Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Birthday Jackpot


There are a few times when I receive a special request for a card and I instantly feel nervous that I won't be able to pull it off. They're either vague in their description, or they ask for an image or theme I don't have and it makes my stomach drop that I won't be able to give them what they're asking for. Then there are the cards that just completely fall into place and this is one of them. I received a special request for someone who loved the casino and especially loved playing the penny slots. I had recently found this great casino paper and did a quick search for some digital casino clip art, and everything just happened.

I colored the slot machine with my Prismas before matting it to a scalloped circle and adhering it with foam tape. I used a plain black ribbon to separate the green DP from the casino themed DP and then added a sentiment with a single brad so that it moves. For the inside, I added "Hope your birthday hits the jackpot!" and called it a day. If they could all be this easy... :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Snowfriends!


It's time for another challenge at Stamps R Us! Challenge #9 is Sparkles and Scallops and I must say that after throwing a hissy fit about not having my scallops show up the first 3 attempts, I really enjoyed it. :)

I really love the digis at The Stamping Boutique who is sponsoring us for the next two weeks. I'll definitely be doing a little more earlier Christmas shopping there! The digi I used is called Snowfriends. Isn't it adorable? I colored the three little guys with Prismas and then used my tried and tested method of laying down some Stickles before throwing a whole ton of glitter on top. It's amazing how that stuff gets into everything for days! Because I wasn't happy with my scallops not showing up well enough (hence the hissy fit) I finally decided to just lift both the scallops and the image itself up with foam tape. It creates the separation I needed and it also gives a little dimension.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Monday, November 8, 2010

Warm Wishes Snowman


I had a hard time watching this card walk away today. Isn't it funny how we get attached to certain cards? At least I really like the person who bought it. :)

Though I really love the Cappuccino Snowman digi stamp, I think I really liked the colors I used for it. I wanted to try something different and get away from the traditional holiday colors, seeing as though snowmen can be very generalized, so I went bold...literally. I chose 5 different sheets of DP and went a little crazy with the layering before settling on the layout. The snowman is colored with prismas and outlined and shadowed in chalks to give him so definition. The best part was the mug of cocoa embellie I found laying around. I thought it was the perfect card to use it on. Hopefully this will be my motivation to get a ton of Christmas cards done this week... wish me luck! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

My First Christmas Card of the Season!

Well I did it! I finally made my first Christmas card of the season. I have a looooooooooong ways to go but hey, it's a start! I absolutely LOVE this stamp from Sassy Cheryl's. Isn't he the cutest? I wanted to try to make this card as colorful as I could so I went out of my way to throw in a lot of DP. Probably went overboard again but I can't help myself. :) 

He's colored with Prismas, and I tried to give it a slightly older look by using a little grey for shadows. Don't know if that really ended up being worth it or not, but hey. I added the snowflake to the top left corner because it needed "something" and then added a rhinestone for a little color. That was my last snowflake though so I have got to figure out where to buy more.... oh well, I guess I"ll just HAVE to do some more paper-craft shopping! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Mommy to Be

Hope everyone's having a great weekend! I was able to make a couple cards over the last two days so I'm feeling very productive for a change. My cousin is pregnant, so the inspiration for this card definitely came from her. I just love the colors of the DP. I've been dying to use this paper for awhile, I just never thought I'd be using the combination in quite the same way. Anyways... the stamp is from Mo's Digital Pencil and I just adore it! The paper is from My Mind's Eye and I'm just realizing now in the picture that I can't really distinguish between the two pink DPs but believe me, there are two there! :)

I busted out my scallop punch which I never remember to use for the edging of the chocolate brown paper and made my flowers with my old school Sizzix. Then I went adhesive pearl happy so I'm off to replenish my stock now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, October 4, 2010

SRU Challenge #6!

I just finished this custom ordered card for someone whose mother is turning 60 and it was perfect timing to use it as a little inspiration for the Stamps R Us Challenge #6 all nature theme! The request for this card was that fall colors were used and a wheelbarrow of flowers was the focal point. How'd I do? I originally tried to use a scalloped Nestie for it but it didn't work out so I ended up trimming it and just having it be a straight edge. Because of this, it's cut a little bit too close but I didn't end up cutting off any of the good stuff so I guess I'm okay. I used my Prismas for the coloring and shading and inked the edges up a little bit to reflect a sky (which I can't even see in this picture but believe me, it's there!) The image is adhered with my trusty foam tape, as well as the sentiment which I got to use my smaller Nesties on. Hopefully the recipient, who I've been told loves to garden, really likes this card.

