Water Girl

Can you believe that August is almost over! I'm so happy to have the beginning of Fall approach!
This is another image that I got from Karin. I just love these cute little images! The patterned paper behind the image is some freebie I downloaded from Shabby Princess. I tried to pick the colors I used from the paper.



Looking at it now I think I should have added some ribbon or some kind of embellishment. Maybe I still will! Thanks for looking!

Rockin' Guitar

I know you're thinking "what?! Two posts in one day?" but I was so loving this guitar card I just made that I had to upload it as soon as it was finished!




Isn't it so freaking cute? I found the template on Stampinspot's blog as a free download. She has some awesome templates on her site.
Anyway, my husband has just recently learned to play the guitar and I thought this would be a perfect card for him. It's just perfect for a guy's birthday don't ya think?
I had some of this paper that is really thinly sliced pieces of wood, so it has the wood grain in it. I have had this paper for YEARS and have never used it before, but it's perfect for this! The hardest part for me was tying all of the strings. It probably didn't help that my cat was on my stamping table at the time and was very interested in all those threads I was playing with!
I sponged around the edges of the guitar for some depth and used my nestabilites for the circles.
I used a font called Rock It for the wording. I freehand cut a rounded triangle for a "pick" and did some sponging on that as well. The guitar and the pick are both popped up with dimensionals. Cute huh? Okay, back to your weekend activities and thanks for looking!

Bright Flowers

Today's card was just something I made trying to figure out what I wanted to stamp. I used a dollar stamp I got at Michael's by Sarah Biese and just pulled out cardstock to match the color I used in the image.



Know what I'm most proud of in this photo? My bow! It tied just perfectly and stayed so poufy! The image is colored with copics, and the card base is red. The orange at the top was cut with the slit punch. I was originally going to use the scallop part that cut out, but after looking at the left over pieces I thought "hey, if I lay that on the red it looks like the red is scalloped!" Now I have two orange scallop pieces to use on another card!
Thanks as always for taking time out of your day to view my blog.

My own featured stamper

Yea! It's Friday! Last night I was looking through some cards I've saved in my favorites and picked one to CASE. My own featured stamper if you will. The card I chose to case is from Laura Fredrickson at Scrapenextras.com and can be seen here



I used the cuttlebug embossing folder for the vellum layer over the brown, the same Bud Basics stamp set from Stampin Up, and a bunch of yellow rain dots from Cloud Nine. I can't tell you how much I love these rain dots. I especially like how they come in so many different sizes. When I was in Memphis at Archivers I saw they had different shapes like hearts and stars, and I got some that looks like splashes! I'll just have to find the right card to make using those splashes. The circle sentiment is from another Stampin Up set called Think Happy Thoughts. I really love Laura's card, and I am so happy with the way mine turned out too. Thanks for looking!

Winner of Halloween Card

Thanks everyone for your comments! Random.org picked #5 so that makes Shannon the winner.

A sketch challenge card

You have until noon today to post a comment on this post to win that card. I'll be back later to announce the winner.

The sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers last week is what this card is for.



It's a square card measuring 5 1/2". I used more of the designer paper that I got from Sue's summer challenge and added some yellow ribbon and a prima flower with a liquid pearl in the center. I used another cute image from Karin.

Thanks for looking!

Clearly It's Halloween & Card Giveway!

Well here it is Card Giveaway day! When I went to stamp camp over the weekend the lady who hosted it brought back all of her swap cards from the Stampin Up convention. I got a lot of great ideas looking at those. Today's card is my version of a card I saw there.



Isn't it cute? It's smaller than the usual A2 size card. The card base is an acetate sheet and I stamped little bubbles all over in craft white ink. The ghost image is from Stampin Up's Batty For You set. It's put together so the layers cover all of the adhesive. It's a fairly quick card to make too! So go comment! You have until noon tomorrow to post a comment and I'll have random.org pick a number. I'll be back tomorrow to post the winner, and thanks for looking!

