Berry Sweet

As soon as I saw this darling little gal Mo Manning posted on her blog the other day, I snapped her up! I love strawberries! She also just posted a Blueberry Girl, as well, and I can't wait to color her up as well! I'm seeing a whole Berry series of chubby little kids, lol.

I knew I had some strawberry patterned paper in my stash somewhere, and after a bit of digging I found this design from a DCWV mat stack. 

Strawberry Girl has been colored with colored pencils for the most part, some flesh toned Copics for her skin though. When I was ready to add a bow to the almost completed card, I didn't like any of the colors of ribbon I had. They were either too red, or too light pink, I wanted a nice medium reddish pink. Well, that's where custom dying our own ribbon comes in really handy! I looked through my color charts, found a pretty Watermelon from Adirondack inks. Filled a mini mister with reinker and water, spritzed some white seam binding, popped it in the microwave to dry, and voila...

..Perfectly coordinating ribbon.

Well, that's it for now, hope someone was able to draw some inspiration from something here! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Digital image from Mo's Digital Pencil
Ink: Adirondack reinker (for ribbon dye), Glimmer Mist
Paper: Neenah Solar White, Memory Box, DCWV, Core'dinations
Accessories: EK Success edge punch, seam binding, leaf stick pins, colored pencils, OMS, PTI flower die/button

Larkspurs

Another addition to Papertrey Ink's year of flowers sets, Larkspurs, and it's a winner! Once again, I decided to gold emboss the image before coloring, I love the way it looks. 

Before stamping the Larkspurs, I used Impression Obsession's Cover a Card music background to add a subtle pattern in light grey. Then I colored the flowers with Copics.

The papers are from Tracy Ann's Digital Art Etsy shop, printed from my computer. 

Hope you like it, thanks for peeking in!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Impression Obsession

Ink: Versamark, Palette, Elzybells hybrid ink

Paper: Heavenly White, PTI, matte photo paper

Accessories: Martha Stewart edge punch, SU taffeta ribbon, Tonic corner rounder, Filigree gold embossing powder, PTI label die

Summer Tilda

I sold a bunch of my older Magnolia stamps on SCS a little while ago, and while I was going through them deciding which ones to keep I came across this little sweetie. I had to color her up again, she's just so darn cute!

All the patterned papers are digital designs from Tracy Ann's Digital Art Etsy shop. There are some amazing paper collections there, and I love being able to browse the papers on my computer, and only printing the ones I need to use for a certain project. PLUS, I can print them at 6" square so I don't have a bunch of scraps left over!

Now I'm off to enjoy my day off from work and stamp and color to my heart's content!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Magnolia
Ink: Memento, Distress
Paper: Papertrey Ink, Matte Photo paper
Accessories: Fiskars apron lace punch, Spellbinders Labels/Nestabilities, sticky backed gems, Stickles, striped grosgrain ribbon, colored pencils, OMS, Copics (for flesh tones).

Witch's Laundry Night

This week is CHA and Impression Obsession is there releasing a fabulous new collection of stamps. So we've decided to give you all a peek at some of the new designs coming out. There are soooo many wonderful Fall, Halloween and Christmas stamps coming out soon, I had a heck of a time trying to decided which one I'd do for the Sneak Peek! But you can also see peeks of more stamps by going to the IO blog. From there, you will be able to see some of the other ladies on the DT showing off their cards using the new stamps.

This one is called Laundry Night (J2378). I LOVE the whimsical witch clothes! I actually tried coloring this stamp three different ways, and was not happy with the first two. First I tried embossing and watercoloring, then I tried Copic coloring, but just did not like the results. So it was back to my old stand by, my trusty colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits. 

The night sky took FOREVER to color and blend! (Which is why I had tried to watercolor it at first, I figured I could wet the background and just let the color bleed over the entire sky area--NOT!) Anyway, I like the way this came out, the slight swirly pattern from blending the pencils kind of reminds me of an impressionist painting.

Here's a closer look:

The sentiment is also a new stamp- A3532 Wicked. I chose to use very gothic looking punches and dies. The Martha Stewart iron gate punch was perfect for a spooky card, as well as the fancy tags die for the sentiment. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Impression Obsession

Ink: Memento

Paper: Papertrey Ink, Graphic 45, Prism, Core'dinations

Accessories: Martha Stewart edge punch, Spellbinders Fancy Tags, striped ribbon, antique brad, Stickles, colored pencils, OMS, tiny pearls

Little Friend

Before I get on to my card today, I just wanted to say that if you have a question for me and want an answer, please email me directly using the link in my sidebar to the right. Sometimes people ask questions in their comments to me (which I love to get, thanks to everyone who takes the time to leave me some love!) and it's hard to respond from the comments board. Especially if you don't leave a way for me to get back to you! I love hearing from you, so please don't hesitate to email me with any questions you may have. Thanks!

