Helloooooooo!

Have you missed me?  I can NOT believe it's been, what, six months since I checked in with the ol' blog!  Well, I'll try to keep it short and sweet... but you KNOW how long-winded I get ;)  A few updates:

My new business, Foster Technical Services, LLC, is really starting to pick up... I have a few home builders that I steadily work with along with a few remodeling jobs, so all is well on that front!  I also still work at The Scrapbook Page two-to-four days a week... plus teaching the Copic classes there.  Still loving it... it really IS my fun job :)

http://thescrapbookpageonline.com

 

Thor is doing very well, though he is blind now.  You can't tell by looking at him... you just wait until he bumps into something or looks in a different direction than where your voice is coming from!  He's got the ol' grey muzzle now, but is still the CA-YOOTEST little redhead EVER!!  He is very happy, lazy, loves getting treats and REALLY loves his mommy & daddy :)

  

I have been having uncontrollable urges to de-clutter & Spring-clean!  I have a stock-pile of clothes, pillows, blankets & towels that I have washed and bagged up, ready for donating!  Not to mention many other household items, stuffed animals, crafty stuff... etc.  I have no patience for garage sales, so I'm going the donation route!  Poot FINALLY got rid of clothes that were too small for him, and I got rid of clothes that are now too big for me!  I have a deep-seeded wish for a kitchen similar to this:

And perhaps a living room like this:

 Ahhhhh... to dream.  Ok ok... how about a dose of reality:

Uber-good news:  I have lost well over 30 pounds!  I haven't owned a scale in many years, so I can't be sure how much I really got up to, so I calculated it from what I remember weighing a couple of years ago.  Yep... well over 30 pounds!  All from replacing Coke & sweet tea drinks with water!  Oh, and a couple of times a week I eat "Healthy Choice" frozen meals for lunch.  I still sugar my coffee & eat chocolate and all of that, but I have noticed that I have been eating smaller portions in general.  I will say that working at The Page helps with keeping active... just from walking around so much.  Yeay!

But you didn't tune in to talk about fur-babies & weight loss... you wanna see some papercraft action, yes?  I'll admit it... I have been so swamped that I really only create cards for my classes now... how sad is that?  The good news is that they turn out pretty awesome :)  I have so many that I haven't blogged, that I have no shortage of card creativity to show you.  Now to just magically create more hours in the day to do that!

ANYhoo, check out this bit of awesomeness for my upcoming Spring Copic 101 card class in mid-March:

Love love LOVE this new Authentique "Seasons: Summer" line of paper!  And I am NOT a fan of yellow... but along with shades of warm grey & blue-green...

{swoon!}

 

The stamp is from Hero Arts, which is from a clear set with several cute images, and I'm sure you recognize Memory Box clouds when you see them :)

I want to make an entire set of these bad boys!  There is just a slight difference between these two cards, but I can't tell which one I like better... I think maybe the one with the chevron on top.

Clean, simple, yet delightful :)

I've still got to figure out the other three cards for class, but I can tell you right now that this is my fave!

What do you think?

(I've missed you, too!)

Mermaids...

It's been awhile!  I am ever-so busy with my new company, work at The Page & classes, but finally made time to post another past class from March.  You might have seen these on one of Sweet Pea Stamps customer submission days, but for those that haven't:

Seriously beautiful stamp image.  Done in aqua & copper... love it!

This shot shows the Glossy Accents & Stickles better.

All of these were Sweet Pea Stamps images.  If you haven't checked them out before, you really should.  They have fabulous fantasy art stamps!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

What do you think?

Another blast from the past...

Slowly but surely, I'll make it through all of these older class samples :)

I hope you are enjoying them.  From February:

Both of these images are from CC Designs', Sweet November lines.  The stained glass window was created by running a transparency through a Cuttlebug embossing folder, inking raised areas with StazOn and then backing it with patterned paper... me likey.

What do you think?

I know it's Summertime, but...

