Joyful Creations with Kim

retrosketches #1: Wax Fruit Company

2012-03-07T12:47:00.002-07:00

I almost missed a brand new sketch challenge that began last week and involves some of my favorite designers...it's called "retrosketches: where every sketch is a blast from our past".

This week's sketch is from Arielle who besides running the weekly colourQ challenge also has a digital stamp company called Wax Fruit Company. I need a really cheerful birthday card and I have the perfect image from Wax Fruit...

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Stamps: Wax Fruit Company, Papertrey Ink sentiment
Paper: Stampin' Up Summer Sun, Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, black, Making Memories dp
Ink: Memento black, copics
Accessories: Papertrey Ink ric-rac die

A Cheerful Spring Card for Grandma

2012-03-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

My grandmother's birthday is this weekend. She is into her 90s and until just the last year has been active and spry. In fact, she would entertain at old-folks homes!! But this has been a tough year for her so I definitely wanted a very cheerful and full-of-life birthday card.

I started out just planning to play along with The Paper Players challenge: Spring Has Sprung, but I am not a spring color person - I love the brights of summer and the regals of fall - so I needed a little more help.

I checked the Splitcoast Color Challenge which is A Very Wild Bride - which, as crazy as it sounds, is actually the subtles Vanilla, Wasabi and Blushing Bride. That works!!

And then clearly, not feeling particularly inspired - I had to find a sketch challenge to help me and I used The Sweet Stop Sketch for this week, but I turned it on its side.

It took a lot of help - but I think Grandma is going to smile at her birthday card.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Happy Day
Paper: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi CS and dsp, Blushing Bride CS and dsp
Ink: Memento black, copics
Accessories: Stampin' Up Wasabi ribbon, three flower punch, Stickles on the water drops, misc yellow pearls

My Creative Boys

2012-03-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

My boys (including the husband) asked me to make a card for a nice young man in our church who is a freshman in college, on a lacrosse scholarship, and blew out his knee during his first college game.

First, I was very impressed that my boys actually thought about sending a card - AND they splurged on an Inta Juice gift card.

Second, I was a little annoyed when I got the list of don'ts: no bling, no ribbon, no patterned paper, no coloring, nothing popped or dangling, and definitely, without a doubt, no glitter. (Have they ever looked at my cards, how often do I ever use glitter??!)

Third, then they impressed me with a very creative idea. They wanted a lacrosse stick, broken, with a band-aid and a "OOPS". I had to let them down with the "oops" but I did have an "uh-oh".

Not quite my usual card - but my boys are thrilled!! (I really should have added some bling just to be annoying!)

Stamps: Judikins
Paper: Stampin' Up Confetti Tan, Naturals White, black, PTI Smokey Shadow
Ink: black
Accessories: bandaid, Quickutz lacrosse stick

Needlework Birthday

2012-03-02T16:10:00.002-07:00

No challenge.

No fancy layout.

No new techniques.

But...I like it!

Stamps: GinaK Nana's Needlework
Paper: Cosmo Cricket Honey Pie, Stampin' Up Old Olive, Crushed Curry Rose Red
Ink: Stampin' Up Old Olive
Accessories: Stampin' Up Old Olive Taffeta, Heart Embosslit, Nestabilities rectangle and scalloped rectangle

Sweet 'n Sassy March Release Blog Hop

2012-03-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps March New Release Celebration! The Design Divas are so excited to be kicking off this month's amazing stamp release with a blog hop today. You are probably joining me from Jessica's blog; if not, be sure to head back to the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps blog so you don't miss a thing!

For this release, I received the two most different stamps ever possible to work with! My first set is Ticket Sentiments - one big ticket stamp with eight different stamps to fit inside it. Here's the card...
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Can you guess what it does?

See the little "pull here" at the top? If you pull on the ribbon, here's what happens...Surprise!!

And the best part is that the card is very simple to make. Decorating with these great ticket stamps is what makes it extra special! And...the star border...also from Sweet 'n Sassy!!

FYI: Instructions for this ribbon pull card are all over the internet. I based mine on this post from years ago, but I resized it to fit a 3 1/4 x 6 1/4 envelope to give me more space to showcase the tickets.

Cut main paper to 5 1/2" x 6". The 5 1/2"
is the vertical dimension. Score at 2 3/4"
and 5 1/2" to create two flaps. Add a
little tape along the flap and adhere it
closed to create a pouch.

Cut an inner piece to 2 1/2" x 4".
Use a hole punch to punch through the
inner piece and the pouch...

