LOTV Thursday Challenge 'New Beginnings'

I'm a day late for the LOTV challenge, but I figured I'd post anyway, because I just had to share this card with you all.

These two adorable bunnies just tied the knot, and that is my idea of a 'new beginning', lol! 

I used my most favorite bath tile technique that I've learned from Mel McCarthy (that lady does some amazing stuff with paper, let me tell you!) I used lots of iridescent seed beads and mini Dew Drops for lots of bubbles.

The bunnies were colored with my Copics and completely cut out so I could apply them directly on the 'tile' background.

The papers are from an old Cosmo Cricket collection, but the name escapes me at the moment.   

For those of you ringing in the New Year tonight, have fun and be safe! I will probably be asleep by the time midnight rolls around, although I may take a nap after work so I can stay up late, lol! It will be a quiet evening for us though. 

See you next year!

Sugar Sugar

Good morning everyone, I hope everyone is alive and well today, it sure was quiet yesterday! Maybe it's the after Christmas Blues? Maybe you live in the North like I do and have had to deal with the incessant wind the past few days? It's driving me batty, it just won't stop! We got lucky as far as snow here in NE Pennsylvania, only about 6-8 inches, but further south, in parts of NJ got up to 30" of the evil white stuff! Yuck! Poor kids, I'm sure they're wishing it had snowed during school NOT vacation, LOL!

Anyway, here's another Lovey Dovey card, using a Pure Innocence stamp from MFT. I paper pieced her dress using some retired SU designer papers from a scrapping kit. I cut out a bunch of little hearts to fill up her wagon using an old, old punch from my stash. 

I love these papers, my favorite for V day. Here's a close up so you can see the grass I drew in using Copics. First time for me, I've only ever done it before with colored pencils. Came out pretty good though, even if I couldn't get as fine a line with the brush tip.

Hope you like her, thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: My Favorite Things, Lili of the Valley
Ink: Memento
Paper: Heavenly White, SU
Tools & Accessories: Fiskars edge punch, Nestabilities, unknown folk heart punch, Copics, Viva Decor pen, Glamour Dust glitter, red grosgrain ribbon, XF Sharpie poster pen

Snowman of Love

Good morning friends! Finally, things around the house and work have settled back into their normal routine so that I can continue creating & sharing my cards! I sure have missed it, I can't tell you how many times I tried to sit down and complete a card or even just color an image, but it just wasn't happening! Too many distractions. Plus, I seemed to be in that confused state 'between' holidays. It seems to happen in between every major holiday. So I was done creating Christmas cards, but I wasn't quite ready to start with Valentine's Day, or even all occasion cards = Mixed up Mojo, lol! Finally I forced myself to do an 'in between' card. I used this holiday snowman from Heather Ellis, but with a Valentine's Day theme. Perfect compromise.

The stripes on this snowman's heart inspired the rick rack pattern in different colors of wool felt on the label die cut. I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time, but just couldn't apply it to a card design until I saw this snowman. So I just cut a bunch of different strips and stuck them to a piece of cardstock, then cut out the label shape as usual. The snowman was colored with Copics and cut out to layer onto the label shape.

Notice the little 'fringe' on her scarf? Another thing I've been wanting to try. Easy as pie, I just used a bit of Scor tape to adhere bits of embroidery floss to the back, then trimmed them and 'fluffed' them out.
The little roses on her hat were made with scraps of rick rack felt strips left over, I just rolled them into rosebud shapes and stitched them in place.

Thanks for stopping by, stay warm!

Stamps: Digital stamp from Heather Ellis, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Perfect Match
Paper: Papertrey Ink, Hammermill color copy
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders Labels & Nestabilities, Papertrey Ink ribbon/Rick-rack die/button, home dyed wool felt, seed beads, pearl heart stickers, Copics

Peace...be still

Good morning everyone, I have one more Christmas card to share with you all, not sure how many more I'm going to be making before I move on to the next holiday. Trust me, I'm ready to move on!

This stamp is an older one from Sunshine Designs, one of the first stamps I ordered when I resumed stamping several years ago. It's one of my favorite Poinsettia stamps of all time. 

I stamped it three times on good sturdy water color paper and heat embossed it in gold. I pulled out my beloved Twinkling H2O's to color this beauty up and cut out three separate layers.

