me + Copics = happy

Ahhh... I've been enjoying a real creative frenzy these past couple of days! I just recently acquired some Copic markers and have been doing lots of experimenting and playing around with them. Me likey!! In fact, I already have a few more colors "on their way" to me! Hehe!

These first 2 cards are similar, both using PTI's new Up, Up and Away set.  It's so fun to color those pretty balloons, I feel like a kid with a coloring book again.  :)  I used masking to get some added dimension on these.  First I stamped a cloud, near where the sun would be.  Then I hand-cut a mask for it from a post-it note (I didn't get the cloud dies), covered it, and stamped the sun.  Then I masked a few rays of the sun, and stamped the rest of my clouds.  The clouds are stamped with fresh snow ink, but on the 2nd card, I dabbed some blue chalk ink on the edge of the stamp.  I also outlined them by hand with a white gel pen. The gems are from Creative Charms.

This card uses Wise Owl.  I love that little owl, he is too darn cute!  The rest of the card I'm just sort of meh about, but I'm sharing it anyway, just to share my little owl friend.  :)

On this one, I used one of the hot air balloon stamps from Up, Up and away to stamp a border, kind of like scallops.  Then colored them in and hand-cut.  It seemed like an interesting idea, I think it turned out OK.  I also did a bit of coloring on the image from Round and Round.  The gems are from Creative Charms.

Last one for now, more Up, Up & Away.  I colored the rainbow with Copics, used more colors and more blending than the rainbow on the baby card I posted a couple of days ago.  I like them both, just different effects.  I masked again, to place the large cloud "behind" the rainbow.  Also masked a curved edge at the bottom, and then used a stamp from the new Background Basics set to get the grass effect.  I stamped first in Ocean Tides, and then stamped again with a lighter green chalk ink, offsetting the pattern.

Recognize the tree trunks?  The are the sun rays from Up, Up & Away!  And the tree tops are from Beautiful Blooms II - I die cut the shapes from green paper, then stamped them in green but intentionally used the next larger stamp size than the die cut, to get "full coverage". The gems, again, are from Creative Charms... can you tell how much I love them?  :)

Thanks for looking!

Creative Charms May Deal of the Month - almost done!

Don't miss out!  If you saw the Deal of the Month at Creative Charms, you know what a great deal it is!  You get all of this, a $25.50 value, for only 8.99:

I'm also told that technical problems with the shipping charges that were occurring earlier in the month have been corrected.  :)

Think Pink: Creative Charms CHA sneak peek

I'm so excited to be able to give you a glimpse of this great collection of Creative Charms products! This pink kit is going to be a special deal available next October, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

When I found out I would get to work with this kit, I immediately knew that I would create something with it as a gift to my friend Chris Hertel, who has been undergoing treatment for breast cancer over the past year. Many of you know her work from her blog, as well as from Creative Charms because she is also a contributor there! She has such an amazing, positive attitude, so when I saw this quote, I knew it was perfect for my project:

I used pink gradient gems to dress up my die-cut letters. I love that the gradient gem packs include an assortment of sizes and colors - I used three of the clear gems to accent the scalloped border at the bottom. The kit also includes the pink gem brads that I used as the centers of my floral elements.

I love how the leaves turned out. I used Papertrey Ink's Turning a New Leaf set, and stamped in PTI's Fresh Snow ink on green cardstock, then hand-cut them out. I intentionally adhered them at just a couple of places to hold them in place, but leave them "loose". The layered floral elements are cut on my Pazzles, and I use a PTI background stamp on the "middle" layer.

Naturally, I also made a card to go with the gift:

That beautiful pink flower is part of the kit, as is the cute little pink butterfly brad. The background stamp is from PTI's Round & Round anniversary set, again stamped with Fresh Snow ink. The sentiment is from Through the Trees.

And of course, there are the gradient gems again! They really make it so easy to dress up a sweet little card.

I hope you enjoy and are inspired! And remember, as Chris would say... feel your boobies! ;)

playing with some new Papertrey Ink goodies!

