365 Cards Day 148: Thankful Penelope

OMG... I know! Another post... the mind reels. But like I said earlier, I've been a slacker & I'm trying to make up a little :)

This is for 365 Cards' Day 148: Super Sketchy Sunday! The moment I saw this sketch I wanted to use it... it looked so fun! Then, once I actually started, it was really difficult :) I am happy to report, that I actually like how this one turned out!

I'll wait for you to pick yourself up off the floor... I know it was a shocker...

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Hi! Now for the deets on this bad boy:

Stamps: Sweet Goodies, Thinking of You (new Hostess Level C!)

Paper: Penelope SWIC, basic olive cardstock, & Mulberry Meadow cardstock (retired)

Ink: Burnt Umber Palette

Other: circle punches, uber-cool orange trim from JoAnn's (frugal find!), foam tape, Coluzzle circle cutting system


The striped circle is actually one of the die-cut tags from the Penelope collection... I hid the tag hole under the olive circle... genius me thinks :) And the little paisleys? They are the cut-off strips from the Penelope sheets... yep, just one more scrap of paper to save from the trash can :)

What do you think?!

365 Cards: Day 150... Great Pear

This little card is for 365 Cards' Day 150: "Today's challenge is called an "Eye" for an "I" because I want you to substitute one word that sounds like another, but has a different meaning - and use it in your sentiment. I believe they call this a homophone." Homophone... huh... wha? Yeah, that's what I said {or is that "what eye said"?} :)

I'm totally slackin' on my challenges! I need an extra 6 hours in a day :)

This is another card I'm not sure about... I'm totally diggin' the pattern paper & the stamps, but I think I shoulda left those little bronze flower gems off. Anyway, here are the deets:

Stamps: Floral Fruits (new Hostess Level B set!)
Paper: Amelia SWIC & Cardstock, Premium white cardstock
Ink: Burnt Umber Palette
Other: Tombow markers, Scor-bug, MM gems

What do you think?!

Brown Wrapped Christmas

I'm sure by now, O-loyal-readers-o-mine, you have figured out that I am {a total cheap a$$} uh oops, I mean, Fabulously Frugal! :) Yes, I am coupon user {when I remember the darn things} and I love to find a bargain! Well, lately I've been getting brown packing paper in-lieu-of peanuts in my order boxes from TAC... yeay! We all are trying to do our part for mother Earth, and those peanuts aren't it :)

Anyway, this packing paper is like a heavy duty grocery sack... a beautiful kraft brown where you can still see the individual fibers. I was lucky last time and got a sheet that wasn't too bent up or wrinkled so I can use to cover card bases in the future. For this card though, I picked up a wrinkly section and went to town sponging the edges.

I can't remember where I found this huge clear button, but I covered the back with Crystal Lacquer & glued it to a piece of burgundy cardstock. I waited until it was almost dry, peeled it off & added more Lacquer & a piece of brown cardstock, waited until dry & trimmed off the excess.

Stamps: Holly Jolly (new PWP stamp!), Fresh Air Favorites (retired)

Paper: Amelia SWIC & Cardstock, recycled kraft packing paper

Ink: Burnt Umber, Bordeaux, Chartreuse, & Jardin Moss Palettes

Other: misc. ribbon, jute trim & button

BTW... the cool jute rick-rack trim? It's from that bag of awesomely cheap ribbon from Hobby Lobby that I told you about HERE!

What do you think?!

Two-fer Tuesday...

Tonight I've got a cute little tag & another last-summer catalogue card submission to show you!

First up, a Just Because Genevieve card:) I was so sad when we were told that this paper line was discontinued... it is SO pretty... I have been hoarding every little scrap of it.

I'm not overly thrilled with this card, but it does show off that yummy paper :)

Stamps: Tag Tidbits, All Occasion Circles, Floral Dingbats (retired)

Paper: Amberley Grace Cardstock, Genevieve (retired)

Ink: Violete & Landscape Palettes (I think!)
Other: Willoughby Ribbon, Extra Jumbo & Super Jumbo Flower Punches, circle punches, foam tape

Next up, this cute little tag! Actually, it's a pretty big tag... it started as a card, but ended up a tag... who knew :)

The background is another that I had demo'd at one of my Hostess classes. It uses a brayer, Kaleidacolor pad, water mister & Oxi-clean granules. Salt creates a similar effect, so you could use it in a pinch... get it... pinch of salt... I know, "what a goober".

Stamps: Skinny Birds, Great Greetings

Paper: Glossy & White UltraSmooth cardstocks, Mulberry Meadow cardstock (retired)

Ink: Noir Palette, Autumn Leaves Kaleidacolor Pad

Other: Stardust clear glitter gel pen, Grey Tombow marker, In Bloom & Elizabeth Blossoms & Buttons, Prismacolors w/ mineral oil, misc. rick-rac, Yellow Scrapper's Floss

What do you think?

