Happy Halloween!

This is a project I made for the Oct/Nov 2009 Technique Junkies Newsletter, for which I was a guest designer.  The ornament is a clear class ball that I painted from the inside with white acrylic paint.  For the black spots, I used the Technique Junkies tutorial called PKGlitz and added a crystal to the center of each spot.  The charms made with shrink plastic using colore pencils and images from the Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Witches' Brew collection.

Happy Halloween!

My Latest Drawing

This is the assignment I just finished for my drawing class--graphite on Stonehenge paper. 

Have a great day!

Happy Birthday, Susan!

Today is Susan's (smARTworks) birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Susan!  I hope your day is filled with whatever little pleasures and make you happy.  Enjoy!

The rest of the team has posted birthday wishes as well - be sure to pay them a visit:

Trish
Giovana
Dina
Donelda

And then, head on over to Susan's blog and wish her a Happy Birthday!

Oh, and don't forget about the smART-word challenge!!  There's still time to enter for October, and all you have to do is make a FALL card, post it somewhere, and then post the link on the smART-word Challenge blog.  Easy-peasy!

Susan's Birthday Card

• Stamps: smARTworks - Leaves #1, Forget Your Age
  Coloring Media: None
• Papers: cardstock - white ultra-smooth, mustard yellow textured
  Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black
• Other Supplies: Clear Embossing Powder
  Techniques: Burnished Background (Technique Junkies Oct/Nov 2009)
• Embellishments: Black Crystals, ribbon
  

Blog Hop: The Final Frontier

Welcome to the Starving Artistamps New Release Blog Hop! We are so excited to be presenting you with the newest collection in our DoodleFactory line...

DoodleFactory Final Frontier

You are going to want to visit all the stops on our hop because someone is giving away a complete unmounted set of the new release for blog candy. We are keeping the blog candy open for one day only so your chances of winning are even better! (blog hop ends October 21st, 11am PST). If you just can't wait to get your hands on the new Final Frontier set, don't worry. You can order it starting now, and if you are our lucky winner we will let you substitute a set of equal value instead!

If you arrived here all by yourself and are just finding out about the blog hop please start at the beginning:

START HERE: Starving Aristamps Blog
Juliana Swanson
Tracey Berkey
Donna Duquette (that's me!)
Sandra MacLean
Lori Tecler
Lydia Fiedler
Andrea Cloutier
Dawn Mercedes
Jenn McMillan
Irene Silva

And, now for some cards!

Peace on Earth (“Peace on Earth” in pieces on a pieced earth.)

Coloring Media: Copic markers
Papers: cardstock, Basic Grey Lime Rickey
Ink: Versafine Black, Adirondack Pitch Black
Techniques: Paper Piecing
Embellishments: Prima flowers, crystals

The More the Merrier (How many little green men can you fit in a little green flying saucer?)

Coloring Media: Copic markers

Papers: cardstock

Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Blue Iris

Other Supplies: Stampers Magic Tape, Star punch, Cuttlebug, Embossing folder, circle die

Techniques: Masking, glitter stars (cut stars from Stamper’s Magic tape, adhere to background, apply glitter to exposed adhesive.)

Embellishments: Silver cord, glitter

Home Sweet Home (I’ve been a lot of places and seen alot of things, but I’m always glad to see the parched brown dirt and fiery red skies of home.)

Coloring Media: Copic markers, colored pencil

Papers: cardstock

Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Burnt Sienna, Lipstick Red

Other Supplies: Glaze pens,

Techniques: Technique Junkies Color Pop (done on yellow paper and oversprayed with Silver Glimmer Mist)

Embellishments: Black Rain Drops

Happy Birthday (I was going to get you a present, but I was kidnapped by aliens and by the time the sent me back it was too late to go to the mall so all you’re getting is this card.)

Coloring Media: none

Papers: cardstock

Ink: Versamark, Versafine Black, Brilliance Platinum Planet

Other Supplies: Ranger Platinum Embossing Powder, Cuttlebug, Embossing Folders, dies

Techniques: Technique Junkies Embossed Crayon Resist

Embellishments: ribbon

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogosphere. Now it's time engage your warp drive and boldly go on over to Sandra's blog to continue your mission to seek out new creatures and compositions.

Sandra: http://paperfuntastics.blogspot.com/

Make it so, Number One.

It's Almost Here!

This Blog Hop, that is.  Tomorrow is the big day...stop by after 11:00 a.m. EST and join the fun!

Here's another card using the Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Costume Party collection.  I colored the image with Copic markers and used a Technique Junkies tutorial called Simple Whitewash for the orange background panel.  The flower, crystals, and ribbon are all recent purchases from Michael's.

See you tomorrow!

We're Having a Blog Hop on Tuesday!

