Not a Creature was stirring

The only kid of mouse that will be allowed in my house!

I did three of these cute little stamps today and put one together.  Various papers from previous years, Spellbinders octogon label and Memory Box wreath.

Drummer Boy Mishap

I colored four of these little drummer boys for cards today and I almost thew this one away.  I dropped a pen on it and got a green blotch on it.  I have never had much luck with using the colorless blender to remove colors but I thought I would give it a try.  I just hate wasting all the work that goes in to coloring a stamp.

But I worked with it a little bit and set it aside and worked on the others.  Then I came back to it a few times.  I knew that I was going to be doing the blue  shading on it, so thought it might work.  Sure enough, it did.  If you look really close you can see just a hint of green, but the blue pretty well disguises it.  I'm pretty happy with the results.  And of course, I love this stamp.

More Christmas

I did the coloring for these a while back and just put them together.  I just love this stamp.

Chrstmas Horses

I thought I had to settle down to something serious here.  I've had so many ideas in my head, that I've been flipping from one project to another.  My craft room is a disaster.  So thought I get serious about Christmas cards.  These are some of what was ordered by a friend.  She hasn't seen them yet, sure hope she likes them.  They were a lot of fun to make.

 The wreath die cut is from Memory Box.  It is not a Christmas stamp but thught it would go well with some Christmas paper and a little bling.  This is three layers, two shade of green and the red striped.

Joy is a Sizzix die, the flourish and the greenery are a Tim Holtz die.

I haven't posted for over a month, but this is some tuff that I've been working on.  The first one I did tonight.  I've been wanting to try this technique and it was the tutorial from Split Coast Stampers this month.  It was fun to do with my Spellbinders die cuts.

 I left the tag empty so that when the need comes up I can just fill it in.  The flowers I got at the show I went to last month.

 The flowers are cut with Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die using burlap and paper.

 Window card for Christmas

 These little journals are gifts for a project I have coming up soon.

It's July Already??

Wow, I didn't post anything the whole month of June!  Of course I was somewhat incapacitated for a couple weeks recovering from acromioplasty (rotator cuff surgery).  The first week I was totally wiped out on meds, then it was regaining use of my left arm.  But God is great! and I am near 80% back after less than a month.

A friend at church is getting married today and I put this little mini album togethr for her.  I used the "one the edge" die from Tim Holtz and it was a little difficult to match up since it wasn't full size, but I worked through that.

 The flower on the front cover is cut from organdy and burned and layered.  The initials are some clear acrylic from my stash that I backed with some of the paper from her invitation. 

 The roses are airbrushed and my fingernails are just starting to get back to normal.  They have been blue for a week.

 Border punch by EK Success, Rosette from T.H. die, black metal flower brad.

 I couldn't find the rest of the wedding paper that I used from the last wedding album, so I made my own using a fiskars heart stamp in second generation bamboo ink.  The flowers on this page are also airbrushed.  Have I said how much i love my copic airbrush system?

Buttons and hearts are sizzix dies as is the leaf.  Roses are airbrushed.  Small "real" button has blue glitter on the back side.  Round die cut (Spellbinders) has the center cut out.

Hope you enjoyed looking at my creation and hope it inspires you.

Technique card

Another Ad inspired card from Impress Rubber Stamp store.  This was their sample for a class they are teaching.  I don't know what the class was, but this is my rendition of it.  I first stamped the script background, and then stamped the flower with versamark shimmer (which I really don't think makes much of a difference over regular versamark) and heat embossed with Distress embosing powder.  I tried block stamping over it with the back of the acrylic block.  It didn't give the all-over color that I wanted, so I started over again and just used a mask to do the left edge so that it would appear blocked, and inked it with a sponge and garden green ink.

Then I colored in the flower with copic.  It looks really good IRL, as the flower looks kind of transparent.  The fabric flower is one I made a while ago with various size organdy circles that were heated to curl and sewn together.  The pink border stamp is EK Success.  I am happy with the results. I may have to do some variations with this one.

Zentangle Comparison

This is a combo with a couple stamps and the rest zentangled.  The butterfly had no pattern in it, so the zentagle was added to the wings.  There is also a flourish stamp in here but it is kind of hard to see.. which is ok actually.  It goes from the base up to about 3/4 of the way up. There is a mistake in the pattern and to me it stands out like a sore thumb.  But how much of a mistake can there be in a doodle???

