This is one of my first forays into the digital world. I think I need to play around with these a little - I tried heat setting, but I'm still seeing a smear. I tried again couple of days later and had much better luck with the colors not running. Some of the images out there are really cute, but I don't think I'll ever be able to get rid of my ole tried & true rubber stamps.


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Here are a couple of cards I've recently done. The "Dream" card was stamped with versamark and clear embossed then I used chocolate to sponge around the edges to bring it out. The second one is one of my favorite techniques - Collaging. I just love the vintage look to cards.

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Today's challenge over at Whiff of Joy was to create a card with the "Love" theme. I went with the sibling affection since I've been itching to get at this stamp since I got it last week. I colored the image with prisma colored pencils and gamsol. On top of the chair I added a thin coat of Shimmerz in Angel Wings to add a smidge of sparkle. Finishing touches include some butterfly crocheted trim, burgundy grosgrain ribbon and some pink gems that I added to the trim as well as the corner of the card.

I think I'm going to try this again double stamping so I can do the chair in a small patterned DP with the images cut out on top.

Come back soon to see how that turns out. Thanks for stopping by!

Worked on a couple of cards again today - I'm on a streak! The first 2 are nearly identitical except for the images. They both combine the Splitcoasters challenge from yesterday (Color Challenge to include crushed curry, burgundy and grey) as well as today's sketch challenge.

I left them on the simple side since they felt like cards for guys.

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Made this card couple of days ago following the sketch challenge #64 over at Whiff of Joy. Because the Birdhouse image from Elisabeth Bell is so large, it got a little stretched out, but basic structure is the same. I love this image and happy with how it turned out. Elisabeth Bell is still at the very top of my favorites!

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Good Afternoon to you all ... Hope you're all staying warm. We're supposed to get another couple of inches tonight into tomorrow. Don't get me wrong. I love winter, but it's got to be 25 degrees or above for me to enjoy it. We've had so much snow the last couple of months (compared to years past) that I'm about ready for the spring thaw.

Anyway ... I logged into Splitcoasters first thing this morning and decided I was going to forgo the challenge - I'm not a super 3-D fan. But after chores around the house I decided what the heck ... The challenge was to make one of these Bucket Handbags. Mel (SCS: stampztoomuch) created a template which can be found here:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11948156&postcount=1

I actually put the c/s in my printer & took the easy way out. The back side has the same DP but no embellishments like the front.

Ok ... so it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Actually turned out kind of cute, so I'm glad I overcame my resistence and completed it.

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This past weekend was a mini warm up for the Virtual Stamp Night's Olympic weekend coming up later this month. There were 6 challenges on Saturday Night.

The first was to be inspired by one of the flags of the participating countries. Didn't take me long ... I was looking for Australia ... I SO want to visit there - it's on my Bucket List! Their flag has a Union Jack in the upper left corner, so I put my image panel there matted on red. The background is a bright blue with some white stars. I tried clear embossing, which ended up looking darker in stead of lighter, but it works for me.

The 2nd challenge was to use snow or ice and white embossing or white Flower Soft. I embossed the white and dotted the center of the snowflakes with white embossing, but didn't show up as well as I'd have liked so I sponged blue over the entire surfact ... still can't see much, but like the way it popped the snowflakes.

The 3rd challenge was based on those ADORABLE mittens that the participants get to wear in the opening ceremonies ... I wanna get me a pair of those. I used some red felt material (left over from a costume of the Queen in Star Wars). I punched it with my scalloped Cuttlebug dies and stacked. I love this Penny Black image so much ... Just can't get enough of it.

The 4th was to use the Chalk Board technique. I sponged the images with white Craft ink and then swished some pastels into the design til I got what I was looking for.

This next one was basedon the Slalom Course, so we had to incorporate an "S" or wavy swirl of some kind, use the "Kissing Technique" and to use pink ... Ok, so I o.d'd on the pink. The wavy was achieved by running my c/s through the swirls CB embossing folder. I stamped the image in blush blossom then overstamped a floral background in rose red onto the image stamp (does that make sense?)

This last one, we were to use the "Spotlight Technique" and try to incorporate our favorite event of the Olympics (um, Ice Skating, of COURSE!) - with bonus points for using the 5 colors of the Olympics (red, blue, yellow, green & black - not in that order) ... I pulled out my stash of old, old SU Designer paper and created one background. I love this Skating Mudzie from High Hopes. After all was said and done and I was editing my photo ... I realized, "oops, where's the black?" Um ... the ink, YEAH, that's it, lol.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek! Have a fabulous day!

Omygosh, has it really been that long since I posted here? I've been on a bit of a hiatus from the computer -except of course when it comes to Farmville (guilty!). Plus, I haven't been stamping a whole lot. Here are a few of my latest creations:

These were just for fun cards ... Wanted to play with the new Dusty Durango from Stampin Up.

The following cards were made following Splitcoasters' Ways to Use It challenge for today ... Use a textile on your card.

Eileen just had her first stamp camp for 2010 and these are the cards we came up with ... (Eileen, I need frequent stamp camps to keep inspired, lol).

And here's a few of the cards that I've done over the last couple of weeks, getting back into the swing of things....

These 3 above were just for fun - I was at Archivers and brought some images with me to color while DD was Ice Skating, so all DP came from there.

