Pink Cat Studio Sneak Peeks, Day 2

Here's another quick sneaky peek at the new Lily set from Pink Cat Studio. Isn't this mermaid the cutest? I love her! I love this whole set... it's just adorable! I colored Lily with my Prisma Colors and gamsol... I figured it would be easier to blend the fishy part of her that way. I did use my Copics on the rock and water though. I also added some Dazzling Diamonds to the scales. You can see a close up of the sparkles below:

Come back tomorrow for our final peek, and my favorite of all four cards! :o)

Ahoy, Matey

Pardon my fingers there, but it's not easy to get a good shot of a z-fold card! I made this last week for a pirate-crazy girlfriend's birthday. I used my prismacolors and gamsol for the coloring, and kept it pretty simple (mainly because I knew it was going to be late already, so I just wanted to get it done and in the mail!). I kept the coloring to a minimum, and did some sponging around the edges. The red "x" is made from two pieces of ribbon, and held down with a brad. Here is a shot of it open:

I just wrote a short birthday message in the space above and below the treasure chest.

I'm working on some cards for the Sweet n' Sassy Stamps release party, which falls over New Year's this year. Check my sidebar for details, as there will be lots of BLOG CANDY involved!

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas, and all is well!

Thank Ewe!

I recently placed an order with Sweet n' Sassy Stamps for two Rachelle Anne Miller stamps, and they came the other day. This is the first card I've made with either of them, and I just love the way it turned out. Rachelle's illustrations and stamps are just adorable. Be sure to click on the link to her blog and view them all. Did you know she let's you use her images in your blog banner? I made a header for my family blog with one of them! You can get more details about her requirements here, if you think you might be interested in doing the same.

As I mentioned yesterday, my friend Sara is hosting a card swap, and I am debating whether or not to sign up. The last few times I've signed up I have procrastinated on the cards to the last minute and then feel pressured to get them done and mailed on time. So I decided that if I was going to participate this time, I was going to have all of the cards DONE before the sign-up deadline even passed. The swap is for thank you cards, so this is the first prototype I've worked up. I'm still not sure whether or not I'll sign up, because I *should* be getting started on my halloween, thanksgiving, and Christmas cards... but you never know. I still have time to think about it, so I can waffle a little longer. ;o)

The image is colored with a combination of prismacolors with gamsol, and copic markers. The faces and hooves of the sheep are colored with prismas, as are the hearts. The bodies of the sheep, shading around them, and ground, are all copics. I drew the ground line in by hand. Remember how I need my bellas to be grounded? Same goes for farm animals. The sentiment is hand written.

Isn't this such a cute image by Rachelle? I'm tellin' ya, you NEED to check out her stuff! You won't be sorry! SNSS also has some of Rachelle's new Christmas line on pre-order right now too. There's always something to buy! You know how it goes!

Before I close, I want to also thank my blogger friend Kristine over at Ink Something for giving me this blog award:

I really appreciate it! It makes me happy to know that someone thought of me today. Thanks, Kristine!

Details:
Stamps: Cuddle Up (Rachelle Anne Miller)
Ink: Adirondak Pitch Black
Paper: Pretty In Pink, Georgia Pacific White Cardstock, Grey (Unknown)
Other: Grey Taffeta Ribbon (Stampin Up!), Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, Copic Markers, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

Come Over for a Spell!

Here is a fun little card I made last night for this week's 3 Little Dreams Yahoo Group Challenge. My fellow design team member Dani Marcus is in charge of this month's challenges, and her first choice was to do something embossed. It didn't matter if it was heat embossed or dry embossed, so I put my Cuttlebug to use and made a dry embossed background for this card using their paisley flower embossing folder . It's hard to see in the photo, but trust me - it's there.

You don't need a kit to participate in the challenge, but if you have one you might as well use it (I don't have mine yet, hence the witchybella). We'd love to see your creations too, so please post it in the August Challenges folder in the 3LD Yahoo group or, if you'd rather add it to your Splitcoast gallery, just use the keyword "3LDAUG" so we can ogle over all of them in one place! Everyone who participates in any of the August challenges will be eligible to win a mystery prize from Katie! Same deal for future months as well, but for now let's just focus on August!

Are you familiar with 3 Little Dreams? Here's the skinny: Each month Katie (owner, queen bee, mama dreamer extraordinaire, etc. :) ) puts together TWO fabulous kits - one using a Stamping Bella and one using Sweet n' Sassy Stamps. The kits include the stamp(s), paper, and random embellishments. Basically all you need (except for ink) to make some seriously cute cards. The August kits are sold out (!!!) already, but she is taking pre-orders for the September kits now, and both can be seen HERE!