It's been a while since I colored up one of Sugar Nellie's stamps. This is one from last year's set that they had on special. Adorable autumn images, (although I'm pretty sure fawns are born in the spring) but it's our own world, and we can do what we like!

This cutie was colored with my colored pencils, blended with OMS. The little ticket attached to the bow is from PTI's newest set called Just the Ticket. I love the font from the set, and it's so easy to make a quick little sentiment with the stamps and their new ticket die. It even perforates the tickets so you can tear them apart and use them individually. Sweet!

The paper is from Kaisercraft Devonshire collection, one of my favorites, the colors are just beautiful.
Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Sugar Nellie, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento, Distress, SU
Paper: Heavenly White, SU, Core'dinations
Accessories: Natural twill ribbon, colored pencils, OMS, Sharpie XF Poster pen, SU button, Nestabilities

LOTV Thursday Challenge: Old Fashioned Christmas

There's another Thursday sketch challenge over at the LOTV blog. I love this sketch, anything with scallops, and I'm a happy camper!

This is another new Lili of the Valley stamp called Christmas Candle. I wanted to use very antique, victorian type papers for this image, because her coat and hood remind me of this style. I chose my very favorite Christmas papers of all time, Cosmo Cricket's Wonderland.

Of course I had to color her velvet coat and hoot red, and add fluffy Polar White Flower Soft to her hat.

A big striped bow, some pearls and Stickles and it's as pretty as a picture! 

You can play along in our challenge too, for some fun prizes, click the sketch above and it'll take you to the LOTV challenge blog where you can check out the other DT's projects for inspiration and the official rules.

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley

Ink: Memento, Distress

Paper: Heavenly White, Cosmo Cricket, Gina K, Bazzill, Core'dinations

Accessories: PTI med. scallop die, Nesites, 1.25" striped grosgrain ribbon, pearls, Stickles, Glaze pen, Flower Soft, colored pencils, OMS, Copics

Every Moment is wonderful

Good morning everyone! I have a card made with all SU products today. While browsing through the newest catalog recently I saw their little color swatches for the new paper collections and my eyes fell on the Soft Subtles. Particularly the blues and greens. I thought they looked so beautiful together that I wanted to create a card with all the colors. I think they were Celery, Wasabi, Baja Breeze, Bashful Blue and Marina Mist. That's a lot of colors, I know! But this is what I came up with and I love it!

I've also always admired card makers who decorate the inside of their cards as well as the fronts, so I had to try it. It does make a HUGE difference, so beautiful!

I colored the image with my colored pencils, added an extra layer to the butterfly and Stickled her wings. Such a pretty image...

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Stampin Up
Ink: Memento, Perfect Match, SU, Versamark
Paper: SU
Accessories: Nestabilities, colored pencils, OMS, Stickles, SU ribbon

Sea Shells

I know I haven't been posting much lately, I've been busy doing some DT projects for  upcoming CHA show. I'm not going, but Impression Obsession will be there with new stamps, so  if you're going, make sure and stop by their booth!

I forgot to post this card I made a while back, using JustRite's beautiful beach collection. I colored the sea shells with Distress Inks.

The paper is from Kaisercraft Devonshire, a gorgeous collection of papers, that totally remind me of the sea. 

Very soft and serene don't you think? Makes me want to be by the sea, away from this terrible heat...

Stamps: JustRite, Waltzingmouse
Ink: Memento, Distress, Versamark
Paper: Heavenly White, SU, watercolor paper, Kaisercraft
Accessories: Spellbinders labels/oval Nesties, satin ribbon, pearl brad, EK Success edge punch, Vanilla embossing powder

Rose Garden

What can I say? I just love simple outline flower stamps. So simple and clean, just waiting to be colored a million different ways. I chose to gold emboss this trio of flowers, because I loved Michelle Wooderson's gold Larkspurs featured on her blog yesterday, and wanted to try it myself with these. Admittedly, my gold embossing powder is VERY old, and I suppose it does go bad over such a long period of time. It did not want to emboss very easily, and I almost burned the paper! Time to add new gold embossing powder to my next shopping trip, in preparation for Thanksgiving and Christmas! 