1st one was for SCS's TLC256: Use the Brick Wall technique. 2nd one was for their WT254 challenge - to cut it out. I bought this stamp but don't have any kind of a guide to go on, so I made the bird a bluebird. Wish I had a little more texture or print to this, but there you are. The 3rd is for their Sketch Challenge 264. This image just screamed simple black & white.

This first one was just for fun. Colored all in Copics. I'd love to find a class nearby to tweak what I'm doing. I see so many wonderful coloring jobs out there. The 2nd one was for the Sketch Challenge 265. (and yes, that's an extra dirt spot on his forehead, lol - called pushing too hard on the stamp, lol)

These first two were made following the Color Combination challenge - to use Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo and Blush Blossom. The 3rd card was made following the Side Step instructions found on SCS's Technique Lovers Challenge. My next one may be a bit more involved.

Anyway - glad to be back ... Thanks for stopping by and taking a peak. Feel free to leave comments.

VSN - Virtual Stamp Night's Weekend Challenge

Make sure to visit us at VSN's "Viva Las VSN" challenges tonight, May 15th and tomorrow May 16th.
Here is the link to the Master Thread:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=54

Make sure you stop by ... I'm hosting the 10pm (EST) challenge. I have 3 cards I've made, but it's a secret, so can't post them til then ... only 4 1/2 hours to go.

There's LOADS of fun challenges lined up, so come on over!

Cards for Fun

This first card is for a color challenge over at Splitcoasters. The challenge was to use rose red, pink pirouette and grey. The image was stamped in black versafine and colored with prismacolor pencils & gamsol. Matted this on grey. The next panel of pink pirouette and grey was punched on the one side with the SU eyelet border punch. The card base is rose red with rose red designer paper then a pink pirouette grosgrain ribbon at the top.
The image panel is stamped in black on white and matted on same grey.

This next card is a PIF that I traded over at SCS. I colored this cute turtle in with prismas and gamsol then added some Glossy Accents on the flower petals. Cut the image panel and perfect plum mat with Nesties circle & scalloped circle dies and popped up on dimensionals.

The base is pale plum with perfect plum designer paper. I then cut 4 squares of old olive dp, flipping the opposite corners over. Added 2 heart brads at the top. On the bottom, I added a strip of perfect plum card stock that was punched on one side with a Martha Stewart border punch then tied with eggplant grosgrain ribbon.

The sentiment panel was stamped with perfect plum and punched with the word window punch then matted in perfect plum.

This rubber ducky card was for the sketch challenge SC225. I love this color combination of saffron and bashful blue.

4 pieces of cardstock that I flipped over for the blue side on the bottom were matted on saffron then popped up on dimensionals.

The card base is saffron with bashful layer then the same dp. The image panelwas another PIF that I colored with prismas & gamsol. I added a clear glitter gel pen to the bubbles, soap and his beak before matting on bashful blue and popping up on dimensionals. A wide saffron ribbon finished this little guy off.

This was the first chance I got to use this cute dragon ... I colored him in same way with the prismas & gamsol. The background paper, however, was made using the Ways to Use it technique to make Faux Bandana paper. Basically, I stamped some images from the Polka Dots Punch set in hunter green on some green galore card stock. Then, it was time to take out the white gel pen & doodle, doodle, doodle. The trick was, to know when to stop. I wasn't happy with the results until I actually saw the card at a distance once it was finished. I think I may have been to close to the subject to truly enjoy it.

I finished him off with a computer generated sentiment and placed it so it looks like he's holding the sign.

I'm not too much of a bright color lover, so this color challenge was a bit tricky for me - Summer Sun, Only Orange, Kiwi Kiss (or old olive) ... I actually was thinking card stock color nearly all morning, but decided to soften the colors by using inks.

I used the same stamp set, Polka Dot Punches, and stamped one heart as the focal point in only orange, then the rest of the images from the set in summer sun. For the sentiment panel on the top flap, I first stamped the Birthday greeting in Kiwi Kiss then some of the images in either orange or yellow. This I matted on Old Olive so it would give a bit of punch against the Kiwi. I punched 2 small holes in the shape on the right of the sentiment panel to tie a piece of ribbon, I call it candy corn ribbon, for obvious reasons.

The card base is Kiwi kiss that I trimmed half way down in front then punched the border with an MS border punch before attaching the white panel. The inside also has white that was punched at the bottom w/the same punch.

When all was said and done, I added some yellow and orange Stickles glitter glue to the centers and called it a day.

This card was for this weeks sketch challenge. I found this gorgeous heavy cardstock from My Mind's Eye, 29th Street Market. All of the panels are from this set, just flipped over to reveal the backside. The card base and all panels are matted with perfect plum.

The image panel is one of my new favorite stamps, yet this was the first time it saw some ink. Such a sweet image, it makes me wax nostalgic about when my beautiful daughter was that age (not so long ago, yet seems like an eternity). She was stamped on vanilla cardstock with versafine sepia then I sponged the edges with Holtz tea dye to age it a bit. I added 2 purple brads at opposite corners that I tried to distress a bit with sandpaper and ink. A creamy satin ribbon beneath the top panels finished this one off.

So, after what seems like a long abstinence, let me know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by!