Totally Downloaded Card

The Greeting Farm has two downloadable kits that I wanted to try. I always have trouble coordinating designer paper that matches to my specifications. These downloads make it so easy even I can do it, See!

I had downloaded the Anya image a week or so ago. On Wednesday I bought the Cupcake kit and the Wonderland kit. This paper is from the Wonderland kit. I really like blue and brown together so this kit was perfect for me. I colored Anya to match the blue and brown flowered and polka dot paper right behind the main image. The other paper I used was the blue with brown polka dots which is my main dp. The flowers look like they were cut out and stacked but I only cut out one, sponged the edge brown, and added the ribbon bow.

The only things I added was the brown checked ribbon. This card took me less than 1/2 hour to complete.

I am going to make some cupcake cards over the week-end so check back.

I am also working on some Artistic Outpost projects with the Keeper stamp plate, gonna be cool, and I am anxiously awaiting my first Dog Gone Stamps.

If you think this little darling is so cute you can't stand it, The Greeting Farm is launching a ClubAnya beginning on Sunday, Feb.1, 2009. If you need something to do while the guys are watching the Super Bowl check out the launch party. For details of the ClubAnya launch go to The Greeting Farm blog here.

Have a great day TGIF!

Cathy

I am SO excited! New DT Spot Doin the Happy Dance

This will be a short post for now, I just wanted to shout to the world that I am a new DT member for Dog Gone Stamps. This is a brand spankin new stamp company and the images are really cute with lots of detail and a huge variety.



I have already added the Dog Gone Stamps logo in my sidebar so check them out.



Nancy, owner of Dog Gone Stamps has a DT call on Splitcoast Stampers through Friday, January 30, 2009 so check it out.

I will be back later if I get something done.



Bye for now



Cathy

I'm Back Sleep is highly overrated!

Okay, I know it is late, but I am pretty much on my usual schedule :0 I just had to show you one more card tonight. I have been playing with my Happiness stamp plate from Artistic Outpost tonight.

I absolutely love the background that I created using a tutorial that my "friend" Theresa showed on her blog the other night. The tutorial can be found here.

I had colored this image a while back and never made a card out of it yet, I guess it was just waiting for this background. The ribbon was white grosgrain ribbon that I dyed with my SU re-inkers. It is Baya Blue and it matches so perfectly the weathered wood distressed ink by Tim Holtz that I used for my sponging.

Because I wanted the beautiful butterfly and the striped background to be the focal points I didn't add too many other embellishments except the blue dew drops in the left side border.

I will have more tomorrow night because I got a new stamp plate called Keeper from Artistic Outpost today, always the kind of mail that I like to get! Now I really should go to bed because I do have to go to work in 6 hours.

Have a good day everyone!

Cathy

Elegant Happiness Butterfly

I love the Happiness plate from Artistic Outpost. I usually color in all of the butterfly detail but tonight I decided to try for a monochromatic elegant look. I think I succeeded.



I stamped the learn how to fly butterfly stamp using white craft ink from Stampin Up on craft cardstock. I stamped the background small detail stamp in white craft ink as well. I then sponged the edges with the white craft ink. I let that dry for about 15 minutes. I always forget that step and usually mess up my white image.

I mounted the craft layer on white cardstock and used my ticket corner punch from SU to round in the corners. I mounted the butterfly layer and white onto the beige tan cs.

To finish the card I used K & Company half pearls for the corners, a medium size in the corner and a tiny pearl just inside the punched line. I added 3 larger half pearls to the right side of the sheer white ribbon and tied a bow on the left side. I added half pearls for the butterfly body and three tiny pearls to the first middle and last letter in Happiness.

This is such a versatile stamp set and I just love working with it. I know you will see a lot more creations using this set here. If you like what I have done with this set and would like to see what other designers have done with it as well, check out the Happiness Gallery on Artistic Outpost.

I may see you later with another card, we'll have to see how finishing my "team cards" goes. Thanks Theresa and Megan for confirming my design choice, I can always count on you two.

Cathy

I need your help!

I am making "Team" cards for my former manager at work. I need 20 Birthday and 20 Anniversary Cards. I want to make them all the same basic design and use the basic format that I have created in my 3 samples. I need your opinion on the placement of the ribbon and whether to sponge around the scalloped squares or not. Here are the samples.

