Storms and Swaps...

What could be a better way to spend your time during a storm than getting a swap done and ready to put in the mail.... I almost had to back out this month but boy am I glad I didn't. I am so happy with the way these swaps came out... This month swap was to be a masculine card front... these are so hard for me but wow...



I decided to breakout my poor neglected watercolor pencils and use them... It's been over a year since they have been touched. What better way to make a masculine card than make a Father's Day one. And what better set than to use Stampin Up!'s Thoughts of a Father from the Spring catty.

I also decided to play with the faux wood graining technique GinaK uses... wow it looks so real. This card was actually so much fun to make and put together... hope you all are having a fun day... I'm getting so much rain and storms today I think I'll get some more work done around the house... I so want to see the sun again.


Supplies:
Stamps: Thoughts of a Father
Cardstock: more mustard, basic black, watercolor cardstock
Ink: white craft ink, Chocolate chip classic ink, black stazon
Accessories: Crop-a-dile, large eyelets, chocolate chip satin ribbon, watercolor pencils, aquapainter

Christmas cards round 2

Well I got todays four cards done...


Again I used my festive favorites set from SU. Let me tell you a secret about this set... it was originally a 6 piece set but mine is now a 8 piece set... SU wants you to place the deer, the trees and the snowmen all on one block. I decided to follow what a few other demos have done and when I got my hands on my hands on the level 1 hostess set So Many Sayings use the blocks from that set and separate the three images and then I also went to good old wallyworld and bought the $3.88 jenga set and mounted all those sentiments on it. I love having them separate. As you can see from my last few posts.

Well back to my card now. I used the festive favorites set along with my basic grey figgy pudding 6x6 pad( I have got to get more of it). I got my figgy pudding from All That Scraps. Well I had a blast making these cards while putting my own Christmas tree up here will have to get a picture in the next day or so and share my Tree with you all. The sentiment is a poem I got from Two peas in a bucket. My goal this year is to have sentiments in all my Christmas cards printed... wish me luck on this... well I'm off I have my nephews tonight and have to get everyone settled in for the night. Have a great evening and see you again tomorrow with four more cards of Christmas.....

Supplies:
Stamps: Festive favorites
Cardstock: whisper white, wild wasabi, real red, basic grey figgy pudding trees
ink: stazon black, wild wasabi
Accessories: watercolor cryaons, aquapainter, cool shadow copic marker, mini rhinestones, suakura star dust pen

Working on Christmas cards now....

I'm so far behind with my Christmas cards that I'm going to be cracking them out in the next two weeks and will be posting the designs as I get them done here.... Here is card 1....



I had to play with my cuttlebug folder Snowflakes along with my festive favorites set. The snowmen were just calling out for it. I really wish I could play with my Christmas present while making these but my husband was nice enough to buy me a cuttlebug and then tell me I have to wait til Christmas to play with it. Oh well I still have my sizzix, it's going to mom soon after Christmas.


Here are some closer views of both the inside of the card and the outside....
I had fun making these cards and may crank out more than the four I did tonight. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and of course have been hitting all those sales hot and heavy now. I did a little shopping today but still have more to get done... tomorrow we will be getting our Christmas decorations out of the closet and putting them out. I am so glad that my husband will be home for Christmas this year. I think the kids will have better Christmas having Daddy home.

Well I'm off to go see what else I can get done tonight before heading off to bed... have a great evening and hope to be back tomorrow with another Christmas card design...

Supplies:
Stamps: Festive Favorites
Ink: stazon black, soft sky, wild wasabi
Cardstock: soft sky, blue bayou, whisper white
Accessories: Watercolor crayons, aquapainter, copic marker cool shadow, sentiment from 2peas in a bucket, star dust gelly roll pen...

Wintery Songs....

I started doing something I have always wanted to do since I was a child yesterday... taking piano lessons. I played two instruments in highschool and continued playing them in college some but never learned the piano. Well two years ago I talked my DH into buying me a piano and here it sat. I started my first lesson yesterday and guess what I can play some Christmas music already...

So today I went over to CPS and with the music all in my head I decided to pick the stamp set that reminded me of Christmas music. Sleigh Bells Ring. This weeks sketch worked perfectly with my ideas....



Doesn't it remind you of Jingle Bells. I took out my retired background stamp Musical score and stamped it on the soft sky cardstock. I water colored a few things in the main image and then took some iridescent ice ep and made the whole image sparkle. Here is a closeup of the image...



Well I'm off to go see what else I can come up with for tomorrow happy Stampin everyone...


