Herbal Essences

I have always loved botanical illustrations, particularly illustrations of herbs and wildflowers. It's no wonder, then, that these images are among my favorites in the Starving Artistamps House and Garden set. 

I stamped the herbs onto textured cardstock with Olive Pastel Fluid Chalk ink and then added touches of color with Prismacolor pencils.  The bee is stamped with Versafine black ink on the same paper, and also colored with pencils. 

For the background panel, I used a tutorial from the Feb/March 2010 Technique Junkies newsletter called Glassy Embossing.  This card actually has an herbal scent because I used one of  the Barbara Trombley Elements (Good Earth) on the center strip.  The Elements are made from organic components mixed with a little glitter...very cool looking and some of them smell like herbs and spices.

That's all the thyme I have.  Bye for now.  (Sorry about that, I couldn't resist!)

Think Spring

Just thought I'd share a page from my sketchbook today.  Can you tell I'm wishing for Spring to get here?

My sketch is drawn with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils from a reference photo by "madmum" at Wet Canvas.

Techniques by Design

This is my entry for the Technique Junkies Technique by Design contest.  If you're a Technique Junkie, you know what I'm talking about, and if you're not, you can find out all about it on Pat's blog, the Technique Trail.

I used three different techniques on this card.  Looking from left to right on the top row, the first square is Brushed Inks from the Aug/Sept 09 issue, the second square is Faux Marble from the Oct/Nov 09 issue, and the third square is Polished Stone.  The leaf image in my center medallion is from the Starving Artistamps House and Garden set. 

Happy Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day

It's true.  Today is actually Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day.  I don't have a dog, but if you're a dog owner, give your dog a bone today on me! 

So why in the world did I make this card? Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day was the holiday that was randomly chosen for the February 1 to 1 card swap at Rubber Stamp Chat.  It's a fun challenge because you sign up before you know what the holiday will be! 

I, for one, was very happy with the holiday selection since it gave me an opportunity to use one of the cute little pups from my smARTworks Dog Daze set.  Believe it or not, the set doesn't come with a suitable sentiment so I hand wrote one.  I stamped the images on kraft paper and colored them with Copic markers.  The base for the puppy panel is a twinchie made up of  4 inchie squares put together, and the papers I used are from a 6x6 pad of Basic Grey June Bug paper.  For some reason (more than likely user error) my camera wasn't dealing with the black on red very well, so I do apologize for the quality of this photo. 

Knick-knack-paddy-wack...

Home, Sweet, Home

I'm actually getting to spend the weekend in my own home, sweet, home for a change.  No plans, no obligations, just bumming around and playing with my toys.  It just doesn't get any better as far as I'm concerned!

I made this card today to fit a couple of challenges: LSC260 - Ribbon and Trim at Split Coast Stampers, and Copic Colour Challenge 52.

The house image is from the Starving Artistamps House and Garden set.  It's colored with Copic markers and has Flower Soft shrubs blooming in front. 

Thanks for stopping by my home, and I hope you're enjoying your Saturday as much as I am!

Calling all Glitterati

Have you played in the smARTworks smART-Word challenge yet?  There's still plenty of time, and the challenge word this month is so fun...glitter!  Who doesn't love glitter?  You have until Tuesday, February 23 to show us your sparkle by adding a link to your card on the smART-Word blog.

I'm a glitterati from way back so half of the cards I make would have qualified for this challenge.  But, I wanted to do something a little special for my sample, and when I saw the Fantasy Chalk tutorial in the Dec/Jan 2010 Technique Junkies newsletter, I knew just what to do.  The blue and green varigated background is created with pastels, and I stamped the image and sentiment, from the smARTworks Botanicals Cookie Plate, with Timber brown Stazon ink.  Then, I highlighted the image with cinnamon Stickles and added lines in the background with Crystal Stickles.  As with anything sparkly, this photo just doesn't do this justice.  The chalked background reminds me of shantung silk, and all that glitter just makes me swoon! 

Happy Friday, everyone, and I hope you can find some time this weekend to play in our challenge!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #22

Doesn't that pool look gorgeous? This photo of the Mexican resort where Lori will be staying on vacation was our inspiration this time. I can't even tell you how much I wish I were going too! For my card, I tried to incorporate as many of the colors, elements, and shapes as possible, and I was surprised how many I got in there. I've got terracotta, garden greenery, deep sparkling blue, arcs, deep golden colors, a rectangular shape with repeating squares, and even some rustic distressing.   Now if I could just figure out how to get myself into that scene, I'd be all set!

The stamps I used here are from the Starving Artistamps Home and Garden set.  My foliage is done with Flower Soft (which is on sale at Starving Artistamps right now, btw).  Notice how the "leaves" are all different shades of green?  That's not a special color mix--it's light green Flower Soft colored with Copic markers.  Once the glue had dried, I took several different shades of green marker and dabbed at the Flower Soft.  I used pastel pencils to color the background of my image panel, and the blue mat is a piece of plain blue cardstock with glaze pen applied around the edges to make it shiny.  The terracotta background Coredinations paper that I embossed and then sanded. 

