Clean and Simple Day 1

 Yes...like everything else in my life, I'm a little behind.  Day 1 of the class was Monday.   And it's now Wednesday.   This is the first class like this I have taken and I must say it's very fun and informative.  I just have to wait until the evenings to try to create the cards.  I need more hours in the day!

Here are a few of the cards I created from the Day 1 class.   I didn't have a lot of the materials that they used, but I had several things that were comparable, so I made it work.   I don't have a mask for spraying, so I created my own with strips of paper.  I used Cocoa reinker in one of CTMH's spritzer bottles and it worked wonderfully.

The first one I did I wasn't completely sure I liked the sentiment. I wanted something on the banner and I couldn't find what I wanted so I tried writing it with a gel pen.  I had already done two backgrounds while I was spraying so I just started over with a different sentiment and left the banner blank. 

I think I like this one better.  This was my second try on this card as well.  Practice makes perfect, right?  You can't really tell from the picture, but the card face is cut apart and adhered with 3d foam tape to give some dimension.  

The one below was pretty simple as well.  I cut the word bubble from the Artiste cartridge and stamped it with the Word Balloons stamp set from the Cricut collection.  I embossed it with our silver embossing powder.  I used the Silver Glitz Gel to make the little dots around the bubble.  I used the In the Background stamp set for the stripes across the top of the card.  

These were all I got done from the Day 1 of class.  I haven't even begun to look at Day 2 classes.  

Thanks for stopping by.   I'll get to work on my homework and get more posted soon. 

Birthday Wishes

Here's another card I finished this past weekend.   I did manage four cards I think before the weekend was up.  I am finally getting them photographed and uploaded. I know, I'm slow!  I've also been trying to get my homework done for this Clean & Simple Card Making 2 class I signed up for.  I can't keep up!  This 40-hour a week job thing keeps getting in the way of my crafting time, geesh.  But I did manage to get a few done from the first day and I'll be posting those later. 

This one is, like the previous "Thanks" card has the same bold colors.  I used Cranberry, Lagoon, White Daisy, and Black on this one.

I used the In the Background  stamp set again to make the striped Lagoon paper.   I can tell this set will get a lot of usage from me.  After I attached all of my strips to my card front, I used a circle punch and punched out the corner.  I then took the sentiment from the Just a Number stamp set and curved it on my block to fit around the punched opening. That is part of the beauty of our clear acrylic stamps, being able to bend and mold them to your needs.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink.  I tied some of our black and white baker's twine around the front and then adhered it to the card base with 3d foam tape.  The little flower in the corner is a cut from the Artiste Cricut cartridge in various sizes from White Daisy and Cranberry cardstock, then layered together.  The center of the flower is a teeny tiny punched sunburst looking thing.  I topped it off with some liquid glass to make it look like a little bauble.  I just attached it all with a glue dot to the card base and there you have it. 

I'm off to do some more homework. I hope to have more cards posted tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Happy Scrapping!  

Coloring Experiment

Lately I have acquired several stamps that need coloring, not just inking.  I haven't really decided which medium I liked the best.   Since CTMH introduced their new alcohol ink markers I have been intrigued.  I can honestly say that throughout all my artful youth, I had not colored with markers for art.  I have painted, sketched with pencil, and fell in love with colored pencils.   Colored pencils was always my medium of choice.  But now, we have markers.  Because CTMH didn't have their full line of colors in the markers yet, I purchased a few Copics Sketch markers.  They are delightful, but quite pricey.  What I  love about our markers is that you can pretty well match your colors with that of the papers you want to use.  That takes a lot of  time and guesswork out of the color choosing.

I still have not decided which method of coloring I like the best.  But in my efforts to choose, I decided to take the same image and color it three ways, hence the experiment.  I just got my first Magnolia Kids stamp.  I think they are so cute.   Here is Tilda and her bunny.

