Lili of the Valley Thursday Challenge 'Celebrate'

Hello everyone! My OttLite craft lamp saga drags on. I searched high and low for the right replacement bulbs, most places wanted $12 some places wanted $35 for the same bulb! Outrageous, IMO. It's just a light bulb for crying out loud. So as I search online, I see that Lowe's carries them too, for significantly less. I head on over to my nearest Lowe's. Oh, too bad, they don't carry the bulb I need for my lamp. I check online again. Another Lowe's carries them, so I head over to that one. Apparently they're on clearance, there's three left at less than $2 each. I snap them up, bring them home, pop them into my lamp and flip the switch....nothing. I'm getting really upset at this point. I try another bulb, plug it in. Still nothing. I've had this lamp for less than a year, and I get this?! I've contacted OttLite and the customer service rep says they may be able to help me with a replacement. Not sure yet because I don't have a receipt. Hmmph. I'll let you all know how this turns out.

Anyway, enough rambling, it's time for the challenge! For a celebration  I think a wedding is the ULTIMATE of occasions, so I went with that. I chose to work with 'Wedding Carriage' for this card. 

I had to do a lot of finnoogling and editing of these pics because the lamp I'm using now makes everything look so yellow, grrrr....

I decided to use the Burnished Velvet technique to get a really soft look to the image. I just stamped the image on water color paper, colored the skin with Copics then covered it with Sookwang full sheet adhesive, peeled off the liner and sprinkled Glitter Ritz all over it. I rubbed the surface gently with a finger to really stick the glitter down and 'burnish' it. This glitter is so fine, it's almost like powder and this actually feels like velvet. 

After glittering, I went back with some Tombow and Stampin Up markers and water colored the image right over the glitter. I learned that there's a bit more bleeding painting this way, but it actually worked to my advantage because I got some really pretty blending of colors completely by accident. I think it helps not to use too many different colors as the result could get muddy. I kept the colors simple. 

The last picture is a bit darker than it actually is IRL, but when photographing an almost all white card, the contrast needs to be higher to show all the detail.


Thanks for looking and I hope to see you join in on our challenge and enter it for a chance to win some LOTV cash!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley, PTI sentiment
Ink: Memento
Paper: Water color paper, PTI c/s and vellum
Tools & Accessories: Taffeta ribbon, pearl head pins, Martha Stewart small tag and PATP punches, Sizzix texture plate, Creatables die, Viva Decor Pearl pen, silver bugle beads

Sweet cakes

Hello everyone! I haven't been blogging for a while, I know, and it's all because of one light bulb. Yep, my Ottlite craft lamp that I use for crafting as well as taking pictures of my projects burned out and I can't get a good picture no matter what I do. I'm hoping to pick one up tomorrow and resume my regularly scheduled programming, lol! 

Here's a card I made a while back using some adorable A Day for Daisies digital images. 

LOVE these fruity cupcakes, they look scrumptious! I colored them with my colored pencils. 

Hopefully I'll be able to take some good pictures of some of the cards I've worked on last week soon, so hang in there! I'll be back...


Thanks for visiting!


Stamps: Digital images from A Day for Daisies, PTI sentiment
Ink: Memento, Perfect Match
Paper: DCWV, Memory Box, PTI, Neenah
Tools & Accessories: Nestabilities, colored pencils, OMS, PTI ribbon, Martha Stewart edge punch, PTI tiny tags die, Stickles

Lili of the Valley Thursday Sketch Challenge 102

Hello everyone! We have a lovely sketch by Donalda for this week's challenge over at LOTV. I think working from sketches are my absolute favorite challenges. They really help me break out of my usual layout 'rut'. 

I used the new Emma in the Garden stamp, colored in pencils. I went with a very Victorian theme to go with the beautiful Pink Paislee 'Butterfly Garden' collection of papers. Lacy doily and some distressed texture for the background layer. 

See that gorgeous sparkly butterfly in the upper left corner? That's one of those Stampendous Class A'peels stickers that I saw used on this blog and absolutely fell in love with the technique! So beautiful, and that microfine glitter, wow, you can color over it with markers and make it any color you want. 


Now make sure you check out all the inspiration from the other DT members, then create your own card for a chance to win some LOTV bucks. 


Thanks for dropping by!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley, PTI tiny tag sentiment
Ink: Distress
Paper: Neenah, Heavenly White, Pink Paislee, Core'dinations, PTI
Tools & Accessories: SU embossing folder & ribbon, colored pencils, Cheery Lynn doily die, Copics, Class A'peels butterfly sticker, Art Institute Glitter, SU markers, Nestabilities, PTI Tiny Tags die

The perfect summer day...

