Tulip Spray Birthday

This is another birthday card using Basic Grey Sweet Pea/Alyssa scraps from my table. The tulips are from The Angel Company's Floral Trio and the sentiment is Stamping Sensations' Thoughts Just for You #2. The tulips are colored with Copic markers RV32, RV34, G21, G24 and the ribbon is YR23.

A Little Whimsy Birthday

I was trying to use up some scraps that were laying on my desk, in an effort to actually see the surface. One of the things I had laying on the desk was the scalloped panel I created in the spring as part of my trade for Rita's gathering. These were the ones that were made to go with the ice cream punch design I was demoing, and there were some extras left over. After looking in my collection, I thought it would be fun to match it up with some other scraps of paper from TAC's A Little Whimsy paper collection. This is what I came up with.



The cake is from TAC's Let's Party set, colored with Copic markers. The cake is E57, and E59 with frosting in R83 and R85. The candles are YG11 and YG61, and YR32 and YR38 with a hint of Orange Peel Stickles. The scalloped panel comes from the Preserves Cricuit cartridge, amended in size on the Gypsy and then run through the Cuttlebug for embossing. The right side of the card was scored on the Scor-Pal.

Hang In There

A former co-worker (who is now a client) recently got a promotion at her job. She's understandably a little nervous, since the new position has a LOT more responsibility, although I'm sure she can tackle it with flying colors. This is the card I made for her to let her know that I'm thinking of her, and that even though it's a daunting job, I know she can do it.



This card uses The Angel Company's retired Four Fab Frogs set. I colored the image panel with Copic markers. The frog is in G21, G24, G28, YR20 and YR23. The branch is E57 and E59 and the stippled sky is BG10 and BG11. The frog's eyes are also BG11. The "hang in there" sentiment is from Stamin' Up's old Mini Mates stamp set.

Sweet Pea Garden Card

One of my favorite attorneys in my office had a big birthday the other day. Her assistant was making a big deal out of it with a gift on the 15th of each month preceding the actual birthday on July 15th, things like a gift certificate to get her nails done one month, and flowers on another. I don't remember what all. She wanted to culminate it with cards from everyone in the office. This is the card I made for her.



It uses Paper Trey's Sweat Pea stamp colored with Copic markers. The flowers are RV02 and RV04, the leaves are G21 and G24 and the background is B0000, B00. All of which is blended with the colorless 0 Blender which was laid down before the coloring began on each section. The green paper is from a St. Patrick's Day collection that a friend gave me, and the border is punched with a Martha Stewart border punch.

The inside of the cards uses a sentiment from DRS and a scrap of the green paper punched again with the Martha Stewart border punch.

Kindergarten Graduation Card

We were invited to a shared graduation party last weekend for a girl exiting 8th grade and one that completed kindergarten. For the younger girl, I made the following card.



The bear comes from The Angel Company's retired Birthday Bear stamp set. To make it graduation worthy I drew in the cap and the diploma, which was an awesome suggestion given to me by my Create A Bunch at Lunch group.

The bear is colored with Copic Markers E: 25, 29 and 35 and the red is R24 and 27 and the shadow is C1. The border on the side is a Fiskars punch, Treading Water, and I used a star button punch to punch stars where the original circles were.

Miranda

This card is one I made with my new Whiff of Joy stamp, Miranda. I made the card because I felt like coloring, but the image was so big, I wasn't sure how I was going to like it. I matched it up to some scraps I had of The Angel Company's A Little Whimsy collection and once it was finished, it turned out to be one of my favorites. When it took it into The Art House for the sale rack, the owner there really liked it too. In fact, I think she might have bought it for herself right after I left. If it's there when I stop in next time, I'll be surprised.



Miranda is colored with Copics (of course) Skin: E000, E00, E01, Jeans: B00, B01, B02, Shirt: R83 and R85, Flowers: RV23, RV25 and RV29 (with Crystal Lacquer on top of the flowers to give them some dimension), Leaves and Grass: YG11, YG61 and YG63, Headband: V20 and V25, Hair: E23, E25, E27 and E29 and Wings C00 and C01.