I first set out to try watercolor pencils.  I think in an earlier post I had said I used Derwent watercolor pencils.  That was incorrect, they are Staedtler Karat watercolor pencils.  They look just like my Derwent colored pencils.  They are inexpensive pencils you can get at the craft store.  Well, you could 20 years ago. I'm assuming you still can. I have had this set since the dawn of time I do believe, maybe not 20 years, but close!  I do like the soft muted colors.  These require way less of a selection of colors to color with.   Most of the coloring was done with a single pencil per color, no more than two.   You just increase the intensity as you wet the page.  That is one plus to the watercolor pencils.  

I was trying to get all the images with as close to the same color as I could.  Hard to do with all different brands.  The next up is done with Berol Prismacolors.  

You have a lot of control with the Prismacolor.  They are and have always been my pencil of choice.  With this image there were several colors used in order to make the right colors, at least three per color.  But the beauty of the Prismacolor is if you don't have the exact color, you can make it.  Layering and shading is awesome with these.  But because of that, it does take longer than the others.  Or for me it does anyway. 

Next up is the one done with markers.  On this one I used a combination of CTMH markers and Copics. 

Her shirt, bow, and jeans were done with CTMH markers.  Everything else was done with Copic Sketch markers.   I still don't have the exact colors I want for brunette hair, so this is the best I could do with the colors I have.  It actually doesn't look this yellow in real life.  The colors in this image are definitely more intense.   Coloring this Tilda probably took the least amount of time, but with a much larger margin of error.  I just feel like I don't have as much control in coloring as I do in the other two.  It may just be a matter of what I'm used to.  I'm still very new to the markers.  But with that being said, I do plan on building my marker collection.  I love this medium it will just take a while to master. 

That was the way I spent my spare moments this afternoon. I do love coloring, always have.  I wanted  to really compare the three mediums.   After it was all said and done, I thought I would share my results.  Now, can I choose a favorite...nope :)  It just all depends on where and what I would be using the image for, as well as the time I have to color it.   The quickest was the markers.  The least amount of colors to achieve a finished image would be the watercolor pencils.  And I feel I am most in control with the Prismacolors, but took the longest to color. 

I am always open to suggestions on new methods and techniques.  I would love to hear your thoughts and feelings on coloring.   Thanks for stopping by.  I'll be having some new cards up this week, as well, so stop back by. 

Happy Scrapping!

A Quick Thanks

I had a few moments today, so I actually got a few cards made.  Here's the first one.  It's a very simple thank you card.

I love the new background stamps in the upcoming 2013 Spring/Summer catalog.  Both sets of these stamps have three backgrounds each and  they are long, instead of square.  They are perfect for making cards.   I was able to stamp this background once to make this card.  No more trying to line everything up to stamp across a card..woohoo!  This one above is the chevron print from the set In the Background (D1540) which will be available February 1st.   I simply stamped the background then cut along the design.  I used strips of Lagoon, Cranberry, and Honey cardstock for some color.  Then stamped my sentiment from the A Little Everything (retired) set.  I mounted it on some black cardstock and attached it with some 3d foam tape.  Very simple and to the point.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hopefully, I will get the rest of the cards posted soon.   Have a great rest of the weekend!

Dragonfly Quick Card

Here's a little sneak peek at one of the new quick card stamp sets that will be in the new catalog that goes live February 1st. This is Quick Cards - Dragonfly (A1134).  I love the quick card stamp sets and I love things with wings.  How could I go wrong with this one?

I used Pacifica, Pear, Sky and Chocolate inks on this card.  I daubed on all the ink directly to my stamp and then stamped on the White Daisy cardstock.  I love the affect it gives.  I gave little strips of cardstock the same colors as my inks a scalloped edge and adhered them.  The bottom pattern is actually a new stamp, too.  It's part of the new In the Background stamp set (D1540).  The new background stamps  have three stamps that are  1 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, perfect for card making.  I stamped the bottom part of my white cardstock with the floral background from that set in Pacifica ink.   I used some green hemp cord I had in my stash and made a little bow and then attached it to my card base using 3d foam tape.   I cut the card base to a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch  portrait card from Chocolate cardstock.   

That's all for today.  I just had to share my quick card.  There are several A size cards in the upcoming book.  I'm so excited.  The other quick card is a Bee.  Yay, more wings!

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Scrapping!

