Simple but elegant

Can you believe, Christmas and New Years have passed and now we are looking forward to Valentine's Day.  Before long we will be making St. Patty's, Easter and Spring cards, its no wonder the years always seem to go by so fast.  :) 

Today, I am sharing a Valentine I made using this beautiful heart from Penny Black.  I inked the heart with Versacolor Sage ink and embossed with clear powder.  The base card is Prism cardstock and they print is from my stash.  A little bling and some ribbon and I called it done. 



I'll be back in a few days to share some special projects I have been working on.  See ya then!





Hugs,

Let Heaven and Nature Sing

Happy Wednesday!  Yesterday I spent some time in the studio working up prototypes for my Christmas cards.  This is one of them.  I have been making Christmas cards with pinecones on them for the last several years.  I can't tell you how many stamps I have with pine sprigs, pinecones, pine boughs...etc. The stamp I used for this card is one that I have had for several years.  It comes from Penny Black and I just love it!

I inked up the stamp with Tombow Watercolor Markers, spritzed it with a wee bit of water and stamped it onto some Prismatics cardstock. The edges were shaded a bit with Tea Dye Distress ink to soften the hard edge of the tan cardstock.  The print paper has a music them and lots of pretty glitter mixed in. It is from a My Minds Eye Glitter paper pad from last year.  I don't know if I will ever use it all up, I think there were over 50 sheets in the pad.  The sentiment is from Memory Box.  This saying is one that I used years ago on a Christmas card (long before there was a stamp for it), I wish I had this stamp then!  I layered everything up with some Hunter green cardstock that I have had in my stash for awhile, it could be Bazzil as it has some texture to it.  I added a twiney bow and a button and called it good!  The bow really isn't wonky, but it sure does look that way in the picture. :)



Have a great day!

Happiness

Hi there!  Did you know that Penny Black has a new and improved blog?  Yep, you can find it here.  They are having and inspiration challenge on the blog and I decided to play along.  You can find all of the details and the inspiration card in this post on the Penny Black blog.  I was inspired to use the basic layout of the inspiration card, I just turned it on its side to change it up a bit.  I stamped the Garden Poems image with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and colored it with Copic markers. (BV00, BV02, BV04, Y13, Y19,G40, G82 and G85) I added itty bitty droplets of pale yellow liquid pearls to the stamens on the flowers and some Stardust glitter glue to the blossoms and butterflies.  Lime Green Stickles was added to the leaves. The Happiness sentiment was also stamped in black and cut out with Petite Oval/Scallop Nesties.  I should have taken this photo a little earlier in the day when the sun was shining nice and bright so you could see the colors better.  The cardstocks used were white, lt blue and dark purple.  You still have a few days left to play......give it a shot.

Betsy Wetsy

Ha, ha Betsy Wetsy, isn't that the perfect title for this card?  Ya get it, she is Betsy and she is givin' the flowers a little wetsy?  Sometimes I even crack myself up! Maybe it is called sleep deprivation?  This card was the last of the three Penny Black Betsy Bluebell cards from a class a few weeks ago. I watercolored this card with Tombow markers on 140# watercolor paper.  The layout is simple and basic, so no need to go into all of the details for you. I will tell you that the fun print paper is from an older My Mind's Eye collection called Out and About.  I had been hoarding this paper for quite some time and I have to tell you, it felt really good to finally use it.

Have a super day!

Thanks a bunch!

Happy Sunday!  I hope everyone is enjoying their long holiday weekend. I always love it when I get to spend some extra time with my sweetie. 



Speaking of sweeties, today I am sharing another adorable Betsy Bluebell image from Penny Black.  I colored this Betsy with Prismacolor pencils.  This was one of three cards from a recent class I taught.  Each of the cards was colored with a different medium.  You can see Copic Betsy here.  In a few days, I will share Watercolor Betsy with you.  The overall design of the card was pretty simple, I added a bit of glossy accents to the center of Betsy's flowers.  I lucked out and found that adorable yellow button with the flower center to accent my card with.  The button is tied with a little twine. Ya know I love finished button holes.  My mantra is:  No nekkid buttons!



Stay safe and enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!



Hugs,

Betsy's Got Balloons

Hi there!  I have a bright and fun card to share with you today.  I have been playing with my new Betsy Bluebell set from Penny Black.   I stamped Betsy with her balloons on Neenah Solar White cardstock with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and colored her with a mix of primary colored Copics. To get the texture/print of Betsy's sweater, I used the very tip of the Copic blender pen to add diagonal stripes.  I went from left to right and then again from right to left to get this cool pattern.  Try it , its lots o' fun!



The layout for this card was 100% inspired by a card I had seen while surfing in blogland.  The inspiration card used different prints/colors and a beautiful hydrangea image. I don't know who created the inspiration card as there is no watermark on it, if it sounds familiar to you, please let me know so I can give proper credit to the designer and a big thanks for the great layout!



