Lilly Closeup

Sympathy Lillies

This card is for the Card Pattern's Sketch 16. There's a chance to win some digi images and also be a guest designer for a week. How fun is that?!?

I don't know about you, but I hate making sympathy cards. I like to have several sympathy cards on hand, all ready to send. If I have to make the card when I know someone specifically who has passed away, I think about that person and the family while I am making the card. Then I boo-hoo the whole time and end up messing up the card- my ink runs, I get smudges all over the card & then have to figure out how to cover up my tear ruined parts. I usually end up doing lots of distressing and sponging. So here is one more card for my sympathy arsenal.



The lily image is from The Digi Shack. It was colored with Copic markers. I really like how the leaves turned out with shades of green. The sentiment is from Crazy Mountain Stamps. I purchased a few sentiments that were red rubber, unmounted. I was having a hard time finding a smaller size sympathy and get well sentiment that I could use on the outside of cards; and finally found these on-line. I am very pleased with the quality.

I cut out the image and popped it up on SU! dimensionals and used the out of box technique. I don't often use Glorious Green except for Christmas and St. Patty's Day, but the Copic color (G17-forest green) of the leaves matched this SU shade. {I have a starter set of Copics which I received from DH as a Christmas present. I vowed that I would improve my skills before I bought more...I am still learning & I've only bought one more- a gray :)}

Anyway, I toned down the Glorious Green with Barely Banana and last year's SU! retired
in-color- River Rock. The black was added to give the card a little more definition. A little ribbon and brads and call it done!

Hope you are having a good day!
Recipe:
Image: Lilies-The Digi Shack, sentiment- Crazy Mountain Stamps
Paper: Glorious Green, Barely Banana, River Rock, WW, BB
Ink: Copic Markers (G17, YG03,Y13, YR04) , Basic Black
Accessories: Black Grossgrain ribbon (SU!), Green mini brads (Karen Foster)

Patriot Graduation

This card was made for my daughter who just graduated from High School. Her school colors are red, white and blue; and the mascot is this Patriot. Her school was built in 1976. I found this picture of the mascot on the school website and save it as a picture. Then I printed it several times and paper pieced to create layers. There are single, double and triple layers. No stamping on the outside & I don't even know the artist that created the Patriot. On the inside, I used my studio g grad stamps. It says- 'congrats, grad. We are proud of you.' The corners are ticket cut and in the botton right corner there is a punched out small star.

Glad Grad

Don't you just love long weekends?! I sure do for lots of reasons. First, I get a little more stamping time; second, I have a little more time to do the odd jobs that never seem to make it to the top of the list during a regular week {like cleaning drawers, closets}; and most of all, I get to spend more time with my family. This has been particularily enjoyable holiday weekend because my daughters haven't been too busy & have been hanging around the house more than usual. Pretty soon they will be busy with summer jobs and summer fun & I will see them as they 'fly in & out'.

The above card was a simple one that I created yesterday evening for our niece who just graduated from college. Her school colors are red and white. I also participated in the Featured Challenge on Splitcoaststampers (SCS) where Mercy Kerin was FS #120. I chose her Mother's Day card to CASE. I kept the layout and the ribbon. I changed the large button to a brad; changed the colors and dsp; changed the image. I eliminated the paper piercing.

Just this month I purchased more nestabilities from Cut at Home. If you join their VIP list {free}, you recieve a coupon each month for 40% one item. They sell all types of card making supplies including nestabilities which come in sets of four or in singles. I purchased a set of 4 nesties-standard circles large and small & the scalloped circles large and small; a total of 28 dies. I don't usually 'promote' websites & I am not recieving any compensation; I just wanted to let you in on a good deal if you haven't already found this. One last thing- you won't get inundated with emails- max two per month.

To my U.S. friends, have a great Memorial Day!