Flirty Butterfly

While trying to drop my Cotton Candy cardstock habit like a hot potato, I decided to pull out some Flirty.  Flirty is one of the featured paper packs in the current idea book that will be retiring.  It will only be available until the end of January.  I really like the bold colors.  

I didn't put a sentiment on this card either.  It was another one that I feel could go for more than one occasion, ie. congratulations, birthday, sympathy, friendship, etc.   When I figure out it's purpose,  I will put the sentiment in the bottom right. 

This was a very simple card.  I trimmed one of our Colonial White card stock bases on one side and then edged it with my Fiskars border punch.  I adhered a small strip of the printed raspberry B&T from the paper pack to the inside of the card.  I backed the patterned B&T with Black cardstock and used 3d foam tape to adhere it over the Olive strip.  I added a black ribbon from my stash before attaching the square.  The butterfly was cut from the Artiste Cricut cartridge.  I added a few black sparkles and that was it.  Simple, but with an elegant feel I think.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Scrapping!

Pink Butterfly and Frames Flair

In the new upcoming Spring/Summer book, which will go live February 1, they have some new frames stamp sets.  I fell in love with one called Frames Flair (D1546).  It's a set of four detailed fancy frames.  I saw a card on Pinterest (shocking, I know..lol) done by a Jo Dumbleton, I believe.  It was beautiful, soft and delicate.  It served as my inspiration for this card.

This card was super simple.  It's a White Daisy card base with a strip of Cotton Candy cardstock.  I embossed the cardstock with my Swiss Dots embossing folder and then lightly sanded to get my polka dotted effect.  I used the border stamp from the Snowflakes stamp set on either side of the strip, stamped in, you guessed it, Cotton Candy.  I used the new Frames Flair stamp for the frame.   It coordinates with the Art Philosophy cut on page 62 and it's cut at 2 1/4".  Perfect for the standard sized  card.   The butterfly is the shape from page 41.  I just cut two in different sizes and layered them.  The soft pink ribbon is some I had in my stash.  But the gem in the middle is from our new Pink Glitter Gems (Z1807), also available on February 1.  

I didn't put a sentiment on this card because I thought it could have different uses.  It could be a baby card,  or a birthday card, or a super sweet something or another card.  I think I am going to try this card design in some different papers and see what I can come up with.  I really just love the frame.

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Scrapping!

Love You Latte

I have been wanting to use the stamp set, Cup of Cheer, since I got it and just never could figure out exactly how I wanted to use it.  When I saw this stamp of Mimi drinking her coffee, I knew!  It just so happens that over at Heart 2 Heart Challenge blog, this week's challenge is:  Hot Cocoa!  Although I don't have any Cocoa color in this card, she is drinking something dark and hot, latte, cocoa, joe, whichever.  I hope it's close enough.

I wanted to try my hand at watercolor pencil for a change.  This little Mimi was stamped on White Daisy cardstock and colored with Derwent water color pencils that I have had since the invention of time I think..lol.  They give it a little different feel than the markers.  Not necessarily better, just different. I grabbed some Cotton Candy (because it's still all over my desk!) and Black cardstock and framed my little Mimi and attached her to another swiss dots embossed White Daisy with some 3d foam.    I stamped the sentiment from the Cup of Cheer stamp set on it's coordinating Cricut cutout  and threw in some black and white baker's twine.  I just felt like it needed a little something and the twine worked.  

I didn't get a picture of the inside of the card, but the sentiment reads, "Your friendship is like coffe, it  helps me get through the day."  I thought it was sweet and quite fitting.  And, it doesn't even have to be a Valentine's card.  

If you haven't stopped by Heart 2 Heart's Challenge blog, you should check them out.  They always have some wonderful posted works, full of inspiration.  Keep up the lovely work ladies!

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope to have another posted tomorrow. 

Happy Scrapping!

More Pink Hearts!

I think I am officially tired of pink!  As much as I love it, it's been on my work desk for a couple of weeks now.  I'm not prejudice either, there are all different shades of pink.  I have this habit of wanting to work with something until it's gone.  Well, I have thrown in the pink towel, at least for this week..lol.

