Enjoy Your Day

Good morning everyone! I can hardly believe it's already the end of January. Spring is right around the corner! I already see forsythia bushes in bloom around the neighborhoods and the jonquils are poking their heads up as well!
The card I have today gave me a bit of trouble. I had the image all colored and I liked it, but I couldn't figure out what to do with it. This is the reason I should pick out a sketch and papers before hand, but I usually just color and image and then make a card. Anyway, after much looking through all of my papers I finally picked out this purple paper with little different colored flowers on it and went from there. I figured the purple went with the color I used for the chair, and it had little yellow flowers that would go with the color I made the background wall, and my scallop rectangle has pink that goes with the pink flowers. The green I used for her shoes doesn't really go with the green in the paper, but oh well!



So then I went to emboss the bottom of the card and much to my dismay I had the folder backwards and the swiss dots were debossed instead! So I had to change my plan and make the embossed dots on top! Once I had the whole card made I had to come up with a sentiment of some kind. This kid really looks comfortable enjoying a good book, so I printed out "Enjoy Your Day" in a purple color in a font called Batik Regular. I sponged around the edges and mounted it on pop dots. Now that it's all finished I'm rather pleased with it! Looking at it now you'd never know the trouble it gave me would you?
Have you received your squigglefly newsletter? I am so excited to see that they are going to have a Divine Bovine card contest. Those images are just so funny to me; I can't wait to see what gets submitted!
Well, enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!

Thank you Blooms

Happy Friday everyone! I was in need of a thank you card for someone so I created this



Again, this image is from my pile of unmounted rubber and I have no idea who makes it. (sorry!) I colored it with copic markers and then cut it apart into three panels and mounted it on black. The floral background stamped on the card is from Sonlight Impressions, and the greeting is from Stampin Up.
Quick post today because I overslept this morning and I am going to be late for work if I don't scoot! Thanks for stopping by!

Card Winner

I'm back with the winning number! Random.org picked #9 so that makes Anita the winner of the card. Thanks for commenting everyone!

Little LiLi

Hey everyone! If you haven't commented on yesterday's card you still have until noon today to be in the running to win it. Remember I'm also throwing in some heart confetti so you can enclose some of that with the card. Maybe you'll even decide to make a confetti flinger and add that to it before you give it to someone!


I'm really excited to show you today's card. If you remember I told you the other day about Inky Impressions Rubber Stamps, and if you went to Nicole's blog you saw the sneak peeks of her first two little girls LiLi and Angelica. Well, I was honored when Nicole asked me if I wanted to make a card with LiLi because I think these girls are just precious! I had such fun coloring little LiLi!




I colored her with copic markers and then chalked the sky and ground. I printed the greeting in a font called Bradley Hand and punched it out with a circle punch and then sponged around the edges. The tiny little purple flower on the circle is from a package of little flowers that are supposed to be applied to fingernails. I bought them at the dollar store, and they stick on the paper just like a sticker. You get a bunch in a package and in all sizes and colors. The package says "3D Nail Art" in case you want to look for them at your local dollar store.
The open flower at the top of the card is metal and there is a little half white Keiser pearl in the center.
Make sure to subscribe to Nicole's blog because she's going to be having more peeks of her brand new images that I don't think you want to miss!
Well, I'm off to work and I'll be back a little after noon to tell you who wins the card! Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine Card Give Away

Hi everyone. I'm finally starting to feel better today, but my husband is complaining of a sore throat now! Uh oh! We really tried to be careful about me passing it on to him.
Well, today is card give away day. You have until noon tomorrow to post a comment on this card to be in the running to win the card and a matching envelope. Tomorrow I'll have random.org pick a number to determine the winner. I'll also include some heart confetti for you to put inside!

The card uses a cute little girl holding a heart. The image is from Squigglefly and is appropriately called Be My Valentine. It's also on sale for $2.00 right now! I added the words to the inside of the heart before I printed it out.



I colored with copic markers and used a white gel pen for a few highlights. I am so glad I discovered that you can erase white gel pen because it makes me less afraid to try adding highlights. I don't feel like I'm going to end up ruining the whole thing.
I covered the heart with glue after coloring and then sprinkled glitter over it for a lot of shine.



I'm so glad to hear from so many of you that you have enjoyed the videos. I've got another type of card I want to show you how to make on video. I just have to find the time to do it. It's a fun one though!