The flourishes are from Papertrey Ink's Silent Night set (which I cut up into two separate stamps for added flexibility) and also gold embossed those. I do that occasionally to my stamp sets, when I know it's a keeper and I want to be able to get more use out of certain stamps. Don't be afraid to cut them up to suit your tastes!

The card base and the Label diecut were also cut from the same water color paper, it lends such an elegant, rich look to a card. I love to use it when I know I'm going to be using white on white.
The sentiment is from PTI's Peace be still set (obviously, lol).

Well I really should go send out my Christmas cards, hopefully in time for Christmas. I am such a procrastinator!

Thanks for visiting!

Impression Obsession Metallic Challenge

Good morning everyone! It's time for Impression Obsession's Thursday challenge: All that glistens is gold. I knew this one would be fun, I love metallic papers and embossing. I pulled out an oldie but goodie from my stash, Park Fence. I love this image, whimsical yet elegant at the same time. 

I embossed it in gold embossing powder on shimmer paper and colored it with my Copics. Using Copics on shimmery paper is a bit different from regular paper, when you blend colors it creates a kind of texture from the stroke marks. I like it, it reminds me of the Impressionist paintings. 

I used one of the new Sizzix/Basic Grey embossing folders to emboss a piece of gold Stardream cardstock, it is gorgeous! The dark blue background was stamped in white ink with the Gradation Cover-a-Card background stamp, so it looks like falling snow.
I added some dimension with some of my Sakura Glaze pens to the fence posts and Christmas tree balls, and Stickles on all the stars. This is probably the most sparkly card I've ever created, LOL!

Now head on over to the rest of the DT's blogs to see more gorgeousness, then you can enter your own card for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the IO store.

Thanks for dropping by!

Dina
Jeanne
Daniela
Jenny
Kelli
Deb
Laura

Stamps: Impression Obsession- Park Fence J2350, Cover-a-Card Gradation CC015, sentiment from The Miracle of Christmas clear set CL282 
Ink: Versamark, Perfect Match Snow White
Paper: Stardream gold cardstock, white shimmer paper, Papertrey Ink, Gina K
Tools & Accessories: Filigree gold embossing powder, silk ribbon, Copics, Sakura Glaze pens, Stickles, Sizzix/Basic Grey embossing folder

Sneak Peek.. New LOTV

Hold on to your hats Lili of the Valley addicts, prepare to get your socks knocked off! I've got a card to share with you with a new stamp coming out in January '11, and it is a stunner! Actually, they are ALL stunning, I was dancing with joy when I saw them. I am so grateful to be a part of this company's team, I just adore each and every stamp! Take a look at this darling image...

 Yes, since Christmas is nearly here, and I'm sure you all have gotten all your holiday projects done and mailed out (ahhhhhh!!) it is time to start planning for Valentine's Day. Well, actually I'm a bit relieved to take a break from Christmas cards, this card was a joy to create.

I colored this sweet image with Copics, and used some of my older Cosmo Cricket 'Everafter' papers. Haven't used them nearly enough and I am trying to refrain from buying more papers until I've used up some of my stash. Easier said than done, but I am making a real effort!

Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for these sweeties, I'll let you all know when I find out the actual release date. Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley
Ink: Distress
Paper: PTI, Core'dinations, SU
Tools & Accessories: Fiskars heart edge punch, pearl heart stick pins, red grosgrain ribbon, SU embossing folder, Copics, Spica pens, Spellbinders Labels, Stickles

LOTV Thursday Sketch Challenge

We have a pretty sketch this week by Dena for the Lili of the Valley challenge. Take a look at it here. I decided to take a break from the Christmas cards for a moment and came up with this colorful creation. 

 I paper pieced the little dress on Rosie with Cake, and added a bit of shading with some pencils. The paper is from SU, I can't remember what it's called, but I love the colors. So bright and cheery.

I am still hooked on these sentiment seals, they are so awesome! There is one for absolutely every occasion and I even found a McGIll circle punch that fits them perfectly. I layered this one on a piece of pink wool felt that I cut with the large scallop die. I went around each 'petal' with a drop of white Viva Decor pearl paint.
Hope you like it, now head on over to the LOTV blog to take a gander at the gorgeousness the other DT ladies have created. Then you can enter for a chance to win some LOTV bucks with your own card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley
Ink: Memento, Perfect Match
Paper: Papertrey Ink, SU, Gina K
Tools & Accessories: Nestabilities, Viva Decor pearl paint pen, McGill circle punch, colored pencils, OMS, Copics, pink polka dot grosgrain ribbon, PTI buttons, Stickles, Liquid Glass

A Winter Day...

