Lacey Petals

I finally made a card this week that I can post. I made one for my new SIL birthday, but I was running so far behind I put it in the mail with out taking a picture...I hate when I do that.

I recently bought MS lacey Doiley Punch and recieved this Botanical Blooms Stamp Set from SAB. I had fun using it for this card. I like how it turned out. I made this card with SC217 and WT207 on Splitcoast. I dug in my scrap box for the DP Petals and the Celery piece of CS, I've also remebered the White CS for the sentiment and Floral images is scrap fromthe wedding invites as is the ribbon. I feel it met the Frugal Find...I am sure I will probably make another card because I have lots of frugal finds down in my Craft room.

I used some Pink Pirouette, and Pacific

Point CS also and some hero Arts Gemstones. The Sentiment is from Upsy Daisy. I stamped the floral image in Jet Black StazOn also and then colored with my Prismacolors in Pink and then blended with Gina K's Odorless blender solution. After punching the images out with my EK 7/8" square punch, I painted Bashful Blue Watercolor Wonder Crayon floating it onto the surface around the flower. then painted the stem with Certainly Celery.

Until Later ... Happy Stamping!

Embracing Everything

Tonight I had fun making up the last of my "Embrace Life" flower cards. I also made another one on SCS for LSC207 Stretch yourself...I made a little Black and White Bliss card that Is in my gallery there. I used only black and white and no embellishments and no cuttlebug so its a bit different from my usual.

I used Certainly Celery and Baja Blue on the first card, and the sentiment is from Upsy Daisy...I made it for a friend. the Ribbon was a gift from a CCRak Irecieved last summer...I thought it was perfect for this card.

I just had to add the little Celery flower bard to the sentiment. I have failed to mention yesterday that the leaves were painted withmy Watercolor Wonder Crayon in Certainly Celery.

The Second card I used Chocolate Chip and Pink Pirouette. I think this is the perfect Pink to go with Chocolate. I used Everyday Flexible Phrases to stamp the "Happy Birthday", I used my circle punches and scalloped circle to make up the sentiment matting and my 3/4" punch to make the indent on the image panel for the little Chocolate bow...yes, I tied an actual bow instead of a knot.

I like how the D'vine swirl Embossing folder looks with this...I have been trying not to use it so much, but I really do like it.

I think my flash went off way to bright on the last card. I used scrap of Brown cardstock I got on clearance a few years ago because it was faded abit. I think this is the last piece I had so I finished up somethign form my

stash...yeah for me!
I used textile Embossing folder for a different look from the other cards. I used one of my my "tags & sliders" Cuttlebug diecut also. I cut one in white and one in Perfect Plum and then layered the sentiment "celebrate" from Everyday Flexiable Phrases on dimensionals.

I have enjoyed revisiting Embrace Life to make the 5 cards int he last few days. It helped get my stash of Birthday cards up for emergencies and it was fun to be able to have some cards to blog about.

Until Later ....Happy Stamping!

So last night I made the most hideous card ever. I saw a piece of scrap DP just a general scrap of paper. I thought I'll use that..well nothing good came of it and the more I tried to make it work th eworse the card became..LOL ..since I still eneded three masculine birthday cards...I still used it and told my nephew( hes 27ish) I hope he got a good laugh out of it. A little leary tonight I went back and tried again I still had two images colored..,afterall. I am happy to say I had actual blogable results. Not my best work because I am still overcoming months of being too busy with the wedding, but none the less blogable.


Iused the same colors for the cards a Brown from a Nutrals Assortment form Michaels a bit lighter in color than SU browns..Real Rust and More Mustard...the ribbon is a dotted swiss organza from Wal-mart I like the way it lays on a card...need to get more colors of it...I used my cuttle bug embossing borders, and Woods background...I am loving coloring images with my Primas and WWC I used Oderless spirits on these too tigers from SU "zoorific" and I used happy thoughts for the sentiment. I stamped in Timber Brown StazOn. I hope you enjoy them both. I have two more post to do this week...Just some simple Valentines I made for tomorrow.