...to look like this.

Flip the inner piece around, tuck it inside
the pouch to the punched holes line up.
Stick a 12" piece of ribbon through the
hole bringing it up on both sides.

Then tie off the top of the ribbon. In this
case I tied a button on, but you could also
just knot the ribbon. In this picture, I have
also slipped my gift card in and begun
decorating the outside.

Can you see why I was utterly thrilled to receive the "Ticket Sentiments" set? What a perfect way to decorate this gift card holder!!!

Now...for a total change in mood...I also received the "Friendship Script Background". I have been so struggling with this set. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE it. In fact, I love it so much, I wanted the background to be the focus so that the recipient could read ALL of the beautiful words. Unfortunately, a card that consists of just a background isn't very exciting. Here's my attempt at keeping as many of the words as possible...
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On top of the Friendship Script Background, I white embossed the flowers from "Wildflowers". The sentiment is from "Blessings and Thanks".

Do you see what I mean? I really couldn't have had two stamps that were so totally different - and THAT is one of the big reasons that I love Sweet 'n Sassy stamps!

Your next stop is Cathy's blog.

And just in case, here is the whole list of team members hopping along with us today:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog

Korin Sutherland

Jessica Fick

Kim Singdahlsen <---You are Here

After the hop, make plans to join us for our New Release Party over in our Member Company Forums on Splitcoaststampers. We'll have full reveals of all the stamp and dies sets being released this month, challenges to inspire you, and of course fun chatter with great friends! See you there!

Freshly Made: The Only Choice

2012-02-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

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This is my last week as the guest designer at Freshly Made Sketches. It's been so fun and so exciting but I admit to feeling a certain amount of stress each week thinking that I need to come up with something totally unique and creative. Well...I put that all aside this week. This week's sketch is wonderfully basic which means it is PERFECT for showcasing beautiful paper and amazing sentiments...

Most of my cards are for a church card ministry, but this one is personal. It's heading to an amazing woman who deals with more than any of us can imagine and does it with great faith and spirit.

Thanks so much to Lesley and the rest of the Freshly Made design team for letting me share in the fun this month!! I look forward to playing along for a long time to come!

Stamps: My Favorite Things Vertical Greetings
Paper: Stampin' Up Peach Parfait, Soft Suede, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla, Everyday Enchantment dsp
Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Suede, Baja Breeze (just sponged on the edges)
Accessories: My Favorite Things die, Stampin' Up embossing folder, Pool Party Seam Binding and Butterfly Embosslit

Merry Monday: Deck the Halls

2012-02-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

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When Lesley at Always Playing with Paper started her Merry Monday challenge this year, with the goal of getting us a head start on Christmas cards, I swore that I would play EVERY week thus avoiding seasonal stress. Well...she is on challenge 9 and I am on card 3. Not great...but better than nothing!

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Wreaths of Joy and Banner Holidays
Paper: Stampin' Up Wild Wasabi, Garden Green and Very Vanilla, Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather dsp
Ink: Stampin' Up Garden Green, black, copics
Accessories: Stampin' Up border punch and Garden Green Grosgrain, Taylored Expressions wreath and banner die, Ranger Glossy Accents, misc gems colored with copics

Razzleberry and White: He Lives

2012-02-27T07:03:00.002-07:00

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This card is so NOT what I had envisioned when I got this stamp set! It was going to be a classic kraft/white/subtle Easter card. But I saw this morning's Splitcoast Clean and Simple challenge and then saw this stamp set sitting square in the middle of my craft desk - I knew it could work. The Razzleberry adds a regal tone and the white would keep it fresh and peaceful.

The pink on the cross is actually glitter. Have you ever noticed that "clear" glitters generally have a color cast? I grabbed the nearest glitter and wish I would have looked more carefully. The clearest glitter that I have found is Martha Stewart's - I buy it in giant bottles at Michaels. This cross does not use Martha Stewart - had I stood up and walked three steps, I would have had that clear glitter. Teaches me to be lazy!

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy He Lives
Paper: Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry, white
Ink: Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Stampin' Up Razzleberry Ribbon and Scalloped Border, Sweet 'n Sassy cloud dies, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Impress Sparkle Glitter

Papertrey February Blog Hop: Interactive!

2012-02-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Today's monthly Papertrey Blog Hop is to make interactive cards. Just this month, they released a series of dies to make creating interactive cards much easier. I got mine yesterday!!

I added a subtly colored - but highly glittered rainbow on the pull up apart...