So my question is? which one do you like the best . I have some mint green, blue and white cards as well. I already have all of the card bases cut out, embossed, edges scalloped and the scalloped squares are all cut and stamped, so those things will not change.

Please leave a comment and choose A,B, or C or I can make them all different.

Now that that little dilema is out of the way I have some more challenge cards to show you from the week-end. GinaK Designs had their monthly new stamp Release Party last Thursday. After each Release party several of the Design Team members have a challenge project that has to be completed in a few days and the prize for being chosen at random is a set os GinaK stamps 19.95 value, your choice.

I am doing all the challenges to increase my chances (still slim and none) to win a stamp set because right now I can't buy any stamp sets from anybody and it is killing me I tell you.

Enough whining! I know, I already showed you the card that I made for Theresa's Sweet challenge on Saturday, here are my other challenge cards:

I really like the way this card came together, This was a challenge by Erika and is supposed to be a scrapbook page layout, those of us who don't really do scrapbooking make cards. I had colored this little osterich BC (before my copics) and i used Koh-I-Nor colored pencils and OMS. I bought the cute background paper at Target in the dollar bin.

I sponged all with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo.

This card is for Joanne's Gettin Messy challenge. The card had to include either something torn, crumbled, or messy. I crumbled my plaid paper and torn both the plaid layer and hot pink.

This was a fun challenge.

The final challenge card is for Jessica's challenge which was a sketch challenge. It was Jessica's birthday yesterday so this was also a cyber birthday greeting to her.

Besides Melanie Muenchinger's A Year of Flowers this is my favorite GinaK set to color. Because I wanted this to be a winter card and not a Christmas card I removed the ink from all of the tree and sled lines leaving just the little boy . Because his arm is up holding the rope for the sled I drew in a carrot that he is offering his sister for her snowman. I also drew in the snowflakes and snow on the ground for the boy as they were not on the original stamp.

Theresa taught me how to use my square scalloped punch to make the tag, Thanks Theresa. The tutorial is on her blog, scroll down to Tag lines on January 21.

I hope you all have a great week. We are supposed to get snow every other day, yippee skippy!!!NOT.

Don't forget to let me know which of the 3 Team cards I should use. Thanks

Cathy

Sweet Challenge

It's Saturday and the week-end after a GinaK Designs Release Party. I am trying to get all of the challenges completed so that I can have a chance to win a new release stamp set because that is the only way I am going to get one :( That's okay because I love doing the challenges anyway.

Here is my first of the night:

I forgot to warn you that it was a little bright :O I love red and pink together and when Theresa posted her challenge for the January Release Party I knew what I wanted to do. I love these little cupcakes or muffins from My Cuppa Joe set that was released a couple of months ago.

I find it really easy to make cards that look good (IMO) when I use the Top Note die from SU. I mounted that main die cut image on a cute red/pink flower and heart dp. I mounted that on white card stock. I then mounted that on red polka dot dp and finally on my final white card base.

The only embellishments are the 2 prima flowers in the upper left hand corner attached with a pink heart shaped eyelet and the red ribbon with white stitching around the second flowered layer.

I loved doing this challenge and really like the way that it turned out. What do you think?

Thanks for the fun challenge Theresa, always enjoy what you come up with.

I'll be back with more later.

Cathy

Sweet Card for TGIF

I had to take the day off today to go register my car, tough job but somebody has to do it :). That meant I had some time to play during the day and made this Sweet it's Friday card with the downloadable image Dorothy from The Greeting Farm:

I have been having a great time coloring these little darlings. I of course colored with copic markers. I sponged around the main image with Tim Holtz Distress ink weathered wood and rose. I sponged the rose around the edge of the coral layer as well. Attached both main image and coral layer to the turquoise card stock leaving a space at the bottom for the sentiment.

I used my copic airbrush to color the white heart turquoise because, although I have a bizillion buttons, I had no turquoise ones, don't know how that happened. When the marker was dry on the button I threaded the narrow ribbon through the button holes and tied a knot. I had made bows for Dorothy's hair as well and attached them with glue dots.

I added the Sweet sentiment at the bottom so it can be used for a lot of different occassions. I finished the card with blue dew drops and the prima flower. Sweet!, I got to make a card on FriDay!

I may be back later tonight with something else but I HAVE to finish a card order so I need to get busy.

Have a great evening.

Cathy

Quick Post-- It could be !?!

I know I get a little long winded sometimes, I just love to share, what can I say.

