TMS #177: Merry Christmas to Ewe

Hi Friends! Well, it's exactly one week until Christmas, and I still haven't mailed my Christmas cards! I have got to get on the stick!!! At least all my shopping, wrapping, and decorating is finished. :) How are you doing with your holiday preparations?

It's time for another Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge, and this week's sketch is an easy one, so jump in with us for a chance at a prize from our fab sponsor, Bugaboo Digital Stamps. They generously provided images for the team this week, and I think you'll love all of the ones we chose.

Isn't this little guy adorable? Having been an obsessed knitter for many, many years, I still have a soft spot in my heart for all things wooly. I needed the image printed on white cs, since I wanted to color it with Copics, but I wanted a colored background, so I layered the image on top of a digital paper in my photo editing program (I use Paint Shop Pro X2). The edges of all the layers are sponged with Distress Ink. See those little glittery gems behind the sheep? Those are Clear Mini Round Gems from Michael's. After I glued them to the card, I covered them with red Stickles. I wasn't sure how well it would stick, but it ended up turning out great. Even up close you can't tell that they weren't manufactured like this.

I used my Snow Marker to give some texture to his fleece.

Check out his ears! The Snow Marker worked like a charm on them. They even feel a bit like fleece.

Sparkly Fluff was perfect for the trim on his hat.

The eyes have Glossy Accents on them.

The sentiment on the inside of the card is part of the image from Bugaboo, but instead of printing it directly onto cs, I used my trusty transparency sheet and made my own rub-on. The sentiment comes in black, but it's easy to change the color in Word to anything you want it to be. The little ornament and Christmas tree are stamps from the Hero Arts Holiday Sayings Christmas set.

See, this is a simple sketch that won't take you any time to whip into something fab. So, why don't you hop on over to the Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge blog, check out the rest of the DT's wonderful creations, then show us what you can do by linking up your own take on the sketch. 

If I get busy, maybe I'll be able to get my cards addressed today and have them in the mail tomorrow, so at least they'll get where they are supposed to go before Christmas Eve!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a Merry Week!

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Merry Christmas to Ewe (Bugaboo Digital Stamps); Holiday Sayings Christmas CL343 (Hero Arts)
Paper: Traveler (My Mind's Eye); Christmas Damask Paper Pack Digi (Print Candee)
Ink: Copic markers; Distress Ink; White Gel Pen
Dies: A2 Matting Basics A; Labels 4
Accessories: Mini Round Gems; Stickles; Sparkly Fluff (Our Craft Lounge); Glossy Accents; Snow Marker (Marvy)
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Our Craft Lounge--April Artist of the Month: Proud as a Peacock

Hi Friends! It's that time again...Week 4 as the Our Craft Lounge April Artist of the Month, and I had a blast making today's card.

My DD's 2nd grade year is coming to a close soon, and for the second year in a row she will be setting her school's record for Accelerated Reader points (she had 500 points at the end of 1st grade, and is on track to beat that by over 100 more points this year!), so I wanted to make her a card to tell her how proud we are of her, and nothing says "proud" like a beautiful peacock!

I used the April 2012 Viva la Verve Week 1 sketch for this card, and followed it almost exactly, except for adding some gold corner stickers and a bird flourish die cut layer.

I dry embossed the green rectangle layer, then used several colors of distress ink over the raised areas and finished it off by adding a little gold embossing powder here and there to give it an aged look, finally inserting turquoise eyelets in the corners.

I colored the beautiful peacock with my Copic markers, then used Stickles on the tail, a Pearl Pen on the beak, Enamel Accents for the eye, and Sparkly Fluff on the body and neck. I didn't "fluff" the head because I didn't want to lose the detail on the eye and beak. To get all the different colors of fluff, I applied it similarly to glitter, gluing down one color at a time, then tapping off the excess and letting it dry between each color. I'm telling you, I just LOVE Sparkly Fluff. So far, I've used it as "dirt," as part of flowers, and now as feathers. That's some really versatile "fluff stuff." :) I used a Pearl Pen to make the copper pearls around the edge of the circle die cut.