The saying is very creative. The outer sentiment says "Beyond the clouds, behind the rain, there are a thousand rainbows." The inside says "One is on is way to you." Isn't that fun?

I also glittered the buttons which was Papertrey's Make It Monday video!

I have to admit - that this first card took FOREVER even with the dies. But I understand it now and am looking forward to sitting right back down and doing another!

Stamps: Papertrey Movers and Shapers Sentiments, Up, Up and Away (rainbow), Faux Ribbon (thinking of you)
Paper: Papertrey Kraft, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist patterned paper
Ink: Papertrey Kraft, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist, copics on rainbow
Accessories: Papertrey Movers and Shapers Sliders Dies, Cloud Dies, Summer Sunrise ribbon, buttons, EK Success border punch, Martha Stewart glitter

Less Is More: Punches or Die Cuts

2012-02-23T09:24:00.001-07:00

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This is my second post today!

I have been off my cardmaking game this week - just not feeling it. But this morning, I realized just how bad it was. I had not recognized the fact that one of my favorite challenges is all about one of my favorite tools. Less Is More challenges us to use punches and die cuts...NOT a problem!!

My card uses five dies, all from Papertrey Ink:

Flower Fusion #11 die
Flower Fusion Stem die
Double-Ended Banners die
Mat Stack #1 (the white mat)
Fillable Frames #10 (the linen layer)

Thank you, Less Is More, for bringing back my enthusiasm!!

Stamps: Papertrey Flower Fusion
Paper: Papertrey Fine Linen
Ink: Papertrey Spring Moss, Classic Kraft
Accessories: Papertrey Melon Berry felt and Impression Plates

I have a favor. I am struggling with the fact that the photos on my blog look blurry, even though they look totally clear in my photo editing software. I have recently realized that if I made the photos extra-large (WAY bigger than any of you want to see them) they look clear to me.

I have my regular size photo below and then the extra-large version. I have two question (1) does one look blurrier to you and (2) if so, do you have ANY ideas why??? It seem backwards to me - I would think the smaller photo would be clearer. Help!!

Buttons and a Sketch

2012-02-23T05:16:00.001-07:00

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I have had this sentiment on my desk to use as it is perfect for the church cardmaking ministry...plus I love the font. I wanted the full focus on the sentiment so when I saw that today's Splitcoast Ways to Use It challenge was buttons, I decided the buttons could simply be an interesting highlight for that sentiment. I was struggling with how to do that so browsed other challenges and found a sketch from Pals Paper Arts.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Our Refuge, Polka Dot Silhouettes
Paper: Papertrey Ripe Avocado, Berry Sorbet
Ink: Papertrey Dark Chocolate, Berry Sorbet
Accessories: Stampin' Up Border Punch, Papertrey Ripe Avocado and Berry Sorbet Buttons, misc yellow buttons, Cuttlebug embossing folder

So Sweet with Freshly Made

2012-02-22T03:00:00.000-07:00

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This stamp set has such an open and airy feeling to it, I thought it would be a perfect fit for this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches because that trio of squares would serve to "ground" the image.

Does anybody else struggle with "random" gems? So many cards have those three gems that highlight the image or the sentiment. When I study other cards, usually two are together and one is separate. They always look like they were just plopped on - but PERFECTLY "plopped"! I can't tell you how hard I work at getting that random, perfectly-plopped look. I place them, pull them up, try again, and usually keep trying until the paper rips a little and I have to leave the gems where they are. Sad, isn't it??!!

My image was a little narrower than the image area in the sketch and it made the right side look too big and out of proportion. So I added the border punch and then backed it with a piece of dsp to fill in that side.

I also used the soft and sweet colors at CR84FN.

Stamps: Stampin' Up Up in the Air
Paper: Stampin' Up Wisteria Wonder CS and dsp, Lucky Limeade CS and dsp, misc silver
Ink: Stampin' Up Going Gray pad, then I wiped off the butterflies and colored with markers in Wisteria Wonder and Lucky Limeade
Accessories: All Night Media butterfly punch, Stampin' Up border punch, misc gems and ribbon

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Copic Marker Matches documents found

on my side bar have recently been revised!!

The majority of the changes relate to the 2012 Copic new marker release and to new Papertrey colors. Here are the specific changes in case you simply want to note them on your current document or simply download/print the new version.