The Bella kit for September features the Teachabella stamp, and the SnSS kit for September features the GORGEOUS My Lil' Chickadee set. Seriously, how great would either (or both!) of those kits be for fall cards? I'm tellin' ya, you need to check it out. It's a super deal (and Lord knows I'm all about a deal), and a super company, with a KILLER design team *wink*!

So go on! Show me what you're made of!

Oh... and tell me what you think of my card. :o)

Details:
Stamps: Witchybella (Stamping Bella), Arachnophobia Wheel (Stampin' Up!), Happy Fright Night (Stampin' Up! - sentiment)
Ink: Elegant Eggplant (sponged), Basic Black
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Eggplant Envy, Tangerine Tango
Other: Black Stickles, Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon (SU!), Clementine Dotted Organdy Ribbon (Stamping Bella), Signo White Gel Pen (SU!), Scallop Punch (SU!), 1/16" Circle Punch (Fiskars), Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Copic Markers, Prismacolors, Gamsol

Summer Challenge Results

A few months ago, I found a summer challenge posted on Sue Daly's StampnDaly blog. I can't seem to find the original post at the moment, but the basic idea was that she would send out a bunch of random supplies and you had to make something with them. Here is a photo of what all came in my envelope late last week (including that cute RAK!)...

The first thing I thought of was a collage card, using that super cool scratched vellum on the right side of the screen. It's hard to see in the pic, but it looks like vellum was brayered with craft whte, then stamped with the script bg stamp, then scratched off in places. So cool! The only problem is, I don't do collages. They totally elude me. You want cute? You want whimsy? Then I'm your girl. You want a collage? You need to keep looking. *wink*

Sooooooo, here is what I came up with, using about half of the supplies (most of the paper got pretty badly bent en route, so some of it is unusable - or perhaps "pre-altered"? Hmmm. The only thing I added to this card of my own was the pink base, the image, and the sentiment.


That long sparkly white rope stuff reminded me of snow, so I used a strip of it as a base under my Whipper Snapper penguin (don't you just love her?!). I used my new SU! scallop punch on the blue paper, and punched a hole in the chipboard star so I could add a brad in the middle. I didn't have quite enough blue (Soft Sky?) ribbon to make a bow, so I just adhered it in a strip across the top.

What do you think? I just love Christmas cards in non-traditional colors, I just wish I had enough ribbon to do a proper bow or knot at the top. I think I would have tied it over to the right to fill the space over there a little better. Over all though, I think it's pretty darn cute!

I'm still working some ideas up with what's left. I'll let you know what I come up with once I figure it out myself!

Details:
Stamps: Penguin (Whipper Snapper), Sentiment (not sure - if you want to know, leave a comment and I'll check for you)
Ink: Basic Black, Going Grey
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, SU! DP
Other: Sparkly rope thingy *wink*, Soft Sky Double Stitched Ribbon, Scallop Punch, Prismacolors, Gamsol, Chipboard Star, Silver Brad

Ginger Rogers

Ok, can anyone tell me what company this image is from? I have no idea. (Edited to add: Thanks to Ramsey, I now know this is a Penny Black image! Woot! Thanks Ramsey!) I hosted a bella swap recently on SCS, and one of the swappers included a few images as a hostess gift for me. I posted on that thread, asking what company they were by, but never did get a response. I think she is super cute though, don't you!? And she goes perfectly with my Ginger Rogers stamp. I think that sentiment is one of the first stamps I ever bought back in 2001 when I started stamping... and this is the first card I've ever used it on! I *love* me some Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire though - I had to have it. I even have some of their old movie posters framed and hanging in my upstairs hallway!

I had no idea what kind of ink this image was stamped in, and being that there was only one image, I didn't want to run the risk of ruining it with my copics if the color bled, so I used my Prismacolors and Gamsol on her for the most part. Her dress, hair, and seat cushion are prismacolors, her skin is copic (Skin White), and so are the shadows, but I was very careful to not go over any black lines with my marker. Not as easy as it sounds! The legs of the stool and her earrings are Sakura gelly roll pens (silver and gold respectively). I also used SU's white gel pen to make the dots on the black paper, and a little pink SU chalk on her cheeks (the devil is in the details, right?!).

