A Sketchy House Mouse Card

The House Mouse and Friends Blog is having a sketch challenge- here is a picture of the sketch

and here is a picture of the card I made using the sketch.

I have used the stamp Bobbing on Apples. The stamp is colored with copic markers and cut out and matted with a plain oval and a beaded oval nestabilitie. This stamp was not an easy one for me to color. I'm not great at coloring things that appear in nature. I was using the R39, R37, and R35 copics for the apple and it looked too pink almost like a strawberry. Then when I added the green and the yellow to the top of the apple, there really wasn't a smooth transition between the colors. I ended up coloring over the entire apple a few times with the Y19 marker I used for the yellow. This helped to blend the colors a little more and change the red of the apple so it wasn't quite as pinky. I love the vintage look of the beaded oval and I thought it would go great with this distressed paper from Cosmo Cricket and some lace. I love adding lace to my cards. The sentiment Just Because is from the label accents set and the little outline around it is from the
stamping scrapping designs set made to coordinate with the beaded oval nestabilities. These stamps are made to fit just inside the embossing of the nestabilities.

Happy Thanksgiving

I know it's a little early to be thinking about Thanksgiving, I mean we haven't even made it to Halloween yet, but I've had this little image for so long and haven't used it. I figured this was the perfect time. Scrappy Frogs is having a Thanks challenge. I used the sketch from Friday Sketchers and created this Happy Thanksgiving card.



I used Native American Tilda as my image. I masked her and have her sitting on a bench. She is colored with copic markers and this is one of the first times I have ever colored black hair. I've always been intimidated by it, but it wasn't as hard as I expected. I added a flower up in the corner with some leaves and some fall looking berries that I found at the craft store. The sentiment is from my favorite sentiment set- label accents.

Some New Bildmalarna Projects

I have been playing with my adorable Mimosa stamps from Bildmalarna and created a few projects for some different challenges. This first card I made for theBildmalarna Blog 3 favorite colors challenge and the Friday Sketchers Sketch challenge.

I used one of my favorites for this card- Mimosa Butterfly. She is colored with my 3 favorite colors- pink, green, and brown. I added some lace and ribbon, a sentiment from Label Accents, and some butterfly rhinestones. I airbrushed the label shape while it was still in the nestie after being embossed and I love the look of the white border all the way around. The paper for this card is from Basic Grey.

I made this second card for the Scrappy Frogs Girlie Girl challenge.

I used this sweet looking Mimosa from the Summer kit which I absolutely love!!!! By the way, order quick, there are only a few more days to order the fall kit. I know it will be just as great as the summer one. I used paper from My Mind's Eye for this card along with some silky trim I found in the fabric section, some prima flowers, and Magnolia chandelier garland. What's more girlie than silky lace, flowers, and chandelier garland?

More Red, White and Blue

Here is my second red, white, and blue card. I have made this one for the Magnolia Stamp Lovers red, white, and blue challenge and the Just Magnolia sketch challenge. I used a new Magnolia image that I hadn't used before that I think is absolutely

adorable called Bubbling Tilda.

I colored her in shades of red, white and blue with my copic markers and added some stickles to her wings. I added some dew drops to the bubbles she is blowing to give them a little bit of dimension. The flowers up in the corner were made by cutting out different sized scalloped circles on my cricut. You cut 8 or each size, ink the edges, and spray them with water, well to make it easier, here is a link to the youtube video. They are very easy to make and I think they really add a great look to the card. I finished the card off with a sentiment from the label accents set cut with a labels 4 nestabilitie.

One More Father's Day Card

Well I had such a difficult time making the first father's day card, wouldn't it figure that I would have to make another one? This time the challenge was to make a father's day card for the Magnolia Stamp Lovers blog. I used one of my favorite Tildas- Sweetheart Tilda.