Copic Matches for Papertrey Ink

Added Canyon Clay, a new PTI color. Papertrey selected E97, E99 and E19. I prefer the new 2012 color, YR27
Revised Fine Linen single match to be the new 2012 color, E84

Copic Matches for Stampin' Up

Revised Tempting Turquoise to the new 2012 color, BG57
Revised Certainly Celery to the new 2012 color, G43
Added Going Gray to the retired list, W4
Added Rose Romance to the retired list, R85

I Spy CAS-ual Fridays! Take 2

2012-02-17T16:41:00.001-07:00

Those of you who read in Google Reader or via e-mail probably just got three copies of this and I truly apologize!! Hopefully I have everything fixed now!

Don't you just love it when a couple of challenges work perfectly together??

This week's CAS-ual Friday challenge is to create a party card with ribbons. Then I saw this week's sketch from iSpy Sketches. It has ribbons!!!

Here's the card...

Check out the ribbons on the iSpy Sketch!

Before I get to the recipe - I have a very important detail....

The Copic Marker Matches documents found

on my side bar have been revised!!

The majority of the changes relate to the 2012 Copic new marker release and to new Papertrey colors. Here are the specific changes in case you simply want to note them on your current document:

Copic Matches for Papertrey Ink

Added Canyon Clay, a new PTI color. Papertrey selected E97, E99 and E19. I prefer the new 2012 color, YR27
Revised Fine Linen single match to be the new 2012 color, E84

Copic Matches for Stampin' Up

Revised Tempting Turquoise to the new 2012 color, BG57
Revised Certainly Celery to the new 2012 color, G43
Added Going Gray to the retired list, W4
Added Rose Romance to the retired list, R85

Back to the party ribbon card:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Tag Its
Paper: Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate, white
Ink: Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate, Canyon Clay, Harvest Gold, Aqua Mist
Accessories: Papertrey ribbon in Dark Chocolate, Canyon Clay and Harvest Gold, misc ribbon to match Aqua Mist, Stampin' Up Pool Party twine, Stampin' Up Scalloped Border punch, Cuttlebug embossing folder, gems and Copics to color them to match

U Are Amazing

2012-02-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

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Today's card plays along with three challenges: the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge, the Sweet 'n Sassy Wednesday Challenge (as found on Splitcoast) which is to do reverse masking, and the Color Throwdown.

I like the subtle colors with just a pop of Poppy! And I always like the look of a little sponging because you can go lighter in the middle and give it a "glow" - although I should have kept the "glow" lower so "amazing" stood out!!

The sketch:

The colors:

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy You
Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade, Blushing Bride
Ink: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Chocolate
Accessories: Stampin' Up Embossing folder and flower punch, misc leaf punch, Martha Stewart glitter blue, misc red ribbon

Sweet 'n Sassy: Special Gift

2012-02-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is my second post today.

It's just a short scroll down if you are

looking for Freshly Made Sketches.

This is a copy of my post for today over on the Sweet 'n Sassy blog.

I have had a sweet little girl on my mind today. She is ALWAYS in my prayers as, at the age of 7, she has spent most of her life in and out of chemo. She and her family are on our local newscasts today because one of the drugs that she needs for this round of chemo is part of the nationwide drug shortage that's been in the news lately. This is an incredibly inspirational family - so full of faith - they are always a shining light in our church family. My small contribution is to always make sure there are cards waiting for them after a chemo week.

That's a long explanation for this card because I had a very specific goal. I wanted it very clean and "pure" - thus the white scenery. And I wanted this girl and her kite to be vivid and cheerful!
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But most of all, I wanted to remind this sweet girl that she is a very, very special gift from God!!

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Special Friends
Paper: Stampin' Up Regal Rose, white
Ink: Memento Black and Copics
Accessories: misc dies and punches

Freshly Made: Lift You Up

2012-02-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

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When I saw today's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, I immediately thought of a film strip. So I did a series of "photos" from a playground...

I love the sentiment that came with this digital image! It's from a series of playground images from Wax Fruit Company. The image on the left has a girl in a tree swing and the one on the right is a girl flying a kite. There is also a baseball image. Each one has an appropriate sentiment. They are all darling!!

Here is this week's sketch...

Stamps: Wax Fruit Company digitial images
Paper: black and white
Ink: copics
Accessories: misc buttons

Colors: Cards for My Boys #2

2012-02-14T06:25:00.000-07:00

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Here it is...Valentine's Day morning...and I am only just finishing cards for my boys.

Today's Splitcoast Color Challenge hostess said that she probably should have picked Valentine's colors but she was very tired of reds and whites. Thank goodness, she at least picked masculine colors!!