I'm trying to catch up on posting :)  More Spring class cards:

(Impression Obsession image)

(Art Impressions image)

(Penny Black image)

I had one more, but it is sooooooooooooo not me, that I am refusing to post it ;)  

I LOVE the fence card... by far my favorite.  And the no-line stamping technique with the bunny/egg image turned out well... the bunny was stamped in brown ink & the egg in blue.  The blending on the chick was fun, not to mention all of the grass... me likey.

What do you think?

Front-to-Backs...

Have you seen the Front-to-Back stamps from Art Impressions?  They are sooooo fun!  Here are three cards from a class I taught this spring at The Page:

LOVE the boy peeking over the fence... so cute!  And I did another one of Nellie, looking in a mirror, but you'll have to go to The Scrapbook Page to see that one... it turned out great!

What do you think?

A couple of fairies...

How's that for a post title?!  :)  I just love fairies... yes, all kinds :P  And today I'm showing off a couple from Sweet Pea Stamps, by the artist Caron Vinson.

This is "Royal Flower". She is so sweet, and colored-up in a bunch of Copic BG's... LOVE her!

My rubber stamp actually has a defect in it where her hair is located... so I made it a headband-of-sorts.  I actually like it better than if the lines were there for her hair.

And this is "Moonlight Fairy".  Seriously lovely image, and awesome May Arts sheer ribbon.

 I really like how her skin tone came out, and the overall blush-pink & green combo.  Her hair is waaaay more blended than what this shows... I don't know why my camera does that.

What do you think?

'Shrooms...

Ok, so you KNOW that I'm not a fan of Magnolia stamps, right?  Well, I had to eat crow when I saw this grouping of mushrooms... LOVE 'em:

Sorry about the lighting... it looks really yellowish in these photos.

Me thinks my WOSFF, Laurie, would like these :)  Except maybe making them little red & white 'shrooms instead would be more up her alley.

Super-simple, but I REALLY like it.

What do you think?

Lots o' love...

How about a few more oldies from classes earlier this year?

These are from a Copic 101 class, all about the LOVE :)

My fave.  Super-cute Ketto image from Stamping Bella.

And a fairy has GOT to have a little Stickles on her wings.

Ok.  This little guy is damn cute, too.  You know I'm a sucker for a puppy.

He's a Penny Black image.  ACK... look at that face and BELLY!  SO cute.

And this little guy is from Inky Antics...with my favorite wavy ribbon action.

Of course, all of these look way better in person.  I'm gonna try to schedule a few posts so that there isn't such a HUGE gap.  I know a lot of you stalkers have dropped off, but for those faithful few... thanks!

What do you think?

More past class samples...

Will I ever catch up?  Seriously.

The following cards are from a Copic 101 class I taught in January at The Scrapbook Page:

Seriously cute CC Designs stamp:  Brrr Emma

Echo Park patterned paper

Tim Holtz "Twigs" die to create the tree

Yes... cutesy.  And here's more:

Another CC Designs stamp:  Polar Bear with Echo Park paper

Colored him with C's & E50 Copics

And the final one for today is this snowman card... which is my favorite one of the three:

Penny Black stamp (name?) & Echo Park paper

Look at that face.  Love it!

Ok, enough cuteness for one day.

What do you think?

A little coloring goodness...

Thanks so much to everyone for their kind words regarding my Heidi... she is so missed.

Since I'm still not feeling very creative, I thought I'd share some past Copic card class samples I did for The Scrapbook Page awhile ago...

This class was "Winter Fairies" back in December.  All images are from Sweet Pea Stamps.

This one is my favorite of the three.  I thought her hair came out pretty awesome.

Her skin is pretty good... her nose is a kinda funky though.

Not crazy about this one... the layout is kinda boring & her nose looks too big.

Her skin turned out pretty good... love how her hand looks.

Sorry, not much on narration today... but if you have any questions, feel free to email me or comment and I'll try to get back to you soon!  Oh... and a lot of people ask me what Copic color combinations I use, so I added a tab at the top of my blog HERE.  It isn't a complete list, but it's started at least :)