A-7 Notecards for Christmas Gifts

Hi everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your preparations for the Christmas season. I am feeling like there isn't enough time in the day to get everything done!

These note cards are kind of like the ones I made in September except these ones are bigger with more space to write on them. A friend of mine asked if I would make a few sets for her to give as gifts to her friends. The outside of the envelopes have a small strip of coordinating paper for each card. I love how these cards and envelopes turned out. I packed each set in clear boxes to show off their beauty!

These sets use cardstock from Stampin Up and the Autumn Vine designer series paper in the holiday mini catalog. They are gorgeous papers that coordinate with the earth elements colors. They are very nice for people who appreciate fall colors.

The stamps are from Justrite. The fonts I used are: Curlz, and Special Occasions.

I probably won't be posting until after the new year so, I will wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. Remember to give thanks for all of the blessings you have received this year and pray to be a blessing to others next year. See you all in 2009!

Large Dry-Erase Frame

I had the idea to make one of these for my kitchen. I'm always writing notes and have a million post it notes stuck around the kitchen reminding me to do this or that. I think this will cure my paper clutter!

I used a 20x9 shadow box frame from Michaels.
I knew I wanted to use a picture of my girls somewhere in the frame so I cut their picture out with my Wizard machine. I used the curved rectangles for the picture and the mat, then I used the mystic font and the flower creations set. I also used the Quickutz-Flourish for the added swirls.

The backside of the picture, "today" and "this week" have slices of pipe insulation cut to hold these mats in place. I glued them to the back of each. The frame comes with some black velcro to hold your items in the shadow box. I cut thin slices of the velcro and attached the sticky side to the pipe insulation so it would hold onto the back of the shadow box. (It is a fuzzy fabric that velcro will stick to.) I wanted to try to achieve some depth in the frame, that's why I chose the shadow box.

This paper is by Luxe and it's called "color me happy". Of course I used my COPICS to add all this color! I used BG32, BG13, BG10, B24, B34, B32, C3.

The other paper is Fance Pants Designs-Spelling.
I attached this paper with double stick tape in small amounts to the black fuzzy fabric.

This is the left side and the right side in an up-close shot to see the detail.

Below you see the whole thing. And the last picture shows that I added some Black Rhinestones from Kaiser Scrapbook. Oops! I noticed a scratch that I need to take care of with some black marker or paint!!

The other embellishments that I used were:

Stickles: Turquoise and Eucalyptus

Robins Nes: Water drops

I also used a different way to upload my pictures, it was quicker on the upload time which was very nice. How do they look when you view them on-line? Please let me know if it turned out well, or if I should go back to the old way. These were saved for web which takes a lot less megabytes, but maybe the quality of the picture suffered??

p.s. I did put some of those blue flat glass stones in the bottom of the frame..

Stampin Up - Create A Calendar '09 Kit

I was curious about the SU 2009 calendar so I decided to buy one and check it out. It is a good idea for gifts because you can customize them for the recipient. I used different SU stamps new and retired and other stamps to embellish the pages. Some images I colored with COPIC markers and some images I used SU markers to ink the images.

The package comes with tabs for each month which comes in handy to pull out just that month from the group.

You can also add patterned paper to the sides of the pages to add some color. The kit comes with a strip of chocolate chip ribbon, but I chose to use a thinner ribbon instead.

Desktop Dry-Erase Frame

This is a small note board that I wanted to make for my office. This frame was purchased at Target and I liked it because it spins around so I could have a double side of notes. I used Melissa Frances-Cecilia paper with Stampin Up cardstock. I decided to try the large "To Do" stamp by Stampin Up but had to only stamp a portion of it because of the size of the frame. Oh by the way, the frame is 6 x 4 inches. The flower image is also by SU and colored with my beloved COPIC markers. I have more of these markers on my Christmas wish list! I bought a package of dry-erase markers by "The Board Dudes" at Target also. They are fine tip, have an eraser and also have a magnet on the side. Be sure to store them horizontally. The above picture shows the front side and the backside of the paper I used but I didn't take a picture of the backside of the frame when I put the cardstock into the frame.

One thing I found out was that since there is only a small amount of space between these pieces of glass, you only have so much room for layered cardstock and paper! So be aware that you cannot mat everything! You can also embellish on the outside of the frame by using your Xyron machine to make your own stickers, but I preferred not to do that...that would mean I would have to clean it really well and take all the sticky stuff off! I may want to change the inside sometime without all that extra work!