Thanks for looking, and have a happy hump day!

Under the Weather

It's the time of year when you can use some get well cards. I know that I could! I am still not up to par, but I did get to the doctor yesterday and he said I was at the worst of it then. I got a shot and a couple of prescriptions, so I should be on the road to recovery! Maybe that's why I decided to make an "under the weather" card! I used this cute image from squigglefly called April Showers.



I don't know why it is I always color rain coats a bright yellow, and this one is no exception. There are a couple of things about this card that I just love. One is the designer paper I used on the background. I love that it has clouds on it! I mean you couldn't ask for a better paper to go with this!
The second favorite thing is how the little splashes in the puddle turned out! I put some crystal lacquer on the rain drops and the puddle. Then I used some of the tear drop shaped rain dots at the puddle and they look just like splashes!



Aren't the splashes perfect?! I just love them!

I thought the ribbon with the green and yellow circles on it went well with the colors I used too. I pierced in all the corners and printed the greeting in a font called Cool Dots.

Now I have a challenge to take care of! The challenge came from Nora at Handmade and heavenly. The rules for this challenge are - Go to where you store your photos on your computer. Go to the SIXTH folder and pick the SIXTH photo. Post that photo on your blog along with a SHORT story about it. Tag SIX people and leave a comment on their blog or email them letting them know you chose them.
I only have one picture folder on my computer, but here is the sixth picture in the folder.




I was making cards one day and my cat came in wanting some attention. He's usually happy to sit on my shoulders on at my feet, but this particular day he wanted me to pay attention to him. He started playing with the twill ribbon I was using and I stopped what I was doing and started taking pictures. He did get the attention he wanted from me and I was able to finish my cards!
Now the six people I'm going to tag for this challenge are

1. Rhonda
2. Tracey
3. Another Tracey
4. Debby
5. Kristin
6. Kerri

Nora also gave me an award!


The rules state that I'm supposed to nominate ten other blogs, but I am just going to ask that you take a look at my blog list on the side of my blog and choose ten to go visit! They're all great!

I hope all of you are feeling well and don't catch this creeping crud that I got!
Tomorrow is card give away day, so don't forget to come back for that! Thanks for looking!

It's A Snap!

Hi everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. I started getting sick on Saturday and now I'm feeling pretty bad with a sore throat and a tight chest. I am going to try to get to the doctor today. My husband and I were just talking about how neither one of us has been sick in a long time.

I want to give a big shout out to Cheri for passing this award to me!



Go take a look at her wonderful blog The Paper Freak and check out how creative this girl is!

Speaking of creative people, I've got to tell you about my friend Nicole. She has been working hard for a long time now to come up with an absolutely adorable stamp line and it's finally about to happen for her. I'm so excited about these and so happy for her because it's been a dream of hers for a while. I know that you will love them! Take a look at the sneak peeks she has on her blog at Inky Impressions right now and be sure to leave her some love! Tell her I sent you!

And another place I'm going to send you is to Rhonda's blog Bumblebee Creations because she has some fabulous blog candy up for grabs!

Now for today's card, my best friend in the world recently quit smoking cigarettes. I'm so proud of her and so happy! I quit smoking myself a little over two years ago and I know how hard it is. Anyway, I wanted to send her a little encouragement so I made this card for her.



I colored with copic markers and computer generated the words in Bradley Hand font. On the inside I have a funny punch line that another friend of mine used on a card she sent to me when I had my two year quitting smoking anniversary.



I sponged around the inside of a top note die cut to highlight the words. I think my friend will get a laugh out of it!
Thanks for checking in with me today!

Flinging Hearts

Hey everyone! Thanks for your comments on my video yesterday. I do hope you try to make that card! Freida said she was going to do this as soon as she got a score board. I have to tell all of you that you don't have to have a score board of any kind to score your cards. You can do it with a bone folder and a ruler. Heck, if you don't have a bone folder you can use an empty ink pen or the dull side of a kitchen knife!
Today's card is cute little valentine card, but there's an added surprise inside, and while Chesney was helping me film yesterday's tutorial I got her to film the surprise in this card as well!



