Too many shoes!

I wish I had this problem....LOL! A girl can never have too many shoes, right? Actually, I am probably one of the very few women on this planet that does NOT collect shoes at all. Just give me a couple of pairs of comfy sneakers and I'm happy! But I love this stamp. I colored the image with my trusty Prismacolor pencils. Added a little bit of Star dust Stickles to some of the shoes. It's my favorite Stickles, because it's got just the right amount of glitter and the color of whatever is underneath still shows through. I added some dots of yellow with a Sakura Glaze pen to the centers of the daisies, too.
The paper is new from Basic Grey's Sugar Rush kit.

If you like this or any of my other recent cards, I've posted a bunch in my Etsy store. I have got to unload some of these cards, I make way more than I can use!

Thanks for visiting, and enjoy your New Year's Eve celebrations safely!

Stamps: Forever Friends

Ink: Memento

Paper: Bristol vellum, Basic Grey, Bazzill, Heavenly White

Accessories: Martha Stewart Punch around the Page, silk ribbon, heart stick pin, colored pencils, OMS, Stickles

Best Friends

There are some beautiful new Elisabeth Bell stamps by Ladybug & Friends that are perfect for Valentine and spring cards! This one is called 'Hello Sunshine'. I decided to use it for a Valentine's Day card, maybe for a best friend, or sister. I used a combination of Copics and colored pencils to color them.
The paper is from My Mind's Eye, all pink and beautiful and sparkly! My favorite combination! I made a nice big silk bow and stuck a little heart stick pin through it. I am loving this card...

Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Ladybug & Friends

Ink: Memento (Rich Cocoa), Distress

Paper: Bristol vellum, My Mind's Eye, Coredinations

Accessories: Copics, colored pencils, OMS, Fiskars border punch, ivory silk ribbon, heart stick pin, Copic Spica pen, Sizzix hearts die

Alice says Happy Birthday

Isn't this girl a beauty?! I love the sweet, innocent expression on her face. It is, of course another digi image from Mo's Digital Pencil. I absolutely love her art work! I'm so proud of myself, I actually colored her entirely with Copics! (Well, except for her shoes, I don't have any blacks yet). They really are wonderful to work with, and although I don't think I will use them exclusively, sometimes I prefer them to colored pencils.
The darling cherry pattern paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird collection. Very vintage chic! Reminds me of a tablecloth my grandmother used to have on her kitchen table. I added some Liquid Glass to some of the cherries, just to make them 'pop' a bit.

Thanks for visiting, come back soon!

Stamps: Mo's Digital Pencil, Papertrey Ink

Ink: Memento, Perfect Match

Paper: Heavenly White, Bazzill, Cosmo Cricket

Accessories: Copic markers, PTI ribbon, Fiskars border punch, Liquid Glass, SU oval punches

Sweet Baby Giraffe

I can't believe Christmas is over! What a busy time! But now I can get back to my regularly schedule programming...LOL! I have a simple baby card to share with you today. This little giraffe is from a Fiskars baby set I picked up at Michael's a while back. I used a pre embossed card base for it, which made it easy as pie to put together. Believe it or not, I only bought the embossed cards for the envelopes. I needed them pronto for something, and didn't have time to order them. The DCWV card/envelope set was all I could find at the store, so I got them, so now I've got to use them up. They're actually pretty nice!
The little daisy is made from some die cuts using SU's daisy die that I embossed and layered. I love daisies!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Fiskars

Ink: Vivid

Paper: DCWV embossed card base, Papertrey Ink, Bristol vellum, Bazzill

Accessories: SU daisy die, PTI button, lavender double sided satin ribbon, colored pencils, OMS

Merry Christmas!

Christmas blessings to all my blog visitors.

Thank you for sharing in my love of paper crafting through out the year!

Happy Holidays to all!

Hugs,

Katarina

We love the SNOW!

Used some more of my new Eat Cake Graphics stamps to create this fun winter card. Colored them with Copics. Am I getting better at using them? lol. I have to admit, even though I love the way they look all colored up, I think Copic coloring takes a lot loooonger than my trusty colored pencils. All that blending so you can't see the lines between different shades--phew! Takes forever!
The paper/ribbon and sentiment is all from Papertrey Ink.