I am going to really give away the fact that I am wayyyy older than a lot of you girls who read my blog but I used to wear aprons like this growning up and cooking with my mother. This card is for the Tuesday Challenge on Clear Art Stamps Forum on Splitcoast Stampers.

I only have this set called Kitchen Classics and a little journaling angel in their stamps so I am a little limited on what I can do. The challenge was something Purple. I stamped the cherry border and colored it like blueberries ( just image that they are so dark blue that they are purple, work with me here :). I colored the apron with my copic markers as well. I cut out the apron and mounted it on a scalloped circle that I had punched with my Marvy Scalloped Circle punch. I had airbrushed the purple on the white scalloped circle.

It is hard to see in my picture but the scalloped edge at the bottom has the same purple designer paper under it as the apron image does, sorry it was dark, I didn't realize that until just now. I had bought the Memories sentiment in a set of acrylic stamps at Michaels and I really like it with this card.

I used my grey copic marker to make the shadow around the images, and border of the card. I outlined the Sentiment as well. I added the dots with my black journaling pen from SU. I also added the background dots with this pen.

I like the way that it turned out and it was fun to remember cooking, with my mother, with my apron on.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Cathy

3 cards for you today Gotta Love a Week-end!

I did one more unicorn. Yeah, I know, but they are just so fun to color. I did change him up and did a mirror image. I will show you that one in a bit. I also did two GinaK Designs Challenge. I did the GinaK Friday Challenge, which was to actually use ink on your stamps for the color. It has been awhile since I have actually done that. Here is what I came up with:

I had a problem finding a GinaK Design set that was a solid stamp that I could stamp onto an ink pad. I don't have any because I buy the GinaK Design stamps because they are so awesome to use my copic markers to color. I decided that I still wanted to do the challenge so I got out my Inspired by Nature from Stampin Up and stamped the color directly onto the stamp with the ink pad. I used a yellow and orange for the center of the flower, a pink for the next color, and the ends of the petals are stamped with Plum.

It didn't show up as dark as I thought it would but I love the watercolored look so I was happy with it. I masked off the flowers and stamped the grass using green and golden yellow for the blades.

I sponged the edges to focus your attention on the flowers because they were pretty light.

I used my horizontal punch for the ribbon slides on the right side of the card. I folded the strip in half and punched my desired spaces for my ribbon to thread through. I tied the bows and attached them with pop dots.

I stamped the sentiment on vellum so that it wouldn't distract from the flower.

The next challenge is also at GinaK Designs and hosted by Joanne and the challenge was Keep it Simple. You could only have two layers including the card stock. A maximum of three pieces of ribbon or other trim, and a maximum of 3 embellishments. Here is my card:

I just noticed that I used lavender on both of these challenge cards today and I don't really even like lavender. Oh well, I like these! The rose and leaves were colored with copic markers and cut out. I mounted the rose on a foam mounting square and the leaves are just glued on the cs. I had run the cs through my cuttlebug with the dotted swiss border folder and added the scalloped edge using my Fiskars threading water punch. Added my 3 half pearls and my ribbon and my challenge card was complete.

My little unicorn card really doesn't need any explanations but here he is. I just love this little image. I see a lot of little girl birthday cards in his future.

I didn't really have any patterned paper so I used the 3 main colors in my image and mounted them block style. I used the bojo background stamp with versamark for the subtle flower images on the background paper. I stamped the sentiment from one line of the stamp in the bojo background set with the two phrases on it and cut it to the width I wanted to fit under my ribbon and used my corner rounder to shape the ends.

Another Unicorn Card

Doesn't this little unicorn look happy and bright. I love using the Copic technique called Gradiant. It is a method where you blend the colors into each other and get a really smooth color transition. It is really hard to do this on a stamped image and takes quite a bit of practice to keep all the blending inside the lines as you push the colors together during the blending process. I'm getting better.

I got the scalloped flower border along the bottom at Michaels the other night in their bargain bin. It is a Martha Steward favor package and it was marked down to 99 cents.

After I colored the main image and sponged the edges I attached the scalloped border to the bottom and added the two bands of ribbon from my ribbon stash. I know it is a pretty extensive stash, but I usually have something that I can use in that stash. One of these days I will get it better organized. I currently have a drawer that I go to first, then two additional totes. I wasn't kidding when I said it was extensive.