This is a cute Magnolia image I got from an image trade. I colored it with copics and added some glitter gel pen to the hearts. Since she's sprinkling little hearts from her basket, I thought it would be a good image to use on a confetti flinger!
A confetti flinger is a fun little pop up you make and add to the inside of the card. It is powered by a rubber band so that when the card is opened it pops up. You place a little tissue pouch on top of the pop up and add confetti inside the pouch and confetti is flinged out!
It's a card I learned how to make a long time ago when I first started stamping. I remember how excited I was to finally learn how to make one of these. They are really fun to do, and even more fun if you can hand deliver the card so you can see the person's reaction when they open it.

Here is how you construct the flinger



Fold in side tabs and glue or tape down. This gives added re-inforcement to the flinger.



cut little notches out where indicated. This is where the rubber band will go.



This is how you will place it in your card.



you fold the pop up and glue the other tab end down. Place your rubber band in the notches and make a tissue pouch for the confetti. Someone (can't remember who because it was so long ago) discovered that you can also use empty miniature milk dud boxes as confetti flingers!



Anyway, here's a video that will show in this card in action! I hope you like it!

Flip Up Card Tutorial!

Hi everyone! Well here's the video tutorial I promised you on how to make a flip up card like you saw here.

I want you to know that I did not come up with the idea or pattern. It was one I learned a long time ago when I first started stamping only it was a long card that fit in a business sized envelope. I just adjusted the measurements so it would fit in a smaller envelope. You can still change the measurements some and make it fit in any size you want! This is the card I'm making on the video



I colored the image with copic markers and added little liquid pearls to some of the shoes. The sentiment is printed out on my computer with a font called Orlando. The template for the flip up piece is here



I'm not exactly dressed nicely as this was filmed right after I got home from a park outing with Riley, and you can see my desk is a real mess, but the purpose is to show you how to make a really fun card and I think you can if you watch this. So, without further ado here is the video, and thanks for watching!

Butterfly In Green

Yea! It's Friday! I don't have anything exciting planned for the weekend, but I'm still glad the weekend is here. I will have the video tutorial on the flip up card here tomorrow! I also have something else fun to show you how to do, but I'm not telling you what! It's hard to believe this month is almost over, isn't it?
Today I made a monochromatic card using different shades of green copic markers.



I don't know who makes the butterfly image; it was in my pile of unmounted stamps. It's a very quick and easy card to make. Took absolutely no time to color and the rest is just lots of layers and a little sponging. I don't make monochromatic cards very often, but sometimes they can really be striking!
Okay, I'm off to work now, but I sure thank you for stopping by. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the video.

Pacific Birthday

Hi everyone! I am still not using my copics if you can believe that. In fact, this card required no coloring at all! I used some of the papers and inks I got at Christmas. This is from Stampin Up's Pacific Point collection.



The stamps are from a set called Bud Basis that is also from Stampin Up. It's very simple, but I needed simple. I don't know what's up with me! I just can't get in the card making groove these days! I hope your creativity isn't on vacation! My daughter did come by last night and she helped me with the video taping of the flip up tutorial. Now I just have to edit it and upload it. I should have it ready by this weekend, so keep an eye out for that.
Thanks as always for taking the time to see what I'm up to!

Purple Coneflowers

Thanks everyone for your kind comments on my card yesterday. I guess we can't like everything we make, but that one just threw me. I liked Nora's suggestions though about going with different colors, and I may re-make it at some point. In an effort to bring my mojo back I decided to break away from my copic markers for a bit. I broke into my not very often used H2O paints and watercolored this.



If you click on the card, you can see the shimmer the H2o's give it. The coneflower is from Firecracker Designs and the little dragonfly is from Katie and Co. I am not sure if I like this that much. I think there's too much white going on in the bottom. That's one reason I put the ribbon on it.
I'm still working on getting that video tutorial for the flip up card finished. Hopefully it will be worth the wait!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Here's Looking At You Kid

Okay, I really lost my mojo last night while trying to make this card. I just didn't like anything I did, so I finally just left it alone and I'm not happy with it. I did learn something cool making this card though, you can erase white gel pen! That really takes the fear out of practicing your highlights. I don't know if it works with all white gel pens, but the Inksentials white gel pen definitely erases!



The title of this post is not what I would make this card say, but it is what kept going through my mind while I was making it! LOL!
Hopefully my creativity will kick in tonight and I'll have something better for you to look at tomorrow!
Thanks for looking!

