Easel Cocktails

I know I haven't posted in a couple weeks but my life has been turned upside down a couple times in the last month and I am desperately trying to get the pieces picked up.  I have made several cards and had time to play but I just don't have the time to sit and blog them...  I do want to share this on with you though because I absolutely love how it turned out...   This month the Sparkle N Sprinkle DT members are focusing on making cards with "fun folds."  I absolutely love fun folds but never stop to take the time to make any.  I usually stick with the typical A2 size and nothing more...  So this is a really cool card and I hope you will love it as much as I do...  This is an easel card and upon first glace it looks like your typical 4 X 4 card....

Well take another look at this beauty when it is popped open and displayed...

Now you can really see how cute and fun this card really is...  Let me show you a side view of this one as well so you get the full idea of this one...

I hope you can see here how the card pops up and then rests on the inside layers of cardstock to keep it open and displayed...  I tried very hard to capture all the details on these drinks but wasn't able to get the full shot.  I added glossy accents to all of my drinks to make the glasses look real and shiny and then I added some glitter to all of the rims to look like either salt or sugar rimmed glasses.  These look so cool in real life.. Here is a close up in hopes of showing a little more of the details...

The images, embossing powder and glitter used on this card can all be found at Sparkle N Sprinkle  Make sure to stop by their store and check out all of the wonderful new goodies they have to offer.  I promise you won't be disappointed...  Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you have enjoyed my card...

Lilly Candle

I was making a couple candles the other day and this one came into my head and I went with it. I colored my image with Prisma colored pencils and Gamsol...

I am so happy with the way the coloring turned out and I really like the flower embellishment.. This was so fun and I never think to make candles. I am glad I played around with them again... I hope to make a few more soon... Thank you so much for stopping by today... Stay tuned for this weeks Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog hop starting this Thursday... It's going to be 4 days of wonderful creations from the Design Team so you won't want to miss a single day... Oh and did I mention there would be some fun prizes to win too? :) Happy Stamping!!!

Sparkle N Sprinkle October Sketch Challenge

Thank you for taking the time to stop by today... This month Sparkle N Sprinkle is starting a new blog exclusively for their monthly sketch challenge.. Take a look at their new home here... This is the challenge layout for October...

We like to make things simple, so here are the guidelines for playing: Create a NEW project for the challenge. No back links please. Please use Sparkle N Sprinkle images only – Rubber Stamped images or SNS Digital Images. Please link to the exact post on your blog, or if using SplitCoastStampers gallery (SCS) please see the next step (it lets all the viewers see your masterpiece without searching). If posting to the SCS gallery, please be sure to include the code that appears on the sketch to tag your card to the challenge. Please enter that code using the keyword SNSSCXX. (XX represents the sketch number on the current sketch.) If posting on your blog please include the code on your blog also. Each monthly sketch will have its own unique code that will appear on the sketch. Please link the card or project by clicking the inlinkz icon at the bottom of the current challenge page. You’ll be prompted for the next steps. (Remember, please make sure to link directly to your challenge card and not just to your blog home address.) If you have any questions please email me at Barbara@sparklensprinkle.com October 2012 Sketch SNSSC12 – October Sketch Here is my take on this month's sketch. I hope you like and will join in playing along with myself and the rest of the Sparkle N Sprinkle DT...

Glittered Polka Dot Hearts

I did this card for today's technique challenge at splitcoast. We had to make our own polka dots. I chose to make my polka dots with my cuttlebug embossing folder... I am not as happy with the polka dots as I am my glittered hearts... I was messing around with my new small heart punch and this is what I came up with and I am super happy with the finished product.

To get the glittered hearts, I punched out the hearts with my small punch and added 1/4" "tear"ific tape to the backside. (The 1/4" is the perfect size to cover the openings. I then added my glitter to the openings. I really love this card and I think the colors are great together... I love going to retired colors for inspiration... I hope you like what I did today... Please let me know what you think as your comments are always welcomed... The glitter and "tear"ific tape can be purchased at Sparkle N Sprinkle.... Happy Stamping!!!

Birthay Cupcake

This is my card for today's challenge to use our corner rounders... I have had this for years and I can't tell you the last time I used it. Thank you Wendy for giving me a good reason to pull out yet more loved but forgotten items from "storage." I used a Digi image from Sparkle N Sprinkle called Happy Birthday Flower Cupcake.

The best part about Digi images is that you can alter the size any way you want and if you are really knowledgeable in your photo editing program, you can even add colors before you print. I prefer to color my images with copic markers so I just re-size and use. I hope you like what I did today..

