Save the Date!

What's that you're saying?  It's been way too long since the last DoodleFactory release? 

Well, I couldn't agree more, and the good news is that your wait is almost over.  Starving Artistamps will be debuting a new DoodleFactory collection on Monday August 2nd.  From cute to sophisticated, there's something for everyone in the release!

Here's a little peek of what I did with one of the new stamps...

Still at the Beach

I'm still having fun playing with my Juniper and Jupiter Go to the Beach stamps from Starving Artistamps.  This card was so easy to put together, and I just love the way it came out.  The lighthouse is colored with Copic markers and that great cloud background (also from Starving Artistamps) is stamped with light blue chalk ink.  The sand dunes are made from kraft paper torn, embossed, and edged with chalk ink. 

Mmmm...I can almost smell the salt spray!

At the Beach

Starving Artistamps just came out with TONS of new stamps. One of the new collections is called Juniper and Jupiter Go to the Beach, and these stamps are from that collection. For this card, I gave my Copics a bit of a break and pulled out my Prismacolor pencils. And, (*GASP*), I also used my sewing machine. The blue background is Core'dinations paper, embossed and then sanded.  The layout is from this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch #176.

It's going to be way too hot here for a real beach day, so this will have to do.  I'm staying the the AC today for sure!

Bug Light

This is the other of my illustrations that is now available as a stamp from Starving Artistamps.  I drew this from a photo I took of Bug Light on the breakwater at the entrance to Portland Harbor, near South Portland, Maine.  This little lighthouse isn't very far from Portland Head Light, and there are four or five other lighthouses nearby so my husband and I made an afternoon of touring the area and photographing them.  If you're ever in that area, it's a fun way to spend an afternoon.

For my card, I stamped the lighthouse on white cardstock and colored it with Copic markers.  Then, I cut out the top of the image, along the horizon and lighthouse, and layered it over a background that I stamped with light blue using Starving Artistamp's new Build-a-Cloud stamp.  To finish of the card, I added some layers and a sentiment.  Wicked quick to make and suitable for anyone from Down East...or a Connecticut Yankee like me...or anyone who likes the sea.

Thanks for stopping by!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 32

Our Inspiration this week comes from the Container store.  Lori chose this lovely gift wrapping for us to work with.  I was inspired by the beautiful soft colors, the delicate flowers, and the distressed background.

The stamp I used for my card is an older Magenta tile/frame stamp, which I just love and have used many, many times.  This time, I stamped and embossed it in white onto a piece of shimmery white cardstock.  I then watercolored the frame and flower with Derwent Inktense pencils.  The mustard yellow background is stamped in a matching color ink with my SU Sanded background stamp.  My apologies for the quality of my photo (it was dark at the time)...in real life the colors are a bit more vibrant. 

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to see what the other Divine Divas have some up with this week.  You can find their links in my right sidebar.  And, as always, we'd love for you to join us...use keyword DDIC when uploading to Split Coast or Papercraft Planet.

Bye for now, and have a great rest of the week!

The Rest of the Fish

These are the last two ATC's in my tropical fish series.  Both are done with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils on Arches hot press watercolor paper.

These were fun to draw, but I'm ready to move on to something else. 

I'm off to contemplate my next project...have a great day!

Me

It's done.  It pretty much looks like me.  I'm happy.  No...I'm ecstatic.

This is done with charcoal on grey Mi-Tientes paper.  I guess it wasn't so bad to do in the end, but I'm still glad to have it done!

Something's Fishy!

I've been having a blast drawing fish for an ATC swap over at Drawspace.  I'm loving that I get to use all the really fun colors in my pencil sets!

This first one is a Black and White Heniochus Butterfly Fish.  I love the way the fish came out; not as thrilled with the coral/rock stuff I concocted, but I'm calling it done before I make it any worse. 

And, this second one is a Queen Angelfish.  I used LOTS of pencils coloring this one!

I've also been using these fish as an excuse for not starting my super-scary-I-don't-want-to-do-this-maybe-I-should-just-quit self-portrait for the online art class I'm taking from Cindy Wider (awesome class, btw). Well, I'm happy to report that I've finally started said scary project. The deal I have with myself is that I can't do anything else until that portrait is finished.  No excuses.  Period.  So next time you see me here, you'll be seeing...me.

Celebrating Another 100...and a First!

I'm going to start with the first because I pretty darned excited about it.  This card features my very first illustration-turned-rubber-stamp!  It's available from Starving Artistamps and I shamelessly encourage each and every one of you to order one, or even two!  I also have a lighthouse stamp that I illustrated, which I'll show you a little later, but you can feel free to buy that one too while you're there, lol!

Alright now, let's talk about the card itself.  I colored my image with Copic markers.  The colors I used are as close as I could approximate the colors for Color Throwdown Challenge #100.  So there's the 100, and it's a biggie, too!  Go check out the prizes (including that sweet Giggle Bears, Birds and Bees set from Starving Artistamps) that are up for grabs and tell me it not worth making a card and joining the fun.  Go ahead...try to tell me that! 

There could be yet another hundred here today, but I'm not celebrating that one.  It was 101 here yesterday, it's supposed to be near 100 here today, and tomorrow doesn't look much better.  Yikes!  Every day like this is 100 more reasons I'm happy we decided to spend the money to install central air in our house, which believe me, I am celebrating.  If you're stuck in this brutal heat wave, too, I hope you've been able to find refuge from the heat. 

Stay cool!

100 Inchies

After making and trading inchies for about a year, I had quite a pile of them tucked away in a basket.  Now, what fun is that?  You can't see them in a basket.  So here's what I did with 100 of them:

I took a 12" by 12" Ampersand Art Board and sponged it with various shades of brown acrylic paint.  Then I just stuck my inchies on with some red liner tape.  It looks awesome hanging on the wall next to my work table, and I can enjoy looking at my inchies all the time now!

Only 50 more to go until I can fill up another board!  If you'd be interesting in swapping inchies with me, just post a comment here and let me know.

Divine Diva Inspriation Challenge 31

It's July already...can you even believe that?  I can't.  Well, at least we have a long weekend coming up!

This week's Divine Diva Inspiration challenge (from HWTM Daily Blog) is all about summer, and I love the colors and the theme.  Only problem was that I didn't really have any nautical-themed stamps when I made my card.

So I went with those wonderful red flowers on the tall vase.  The stamp I used is a clear dollar stamp, and I'm not sure at all where it came from.  I stamped the flowers with red ink and colored very quickly with a Copic marker.  Then, I stamped a bunch of flower with blue ink, cut out the centers and layered them over the red flowers.  The final touch was a dot of glue and some blue glitter. I considered just leaving the card with just the flower panel, but in the end I couldn't resist adding some red ribbon and a Martha Stewart sticker.

I'm sure the other Diva's have some awesome cards to show you, so please take a minute and check out their blogs (links are in my side bar to the right).  Chris couldn't join us this week, but we have a fabulous guest designer to fill in for her:  Dana at Dana's Dabbling Studio.

Happy July, everyone!