Frog in a boot

This is another of the cards I made this past weekend using brand new rubber and papers. The image is from Great Impressions. I picked it up at the LSS, Priceless Scrapbooks, while I was at the Friday night crop. The papers are new Basic Gray dsp, Capella. I left my Copics at home Friday night and forced myself to use my watercolor crayons as they have been so neglected lately. They really aren't as vibrant as the Copic's and I won't be leaving them at home anymore! I still love the crayons, but for this image, I think the Copics would have looked better.
The flowers I used are super simple to make. I read about how to make them on a blog just last week. They are made using a scallop circle plunch, a paper crimper, and a brad....to easy. Just punch out three of the scalloped circles from regular card stock and run them through the crimper. Then squish up the scalloped circles. This breaks down the fibers of the card stock. Open the circles up again and as you do, you should see that the edges are starting to separate into layers. Pull apart into two layers on each of the circles. Stack them up, punch a hole in the centers and add a brad to hold them together. Then squish the layers up around the brad, one layer at a time. Fiddle with it and fluff it until you get the look you want. For the flowers on this card, I used white card stock and sponged the edges with a plum-colored ink. They look like colored carnations you would get from the florist!

Totally Stampalicious Sketch Challenge

I'm sooooo excited!!! As promised, the Capella papers from Basic Gray arrived at the LSS in time for the Friday crop!! I love these papers...the colors are beautiful and I love the vintage feel that is so perfect for a wedding, but so many other occasions, too!! I used them on my card for this week's sketch challenge over on the Totally Stampalicious blog. They are doing something really fun with the challenge this week! The prize they are giving away grows for every ten participants in the challenge!! The more that play, the bigger the prize!! The sketch and details about the prize can be found on the TS blog.
I used one of the new TS images from Bugaboo artist Jodie Mackrell! Isn't he the cutest??? He is called Fat Mouse with Flower. I colored him with watercolor crayons for a change and added stickles to the flowre and the little heart on his hiney. I used Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, and Always Artichoke card stock to mat the dsp. The lacey trim is a sticker border that is part of the Capella line of papers. Added tiny half pearls to some of the layers.

Another Father's Day card on Mother's Day

I really love this new character from Mo Manning! Big Guy is perfect for my Daddy (known as Big Ed) and for my son who is not nearly as big, but sure seems big to me! It's hard to believe that the tiny baby I gave birth to grew into such a big person!
Anyway, This Big Guy image is busy picking his tomatoes.....perfect for Daddy! My father has always loved farming, and while he cannot grow a big garden anymore, he still grows an assortment of tomatoes, peppers, and so on every year. I think he'll enjoy this card. He loves his tractor, too! Have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Father's Day....a little early

Since I don't have my mom here with me anymore to make Mother's Day cards for, I get through this holiday by making my Father's Day cards early. I do have a card to give my DIL tomorrow, but I haven't taken a picture of it yet. This is the card I made for my son when Father's Day finally rolls around. As the sentiment says, this card really was made just for him! He loves cooking out on the grill and does so at every opportunity, so the king of the grill image is perfect for him. This cute digital image is from Mo's Digital Pencil and is one of several Big Guy images she has recently released...love 'em all!!! The shorts, flip flops and puffed chest are all perfect for him. I even gave him a Bucs hat! The background was made by using Mod Podge to adhere a paper dinner napkin to a piece of cardstock....a fun technique that makes for some very interesting backgrounds or even focal images.
The image was colored with Copic markers. I will be taking an intermediate class on coloring with Copics in a couple of weeks and hope to learn a few tricks to help me get  better at coloring with this medium I am totally addicted to. I know I also need to practice and with summer fast approaching, I hope to be able to do just that!!
Thanks for stopping in and I'd like to wish all the moms out there a fabulous Mother's Day! I will be spending mine with my little granddaughter who is napping right now and getting all charged up for a fun evening bouncing on me and BoBo (her grandpa). Can't wait!!!

Hillbilly Side Step (not a dance)

I made this at last weekend's 2 day crop at Priceless Scrapbooks...what a blast that was! I had this little hillbilly image all colored up and in my stash. One of my stampin' sistahs had a set of Art Impressions stamps that included this cute old cabin and clothesline. I would have like the clothesline to be the image farther in the background, but as is was larger than the cabin, perspective forced me to put it in the front. Still pretty cute, I think! All images are colored with Copic markers. Clouds were sponged. MS punches provided the grass and fence at the base of each layer. You can see the fence a little better in this angled shot:

Well, I'm off to work...just a quick post for some of the girls who were at my stair step card class the other day. It's been a crazy week!!! Have a wonderful day that hopefully includes at least a little stamping!!

Totally Stampalicious Monday Challenge: April Showers/May Flowers

I went for the May flowers on my card for this week's challenge over on the Totally Stampalicious blog. I used one of the new images from Jodie Mackrell and Bugaboo Stamps. These cute images were previously only available as digital images, but TS and Bugaboo have teamed up to make eight of these super cute images available in polymer acrylic! This one is called Desiree....isn't she cute?

My card base is Rich Razzleberry and the layers are Melon Mambo!!! I'm so glad SU!! has decided to keep these colors in their line up!! The dsp is Green at Heart by Basic Gray...lots more flowers there! I used Copic markers to color my image and added a bit of lacey trim and a small bow to separate the layers of dsp.
I saw a tutorial Friday morning to make dimensional flowers with card stock, a scallop punch, and a paper crimper. Super easy and I used just a small circle punch to make the flower I added to this card! I made like a hundred of these flowers this weekend only much bigger! Just didn't look right on this card, so I tried a small circle instead. I needed a smaller brad, but with everything all packed up from a two-day crop, I just couldn't put my hands on them.
Here's a shot of the inside....I actually finished the inside while making the card. It's something I rarely do because I like to save that part of the job until I know what I will use the card for.

You can join in on the challenge this week. Just make a card that features either April showers or May flowers, and then add it to the Totally Stampalicious blog using the Mr. Linky tool on the challenge post. They alwasys offer a great prize each week. Thanks for stopping in today!! Have a wonderful week!!

Honoring Queen Carol

The Queen for the Day over at Splitcoast Stampers this week was Carol_PA925. I have so many of her cards bookmarked in my favorites on that site and considered doing one as a case in her honor, but I really needed a grad card for a dear friend's daughter, so I chose another card entirely. This is what I ended up with. The image is a digi from Pink Cat Studio. They have a matching boy image that is just as cute. Colored my little grad with Copic markers, though I didn't go for a lot of shading and blending with this image. The dsp is by Reminisce. I love all the swirls, shimmer and glitter on these papers. The 2010 is a piece of one of the papers, though I'm not sure if it is from the same manufacturer.  The little starts and Way to Go are bubbly stickers. Added some brads down the side. Got some other cards done at the 2-day crop besides this one. I have lots to share this week! Thanks for stopping in!