Here comes Peter Cottontail....

This is one of the very first rubber stamps that I have ever purchased. It is made by Holly Berry House (which also happens to be made locally here in Colorado Springs). This stamp is quite large (it measures 4"x5") and is a little intimidating to watercolor due to all the little details. I actually wasn't happy with my watercoloring and was about to relegate it to the paper file when I decided to try adding some glitter. Whoever invented glitter is GENIOUS in my book! Glitter is just what this little bunny was needing!

The card is pretty straightforward. The Chocolate Chip card base is 5 1/2" square. I don't know if you can see it, but I stamped the Sanded background in Pale Plum craft on the base of the card. Peter is stamped in Timber Brown Staz-On and is colored with a plethora of products (reinkers, WWC, Copic Spica glitter pens). To the bunny's coat and pants I added some of my much hoarded Art Institute glitter in a pale blue and a pale purple. All of the other glittery accents is Dazzling Diamonds (SU).

And to Sharon in NE, I truly apologize for the childhood song that will be playing in your head for the remainder of the day. LOL!

Card recipe:

Stamps: 6083 LQ (Holly Berry House), Sanded and All Holidays (SU)

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Pale Plum, Shimmery White

Ink: Staz-On Timber Brown, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, various to watercolor

Accessories: Art Institute & Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Copic Spica glitter pens, Chocolate Chip Taffetta, dimensionals, Perfect Layers, Cutter Kit, Small Corner Rounder

Peonies make me happy!

I was lucky enough to have about an hour to play in my stamp room today. I knew that I wanted to stamp with my new Pretty Peony set from the SU Spring/Summer catalog. About 15 minutes of that time was devoted to looking for the darned set (my stamp area is what you would call a little disorganized at the moment). I prevailed however, and found the set! I have a special fondness for Peonies. They are such a beautiful, showy flower. I am lucky enough to have a beautiful Peony in my garden (by the name of Sorbet). I tried to mimic the colors of this Peony (which is a soft soft pink with hints of white/vanilla throughout).

Since my time was now somewhat limited (i.e. 45 minutes), I decided to go with a layout that I had already made before (i.e. I cased myself which was originally a case of Jenn Balcer). Please see this card for the original layout.

I stamped the first layer of the Peony in Blush Blossom on Shimmery White paper. The second stamp was inked up in Pretty in Pink (I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig for placement). The two-step leaf was inked up in River Rock (stamped off once), with the second stamp inked up in Mellow Moss (also stamped off once). The images were cut out and set aside. The Tres Chic background was inked in Pretty in Pink and stamped on Shimmery White. I then sponged some Pretty in Pink around all edges. The background piece was matted with Pretty in Pink and then pierced for a little extra detail. The card base is Blush Blossom that was stamped with the Flourish from Baroque Motifs (ink used was Blush Blossom). A pretty accent was made with my Pretties kit and some Pink taffeta ribbon. A little Diamond Stickles added the perfect final touch.

Card details:

Stamps: Pretty Peony, Tres Chic, Baroque Motifs, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Cardstock: Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink, Shimmery White

Ink: Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink, River Rock, Mellow Moss

Accessories: Pretties Kit, Pink Taffeta ribbon, Diamond Stickles

Santa Baby....

I made this for Beate's weekend sketch challenge that she has over on her blog. I don't know about you, but I love it when part of the work is already thought out for me! She has awesome sketch challenges...well really awesome everything. If you've never visited her blog, I highly encourage you to go and check it out.

I had originally inked up and colored the Santa for the Thursday Ways to Use it Challenge over on Splitcoast. This challenge was WT135 Bling! Bring Out the Glam. Santa had been sitting on my desk all colored in and glittered up, but I just couldn't figure out what to do with him. To the rescue, Beate's sketch.

Santa is colored in with watercolor crayons on SU's watercolor paper using an aquapainter. I really am liking the white crayon for the beard and hair, it really makes a difference. I then used some Hero Arts Prisma glitter to make him all sparkly. The sparkle in his blue eyes comes from my Copic Spica glitter pens that I purchased from Ellen's store. I then outlined the entire panel with some Martha Stewart White Gold glitter. I like how it lends an Old World feel to the piece. The panel is then matted on a shimmer ruby CS that I picked up at Archivers. The card base is Soft Sky inked up with my Linen background. I then stamped snowflakes from the SU Snow Burst set in Soft Sky and River Rock. The patterned paper piece is Basic Grey Fruitcake. The sentiment is from one of the newer Papertrey stamp releases. It is from their Holiday Wishes set. Last but not least, the snowflake is a new Spellbinders Snowflake Wonder die that I picked up (also from Ellen...she has been seeing a little of my hard earned money lately :-) ). I used a rhinestone brad to layer three of the snowflakes together and then used Waterfall and Crystal Stickles to make it all sparkly.

Hope you enjoy!

Frankie - Sketch Challenge

I made this for SC143 over on Splitcoast. I really was loving all of the cards that I saw made with this particular sketch. I realized I haven't made any Halloween cards yet this season, so I thought that I would get my one of my favorite sets from last seasons Holiday mini all inky again. I love to watercolor so the Best Fiends set was a natural for me to purchase.