I have a couple more Betsy's to share with you, just need to get them edited.  I love this set and think you will too!



Edited to add:  I just found some great Penny Black blog candy over at The Daily Marker.  Head over there and check it out!

Sweeeeets!!!!

Hi there! Today I have this sweet little card to share with you. This is also my 250th blog post! I know that is not alot to some of you, but for me it is! I have been at this blogging thing for 3 years now and I hope to keep it up for while longer. I know I don't post daily, but I thank each and everyone of you who read and keep up with what is going on in my crazy little world. ((HUGS)) to you all!

This is a card from my recent Valentine class. I just love this little mouse in the candy box from the Piece of my Heart set from Penny Black. I pulled out my colored pencils for this one. I forgot how fun it was to color with them. The print papers are from the Basic Grey Bittersweet collection (one of my all time fav collections). To ruffle the ribbon, I just pulled on one side of the stitching and eased the gathers. Tip: Don't pull too hard on the stitching or it will come out the other end of the ribbon. Ask me how I know...............:)

Spring Chickie

Hi there, today I have a cute little Spring Chickie card to share with you. Lately most of my stamping has been for one project or another. I had gone to town yesterday and when I got home I told my guys I needed some studio time (I came out long enough to heat up some clam chowder and prepare the bread bowls for them to eat it out of) and off I went. I have had this adorable Penny Black stamp on the shelf for quite some time and decided to get it down and get it inky. I stamped the image in Memento black ink and colored it in with my Copic markers. After coloring, I added some shimmer to the chick and the flowers with Spica glitter pens. I have had this sentiment stamp from Inky Antics for several years and thought is was perfect for my little chick but I only wanted part of it on the front and the rest on the inside so I used a little trick I have used before. I put a piece of tape over the words that I don't want inked up and then I ink up the rest and remove the tape before stamping. Be sure to remove that tape or you will have an inky mess. All of the cardstock used was scrap from previous projects. Yeah for that!

Sweet Sunday Butterflies

I created this card for the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge (SSSC27) on Karen's blog. I have had this gorgeous Picotage background stamp from CHF for awhile now and had not opened the package, so I thought it was about time! I inked the stamp with Berry Sorbet ink and stamped it onto Sweet Blush cs. I trimmed the right edge of the cardfront about and inch or so and then punched a piece of Sweet Blush with my MS edge punch and attached it to the backside of the front panel. I ran a one inch piece of Berry Sorbet through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots EF and attached it to the inside back flap of the card. I tied some Sweet Blush satin ribbon around the edge and tied it in a sweet little knot.

For the sentiment panel, I stamped the Butterfly words from Penny Black in Berry Sorbet ink and cut the circle with my nesties. It is hard to see, but I sponged a bit of Berry Sorbet around the edge of the sentiment panel. I attached that to a Berry Sorbet scallop circle panel and finished it off with some MS punch butterflies that were dressed up with a little blingy bling.

Talk to you soon,

Inspired by a Friend

When I saw this post by my friend Debbie on her blog The Paper Garden, I immediately went to work on this card. What makes this card so special is that way before these little crochet flowers were popular Debbie sent me a little bag of them that her Grandma had made. I have held onto them for quite some time as they were a special treat. Thanks again Debbie!

The base cardstock is Bazzill and the prints used are from the Basic Grey Porcelain collection. I stamped part of the Penny Black sentiment for the outside and the rest of it for the inside. I ever so lightly dabbed a bit of Butterscotch Adirondack ink on the flower to help it blend with the paper. I stamped the sentiment in Mountain Rose Adirondack ink. The ribbon is from PTI.

Hugs to all,

Mojo 74--What Lies Before Us

(click image for bigger picture)

I just love the inspiration I get from the Mojo sketches. For this card I used some of the new Bo Bunny Abbey Road print cardstock and two colors of Bazzill Dotted Swiss cs. (brown and blue). The sentiment and butterfly are both from Penny Black (one of my all time fav companies), oh you probably already knew that though. The lace trim was natural color and I needed it to be brown, so out came my Copic marker. Voila! Brown trim. I also colored the butterfly with two colors of blue Copic markers for the wings and Lt Brown for the body. I finished the card off with some Bling and a Pearl (butterflies head) from Kaisercraft. Just a bit of Stardust pen here and there for a final touch.

Oh, it's American Idol time. See you all tomorrow!

hugs to all,

Create Joy

Creat Joy...............that says it all! This was the final sketch and card for the big Anni-Verve-sary that was back in August. This card came together very quickly for me, I had the image left over from a class I taught awhile back and it was already cut to the right size for the sketch. I started with a green card (Bazzill) and then layered a piece of light and dark pink Bazzill Bling cardstocks. I embossed the darker pink with the Divine Swirls Cuttlebug folder. I colored the Penny Black image with Prismacolor pencils and then added the "create joy" words from Hero Arts to a small circle that was cut with my scalloped nesties from the same green cardstock as the base card. The image was kicked up a notch with some Diamond Stickles glitter glue. The card was finished off with several sizes of green rhinestones that were also from Hero Arts.

