Hello Snowman!

Good morning all! How about a cute snowman card today? This one is from Purple Onion Designs, by the super talented Stacy Yacula whose Etsy shop I stalk on a regular basis! She makes the most adorable paper clay characters, you must check them out. Needless to say, I was a happy camper to see her characters in rubber stamp form from POD, much more affordable for me, lol! Ok, enough gushing...

This was one of those cards that took me forever and a day to make. I had lofty aspirations but by the time I was done with the stamped image panel, I lost interest in the rest of the card, lol. I just plunked down the whole thing on some digital text paper from Mel Stampz I printed on my computer. 

A little about how I colored the stamped image layer- I used art masking fluid ( my new favorite tool) to mask off the entire snowman after I stamped him in Versafine on water color paper. I just used a small round paintbrush to apply the fluid, then waited a few minutes for it to dry. Once dry I spritzed, stippled, sponged and stamped all over the background using mostly Distress Inks. When the ink was really dry, I removed the masking fluid with a gum eraser and water colored the snowman. I used an old toothbrush and some watered down acrylic paint to flick and spatter the 'snow' all over the layer. It's my favorite technique for a snowy effect I learned a long time ago when I was a decorative painter. The sliver snowflakes are some old stickers I had laying around.

A lot of work for a card! But sometimes I just gotta get inky and play.

Hope you like it, thanks for visiting!

Peace, Love and Joy

Hello everyone, I just wanted to drop in with another of my CAS creations using LOTV stamp Girl Sledging and to remind you all about the LOTV Virtual Christmas Facebook Party going on right now. It's an all day affair with many of the other designers who will be available for chat with tips and tutorials. I have to work so I will be missing from the festivities I'm afraid. 

This card measures 5" x 7" and the image was colored with Copics. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

I hope you'll pop in to the FB party and say hello to the DT, sounds like a lot of fun! 

Thanks for visiting!

You are my Sunshine... Blog Hop

Hello everyone and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it! Welcome to the Lili of the Valley blog hop showcasing the last new stamp release of the year. We have some prizes to give away so make sure you read the rules carefully before entering.

There will be 18 baby and animal designs (unmounted rubber) and also 2 new A5 sheets of clear stamps (a companion set and also an everyday version of the Grungy Christmas Messages).

The stamps will be available to buy on the Lili of the Valley website from midday on Sunday the 25th November (UK time).

The entire DT is involved in the hop, so make sure to follow all the links below and leave a comment for a chance to win. We don’t know where the prizes are so make sure you visit every blog. We will let you know Friday evening which were the ‘lucky’ blogs and 2 winners will be drawn at random from all the comments that were left 

There will be 2 prize winners, each winning the 2 sets of clear stamps and 6 rubber stamps of their choice from the new designs (each prize value £52.00 approx. $83) 

Here's a list of all the blogs taking part  ...and remember you will need to visit them all to have the best chance of winning; 

Ideas to Inspire 

Anne 

Bev 

Claudia Rosa 

Dawny P 

Dena 

Elise 

Fleur 

Gretha 

Mindy 

Moni 

Pops 

And now here's my card...something very different from what you're used to seeing!

 I don't know about you all, but I've secretly admired and drooled over the CAS (clean and simple) design style for a loooong time. I even attempt to create one every once in a while, without much success. At least, I was never too happy with the final result. Until now. I think I have found my happy balance of simple and pretty with a touch of frou-frou. It makes me happy. And that's what matters to me. 
I've masked off the stamped image called 'You are my Sunshine' with some post it notes. I used some liquid masking fluid with a small paintbrush to mask off the bear and flowers so I could sponge the background with Distress inks. When that was dry, I used a gum eraser to rub off the masking fluid and I colored the rest of the image with colored pencils. I really wanted the image to POP because there was so much white space, so I used really bright colors. 

A simple ribbon and bow/button/charm embellishes the top of the card and that's it. Oh, a tiny little border of patterned paper around the edges of the card front. That's as CAS as I could manage, lol! 

So what do you all think of the new stamp release? Pretty awesome, I bet.

Now I'm off to start cooking ham and mashed potatoes, manicotti and couple of pies. Oh and maybe some blueberry cheesecake bars too. I feel stuffed and tired already! Thanks for visiting, and good luck if you're entering the contest! 