I stamped Frankie with Staz-On Black on watercolor paper and used my watercolor crayon and an aquapainter to color him in. I still have quite a ways to go before I will be happy with my watercoloring, but I have come a long way from my first watercoloring attempts. I highlighted certain areas of Frankie with my Copic Spica glitter pens (I so wish you could see the sparkle). Once Frankie was colored in, I sponged some Vintage Violet (one of last years "In" colors) all around the edges of the watercolored piece. I used my ticket corner punch on both the watercolored layer, as well as the Pumpkin Pie layer, and then layered both of these on a Lavender Lace piece. The card base is made from Vintage Violet. To this, I added a Basic Grey (one of this years "In" Colors) layer stamped with the new Sanded background in Basic Black. The horizontal layer is a Martha Stewart ribbon tape from her Halloween collection (this stuff is uber cool). The next layer is some sparkly Glitter paper from the K & Company 2007 Halloween Line. I felt like the piece still needed "something" so I punched a bat shape from Basic Black cardstock with my Martha Stewart bat punch. The bat is covered with Black mica powder to make him super sparkly. I'm trying to save up for a nicer digital camera. I would love to be able to better capture the sparkle of my work a little better (in addition to the antics of my two very active young children). Hope you enjoy!

Stamps: Best Fiends, Sanded
Cardstock: Vintage Violet, Basic Grey, Pumpkin Pie, Lavender Lace, K & Company (dp)
Ink: Staz-On Black
Accessories: Martha Stewart ribbon tape, Martha Stewart bat punch, Copic Spica glitter pens, Ticket corner punch, black Mica powder

Casing Ellen

One of my favorite enablers...um make that artists is running a contest on her blog. That artist (and enabler extradinaire) is none other than Ellen Hutson. The contest is to use one of her recent layouts and stamp a card with a Lockhart image. None of us know what the prize is, but Ellen promises that it will be good. :-)

I just adore this Roses and Daisies Lockhart stamp from the La Fleur Couture line. I think the La Fleur Couture and the Veggie Couture stamps are just a brilliant concept. Ellen has made some of the most beautiful and elegant cards that I have ever seen with these stamps. If you haven't ever checked out Ellen's blog, I would highly recommend paying her a visit.

I wish my photo did better justice to how shimmery this little beauty is. The cardstock is SU's Shimmery White. In addition to that, I used my Sakura glitter pens (pink and clear) to highlight portions of the dress. Alas, it is cloudy and overcast here in Colorado, and this is the best picture that I could produce.

Stamp set used: Roses and Daisies
(Lockhart)
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Very Vanilla
Ink: Timber Brown Staz-On, Certainly Celery, Pretty in
Pink
Accessories: Dots embossing template (SU), Scor-It,
Marvy Oval Scallop Punch, Celery Organdy, dimensionals, Sakura clear and pink
glitter pens

I stamped!

This is a birthday card that I'm sending to a stamper that I have long admired. Boy does it feel good to stamp! I've been missing it. I still have to make a birthday card for my son (my youngest turns 4 tomorrow) and a birthday card and matching gift bag for my best friend. I'm also going to attempt to make a 'Swimming Pool' ice cream cake for the festivities tomorrow. Wish me luck!

The card above is my very first acetate card. The trickiest thing about acetate cards (besides photographing them) is adhering your layers so your adhesive does not show. The stamped images are from one of my favorite retiring sets (that I'll hold on to forever) called Mixed Bouquet. I stamped the smaller daisy image using White Staz-On on the transparency itself. I stamped the larger rose image on Shimmery White using Pixie Dust Versamagic chalk ink. The image was then embossed with Irridescent Ice ep and then watercolored with banana and pink crayons. The patterned paper is some of my favorite Crate paper called Twirl. I highlighted some of the stripes with my Sakura glitter pen. This beauty shimmers like crazy (and the gal I'm sending this too LOVES shimmer)! I wish you could see it IRL. I tied some pretty green polka dotted ribbon and then hung a little CB tag that I made and stamped it with an image from It's Your Birthday.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

DH's Father's Day Card

Well, I was up late again last night stamping and dodging the inevitable Miller Moth again (yuck)! This is what I created for my DH for his Father's Day card.

I just recently purchased this Classic Pickups set from SU. I knew that I would regret not purchasing it before it retired (and I really didn't realize this until last night when I started to play with it). I never purchased Classic Convertibles before it retired, and I'm still looking to find it at a reasonable price.

