Happy Birthday, Amy K!!

Amy, in honor of this day, I have created this lover-ly card :)  So pretend, for a moment, that you opened your mailbox and lovingly ripped open a big fat envelope from me, ok?  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  I hope today is the best one yet!

Truth be told, my WOSFF (web-o-sphere friend forever) Laurie im'd me yesterday afternoon reminding me that it was Amy's birthday... after I kicked myself for forgetting, I said I'd love to hop along with the girls today :)

Disclaimer:  please excuse the poor picture quality...especially the colors!  You may want to click to enlarge, but it still might not help :)

By some strange coincidence, I managed to leave the dreaded office early & rushed around to create what you are seeing now... maybe I should work under pressure more often?  It looks WAY better in person... trust me.

Stamps:  Swooping Sentiments, Victorian Elements (The Angel Company)

Cardstock:  kraft (TAC), plum (Papertrey)

Ink:  VersaMark, Eggplant VersaMagic

Other:  linen texture plate (Papertrey), ribbon (Hobby Lobby),

rose trim (JoAnn's), pearls (unknown), Scor-Tape

Amy has such a fabulous style to cardmaking... simple but detailed.  It's hard to do, but she makes it look easy :)  So, this card may be a little more foofy, but I was trying to channel you, Amy!

For some more birthday card inspiration, check out these ladies:

Laurie

Jen

Sue Ann

Happy Birthday Blog-Hopping!

My Top 10 Cards of 2010 Blog Hop

Mrs. Weyremaster, Suzi, has organized a fun blog hop to round out the year!

All you have to do to join in, is create a  post on your blog entitled

'My Top Ten Cards of 2010'.  Then link that post to Suzi's post, using the inlinkz tool at the bottom of her post... please visit that post to see details about prizes along the hop!

 

And I figured since I maintain two blogs, I'd do this twice :)

 

 

Sooooooooo, here are my faves for the year:

 

Images by The Angel Company

Image by Simply Betty Stamps

 

 

Images by:  The Angel Company (witch, swirl, hat),

Bad Axe Stamps (broom), Viva Las Vegas Stamps (sentiment)

 

 

Image & papers by The Angel Company

 

 

All items from The Angel Company

 

 

Images & paper by The Angel Company

 

 

Images by:  Kraftin' Kimmie (girl), The Angel Company (sentiment)

 

 

Image by The Angel Company (sentiment)

 

 

All items from The Angel Company

 

 

Image & paper by The Angel Company

 

 

What do you think?

Happy Holidays from Foster Design House!

My last (only?) Winter holiday card for you this year... and actually it isn't really THAT holiday-ish... me thinks I could send this anytime.  And let me say that every time I use Stickles or glitter, I can't get the color balance & lighting right, so once again we have photos of the sucky variety :)

Nice sentiment, right?  Yeah.  I like it, too :)  It's from Stamp Insanity.  I'm picturing the adorable little Octopode Factory Angel yelling at the Christmas tree... like a few bulbs are out or something :)

Yes... yes... I like to make up little stories for my cards.  And that's just one of the MANY reasons why y'all come back to FDH all the time, right?!

I hope you and yours have a very Happy Winter holiday, and a joyful & prosperous New Year!

~Barb

Sneak peek for an upcoming Copic class!

Real quick post tonight.  I thought I'd share one of the cards we'll be making in an upcoming class at

The Scrapbook Page!  The new calendar isn't out & sign-up hasn't begun, but in late January I'll be teaching an all occasion card class... Steampunk style.  Kinda excited about it.  :)

 

What do you think?

December 9th Copic Card Class at The Page...

There may be a couple of openings left in my upcoming All Occasion Cards - Flowers, Copic Class at The Scrapbook Page on December 9th 6:30-8:30pm... I haven't checked yet :)  But I thought I'd show you what we'll be making:

We'll be coloring a spring flower, a summer sunflower, a holly sprig (winter flower), and a graphic kaleidoscope flower.  The graphic flower one is actually a gift-card holder inside!

If you want to know the details about these, you'll have to come to class :)  Sly, right?  Just go to The SBP's website for sign-up info:

The Scrapbook Page

What do you think?

Steampunk Annie & a CARDS blog challenge...

Hello again my friends!  Today I wanted to share a mini-card... the challenge came from the CARDS blog.  Just click the link to find out the details :)

I love mini-cards... they do not have a lot of 'real estate' with which to work, so the challenge comes from trying to foof up a pretty small canvas :)  I worked with one of the new Steampunk Gang digis from Simply Betty Stamps... LOVE them!  She commissioned a new artist that has such a wonderful style.

