Where did the week go?

I've been so busy since I left my job that I don't know how I ever had time to work!  It's been an entire week since I posted on my blog, and here I was thinking that I would be able to post more often. 

To add to my time management issues, most of the stamping I've done in the past couple of weeks has been of the top-secret variety.  I did do one card that I can share with you, though...

I used a great tutorial from the latest Technique Junkies Newsletter called Splash-n-Stick (Pat has an awesome subscription special on her blog right now), which is a great way to use some of the Magenta Peel-Offs stickers that I can't seem to stop buying.  The papers are from a Basic Grey Boxer 6x6 pad.

Thanks for stopping by my studio today!

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!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #20

This pretty little tea set was our inspiration for today's Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge.  I just love china tea cups and tried to recreate the look on my card.

The vine and berry stamp I used for my main panel is an older one from Magenta, and I colored it with Copic markers.  The sentiment and little tea pot are from the Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Classic Decor collection.  This card is actually a double challenge card because I used the layout from Sketch Challenge 264 at Splitcoast Stampers.



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 DDIC20. 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!

New Challenge at Starving Artistamps!

I hope you can join us! The challenge this time is to design an incredibly cool CLEAR card using acetate or transparency film. It's your choice what size and shape to make your card, and you can interpret the "clear" requirement as you wish. As long as it contains a clear element it counts! You card doesn't even have to contain Starving Artistamps or DoodleFactory image. But... all cards using Starving Artistamps images will be posted in our gallery.

Everyone who participates will be entered into a drawing for a Santa's Sweet Shoppe set with matching Sweet Shoppe sentiments. Don't worry, if you already have the set...if you are the winner Tracey will substitute for other stamps of equal value! All you need to do is head on over to the Starving Artistamps group on Paper Craft Planet, post a reply to the challenge thread, and attach the photo or post a link to where your card can be found. If you can't post for some reason you can also email your card or blog/gallery link to strvingartistmp@aol.com

Here are a few more details: All cards must be submitted on or before December 30th. The drawing winner will be randomly selected and posted no later than December 31st. The tag or keyword for challenge cards in the Papercraft Planet or Splitcoast Stampers galleries is SADF1208.

For my card, I used the gingerbread house from the Santa's Sweet Shoppe set and colored it with Copic markers. I made a window card using a piece of acetate that I embossed with my Cuttlebug, and then filled in the debossed areas with Star Dust Stickles. The white accents are done with a white gel pen and Magenta Peel-Offs stickers. A few rhinestones here and there just seemed to add the proper amount of bling.

Come on...show us your stuff!

Lucky Me!

I received this beautiful birthday card from LaVerne Wilson, a fellow Technique Junkie. This was a completely unexpected surprise that arrived right on my birthday, and it is truly lovely. You can't see in the picture, but the hummingbird is all glittery and the Camouflage (Technique Junkies Oct/Nov 08 newsletter) background is so deep and rich and interesting.

Yes, lucky me. Thank you, LaVerne!

I am also fortunate in that I have enough vacation time at work that I could afford to take this week off for no particular reason. I am cooking dinner tomorrow, but other than that, I have nothing in particular planned. So far, I've organized my craft room, taken an extra art class, colored my hair (I don't mind being 50, but a girl's gotta draw the line somewhere, LOL), and I've spent plenty of time noodling around in my newly organized craft room.

While I was doing all that organizing, I came across this card that I don't think I ever posted anywhere. It uses a technique called Black Magic, and I'm not even sure where it originated. Basically, you stamp a solid image with white ink onto dark cardstock (I used Brilliance Moonlight White ink on black), heat set the ink, and then color over it with Prismacolor pencils. The final step is to highlight with a white gel pen. The stamp I used is from Magenta and so is the printed vellum on the inside of the card.

Well, gotta go get ready for tomorrow.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Lots to Talk About Today

I'll start off with what I think is just the coolest thing...I got my first blog award thanks to Shirley at Card Art, Etc. "My first award", LOL, looks like my head has swelled and I'm already planning to receive more awards! Not really...I'm just excited to have received the I Love Your Blog award. I "know" Shirley from the Technique Junkies group, and she creates some of the most amazing artwork. Be sure to check out her blog!