Little Art Girl

In March, a friend and I went to Ohio to visit another friend and attend the Adventures in Stamping Expo. We did LOTS of shopping and took some classes, and I helped my friends prepare for the Copic class they were giving. Amazingly enough, we also had some time to play. Not a lot, but at least a little.

While we were playing, I stamped off this image from one of my friends' stamps and colored her in. This girl reminds me of so many I know, including myself, that love to sit and draw. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with the image over all, perhaps nothing. I may just keep her in my art room as a reminder.



My little art girl is colored with Copic markers. her hair is E27, E25 & E23, her skin is E00, E000, E0000 & E11, the jeans are B34, B37 and B00 with the the colorless blender 00 to lighten, the cuffs are B34 & B91, her shoes are C3, C5, C7 & C9, the shadows are C00 and C02 and the pencils and cup are Y35, and &38.

In Honor of Our Military

I was playing with some papers this weekend to create some masculine cards for my CBL Club. One of the paper collections I was looking at was The Angel Company's Just Like Dad paper. I had a general idea in mind, and was just putting the papers together. I gave my husband the choice of several and one he picked was a camouflage paper, because he was in military mode. When I started making the card, the camo paper didn't really work, so I didn't use it. But since we were both thinking of our military, I made this card with the camo paper instead.



The stamp is one my Mom got for me from a Stamping Up party. It's colored with copic markers. Skin: E000, E00 & E01. Uniform: YG11, YG13 & YG93, Water: BOO & B95, Flag: B95 & R24. When I put it next to the paper, the colored panel looked a little too bright, so I toned it down by stippling Tim Holtz's Vintage Photo Distress Ink on it.

Pretty Lillies

This is a card I made a few months ago, when I just felt like coloring. The stamps are Stamping Sensations Botanical Collection #1. I used Copic markers to color the image, but I didn't write down the numbers this time. The ribbon is from The Angel Company's Mimi collection, and has been accented with some Gold Stickles.



My mom saw the card right after I made it and wanted it for a friend, so it was put to good use even before this post.

A Little Bubbly

On the train on the way home the other day, I was talking to one of the girls from my Create-A-Bunch at Lunch class. She was talking about how a friend of hers was doing a church retreat, and about how she was supposed to write a "note of encouragement" for her to read while she was there. We got to talking about how nice it is to receive a random uplifting note. Then we were saying, wouldn't it be nice if we sent some of the cards we made during lunch to each other just as a pick-me-up, to tell the others in the group "you rock!".

Almost the next day, one of the other girls from our lunch club was talking about how she thought she was going to finish this huge project that really had her stretched to her limit, and about how she was so ready to go home and get drunk when it was all done. So I made her this card to congratulate her on completing her project and to say I recognized how hard she worked on it, and could sympathize, having just finished a few of those types of projects myself recently.



This card uses stamps I got in a stamp store in Wichita, Kansas. I remember loving the champagne bottle as soon as I saw it, but it's managed to sit in my stash unused until now. The bottle is colored with Copic markers. The bottle is G24, G28 and G29, the label is E40 and E41 and the top is E51, E53 and E55. The background is stamped in Charcoal Palette ink, and then stippled with the very fittingly titled, Champagne Encore ink.

Magnolia Wedding Card

This card is the wedding card I made for the bride and groom from one of my earlier posts. We were supposed to attend the wedding, but there was a perfect storm of things happening that night. It was a Friday, and there was a big storm that delayed all the trains home from work. Once that passed, and we got home, our car broke down on the way to the reception. Fortunately, the bride was able to move from place to place between storms and didn't get wet; we just didn't get to see her in her beautiful gown, and had to give her her card later.

This card wasn't nearly as fast as the one from my previous post, but it is one I'm really proud of. This is my first time coloring a black image, and for that matter, a white image, with Copic markers.



The tux was colored using C1, 3, 5, 7 & 9, and the Ivory on the wedding dress is E40 and 41.

The stamp is the wedding couple from Magnolia.