I chose salmon, olive & mustard as a color palette, which I think compliments the image very well.  I added lace & velvet trims along with the metal elements to add to the whole vintage steampunk genre.

I packed this little 3x3 card with quite a bit of punch, no?

Digi:  Steampunk Annie (Simply Betty Stamps)

Paper:  Bazzill & Caboodles white cardstock

Ink:  Burnt Umber Palette

Other:  MM mini-eyelets & oval pearl, Nesties, misc. lace & velvet trims, metal findings, foam tape

Copics:  E000, E00, E01, R02, R05, R08, YG93, YG95, YG97, YR20, YR21, YR23, YR24

What do you think?

Deck the Halls Blog Hop

To get all the information on how YOU can play along with this hop, just head over to Mischelle's blog!

Well, I ran out of time to do something fabulous for this hop, so I'm just sharing a couple of no-frills Copic Christmas cards that we made in my Hostess Club & Creative Class Night this week :)

First up, super simple and all in pink & green... a little snowangel :)

Stamps:  Merriest Wishes, Cuddly Christmas, Ornamental Snowflakes

Paper:  Pop Rockz dp, Lily Anna, Mia's Cottage & Caboodles white cardstocks

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo, Palette Chartreuse

Other:  Crystal Stickles, misc. sheer ribbon, foam tape

Copic Markers:  0, B000, E55, E57, RV00, RV10, RV11, YG01, YG03, YR15, YR18

Next up, a Christmas Duck decked out in teal...

Photos aren't so hot... this looks waaaay better in person... trust me  >:)

What I was trying to show in class was different ways to color white... because white isn't really white.  The snowangel has a blue-white tone, however I wanted the duck to be a bit warmer but still look white.  Ta Da!  It worked, right?  :)

Stamps:  Cuddly Christmas

Paper:  Hemingway dp, Hemingway & Caboodles white cardstocks

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo

Other:  Amberly Grace ribbon, Scor-Bug, Signo white gel pen, misc. buttons

Copics:  0, BG0000, BG72, BG75, BG78, E53, YR0000, YR21, YR23, YR24

That's it for today, peeps.  Have fun hopping along!
What do you think?

{tap tap tap}... yes Laurie, this thing is on :)

OMG... another post so soon?!  Did you just fall out of your chair?  :)  Well, I thought I should post about my upcoming mini-album class at  The Scrapbook Page before it's over ;)  The class is on November 30th and is a Winter-themed multi-media album.

WTH is multi-media?  Well... it has acrylic, chipboard & canvas/denim pages, a TON of ribbon & trims, crackle paint, Stickles, Crackle medium, chalkboard ink, and a lovely little snowman digi made by me :)  Also, all of the pages are shaped differently... a house, fence, birds, scallop squares, file folders, hearts...

I'm tellin' ya', it is awesome {pats self on back}  ;)

I put a ton of work into this so you don't have to.  Just contact The Scrapbook Page at 913.383.1552 to sign up!  It's only $35 for a 9"+/- album with about 16 pages (including cover), plus pull-out tags, and each kit comes with a full bottle of Rock Candy Distress Stickles {LOVE}.

I wish I could show you all of the pages, but I won't  >:)  They are soooooo much better in person...

... which means you'll have to come take the class {insert slightly evil grin here}

The only thing I'm not looking forward to doing, is cutting out all of those pages out of chipboard & acrylic :)  It's gonna take forever, even WITH the die cutter at the store... but I'll do it for you :)

I do love this, and it was nice to get down-n-dirty with some different products.  Sometimes I forget that there is more to papercrafting than Copic markers :)

What do you think?

Wow...

... just sayin'.  It's been a whole month since I've posted on this blog!  At least I have a good excuse... October is OBVIOUSLY reserved for all things creepy, and therefore I was posting more on my HauntedDesignHouse blog :)  But now that THE BEST HOLIDAY EVER is now over for the year, I guess it is time to start doing a little sumpin' sumpin' over here ;)

First up, since I am sooooooooo horrible at marketing my classes, I thought I'd share what we did on November 1st at The Scrapbook Page.  These are 4 of the 5 cards we made... I was an idiot and didn't get a photo of THE BEST ONE, which was a realistic looking candle lantern image by Stampendous.  But here are the rest (sorry about the sucky photos... it was at night for the first 3):

The leaves are Tim Holtz's & the snowman is also a Stampendous.  I wonder if I can con Cameron into giving me a pic of the lantern one?  It was on this heat-embossed glittery blue/violet damask paper from Bo Bunny.  