Recipe:
Stamps: Grad cap- studio g
Paper: Real red, WW, DSP- Real red from Print packs (SU!)
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Colluzle, Nestabilities, sponge daubers, big white brad- Hiedi Swapp, ribbon- michaels

Froggie & Bow-Easy

Another wonderful inspirational challenge is on Splitcoaststampers today. Challenge 181 is to use the purses from the website LittleOddForest as inspiration for a card. I chose this purse; and here is a look at some buttons with the little froggies.

The stamp and epoxy accents are from Colorbok which were purchased at Michaels. I loved the images in the set but can't say I am too impressed with the clear stamps stamping ability. The stamp did not pick up the ink evenly; thus the image was stamped 3 times before a solid image was produced. Trying craft ink did not result in improvement. Roughing up the stamp by using an pencil eraser to increase the porousness of the acrylic did not make a difference either. But the images are so trendy fun. {and I love that!}

On the plus side, the acrylic stamp was easy to place for multiple imaging. The stamp set was fairly inexpensive especially with a 40% off coupon. Another cool thing that I discovered by serendipity was to use the acrylic stamp as a mask. After the frog was stamped, I decided to use the spritzer tool to add some orange to the background. I simply laid down the acrylic stamp and spritzed away. Wow- that is a lot easier than stamping and cutting. All in all, I'm glad I bought the set, but now I'll be more selective in its use.

I used my brand new Bow-easy for the first time. There is a good Bow-easy video on YouTube. There are several stamping online companies selling the bow-easy but I opted to buy direct from the maker on e-Bay & I received free, super fast shipping.

Recipe:
Stamp: Friendly Frrest (Colorbok)
Paper: Tangerine Tango, Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise, WW, DSP- Frosty Days (08-09 holiday mini)
Ink: Green Galore, Only orange
Accessories: White uniball pen, Friendly Forest epoxy accent, Tempting Turquoise ribbon
Technique: Paper piercing using Tim Holtz's Retractable Craft Pick (tonic) {more on that product another day;)}

Chillin'

Here's my take on today's Splitcoaststamper's sketch challenge. And a sneak peek of The Digi Shack's weekly challenge which will be posted tomorrow (Thursday). {Hint: it's a color challenge} http://thedigishack.wordpress.com/

This Chillin' image is great for guy cards, don't you think? This card will be for DH {dear husband} for Father's Day. When our kids were little we spent a lot of time at the neighborhood pool where for several years in a row he volunteered hundreds of hours as board president. He worked really hard so that the pool would remain financially solvent and open. It's still open today giving joy to families and especially the kids.

The card is fairly plain- I like to make my guy cards without a lot of fuss. That is why I really liked this sketch because it is more than simple and adds a lot of dimension without a lot of embellishments.

I used SU! retired DSP called Prestwick. That DSP is the best for guy cards- greens, blues and grays. There are some equally great ones in the current catty like Manchester and Jackpot. And before you know it the new SU! catty will be coming out (July 1). I just love all the new trends in this hobby!

The big black brad was purchased at the CK convention in STL from Eyelet outlet {also avaliable on line}. One last little thing which is difficult to see in the pic is the glaze on shades, drink, and waves. In real life, it looks pretty cool!

Have a great Thursday!

Altered Notebook

I love notebooks~it probably has to do with my desire for organization. This one is altered with the flower bunch image from The Digi Shack. The notebook background of pink and green squares is part of the original notebook cover; I replaced the center image with the flower bunch. One of the hot trends in scrapbooking is stitching so I opted to try it on this pretty image. One of my former hobbies was embroidery and cross-stitch so this technique was like an old friend. I still enjoy the needlework but have found a new passion. {wink} The stems were created using a stitch called backstitch. It is really quite easy.

Here are pictures- the original notebook & backstitch . There are some nice instructions on this blog. After stitching, I colored my image and then masked it prior to using the spritzer tool for the background.
Recipe:
Image: Flower Bunch- The Digi Shack
Paper: Regal rose, Rose Red, Certainly Celery, WW
Ink: Regal Rose, Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Embroidery floss and needle, Spritzer tool, Blending pen, Ribbon, Notebook ($1 bin)


Thanks for looking! Have a great day!!

