Monday, May 30, 2011

Stamps R Us Challenge - Pets R Us

This week's challege for Stamps R Us was sponsored by K 'n K Designs.  Such sweet pet images.  Can you guess where our theme came from?  An added perk is to add a bit of fuzz.  Not hard, considering most of our pets are fuzzy.

This cute image is from their their Let Your Heart Catch Up set - adorable puppy and 4 sentiments included.

I pictured a fluffy white pooch, so I sparingly colored him with C00,C1 Copics.  For my fuzz, I added a little bit of Sweet Pea and Shamrock Flower Soft to the grass showing through.  Picturing him in a beautiful meadow, right?  Even tho the meadow talk is a bit girlish, I was picturing this card for either a male or female, so I used designer papers from the Basic Grey Oliver paper pack matted on suede and artichoke.  This chocolate grosgrain ribbon is tied at an angle to finish it off.

Hope you like it.  Make sure to head over to Stamps R Us to see what the rest of our Design Team came up with and once you're done making your "Pets R Us" card, make sure to link it up.

Thanks for stopping by!
Make sure you leave a comment before you leave - no peek and dashes, lol.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Tiffany Doodles New Release - Petunia Jar

Another beauty from Tiffany Doodles, Petunia Jar.  Check her store today - she also has a digital image called Petunia Frills which is just as pretty.

I can't seem to get away from these beautiful floral images from Tiffany set against a Kraft background.  This is no exception.  I printed the image on Kraft then colored with prismacolored pencils & gamsol.  My first image was a bit small - I like these flowers on the larger side so you can see the beautiful detail.  As such, I couldn't do a whole lot with embellishments. 

I did stamp the background paper with a larger flourish image but you can barely see it.  The card base is daffodil, as is the image mat.  I finished with some white gel pen highlights and a soft, buttery yellow ribbon. 

Hope you like it ... You HAVE to check out the rest of Tiffany's floral images - they're To Die For!

Thanks for stopping by - love to hear what you have to say.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Sneak Peek for Tiffany Doodles - Release date Friday, May 27th

Here's a Sneak Peek at 2 new designs being releases on Friday ... Petunia Frills and Petunia Jar.  Make sure you check out Tiffany Doodles store tomorrow.  These images are on sale for 10% off when you buy both by June 3rd!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Stamping Boutique's Challenge #7

For the 7th Challenge over at The Stamping Boutique Challenge Blog we were asked to use a Red, White and Blue theme in honor of upcoming Memorial Day.

I think this must have been one of the first images I downloaded from The Stamping Boutique last year.  I colored her with Copics and shaded with a bit of greys from my prismacolored pencils stash & a bit of Gamsol.  Mats are cherry cobbler and pacific point.    Because this might end up over at Operation Write Home, I left off any glitter/stickles.  The sentiment is from a set from Hero Arts, stamped in Pacific and punched with a circle punch.  I sponged edges of all layers, dp, etc., with pacific point.  Added some red brads to the sentiment, some red stitched grosgrain ribbon and called it a day.

Head over to The Stamping Boutique Store to see what else Tracey has that will fit the Patriotic theme.  You won't be disappointed.

I also submitted my card to the following challenges:

Craft Us Crazy - Remembrance
Stamp Insanity - Red, White & Blue
For Fun Challenges - Patriotic Colors
Scrapalicious USA - Memorial Day Theme
Simon Says Stamp - Stars & Stripes

Thanks for stopping by - as always - I love to hear what you have to say.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Wonderful new releases at Tiffany Doodles

Some beautiful new digital releases over at Tiffany Doodles today -
Flowering Branch, Wood Posts and Zinnia-2

I love this Flowering Branch image so much - what a joy to get my Copics back in the swing of things.  I printed the image out onto Kraft cardstock.  After coloring, I added a few white hightlights.  I love how the highlighted flowers look against the Kraft backdrop ... I'm finding myself printing more and more out onto the darker background.  I used my Creative Memories ovals and then distressed the image and mat panels (regal rose) before sponging both with Tim Holtz' Tea Dye.  I mounted the image up on dimensionals on the mat to give it a further 3D look, then again against the designer paper.  The sentiment is from the dollar bin at my local stamp store (think it might be Hero Arts), which I then punched with an oval.  I used a double-slotted hand punch for the ribbon access & popped this up on dimensionals as well.  After matting the designer paper onto regal rose, I added some brown Baker's twine before popping all onto a Kraft base.  (can you tell Kraft is my new favorite, lol).

