Oh Easter Carrot! Oh Easter Carrot!

This is my first Easter card this year. There was a really REALLY cute new Impression Obsession stamp at my LSS this week. It is a carrot made out of Easter Eggs and Tulips. For those that know me, they know I am all about the eggs!!!! Anyway, I HAD to have it.

I stamped it with Memento ink on Hammermill Color Copy Cover 60 lb paper.

 

I colored it with my Copics and used the G02, 05, 07 for the leaves, and the R02, 05 for the Tulips.  The eggs are a mixture of G02, B02, BG02, V01, V04, RV02 YG05 and Y04.  Once I finished coloring, I cut it out with the Nestie Labels on the Cuttlebug. 

Leaving the image in the Nestie, I used Light Blue Brilliance ink and circled it on lightly with a dauber. This gave the edge around the Nestie. I like using this technique, especially when I have to use the largest Nestie on an image, and I don't want to spend a lot of time cutting out another layer sans Cuttlebug.

The card is a standard size card. The patterned paper is some that I got years ago in a pack from Michaels. I don't know the brand, I just have so much - I remember where I got it. This is cut to 4 x 5.25 and mounted on the card. I took a piece of Bright Green cardstock and cut it down and ran it through the Cuttlebug to emboss. The piece is approximately 2.5 x 5. The ribbon is American Crafts ribbon, and I made a triple bow with it and mounted it on top of the green cardstock with a button on top.

It is funny. I LOVE eggs, as I mentioned above, but had a really hard time finding the right design paper to use with this. It surprised me a bit. Next trip to the LSS I will have to look at Egg paper.

Thanks for joining me today. See you soon.

-Alaine

First Assignment - Judaic Stamps

My first assignment on the Outlines Design Team was to work with these Judaic stamps which are absolutely gorgeous. I am not Jewish so I learned a lot working with these which was very fun and interesting. I love love love these stamp images.

The first card here contains three images from the Split Layering Collage Judaic. I stamped the entire image with Memento Black on Hammermill Color Copy Cover. I cut out the three images I wanted and then colored them with my Copic Markers. The last stamp is the Shalom stamp, which I stamped and cut out as well.  I tried to stay consistent with the color family, so I used the 2X families (e.g., B21, 24, G21, 24, etc...) across all the pictures. Once I had them all colored (including the Shalom), I mounted them on Red and then cut around the image again to make it a thin mat. I then mounted them on Blue. The paper is Bazzill. The Blue is actually a dotted Blue paper (see below), but I used the back of it for this. I mounted everything on the white, red and blue cardstock and then on the card base. I used some gold bling on it to add some sparkle, and a little gold Stickles to add sparkle to the stars on the Shalom.

This second card, is probably my favorite of the cards that I have made so far. It uses the Sparkle Happy Hanukkah stamp. Again, I stamped it with Memento on Hammermill. I used the B21, 24, 26 family of Copics for the blue areas, and the Y21, 23, 26 for the gold coloring. Although they are not clearly visible here, there is a fine edge of B0000 inside the doves.  I used the same gold bling on the areas here that I used on the card above. This is the front of the Blue Bazzill dot paper. I think it is adorable and gives it a happy feeling which matches the gold balls of the bling. I added a Gold ribbon that I think I got on a gift this year and made a double bow. 

Thank you for looking. I am hoping to post some more tomorrow as I experiment a bit more with my husbands camera (mine bit the dust and we are now looking for a new one) and the photo tent.  But I think I am going to post something Shamrocky and St. Patrick's Dayish, or maybe Easterish. That is coming up soon!!!

Outline Rubber Stamps Design Team!

I am very excited and honored to have been asked to join the 2010 Outlines Rubber Stamps Design Team.  These were one of my first stamps that I ever bought. The intricate detail in them was fabulous and appealed to the engineer in me. The Ornament Toppers, Layered Ornament Stamps - I have several of those and go crazy cutting around Christmas time. I also have a lot of their Easter stamps and wedding cake, and a heart... it just goes on. Their stamps are very versatile and can be stamped and embossed, cut, colored, everything. All of the 3-D projects I have constructed to date have been done using their stamps.