Morning Butterfly

Good morning everyone! Monday again. The weekends go by way too quickly! Last week when they had the featured stamper at splitcoast stampers, I found so many cards in Judy's gallery that I loved, and there was one that I intended to CASE, but just didn't have time at the moment. Well, I found time yesterday afternoon and this is it.



I just love the splash of color the butterfly makes on the all black and white card! The coneflower stamp is from Firecracker Designs and the butterfly is from Vap Scraps. I colored the butterfly with copic markers and used wire and little seed beads for his antennae. This is a really quick card to make!
Speaking of quick, this post has got to be quick too because I am running late! I hope you all have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

A Day At The Beach

Happy Sunday everyone! Today's card is a fun one! I used this image from the Divine Bovine series at Squigglefly.



Isn't it hilarious? My sister came up with the funny greeting. I just love it! I colored with copics and chalked the sky and sand. I added a little bit of crystal lacquer to the sunglasses and her hooves.

I am going to work on a tutorial for yesterday's card for ya'll. I am thinking I may make it a video tutorial rather than just showing you pictures. Speaking of videos, if you remember I showed you one of Riley chasing the remote control car. Well, she has since mastered her technique, and she grabs it and spins around in a circle with the car to flip it over. It's so funny and I thought ya'll would enjoy seeing her do it as well!



Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

Tee-riffic Birthday

Hi everyone! Guess what! there are more new images added to squigglefly! So many cute ones I don't know what to color first! I'll tell you what, you go and look and tell me what image you want me to use and then I won't have to decide. LOL!
Well I did go shopping yesterday and I came home with several things that might do. I am still trying to decide on which one to keep and after I get the opinions of everyone I know I will finally choose and take the other things back. So, I sort of feel a sense of relief at having that behind me, but there's a nagging worry now about shoes. I do know one thing; there are some really ugly dresses out there! Oh! One good thing happened while shopping. I saw this little sign in an area of knick knacks that said "The right shoe can change your life, just ask Cinderella.". I thought that would be the perfect saying to go with this image, so now I'm excited about coloring that. I didn't get to do much stamping though, because shopping took up so much of the day but I did finish a card I started earlier in the week.
The girl who cleans my teeth at the dentist's office loves golf. She plays it and watches the golf channel all the time, so I chose this cute House Mouse stamp for her card.



I colored it with copics and chalked the background. I don't know if they make purple tees, but I had to add a little purple to it! If I played golf and they don't make purple tees, I would color my white tees purple with copics! The fun part is when you open it! There is piece of cardstock that flips up to reveal your greeting. I got the bright idea to cut a circle out and emboss it with a cuttlebug embossing folder to make it look like a golf ball and put my greeting on that. It turned out so cute and I can't wait to give it to her! I really wanted ya'll to get the effect of seeing it open and flip up so have a look



I'm going to try to have a tutorial for making this card really soon if ya'll are interested, so let me know!
Have a great day everyone, and thanks for looking!

Hummingbird Freebie

Hi everyone! Are you as happy as I am that Friday is here? I have taken the day off work today and made it my mission to go shopping for that dreaded dress and not come home until I find it! Please wish me luck! If I get back early enough I will be able to spend some of my day off stamping!

I finally tried my hand at coloring the free hummingbird available at squigglefly. I used my copic markers and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.




I used a coluzzle to cut around the bird and then I cut around the wings. I chalked a little for background color and then stamped the greeting in a teal color. The greeting is from Stampin Up's Sincere Salutation set. That set is one I have certainly used a lot!
I cut two larger circles in different shades of blue and attached the image to the circles off center a bit. There are dimensionals under the wings so they are popped up a bit. On the card base I embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder. The folder is writing and the card had to be inserted sideways for the writing to be oriented correctly on the card. This meant I had to move the folder over and emboss a second time to get the entire front of the card embossed. If you are observant you will notice that I had the folder backwards on one side so the words are debossed on the right side. Ooops! I almost did a new card, but in the end I didn't think it was too bad looking as it was so I left it. Did you notice? If you did, did you think I did it on purpose? yeah, uh I meant to do that! LOL!
Well, enjoy your day and I'll see you tomorrow!

Card winner!

Random.org picked #8 as the winner of yesterday's card which makes Ms. Freida the winner of the card! Thanks for all the comments!

How Was It?

