Two challenge cards!

I love doing sketch challenges! I wish I knew where to find more inspirations like these.

Anyway...this first one is for Beate's Weekly Sketch challenges. She's been doing this for 50 weekends. OMWord! I just love doing
hers because they have such great elements of design in them.

I used my Verve stamps again and I used (for the first time) the Versamark ink to make the little background on my blue paper. Eee! How fantastic is this stuff? (Sorry, I'm a brand-new stamper so this stuff THRILLS me. LOL!)

This second one here is for Taylor's Cupcake challenge. Hers are always fantastic, too and almost always have a cool little zippy thing that makes them over the top with coolness.

On this one, I used my Copics again! I've got tons and tons of practicing to do. LOL! And I used my shimmery white paper which I don't think I had ever used before now. Too cool! You can't see it in the photo but weew is it sparkley! :D

(Oh and can you tell that these colors were already out on my table so I just used them again and again until I was left with just itty bitty scraps of nothingness? LOL!)

Anyway, thanks for stopping by to check on me today. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Still not entirely pleased...

but I guess what I've done will do for now as I'm tired of trying to futz with it. LOL!

I got my new Verve Visual stamps the other day and wowza these are awesome!

Anyway, I stamped..like with ink...and didn't color. I know..it is new for me. LOL Well, it is! Anyway, here is what I don't like about this....the white part of the card is crooked. I didn't realize, of course, until I glued it to the coral part. Argh. Oh well. And I wish I had stamped the banana colored butterfly up an eency bit higher. But...I am overall pleased with it. I mean, I wouldn't be upset if someone sent this to me so I guess it is alright. LOL!

Oh! And when I was trying to photograph this? My camera was sooo not cooperating with me so in a fit of pissed-off-edness, I threw it down on my dining room table and snapped a photo. Doncha know that is the ONLY one that wasn't blurry? hah!

Hope you have a great weekend and thanks for running by here! :)

This is the story of me lately....

Ever since I went to work (supposedly part-time...ahem.)

Anyway, I just adore this little giraffe from Gina K stamps (by Melanie!) So many possibilities...I could color it camo colored for boys (yes with hearts, too) and baby colors for baby cards and feminine colors for my female friends and so much more, right? Great stamp set!

See the coloring? I got my new Copic markers! Woot! These are so much fun and I hope I can get better with the coloring because I happen to just love these markers to pieces!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Hope you're having a great week. :)

Oh la la!

Okay, so I was sitting in my car before work today and I had some extra time so I started jotting down ideas for card sketches and I thought to myself, okay...I've seen shoes and bras and panties and cupcakes and purses and a bunch other shape cards that I happen to love...what else can I make a shape card of? Well, I sat there and I was thinking and thinking of what *I* love that is super-extra-girly and I thought, "Oh! Perfume bottles!" So I sketched out a few ideas for some perfume bottles on paper, but they really weren't clicking with me...PLUS the implementation of the shapes that I was drawing just were going to be way too complicated (I'm lazy) to cut out.

Well, I was cruising through my Bloglines when I came across the CPS blog's sketch of the week and it was a circle card. *DING DING* I have several beautiful perfume bottles that are circular so why not take a circle and make a perfume bottle from it?

And here is my creation...you should just SEE the prototype I made up for it...LOL! It is green cheap-o cardstock with Scotch tape all over it. *snort* But it really did work..or at least I think! (Sorry for the dark-ish photo as it is 1am here so no natural light is shining in California...LOL!)

Thanks for looking!



Stamps: A Studio G stamp from Michael's CS and papers: All CS is from Stampin' Up! Pattern paper is Basic Grey Ink: Black StazOn and a black gel pen Accessories: Cuttlebug and Nestabilities, a silver brad for the "squirt hole", Tim Holtz grungeboard oval, rhinestone brads from...well I can't remember, and a tassel that was on a bottle of wine at Christmas time, a LOT of SU! dimensionals and oodles and oodles and oodles of red sticky tape.