Scraps, from the front of the card, dress up the inside, and the sentiments and tail feather stamps came from the same Proud as a Peacock stamp set.

I'll be entering this card in the following challenges:

Viva la Verve April 2012 Week 1 Sketch Challenge

Whimsy Stamp Challenge 35: Punches or Die Cuts

Crafty Friends Challenge 2: Use 2 die cuts 

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back tomorrow with a new sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches, and next Monday will be my final week as Artist of the Month at Our Craft Lounge. Wow, this month has just flown by. Have a great day!

~Hugs!

 

Stamps: Proud as a Peacock (Our Craft Lounge)
Paper: Reflections (Prima); Lost & Found (My Mind's Eye); Shimmer Stack (DCWV)
Ink: Memento; Copics; Distress Ink
Dies: Standard Circles Sm, Bird Flourishes, Classic Scalloped Circles Lg (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Love is in the Air embossing folder (Cuttlebug); gold embossing powder; Morocco Lace Edge Punch (EK Success); Starform stickers; Sparkly Fluff; eyelets; Stickles; Pearl Pen; Enamel Accents; sewing thread
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Our Craft Lounge--April Artist of the Month: Your Kindness

Hello Friends! It's Week 3 of my Our Craft Lounge April Artist of the Month gig, and I have a thank you card to share with you today. I made this for my very thoughtful, long-time writer friend, Linda, who recently surprised me with a lovely gift book: Charles Dickens: The Dickens Bicentenary 1812-2012. It's not my birthday, and this wasn't for a special occasion. Linda just knows that Charles Dickens is probably my favorite writer of all time, and he led a fascinating, albeit not always admirable life, that makes for very interesting biography material for me.  :)

So, here's the card:

I embossed the lavender cs with a Polka Dot embossing folder, then sewed all but the upper brown dp and sentiment with my sewing machine. The bronze "pearls" were made using a Pearl Pen. I used Our Craft Lounge's Thankful Flourishes stamp set for the flowers and sentiment. 

The sketch came from Verve's Viva la Verve April 2012 Week 2 Sketch Challenge, which I rotated for a horizontal layout, and the gorgeous color palette was this week's Color Throwdown Challenge 187.

I colored both flowers with Copic markers, then on the small flower used Lemon Drop Yellow Sparkly Fluff in the center. For the larger flower, I first added yellow Liquid Pearls around the perimeter of the center, then, after it dried, I used Sparkly Fluff inside that. I love that you can still see the detail of the stamps through the Sparkly Fluff. After fussy cutting both flowers, I popped the small one up on a tag, and the larger one over the edge of the sentiment.

Here's a look at the inside. I really liked the design on the dp, so I stamped the Thankful sentiment directly on the dp, then added a small piece of white cs for a personal message. The corners of the white cs were punched with an EK Success punch. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. If you have a minute, could you visit the Our Craft Lounge blog and leave a little love on my post there, too? ;)

I hope you all have a super wonderful week! 

I will be entering this card in the following challenges:

Viva la Verve April 2012 Week 2 Sketch Challenge

Color Throwdown #187

Simon Says Stamp: April Showers Bring Spring Flowers

Big Hugs! 

 

Stamps: Thankful Flourishes (Our Craft Lounge)
Paper: Best of K&Co; Watercolor Bouquet (K&Co); Once Upon a Time (DCWV)
Ink: Memento; Distress Ink; Copics
Dies: Curved Rectangle, Classic Ovals Lg (Spellbinders); Classic Tags Template (Flourishes)
Accessories: Polka Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug); Morocco Lace Edger Punch (EK Success); ribbon; rhinestones; button; sewing thread; twine (The Twinery); foam dots; Sparkly Fluff (Our Craft Lounge); Liquid Pearls; Pearl Pen
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Our Craft Lounge--April Artist of the Month: Spring Up

Hello, Friends! I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend, filled with family, worship, good food, and relaxing fun! If you have a little one, I'm guessing that the Easter Bunny made a visit to your house, too. He certainly made his annual stop to our house, to the delight of my DD. She has always loved the Easter Bunny.  We might miss getting a Santa photo on occasion, but we always make a trip to see the Big Bunny! So fun!