Good morning everyone! 

I've always wanted to try a diorama style card since seeing the tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers a long time ago. I am however, The Great Procrastinator..haha. Well, I could put it off no longer. I was going through some of my older stamps and came across this Magnolia background from my design team days with them. Then I came across this 'Little Girl - SwingTime' stamp from Lili of the Valley and I had a light bulb moment. It was time for a 3D card! 

I searched through my stash for a large tree stamp, came up empty. No time to buy one, I had to go with this creative spurt ASAP! So I started searching for a digi. Sure enough, I already had a digital stamp from Cuddly Buddly that had the perfect tree for my project. So I start coloring...

When it came time to assemble the diorama card, I had to do a lot of experimenting with different paper sizes because the SCS tutorial was too small for what I needed. But I was able to get the basic directions and I soon figured out which sizes I need to make a 4 1/2" square diorama. 

Now, there's only one problem with the finished result. It was supposed to collapse down so it could fit into an envelope, and it did. BEFORE I used foam tape to layer the grass die cuts! Grrr.... Mistake. It doesn't fold flat at all because of it, soooo- it's no longer a 'card', just a diorama, lol. 
Pretty as a picture though, methinks.


Thanks for looking!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley, Magnolia butterfly BG, Cuddly Buddly digital image
Ink: Memento, SU
Paper: Neenah Solar White, Memory Box
Tools & Accessories: MFT grass die, colored pencils, OMS, Stickles, Copic sketch/Spica pens, PTI rustic string, Nestabilities, Scor Pal

Father's Day 2011

Dad, your guiding hand on my shoulder will remain with me forever. Dad, you're someone to look up to no matter how tall I've grown.


Happy Father's Day to all the Daddies out there! Here's a final Father's Day card I have to share with you all using an older SU set called 'Pheasant Thoughts'. I knew I had to hunt down this set and finally found one used but in great shape on Ebay. Jimmy is a huge fan of all things hunting, and I have even gone Pheasant hunting several times with him and our two English Springers. I don't hunt, I just go along for the nature walk, lol. It's an amazing thing to see hunting dogs at work, they are tireless! 

I did some simple water coloring on this image using my Tombow markers. I colored and cut out a couple of feathers as an embellishment too. 

I opted to use simple textured papers for this card, rather than patterns. I brayered some darker colored ink over some Bazzill paper to bring out the weave texture, and used a piece of faux leather paper I made a while ago from my stash. 

Now ladies go spoil the fathers of your children and do something special for your Dad if you're nearby! 

Thanks for visiting!

Impression Obsession 'Summer Greetings'

Good morning blog friends! This week for the Impression Obsession Thursday challenge we're creating Summer themed cards. And you know what came to mind when I think of hot summer days? Sitting by a still lake looking out over the reeds and rushes and watching the dragonflies zooming around. The sound of peepers and crickets filling the warm air, the sun hot on my shoulders. I'm starting to sweat already, ha ha!

This image was perfect for my vision of summer, 'Cattail Dragonfly'. 

Trying to recreate the amazing colors and shimmer of dragonfly wings is near impossible with paper, but I did my best. I stamped them first on Neenah cardstock, and once on vellum. I colored the main image in colored pencils, then colored the back of the stamped vellum for more subtle colors. 

The body of the dragonfly looked a little dull to me, so I went over it with a Sakura Glaze pen to make it look shiny. I went over the vellum wings with a clear Spica pen for a bit of shimmer. I wanted to use glitter to really make them sparkle, but I remember using Stickles on vellum once before and the vellum warped pretty badly.

I added a bit of brown flocking to the left side of the cattail for some texture. I really wanted to make the whole thing fuzzy like real cattails, but I wasn't sure it would look right. Maybe I'll try it next time. 


Are you ready for more summer inspiration? Head on over to the rest of the DT's blogs and check out their beautiful creations. Then you can create your own card and enter it for a chance to win some IO cash, read the details on the IO blog. 


Thanks for looking, have a great day!

• Daniela Dobson
• Deborah March
• Dina Kowal
• Jeanne Streiff
• Jenny Gropp
• Julie Koerber
• Laura Fulcher
• 
  

Sailing away

How's this for a masculine card? Pretty easy with Stampin' Up's digital stamps and papers, which I love. I am so glad they're offering digital products now, last minute cards? No problem. Inexpensive, immediate download, print, and you're ready to get creative. Now that's my idea of 21st century crafting, lol! 

