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!

Really? It's only Friday?

I've been thinking all morning that today is Saturday.  I've been telling my brain all morning that it's not Saturday; it's Friday, but apparently my brain wants it to be Saturday.  I suppose I have no choice but to just go with the flow.

Fortunately, I did convince my brain that it is Friday long enough to get my Friday posting up for the TJ Design Junkies blog.  I used a technique from 2007 called Cottoned Color for my card along with a digital stamp from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.  I printed my image on Solar White Neenah Classic Crest and colored it with Copic markers.  The layout is from this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch, CPS #206.

Thanks for stopping by, and you all have a happy Friday.  I'll be enjoying my Saturday.

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 34

I can't believe it's already time for another Divine Diva challenge!  This time, Lori chose a magazine ad for Lindt chocolate.  I had lots of ideas for this one and ultimately settled on replicating look of the journal.  I loved the colors, and besides, I have LOTS of buttons!

Lindt chocolate magazine ad.

All of the papers I used came out of my scrap pile--Yay!  I just taped the pieces together from the back and then cut my panel so that the seams fell at 30 and 60 degree angles.  The stamps I used are old favorites from Inkadinkado and the cupcake is colored with Copic markers.

Be sure to check out the cards made by all the Divine Divas for this challenge!


Lori
Anne
Chris
Julie
Kerri

Hope you are inspired to come and play along. Just leave a comment on Lori's blog with a link to your card. We can't wait to see what you create! The keyword for uploading on online forums will be DDIC34. Have fun and look for the next challenge on September 2!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 33

Our inspiration this time comes from Lovely Package.  Would you believe that these are tequila bottles?  They really are lovely!

I was especially taken with the beautiful soft pastel colors so those were my jumping off point.  I decided to mimic the colors on three panels just the way they are on the three bottles.  I stamped my flowers (Inkadinkado) with White Brilliance ink onto the colored cardstock and then added color with Prismacolor pencils.  The dotted borders and the green zigzag border are also drawn with Prismacolors.  To further carry the floral theme, I debossed my background panel with an Impressibilities stencil. 

I have to say...I'm pleased with the way this card came together.  And, I would also like some pretty tequila!

Be sure to stop by the other Diva's blogs to see how they were inspired by the pretty tequila bottles.  There blog links are in my sidebar.  And as always, we welcome you to play along with us (use keyword DDIC33 or DDIC if you upload to SSC or PCP).

Thanks for stopping by the studio!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #30

Welcome to the latest edition of the Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge! Our inspiration this time is this image from the Nostagia Organics homepage. 

This challenge is my favorite so far, for a couple of reasons.  First is that when I first saw the photo, my reaction was an audible groan.  All I saw was clutter, and I just couldn't imagine what I could possibly come up with.  In fact, I started working on my card early because I was so sure that I would struggle for inspiration. 

Happily, that turned out not to be the case, and I love the card I made.  Really, it felt more like the card was telling me what to do, and I was just along for the ride--another reason I loved this challenge so much.  I started with the background paper, a piece from my Basic Grey Boxer pad.  I then realized that I had a corner punch that would mimic the corners of the plate.  Hmm, and I could probably use my Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps to come up with a similar pattern. So that came together pretty darned well, and then I remembered that I had the perfect sentiment (Serendipity stamps).  OK, now here's where it gets good...I recalled that my cyber-friend Donelda posted some pretty homemade strawberry embellishments on her Wiggy's World blog.  Perfect!

I put everything together with a pretty blue bow.  Just as I finished, my DH walked into the room.  It gets a little spooky here because I think the card was talking to him, too.  He looked at it and said that it looked nice but it needed something in the other corner.  "Buttons?", I asked.  "Yes, buttons", the card replied.  Really perfect now!

One thing I love about all of these challenges is seeing what the other Divas have come up with.  You can see their creations by clicking the links in my left sidebar.  And, as always, we'd love for you to play along!

Lookie, Lookie...A New Card!

