12 TAGS OF CHRISTMAS WITH A FEMININE TWIST

First let me say that I have fallen way behind on my Christmas Cards and won't be sending out a lot this year and as for 12 tags, Bwahaha!  Here is one that I made for my great niece and it is sort of a tag/card but being used as a tag.  Love the Memory box snowflake tag and this adorable image from MFT which I watercolored. The tag was cut from shimmer card stock, layered over a pinky red paper.
The sweet sentiment is a Lawn Fawn die also cut from the same shimmer and then I cut it to fit the tag.

POWER POPPY CHRISTMAS WREATH

I so love this Power Poppy image but it took me quite a while to actually finish the coloring and because I sized it so large (4 1/2 inches) I wasn't sure what I was going to do to make the card.  I die cut it in a circle thinking I would make a frame but I didn't like that so instead I used a circle die to just overlay it.  I kept the sentiment simple, a Wplus9 Merry die (colored with Spectrum Noir Shimmer Pen and also used clear on the red ornaments)and the Christmas word from their Festive Greetings. The white shimmer paper is from PTI which kept it simple but pretty.  I really wanted the image to be the primary focus.  Hope you all like it and I would love to hear from you!

TRI-FOLD ELF CHRISTMAS CARD

I love these MFT Santa's elves and finally got a chance to color them and to do them in a mix of pastel colors. I don't know why I opted for a tri-fold as I could have gotten three cards instead but I just liked the idea.  The sentiments are Mama Elephant Merry Christmas Wishes and Simon Says Stamps Hand Lettered Winter Wishes.  Dies used: MFT Stitched Snow Drifts and Simon Snowflakes.  The shimmer paper is PTI, the sequins are Lucy's, embossing powder is Hero Arts Satin Pearl (love, love, love) and the whole card was spritzed with shimmer mist.  

FRONT

RIGHT

MIDDLE

POST BOOT CAMP ORGANIZATION and UPCYCLED CARD FILE DRAWERS

I had an amazing weekend at Jennifer Dove's Copic Boot Camp (check out her blog, amazeballs!).  And we got to color those amazing boots! Meeting all those creative women was an added pleasure and I hope to do it again.

However, when I got home my craft room was in a major state of disarray.  So while trying to clean up and reorganize my husband unearthed 4 card boxes from his old medical office and I thought hmmm I can use those!.  He cleaned and painted them and they turned out to be great storage.  Love upcycling!

 all my distress paints fit into one drawer

This drawer holds all my alcohol inks

These turned out to be a great garage find and the hubs was happy to have them used even though he had to paint them.

STAMPTEMBER IS HERE!

September is my favorite and most feared time of the year and that is because Simon Says Stamps rolls out so many new and irresistible stamps, dies and other goodies that my wallet has a complete clean out.  I have already placed three orders and it is only September 5th.  (wring hands and big sigh).  And here is the thing, you know there are more goodies coming up.  Maybe it is a good thing I will be away from mid September on (wifi on plane!)
Don't want to miss anything.  Check out what is out so far, just click on the link.  I will share my haul when it arrives.   


STAMPTEMBER

HONEY BEE STAMPS FLORAL CARD

Having a very busy summer here in Southern CA.  We had to drive down to San Ysidro (right on the Mexican border) last weekend to get our Global Entry passes, working more than usual and in general, just busy! I have been working on this card over the last few days, coloring at night while watching TV and then slowly assembling.  I stamped and colored with copics some of the flowers from the Honey Bee Stamps Country Blooms, and colored the background with copics and applied texture using a bit of towel and blender solution. I used a craft knife to cut an irregular window and tried to cut a similar window out of the teal card stock (somewhat unsuccessfully).  I applied two additional fussy cut flowers to overlap the cutout and stamped my sentiment on the inside of the card.  The card looked fine but I decided to throw on some sequins on three sides of the card.  If you like it let me know as comments let me know that there is someone out there.