Welcome New Angel

Last month I had a new angel sign up under me, and I know she likes the look of Copic markers. So to welcome her, I made this card using The Angel Company's Wonder and Joy stamp set and our new Emma paper. The girl is colored with Copic markers: Hair and pants - E51, E53 & E55, Top - R22, R24 & R27. Skin - E0000, E000, E00 and E01 and the flower pot and seat under her are R89 with the blender. The background shape is cut with Nestabilities Labels Three and is the reverse side of the flowered paper. The sentiment on the tag from the Emma collection is from Tag Tidbits. There are a few accents with Cinnamon Stickles and ribbon from the Hemmingway collection.

Slightly Offensive Hedgehogs

As I said in some prior posts, I didn't go to seminar this year, but I did get a chance to have some of that seminar fun when I visited my friend Chelsea in Rockford at the beginning of August. My husband's band, Slightly Offensive, was playing a private party in Rockford, and I contacted Chelsea and asked if she'd be free to stamp that day. She invited me over to her house and showed me all the projects and stamp sets that the attendees to seminar got this year, and shared some of the fun stories as well. One was about a discussion of the hedgehogs in TAC's Oh Happy Day stamp set from Page 54 of the catalogue. Someone pointed out that the leaf of the flower the male hedgehog is giving the female hedgehog was drawn in such a way that you would have to be sure to color it green, otherwise it might look like a hedgehog appendage. Barb Foster then dared Chelsea to create some cards using the hedgehogs and not coloring the leaf green (if you know what I mean). The result was a blog post from Chelsea that put me in a fit of giggles. I can't believe I missed it when it was posted originally. Chelsea and I had so much fun laughing over that post that I was inspired to create a few risque hedgehogs of my own. I colored them at Chelsea's and then brought them home to make cards with. Mine can't hold a candle to hers, but they were still lots of fun to make.

Growing Love



This card I titled while I was still at Chelsea's. The hedgehogs are colored with Copic markers. He is V-12, V-15 & V-17, and she is V-06 and V-09. The glowing background is Y00. The flower is also colored with V-09 to match. The image panel is cut with Nestabilities Small Labels and the shadow is from Large Labels. I embossed flowers into the purple panel at the bottom and highlighted with Crystal Stickles. The sentiment is printed on the computer.


I'm Not Bad, I'm Just Drawn That Way



This pair is colored with Copic colors E71 and 74 for him, and E43 and 44 for her. Her cheeks and bow are colored with RV32 and the flowers are colored with Y38. The background and tag are from the Woodrowe Keepsake Album Kit. I cut the hedgehogs with the Labels 2 Nestabilities, and typed up the saying on the computer. The question mark is from The Angel Company's Simple-Bet and is gone over in Cinnamon Stickles, which I also used to accent the rest of the card.

P.S. My husband informed me that he named the hedgehog "Woody".

Batty Good

This card is made using The Angel Company's Batty Good stamp set. I just think these guys are so cute, and this card came together rather quickly once I had the sketch idea.

The bats are colored with Copic markers C5, C7 and C9 and the moon is colored with YR21, YR 23 & YR24. I traced around them and cut them out by hand. I punched a hole out of the orange paper with the Super Jumbo Clever Lever punch and nestled the bats up to the cut-out. The ribbon came from Target's $1 section last fall and went perfectly with the self-stick black rhinestones a friend introduced me to. Everything was a little too clean, so I stippled some black ink around the edges of the orange.

Halloween Witch

This is another card I made when I was playing with The Angel Company's Spiders are Seen stamp set last week. The image panel is colored with Copic markers YG03, YG06, YR08, Y17 and BV08. I went over the dress and made the buttons on the boots with the colored (not clear) Stardust Glittering Pens to give it some shine. The image panel was cut using Nestabilities Labels Three dies, with a Giga Scalloped square in between to give it a different look. The right corners were punched with Martha Stewart's Bat corner punch, and some patterned paper and buttons I had lying around were used to complete the left-hand side.

Sweet Peas

Here is one of the cards I made when I was visiting Chelsea last month. I did all of the coloring at her house, and then had one big bout of stamper's block when I brought it home to make into the actual card. Fortunately for me, the retirement card from my last post seemed to have cured the stamper's block and also provided me with the perfect background paper for the image.