Well, I think I'm done sharing my Christmas cards for the time being. I've started working on V-Day and even some everyday type cards. I'll continue making winter themed cards, though. Winter birthdays and such. I do love winter color schemes.

Christmas is almost here...I'm just about done with my gift shopping. One stop at the bank for cash gifts and that's it! My kids had VERY short Christmas lists this year, they just wanted money or gift cards to their favorite clothing stores. My daughter is 12 years old and the only things that interests her are new clothes and her cell phone, LOL! Easy for me!

Well thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Eat Cake Graphics, Papertrey Ink

Ink: Memento, PTI

Paper: PTI

Accessories: Nestabilities, SU scallop punch, metal snowflake brad, PTI ribbon, Copics, Spellbinders Label die

Christmas Greetings

Here's another Stamps Happen stamp I snapped up from Ebay. Isn't it gorgeous?! The card is sized at 5" x 7" and look how the stamp almost fills the card! HUGE! You don't need much going on for the rest of a card with a stamp this size, LOL!
I wanted the snow and sky to match the Baja Breeze in the DSP, and because I don't have a single colored pencil that comes even close, I used the ink pad and a Tombow blending marker to color in the snow and sky. I did deepen the shading with a colored pencil, though. That's what I love about colored pencils, you can use them right over other mediums.

I think my sweet heart will be getting this one, I just need to find a lovey-dovey Christmas poem to print for the inside.

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Stamps Happen

Ink: Memento, SU

Paper: Bristol vellum, SU, PTI

Accessories: SU stitched ribbon, EK Success slim edger punch, colored pencils, OMS, Tombow blender pen, Copic Spica pen, Sakura Glaze pen

My Dolly

I fell in love with this adorable digital image from Digital Pencil Too -'Sophie'. Isn't she the sweetest little thing? I love her little pigtails!
I colored her skin with Copics and the rest of her with colored pencils. The paper is Cosmo Cricket. I added a little stitching to go with the 'cross stitch' pattern on the DP.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Mo's Digital Pencil, PTI sentiment

Ink: Distress

Paper: Heavenly White, Cosmo Cricket, Bazzill

Accessories: Martha Stewart doily lace punch, Copics, colored pencils, OMS, pearls, sewing machine, grosgrain ribbon, PTI button, SU modern label/word window punches

Wassail

Another Christmas card to share with you today, with a big fabulous striped bow on it! Lately I've been loving the wide ribbons. The card layout is from a past Mojo Monday sketch. I have a bunch of them printed out so that I can refer to them when I get stuck on a layout. AWESOME resource, check it out here.
I'm off to do some Christmas shopping, ugghh... I hate, HATE shopping. Especially the store-to-store-to-store kind. I'd rather sit on my laptop and shop online, if I could do grocery shopping this way I'd be one happy camper! But I do need some stocking stuffers and other small items, so I do have to go. Plus I promised my daughter that I'd take her to the mall. The worst of the worst places to go shopping, but sometimes you just have to do things for the kids!

Off to brave the mobs....

Stamps: Forever Friends, PTI sentiment

Ink: Memento, Perfect Match

Paper: Heavenly White, Basic Grey, SU

Accessories: Nestabilities, The Punch Bunch snowflake punch, SU striped ribbon, PTI button, colored pencils, OMS, Fiskars apron lace punch, Fun Flock, tiny red rhinestone

Funky Trees

This card was inspired by Becky Oehlers card a while back, I think I saw it in the PTI newsletter. I loved the idea she had to use felt as a snowy hill. I didn't have a regular sewing machine though, so I couldn't stuff the felt to make it quilted. I only have a Janome mini and it wouldn't stitch through the thick layers, so I settled for one layer of felt. I still love the look though!
The color scheme and the birds were inspired by a desktop wallpaper I have on my laptop, so with these two sources of inspiration I came up with this card. I love it, and will not give it to anyone, lol! This one is mine!