That's right!!! A Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Blog Hop is coming to this blog in just a couple of days. You KNOW what that means...a brand NEW set of DoodleFactory stamps will be released, we'll have TONS of cards to share with you, you'll have a chance to win some BLOG CANDY, and you can get the stamps at a DISCOUNT. So be sure to join us because this hop is going to be out of this world!

While you're waiting for the hop to start, I have a new card to share that uses the Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Costume Party set.  This funny little guy looks like he's spooked, himself!

I did the coloring on this with Copic markers, and the printed papers are from an 8x8 pad of Cosmo Cricket paper called Hello Sunshine.  (LOVE that paper...I'll be so sad when I use it all up.)  I "Cuttlebugged" the background and sanded the embossing to add some texture, distressed the edges, added a sentiment with some glitter letter stickers, and finished things off with some crystals, a scrap of ribbon, and a couple of google eyes.  Quick and cute.  My favorite kind of card!

I'll be back with another card tomorrow.  Until then, enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #14

Our inspiration for today's challenge was this piece of Japanese fabric, Chrysanthemums by Kobayashi. It's a really pretty piece of fabric, but to tell you the truth, I never really had an inspired idea as to how to work it into a card.  In the end, I used the design with some images I was already working with and ended up with "East Meets Werewolf".  I'm regretting my choice of green for the mat...oh well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, lol!

Everyone is invited to play along in the Divine Diva challenges, and if you do, please link your creation here. If you upload to PCP or SC, use the keyword DDIC14.  For even more inspiration, please visit the other Divine Divas:  Anne, Chris, Lori, Julie Keri, and Kerri

Have a great day, and join us if you can!

Trick or Treat

Definitely a treat for me! I finally found some time to play with my DoodleFactory Costume Party stamps from Starving Artistamps. I made several cards over the weekend, so look for more with these fun stamps throughout the week.

Here’s the first card I made. I colored Vamp boy with Copics, and you can’t really see it in the photo, but I used a Copic atyou Spica marker to make his skin sparkle like Edward’s does when he’s in the sunlight. I couldn’t help myself, I just had to!

Don’t forget, you can get these stamps (and many others) for 10% off by using my discount code: savetendd.

The smART-Word for October is Fall

And there's still plenty of time to play along in our challenge.  Just make a card that says "Fall" to you and post a link on our smART-Word challenge blog.  That's it.  Easy, right?

I love the colors of autumn, so I tend to make lots of Fall cards, but here's the one I did especially for the challenge.  The stamps are from the smARTworks Scarecrow set, the papers are Basic Grey Indian Summer, and I did my coloring with Copic markers.  For embellishments I added a Hero Arts flower, a vintage button, some hand stitching and a few Dew Drops.

Hope you find some time to make a card and join us!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We've been so busy lately, I'm just not sure where the time goes!  That's not a bad thing, though, because mostly I've been busy with fun stuff.  One of the fun things I've been doing is an Cindy Wider's online Drawing and Shading class over at Drawspace.com.  For most of my life, I believed that I couldn't draw.  More and more, I'm convince that I can draw...I just didn't know how.  For those of you who might be in the same boat, I thought I'd share one of my class projects.  It's done completely in graphite, and although it is one of Cindy's designs, it is not traced.  I used the grid method to create a construction drawing and then filled in the details from there.  This is my first ever graphite drawing, so I'm pretty darned pleased with Cindy's class!

Details:  8.5" x 11" on Strathmore Series 300 Bristol Vellum with Derwent Sketch pencils.

There's a new Challenge in Town!

We have a brand new challenge starting today at smARTworks.  It's a monthly challenge, and it's oh, so easy to join in.  On the first of each month either Trish or I will post a new challenge word.  And, you?  You make a card, or whatever, inspired by that word.  Take a pic or a scan, upload it somewhere, and then post a link using Mr. Linky on our new challenge blog.  Easy, peasy.  And guess what?  There are prizes, too!  All the details, the October word, and Trish's beautiful sample card are posted on the smART-Word Challenge blog. 

Please join in...it's sure to be fun!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge - DDIC13

It's time for another Divine Diva Challenge, and this time Lori gave us this print as inspiration: Golden Day II Print by Jo Molton at Art.com.

When I first looked at the print, I thought it would make an awesome frame for an inchie so that's exactly where I went with this card.  All of the stamps I used are from smARTworks, the papers are Basic Grey, and the technique is just simple stamping and sponging with Fluid chalk ink.

Everyone is invited to play along in the Divine Diva challenges, and if you do, please link your creation here. If you upload to PCP or SC, use the keyword DDIC12 so that we can find your creation and give it all the admiration it deserves.  For even more inspiration, please visit the other Divine Divas:  Anne, Chris, Lori, Julie, Keri, and Kerri

Have a great day, and join us if you can!