CREATIVE CHEMISTRY 103: TAGS INTO CARDS

Wow, what a class.  So many lessons packed into 5 days that I will have to watch a few of them over and over.  I did manage to finish two tags in between work and the Olympics and I had so much fun making them.  But I am a card maker and turning them into cards was a challenge.  I didn't have the heart to cut this one up so I cut off the tag top, rounded the corners and stuck it on Kraft paper.  I used Distress Silver Mist (added as I was making the card), embossed a Make It Crafty chipboard star circle with Ranger Liquid Platinum, cut the thank you die out of Ranger glitter paper which I colored with lettuce alcohol ink (new technique from class).  Scattered sequins perked it up!

My second tag combined techniques from day 2 and 3.  I used crayon resist and embossing powder over texture paste (dots). When I was making the card I decided to add some foiling on the corners using Tim's method of applying collage glue stick and pressing the foil on.

I also added two new colors of enamel accents around the Elizabeth Craft hello die(colored with distress inks and then clear Wink of Stella). I mounted the tag on MFT eggplant card stock.

HOW DO I LOVE MY MISTI...let me count the ways....

SIX to be exact because that's how  many times I had to stamp on watercolor paper to get the crisp black image I wanted.  Can you imagine trying to line up your stamp SIX times. Yikes, I can't even do it twice.  With the MISTI it came out beautifully.   I used Papertrey Ink's Peonies on Parade watercolor cards and colored the blue one with Twinkling H20's and die cut with Simon stitched rectangles (both).  The pink and yellow were colored with Derwent Inktense pencils.  

ALCOHOL INK COLOR CHART - BLANK 2016

I have tried a number of ways to make an alcohol ink color chart and have been frustrated at every turn but stubbornness won out and here is what I came up with.  It was driving me crazy that the ink would flow over the lines, even when debossed with pencil and on plain paper the colors were not true.  Also, all the new colors weren't on the old color chart.  My solution is to print up a blank color chart (I added in what new colors that I could find), and on a separate piece of alcohol ink paper I used a .75" punch and colored each one and glued them onto the chart.  I am happy to share my link but do let me know if it doesn't work.  Enjoy! 



2016 ALCOHOL INK BLANK COLOR CHART

ONLINE CARD CLASSES: CREATIVE CHEMISTRY 103 DAY 2

I have long admired the crafty, chemical genius of Tim Holtz but I have always been really fearful to try his techniques.  This class has really inspired me to put on my big girl pants and just do it!  So after madly labeling all my supplies that have just been sitting there inspiring guilt, I finally gave it a whirl and tried the Distress Paint resist technique from today's class.  I started by applying spun sugar distress paint with a brayer to the butterfly from the Perspective stamp and then pounced it onto the hearts stencil and used picket fence on the flourish stencil.  I then used distress stain in faded jeans, forest moss and dusty concord.  I used the mini ink pads in the same colors plus concord grape.  I was actually surprised at how much I liked it but I wish the butterfly showed up more but I think the lines were too find.  As usual, I wish it photographed better.

30 DAY COLORING CHALLENGE: WINE CRATE LID AND DISTRESS INKS

I am so happy that KATHY RACOOSIN has started another 30 DAY COLORING CHALLENGE.  For today's coloring project I had this weird idea to color one of my husband wine box lids.  He has a whole collection that he has been putting on the wall of his wine storage here in Mammoth Lakes.  Some of the art work is so pretty that I thought it would be fun to paint one.  After a bit of experimenting with the limited supplies that I have up here, I opted to use distress inks which seemed to stain the wood nicely.  I forgot to take a before picture but here is one of my next lid to paint.

 Won't this be fun to tackle!

This was the lid that I thought would be a good test.  It was easy and fun and I think it came out great and I only used distress inks!

I BROKE MY LAPTOP

I somehow managed to break the hinge on my almost brand new laptop. It has been shipped back to Lenovo and will hopefully be fixed soon but until then no blogging.  Look for some sneak peaks on instagram!