My youngest son was the first to say "Dude" so he got yesterday's card. This is for my oldest son. I know that there is probably an "adult" implication with "Legendary" on a Valentine - but I picked it for him because of a character on one of his favorite shows who says "legendary". (This kind of strange logic is what happens when you have and hour and a half to finish the entire family's Valentine cards)

I had planned to do three simple masculine Valentines because I still have my husband's to go...but as I look at the clock, I think I will be CASing his card from someone else. Shhh...don't tell him!

Stamps: Close To My Heart Legendary Moments
Paper: Stampin' Up Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake
Ink: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Night of Navy
Accessories: Stampin' Up Fashionable Hearts Embosslit, Navy Grosgrain, Tim Holtz embossing folder

CAS: Cards for my Boys #1 (and a niece!)

2012-02-13T06:37:00.001-07:00

Of course, I have waited until the last minutes to do Valentine cards for my boys! I knew when I woke up, that I was going to HAVE to rely on clean and simple challenges today to get the cards done. Here's my first card for the day - it uses Splitcoast's Clean and Simple sketch challenge. I'm not sure which son is going to get this card - I think I am just going to see who says "Dude" first!
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The Dud stamp actually says "That is so cool". I found a small font and added the "UR" so it could work as a Valentine.

For a little clean and simple bonus, I want to show you the card that I made for my sweet little niece. This card is a total ~~rip-off~~ CASE of this charming card by Laura! You have to check her card out - it is so bright and cheerful!
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DUDE:

Stamps: Stampin' Up So Cool, sentiment from WPlus9 Bird set
Paper: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, black and white
Ink: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, black
Accessories: Stampin' Up Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit, Fashionable Hearts Embosslit, Papertrey Ink Woodgrain background, misc black button

BEAR HUGS:

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Love from Rhubarb
Paper: Stampin' Up Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Going Gray, Love Impressions dsp
Ink: Memento black, copics
Accessories: Martha Stewart heart confetti punch, gems

Two Looks for Tender Words

2012-02-10T05:58:00.000-07:00

Every Friday, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is doing a look back at older sets. Today, I contributed two cards for the set Tender Words.

The first is soft and sweet. I will be using this as an Easter card...
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Then in an entirely different direction, I also made a sympathy card.
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I love sets with multiple uses!!

Easter card:

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Tender Words
Paper: Stampin' Up Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz
Ink: Memento black and copics
Accessories: Sweet 'n Sassy Lacey Eyelet Border die, misc ribbon
Challenge: Sketch from Technostamper

Sympathy card:

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Tender Words
Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Black
Ink: Memento black, colored pencils
Accessories: Stampin' Up border punch and thin black ribbon, misc button

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The Easter card is for the Technostamper Sketch Challenge. Mary Jo provides the code for me to show you all the other entrants in the challenge - it becomes a blog hop!

He Is Risen!!

2012-02-09T07:46:00.001-07:00

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I just got a Stampin' Up order and HAD to find an excuse to use this beautiful stamp. I've stated many times that I am a cardmaker that needs a starting point - sketch, colors...something. So I found a sketch by one of my favorite cardmakers that she made for a new sketch challenge at Scrapbook Essentials BC. I cheated a little as I didn't add a sentiment at the bottom, but I like the focus that the sketch puts on the stamp...

What would be perfect on this card is little gold beads or pearls at the base of each scallop to beautifully frame the image. But my cards are for our church card ministry and the addition of 20+ beads on each of the four cards we make of this design becomes costly. I think that's part of the reason I tend toward simple cards - I am always watching the bottom line! (Of course, my husband regularly points out - and probably accurately - that if I gave the money to the church that I spent on my supply stash, they would make more than they do through the ministry. But what would be the fun in that!!?)

Here's a close-up of the touch of glitter that I added to the dove...

Stamps: Stampin' Up Easter Dove
Paper: white
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder (dots), Sizzix embossing folder (leaf), misc ribbon, detail gold embossing powder

I Spy PTI and Pinterest!

2012-02-08T11:06:00.000-07:00

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This is my second post today -

it's just a short scroll down for

Freshly Made Sketches!

A new sketch challenge - iSpy Challenges.

A big prize package - Papertrey Ink's 5th Anniversary.

And a new addiction for me - Pinterest - more on this later.

This week is the FIRST sketch from iSpy Sketches. Sketch challenges are my favorite so I had to give this one a try. Plus, when I decided to do a baby card - those three little bows across the bottom were a perfect fit!