To Be or Not To Be

LOL! Tonight I received a comment from Kat about the Magnolia girl card that I thought was funny.
Kat said...
Oh Holly, I *love* the layout of this card! And I love those blue sequins. I just do not care for the image - a girl with no nose or mouth. ;-)

August 26, 2008 7:41 PM

Then I received an e mail from my sister Jan (the one who doesn't like Precious Moments images - remember this post?) with a subject line that said "There, I Fixed Her!"
Attached to her e mail was this picture:



LOL! I have heard some people say that it bugs them that these images don't have a nose or mouth. It doesn't really bother me, and sometimes I draw in a nose and mouth if I feel like it. Part of the reason these images are fun is so you can add your own "expression" to their faces. So my question to all of you is should there be a nose and mouth or not be a nose and mouth? Does it bug you? Do you ever draw your own?
Okay, don't forget card giveaway on my next post! You'll like it!
Thanks for looking!

Another Magnolia Girl

Sticky - My daughter finally figured out the subscribe thing for me and you can now subscribe to my blog with e mail updates a lot easier. I really hope some of you will take the time to do that! Just look to the left of my blog to see where to sign up.

This is another one of those cute Magnolia images that Karin sent me. I really like it except for one thing. There were little x's on her dress and I went over them with a while gel pen, but that made them look weird, so I finally just dotted over them with a sky blue copic so they kind of look like a circle design on the dress, but I wish I had left it alone in the first place.



I do like the lay out though, and I like the background piece that's embossed with the flower texture sheet from Ellison. I also like the way I tucked the ribbon on the scalloped side between the card and the yellow layer. Did you notice the little round blue sequins in the corners? Those are from Hero Arts and I found them at Archivers when I was in Memphis. Don't forget that tomorrow is card give away day. I think you will like what I made for that! Anyway, thanks for looking!

Dating Myself

I found this hilarious website where you can upload a picture of yourself and it creates yearbook pictures from different years. Here are some of mine.



Don't you just love the last photo?! LOL! This is so fun to do! Go here to try it for yourself.

Make A Rose A Tulip

Sticky - My daughter finally figured out the subscribe thing for me and you can now subscribe to my blog with e mail updates a lot easier. I really hope some of you will take the time to do that! Just look to the left of my blog to see where to sign up.

Yesterday was featured stamper day at Splitcoast Stampers. The stamper was Kokirose and the card of hers I chose to CASE is here



and here is my card



The changes I made were of course the colors, I only pierced in two corners, I used rain dots instead of brads, and I put my sentiment on the left side of the card. Now that you see my card, don't you like the title of today's post? Koirose is the featured stamper and I used a tulip stamp? :P
The tulip stamp image is from Rubber Stampede and the For You is from Penny Black. I colored with copics. It's a really feminine card, isn't it? Thanks for looking!

Chalked Sky tutorial

Sticky - My daughter finally figured out the subscribe thing for me and you can now subscribe to my blog with e mail updates a lot easier. I really hope some of you will take the time to do that! Just look to the left of my blog to see where to sign up.

A really sweet girl from Splitcoast Stampers wrote me and said she was having trouble doing a sky with chalk like I said I do. I told her I'd try to get a tutorial up for her, and today is the day!
First step is to stamp my image and color it. Then I take a piece of scrap paper that is straight on one side and lay that down where I want the horizon line to be.



Then I take a cotton ball and rub it over the chalk and lightly tap and rub the chalk over the scrap paper on to the cardstock creating the horizon line.



Then I take a piece of copy paper and tear a loose wave for my template. Some people use scalloped circles, but I think they look a little too uniform so I prefer the torn paper. I move up the card from the chalk line I just laid down and place my template down and apply some more chalk.



When you move your paper away, the chalk line will appear very stark. Soften it a little bit by rubbing the cotton ball lightly between the chalk line and the unchalked part of the cardstock.



Continue moving your torn paper up the card and chalking, but also move the paper over and upside down so you don't have the same wave over and over.





And here is the finished sky.



When this is done, take your scrap piece that you used for the horizon and lay it on the horizon line, but cover the sky part and chalk in your grass. I spray my card at this point with a matte fixative so the chalk doesn't rub off or smear.
And here is the finished card!



I'd like to thank Karin at scrap everything for sending this darling image to color! The card base was embossed with an Ellison texture sheet, and I used a left over piece of designer paper that Sue from Stampin Daly sent me in her summer challenge. I used a piece of left over ribbon to tie through the heart button and added some glitter to the wings with a sakure stardust gelly pen. Kind of a sweet card huh?
I hope this helps anyone who wanted to know how to do a chalked sky. I'd love to see any skies you make like this! Thanks for looking!