This is probably one of the most digital cards I've ever made, the patterned papers and the images are printed right from my computer. I colored the ship fairly quickly with Copics, then decided it needed a little something extra. I opted for the cracked glass technique to make it a little antique looking. 

I did a little sailor's knot with waxed twine and threaded the anchor through it for a little embellishment. The sentiment is from an older SU set 'Pheasant Thoughts'.


This one's in tomorrow's mail for my Dad!


Thanks for visiting!

Daisychain Wallhanging

Hello everyone, I have a sweet little project to show you today of a wall hanging I made for my cousin's new baby girl. I thought this new stamp coming out on June 14th called 'Daisychain' would be perfect to adorn a baby girl's room. 

Now it's not actually much more than I would do for a large card, but I really wanted a pretty, lacy punched border all the way around the outside layer and in order to accommodate the size of the image, papers I wanted to use, etc. It needed to be almost 7" square. That's larger than any card I ever made, so a framed shadowbox was in order! 

It's a simple white shadowbox frame I purchased at AC Moore, deep enough so that none of the 3 dimensional embellishments would get smooshed. It's all under glass to keep it dust free and hopefully keep it from damaging for a good long time.

The image was colored with Copics, with just a little bit of colored pencil to deepen the shading in some areas. I used Papertrey Ink's Simple Alphabet stamp set to spell Ella on the tiny tag. Those minuscule little stamps are a bit of a bear to use, but sooo handy for spelling out anything you might need. 


This was really a fairly simple and economical little gift for a special someone. A bit time consuming, but sweet baby girls are so worth it don't you think? Hope it inspires, thanks for taking the time to visit!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento, Adirondack
Paper: Neenah, Prima 'Simply Spring', Core'dinations, Papertrey Ink, Memory Box
Tools & Accessories: Martha Stewart Punch around the Page, Tonic corner rounder, sewing machine, silk ribbon, Prima sheer flower, rosebud, Creatables die, Copics, Stickles, seed beads, Liquid Pearls, PTI tiny tag die

Lili of the Valley Thursday Challenge ANYTHING GOES!

Good morning one and all! It's time again for LOTV's weekly challenge, this was an easy one because anything goes. Of course I chose to work with the sweeter-than-sweet new images coming out next week, this one is Milly- Cuddle Time.

I went rather clean and simple for this card and I'll tell you why. I really wanted to used several different patterns from the Cosmo Cricket De Lovely paper pad, without too much else interfering with them. I find using too many patterns, colors, embellishments can be a bit overwhelming at times. Especially if the colors are very bold. 

Sooo, clean and simple it is, at least CAS for me, loL! 
Little Milly and her friends are colored with colored pencils, blended with OMS. I only used Copics for her skin. 
I may add a sentiment to this one, just not sure what. Suggestions?


Thanks for dropping by!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley
Paper: Neenah, Core'dinations, PTI, Cosmo Cricket
Tools & Accessories: PTI ribbon/button, EK Success tiny scallop punch, colored pencils, OMS

Maisie Sitting Pretty

Hello blog friends! I'm so excited to introduce you to a new LOTV character, Maisie. Isn't she just darling?! She looks like a Maisie doesn't she? Cute as a button, but a little precocious, haha!

I went with bright, summery colors for this card, again an old My Mind's Eye collection. You know what I really struggled with though? Of all the spools and spools of ribbon I have in every color of the rainbow, I did NOT have a pretty pinkish red! Not even close. Imagine that. So what did I have to do? Dye my own. It's not as dark as I wanted, but what could I do? BTW, I used 'Starfish' Glimmer Mist to dye some twill. Close enough anyway...

So have you been visiting the other DT blogs? Which stamp do you like best so far? I'm saving my favorite for Thursday's challenge.
Just one more week, and all will be revealed. Thanks for dropping by!

Stamps: Maisie- Sitting Pretty ( to be released 6/14/2011), Mixed Circular sentiments
Ink: Palette, Distress
Paper: Neenah, K & Co., Core'dinations, Memory Box, PTI
Tools & Accessories: Martha Stewart edge punch, EK Success tiny scallop punch, McGill circle punch, Nestabilities, Spellbinders Labels, colored pencils, OMS, Copic sketch/Spica markers, twill tape, Glimmer Mist, Stickles

Peek at new LOTV stamps

I posted a peek at one of the new Lili of the Valley stamps being released over on the Inspiration Blog. You can see it here.

