Green Tea (with Chocolate and Aqua)

Our hostess for this week's smARTworks Design Team Tea Party is Susan T., and she decided on a color challenge. Our instructions were to "use chocolate/brown, lime/chartreuse, and aqua/teal" and "have fun". Not much of a challenge...I love those colors and stamping is always fun! So for me, this turned out to be one of those really great parties where you know everyone and you can all just hang out and be yourselves. And what could be more fun than that? Thanks, Susan!

Here's my version of chocolate, lime, and aqua. I stamped the smARTworks Floating image onto pale aqua cardstock with Chestnut Roan Fluid Chalk Ink and highlighted the edge and part of the image with Prismacolor pencils. I matted that with chocolate brown cardstock and added some green ribbon. The beaded embellishment is actually a favor from my stepdaughter's wedding. It's a wine glass charm...you just bend the wire around the stem of the glass. It doesn't show well in this photo, but there's a little dragonfly charm on the end. The green paper and the printed paper are from the Basic Grey Mellow 6x6 pad. The printed paper wasn't quite blue enough for my taste, so I used a Lt. Cerulean Blue Prismacolor marker to add a blue shadow around the green mat.

We'd love it if you'd join us at one of these tea parties! If you make a card, leave a comment telling us where it's posted so that we can give it the admiration it so richly deserves. And don't forget to look for the cards from the other Cookies throughout the day. Dina, Susan T., Heidi, and Trish will all have cards to show off (Susan L. was too busy this week, but she'll be back next time.)

Here, Kitty, Kitty

This card proves that I'm just a little bit crazy. I did a whole lot of masking to make those background panels. I had to cut several of each cat, and if that weren't bad enought, I kept decided that I needed to add more to the background. After I had removed the masks. Sheesh!

I can't even remember what I used for ink, so we'll just leave it as assorted blue inks and cardstock. The stamps are Red Castle Cats, Cats, Cats and Tactile Impressions available by the sheet from Starving Artistamps. The scalloped rectangle, which is actually two squares put together, was cut on my Cuttlebug using a Nestabilites die.

I had a fun and relaxing weekend...mostly just hanging around the house playing in my room. How was your weekend? I hope you got to do some stamping!

My Kind of Saturday

I did a little bit of cleaning this morning, so now I feel positively entitled to play with my stamps and fool around with my blog. Yup. My kind of Saturday!

This card is my version of Sketch Challenge 164 over at Splitcoast Stampers. I did most of it a couple of days ago, but it didn't seem balanced. I added the gold diecuts in the corners this morning, and I'm happier with it now.

The waterlily is a stamp from smARTworks called Floating. I stamped it with Black Stazon on white cardstock, and then proceeded to mess up a couple of Technique Junkie techniques over top of it. First I did an Opalite Infusion of sorts with Pearl-Ex Blue/Gold ink and SU Classic Always Artichoke. The technique involves layering the ink direct to paper, but my Pearl-Ex ink pad is getting pretty dry, so I didn't have much success. There is some subtle shimmer though, so not a total loss. So next, I thought I'd do Cracked Glass over the top to intensity the colors and the shimmer. Everything was going just fine until I cracked the glass. The EP pulled away from the paper and looked cloudy and just plain yucky next to the black parts of the design. Sigh. I tried the cracking twice, and finally just ended up reheating the EP and leaving it smooth. I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes!

I plan to do a bunch of stamping today, so I'll be back tomorrow. Hope you're enjoying your kind of Saturday just like I am!

Glitter and Shine

I bought some alcohol inks a few months ago, and I've been completely fascinated with them since then. I always thought they would be messy to work with, but that's not the case...they are nothing but pure fun! I sat down the other day and made up a bunch of Polished Stone pieces to have on hand, and I've used them all up already. Darn. I'll have to make some more!

For this card, I overstamped the Polished Stone with the Starving Artistamps Ornate Tooled Leather Background and cut it out with a scalloped rectangle Nestabilities die. The butterfly image is also from Starving Artistamps. (Don't forget...you can get a 10% discount at Starving Artistamps. Click on the icon over to the right to find out how!) I stamped it with black pigment ink, embossed it with black EP, and then used a Quickie glue pen and ultra fine glitter to color in the open areas. The orange background panel is Cuttlebug embossed.

Hang in there, the it's almost Friday!

Sisterhood Collage

Every two months we do a design team challenge at smARTworks. Susan sends us all the same stamps with no instruction other than to make "something". The hardest part about the challenge is to keep our work secret until we are all finished.

This was my entry for the latest challenge using the Sisterhood stamp. This time around we all went in very different directions so be sure to check out the other entries.

As for my card, I stamped the image with Ranger Walnut Distress Ink and then colored it with Prismacolor pencils. It doesn't show in this photo, but I highlighted the crowns and butterfly with a clear glaze pen. The printed paper is from the Basic Grey Scarlet's letter collection.

But wait...there's more!

I still have a backlog of cards to show you, so here are a couple more. This first one uses another stamp from the Red Castle Canary sheet and a sentiment from the Sun Spirit Studio Greetings set; both are available at Starving Artistamps. This time, I colored my canary to look like a purple finch (or so I hope). I used a Technique Junkie Technique called Penciled Twinks. The technique uses watercolor pencils and Twinkling H2O's and is cool, cool, cool! If you're a Junkie, you'll know that this technique can be found in this month's newsletter. If you're not a Junkie, well, why not? It's serious fun!

Anyway, back to the card. The background paper is from the Basic Grey Infuse collection and the brad is Deja Vues from the Global Views collection.

