Follow Your Bliss…

Ahhhhh…another week has come and gone, and here we are, meeting again for our Friday date! I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for this week’s favorite. While online last night, it dawned on me that I needed to talk about one of my absolute faves…May Arts ribbon!

If you are a ribbon lover like me, I am sure you have your own collection of May Arts, as well. I feel like May Arts is just the cream of the crop when it comes to ribbon. The amazing quality, colors, textures, and feel of their ribbon is hands down the best out there, in my opinion. The love affair began with their polka dot organdy ribbon. My latest favorite from their line, is this wide double faced satin ribbon with grosgrain trim. (seen above) I don’t know if they are the manufacturer that is supplying SU! with this ribbon, but let me tell you….it is divine! I mean, seriously, I could roll nekkid on a bed of this stuff! LOL!! (was that TMI? *snort* sorry, but I call ‘em like I see ‘em! ) They have a wide variety of colors of this ribbon, too: olive, gold, white, ivory, champagne, chocolate (used on my card), hot pink, burgundy, rust, light blue, and light pink. Jacksonbelle carries it in her store HERE.

Another new fave of mine is the ruffled ribbon seen HERE. The center strip of this ribbon is sooooo soft! You have to touch it to believe it! While we are talking about soft, their velvet ribbon, as well as velvet ric rack is bliss, as well! Another favorite is the satin reversible ribbon with the stitched edge seen HERE.

Make sure you hop on over to Jacksonbelle’s store. She is running a sale this weekend on over 200 items!!

Anyway, on to the card. This is just a simple design using my new PaperTrey set Beautiful Blooms. I thought these blooms went really well with my new Mellow Basic Grey paper! I simply stamped the vanilla focal panel using Colorbox fluid chalk inks in the following colors: french blue, olive pastel, dark brown, and yellow ochre. It’s matted with really rust, and adhered to the cardfront at an angle.

I finally broke in to my copper hardware kit from WeRMK for this card!! I have been hoarding it since I received it as a gift for my birthday in July! LOL! I used 2 of the corner pieces for the focal image, and a square brad for the ribbon “belt” that I created. The ribbon is simply folded over and secured with the brad. I frayed the edge of the ribbon a bit to give it a little personality The card measures 3 3/4″ x 6″ and fits in the SU! 5 in 1 envelope.

Happy Friday!! I hope you have a wonderful and safe Labor Day weekend!!

Oh my GAWD, can I tell you how much I LOVE this Wordsworth set?! It’s a new release and it’s called “It’s Your Day”. Check it out HERE!

Supplies used for this card are as follows: Shake It Up patterned paper, hydrangea notecard, It’s Your Day stamp set (All from Rubber Soul/Wordsworth), wasabi cardstock, papertrey white, Primas, Making Memories green glitter brad, AMuse bling, ancient page coal black ink, and the following colorbox fluid chalk inks: chestnut roan, warm red, yellow citrus. I also custom colored my white grosgrain with my Copic markers B23, and BV02. I did a mini tutorial for that about a month or so ago. If you missed it, check it out HERE.

It’s really a pretty simple card, and most is self explanatory. I stamped the owl on a scrap of cardstock, then cut him out. I colored in his beak with my Copic Y17, and added red A Muse bling to his eyes for some sparkle. He is popped up in the tree on dimensionals. I am pretty sure you will be seeing this owl again in different colors, because I think he is the cutest thing!! LOL!!

A little zig-zag stitching adds some fun. I mounted the focal image slightly off center to the lower right, and added the multi-layered Primas to the top left.

Not too much blah, blah, blah with this one, LOL! Hope you have a fabulous day!! And thanks for stopping by!!

What fun to do two challenges on SCS this week! This card features the color challenge (pomegranate, pink, olive) as well as the Technique challenge (double resist). It’s been a LONG time since I did the resist technique! I actually cheated a little because this isn’t a double resist. OOPS! It felt good to do something different for a change, though!

I decided to use my new “True Friends” set from the SU! Holiday mini. I am no longer a demo, but my sweet friend Cindy pre-ordered this for me. Thanks, Cindy!! WOO HOO! I love the style of this set. It’s a little Bohemian and a little Western. Me likey!