I am going to make one more Unicorn card yet tonight. Because they are images that I downloaded I used the printer option to mirror the image and it will be facing the opposite direction. If it turns out good you will probably see it tomorrow or Monday.

I didnt get to stamp at all today, decided I needed to reclaim my kitchen and do laundry. My daughter and her 3 kids came over for the afternoon and it was finally warm enough that we went out and played in the snow.

Cole is my almost 4 year old grandson and he built a snow man today and was really proud of it. Here is a picture:

Doesn't he look ornery? The baby was getting cold so Cathryn, I and Bailey went inside and Cole stayed out to play some more. Pretty soon I looked out and saw Cole by the swingset eating the carrot. He was dipping the carrot in the snow and eating the carrot and snow.

It was a fun day but I have lots of projects that I need to do yet tonight and tomorrow so I need to go get busy. See you tomorrow. Have a good one.

Cathy

Love Unicorn

This card is for the Magical Unicorn Contest at The Greeting Farm and we are supposed to create a project using the downloadable unicorn image and tell something about it. Here is my story :)

This is a Love Unicorn. Some folks do not believe in Unicorns because they only believe what they can see. I Believe that Unicorns exist because I believe in Love and I can't see that, I can only feel it. I believe in unicorns because we all need beautiful, sweet, good things to believe in and make us smile and if for only a little while, carefree. That is Magical.

Now on to how I created this card. I printed this image as it is a downloadable image. I printed this one off as a 5X7 so that it was a little larger. I have some others that I have printed that are 4X5 so they are just a little smaller. I am going to play with them next. I colored the mane and tail with copic markers. I knew that I wanted to make this a Valentine colored Unicorn because I planned to make a Valentine card out of it.

I had the image all colored and thought that the unicorn was just a little too plain. I should quit while I am ahead usually. So, I decided to add some blush to the cheek. That was my first mistake, I picked too dark a pink, ugh! I tried to blend it out with a lighter pink, tried to blend that out with a blender marker but it was looking pretty bad. So being the type of creator who never sees things as a mistake just alterable I drew a heart around it and colored the rest of it in and blended the edges just like it was supposed to be there. Walla a Love Unicorn was born!

I thought I would like to see if I could cut the colord image out with my Top Note Sizzix die cut, which I love, so I positioned it and with a hope and a prayer beginners luck paid off. I usually cut out my top note panels and then stamp on them, not an option when you are printing the image. I could cut it out but was too lazy this time.

I used my Copic Airbrush to add the green and pink around the edge of the main image. I added pink checked ribbon and green checked ribbon under the main image and tied a knot bow on each. I added the medium large pink glittery dot in the upper right hand corner and stamped Believe in Always Artichoke ink on the side.

I added stardust glitter pen highlights to the unicorn horn, flowers and eye. I traced the word Believe in the glitter pen and traced around the outside of the top note panel with the pen as well. It just doesn't photograph very well.

This was so much fun. I will try to create another card or project for the contest which ends next Thursday night. The prize is two stamp sets of your choice and I could sure use some free stamps right now although that isn't the real reason I am doing these, just an added bonus.

I should have a pretty quiet and creative week-end, at least that is my plan, so stop by and see what I have been doing if you get a chance.

Goodnight

Cathy

Beautiful Geisha Downloadable Image

I just have a few minutes before I go to work but I wanted to show you this darling Geisha girl that is availble for download at The Greeting Farm, isn't she adorable?

I printed the image on GP white cardstock and then I masked the image and stamped my asian foliage. I added the Tranquility sentiment which is a retired Stampin Up set.

I colored with copic markers. I thought about going with the more traditional red and black but decided on red and purple.

I added highlights with my stardust glitter pen.

The Greeting Farm is also having a Magical Unicorn Challenge to create a card or project with their downloadable unicorn image. Check out their blog for more details. I will post more details tonight and my Magical Unicorn card.

Have a great day.

Cathy

Call me for Adventure!

That is what this little bulldog is saying as he waits for the phone to ring. Little does he know that the phone is off the hook.

When I went to London a few years back I remember all of the telephone booths were painted bright red and fully enclosed like this. I guess this might just be a English bulldog patiently waiting for the phone to ring and on the other end will be his friend inviting him on a great Adventure and saying Call Me when you get a chance.

This is a really neat stamp plate called Adventure from Artistic Outpost. Have I mentioned lately that I am a guest designer for this company!?! I love their stamps and can't wait for the next release coming soon. I love that I can add every detail that I want or make more of a monochromatic look which is my second favorite style.