This is a Gatefold card that I learned to make from Beate. The only thing that I haven't figured out yet is how to keep the card closed (so excuse my finger in the picture). The image is stamped with Black Staz-On on Watercolor paper. I used a mixture of my watercolor crayons and reinkers to color the image. I will never become an airbrush artist for hot rods, but I think my flames look OK! ;-) I used a silver metallic pencil for all the grillwork, rims and headlights and went over the windshield with a Sakura clear glaze pen. I sponged the edges with Buckaroo Blue and then used Classic Black DTP lightly on the edges. The black panels behind the truck were stamped in Versamark with the Paisley backgrounder from CHF and then embossed in detail black on black (love this look...I learned it from Lindsey!). I then added some Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware (couldn't put girly bling on a masculine card) for accents. I used my Cuttlebug to cut the little tag and sponged Buckaroo Blue all over, and stamped FD in my Rough Edges Alphabet. Finished with just the smallest little strip of Black Organdy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Classic Pickups & Rough Edges Alphabet (SU), Paisley backgrounder (CHF)

Cardstock: Buckaroo Blue, Basic Black, watercolor paper

Ink: Versamark, Black Staz-On, Buckaroo Blue (reinker)

Accessories: Pewter HPH, Black Organdy, Sponges, WWC, Aquapainter, Detail Black EP, Sakura Clear Glaze pen

Little Lady

I made this for one of the Wish RAK gift exchanges over on Splitcoast. This was for a secret color exchange. The person who I was given to RAK, listed Blue as one of her favorite color choice. Boy did I ever have fun shopping for her. I didn't have the time to make as many altered items as I would have liked (I have been putting in some major overtime at work the past few weeks), but I thought I would post here what I did manage to make.

I made my secret color friend a little mini book with my Bind It All along with a matching card. I just love this patterned paper by Die Cuts With a View. It already has glittered accents all over it and has such a playful pattern. I thought it was high time I broke in my Little Lady set that I purchased from Papertrey. This is my first venture into acrylic stamps and I have to say that I really like the quality of these stamps. They really take the SU classic dye ink beautifully! I used the white card stock that Papertrey also sells for my card base as it has a nice weight to it. I layered on some SU Real Red with the patterned paper on top. I stamped the sentiment, antennae, and bug trail directly on top of the patterned paper. The Ladybug was stamped and cut out and mounted on top of the patterned paper. I added some Black Diamond stickles on top of the Ladybug spots for a little extra bling (although you can't see it in the photo...which was taken at 6:00 AM right as I was walking out the door to go to work).

Thanks for visiting!

I scream, you scream....

I am so happy with how this card turned out! I made this for Beate's sketch challenge over on her blog.

I LOVE this cute little Penny Black froggy (I have several of these cute frog images). I stamped the frog in Staz-On Black on Shimmery White cardstock. Colored w/my aquapainter and watercolor crayons and used markers to shade a little. A touch of dazzling diamonds gives the froggy's tummy and ice cream some sparkle. I stamped the Dots & Daisies background in Pixie Pink craft on Gable Green cardstock and embossed with Irridescent Ice embossing powder and rounded the edges. The Dotted background is stamped in Pixie Pink on Shimmery White and then ran through my Cuttlebug Blooms embossing folder. I attached the Gable Green layer to the Shimmery White layer, and all was placed on a 5 1/4 sized Gable Green square card base. I cut the Frog out with my Creative Memories circle cutter and mounted this to a Pixie Pink scalloped Circle. Attached the frog with dimensionals. The Daisies came from one of TexasJodylynn's Prima shares. Topped this with some Doodlebug bling.

This is a cool technique called Acetate Frost that I learned by being a Technique Junkies subscriber. This particular card uses Tim Holtz Alcohol inks (Farmers Market collection). I blatantly cased this particular design from Leigh O'Brien (as I had never used Alcohol inks before, I didn't want to have to think about anything else). I just love the bright vivid colors produced from these inks! I'm going to have to expand my collection (good use for my M's 40% off coupon). LOL!

Stamps: It's About Time, Well Worn Words

Cardstock: Basic Black, Rose Red, Whisper White, Acetate

Inks: Black Staz-On, Craft White, Farmers Market

Technique: Acetate Frost

My muse....

Any stamper that I know will always indulge themselves in a certain type of stamp. For example, I love flowers! If I see a flower stamp that I want, I purchase it . No buyers remorse...no guilt...I just purchase it. I purchase it because I know that I will love it. The same holds true for me with stamps with Cat images.

I want you to meet my Muse for anything Cat related that will be uploaded to this blog. Meet Rocky! We adopted Rocky about 9 months ago from our local shelter. Rocky is now officially a year old, but still very much a kitten. My stamp room and office are located on the 2cd floor of my house. Rocky just peeked in on me from my 2cd story window (he has taken to getting on the roof of my house in his relentless pursuit of birds). Rocky will often hang out with me in my stamp room when I am creating or on the computer. He does a wonderful job warming my feet on cold winter nights here in Colorado.

I couldn't resist purchasing this particular cat image from Cherry Pie Art Stamps when I saw it. See the similarity?

I had made this card for the March VSN over at Splitcoast. The cat is stamped with Versamark ink on Shimmery White paper and embossed with Detail Black embossing powder. I aged the Shimmery White paper with my Distress Inks (LOVE them).

Card details:

Stamps: Chat Noir - Cherry Pie Art Stamps, Paris - Cavallini, French Script - SU

Paper: Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Shimmery White, Basic Grey Perhaps

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark, Antique Linen & Tea Dye (Tim Holtz Distress Ink)

Accessories: Detail Black ep, Aged Copper Hardware, Celery organdy ribbon