One of the Outlines stamps I have is the Tall Decoration Cake 1. I still needed to make my husband a Valentine's Day card, so I thought - hmmmm - - the cake has hearts on it. It can be used for that. Actually looking at it, I think it can probably be used for a lot of things

I used the colors of our wedding (small and elopey as it was) which were purple and green.  I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on my Hammermill Color Copy Cover (80lb).  I took out my Copics which is pretty much what I color with now. The Cake stand is C1 and a little C3. The Flowers and purple extras are V12, 15, 17. The green decorations are G14, 16, 17. I used a little bit of B0000 on the cake itself, but I am not sure you can see that in the picture. It is more on the right hand side.  I then went over the cake stand and all decorations with a Clear Spica Marker. The Clear Spica is really nice, because you can use it over the coloring you have already done, and it doesn't mess with your shading.

The mat paper is Bazzill Bling. I added a little bit of silver ribbon, and these beautiful Prima Flowers I talked about yesterday in two of the corners.

This wasn't as good as the necklace that he gave me, but I hope he likes it!!!!

Thank you for stopping by, and have a great week!

Kinkade Church

This is a Cornish Heritage Farms Stamp I just purchased. I love these stamps, they are so beautiful. I took the picture over and over again, and could NOT for the life of me get it to photograph as rich as the colors ended up.

I used more greens than I can count, but I know the majority of the trees were G94, G99 and YG63, 67.  The Water is BG000 with BG72, 75 and 78.  The flowers are BV02, BV04, R22, 24, 27 and Y21, 23 and 26. The roof is W1, 3 and 6.  The grass is G21.

I did get out my airbrush system for this. I started at the bottom of the mountains with Y0000. I layered a line of RV0000 and the V0000 and finally B000. The Blue wasn't dark enough so I then went slightly back over the purple with V01, and then B21 of the blue.

I mounted the image on Bazill paper that matches the Blue Green colors of  the water well. I then cut out a white box and a brown Bazzill shimmery paper box. The white I mounted underneath the brown, and then I mounted these over the picture, so it has a bit of depth to it in person.  The sentiment I printed out, and mounted it also on the Brown Shimmery Bazzill. 

Then, my find of the day. These Prima flowers that I found at Michaels. They are really pretty. There were 30 (10 of 3 different colors) per pack, and they had three different packages with different colors.

Thank you for stopping by.

Outlines Butterfly

I know I used this Outlines stamp the other day, but I had this paper from Basic Grey, and I thought it would work well. I stamped it three different times - once on blue, once on green and once on white.  I embossed the Green  with Blue EP, the Green with Blue EP and the White with the green EP (all from Zing).

This card is a modified GateFold card. The base green is split in the middle. The blue strip on the top with the Basic Grey paper on top is mounted only on the left side, and the bottom blue / Basic Grey is mounted only on the right. The Frame and image is mounted only to the bottom blue / Basic Grey strip.


The sky was colored with B91, the grass with G21, and the butterfly with YR65, B93, YG13 and R81. I went over it with a little of the clear spica. The leaves on the blue border I colored with G21.  I added a little Lavender stickles to the blue border.

 

For the Flowers, I got out my airbrush. I haven't used it in a while and I had forgotten how FREAKING LOUD it is, but still it was fun to get out. I took the standard off white flowers, two in each size and first airbrushed with R81. The small flower is all R81, and the larger flower underneath graduated from R81 in the center to B91 to YG13 on the edge. I mounted them together and added a clear crystal round in the center of each.

Thank you for stopping by today. I am hoping to get a lot done this weekend. So who knows how many posts there will be. Have a nice weekend.

Hang In There Dragon

First  -  I want to thank Flourishes stamps so very much! I won one of the Flourishes challenges from last weeks Timeless Tuesday Anniversary. You can see the challenge card I made under Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge B.

YAYYYYYYYYYY!  I can't wait to get my new stamps. The Flourishes stamps are so very detailed and crisp, and they are releasing new ones this week. Again - - THANK YOU FLOURISHES!

