The blahs are receeding

Well gang,

I alluded to my being blah and anxiety issues in my last post, but I am getting back on track. School is fixed-ish, we got through Christmas, there was some online stamp shopping... my copic collection grows. So I need to get back to crafting and sharing it with people. So I was inspired by the Sweet Pea One sweet Challenge (what a shock for you I know).

This image is ©Joanne Schempp's White Christmas and I was thrown for a slight loop in colouring because I really thought she had a belly button. I have since realized that is was just part of the dress and that maybe she should be more covered since it's snowing and all. Oh well, I still like how she is done. She is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black, heat set then coloured with copics. The papers are Close to My Heart's Pear and Partridge, with the brads from last year's Christmas line. The poinsettias are from Prima. All of my favorite things!

The Good Always Wins

Well today had been a rough day, but I am powering through by focusing on the 2 good things that happened; first my package from Sweet Pea Stamps arrived (SQUEE as you all know), and THEN they announced a call for their design team!!! I know right? So if you are interested in being my competition, the call is on their blog. Just a warning, I spent the night fussy cutting the heck out of one of my new stamps to try to make something worthy of joining such an amazing group. So 2/3 submissions are ready.

Now it was pointed out to me that I promised to show you guys my star card a few weeks back. BAHAHAHA. Well let me tell you a story before I show you the picture. So I have see this card a few times, and I found a template and was all like "I can totally do that". Then my printer decided it hated life and I thought "well self, you are pretty darn good at math, you can make a triangle and some folds". Turns out not so much. So coincidentally this attempt uses a  Sweet Pea Stamp... and it is another little dragon man. This one is Lisa Victoria's Dragon Luck... this little fellow wasn't that lucky to end up on this card!! But I like the colouring with the copics so that is a little win. So I know it isn't horrible but the engineer in me can't deal with the non-meeting lines and things. 

Closed

Open (You can see my twitching here!)

Anyway. There will be more tomorrow... school still isn't fixed. But that's ok, I have new stamps!!

I can see the future?

Ok so I really can't, other than the fact that whatever I post after tonight is going to involve some of the awesome polymer clay things using some new Martha Stewart silicone molds I got on sale today. Here is what they looked like before they went in the oven... they look pretty much the same now just, well... harder. Yes I am aware that I shouldn't cook polymer clay in the same oven I food with, but once isn't going to kill us. I am picking up my toaster oven for further endeavors.

So the other thing I bet you are wondering what those Glimmer Misted lollipop flowers look like now that they are dry. In a word, AMAZEBALLS. So great that I used one on this fantastic little birthday card I put together. Now before you ask I have no idea what any of the paper is, it just came out of the pile of scraps in my disaster and there were no identifying marks of any kind. What I can tell you is that this is another fabulous stamp from Kraftin Kimmie Stamps wonderful Three Wishes Set. I stamped her with Memento Tuxedo Black and heat set the image.

I then coloured her with Copics

Skin E00, E02, E11

Hair E13, E17, E18

Veils B12, B00

Body B28, B29, B32 (with tip touching)

Background BV08, BV13

Now I wanted to tie in the colour from the flower a little bit more, so I used the same spray on a light piece of paper and some of my new templates from The Crafters Workshop. The bling in the center of the flower is a bling button from CTMH. Then I stacked it all up and wrote a really sappy letter inside. Enjoy!

Little Bit of Flower Making fun

Ok so the project of the day is lollipop flowers. What you will need to make these is very minimal. You need a few scraps of either polyester or nylon fabric. Definitely nothing natural! Natural only burns, not melts which is what we are looking for. You will also need some sort of either needle and thread or glue dots of some form. And finally a source of flame. I started using a barbecue lighter, but it was a lot of lighting so I switched to a  candle. A word of caution, have an ice water bath nearby just in case!!

The first thing you are going to need to do is cut out an array of different sized circles (they don't have to be close at all) from your fabric, even really small ones. I liked the idea of having a lot layers, so I did about 2 in many of the sizes. The next step is that you will run the edges CLOSE to the flame, not in the flame or it will catch on fire. These fabrics burn fast and this is how burns happen. While you do this you want slowly move the fabric around. You will see the edges melt, and on the smaller ones the circle will start to pucker which will give the finished product depth. If you do have a small bit catch fire, it should blow out easily but you definitely want to keep a close eye on things as you do this

The edges cool almost immediately so you can now move right on to stacking them up. You can then either stitch them together, or use some glue dots. On a few of them I sewed on some button centers. On some of the other ones I sprayed some with Glimmer Mist. Now you have to leave them to dry on their own because a heat gun will completely melt them! The glimmer mist colour will be muted once they dry because the sheer fabric I used won't hold a lot of the dye, but it will have a nice hint. So keep this in mind. You other option is to you know use different colours of material... but really who has money for that sort of shenanigans?