Don't forget to check out Challenge #6!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Hugs & Kisses


Just finished making another Hugs & Kisses card and gift tag set. This DP is still one of my favorites. I picked up a few sheets of it when I was at Joann's months ago and since then, have gone back for more. The blue/brown combo gets me every time!

Anyways, I finally got to use my "How Sweet It Is" stamp from MFT. I really love MFT's stamps and just wish I had more time in my days to actually use them all. I watercolored the image and then matted it in chocolate and blue sky cardstock. The image is attached to the DP with foam squares. I knew the card needed more than that and after about 30 minutes of trying to figure out what embellies to use, decided to stamp a flower onto more of the blue sky cardstock and cut it out. I popped a little cranberry brad in there for the center and attached the whole thing to the stamped image. I repeated the same technique for the gift tag.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, September 27, 2010

New Baby Girl Shoes

I've been so nuts getting custom orders done that it was nice to finally design a card with one of my own stamps. I ended up selling it today but I thought I'd post anyways. I realized making this card with all the tons of paper I have, I have very little baby pink. This card ended up being a little more hot pink/fuscia than I would have liked but again, beggars can't be choosers. Guess I'll just have to buy so more! :)

The card was very basic so I added the flowers for a little oomph! They're all popped up with various height foam tape to get a little dimension in there, too. As always the digi is Prismacolored and chalked. The inside sentiment is "Congratulations on your new bundle of joy" and is framed with some more of the pink.

Thanks for stopping by!


Monday, September 13, 2010

Ya Big Baby!


Really quick post tonight as Monday Night Football is starting in 5 minutes...  I made this card with one of my friends in mind. This person shall remain nameless but acts like the biggest baby when they are sick - hence the inside sentiment. :)

The card itself was layered with five different types of DP and is matted with orange cardstock. I actually worried about the orange being too bright but it ended up blending in just fine. The image itself is colored with Prismas and chalks. I may revisit this card this weekend because it just seems too plain, but for now, this is it.

Thanks for stopping by!




Thursday, September 9, 2010

For the Birds

Just made a new card with another one of my digi stamps. I must say I'm really having fun with this whole new element to my cardmaking. For this card, I finally got to use this gorgeous DP from a My Mind's Eye paper stack. Have you ever had paper that is too pretty to use? That's when you know you have a sickness. :) There's probably 6 more sets of DP from this set, but I'm working in baby steps. For this card, I used 4 different sheets from this set and layered them every which way. I notice now that some of the layers I can't even see, but at least I know they're there! The bird digi is from my shop (woo hoo!) and he's colored with my Prismas and chalks. I framed it in a large Nestabilities circle, and then matted it with a larger scallop, and then popped it up with a little foam tape.

The ribbon was a bit of an issue at first because I had two different teal ribbons but one was too light, and the other too dark. I solved this problem by layering one on top of the other, and then folding them and adhereing them to the DP under the Nestabilities scallop. Then I used the same makeshift ribbon for the bottom for contrast.
 
Stamps:  Bird on Branch 
Ink:  Prismas and chalks
Paper:  My Mind's Eye paper stack
Accessories:  Stacked ribbon, foam tape, Spellbinder's Nestabilities
 
Thanks for stopping by!
 

Monday, September 6, 2010

Have a Fairy Happy Birthday!


I made this card for Stamps R Us Challenge #4 and I’m excited and proud to announce that our challenge this week features Operation Write Home. Operation Write Home is a wonderful organization whose mission is to send handmade cards to our armed forces to write home on. Our challenge was to create a children’s birthday card.

For this card, I used one of my new fairy digis from Mo’s Digital Pencil and colored it with my chalks and Prismas. I would have loved to have been able to glitter her all up but that’s a big no-no with OWH so she’ll just have to be sparkle-less for this one. :) She is inked at the edges with a little gold chalk and propped up just a teeny weeny bit with some foam tape for dimension. (OWH doesn't really like a whole lot of bulk.)