Hi everyone! If you haven't commented on yesterday's card yet, you have until noon today to do it to be in the running to win it. I'll be back at noon today (or somewhere close to noon) to announce the winner.
Someone asked me to make a birthday card for their 88 year old grandfather. They said he had a good sense of humor, so I hope she is telling me the truth!



You can't see in the photo, but the background is stamped all over with the crosshatch background from Stampin Up. I just stamped it in a green that is a close match to the card, so the camera isn't picking it up. In real life the card doesn't look so stark and plain.
Anyway, I colored the image with copics, but this image from Art Impressions was stamped on a watercolor paper and the copics are kind of light in color so I think it makes it look watercolored. This image was sent to me by my partner in the We Love To Send A RAK group last month at Papercraft Planet.
I computer generated the words in Comic Sans font. The inside says
"How was it? Happy Birthday". LOL!
I think that when (God willing) I reach 88 years of age, I'd enjoy getting a card that was funny and poked fun instead of something all stuffy or generic!
Enjoy your day, and I'll be back later to announce the winner of yesterday's card! Thanks for looking!

Birthday Boy & Wednesday Card Giveaway

Well, today is the first card giveaway of 2009! Just leave a comment on this post by noon tomorrow and I'll have random.org pick a number. The person will receive this card along with an envelope so it can be sent to whomever they wish. If you win this card and would like to make it a little more personal, I can change the greeting from the round "happy birthday" to the words of your choice. Maybe you'd like it to say something like "Guess who's turning 3?"



Doesn't this guy look like he knows how to enjoy a cupcake? This image is available from squigglefly. I really had fun coloring him. I like that he is cute, but not really cartoony. I colored with copic markers and added a little bit of chalk to the table and behind him.

Thanks for the comments yesterday on the tutorial. Pam, I think that Maryann (the copic certification lady) is in the Kansas City area a lot and that's not too far from the Little Rock area, so maybe she would travel here. I might shoot her an e mail and ask!

I'm running late today, and I've got to scoot! Don't forget to comment if you'd like this card! Thanks for looking!

Tutorial Time!

Hi everyone! I need to thank my friend Sherry for coming over and helping me with this tutorial. She agreed to be my model. Sherry would like you all to know that the night before these photos were shot she shelled about 10 pounds of pecans so her hands are not up to their usual model stature! LOL!
Seriously, we had fun doing these and after the photos were taken we colored and played. One thing I'd like to mention is that Sherry brought some squigglefly images she had printed out with her because she wanted to color them while she was here. Her ink smeared a little when she colored with the copics. I heat set it, and they still smeared a little. My printer ink does not do this if I heat set. So if any of you are experiencing this problem, we solved it by spraying the image with a fixative before coloring.
Okay, on with the tutorial! First I'll show you the card



Isn't she darling? This is one of the newest images at squigglefly and I just love it! I added tiny little jewels to her earrings. The words were printed out on the computer in a font called Huxtable. This is how I made the stand up scallop part in the fold.

Mark the fold line of your cardstock with a pencil line. I also marked the center of my die (Thank you Sherry for that tip!). Decide where you want your pop out to be and place your die on the line lining it up with the center of the die.




Place your C plate on top lining up the edge of the plate with the pencil line.




So you have your A Plate, B Plate, cardstock with die in place on top, and now your C Plate lined up on what will be the fold in your card. Run it through your cuttlebug.





This is what your card will look like when it comes through




Now score your card on the pencil line, avoiding the scallop part.




Erase your pencil line, and fold the card!



This could be done with any shape die; it doesn't have to be a circle! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, and thanks for looking!

Divine Bath

Good morning everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. I was able to get a lot of stamping done which is always fun, and I also was able to get pictures for the tutorial you all wanted. The tutorial will be posted tomorrow. I just have to finish typing it up!
I really had fun making today's card. The image is just a fun one and that makes putting the whole card together a real treat.




Don't you love it? She is from squigglefly and is just one of several they are planning for a Divine Bovine series. I colored her with copics and then just got fun with choosing ribbon, paper, and adding stickles for the soap bubbles. I thought the circles on the ribbon kind of looked like soap bubbles and it was blue which matched the towel on her head!
The words are computer generated, and I printed the word "Moood" in a larger, different font separately and popped it up. That font is called Cow Spots and you can download it free here. At the last minute I added some rain dots that I've had forever to the words panel. They are called SPLAT, and I thought it looked like she had splashed a little water out of her tub! LOL!