I stamped the larger round medallion on glossy cardstock with pomegranate ink. Then, I stamped the smaller medallion in Versamark. I heat set it to speed up the drying, then brayered over it with pink. I buffed it with a tissue, then layered it with black and faux stitched the corners.

For the focal image, I stamped the flower in pomegranate and olive on shimmery white cardstock, and added the sentiment. Then, I cut and embossed it with my Spellbinders Nestabilities oval die. I sponged the edges with pink, and mounted it on a black embossed scalloped Spellbinders Nestabilities oval die cut.

To finish off the card, I tied this luscious May Arts olive ribbon across the background, and adhered it to the olive card base. Then, I added a Making Memories pink rhinestone brad to the flower center and mounted it on dimensionals.

A little birdie told me that there is going to be a great SALE at Jacksonbelle Embellishments this weekend!! You won’t want to miss that, because Lindsey just added a ton of new things there!

Have a great day!!!

Well here we are, the last week of August, and Labor Day is just around the corner. It’s hard to believe summer is over already!! That was my inspiration for this card.

I thought the Lockhart Stamp Co’s hamburger and hot dog would look cute next to the jar of pickles. I stamped the hamburger on a piece of scrap Papertrey white cardstock, colored it with my Copic markers, then cut it out. Next, I stamped the pickle jar and hot dog on Papertrey white cardstock using Brilliance black ink, then cut and embossed it with my Spellbinders Nestabilities basic rectangle die. Using the die as a stencil, I quickly airbrushed the sky and table with my Copic airbrush system. When I removed the die, it left a nice, clean white border around the image. LOVE that! Check out Ellen’s blog today HERE. She has compiled some great info for you on this awesome airbrush system!! Thanks, Ellen!! YOU ROCK!!

I doodled a couple lines to define the table, then went in and colored the images with my Copic markers:

I layered this focal panel with a ruby red Spellbinders Nestabilities embossed, scalloped rectangle, adhered the hamburger on dimensionals, then added a little bit of Stickles to the pickles and hamburger bun. OK, I know pickles and hamburger buns don’t sparkle in real life, but in my world, they do, LOL!

I set that aside to dry, and worked on my card base. I was looking for some patterned paper to fit my picnic theme, when I remembered my beloved retired SU! Houndstooth BG stamp. Hey, that would make a cool tablecloth!! So, I stamped it on a Papertrey white note card using ruby red ink. To help make the focal image “pop”, I added the strip of black to the top third of the card. I tied the red gingham ribbon across that panel, then zig-zag stitched it to the card base.

I dug through my stash of sentiments, and found this “Simple joys…” one from the Papertrey Green Thumb set. Hmm…that works!! So I stamped it in the lower right corner, then added the focal image on dimensionals.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend, and don’t forget to enjoy the simple things in life! Hugs!!

This card is going to my friend in Boston who loves a good glass (or three) of red wine like me! *giggle* Her birthday is next week. Happy Birthday, Jo!!

I couldn’t wait to use my new Inkadinkado stamps that I got from Jacksonbelle HERE. I used three stamps from their “Sketches” collection: wine & cheese, ring, and wine list. I stamped the wine & cheese image on naturals ivory cardstock, using Ancient Page chocolate ink. I colored it with myPrismacolor pencils and blended with gamsol and paper stumps. I tore around the image, and misted the back of the cardstock with water. This helped to soften the paper so that I could easily bend and curl the edges. Then, I sponged the edges first with Ranger vintage photo distress ink, then around the far outer edges with walnut to give it an almost burned look.

I set that aside to completely dry, then worked on the card base. I dug through my stash and found my “Tuscany” scrap pad (ProvoCraft). As I paged through the patterns, I found this beautiful weathered paint pattern. I knew it would be perfect, so I trimmed a layer from it, and stamped the “wine list” repeatedly in bravo burgundy ink~creating a cool background. Then, I stamped the “ring” on the lower right corner using bravo again. I sponged around the edges with walnut ink, and layered this on to a bravo burgundy card base.