I can't believe I've never inked this adorable snow guy 'Twigs' from Whipper Snapper! I came across him when I was sorting through my stamps and immediately put him to paper. A little bit of coloring with my colored pencils, some red Viva Decor berries and Stickles and he's gorgeous!

 I tried something different with my stitching around the paper edges too. I've seen some people alternate between a straight stitch and a Zig Zag stitch and I think it looks so cute!

The little mitten brad is from Oriental Trading, I think. I've had it forever. I thought it went perfectly with this card's theme.

Thanks for peeking in, see you soon!

Stamps: Whipper Snapper, Catslife Press
Ink: Memento, Distress
Paper: PTI, Core'dinations, We R Memory Keepers
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders Labels/Nestabilities, colored pencils, OMS, Viva Decor, Stickles, mitten brad from Oriental Trading, snowflake charm, sewing machine

Under the Mistletoe

Good morning everyone! I thought I'd share this card with you all today, using this adorable Pure Innocence digital stamp from Heather Ellis. These images are so simple yet sweet, I just love them!

 I colored it with my colored pencils in very soft, subtle shades to coordinate with the patterned papers from We R Memory Keepers 'Merry January' collection. I recently got a giant paper pad of the whole collection so you'll be seeing a lot of these patterns! I really wish all scrapbook paper manufacturers would make papers in smaller sizes for card makers too, I love the papers, but I just don't think I'll ever use them all!

Well I'm off to try and get warm, we've got this awful cold/windy front that came in a few days ago and my toes have been frozen for days! Maybe I need to put some warm fuzzy socks on my Christmas list this year, lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Digital image from Heather Ellis, PTI sentiment
Ink: Fluid Chalk
Paper: Papertrey Ink, W R Memory Keepers
Tools & Accessories: Martha Stewart pine branch punch, gingham ribbon, colored pencils, OMS, Copics, Stickles, Sakura Glaze pens

LOTV Challenge Card My Favorite Things

Good morning everyone! I didn't get a chance to post my LOTV challenge card yesterday, but here it is in case you missed it on LOTV blog. The theme was My Favorite Things, and I literally pulled an idea from the song-- Whiskers on kittens.

I used Christmas Cats for this one, colored them with my colored pencils. I decided to use Liquid Applique for the Santa hat since I haven't used that in a while. Gives a nice bumpy fur look.

 I even went ahead and used these tiny jingle bells attached to the bow. They WERE brads, lol, but I altered them a bit so I could attach them to the bow with jump rings. I also used some Copic markers to color one green and red. Worked really well!

If you haven't seen all the other gorgeous cards from the rest of the DT head on over to the challenge blog. You can enter your own card for a chance to win LOTV bucks!

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley
Ink: Memento
Paper: Basic Grey, PTI, Core'dinations
Tools & Accessories: gingham ribbon, bells, jump rings, colored pencils, OMS, Liquid Applique, EK Success edge punch, Liquid Glass

Jingle all the way

Here's another Forever Friends bear card. I love this little guy in his stocking. I paper pieced the stocking to match the rest of the SU paper. I used all different coloring markers and pencils. The bear is in colored pencil, the shading around the stocking and the stocking itself in Copics, but the bow is colored with an SU marker. I can't find any color that comes close to Baja Breeze in CP or Copic, so I had to make the marker work. Normally I would just water color with it, but the paper was too smooth for that. So I just colored the whole bow, then went back with a Tombow blender to 'highlight' certain areas by actually removing some color. Worked pretty well, I think. 

Added some white sparkle snowflakes to the stocking with an XF Sharpie poster pen then some Polar White Flower Soft to the fuzzy part of the stocking.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Forever Friends, Papertrey Ink sentiment
Ink: Memento
Paper: SU, Heavenly White card base
Tools & Accessories: Nestabilities, SU scallop edge punch, SU ribbon, Flower Soft, Sharpie white XF poster pen, SU marker, Copics, colored pencils, OMS, SU designer label & word window punches

Caroling Trio

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a turkey-stuffed Thanksgiving and are recovering from the Black Friday hoards if you went out! Not me, I don't care how good of a deal there is to be had, you will NOT get me out of bed at 4 AM to go shopping, LOL! My idea of crazy shopping is staying up till midnight for a great new Papertrey Ink release, and I don't even do that often anymore! 