I'll be back with more peeks in the coming week, in the meantime, don't forget the Summer sale going until Wednesday, 10% off everything in the store!

King of the Wild Things and some news...

Good morning everyone! I have some news for all you Lili of the Valley Fans, if you've been wanting to stock up on some stamps this is the time to do it. They're having a sale and you get 10% off everything in the store! Not bad eh? Also, you'll be seeing peeks at new stamps to be released June 14th this coming week from all the DT. So keep checking everyone's blogs!

Anyway, onto my card. I love these little guys dressed up in monster costumes, so cute! I know I already have one from MFT, but this little guy from Stamping Bella is irresistible too and I had to have him!

I colored him with colored pencils. Didn't want to do too much with the embellishing because it is a BOY card, but a little twill ribbon knot and a tiny bit of glitter seemed ok. 

I love the Ticket stamp set from PTI, I just attached two of them with an eyelet to make a little booklet type thingy. The papers are from an old My Mind's Eye collection, I'm doing pretty darned good at using up some of my enormous paper stash!


Thanks for stopping by, have a great week!


Stamps: Stamping Bella, PTI
Ink: Memento, SU
Paper: PTI, MME, Core'dinations, SU
Tools & Accessories: Colored pencils, OMS, Stickles, Spellbinders Labels/Nestabilities, PTI ribbon, eyelet, PTI Ticket die, Crop-a-dile

Whale Cove

Good morning everyone! I missed out on Impression Obsession's Thursday challenge last week but thought I'd share the card I was working on for it. I had the image all colored up, but just couldn't find the time or energy to finish the whole card while working FT and taking care of a convalescing Jimmy at home. Fortunately, he's on the mend and getting around on his own much more. 

I went back to an oldie but for-sure-goody from Impression Obsession's incredible selection of nautical stamp images called 'Whale Cove'. Perfect for a Father's Day card.

I water colored it with an assortment of inks, Distress, Tombow markers, SU markers and even went back with some colored pencil for the tiny areas like the flag, flowers and lighthouse door. I find it easier to get into those tiny areas with a sharp pencil instead of a small paintbrush.

The papers are from We are Memory Keepers winter collection, there are some perfect masculine patterns in that set!


I stamped the sentiment from IO's Sentiments II clear set on a die cut PTI banner, then scored and folded it up for dimension. 


So do you all have your Father's Day cards ready? I think I have enough in my stash, but I'm not sure which one I will give my Dad. I may still do one more that I think will suit him more. I have to think on it...


Thanks for visiting!

Pretty in Peach

Hello everyone! It looked like summer had arrived this past week, it was very, very hot! I wasn't quite ready for sweltering summer temps, but thankfully it cooled off nicely today. It's actually a bit chilly this morning and spring isn't quite done yet.

Summer temperatures remind me of summer fruits, and when I saw Mo's Digital Pencil release this little beauty, I colored her up in no time! Look at that carefree, joyful expression on the little darling's face, with a perfect peach in her hands. I love it!

She's colored with a combination of Copics and colored pencils. Love the way the two work together, as long as the Copics are used first. 

The papers are from an old K & Co. mat stack, perfect summery colors. A big Prima daisy, and a pretty peach colored bow complete the card. Sweet, no?


Thanks for dropping by, have a great weekend!


Stamps: Digital image from Mo's Digital Pencil
Paper: PTI, K & Co., Core'dinations, Neenah
Tools & Accessories: Prima daisy, seed beads, colored pencils, OMS, Copic sketch & Spica pens, PTI ribbon, Stickles, EK Success tiny scallop punch

Lili of the Valley Thursday Challenge 'Punch it'

Hello blog friends, it's time for our LOTV challenge, this week we're using punches, dies, whatever to create some shapes. I almost always use some sort of punches, or die cut shapes for most of my projects anyway, they're so much fun! 

I chose this little guy with a sailboat for my card today.

He's colored with pencils, quick and easy. I decided to use different patterned papers to create a sort of 'scene' around the image. The waves were cut using a MFT die-namics from Cosmo Cricket Salt Air paper, the 'sand' is some kraft colored Crepe paper, and the sunny yellow cloud paper is also Cosmo Cricket. 

A few little wool felt clouds cut with a PTI die complete the scene. I also added some strips of red striped ribbon to resemble flags that might be on a sailboat, or at least, I think I've seen something like it on some kind of boat, lol!


The sentiment is also from LOTV, 'Happy Circular Sentiments'. 


I hope you can join in on our challenge, we'd love to see what you come up with for the Punch It theme!


Thanks for stopping by!