I hope you have enjoyed the 12 Anni-Verve-sary cards as much as I enjoyed making them.

Hugs,

Hello (#8)

Slowly but surely, I will get all of the Anni-Verve-sary cards shared with you all. This is another one of my favorites. I used Bazzill Black and White cs. I stamped and embossed the floral image (Dandy from Penny Black) in black and cut out with my oval nesties. I colored the flower with a Copic (G99-Olive) marker and then added a little glitter glue.

The satin ribbon was white and I wanted it to match, so I colored it with my Copic (G99-Olive) marker also. The word "hello" is from the Stampendous Sunny Flowers set.

I ran the white background panel through the Cuttlebug first with the Swiss Dots folder for the bottom and then the Leafy Branch folder for the top.

Finished it off with some green bling from Me and My Big Ideas.

I gotta run, we are off to a friends for a BBQ/Swim Party.

Hugs,

This Day

Here is sketch and card #5 for the Anni-Verve-sary. I know I said I liked the way #4 turned out but this one really is my favorite of all of them. The base card is brown Bazzill and then a layer of aqua cardstock and then green Madeira cardstock. I used my Textile CB folder for the top brown panel with a smidge of the aqua behind the brown panel. The scallop edging was created using my Wrought Iron punch. You need to remove the guard from the punch to get the continuous edge. The phrase image is from Penny Black and the ribbon is aqua grosgrain from PTI. I used 3 aqua Dew Drops to finish off the phrase panel. If you have any questions about any of the card, leave me a comment and I will do my best to answer right away.

Have a nice evening,

Pastel Inchie Cards

Here is my set of inchie notecards that I made last week. This set came about because I wanted to make a card for the Stamp Simply challenge last week. I have had these wonderful watercolor notecards for quite some time and have been wanting to use them. I started by embossing one of the Formal Squares Cuttlebug folders on each of the notecards. I knew I wanted a watercolor look for the inchies and because the Inchie Squares are made of a very high quality artboard, I knew I wouldn't have a problem if my image was a tad wet when I stamped it. I rummaged through my flower stamps and finally picked two from Hero Arts and two from Penny Black (links on the left) and colored them in with Tombow markers and lightly spritzed with water before I stamped them on the inchie squares. Once they were dry, I added some little words from Papertrey (also linked on the left) and Stickles glitter glue. You can learn more about the inchies and ways to store them by going to the Inchie Arts website.

I need to take pics of the cards from the first swap at the store and I hope to upload them some time this weekend.

Hugs,

Stamp Simply #44

Over at No Time To Stamp, Sharon has her "Stamp Simply" challenge and this is the first time that I am joining in. Her challenge was to create a card using purple and flowers. The flowers did not have to be purple, you just needed to have purple somewhere on your card.

For this card I inked part of the Penny Black Lace Flower Trio stamp with blue and purple Tombow markers. I spritzed the stamp with water and stamped it onto an inchie square. I embellished with a little bit of Diamond Stickles and then I stamped the itty bitty word "thanks" from the PTI Mixed Messages set. The inchie was layered to a scrap of cs out of my stash. Hooray for using scraps! The notecard is a lavender Fabriano Medioevalis stock. I don't remember where I got them from as they have been stashed away for some time. If you know where I can get more, please leave me a comment cause I would sure like to get some more. I framed the inchie with one of the Cuttlebug embossing folders from the Formal Squares set. The inchie was attached to the notecard with some foam tape to give the card a little dimension.

This card is one from a set of four. I will share the others later.

Hugs,

Soft and Sweet Friend

I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday. It is hotter than heck here in CA. I was going to go to town and visit my Mom today but the forecast said it was going to be 112 in Clovis today and when I talked to her this morning, she said she just wanted to stay in and stay cool. Usually we go running around town shopping here and there. So today, I stayed in too! Heck, I didn't even get out of my jammies until noon!

I made the card above for an upcoming class. I knew I wanted to use the Memory Box striped paper as I had a bunch left from my Inchie class last month. So I paired it with some Worldwin Medium Belgium Blue and some Bazzill Lavender cardstock. The inks used were Smoke Blue and Heliotrope VersaColor. I used some Stardust Stickles on the dragonflies. Hero Arts Lavender bling and some Lavender May Arts ribbon added the finishing touches to the card. All of the stamps are from the Penny Black clear set called Salutations. I first saw this set when I did a make/take at the Penny Black booth at CHA in February and I knew I had to have it! This is a fun set of stamps with flowers, vases, several word stamps and lots of little filler stamps too!

I have completed a few other cards in the last couple of days and need to get pics and edit them so stay tuned.

Hugs to all,