Anyway, onto my card. I picked up this adorable Caroling Trio of mice from Penny Black because I have a thing for lanterns. I know, strange but true. I just love all kinds of old fashioned lanterns. Maybe it's the warm amber glow I love, because I love coloring windows that are lit up at night too. It just gives me such a warm cozy feeling. So combine a pretty little lantern and some cute singing mice, and I just couldn't resist. I colored these cuties with my trusty colored pencils. 

 I had someone ask me a question in a comment recently (signed Anonymous, you know who you are, lol!) about how I color the area around the outside edges of my images.
BTW, if you have a question about something it is so much easier for me to answer you directly if you use the 'email me' link in the right sidebar of my blog, especially if you don't provide a way for me to reply to you. Just an FYI in case you never noticed it.
Back to the question/comment... it was suggested that I do a video of me coloring but I don't think I will ever do a video tutorial because of two reasons. I don't have a video camera and I'm incredibly shy. Yes, I admit it. I would get very nervous, sound like a bad infomercial host and most likely never end up uploading the video. Sorry, that's just the way it is. BUT, I can try to explain, and I might be able to provide some pictures as I work on a future project. In the meantime, I will direct you over to Paula Tracy's blog because I think she is the most fantastic colored pencilist (I made that word up tee hee!). She recently did a video on Stamping Bella's blog where she shows how she colors her grass, and it's pretty much the same way I do shading around an image. Minus the blades of grass.

So that's that. Hope you like this card as much as I do, thanks for visiting, I'll be back soon!

Stamps: Penny Black
Ink: Memento, Distress
Paper: Graphic 45, Gina K, PTI
Tools& Accessories: Martha Stewart snowflake Lg. and Sm. punches, colored pencils, OMS, Sharpie XF poster paint pen, Stickles, antique pewter brad, PTI ribbon

LOTV Challenge Baby's First Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am so grateful to all my loyal blog readers, for all the wonderful comments that boost my spirits and keep me creating and sharing. Thank you for taking the time to leave me a few kind words, I appreciate it so much! 

Now on to this week's LOTV challenge. Bev has provided us with a lovely sketch to work from, you can see it here, on the Challenge blog. 

I chose this little cutie pie to create a Baby's First Christmas card. I colored him with my Copics and added a bit of Flower Soft to his hat and cuffs. 

I created my own DP with an assortment of PTI stamps. I figured baby boys don't mind bows, so I added a big aqua one to the card as well, lol!

Want to see some more LOTV goodness using this sketch? Head on over to the blog and drool all over the rest of the DT's cards. Of course you'll be so inspired to create your own card and you can enter for a chance to win some LOTV bucks!

May you be blessed with

warmth in your home,

love in your heart, 

peace in your soul 

and joy in your life.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley, PTI

Ink: Memento, Perfect Match

Paper: Papertrey Ink

Tools & Accessories: PTI scallop die, Nestabilities, Copics, Liquid Glass, stitched ribbon, button, Polar White Flower Soft

Holiday Sweets

Good morning everyone, I've got a vintage looking card to share with you today, using Papertrey Ink's Friendship Jar and Holiday Fillers sets. I find it amazing how much this set has grown on me, considering it didn't even faze me when I first saw it!
I wanted to try paper piecing the ruffle around the neck of the jar, to make it look like real scrap of homespun and the card practically made itself from there. Amazing how one simple element can inspire an entire card, I love when that happens!

After coloring all those individual peppermint candies (pheww!) I cut out the jar and covered the whole thing with Ultra Thick Embossing powder to make it look like glass. Not sure if it even shows in the picture, you'll just have to take my word for it!

The old Cosmo Cricket 'Be Good' collection fit perfectly with the peppermint candies, I'm almost out of that stuff...boo hoo!

Hope you like it, thanks for visiting!

Stamps: PTI, Catslife Press
Ink: Memento, DIstress, SU
Paper: PTI, Gina K, Cosmo Cricket
Tools and Accessories: Martha Stewart garlad punch, UTEE, colored pencils, OMS, tiny red rhinestone, natural twill ribbon, K & Co. paper lace, Spellbinders lacey circles/Labels 17

Lili of the Valley Thursday Challenge & a Winner!