Supplies:
Stamps: sleigh bells ring, musical score BG
Ink: soft sky, versamark, basic black
cardstock: blue bayou, soft sky, creamy caramel, cardstock vellum, papertrey white
Accessories: prima flowers, halfback pearl from pretties kit, iridescent ice ep, snowflake cuttlebug folder....

well ...

I put away the Papertrey Ink set and then grabbed another new one I had on hand and played with it for a bit.....



Isn't she the cutest... This stamp set is from a new company called Hanna Stamps. This set is called But I Need it... I have been playing around with an idea of how to use her and the idea hit me with a shoe, well the little shoe charm I happened to find in my little pretties collection. I also used some scraps from this afternoons card. I really like how those nestablities dies emboss an edge even once you cut. Well I need to get to cleaning around here but thought I would share this adorable little stamp with you and guess what they are releasing another cute set on Friday. As you can see I did alittle paper piercing on her dress too.

Supplies:
Stamp: But I need It from Hanna Stamps
Cardstock: some scrap designer paper, soft sky, pale plum, wateercolor paper
Ink: basic black, soft sky
Accessories: ribbon, shoe charm, corner rounder for the scalloped edge, large oval nestablities, watercolor crayons, aquapainter

Swaps....

I had to get my Christmas swap done and in the mail today so I thought I would share here....





I decided to use Stampin Up Holy Triptych set... I just love this set. I did alot of embossing too. The sketch challenge from yesterday had me so inspired too...

Supplies:
Stamps: Holy Triptych, leaves a la carte wheel, french flair
Inks: Versamark, elegant eggplant
Cardstock: Elegant eggplant, watercolor paper, brushed gold
Accessories: gold glory embossing powder, heat gun, watercolor crayons, aquapainter

Well I'm off to the post office to get these in the mail, only have a couple of days to get to where they are needed.

MIA for alittle bit...

Sorry but I have been MIA for a little bit here and now I am back with both some beautiful pictures of a sunset I took two days ago and a card...



You can click on these to see a larger picture of them... I love to see a beautiful sunset and I have seen a lot since we moved into this house.

Now I guess I better show you my card for today....





Again I used my Thomas Kinkade stamp, The Forest Chapel Vignette, from Cornish Heritage Farms' Thomas Kinkade line. I just love this image now that I have figured a way to color it... This time I used some of my Twinkling H2O watercolor cakes to highlight the windows and some of the other colors. I was happy with my result again. Even made the sunset in with my watercolor cakes.

Supplies:
Stamps: Thomas Kinkade Forest chapel vignette, Birthday hugs and wishes
Ink: Black stazon, Creamy caramel
Cardstock: Natural ivory, designeer paper from Today and always Scrapin kit(retired), watercolor paper
Accessories: taffeta ribbon, utee, watercolor crayons, Twinkling H2os, aquapainter

I colored TK.....

I finally was able to get an image I am happy with....



Here's a close up of it too...



Can you tell I am proud. I love all these great images Cornish Heritage Farms has come up with but have been very scared to try and color one. Every time I did it just didn't seem right until today... I used my SU watercolor crayons and an aquapainter on this piece. I then decided to make a mask so that I could only put UTEE on the image. That made the colors pop to me and on wow... I then took a look at MyTime's sketch challenge for this weekend and did a few minor adjustments and of course my card was born... What do you think.

Supplies:
Stamps: Tk stamp The Forest Chapel Vignette, French Script BG (retired), Weathered BG
Ink: Creamy carmel, Black stazon, chocolate chip, versamark
Cardstock: papertrey select white, creamy carmel, chocolate chip, watercolor paper
Accessories: UTEE, ribbon, watercolor crayons, aquapainter, heat gun

sketch 145

Today I decided to try my hand at the sketch Challenge on SplitCoast Stampers. You can find the thread all about this challenge HERE. I also copied the sketch drawing and placed it here on my blog.



Here is my card using the sketch. Again I used my new stamp set from My Favorite Things stamps.




I also decided to try out my new Glimmer Mist sprays I picked up two of their winter collection colors from Eclectic Paperie. They add just a hint of sparkle to any project. I wish I could have got a better shot but due to the cloudy day we have here I can't get that perfect shot. Just take my word these sprays are great. And yes I seem to shop at alot of different places to get my stamping needs.

Supplies:
cardstock: papertrey stamper select white, chocolate chip cardstock, all my memories hex cardstock
Stamps: MFT think pink
Inks: pretty in pink inkpad, basic black inkpad
Accessories: watercolor crayons, aquapainter, glimmer mist sugarcookie, purple cows rotary trimmer with Victorian edge.

