I am happy to introduce you to Penelope. She came to me from Paper Makeup Stamps (PMS). One of the things I LOVE about PMS stamps is that they can be purchased either bare rubber (read: less expensive) or EZ-Mount. I just slather the back of the stamp with some Aleene's Tack it Over and Over, then slap it onto an acrylic block and stamp away. I've never had a problem with any of my bare rubber stamps.

More about my card. Penelope (and a few other items) were given to me as a birthday gift from my MIL. The card below was sent to my wonderful MIL as a thank you to her for my gifts. I colored her with my Copics (that's Penelope, not my MIL of course!) I am just in love with my Copic markers! I still need to improve my coloring, but I love being able to shade and layer color with them.

Can you tell I have a thing for purple and fairies? Okay, purple IS my favorite color so perhaps I just like it with everything! LOL! I used my Labels One Nestie (Christmas gift from my MIL) and used it to mask the edges. I like the faux layer effect it offers. I added some crystal stickers to embellish the ribbon, as I felt it need just a little something. I used sponge daubers to color the background of my white layer, but I just can't seem to get the hang of using them. I should stick with sponges or find something else.

Stamps: Penelope (PMS), Fine Lace (SU); Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue, Lovely Lilac; Paper: Lavendar Lace, White; Accessories: Ribbon (SU), Label One Nestabilities, CB, Horizontal Slot punch (SU), Crystal Stickers (Mark Richards), sponge daubers.

Purple Flowers

Here's a quick upload, it's bedtime! ;D

This image is the latest OnyxXpressions offering from Sunday International. These stamps are already mounted on EZ Mount and are beautiful!

The color challenge is from Copic Creations Challenge #3 to make a card using purple flowers. The colors I used: BV00, BV04, BV08, YG03 & YG63, E15, and the colorless blender pen on the tips of the flowers. I sponged Lovely Lilac around the flowers, but the scanner washed much of it out.

The sketch is from 3 Clovers Thursday Sketch #11.



Editing details: Stamps: Spring Blooms (OnyxXpressions), "Enjoy" from Flair of Summer (ISC); Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Lovely Lilac, Elegant Eggplant (brayered over Swiss Dots); Paper: Basic Black, Lavender Lace, Neenah Classic Solar White, DP from Once Upon A Time (DCWV), small & large oval punches (SU), corner rounder (SU), stipple brush, black velvet rick-rack, Swiss CB folder, Copic Markers listed above.

Fairy Thoughts

Two posts in one day, what's up with that?? LOL! I needed a stampin' fix as well as a thank you card for a friend. I decided to use Lost in Thought from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design. Susana has some beautiful faeries, go check them out. :)

Public Service Announcement: Susana is also having some blog candy and the deadline is drawing near. Check our her blog as well as her newest stamp designer Victoria Case who is also giving away some blog candy in the form of her new stamp line at SCACD! There will be nine stamps coming out tomorrow. I for one can hardly wait! Back to your regular reading post.

The sketch is from Our Creative Corner. (ETA: I just realized that I forgot to add the three accessories at the top. Oops!) I took some liberty with the More Mustard and Brocade Blue layers. :) I stamped her in London Fog (Memento) and colored her with my Copic markers then used my Oval Nestie to cut her out and the coordinating Scallop Oval nestie to layer beneath. The green layer is from my Prints Pack (SU).

Although this card is a bit busy, I think it works since all the colors are a bit earthy. What do you think?


Stamps: Lost in Thought (SCACD); Ink: London Fog (Memento); Paper: More Mustard, So Saffron, Neenah Classic White, Prints Pack (SU), Bordering Blue; Accessories: CB & Floral Borders, Oval & Scallop Oval Nestabilities, Copic Markers: BG13, G21, G24, YG03, Y21, Y26, Y28, W1, E00, E02, E31, E33, E37.

Brentwood

This image is Brentwood from Jessica Lynn. It was a free download. Jessica is giving away 200 free. It looks like she still has the offer going. The image itself allows you to write anything on the line after "I love". When I first was trying to print this out I used my camera program and it cut off the very left edge. Some on-line friends were kind enough to tell me they use their Word program. THAT worked like a charm! So now I'm not so digi challenged, but I know that my rubber will not be replaced.

