I have a new blog!

I've decided to move my blogging over to WordPress.  Blogger has been great, but there are some things that I just can't do here so I'm giving WordPress a try. 

My new blog is:  Salmon Brook Studio 

I hope you'll stop by and visit!

Some ATC's

Hi everyone...I hope you're all enjoy the long Independence Day weekend!  We've got lot's of things going on here so I'll have to keep this post short and sweet. 

These are a few ATC's I've made recently.  The ones with the pieced backgrounds use a technique called Brick Wall from the December 2010 Technique Junkies Newsletter and the images on those are from Stampendous (I think).  The fold-over card is a Magenta Style image colored with colored pencils and then accented with glaze pens. 

Have a great weekend!

Another finished painting!

Two in one month...I'm on a roll!

This beautiful little girl is our granddaughter, Piper.  I painted her with colored pencils on Mi-Tientes paper.  The paper is colored, a shade called "hemp", which is sort of a medium, warm flesh tone.  I expected that the colored paper would make it easier to create skin tones, but I think I still ended up using every single peach, light pink, beige, tan, light brown, white, and cream colored pencil in my collection. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'm heading back to my studio.  There's still a week left in June, and who knows, I might just finish another painting this month!

Happy Summer!

Here's to summer--long days, abundant sunshine, open windows, gardening, song birds, thunder storms, outdoor picnics, vacations at the beach, sitting on the deck, walks in the woods, and all the other good things that summer brings!

Card info:  Stamp used are Donna's Lighthouse and shells from Starving Artistamps; colored with pastel pencils using the Pastel Pencil Blending tutorial from Technqiue Junkies.

Thanks for stopping by!

Technique Junkies Stampbooking Blog Hop

The Technique Junkie Newsletter Designers, along with some very talented Spotlight Stampers, are proud to bring you a special Stampbooking Blog Hop! During this hop, our designers will be using techniques from the recently released TJ Stampbooking CD. The CD contains 75 inspiring tutorials in pdf format. The tutorials are fun and versatile, and you can get more information about the CD and how to order your own copy here: http://www.techniquejunkies.com/stampbooking-cd.html

Of course, you could always win the CD that Jane is giving away on her blog, too.  It's Jane's birthday today she celebrates her whole birthday week (great idea, no?) so this hop culminate on her blog for the give away. The prize is a copy of the TJ Stampbooking CD and all you have to do is leave a comment for Jane by the end of her birthday week (midnight on June 17) to be entered into a random drawing.


And now for my project. I'm not really a scrapbooker, but I do enjoy making small albums for gifts or to commemorate a special occasion so I chose to make a Page-in-a-Box mini album to show you.

This was such a fun and easy project...I can definitely see myself making up a few more of these!  The stamps I used are from I Brake for Stamps and Starving Artistamps.

Our blog hop starts with Judy Jackson at the TJ Designer's Blog, so if you haven't been there yet head on over so you can start at the very beginning and be sure that you don't miss a thing.  If you've been hopping right along, your next stop from here is one of our awesome Spotlight Stampers:  Reagan Seifert @ Emora Designs.

And just in case you get lost along the way, here's the complete blog list:
Judy Jackson @ TJ Designer's Blog
Chris Dickinson @ Creating with Chrissy
Ann Clack @ Created by Ann
Shelly Hickox @ Stamptramp
Beth Norman @ Sunflower and Dragonflies
Tricia O’Bin @ The Passionate Stamper 
Hetty Sanders @ Craft Chaos
Donna Duquette @ Dee's Studio
Regan Seifert @ Emora Designs
Holly Brown @ Glitter, Stamps, and Ink (Oh My!)
Pat Huntoon @ The Technique Trail
Jane Bosi @ Jane's Addiction

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the hop!

My Latest Painting

I just finished this today--I think the paint was all dry when I took the picture.  This painting is the final project for my Draw and Paint in Your Pajamas course.  It took me much longer than I thought it would to get here, but I finished, and that, my friends, is a very good feeling!

Mayan Gold, acrylic, 12" x 12"

Gingersnap Creations Color Challenge

Technique Junkies is sponsoring the challenges at Gingersnap Creations all month
and this week the challenge is a color challenge--Denim, Rust, and Dust and there's an overall Western theme for the month. On top of that, Pat asked that our TJ design team sample feature the Faux Denim technqiue from the December 2008 newsletter.  That's a lot for my brain to keep track of, but I think I got it covered.