She's an oldy, but a goody! I placed her in an over sized chair to look like she is sitting in her Daddy's chair. I paper pieced the chair with some of the background paper (June Bug from Basic Grey). Tilda is colored with copic markers. The reds in her dress range from R24-R29, the blue in her socks is B39, her hair is a combination of E35, YR23, and Y21. Skin is R20 for her cheeks, E02, YR000, and E000. I also tried a new technique of ribbon pleating with the yellow ribbon. Not very hard and I think it added an interesting touch. I stamped the sentiment from Label Accents in red ink and cut it out with my labels 8 nestabilitie. I wouldn't say this card is exactly masculine, but it's not as girly as my other cards so maybe I'm on the right track.

Father's Day with Mimosa

Bildmarlarna Blog is having a Father's Day challenge. This was a hard one for me, do you need to use a boy image to make a father's day card? I only have a daughter, so her father is going to be getting a card from a girl, so I went with a girl image. I used the adorable stamp Mimosa Hello. She looks so sweet smelling the flower with the little butterfly on it.

I have colored Mimosa to resemble my own daughter who recently got pink highlights in her blond hair, so I gave some to Mimosa as well. It was a challenge to not make the card too girly. I had one done and I was adding some turquoise lace to it and I thought, this is way too girly, no way it can pass for a father's day card. So, I started over. I picked more masculine looking paper and colored Mimosa's outfit to match. I then cut this adorable Mimosa out with a labels 4 nestabilitie. The Happy Father's Day sentiment is a stamp from the Scent With Love stamp set Label Accents. I added a large grey scalloped border and brad I made with my chatterbox easy brad maker. Now of course those brads are brass, so I had to airbrush it to turn it a deep grey to blend in better with the card. The card looks so bare without ribbon and bows and flowers, but I guess that's what it takes to make a masculine card.

Shadowbox Tilda

We have a new challenge happening over on the Magnolia Stamp Lovers Blog. The challenge is to make a card with some dimension. I decided to try a different type of card this time and made a shadowbox card. I used an adorable new Tilda from the fairytale collection called Elf Tilda.

I have had this large Magnolia mushroom stamp for some time and when I saw the Elf Tilda, I knew she would be perfect for sitting on it. I stamped Elf Tilda, then put a mask over her and stamped the mushroom. I colored both images in with my copic markers. I used paper from the Die Cuts With a View Green stack. I decorated the top layer of the card with some crochet flowers and added some pearl brads to the center. I also added a bow (tied with the bow easy) and the sentiment. I stamped the sentiment Have a Fairy Nice Day in the center of one of the outline shapes from the Label Accents set and then cut it out with my labels 4 nestie. I love how easily these sentiments work with the nesties. Here is a picture of the card that better shows the dimension of the card.

We would love to have some more players for our challenge, so if you get a chance, please come over to Magnolia Stamp Lovers and add your dimensional card.

Some Fun Projects

This is a busy week for me with design team projects. It was my turn to make a project for Cindy at Stamping Scrapping and also the week the challenge changed at Scrappy Frogs. For my Stamping Scrapping project, I decided to use some of the adorable new spring CC Designs

stamps that just came in. I used Cherry Emma and the bench to make this project. The paper isBasic Grey Lemonade. I used the Martha Stewart double loop punch around the page for a decorative mat for the image. The sentiment is from label accents of course, and I finished the card off with some Prima and Magnolia paper roses.

Now on to Scrappy Frogs. Our challenge was to stamp on something other than paper. I decided to give shrinky dinks a try. Now, to stamp on shrinky dinks, it is best to get the kind that are frosted on one side. When you stamp and color on them, stamp on the frosted side. I had intended to use my copics, but the memento ink smeared on the shrinky dink material, so I used colored pencils instead. I stamped my images and colored them with the pencils, then I cut around them . It is important to remember to punch the hole before you shrink them. The hole will shrink too, so don't punch it too small.

Then, heat them with a heat gun until they finish shrinking. They will curl up on each other while you are shrinking them, that is normal. I try to hold them in place by putting something like a paper piercer through the hole to hold them a little more still while I shrink them. Here is a close up of the charms before I put them on the bracelet.

And this is what the finished product looked like after I added the jump rings and added them to the bracelet. This is a perfect way to make charms to add to jewelry or even to use on your cards.