Cards With Flower Soft

Note - My daughter finally figured out the subscribe thing for me and you can now subscribe to my blog with e mail updates a lot easier. I really hope some of you will take the time to do that! Just look to the left of my blog to see where to sign up.

I finally got around to actually making cards with the flower soft things I made the other day. I was more into trying out the flower soft stuff that I didn't really take my time coloring, so these aren't my best but I didn't want them to go to waste! The stamps on both of these cards are from Ink-n-rubber stamps.



Here's the second card:



This one I wanted to chalk in a sky, but I had already done the flower soft so I didn't take a chance on screwing it up. Next time I do a card with flower soft I'll be sure to plan ahead! Thanks for looking!

Punchy Little Lady

Last month I received a birthday card that used scallop circles for a lady bug. I thought it was such a cute card so I set out to make one of my own.



The card I received had the folded scalloped circles butted together. I spread my bug's wings apart and used Stampin Up's word window punch for the body. The antennae are hand drawn.
The white layer is embossed with the swiss dots embossing folder, and I used a black and white gingham ribbon with a narrower red ribbon on top. The friendship circle sentiment is from Stampin Up's Happy Thoughts stamp set. It's a happy card, don't you think?
Thanks for looking!

I got An Award, and A Game To Play

Isn't this sweet? Debby at Debby's Stuff gave me this award. I was so surprised as well as honored. Thanks Debby!
Here are the rules for playing:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog
2. Link the person you received your award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated

So the hard part of course is coming up with 7 other blogs to nominate for this award. I wanted to choose 7 I haven't chosen before.

1. Helen at All Things Stampy is a great blog to visit if you love Stampin Up! She does some fabulous things with her stamps!

2. Debbie at Debbie's Die Cuts is a wonderfully creative person who is always coming up with ideas that WOW me!

3. Robyn at Here By Grace probably doesn't even know I visit her blog because I don't think I've ever left a comment (my bad!), but I love her sense of humor and the art she creates and so freely shares!

4. Judy at Joy In A Jar makes some beautiful pieces of art, and I'm always touched at her thoughtfulness at visiting people's blogs.

5. Judy at Just Judy and her Stamps is a fairly new blogger, but she has really jumped in with both feet and you can tell her love of stamping in all she makes. She even has bi-weekly giveaways!

6. Conni at Conni's Corner always has such classic and elegant looking things to share. I love her simply style!

7. And last, but certainly not least I have to give to Sarah at Scrampin Mamma. Sarah was the first person to help me out with some blog problems when I first started blogging, and I visit her blog daily. She has a wonderful sense of humor that you can see in her cards, and I never fail to feel a little happier after seeing what she's made.

So, I hope you all take the time to visit these blogs and leave a little message telling them what you think. We live for comments folks!

now, anyone up for a game? My friend Sue at Stampin Daly has posted a fun little game that will get you a RAK if you play along!

Flower Soft

Well I told you a few days ago about this stuff called Flower Soft and I ordered some of it. I got five different colors. Here's what they look like:





It kind of looks like shredded foam. It is very light, and there is a ton in a jar. It's very densly packed, and you need to take some out of the jar and loosen it up a bit with your fingers.
To apply it, you just add glue where you want it, and then sprinkle the flower soft over it.
One thing I found is it's kind of hard to do one color and then come back later and do a second color because the flower soft that is already applied will stick to the glue applicator. This wouldn't be a problem if the areas you are putting the flower soft aren't close together. I was doing a lilac bloom and first put some purple flower soft down. Later I went back to add some blue and my purple kept getting stuck on the glue applicator tip. Here are how the lilacs looked.



I think I got this on a little too heavy, but I was trying to cover the white that was showing. I decided it was best to color the image first so that after the flower soft is applied you don't see white showing through. Here is my second attempt.