I thought a piece of thin cork would work well on this design, so I decided to use it for the sentiment. I didn’t want to stamp directly on the cork, so I did a little trick. I trimmed a piece of square cork, and a piece of transparency the same size. I used my cropadile, and punched a hole through both, then set the eyelet. Then, I stamped the “celebrate” using ColorBox fluid chalk in dark brown, and heat set. Now for the fun part! I ran this through my Wizard, using a Spellbinders Nestabilities small scalloped oval die. Wallah! A cool cork/transparency charm! I lifted the transparency, and sponged the edges of the cork to tie in with the rest of the card.

To finish it off, I tied a piece of double sided burgundy/caramel ribbon (Michael’s) across the front, frayed the edges, layered the focal image on pop-up glue dots, then tied the cork charm to the ribbon using gold cord. It’s secured with a pop-up glue dot.

I hope she enjoys her card when it arrives!

TGIF!! I dunno about you, but I seriously LOVE Fridays!! LOL! Last day of the work week, and I can spend my weekend doing what I love…stamping, shopping, hangin’ out with friends, going out for sushi…ahhh I love it!

Today’s favorite is a company that I have loved for over a year, now. I remember the first time I fell in love, like it was yesterday! My friend Michele made a card for me last year using the most adorable stick person image. I immediately asked her where she got the stamp, and who made it. She said it was a Wordsworth stamp…and the rest is history! LOL!

Wordsworth is owned by Fred and Dani, who also own Rubber Soul! I didn’t know this until I was at CHA in Chicago last month! I am sure you have seen some of their stamps, but I had no idea how many MORE awesome stamps they have!! WOW!!! And another thing that is cool, is that many of their wood mounted images are also available in clear sets, too! These stamps (both clear and wood mounted) are very high quality. Check out their stamps HERE. You can use the pull-down menu at the top of the page to select stamps from different categories. You simply *MUST* check out their Fall/ Winter Holiday catalog that is chock full of totally awesome new designs!! You can download that HERE! If you want to order from them, it’s really easy, just click HERE and choose the option that works best for you! I’ll be doing some designing for Fred and Dani, so you’ll be seeing more of their fabulous images here at casa Trudee!

On Wednesday, I shared a card using their patterned paper and matching notecards. You can find their selection of papers HERE, and notecards with envelopes HERE. Their paper comes in 8×8 packs. It’s high quality weight, and double sided!! The notecards are white on the inside, so you don’t need to add a liner to write or stamp your sentiments on. LOVE that!!

This design uses the snowflake pattern from the Winter Soulstice paper collection, and a Tomato notecard. I used one of the new clear sets from their Fall/Holiday line (pg 16 in the catalog) called “Winter Wonderland”. I absolutely *LOVE* the images in this set! I stamped the tree and birds using Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink (chestnut roan, and lipstick red). Then I tore strips of white cardstock to make the snowdrifts. I adhered them to the snowflake paper, then adhered this panel to the tomato card base.

Next, I stamped the sentiment with Ancient Page coal black ink, and stamped the last little birdie to the left of the sentiment. I added eyes to the birdies using my Copic Multiliner SP pen. I added Stickles to the snowdrifts, and also to the tree branches for some yummy icy, wintery shimmer.

I set that aside to dry, and looked for a “star” to top my tree. I found this Jesse James snowflake button in my stash, and thought it would look great, but it was white. What’s a girl to do? I know!! I’ll color that sucker with my ultra-faboo yellow Copic marker!! Once again, Copic to the rescue!! I love you, Copic!!

I hope you have fun exploring the Rubber Soul site! I got lost in there a couple weeks ago, and then next thing I know, there was a big ol’ box landing on my doorstep! Have fun, and tell ‘em I sent you!! Have a great weekend!!!

I am so excited, I just had to share this with y’all!!!! Check out the family that came for a visit this morning…eating their breakfast at the top of my driveway!!! The dad is to the left behind the leaves. See his velvety antlers?