Thanks for checking in today! Happy Thanksgiving little early!

Magnetic Dominoe Card

Dominoes are rather thick when it comes to attaching them to cards and sending off in the mail. You would definitely have to put the card into a padded envelope to get it to it's destination. I found some Alpha Tiles by Lara’s Crafts at Michaels. They are about the same size as dominoes, but considerable thinner. These tiles have the alphabet stamped on them (one letter per tile) and they are made of thin wood with a round magnet inserted in the center of the wood on the back side.
Since I’ve never tried using dominoes on a project before, I had to experiment quite a bit. These wood tiles had to be sanded some to take off some of the letter, then painted with white acrylic paint. After it dried it had to be sanded and painted a few more times to hide the painted on letter.
Next I stamped my images with Versamark ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I let it cool down and sponged Stampin Up classic Elegant Eggplant ink over the top. I let it dry a little (it was still able to be rubbed off) and then I put the Versamark ink pad over the whole thing and sprinkled clear embossing powder over it all and heat set it. This process did make my Versamark pad tinted and a little dirty, but I used a papertowel to clean off most of the ink that was left on it. After it cooled, I repeated this process two more times and it had a shiny finish when I was done. I edged the tile with a gold paint pen and let it dry.
The background was made with Adirondak alcohol inks. Then I used Stampin Up’s Harlequin background stamp with Cotton White Staz-On ink on a transparency and attached these two with black brads with a gold dot on top. The flowers are Essentials 4 –Angelique multi with black brads in the middle. Gold dots on the EE cardstock were added at the end.
I attached the magnetic “domino” with two slightly sticky dots so the recipient could take it off the card and use it on the refrigerator!

Book Club Christmas Party Invitations

Our book club is having our annual Christmas party next month. We have a Saturday book club group and a Tuesday group and we all get together once a year and celebrate! We have lunch and talk about our favorite books from this past year. Each group reads different books so this is the time to find out which ones we want to read and which ones to leave on the shelf!

The strip of paper on the side is from Stampin Up along with the certainly celery mat and the real red card base. The "you're invited" sentiment is from Justrite Stamps and the snowflake is punched out of real red cardstock with a Martha Stewart punch. Then I put the snowflake through the xyron machine, dusted it with fine art glitter and glued it down. It has a very pretty effect!

Hope your week is going well! Thanks for checking in.

Spirelli Card

You can learn many new things when you go to "stamp club"! Last week we learned Spirelli and Pergamano. I have to try Pergamano again and I can't show you a picture today because when I tried to mount it on a piece of cardstock, the glue was visible!! This is my first time doing "Spirelli". It was a lot of fun, but I definitely had to pay attention to what I was doing! It's very hard to see that the bottom golden petals have been wrapped with a green floss and the top rust colored petals have been wrapped with a creamy yellow thread. The center of the sunflower is a circle punch with white dots and "sequin" colored Stickles. The stem and leaves were stamped using Memento ink. You can use the new pinking dies from Spellbinders to do spirelli also!

Golden Anniversary Card

My friend Judy and her husband are celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary! I used Stampin Up designer paper, gold cardstock, whisper white and the Best Blossoms set. The oval at the bottom is from Justrite Stampers. I believe the ribbon is from Martha Stewart. I also used my Spellbinders Wizard to cut the oval and scallop and embossed the band with a cuttlebug folder.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Turquoise and White

These cards utilized stamps and DP from Stampin Up. I can’t remember where I got the rub-ons! (I need to be a better note taker!) I placed the rub-ons first onto the turquoise cardstock and then designed the cards from there. I think I used 5 different Stampin Up Sets/Wheel to create these gems. I also placed some turquoise Stickles in various places on the cards. Hope you enjoy them!

Kind Thoughts

A beautiful bird by Stampabilities embossed with a "grainy" turquoise embossing powder is the highlight of this card. The swirls in a darker green are by Spellbinders and the sentiment, ribbon and flower dp is by Stampin Up. The ribbon was white, then I colored it with a so saffron marker. The script is also by Stampabilities. Sometimes the pictures don't come out with a real good reflection of the color. I've used my Photoshop Elements to try and tweek the color a little. It does look good in person!

Birthday Cake Card

Today's post is a birthday cake image from Stampin Up! It is colored with copic markers. I think this is one of the first things I had colored when I got into using my beloved "copics" earlier in the year! Of course, you'll also see I've used the nestabilities scalloped rectangle. The scalloped edging reminds me of frosting...yes I'm still on "frosting" from the Halloween post...and I'm still off of sugar!