365 Cards - Day 149 - Try a Technique Tuesday!!

Greetings all, & welcome :) I'm totally psyched to have been chosen as a guest designer for today over at 365 Cards!! This entire week is Reader Appreciation Week, so be sure to join in the fun for prize opportunities and to gawk at all of the wonderful cards the Design Team & Guest Designers have created :)

What is the technique today? SPONGING! Those that know me or my work will be the first to tell you that this is a technique that I use on probably 90% of my cards... and 100% on my Halloween cards :)

Sponging tends to create depth, and REALLY finishes off certain images wonderfully. The entire background of this Halloween Flourish Tree card was created with sponging. Yep, I started with a completely white cardstock panel for this baby :) I also used regular hydra sponges, as well as manicurist pads... the sponge creates a stippled texture, while the pad creates much softer blending.

I created a reverse-mask for the moon first. Start with the lightest yellow, and keep layering color toward the center... then add darker yellows & cognac colors at the outside edge to create a rounded look to the moon.

I then stamped the weedy image along the bottom & the tree. The tree is heat-embossed to give a bit of sheen and nice raised quality. Place a piece of paper to create a horizon line and start blending green & black inks for the ground and blues & purples for the sky. I went back with darker shades of blue & purple ink and created thin lines of clouds to add an eerie touch.

Then I stamped the sentiments & bats** in black, sponged black ink around the edges, distressed them, and matted the panels. Next up, used the Scor-bug for a little texture, swiped a white ink pad around the card base edges, and topped it all off with some sheer grungy-olive ribbon.

**The bats are actually one of the butterflies from the Love & Laughter tree image... I just snipped it apart from the main image... oh how I love cling-rubber stamps... I can manipulate them so easily to fit whatever I need :)

Stamps: Flourish Trees of Hope, Love & Laughter, Edge Designs, Tag Tidbits (happy), retired GWP (Halloween)

Paper: White UltraSmooth, Basic Black, & Penolope Cardstocks

Ink: Raw Sienna, Cognac, Noir, Starry Night, Prussian Blue, Violete, French Lilac, Landscape, & Jardin Moss Palettes

Other: Transcendence Embossing Powder, hydra sponges, manicurist pads (from Sally Beauty Supply), olive sheer ribbon

What do you think?

Yo!!

Tune in Monday morning around midnight or a little after... I've got a really fun card post scheduled!

I'm kinda feelin' it, kinda not...

I didn't like how this first card turned out, but I loved the coloring on the pumpkin... so I'm just showing off the pumpkin :) The rest of the card shall never be seen again {evil winkie grin}.

This will go into the cards-that-may-never-be-sent pile, or perhaps the in-case-of-emergency-oops-I-forgot-another-freakin'-card pile.

This little punnkinn {as Mama used to say when I was little} is from Sunshiny Day. It was stamped with StazOn onto a very thick unbleached muslin & colored with Prismacolor pencils.

You can also catch a glimpse of Penelope designer paper and Ribbon.

That's it! And no begging for the rest of the card... I am not listening... laaa laaaa laaa laaa {hands over ears chanting in most childish manner} :)


Next up is one of my submissions for the catalogue designer call last summer... I used sketch #4 from page 11 of the current catalogue. I used the following stamps: Linear Sentiments, More Abundance, and All Occasion Circles. Papers: Rustic Chic designer paper, Bazzill Mono-Browns, and a chartreuse green cardstock from DCWV.

I tried to go outside my typical uber-structured look, and used skewed angles... AND no perfect strips or squares... scary, I know.


That's it for today kids. And for those of you who are in the Wichita, Kansas area and will be attending the Kansas Shrine Bowl game on Saturday... thank you for your support!!

What do you think?

And the Blog Candy WINNER is...

from http://www.randomizer.org ...

Research Randomizer Results 1 Set of 1 Unique Numbers Per Set Range: From 1 to 46 -- Unsorted Job Status:

Set #1: 27

And comment #27 was from:

Jennifer said...

Hello Barb. Very yummy candy indeed! What a great assortment you're offering. I'd love to win this jack pot!

Hugs,
Jennifer

July 20, 2009 6:38 PM

Yeay! Congratulations, Jennifer! Just shoot me your snail mail address via email (see side bar) and I will get that out to you next week!!! I added a couple of extras, just because :)

A "feel good" card...

Here's another quickie card for ya'! I stamped a Flourish Trees of Hope image onto some Mia's Cottage pink carstock with VersaMark and heat embossed Transcendence EP over it.

I then cut it out and edged it with Burnt Umber Palette ink... edging and stamping the sentiment panel as well (sentiment from Jeans & Wings).

I sketched a heart on the back of a piece of Mimi designer paper, cut out and sanded the edges slightly. Layered it all up on foam tape, and a couple of ovals I had made with my Coluzzle from Mimi cardstocks.