Obviously this is going to my DS. I stamped his name using Studio G clear stamps from Michael's. They didn't have the 'Y' so I found it on Ebay and bought it. The vendor is ShopOtt.com. These stamps are great because they provide each letter in five different sizes/fonts. I stamped his name in Tempting Turquoise then used my Quickie Glue pen to adhere the Azure glitter (PK Glitz). I got the idea to adhere the glitter from Gina K's StampTV tutorial, Colored Glitter. The layout is SCS sketch challenge #228. I colored him using my Copic markers. :D Also, it is difficult to see except on the right side of the top layer, but I sponged Tempting Turquoise around the scalloped edge. The scanner washes most of it out.

Stamps: I Love ___ Brentwood (JessicaLynnOrginial), T, R, O, & Y (Studio G); Ink: Tempting Turquoise, printer ink, Multiliner SP (Copic); Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Neenah Classic Crest, Designer Paper (SU- retired); Accessories: Quickie Glue pen (Sukura), Copic Markers, stiple brush, Azure glitter (PK Glitz), Rectangle Scallop Nestabilities, CB.

Farewell Gifts

My DH's boss's wife is one of those special people. And I totally mean that in a wonderful way. She is one of the most genuine people I have ever met. Well, they will be leaving soon for their next assignment. MG Gould will become the next Air Force Academy Superintendent. That is good news for them, but sad for us. For Paula's farewell we brought gifts to fill a basket and I decided to make her some cards that she will be able to put to good use. I made three each of these two designs. I stamped the envelops to match, but unfortunately I was in a hurry to wrap them and leave for the party and didn't get a picture of them with envies. Oh well, at least I was able to scan one of each.

The first uses a new background I received from Rubbernecker called Flourish. I loved it's playful elegance, (is that possible?) The sentiment is from Verve called Jeremiah 29:11. I wish I could see Paula's face when she sees these cards, as I am sure she will appreciate them. I used my Clear atyou Spica pen to highlight "plans", "the LORD", "prosper you", and "hope and a future". The edges are all distressed. You know my thinking was that this card would be great for someone in distress, thus the distressed edges. . . . Yes, that is the way my brain works sometimes.
I didn't get a picture of the inside, but I added a layer of Lovely Lilac, distressed edges and masked a rectangle in the center and stamped the background in VersaMark.

Stamps: Flourish background (RubberNecker), Jeremiah 29:11 (Verve); Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Clear atyou Spica pen; Paper: Basic Black, Lovely Lilac; Accessories: distress tool (SU).

This next card uses Cornish Heritage Farms' Hometown Pride from their Thomas Kinkade line of stamps. (Thank you so much to CHF! I won this stamp during one of their release parties!) I do wish that CHF would offer this line unmounted. *sigh*

I do want to state upfront that this is pretty much a complete CASE of this card on SCS by stampwithkristine. She has a beautiful gallery! The sentiment is by A Muse from a set called Hero Mail. This is an awesome stamp set!! I used my oval & scallop oval Nesties for the sentiment layer. I used my T!m Holtz ruler for the paper piercing. TIP: I used my Onare paper piercing tool and it worked so much better than my piercing tool from my Crafter's Tool Kit (SU)! I also added just a couple short strips of Herma Dotto Removable onto my Ruler to help keep the paper in place. Truth be told, it was so much easier after I started using the Onare piercing tool. I used my Copic Markers B24 and R29 for the flag. I used my double rectangle punch (SU) to punch the bottom to weave my ribbon along the bottom.


Stamps: Hometown Pride (CHF), Hero Mail (A Muse); Ink: Rich Cocoa (Momento), Real Red, Copic Markers B24 & R29; Paper: Ballet Blue, Real Red, Whisper White; Accessories: Oval & Scallop Oval Nestabilities, double rectangle punch (SU), Grosgrain Ribbon (SU), Tim Holtz Ruler, Onare Paper Piercing Tool.