Now onto the new stuff!

I made this card for a friend of mine at work who has been having to deal with some really rough work stuff lately.  It is exhausting, and I thought she might need a pick me up.

I downloaded this dragon from Dustin Pike's Freebies that he gives away occasionally.  I adore dragons and his are so very cute. I printed it out on my laser printer and colored it with Copics.

I colored the dragon with YG13 and YG17 and V12, 15, 17. The cape and feathers and banner are B24, 26, 29, the Armor is C3, 5, 7.  The gold is Y23, 26, 28. The horns are YR16 and YR07.  I outlined the dragon with B0000 so that the teeth would look whiter. :-)

I cut the image out with a Nestie, leaving a part of it outside the cut. I cut two other pieces of orange with Nesties as well, and sprayed with gold Glimmer mist. The Flower is colored with YR16 and YR07.  I added a ribbon and some blue bling!

This was REALLY fun to color.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you drop back by soon.

Last of the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Anniversary Challenges

I did this card as part of the Flourishes Anniversary Challenge. It is my favorite Flourishes stamp even though I haven't used it before now. I was slightly intimidated by the amount of stuff on it to color.  Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Anniversary Challenge FTTC52F  I really really tried to do all of them, but alas we had to be out of town this weekend, so I was limited.

I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black on my favorite paper for this - Hammermill Color Copy Cover. It is soooooooooo smooth.

I colored it with Copics:

R22, 24, 27, 29, 59 for the Flowers
R24, 27 for the berries
R22, 24, Y21, YR21 for the Pomegranates (I think I may have added a bit of E31, but not sure)
G94, 99 or YG67, 63 for the Evergreen (I used both)
G21, 24, 28 and YG25 in the different leaves (for the really bright green I used the YG25 as the base and layered over it with the G21, 24 to give it some difference from the other leaves.
Y21, 23, 26, 28 for the yellow berries
E33, 35, 37 for the pine cones

After I was done with the main coloring I added some clear, gold and Green Spica to different spots to highlight and also a little white gel pen.

I then cut it out with a Nestie and used Sky Blue Brilliance ink and dabbed (or really circled it) onto the edges). I mounted the image on black cardstock that had been spritzed with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist. I then cut it out so there was just a fine line of the Nestie - I had used the biggest Nestie to cut the image out so I had to cut it - but I like it because it is a really small frame. I mounted this on a gold shimmery cardstock. The gold shimmery cardstock was mounted on a black card base that again had been spritzed with the same glimmer mist. I then added some bling, and stamped the sentiment in Versafine and clear embossed it

I love these Flourishes stamps BTW. I don't own many of them and I am not associated with the company, but they are really detailed and stamp so crisp with Memento it blows my mind. The one problem I have with clear stamps is that they don't do detail. Not so with these stamps. If you don't own any of them - you should give them a try!



Thank you for stopping by - I hope you visit again soon for another card!

I'm A Pepper

So the Flourishes Newsletter is hosting a challenge - - For the entire set of Flourishes stamps. I don't own many of them, but I want to own more!!!! This is for a chance to win the whole February release. YAY!!!  The challenge is Whats Your Cup of Tea Challenge.  You are to be inspired by your favorite beverages container.

Well, I have many favorite beverages. Unsweet Tea, Sugar Free Cherry Koolaid, Cherry Limeades at Sonic. But really, if I had to pick one drink that I drink almost every day it would be the Diet Dr. Pepper. 

So... I had this Flourishes Stamp that I had colored previously, and hadn't used on a card yet. It is from the Year of Flowers Calendar set. I colored the roses with copics R22, 24, 27, 29 and used a little of the copic blender to lighten certain areas.The leaves are G21, 24, 28.  This is mounted on a small black oval and a larger maroon oval. The "Love you" is from Flourishes as well. I stamped it first in Versafine Red and then over-stamped it slightly offset with Versafine Black. I then clear embossed it. It is set in a maroon slightly off-centered oval. I added two strips of black ribbon (the actual drink itself), and I had to add a yellow cap, because all the ones that come out of my vending machine at work are topped with the yellow cap.