Well, I don't hate it....

but I'm not in love with how this turned out. It is all part of learning, right? What goes with what and what doesn't. hee!

So this is for Beate's weekend sketch challenge. And truthfully, I love the sketch, but I was trying to use a paper with which I have nothing at all that I could find to match it. So frustrating. Anyway, it is a beautiful sketch and I have been seeing lots of pretty cards made with it. Mine, notsomuch. :)

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! Thanks for dropping by. :)

Stamps: An ancient SU! set from 2002 called Hearts & Posies for the Forever Friends sentiment; CHF backgrounder stamp.

CS and papers: All CS is from Stampin' Up! Pattern paper is DCWV summer pack.

Ink: SU!

Accessories: Cuttlebug and Nestabilities; Tim Holtz Grungeboard (I love this stuff but I don't know what to do with it...I mean, obviously!)

See, what I am doing is...

I am using up all my previously purchased stamps that I haven't inked yet so that I can justify to my DH that I need MORE. Although I did order some from Verve Visual last night. hee!

Anyway, I just love, love this stamp set from Gina K. But! Again, I hadn't used it. Well, I think I used one of the stamps once but I hadn't really used it. :)

I used Taylor's cupcake challenge sketch and put together this little card. It is a great sketch and soo versatile! I didn't know what direction to take this so I just started futzing around with stuff. And, so I made a few mistakes along the way (see the cuttlebug dots on the back of the card? Yeah, I glued down the bottom white border punch stuff first so I didn't want to emboss over it so I just did what I could and I'll stick down a piece of white paper on the inside to hide it) but meh, I think it turned out okay!


Stamps: Gina K. Baskets of Happiness

CS and papers: All CS is from Stampin' Up! Pattern paper is Amy Butler paper from K&Co

Ink: SU! basic black and StazOn

Accessories: Martha Stewart border punch, Cuttlebug and Nestabilities and Swiss Dots embossing folder, mat pack and paper piercer, stick on pearls, Prisma pencils and OMS.

Thanks for stopping by!

Glitter Goddess...

It is no secret that I love glitter. And bling. And anything sparkly or shiny or tacky and gaudy. I believe I may be part magpie, not sure. :D

These Glam Girls from C.C. Designs over at All That Scraps? Well, these girls BEG to be glittered and blinged out and all around fabulous, don't you think? I just ADORE these stamps. I hope there are more in the works!! (Hope, hope, hope.) They are perfectly sized for me. Nice big areas to color or paper piece and not too big or too small but juuuuuuuuuuust right...kinda like baby bear's bed. hehe!

Anyway, this is from SCS' sketch challenge this week and I love it! I had intended to use a Bella image but when I went to cut out my Bella, my Nestabilities die slipped down from where I had placed it (even with the tape I used to stick it down) so I cut off her feet. Grrrrrr. I was so mad. Anyway, I had this image already stamped out so I just set to paper piecing and coloring her to match my paper.

Stamps: C.C. Designs at All That Scraps

CS and papers: All CS is from Stampin' Up! Pattern paper is Amy Butler paper from K&Co (OMG I love this paper.)

Ink: SU! basic black

Accessories: I used my Making memories circle punch to do a faux ticket corner punch (since I haven't got a ticket corner punch, yes, it is on my list but I'm working through my list a little at a time so I don't freak out the DH), glitter pen to color her scarf and headband, and another glitter pen to color in her sunglasses, Cuttlebug and Nestabilities, faux dew drops from Michael's, a stick-on rhinestone and my Prisma pencils and OMS...oh and one of my TWO Copic markers was used to color her hair. I figure since I have it, I may as well use it, right?

Thanks for looking!

More with the no stamping.

Truthfully, I'm not really great with the rubber stamping. I don't have fifteen million colors of inks and the inks that I do own, I don't know how to use and they always end up puddling even when I'm using SU! ink on SU! stamps....so, I stick with line images that I can color (because I LUFF to color) or I do things where I don't have to stamp much. heh.

