What was I Thinking?

I decided that it was high time that I replace my clunker of a PC with a bright and shiney new laptop. While I was at it, and because I had both my Economic Stimulus check and my bonus from work burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to replace my printer with a slick new wireless one, upgrade my digital camera AND buy Adobe Photoshop Elements.

You'd think that with all that technology at my disposal I'd be making twice as many posts with gorgeous graphics. Um, no. Now I have to figure out how to use all this stuff! I've pretty much got the wireless network up and running. The laptop is functional, but I'm still in the process of transferring my files and software. I played with the camera a little bit, but I have so much more to learn. It's a Nikon CoolPix (10.1 MP with 18x optical zoom) and I can already tell that IT ROCKS, so hopefully my pictures will get better. My printer is still in the box.

Anyway, long story long, please bear with me while I finish my upgrades. I'm hoping to have things restored to some semblance of order by the end of the week. Then, maybe I can start making those incredibly polished posts with gorgeous photography. I might even be able to put together a tutorial or two.

In the meantime, here's a card that I made last weekend. The stamps are from The Cat's Pajamas It's a Mod, Mod World, and my primary reason for making this card was to play with my new Copic markers. Clearly I could use a bit more practice. Unlike playing the clarinet, however, coloring with Copics is fun, so I'll make sure I get plenty of practice. The printed paper is from the Basic Grey Cupcake 6x6 pad.

See you in a few days!

Yippee, It's Raining!

And that means I don't have to do any more weeding today! Man, do I hate weeding. It's so much work, and you're never really done...just like cleaning. A condo with a housekeeper is sounding better and better to me. Just as soon as I win Lotto!

Ok...about the card. I made this one last night for this week's sketch challenge over on Splitcoast Stampers. Would you believe this card took 2 hours? Yeah, that's long even for me. I agonized over the colors forever. I knew what I wanted to use, but I didn't have the right color ink. This is nothing like the card I set out to make, but I do kind of like it. The stamps are from The Cat's Pajamas It's a Mod, Mod World. The inks are all Brilliance: Cosmic Copper, Lightning Black, and Pearlescent Sky Blue. Paper is from my huge scrap pile. The scrap I used for the background has a white core, so I sanded it after embossing to highlight the pattern. That's it. Should have taken 10 minutes!

Enjoy your day...hope you're not weeding or cleaning!

Where's Waldo?

Can you find the stamped image on this card?

It's the small butterfly (Starving Artistamps). Other than a few scraps of plain cardstock, the rest of the design is made up from printed paper and rub-ons from the Prima Eire paper collection. I added some Stickles and a piece of ribbon and Voila!...quick and easy card!

If you happen to be in Hartford, CT July 12 and 13 at the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo, you can get a sweet deal on Prima paper at the Starving Artistamps booth. You can also say hey to Tracey (she's really cool), stock up on Doodle Factory stuff (way cool), see all of the Design Team sample cards (so cool they're worth driving quite a ways for), and maybe even meet me (pretty cool herself)!

Hope to see you there!

Last Tea Party of the Season

We're taking a break for the summer, so this will be the last Tea Party for a little bit. To make this party extra special, we all brought some virtual treats with us. There's biscotti, Pecan Tassie's, fancy sandwiches, and all kinds of fattening stuff. Or at least it would be if it actually existed. Maybe we're on to something here!

The card part of the challenge, comes from Trish: use brown, white and one other color. And, make it shimmer. Cool! I really enjoyed this one, Trish. Thanks!

It's such a shame that you can't see all of the glimmer and shimmer on this card in the photo. I took about 12 pics, but none of them captured it. Oh well, you just have to add you own sparkle!

The stamps I used are from the smARTworks Home set and a partial stamping of one of the sentiments in the Above and Beyond set.

For the background panel, I misted a piece of green cardstock with some homemade glimmer spray. I just mixed about a tablespoon of water, a couple drops of walnut stain ink, and about a quarter teaspoon of Perfect Pearls (pearl white) in a spray bottle (I got the recipe from this thread on Splitcoast Stampers). The spray toned down the color and added a lovely all-over shimmer. After the paper dried, I ran it through my Cuttlebug and then used a Brilliance Moonlight White ink pad to highlight the embossing.

The main image panel started off as a piece of Aged Parchment from the latest Technique Junkies Newsletter. I stamped the house image with Timber Brown Stazon ink and then colored it using the Penciled Twinks technique, also from Technique Junkies. In keeping with Trish's challenge I limited myself to watercolor pencils in shades of green, brown, and white, and used green shimmery watercolor paint to blend the pencil. I really wish you could see the shimmer in person.