So, I might have mentioned how very patiently I was awaiting an order from Papertrey Ink last week. It arrived yesterday! I've been having such fun with it. I got the new release set Up, Up & Away, which I'll admit did not immediately jump out as me as a "must have". But the more I looked at it, the more I thought it would be a fun set to have - and I'm so glad I got it! This first card might be my favorite card that I've ever made, at the moment. Some friends of ours just had their 4th (yes, 4th!) baby, and I thought the rainbow, sun and clouds made a cute theme for a baby card:



I used chalk ink for the clouds, just inking the edges of the stamp. I haven't invested in the cloud die yet, because really... I thought, "how hard is it to hand-cut some clouds?" It wasn't too bad. I might eventually get the die, or maybe I'll just cook up a "clouds" cutting file for my Pazzles! The rainbow is colored with Copic markers, another new thing for me. The cloud with the sentiment (from Round & Round) is popped off the card base for added dimension, and those 3 little rhinestones are from Creative Charms.

I also made this "set" with the new Take Three: Summer and Beautiful Blooms 2, and PTI Pure Poppy and Hawaiian Shores Ink. The cardstock is not PTI, just what I had in my stash. I think I might make one more with a red base to "balance out" the set. :)

Thanks for looking! Comments always welcome! :)

to love & be loved

This page is based on my Allyscraps sketch from earlier this month.  I love all the new Fancy Pants lines, especially My Family.  I read the title/quote on a fortune cookie that I got in a restaurant at least a year ago. I saved the fortune and had it tucked away in a drawer on an organizer that sits on my scrap table, knowing that I wanted to use it on a page. When I saw this photo that my husband took on Mother's Day, I knew it was perfect!

Check out how I created the circle element:

I cut a circle out of a piece of scrap paper and used the paper as a mask, then stamped with blue chalk ink using the background stamp from the Round & Round anniversary set from Papertrey Ink.  Finally, I outlined the circle with a white gel pen. I love this subtle, custom-background effect!  I also used another PTI background stamp for a little added interest along the bottom edge of the blue paper, also.  The ticket stamp is from an Autumn Leaves set.

Thanks for letting me share!  :)

happily ever challenged #6

And speaking of PTI forum member there Ted has posted a fun challenge in his blog! You can check it out here. The gist of it is a recipe challenge, where each component of the recipe depends on your birth year. My challenge required a card that:

• has a red base
• included sewing
• used beads
• has a shape (circle, square, etc) in the main image

Now, all of these requirements were reasonable enough for me to execute... except for beads! ACK.... seriously!?? OK, that's why they call it a challenge, right? So, here is what I came up with.



Luckily for me I just recently acquired the Round and Round anniversary stamp set! Circle... check! The sentiment is stamped from Through the Trees and heat embossed. Sewed the paper and the sentiment strip... check! Red base... check! OK, beads. I don't really "do" beads, but yet I had a big assortment set of little micro-beads in my stash. One of those things I "acquired" a loooong time ago figuring I'd try them out and I don't think I had ever used them. So I pulled out the red ones, and painstakingly hand-sewed them on as the little "berries" on the branches in the stamped image. Beads... check! I'm so proud!

It's always good to get outside of your comfort zone now and then, creatively speaking. Sometimes you might even find something new that you like. This time, I did NOT! I did learn, however, that I don't like working with beads. And I guess that's good to know!

Thanks for the great challenge, Ted!

my newest obsession: Papertrey Ink

So, I recently discovered this amazing company/site for stamps and stamping supplies, Papertrey Ink. When I asked my scrappy/stamping friends who had heard of it and why they never told me about it, one responded: "We didn't tell you because we love you, and we don't want to get you kicked out of your house." VERY good point, my friend! I have quickly fallen head over heels in love with PTI's stamps and ink, and I plan to start collecting as much of it as I can! I've received one order so far, and am anxiously (read: "impatiently!") awaiting my second order, with some awesome goodies from their recent May release! (In the meantime, I have started to accumulate a lengthy wishlist! After all, they've been around for a few years... I have a lot of catching up to do! )

So anyway... the point of this post is not to simply gush about PTI, but to share some of the cards I've made as I've been getting acquainted with the goodies in my first order! This first one uses their Through the Trees set, and Fresh Snow and Pure Poppy ink. I have looked and looked for a good white ink, and never been happy with the options out there. But now, I have found one that works!