I was so anxious to get the flower soft on the card that I neglected to do my sky, and now I don't know that I can! There are pre printed cards that the company sells called "toppers" that you can get and apply the flower soft to, but I didn't get any of those preferring instead to use them with my rubber stamp images. I think this may look better if I find better images to use with it.
I ordered mine through a very nice lady named Cheryl Horton. She has a blog here where you can find out more about this and order some if you want. My order arrived very fast, so I'm a pleased customer!
I hope this has given you a little more insight on this new product!
Thanks for looking!

Blog Candy Winner

Random.org picked #6 as the winner of the blog candy. That makes Daniel Askeland the winner of the Cornish Heritage Farms stamps.
Thanks everyone for playing!

Lots of Stuff Going On

STICKY: Don't forget to comment here for a chance to win a sheet of rubber stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms! You have until noon today, and I'll be back later with the winner.

This card was another card I CASED from the featured stamper on Splitcoast Stampers; at least it started out that way. I think the only thing I kept was the sketch. When I first finished it I thought there was too much going on with it and I didn't like it, but the longer it has sat on my desk the more I like it. I think what initially throws me off is that it's not my usual style. But really, isn't that how we grow as artists; trying new things?
So enough talk and let's get on with the card! First, here is the card I chose to CASE:



And here is my card:



I used one of the images I won from Unity Stamps Floral Fantastical set and watercolored it with watercolor crayons. There are stickles in the centers of the flowers. I did use the swiss dots embossing folder on my yellow layer, but it's so covered with the red paper that you can't see. I think my least favorite part is the yellow layer where I stamped the tiny red star burst flowers. The card I was casing had that patterned paper, so that's why I did that.
Oh! Guess what I got in the mail today. My flower soft arrived! I've got a card started that I'm using it on, and I will show it to you tomorrow. The stuff feels like tiny bits of foam. I need to take the time to look through my images and find one that's perfect for it. I'll be posting the winner of the Cornish Heritage Farms stamp set later today, so check back to see if you won! Thanks for looking!

Featured Stamper Card

STICKY: Don't forget to comment here for a chance to win a sheet of rubber stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms!

Sunday is Featured Stamper day at Splitcoast Stampers, so when trying to decide what I was going to make yesterday I went there to get some ideas. The idea of Featured Stamper is you pick a card from the featured stamper's gallery to CASE. The card I chose to case is this one:


And here is my card:



I used the leafy branch from Stampin Up!'s Best Blossom set and an Ellison texture sheet for the yellow layer. It was a quick and easy card to make.

On a non-stamping note I've got something cool to tell you about. A while back Martha Stewart had someone on her show talking about a plant that grows these berries called Miracle Fruit. When you eat one of the berries that the bush produces, everything you eat afterwards tastes super sweet. This will last for about 30 minutes or until you drink something hot like tea or coffee. Some people even have miracle fruit parties where all kinds of food are laid out for people to try eating after eating these berries. In Japan they have restaurants where you are served a miracle berry, and then they bring you very low calorie, low fat items to eat but it tastes like luscious desserts! I was intrigued, and after lots of research I found a plant and it's growing, but hasn't produced any berries yet. Well last night, Chesney came over with a package of miracle fruit tablets that she ordered off the internet. We were really excited to try them. They work! It was amazing! We each took half of a tablet (which consists of dried miracle berry and cornstarch) and let it dissolve trying to cover as many of our tastebuds as we could. Then we cut a lemon and it was like eating lemonade. It was really cool and fun to try different things. It didn't last that long. I think the actual real berry will last longer and be stronger. Anyway, if any of you are interested she got them here. The place I bought my plant is in Florida and it's called Top Tropicals. They even sell berries to people, but the life of a berry once it's picked isn't long and they give top priority to people with cancer and diabetes.
Well, I have to get to work! As always, thanks for looking!

Spraying Flowers

STICKY: Don't forget to comment here for a chance to win a sheet of rubber stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms!

Well I'm back from Memphis but I have no stamping to show you today because I wasn't able to do any stamping over the weekend. We had a great time while we were there though, and I bought some fun stuff at Archivers. What a great store!
Before we left for the weekend, I was watering my plants and had something I wanted to try. My hydrangea bush flowers are finished for the year, and they've turned brown. A lot of people will pick these and let them dry and use them in dried flower arrangements. Here is how mine is looking right now.