THE AMAZING JENNIFER MCGUIRE, 3D BACKGROUNDS GALORE!

If you saw Jennifer McGuire's post recently here maybe you were as inspired as I was to try faux dimensional stamping.  Well I loved it! It was like magic and I couldn't stop myself and I made a bunch and then I made more and then I made two scenic ones.  This has never happened to me before, maybe I need an intervention. These were all made using stencils, distress inks on Neenah 110lb cardstock. Only one is made into a card  but my plan is to add a die cut sentiment on top and maybe some embellies as needed.  The scenic ones I have plans for as soon as I can manage some coloring time.  Tell me what you think, I would love to hear from you.

Add caption

For some reason I could not capture the depth of color on this card and it is so beautiful in person.

a masculine birthday background, at least that is the plan

I thought this was a good idea but really for this technique to work you need an overall design 

Can you see this with some cute Lawn Fawn or Mama Elephant Critters?

Sorry, linkups not working 

HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW YUMMIES FROM SIMON SAYS STAMPS?

Waffle Flower UP AND RUNNING Dye Ink Pad SET 121000
Simon Says Stamps And Dies HAPPY DAYS Set258HD
Simon Says Stamps And Dies FLORAL SHAPES Set259FS


I really love those yummy colors from Waffle Flower!

30 DAY COLORING CHALLENGE #thedailymarker30day.

I am so happy when I am coloring so I am thrilled to bitty wits about this 30 day coloring challenge. Unfortunately, I am out of town BUT, I did bring watercolors (Peerless), 72 Copics, and some prestamped and printed images.  Woohoo, I even remembered my magnifying glasses! I am posting using only my ipad so it is a little tricky and I have done no editing. This is my image for today in watercolors.

RAINBOW CARD CHALLENGE - WINNIE & WALTER SO TWEET CARD AND ONESIE

UPDATE:  Since this post is now a part of Sandy Allnock's Rainbow challenge, I thought I would update you all with this info and a link to the other bloghop members.  See the end of the post for the link to the other blogs.


I love this Winnie & Walter stamp and since two of my co-workers are pregnant I knew it would get immediate use. I stamped in Simon Intense Black Ink on Neenah Solar white 110 lbs. using my MISTI to help with the masking.  That was a challenge, deciding on the birds position and then stamping and masking accordingly.  Thanks again MISTI !  I colored with copic markers which have been ignored lately in favor of watercolors and used the sentiment from the stamp set.  I mounted the panel on MFT stone gray cardstock

One of my favorite way to make a gift totally unique and special is to make a matching onesie using transfer paper (Avery).  I love the all cotton onesies that I get on Amazon and I copy and print the card on that in order to iron onto the onesie.  Really fun!  I hope you like this card and onesie and give it a try yourself.  

The little onsie looks very dark here and that is something you need to watch out for but it actually isn't as dark as it appears.  

BLOGHOP

SANDY A

GLORIOUS T

SABRINA K

JACQUELINE S

JASMINA B

RUTH C

ELLEN B - YOU ARE HERE

CAROL C

ANNA D

SIRI

TIME FLIES.....

I cannot believe it is already mid May and I have been so crazy busy that I haven't had a chance to post since February.  I was travelling in April to Virginia and New York to visit lots and lots of family.  In Virginia I had the pleasure of meeting and having lunch with the wonderful Suzanne Dean. You can still follow her on Pinterest and see all of her wonderful copic coloring tutorials.  So my calendar looked like this from April 30 to May 13; anniversary, birthday, birthday, mother's day, birthday.  Yikes!   Here, finally, is the card I made for my Grandson whose birthday is the day after mine.

I have been wanting to try tone on tone die cutting which I did with all the numbers but I inset die cut the large number 10 and used a balloon die cut for the zero. The cute little bird is from Paper Smooches.