Monday, March 30, 2009

Happy Spring everyone! Yesterday was such a beautiful day that I am still in a good mood. I also received an email that said my new digital camera was shipped this morning, so that added to my good mood. I tell you, I hadn't realized how much I have come to depend on my camera until it was gone.

I am posting this particular card for several reasons:
1. To celebrate Spring (see above-mentioned happiness)
2. To celebrate Hero Arts and their one year blog anniversary (which is today).
3. It is the only picture of a card I have left till I get my new camera (ahhh..the truth comes out).

All of the stamps I used for the card are by Hero Arts and features my current favorite set of theirs called "Four Dolls." To make the card, I stamped the cherry blossom border from the set repeatedly onto pink cardstock to make it look like a floral background. I don't think I would have tried this technique with a wood-mount stamp because it would have taken to long to line up. However, a clear stamp worked just fine. I colored the flowers with various pink Copic markers and used the same markers to color the kimono.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I feel as though I am off to a good start.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

CPS Challenge #108 and Contest Reminder


Did I forget to mention that you might need sunglasses to look at today's card? It sure did turn out bright! I did another layout challenge for Card Positioning Systems using the following sketch:

I used a stamp from the same Heidi Grace set as my last post and stamped it onto white cardstock using black Memento ink. I colored the image with Copic markers and then layered it onto some bright green paper. I used some green ribbon and red brads to finish the card. I hope you aren't getting tired of all these sketch challenges, because I sure have been enjoying them.

Thanks to all of you who have given me digital camera suggestions. I am looking into getting a new one to replace the one that broke. I think it is almost impossible to blog without one!

I also wanted to remind you guys of the contest that I am running on my Color Whimsy blog. You have the chance to win$100 in Memory Box Bucks just by submitting a card that uses markers as well as at least one stamp from the Memory Box Woodland Springtime Collection. Cards must be uploaded by March 28th, so you are running out of time to enter. I wish you all the best of luck!


Tuesday, March 24, 2009

5 Minute Card

I thought it was time again to post a really quick and easy card. After all, you can't have too many of those in your repertoire! For today's card, I used one stamp by Heidi Grace that had a ton of words on it and stamped it onto 140lb watercolor paper with black VersaFine ink. I then wet the entire paper with water and painted over it with an assortment of metallic watercolor paints. It is hard to tell from the picture, but the entire card shimmers. To finish the card, I added an assortment of rhinestones to the flowers and layered the watercolor paper onto a card. Easy!

I am not sure what my posting schedule is going to be for a while. My digital camera decided to die tonight. Rats!!!! I have a couple of stock pictures of cards on hand, but then I think I am going to have to get creative. All I could think of when it died was, "you can't die a week before peak cherry blossom time!" Priorities you know....

Sunday, March 22, 2009

TECC60 Sketch Challenge


I have been doing a lot of sketch challenges lately. Whenever feel like I am getting in a rut, I like to try different layouts from my tried and true designs. Today's card is one from the Taylored Expressions blog.



This card was also a challenge between some of my friends and myself. We had to use up some of our K and Company papers as well as some of our new clear Inkadinkado sets. There is nothing like combing a bunch of challenges to get the creative juices flowing!


Friday, March 20, 2009

CPS Challenge #107


I did a lot of multi-tasking when I made this card. I used this weeks layout challenge from Card Positioning Systems as well as the Spring theme of the latest Hero Arts challenge. Finally, I needed to make a birthday card for my friend Donna and wanted to make sure to include some birdhouse paper from American Crafts that I knew she would like. Whew!

Here is an un-altered picture of this week's layout challenge:

As always, I stuck closely to the layout for my own card. I stamped the branch onto white cardstock with green pigment ink and then colored over the branch with a colored pencil to make it brown. I then stamped the bird on top with black VeraFine ink and colored it with an assortment of colored pencils. I added just a touch of blue around the bird with my Copic Airbrush system and stamped a few flowers at the bottom. The flowers were also colored with pencils and each has a yellow pearl in the center as an accent.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

IO DT Challenge

For the latest Impression Obsession Design Team Challenge, the theme is "friendship." I love to use the "Like a Garden" saying because it is such a nice sentiment, and I have tons (and tons) of floral images. However, this time I decided to use it with my new rose leaf branch stamp. Solid stamps are so versatile to work with, and the rose branch looked nice as a resist with some mulberry paper and some Colorwash sprays. Want some more inspiration for friend cards? Check out what Daniela, Dina, Julie, Kelli, Tina, Michelle, and Shirley have created.

How about a blast from the past? I realized that the first card I ever posted on my blog fit this category, so I thought I would repost it. I colored the tree and border with watercolor crayons, sprtized them, and then stamped them on watercolor paper.