Once they dry you can use them on anything! You can make custom sizes with different materials to suit any project.

Mmmwahahahhahahaha... but Cuter

Well fine, I am a big nerd. In case you didn't know... Anyways I got these great new stamps from There She Goes Stamps,http://www.tsgstamps.com/Cutie_Pi_p/cutie-pi.htm the set is called Cutie Pi (I KNOW!!). I bought them because they have a Pi symbol on it but love the rest of them. So I thought I would concoct a little solution with some of the other cool things I have in my stash right now. Just a plain grey cardstock background, but to spice it up a little I did some first and second generation stamping with CTMH's Lagoon ink. The solid turquoise glitter paper (yep,  it exists thanks to American Crafts, it is called AC duotone Glitter paper... in this case Aqua) was surprisingly easy to cut with scissors. I traced around the outside of my spellbinder's die to get a small border. The stripey paper is from my Mind's Eye "My favorite things" paper pad (also contains mustache paper by the way...). This cutie is stamped on CTMH paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and heat set because well I have no patience or ability to plan my creative spurts. I also stamped out the beaker set  and the "According to my calculations UR the BOMB" Sentiment. I wanted to carry the glitter forward and add a little something to what she was stamped on, so I used my CTMH ultrafine glue and some Glitter Ritz to make a border. Just put on the glue and leave to dry for 5 minutes, then you can just rub the glitter on with your finger. Almost no mess for the win.

Now for the down and dirty deets for the colours. It is a combination of copics and Sakura Jelly Roll Pens.
Skin E11, E02, E00
Beakers/ Goggles C1, C2, C3
Hair E13, E15, E18
Clothes/Shoes B02, B04, B06
Beaker (in Hand) YR04,YR07, YR09

Other Beaker Fluids, hair bobbles and some details on shoes are with Jelly Rolls (you know for the added depth of glitter without the work)

I then fussy cut the beakers, threw some pop dots on things and then whacked the whole thing together. I tried to group a few beakers together to create some flow from the sentiment across the image. Then for some added depth I added some Liquid Glass (CTMH order #Z679) on all of the beakers and the lenses of her goggles.

Hope you like it.

So This Card Just Happenned

Well so I have finally organized the HUGE pile of layouts around my scrap room, put them in some semblance of order and went to put them in an album. It was at this point that I realized there were some major events that I had sort of forgotten to scrap... so now I have a semi organized all in one pile of layouts on my floor and a semi organized set of pictures to catch up on. I hate that I can't guess how many pages it will tell me to tell a story, I mean I would hate to miss something right?

In other news I just got me some new stamps from Kraftin Kimmie Stamps. Seriously, they have some super cute stuff, and I think that this little one may have just jumped up to the top of my LOVE list. Her name is Angry Ballerina and I think that I may make cards with her for every person I know.

She is coloured with Copics (Look at me getting all awesome at this blending shenanigans!)

Skin E00, E02, E11

Hair E13, E17, E18

Piggy RV32, RV34

Dress B06, B04, B02

I then fussy cut the heck out of her! The background is a plain white 6by6 card, with a random piece of paper from a swap. The small background is the flourishes from CTMH's The Best Things (C1503) stamped and them embossed with clear embossing powder (Z821). Heat set, let cool, then I smudged some Chalk Inks over it. Sharpie for the line, little bit of Stickles around the end, some CTMH Just Blooms Summer Posies (Z822). All put together it was pretty simple to make, but I really like the look of it.

My New Favorite

Let me tell you about my new favorite card fold. It is called the center step card. I was introduced to it through a card group I am a part of call "Copycat Cards" on Facebook. It is just a bunch of girls who post some challenges for everyone to do at their own rate, no prizes no pressure. Back to the card, I saw a picture and loved it. Instead of doing what normal people would do and google how to make it, I tried to copy it from the picture and made it WAY more difficult than it needed to be. Here is the picture of my first card. The image is from my long time favorite company Sweet Pea Stamps, you have seen so many things from them before on my cards.