Since it is Valentine's day coming up soon, I thought this made a nice Valentine's card.  Thank you for stopping by my blog. Hope to see you back again soon.

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Anniversary Challenge B

I know I know... two cards in one day - WOW. LOL. Mainly because we have a dance competition to attend all weekend and I won't be able to be doing all this.

This challenge was revisiting an earlier challenge by Flourishes that involved cutting out items and adding dimension. This stamp has been calling to me since I bought it to try some popping up. I tried and tried to ignore it's siren song, but I couldn't. So I used this Outlines Rubber Stamp Butterfly Square. They have another stamp that is the Butterfly itself without the wings cut off in the window, but I don't have that one (note to self - get that one!) so I improvised. I cut out only part of the wings and popped that up.

It is colored with copics (Sky - B000, Grass and leaves - G02, 05, 07, E33 for the frame and V04, YR16, YG13 for the base butterfly.). On the cut out part of the wings, and body base I colored it with Spicas. I then glued only the body and bent the wings up so it looks like it is flying out at you.  I added some Jolee's crystals on the edge and then just mounted on white and then green.

Thank you for visiting, and hope to see you back soon.

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Anniversary Challenge - A

Ok, Flourishes who have WONDERFUL stamps (and no, I am not associated with them in any way other than I love their stamps) is hosting a challenge this week for their anniversary. Flourishes Newsletter Or actually several challenges. My first entry in this is for challenge A which was a sketch challenge.

Although I love their stamps, I used Inkadinkado stamps (sorry Flourishes) for the squares. I did use Flourishes stamps for the center circle and for the Sentiment. Everything is stamped with Versafine Red, and Clear Embossed. I then mounted the squares directly on black, and the circle and sentiment on Maroon Bazzill Dots cardstock and then on black. There is a white ribbon mounted on top of black cardstock. I mounted the squares in a rotating manner on the Maroon cardstock, and then the Maroon was mounted on the black cardstock.


I think that the circle is a bit smaller than the sketch called for, but I wanted to leave the swirls in the squares visible, plus I wanted to use the Flourishes stamp in the middle, and any bigger and it was kind of lost.

Thank you for looking. On to the next challenge - - Maybe I will get done tonight  (Fingers Crossed).

Welcome to my blog - FIRST POST

This is new, and I am not sure how to do all this stuff yet, but I am going to try. My first post is going to be on my entry for the Copic Creations Challenge 21. This particular challenge was to feather blend using Copic Markers.

I created this with a stamp I actually received from All that Scraps when I won a previous Copic Creations Challenge. The stamp is "Gossamer Cornwand" from CC Designs.  I stamped it with Memento ink, and colored with (what else?!) COPICS. :-)

I chose purple and green to feather together. One reason was because I think there is enough contrast to show a difference but the primary reason - I LOVE those colors.  I used the BV000, BV01, BV02 for the purple, and G000, G02 and G05 for the greens. I used one of the techniques from Marrianne's blog (the Copic Goddess).  I layed down lightly the purple, feathering out to the center, then the lightest green. Then I overlayed over and over again purple then green. When I got the center pretty well feathered I started adding the darker shades of the purple and green. The hair is RV000, RV02 and a touch of RV06. The skin is E000 and E00 with a little R20 of the blush. I added a bit of blue Spica to the eyes, and used BG0000 and BG000 for the wings.

Once she was colored, I cut her out. I mounted it on blue cardstock had been cut with an oval Nestie. That I mounted on a Purple Bazzill Bling cardstock that I used with the Oval Scallops. Once she was mounted, I decided to cover up the little spiders at the end of her dress with the Jolees Hot Fix crystals. 

For the background - - I took my same white paper that I stamp on, and ran it through the Cuttlebug. Using the same pink, green and purple Copics I used on the girl, I started coloring on the embossed image. I think it came out looking a little like chalk, which I thought was interesting with the Copics - I hadn't gotten that look before.  I even tried to do the feathering again on the flower on the top mid-right of the card.  All of it was mounted on the same purple cardstock.

Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope to see you back in the future.