The ribbon and gem-brad is also from Stampin Up. And I added Stickles to the candles.

Creepy Cake Anyone?

This cute cake was made by my daughter that lives in Colorado. She loves to make and decorate cakes and cupcakes. Isn't the spider adorable! I just want to stick my finger into the frosting and enjoy it! (Although I'm off sugar now..for 31 days) She even made the layers of the cake different colors! If you're interested in making a spooky cake for today, I think this spooky cake idea was from the Wilton Website.

And this wonderful Halloween card was made by my friend, Joy. I love it! Please be sure to notice the arm bone in his happy mouth! The inside of the card says, "Bad Dog!!" Have a Happy Halloween!

Jan's Two Button Card to Me

Frankie is so cute! Just in case you missed the buttons, they are at the edges of his mouth! Everyone who has seen this card loves him! He's not so scary after all!

I have one more card to receive from Jan for our six week swap. It's been fun to receive someone elses artwork and get to know them. Thanks Jan for all the wonderful cards!

Pink Monochromatic Card

I thought you would like to see this pink monochromatic card. It's....well....rather...PINK. When I look at it I think.. PINK...yes it's supposed to be pink. Yikes!! I guess I never really did a totally pink card before...or monochromatic. I think this is something I need to practice with to really get the hang of it. I know in interior design, a good monochromatic design is hard to achieve and in card making I think that is true also. Experimentation is the best way to try and figure it all out! Anyway, this is the month for PINK and a reminder for monthly self-exams ladies!

I Never Won Anything Before...

Well I can now say I have won something! This wonderful set from Justrite is my prize for linking Croppinsville to my blog. They have an awesome store and blog and soon you will be able to order fabulous items from them as well as view their blog. Allie has some really neat kits that will be for sale in their on-line blog. I'll be sure to let you know when that is all set up for you to check out!

Thanks Croppinsville!

COPIC AIR-BRUSHING & CARD SWAP #6

This card is from a Basic Grey punch out card stock. The hole and the tab were already on the card. I added some charcoal chalk ink around the edges on the front and inside. The big thing is that the interior white cardstock was airbrushed with my COPIC markers and I created a frame around it by using a corner of cardstock and spraying over it. There are three different blue greens on this background: BG10, BG13, BG32.


On the tab I took a piece of cardstock that was punched and placed some repositionable adhesive on the backside and stuck it down to a white piece of Cougar White cardstock. I sprayed the BG32 over the top of this punch. When I took it off, it left a white crisp image underneath. I LOVE what you can do with the COPIC AIRBRUSH SYSTEM! I think purchasing a compressor will add a lot of value to my card making skills…Don’t you think so too!!??

Card Swap Week #5-Buttons

These buttons are wooden leaves and were colored with Stampin Up's groovy guava classic ink, then the veins were defined with a brown thin-line marker. The stamp set is also from Stampin Up. As the card progressed it turned out to be a mono-chromatic card. I placed it in a dark brown envelope and addressed it with a sharpie white poster paint pen. I love this pen! Thanks for checking in!

COPIC Marker Certification!

Yep! I completed the COPIC Certification course last week in Kansas City! It was so much fun and you learn a lot! Marianne Walker is a great artist and teacher. She went into full detail about the COPIC markers and taught us about blending and so many other things that I'll really have to refer back to my notes on a regular basis!

I met a few gals from Denver (Anne) and Omaha (Terri and Anita). I think they were almost as excited as me to learn all these techniques. We all just wanted to absorb as much information as possible. Sharon Harnist and Lori Craig were also at the training class. They are a wealth of knowledge and are very helpful. Please see the links to their blog sites over in the right hand column of my blog.

The marketing company provided a fabulous lunch and we were all very thankful for the lunch and also for their planning of this educational event.

It's great to be associated with so many very nice and talented people!

This imaged was stamped on Neenah Classic Crest cardstock with Memento ink. You can see how I blended a lighter blue COPIC with a lighter pink COPIC in the middle of the chair and also on the arm rests that go down in the the legs. This blending technique is what I worked on in class, after practicing on other paper to try and get it right!

Thanks for checking out my artistic endeavors!