This month is full of festivities for Papertrey Ink's fifth anniversary with HUGE prize packages. Today they are focused on colors and the prize includes all their buttons, all their felt, all their ribbons...oh my gosh!! Each of their designers gave their favorite color combos and I picked Erin's as it was a very different combo than I would normally use for a baby card!

Let me give you the facts of the card, then I am going to RAVE about Pinterest!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Hanging Out, Little Bitty Birds, Tiny Tags II (sentiment)
Paper: Papertrey Ink Simply Chartreuse, Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise Bitty Box Basics
Ink: Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist and Fresh Snow
Accessories: Papertrey Ink felt in Summer Sunrise and Pure Poppy, Papertrey dies: border die, bird die, hanging out die, Cuttlebug embossing folder, misc ribbon to match Summer Sunrise.

Now...on to my new addition...Pinterest.

I finally took the time to figure out what Pinterest was and I am now TOTALLY addicted. I'm sure it is different things to different people - but what it is to me is a place to store all the techniques, templates, card folds, coloring ideas, etc. etc. that I find online. That's really all it is - a place to store info that you find online with a focus on the picture.

So, I have been working my way through my hundreds of bookmarks for card ideas and have transferred about a hundred to Pinterest (with 100+ to go). If you click on the Pinterest button on my sidebar, you can see what I have there so far. I have a section for amazing effects with ink, for templates, for fancy folds, for dimensional projects, etc. Then...if you like what you see, you can click on the link and you go right to the website to get the instructions!! How cool is that!!!

My main focus is on the cards that require a tutorial or an extensive explanation - I store all the other cards that I love and find inspirational on my iPad. Having said that, I have pinned a few cards to My Favorites - those are just basic cards that I love. This section will grow but please realize, particularly if you know that I follow you, that I am not going to put many basic cards there as I have other places to store those.

Besides my stuff, there is a very active cardmaking community on Pinterest, and you will likely very quickly want to Re-Pin ideas onto your own board. That just means you love the idea and want to keep under your own section so you can find it later. Signing up for Pinterest is invite only - but just let me know and I will invite you.

If you are already a Pinterest user - I have tried to make life easier - and you will notice a Pin It button on my posts. I've been "user" for a few weeks now, but you should have seen my happy dance yesterday when I suddenly realized others have pinned my cards. I felt like I was having my 15 minutes of fame!!

Try it out...have fun...and I do hope you enjoy what I have pinned so far and will come back for more!

Freshly Made Sketches: Both Way Blossoms

2012-02-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

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I just recently come across the Stampin' Up set, Both Way Blossoms, hiding deep in my stash and when I find a "lost" set, I have to use it because there is some chance it has never been used before!!

Lucky for me, there are tall panels on this week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches...

This card did NOT come together easily. I started down a different color path. This is my first card...

Is anything totally wrong with the above card? Not necessarily. But as a personal preference, I am NOT a fan of Always Artichoke. It seems "dead". I tried an interesting embossing folder to give it some life - but it just didn't work. This card needed to be lightened up and given some life! To accomplish this...

Obviously, I used newer colors and gave it a much fresher look. This alone might have been enough.
The addition of a touch of black adds vibrancy to any color.
I like borders on my card. I see many other cardmakers make cards without borders and I LOVE their cards. But somehow, every time I try a card without a border it doesn't seem contained...it doesn't "end" and it bothers my eyes. A frame makes a huge difference and in this case, a black and white frame allowed me to use a fun gingham ribbon.

As a VERY bizarre side-note....every time I use Stampin' Up Whisper White cardstock, my photos look blurry. It's like the slight sheen on the cardstock affects my camera. I typically use Neenah Classic Crest and my photos are crisp and clean (I make cards in bulk and it's much cheaper to buy a ream from an office store). Has anybody else noticed this and is there anything I can do to fix it?

Stamps: Stampin' Up Both Way Blossoms, Well-Scripted
Paper: Stampin' Up Lucky Limeade, Poppy Parade
Ink: Stampin' Up Lucky Limeade, Poppy Parade
Accessories: May Arts gingham, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Spellbinders heart circle

Splitcoast Clean and Simple: Hearts

2012-02-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

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Today's Splitcoast CAS Challenge was simply "hearts".

I took them seriously and went for the plural...lots and lots of hearts!

Sweet 'n Sassy stamps has a Heart Die Set and when you get it all of the hearts are together. I suppose you could twist them apart - but I kept them together simply so I wouldn't lose the small ones. I'm so glad that I did because it worked so well for this card!