The stamp is from Papertrey Ink that I picked up when I went to the CHA consumer show, and has made me somewhat of a convert. When I was talking to someone about acrylic stamps and how I have so much trouble with them, and much prefer rubber stamps that use the cling-mount system, she said that she felt the same way, and that Papertrey was one of the very few companies she felt made acrylic stamps that gave quality images when stamped. Now that I've tried them, I have to say I agree. So, while I am sure that I won't prefer acrylic stamps over all to real rubber, I have at least found a company that makes some acrylic stamps that make a good impression.

Now back to the card credits. The stamp is Papertrey's Year of Flowers: Sweat Peas set, colored with Copic markers: RV10, RV13, Y0000, Y11, YG11 & YG13. The green pattern behind the image panel is from DCWV's The Blossoms & Butterflies Stack that my friend Yuki gave me when she visited in July, and the background is the Core'dinations Garden Gate paper from the Whitewash collection. I added a little pink ribbon and some gems to the top and bottom to balance it out a bit.

Spiders are Seen

This is the first card I've made using The Angel Company's Spiders are Seen stamp set. The purple spiderweb paper is left over from last year's stash of paper, and the green is from TAC's Angelee paper collection. The webs in the stamped image are highlighted with clear glitter pen to mimic the paper, and the legs are colored with Copic Markers G21 and V17. I punched the spiderweb borders with the Martha Stewart spiderweb border punch, and added a splash with some polka-dot ribbon and a few gems that I colored with the V17 Copic marker.

Blossoms and Blessings

My first "must have" stamp set from the recently published Angel Company catalogue. As soon as I saw samples posted online from girls at seminar, I knew this was one that I had to get. Of course, with plans in place for the new house, I didn't get a chance to purchase it immediately, but lucky for me my friend Chelsea - Catalogue Designer Extraordinaire (see Chelsea's Creative Corner blog on my sidebar) had me over to play a few weeks ago, and she let me use her Blossoms and Blessings set to make this card.



It's an acetate card, with the daisies stamped in White Opaque Staz On and the inside sporting a black panel to set off the white blossoms. The flower on the peach panel was colored with Copic markers





I haven't played with acetate in a while, but it was a lot of fun, so you may see more coming.

Blast From The Past Blog Hop

I'm kind of excited. This is my very first official Blog Hop - The Taylored Expressions' Blast From The Past Blog Hop. Our challenge was to pull out any Taylored Expressions stamp set that was released prior to March, 2010. I LOOOOOVED this Berries and Cherries set from the minute I saw it and figured it would be the perfect stamp for a summer hop.

This is the card I made using this set when I was helping to man a booth at a crop. We were demonstrating Copic markers and I spent a good part of the afternoon working on the shading of the strawberries to show some of the girls what could be done with Copics. Unfortunately I got all the way to the end and the C1 I was using bled out a big grey spot at the corner of the strawberry basket when I went to add the shadow, so I had to do some quick thinking to save it. I ended up cutting the image out with my Labels 1 Nestabilities die and masking off the strawberries so I could spray some Tattered Angels mist around the edge. Since I was working while I was "working" I wasn't thinking to write down things like the paper collection or the Copic colors I used, so I can't give any credits for anything but the stamps.



Here is a close-up of the strawberries:



To see the ideas other hop participants came up with, click on the link below.

Purple Princess

My husband and I got invited to a birthday party for his new band mates' daughters this afternoon. Tom asked if I would make cards for the girls (there are 2 of them celebrating this weekend). One of the birthday girls is going to be 5, so I decided to use my new princess Magnolia to make her a card.



The patterned paper is from Provo Craft's Slab XI. I bought the princess in Ohio when we visited a couple of weeks ago. She's colored with Copic markers RV91, RV93, RV95, E0000, E000 E00, E11, E21, E27 and E29. Her crown is done with the Gelly Roll Clear Glitter Pen. The sentiment is done with The Angel Company's Trendy Greetings stamp set.