Follow Your Bliss…

Good morning!

I made this card for this week’s color challenge on SCS. As luck would have it, it also qualifies for Julia’s WT challenge this week, as well!!

Truth be told, I am not satisfied with this card, but I wanted to share it with you anyway. I have found that many times, a design that I am not pleased with, seems to appeal to others. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, eh?

This is a rather straightforward design. Focal image was stamped in Pallette burnt umber ink on PaperTrey white, and watercolored with caribbean and garden green. I shaded the image using the light and dark grey watercolor crayons for depth. It’s mounted on a panel of choc chip, and I added a few random faux stitches Shel9999 style

The background is simply the watercolor vine jumbo wheel that was rolled on the diagonal. I prefer to use my wheels on the diagonal for 2 reasons:

• the images seem to “flow” better together, and you can’t see the wheeling pattern.
• it’s much easier to “line up” the rows as you are wheeling them, because the diagonal is more forgiving than a straight line.

I stamped the floral bg on PaperTrey white using caribbean ink, and matted it with caribbean cardstock. I tied a piece of the brown polka dot May Arts ribbon across this panel, and attached it to the cardfront. I attached the focal image on dimensionals, and highlighted the flowers with Stickles (naturally, LOL!) The layout was inspired from an issue of the Joy of Cardmaking magazine.

I stamped the PaperTrey sentiment on a piece of garden green scrap in craft white ink. I heat embossed it with detail white ep, and then punched it out with the SU! small oval punch. I adhered it to the lower right corner, outlined it with the fine tip of the choc chip marker, then added a few random stitches to coordinate with the focal image.

Have a great day today, and thanks for stopping by!

Well the time has come for another Take Two challenge! I know how much you all enjoy it, and it’s a ton of fun for us, as well!! Today we are using Basic Grey Romani paper, and Stampin’ UP!’s Be Happy stamp set. Be sure to check out Michele, Lindsey, and Julia’s blogs to see what they came up with for the challenge! I can’t wait to see them, too!!!!

I wanted to do something really different this time, and push myself out of my comfort zone. I don’t use bright red very often~ the bold brights are actually my least used color family. I got this stamp set last year at SU!’s convention, and I have hardly used it!

I started with a white card base (PaperTrey of course), and attached a layer of the Romani red solid paper, and stitched it across the top. Then I adhered a strip of the striped paper across the bottom, and on top of that, a layer of the flower border. Next I stamped the polka-dotted tag on the pink Romani solid paper using versamagic sea breeze ink, cut it out, and trimmed the top with scalloped scissors to make a flower pot. *The scalloped edge echoes the scallop patterns in the flower border.*

I stamped the flower using versamagic mango madness ink, and cut it out. I punched a flower from the floral border print, and adhered it to the center of the stamped flower.

Now I needed to make a stem. I was thinking of using some ricrack, but I didn’t have any that was the right color, and I didn’t feel like dying my white ricrack. So I grabbed my handy dandy pinking scissors, and cut a stem from the Romani solid green paper. Cool!

I adhered all the pieces to the card base, then added a piece of apple green grosgrain for the “leaves”. Finally, I stamped the sentiment, then added stickles to all of the flower centers! Can’t possibly have all those flowers without glitter, right?!

Hope you enjoyed our challenge today!! Oh, so remember I told you I was getting new cabinets for my stamp room? Well they were delivered yesterday but 2 of them are damaged! UUUUUGH! They said hopefully they can bring me the replacements today, if not, Thursday at the latest. Doesn’t that just figure? LOL!

Have a great day! HUGS!!

Stamps: be happy, green thumb (papertrey)

Ink: versamagic-mango madness, sea breeze. memories black

Paper: papertrey white, basic grey romani

Accessories: sewing machine, white thread, stickles, scallop and pinking scissors, dimensionals, grosgrain ribbon, 1/2″ circle punch, papersnips

Hello!

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! I spent most of mine cleaning my office/stamp room. I have some cabinets and countertops arriving, and I can’t wait to get everything in order!! I will need to do a little more after that, but this is a major step in the right direction Once everything is done, I’ll be sure to share it with you!

