Trick or Treat

Happy Tuesday!  September is winding down and October is almost here....have you planned your Halloween costume yet?

 Today I have a card to share with you that was made using some digis by Gurukitty / Marker Guru.  Last week I shared with you a card using a pumpkin.  These are other images in that same digi pak--great value!

Isn't that little witch sweet!  She was super easy to colour too, no fine details that were too small for my marker tips (sigh of relief!).  She and the pumpkins were coloured in copics, and the background was sprayed with Graphite Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.

SCS Sketch chalenge

Happy Sunday!

Are you all having a good weekend?  I've been feeling very crafty this weekend and have been busy playing with some of the upcoming new releases for Heartfelt Creations.  They are fabulous, and will be released this coming week (September 28th at Midnight EST).

While I can't share any of those with you yet, I am pleased to have a card using the Cardinal Family/Holly Berry Collection.

The background was made by printing off some sheet music I found online.  Then I stamped all over it randomly using images of tree branches and berries.  I added a bit of colour to the berries with my pastels, then used the Copic airbrush to add some colour here and there in the background.

It still looked a bit plain so I dug out the metalic rub on paste I so like to use, and added that on all the edges, as well as added the scalloped edge cut out using one of the die cuts I just got from HC.

So I hope you like it!  I'm not sure how crafty I'll be for the rest of the weekend, homework deadlines are looming, and of course Sunday night is my favorite TV night of the week...

Also, wanted to pass a special thank you to Bonnie aka SassyScrapper for hosting a blog candy draw which I was fortunate to be drawn on this weekend.  Her cards are always fabulous and inspiring, you may want to take a peek!

Challenges:
SCS sketch challenge SC299  
Sentimental Sundays - Lets see some dimension




Products:

Stamps:  HCPC 3348 Cardinal Pine Cone Border PreCut Set, HCPC 3352 Snowy Cardinal PreCut Set, HCPC 3326 Holly Berry Filler PreCut Set, 

Dies:  HCD 702 Decorative Butterfly-Border Die

Other:  Memento ink, Metalic rub on paste, Copics, pastels, crystal effects, gold glitter

Christmas wishes

So yesterday, as I languished at home with a cold, a really neat thing happened....I got my 100th blog follower!  A crafter from South Africa, the other side of the world!  I was so excited!!

Today I have a card I made on the weekend when I was feeling inspired (did I mention I made close to 10 cards last weekend!) and before the cold bug hit.  This card is a Christmas theme using the Mimosa Christmas Tree image from the Paper Jewels store.

Isn't she cute?!  She's coloured with Copics, and spica pens for the tree ornaments.  The green base is coordinations paper that's been embossed with a cuttlebug folder and sanded.

So would it be of value to you if I went into more detail about the colouring techniques etc. in my posts?  If there are things you'd like more details, please let me know, I want to make sure I get the right amount of information in here to keep you all happy but not bored :-)

Friday's is here, and I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Give Thanks

When I took my Copic certification class I had a chance to meet an artist who is not a card maker.  Since the room was filled with crafters like me who spend so much time making cards, I was interested to find out more about her and was impressed at her knowledge of colouring techniques.

Since then she has started designing images for cardmakers, and was kind enough to share a couple with me.  Today I bring you a card using one of the new images designed by MarkerGuru.  Check out her website to see the new images and also some fabulous colouring tutorials.

CAS Pine cones

Monday's here, and the end of the weekend.  But another one will be here sooner than we expect :-)  This past weekend I had a spurt of inspiration and created a bunch of cards with the new releases from Heartfelt Creations, here is one that I came up with that is simple and easy card and which I expect will be one of my "mass production" christmas cards.

The images used all come from one of the new Heartfelt Creations releases, called Holly Berry Filler Precut Set .  This card is a great choice if you need a bunch of xmas cards and don't have a ton of time to make them all.  It would take about the same amount of time to make 8 of these as 1, and the steps are super easy.

I stamped the pine branch images onto an acetate sheet using Olive Green Staz-On.  After letting it dry I sponged on White Staz-On ink over top for a snowy effect.  After that dried I used a brown permanent BIC marker to colour in the branch on the reverse.
All the circles and scalloped circles were cut using Spellbinder nestabilities (which HC also carries).
Then I coloured the pine cone image directly on the rubber stamp with my SU markers, then stamped on to the cardstock, after which I added some extra colour with my copics and copic airgun.  Around the outside circle I added a bit of Encore ink in Gold.

To finish it off I added a bit of ribbon to the top.  All in all a quick, easy (and inexpensive!) card to make :-)

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Fall days

I got some fabulous fresh apples from the farmers market the other day, and have been baking away with them since, and when I went to create today I decided to use this sweet Bildmalarna image I got from the Paper Jewels store, called Mimosa Apple Basket.

The background is made using a Sizzix embossing folder fro SU--after embossing it I sponged Vanilla craft ink overtop of it to make the pattern stand out more.  I added some stitching and distressing around the main image, which as usual was coloured with Copics, and made the bow with my still relatively new Bow-Easy (had to watch the video again on how to use it, must need to make more of them).

I hope you all have wonderful plans for the weekend!  I've been procrastinating on my coursework, what with my driving lessons, card making, and baking, so will have to spend some time on that, but will definitely be finding time for a bit more creativity in my craft room too :-)

Heartfelt Creations Design Team

Happy news to share!  Heartfelt Creations has announced their new design team, and I'm very excited to let you know that I am part of it!  Yay!!