I could not take it anymore and I ran around the house and tried to take a better shot... I really don't like cloudy days.

PreVSN challenge...

I decided this morning I would try out a preVSN challenge before the kids get up to go to school. Wanted to get my creative juices flowin... This is challenge SEP07VSNPre4. It can be found here. I decided to go with a selection of earth elements colors.



The idea was to take fall colors and create a Christmas card. I had fun with it. I also used the tutorial Beate shared with everyone on Wednesday over on SplitCoastStampers. It can be found here.



Supplies for this card can be found here



Here is a close up of my insert card. I even used a dollar Micheal's stamp on it. I tried so hard to use only current Stampin Up supplies but I failed... Oh well I will have to try another card challenge latter.

Trying a few challenges...

Today I decided to try a few challenges over on Splitcoaststampers... My first attempt was ok...


Supplies for this card can be found listed HERE.

This Challenge was entitled LSC130 oldies but goodies. We had to combine an old color challenge and an old sketch challenge. I used Sketch challenge SC50 and color challenge CC27. I didn't quite stick to the color challenge as it was to use only handsome hunter, taken with teal and green galore. I added in some red and yellow stickles. Not to thrilled with it but it is not too bad either...

On to the next challenge....

This was the sketch challenge for this week SC 138. This card I liked. Of course I had to take a close up of the tree for you to see all the details and sparkles... isn't it pretty.







Supplies for this card can be found listed HERE.

Hope you all have a great weekend... we will be doing lots of yard work so maybe I will get a chance to play sometime....

Happy August everyone...

Happy August everyone... Can you believe that summer is coming to a close. The Kids will be back in school in the next few weeks and what that may mean for you is the chance to get more stamping done... I know that it means that for me and more house cleaning with no one under foot. For today's card I went back to this card....



I kept looking at it and thought it was a little plain. So I took out my aquapainter and my soft sky inkpad as well as my watercolor crayons and played with it. This is what I got ...


I think it looks alot better... don't you? Well I am off to see if I can stamp something new for tomorrow. Have a great day and happy stampin everyone.

Only 1 ...

Only 1 today... been running around alot today. But this was a fun one to do. You can find a quick tutorial on how to do a magic card here. My first one really looked bad but I think the one I did today is not that bad.





Supplies: Haunting Halloween Stamp set, Party Punch Stamp set, basic black cardstock, only orange cardstock, whisper white cardstock, creepy crawly designer paper, stazon black ink pad, watercolor crayons, acetate sheet, tab punch, paper piercer

I had fun with this set and may have to do a remake of it for birthday invites for my middle child .... he is the Halloween child.

Oldie but Goodie....

I had to play with a few of my retired items today. I broke out a piece of Cool Caribbean Cardstock along with a retired SU stamp set called Polar Bears. I made my first holiday card for the season....


Supplies: Polar Bears stamp set, very vanilla cardstock, watercolor paper, basic black cardstock, cool Caribbean cardstock, cuttlebug snowflakes embossing folder, very vanilla craft ink, versamark ink, basic black ink, going grey ink, cool Caribbean reinker, iridescent ice ep, organdy ribbon dyed using soft sky reinker, aquapainter and watercolor crayons.

I had fun with this little couple. I love the bears in this set. They look so much like the coca cola bears around the holiday seasons. I had to play with making a Holiday card today to try and cool off... it seems to be getting hotter now around here. I know next week I will be on a vacation enjoying sunny FL.... but I will try and update here while I am away. Hope everyone is having a great summer so far... Happy stamping everyone.

another challenge card... FS18

This challenge is to take the featured stamper of the week from SCS which was SEEWAH and look through her gallery and find a card to CASE. The card I chose in her gallery was This one. I then had to get a main focal image which I took the ballerina image from All Mixed Up and watercolored her in. I added crystal affects to her heart and a little twinkle sticker from Amuse to both the Heart and her outfit. I used Watercolor paper and stazon ink. I then mounted her on a piece of pretty in pink card stock. I grab on of my fabriano medioevalis square cards that I had gotten from StarLitStudio. I wheeled the Whirly-Twirly wheel across the middle then mounted the image on pop up dots to make it pop. I then took the sentiment from another new preview stamp set from Stampin Up called Hugs and Wishes and stamped it and the wheel using pretty in pink classic ink. I thought this turned out to be a cute card. I feel sorry to see All Mixed Up stamp set go but it was one of the many that Stampin Up decided to retire this year... hope you have a great evening see you tomorrow.

Been playin again...

I am trying to keep myself occupied since my preorder for new stamps is stuck in Raleigh right now and I will not see it til tomorrow sometime. I played with SCS's Technique challenge TLC119... I did two Father's Day cards.



