk to move in there, so I will go ahead and completely redo the room. Hasn't had a big clean out since we moved in three years ago. I did some changes last summer, but it really needs it again! Thanks for stopping in...if you don't hear from me before Friday...someone had better send out a search party! I may have been overcome by the mess in my room!!

Monday, June 21, 2010

TS Monday Challenge

The challenge this week over at Totally Stampalicious is to make a card using fabric somewhere on your creation. I dug out this canvas sheet I bought years ago at a craft store we had in town. The store closed a couple of years ago and had remodeled at least once since I bought this stuff! It had a clearance tag on it, so I wonder how old it really is. It came in a pack of 5 sheets and was designed to be run through a printer.  I stamped on it using Sean from Totally Stampalicious. I colored on the canvas using Copic markers and frayed the edges a bit.
I went digging through my stash for my embellishments and came up with this metal tags that reminded me of boy stuff. They say "discover" and "explore" and came from the same store and situation as the canvas. I stamped the sentiment "A little dirt never hurt" on the inside. I found these old SU! papers in my stash and thought the colors were appropriate for a boy card, so I colored the image with these papers in mind.Then I was looking for a way to dress it up a little without it being too girly and lookie!!! The MS border punch matches the papers exactly!!! How cool is that???? I love it!! It's so cool when you are able to use some of those things you have in your stash and never used.
The challenge isn't the only reason to hop over to the TS blog this week. We will be having a blog hop later this week for the release of four more new images of Jodie Mackrell's designs! They are so cute!! So dig out some of that fabric I know you have in your stash and get stamping and enter it into the Monday challenge. Then be sure to stop back Thursday evening to join in the fun of the blog hop!! See you there!!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

I went to the Friday night crop at Priceless, the LSS, last night. Had about eight ladies there last night and it was so much fun!! My friend Penny showed up with her Card Maker magazine with a mission for me. There was a card with an unusual fold that she wanted to learn how to make, so I detoured what I was working on to see if I could figure out the directions to make the fold used on the card. Turned out to be pretty simple and here is what I came up with:
I was also working with the Black Magic technique for the first time, so I incorporated the two techniques. The papers and stamps are all by Bo Bunny. I used a variety of punches for the borders and accents. The Black Magic is done by stamping white pigment ink on a dark card stock. After the ink is dry (mine was encouraged to dry faster with a heat tool) the images are colored with colored pencils. Added a little sparkle to then centers of the flowers with a clear glitter gel pen. Here is a look at the fold from another angle:
Penny ended up taking the card with her with a different sentiment on it. She needed a birthday card today, so we changed the sentiment to "wish big" and she took it home with her.
My summer vacation had its official start yesterday! I have some work to do for an online class I am taking, but I hope to be able to get some organizing done and then stamp, stamp, STAMP!!! Thanks for stopping in today!!! Happy stamping!!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

A Summer Smile

It's just about too hot to smile here lately...in the upper nineties with a heat index in the mid to upper hundreds! I love this digi image from Mo's Digital Pencil. I bought a little pool like this one the other day for my granddaughter to play in. I may end up in it first if this early heat keeps up!The papers are some of the new ones from Bo Bunny. The image is colored with Copic  markers and the little smile sentiment was cut using a Slice machine. To make the sun, I punched a couple of circles from the dsp, added clear ep and heat embossed, and layered it to make it dimensional. All in all, a pretty simple card. Thanks for stopping in today!! Keep cool!