Hope it inspires you to add some texture and dimension the next time you make a card, it's fun! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Ink: Perfect Match

Paper: Heavenly White, PTI

Accessories: PTI ribbon/buttons, wool felt, sewing machine, red pearls, white acrylic paint, old toothbrush, silver cord

IODT Challenge--LOVE

Whew! I've had enough of making Christmas cards, and it felt sooooo good to make a Valentine's Day card. It's time for another Impression Obsession challenge, and it's all about love! What better way to say 'I love you' than with the old stand by--roses. I love this clear stamp set from IO, Wreaths and Garlands-Floral. There are tons of elements that you can play with to create beautiful garlands, wreaths, and even a bunch of roses, like I did here. I used watercolor paper so that I could create a water color effect by misting the stamp lightly with water before stamping. With one inking, and repeated light misting, I could get three progressively lighter images. I did the same with the leaves and stems.
I added some pearls to the smaller flower centers, and glittered some of the roses with Stickles. The paper is Cosmo Cricket 'Hey Sugar'.

Join in on our LOVE challenge by submitting your IO cards, get all the details here. Get more inspiration from our talented design team by checking out their creations:

Dina

Rosemary

Jeanne

Jenny

Deborah

Laura

Daniela

Thanks for dropping by!

Stamps: Impression Obsession Wreaths & Garlands; Sentiments II

Ink: Distress, Perfect Match

Paper: Arches water color paper, Cosmo Cricket, SU, PTI

Accessories: Martha Stewart floral deep edger & tiny tag punches, Fiskars apron lace punch, Tim Holtz tiny safety pin, ivory satin ribbon, Stickles, pearls, sewing machine

I'm a baaaaad blogger...lol

I don't know why, but I've been feeling a bit lazy lately. I think I'm done doing Christmas cards, no more for a year! I do still have plenty to show you all though. I'm almost ready to send my cards out, this particular one is for my brother and sis-in-law in North Carolina. I hope they're not looking at my blog!
I really love the colors in this SU designer paper. Non-traditional is kind of refreshing after using reds/green for months.

I decided to scent my cards before sending them out, I just roll a little 'Scent my Cards' cards scents on the back of the ribbon, or a hidden section of paper. We'll see if anyone notices! They do smell sooooo good though, even through the envelope!

Be back soon, I promise! Thank you to all my loyal readers, and everyone who leaves comments. It really is what keeps me going with this blog!

Stamps: SU, PTI

Ink: Brilliance, SU

Paper: SU, PTI

Accessories: SU modern label & word window punches, Martha Stewart edger punch, Nestabilities, red pearls, SU taffeta ribbon

Peppermint Hot Cocoa Folder

When it comes to small gift giving, my all time favorite is this hot chocolate folder that I first saw on Sonja's Scene blog last Christmas. The template is bit confusing, lots of cuts and folds, but so worth it IMO. And of course, the little Forever Friends bear holding his mug of chocolate is perfect for this project. This is my favorite FF stamp!
I decorated the inside as well outside with patterned papers, and added a ribbon loop to the spine of the folder so I could slip some candy canes in it.
I had a large canister of Ghirardelli peppermint hot cocoa mix, so I scooped up one generous portion into individual clear bags and sealed them up really well. The little cocoa poem was printed and cut out with my Spellbinders die.

It's definitely a cute gift!

Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Forever Friends

Ink: Memento, SU

Paper: Bristol vellum, Imaginisce, The Paper Co., Heavenly White

Accessories: Colored pencils, OMS, acrylic paint, brown satin ribbon, Fiskars apron lace punch, Spellbinders labels & Nestabilities

SNOW DAY!!

I woke up early this morning to see almost 6 inches of snow on the ground! We still had snow left over from a few days ago, and now this! This must be a bad sign...snow before Christmas. It's going to be a whopper of a winter.

Since I'm not risking the hour long commute to work, I'm sharing this 'Snow Day' card with you all. How can you not love the adorable images from Eat Cake Graphics? So whimsical and sweet.
Somehow, I ended up using all pastel colors, which wasn't the plan, LOL! Just turned out that way. The card background is all stamped with Papertrey Ink's Beyond Basic Borders. I really enjoy making my own patterned paper, it's a lot of fun. The image is colored with a combo of Copics and colored pencils.