I have had this DCWV paper pack for ten bazillion years (a few months) and I love it, but I don't know what to DO with it so I just started playing around last night with a pattern and I kinda like it.

All the CS is from Stampin' Up! and the paper is from DCWV's Far East 8x8 pad. I used my Martha Stewart Butterfly punch to punch out couple of butterflies out of the scrap pattern paper and then I sponged the edges of them with Distress Ink. Simple, no? Took me all of 10 minutes which included picking out papers and gluing everything together. hehe!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Meh.

I've been feeling meh lately. I want to make pretty things but I just get stuck. Well, I got stuck on this card on Sunday night and I was sooo frustrated that I just shut the door to my scrap spot and finally had time tonight (thanks to my HEEVIL employer who has me scheduled to work 45 hours this week even though I am supposed to be part-time) to work on a little something. Such a simple card but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to make it look NOT dumb. I'm still not pleased but whatever at least I got it behind me. hehe

Stamps: Gwenny from C.C. Designs at All That Scraps

CS and papers: All CS is from Stampin' Up! Pattern paper from Sassafras Lass.

Ink: SU! basic black and Distress Ink in.....oh I can't remember which one...from Ranger.

Accessories: Making memories circle punches, perfect layers (otherwise, my layers would be a hot mess), LOTS of glitter pens, her "jeans" were colored with a Sakura glitter pen and her handbag was colored with a brown glitter pen. Also, her sunglasses, lipstick and hair bow was colored with a pink glitter pen. GLITTERIFFIC! I colored her shirt, hair and skin with Prisma pencils and OMS. The stitched ribbon is from Michael's.

Other info: I couldn't find the right sentiment for it that would work in the space I wanted it to work, so I just hand wrote "friend" on the pink layer.

Hope y'all have a fabulous day! We're in for some wind here in Northern California. At least I know my fence won't blow down as we just had it replaced a few months ago. :)

Does this pattern make my hips look wide?

Hee! I've had this set since it was released...like 70 years ago or something and haven't used it at all. It was neglected and sad. But today when I was shopping in the scrapbook store, I saw this pad of paper that I just KNEW had to be used to paper piece this gal. It sure turned her frown upside down! :D

I made this card using Taylor's Cupcake Challenge sketch for this week. I must say, at first, I wasn't a fan of it since I'm not big on tearing paper. I always make it look all messy. And then I was like, "DUH. It is supposed to be messy-ish." I mean, seriously, that is how my pea-sized brain works sometimes.

Stamps: Hippo from Just So Hippy from Gina K. as well as the sentiment

CS and papers: All CS is SU! The patterned paper is from Sassafras Lass' Sunshine Lollipops collection. (LOVE!)

Ink: SU! basic black

Accessories: Cuttlebug and A2 embossing folder, perfect layers, ribbon from Target's dollar spot, stick-on pearls on the dots on her rump.

Other info: I stamped the hippo on the patterned paper then cut her out, and popped up the rump separate from the head. I used a white gel pen to color in her toenails, eye and tooth so it didn't look like she had bad hygiene.

Thanks for looking!

Using my new stuff!

I've been shopping, shopping, shopping, y'all! I love getting new stuff to play! :D Today I went to the biggest scrapbook store in the bay area for a *cough* few things. *cough cough* LOL! And I bought a few things here and there from different sites this week. Including...some Copic markers! Hee! I can't wait to get them! I still need to order some of the Nestabilities ovals. I already have all the rectangles and circles and I'm still not sold on the other shapes but maybe I will eventually. hehe

Anyway, I bought this turtle stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms last month when it was the SOTM. I thought he was SO CUTE!

Stamps: Tyson the Turtle from Cornish Heritage Farms.

CS and papers: Close to Cocoa, kraft, chocolate chip cardstocks. Pattern paper is from Basic Grey's Archaic pack.

Ink: SU! basic black for Tyson, the sentiment is stamped in SU! chocolate chip.