Monday, June 14, 2010

TS Monday Challenge...make a masculine card

I had a surprise grad announcement show up in the mail box for my first cousin's oldest son. I know that makes him a cousin, too, but I don't know all the correct descriptions for what kind of cousin he is. The challenge at Totally Stampalicious to make a masculine card was perfect timing for me. Teen boys are so hard to make cards for, but this frog is cool enough for just about any teen! He's one of the original images from TS and still one of my favorites! I found these papers a while back over at Hobby Lobby. I had never seen this company before and only at HL. It's called a Glitz Pack and the line is called Hey Dude. They are really cool papers for guys....lots of rock and grunge designs in these great neutral colors with just a splash of bright. I used SU!'s star punches to make layered starts for the bg. Stamped the sentiment on the largest of the stars. The frog was colored with Copic markers and then I went over the whole image with Versamark and clear embossing powder to give him some stiffness when I cut him out. He is popped up on dimensionals and has a great shine to him. I'm pretty pleased with how this came out. I added a couple of graduation sentiment stickers to the inside which is finished off with a layer of the light paper since I used a really dark brown card stock for the base.
I bet there's a Father's Day, graduation, or birthday card for a male you have on your list of things to do, so why not make it up and enter it in the TS challenge this week. This week they are giving away a set of stamps...the Hawt Dawg set that is so versatile and wonderful for masculine cards.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Magnolia on Bo Bunny

It's always dangerous for me when the LSS gets in new Bo Bunny papers and accessories because I just LOVE BO Bunny papers! Well, Tricia, the owner of our LSS, really did it to me this time!! She got in 4 new lines of Bo Bunny at one time!!! I had to have nearly every piece of three of them. I made this card with them Friday night. Kept it simple as it was my last card of the night and I'm not worth a whole lot after 8 pm.This was made at more like 9:30 and since I was "on the road," it was also made with limited supplies.
The image is a Magnolia I colored up with Copic markers. You can't see it, but she is all sparkly on her wings, crown, and flowers where I added glitter gel pen accents.
This was made for a friend who was also at the crop. Her birthday was yesterday and they had a small celebration for her at the store on Saturday, though I couldn't be there for that with all the grad stuff going on for my granddaughter. Dinner at the Olive Garden, was delish, by the way! My little granddaughter Kyli was with us and she ate so much we thought she was going to pop...salad, tomatoes, olives, bread sticks, calamari, Bo Bo's soup.....and that was before she got her dinner which she ate most of....mac and cheese! I've never seen her eat so much! Guess she really likes Olive Garden!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Graduation day

Today was graduation day for one of our granddaughters, Chelsea. Those of you who check in here regularly know that I have a granddaughter who is here most weekends and any other chance I get to steal her away...that's Kyli, my only biological grandchild so far. Through my husband's children, I have also been blessed with 6 other grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. One of the oldest graduated this morning from one of the local high schools. She had nearly 500 classmates, so the ceremony was very long and very crowded! Here are a couple of shots of her special day.
The two mugs behind Chelsea are me and my ever-tolerant hubby. He sure puts up with a lot from me! Here is the card I made for Chelsea. I've known this day was coming for over 18 years and I just made her card last night!
I used a digi image that I believe is from the Greeting Farm. The background is bugged with the a star embossing folder. I know this folder has been out for a while but it was new to me this week and this was the first time I had used it....I love it!!! The colors are handsome hunter and more mustard..school colors. Not a very elaborate card, but Chelsea is not all into fancy frills, so I left it that way. Have to run....Kyli has made the scene and we have a lot to do before we go to dinner tonight to celebrate with Chelsea.
Congratulations to all the graduates out there!!

Monday, June 7, 2010

TS Bue and Yellow Monday

I had a teacher when I was in junior high school who had a nickname for all the days of the work week. His name for Monday was Blue Monday. Well....that almost fits for the challenge this week over at Totally Stampalicious. The TS Monday challenge for this week is to make a card that is Blue or Yellow...any shade is fine. Here is what I came up with...
Here's what I used...The teddy bears are from the TS set Willameana. I love this cute bear image...perfect for so many occasions. This one will be a baby card. The card stock used is Ballet Blue, Baja Breeze, and GP white. The striped paper is by Reminisce and the bears were stamped on a coordinating piece of the papers that had great big polka dots with summery words and images...you can't really see the designs in the photo, but I chose circles that had more general images and then punched them with a scallop circle punch. All three were mounted on a scrap of the thin backing that dsp sometimes comes on and the center one is popped up. The white was run through the Cuttlebug with the quilted embossing folder and then lightly sponged with Ballet Blue ink. The ribbon is some I picked up at the Dollar Tree on a girls' trip several years ago. The yellow flowers layers are from a plastic sheet by KI memories. I used a circle punch to get individual flowers from the sheet and placed them randomly on the card front. I used a clear gel adhesive and you can't see the glue at all. Can you believe it??? It's not even a masculine card and not a trace of bling or glitter anywhere!!
I hope your Monday isn't too blue! Today is the first of the last three early release days for students here. They will take two final exams each of the three days. Then one more work day!! Oh....I did sign up for a week-long training that will take up the entire following week, but it will be a regular schedule day, which is much shorter than I usually end up at work. Have a great week!!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