The versatility of this next set, Wood Posts, is wonderful.  There's this single planked sign and another with 4 smaller planks, that you can add your own message to.  After coloring the sign (surprise - I printed this onto Kraft, also), I wrote in the sentiment using angular, sharp lettering.  I then traced over the lettering just outside the line with the E33 to show a smidge of shadow to give a carved look.  Not sure how it shows in the photograph, but looks very nice IRL.  I added some chocolate Stickles before matting onto garden green.  A Sizzix flourish and 3 metal leaf brads, and this card was done.  I wanted to keep it fairly simple since I had in mind a masculine look.

Here's another Zinnia from Tiffany - Love this one, too.  I colored with Copics then used a Spellbinders label die to cut then stencil/sponged a faux border with cherry cobbler ink.  Pink pearls were added to the points before popping up on dimensionals.  The designer papers are from Stampin Up.  I sponged the edges of the print DP with more cherry cobbler.  Heart corner punches from Sizzix die were attached (yes, they're different, but I like that look) with a pearl at the corners.  Finally, I added a 'Gratitude' charm to a strip of ribbon & called it a day.

I'm very pleased with how these turned out, hope you enjoy them too.  Make sure to head over to Tiffany Doodles to see her extensive catalog of fabulous digital images and papers.  You won't be disappointed.
Toodles for now ...

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Splitcoast Color Challenge #323

Today over at Splitcoast Stampers, their Color Challenge was to use the following:
Rich Razzleberry
Regal Rose
Very Vanilla

I used a digital image from Tiffany Doodles from her Cherry Blossom set, printed on Kraft.  I used Regal Rose and Razzleberry ink pads to watercolor the image.  My card base is Regal Rose.  I used a piece of vanilla cardstock that I ran through my Stampin Up lattice embossing folder then sponged the edges with more Regal Rose ink before matting onto Razzleberry.  The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set, punched with an oval scallop punch & matted with Razzleberry.  Some pearls and a snippet of Razzleberry polka dot ribbon, and this card was done.

Thanks for stopping by for a look-see. 
Would love to hear what you think.

Shopping Our Stash Challenge - Show us Your Area

Wonderful new blog, Shopping Our Stash opened up with the basic premise to use up our stashes instead of constantly shopping.  After getting a look-see at all my stuff, I'm certain (with the exception of my beloved Tombow adhesives that I simply WON'T do without) that I don't need to go shopping for quite some time.  Shhh ... don't tell my husband.  What he doesn't know won't hurt him.

I'm embarrassed to say - this is my crafting dungeon as of today.  Normally I would have straightened up, but this is the real-deal.  I guess I'm lucky in that I have 1/2 the basement to expand into, but I have cement walls on my unfinished side so I'm limited to these portable storage bins/drawers & stand alone shelves for now.  We just had carpeting installed in the finished 1/2 so alot of extras have ended up over in my territory til I reorganize.  Even with the entire 1/2 of the basement, you can see I've boxed myself in so that the majority of my supplies are within reach.  All I have to do is spin around in the chair & I have nearly everything I need right at my fingertips.

These are my miscellaneous stamps and accessories - it's 4 drawer-sets hooked together with a shoe shelf sittig on top (bowing fromt he weight of the punches, lol).  I think I must have about 10 of them scattered here & there around me.

Here is looking over to the right of my desk at my Stampin Up shelves (table full of misc is blocking entire view) ... the L shaped set of bookcases are stacked full of SU sets.  The 3-cabinets underneath the blue shelves is full of stuff I use, too.  This table is the current bane of my existence, but since school just got out last week, I haven't had the inclination to sort - Having more fun getting back into stamping.  I figure a re-sort of my area is going to be my interim project before summer session starts up, and that's only one class, so I'm sure I'll have it the way I want it pretty soon.

Check out Shopping Our Stash's blog and post a photo of your crafty area.  They're "Official Challenges" starts next week, May 24th, so be sure to check them out.