My cowboy is from the DoodleFactory Costume Party collection from Starving Artistamps, and the sentiments is also from Starving Artistamps.  I colored him in various shades of denim, rust, and dust using my Copic markers and made him a lasso out of a piece of twine. 

Happy Trails!

A Scrapbook Page to Share

Yes, you heard right...a scrapbook page.  I used to scrapbook all the time.  I swear, I would do things just so I could take pictures and scrapbook them.  I even signed on as a "consultant" for one of those home-party companies.  Then I started rubber stamping and gradually my scrapbooking fell by the wayside.  I never really gave any thought to combining the two hobbies.  Until now, that is.

Technique Junkies has a new CD, Stampbooking, coming out next week that's chock full of stamping techniques to use in a scrapbook.  When I first had a chance to look at the 75 tutorials that are included I thought, "Cool, I can use most of those on my cards."  But then I made some sample pages for the CD and I was hooked on scrapbooking all over again.  Now, I don't know that I'll ever go back to scrapbooking everything I do, but an art journal/scrapbook that I add to when the mood strikes me sounds like something I could really enjoy.

Anyway, to make a long story short, this new CD is just full of inspiration for scrapbookers, card makers and journal keepers alike.  It's available for preorder HERE right now and will begin shipping first week of June.

The page I'm sharing with you today is one of my favorites from the samples I did.  The technique is called Brayered Frames Border and the stamps are from Starving Artistamps. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Another Busy Week

Wow, what a week! I have no idea where the time went. Last week the weather was nice so I spent most of my time outside. This week it rained so I've spent the week catching up on indoor projects which I plan to share with you over the next few days. I'll start with this Father's Day card. I know Father's Day isn't until next month, now is a good time to get your cards made and ready to go. For this one, I used a zebra stamp from Class Act, Inc. and a computer generated sentiment. I also used two tutorials from Technique Junkies: Faux Artisan Tiles (May 2011) and Torn Paper Frames (Dec 2008).

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back soon with another project to share.

Gingersnap Creations Spicy Supply Challenge

Technique Junkie is sponsoring the challenges at Gingersnap Creations all month
and this week the challenge is the Spicy Supply Challenge - Take on Twine. No problemo--I love twine! What proved to be a real challenge was keeping with the overall theme of Cowboys and Cowgirls. Aside from the fact that I totally forgot that the month had a theme, I don't have any Western stamps except for a few horses. Hmmm, looks like my stamp collection still has a few gaps that need to be addressed. Imagine that.

Back to the card I made for this week. I had this new stamp (Beach Bonita by Victoria Case for SCACD) from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design sitting on my table and I think twine looks great on ocean inspired designs so that's the direction I took.  I colored Bonita with Prismacolor pencils.  Having just returned from a portrait drawing seminar, I decided to experiment with some of the colors that were recommended for auburn hair.  I used several different colors in the hair, including cream, mineral orange, sienna brown, dark umber, goldenrod, vermillion, poppy red, and indigo. Fun!  I can't wait to try those colors on a real portrait.

For the background, I used watercolor pencils with my Blended Blotches technique from the April/May 2011 Technique Junkie Newsletter.  The Kraft brown mat also has a TJ technique--Cuttlebug Highlights from the October/November 2008 newsletter. 

You're all invited to play along with the Gingersnap Creations challenges and there are prizes to be won, too.  To see how to enter and got tons of inspiration, visit the Gingersnap Creations blog.

Thanks for stopping by my studio today!

Class Act Blog Challenge

It's time for the May Class Act Blog Challenge, and the challenge this month was to use fabric or stitching, either real or faux.

My card uses a real piece of fabric which I backed with adhesive tape and die cut with my Cuttlebug.  The rooster and sentiment (new from Class Act, Inc.) are foiled with variegated green metal leaf.  I used Heat and Stick powder to apply the metal leaf.

Be sure to stop by the Class Act Insider blog and see what the rest of the design team came up with.

Thanks for stopping by my studio!

Cupcakes and Kittens

Hi again...just a quick post to share a card I made for the current sketch at Cardabilities, sponsored by Technique Junkies.  I used a tutorial from the April 2010 Newsletter called Corduroy along with an image from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design.  The image is stamped on light blue card stock and then colored with colored pencils.

See ya later!

Rustic Birdhouses

I made this card last week with every intention of posting it as soon as I finished, but you know how it goes.  One thing leads to another and before you know it days have gone by. It's downright scary how fast time flies sometimes!

I used a technique on this card that I've been wanting to try for quite awhile now.  I made a custom stamp pad by stamping my image (from Class Act, Inc.) on some Cut 'n Dry felt pad.  Using the stamped image as a guide, I inked the pad and then stamped it directly into my paper.  Then, I stamped the image over the colors with black ink.  Very cool!