I'm back for Week 2 as Our Craft Lounge's April Artist of the Month, and the card I want to share with you today is an Easter card, featuring the cutest little bunny. He's from the stamp set, Hoppin' Into Spring.

To make this card, I first stamped the bunny, then masked him off before stamping the garden at his feet. Don't you just love his little coat? He reminds me of Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit.

I used my Copics to color everything, then masked the bunny and garden, hand drew a couple of cloud masks, then used my Copic airbrush to color the sky and ground. When I colored the sky, I used the blunt end of my Copic for a smooth finish. For the ground, I used the brush end of the marker to get a stippled look. I used a gold Pearl Pen to add a button to the jacket, and gave the eggs some sparkle with Stickles. I used a Scoring Board to score lines close to the edges of the image layer. Thanks, Shannon, for that fantastic idea!

For the "dirt," I used Brown Sugar Sparkly Fluff, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite products. I love that it completely covers whatever it is on, and it has just enough glitter to liven up your image without overpowering it. Plus, it is SO soft. I just ordered most of the colors and can't wait to find fun ways to use them!

The purple embellishment on my twine bow is another clay embellishment that I made. I made the mold from a Tim Holtz button. I used white clay, painted it with acrylic paint, then brushed just a little Distress Ink Reinker over that. After it dried, I used my gold calligraphy pen to add a few highlights, then I coated it in a satin gloss finish. It is hot glued on top of the bow.

The sentiment on the inside of the card is from the same stamp set. I added the lines under "you" with a black marker. 

The Hoppin' Into Spring stamp set is great for an Easter card, but one of the things I love about it is that it is really versatile. It includes a spring sentiment about dirt, several gardening images, and an adorable image of the bunny upside down in a watering can. Plus, if you make the eggs white or brown, or even add tiny dimensional flowers over the eggs in the basket, the image I used today could be used anytime, not just for Easter.

Well, that's all for me today. If you're not already a follower of the Our Craft Lounge Blog, you should check it out. They have fun challenges and the Design Team is super talented. And, you can see all the wonderful stamp sets and Sparkly Fluff colors here.

I'll also be entering this card in the Little Darlings Challenge 20: Outside.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back tomorrow with a new Tuesday Morning Sketches card. Hope to see you then. 

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Hoppin' Into Spring (Our Craft Lounge)
Paper: Abrianna (K&Co)
Ink: Copics; Memento; Distress Ink
Dies: Big Scalloped Ovals Sm, Labels Thirteen (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Twine (The Twinery); Sparkly Fluff (Our Craft Lounge); Pearl Pen; Enamel Accents; Liquid Pearls; Stickles; handmade clay embellishment
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Our Craft Lounge--April Artist of the Month: Keepsake Box

Good Morning Friends! Today is a special day for me because it's my first day as the Our Craft Lounge Artist of the Month! I was so excited when I received Kendra's email inviting me to be their April AOM! I'll admit that I was a tad intimidated when I saw that I would be following Sankari Wegman, their March AOM, but I sure loved seeing all her fantastic creations every Monday. If you didn't see them, be sure to visit the OCL Blog and check out her posts from last month. I promise you'll be WOWED!

For my first project this month, I was going to make a card, but I noticed that my DD was amassing a collection of cards from family and friends, and she didn't have a place to keep the special ones. So, I decided to make her a little keepsake box, and I chose to use the beautiful Our Craft Lounge stamp set, You Make Me Happy. Coneflowers are one of my favorite wildflowers--especially the purple and orange variety.

