Friday, March 27, 2015

Getting Inky

I've been having a great month playing along with The Daily Marker's 30 day color challenge.  I've learned a lot from Kathy Racoosin the last few weeks, and she certainly has inspired me. So when I saw this week's sketch at Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, I knew I needed a background that popped and knew I was gonna' get inky doing it!




I broke out my Kaleidacolor Dy Ink pad *(Calypso) and my water color paper and got "groovy" for this card using the Peace Sign stamp set from Inkadinkadoo.   I embossed the peace signs in white embossing powder first, then watercolored the paper using pink, yellow, and red inks in the Kaleidacolor ink pad.  I kept layer on colors until I was happy with the blend, then added water droplets to give it more texture.  A final layer of Tattered Angels glimmer mist and the background was complete. However, it took me a couple tries to stamp the scripted peace sentiment from Stampin' Up since I kept smearing it!  UGH....after a couple tries my fingers looked like this:

 
I kept trying and finally got the sentiment without the smear, assembled the card and now all is groovy!

Thanks for stopping by.





Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Tiddly Binge

I've been binging on Tiddly Inks this past week so I figure I'd share!

First card was made with the Fairy Happy Day Clear Stamp

Add caption
What a fun image to color.  I added lots of little details with my white gel pen.

Next I played with the Cloud 9 stamp set.  Love this cutie!


And finally, I played with Hello Pet.  This was challenging as I was trying to practice coloring hair.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  


Is it a bad thing to binge on Tiddly Inks?  I don't think so!



Monday, March 23, 2015

Dreaming of Spring

I'm entering this card into Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge. Why you ask?  Because the challenge had a spring theme.  I'm sick of winter and me and this cute kitty are dreaming of spring!!

The stamp set I used is Newton's Day Dream from Newton's Nook Design.  I colored him with my Spectrum Noir Colored Pencils to look like my handsome boy Orion.  So precious, so cute and so "spring-y".  Now if only Mother Nature would agree!!


Friday, March 20, 2015

Happy First Day of Spring!

Happy first day of Spring!!

It was a beautiful day here in Northeast Pennsylvania!  The sun was shining, the birds where chirping, the bees were buzzing.....

NOT!

Not only was the sun not shining, it was snowing!  Like 5 inches on the ground snowing!  It is the winter that refuses to end.

But, the bees were buzzing!  I made a card using this delightful Happy Bee Day set from Tiddly Inks! I used my Spectrum Noir markers to color the images, but I water colored the background paper in the yellow and black. I had to use washi tape to mask off the different stripes since my dog ate my painter's tape!  GRRRR.  I wanted crisper lines, but in the end I was happy with the finished product.


Wednesday, March 18, 2015

On a roll.....

Another card done this week. Go me!

Still trying to keep my mind on spring, despite the fact that there is 6 inches of snow in the forecast! Sigh.

Since I'm still coloring away with The Daily Marker's 30 day coloring challenge, I decided to try something different.  I stamped this pretty flower from Close to My Heart's Friendship Bouquet stamp set on black cardstock with Versamark Ink and then embossed with white embossing powder.  I then colored the image with my Spectrum Noir color pencils.  Love the striking look.

The sketch is from CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge 114 and I'm getting this up and posted just under the wire!!  Whooo!

Thanks for looking!

The Sketch




My card!  I LOVE how it turned out!


Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Shake your bunny booty!

My 50th birthday celebration continues a good month after the actual date!  I love it!

To honor my birthday my co-workers chipped in and presented me with $100.00 gift certificate to one of my favorite stamp stores, Newton's Nook Designs.  I was itching for weeks to use it, but since everything is so dang cute there, a couple of sets I really wanted were sold out.  So I waited.  Then one cold day an email popped into my box saying that all the sold out sets were back in stock.  So off I went and very quickly ordered everything I wanted.  To be honest, at this point I think there are very few stamp sets from Newton's Nook that I don't own.  

Saturday was a happy mail day for me as my order arrived!


My family looked at me like I was crazy as I danced around the table admiring my haul.  You would think they'd be used to my craziness by now.

Of course the first set I had to play with was this adorable Bunny Hop set.  The bunny butt is just to dang cute for words!

I decided to try my hand at a shaker card for this.  I stamped and colored extra Easter Eggs from the set and fussy cut them to add as part of the shaker.  I don't have sequins so I used these yellow microbeads I've had in my stash for years!  This just makes me smile!!






Monday, March 16, 2015

Something Fishy Going On!

New challenge alert! Decided to try my hands at this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.  As soon as I saw this sketch I new I had to try it and I knew the image I was going to use!