Pink Embossed Crocus

I was just messing around in my stamp room and wanted to play around with a new technique. Brenda from Sparkle N Sprinkle posted a tutorial on Glitter Masking.. I wanted to take it a step further and apply the same concept but instead of glitter, I used embossing.

I cut out my adhesive sheet with the Spellbinders die and then I cut out the protective backing sheet with the classic rectangle. I peeled the second protective sheet from my fancy cut die and placed the rectangle backing sheet in the center so only the outer edges would get the embossing powder. I embossed the edges and removed my backing and added my image. The image was colored with Copic Markers and then I added a small amount of glitter to the flowers in white so that they looked like they were coming up out of the snow as the sentiment says. The rest of the card was pretty simple to put together but I think the outcome is just gorgeous...

Red Embossed Inspiration

This is my card for today's inspiration challenge.. There is a lot of great items to get you inspired to do this challenge... I chose this image for mine: http://www.frenchgardenhouse.com/catalog.php?item=4552 I love the look of the red and white here so that is what I went with for my card... I stamped my background on 3 separate sheets of white cardstock all different sized. I then embossed with Firecracker Red Glitter from SNS. I put white cardstock between the layers to create this gorgeous background. Looks like DSP but it's not... :)

I added a close up photo so you could see the embossing detail. This is awesome embossing powder that has glitter added for shine... It looks so awesome when it's heat set. The details show up so wonderfully. Please visit the SNS store and check out their amazing products. You won't be disappointed. The store link is to the right... :) Happy Stamping!!!

Another SNS Sketch

I was playing around in my stamp room last night and decided to make another card for September's SNS Sketch Challenge... I chose to do the Lacey Background Technique for this one... I made my main panel with the Lacey Background Technique found at SNS. This is a fun technique and looks amazing... My background is embossed with my new embossing folder. (Love it!) I colored my flower with various copic markers and added a small amount of glitter to bling it up a little bit. I popped it up on a large prima flower for added dimension and color pop. I hope you enjoy my card today... Happy Stamping!!!

Love and Happiness

I made this card for this month's sketch challenge at Sparkle N Sprinkle. I just recently made the DT there and couldn't be happier. Stop by their store and check out their amazing glitters and embossing powders. They now sell Micro Fine Glitters and they are just awesome... Their store can be found here: http://sparklensprinkle.com/o/e I started with my base card an then ran my DSP through the Big Shot with the Top Note Die from Stampin Up!. I stamped my sentiment. I tied a ribbon across the lower portion of the Die and adhered with "tear"-ific tape. I used the Quickie Glue Pen to place a small amount of glue on my flowers and sprinkled glitter and let dry. I assembled my card. I wanted to keep the simple feel of this sketch and really let the Die stand out. I didn't want to go with too much bling and I didn't want a crazy colored image. Just a nice simple sentiment and some gorgeous flowers... Thank you so much for stopping by. I would love to know what you think.. Happy Stamping!!!

Just Because I Wanted To

I got a couple new items from Sparkle N Sprinkle and this cupcake image was one of them. This is a digi image that I added flock to. It took quite a bit of time to get the flocking on but it turned out pretty cute in the end so the effort was definitely rewarded. I also flocked my brads for the centers of my flowers and I think they turned out amazing. They look as if the centers of the flowers are the pollen parts since they are fuzzy looking... I absolutely love these brads and plan to get more flocking and glitter flock to create more of these... I hope you will try too..

Here is a close up of the brads that I flocked so you have a better idea of what they look like.. Aren't they cute? Happy Stamping!!!

Loves Rubber Stamps!!!

I don't really know how I feel about this card... I love the image and I love the glittered areas, but the colors were so hard to work with. This card is for this week's Loves Rubber Stamps challenge and the colors were turquoise, black and yellow. Great job with these colors... You have me stumped on these... None-the-less, here is my card and I hope you enjoy it. The image is a Digi image from Sparkle N Sprinkle Happy Stamping!!!

For A Dear Friend

This is my card for today's sketch challenge... Such a wonderful sketch which allows for a larger die cut center... This card is very difficult to photograph because I used a bit of clear embossing powder but I have included a few extra photos on here

so that you can really see the embossing details on this card. I embossed all three flower images inside my circle, the word friend in the ovals and all 3 butterflies...

This was a pretty simple card to put together but it was pretty time consuming due to all of the embossing that I did... I also used my stampin write markers to make the 4 images on my candle. I stamped on tissue paper and adhered to candle.