Happy McThursday! LOL! all of you Grey’s Anatomy fans know what I mean by that

I couldn’t wait to play in the WT challenge today on SCS! A little birdie told me that we were going to be using Halloween stuff! I was excited, because I just bought a bunch of Martha Stewart stuff at Michael’s this weekend. I decided to use this cute little Lockhart Stamp Co. Witch for the focal image. I colored her with my Prismacolor pencils and gamsol, choosing colors that would coordinate with my patterned paper (this is the now-retired Halloween paper from SU! last year). Her hair and the stars are shimmering with a black Copic Spica glitter pen, but you can’t see it, because the lighting isn’t good for this photo…

I adhered the green strip to the bottom third of the panel, then used faux stitching across the seams. This particular stitch seems to work well for Halloween cards–it reminds me of the scar on Frankenstein’s forehead, LOL!! Next, I wrapped this Martha Stewart “trick or treat” ribbon across, and secured it to the back with scotch tape. Then, I adhered all of this to the 4.25″ square black cardbase.

I have been dyin’ to use my new Martha Stewart bat punch, so I punched a couple from black cardstock, then covered them with the 2-way glue pen, and dunked them in the bottle of Martha Stewart black glitter. I just grabbed the glue-y bat (LOL!–like that? glue-y…*snort*) with my tweezers from the SU! tool kit and dipped it in–easy and not messy at all!

To finish off the card, I added the bats and my witchie-poo on dimensionals. Wallah! Trick or Treat!!!!!!

I just LOVE this Lockhart Stamp Co. Sun Flowers stamp!! I wanted to use some of my NEW Rubber Soul diVine patterned paper, so I changed my sunflowers to coneflowers! Rubber Soul also sells notecards that coordinate with their papers, so the card base is a matching Sweet pea pink notecard. Fred and Dani took all the guesswork out of it for us and made it easy to pair up the paper with the notecards. I LOVE THAT!! Thanks Fred and Dani!!

I cut and embossed a square piece of PaperTrey white cardstock, using my Wizard & Spellbinders Nestabilities basic square die. The image is stamped with Brilliance pearlescent chocolate ink, and heat set to speed up the drying time. I colored the image with the following Copic markers:

After the image was colored, I used my Copic airbrush system to add some soft pink around the panel. Then, I added some beautiful shimmer with my new fave…Copic Spica glitter pens! I used pink, silver and melon for this image. I took a closeup pic so you could see the gorgeous shimmer these pens have:

Don’t you love that? mmmmmmmmmmm I sure do!!

The rest of the card is easy peasy. I cut and embossed a square window in the diVine paper using a larger square from my Spellbinders Nestabilities dies. Then I tied a piece of this NEW May Arts pink and brown polka dot ribbon on the left side. I added the friend sentiment (SU!) to the ribbon using a jump ring and a teeny Spellbinders Nestabilities scalloped oval that was colored with my Copic airbrush system. I think it’s the cutest little charm!! I finished it off with some chocolate colored brads in all 4 corners.

Lizzie Anne Designs will be having sneak peeks on their website, featuring their NEW stamp sets debuting on Sept. 10th!! Hop on over HERE and check them out!! You are gonna flip when you see them!

Make today a great day! Take time to smell the flowers!! Soon they will be gone and Autumn will be here…

Here’s a simple one layer card for ya! Well, it really wasn’t all that simple, though, LOL!

I began with this yummy 5×5 Fabriano Medioevalis notecard. I created a reverse mask for it using one of my basic square Spellbinders Nestabilities dies. I cut it from a piece of plain printer paper cut to the same size as the cardfront. I used some repositionable adhesive on the back, and adhered it to the cardfront. Then, I used my Copic airbrush system, and created this warm yellow “window”. I left the mask in place, and stamped the leaves from the Lizzie Anne Designs “Au Naturale” set. I love these leaves!! I masked a couple of them to get a little more depth.

After all the stamping was done, I removed the mask, and freehand sketched in the lines to “frame” the image. I colored in the leaves using my Copic markers, and stamped the sentiment (Lizzie Sketched Sentiments) in the middle.

The design just didn’t feel complete to me. I remembered that I had these Prima leaves in my stash, so I grabbed three of them, sponged the edges with some Ranger vintage photo ink. and brushed them with gold pearlex. I also brushed the focal image with the pearlex, too. I love the warmth that the gold shimmer brings! To finish it off, I added the leaves on dimensionals to make them look as if they were floating down to the ground.

Ahhhh…..I can *almost* smell that crisp fall air….can you?