Another Fairy

Ever have one of those days? Yes, one of those day! Saturday I made two online purchases, then went to pay my credit card online. I am checking out my account and see two charges that I did NOT make. So I call my credit card company and yes they were fraudulent charges so they closed that credit card and will send me another one. Well, one of the orders I made hadn't been processed yet so I had to call the company and ask them not to run the charge. Well, all this info just to explain why I made this card! I didn't want to wait for my new card so I could call the company to process my order, instead I used the old fashioned way of writing a check and mailing it off! LOL! (PS: the charges were pretty small, $1 and $10; you'd think if you were going to steal someone's credit card at least do it in a big way! Fortunately I caught it fairly quickly and the charges weren't much!)

Since I decided to send a check I had to have "something" to send it in and this is what I came up with. One of my first fairy stamps was from Stamp Francisco. Here is Fairy. The background is this Flourish stamp. I was in a purple mood, having used it for another card I made so I just stayed with it. Besides, purple is the color of royalty and with that crown I figure she is a princess fairy. :)

After I finished coloring her I thought she needed some extra shimmer so I added Lilac Shimmerz to her dress and crown and Opal to her wings. Ahhhhh, lovely!

Stamps: Fairy & Flourish background (Stamp Francisco), Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Lovely Lilac, various Copic Markers; Paper: Lovely Lilac, Classic Crest White (Neenah), Accessories: Scallop Rectangle (Nestabilities), Shimmerz Lilac & Opal.

For My MIL

My MIL's birthday was a couple of days ago. I was working on a card for her and in the back (or not so back) of my mind I was thinking I also needed to make her Mother's Day card. Wouldn't you know it, when I was making the sentiment for her card I used a 'Happy Mother's Day' sentiment! So then I had to rush to make another card for her birthday! (Please tell me I'm not the only one to do something like this!)

That being said, I'll show you her birthday card first even though it was my second card. It is difficult to tell, but this card actually has a white base layer. I used some of GinaK's 120 lb. heavy weight c/s. This cardstock really is awesome to work with! Problem is that it doesn't show up to well on a white background. The black "lacy" cardstock goes to the edge of the card so there isn't much of a white border. The lacy border was made using my Sunburst Boarder punch by Fiskars. (NOTE: punch both edges of a 1.25" strip of paper to make a nice flower strip!)

This stamp is one from Innovative Stamp Creations set Nature's Sihouette I. I stamped it on a background of Rainbow Brilliance (TJ technique April/May 2008). I've had this peice of b/g for awhile so I don't remember everything I used for it. I didn't want to cover the picture with the sentiment so I punched a square scallop from vellum, cut off two corners and stamped the sentiment (SU). Added black eyelets and some fringe I've had for several years. I'm so afraid of fringe and don't really feel comfortable using it, but I needed something soft that wouldn't take from the flowers. Ta-dah! Fringe to the rescue! ;D I added three flat-back pearls to flower centers (saw someone do that recently on their blog, sorry I can't remember who.)

Stamps: Nature's Silhouette I (ISC), Hugs & Wishes (SU); Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Paper: White Heavy weight (GinaK), Basic Black, glossy white, Tempting Turquiose, Vellum paper; Accessories: black eyelets (SU), fringe, Sunburst Border punch (Fiskars).

Here is the original card that became a Mother's Day card. There is a lot of shimmer to this card. The butterflies are from Take Flight by GinaK, and were stamped on shimmery c/s (SU) then colored with Copics, after which I colored over them with my clear atyou Spica pen. I cut them out cutting off the antennea. The sentiment layer was stamped (SU retired, All Year Cheer ?#?) then I stippled on Green Galore and Lovely Lilac, then smooshed Platinum Planet (Brilliance) over the top. Oh, I edged the Label One with my black marker (SU) before smooshing and realized too late that the Platinum Planet would lift the black marker so I had to be very careful! I added some flat-back pearls and adhered the label to the stamped background (Canvas, SU) and stamped the butterflies again. I used glue dots to attach the butterflies over the stamped plain butterflies on the body only and left the wings free.


Stamps: Take Flight (GinaK), All Year Cheer & Canvas (SU); Ink: London Fog, Tuxedo Black (Memento), Platinum Planet (Brilliance), Green Galore, Lovely Lilac, various Copic Markers, Clear atyou Spica (Copic), Basic Black Marker; Paper: Basic Black, Sky Blue, Whisper White, Shimmery White; Accessories: pearls, Label One (Nestabilities), stipple brush.