On my last post, I showed you a picture of the snow drift outside of my craft window - and while many of you commented on the snow - a number of you commented on the cute cat in the picture. So I had to show you the other "animals" in my zoo. These are my boys watching the Super Bowl and my other two pets watching the popcorn!

Stamps: computer generated
Paper: white, SU Real Red CS and dsp
Ink: none
Accessories: Sweet 'n Sassy Heart Die set

Happy Birthday Less Is More!!

2012-02-04T08:53:00.003-07:00

The fabulous challenges at Less Is More is now one year old! Happy Birthday! The challenges are always fantastic. The inspiration by Chrissie and Mandi is gorgeous and so very creative. But the best part is all of the participants - it's amazing how many different and fabulous cards come out of a simple challenge.

This week's challenge is a repeat of the very first challenge. It's a color challenge...aqua...

I knew instantly what I was going to do - I wanted to look through a "window" at these beautiful butterflies. It was an instant decision because here is what I am looking at out my real window...

That pile IS a snow drift!

Just Thursday night, I was whining during an online release party that schools were closing in advance of a blizzard and, at that time, there was no snow on the ground and it wasn't snowing. Well, it snowed...and it is still snowing. My area was on the low side for snow totals - only 16" - but lots of wind thus the drifts. There's a town closer to the mountains that got 50". Wow!!

At some point today, I need to try to get out of the house. We had church cardmaking on Thursday night (when it wasn't snowing). I always leave everything set up with all of my supplies because we gather again on Friday afternoon. Not this time. So a huge quantity of my supplies are the church - over half my ink (thank goodness, I had aqua here) and my Cuttlebug are what I am missing the most. (The window on today's card is actually the scrap left from a circle that I cut when I actually HAD my Cuttlebug!) My man/boys are going to be thrilled when they get up and I set them to shoveling so that I can get my cardmaking supplies!!

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Butterfly Flourish
Paper: white, SU Bermuda Bay
Ink: SU Pool Party, Bermuda Bay
Accessories: misc ribbon, white Scrapper's Floss, Martha Stewart butterfly punch

I {heart} You (with three hearts!)

2012-02-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

At last night's Sweet 'n Sassy release party, there was a challenge to make a love-themed card - and since it is the month of love, I HAD to play along!

I also wanted to play along with the Pals Paper Arts challenge to use reds. There are actually three different reds on those hearts but no matter how I adjusted my lighting, I just couldn't get a great photo.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy You, Polka Dot Silhouettes
Paper: black and white
Ink: SU Ruby Red, Real Red, Poppy Parade
Accessories: Sweet 'n Sassy heart dies, SU Red button, misc. gems colored with Copics, Cuttlebug embossing folder

Coral and Ruby Greenhouse Flowers

2012-02-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

This is my second post today -

it's just a short scroll down for the

Sweet 'n Sassy blog hop!

Two challenges/inspirations came together that caused me to pull out this Stampin' Up set - Greenhouse Garden. First, I saw Ann's card - such a lovely one layer card. Then the clean&simple sketch challenge perfectly fit the idea of three flowers! I went for one of my favorite color combo - sadly, now retired...

Stamps: Stampin' Up Greenhouse Garden, Papertrey Flower Fusion 6 (sentiment)
Paper: Stampin' Up Ruby Red dsp (retired)
Ink: Stampin' Up Cameo Coral and Ruby Red (both retired)
Accessories: Spica black glitter pen (dotted on the centers), misc gingam

It's Here! It's Blog Hop Day!!

2012-02-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps February New Release Blog Hop! This month's release is so exciting - it was even released a week early as a surprise! Get your warm beverage and tasty snack, and get ready for some amazing inspiration from the Design Divas!

I love this hop because I am surrounded by incredibly talented cardmakers and I love seeing what they have done (and I have the same stamps so I can CASE them all!!)

You probably came from Korin's blog but if you started with me, you should head back to the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog to start from the beginning.

I have two ENTIRELY different sets to show you today. The first is charming little Cocoa popping out of an Easter egg...

This set is called Egg-Cited Cocoa. I used Echo Park Dots & Stripes, also available in the store. And the heart die is also from Sweet 'n Sassy - the Hearts and Stars Scallop Border. (The layout is from a sketch found at Cardabilities.)

Then on an entirely different note...

It's the Rose Collage set and it is gorgeous. There are 16 different sentiment to go inside the banner so it is completely flexible. The two butterflies are on the main collage stamp - but there are also two separate stamps so it is easy to stamp and cut out. (The colors are from colourQ.)

Next...for your hopping pleasure...is Giovana. Have fun!