Monday, March 16, 2009

New Contest

Just a quick note to let you know that I am running a contest on my Memory Box Blog with a $100 Memory Box Bucks prize that you can spend at your favorite Memory Box retailer. For those of you who were in my Sunday Memory Box class, I wanted to let you know that I had to change my contest a bit from what I told you. Sorry for the confusion! The updated contest description can be found at Color Whimsy. All of the Memory Box blogs are running $100 contests, so there is a lot of Memory Box money to be won!

Good luck!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Sparkly Irises

I made this card for my friend Hare's birthday using an iris stamp from Stacy Stamps that I am pretty sure I used for her birthday card a few years back. I really have to take better notes on what cards I made for which people. I just couldn't resist using it again because irises are her favorite flower. I don't often take pictures of cards from the side, but I thought it helped show off the shimmer of the Twinkling H2O's better. Here is a close up of the sparkle:

To make the card, I used two shades of purple paint as well as a yellow paint. I stamped the flowers using black VersaFine ink onto 90lb watercolor paper. I then wet the petals with clear water and painted them with my Twinkling H2O's. To blend between the various colors, I cleaned and dried my paintbrush before smoothing over the lines between the colors with my paintbrush. Hope you liked your birthday card Hare...even if it seemed familiar.

I was asked for more details about how I managed to run over my Memory Box grass stamp with my car (see previous post). Basically, I was carrying my craft bag to my car at night and thought I heard something fall. I looked all over but couldn't find anything. I think that was because my stamp fell right next to the tire. I got in the car and proceed to drive right over it. The front side has skid marks, but the rubber side looks remarkably good. I just don't recommend you trying this at home!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Thank you Berry Much


This week the Hero Arts blog featured cards using small stamps. I decided to make a challenge card using their tiny strawberry stamp. It is one of those stamps I have been meaning to use for a while and just let it sit in a box. I can't tell you how rewarding it is to finally use it! The saying is one I use all the time and is from Make an Impression.

To make the berry card, I stamped the strawberry all over a white piece of cardstock and colored it with Copic markers. It is hard to tell from the large picture, but I added some pink colored pencil over the red Copic marker to add some highlights and then outlined each strawberry with the Copic Warm Grey 1 marker. Here is a close-up of one of the straberries so that you can see it a little bit better:


On an unrelated note, have you ever wondered what would happen if you ran over a rubber stamp with your car?

Wonder no more...


Have a great rest of the weekend. I am sorry to lose an hour to DST, but I am so glad to have it light out longer.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Impression Obsession DT Challenge

It is time for another Impression Obsession Design Team Challenge! This time the theme was Green/St. Patrick's Day/Good Luck.

For my first card, I used a notecard made by the Paper Cut. The nice thing about using a pre-cut card, is that you can get an intricate look without a lot of work. I stamped the front cream piece with images from a new Sarah Phelps set and black Memento ink. I then colored the clover with two shades of green Copic markers and stamped my saying with green VersaFine ink. I took a close-up picture of the top of the card so that you could see the cute ladybug image.

To color the ladybug, I used Cool Grey 1 to color the face and Cool grey 5 on the body. I used grey instead of black because the Copic black marker is just too dark.

For the second card, I used more of Sarah's images. The wheelbarrow with clover was colored with Copic markers and I layered everything onto some Basic Grey paper.

If you want to check out some more cards to inspire you, be sure to stop by and see what Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Julie, Kelli, Michelle, and Tina created!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Thinking of You

I am posting a card today in honor of my mother. We spent a fun weekend together in Richmond, VA going to the Virginia Wine Expo. We even volunteered with one of the wineries and helped pack the wines people bought. In return, we were given some bottles of wine of our own to take home. We literally worked for wine. Cool.

The only problem with with weekend is that we didn't anticipate being snowed in Monday at the hotel. We didn't pack for an extra day, so we were without ample reading material or our beloved Scrabble board. We spent a good part of the day saying, "If only we had some craft supplies..." Because of the snow, the number of staff was scaled back to next to nothing, and we practically had the hotel to ourselves. I kept saying it was like The Shining, so I don't think I was helping matters much. I have to say though, spending time with my mom was a lot of fun. In honor of my mother, I thought I would share with you her recipe for making hotel sangria. It's new. :)

Susie's Snowed-In Hotel Sangria
One part leftover red wine from wine show (you could use room service in a pinch)
One part Sierra Mist from vending machine
Slices of orange from front desk- squeeze juice into cup and then add rind
Glass of ice

I have to say, it is surprisingly good.

Oh....I guess I should talk crafting some. For today's card, I stamped an Impression Obsession flower pitcher onto white cardstock using Black Memento ink. I colored the image with a selection of Copic markers and added some really bright cardstock to match the flowers. I chose to add an IO "thinking of you" saying, but you could just as easily make it a get well soon card.

I still can't believe I was snowed in Monday, and it is supposed to be in the high 60's this weekend. Isn't weather strange?