This is going to be a short post as I have another project to finish and I have to get to bed before 2 or 3 at least one night this week ha ha.

Have a great day! Friday is always a good day.

Cathy

Life is an Adventure

That saying is so true on so many levels. Love this image of the dog with his head out of the car window catching the fresh air.

This stamp is from the Adventure stamp plate from Artistic Outpost. Promised I would ink up another new stamp tonight. I really like all of the elements that the artist put into this stamp plate, the dog with his head out the window, the compass in the lower right cowner, the birds and landscape and the sentiments.

I decided to color the dog more detailed with my copic markers and then I minimally( is that a word?) colored the rest of the image and sponged Tim Holtz Distress Weathered Wood ink and Antique Linen Distress ink on the border and compass.

I used a piece of Outlaw designer paper from Stampin Up because it had a similar tone for the blue green that I had gotten with the weathered wood ink on the green dp. I stamped the compass in Antique Linen along the edges of my Outlaw paper. I then stamped the birds, which I love for an accent on the dp, with weathered wood.

I wanted to stamp the Happy Birthday sentiment on the greenish beige Martha Stewart twill tape. I didn't want just the straight cut edge so I unravelled the ends. Not sure about that element yet, but it will stay for now. I attached the frayed twill with large eyelets to the side of the main image with my crop-a-dile.

I mounted my main image on some beige cardstock and used the same color for the main card base and my Adventure .

Can't wait to show you the little bulldog in front of the telephone booth that I also colored tonight. I have to finish assembling that one so won't post it until tomorrow night.

I am finally over the flu and sluggish days following and pretty much back to normal except that it is -10 degrees here and that is tooooo darn cold for me.

Have a great day and see you tonight :)

Cathy

MoJo Monday Challenge card

I did the MoJo Monday Challenge for the first time today. I think I followed the sketch exactly, pretty good for me!

I downloaded this cute Anja image from The Greeting Farm. I didn't realize when I first downloaded the image that it was Anja dressed up as Alice in Wonderland but I decided that she could be dressed up in a Valentine costume haha.

I colored her with copic markers and added white gel pen dots to her dress and headband. I was going to paper piece a pink headband but I have been getting over the flu and just didn't do it. I did add white dots to coordinate with her dress. I know I am bad!

Since I made this card for the MoJo Monday Challenge I used some cute flowered dp that I got at Target, yep in the dollar bin. I used my Quikutz scalloped circle cookie die to cut out the Rose Red scalloped circle, I used my Fiskar's circle cutter using the inside of the scalloped cookie die for my pink circle and used my Fiskar's circle template to cut the main image. Not as perfect as I would like, but you gotta use what you have.

I used my Martha Stewart heart punch for the rose red hearts and added the Sateen flowers to which I had added a pink heart brad.

I stamped the Happy Valentines Day sentiment from the Dr. Pea_Nut stamp set from Our Craft Lounge on vellum and trimmed it to the size that I wanted. I then punched a small hole and cut a slit so that it would fit around the heart brad that I had placed in Anja's hands.

To finish the card I used my white gel pen to add white dots to the hearts, around the scalloped circle of the main image and corner dots on the card base.

Tomorrow I am going to work with some new Artistic Outpost stamp that I got a couple of weeks ago and haven't inked up yet.

I am still adjusting to a new work schedule since I bought my new car. I decided that I needed to work 40 hours a week instead of the 35 that I had been working so that I wouldn't have to use my extra money I usually use for my stamps and supplies for my car payment. I am going to like the extra money but not the hours that I can't spend stamping.

Enough complaining. I need to get to bed so that I can go to work in the morning.

Have a good one!

Cathy

I might be in trouble with this concept :)

Sorry I have not posted for a couple of days, I have been fighting a flu bug, ugh!

I was browsing some of my favorite blogs the other night and stumbled upon some cards that Frances, Stamp Owl Studios, had created using downloadable stamp images from The Greeting Farm (formerly Pink Poison) . I thought I would give them a try when I saw the cute images.

This was just too cute to pass up. I ordered 3 images, this unicorn and two Anya stamps. It was way too easy to do. Added bonus was the price, only 3.00 per image. Because you download them there is no shipping. You just put the order in and within seconds of paying you have the images to download. You just print them off and color as if you had stamped them off.

My biggest concern was that my printer ink would smear when coloring with my copic markers but I didn't have any problems at all.