If you're snowed in like we are, have fun! If not... oh well, so sorry... ;-)

Stamps: Eat Cake Graphics, Papertrey Ink

Ink: Memento, Perfect Match

Paper: Papertrey Ink, Stardream

Accessories: Satin ribbon, PTI button, Martha Stewart snowflake edger punch, colored pencils, OMS, Copics, Stickles

Primitive Christmas Wreath

I've been meaning to do a write-up about an awesome product from Impression Obsession for a while now. I saw their new Mega Mount and thought, oh, I don't need that! I can stamp just fine without it! I had the Tapestry Cover a Card background stamp and used it to make this card a while back. I used one of my cutting plates from my Big Shot as a temporary mount, and it worked....sort of. I didn't get a very crisp, clean image, and it was very awkward to use. I actually had to lay the stamp down on my table, face up, then lay the paper on top, praying it wouldn't move!
I love the background stamps so much, I got another. This time Thick and Thin stripes. I love striped DP, and am always struggling to find the color combos I like. I knew with this one, I could make my own. For the above card I wanted very specific colors from Adirondack.

I love Cranberry, Caramel and Pesto together for Christmas colors. It's a lot easier to ink these large background stamps with small ink cubes, which I made myself since Ranger doesn't offer the Adirondack inks in little cubes. Each cube covered three wide stripes easily, and I just alternated colors until the whole stamp was covered.

The Mega Mount is around 6" square, with a very comfortable handle. It's slightly curved, which makes stamping large stamps easy as pie! I'm sure if you've tried using large stamps before, you faced the same problems I have using a flat acrylic block. You RARELY get a complete image. Or some areas are too dark, and others too light. This is why the curved surface is so helpful. The natural motion is to rock it front to back, ensuring all areas of the stamp come in contact with your paper. It works really, really well. I use it for ALL my large stamps, not just backgrounds. I get near perfect impressions every time.
Anyway, after stamping my stripes, I did some distressing around the edges. I wanted some shimmer too, so I took my Versamark Champagne shimmer ink pad and rubbed it all over. It's a very subtle shimmer, so I spritzed it a few times with my home made shimmer mist too (Adirondack Caramel reinker with Pearl Ex & Gum Arabic). It was a little splotchy, but that looked cool, too. Kind of like old, slightly stained ticking.

The Small Wreath stamp is so adorable, with the little saltbox house! I colored it up real quick with colored pencils, added some Liquid Glass on the ball, and it's done! The 'Merry Christmas' is from the clear set 'Sentiments II'. I love the way this card came out, very 'Folk Artsy'!

Hope you like it too, and learned something at the same time. Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Impression Obsession

Ink: Adirondack, Vivid, Distress, SU

Paper: Papertrey Ink, Stardream, Coredinations

Accessories: Martha Stewart simple scallop edger punch, gingham ribbon, PTI button/twine, colored pencils, OMS, Liquid Glass, Copic Spica gold pen, Nestabilities, McGill Label punch

Sage Christmas Rose

I've been very lazy about posting lately. Still stamping, just not blogging... I'm sure it was just a slump when I realized it's already December and Christmas is three weeks away! Actually, more like a panic! LOL! I froze and couldn't think straight, never mind blog! But, I told myself not to think about it, and just keep plugging along.

I liked making these coffee filter roses so much (see this post here), I decided to do another one for my aunt. It's easy to do with the Begonia Petals punch from The Punch Bunch. I cut out the petals from coffee filters, which is easier to do with the filter folded in half and a piece of copy paper sandwiched between the layers. Then simply colored them with a bit of Twinkling H2O's. After that it's a cinch to layer them evenly around a snowflake punch, working largest to smallest petals.
As I'm sure you all noticed, Stampin Up's retired Wintergreen DSP is my fave this season, I use it A LOT! Just love the non traditional holiday colors.

I couldn't figure out where to put a simple Christmas greeting on this card, so I left it off. I may have to go back and add it before I send it. Decisions....decisions....

Thanks for visiting, come back soon!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Ink: Adirondack, SU

Paper: Heavenly White, SU, The Paper Co.