 Looks pretty cool right? Well let me tell you about what a pain cutting all of the layers out were. I started with a 5 by 6 card base, then cut a 6 by 6 piece and chopped off an inch, except for a bit at the bottom. Then I repeated that process with the red and patterned paper, then attached the 2 pieces with 3d foam. It took FOREVER, but I loved the result. Then the engineer in me said "there needs to be a better way!" And there is.

Below is my 2nd and MUCH faster version. Above is my crazy little diagram, where the dotted lines (everything horizontal) is a fold, and the vertical solid lines are cuts. Does it make sense? So much faster, just a cutter and a little bone folder and a ruler, or a score board of some sort. You can make it any size, but I have been doing 6 by 6 finished. So start with 12 by 6, then the vertical cuts are 1 inch in from the side and lower edges and are 7 inches long. Then the center fold happens at 6 inches, the others are 1 inch apart.

I am very excited about this fold and have been using it like crazy!! I am also experimenting with other types of folds, so I will share things as I get better at them (hrm... star folds... yikes)

Copic Easter Bunnies

Hey Everyone,

Well it is almost Easter, so I thought I would practise colouring with my copics on more springy images. So here are a few of the little creations. These are all 3 by 3 cards, and I did them all the same because well... after the fussy cutting it just sort of seemed like the thing to do! The paper is all Close to my Heart, and the front flowers are CTMH, the back are Prima. There are a few little pearls thrown in too (you know how I can't deal with holes...). The stamp set is a retired CTMH stamp set as well.

Contest Quickie

Hey all,

If you like spellbinders here is alittle giveaway from Sherry K Designs. Go Check it out.

Big Doins! My First Share-worthy Copic project!

Well Friends,

I have been slacking because I have been busy doing workshops on the go with people, sick and of course.... learning how to use Copics! Well it is a steep learning curve and I still have a ton to learn, but I think I finally have a project that is worth sharing with you.

 Well this picture isn't as good as it looked on the screen.... oh well.. hides how much I have to learn! This is a super cute little image from House Mouse Designs. I have stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink, and because it is on Close to my Heart cardstock I gave it a zap with the heat gun. Now there is a ton of use of the colourless blender as my copic collection is still pretty spotty, but it will get there. I used the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge from CTMH (probably the best cartridge I have found, over 700 images!!!) To cut both the card bases and the little egg shape for on top. I then ran the top egg through the cuttlebug with a pretty flower embossing folder I have long forgotten the name of. The flowers are from CTMH, and I have stamped at "Happy Easter" Sentiment on it! I love how that looks. Now because my crazy wouldn't let me leave the little hole in the center of the flower I covered it with a little bitty stick on pearl. As you can probably tell from the shadows, the House mouse images are fussy cut, then 3d foam squared for some dimension.

One of these is for my gorgeous grandmother who turned 84 last week (don't worry, she also got a birthday card but she loved it so much I wanted to make her another). Who would like the other one?!? I mean, yeah mail!!

Help a great Band!!!

Just a quickie today, and promise I will get back to regular posting soon. This cold has taken a lot out of me.

I wanted to tell you about this great Canadian Band, the Paper Lions. They are working on their 3rd album in Vancouver right now and are looking for support. They are a fantastic rock band and for supporting them you will recieve some awesome bonus content. The info can all be found here

Thanks for looking!!!

Great time at WOTG

Another month another awesome time with my slowly expanding Workshop on the Go girls. I love WOTG because everything you need is in one kit; coordinating solid and patterned paper, accents, a one of a kind stamp set... I know this sounds like a plug but it isn't, I honestly thing that they are awesome (ok it kind of is). Oh and my favorite part... directions and cutting diagrams for 2 double page layouts. I always like to introduce at least one new technique per workshop, and sometimes it will be a stamping technique, and sometimes it will be a paper technique.

This month we did the Footloose Workshop on the go. This features a gorgeous beachy theme and a stamp set with great tropical features (sea turtle, fishes, sea horses, shells, sand dollar, ect). The technique that I taught this month is using sponge  daubers to create multi-coloured images. This is a really easy technique that works especially well with CTMH inks, as they are water based and stay wet on stamps a long time.

Steps

1. Pick your colours and open them all up.
2. Stamp your image in the  lightest shade
3. Use the edge of the sponge dauber to apply ink in desired areas, adding the colours from lightest to darkest. I like to use a separate dauber for each.
4. Right before you stamp, huff your breathe over the ink to ensure that it is all moist and ready to give you a great image.

Sorry for no images... I will add some when I shake this cold.