Well, I've got to say...I'm going to miss these Tea Parties, and I hope you've enjoyed them as much as I have. Make sure you take a look at the cards the other Cookies came up with because they are oh so nice! Just use the links on the sidebar to the right.

Well, I'm off to have some virtual tea and cookies. See you later!

Are You a Quilter?

If so, you might be interested in the patterns I have posted on my ImageEvent site:

Applique Sampler Blocks











New York Beauty Blocks











Enjoy!

Ugh...Another Monday

Monday came around way too fast this week. On top of that, it's chilly and grey and rainy. And on top of that the air conditioning is cranking in my office and my feet are freezing. And on top of that I'm having a bad hair day. Sheesh!

So what could make this day better? How about a shimmery card with bright colors, sunflowers and a cheerful sentiment? There...that's better already!

I know you can't see it in the pic, but this card really is shimmery. I used the Opalite Color Infusion technique from Technique Junkies, which gives the sunflower panel an all-over irridescent shimmer. The stamps are from the smARTworks Sunflower set.

Happy Father's Day

My DH is celebrating Father's Day by doing absolutely nothing much other than watching golf. Good for him! While he's taking it easy, I'm doing some laundry and playing in my craft room.

Here's a card I made using some Starving Artistamps and a couple of Technique Junkies techniques: Textured Watercolors from the latest newsletter and Cracked Glass. The layout for this card comes from Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge SC180.

Enjoy the rest of the afternoon!

Long Time, No See

Sorry I haven't been around lately. I had a pretty busy schedule this week, which usually isn't too big a deal. But, it's been stinking HOT here...record breaking scorching hot! And humid, too. Everything is such an effort when it's hot and humid. I can't for the life of me imagine how people live in places where it's like this all summer. Ick.

Anyway, the weather is much better today...pleasant, even. So maybe I'll get some stamping time in later. I got some new stuff at the Heirloom Stamp Show in West Springfield over the weekend that I'm itching to play with. The show was much smaller than last year, but there was still plenty to see (and buy). I also got to chat with Tracey from Starving Artistamps a little bit. Not too much though because she was so busy with customers in her booth. Yay, Tracey!

Until I get some more cards made, I'll leave you with one I made last week. The stamps are from The Cat's Pajamas Mod Mod World set...too cute if you ask me. The printed paper is Basic Grey from the Sultry 6x6 pad, and the ink is Mementos black and a some Fluid Chalk Olive Pastel for shading. I added plenty of bling with rhinestones and Stardust Stickles.

Be cool!

Smile, It's Tea Party Time Again

Our Hostess this week is Heidi, and she gave us a color challenge to work on. We didn't have to use all of the colors, but I think I did manage to work them all in. They're all so yummy I didn't want to leave any out!

My card uses the smARTworks Sunny Smiles and Sunny Smile Sayings sets. I used foam tape to stack up a few of the images along with a scalloped circle (Cuttlebug) and punched circles to mimic the flowers in my Basic Grey paper. All of my stamping is done with Chestnut Roan Fluid Chalk ink, and I added some clear gel pen to the dotted circle for just a bit of extra oomph.

Be sure to check and see what the other Cookies did with this one. They always come up with the coolest cards! Sweet Somethings, Tah Dah!, Mama Dini's Stamperia, In the Works

Bloop and Zot

I love the Doodle Factory character's names almost as much as I love the images! Bloop is sad because Zot is off on a 5-year mission to Mars. And, it looks like Zot is a teensy bit worried about the mission. I sure hope they have a happy ending!

I colored my images with Prismacolor markers and created my stars in outerspace with Stardust Stickles. The sentiment is a partial stamp of "I miss you a whole latte", also from Starving Artistamps. The striped paper is Basic Grey Recess.

See you later...I'm off on a stamping mission!

Finally...A New Card!

I have a new card to post...Wahoo! This was actually ready to post earlier today, but Blogger was experiencing what can only be described as wonkiness.

We got back from vacation late Wednesday evening, I went back to work bright and early Thursday morning, went grocery shopping, got all my sewing supplies unpacked and put away, attended a Color Theory seminar Friday night and all day Saturday, straightened out a goodly amount of the mess in my craft room, attacked my mountain of laundry, AND managed to get some cardmaking done. I feel like I need another vacation already!

I've got a whole pile of new smARTworks rubber sitting on my table just waiting to get inky. This card uses two of the new sets: Sunny Smiles and Sunny Smile Sayings. My images and sentiments are stamped Adirondack Pitch Black, and I used Stampin' Up Classic Certainly Celery to stamp the background circles. Coloring is done with Prismacolor and Copic markers.

Smile!