Recipe:
Stamps: Inkadinkado sentiment, Evening Glow by Penny Black
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red (sponged edges)
Other: Sakura gelly roll pen (silver and gold), SU White gel pen, RibbonFX dotted ribbon, black brads, Prismacolors, Gamsol, Copic Markers

In other news, have y'all heard of High Hopes Rubber Stamps? They have some of the cutest images (and you know me, I'm all about the cute!). I just fell in love with them when Lorie used their giraffe stamp for this card that she submitted for my kid-cards swap a few months ago. Anyhow, they recently released some new stamps and you can win a set of them via blog candy here!

There's also AWESOME Hanglar & Stanglar blog candy available on Maya's blog, here!

Welcome Neighbors!

Here is another card from the archives. I made this last summer for a couple who moved into the house down the street. I love this set, and wish I had more opportunities to use it. I sponged Tempting Turquoise on the edges of the main image, colored the image with prismacolors and gamsol, and used the DTP technique on the turquoise background.

Details:
Stamps: Right at Home
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Yoyo Yellow, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise
Other: Tempting Turquoise & Yoyo Yellow grosgrain ribbon, B&W gingham ribbon, prismacolors, gamsol

That's Me!

A friend recently asked me to create a 4x6" contact card for her. The front of the card was supposed to represent who I am, and the back would contain all of my contact information (isn't that a fun idea?). I thought about this for awhile, and came up with different ideas. When I was up nightly with Jack at 3am *grrrr*, I was certain I'd be using the Grumpabella image, but ultimately I decided on this House Mouse stamp instead. There I am... the Mama Hen, taking care of all three of my boys (Henry, Jack, and hubby ;o) ).

Details:
Stamps: Flannel Plaid BG, House Mouse
Paper: Always Artichoke, Really Rust, Barely Banana, Ruby Red, Very Vanilla
Ink: Basic Black, Really Rust
Other: Raffia, Weathered Brads (non-SU), Prismacolors, Gamsol

My Friend Max

Isn't this just the cutest stamp of a little boy? It's by Me & My Big Ideas, and it's titled "Max". I just love it. It was a fun little birthday surprise that my friend Lorie stuck inside of her Kid-swap envie for me. As soon as I saw it I knew it would work well with the stamps from SU!'s Smarty Pants set. To create this card, I used the Cuttlebug "Traffic Jam" Embossing Folder, and cut the squares out. Then I mounted them over the ribbon using Stampin' Dimensionals. It is difficult to see the dimension in the photo, but it's pretty cute IRL!

Details:

Stamps: Smarty Pants, "Max" by Me & My Big Ideas

Paper: Bliss Blue, Ballet Blue

Ink: Ballet Blue, Basic Black

Other: Traffic Jam Embossing Folder, White Grosgrain Ribbon, Ballet Blue SU Marker, Paper Piercing, Prismacolors, Gamsol

Time With You

My sister, God love her, is not fond of floral or nature images. She likes stuff that is a little more "cutesy". I, on the other hand, tend to gravitate toward the flowers and nature stamps! So, making her birthday card was a bit of a challenge. Thankfully I received some images of this Time With You set from the Wish-RAK forum on Splitcoast. This is one of those sets that I regret not buying before it retired... Don't we all have one (or more) of those?!

Happy Haunting!

Note: This will probably post under Sept 2, but today is really Sept. 12th. And so continue my PC problems.... *sigh*

I made a set of these cards for Lorie's Halloween swap. I really am happy with the way they turned out! :) Hurrah! I used the masking technique to get the cat in front of the "moon" and added a little dazzling diamonds on the moon to simulate wispy little clouds. Sorry the picture is dark, but I already had them sealed in clear envelopes before I remembered to take the picture so I couldn't use flash.

Welcome baby Codi!

I just love this Bundle of Joy set, and wish I had more opportunities to use it. The card was made for a friend's new baby girl, and I am pleased with the outcome. I found those pre-made ribbons in pink and blue in the clearance section at Factory Card Outlet. They were clearanced at $1 for a bag of 12 of each color! Add a mini glue dot, and voila! :)

More Secret Sister cards

These are three more of the cards I sent to my secret sister Daisy over the past three months. Although I neglected to make a recipe of the cards when I had them in hand, I can tell you that the first one is made with SU's Farm Fever set, the second with non-SU stamps in my collection, and the third with SU's Simply Said set. If you need more info, post a comment with your question and I'll try to figure out the colors and supplies. Thanks for looking!