I colored with my copic markers and then added some sparkle on the butterfly, unicorn horn, and along the hoof line with my star dust sparkle pen.

This will be a short post but I have a couple more images to show you tonight. Have a great day.

Cathy

I did a couple of Challenges today!

The first card that I am showing you was created using the blending technique that Melanie Muenchinger showed on her blog this week. I learned the gradiant copic technique while taking the Copic Certification Class last fall and I use that technique all the time. The link to her tutorial is here: Melanie's Tutorial

I really liked the look of Melanie's tulips so I decided to try her technique as well. I really like the way that it turned out.

I colored the tulips with copic markers and blended per Melanie's instructions and then I cut them out and mounted them on the background that I had sponged with Stampin Up Plum and Purely Pomegranite Ink

I wanted a really feminine card for these beautiful roses so I made a frame with my fancy corner rounder punch. I cut 4 one inch strips of white cardstock and created my border. Then I measured them by the completed main image and cut them at an angle to created the slightly mitred corner. I didn't want to detract from the image so I only added a garnett colored polka dot ribbon to finish the card.

Challenges are always good to make you get out of your own little world of card designs. First I did the Paper Craft Planet Saturday Sketch Challenge hosted by Diana Gibbs. Here is a copy of the sketch:

For once I didn't flip the sketch or turn it on it's side to do it and I think I have all of the elements in just like they are supposed to be. I love to color Bub's Beaver from Our Craft Lounge. I combined two different stamps from the set and added the cute frogs sitting by the log. The frogs are also included in the set.

I wanted to use the red polka dot to add some Valentine Color to the design. I added the Happy Valentine's Day sentiment from the Dr. Pea_Nut set also from Our Craft Lounge. I wanted to add another bit of color in the way of design paper but most papers I looked at were just too busy, I'm kind of a plain jane, so I chose this blue with red polka dots.

I tied the thin red ribbon through the red heart eyelets and tied bow knots. My challenge card was complete. Thanks for the wonderful challenge Diana.

My second challenge card was for the Thankful Thursday challenge at InStyle Stamps. It was also a sketch challenge and had to have a thank you, thanks or some thank you type sentiment included.

I followed this sketch challenge with the exception of putting the sentiment in large die cut letters at the top instead of in the flower on the ribbon as in the sketch. I didn't intend to do that but didn't remember that the element on the ribbon was supposed to be the sentiment. Oops!

I think this card is a little plain but I couldn't find any turquoise dp that I liked with Pam and her cute pooch so I went with the solic turquoise and added the black checked ribbon. I didn't like that there was so much white behind the main panel so I cut a piece of black cardstock at an angle and placed that behind the circle and main image to tie in the black ribbon and flower.

The sentiment is the thanks from the Cuttlebug Olivia Alphabet. I cut one out of black for the shadow and one out of turquoise patterned dp. It made the turquoise stand out and not get blended into the background.

That is all I have for you tonight, As you can see I have different Stamp Companies that I really like so you will see a lot of variety on my blog.

I have 3 challenges to do for the Hannah Stamps Release Party that was last Thursday. Maybe I will get lucky and win another set of stamps. Right now that is the only way I am going to get any. Gotta pay my sales tax and license on my new car and just paid the first payment today.

Have a great rest of the week-end and I will probably see you tomorrow night.

Good night!

Cathy

Something Different for Me

I'm not usually drawn to birds, but I have always wanted these bird stamps by Martha Stewart. When I was at my local Michael's over the week-end these were in their clearance bin. I picked them up carried them around, put them back, and picked them up again. I'm bad!

I colored this pretty bird kind of like the yellow finch that is the Iowa State Bird. What can I say, I was born and raised in Iowa and now I live in Omaha.

I have been practicing the sponging technique that is demonstrated by Tim Holtz on the Ranger Technique videos and I think I am doing okay, I like the results . The sentiment is from the Morning Glory stamp set by Stampin Up. The scalloped punch is my giga Marvy scalloped oval. I also have the plain oval but it is a bit larger than the scalloped so I had to trim it down by hand.

The main image is stamped with Momento Tuxedo Black ink, which is the only ink I use when I am going to color with copic markers. So basically, it is the only black ink I use :)

My main image is mounted on a river rock piece of cardstock, that is mounted on a weathered beige cardstock and that is mounted on Always Artichoke. All of the edges are sponged with Tim Holtz Distress Vintage Photo Ink.