P.S. There is a great sale going on over at the Digi Shack- through the 22nd. It’s 25% off of your $10 or more purchase. The code for the discount coupon is 82994712.

TDSC05 Lani arrives

Here's my take on The Digi Shack's challenge this week. Mandy gave us an awesome sketch; you can see it on The Digi Shack website. I chose Lani this week- she a beauty don't you think? I love her pretty little face.

I rarely make square cards, but it just seemed to fit this week's sketch. I colored Lani with markers this week for the Splitcoast color challenge (CC218- only orange, summer sun, old olive). The paper is from the new Basic Grey series called offbeat. I just love this pad- it has some fun and funky designs including some little birds. The orange rick rack was obtained from the sewing section at my local craft store (LCS). I actually purchased it to use with some SU! DSP which is on the list of 'things I want to make'. Is your list as long as mine?!!
I have had the flowers and the little acrylic brads (called 'scrapbook nails') in my stash for quite some time. The last little thing I did was to paper pierce in a semi-circle in the upper left corner. I used my coluzzle as a arc pattern and free-lanced the spacing between paper piercings.

postscript: image updated 5.19.09 with daylight shot
Recipe:
Image: Digi Shack - Lani
Paper: Old olive, summer sun, ww (all SU!), DSP- offbeat (basic grey)
Ink: markers- old olive, summer sun, only orange, cameo coral, creamy caramel
Embellishments- orange rick rack (Wright), flowers (stash), 'scrapbook nails'- Scrapbook interiors (old- from stash), colluzle circles

Bridal Shower Invite

I wish you could see this in real life! The designer paper is so shimmery. It is from the K-i Memories' Pop Culture series and entitled Leap Frog. I chose it for my niece's bridal shower invite because it reminds me of her. My niece has her own style- a lot glitzy, with bohemian and more retro. Needless to say- she is a living doll both inside and out; and she pulls off her uniqueness with grace and style! So if the invite seems non-traditional-you understand why that was entirely intentional.

She and her soon-to-be husband chose two shades of green for their wedding colors. His birthstone -emerald and hers- peridot. At first the invite did not even have the punched umbrella but I added it at the last minute so it would look a little like a bridal shower invite.

I also wanted something flat for mailing and something not too complicated to assemble as there were 35 invites to be sent. My hope is that it is not too simple and it is pleasing to my lovely niece!

Recipe:
Stamps: Sincere Salutations
Paper: Old Olive, YoYo Yellow, WW, DP- Leapfrog from the Pop Culture Series (Ki Memories)
Ink: Old olive
Accessories: Umbrella punch (MS)

The Digi Shack Color Challenge

Hi everyone! It has been a very busy week here at my house. Lots of end of year activities for the 'kids', then birthdays and upcoming Mother's Day. How wonderful it is to have so many fabulous busy things to fill my life and such a great family to enjoy those blessings!

Here is my take on the color challenge for The Digi Shack. We were challenged by fellow design team member Mandy to make a card with Chocolate Chip, Not Quite Navy, Kraft and Vanilla (or White). Here is my take; I kept it quite simple since I have quite a few more cards to make tonight.

I used the image of 'Ruff Day'. I colored the dog image using my Burnt Sienna Copic marker; the grass and sky were created with SU! markers and classic ink (bordering blue and old olive). The Chocolate Chip ribbon looks great with this not quite navy, chocolate chip and kraft cardstock, don't you think?

Hope you can join the fun. There are some fun contests and some NEW images. There's a brand new line of images just released (with MANY more to come) by a super talented artist named Lindsay Dyer. Wait to you see Lani the new Wahine. I'll be making some cards this weekend with her image so check back later.

Gotta' run! Catch up with y'all later!

Recipe:

Image: Ruff Day- The Digi SHack

Paper: Not quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Vanilla (SU)

Ink: Burnt Sienna (Copic), Bordering Blue, OLd Olive (SU)

Accessories: Choc Chip ribbon (SU) vintage brads (SU)