Follow Your Bliss…

Have you seen this? http://jacksonbelle.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2007/03/28/sale/

Surely you *need* stitched grosgrain and Cosmo Cricket paper, don’t you? **head nodding** yes, of course!

That stitched ribbon is awesome!! Thanks for the SALE Lindsey!!!

Happy Saturday!

I was up early this morning and made this card, then I had to do some work, so I am posting it for you on my break

I was so inspired by this gorgeous Daisy D’s paper that I got from Jacksonbelle! It’s an 8×8 pad called Beacon Hill. This sunflower and stripe pattern are soooo yummy!

I wanted to let the gorgeous paper be the focus of this card, so I pulled out this little bunch of sunflowers from the Provencale set. I stamped it on watercolor paper with Timber Brown Stazon ink. Then, I watercolored it using ink from the lid of the pad. I used saffron, summer sun, ruby red, old olive, close to cocoa, and creamy caramel. Then, I sponged some antique linen distress ink around the edges to give it an aged look. I mounted it on a piece of brocade blue cardstock that I had distressed and sponged the edges. I chose the brocade, because there are small distressed spots of that color on the patterned paper. I added the small “friend” tab to it, and I set that aside. (I simply stamped “friend” on a scrap of vanilla, punched it with the designer label punch, and sponged it with antique linen ink).

I chose kraft for the card base. Then, I attached a strip of the co-ordinating striped paper across the center of the sunflower print. It needed ribbon, and I just got this yummy ivory May Arts ribbon from Jacksonbelle. I thought it would be perfect, but I needed to tone it down. So, I sponged some of the antique linen ink on it. That was perfect! I layered the sunflower panel on a brocade panel, then tied the ribbon across the bottom of the striped panel.

I thought it needed a little interest, so I went through my stash and found these Daisy D’s antique pewter photo corners. I used 2 of them in opposing corners. Then, I mounted the focal image on an angle. It still needed “something” so I added the 3 pewter brads across the striped panel. Finally, I attached this to the kraft card base.

Looking at this makes me want to take a trip to France…how about you?

Have a fabulous Saturday!! Thanks for stopping by

I am in *love* with this blog theme!! I hope you like it, too. I love how that beautiful path works so well with my title.

YAY!! It feels like home now

Thanks for bearing with me through the changes! Love you guys!!! {{{{friends}}}}

Enabler alert!! LOL!!

Just got an email from CrazyScraps that they have the NEW Cuttlebug releases from CHA!! Click here to SHOP!!

And they are ON SALE!!!

Be still my heart, a PAISLEY Cuttlebug die!!  **faints**

Thanks to this cool random number generator, number 16 was chosen!

Here is the winner!!

Very excited to see that you have a blog– we get to see your creations up close and get a better sense of how you create! I love seeing how you use different products like lumiere and other “advanced” techniques to give your cards a much richer and layered feel.

Comment by pegg — March 27, 2007

Thank you pegg!! Please email me with your snail mail address, and I will send off your one-of-a-kind card!

I love that you all are visiting! Be sure to check back, or better yet, Subscribe via email! I will be giving away a “treat” soon, that you WON’T want to miss!!

When my friends Lindsey (Jacksonbelle) and Julia (Julia S) asked me & Michele (Shel9999) if we’d like to join in on their “Take Two” challenge, I jumped at the chance! I LOVE a challenge—and what could be better than one with friends?

Our challenge was to use the Mixed Bouquet set from SU! and Crate Paper Twirl. I love to see how different our designs are with the same supplies! Click on Michele, Lindsey, and Julia’s names to view their cards!

I wanted to show off as much of this gorgeous paper as I could. I needed a good layout, so I flipped through PaperCrafts’ Joy of Cardmaking Vol. 1 and found a card by Nichole Heady (PaperCrafting Genius) on page 44. I loved the color blocking layout and her use of vellum. Cool! I found a layout to use!

I pulled colors from the paper and decided on Barely Banana for the card base. Using Nichole’s card as a guide, I cut 3 blocks of the Twirl double-sided textured paper and attached them to the cardfront. Next, I tore a corner from some vellum, and stamped the daisy in Brilliance moonlight white, and sponged the edge for a little depth. Then, I machine stitched it to the left corner. I love that you can still see the pink floral print under the vellum! What I didn’t like, was the way the 3 panels looked at the seam, so I cut a strip of the cocoa paper (it’s the reverse side of the pink floral pattern) and attached it to the cardfront, sliding it under the vellum. Since I am addicted to anything sparkly, I outlined several of the flower images on the paper with my Sakura Stardust gel pen in Clear. OOOOOOOH me LIKEY!
Next, I stamped 2 of the solid daisies on vanilla cardstock with VersaMagic Pixie Dust ink. Then, I stamped the stem and leaves on vanilla cardstock with VersaMagic Tea Leaves ink. While the green ink was still wet, I took my aquapainter, and blended the ink on the leaves to fill them in. This ink dries fairly quickly, so when it was dry, I cut out the 2 flowers and the stem/leaves using my very favorite SU! paper snips! Set the cut images aside. Using the Stamp-a-ma-jig, I stamped the “Happy Birthday” on the top left panel, with VersaMagic Gingerbread ink. I love using the SAMJ for sentiments! If you have ever finished a card, and then finished it by stamping a crooked sentiment ($^&%@#!$*@#!!) you *know* exactly why I love to use it! Perfect every time.