I chose six different sheets of miscellaneous DP and cardstock that all coordinated for the most part and basically just did all kinds of crazy positions with them. Then I used the same DP to create two small paper flowers complete with rhinestone centers and one larger flower cranked out with my old school Sizzix machine (all 200 pounds of it). The sentiment was printed on my PC and "Nestabilitized."

Don’t forget to join us at Stamps R Us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Static!


Seriously is this the cutest digi stamp you've ever seen or what? Once again, Mo had me falling in love with one of her new adorable stamps and I couldn't be happier. Before I even started coloring her, I knew that I wanted to use my Pocket Full of Posies stack (my favorite) because it has the most gorgeous colors, so I quickly picked out some of my favorite patterns that had more muted tones to now drown her out, and went from there. She's colored with Prismas and chalked at the edges with a little touch of fuscia. Looking back, I don't even think it needed the extra color, but it's too late now! The flower embellishments were punched with 3 different sized flowers and given dimension with some pearl adhesives. The image, as well as the flowers, are popped up with some foam squares for dimension.

Supplies:
Stamp: "Balloons!" - Mo's Digital Pencil
Ink: Prismas and Chalks
Embellishments: Flower punches and self adhesive pearls

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The Golfer


Being home these last two days has been a wonderful way for me to get a little alone time in my craft studio. And I really needed it! Today I made this quick and easy golfer card with an image I had colored about a week ago. The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil and I colored it with Prismas and chalks. I then ink-sponged the edges and then cut the corners to add the small pearl adhesives. When I colored the image, I was at my parent's house and really had to take a leap of faith that I had DP that would match. Fortunately, I did so everything worked out. I embossed some white cardstock for the large circle to give it a little texture and voila! Quick and easy card.

Make sure you check out page 36 of this month's Paper Crafts magazine. My Stamps R Us buddy, Carrie, is featured!

And don't forget to play with us at the Stamps R Us Challenge Blog!

Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

New Baby Boy & Girl Cards

I was just asked today to make two more of my New Baby Boy and New Baby Girl cards (so much for one-of-a-kind), and realized I've never posted them on my blog. These are the first cards I had ever made and though I'm glad they're so popular, I find it kind of strange. Really, there's nothing special about them, although I do like the stamp -- maybe that's what it is. Actually, come to think of it, this stamp is one of the first rubber stamps I ever purchased, too. It makes me realize how much my style has changed since then. The first change is the fact that I'm really riding the digi stamp wave. I just find them to be so much more convenient and useful. The second big change is the fact that I use to color mostly watercolors and markers and now I find I'm happiest with my Prismas and chalks. Makes me wonder what my next style change will be... :)  Anyways, just though I'd share. Don't forget to play the Stamps R Us challenge this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Go Nuts!

Quick post tonight as it has been quite an exhausting day! I love my new Woody digi stamp from the Digi Stamp Boutique! How cute is he? I colored him with chalks and pencils and then added some gray shadows all around him for a little dimension. The paper flowers I threw together quickly to pick up some of the colors from the DP.

CARD DESIGN:
Stamps: Digi Stamp Boutique - "Woody"
Ink: Prismas and chalks
Paper: Woodland Creatures
Accessories: paper flowers, foam stamps, Nestablities

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Stamps R Us Challenge #1

Hi everyone!

I'm so excited to share that the ladies of Stamps R Us have created a challenge blog for everyone to join us in! Our first challenge is simple. Show us your cards, scrapbook pages, and altered items using digi stamps. 

The challenge is hosted by GingerLoft, a digi stamp company run by our very own Tami.


For my project, I chose to create a card using this fun digi stamp from Sassy Cheryl's that I colored with my Prismacolor pencils and chalked at the edges. The paper is from DCWV's Pocket Full of Posies paper stack. I loved the vibrant colors, and chose to make paper flowers out of them which I embellished with rhinestone centers.

Join us at the Stamps R Us Challenge Blog to play along! You have 2 weeks to submit your project!

CARD DESIGN:
Stamps: Sassy Cheryl's - Prissy, Sassy and a Little Bit Jazzy
Ink:  PC, Prismacolor Pencils, Chalks
Paper: DCWV Pocket Full of Posies paper stack, Cardstock
Accessories: Paper flower embellishments, rhinetones, Nestabilities, foam tape


Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Hey Lady!