I am still in love with Mimi from Penny Black, though.  This little girl is so cute to me.  I had made two cards previously using her and a friend from work ending up with on for her little girl for Valentine's Day.  And another friend said she wanted one, too.  So, back to the drawing board I went. Here's another Mimi "I heart you" card.

I colored her the same as before and glitter glitzed her little wings.  The concentric hearts are cuts from the Circut Artiste cartridge.  I stamped the little heart in the middle with the Whoo's Your Valentine stamp set, as well as the sentiment.  The pink cardstock is Cotton Candy, which is probably my favorite CTMH pink.  I had  cut several different sized sets of hearts to see which I liked with Mimi.  So, I used the leftovers and created this card.  Very simple.  It's a little hard to tell in the picture but I just embossed the top part of the White Daisy cardstock to leave a space at the bottom to stamp my sentiment.  I grabbed some white ribbon from my stash and there it is.   

Earlier I had posted a pastel on kraft Valentine's card.  I decided I would try it monochromatic pinks, since I had leftovers and all...lol.  

I used Blush, Hollyhock and Ruby on White Daisy for this card.  I used the little chevron background stamp from Whooo's Your Valentine for the side strip and the "xoxox" stamp on the inside heart.  

That's it for today.  Tomorrow,  I hope to have my other photos uploaded and posted.  Yes, they are pink, too...lol.  

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  Happy Scrapping! 

Happy Anniversary

The La Belle Vie paper pack is one of the featured  paper packs in the Autumn/Winter 2012 idea book from Close to My Heart.  But alas, nothing gold can stay.  I love this paper pack, but it will be retired at the end of this month.    I have some friends that are having a wedding anniversary tomorrow.  I thought this paper would suit that occasion well.  

I have been waiting for an opportunity to use the Bonjour stamp set.  The Joyeux Anniversaire sentiment is just what I needed.  I used Smokey Plum cardstock  for the back of the card, which is a scalloped square cut from the Art Philosophy cricut cartridge.  The back piece is cut at 5.25" square. (I had 5.5" square envelopes) The card itself is Colonial White cardstock cut to fold to a 4.25" square then attached to the larger scalloped square.  I think it makes for an interesting effect.   I used a scalloped border punch to make the scallop on the band.  The pink strip is La Belle Vie Pink cardstock (which is only found in the La Belle Vie paper pack).  The oval is a Cricut cut.  You can't really tell from the photo, but I used some Bitty Sparkles on the sentiment to add some dainty bling.  

All in all, I liked the way it turned out.  This paper really doesn't need much embellishing,  it's so pretty just by itself.   The recipient loved it, and that's what counts.  

This paper pack is only available through the end of this month and I'm sure it will be only while supplies last.  They have already sold out of the My Stickease that goes along with this pack.  If you would like to order this paper pack or any other CTMH products, you can visit my website, or contact me.  Don't forget, with a $35  qualifying purchase,  you can also get your Whooo's Your Valentine Kit for only $10.  That, too, is only through the end of January. 

I have a couple of layouts I did using the La Belle Vie papers that I hope to have posted soon.  Thanks for stopping by.  

***Happy Anniversary Ms. Barbara!!***

Owl Always Love You

This is the last of the cards I had made last weekend.

It's a 5x7 Kraft card base. I used the Whooo's Your Valentine stamp set for the owls.  I cut the big heart and the branch for the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.  The heart is Hollyhock and the card face is Colonial White.  The leaves were punched with two different sized Marvy punches out of Sweet Leaf and Olive cardstocks.  Again, hard to tell from the picture, but I used the lightest color sparkle from the Brown and Tan Sparkle Assortment for the owls' eyes.  I used my embossing stylus and my scoring board and embossed a frame around the card face.

Very easy and simple design with very little stamping.  Oh, the owls were stamped on Colonial White cardstock in Champagne, Hollyhock, and Chocolate.  I daubed the color onto my stamps.  The inside sentiment I used the computer and simply typed out, "Owl always love you," and "Happy Valentine's Day."

Speaking of simplicity, I made probably my most simple Valentine's yet.  I had cut two hearts from Hollyhock when I made the card above, so I used the leftover to make this card below.