I have two posts today, my Impression Obsession challenge is up too, just keep scrolling down or click here.

Thank you everyone for all the lovely comments from last week's blog hop! I enjoyed reading each and every one of them. The lucky winner chosen by Random Number is #106 Trine Anette!

Trine Anette please email me (link in my right sidebar) with your address so we can get your stamp sent right out to you.

This week our challenge is Glitter & Glitz. I chose some gorgeous papers from the very glitzy and glittery My Mind's Eye paper collection. I colored these two cutie pies 'Bringing Gifts' with my colored pencils with nice vintage colors pulled from the papers.

Once again I used one of the newly released (and sold out!) sentiment seals. For some reason I find it so much easier to use these than regular sentiments, I don't know why. I guess the circles just fit easier onto most card layouts, for me anyway, lol. BTW, these seals are available as digital downloads if you missed out on ordering the actual rubber. Almost as good, if not better, because you can resize them to any size you like.

Head on over to the LOTV challenge blog to see the eye candy from the rest of the DT, and to see if you've won a set of all the sentiment seals. (If you've entered).

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: LOTV

Ink: Memento

Paper: Heavenly White, Bristol vellum, PTI, My Mind's Eye

Tools & Accessories: Nestabilities, silk ribbon, tiny pearls, colored pencils, OMS, PTI large scallop die

Impression Obsession Challenge 'Favorite Things'

Good morning everyone, it's time for an IO challenge! This week we're drawing inspiration from the song from The Sound of Music musical, 'My Favorite Things'. The third verse is what inspired me to create this card:

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes

Silver white winters that melt into springs

These are a few of my favorite things

Silver white winters appealed to me at this time of year, so I used silver embossing powder to emboss this Santa Bridge scene on water color paper. I then used some reinkers to water color the image. I LOVE the way this looks! Very soft and wintery. 

I used the Snowflake Cover-a-Card stamp to create the subtly patterned background paper.

Now hop on over to the Impression Obsession blog for all the details on how to join in the challenge for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate. For more 'My Favorite Things' inspiration check out the rest of the DT's blogs:

• Jeanne
• Jenny
• Julie
• Dina
• Deb
• Daniela
• Laura

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Impression Obsession CC035, G1780

Ink: Versamark, Distress, SU, Perfect Match

Paper: Canson Water color, SU, Stardream, PTI

Tools & Accessories: Silver embossing powder, water brush, satin ribbon, pearls, SU marker

Frosty Winter Wishes

Don't forget the Lili of the Valley blog hop is still going on, with a new stamp up for grabs, check it out here.

Well I apologize for being absent for a little while, it was crunch time for the Dirty Dozen over at Splitcoast Stampers. I procrastinated till the last minute, then really had to get my butt in gear to get my cards done for the midnight reveal! Shame on me, lol! Take a look at the beautiful stuff from all the Dirty Girls. 

Now onto our regularly scheduled programming...

I have a sweet snowman card to share with you all today. I LOVE snowmen stamps. This is probably one of the first ones I purchased when I got back into stamping, from Sunshine Designs. 

I colored him up with my pencils. I made one of my favorite snowflake embellishments out of coordinating papers and added lots of glass glitter to sparkle them up.

Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen?!

Well I'm off to work, have a great week!

Stamps: Sunshine Designs, sentiment from PTI
Ink: Memento
Paper: Heavenly White, PTI, Basic Grey
Tools & Accessories: Clever Lever snowflake punches, Tonic ticket corner punch, PTI button, tan twill tape,  colored pencils, OMS, Liquid Glass, Viva Decor paint pen, Crop-a-Dile, glass glitter, Martha Stewart tiny tag punch

Lili of the Valley Blog Hop!

This week the Lili of the Valley Challenge is being combined with a Blog Hop to celebrate the Release of the Tea and Chat, Party Girls and Sentiments collections, full details of the Challenge and Blog Hop can be found on the Lili of the Valley Challenge Blog . If you have arrived here from Edna's blog you are in the right place, if not then hop over to Lili of the Valley Challenge Blog  to begin. (Nice big prize on the main blog, you do not want to miss it!)

Now down to this weeks challenge. The theme iss ANYTHING GOES. Here is the card I made for the challenge using 'Time for a cuppa'.