I colored the flowers in with my colored pencils, and one thing I learned about coloring/blending with colored pencils recently is that the smoother the paper I use, the lighter the colors appear. I usually use Bristol vellum, which has a tiny bit of 'tooth' to it, so I can really build up the colors in as many layers as I want, which I can't do easily on smooth paper.

I figured this out because I always tried to print my digi stamps on Neenah or Heavenly White heavy white cardstock, but the paper did NOT want to go through my printer. I would have try over and over to get it to feed through, and eventually I'd get lucky and it would finally print. Well, this was a huge waste of time, so I opted to get the lighter weight Heavenly White cardstock to print my digi's on. Worked beautifully. So I was printing some digi's a couple of weeks ago, thinking I would color them with Copics, but changed my mind at the last minute and opted for my colored pencils. I didn't think it would work very well, but surprisingly, I liked it. The colors blended much more smoothly and were much lighter. Actually it was kind of hard to get really deep shading, so I have to keep that in mind. But for soft, pale colors, it was perfect.

See, I do learn something new all the time in my rubber stamping adventures, despite how long I've been doing this! It's why I always try to remember to experiment. Despite what I've been taught by the many tutorials and lessons available out there, if there's something I wonder about, I just have to try it and see. Sometimes, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Stamps: Stampin Up
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Heavenly White, Basic Grey, Memory Box, SU, Stardream
Accessories: Martha Stewart edge punch & ribbon, colored pencils, OMS, gold embossing powder, Spellbinders Labels

Serene Silhouettes

 I have simple yet pretty card to share with you all today using some of Impression Obsession's newest stamps. For this card I used Silhouette 8, Silhouette 7 and Silhouette 2. They are such delicate, lovely designs that I knew I wanted to use soft, delicate colors with it. I stamped the images in Versamark and embossed them with white powder. Then I simply sponged some Distress Inks all over, keeping it very light and subtle. 

The sage green background paper was simply stamped with a Large Polka Dot Cover-a-card stamp in white ink.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Impression Obsession
Ink: Versamark, Distress, Perfect Match
Paper: Bazzill, SU
Accessories: Martha Stewart garland punch, seam binding, white embossing powder

LOTV Sneak Peek. 2 more days!

Here's another peek at one of the new stamps to be release on July 14th. It's called Star of Wonder. Isn't is just darling?!

It's very strange making Christmas/Winter cards in this heat, but it's fun to make something different from flowers and the usual summer themed cards. I chose Cosmo Cricket's Jolly by Golly paper collection for it's unusual winter color scheme. I wanted something other than the typical green/red combo. I colored this image with colored pencils in pinks/magenta/blue-greens to coordinate with the paper. And BG0000 Copic for the snow shadows.

A little Liquid Appliqué for the pom poms on her scarf and hat, with a little glitter on top of that. 

So pretty in pink, don't you think? lol

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley

Paper: Cosmo Cricket, Stardream metallic, PTI, Heavenly White

Accessories: EK Success edge punch, Tonic corner rounder, Teal satin ribbon, Snowflake brad, Stickles, Liquid Applique

Lili of the Valley Thursday Sketch Challenge 57

It's time for a sketch challenge again over at Lili of the Valley's challenge blog. There are awesome prizes to be won, so pop on over and check out all the gorgeous cards made by all the DT ladies. Then when you've had your fill of inspiration get busy making your own card to enter in the contest! Here is this week's sketch:

Oh, and by the way, you might be seeing some new, never seen before stamps some of us are using over the course of the next week leading up to a new release on July 14th! There are a TON of new Christmas/Winter stamps to be released over the next several months and let me tell you- I love them ALL! They are adorable! From nativity scenes, to sweet bears and penguins, darling children and lovable animals. You will love them! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. My card for today's challenge is one of the stamps that will be released next week called Angel Gabriel.

I loved coloring this image with colored pencils, blended with OMS. I used soft colors pulled from the patterned paper. I love this DP from Stampin Up, 'Wintergreen' it is one of my absolute favorite Christmas/Winter papers. (I made sure to stock up when they were on clearance!)

A few glittery snowflake embellishments, a pretty bow and and I have a finished card.

Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley, PTI
Ink: Perfect Match
Paper: Heavenly White, SU, shimmer white card stock
Accessories: Martha Stewart modern garland & snowflake punches, Marvy/Uchida snowflake punch, Nesties, SU ribbon, Stickles, pearl, Nesties, Sharpie poster paint pen

Fast Food

Good morning folks! I hope where ever you are it's cooler than it is here! We've been having a heat wave that just sucks the juice right out of you. Yesterday reached almost 97 degrees, which in the Poconos is pretty hot! 