Until Later ...Happy Stamping!

Challenge Cards 2

I have been trying to get all my routines going again. Slow and steady wins the race I guess. I have made the challenges on SCS the last three days so thats a start. I have also made alot of progress on my goal of scanning my pictures into my computer. I actually finished a year today. It was a big year too, becasue we had recently purchased a new camera. Abt. 200 pictures so yes I am feeling like I am accomplishing something. I also went and read a book to DS's class so I can chalk of some volunteer time to the school.

All of my cards are very basically similar to what I usually do nothing amazing but it feels good to actually be doing something again. The new thing I did was the TLC 206 Challenge. I used some old CS the thinner stuff I bought when I first ventured into Card making, another goal this year to use up some of the old paper so I can free up space for some nicer stuff...I was raised with Waste Not ..Want Not attitudes and to not be wasteful..so I need to use up some of my stuff. The lilac is the CS of which I speak. the DP is PC scrap that was setting around, came in a big multi pack gift for Christmas a few years ago. I used some pieces of Perfect Plum and Old Olive to trim it and bring in some colors from the DP. I made thewindow first using the diagram on the SCS challenge. I didnt have enough information, but I think I made it right. the window mightbe a little high it interfers withthe card closing a bit. The template said 1/4" I'ld probably only make it an 1/8th of an inch next time. I'ld also lower it away form the fold a bit more. after getting the base made I realized I should have stamped the Card base before hand. I resorted to DP and then cutting a piece of matching CS to go aroung the opening so I could emboss it, it helped make thecatrd stiffer. I cut a 1/4" square frame the dimension of the opening, to frame the wndow I felt it hid the openings created by the cuts in the corners. All in all this card ook me two days to work around learningthe best way tomake a window frame card again. I cut a piece of white Dp and embossed it with Swiss dots CB embossing folder and rubbed Alwasy Artichoke on the dots. After doing it, I decided on the Old Olive for frame and embossed with Floral Screen, thinking AA was too dark for a baby card. I used my With Love CB strip to Emboss the flowers and Perfect Plum to mat them. I used some dollar Clear stamps from Michaels to stamp the Welcome Little one, and the baby is a stamp I picked up somewhere inexpensively a few years ago. I like how my first ever Window card turned out. Nest time it will be much easier, since I learned alot trying this one. My second card is for the CC204A challenge on SCS using Cameo Coral, Creamy Caramel and Old Olive... this card definately Challenged my skilld. Coral and Carmel are not "go to" colors for me and it was difficult to figure out what to use as a primary color so I resorted to OO becasue I use it alot and SU "heartfelt Thanks" becasue I like it for flowers. It turned out better than I imagined. I distressed alot because I wanted to mute the colors a bit, because I was uncomfortable withthem. I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the OO with Floral Screen, a new favorite of mine, then I sponged with Creamy Caramel. The Coral Piece I spponged with Creamy Caramel and the Creamy Caramel I sponged with Cameo Coral. Iuse dmy Stamp A MaJig to stamp teh Creamy Caramel border over thePrimary image stamped using SU Old Olive andCameo Coral markers. I sponged theedges of all the Very Vnilla Cards tock with Creamy Caramel andthen also sponged my Caramel Gingham Ribbon with the used sponge also to Darken the white of the ribbon. I was going to post all three cards but lost the images once So I will have to do another post tomorrow.

Until Later...Happy Stamping!

Cricut Coloring

Well I played with my my cricut colors again. I have the disney cart but sometimes it just takes too much time to cut out and layer all the images. When I first saw the markers I thought it might be fun to do with the Disney"Mickey and friends"cart. I used my Brown marker to make draw the mage for this card. Brown and Pink seems to be the colors of choice lately and because of Breast Cancer Awareness month I am going with it.