As always, everyone is invited to play along in the Divine Diva challenges, and you can link your creation here. If you upload to PCP or SC, use the keyword DDIC22. For even more inspiration, please visit the other Divine Divas: Anne, Chris, Lori, Julie, and Kerri

Have a wonderful day!

Fish Kisses

This card was my entry for the latest smARTworks Design Team challenge.  This time, Susan sent us the Swimmin' set to play with.  My favorite thing about this set?  The fish come in two sizes in mirrored pairs.  Making your fishes do kisses has never been easier!

My lovey little couple is colored with Copic markers, and the heart is from another smARTworks set called Heart Duos #3.

Normally, you can see all of the challenge submissions in one spot on the smARTworks website, but Susan ran in to a bit of a glitch this month.  So instead, the cards can be viewed individually in the the DT galleries (Dina, Donna,Trish, Giovana, Donelda, Peggy, Terri).  The other team members will be posting their cards on their individual blogs as well: Mama Dini's Stamperia,  Dee's Studio, Tah Dah!, Believe, and Wiggy's World.  More of Terri's work can be seen in her SCS gallery.   And, be sure to stop by Susan's In the the Works blog for a chance to win your very own Swimmin' stamp set.

Have a great day!

This is so cool!

I only have a few minutes, but I wanted to show you this really cool card I made the other day.  I got the instructions from the Art Glitter channel on YouTube.  I was just playing around and didn't pick the best colors, but I think you can see how way cool this is.  And better yet, it's way easy! 

Barbara and a Butterfly

We name winter storms that are forecasted to drop more than 6" of snow, and the one coming today is named Barbara.  Do your winter storms get names, or is it just a quirky local thing we do here?  Just curious.  As for Barbara, I'm hoping that she didn't need to be named after all.  I'll be at work when the snow really gets going, and that's just going to make it a real pain to get home.  Oh, for the want of an extra vacation day.  I would just stay home and make cards if I could!

I did have a little bit if time to stamp this weekend in between all of the Superbowl preparations and festivities.  I have a huge pile of scraps and backgrounds made from trying different techniques, and lately I've decided that I need to be using some of them.  The butterfly, from Starving Artistamps, on this card is stamped with black archival ink on a leftover piece done with the Technique Junkies (Apr/May 08) Rainbow Brilliance technique.  You can't see how pretty and shimmery this technique is, but trust me, it is.  The printed paper I used is Basic Grey Sugar Rush.

Have a great day!  If you're going to be home having a snow day, I have to admit that I'm kinda jealous. : D

Spring is in the Air

I've officially put away my winter/snow/ice stamps for the season and have an overwhelming compulsion to use green on every card so Spring can't be too far off now!

I just got a new set of stamps from Starving Artistamps called House and Garden that is chock full of images for Spring inspired cards, like this one I made the other day. I stamped the image with chalk ink and the spattered over it with green and brown Distress ink, the I die cut my shape and sponged the edges with the die still in place. The foliage is done with Flower Soft, and for the background, I used a tutorial called Mono Dies from the current Technique Junkies Newsletter.

I'm not sure how much I'll be around this weekend.  We're hosting a party on Superbowl/Superbead Sunday.  We'll have game viewing in the family room for the men, and in the dining room we girls will be working on beading projects.  And of course, there will be plenty of beer and wine and food in both rooms!  If I actually create a piece of jewelry on Sunday, I'll be sure to share it with you here next week.

Have a great weekend!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #21

It's time for the Valentine edition of the Divine Diva Inspiration challenge.  Lori challeged us with these candy bar wrappers from the Better Homes and Gardens site.  When I look at these, I see CAS; red, white and pink; and candy hearts.

So, this is what I came up with...a clean and simple shaker card filled with red and pink "candy" hearts.  The white cardstock was already embossed, and I made the sentiment with some alpha stamps I've had in my drawer for about a thousand years. 

As always, 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 DDIC21. For even more inspiration, please visit the other Divine Divas: Anne, Chris, Lori, Julie, and Kerri

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

It's a Color Throwdown!

That's right...Starving Artistamps is sponsoring the Color Throwdown challenge this week.  Tracey's giving away a complete set of the new DoodleFactory Boudior images and sentiments to the winner AND she's got a sweet offer for everyone else.  Check it out!

Here's the card I did for the challenge.  I have to admit that these colors aren't high up on my list of favorites, but once I got started they were interesting to work with.  The image I used is Rose from the Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Valentine's Remix collection.  Rose is colored with Prismacolor pencils blended with odorless mineral spirits.  The printed paper and stickers are all from Bo Bunny.