I used October Afternoon's Thrift Shop papers to create this card. I like the vintage feel to them. The little darling is colored with Copics. I added some ultra fine glitter to the cupcake and the tablecloth which you can see better if you click on the close up below.

You can win this stamp if you just leave a comment on this post! The winner will be announced next Thursday so you have plenty of time! Each DT member is giving away a stamp as well, so check them all out. On the main LOTV blog you can win 3 sets of circle sentiment stamps. But you have to leave a comment on every blog along the hop in order to win. 
Here is the stamp you can win from my blog:

Here's a pic of the sentiment stamps you can win on LOTV blog:

The next stop on the hop is Lena Katrine's blog.  Have fun and good luck!

Snowman in a jar

Well I just couldn't resist any longer. I am a snowman junkie and tried to avoid buying another set, but I turned to jelly when I saw this set from PTI. I wasn't even too nuts about the jar idea, I told myself I didn't need to get in on that...but in the end I caved. Now I want to make a snowman in a jar for real! Well, maybe a cloth snowman in one of my old Ball jars, with mica snow and maybe a little candle lamp...The wheels are turning! If I do make one, I'll definitely share it with you all here!

 In the meantime, here's the paper version. Snow people were colored with Copics and glass glittered. The patterned paper was also stamped using a few different stamps.

I love the way this card came out, but then again, I have a weakness for the snowy folk! Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Impression Obsession
Ink: Memento, Distress
Paper: PTI
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders labels, coarse glass glitter,  Copics, SU edge punch, Sizzix/Basic Grey plaid embossing folder, Cuttlebug Argyle EF, Martha Stewart tiny tag punch, PTI ribbon

IODT Challenge- Holiday Family Traditions

Good morning everyone! It's time for an Impression Obsession challenge again. This week's challenge is to create a card depicting a family tradition for the holidays. Well, I'm sad to say that we don't have too many of those, every year tends to be a spur of the moment thing that's always changing. BUT, building snowmen is almost a tradition! Who doesn't love to build snowmen? This one is a bit nicer than the ones I'm used to seeing, wacky is the way things go around here, lol! 

Lots of stamping went into this card. I made both of the BG papers, the red/tan pattern is using Cover-a-Card Quilt stamp (CC033), and the kraft pattern was stamped with the Cover-a-Card Snowflake stamp (CC035). I embossed the Snowman with Sled  (H1786) image with brown EP and water colored it with Distress Inks.

 I didn't have room for the beautiful sentiment on the front of the card like I wanted, so I used up a couple of scraps of the patterned papers I had left to decorate the inside of the card as well. It adds such a nice touch to a card, I really should do it more often!

Want to see more? Head on over to the IO blog and check out the other DT ladies cards:

• Laura
• Deborah
• Dina
• Jeanne 
• Daniela
• Jenny
• Julie

Then get out your IO stamps and create your own Holiday Tradition card and enter it on the IO Blog for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the store.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Impression Obsession 'Not Only at Christmas', 'Snowman with Sled', Cover-a-Card Quilt, Cover-a-Card Snowflakes 
Ink: Versamark, Distress, Memento
Papers: PTI, Canson water color paper
Tools & Accessories: Martha Stewart string lattice edge punch & Snowflake punches, Stickles, Copic Spica pen, glass glitter, SU ribbon, Viva Decor pearl pen, Kaisercraft pearl, Mega Mount

LOTV Thursday Challenge 'One for the Girls'

This week at the Lili of the Valley Thursday challenge blog it's 'One for the Girls'! (I know it's early here, but in the UK it's Thursday!) I've done the ultimate in girly cards in honor of the challenge, flowers, bows, scallops & pretty colors. This is one of the new stamps to be released at the NEC show Nov. 4th if you're lucky enough to be within shouting distance. Otherwise, the rest of us folks have to wait till Nov. 12th for the online store release. Aren't these little girls just stinkin' adorable?! I love their sweet little faces.

 I colored them with Copics, and for the polka dots I used a white Sakura Glaze pen. Love that thing, it's totally opaque on any color. The sentiment is another seal also from the new release.

Hop on over to the LOTV blog and check out all the gorgeousness from the rest of the DT. You can also play along with us at the challenge for a chance to win some stamps. All the rules are on the blog.

