I Just Can't Wait

Remember when you were a kid and it seemed like Christmas would never get here?  Now it seems like it gets here so fast there's no time to enjoy the season.  I'm sure it's because, as kids, the only thing we had to do is sit and wait like little Jupiter here.  Although...he's an elf so shouldn't he be busier?

Jupiter (from Starving Artistamps) is colored with Copic markers, and the brick wall he's sitting on was made from a tutorial in the December 2010 Technique Junkies Newsletter.  I took my wall one step further and embossed it using extra coarse sandpaper as my embossing plate (I used a piece of black gasket rubber and a couple of shims to get just the right sandwich thickness for my Cuttlebug).  I lost some of my "mortar" after I did the sandpaper embossing so I went over it with a Versamark pen and added more embossing powder.  It went on kind of messy, which actually made the brick look more realistic.  

Here's a detail so you can see the texture. 

I made the tag from a piece of white chipboard airbrushed it with a Copic marker and a couple of grungeboard numbers that I dyed with distress ink and covered with distress Stickles. 

Whether it's going by fast or slow, I hope you're enjoying your holiday season!

A Neat New Technique for You

The background for this card is a technique I came up with for Technique Junkies, and it appears in this month's newsletter.

The newsletter has a step-by-step tutorial for this technique, but I'll give you the condensed version here.  First, go dig up those blue Fiskars texture plates that you just had to have a few years ago.  You're finally going to actually use them!  Take one of the plates and smoosh a couple of colors of distress ink all over the plate.  Spritz the plate with a little water and then lay your piece of cardstock on the plate.  After a couple of seconds, lift off your cardstock and check out your totally cool background!

I used the snowflake plate with Broken China and Stormy Sky ink to make my background.  The image is from Starving Artistamps and is colored with Copic markers.  It's doesn't show in the photo, of course, but the white and blue panels are glitter paper.  The layout is this week's sketch 195 at Card Positioning Systems.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your new technique!

Busy as an Elf...

That's been me the last couple of days making cards with my new Juniper and Jupiter stamps from Starving Artistamps.  The little cutie is Juniper Elf.  She's partly colored with Copic markers, and partly paper pieced.  The card layout I've used here is called Flap Fold, and it's one of the cool tutorials on the Technique Junkies Fancy Folds and Motion Paper Crafts CD.  I have to admit that I don't always have the patience to do fancy folded cards, but this one was easy to cut and even easier to put together.

Stay tuned...I'll have more holiday cards to post other the next couple of weeks.  Like I said, I've been busy as an elf!

Finally!

I can finally start sharing some of the projects I've been working on lately!

I'll start off with this set of Artist Trading Cards that I just finished for a trade over at Drawspace.com.  The theme was Windows and Doors, and I decided to use Art Deco stained glass window designs for my cards.  I sketched the designs in pencil first and then inked them with a Rapidograph pen.  The coloring is done with Inktense pencils.

Have a great day!  I'll be back tomorrow with a greeting card or two to share.

Tuesday Again

It's Tuesday again...and I've got nothing show from my studio.  I'm working on several art projects, but nothing is in any shape for showing at the moment.  I've got lots of knitting going on, but most are for gift giving so I need to keep them under wraps.  I've got some stamping happening, but it's of the top secret variety. 

You'll get to see all of that stuff eventually, but for now, I'll share a card I made last month with my DoodleFactory Gourds and Pumpkins stamps from Starving Artistamps.  The pumpkin is stamped onto an alcohol ink background with Versamark, "embossed" with Heat 'n Stick powder, and foiled with black foil.  I edged the mats with black Stickles, and added a textured metallic Prima flower and leaf for a little bling. 

Before I go, I'd like to wish everyone here in the U.S. a very happy Thanksgiving, and to everyone else, have a great week!

A Mixed Bag

Happy Friday, everyone!  It's weird, but even when you aren't working, Fridays still feel good.  The big difference is that Sunday evenings and Monday mornings also feel good.

As the title of this post says, I've got a mixed bag for you today.  First, I want to thank everyone for the lovely comments on my last post...they mean so much to me!

And while we're on the subject of comments on my blog, I realize that I forgot to choose a winner for the Technique Junkies CD #8 at the end of October.  Better late than never, I just shook my iPhone for a random number and the winner is #10, Donelda.

Yeah, and I missed my semi-regular Tuesday post again.  I did think of it, and even got as far as getting my camera out to take pics, but the battery was shot.  I put it on the charger and one thing led to another, and here it is Friday already.  Anyway, here's what I'm working on at the moment.  First up is my Bug Light picture.  I don't even know how many hours I've put into the sky so far.  It's not quite done yet, but I'm going to leave it for now and move on to a different area. This is a pretty lousy picture, but it is proof that I've gotten at least a little bit more done on this one.

The project I'm really excited about at the moment are these mittens I started knitting last night.  The cuffs are done with corrugated ribbing, which I had never tried before.  I haven't done stranded knitting of any kind in quite awhile so at first it felt like I was knitting with two left hands with all thumbs.  But, once I got the hang of it, I was zipping along pretty well.  I found the pattern on Ravelry.  If you knit or crochet and haven't discovered Ravelry yet, be sure to pay them a visit.  The site has tons of patterns, forums, blogs, groups, databases that let you catalog your yarn stash and supplies, and project albums.  It literally took me days to explore the whole site!

The final item in my bag today is a card that I made for the Design Junkies blog using the Designer Tiles technique from the August 2008 newsletter.  The stamps are from Inkadinkado, the papers are a mix of scraps and new Basic Grey Jovial, and the "grout" is Ranger old paper Distress embossing powder.

OK.  I think that's it for now.  I'll see ya when I see ya!

Tuesday in My Studio

It's Tuesday, and I almost forgot my "regular" Tuesday post again. Almost. It's not midnight here yet, so this still counts.

Last week was a very eventful week--Riley (our adorable new little granddaughter) was born on Friday; also on Friday, my husband Dave retired after more than 40 years at the same company, we went with friends to see a Patriots football game on Sunday (they won), and on Monday we got to meet Riley for the first time. She's a cutie, isn't she?

I did manage to find some in my studio, though, and almost finished this drawing.  I did the main part of the drawing with Prismacolor pencils on Colorfix sanded paper.  I've used rough paper before, but never anything this rough.  The paper demands a much looser style than I'm accustomed to, and I found it thoroughly enjoyable.  Since Colorfix is a paper intended for use with pastels, I thought that doing the background in pastel would be absolutely perfect.  And, it may well be a perfect solution.  The only catch is that I don't have the first clue how to use pastels.  So as soon as I take care of that little detail, I'll finish this one.

Thanks for stopping by my studio!