You gotta kiss a LOT of frogs....

Here is my entry for this weeks TCP Tuesday challenge. Leigh O'Brien was this weeks "Hostess with the Mostess" and she gave us an awesome color challenge to use. The challenge colors are below and they are simply divine together.

I made this card with a co-worker in mind. She is all of 21 years old and she is getting harassed by her family who keeps asking her why she isn't married yet (at one point, they even asked her if she was gay). All I know is that at 21, I was a L-O-N-G way away from wanting to settle down and get married. When I think of the caliber of the guys out there that were in my age group? NO WAY! I just don't understand why her own family is making her feel bad (she was actually in tears talking to me). My advise to her was that she needs to kiss a lot of frogs before she will eventually find her Prince Charming and that she will find him some day. I'm hoping that this will bring a smile to her face.

I inked up "Frog Prince" and stamped him multiple times on Shimmery White cardstock. I masked off his crown using good old post it notes and used my handy dandy Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the placement exactly right (with the right tools, I can do ANYTHING....LOL)! I colored in the frogs using a few of the Copic markers that I do own and then added a little Diamond Stickles to their little frog bellies for a little shimmer. I then watercolored the background of the frog panel with Soft Sky reinker and then matted with Old Olive cardstock. The "Frog Prince" main focal image was also colored with Copics, but he also received a little extra treatment with my Copic Spica glitter pens (to make him really stand out from the others). I doodled a little dot border around him to make the image pop a little further. He was matted with a Ruby Red scalloped heart.

The card base is Soft Sky that has been stamped with the Linen background with Soft Sky ink. I then overstamped the background with the "Balls" stamp from TCP. I just love the soft, textural feel that stamping these two backgrounds adds to the card. I cut off about 3/4 of an inch from the right side of the card to add a little visual interest. I then made a scalloped edge with my corner rounder and added some Ruby Red eyelets using my Crop-O-Dile. Inside the card reads "Frogs. Princes. I've kissed them all". How very true this is!

And speaking of a handsome prince.....here is a picture of my oldest son at his Kindergarten graduation! He may be a little young for my co-worker, but I know that he'll make someone very happy someday (after all, his mama is raising his right!)!




Thanks for stopping by! I'll be posting some ATCs that I've made in the past few weeks within the next few days. I hosted a TCP swap and I was really pleased with the ATCs that I came up with (but I want my fellow swappers to see them first).



Card Recipe:
Stamps: Frog Prince, Balls (both from The Cats Pajamas), Linen (SU)
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Soft Sky, Ruby Red, Old Olive
Ink: Black Staz-On, Soft Sky
Other: Aquapainter, Fresh Favorites I eyelets (SU), Pewter Hodgepodge (SU), Soft Sky stitched ribbon (SU), Nestabilities (sm and lg rectangles, plain and scalloped hearts), small corner rounder, Crop-o-dile

Yankee Doodle Sprinkle

ETA: Kitty wanted to know how I got the colors so perfectly placed on Sprinkle. I actually stamped Sprinkle twice. Once in Brilliant Blue and once in Basic Black. I cut out Sprinkles little vest and glued it in place with my Quickie glue pen. Sprinkles hat was also cut out and popped up on a dimensional. I used Christmas red stickles over the blue striped areas of the hat (the red covers the blue beautifully) and added diamond stickles to the stars in the hat. Hope this helps!

ETA2: Hey, I just saw that you can click on the picture to make it bigger on this particular card. So you CAN see all of the bling and sparkle. Don't know if I did anything diffeent or if it has always been this way. LOL!

I made this for Leigh's challenge on her blog for The Cats Pajamas. Leigh is the hipster hostess this week and has an awesome sketch for us to try! Leigh is always such an inspiration, and if you don't already visit her blog, I encourage you to do so.

I'm hosting an ATC swap over on Splitcoaststampers for fellow The Cats Pajamas lovers. I've been playing with my Patriotic Sprinkle stamp for the ATC that I'm creating and couldn't resist using her this week (after all, who can resist Sprinkle when she is all dolled up in Red, White, and Blue?). I didn't follow Leigh's sketch exactly but I think it still works. I just couldn't bear to cover up all that gorgeous Doodlebug glittered cardstock and the intricate lace cardstock from KI Memories.

Spinkles hat and vest were both stamped in Brilliant Blue and then cut out carefully. I then stamped Sprinkle in Basic Black on a Shimmery White circle that was cut out with my Nestabilities. The hat is colored with Christmas Red and Diamond stickles for some serious sparkle power and popped up on a dimensional. Her little bow tie also has some stickles too. The fireworks were colored with my Copic Spica glitter pens.