I am falling in love with Jessica Lynn Original's Brentwood stamps. They're so adorable! I actually bought two more of her stamps this week and I'm really looking forward to receiving them!

For this particular card I kept it really simple and just used some Stampin' Up DP embellished with paper flowers. The stamp is colored with Prismas and chalks and is framed with my favorite Nestablities. The ladybugs were scrapbook embellishments I've had for years and never used. Just goes to show you there's always a project for everything!

CARD DESIGN:
Ink: Staz-on, Prismacolor Pencils, Chalks
Paper: Stampin' Up
Accessories: Paper Flowers, Rhinestones, Nestabilities, Ladybudgs

Thanks for stopping by!



Wednesday, July 21, 2010

If the Shoe Fits...

SEE MY BLOG CANDY CHALLENGE HERE!
Challenge ends July 31st.


Today's my mom's birthday! Because she's my shopping partner, I was inspired to use this stamp from My Favorite Things. I've had the stamp for awhile but for whatever reason, never used it until now. Maybe my mom served as the inspiration. :)

I actually had a good time making this card for some reason. I don't know if it was the colors, or just the fact that it had to do with shopping, but whatever the reason, it was one of those quick and easy cards that takes very little thought. And after the struggles I've been having lately in that area, I really needed this one!

CARD DESIGN:
Stamps: My Favorite Things - "Say Charge"Paper: DCWV
Ink: PC, Prismacolor Pencils
Accessories: Ribbon, Nestabilities, Rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Relax, Its Your Birthday!

SEE MY BLOG CANDY CHALLENGE POST HERE!
Challenge ends July 31st.

Yet another one of those cards that I picked up, put down, picked up, put down, etc, etc. I tend to have issues with masculine cards to begin with -- I think its because you can't really be "cutesy" with masculine cards. But then I always feel they come out looking too simple. I had no choice on this one though and ended up going very simple the whole way -- right down to the plain Arial font! It doesn't get much simpler than this, and believe me, I fought the urge to throw flowers, rhinestones any bows many many times. 

The digi is from DigiStamp Boutique. It was introduced at Father's Day I believe (which will tell you how long I've been picking it up and putting it back down). I bumped it up with foam squares and then did the same with the punched out polka dots.

CARD DESIGN:
Stamps: DigiStamp Boutique - "Just Snoozing..."
Ink: PC, Prismacolor Pencils, Chalks
Paper: My Mind's Eye
Embellishments: Punches, Foam Squares

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Make a Wish!

SEE MY BLOG CANDY POST HERE!!

I made this card for the Sketch Saturday challenge this week. I noticed that I don't tend to make square cards, so this 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" card was a nice change for me.

I went with my chubby fairy stamp from Mo's Digital Pencil on this one and for some reason, didn't think twice about coloring her blue. I usually choose the DP first, and then color my images around it, but for whatever reason this time, it went the opposite way. I was lucky enough that I have a million and a half sheets of DP to find some that matched perfectly!


Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Caught a Bug?

Have you ever had a card that's ALMOST done, but you just can't figure out how to put it all together? This card has literally been sitting in a desk drawer for weeks because every time I would pick it up, I'd put it right back down. I had no idea how to display the stamp so that you could actually see it. It just kept blending in with the background. Finally I decided to cut around the stamp and mat it in red cardstock. Well that made it stand out, but it looked funny just floating on top of the card.

Well this morning as I went through my Google Reader (by the way, if you follow more than 5 blogs and don't use Google Reader, you should reconsider - so much easier...), and my Stamps 'R Us friend, Karen, posted her "Beach Globe" card this morning, and it all came together.

I loved the way Karen framed her card with the two different mats and embellishments. When I saw this, I quickly ran up to my craft room and copied it. Thanks, Karen!!! The stamp is from Whipper Snapper. I swear if I had all the money in the world I would own every single one of their stamps. The stamp was watercolored and outlined in grey pencil. I used green polka dot paper from DCWV and red cardstock and then printed out the sentiment on my PC.

CARD DESIGN:
Stamps: "Caught a Bug" - Whipper Snapper
Paper: DCWV, red cardstock
Ink: Staz-on, watercolors, gray pencil
Embellies: white eyelets

Thanks for stopping by!!