This box started life as a sneaker shoe box.

I couldn't get the entire label off the inside of the hinged lid, but with all the tabs inside this box, holding it together, I decided to forego lining the inside. I covered the outside with a solid yellow paper and distressed all the edges with Tea Dye Distress Ink.

Then I used a sheet of dp from the Abrianna K&Co collection to cover the top and three sides of the lid. Aged Mahogany Distress Ink is sponged on all the edges of each piece of the dp.

After gluing the dp to the lid, I added a beautiful metallic braid to the edges with Scor-Tape. Using 1/8" Scor-Tape, I also attached yellow mini puff ball trim all around the top edges.

Here's a close up of the braid and puff ball trim:

I stamped the coneflower image three times to create a larger image, using Eclipse tape as a mask where necessary. I then colored it with Copic markers and added 24K Gold Sparkly Fluff to each flower center. 

If you haven't tried Sparkly Fluff yet, you should. It's a real treat to use. It adheres easily with glue, has a very soft texture, and is beautiful on an image. You can see it in the photo above on the flower centers.

My DD loves receiving cards for any occasion, and they always make her happy, so the sentiment in this stamp set was perfect for this project, as it will be used to store a bunch of happy memories. :) I stamped it in black in the upper left corner of the image panel.

After distressing the edges of the image panel with my Distrezz-It-All and sponging Tea Dye Distress Ink, I cut a Fancy Tags Two diecut in half lengthwise, sprayed each half with Perfect Pearls Mist, and sponged the edges with Distress Ink to give them a metallic look, then adhered them to each end of the image panel. I added a few black rhinestones for interest. Before adhering this panel to the box, I glued a paper baker's doily in the upper right corner of the box. Then, I tilted the image panel slightly and adhered it over that.

The blue corner flourishes deserve a post all on their own, but for now, I'll just briefly tell you that I made a mold of this from a Recollections embellishment, then made four corners out of white clay, painted them with blue acrylic paint, then wiped the excess off and colored the gold accents on with a caligraphy marker. I sprayed a light coat of clear acrylic on them to help keep the gold from getting scratched off.

I added a couple of glitter chipboard flourishes to the left side of the box and made a large six-loop bow to attach over them. I made the flower from two artificial flowers that resembled burgundy daisies. I didn't really like how they looked, and didn't care if I ruined them, so I tried a little experiment with my heat gun. I heated one of the flowers from the underside until the petals crinkled and it resembled a closed flower bud. Then, I glued that to the top of the other flower and heated that from underneath, too, until those petals encased the first flower. I added the leaves to the bottom, heating them just a little bit, to give them some texture. Then I used hot glue and attached the flower to the middle of the bow. I love how it turned out. It's way too big for a card, but for something like this, it's perfect!

Thanks for staying with me to the end of this post. I hope you enjoyed all the details on the box, and if you have any questions about how I made any of it, just shoot me an email and I'll be glad to answer them. 

And, thanks again, to Kendra and the girls at OCL for inviting me to join them for a few weeks. I'm looking forward to spending Monday's with Our Craft Lounge all this month, and I hope you'll plan to join us, too!

I'll also be entering this project in the following challenges:

Little Darlings Challenge 20: Outside

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

~Hugs, 

 

Stamps: You Make Me Happy (Our Craft Lounge)
Paper: Abrianna (K&Co)
Ink: Copic markers; Memento; Distress Ink
Dies: Fancy Tags Two (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Ribbon (Michaels); Metallic Braid, Mini Puff Ball Trim (Simplicity); artificial flowers & leaves; paper doily; shimmer chipboard flourishes (Making Memories); clay corner embellishment (original from Recollections); Sparkly Fluff; Perfect Pearls Mist; rhinestones; shoebox

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Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge #139: Hippity Hoppity

Hello Friends! With Easter coming up fast, I thought I'd use an Easter theme for my Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge #139 card. My Creative Classroom is sponsoring the challenge this week. They have on-line arts & crafts courses--and a few are even free!