OK now it’s time to add the flower and stem. I layered the two pink daisies and attached them with a pale yellow rhinestone brad. I added a big pop-up glue dot to the back, and then attached the stem. I added dimensionals to the leaves, and slid the stem into the vellum pocket, then pressed it all into place.

So what do you think? Do you like our challenge? Would you like to see it again sometime? Leave a comment and let me know! I hope that you have fun stamping with your friends, too

Hugs!

…to leave a comment on My Doodle Card if you would like to receive that card in your mailbox! I will pick the winner tonight at 7pm Eastern time!

Here’s something kinda fun for you to see! My scrapbook page that I created for Hampton Art’s catalog is being used for their March layout! You might recognize the girls in the photos! They are Sharon’s daughters! Check it out here: Sisters & Friends

Check back today, as something fun will be posted a little later!!

I needed to make a sympathy card today, so I used the color challenge on SCS as my inspiration.

Do you find it difficult to make sympathy cards? I do. As I was making this card, I was thinking about why I feel that way. Card making brings me so much joy…why are sympathy cards difficult? Hmmm…maybe that’s it. The occasion for a sympathy card is certainly not joyful, so the typical joy I have in creating a card is overshadowded by the somber feelings of sympathy. Do you think that might be it? Something to think about…

I used my new Penny Black “Rainbow Flower” stamp. I had an idea to take my aquapinter, and load it with ink from a reinker, then apply the color to the stamp. After I finished all 3 colors, I added some Lumiere to a stipple brush, and stippled it on the stamp—on top of the ink. Then, I stamped on the white cardstock. What a gorgeous sheen it has! (I had to clean my stamp with a toothbrush to get the Lumiere out of all the crevices–but it all came off just fine) I was going to just dry it with the heat gun and thought hmmm why don’t I clear emboss it? So I dumped (that’s a technical term) some clear embossing powder over it and embossed. Oooooh I liked that! The beautiful sheen of the Lumiere shines right through. I wasn’t liking the stark white, so I loaded my sponge brayer with caribbean ink, and brayered over the entire image. I buffed the excess ink off of the flower with a paper towel. Wallah–a dreamy sky.

The rest is pretty simple. Mounted the flower on cranberry crisp, then on black. I like using black for a little bit of “pop”. I stamped the flourish and “So Sorry” on olive cardstock, then punched it out with the rounded tab punch. The olive against the caribbean looked a little “blah”, so I punched a small egde for the tab in black. I saw that trick on Cambria’s blog—thanks baby!! Next, I stamped the mustard cardfront with Well Worn Words in mustard ink. Finally, I tied this amazing May Arts ribbon (that I got from Jacksonbelle) across the front, and attached the focal image to the cardfront on dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by today! Don’t forget to leave a comment on my doodled card below, and let me know what you’d like to see here! Bye for now!

When I saw today’s Inspiration Challenge posted on SCS, I knew I had to doodle! You can read all about the challenge HERE.

I kept the picture of the gift card up on my computer, grabbed a Fabriano Medioevalis notecard, and started to doodle in pencil. Once I was happy with how it looked, I traced over the pencil lines with a Sakura Pigma Micron pen. I love using that pen for sketching, because it’s waterproof and fade proof. The ink is fast-drying, so when it was dry, I erased the pencil lines with a white eraser.

Now for the fun part-Watercoloring! Along with my waterbrush, I used my SU! reinkers in Cool Caribbean, Marigold Morning, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, and Pixie Pink. I thought these colors seemed to match the inspiration piece the best. Using the Stamp-a-majig, I stamped the greeting in black ink. After the watercoloring was dry, I traced over the flower, stems, and leaves with a Sakura Quickie glue pen. Then, I sprinkled SU! Dazzling Diamonds glitter over it, and tapped off the excess. Wallah! A fun, one-of-a-kind card to brighten someone’s day!

Would you like to have this card? Post a comment to this entry and tell me what you’d like for me to teach on my blog! I will choose a random winner on Wednesday, March 28th!

Thanks for stopping by. Y’all come back now…hear?

Well here I am~somewhere I didn’t think I would be, LOL!

I thought it was time to open a blog and share what I love to do. The inspiration for the title of my blog comes from my favorite quote by Joseph Campbell:

If you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.

This blog is my journey of bliss. I look forward to the doors that will open, and can’t wait to share it with you!

I hope you enjoy coming to visit, and I hope it is a place that you will want to share with your friends. So, pull up a chair, put on your favorite comfy clothes, grab your drink of choice, and join me!