Anyway, I have a sweet Lili of the Valley card to share with you using this adorable doggie running away with stolen franks. He's Fritz the dog from the Fritz and Fifi set. The stamps in this set are soo funny, highlighting all the mischievous antics our pets can get into!

I wanted to use a different coloring medium this time, getting kind of bored with the same old same old, so I broke out my Distress Inks and watercolored him. I remembered seeing a tutorial a while back from one of those gorgeous Scandinavian blogs where they showed how to deepen shading with Distress inks using a dry brushing technique. I can't for the life of me remember whose blog it was, but I did remember the technique, and used it for Fritz.

It works really beautifully for creating really dark shadows, which is kind of hard to do with watercoloring. At least it was for me, I used to have to go back over and over after each wash had dried and reapply the shadows to build them up. Well, dry brushing is much faster, I'll be doing this from now on.

Stay cool and thanks for visiting!

Stamps: LOTV
Ink: Memento, Distress Inks
Paper: Water color paper, Bazzill, Cosmo Cricket
Accessories: PTI ribbon/button/felt, Nestabilities, paint brushes

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone is enjoying a fun and safe holiday weekend! During the course of your day, take the time to reflect on how blessed we are to be living in an independent country. Free to choose our own paths through life. We are truly fortunate to be living in the United States of America! 

Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento, Perfect Match
Paper: PTI
Accessories: EK Success scallop edge punch, PTI linen weave texture plate, Copic Spica pens, PTI ribbon, Spellbinders Labels

Bitty Blessing

I love making baby cards. I don't have many people to give them to, but I make them all the same. I think it's because I love pastel colors, and of course, baby images are just so cute! This is another Lili of the Valley stamp which I've colored with Copics. I embossed a piece of Core'dinations Whitewash paper with the Cuttlebug argyle folder and sanded away the top layer a bit to reveal the core color.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I also cut some ric rac strips from wool felt for a little embellishment. Pretty simple card, really.

Well, I'm off to make preparations for tomorrow's barbecue. Got some last minute shopping and then it's time to make Reese's PB bars, chicken kabobs, and potato salad! Mmmmm....

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley, PTI

Ink: Memento, SU

Paper: Heavenly White, Core'dination, SU

Accessories: PTI ric rac die, wool felt, Copics, Cuttlebug EF, Tonic ticket corner punch, PTI ribbon/button, Nesties

Oldie but goodie

So I was digging through my stash of rubber and I found a box of stamps from waaaaay back in the day. (Like when I first started stamping in 1995.) I found some old PSX stamps, a bunch of landscape elements stamps, and I found this weird foam set from Stampendous with Precious Moments images. I knew I had to make a PM card!

I used to be NUTS for PM when my daughter was a baby. Her whole room was decorated with it. Blankets, wallpaper, lamps, figurines, stuffed dolls, you name it, I had it! She has quite the collection of the porcelain figurines too, all safely packed away till she wants to display them again. The characters are incredibly adorable though, I still think so. Which is why I decided to make a baby boy card using this sweet little guy.

I used the new PTI set Night Night Moon to stamp the border for the bottom of this card. Love that set, I can see using those stars and moons for Halloween too!

Thanks for visiting, have a great Friday!

Stamps: Stampendous, PTI
Ink: Memento, Perfect Match
Paper: PTI
Accessories: PTI scallop border, ribbon, button, Stickles, Copics, Nestabilities

Impression Obsession Lazy Days of Summer Challenge

Hi everyone, it's time for another Impression Obsession challenge. This week's theme is 'The Lazy Days of Summer'. I knew I wanted to pull out my Flip Out clear stamp set for that!

I love stamping these flip flops in different cheery colors. For this card I chose my inspiration colors from this beautiful striped ribbon. Deep pink, light pink and a grassy green. I added a bit of sparkle to the patterns on some of the flip flops with Copic Spica pens.

I wish I could capture how pretty this card came out in real life, I am just not a great photgrapher!

Don't forget you can join in on the IO challenge too for a chance to win some IO Bucks! Check out the IO blog for all the details.

Need to see some more summery cards? Check out the other design team ladies' blogs:

1. Daniela
2. Jeanne
3. Julie
4. Jenny
5. Shirley
6. Rosemary
7. Dina

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Impression Obsession 'Flip Out', Sentiments II
Ink: Papertrey Ink, Versamark
Accessories: Striped grosgrain ribbon, PTI button, Copic Spica pen, SU markers, White embossing powder, Nestabilities