Anyhoo... I'm actually going to post a few pics from my upcoming multi-media mini album class for November 30th, so tune in to my next post :)  But in the meantime...

What do you think?

Very little time & a feature...

Dude.  Seriously?!  Can someone please tell me if I have stepped into a time warp or something?  WTH?  I swear, I am never going to get caught up with all of my stuff!  I haven't even unpacked the Halloween decor yet!

GASP!

{thud}

...that was me having a freakin' heart-attack & then passing out, by the way.

Thankfully I do have bits of Halloweenieness displayed year-round, so at least I have that... but there is just something about the bats hanging in the tree out front, and all of my jacko's, and the luminaries, and... 

... you get the idea. :)

Here is my CAH-RAZY schedule this month:

• work architectural job almost full time
• work at The Scrapbook Page six nights
• teach classes at The Page two more nights (plus prep)
• TAC hostess club/class at my house 1-2 nights (plus prep)
• class at a customer's house 1 night (plus design & prep)
• Saturday afternoon FunShop (plus design & prep)
• cleaning & laundry (haaa haaa!!!)
• cooking (HAAAAAAA HAAAAAA HAAA...not happening)
• Abdallah Fall Ceremonial (Shriner stuff)
• CKC convention at the expo (fun stuff)
• decorate for Halloween (REALLY fun stuff)
• keep up with Design Team responsibilities
• participate in my own Haunted Design House challenges
• baby the cone-wearing fur-baby, including dermatologist & ophthalmologist appointments, ear/eye drops, & meds.  Yeah, my dogs have their own derma/optho docs... thankfully I don't have children, because I would've spent their college fund on the dogs' doctor visits already.  :P

Can you believe all of that?  And I know I'm forgetting a few things :)  I usually do.

Don't forget, that sign-up for my October 11th Eerie Elegant card class at The Scrapbook Page ends this Friday night!  And sign-up for my October 19th Halloween Waterfall Mini-Album class ends on the night of the 16th!  Please click HERE for more class & contact info.

I stayed up until 1am this morning coloring... but I got my "me" time in :)  Now, what I'm showing you tonight is NOT what I colored last night... I still have to turn that stuff into cards ;)  No, this is two of three items that I sent in for The Angel Company's Fall Supplement design call.  Cool thing is that all three were slated for publication!  And though TAC decided to not include any project samples in the supplement this time, they ARE featuring them on the MAIN WEBSITE.

What's the good thing about no samples in the supplement?  More room for more stamp sets!  You can click on the link above to download a copy or you can also click HERE to go to my online store to view & purchase.

The bottle o' bat wings was a fun one... inside is just scrap black cardstock.  The gooey black sealing schtuff is actually made from embossing powder.
Stamp sets used:  More Bone Appetit & Fundamental Frames.  By the way, Fundamental Frames has been designed to be used with several Nestabilities.

I love the spidey bouquet card.  The flowers themselves looked like spiders to me, so I stamped a couple at the base of the vase... are they dead flowers or are they spiders?  Hmmmm...
I added a bit o' bling with a Stardust Clear glitter pen.  The Copic coloring in real life is way more blended than the photos here... my auto-fix software kinda blows.
Stamp sets used:  Festive Bouquets & Delightfully Spooky.

Well, that's it for today... yes, very long-winded, but it HAS been awhile since I posted on my "normal" blog :)  I've been a little busy over at my Haunted Design House blog, so if you miss me lots, just go check there :)  I'll be back sooner or later (hopefully sooner) to show you my favorite card that I submitted...
really...
I mean it.

Eerie Elegance & a Halloween waterfall...

Yeay... the new calendar is out for The Scrapbook Page, and sign-ups can begin for my classes!

First up, Eerie & Elegant Cards on October 11th, 6:30pm-8:30pm.  Click on the link and it will take you to the store's website where you can see all four cards.

This is my favorite of the four, but the others are pretty cool, too :)

And this one I am REALLY excited about... a Halloween Waterfall Mini-Album on October 19th, 6:30pm-8:30pm.  It is a wine bag album :)  Plenty of pockets & pull-outs... 

all in Halloweenie glory!

There is no way to do this album justice in a photograph.  Tons of heat embossing, Tim Holtz stamps, May Arts ribbons, flocked paper, and so much more.  LOVE it.

If you are in the Kansas City area, stop by The Scrapbook Page and sign up!  For you out-of-towners that would like to purchase kits, please email the store for details.