Accessories: Colored with Prisma pencils and Goo Gone and a copic marker was used to color in his spots on his shell. Cuttlebug, nestabilities, mat pack and piercer, white gel pen. On the sentiment, I used my Fiskar's Stone embossing plates after I stamped it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Whew. What a weekend!

Well, I THOUGHT I was going to have another free weekend to play with paper and stamps and ink but instead I ended up being busy, busy at work and then meeting up with some of my fabulous blog friends.

Anyway, I started this card on Friday when I got my order of Glam Girls from All That Scraps!

But I didn't actually get around to finishing it until this morning. Gah! Anyway, I won one of the Glam Girls from their blog candy on their blog! And then I promptly ordered the other two! LOL! Funny how that works isn't it?

Anyway, I decided to use my Frankie since that was the one that I won in the blog candy.

My DH and I had to go to a neighboring town to get a power cord for my laptop because I broke the other (hehe) and the store that we went to happened to be right by JoAnn's so naturally, I had to stop in to "look" at what they had. I found the DCWV Summer matstack and just fell in love! I love these colors. :) I also found that they had almost all the A2 Cuttlebug folders so I picked up two (I would have gotten more but DH was with me and he'd have had a baby cow right there...LOL!)

Supplies:

Stamps: Frankie from All That Scraps; Studio G stamp "Party" from Michael's

CS and papers: The base is Kraft from SU! I love using this as a base, just beautiful and goes well with my style. The red is SU! real red and the patterned paper is from DCWV. The black is that same black that I don't know the manufacturer for it.

Ink: SU! black ink for Frankie and the Party stamp was stamped with Brilliance Graphite Jet Black...I love it for clear stamps!

Accessories: Martha Stewart edge punch for the real red; perfect layers tool; Prisma Pencils and OMS; Sakura clear glittery pen that I won in the blog candy, too! and finally, some black with white stitched ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by!

A card I didn't CASE!

It is for a challenge and it was one that I really wanted to get done because I think it is nifty! Anyway, Allison over at Stampin' When I Can had these girls of the world available for download and then she went and challenged us to use them. Well...okay! :)

Anyway, I had some stuff out to use so I figured that I may as well use up what I had on my table...and here is what came out. I'm fairly pleased. :)

Supplies:

Stamps: The girl image is downloadable (word?) from here. The enjoy and flower are from a Michael's Studio G stamp. The flowers on the side are from my SU! rub-on and I filled in some area with a white gel pen.

CS and papers: The red is Bazzil textured cardstock, the black is well...I don't know...black cardstock (lol!) and the white is my GP.

Ink: I used Staz-On to stamp the image onto the red.

Accessories: Cuttlebug and Swiss Dots embossing folder, prisma pencils and OMS to color, black grosgrain ribbon, corner rounder punch (which somehow tweaked the edge of my CB'd piece), Sakura glittery pen to color the red heart on her jumper.

And that's it. Easy peasy. I could have added a million more layers but I wanted to keep it simple and fast. Probably took me 15 minutes and most of that was cutting and coloring. :)

Thanks for stopping by..."see" y'all soon!

We have a winner!

Thank you all for your lovely comments and all the great tips! I can't say enough how much I enjoyed reading everything. :)

So on to the blog candy winner!

Our winner is Mochamama! Congrats! Email me at mrsjllove at yahoo . com with your details and I'll get your package out to you. :)

Today is the beginning of my weekend so I'll be a busy bee with making new stuff!

Thanks for stopping by. :)

BLING BLING and BLOG CANDY!!!

Okay first things first...this card I made for Taylor's Cupcake Sketch Challenge #14. I love this sketch! It was so fun to put it all together. I'm going to add this sketch to my book for permanent ones that I go to again and again. Did I mention I loved it? LOL!

Anyway, I went through a bunch of my smaller stamps to see if I could find some that worked together and I was fretting that I wouldn't find anything I liked to use together. Then I remembered that my Hanna Stamps had some smaller images on them so I pulled those out of their case and found the perfect ones!