This is another card that I was commissioned to make for a friend. I saw the technique challenge on SCS today, and knew I wanted to use this gorgeous Penny Black Iris stamp. The challenge is “Wet Watercolor”. I have also heard this called “Expressionistic Watercolor” as well.

I began by coloring my stamp with markers: saffron, celery, and lilac. Then, I misted a piece of PaperTrey white cardstock with water, and stamped my image. I dried it with my heat gun, rounded the corners, and layered it with saffron. I highlighted the image using the quickie glue pen, and added dazzling diamonds glitter.

I stamped the PaperTrey white card base with the fine lace bg stamp and celery ink. I adhered the lilac panel to the cardfront, then I cut a slit in the fold of the card, and tied a piece of white organdy with silver cord.

Finally, I stamped the PaperTrey sentiment with Memories black ink, and attached the focal image on dimensionals. I know this is a simple card, but I wanted the technique and the image to speak the loudest. I love how the technique made the petals look ruffled! I hope you like it, and hope my friend does, too

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: penny black iris, fine lace, papertrey faux ribbon

Ink: lilac, saffron, celery, memories black

Paper: papertrey white, saffron, lilac

Accessories: quickie glue pen, dazz diamonds, dimensionals, organdy ribbon, silver cord, water mister, sm. corner rounder

Well I was tagged by Julie, so here it goes! You can only give a one word answer!

Yourself: friend
Your Partner: absent
Your Hair: red
Your Mother: funny
Your Father: smart
Your Favorite Item: paper
Your Dream Last Night: weird
Your Favorite Drink: water
Your Dream Car: Lexus
Dream Home: log
The Room You Are In: living
Your Fear: bees
Where You Want to be in Ten Years: here
Who You Hung Out With Last Night: dogs
You’re Not: indecisive
One of Your Wish List Items: SUV
The Last Thing You Did: stamp
you Are Wearing: shorts
Your Favorite Weather: sunny
Your Favorite Book: fiction
Last Thing You Ate: sushi
Your Life: happy
Your Mood: content
Your Best Friend: Cindy
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: sleep
Your Car: Avalon
What Are You Doing At The Moment:chatting
Relationship Status: looking
What Is On Your TV: movie
What Is The Weather Like: warm
When Is The Last Time You Laughed: today

So there ya go! I am not going to tag anyone, but if you haven’t been tagged, feel free to accept this as your tag and post your answers at your blog, OK?!

Happy Memorial Day! Let’s not forget the reason for this holiday. I am very thankful for my freedom that others have fought for!

Hugs!

Happy weekend!

A friend of mine commissioned me to make 4 cards for her. Yesterday’s giraffe card was one of them, and here is another. This one was a specific request for me to use Balmy Breezes for a bday card for her friend in Florida.

I was looking through some of my patterned paper, and came across this piece of double sided Wild Asparagus textured cardstock. I thought the blue, sage, and sand colors would be perfect for the beachy theme.

The reverse side of the stripe is the sand color, so I decided to adhere a strip of that across the top of the striped bottom. I stamped the trio of palm trees across the top with versamark ink, because I wanted a soft, subtle effect. Then, I stamped the palm crest using stamped off basic brown ink. I machine stitched all around this panel, and set it aside.

• TIP: If you don’t have the right color ink to match your cardstock, don’t forget your VersaMark! It’s *always* the right color, and gives a beautiful tone-on-tone effect!

I chose naturals white cardstock for the focal image, and stamped the tree with basic brown ink. I watercolored it lightly with sage shadow and creamy caramel ink from the lid of the pads, then sponged on some bashful blue. I tore around the image, then misted the edges with a bit of water, so I could easily curl them. I dried it with my heat tool, then sponged the edges with bashful blue and creamy caramel ink.

As luck would have it, I remembered I bought this Martha Stewart sage twill! I ran a bead of fabri-tac across the seam of the 2 papers, then adhered the twill and trimmed off the ends. I added the sand colored Bazzill brads, then adhered this entire panel to the bashful blue card base.

• TIP: If you want to cut down the bulk created by using the heavier twill ribbon, use fabri-tac adhesive. You will only have to adhere it to the front, and it prevents the waste of having it wrap around the back!

I applied the “Happy Birthday” rub-on to the twill, and mounted the focal image on dimensionals.