Christmas Cuties

Good morning friends, I have a quick Christmas card to share with you today. Time has been in short supply lately and I can't say I have a very big stash of cards ready to send out. Coloring is usually what takes me the longest when making a card, so I pulled out these beautiful Christmas Cuties Die Cut Designs that are already colored. I've never used them, I just admire them every once in a while. It's too bad they're being discontinued, because I love the soft water color look to them!

The whole card was a matter of putting together some pretty papers and embellishments. These patterned papers were printed from a digital collection called Alpine Frost from SEI. Snowflakes are Amuse Studios dies.

I added lots of glitter and bling to this card, since I didn't do any coloring, it sure does shine and sparkle!
Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Holiday Sweet Shoppe

Happy Friday friends, the weekend is almost here! Of course, that doesn't mean much to me this week, I have to work tomorrow, poo! 

I made this very colorful card using Waltzingmouse Stamps Candy Jar Christmas set a little while ago. The papers are October Afternoon Holiday Style, I think.

After coloring the image with Copics, I applied a thick layer of Crystal Lacquer over the jar.

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week?! I can't believe how fast the time is flying, it's scary.  I'll be mailing Christmas cards before I know it, eek!

That's all I've got for now, thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Snuggle Time

Good morning blog friends, it's the final release of 2012 from Lili of the Valley and it's a great one! With a new year comes new things, and babies are as new as you can get. For all the new babies in your life LOTV presents some adorable and sweet baby themed stamps for your cardmaking arsenal! Do I sound like a commercial yet, lol?!

All joking aside, it seems like those nearest and dearest to us are always having babies, and cards are always needed. In my stash, they are as essential as birthday cards. Not to mention, I just love making them. I love pastels, I love baby animals, I love babies, so of course, I love making baby cards.

This little cutie is called 'Snuggle Time' and it's a stamp that will be released along with a lot of other beauties at the end of this month. 

In keeping with tradition, along with some beautiful focal image stamps will be a nice variety of companion stamps, sentiments as well as smaller images to decorate the insides of your cards.

Cardmaking has come such a long way since I first started this hobby, it is amazing! When I first started, my goal was to create cards that were almost as good as the ones you could buy in the card boutiques. Now, with the supplies and tools at our disposal, I can create cards that exceed the ones you can buy in boutiques! I LOVE that! Card boutiques are emulating us! 

The patterned papers used on this card are all from Raspberry Road Designs called 'Lullaby'.

I hope you're as excited about this release as I am, thanks for stopping by!

Wintergreen Harlequins

Good morning friends! I was quite productive last week because work was closed due to the power outage, so I got a chance to play a little more than usual. Normally, I only have just enough time to whip up my design team obligations, and I don't get a chance to 'play'. As much as I love designing fancy, hand colored cards, sometimes I just love using beautiful papers, dies and solid color stamps!

Here's one card using an old, old paper collection from SU, 'Wintergreen'. This is probably one of my all time favorite papers and I have plenty of extra to keep me for a long time! Isn't it gorgeous?!

Almost all the supplies except the paper, ink and the ribbon are from Papertrey Ink.

If this card didn't take so long I would most likely use it for my Christmas card this year. Oh well, I think I'll keep it anyway.

Thanks for stopping by!

Gliding through the City

Today starts a regular work week, no more days off this year! Hopefully power is restored very shortly for most of New Jersey and we can get back to our normal lives. 

I have another LOTV card to share with you using the most recent Christmas release stamp, 'Ice Skating'. 

I've cut them out after coloring with Copics so I could mat them right into the scenic background paper from October Afternoon. LOVE this paper and will be very sad when it runs out!

Added a little mini pom pom trim along with the bow, and a glittered ornament I cut using my Cameo. 
That's it, hope you enjoy it, thanks for stopping by!

Autumn Fairy

Good morning all, it's good to be back on the interwebs, being without power is tough! But, if you can believe it, I was getting so restless I decided to try to color with only a couple of flashlights for illumination. I only chose colors I knew worked together, I wasn't going to rely on color charts for coordinating! I was kind of worried what it would look like in daylight, so I tried to be very careful. Fortunately, it looked fine when morning came and I assembled it onto this card.

I chose 'Bumble Bee Fairy' for my card and colored her in autumnal colors to coordinate with these papers from an Authentique paper pad.

I added a simple sentiment from the clear stamp set 'Simply Sophisticated'. The pretty fall leaves were cut on my Cameo and I inked them with assorted inks and Stickles. 

Thanks for stopping by!