I must admit, the color choices were based on the American Craft flowers that I wanted to use so I went through my SU! cardstock until I found the perfect ones. :) THEN I found out that the fifty cent roll of ribbon I tossed into my cart at Michael's (because it was fifty cents after all!) matched the cardstock perfectly. Oh my! AND THEN I remembered that I found some little bling stick-on rhinestones at Wal*Mart and THEY turned out to be the perfect color, too. I'm tellin' ya. The stars are aligned for me today with this card. LOL!

Supplies:

Stamps: Hanna Stamps But I Need It!, and a little sentiment that I can't remember where it came from and there aren't any markings on the sheet. :(

CS and papers: All CS is from SU! with the exception of my beloved Georgia Pacific white CS.

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black

Accessories: Cuttlebug and my Swiss dots embossing folder and my Cuttlebug Tiny Tags die, Nestabilities, ribbon from Michael's, my Perfect Layers, American Crafts paper flowers, rhinestone brad to attach the flowers, and my fancy bling dots from Wal*Mart.

Whew! What a fun weekend I've had with papercrafting and cardmaking! My husband was away on the boat all weekend so I had lots of (mostly) uninterrupted time for myself. I sometimes like these kinds of weekends.

So to celebrate my fabulous weekend, I'm going to offer up some blog candy. Up for grabs is:

1 Cuttlebug embossing folder-Swiss Dots. (Oh my, I know! I found a site with them so I ordered one for my friend, one for me and one for blog candy!)

1 Corner rounder punch-yes, I did use it a few times but it is still in perfect order.

1 package of Target Dollar spot stick-on pearls.

5 sets of the Studio G clear stamps from Michael's.

2 Sakura pens--duplicates I had!

1 roll of cupcake ribbon

1 roll of sticky striped ribbon

A selection of stamped images (not shown)

Now here are the deets for your entry to be valid. I'm a new stamper/cardmaker. So I can use all the help I can get. What I would like for you to do is to give me your best stamping tip. Can be anything at all! I'll draw for the winner on random.org on Thursday at midnight so check back to see if you've won! (If the winner does not contact me within three days, an alternate winner will be chosen.) And yes, I will ship internationally. :)

Spread the word! If you link to this post and let me know in your comment, you'll get a second entry!

Another CASEd card...

I know, another one?! You're screaming at me. I can hear you. I saw this one on i {heart}2stamp's blog. I have one more, too. Anyway, this is the one that I was trying to photograph last night when my camera died.

For some reason, the colors didn't stay "true" on my photos. Namely the coloring. I can assure you that the stamped image is colored a rusty color and NOT fuschia. The card translates to digital sort of meh, but looks wonderful in person...I promise! LOL!!!

Anyway, the deets:


Supplies:

Stamps: I received this stamp in a swap on SwapBot so I'm not sure who makes it. It is pretty though isn't it? (Well, if it didn't look fuschia on the computer screen.)

CS and papers: All papers and CS are SU! with the exception of the stamped white which is unknown but nice quality white. The patterned piece was a scrap leftover from my stamp class the other night. I'm not gonna let a pretty piece of DP going into the recycle bin!

Ink: I don't know what ink she used on this image but it did sort of smear when I used Gamsol.

Accessories: Prisma and OMS, perfect layers (I could not live without my perfect layers tools), Heidi Swapp edge distresser, Making Memories hardware (What a pain in the fanny it was to get that thing all lined up. Am I just remedial in that I suck at getting it straight on the sentiment? Ugh.), and a SU SAB rub-on that my demo sent to me because she rocks!

I have ONE MORE CARD to share this afternoon and then I'll have the blog candy. :D

And then the camera died...