Monday, May 16, 2011

SCS's Try a New Technique - Paper Buttons - with Marie by The Stamping Boutique

(Scroll down one post for the Stamps R Us challenge card for this fortnight)

Here's another addition - Been ages since I participated in the Splitcoast challenges (serious withdrawal here).  Today, I was inspired to use this brand new digital image from The Stamping Boutique - I love all things "Kings & Queens" from the past - imagine my ecstacy with Camelot, Game of Thrones and Borgias on cable mini-series all at once - I'm in heaven.  Plus, I just saw the Kirsten Dunst version of Marie Antoinette only last week. (nothing to write home about, but it did satisfy that weird urge for 'period piece').  Shocker - I'm digressing.....

Today's Splitcoast's Try a New Technique Challenge was to create paper buttons.  There's a tutorial over in their Resource section, entitled Paper Buttons.  Basically, I took 5 punched hearts and glued them together with liquid glue, stamping the top layer with a background stamp.  I then used my Crop-a-Dial to punch the holes.  After this, I propped the 'button' on 2 swizzle sticks and slathered the button with Glossy Accents.  (My challenge was to wait for it to dry - argh).  It says wait 1/2 hour, but I had mine on the thicker side, so took a good 1-1/2 hours before I could touch it.  VERY COOL technique, indeed!  I've got to get some more punches in button size to do more.

Anyway, this image was colored with Copics and then I added some Stickles (diamond & fruit punch) as well as glossy accents to the hanging jewels & her feathers.  Because of the size of the image, I kept the layering simpler (this is actually a 4.5x6.25" card), with just rose mats, pink pirouette base and unk DP.  I punched slots for the ribbon & threaded the button with some rose floss.

Thanks for popping in again!

Stamps R Us Challenge today - Sponsored by Di's Digis

Let see if I remember how to post on my blog, lol.  School's finally out for this semester, Did well in both Nursing classes.  Just have a simpler online class over the summer before starting up again in August.

I see Blogger went AWOL for a couple of days as well.

Today's challenge over at Stamps R Us is sponsored by Di's Digi Downloads.  So many cute images over there, it was VERY hard for me to choose.  In the end, I picked this Scruffy Kitty Kaboodle.  I used both my Copics and prismacolored pencils with Gamsol for the coloring. 

The card is actually 4.25 x 6.5 inches.  I used burgundy mats for all as well as the butterflies.  I used a Sizzix embosslet and detailed with a clear glitter gel pan before mounting them up on dimensionals.  The sentiment is from a stamp I got from the dollar bin at my local scrapbook store (think it's Hero Arts).  I punched the sentiment out with my SU oval & scalloped oval punches before mounting them up as well.  The designer paper is from Basic Grey's Olivia paper pack. Finished off with a slip of burgundy satin ribbon.

This card was just the ticket for me to get back in the groove again!  Look out, here I come!  Now, I need to remember how to edit my pics without making them too washed out, lol.

Thanks for stopping by.  Make sure you head over to Stamps R Us to see what the rest of the Stamps R Us design team came up with.

Monday, May 02, 2011

Check out Shopping Our Stash Blog Candy

Head over to Shopping Our Stash to see what's going on - Some blog candy going up in celebration of their new Challenge Blog.  Stay tuned around Mid-May to see them in action.  In the meantime, head on over to see the goodies they're offering as blog candy!

Sunday, May 01, 2011

Stamps R Us Challenge #

Today's challenge over at Stamps R Us the challenge is to create a card that's MASCULINE.  Dude Time Doodles, very appropriately, is sponsoring us for this challenge - SO many fun, fun, funny digital images to choose from.

I picked this image of the guy tinkering on his car - "If it Ain't broke, Take it apart and fix it ANYway" just had me laughing out loud.  So true of some of our darling men out there.

I colored the image with Copics and added some glossy accents to the lights.  Because I wanted to keep it masculine, I kept the frills and embellishments to a minimum, leaning on this corrugated paper with jute and a notebook border punch for the sentiment.

Had fun with this one - if you look at the rest of my stuff, it's all pretty and frilly.  Head over to Stamps R Us to submit your challenge card and be sure to check out Dude Time Doodles - SOOO Many to choose from!

Thanks for popping in again!