My rose and beige striped background paper is from Michaels and I also sponged the edges a little with the Distress Vintage Photo ink. I mounted the striped paper on river rock and then Always Artichoke as well.

I wanted this to be kind of a feminine card so I added the sheer white ribbon and added the white half pearls from K & Company.

I am running behind on my projects that I want to get done tonight so I need to run. Thanks for stopping by.

See you tomorrow.

Cathy

Pink Elephant for Valentines

It feels so good to be back stamping and creating after the long holiday season.

I colored this cute Dr. Pea_Nut elephant from Our Craft Lounge all in pink and soo in Love!

Isn't she just the cutest little elephant. I used copic markers to color her and the flowers. I added a peanut border to the pink panel behind the main image and added brown dots to look like stitch holes. I made a border using my corner rounder punch for the top and bottom of the main image for added interest. I just love all of the accessory stamps that come in each of the Our Craft Lounge sets. There are lots of sentiments which helps me because it may take me an hour to create a card and another hour to find just the right sentiment. They thought of everything.

I bought the background designer paper at Target in the dollar bin, gotta love the dollar bin. The coral pink flowers on the designer paper matched some coral pink ribbon that I had in my stash as well as the brown with the pink stitches.

I have to go finish the two InStyle cards that I am working on. If it isn't too late when I finish them I may post again tonight, you just never know.

See you later,

Cathy

InStyle Stamps Sheree!

Sheree is a stamp I bought from a new stamp company called InStyle Stamps. Doesn't she look happy in her bubble bath. I personally prefer baths to showers because I use them to relax and not to wake up :) The images from InStyle stamps are so cute and I love to color them.

I stamped Sheree onto the Top Note die panel with Momento Tuxedo Black Ink. I then

colored the image with my copic markers and sponged the edge with Cool Caribbean Stampin Up ink. I wanted to add a little color panel to coordinate with the turquoise flowered background paper that I chose for my card base so I found this cute small striped dp from a paper pack I had gotten at Target in their dollar bin.

I punched a hole with my crop-o-dile to tie the sentiment tag to the top note die and tied a loop edged piece of hot pink ribbon through the hole. I used the same hot pink ribbon to edge the striped panel and tie in the hot pink. The final touch was to add two hot pink prima flowers that I attached to the panel with a turquoise brad.

InStyle Stamps is a new company as I mentioned before and they currently have challenges with prizes and new products . You can find InStyle Stamps here: http://www.instylestamps.com. Check them out I think you're gonna like what you see!

I may be back later depending on what I get accomplished, otherwise I will see you tomorrow night.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cathy

My Favorite Snowy Woods so far

Second post of the day, bear with me, I have been doing a lot of creating and not much posting in the past couple of weeks.

I had a real problem with this image because I really liked the way that the coloring (copic markers) turned out and I was really afraid that I would ruin it or totally distract from it's beauty in creating my card. I have a lot more confidence in my coloring than my card making. I just received this set, Snowy Woods from Artistic Outpost, last week and this was the first image that I colored. It was one of those images that you go back and look at and say " oh, I really like the way that turned out".

The main image was stamped on Georgia Pacific white cardstock and the edges were sponged with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo. I stamped the evergreen branch in the same distressed Vintage Photo ink around the main image, masking the image so as not to over stamp the colored portions. I added a piece of SU red riding hood ribbon.

I mounted the image on a piece of DP from Stampin Up and mounted that on brown and then mounted all onto a piece of brown cardstock.

I used the same stack of colors for the center panel placed in the middle of the card. I didn't know what sentiment that I wanted to use but I found this phrase from a set of rub ons from SU that I thought was perfect and fit in the space that I had allotted for the sentiment. Lucky me!

I added the brown dew drops and circle clip and my card was done.

Let me know if you like these Snowy Woods images as much as I do.

Have a great evening and see you tomorrow.

Cathy

And a Good Time was NOT had by All!

I left Saturday morning to pick up my husband in Kansas City, a 3 and a half hour trip one way. When I left it was raining and 35 degrees. I got to Kansas City and it was 52 and sunny. So far so good. While I was waiting for my husband and son to arrive at our pick up point about 3:00 my daughter inOmaha called and said that they were in an ice storm and Omaha was pretty much shut down. I called my daughter in Kansas City and had her look at the Iowa Road Report and see when I would be running into the bad weather going home. It looked like I 29 as drivable to Omaha but the roads east and west were treacherous. So I could get to Omaha but couldn't probably get home. Yeah!