Well, the camera didn't die. The battery ran completely out of juice. I knew that it was nearly dead because for the past few pictures I've taken, it would shut down and then I'd have to reopen the photo session on it. Anything to keep my lazy bum from having to hunt down the battery charger, right? hehe

Anyway, I made two cards to share BUT as I was taking the photos of the second, it just wouldn't work anymore. So the battery is on the charger and I'll just have to share that one later. :)

This card is a hybrid. Allison over at Stampin' When I Can had posted several days ago how to use clip art when making an image that you just didn't have a stamp for and really needed. Welllllllllllllll, I said to myself (out loud coz that's how I roll), "You have photoshop and illustrator, why don't you just make something for yourself, dummeh!" So I did!

I have always had a thing for owls ever since my grandmother embroidered me a jean shirt when I was five years old that had a sparkly (sequined) owl that covered the entire back of the shirt. It had sparkly green eyes, too! And a few years ago when my husband and I were in Kauai (on a trip that I won, thankyouverymuch) I found a spectacularly tacky and fabulous shell owl that I *HAD* to buy. I think it was like $5 or something. Wicked cheap. But anyway, I have a thing for owls and I have been seeing owls all over the blogosphere that were cute but just weren't what I wanted.

I used photoshop and illustrator to do up this cute little owl. I had purchased the original image from iStockPhoto a long, long time ago. He was originally colored all in with a busy background so I fixed that up so that he would be ready for coloring in and he'd look more handmade. I did have to leave his beak and his feet colored yellow so that they'd print.

Supplies:

Stamps: The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Eclectic Paperie's Cupcake set. The pumpkin cs is stamped with the Background Sampler for SU! (retired)

CS and papers: All papers and CS are SU! with the exception of the white which is Georgia Pacific CS.

Ink: I can't remember what black ink I grabbed when I did the sentiment. Probably Versafine.

Accessories: Photoshop, Illustrator, HP Photoprinter, Prisma pencils and OMS, Cuttlebug and Nestabilities, Cuttlebug photo corner die, Michael's shimmery Brides flowers that I colored with my Marvy Markers. Also I used my Marvy Markers to ink up the little background stamp.

This card was supposed to be for Lauren Meader's sketch this weekend but I borked it up. Well, it is the thought that counts, right? LOL!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. I'll have a card later along with blog candy. :)

Blog candy alert!

No, not here...yet...but it is coming REALLY SOON...promise. (Hint: Check my blog tomorrow for it.) :D

But, there is blog candy now at Kitty's Kraft Blog so run on over and check it all out! (Also be sure to check out her fabulous creations as well!)

Oh and I did make a card today only I noofed it up right at the end. ARGH. Makes me stabby, it does!

PS-Why are you still here, go check out the blog I mentioned!

Edited to add: I won blog candy! I found out after I posted this! I won Frankie from All That Scraps! I am over. the. mooooooooon! hehe!

Pick me up....

I made this card as a little pick-me-up for a friend. :)

I'm gonna be late for work so I'll just tell you that all the papers are from SU! and there is no stamping again. I used a rub-on. Actually, two of them.

The ribbon is from Michael's and I used some Fiskars paper scissors to make the mat for the "Friend" rub-on. And I used my crop a dile and uhm....OH! My Cuttlebug and an embossing plate from Fiskars. The stitching is faux stitching using my mat pack, paper piercer and my super pens I buy from the Japanese stationery store in San Francisco. LOVE those pens!

I'll add more info later. This is for Beate's weekend sketch challenge!

Thanks for stopping by....:)

What fun!

I went to my first Stampin' Night with my SU! demo. I met all the great ladies that were there tonight. They were all so wonderful! We made 2 wonderfully beautiful cards AND a lovely altered tin with nuggets inside! I showed them how to use the Nestabilities in the Cuttlebug and how to ink the A2 folder to get a really cool effect on the cardstock. :)

I had a great time! I ordered a few more things that I "needed" LOL!

Anyway, I'm'll be making some pretties to share with y'all tonight/tomorrow. I do have to work tomorrow but only for a little while so I won't be dead tired after working all day.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be having some blog candy soon so keep checking back! :) Hint: It is going to be a hard-to-find Cuttlebug embossing folder and some other wonderful finds. Yay!