Jessica George came up with a fun sketch for us this week! 

The stamp set I used is called "Hippity Hoppity," from Our Craft Lounge. Aren't they adorable. There's also a bunny in that set, as well as a few more sentiments. Here's a close up of the three images I used today:

I colored the frog with Copics, then added Stickles for a glittery egg, and Sparkly Fluff on his bunny ears. I'm not sure you can see it in this photo, but I used Glossy Accents on his eyes, too.

I colored the basket with Copics and added some glittery eggs with Stickles.

This little guy is colored with Copics, and I gave him a snazzy, sparkly shell with Stickles.

On the inside of  the card, I glued the strip of dp, that was left over from the front, across the middle of the inside of the card. The sentiment panel is a Curved Rectangle Nestie. I stamped the carrots in a tangerine Memento ink and colored them with Copics. I used a green Sharpie to draw the sprigs on top of them. Wild Honey Distress Ink is sponged along the edges (inside the die).

Be sure to head on over to the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog to see all the yummy goodness the rest of the DT has to share with you, then create your own interpretation of the sketch and link up for a chance to win! I can't wait to see what you create!

I'll be entering this card in the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday 209: Anything Goes

Do You Stack Up #64: Plaid

Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful BBB20: Beauty of Spring or Autumn

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday 162: Easter

Lily Pad: Stamps of Life Virginia's View photo inspiration

Lily Pad: Simon Says Stamp Flower Challenge

Moving Along with the Times Challenge 141: Easter Wishes

Our Craft Lounge 110: Spring Things

Simon Says Stamp: Bingo (Die cuts, lace, glitter)

Whimsy Stamps Challenge 31: Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, and have a fabulous week!

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Hippity Hoppity (Our Craft Lounge)
Paper: Mango Frost Stack (DCWV)
Ink: Copic Markers; Memento; Distress Ink
Dies: Labels Two, Nested Lacey Pennants, Curved Rectangles (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Lace (Joann); velvet ribbon (Fancy Pants Design); flower trim (Making Memories); flower brad; foam dots; Sparkly Fluff (Our Craft Lounge); Glossy Accents; Stickles; Corner Chomper.
Size: 6.5" x 4"

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FTTC157: Corner Bookmark

Hello Friends! Quick post here today. The challenge this week for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday is to create a corner bookmark--yet another project I've never made, but I can't imagine why not. It was easy, and fun.










My color palette is from the Color Throwdown #180 challenge. This is such a nice, soothing palette.





Here's my bookmark:

I used Beate's SCS video tutorial as a guide to making the bookmark. I sewed dp to the bookmark base before folding the edges down in the back, then added ribbon, Liquid Pearls, and Stickles.

I used a silhouette from Flourishes' Sweet Days of Summer stamp set for my image. I love that it's a girl reading, and the tree fit into the circle die cut perfectly. It's embossed with Chocolate embossing powder, then I sponged Distress Ink for the ground and sky, and used Flower Soft for the grass and flowers in the tree, and Sparkly Fluff for the ground under the tree.

The sentiment on the back of the bookmark is from the same stamp set as the silhouette.

My DD saw this and immediately called dibs on it. :) My entire family are readers, but, even at seven years old, my DD is the most avid reader, so she probably would have gotten this anyway, but I'm glad she liked it so much she requested it herself.

And, that'll do it for today. Thanks so much for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Sweet Days of Summer (Flourishes)
Paper: Just Chillin' (Making Memories)
Ink: Memento; Distress Ink, clear embossing ink
Dies: Std. Circles Lg, Classic Scalloped Circles Lg, Classic Ric Rac Edgebilities (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Scallop Dot border punch (Martha Stewart); Zing embossing powder; Offray ribbon; sewing thread; Sparkly Fluff; Stickles; Liquid Pearls; Flower Soft
Size: 4" 

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