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great week!

Midnight Madness Sketch

This week's Midnight Madness Sketch 101 at "priscillastyles" is being sponsored by Technique Junkies.  As a member of the TJ design team, I made this card for fun and inspiration, and of course I used a couple of Technique Junkies tutorials.  The technique I used on my design tiles is called Copic Texturizing, and it was published in the the April 2011 newsletter.  For my tiles, I used my colorless blender to create designs that matched my background paper (Basic Grey Stella Ruby).  I love the way the tiles came out looking like batik.

The second technique I used is called Sanded Core'dinations, which you can find on the Technique Junkies Emboss or Die CD.  The CD chock full of cool things to do with your die cutting/embossing machine, and if you enter the sketch challenge this week you could win a copy for yourself along with a 1-year subscription to the newsletter.  Just visit the "priscillastyles" blog for details on how to enter.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Fooling Around with Watercolors

I bought an inexpensive set of Yasutomo Niji tube watercolors a few weeks back and finally broke them out of the box yesterday.  For the 5 bucks I spent, I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with them.  The colors are fairly intense, and I was able to mix any color I needed from the 12 hues included in the set.  I'm definitely not a watercolorist, but this was awfully fun to do.

The stamp I used on this card is from Class Act, Inc. and the papers are Basic Grey Urban Prairie.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Earth Day

To commemorate Earth Day today, I'm sharing this natural, earthy, and green card that I made using the Kissed Folder technique from the Technique Junkies Emboss or Die CD. This is such a great technique to add just a bit of texture to solid stamps, like I did here with my trees.  The tree stamps I used are from Memory Box and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

Have a wonderful day and remember -- be nice to your Mother...Earth.

Spring Tulip

It's finally gotten warm enough around here to turn the heat off and open the windows.  Well, most of the time anyway.  In honor of spring finally arriving, I thought I'd share this tulip ATC with you today.

For those of you who haven't joined the ATC movement yet, ATC stands for Artist Trading Card.  There are no rules for making them except that they have to be 2.5" by 3.5 inches.  The idea is to make them and trade them with other artists.  I made this one for a recent trade on Rubberstamp Chat. 

The stamp is from Magenta, and I colored the flower with Prismacolor pencils.  The background is a technique from the Dec. 2010 Technique Junkie Newsletter called Colored Pencil Resist. 

Happy Friday!  I hope it's a beautiful day where you are too.

Class Act Blog Challenge #3

Our Class Act blog challenge this month is to make anything but a card. Originally, though, it was more specific--make a scrapbook page. Since my brain was already in scrapbook mode, I decided to stay with that idea.

For my layout, I used a couple of the newly released birdhouse stamps and colored them with Copic markers.  The side borders are made using a Technique Junkies tutorial called Ribbon Spiral Strip from the October 2008 newsletter. 

Be sure to visit the Class Act Insider blog to see the beautiful projects from the rest of the design team.  You'll also find details on how you can join in the challenge and maybe even with this month's prize.

Thanks for stopping by my studio today and have a great weekend!

A Card of Many Challenges

I was in the mood to play in some challenges today, and I made a card that fits several.  The Friday Free for All on Splitcoast today is to make a project with a "home" theme, and these stamps from Class Act were sitting on my table just begging to be inked.  My watercolor pencils were also sitting on my table from a project I did yesterday, so I used them for my coloring.  Yesterday's Ways to Use It on SCS was Flower Frenzy, so I picked floral paper (Basic Grey Green at Heart) and embellishments (Hero Arts Art Flowers).  For my layout, I used the current Card Positioning Systems sketch. 

Thanks for stopping by my studio today.  Have a great weekend!

Accidentally Relevant

With all of the excitement surrounding the impending royal nuptials, it's probably very fitting that I made a card with a decidedly British royal theme.  Truth is that I just now made the connection.  So my card is relevant, but only accidentally.  I find that amusing for some reason...I may be the only one who does, but that's OK.

So why did I made this card, you ask?  I'm still working with the March new stamp release from Class Act, which includes this Buckingham Palace guard in the English doll set and it occurred to me the other day that  Basic Grey Boxer would be the perfect paper to use.  So here you have it!  I colored him with colored pencils and used a clear glaze pen to add polish to his boots and buttons.  I also used some black Flower Soft on his helmet (hat?). 

Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, and GO UCONN!!!  (both teams, men and women--ha!)