Masculine Birthday Card

I specifically got this stamp set for my sweetie. He loves hunting pheasant (among other things) so when I saw it I knew I would be using it for his birthday coming up.

To make the background I cut out a circle from masking tape, then using a brush and Adirondack reinkers I applied washes of color from light to dark to the paper. I can't brayer backgrounds worth a hoot, so this was my way of doing it. The pheasant is stamped, embossed, then colored with Adirondack markers, and carefully cut out.

I'm pretty happy with it, I think Jimmy will like it! Now to figure out what to get him for his birthday....

Stamps: SU, PTI

Ink: Adirondack, Brilliance

Paper: SU, PTI

Accessories: SU hardware, PTI twill ribbon, EP, markers, Martha Stewart flourish punch

Lemonade

I had to make one more 'summer' card before it's official end and this is it! Cheery bright colors, a pitcher of cold lemonade, if that doesn't speak summer, I don't know what does. This sweet little gal is another Elisabeth Bell image, but this time brought to us by Belles 'n Whistles. A new stamp store I discovered recently that so far has only a few EB designs.

I colored with colored pencils, and odorless mineral spirits (OMS), then I added some Liquid Glass over the pitcher and glass of lemonade. I love the effect, it's hard to see in the pic, though. I cut two rows of paper with the Martha Stewart doily punch and layered them to make it look like a petticoat or something, lol. It's totally a girly girl card!

Thanks for dropping by!

Stamps: Belles 'n Whistles

Ink: Memento, Adirondack

Paper: PTI, Basic Grey, Prism, Bristol vellum, watercolor paper

Accessories: stickly pearls, Spellbinders Lables 8, Martha Stewart doily punch, silk ribbons, Spica pens

Skating Girl

Here's another digital image from Mo's Digital Pencil. I love this one too! The sweet whimsical characters she draws just appeal to me! I used Cosmo Cricket's new Jolly By Golly papers, because they have the same whimsical feel to them. Plus the colors are awesome. Who would've thought pink and teal were holiday colors?

I glued some polar white Flower Soft to her muff and the brim of her hat and that was the perfect touch! A little texture always adds so much.

Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Mo's Digital Pencil, SU!

Ink: SU, Distress, Perfect Match

Papers: Bristol vellum, shimmer paper, SU, Bazzill, watercolor paper

Accessories: SU striped ribbon, EK Success scallop square punch, SU scallop punch, colored pencils, OMS, Flower Soft, Sakura glaze pen, Stickles, Martha Stewart Doily punch

Digistamped Witch

I don't know how I ran across Mo's Digital Pencil, one of my marathon surfing sessions no doubt, looking for something new. I printed out a couple of 'stamps' I bought last week sometime, and since then I've seen a couple of people discovered her wonderful illustrations as well! I had tried this one before with printed images, but couldn't watercolor with it, so I gave up on it. Well, now that I've alnost completely switched over to colored pencils and OMS, I figured there had to be a way to do this without smearing the printer ink. I didn't want to have to worry about staying in the lines, not coloring over them, that is NOT me, lol! So I tried spraying the printed images with a fixative. I used a Krylon brand fixative, and started coloring and blending away. It worked beautifully!

I find that I can't get as deep a color as with a stamped drawing, I think the fixative makes a 'film' that prevents too much build up of the pencil, but it doesn't smear at all! Fabulous!

This adorable witch was the end result of my experiment, and she does look sweet, if I say so myself! I am definitely adding digistamps to my stamp collection.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Digital image from Mo's Digital Pencil, Papertrey INk sentiment

Ink: Versafine

Paper: Bristol vellum, Bazzill, PTI, Karen Foster designs

Accessories: Cuttlebug EF, May Arts ribbon, PTI button, SU oval scallop & oval punches, orange rhinestones, colored pencils, OMS

Hot Cocoa Gift Box

I know I haven't posted lately, it's been to painful to sit at my craft table! I was cleaning my car, vacuuming the floor when all of a sudden this screaming hot pain shot down the base of my spine. Owwww! I could barely walk up to the house, never mind finish cleaning my car! I don't know what I pulled, but it's not the first time, this happens every once in a while. Takes a while to recuperate, but in the mean time, sitting for long periods of time bent over a table coloring or stamping, is too painful. I can't stay away too long though, it's like going through withdrawl, LOL!

Anyway--I knew when I saw this new Toasty Treats stamp from Impression Obsession exactly what I was going to do with it. I had seen someone on SCS use a clear box that the Papertrey Ink stamp sets come in to package a little hot cocoa packet, marshmallows and peppermint sticks. Of course, I've been saving my PTI boxes for exactly something like this!

So I just made a band to go around the top and bottom of the box, lined it with some coordinating DP, decorated it and filled it with a couple of hot cocoa packets, a little bag of marshmallows, and some old fashioned peppermint sticks. So CUTE! I know lots of people who love hot cocoa, so who wouldn't love this little gift?!

Makes you think about all the things you might have been throwing away, huh?

Hope it inspires!

Stamps: Impression Obsession, Papertrey Ink

Ink: Ancient Page, Distress, Perfect Match

Paper: Graphic 45, Prism, PTI, Bristol vellum, Shimmer paper

Accessories: Nestabiltiies, Labels dies, red grosgrain ribbon, Sizzix snowflakes dies, SU brad, Stickles, Copic Spica pens, Colored Pencils, OMS, Liquid Applique

Homespun Stocking

I discovered an old Penny Black catalog and started looking through it only to see some of the most darling stamps I had ever seen. Of course, every single one of them MUST be retired, I thought. But apparently, you can still get them HERE! Dick the owner is a really nice guy, and helped me get this stamp, which apparently was the last one, although it said on the catalog page that they were no longer available! So for all you PB fans, you can still get a lot of the old stamps, just contact Dick.

Anyway, I colored the image with my colored pencils, and OMS. I tried to make the stocking look like it was woven, I used three different colors for all the stripes. I love the sweet little snowguy, I am such a sucker for snowmen!

The snowflake is three different layers of die cuts and puches. One from shimmery brown paper, one from wool felt, and another from regular cardstick. Pretty huh?

Hope you like it, come back soon!

Stamps: Penny Black

Ink: Memento, Distress

Paper: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill, Cosmo Cricket, The Paper Co., Bristol vellum

Accessories: Sizzix snowflake dies, Martha Stewart snowflake & simple scallop punches, antique brad, Stickles, PTI twill ribbon, grosgrain ribbon, button. sewing machine, Copic Spica pen, white gel pen

Santa's Toy Co. This one's for you Nancy!

A very nice lady from SCS sent me some stamps to play with, Cornish Heritage Farms' 'Just Believe'.
I love primitive folk art style! These stamps were made for me! Instead of coloring with my usual colored pencils, I used my Distress inks to watercolor with.

I used an assortment of Cosmo Cricket's Christmas papers, all very homespun that went well with the vintage theme. Lots of stitching, some Scarlet Jewel buttons with twine, and there you have it!

I hope you like it, thanks for looking!

Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms

Ink: Memento, Distress

Paper: PTI, Cosmo Cricket, SU, Bristol vellum

Accessories: Fiskars apron lace punch, PTI buttons/twine, Copic Spica pen, sewing machine