Accessories: silk ribbon, Martha Stewart flourish edger punch, self stick pearls, snowflake stickers (unknown maker), Begonia Petals punch from The Punch Bunch, Twinkling H2O's, Spellbinders Labels die

Impression Obsession Design Team Color Challenge: White

This week's IO challenge is to use ALL white. I knew I might have a hard time doing this, I have never attempted anything like it! That is what I like about challenges though, I get to try something I normally wouldn't do.

If you would like to join in on the challenge, visit the IO blog for all the details on how you could win a $25 gift certificate and be featured on the IO blog and gallery!

I love this challenge! Amazingly, it looks wonderful (I wasn't so sure I could pull it off). I figured with such a limited color palette, I had to use lots of different textures and patterns. I embossed the Christmas tree from Leigh Hannan's 'Snowflakes' clear stamp set with white embossing powder, cut it out with Spellbinders Labels die and added lots of pretty sparkly rhinestones and pearls.
The main card panel is embossed with a Sizzix texture plate, and I punched a Fiskars border along the bottom edge. Some sheer shimmery white (and white with silver) ribbon tied along the top, and my card was done. I think it looks amazing! So elegant!

For more inspiration take a look at the rest of the team's blogs:

Shirley

Laura

Daniela

Jenny

Julie

Dina

Jeanne

Deborah

Hope it inspires you to try something new, thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Impression Obsession 'Snowflakes' clear stamp set

Paper: Papertrey Ink

Ink: Versamark

Accessories: Spellbinders Labels die, Sizzix texture plate, rhinestones, pearls, Stickles, sheer white ribbons, Stampendous white EP, tiny snowflake button (Michael's)

Peaceful wishes

I've seen so many cards done like this in the Splitcoast gallery, all beautiful, I had to try my own version. This is a classic stamp set, never goes out of style that I can use every year which is why I had to add it to my collection. A few changes here and there and it can be used over and over.
I used German glass glitter, which has a very chunky, icy look to the pine cones. Love the effect! My boyfriend already claimed this card for someone on his Christmas list, LOL. I've only got about 5 more to make for friends and family. I may even get them sent out on time!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: SU

Ink: SU, Fluid Chalks, Versamark

Paper: PTI, The Paper Co., SU, Basic Grey

Accessories: Spellbinders Labels dies/Piercabilities, Scribbles 3D paint, German glass glitter, SU ribbon, Ranger Espresso embossing powder, Burgundy embossing powder

The card that almost wasn't...

I really wanted to do a 'scenic' type card with a frozen pond, and was playing around with SU's 'Winter Post' and various tree stamps from my stash. I made several attempts that did not work out the way I wanted. I decided I really wanted a Sepia photograph look, so the trees and snow were done with browns only. Ultimately, I used a torn piece of paper for a mask, and started sponging the 'snow' drifts with Distress inks and daubers.
The 'pond' was also done with a torn paper mask and I sponged in some Weathered Wood Distress ink to create the banks. Then I just used the dauber to streak some color across the surface of the pond as well, all with a very light hand. After all the sponging, I covered the lake with Liquid Glass, and while it was wet, sprinkled some fine glitter all over it. I wasn't too happy with it at this point, and was ready to give it the heave-ho, but made myself wait till it was dry. I colored up the skaters with Copics, cut them out and waited. I'm really glad I did, because even though I still wasn't crazy about it, I made myself complete the card. I sponged some Distress Inks around the edges, adhered the skaters and this was the end result.

There are a couple of things I would've done differently at this point, but all in all, I'm very happy with it! I will definitely try this again, maybe on a smaller scale.

Lesson Learned: Don't be too hasty to give up on a project, if I've spent a lot of time on it, finish the card and see what I think when viewed as a completed card.

Stamps: SU, Impression Obsession Sm. Fir Tree, unknown bare tree, PTI sentiment

Ink: Distress, SU, Memories

Paper: My Mind's Eye, Heavenly white, Papertrey Ink

Accessories: Satin ribbon, Fiskars edger punch, Liquid Glass, Art Institute glitter, Copics, antique brads, SU modern label/word window punches