I wish the picture would show all of the beautiful shimmer and sparkle! Thanks for stopping by!



Card Recipe:
Stamps: Patriotic Sprinkle, Frisky 4th, Fireworks (all from The Cats Pajamas)
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red, Brilliant Blue
Cardstock: Shimmery White (SU), Ladybug, Blue Jean, Lily White (Sugar Coated cardstock Doodlebug Design), Stars Lace Cardstock (KI Memories)
Other: Star Brads (retired SU), star punch, key tag punch, Circle Nesties, Copic Spica glitter pens, Christmas Red and Diamond stickles, silver cord (retired)

Don't You Wish That You Were Hot Like Me?

Sprinkle is H-O-T! No doubt about it, she is one hot mama! I made this for Toni's color challenge over on her blog for The Cat's Pajamas. We were to use Orange, Yellow, and White. Colors I typically avoid. Sprinkle is so confident there, she just puts herself out there for all to be admired (she knows that she is a hottie)!



I've seen these cute little purses here and there and wanted to give one a try. All I can say is easy peasy! Now I just need to make one more for Christopher (as Harland has already laid claim to this one).


I stamped 3 small flowers in white Staz-On on a clear envelope from Stampin Up. Sprinkle Annette was stamped on Shimmery White and then colored with some Copic markers and Copic Spica glitter pens. Her little shoes are colored only with the Copic Spica glitter pen (I wanted her to look like she is wearing jellies). Her sunglasses are colored with a Sakura glaze pen (which gives incredible dimension and an uber smooth feel once dry). She is all shimmery and glossy just like a black feline should be! LOL! You would NEVER catch Sprinkle rolling around in dirt (much like my Bella).


Thanks for stopping by! I'll hopefully have some more eye candy for you to see tomorrow!



Purse Recipe:
Stamps: Sprinkle Annette, 3 Small Flowers (The Cat's Pajamas)
Cardstock: Only Orange, Bumble Bee Sugar Coated Cardstock (Doodlebug), Shimmery White
Ink: Staz-On Black & White
Other: Copic Spica glitter pens, Sakura glaze pen, ribbon from my stash, velcro, sticky strip, crop-o-dile, Cuttlebug Dots embossing folder

The Card That Almost Wasn't......

The fact that I'm able to post this card is somewhat of a miracle. I had such a cute idea in my head for this particular card. The evolution of this card however came out of sheer necessity. Let me explain......

I received this gorgeous 5 1/4 inch square card from Terry at Creative Cuts and More. The card itself is made from my very favorite Cryogen White (can you say *shimmer*) with the foldout square in Bubble Gum velvet paper. You do the math.....Shimmer + Velvet = one easily gorgeous creation.

I knew I wanted to use my Hero Arts Yoo Hoo Owl sparkle clear set as I've seen so many cute Owl cards lately. I work frantically to get the boys to bed so I can have some me time. The boys are pleading "One more bedtime story mommy?" and I give them an emphatic "No! It's a school night...you need to go to sleep!" I probably should have read them the extra story.....

Here's the disaster as it unfolded....

1. When I go to stamp my second image (the smallest owl), the image only transfers part of the way. I waited too long and the Staz-On ink on the image wasn't wet enough. Yikes! I tell myself..."OK, this is the beauty of clear stamps....reink the image and you'll be able to perfectly position it so that you don't have double lines!". I actually DID do a good job of stamping the image, only I pressed too hard and the image looks a little darker than the others.

2. Then my sweet little Bella comes traipsing along. Sweet Bella walked over my stamping scrub and got one of her little feet on the wet side. Sweet Bella thinks that her paw print would make a mighty fine addition to my stamped artwork and decides to walk over the card, thus making her mark on the art world forever. Here is a picture of sweet Bella! She really likes the bonding time with mommy in the office/stamp room! My husband would tell her that she is not his idea of "computer software". Bella would disagree!

The rest shall we say is history. I had not planned on having bling in the lower left and upper right of the card. I also did not originally plan on using a luscious brown velvet ribbon with my card either. The bling and the ribbon are there to hide sweet little kitty paw prints! LOL! Without the ribbon, I wouldn't have done the piercing down the left side of the card. Nor would I have pierced the upper right hand corner either. I think the only original idea that came to fruition is that the largest owl is super sparkly!