I covered an UltraSmooth Ivory cardstock base with Mimi dp and added a bit of ribbon from the Mimi collection as well.

Done!


What do you think?

Happiness is...

Here is a quickie card! VERY little stamping, but lots of embellishment fun :)

You might have already seen this one awhile back on Mischelle's blog, but I always like to show different angles and a few close-up shots.

Stamps: Sunday Afternoon, Happy Thoughts

Paper: Toodle Loo (dk. pink), Lilly Anna (lt. pink), & Reece (aqua) cardstocks

Ink: Noir & Belle Rose Palettes and VersaMark

Other: Lemonade Buttons & Blossoms, Icicle Stickles, paper piercer, Prismacolor pencils w/ mineral oil, Cloud Scissors, foam tape, Glue Dots, & Pink & Lavender Scrapper's Floss


I stamped the flower border in VersaMark and then in Belle Rose to give a nice shadow line... which you can't see in the photos ;) figures.

That's it for today...

What do you think?

Blog Candy!!

Yeay... right? Let's see what is up for grabs today:

A 6x6 sampler of the entire Mia's Cottage SWIC & Coordinating Cardstocks, 5 Mia's tags, a handful of eyelets, brads & buttons, a couple of paper flowers, a couple of lengths of Mia's Cottage ribbons, a card made by moi :), a small "just because" stamp, a small version of Fancy Curls stamp set, a complete Mini-Meander Book kit with instructions made with a retired TAC paper collection (boyish), a few stamped TAC images (some heat embossed), and a retired stamp set called Sophisticated Flowers.

I cut out the big stamp set and stamped the image you see... that's the ONLY time it was used. Then I thought maybe the winner wouldn't want the stamps mounted on the cling (although, I'm not sure why), so I left them alone. Should the winner want me to do so, I would be more than happy to mount the other stamps on cling and cut them out... that's just how I roll :)

So, all you have to do to scoop up this pile-o-yumminess is leave a comment on this post! If you would like another chance, you can mention it on your blog & leave another comment. If you would like still another chance, leave a comment that you are one of my 'Stalkers'! I might be adding to this candy as the week goes on... you just never know :)

I will only draw names from the comment section, so click out of your reader and stop by!! I'll leave this open until Thursday night, July 23rd at 7pm central time.

Good luck, and thanks!

Firey Love Tree...

Quickie post today... I may actually make it into my stamp room for a little creative time today (maybe)!


Stamps: Flourish Trees of Hope

Paper: Reece, White UltraSmooth, & Bazzill Mono-Reds cardstocks

Ink: Belle Rose Palette, VersaMark


Other: Transcendence Embossing Powder, White Scrapper's Floss, Cutterbee double-line piercing tool, paper piercer, foam tape


I embossed the tree image onto the card base prior to layering everything. I was also able to emboss the main tree image with dye ink... yep...


Transcendence embossing powder works with dye ink! You still need to be speedy about it, but it is fantastic... AND the only clear embossing powder I use.


What do you think?

A Little Love 4 the Road Tin

I thought I'd share another little Paper Wings design team project I created a couple of months ago:

This one is for THE MAN in your life… and I don’t mean that in a bad way :) Many of us have husbands or boyfriends {or both :) … just kidding} that have to travel for business. This little tin-of-love is perfect to hide in his travel case or briefcase to let him know that he is loved and missed while away.


Materials for outside:
Stamps: Trendy Greetings, Love Doodles (retired)
Paper: Rustic Chic, Kraft & UltraSmooth White cardstocks
Ink: VersaMark, Turquoise Gem VersaMagic, & Burnt Umber Palette
Other: Empty Godiva Chocolate Pearls Tin (the best part is emptying this), Essential Elements (tab & square bookplate), 6”+/- length of twine, journaling pen, sanding block


Materials for inside:
Stamps: Creative Inspiration, This Boy, Life is Short, Life Thoughts, Family is Forever, You Nique (retired), or any ‘lovey-dovey’ sentiments :)
Paper: (6) or more 3” x 1-1/4” strips of Kraft & Naturals cardstocks (this tin would easily hold 20 of these!), scraps of Rustic Chic in varying sizes
Ink: Champagne Dazzle VersaMark & Burnt Umber Palette


Instructions for outside:
Adhere Rustic Chic paper to outside and distress with sanding block. You’ll have to do a little trial-n-error trimming for the lid, but it’s not bad! Adhere Kraft strip toward bottom as shown. Set aside.

Cover bookplate with paper and edge with BU ink (Walnut Ink works great for this as well!). Stamp heart square onto square of Kraft using VersaMark. Overstamp “Love” and “Note” in Burnt Umber.