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: LOTV
Ink: Distress, Memento
Paper: PTI, Cosmo Cricket
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders Nestabilities, PTI Beautiful Blooms II dies, Copics, Sakura Glaze pen, Martha Stewart scallop punch, paper piercer, PTI buttons, polka dot ribbon, Glamour Dust

Old Skates

A couple of weeks ago I was looking around for an ice skate stamp. I liked the new one PTI released, but wasn't gotta-have-it-crazy for it. I wanted something a little different. So I'm searching, and searching, finding a few but nothing I'm too crazy about. So I'm on Splitcoast, as usual, when I click on a message that has a picture attached of a card using this stamp. The poster was trying to identify the stamp maker. I knew as soon as I saw it, that was the ice skate stamp I wanted. To make a long story longer, it turns out the stamp was no longer being made, it was from several years ago. Well, I guess quite a few of us emailed the company (DRS Designs) asking about the stamp,  that they brought it back into production! How cool is that?! 

Anyway, here it is in all it's glory!

Pretty, huh? I don't know what it is, I just think they're so cute. I paper pieced them with some Cosmo Cricket Be Good paper, and matted them with these gorgeous Spellbinders Labels. The background paper is Cosmo Cricket Wonderland, gorgeousness!!

I colored the metal part of the skates with a silver Copic Spica pen, then went over it with some clear Liquid Glass. It looks like real shiny metal!

Thanks for the well wishes everyone, I'm still feeling under the weather, but feel a bit better. I tried to do too much yesterday, and immediately felt worse, so I crashed on the couch for the rest of the day. I'm definitely taking it easy today, I need to recuperate before resuming my usual hectic days!
TTFN!

Stamps: DRS Designs, Gina K
Ink: Memento, Distress, Versamark
Paper: PTI, Gina K, Cosmo Cricket, Stardream
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders Labels, Sizzix/Basic Grey embossing folder, PTI twill ribbon, PTI button, vanilla embossing powder, Copic sketch & Spica pen, Liquid Glass, cotton thread

Sharing Bear

Happy Halloween everyone! I don't have a spooky card to share with you all today, as I just am not feeling it this year. Yesterday at work I started feeling really crummy around mid morning, and it just got worse from there. Today it's the whole kit n kaboodle, sore throat, runny nose, chest cold....uggh.... 

BUT, I do have a cheery Christmas card to share. I just had to bring out some of my old Forever Friends bear stamps. I used them to death last year, but love them just as much this year. 

This time I decided to paper piece the little bear's coat and mittens with some of my favorite Cosmo Cricket Christmas papers, 'Be Good'. I really, really wish CC would keep doing some of the elegant vintage papers they used to do, although I like some of the newer collections, I like traditional colors better. I'm almost out of this paper, even though I stocked up on my fave patterns, I use it a lot!

The sentiment circle is one of the new seal stamps Lili of the Valley will be releasing soon. I love them all!

I hope everyone gets tons of candy, lots of tricks and most of all a fun, safe Halloween to all! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Forever Friends, LOTV
Ink: Memento, Distress
Paper: Heavenly White, Gina K, SU, PTI
Tools & Accessories: Clever Lever snowflake punch, Martha Stewart edge & snowflake punches, Spellbinders Labels 17, Lacey Circles & Oval Nestabilities, McGill circle punch, Stickles, colored pencils,OMS, Jo Sonja Warm White acrylic paint, old toothbrush, PTI button

LOTV Thursday Challenge Sneek Peek of new stamps!

We had a beautiful sketch to work with for this week's challenge at LOTV, take a look here. I used a brand spankin' new image soon to be released. All of the new stamps are simply amazing, but what I really love are the sentiment seals. There are tons of them, for every occasion and holiday. They add just the right finishing touch.

I used the Porcelain collection from Basic Grey for this card because she's playing tea, and tea = porcelain, ha ha! Not really, but I loved the soft pinks and greens. The little darling is colored with some Copics, the cupcake was glitter-ated and the cherry was cherried...(some red Viva Decor for realistic dimension).

Want to see more sneak peeks of the new stamps? Head on over to the LOTV blog and check out the other DT ladies' creations! Not all of them used the newbies, but if you look carefully you'll be sure to spot some!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley
Ink: Memento
Paper: Basic Grey, Memory Box, PTI
Tools & Accessories: PTI scallop die, Spellbinders lacey circles, classic and lacey squares, cream twill tape, Copics, Viva Decor pen, Glamour Dust