I didn't have as much time as I'd hoped for stamping last weekend, but I did get a few done, and today I even had time to take photos.  So without further adieu, here's a new card!

I'm still having fun with my DoodleFactory Creatures II set from Starving Artistamps.  This little cutie is Sprat, and I colored him with my Caran d'Ache Pablos pencils.  The printed paper is Cosmo Cricket Early Bird, and the background is a piece of Core'dinations that I embossed and then sanded. 

Well, gotta run for now, but I'll be back later in the week. 

Clean and Simple, Quick and Easy

This could have easily been a one layer card, too, but I just couldn't resist adding the orange mat to frame the images.  The stamps are from smARTworks, and I stamped them onto white card stock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  On my card, I stamped the owl first and then masked it before I stamped the hats, but it would have been quicker and easier and just as effective to simply stamp the hats next to the owl.  I used Prismacolor pencils and a colorless blender to do my coloring and added just a little bit of sparkle by putting some Stardust Stickles on the hats.

Well, I'm off.  I've got a few chores to do, but then we're kicking back with some friends to enjoy the first full day of Spring.

One for the Stash

Just a fun little card to add to my stash of Birthday cards. It won't stay there long, though. We have lots of birthdays coming up in our family.

The stamp is from Memory Box, as is the paper, and I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils.

In case I don't make it back here until Monday, have a great weekend!

Dan's Birthday Card (and why procrastinating is good)

I needed a birthday card for a friend last weekend, and it needed to be a quick card because, in my usual fashion, I procrastinated just a teeny bit about making the card.  So much for the "I won't procrastinate anymore" New Year's resolution, but I'm OK with that.

Anyway, I've had this Basic Grey Obscure paper for quite awhile, but never used it because it has skulls all over it.  Well, those skulls seemed perfect for this 40th birthday card!  The "You are here" and arrow are Starving Artistamps from the DoodleFactory Final Frontier collection, and I drew the "40!" myself and colored it with a Copic marker.  I added some bling and a diecut shape and finished the card in about a half hour.

Which brings me to why I'm OK with breaking my New Year's resolution:

• Procrastinating makes me more efficient--this same card would have taken me at least twice as long if I'd had the time to squander.
  
• Procrastinating makes me thrifty--if I had the time, I would have gone out and bought paper and a stamp especially for this card and who knows what else while I was there.
  
• Procrastinating sparks my creativity--since I didn't have time to buy a stamp, I had to get creative and make do with what I had and draw what I couldn't stamp.
  

So there.  Procrastination is a virtue.  Hah!

Happy New Year!

My DH and I have spent New Year's Day the way we always do--bumming around the house doing nothing in particular.   I did work on a few projects that I need to finish, but I also spent some time just stamping for the fun of it.  I made this card for a couple of the challenges at Split Coast Stampers:  Limited Supply Challenge LSC253 and Sketch Challenge SC261.

It's a really quick card because that was one of the requirements of the Limited Supply Challenge.  The stamp is from Memory Box and I colored it with Copic markers.  The paper is from a Cosmo Cricket Mini Deck called Early Bird.

Well, gotta go...there's still a little time left today for more goofing off!

Here Comes the Clown

I have a friend who thinks clowns are creepy, and I know that many others do, too. I have no such aversion, though. Clowns are just silly of you ask me, like this guy from the Starving Artistamps Doodlefactory Costume Party collection.  He's colored with Copic markers to match the background paper, which is from Basic Grey.  The layout I used is Card Positioning Systems sketch #5.

Have a great day!  I think I'm going to venture out and try to relieve myself of some of my Christmas cash.  :-)

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday, and I just have to share this pretty card that from Susan T. from smARTworks sent me.

Thank you, Susan...you made me smile!

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.

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #12

I have news!!!  A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Lori (you may know her as Chanteuse on SCS) over at The Diva Stamper asking me if I'd like to join the Divine Divas challenge team.  Now, who wouldn't want be a Diva?  And here she was offering to make me a Divine Diva!  Well, I gotta tell ya...I couldn't say yes fast enough!