This next one is pretty simple, using Turning a New Leaf, Fresh Snow ink again, and the sentiment is from Through the Trees.

This this last one, I used the leaves from Turning a New leaf again, and used the Round and Round 2009 anniversary set. This is a limited edition set that was only available as a purchase bonus last year, but there are a number of people on the PTI forum who earned multiple sets. I was lucky enough to purchase a set from a forum member - this is such a wonderful set! The sentiment is from an Inkadinkadoo set that I've had for a while, and I added the 3 little gems from Creative Charms to dress up that cute little butterfly a bit!


As you can see, I'm having lots of fun with my PTI goodies! Expect to see a lot more stamping from me in the foreseeable future!

daydream every day

I just loved this photo of my little Tyler, caught sitting under a tree on a beautiful spring day. The page, features Bo Bunny Flower Child. This line is just GORGEOUS! And so versatile - I might not have thought that a line called "flower child" would be the best choice for a boy page, lol, but with the double-sided sheets and great variety of patterns, it was perfect! I love the bold colors and patterns.

I gave my craft knife a workout, cutting the pattern from flower child for the cool border effect, and layered a scrap of red from the back side underneath for the great contrast. The Psychedelic Die Cut provides most of my background, but I cut the right edge off to add the border and journaling elements.

I stamped the "perfect moment" caption in the circle of the paper pattern using some Post-it notes to "mask" the edge of the circle. I love the effect!

You can see the sketch for this page on the Allyscraps blog!

Journaling:
A beautiful spring day...
...the shade of a perfect tree...
...a blade of grass to contemplate.
What a wonderful time for a daydream.

BIG giveaway!

Life Preservers Kit Club is hosting an AMAZING giveaway. A HUGE giveaway. You can have a chance to win their May Mega Kit plus some awesome Creative Charms Vintage Poppies products. The May Mega Kit features My Mind's Eye Little Boy Blue and Crate Paper's Brook. Here is what is included in the kit:

• 4 Sheets MME Pattern Papers (3 are double side and one is a die cut)
• MME Alphabets
• MME Accessory Sticker Sheet
• MME Tickets
• MME Sticker Sheet
• 4 Sheets Crate Paper Brook
• Crate Paper Brook Journal Sticker Sheet
• Crate Paper Chipboard Sheet
• 8 Sheets Bazzill
• 2 Yards May Arts Premium Ribbon
• 4 Creative Charms Vintage Poppies Embellishments
  

To see the entire kit go to: Life Preservers May Mega Kit.

To win just leave a comment on the Creative Charms blog! GOOD LUCK!

do this in memory of me

I'm so happy to be guest designing this month at Allyscraps! If you haven't seen it yet, there is a May 1 Sketch Challenge posted with one of my sketches. You still have a few days to get your entry in for that great prize!

Check out my post today for the "3-in-1" sketch that goes with the layout above! I just love the wonderful new Bella Blvd. Estate Sale line, and it was perfect for these pictures from Ryan's First Holy Communion from last year. Yes, it's true... there is a hint of pink on this page, a real rarity for me when scrapping the boys, LOL! But I thought it was just subtle enough to complement the pinks in the stained glass window and the alter flowers on the large photo! :)

Journaling:
Your 2nd grade class had been preparing virtually all year for this big day – your First Holy Communion. What a milestone on your journey of faith. Daddy and I pray that as you grow, your faith will always be a strong and guiding principle in all that you do. May you forever find strength in the grace of God’s love and mercy.