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.

Father's Day Camping Card

This is a card I made using my Camping stamp set from The Angel Company (paired with Taylored Expressions' Boys Will Be Boys stamp set for the #1 Dad sentiment). I've had the Camping set for a while, but I could never figure out what I wanted to do with it. Finally, I decided to use it for my Ohio Gathering swap (before I found out that it was supposed to be an ATC). So this is my first attempt with this set. Nothing fancy, just solid papers, Burnt Umber and Jardin Moss Palette Ink and Walnut Distress Stickles, but I thought it turned out nice. And I know a guy that it would be perfect for.

Mr. Happy Camper doesn't read my blog, I'm sure, but some blog followers should know who I'm talking about.

Rockin Birthday Card

On Sunday I made cards for Tom's band mates' daughters birthdays. The purple princess in my last post was for the 5 year old. This one was for the 13 year old, and is definitely geared to the teen lifestyle.



The stamp set it Taylored Expressions' My Hero set, with the background stamped in Claret and Seascape Palette ink and the singer and sentiment are stamped in Black Momento ink. The paper is from the Die Cuts With a View Rock Queen Mat Stack. Who would have thought that skulls and lightning bolts would be put together with paisleys? Stars were cut with a punch and the Stars Nestabilities.

Lets Go Blackhawks!

The Blackhawks have returned to Chicago in their quest for the Stanley Cup and the puck will be dropping soon! Hopefully they'll win the next two games to end it, because I don't think my nerves can take a 7th game.

A friend of mine got some Blackhawk nail decals on e-Bay and shared them with me. Here are my nails, ready to support the home team (I've got them on my toes too). Lets Go Blackhawks!!!!!!

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.

Chocolate Covered Congrats

I have a very good friend, who is a wonderful and creative artist in so many ways. For years her talent has been overlooked, but she was recently asked to be a designer for a stamp company. She'll be doing cards that will be sent to stores as samples, and used in ads both in print and online. I am so excited for her, because she really deserves the recognition, so I made this card for her and gave it to her with a box of chocolate covered cherries.

The card is textured on the right-hand side using the Scor Pal, and the diamonds I created were then accented with chalk painted on with chalk enhancer, and the bling is provided by Waterfall Stickles. The sentiment is from The Angel Company's Label Lingo, and the chocolate covered cherry image and surrounding red circle are from Taylored Expression's Berries and Cherries stamp set.

The cherry was colored using Copic markers E00, E09, E18 and E37, with the stem done in G24 and G28.

Another Quick Neutral Birthday Card

A few months ago, I posted a birthday card that my create a bunch at lunch club did. After those classes I usually have some leftovers. I'm finally getting around to putting some of those leftovers to good use. This is a card I made with most of the same materials as that previous post, but I picked a different pattern from the Kaleidoscope Boyz paper collection, and I turned the sketch 90 degrees.