We left Kansas City about 4:00 and the weather was dry but starting to get cloudy, okay. We stopped in Platte City and it was okay. We stopped in Mound City for coffee and a potty break and it was starting to drizzle, still okay. By the time we went the next 20 miles to Rock Port it was freezing rain on the windshield and you could tell that the shoulders were a glaze of ice. We pulled in at Rock Port to see what the roads actually were like and it was to slick to continue. Got a hotel room for the night and made it home safe and sound this morning.

I feel like I took the 3 hour tour with the crew of Gilligan's Island but at least we didn't get stranded on a deserted island ha ha!

Enough of that, I got some new Artistic Outpost stamps last week. I love the cute stamps by other companies, and I buy a lot of them :), but when I want to really feel artistic I color my Artistic Outpost stamp images. This card was made with the Snowy Woods plate which I really liked but had a lot of Christmas Stamps already this year, but when it went on sale I had to have it.

Because this set has a stamp phrase that is part of the last paragraph of the Robert Frost poem I copied the poem from my computer, changed the font to script and printed it on white cardstock. I cut the poem to the size that I wanted and sponged the edges with Tim Holtz Distressed Weathered Wood ink.

The bearded man image, which I had stamped onto a vanilla tag, was colored with copic markers and the edge was sponged with the same weather wood ink. The backgrond paper is from K & Company Ocean stack pack I had purchased at Michaels.
The only photo frame tab I had was a polished antique silver so I colored it with a copic marker to match the antique bronze brads I had chosen.

I added two strips of velvet ribbon under the brad to finish the card.

I also made this super cute (IMO) Valentine card using the Cutie Pie majorette stamp from Artistic Outpost:

I really like the look of the frame punched with a corner rounder punch. It is a little tricky to do until you have tried it several times but I love the detail it adds. I colored the little majorette and her dog with copic markers and because I had to mount it onto a larger piece of white cardstock to fit inside the frame I used my Copic Atyou red glitter pen to trace around the majorette image. I added a red heart brad in each corner. I popped the main image onto the card base designer paper with pop dots.

The Heart and Flower Designer paper is from a Spring Stack Pack that I had gotten at Joanne's a couple of years ago.

I finished the card with the cute Be My Valentine heart which I attached with a pop dot as well.

I have more cards to show you but I am going to take a break and will post again tonight.

See you later,

Cathy

First post of 2009

Happy New Year Everybody!!!

I had a very lazy day today( except for going out to the farm and taking care of the horses since my husband is out of town.) I technically made this card today but sometimes the weee hours of the morning don't count.

I think that this was the set that drew me to the GinaK Design Store and made me buy 3 sets so that I could get this set free. I love to color this set with my copic markers and it looks great in so many different color combinations. The set is called Botanical Dreams by Asela Hopkins. When I first got this set I watercolored it because I hadn't become addicted to copic markers yet :)

This card was created for a Daily Challenge on the GinaK forum on Splitcoast Stampers. This is actually two challenges together to create this card. The Day 5 challenge was to sew on a card which I did by sewing the main image with straight stitches and then I used a zigzag stitch to mount the rusty rose panel to the dp. The Day 6 challenge was to create an inspirational New Years card.

I added the big maroon button in the upper right hand corner and tied green/white checked gingham ribbon through the button holes. I also added a tiny burgundy button to the vellum strip with the sentiment stamped with Dream and Believe.

I really like the way that it turned out and I have really enjoyed having time to do these challenges.

I have made some wonderful cyber stamping friends through GinaK Designs and my blog. My dream for quite some time has been to be an "In the Spotlight" guest designer for GinaK Designs. My "friends" have encouraged me with their wonderful comments on my cards, challenge projects and my blog. I know that there are lots of very talented people who participate in the forum, but maybe one day I will create a project that Gina will see my potential and love for GinaK stamps. This is my inspiration card because I Believe that my Dream will come true if I keep working at it.

I am a guest designer for 2009 for Artistic Outpost which I absolutely love but they are a completely different style of stamps from the GinaK Design stamps.

I need to get to bed because I have to go feed horses in the morning before I go to work, have I mentioned lately that I am NOT a morning person, oh well, it is only a couple more days.

Have a great night and see you tomorrow night.

Cathy