This is what I did with just a few strokes of my airbrush and a couple of copic markers.


Now, I didn't do the entire flower because I was just playing around and didn't want to waste the air in the can, but I thought it was a cool idea for anyone who uses these flowers in arrangements.
Okay, I'm going to try my best to get something stamped for tomorrow, but I can't promise anything because I'm back at work today and we have to get our groceries bought for the week tonight. Thanks for looking!

Blog Candy!!

I received a prize from Cornish Heritage Farms for the Splitcoast Stampers Non-Raffle to raise money for the flood victims in the Midwest. Look what I won:



Now, while this is a perfectly nice set of stamps, and I know people can make fantastic looking things with these, they just aren't my style of stamps. I know they won't get the love and attention they deserve if I keep them. So, I am going to give this set of stamps as blog candy! You have until noon Wednesday the 20th of August to leave a comment on this post and I'll use random.org to pick a winner! If any of you have blogs, please let your readers about this blog candy!
Thanks for looking!

new stuff

I saw on this blog this cool looking stuff called Flower Soft. I was intrigued and ordered about six colors. I can't wait for it to get here so I can try it out. I'll be sure to post pictures of anything I make using it, but I'd love to hear from any of you who have tried it to know what you think of it.
Looks cool doesn't it? I'll try to be back later with an actual stamping project!

Halloween Card

This was a quick card I made just so there would be something on my blog while I am away visiting my daughter. I didn't want to miss a day with a card!



I used some paper from The Angel Company called Simply Spooky that I got from a friend (thanks Gail!). I used a nestability die to cut out the circle in the card, and punched the image out with a punch. The image is from Stampin Up!'s Batty For You set. I used my copic spray gun and sprayed the purple and then added googly eyes and made a spinner card.
The Trick or Treat stamp is from Michael's dollar spot. Now. look what I did to the inside.




The purple part with the spider is from the same piece of paper, and the Happy Halloween is from Posh Impressions.
I know it's not the best, or cutest card I ever made, but I didn't leave you hanging with nothing to look at!

Last and most favorite of the Summer Challenge

Today's card is the last one I've made for Sue's summer challenge. It's also my favorite one! I saved the best (in my opinion) for last.


The designer paper and the yellow cardstock it's mounted to both came from Sue. I used Stampin Up's flower from their Pocket Fun set. The sentiment is from Firecracker Designs. I love that sentiment and the font that it's in.
I used my Score it to make the two score lines and cut the flowers out with nestabilites. The circles are popped up with pop dots and sponged on the edges. Little orange rain dots in the center. I discovered something pretty cool when I made this card. I was orignally going to do a crayon resist where you color parts of the image with a white crayon and then when you add ink to it the part that has the crayon on it resists the ink. Once I got the crayon on though I automatically reached for my copics and was coloring before I realized I meant to use my inks. What I discovered and really like is that the part where the crayon was is lighter than the other part, so it's like automatically shading it for me without me using another color copic! Cool huh? I'm going to play around with this technique some more to see what I can do with it, but I thought it was neat looking for this flower!
I am off today to visit my oldest daughter in Memphis. She and her fiance just bought a house and I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to see her either; it's been too long. Also they have gotten an Archivers there since I was last in Memphis and she has promised to take me! I will be sure to tell you of any goodies I buy!
Thanks for looking!

More Summer Challenges

Today I have three more cards I made for Sue's summer challenge. The first card really gave me a hard time. I love this designer paper, but I just couldn't figure out what to do with it! Do you ever have moments like that? Anyway, after a lot of fooling around I came up with this:



I picked turqoise and pink cardstock to go with the colors in the paper. I punched little flowers out and glued them to the pink which is a faux embossed look. I used the hodgpodge hardware piece and brad that Sue sent to hang the little circle tag from. The circle tags are cuttlebug dies. I kept thinking I needed an image or a phrase on this card, but finally opted for nothing other than the "just for you" on the tag.