I wanted to compare a black and white to a color, and I'm still not sure which I like best.  There are 42 different copic colors on this one. 

 But I kind of like the black and white as well.

What do you think?  I would appreciate the input.

A few simple little cards

I discovered what darling little cards you could do with white backed cardstock this Christmas at Impress Stamps.  While I wouldn't want to do all my cards this way, it is nice to just put an image and a bow or greeting on a card and not do all the 'extras'.  Both giraff's are digitals, I think from Bugaboo. They will have a happy birthday sentiment inside. I thought they were perfect for kids birthdays.

These two are both rubber stamps.  The snowman has been around for a while, but the Penny Black was new this year. The nice thing about her is that she can be Christmas or birthday depending on how she is colored.

The Little Things

I started this little girl some time ago, then she got put on a shelf while I was playing with my digitals.  The sentiment stamp is Tim Holtz, flowers are coffee filters that were cut with the 1 inch round scallop punch and colored with dye ink reinker.

Missing You

It didn't scan real clear because of the depth of the flowers.  Border cut with EK punch.  Flowers are layered from Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die.  Starburst with Spellbinders die.  Stamp by Mo Manning.  Paper DCWV glitter stack.

Christmas Mouse

Everybody knows that I don't like rodents... with a passion, and I usually avoid stamps with them also.  However, this little Christmas Mouse by Mo Manning was just too cute not to like.  I love the polka dot tea cup, the cheese and the stocking and the letter to Santa.

More Mo Manning stamps

Been wanting the little drummer boy since I first saw him, and I wasn't dissappointed.  I think he is just too cute.  I pretty much followed the colors used on the website.  The die cuts are Tim Holtz.

 This is the one that brought me back to the website.  It's a new one for this month.  I think she is just so cute.

Christmas 2012

Okay, I know that i've totally lost my mind, but I got this sudden urge to do Christmas cards.  My plan was to do just the part that has to be colored.  Then I thought I would just put them on the base card and decorate, but then when I see that, I can't seem to leave it unfinished, and have to complete it.  I know that when the new Christmas papers come out next fall that I will be sorry.  But with the amount of cards that I do, I guess that it can't hurt.  And you never know when the urge might subisde.

I want to do more cards next year that are more Christ centered, and i just totally fell in love with this Baby Jesus and angel.  Note how the light source is from Baby Jesus with the lighter hair next to Him and the hay being lighter around Him.  I think I will be doing a lot of this little guy.  The stamp is from Mo Mannings digital pencil.  The flourishes and snowflake on the bottom have glitter on them, but it doesn't show in the scan.

 A more traditional Christmas card with non-traditional colors.  I love reds and greens but I like to throw in a few odd-balls here and there.  I loved her hair, but it really isn't that easy to color and get good depth with.  This is another Mo Manning digi stamp with die cuts from Tim Holtz and Sizzix.

Cowboy weekend?

This is what I worked on this weekend.  This is a Freebie Friday digi stamp from Bugaboo.  The ribbons are from Target and the stars are from Office Depot. 

 This is four of a six piece set that I made for a friend that loves horses. Saw this stamp at Joann's and knew it had to be for her. 

Challenges for 2Peas in a Bucket

Two Peas is one of my favorite websites that I've been a part of since 2002.  Sometimes I go for long periods of time without visiting there. but I always come back.  This week there has been a member generated  stamping "celebration" (Winterfest 2012) with lots of challenges and new ideas for creating.  The first one here was for "Buttons and Bows" where you are suppose to use both buttons and bows on a card.  Bows are one of my favorite things, and I have tons of buttons, so i just had to do it.  The little girl is a new digi stamp that i just got yesterday from Bugaboo.  I was a little dissappointed in their stamps because the lines are so bold, unlike most of the others I have gotten from Mo Manning.  But they are really cute once you get them colored.  I had quite a time with the tail on the cat though.  I kept coloring it the same color as the dress.  After two failed attempts I decided to make the kitty black, thus covering up the blue tail.  I used a little colorless blended on the center of the tail to give it a little depth.  The sentiment stamp was a dollar stamp that I got from Michael's yesterday.  It had a flower on it, but I did a little surgery on it, and now have two stamps :).  Ribbon is also from Michael's $1 clearance.  Felt flowers are cut with a sizzix die.  I had to run them through several times and them use scissors to finish them. 