I drew Daisy-1 with my cricut. then I freehand cut her out leaving about a 1/8" white border. I could have cut it with the Cricut, but I wanted more white to contrast the brown. I matted with chocolate chip and then freehand cut again. I used my watercolor pencils and aqua painter to color the image, much quicker than cutting the extra colors of paper. I used Blossom dots embossing folder in my cuttlebug for the light pink background. The Flowers I thought would be a perfect background for Daisy. I mounted her on dimesionals and the put 4 of the matte brown brads by Creative Imaginations in the corners and mounted to the base. I stamped a piece of white cardstock with my canvas background and Pretty in Pink Ink and then stamped my thinking of you sentiment with Lovely Lilac diagonally on the tag after punching it with my SU small tag punch. Then I matted with Chocolate Chip using my large tag punch. the final touch was a little piece of folded purple gingham to tie in the sentiment color and Daisy's blouse.

Hope you enjoy it ... Happy Stamping!

Wedding Giftcard

This morning my DH aske dme if I had a wedding card. Guess what stacks of cards and not one wedding one to be found. He gets amazed by that sometimes. SO I went to work sore finger and all.

I made this simple wedding giftcard. I was going to tie a big bow on the front but after the third try with my finger I just decided to tie a loose knot.

I used SU retired "Fairytale Wedding". I bought the set because it was retiring and I needed to have the diamond ring(wink). I stamped the flowers and embossed them with the kalidescope embossing powder. The shimmer shows up better if you click and enlarge the picture.

I used SU Lovely lilac ink to stamp the two sentiments and the flowers on the envelope. I also used my briliance dewdrop "Moonlight White" to add some shimmer and contrast to the scalloped edge of the card and tag. The scallop was cut with my scallopped scissors.

The rings and the cake were stamped with StazOn "Jet Black", then colored with my various color pencils. I also used my Sakura clear Stardust pen on the diamond to add some bling. I hope you can see that if you enlarge the picture.

I still need to find a Michaels coupon to pick up some Prisma Colored Pencils, before my Birthday. I cut out the rings freehand and punched a 1/4" circle in the center to tie them on. Part of the rings would have been punched out if I used a 1/2" punch. Has anyone ever seen a 3/8"punch? I also cut a dimensional in half and mounted the rings on them; to help separate them and give them some pop. I liked how they turned out. I used a 1/2" Lavender Organza to tie on the rings and a 3/4" white Organza to tie the cake tag on. I was going to put the rings on the outside on the knot for the tag but decided they hid to much of the cake and the inside looked too blank, so I moved them there.

Until later... Happy Stamping!

Colored Pencil Observations

Well I can't find in the reading of my other post what I wanted you to know about colored pencils. I am not an expert on coloring, so no pictures from me. Just some observations I have made about colored pencils in general.

The Prisma Pencils are the best for getting nice results. In a comparison of all the colored pencils I own which are many. I have noticed a few things.

1. I think it is the amount of "wax" in the pencil that makes it work best, and blend best. The softer the pencil writes the better the blending that can take place.




2. Cornell-Loew(C-L) makes many multiple colors but their pencils have a very hard lead, and they do not work well with odorless mineral spirit blenders. They are perfect for adding a little contrast in fine cross hatch lines, but not for shading etc.




3. Crayola falls a little between C-L and Colorific not quite as hard as C-L, a great pencil for kids so the lead doesn't break alot, but it only blends slightly.




4. Colorific made by Sanford who makes Prismas blend well and are softer than Crayola and they blend nicely with the Colorless blending pencils by Prismacolor , and nicely with mineral spirit blenders but not as nice as Prisma's.




5. In my collecting I have these pencils just labeled "Made in China". Probably a Dollar store buy for my kids. They are softer than the Colorific and slightly harder than the prismas. They blend well with both the colorless blender pencils and the odorless mineral spirits.

For now I am using the random Prismas I have, about 8, The "Made in China" and the "Colorific" pencils, this gives me a set of about 50-70 colored pencils. I can color with these and they give me a nice assortment of colors until I buy a set of Prismas. My next big purchase will be a 72 set of Prismacolor Pencils. I am just patiently waiting for a nice Michael's or Joann's coupon to do it. KWIM.