As part of the Daily Marker 30 Day Color Challenge I had previously colored this hysterical image from Art Impressions called Deep Breath Birthday.  Since I didn't have quite the right color orange paper in my stash, I took white card stock, colored it with the same orange color I used for the fish and then ran it through my Cuttlebug with the Seeing Spots embossing folder.   I added a few white spots to the fish with my white gel pen as well as added some bubble texture to the background around the fish by using my blender pen to lift some of the cool blue color I used around the fish. A little Liquid Glass  highlights the bubbles and the fish's lips  I  love how this all came together.



Thursday, March 12, 2015

Treasured Friend

Just a quickie today.  Still playing with the Daily Marker 30 day coloring challenge.  I've been able to keep up and find it quite relaxing to take at least 5 minutes out of my day for me!

I did some water coloring the other day with this sunflower from Close to My Heart's Friendship Bouquet stamp set.  The stamp set is retired, but I did find it on eBay.  I stamped the image with Close to My Heart Archival Black Ink and embossed it with WOW clear embossing powder.  Then I colored the image with water color pencils I had in my stash.  I have no idea who makes them, or where I got them.  I think I probably got them close to 10 years ago when I first started to scrapbook! I used Tim Holtz distress inks (Salty Ocean and Stormy Sky) to color the background and added some water droplets for textured.  So pretty!


Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Warm Thoughts

Shhh....don't want to say it too loudly, but I think winter may be losing it's grip.  The sun is starting to feel a little warmer and the glaciers that have occupied my driveway for the last few months are starting to melt.   Life is good.

So let's think warm thoughts, warm tropical thoughts.  At least that's what I did when I colored this cute little image from Hero Arts.  Ain't he cute?

Quick tip for ya'.  I didn't have just the right color twine in my stash to go with this card.  So what's a girl to do?  I simply colored some white twine with the same color marker I used for this guy's beak. So easy!  


Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Daily Marker Color Challenge

So to kick my butt in gear a little, I decided to participate in the 30 Day Color Challenge over at The Daily Marker.  I thought it would be a fun way to usher in spring (if it EVER stops snowing).

Day 1 was today so I got my red Spectrum Noir markers out and colored this lovely rose image from Newton's Nook Designs "Love Grows" stamp set.  Reds are always so challenging to color with, but I was happy with the way it turned out.




Now since I had the lovely rose, I had to make a card with it, so I decided on a 4 1/2 inch square card using the the other images in the stamp set.  Of course I added some shimmer with my trusty Wink of Stella.  I think I may have to get a new one soon!  Don't want to be left "Stella-less"!





Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Layer Challenge

I've been on a roll lately.  Got three cards done in a matter of two days!  GO ME!

This card is for Newton's Nook Designs Inky Paw Challenge #18 which was to make a one layer card.  I figured this would be an easy one...boy was I wrong!!

I really struggled with this challenge.  I had a couple different ideas floating in my head, but had a hard time getting any of them to work.  I was about to give up completely, but while crafting with my friend Lynda, she pulled out her embossing folders and among them was this gorgeous tree folder by Darice.  I was inspired again!

It took me two more tries and some coaxing by Lynda but I was finally able to complete the challenge.  I used three Newton's Nook stamp sets, Winged Wishes , Wild Child and Versatile Vases.  I colored the images with my Spectrum Noir Markers and used some Tim Holtz distress inks on the tree and grass.  Not sure how I feel about the outcome, but I certainly was challenged!!


Sunday, March 1, 2015

I'm "Hog Wild" over Art Impressions

Part of my birthday haul last month included a gift certificate to Art Impressions.  I got them last week  and they  sat neglected until I got a chance to play with them yesterday.

For inspiration, I decided to play along with Art Impressions "Tie it Up" challenge.  I knew I wanted to play with the Hog Wild  stamp set, but wasn't sure how I was going to do it.  Then yesterday, I spent some time with a friend trying to help her figure out how to use the Cricut Explore she got for Christmas.  We were happily cutting out an Easter Chick when I happened upon a balloon in the gallery!  That's when inspiration hit!  The card base needed to be a balloon!  So I cut out the balloon (twice because I knew somehow I'd mess it up, which I did) and started  coloring away with my Spectrum Noir markers!  Of course this pretty hog had to have some sparkle, so I added Wink of Stella and Stickles on the image (see close up photo), as well as Close to My Heart's Liquid Glass on her lips and glasses. For added shimmer, I masked off the image and then sprayed some Tattered Angels Yellow Daisy Shimmer Mist all over the balloon. I tied some baker twine around the balloon as the "string" and popped up this pretty girl with some foam tape to the base.  I lined the card base with some hot pink cardstock I had in my stash, stamped the greeting with Close to My Heart Archival black ink and embossed it with Hero Arts clear embossing powder.  

She is just as pretty as a princess!