So what does it mean to be a Divine Diva?  Of course, there's stamping involved.  Here's the way it works.  Lori chooses an inspiration piece, and the rest of the Diva's create a something using that piece as inspiration...it could be a card...it could be anything!  The challenges are posted on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month.

The inspiration for today's challenge is this cake from Let Them Eat Cake.  When I saw those white overlays, I immediately thought of my long-neglected paper crimper.  And then, I remembered an Indadinkado stamp I'd bought and never really used.  So with those two things in mind, I created my card.

I stamped the image with Fluid Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan and cut it out with a nestie and my Cuttlebug.  Next, I created the background by crimping a piece of white cardstock, matted both panels with brown cardstock and assembled the card.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and is stamped in the same chalk ink.  The embellishments I chose are Prima and Hero Arts flowers, and self-stick crystals from who-knows-where.

Everyone is invited to play along 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: Angela, Anne, Chris, Lori, Julie, Keri, and Kerri

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

{Insert Clever Title Here}

I've been sitting here for 10 minutes trying to think of a clever title for this post. I give up!

Here's the card I made tonight using the new DoodleFactory Prehistoric set from Starving Artistamps. I colored my dino with Copic markers and created scales using a technique I learned at my Copic certification class. Just color as you would normally, including shading, and then use the tip of your colorless blender to create light spots. You need to go slowly and hold the tip in one place for a second to get the effect, but I love the way it come out.

The printed papers I used are Basic Grey Archaic (6x6), and I also used a couple of Technique Junkies tutorials--Simple Whitewash and Outside the Box. Oh yeah, and the sketch is from Splitcoast Stampers Sketch challenge #240.

{Insert witty closing here}

Hahaha...maybe I'll be more clever tomorrow...then again, probably not. Later!

Got Inchies?

I do!!! And so can you...smARTworks now has a whole line of Inchie stamps AND they carry Inchie Arts products! I just got my order of goodies yesterday, and today I plan to play all afternoon. Yup. Life is good!

Here's my first card for the day. I used the sketch from Card Positioning Systems (CPS121), which is perfect for showing off an Inchie. I used the birthday cake from the Little Bits #1 set and a sentiment from Square Say. Believe it or not, I colored the cake with Copic markers. You need to have a very light touch, but you can color tiny areas with the brush tip.

Gotta go...I've gots lots more stamping to do!

smARTworks Tea Party #16 - Shape Cards

Here's my card for Giovana's shaped card challenge. And let me just say this--it was much more of a challenge than I expected! I probably spent an hour just deciding what shape I should do. Sheesh!!!!

Anyway, this is what I came up with, and I'm reasonably happy with it. My main image is from the smARTworks ABC Fresh Picked set and the sentiment is from Swirly-Gigs. I colored my little guy with Copic markers (stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black on Georgia Pacific cardstock) and added some doodled borders.

Be sure to take a look at what the rest of the Design Team came up with:

Susan (and Sarah and Peggy)
Donelda
Giovana
Trish

Thanks for stopping by!

Let's Make Scraplings!

It's my turn to host the next smARTworks Tea Party challenge, and after looking at the huge pile of scraps I've accumulated, I decided that we should make Scraplings. What's a Scrapling? There are no hard and fast rules because the idea is to use scraps you have lying around, but a Scrapling is usually a folded card about 4-1/4 by 1-3/4 inches (made from a strip of card stock 8-1/2 by 1-3/4 inches). My instruction to the other Cookies is that anything goes...just use scraps and odd and ends as much as possible in your creations.

We'll be posting our Scraplings next Wednesday, April 8th. What about you? How about grabbing some scraps and joining us?

I also have a card to share with you today. This was a simple card to make and came together quickly, and I really like the way it came together. I did the main panel with watercolor crayons direct to rubber and lightly misted with water before stamping. I stamped the edges of each mat using chalk ink a few shades darker than my card stock, and also stamped the sentiment with chalk ink. That's really all there was to it...like I said, easy! The stamps I used are from the smARTworks Daisy Square set.

See you later!