I hope this information helps. I noticed the mineral spirit blender at All That Scraps is waitlisted. It is my experience with All That Scraps that if you email christine she will let you know when waitlisted product will be available and will create a way for you to do a preorder. She will ship it right away when it comes in.


Until Later... Happy Stamping!

My first Lockhart stamp, Festive Birthday Card

This is the quickcard I made today. I went to a new stamp store today thought I would save some shipping, since I was unable to get the discount on my attempted order through Ellen Houstons store on Friday. I am still hoping to hear from her.
I was disappointed in the sort of local store I went too. I felt the stamp was too expensive, and when I checked when I got home it was 1.20$ more than on line. I wanted the stamp, I had been wanting to go to this shop since early last week, but my friend couldnt go. I then was going to order it with the discount on Friday along with a preorder, but I had problems ordering. So I email Ellen. I paid the higher price at the store, but I will order Lockhart stamps from Ellens store from now on. Okay I aired my frustration. I'm over it!

I bought the large Cupcake stamp. I really wanted a cup cake and had seen this one used on several cards and wanted to try coloring it. I am still using my Colorific pencils made by the same company that makes Prismas,and some labeled made in China.

You can see an earlier post

about my colored pencil comparison

labeled colored pencils.

EDIT: This will be in tomorrows post!

The new thing I did do recently was buy some Prisma colorless blender Pencils, they come two to a package. BOY do they work great! I have been wanting to use them and this stamp was the perfect opportunity. I think if you color with colored pencils any brand they are a must have. I felt they blended better than the odorless blender which is more expensive. The base of the card is Sage Shadow, because it matched some of the stripes in the Ki Memories striped paper. I used some Flower packaged papers I had for the yellow, pink and turqouise paper, I felt it looked very festive for this little birthday card.
I colored this card simply, the cup cake wrapper with a bright yellow and harvest yellow pencil alternating onthe strips of the packaging. I blended withthe colorless blender and then I shaded with some brownand used the blender again. I colored a light blue background and the frosting was pink and the cherry Red of course. I used 2 small and one large light green colored button Brads by making Memories that I picked up in an assorted color package at Target. I shadowed the ground slightly with the brown also. I am starting to enjoy coloring these stamped images. I was surprised how well I did with my first shot at this Lockhart cup cake. The tags are punched with the Su Tag punches except the yellow which was just hand trimmed to size. The background was embossed with my Bloom Dots EB folder in my Cuttlebug. I faux stiched with my white siglo gel pen from SU, and a ruler.

I hope you enjoy this card. Until Later...Happy Stamping!

Bella Cards, finally

I know you have seen the images before, but finally you get to see the card. I am so glad they are finished.

The coloring of the image I covered last week. I just used some GinaK blending solution(odorless mineral spirits) to diffuse the colors and help blend them together. I also used a Loew-Cornell Flesh color to add a thin line along the arms and slight color to the face. Having 6 different brands of colored pencils for me is almost like having one multicolored expensive one, except the colors aren't always labeled diferrent. For instance I have several colors labeled "Peach" and they are all slightly different in color. The Blending Solution and multiple colors helps to make even my coloring jobs look more professional. I think the main thing a Blending solution does is melt the lines of the coloring together so it looks more like markers but has the shading more like pencil.