I added some glitter detail to the tiny flowers on the candle and attached them with cute pink brads. (I toyed with glittering the brads too but I left them alone... THIS TIME!!!!) The finish touch to the candle is my double ribbon in pink and yellow that I also slightly melted to give it the curled look... (Be careful not to burn or melt your ribbon as organdy is very delicate and doesn't take long to heat) I hope you enjoyed what I have done here... Happy Stamping!!!

The last of my DTGD Challenge Cards

This first card is pretty simple and self explanatory... I cuttlebugged the background and added a few buttons. My image was stamped and cut out using spellbinders circle dies and adhered with dimensionals. The ribbon is a very old river rock ribbon that Stampin Up used to carry.

Another simple on here for you to view... I wanted the hexagons to be center stage so I stamped my image and cut out with oval punches, I beaded the corsage pin and put through the centers of a couple primas and tied a ribbon with a slightly fancier bow. Simple right?

And my favorite card of the week... I LOVE how this card turned out... From start to finish it just fell in line so nicely. I used a gorgeous floral DSP that I have and matted it with Melon Mambo cardstock. I used a small piece of Pretty in Pink that I ran through my cuttlebug and I adhered some flower brads that I added some gorgeous Pink Glitter too... (The glitter was mixed with embossing powder to ensure sticking to the brad) I tied a soft pink ribbon across the bottom and I am super happy... I hope you have enjoyed my cards this week... There were 38 challenges and there was just no way I was going to get all of them finished with everything else I have on my plate right now so I am very happy with the 15 I did finish!!! Thanks for stopping by Happy Stamping!!!

DTGD Challenges 9-12

I truly apologize for posting all of these cards in 1 blog post but it is really late at night and I am exhausted but I wanted to get these posted before I forgot... This card is extremely simple to create and uses the cracked glass technique. I then layered my image onto a cuttlebug background added the lace to look almose like a window and my sentiment... The inspiration piece this came from had a small pop of purple so that got added as well.

This next card couldn't possibly have any more bling on it if it tried... I used the glitter lace technique to create my background and then added some flowers in different shades of pink to match. I added some rhinestones and my silver embossed sentiment... This card is stunning and shiny IRL.

This next card is a simple one too... Boy has it been hot out and these are some "HOT" colors. I am not a fan or orange but these work together beautifully. I had this DSP sitting around in my craft room for some time and was finally give a reason to dust it off and cut it... Give it a go... You will like it too.

Now for my favorite card from today... This cute little cupcake is a card... It took some time to cut out, but the Hello Kitty cricut cartridge lets you cut all of the images out as cards... HOW AWESOME!!! It is pretty time consuming to cut out all of the coordinating parts but it was so worth it.. This is a little girls dream... Ok well for my 6 year old twins it was... Their birthday isn't until March and they have both requested a card like this for their birthday.... And they both told me it had to be just as shiny... How cute!!!

DTGD Challenge #2

This is my card for the monochromatic DTGD challenge... We had to make a monochromatic card with 1 small color pop in addition to our main color... I chose green since it's my favorite color and there are so many wonderful shades and then I chose to "pop" with a small bit of yellow. The lace looking background is done with a piece of polyester lace and then the lace is removed so there is no actual lace on this card, it just looks like lace and is such a beautiful technique... The rest of this card is pretty simple and was easy to put together but I feel that the look of the glitter lace just makes this card pop even with a simple design...

DT Submission

Thank you for stopping by today... This is a special day for me as I just recently submitted the following 4 cards to a company for a DT contest they were running... I hope my photography meets their standards and that they find my work compatible with the rest of the DT. I miss being part of a group of stampers that help inspire others with their work. In the past I was on Riley's color dare team and Lori's DDIC team and I miss working with those ladies. I am hoping to become part of another team of stampers that share their inspirations and ideas with others. So here are the 4 cards I chose to create for my submission. Wish me luck in my current adventure..

Thank you so much for stopping by. Please let me know what you think. Your comments inspire me to continue or strive to do better... Happy Stamping!!!

Rich Roses

I made this card for the Forth of July and this is the first I have had to post deets. So sorry for the delay... I made my card shape using Spellbinders label die... I thought it would be harder than it really was.. This was a sketch challenge so the circles were also cute using spellbinders circle dies. The very vanilla circle was run through the cuttlebug before adhering to the background circle. I cute a rectangle from the DSP paper and then cut the sides using the same label die as my card. The rest of the card went together very quickly... I stamped my main image using ranger distress black soot and colored with stamping write markers... I added some bling, a couple glittered prima flowers and I threaded pink twill through white lace both from RRR (Really Reasonable Ribbon.) I apologize for the photo it looks as though my card is smaller on the bottom but in reality it is the same size all the way down... Thank you so much for stopping by. I would love to hear your comments... Happy Stamping!!!