Adhere Kraft square to the back of the bookplate and adhere bookplate to Kraft strip as shown (leave top left corner free of adhesive). Edge tab & 1/2" Kraft circle with BU ink. Edge white circle with Turquoise ink and layer on top of tab.

Write “for the road…” atop Kraft circle and layer just slightly off of white circle as shown. Apply small bit of glue to back of tab and tuck behind bookplate. Run twine around tin and through holes in bookplate and knot. Trim and rough up twine ends. Outside is done!


Instructions for inside:
Stamp sentiments, hearts, dots, etc. onto Kraft mini-cards. Vary the locations of the images so that you can apply scraps of Rustic Chic in different areas of the cards as shown.

Option: attach small index photos of you and your family to the back of the mini-cards so The Man can see his family while he’s away!!

Your turn! Get out those mini-tins and start making-with-the-love :)

What do you think?

Hittin' the Beach...

Happy Tuesday! Today MUST be better than yesterday... even though it is a dreary day in Kansas. Cloudy, rainy, and still freakin' hot! Speaking of hot, how about a beachy card today?


Some of you might have seen this on Mischelle's blog right before seminar (or was it during seminar?)... anyway, I wanted to show you a couple different views.


Isn't this bird adorable? He is from the Hit the Beach stamp that was used on THIS card... I just masked off the rest of it with post-it notes, inked it up, removed said notes, and stamped the little guy by himself.


He's colored with Prismacolors & mineral oil... I think I made him a bit too pink... he looks kinda sun-burned :) I added a few layers of Crystal Lacquer to his goggles... you can't really see it here, but IRL it's a nice detail.


I also used: White UltraSmooth cardstock, Lilly Anna (pink) & Reece (aqua) cardstocks, and the ribbon is from the Juliette collection.


I stamped the cloud / wave flourish from Spring Dream... doesn't it look like he's going to get pounded from the surf?! I traced over it with either Icicle or Crystal Stickles (I can't remember!) for a little sparkle.


What do you think?

Loud Winchester...

I am so excited to have been featured on the Inspirational blog today! I have been a follower for a very long time, and just love seeing the diverse work showcased there. Thanks so much, Fiona, for the shout-out :)

Here's another catalogue submission from last summer. As you can tell by my history of blog posts, I don't do masculine things very often... they're a bit of a toughie for me :) So after I finished this, I felt very accomplished!


Stamps: Cars, Life is Short

Paper: Winchester SWIC & Cardstock

Ink: VersaMagic (I can't remember which ones!)

Other: foam tape, Amelia Hardware, distresser, Coluzzle Oval, paper piercer, Crop-A-Dile


This card was based on one of the sketches in the front of the new TAC catalogue. I did the good ol' Rock-n-Roll technique on the car... first in the purple and then in the dark blue. The oval is popped up on foam tape... it really adds dimension to an otherwise flat card.

What do you think?

365 Challenge, Day #133

Another challenge from 365 Cards... Day #133: Imagine this: Bubbles! Today's challenge is to think of bubbles and how they might inspire your card.

And here's what I came up with... a little Sprite Bubble Boy.


Stamps: Spunky Sprite Boys, Bears & Bubbles, Friendship Strips

Paper: Kraft & White UltraSmooth cardstocks, DCWV blue (retired)

Ink: Burnt Umber Palette, Champagne Dazzle VersaMark

Other: misc. button & twine, Scor-Pal, foam tape, Stardust Gel Pen, Copics

I scored a few lines with the Scor-Pal and then swiped the ink pad over to just graze them & a bit at the edges. This really brings the embossed lines out, and adds a little 'dirt' look to the card.

The polka dots at the top of the card? I used an eraser-topped pencil... a little trick I learned at one of our Angel Gatherings outside Salina. And I am sad that you can't see the sparkle of the Dazzle VersaMark... it has such a nice subtle shimmer in real life.

What do you think?!

Oceans of Love card...

... ok... I'm not really feelin' this one...

This card is just not jumping out at me... I don't know if it is the color combo, or the fact that I can't put much on the card front because the image is ginormous.

This one of the new Hostess Level A sets, from The Angel Company, and it really was fun to color and paper piece. I started off by creating the image panel without doing any other pre-planning layout-wise... which sometimes works, sometimes notsomuch :)

I used a craft knife to cut along the wave so I could sorta tuck the boat bottom behind it while popping up the top portion to give a bit of a shape to the boat. The water, oar & clothes are paper pieced.


Stamps: Oceans of Love

Paper: Mia's Cottage SWIC & Cardstock, White UltraSmooth cardstock

Ink: Noir Palette

Other: White Gel Pen, Prismacolors w/ mineral oil, black foam squares, Bazzill Bitty Blossom, button, & Mia's Cottage Ribbon, Limeade paper posies


Next time I make a card with this image, I plan to reverse-mask to create the sun first... it's buggin' me a bit that it isn't a perfect circle...

What do you think?