Stamps: balmy breezes

Ink: basic brown, caramel, sage, bashful

Paper: bashful, naturals white, wild asparagus stripe

Accessories: ms twill, bazzill brads, aquapainter, sewing machine, white thread, crate paper sentiments rub-on, sponge, fabri-tac

TGIF!! And a long holiday weekend, to boot!! What could be better? I have several things planned, (gardening, stamping, cleaning/organizing my stamping space, etc) and I hope I can complete them all so that I can go shopping on Monday with my friend Cindy! What are y’all doin’ this weekend?

Today’s favorite will probably come as no surprise: the Stamp-a-ma-jig! I have created a little tutorial on how to use it, for those of you that are not familiar with it. I simply cannot live without mine!! For a shortcut, I will now refer to it as a SAMJ, OK?

The SAMJ is 2 pieces: the handle and the clear plastic imaging sheet. It can be used for both left handed and right handed stampers (I am right handed). The smooth side of sheet is ideal for water based inks and textured side for pigment and dye inks. I always use the textured side. I have several extra imaging sheets that have some of my most used images/sentiments stamped on them in black ink, so that they are always ready when I need them. To remove the ink, just swipe it with a baby wipe. If it’s dried on and you have used Stazon, use a little UltraClean or Stampin’ Mist.

Step 1: place imaging sheet into the “L” shaped corner of the handle. *note* This is how I use mine. You can also flip the handle so that the long end is facing up. I just prefer to use it this way:

Step 2: While holding the handle in place, stamp your image on the imaging sheet, butting the block into the “L” shaped corner of the handle:

Step 3: When you remove your block it looks like this:

Step 4: Take you imaging sheet, and position it where you want it on your card:

Step 5: While holding the imaging sheet in place, butt the “L” shaped handle up against the imaging sheet:

Step 6: While holding the handle in place, remove the imaging sheet. Be sure that the handle does not move. If it does,you will just have to repeat the previous step:

Step 7: Ink your stamp, butt the block into the “L” shaped corner of the SAMJ handle, and stamp your image:

Step 8: You’re finished! A perfectly aligned sentiment!

Now you can finish your card!

I was commissioned to make a baby boy card for a friend. I have been *dying* to use this stamp!

I stamped the Hero Arts giraffe with Memories black ink on PaperTrey’s white cardstock, and colored him with Prismacolored pencils and Gamsol. I also shaded him a bit with the saffron marker.

Then, I used my Sakura quickie glue pen, and filled in his spots, mane, tail, and antlers. I poured on a bit of this FunFlock (snow cone blue), and tapped off the excess. Wallah! a cute little fuzzy giraffe!

I matted him with celery cardstock, added saffron brads using the paper piercing template, and added a strip of SU! Sarah designer paper to the cool caribbean card base. Then I adhered two strips of white May Arts rickrack with fabri-tac glue. I mounted the focal image on dimensionals, and called it done!

Stamps: giraffe (hero arts), curvy verses

Paper: sarah, cool caribbean, celery, papertrey white

Ink: memories black, saffron marker

Accessories: may arts rickrack, fabri-tac glue, saffron brads, mat pack, paper piercer, dimensionals, fun flock, gamsol, prismacolored pencils, stumps, sakura quickie glue pen

WOW!! Y’all are so fabulous!! What an amazing number of comments for the giveaway!! 245!!

I used the random number generator, and it chose number 148!!!! Congratulations stampnthyme !! Here’s what she said:

Holy Cow! What a terrific prize package you have put together for us Trudee….Uddery Fabulous! And I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE pinks and purples…so this give a way tickles my fancy! My favorite girly thing is shoes and lipsticks…all shades, all kinds of styles, but especially in PINKS! Thanks for the fun time! Hugs, Barb g

Please email me your snail mail address, by clicking on the “Contact Me” link over there——–>

I will get your yummy prize package out to you ASAP!!

Thank you all so much for sharing a little piece of you with me. I really enjoyed reading every one! Many of you made me bust out laughing, too! LOL! It’s fun to be a girly girl sometimes, isn’t it?

I made this sketch for Roxie’s sketch challenge on SCS this week. I rarely use my wheels, so I thought it would be fun to wheel this image and use it for the focal point.