Happy Halloween!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
This ghoulish card has taken a while to create! There had to be a lot of drying time for the stickles that were used. There was a lot of coloring with Copics. I didn’t just make one card I had to make 8! You know my rule, if you’re making one, you may as well make 8.
The houses were stamped first and I also created a mask. Then the clouds were put into the scene along with the orange stickles in all of the windows. Drying time of course! Frankie, Count and Witchie were all stamped previously and colored during a few nights of watching TV. After the stickles were dry, then I stamped the swirls behind Witchie's broom with Versamark ink and sprinkled it with Sparkle N Sprinkle-Tequila Sunrise embossing powder and glitter. It is very difficult to make color and sparkle to show up on black cardstock. Next I attached Witchie with pop dots from Stampin Up. I drew in the sidewalk lines to the houses and then placed Count and Frankie on top of the foreground with pop dots too.
The moon was stamped with white pigment ink and embossed with white pigment powder and had some stickles added to his eye.
The sprigs of grass were added by hand using a WHITE Sharpie poster-paint pen. Now you CANNOT use COPICS to color over this poster paint because the paint will clog the pores of your pen. After the poster paint was dried, I used a Stampin Up marker in Garden Green to go over the top of the white pen. It did make the grass look green instead of white. Hopefully the picture will show green grass.
**NOTE**: After reviewing these pictures on-line I am not really happy how the colors look. If you review the Copic marker color list, you'll get a better idea on how the colors really pop out. Maybe the color isn't true because it's cloudy outside...certainly it couldn't be the photographer!

Details:
Stamps: Stampin Up
Cardstock: Stampin Up, Cougar White
Ink: Stampin Up White Craft Ink
Accents: Stickles in Orange Peel and Lime Green
Copic Markers: V15, Y17, BV08,W3, C1, C3, E00, E55, E35, E31, BV00, 110-black, YG03

Jan's Gemstone Card To Me

This is the card Jan made for our gemstone swap. Don't you just love her little owl??!! It is so cute. In case the picture didn't get the sparkle, the stones are on the band paper behind the tree! Lovely card! Thanks Jan!

Fall Card Swap Week 4

This card was an experiment also. I used SU rub-ons in white, then stamped dots with versamark ink and brushed them with Jacquard pearlescent powders. I attached gemstones on the flowers and then attached the embossed bird with pop dots.

Jan's Chalk Card

Hi everyone! This beauty is Jan's swap card done in chalk. She is the one that gave me the idea to put glaze over the chalked area.

Her example came out much better than mine. Her colors are brighter and clearer and that may be due to the type of dimensional glaze that she used.

Her pink and browns are lovely together. Great card Jan!

Thanks for sending it!

A Quick Airbrush Experiment

I finally had a small amount of time to practice with my COPIC airbrush system. I used a yellow and a red violet color and a piece of cardstock with a circle cut out of the center. I airbrushed the color through the hole in the cardstock, stamped it with a Stampin Up stamp and then cut it out with the Nestabilities dies.

I love the subtle circle in the background. It could be the sun, or the moon! I can see that this is going to be a lot of fun. So I'll be buying more air! HA...buying air...oh brother...IT IS A NECESSITY to make pretty things though!

Fall Card Swap Week 3

Well, here it is! A card made from using chalks as the coloring agent. This has been a good lesson in patience. It takes a lot longer to color in an image when using chalks. I've had them along time and now I remember why I don't use them!

On an extra piece I had here, I decided to put glaze over parts of this colored design. It darkened the colors a little, but it also changed the colors and warped the cardstock. You know there may be times that you WANT to have a really soft look; but I think I'd just use copic markers that are higher and lighter on the value scale.

COPIC Markers vs. Chalks

This is a study in Copic markers and chalk tablets. My next swap card has to be done in chalk. As you will see from the pictures, it's really difficult to lay down a lot of color with chalk tablets. It gives a very soft feel and is light in color. You will see a card sometime soon made from one of these 6 fall images.

The COPIC markers give you ALOT of VIBRANT colors. The colors I used were: YR00, YR65, Y21, Y12, G21, G28, G24, R08, RV11, RV14, E37 and E33

These lighter colored images are done in chalk. The chalk is very messy because you always have chalk dust that you have to blow off of your cardstock. You also need to be very careful because chalk smears and smudges! It really needs to be set with a fixitive or sometimes hairspray works.

I LOVE my COPIC markers and I'm going to stick with them! I also got the airbrush system on Sunday for my birthday so very soon I'll be experimenting with that! Thanks for looking at this study! Have a great day!