Yesterday Kerri asked what my favorite meal for company is. My favorite meal is a recipe my husband got from the internet and decided to try. It's called Tuscan Steak with Creamed Spinach and it's wonderful! It is my favorite because he cooks it! LOL! The video he follows to make this dish is here.

oh, I wanted to share this with you because it never fails to make me laugh.

Okay, I've got to run but be sure to come back tomorrow and check out the tutorial! Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

Sunday's Featured Stamper

I'm back! Today is Featured stamper on Splitcoast Stampers and when I saw this card in her gallery I had to CASE it!



I stamped the image on watercolor paper and then colored it with watercolor pencils. After coloring, I lightly ran an aqua brush over the color to blend. Then I ran an embossing marker around the frame and sprinkled some stamp 'n stick embossing powder over it. When you heat this embossing powder, it gets shiny and sticky. The stickly lets you apply flocking or glitter or in this case gold leaf flakes to it. After brushing off the excess gold leaf, I embossed the whole thing with the textile embossing folder.
Sponging the edges was the next step, and I may have gotten a little carried away embossing the card base because it's more black than purple! I really like the look of embossing over a colored image.
Anyway, it was fun to do. I haven't used my water color pencils in a long time. Gotta run!

It's A Good Thing You're Cute!

That is what this card almost said because my husband and I find ourselves saying that to our dog a lot! LOL! I have to say though that she hasn't ever torn up a pillow or couch cushion like this naughty puppy!



Isn't this a fun image? It's one of the latest ones added to squigglefly's ever growing image library. I colored the pillow and the dog with copic markers. The background was chalked. I drew the wall/floor line and then chalked pink stripes for the wallpaper. The fun part came when I glued down pieces of cotton to mimic the stuffing in the pillow!
I used a red card and printed the phrase in a Boopee font. Then I had to use the new cuttlebug borders embossing folders since I just picked mine up. Where I messed up was doing one on the side and one on the bottom, because where the overlap happened it flattened my previous embossing. Miss too smart for her own good thought she could "fix" that by running a stylus embosser on the backside and making the flat area pop back out. All I did was make it worse, so that's why the bow is stuck in the corner. It looks out of place and I plan on re-doing this whole card, but I didn't have time to before today's post so I'm stuck showing you this.

Hey, my good friend Rhonda is offering some divine PIF's on her blog, so you should go and check it out!

I need to go make a grocery list and get ready to do our weekly grocery shopping. If any of you are like me and hate planning meals, I have the solution for you! I used to feel like I was always cooking the same five or six things every single week. Then I found this blog and meal planning wasn't so hard. It's a blog that talks about home organization and there are always a ton of good ideas and tips on there, but my very favorite part is what she calls menu plan Monday. Every Monday she posts her menu for the week along with recipes, and other girls post their menus on their blogs and they are all linked there. It's great because if they try a new recipe they report back on how easy or hard it was to make and how well it went over with their families. Anyway, just thought I'd share that with ya'll!
Have a happy Sunday and thanks for looking!

We Are A Purrfect Pair

Happy Saturday! I suppose you know by the title of this post that there is bound to be a cat involved. Well, it's actually a pair of cats!



Aren't they sweet? This is a new image from Squigglefly that my daughter Ashley drew and it's available now for only $1.00. Plus they are giving a free paper download with every purchase between now and Valentine's Day. I think it's a great image for Valentine's Day, but it would be really sweet for an anniversary card. I colored the cats and then wanted to give them something to look at, so I created a sun set scene with chalks. I debated a while about using some designer paper on the card, but in the end I let the image be the focal point and just pierced in the corners and added some gold hearts in the top corners.
So, I'm curious about something; when you see this image which cat do you picture being the male? For some reason I colored the gray cat as male in my mind.
I don't have any major plans for the weekend, but I do plan on getting some stamping time in and working on that tutorial for ya'll. I hope you all have a fantastic Saturday! Thanks as always for taking time to visit me!

Sweets For My Sweet

I had so much fun making today's card. It was almost like being a kid and making my own valentines with doilys and glitter and paste.
I went through a bunch of images received in trades and pulled several out that will work for Valentine's Day and this House Mouse one just called out "color me!" so I did! I colored them with copics andchalked the background and then drew in a line for the wall/floor separation. I also used one of my new cuttlebug embossing folders on the card base. The red ribbon is some from Martha Stewart and I attached a white heart brad in the knot.