Now my next card:



This card really gave me trouble! I loved the little brown piece with the window openings, but I had such a hard time deciding something to do with it. The openings are small, so only small images will show. Also, the little dip at the top and the way the back folds makes it obvious it's to hold something that comes out, so I tried to think of something that would be a surprise when it came out, but there was really no space left on the piece for anything. I finally just stamped some speckles all over except for where the images are. I added the last of the brown ribbon as a pull at the top. I figured it can be pulled out and used as a bookmark or something. I used more of Sue's designer paper on the side as well as the little chipboard flower. I painted it with white gesso and then colored with a blue copic marker. A little blue rain dot in the center. This card is not my favorite by a long shot and I'm not sure why.

And my third card today is one I really like. It just came together so perfectly too.



I used a swirl stamp from Autum Leaves for the stem, stamped the flower petals from Stampin Up's Pick A Petal set on some of the designer paper Sue sent and folded them over to make a smaller flower. The button in the middle is from Sue too. The desinger paper on the side is from Sue as well. I added the sentiment from Hero Arts, and some paper piercing.
I still have a couple more cards for the challenge that I will show tomorrow. One of tomorrow's cards is my very favorite, so please come back, and thanks as always for looking!

Lookie Lookie - I got Goodies!

I was recently the winner of not one, but TWO prizes! The first one is this



Three bookmark calenders made by Judy that I won on her blog Just Judy and her Stamps. Every other Monday she gives away something to a lucky commenter, and this was my prize! Hop over to her blog and take a look at her great creations!

The second thing I won is this:



Yep, a whole set of the Floral Fantastical stamps from Unity Stamp Company! I'm totally psyched to start using these babies!

Winner of the Grumpy Cat Card!

Well I counted up the votes yesterday and didn't count my daughter Chesney in the mix (sorry Ches, but I can make you a card anytime and you can draw a cat better than that anyway!) and random.org picked #7, so that makes Pam in AR the winner! Pam, I will e mail you for your address and get this in the mail to you! I hope you like it, dammit! LOL!

First of the Summer Challenges

I've had such a great time making cards using the stuff Sue sent me for her summer challenge. Here are just the first few.



This card uses the apricot colored cardstock Sue sent along with some of the designer paper and the little button. The stamp image is from Stampin Up's Think Happy Thoughts set. I added some splatters in mellow moss to the base card.

Card number two:



I used some of the decorative paper Sue sent to make this card. The stamp image is from Kolette Hall. I found the ribbon at the bottom of a box and whenI went to iron it, I starched it and thought it might take embossing. It did, but the embossing kind of got smashed out as I finished making the card.

And finally card number three:



This card used a piece of rust cardstock that Sue sent for the base, and the decorative paper and ribbon is from Sue too. The stamp image is from PSX. I colored it with water color crayons then sponged a little creamy caramel ink on the background and cut slits in the sides for the ribbon to go through.
I hope you've enjoyed the first round of my summer challenge cards. Be sure to visit Sue's blog for more inspiration, and come back here tomorrow to see more of what I made with the stuff she sent! Thanks for looking!

special announcement and blog candy!

yes, this is still card giveaway day and you can go to the previous post here to see the card I'm giving away, but I am very excited to be telling you some exciting news.
Many of you know that I have made several cards on this blog featuring the artwork my daughter Chesney drew. If you are new to this blog you can see some of her art work here
Well My Favorite Things stamps will be releasing some stamp sets with some of her art this September! Kim is also offering two sets of stamps as blog candy here!
Okay, I was just so excited I had to let you all know! Don't forget to post a comment on the giveaway card!

Card Giveaway!

Today is card giveaway day! Leave a comment on this post by noon tomorrow and I'll use random.org to pick a number to send this card to. If you have a blog, please let your readers know about this!
One of the Dare To Get Dirty challenges was to create a scene card. My scene is inside a room looking out a window. I love this card. It was such fun to make.



Isn't that grumpy old cat the funniest? The saying in case you can't read it is "Meow Dammit!" yesterday I told you cat lovers would like it and so would cat haters. Cat lovers because they've all seen their cats look grumpy like this, and cat haters because the cat is OUTSIDE!
The card is totally 3 dimensional. You can see from this angle how much so.


Even the little flower pot on the window ledge is popped up! Sorry, I don't have stamp credits for any of the stamps except for the striped wallpaper. It is by Stampabilities. Now go comment and try to win it!
Tomorrow I've got the first of the cards I made using the stuff Sue sent me in her summer challenge packet. Thanks for looking!