Bildmalarna Bling

The challenge over on Bildmalarna Blog is to create a project using a Bildmalarna image and some bling. I decided to create a card with this adorable little Tossa with Flower image. I colored
her with my copic markers of course. I used this great new paper from Basic Grey called Origins. The green, brown, and yellows went perfect with this image. I also added a little border using the Martha Stewart floral band punch. The flowers are from petaloo, the yellow one was actually white, but I colored it with my yellow copic so that it would match the card. The sentiment which says Thinking of You is from my favorite sentiment set, Label Accents and fits perfectly inside the nestie. We would love it if you could play along with us over at the Bildmalarna Blog. You could win an adorable new stamp Mimosa with Chickens.

A Happy House Mouse Card

Our second challenge over at House Mouse and Friends is to make a project with the theme Happy. That seems easy enough doesn't it? House Mouse and his friends are no angry themed stamps LOL. Anyway, I chose the Happy Hoppers for this one. The name of this stamp is Bunny Hop and you can find it here. I colored these little guys with my copics, the brown bunny is a

combo of E35, E33, and E31, the one up at the top was done with W5, W3, and W1, and then the lighter grey one was colored with C1, C3, and C5. I colored the bed with a metallic gold gel pen to make it look like brass and used liquid pearls for the little ball accents. The edges of the image were distressed with some vintage photo distress ink. I added a sentiment from my favorite sentiment set Label Accents and topped it with brad made with my chatterbox easy brad maker and a button with a bow. Now, if you would like to join us with your happy House Mouse card, come on over and join us at www.housemouseandfriends.blogspot.com

Valentine's Gift Box

For my Stamping Scrapping project this week, I have decided to make a Valentine's gift box. This box was cut from the cricut mini cartridge Lovestruck. The box cuts a really good size when you use the fit to page feature on the cricut expression, the finished product is a little over 4 x 6 1/2. This size is perfect for Valentine's goodies or as a box for cards. The box does cut a little heart out of the front. I put a small sheet of acetate inside the box behind the heart. If you have design studio or a gypsy, I bet you could change the heart to another shape and use the box for more holidays.

Now onto the materials I used to make my little goody box. I decorated it with Magnolia stamps from the new Raising the Ceiling/Right through my Heart collection that is available now for pre-order on Stamping Scrapping.com. On the top is Dangling Tilda, I have colored her with copic markers. She is hanging from the new stamp Elegant Heart Ribbon. I had to cheat on this one a little bit, to make it look like her hand is going around the ribbon, I cut the top part of her hand off and then glued it back on top of the ribbon. The other sweet little Tilda I used is called Love Sealing Tilda. She is also colored with copics. The shades of pink I used on both of them are a combination of RV10, RV13, and RV14. To finish the box off, I added some lace, a little heart embellishment (this is actually an ornament for mini Valentine's tree and I cut the string off the top), and a petaloo flower. Cindy has great deal on the petaloos, they are on clearance, so get them before they are gone. The final element to my gift box is the sentiment which comes from my favorite sentiment set, Label Accents, this set has a sentiment for nearly every occasion and is made to fit perfectly inside the nestabilities.

Valentine's Day with Tilda

This week's Just Buggin Challenge was to use a stamp on your cricut project.  Well, that is perfect for me.  Stamping and my cricut are my two favorite things.  In the words of Hannah Montana, "It's the best of both worlds".  So, here is my project.  I cut the base for the card itself from A Child's Year.  That cartridge is full of great card shapes as well as a bunch of fun images.  The paper I used is the Basic Grey Eva collection.  I've had this paper forever and not used it, I finally broke it out and it's great! I also cut the little flower in the corner from my George cartridge.  I wanted them to have dimension, so I crinkled the top one a little and sprayed it with shimmerz spritz.  For the stamps, I used this adorable new Tilda that should be available soon.  She's not out yet, but when is available, be sure to check at stampingscrapping.com for a great price!  I colored her with Copic markers and added a little bit of stickles to her wings.  The sentiment is from the label accents set from scent with love.  They are made to coordinate perfectly with the matching nestabilities which is what I used to stamp it on.  The shape behind Tilda is actually the same nestie, just a larger size.