Sugar Skull - Part of the Process

A little peek at some of the pieces I've been working  on for an upcoming CARS swap.  Our challenge for May is Holiday Cards.  I've chosen to create these Sugar Skulls.  No stamping this time just a die cut skull.  I hand drew the flowers and other details then colored them in with my Prisma Color Pencils.  I just have to figure out how to display them now that they are complete.

 

Hope all is well with everyone and Thanks for stopping by I so appreciate it.

C.A.R.S. March Swap - Punches/Die Cuts

 

It's that time of the month again.  C.A.R.S. Swap day.  Tonight our swap is Punches/Die Cuts.  I chose to use this new die from Hero Arts World Window.  I created the background under the die using Pan Pastels(I have a video of this on my Instagram) and the greeting came from the My Monthly Hero December 2019 set. 

I love how they turned out I did have to set the pan pastels with a fixative.

Here you can see the World Window popped up with foam tape. 

This month we are swapping 2 sets of cards February and March but the way things are going this may be our last meeting for awhile since the Carona or Covid 19 virus is staring to grow in the US and we've been advised to not meet in larger groups and we have no idea how that will change in the future.  Hopefully everyone is keeping well!  Stay Safe! xoxoxoxoxo

C.A.R.S. February Swap - Season

This month our theme is Season.  I have chosen to do all of the seasons.   I used the Lawn Fawn stamps Trees Before n After along with the dies.  I colored each tree with copic markers and cut them out.  Then I layered them on to a piece of blue with a green postage stamp background from Spellbinders.  The greeting came from the stamp set was embossed in black.  I did think the background was a bit bland so I versamark stamped a dotted background from Hero Arts.

Unfortunately our swap was cancelled this month due to snow and ice but we will trade these along with the next months in March.   Everybody stay safe out there and have a great day!

C.A.R.S. January 2020 Swap - Mad For Plaid or Stripes

And so it begins a new year full of new cards and projects.  For our first C.A.R.S.(Chicago Area Rubber Stampers) card swap we were challenged with Mad for Plaid or Stripes. 

I chose plaid and some new(to me) blue chalk ink pads I found at the Paper Source late last year.  Since this line of in pads are going away I was happy to get 2 shades of blue that worked really well together.   I stamped my plaid using a retired plaid stamp set from Stampin Up called Perfect Plaids and alternated the 2 shades of blue.  The die is from Spellbinders called Rosemal which I layered white on top of silver mirror card.  Felicitations is an old Just Johanna(Odd Bird Planet) stamp which was done in the darker blue and layered again on silver mirror card.  To finish it off I added a few sequins that were iridescent.  It turned out okay.  I somehow envisioned it crisper in my head but it's never the same as how I see it prior to creating it.

Excited for our meeting it's always fun to see what everyone creates.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look today hope your New Year is off to a good start!

Chicago Area Rubber Stampers(C.A.R.S.) Swap Themes 2020

Yay it's a New Year that means New Swap Themes for the Chicago Area Rubber Stampers or C.A.R.S.  Each year in October the group votes from a huge list of ideas that were compiled from all of the members.  We then create 18 to trade at our monthly meeting

I always get so excited and energized when I get the new list.  My mind starts swimming with ideas for each month.  

Here is the list:

January - Mad for Plaid or Stripes

February - Season (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall)

March - Punches/Dies

April - Feathers/Flowers/Felt

May - Holiday Cards (Holiday of your choice)

June - Shaped/Interactive Cards

July - Watercolor Card

August - Get Well/ Thinking Of You

September - Anything But a Card

October - Funny/Irreverent/Goofy 

November - A Different Fold

December - Holiday Party 1 Large Handmade Gift for Exchange

So far I have ideas for January, February, March, June, July and November.  That's not too bad half of them are already formulated in my head only of course.  I have however begun to pull supplies for all of those months so I can work on them at my leisure.

Maybe something on this list will spark an idea for you.  

Thank you for stopping by Happy New Year.

Harry Potter - Copic Coloring

I love to color!  It's one of the most relaxing things to do for me.  This and stitching.  I just love seeing the colors of these types of projects being filled in and the completed image come to life.  There is something so relaxing and fulfilling about it that I crave it. 

Lately I have been working on these Bugaboo Digital Harry Potter images for a project.

Choosing the colors for each of the characters was fun as well.

I did a little research online and tried best to capture the colors for hair, skin and clothes as well as familiars.

These images are going to be part of my next months swap cards.  Which of course have way to many pieces as usual but I don't seem to be happy unless I add a ton of tedious steps so I'm just going to go with it and work on them a little each week.  Nothing like embracing your inner weakness and take on the creative process.  Tedious is my sweet spot.  I really hope it pays off with some super cute cards, fingers crossed.

C.A.R.S. May 2019 Swap - Masculine

It's that time again.  The second Thursday of each month the Chicago Area Rubber Stampers meet and swap.  This month's theme was Masculine Cards.   I got a chance to use my new Buffalo Check background stamp from Stampin Up.  I did pull out an old retired Stampin Up set for the bear image.  The background behind the bear is stenciled and the fishy and greeting are from the Silhouette.  Looking back I probably shouldn't have tied a bow in Jute for a masculine card but I wasn't thinking of that.   So there you go another 18 cards down in the books.  I did take the month of April off as it was right before the craft fair and we were still prepping.

This month's meeting was bittersweet.  An original member of over 20 years is moving away so everyone was given the chance to say goodbye and we had a little celebration for her at the end of the meeting.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look hope your having a wonderful day!

C.A.R.S. February Swap

For February our Chicago Area Rubber Stampers swap was Sympathy.    These cards were created with the Simon Says Stamp Kit.  I am in love with the fonts in the greetings of this kit they are so elegant and clean.  The flowers and greeting are embossed in gold and then everything is water colored using the little dot sheets of Daniel Smith water colors.  Right at the end the blue background color ran out and I had to mix more using other dot sheets.  But those dots go a long way, I made about 22 of these(18 were needed for the swap).  

They all turned out quite lovely for a Sympathy card.  Hope everyone is having a great day!

C.A.R.S. January Swap - Embossing Folders

We're back at it this year for the Chicago Area Rubber Stampers (C.A.R.S.) group creating swap cards.   As a Group of approximately 30 stampers we get together once a month and share, learn and swap.  It's always a lot of fun to learn from all of the members.  The January 2019 theme is Embossing Folders.  

Below you can see my card forming.  I used a Sizzix Embossing folder and Distress Oxide Ink brayered on before embossing on white.  Love how the embossing turned out.  The stamps and dies are from Hero Arts December 2017 Card Kit Below.  The lanterns are colored with Copics, die cut and strung onto gold threads.  Lots of foam tape was used in the creation of these cards! 

 

This will be one of the first years in quite awhile that our January Meeting will actually take place.  Usually we miss it due to weather and end up swapping 2 months in February.

Thank you for stopping by!  Hope your day is Amazing!