An update on Kyli's surgery

Nothing crafty to show you today. Kenny and I had a most interesting day. It kinda started overnight with a nearly 6 hour power outage. Fortunately, we were asleep for most of it, but as there was no stormy weather last night, we wondered what could have caused such a lengthy outage. Well, as we were leaving to head to the surgical center for Kyli's surgery, we found out what had happened when we were greeted by this:
Obviously, Kenny had been working on this for some time before I thought to take a picture, but this old oak tree had basically split in half and landed across the only access to our property. The power company had come in and replaced the pole the tree took out and ran a new line and left the rest of the mess for us. I realize it isn't their job to clear our road, but gosh!!!! They cut through the neighbors fence and horse pasture to get to their power pole and left their blocked easement completely blocked! If they had cleaned that up, we could have gotten out even if it wasn't the most direct route!
Anyway.....after some really hard work and a second round of showers, we were finally off to be with Kyli! As the surgeries schedule was backed up, we still made it in plenty of time. Don't you just love how things always work out? This is our little sweetie just before they took her back to the OR....she's on a little happy juice to help sedate her.
After several long hours of waiting, she finally made it to recovery where these last two photos were taken. She doesn't look nearly as happy, but they were able to remove all of the birthmark which apparently means it was only fatty tissue left up there. They were afraid they may run into some blood vessels in the mass which is what caused it to be there in the first place. The hair will grow back and she won't have to worry about that "boo boo" any more.
Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes for Kyli during this simple but still scary surgery! Big glittery hugs to  all of you!!!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Paintchip Stlla

I have a couple more cards I have made using the new images from Totally Stampalicious and thought I should go on an get them posted. It won't be long and school will be out and I'll have lots more time to stamp! For this one I used Nurse Stella! This sentiment still cracks me up every time I read it! In honor of ICU, I used some retro hospital colors, Blush Blossom and Sage Shadow. Add in a little paint chip in shades of black (more retro stuff from my stash) and I think it works pretty well with this cute nurse with her retro nurse duds.
Just a quick post for tonight. Not sure what tomorrow will bring. My granddaughter (age 2) is going in for surgery tomorrow to have a large birthmark removed from her forehead. You can almost see it in the photo of her on my sidebar, but it is right at the hairline, about 1 1/2" in diameter and sticks up about an inch high. It's starting to become a problem for her and there is finally enough skin around the area that the doctors feel they can fix it with very little visible scarring. She will be under general anesthesia, so even though the procedure is rather simple, Gramma is really worried. After that is all done, I have to head off to my last night of a professional development class I have been taking for the last eight weeks. I'm gonna be one tired puppy tomorrow evening!
Thanks for stopping by!!

Going Round in Cirles

I used Mouse Balloon from Totally Stampalicious to make this round card for a friend of mine. Sizzix dies and scallop circle punches were used to get all the circle shapes. Image is colored with Copic markers and dimensional glaze was added to the balloon. The blingy circle is from Heidi Swap, bow is made with SU! white taffeta ribbon. The flower was made by punching scalloped circles from white card stock and then running through a paper crimper. Each circle was scrunched up and then reopened. The card stock was then separated into two layers, six layers were stacked and joined with a brad center. The layers were then scrunched around the brad one at a time and then reopened until the flower was the way I wanted it. Melon Mambo ink was sponged on the tips of the flower. All papers are SU!: Melon Mambo and Whisper White card stock. Melon Mambo dsp. Hope you like it!