Now, this next card is very regal don't you think? I have cleverly named it "Her Royal Hiney", and yes, I'm just cracking myself up with that! That background is Polished Stone using Wild Plum, Slate, and gold alcohol ink. I stamped over the Polished Stone using the Starving Artistamps Ornate Tooled Leather background with Brilliance Graphite Black ink. I also highlighted some areas with gold glitter pen for just a bit more bling. Her Hiney is from the Red Castle Cats, Cats, Cats sheet, also from Starving Artistamps. I colored her in with Twinkling H20 paint, added a gold dot border and then embossed the whole black panel with clear embossing powder.

Saturday Extravaganza

After the last couple of weeks, I have lots of catching up to do!

I'll start by showing off the Sunflower painting (teacher's design) I just finished in my art class. It's done in Prismacolor pencils on Stonehenge paper and measures about 8" x 10". Although some people call these pieces drawings, I prefer to think of the process as painting. And besides...I can't draw. So this MUST be a painting!

OK. Now on to some cards! These are from a batch that I'm working on for Starving Artistamps. The stamps are by Red Castle, and they are available at Starving Artistamps. The first card uses one of the images from the Canary sheet (I painted the canary to look like a goldfinch using my Derwent watercolor pencils) and a couple of images from the Seed Series I sheet.

This next card was super easy to put together. To make the left-hand panel, I inked up one side of a Cuttlebug embossing folder with green dye ink and then embossed a piece of handmade paper. For the right-hand panel, I randomly stamped some images from the Red Castle Tactile Impressions sheet. The bottom panel is a scrap of Basic Grey paper. For the flower I stacked up some mulberry Prima flowers, and just to add a bit of interest and texture, I stamped a couple of them with the Tactile Impressions stamps before I secured the stack with a brad.

Alright...I guess that's good for now. I don't want to overload you guys! Enjoy your Saturday.

10% Discount at Starving Artistamps!

Starving Artistamps has tons of new images, and I’ve got a sweet little deal to offer you. Enter the code savetenDD in the discount code box in the shopping cart and you’ll get 10% off all DoodleFactory and Starving Artistamps rubber stamps in your order. Place your items into the shopping cart, enter the code, and click Recalculate -- you should see the discount come up for each applicable line item. And now, here’s the important part: if you do not see the discount applied immediately, stop and contact Tracey at mailto:strvingartistmp@aol.com. Do not finalize your order or your card will be charged the amount shown. This discount cannot be combined with any other offer.

It's Time for Tea Again!

I had a wonderful time last week at the gem shows and came back with heavy luggage and a light wallet. I've got lots of stuff to share with you all, but right now, it's time for tea with the smART Cookies.

This time around, we've decided not to limit ourselves to sketches, and since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, the challenge I chose for my fellow Cookies was to make a Valentine. Here's my card using the Heart Duos #3 and My Heart sets from smARTworks. The striped paper is Basic Grey Blush 6x6 and the rest is from my scrap pile. I'm pretty sure all of the other Cookies will be participating, so look for their posts throughout the day (links to all of the smARTworks design team blogs are over to the right).

I'll be back soon with more stuff. In the meantime, have a great day!

Whew! I need a vacation...

…and I’m taking one starting tomorrow! I’ll be spending the rest of the week in sunny and warm Tucson, Arizona at the Jewelry Gem and Mineral Show. I’ve never been before, and I have no idea what to expect, except that I’m expecting to have a blast!

While I’m gone why not check out some very cool specials at my favorite stamp companies?

Starving Artistamps has tons of new images coming out, and I’ve got a sweet little deal to offer you. Enter the code donadis in the discount code box in the shopping cart and you’ll get 10% off your order. Place your items into the shopping cart, enter the code, and click Recalculate -- you should see the discount come up for each line item. And now, here’s the important part: if you do not see the discount applied immediately, stop and contact Tracey at mailto:strvingartistmp@aol.com. Do not finalize your order or your card will be charged the amount shown. This discount cannot be combined with any other offer.

smARTworks also has a couple of nice specials. This month’s Spotlight Special features the adorable Kitty Friends set and the Time, Life, Friendship sentiment set at a discounted price with free shipping. Also, brand new this month is the Overstock Central page where all stamps are 50% off. Overstock supplies are limited of course, so don’t miss out!

Have a fun week, and I’ll see you when I get back!

The best laid plans...

I knew I was going to have a very busy week last week, and I had all kinds of plans as to how I was still going to get everything done. I did try, but by Wednesday my plan was out the window and all I could do was try to manage my priorities. As you can see, in the grand scheme of things, my blog didn't make my Priority Top Ten. Ah well...something had to give. It was a very good week though since I was busy doing good things: we made excellent progress and accomplished a major milestone on a project I'm involved with at work, I got some new furniture for my house (somebody pinch me!), and I finished the colored pencil project I've been working on in my art class.

I'll post the colored pencil painting eventually, but for right now I need to post a card. I missed the smARTworks tea party this week, and that makes me sad because I've been enjoying them so much. Our challenge, issued by Dina, was to make a matchbook card. I never did have time to make a card, but here's one I made last year. It's a card that I still love and can't part with. The technique is Serendipity, which you can find on Splitcoast Stampers, and the stamps are from the Heart Duos #3 set from smARTworks. I glued the serendipity squares to a piece of patterned paper and added some red and green Stickles dots for extra glitz.

Have a wonderful Saturday! I'm headed off to my rubber room right now. I seem to have a couple of hours before I need to start running around again.