Their artwork is just stunning, and I had a wonderful time creating my cards for the design team application.  Here is one of them using a couple of the stamp sets they just released today:

I started out by cutting out the cardstock for the main image with the nestie, and then while it was still attached to the nestie I stamped the image and airbrushed the background.  Then I coloured it with copics.  To add a bit of extra interest I added crystal effects and flowersoft to the snowy areas, and real birdfood on the edges of the bird feeder.  The stamp set used is one of the new releases, Cardinal Bird Feeder Pre-cut set.

The background was made using a page from an old dictionary.  I stamped all over it at random with two of the images from another of the new releases, Holly Berry Filler Pre-cut Set.  Then I added colour with the airgun and pastels.  The sentiment comes from that same set, and was stamped on Velum.  The shiny berry's on the edge are another of the images stamped, cut out, and covered in crystal effects.

This card was done as an Easel Style card, below you can see the full card. 

I'm feeling very inspired with these new images, and just in time for getting my xmas cards done too, so you'll be seeing a lot of Heartfelt Creations images on my blog in the next few months.  In the meantime, if you want to see more samples done by the rest of the design team, check out the Heartfelt Creations Blog.

Christmas in September

Christmas is coming, and I've only got a handful of Christmas cards started, so today I decided to make one using one of the newer CHF stamp sets that I've gotten, called Evergreen Holiday.

I followed a template from Splitcoast Stampers for a Shadow Box Card.  If you haven't made one I recommend it, super easy and quick, and looks great in real life.  On the front panel I used 3 different stamps from the CHF set, one of the pine cones, one with the text and the bird.  On the interior I used 3 other stamps--the main image, the sentiment and the tree branch.  The tree branch and sentiment are popped up for depth.  White Flowersoft is spread over the snowy bank, and all colouring was with Copics.

On a side note, for those of you who have been following the saga of my drivers license, today I passed the exam and finally have my full drivers license-YAY!  Hubby rushed from work to the drivers testing center to make sure he was there at the end (in case I failed again and was needing moral support) and we went and grabbed a coffee....almost got in an accident in the Starbucks parking lot, wouldn't that have been comical to get in an accident a half hour after getting your license?!  Luckily we came out unscathed.  So happy to finally have accomplished this.

Have a great week ahead, folks, and I'll touch base later in the week with a fall card--got to capture all 4 seasons, right?

Autumn Hope

Morning folks!

Sunday is here again, and with the weather changing in my part of the world it sure feels like the end of Summer.  {Sigh}.  At least that means I'll have more indoor time to spend card making for the next few months :-)  LOL!

When I dug through my drawers of stamps, this one caught my eye since I've been seeing so many birds flying south lately.  It's an image I got recently from CHF and was needing to be inked up.  The sentiment is also from a CHF set.  

The image is stamped in Sepia Versafine on Staples 110lb...I realized after that if I had stamped it on the Aquabee marker paper I've been using lately that it would have had a finer impression...will make sure to use that next time!  The water and sky are coloured using my Copics and Airbrush, and a bit of colour added to the boat, hunter and dog with pastels.  Along the edges of the image, to give it a bit of a border, I've rubbed on metalic paste.

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday!

Halloween Sweet Pea

Hi folks,

I hope you are all enjoying the long weekend!

Today is the last day of the Back to School sale at Paper Jewels to buy 2 and get the 3rd off, so I thought I'd give you all a little reminder and share this card with you at the same time, using one of the images they currently carry.  

I felt like doing something feminine and also felt like doing a Halloween card--I've seen so many of them lately here in blogland!

The main image is a Sweet Pea image.  It's coloured with copics, and then I made the night sky by spreading rub on metalic paste with my fingers.  The lace ribbon was gathered and taped on the back.

Tonight I've got a driving lesson...got to learn how to be a bit more aggressive on the road, apparently.  And my re-exam is next week, so I'll have time for another lesson or two before then.

Today's card matches up with a bunch of different challenges:

Paper Jewels:  Evening scene

Paper Sundaes:  Mixed mediums:  The colouring is done with copics and background done with rub on metalic paste.

Stamptacular Sunday:  Distress it

Stampin for the weekend:  Shabby or vintage

Tuesday Throwdown:  Use ribbon in a different way (I ruffled my lace ribbon)

Live the life you have imagined

Well, today I'm off to do something I've procrastinated for about 18 years.....I'm off to take my driving exam for my full license!

In the spirit of that, here's a card I made last week before the flu bogged me down, with a fabulous quote from Thoreau.  If you have not read his work, I recommend Walden, which is an account of his experiences living with little funds in the woods of New England.

  

The image is a CHF one, and was stamped in Espresso Adirondak ink on Aquabee marker paper, it was then lightly coloured with copics.  The background and sentiment are also CHF--as I mentioned a while back, I went a little crazy with filling my wishlist when I found out they were shutting down LOL!

And speaking of shopping, Paper Jewels is having a back to school sale for only a couple more days (till September 5th!) and they a buy 2, get the 3rd free deal on all their Bildmalarna, Sweet Pea, Spesch, CC Designs and other stamps, so this is the time to check them out!

The day is shinning here, I'm sitting on the deck listening to the birds sing, and planning what cards I could make...and in a couple hours I'll be off to complete and pass my drivers exam....I will be so happy to get this done after all the thinking about it and procrastination over the years....Wish me well! 

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UPDATE:  Saturday....well, figured I should give you all an update on the driving test.  Sadly enough I FAILED it (sigh!) however, the good news is I was able to schedule another one in two weeks, and have arranged a couple of driving lessons between now and then....I'll keep you updated as the saga continues!