I still am not that happy with this or the other one here...

I am a little happier with the second one but making these little shirts are so much fun... I used silver stickles glitter glue to make the little buttons on these. My husband made the comment to me that since we always say how hard it is to buy things for my grandfather make sure to put a comment in the card about how we thought he would like a new shirt...

Well as you can see I am awful at making masculine cards so I did make a card today I am alittle proud of ...


I used the retired Stampin Up sets Flower Garden for my images on this card. I stamped the Roses on watercolor paper with black stazon and colored them with my aquapainter and watercolor crayons. I then too some vellum cardstock and stamped the small butterfly image with black stazon. I then turned the butterflies over and ran my dry embossing tool over the outline and colored them in with a so saffron marker. I took glue dots and glue them onto the watercolor paper and raised up their wings a little so they look as if they could fly off the paper. I then took my glue pen and outlined the roses so I could put the glitter along the edge of them. I then mounted it on a small piece of pretty in pink cardstock and a card base of chocolate chip.... have fun hopefully tomorrow I will be back with some of my new stuff....

I had to try this...

Dawn posted a new tutorial over on her blog and I just had to try it out. You can find her tutorial here. And here is my card...

It took me alittle while to figure out what set I was going to use but I could pass up my girls. Here are pictures of the inside of it.


project supplies: bashful blue cs, silver bling bazzil cs, watercolor paper, SAB designer paper, aquapainter, watercolor crayons, white fun flock, crystal effects, circle punches and stazon black ink.


This was so much fun to make. Oh and by the way I just place my preorder for SU new catty and of course I had to get some of my must have retired stamps too. This coming catty looks like we have some great new stamps and Accessories coming our way in July. Have a great day...

Roses and Cards.....

Well another passion of mine is rose bushes and this week my four bushes have been putting on a beautiful show for me. I took several pictures this week of their beautiful blooms and thought I would share them with my readers....



Don't these roses looks so pretty.... I also have day lilies in full bloom and last night my husband let me get two new trees to go in my yard. I can't wait to put them in the ground... The trees are magnolias and I just love these trees and their blossoms they give off in the spring and summer time. We are hoping to do some yard work this afternoon and getting them in the ground...

Well on to my card design for the day.... I have a swap due in two weeks and this is what I have come up with...



I used Balloonabella from Stamping Bella. Here is a close up of her....

Supplies used stampin up watercolor paper, whisper white cs, regal rose cs, SU designer paper from winter mini. SU spritzer with regal rose marker, rose red marker, cameo coral marker. Stazon black ink pad and watercolor crayons with aquapainter. Crystal effects on balloons. And narrow silk ribbon from micheals to make french knot roses on dress...

This was a fun card to make... I now know what a difference it is to use watercolor paper with the crayons... I need to order more of this too.

working on some swaps....

I got one done and think it looks way cool... thought I would share it with you here.


This is one of six. I really enjoyed making this one. I used Tinkerbella from Stamping Bella. Isn't she the cutest. I used Circle of Friendship from Stampin Up for my sentiment. And I got some awesome primas from Cori Bravo when she had shares up for grabs on her blog. These were just asking for a prima flower. I used some doublesided decorative paper from the spring mini. Paisley and polka dot paper to be exact. I used my watercolor crayons and aquapainter to color her in and then add stickles to her to give her some sparkle. I think these turn out well. Happy Stampin everyone... i still have one more swap to work on and these will be on their way...

finially...

I have been struggling with my daughter's 3 birthday invite. Actually needed them this week so they will be going out by the end of the week. My daughter loves, did I say loves maybe I need to rephrase it to she is totally obsessed with My Little Pony. I was lucky to find a great TAC demo who has given me a Catty for that company. I found the cutest pony stamp set that reminded me of the my Little Pony's. I used this set for the central image for her invites.



I also had to break out the Doodle That set from stampin up's new spring mini and play with it on this card. The card design is from one of splitcoaststampers Try a new Technique challenge TLC101. Such a beautiful design from Dawn I could not pass it up. I used bashful blue cardstock, and shimmery white cardstock for the card. Stamp sets I used were TAC's pony set, stampin up doodle that, sincere salutations, and all year cheer. I colored the pony with my watercolor crayons and an aquapainter. and then added some stickles to her flowers.

Well I also flipped it over to make it pretty too...



well off to make a few more of these.... Oh forgot the ribbon i used is some I got from Micheals the other week when they had it on sale... thought it matched perfectly with the colors. Have a great day.. and Happy stampin.