 The cupcake stamp is one I got as  "freebie" from the UK Cardmaking and Papercrafts magazine.  I've received so many compliments on this at 2peas.  This card covered two challenges.  One was to use die cuts or punches in an unusual way, and the other was to use two border punches or dies.  It is a window card, like the one I did earlier with the "Bunches" stamp, and I cut a die cut to look like a border punch.  Cupcakes are of course colored with copics and (not really clear in the scan) white gel pen on the icing.

 This was also for the two border challenge and the die challenge.  The banner was actually a border punch.  I cut it real close to the design, and then cut slits in it so it would curve.  I then attached the fibers to make it appear as a hanging banner.  The stamp is an older Stampin Up stamp that was given to me by one of our residents.

 There was actually three challenges for this card.  One was to use a background stamp, the other was the die cut challenge, using it in a different way, and the third was to dig out a stamp or stamps that you haven't used in a long time.  I masked the white part with a die cut, stamped it with a background stamp and then used my airbrush to add a little more contrast.  the hearts are from an old Close to My Heart set that I haven't touched for a couple years.  The flower is also fabric cut with a Tim Holtz die, Elegant Floral.  there is also a border punch used on the bottom. 

It's been a lot of fun playing along with the challenges this week.  I might get one more done tomorrow before Winterfest 2012 ends.

More Mo Manning stamps

It's been a pretty good week.  Finally got the clean-up done in the park from the ice and snow and all the trees that came down.  The home we've been working on to sell is almost ready, and I had a busy week in the office.  But now it's Saturday and time to play!  I put these in order of which ones I liked best.  I really like the way that "Sorry" came out.  I've never tried to do red hair and was just experimenting with colors, but I like it, and I like the way the dress looks, and the flowers.  I think the gentleness of the pattern paper lends itself well to the stamp. 

 I like my little teacup fairy, she was actually pretty easy to color.  The punch used on the bottom is one I just bought today at JoAnn's on sale. 

 I like the way the coloring turned out on the stamp, but the card itself is just about too plain for me, but I will leave it.  I love the shimmery pink ribbon that I bought a couple weeks ago at Jo's. 

Love You Bunches

One of my new digital stamps from Mo Manning.  I colored her yesterday, and then would you believe I dreampt about how I wanted to do it on a card?  It is a window card.  the border around the window is actually a full size spellbinders die circle that I cut the center from, leaving the bumpy border frame.  Then used the same dimensions to cut the window.

 Label for the stamp is another spellbindes die.  I'm happy with the way it came out, and maybe I won't dream about putting it together tonight.  The ribbons are from a new set that I just got at Costco.  Great steal if you are at a costco, 100 yards of pretty designer ribbons for $19.99.

Redo Masquerade

I don't know, it's kind of blinged out now.  It probably would have been okay with just the butterfly on the top, but I started with the additional bling, so it is what it is.  I think it's better than the original anyway.

 I colored this one to match the pattern paper.  I had intended the chair to be more the color of the flower center, but it didn't turn out that way.  I didn't have an appropriate color for shading on the green, so I just did the same color over again.  Each time you you over it, it darkens it by one shade.  I think it turned out pretty good.  This is the same Yesteryear set.

Relaxing Day

Skip and Kevin came over and brought a nice roast that I threw in the oven, then the guys played war games while I got to play in my stamp room.  I actually colored these a week or so ago but just put them together today.  the first one is one of my new Yesteryear set by Carmen Medlin for Susana's Custom Art and Design.  I really like the way it turned out.  All the elements really came together for me.  The orange bling is some that I bought on sale when we were in Florida.  Didn't know how much of a call I would have for orange, but it went well here.  I actually cut a larger one apart for this card. 

This is also a Carmen Medlin from the Reflection Fantasy set called Masquerade.  I kept looking at this thinking it wasn't done.  I think it needs more, but guess it will have to stay like this for now.....unless I decide to take it apart and redo it.  I like the bling and the fabric flower, but it just seems to lack something.