The other great thing about WOTG club? Someone gets hostess rewards, and that is a win all around!!!

I have joined the Darkside....

Well... I sold a bunch of stuff at a sale my LSS has and ended up with a ton of store credit. So I have done something I never thought I would do... I invested in copics. Colouring with them is most definately a skill (hence my not having anything to post this week!), and there are some nuances such as what ink to stamp with, what paper to use... and apparently how long to let the ink dry. I am currently working out the paper issue as I would  like not to have to buy special paper when I have so much CTMH in stock. I wasn't having any trouble blending or anything, the issue was that the stamped image was bleeding. I did notice though that when I printed out the colour chart to track what I had, the printer ink didn't bleed, so apparently the heat from the printer set it up a little. I am currently about to colour with some images that have been sitting a few days, so we will see what happens... so far so good though. I am using the recomended Memento Tuxedo Black Dye ink for my images by the way.

The other thing that people don't tell you is that you want to be smart about the first markers you buy if you are looking for a good blending. Don't just buy a random assortment of colours, because you won't have anything to shade with! You want to start out with a few basic colours (ie brown) and then pick 2 or 3 that are just a few numbers apart from each other. You can get away with 2, because you can use the colourless blender pen and a tip to tip technique. So much to learn!

So that is my copic story so far. Hopefully I will have some success and gt some projects up for you later this week!

Little Bit of Whimsy Sketch Contest

Well I have been slacking on my posts lately, but I will try to do better. Below is my entry to the My Little Bit of Whimsy sketch contest. I used Close to my Heart's new "Stella" Collection papers. I cut out the beautiful circle flower and layered it on top of a paper where I inked the edges with cocoa brown ink and a sponge. I used several other papers to layer, and added some zip strip stripes and a little bit of lace ribbon from The Paper Studio. The picture is mounted on a piece of paper embossed in a cuttlebug folder I have long since forgotten the name of. I then used the sponge and a little bit of ink to make it pop a little. The title is stamped with Close to my Heart's Bohemian Alphabet (One of my all time favs). The flowers are layer, bottom is CTMH's new coloured paper blossoms with the lacey flowers from their new Bohemian assortment. I really like this page... the Stella paper is great... even though the stamps make her look like a skinny bitch... teehee.

 Happy Scrappin all!

Contest Winner!!

Hi all,

I had 3 crafty submissions for the contest, which is a good start for my first giveaway I think. Thanks Dom, Leslie and Jason/Tina (who submitted on facebook). It  was a tough decision, but the winner is..............Leslie!! Her creation is shown below.

Lovely eh? I will be sending her 3 EZ Mounted Sweet Pea stamps. Thanks for participating everyone.

Strange Coincidences

Well Boys and Girls tonight I would like to show you one of my recent cards. Now here is where the coincidence comes in... I first saw this stamp coloured with blackish hair on the Sweet Pea site and there seemed to be something familiar about it. So I bought it, stamped it out and it hit me that it looks like my friend (and model) Heather (well except for the whole being a mermaid thing...).
So the first picture is Heather in all her glory (taken by Shari Tucker). The second is a picture of the card I sent her... thanks for the leopard print sweetie!!

So I coloured the image with chalks, as per usual. It is cut out using a spellbinders, the base was a pair of Fiskars corner rounding scissors, as were the two mats. The paper is Close to my Heart "Wicked". The flowers are made using a Cuttlebug die (that is my new FAV!! and unfortunately they aren't making any more) then rolled using a quilling tool. There were brown pearls in the center of each flower, but Canada Post sorta knocked them off. I think that it still looks ok though.

Thanks Heather and Shari!!

Little Ray of Sunshine

Well Boys and Girls,

I am having a pretty crappy week. Can't seem to be healthy enough to get to school, bad news. Especially since no work= no play (a self imposed rule, but needed to be done). So I thought I would share some cards I had done the other night with you.

This first one is done using a dry emboss technique on pergamano paper, then painted it with Twinkling H2O's. I made the bases fairly plain to let the embossing stand out. I think I like the smaller one better though....

The second one features an image from Sweet Pea (you knew there had to be one). I love the imagery in  the picture. The love between Mom and babe. The image is coloured with chalks. Used a Spellbinders die to cut the image and the mat. The paper is CTMH, as is the border and the pearls. I sprayed the border with Chocolate Cherry Glimmer Mist. You unfortunately can't see the deepness of that spray in the picture, but it is really a great effect with the brown base and this beautiful red sheen to it.

Have a good night, and don't forget the contest....