Recipients of this award are asked to post the award, link it back to the person who sent it to them, and then pass it on to 7 more recipients. Not an easy task for me. Not because there aren't tons of deserving recipients, but because I never seem to have the time to find them all. And, as Shirley has already said, if you take the time to blog so that you can share your creations with the rest of us, you automatically deserve an award! But, I need to pick 7, so here they are: Donna at Serenity in Stamping, Barb at Stampelicious, Natasha at Palm Trees and Pogosticks, Rose Ann at Paper Delightz, Jacquie at Simple Reflections about Quilting, Cats and Kids, Linda at Linda Quilts Too, and Donna at Quilting Grandma. Thanks for sharing your creations with the rest of us

And...I have a card to share too! The stamps I used are from the DoodleFactory Witch's Brew set available at Starving Artistamps. My paper is mostly from my scrap pile (where to all those scraps come from?), except for the background, which is Cosmo Cricket Hello Sunshine. I used Brilliance Graphite Black ink and colored my spider with Copic markers. The sentiment is stamped multiple times using a Stamp-a-ma-jig to keep everything lined up. If you don't have one of those babies, run to your nearest stamp store and get one. Seriously

And finally, to close out this post, which I think may be my longest ever, I just wanted to share some photos I took while walking on the trail in back of my house yesterday. (Hmmm...longest sentence ever too?) We are just starting to see some color in the trees and the air is dry and crisp. My favorite time of year!

More Magenta

This is another Magenta tile stamp that I scored on eBay...you gotta be patient, but there are some good deals to be had there. Oh, and it also helps if you don't mind a bit of staining on your wood blocks.

I put this card together the same way as Leslie's card from last week. I used Ranger Platinum embossing power, which I just got and now love, and colored with shimmering watercolors. Man, I love making these cards!

A Magenta for Monday

I made this card to give to my friend, Leslie, and her fiance, Mark, at a party in their honor. They are getting married in October so Fall colors seemed appropriate, and besides, I just love to work with these colors.

The stamp is a Magenta frame/medallion stamp. I'm a huge fan of all things Magenta, and this stamp is one of my new favorites...partly because I love it, and partly because I shopped it victoriously on eBay for a darned good price...still makes me giddy to think about it!

I stamped it onto cranberry red and gold cardstock, and then embossed with clear EP. I actually used Opalite ink on the red, but you can't see the shimmer so Versamark would have worked just as well. I used brown pigment ink for the gold piece. I colored in the different areas with shimmering watercolors (like Twinkling H2O's) in shades of red, rust, gold and green. Finally, I cut the pieces apart and reassembled them using foam tape to add dimension. Fun and not too difficult because the cutting is mostly straight lines

Whatever you choose to do for enjoyment...enjoy it!

We're Snowed In!

We've got 10 inches on the ground, and it's STILL snowing hard. I really have no choice but to stay in and stamp tonight...darn!

This is a card that I made for the Ways to Use It Challenge on SCS. The challenge for today is to use a monochromatic color scheme. I don't often do that, and I'm not sure why because it's FUN! I just might have to try another one...or two...or three.

The Technicalities
Stamps: Magenta Poinsettia Tile, Inkadinkado - Season's Greetings
Papers: Digital paper from ScrapGirls, white and brick red cardstock
Ink: Fluid Chalk - Warm Red, Blush Rose
Accessories: Brads, Ribbon, Red Stickles, Prismacolor Pencils

Let it Snow!

That right...storm Alexander is on its way to Connecticut bringing plenty of snow so I thought this would be the perfect card to share with you.

The cute little snowman and all the silver accents on this card are Magenta Peel-off stickers. I colored the snowman with glaze pens and a Stardust Silver pen. The snowflakes (Inkadinkado) on the background are stamped on vellum with PearlEx interference blue/gold ink and the blue patterned paper is from Heidi Grace. Oh yeah, and I used Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge #152 for the layout.

Whew! I finally got some actually stamping done this weekend. I've been fooling around with things all week with nothing to really show for my efforts...just experimenting with things and trying out new ideas. That's a fine way to work unless your NEED something DONE! I had a couple of deadlines that were starting to concern me, but thank goodness, my muse let me finish a couple of things!

I did this card for the sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers. The Berry and Vine stamp is from Magenta. I picked it up cheap (and all stained and yucky) on eBay a couple weeks ago. The stamp is in pretty rough shape, but as you can see, it still works just fine. I stamped the main panel with Brilliance Moonlight White on black cardstock and colored with Prismacolor pencils. For the black background piece, I stamped the image with Versamark and colored it with a couple shades of grey Prismacolor pencils. You can't see it in the photo, but I went over the pink berries with a clear Glaze pen just to add a little sparkle. The green mesh is SU magic mesh.

Make sure you check back here on Wednesday. It's the second edition of the smART Cookies Tea Party Challenge. It was my turn to pick the sketch, and I added a little bit of an extra challenge. It should be great fun, so don't miss it!