I guess the morale of the story is to keep moving forward. I know that I'm not the only one out there who has had to salvage their work! Don't get me started on the mishaps of trying to take a photo of the card outside! LOL! At least you can see the pretty shimmer of my favorite Cryogen White paper!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe:

Cardstock: 5 1/4 inch square Foldout Window Card (Cryogen White, Bubble Gum Velvet Paper)

Stamps: Yoo Hoo Owl (Hero Arts)

Ink: Timber Brown Staz-On, Garden Green

Other: Watercolor crayons, Copic Spica glitter pens, Hero Arts bling, Chocolate Velvet ribbon (Jacksonbelle Embellishments), paper piercer and mat pack, glue dots

Somebody STOP me!

My name is Linda and I am addicted to ATCs! I don't know how it happened, but somehow I wound up signing up for 7 ATC swaps over on SCS. One swap was mailed off without my even having a chance to even get a photo of what I made (hopefully I'll be receiving one of those back so I can share it with you here).

Here is an older ATC that I made for a technique lovers swap (this was actually made back in February or March and I finally got around to photographing it and posting it here). The technique is Faux Mother of Pearl. I used my retired Botanicals set from SU (one of my favorites) simply stamped in black on top of the Faux Mother of Pearl.



This next ATC is for the Don't Bug Me Swap hosted by Queenie on SCS. For this ATC, we were to use some kind of bug image. I used one of the butterflies from yet another favorite retired SU set, Wonderful Wings. The echnique used is called Acetate Frost (this is from Technique Junkies). The background is done with Alcohol Inks on acetate. The butterfly is then stamped over top with Staz-On. Talk about a challenge! I can't tell you how many beautiful backgrounds got placed in the trash because I got a blurred image.



My last ATC is for a Flower Power swap (also hosted by Queenie on SCS). For this ATC, I used the Wet Watercolor technique. I used my newly purchased Penny Black Lace Flower stamp and colored in with markers. I then misted with water and stamped three consecutive times on Shimmery White cardstock. I then added a little Diamond stickles to make them sparkle like nobodies business.




I'll come back in later to edit in all the details. Right now, I have a hungry little 4 year old demanding breakfest.


Thanks for stopping by!

Easy Peasy!

Don't you just love it when something comes together in a flash? I know that I do! LOL! As a mom to two young boys (and who also has to work a full time job) my stamping time is L-I-M-T-E-D! My best friend is celebrating a birthday today and this little ditty is going to hold a gift certificate inside for a pedicure!

This is a wonderful die cut that I received from Creative Cuts and More. It is the Bell Box with Layers. The box itself is made from Bazzill smoothies Coconut Cream with the green layers in Pear Crush. This literally took me 15 minutes to throw together (I swear it took longer to figure out what stamp sets to use).

Some people can come up with box patterns off the top of their heads. I'm NOT one of those people. I'm one of those people that appreciate the pre-made things that you can doctor up and make to look fabulous! I would rather spend the limited time that I have available to stamp getting creative (plus I find that I tend to waste a lot of very good cardstock in my box making attempts). LOL! If you've never visited Terry's site, I heartily encourage you to do so! You can specify what color/texture you want in all of the available die cut options that she has available.

I'll be having some more items posted this week using some of the fabulous products from Terry's site. Stay tuned!



Box recipe:

Die Cut Box: Bell Box with Layers (Bazzill Smoothies Coconut Cream and Pear Crush)

Stamps: Garden of Life, Limitless Labels (both from Papertrey Ink)

Ink: White Craft, Key Lime VersaMagic

Other: Hero Arts bling, detail clear and detail white ep

Bewitched

All right, cue the catchy theme music........

I am so happy with myself right now. This card turned out exactly like I wanted it to! Carole challenged us to create a card inspired by a television sitcom. I chose Bewitched (which when I think about it had a cool black cat of its own) as my inspiration piece. Remember the opening credits with the witches character flying through the night sky with the city as a backdrop with a huge moon overhead?

To get the night sky, I brayered some Lovely Lilac ink on Glossy White cardstock. I have always loved how 'special' glossy cardstock makes a project look and feel. This is probably why I'm so happy with how this turned out (that and my little skyline looks pretty darned cute)! And the moon....that beautiful glittery yellow moon (I'm becoming addicted to the Doodlebug sugar coated cardstock).

Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! I have some ATCs to work on over the weekend that I'll post.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Big Sprinkle, Witchy Hat (all from The Cat's Pajamas)

Cardstock: Basic Grey, Gable Green, Glossy White, Bumblebee sugar coated cardstock (Doodlebug)

Ink: Lovely Lilac, Black Staz-On

Other: Lime Green and Diamond stickles, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, brayer, pop-up glue dots