I punched a lacy border out of white cardstock and attached it to the inside of the card, and cut the front a little short so it will show.



How can you not smile when you see these cute little guys? I hope they made you smile and that the smile stays with you all day! Thanks for looking!

Look Ma, no copics!

Hey everyone! If you haven't been to squigglefly lately, you should go take a look! They've added some new images that are so great! I'm really excited about the Divine Bovine images they have!
You are all going to be surprised today to find out that I made a card and didn't use copic markers! That's right, I actually went back to an old favorite of mine; coloring with colored pencils and blending them with odorless mineral spririts. If any of you are new to this technique I suggest you take a look here. That is where I learned how to do it. It really did make a world of difference in my artwork.
Anyway, here's today's card.



The card is a square one and I stamped the flower image (sorry - it's another unmounted I don't know the company) and then colored with the pencils and added some stickles to the center of the flowers. The Birthday greeting is from Stampin Up's Sincere Salutations set. It's a really simple card, but I was in a hurry to make some birthday cards so I opted for simple!
What kind of cards are you all working on? I have been surprised at the number of Easter cards I'm seeing already! Whatever you're doing today, I hope you find some time to do something you enjoy.

Several of you said you'd like to see pictures of how I did the scallop on yesterday's card, so I will try to get that done for you over the weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

Little Birthday Bear

Yesterday Freida asked me about how I find the fonts I use when I print my own sentiments on cards. I don't have a particular favorite place to go to for fonts. I just google the type of font I'm looking for. For instance when I was making the Wanna Play card I knew that I wanted a child like font, so I typed in free download kids fonts and then just looked through the results until I found one I liked. Also, did you know that you can use fonts without actually installing them on your computer? If you open the font folder and the window pops up that shows you the entire alphabet in that font, you can then go to your word program and that font will show up in the list of fonts. You have to have the font folder open before you open word though or it won't work. I usually only install the fonts I use a lot.

I received a cute thank you card from a friend of mine the other day (thanks again Sherry!) that had a bite taken out of it with a scallop punch and then on the inside of the card a scallop circle was placed so that it showed through the "bite". On her card the "bite" was taken out of the top of the card and the fold of the card was on the left. Well, here I'll just show you...



Isn't it cute? I looked at it several times and thought it would be cool if I could take the bite out of the fold, but not go through both layers. After working it out in my head I figured out how to do it.
I didn't use a punch, I used my scallop circle nestabilities. I folded the card, re-opened it, and then positioned the die with the fold at the half way point in the circle. I positioned the card with the die in place on my cuttlebug plate, but I had the back part of the card hanging off the edge of the cutting plate so it wouldn't cut through that part. Clear as mud? If any of you are interested in seeing pictures of how I did this with my cuttlebug just let me know in the comments and I'll try to do that for you.
Anyway, here's the card I made.




and some other views to give you a better idea of how I did it.





The little bear is a stamp from Azadi Earls and is one of my oldest stamps. I colored him with copics. The background is all designer paper. The little circle Happy Birthday stamp is from Stampin Up's So Many Scallops stamp set. I added some yellow stickles to the birthday candle flames because who doesn't like a little glitter? :)
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by.

Bright Birthday

Hi everyone! Look what we got yesterday!



okay, I'd be lots more excited if it was snow. I know ice causes all kinds of problems, but it's just so pretty! I love being outside when the trees are covered in ice. It's like being in a blown glass fairy land. Here's one more of some red berries in a tree.



Really we were lucky because the ice didn't stick to the roads at all here. The temperatures have been in the 70's the past couple of days so the ground was just too warm. It's sure a crazy weather change though from 70 to 30 in a day!

Here's another birthday card I made. This one uses two Stampin Up stamp sets; Cheery Chat for the words and Simply Said for the flowers.



Rather a simple card, but I like the brightness of it. The flowers were colored with copic markers in colors I picked to go with the paper I used. I added stickles to the centers.
I lightly traced a portion of the letters in the greeting just to help bring them out some. Do you like the way that looks? I kind of do!
Before I go, I wanted to tell you about some fun Valentine blog candy being given away at Stamps, Paper, Scissors. Good luck to you if you enter!
Thanks for stopping by! :)