I chose to use SU So Saffron for the base. I thought it really set off the Light Teal color well. I chose to mat the image 1/4" with WorlWinPaper color match "Medium Lovely Lilac" cardstock that I distressed the edges of. To accentuate the slippers, I used the purple colored pencils and matting. Does anyones slippers ever really match their PJ's? Aren't they the most comfortable part of our sleep ensambles anyway?!? I trimmed WorldWinPaper colormatch " Light Terrific Teal" to 4" x 5 1/4" and then embossed it with my D'vine Swirl Folder in my Cuttlebug. I used my cricut and its Fabulous Finds cartridge on this card. I cut the round tab10 at 1-1/4" in the lilac and it's insert in white. I have only just begun to discover all the uses of this cart. After cutting the Tab I put it through my Xyron 150(the X) and then adhered the insert and then lined up the holes and pressed it all together to make the tab. I then attached 2 ,Doodlebug Buttercream mini-flower,"i-lets" using my silent setter. After the tab was assembled I stamped it with my sweet spot stamp set , "sweet" in lovely lilac, and the "dotted flower" in Tempting Turquoise stamped off three times. I cut the Offray shear dotted Orchid ribbon to about 7.5". I threaded the two ends through the eyelets to the front of the tab and tied a knot, and trimmed it at an angle. When I attach ribbon I am always conscious of how bulky it is and I try to use as little as possible. There fore, I always tie the knots or bows on just enough ribbon to span the space I am using, then I cu tthe loop based on where I want it's placement ont he card. For this card I cut it a little over 1" to the right of the tab. I measure down and mark the teal piece from the top of the card 1-1/2 " and place a small Zot glue dot on each side of the card. I find glue dots hold and adhere ribbon well. I attach the short end of the ribbon while holding the Tab in position, then I attach the other end of the ribbon. After I attached the ribbon I used a dimensional to attach the Tab to the front of the card. If I didnt use the dimnsional I usually attach the knot down with a glue dot. Lastly, I secured the Teal piece to the So Saffron Base with medium sized Zots glue dots. I find the embossed pieces of cardstock hold better if I used glue dots also. The Bella image with the matting is mounted to the card using dimensionals, remember those packages of foam squares I picked up in the Target dollar section a few weeks ago.

The absolute hardest part of this card was trying to come up with a sentiment to use. I was originally going to use sweet dreams, but who gives people cards at bedtime. I settled on Sweet, because it could be used for a friend, as a thank you, etc. Its a very versatile sentiment.

Until Next time... Happy Stamping...

RAK"s, ATC's, Coloring Bellas

Okay tonight was a busy night , so I only have a few things to share and show you. This Card was a lovely RAK from My friend Connie. She is hosting a Canadian Bella Swap on SCS. I wanted to participate in her swap , but I dont own any bellastamps. She was kind enough to send me some to do the swap. She went way over the top and sent me about 4 sheets of Bellas, and this lovely card. I recognize the retiring Stampin Up stamp set as, Petal Prints and I have been fighting the urge to get it. Isnt it a cute card! I am thankful to get it, and all my Bellas. You can browse through or buy Bellas through this link Stampin Bella

Next I wanted to share some of the Bellas I have colored so far. I need to finish them up with some blender and then decide on the LO but, I am liking the way they are turning out so far. I had intended to have a card finished, but I got held up posting to my family blog about my DD#5's award ceremony for track. It seems when I imported the pictures to my computer I never selected the location. I had a heck of a time finding the pictures took over an hour. I didn't get as far on them as I would have preferred. I have a whole bin full of Colored pencils I have bought over the years for my children and myself nothing too expensive but enough brands like Colorific, Crayola, and Loew-Cornell, and EK Success, that I managed to find a few colors similar to Cool Carribean & So Saffron, and Lilac to color my images with. I am planning on using SU cardstock when I make the card. I'll be sure to post it when I am finished .

Lastly, I wanted to share some ATC's:

These are from a swap I participated in for a Central MN Get together swap of SCS'ers

The Big Friend Flower on the bottom I made, and the Black and White was made by my SU demo( nellienelson).

Some of the others were either not labelled, or separated from their label.

They were made by... scsname... as follows:

The Bunny ...Josephsmom

The FlipFlop ...Stampencamper

The girl ...NikkiS

The trout ...crazy4stamps

The Miss U...CreativeClutter

I know there are more but my pile got disrupted by my 4 yr old!

I am blaming him,actually his darling sisters who were babysitting, for lost labels and ATC's.

I think the wood pencil shavings I found in my office might have got dumped all over my table by him also, (me winking). I think he enjoyed playing in there why I was at the Track Banquet. After I clean up tomorrow I might find some time to play in my room, too. I hope that all of you find time to play today, until later.... Happy Stamping!