I simply glued the heart on a standard white card base.  I stamped the sentiment from the Whooo's Your Valentine stamp set.  I outlined the card face with our Silver Metallic Marker (<--- love these!).  Then, I adhered a tiny white bow I made with some ribbon from my stash.  Voila!  Couldn't be any easier.  

That's it for the Valentine's cards, so far.  Remember the Whooo's Your Valentine kit will be available to order for only $10 with every $35 qualifying purchase until the end of January.  If you have any questions or would like to order, stop by my website or drop me a line. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Scrapping!

Pastel Krafty Valentine

I'm still not through with Valentine's.  I guess that's a good thing since it isn't until next month.  For once I'm ahead of the game..lol.  Doesn't happen often.  Here's another simple Valentine done in pastel colored cardstock on Kraft.

This is a standard sized Kraft card.  I embossed the front with swiss dots.  I cut the hearts from the Artiste Cricut cartridge.  I stamped the little one and the sentiment with the Whooo's Your Valentine stamp set.  The cardstocks are Cotton Candy, Sky, and the yellow Dotty for You.  I free-handed the faux stitching with a white gel pen.   It's hard to tell from the picture but the pink and yellow piece are adhered with 3d foam, as is the striped heart, to give a little dimension. 

Thanks for stopping by.   Happy Scrapping!

A Mimi Valentine's

Here's a couple more of the Valentine's that I put together.  The little fairy girl is from a Penny Black stamp set called Mimi in Paris.  I thought she was precious and knew I had to do something with her.

The card above is a 5 x 5 card of White Daisy.  You can't really tell (my apologies for the bad lighting) but the background is embossed with hearts.  I colored her hair and skin with Copics.  Her dress, leggings, and wings are with CTMH alcohol ink markers in Cotton Candy, Sweet Leaf and Sky.  I coated her wings with Stardust Glitz Glitter Gel.   The sentiment is stamped from the Whooo's Your Valentine stamp set, same for the card below.  The card below is 5x7. I used a white gel pen and added the faux stitching around Mimi and added a ribbon from my stash. 

The only thing that took any time on these cards was the coloring.  But I do love to color :)

Thanks for stopping by.  I have a few more Valentine's to post so come back and see us. 

Happy Scrapping!

Clearly the Best: Embossed Resist Stamping

Close to My Heart has produced yet another great instructional video showcasing a really neat technique:  embossed resist stamping.  I had never heat embossed anything until I started with CTMH.  I do love their embossing powders.  To emboss and then add ink, what's not to love?  It's a great effect.

I used this technique on my little snowmen card for a subtle background.  

Although hard to see in this picture, I embossed the snowflakes in clear embossing powder on my white background and then lightly daubed on the blue to make a soft sky-like color.  This technique can be used for the dramatic or the subtle.

If you have any questions about the products used in this video or would like to purchase them, you can visit my website, here, or drop me a line.   

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Scrapping!

A Christmas Project

I found these lovely display stands at Michaels earlier in the year.  I fell in love instantly.  They have sleeves for 10 pages.   I got myself the 12 x 12 and the 8x8 displays.  I got two more 8x8 displays for friends for Christmas.   I thought they would be perfect for desks, mantles or even end tables.  I wanted to share some of the pages I did for one of  the Christmas presents.

It was a little challenging for me at first, trying to downsize my thinking from  12 x 12 to 8x8.  But these are display stands and whereas I add journaling and details to my normal scrapbook pages, it's not needed here.   I grabbed some photos from facebook (gotta love social media..lol) and whipped up a few pages and then I did some that I left blank.

Here is one in the Cruisin paper....

Elemental....

You might recognize this one from the summer idea book in Footloose...

La Belle Vie  (she plans on going to Paris in the Spring)....

Pear and Partridge (inspired by an Everyday Cricut post)..

Pemberly and....

just Kraft, Black and White Daisy. 

I did another one in Avonlea, but apparently didn't get a picture of it.   I thought they turned out pretty cute.  The recipient was thrilled and that's all that mattered. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I'll have more cards to post, hopefully, tomorrow. 

Happy New Year everyone!  Stay safe!