I wheeled it on PaperTrey white cardstock, and colored with Prismacolored pencils and Gamsol. The hubcaps and bumpers are colored with a silver sharpie. I matted it with black, then added Fun Flock (white and caramel latte tan) to the little doggies with a Sakura quickie glue pen. That seriously made me squeal!

Next, I stamped the real red panel with the flannel plaid bg stamp. I dunno why, but photographing red ink on red paper is pretty stinkin’ difficult. You can just *barely* see it in the photo! Then, I pierced all around the edge and faux-blanket stitched using the fine tip end of the black marker.

I tied the black gingham ribbon using Val’s method seen on her blog HERE . (Val, I can’t tell you how much time you have saved me by teaching us that trick!! Seriously *perfect* every time!! Thank you!) Then, I stamped the “friend” sentiment in Memories black ink, and adhered the little Jesse James paw print button with a glue dot.

I adhered this entire panel to my white card base (PaperTrey–have you bought it yet? no? what are you waiting on, missy? *wink*), and then attached the focal image on dimensionals.

Stamps: tailgaiting wheel, flannel plaid, paper tray

Ink: memories black, real red

Paper: white (papertrey), real red, black

Accessories: prismacolor pencils, gamsol, stumps, gingham ribbon (michaels), fun flock, quickie glue pen, jesse james button, mat pack, paper piercer, black marker, mini glue dot

Be here or be square!!

I’ll be doing the drawing for my Trudee Treats!! If you haven’t entered—what are ya waiting for? scroll on down and enter!

I’ll be posting a card as well, as I didn’t have time to make one last night.

Y’all come back now, hear?

Hi there!

I am really enjoying reading all of your “girly” favorite things for my Trudee Treats giveaway! I see that I am not alone in my love for philosophy products! If you haven’t left a comment, be sure to scroll down!! There’s some fun stuff there

OK on with the card! This is my entry for this week’s color challenge on SCS: vintage violet, certainly celery, old olive. Interesting color combo!! I actually copied a design I made back in January. You can see that card HERE.

I stamped the well worn words bg in celery ink on PaperTrey’s white cardstock. (LOOOOOVE this stuff!!) Then, in opposing corners, I stamped the smaller flowers in stamped-off olive ink.

I inked the Hero Arts distressed background stamp in celery ink, then using the color spritzer, I spritzed olive ink on the inked rubber. I then gave this a couple mists of water, and stamped on white cardstock. I dried it with my heat tool, distressed the edges, and stamped 5 of the flourishes in olive ink. I matted it with olive and violet, tied the May Arts ribbon through a punched hole, and attached to the cardfront.

I felt like it needed a little more depth, so I sponged the edges with violet ink. Using the stampamajig, I stamped the sentiment at the bottom with violet ink. Next, I watercolored the flowers, (also on the same white cardstock–fabulous!!) cut them out, and attached on dimensionals. And, as my typical final touch, I added Stickles to the flower centers and the dots in the flourishes!

I hope you have a great day today!! Thanks for stopping by

WOO HOOO!!!!!!

You know that saying, “It’s better to give than to receive”? Well, I couldn’t agree more!!! I just received my designer copies of the newest PaperCrafts special issue, “You Go Girl”—and I couldn’t WAIT to share it with you!! My card is featured on page 120. This issue is chock full of fabulous, talented designers!! Julie Ebersole, Lisa Strahl, Ellen Hutson, Jessica Witty, Lisa Johnson…perhaps you know them?

So, in keeping with the girly theme, I thought I’d also give away a Basic Grey “Perhaps” 6×6 paper pad, 6 yards of matching grosgrain ribbon, a Prima paint can full of huge, gorgeous flowers with a pack of bling, and matching rickrack, and last but not least, a pack of My Mind’s Eye “Bohemia”embossed chipboard letters!! How do ya like THAT?!

So, here’s what you need to do. Leave a comment and let me know…what is your favorite “girly” thing? It can be anything from lip gloss, to pedicures, shoes, to bubble baths! My favorite has to be skincare and makeup. I *LOVE* my philosophy products!!

I will be choosing *one* lucky winner on Thursday, May 24th at 8pm EST (My 2 month blogging anniversary!!)

Thank you so much for coming to visit my blog on a daily basis. You all have really blessed me in so many ways!! Can’t wait to read all your responses!!