Be sure to make plans to join us for our new release party tonight; the fun takes place over in our member company forums on Splitcoaststampers. We'll have great fellowship with crafty friends, challenges, and a prize drawing! The excitement starts at 8:00 PM EST.

Now, take a look at what the other Design Divas have created to show off this amazing batch of February stamps:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog

Korin Sutherland

Kim Singdahlsen < - - You Are Here

Wendy Jordan (our February guest)

Taylor Usry

Don't forget, the entire February release is available in the store right now; you can order the stamps individually or at a discounted bundle price! Head over to get yours today!

The challenges that I used are:

Butterfly Flourish Thank You

2012-02-01T06:18:00.000-07:00

This is my second post today -

keep scrolling if you are looking for Freshly Made Sketches.

Today's Splitcoast Sketch Challenge is a fun one because it suggests making a pocket. It's been a long time since I have done a pocket, plus I have been eyeing a brand new set that I have on my desk - a beautiful butterfly flourish from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I thought that those butterflies would peek out perfectly!

The butterflies are embossed with a white sparkle embossing powder.

The sentiment is also a new set from Sweet 'n Sassy called "You" but my simple use of two of the words doesn't do the set justice. There are a variety of "you"s and "U"s to go with twelve coordinating sentiments - you can get an amazing variety of sentiments and looks from this set!

Tomorrow is the actual official release day for all of these new sets. I have two other sets - totally different from these - to show off in the release hop. Come back tomorrow for a little "egg-citement" and a beautiful rose!

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Butterfly Flourish and You
Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake CS and dsp, Marina Mist CS
Ink: Versamark, Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and Marina Mist
Accessories: Sweet 'n Sassy Lacey Eyelet Border Die, Stampin' Up Marina Mist Taffeta and Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Sparkle White Detail Embossing Powder (brand unknown), Sizzix Super Scallop Tag Die, gems colored with Copics

A Guest at Freshly Made Sketches

2012-02-01T03:00:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled and honored today to be a guest designer at Freshly Made Sketches AND I get to be part of their challenges for all of February!! They are the perfect challenge for me - they are looking for clean and fresh, but not necessarily simple. In their own words:

We are looking for clean-lined creations but unlike Clean and Simple challenges, we encourage lots of detail and embellishments as long as they maintain a "clean" look to your card.

And...I love the fact that if they highlight your card - you are a Princess or a Queen!! It's not often that a woman whose dream day is a day in oversize sweats with inky fingers and glitter in her eyebrows gets to be royalty!

For this week's sketch, I put together a Valentine for my 7-year old niece. (Hey SIL! Do NOT show this post to your daughter!)

This card is 3 1/4 x 6 1/4 which fits an envelope made by Stampin' Up. It's a fun and unique size with which to work.

This card was actually planned to be even cleaner than it is. I knew there was a Valentine in the Stampin' Up set Gift Givers but the set was stashed away in a room in which my son was napping. (He is 16 years old, but at 6'4" he needs his growing sleep!) I put the rest of the card together in advance. When I finally got the stamp, it was much smaller than I envisioned and got lost on this card. So I found my trusty Martha Stewart tags (they are called tags but are actually a variety of doilies) and dropped one behind the owl - suddenly, the focus is where it belongs!

Stamps: Stampin' Up Gift Givers, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Berry Bliss dsp
Ink: Memento Black, copics
Accessories: EK Success ribbon slot punch, Papertrey Hibiscus ribbon, Stampin' Up heart punch and scalloped heart sizzlit, misc heart gems, Martha Stewart tags (doilies)

I Didn't Remember "Island Indigo"!!

2012-01-31T08:27:00.003-07:00

I had no intention of playing any challenges today because it's a very, very busy day - but I made the mistake of peeking at the Splitcoast Color Challenge and it included Stampin' Up's Island Indigo. I stared at the challenge for quite awhile wondering what they meant by Island Indigo because I hadn't heard of it. I thought they always used Stampin' Up colors - but what was Island Indigo? This from a woman who owns every Stampin' Up cardstock and ink ever made back to those that retired 15 years ago. Well...I wandered to my desk and there it was - a whole package of Island Indigo cardstock and an ink pad. Where have I been? Where is my brain? It's gorgeous - and I have never had it out. So...the full focus of my card today is Island Indigo...

Stamps: Hero Arts Antique Flowers and Butterflies stamp and die set, Hero Arts Newsprint background, Gina K Framed Greetings sentiment
Paper: Stampin' Up Island Indigo, Pool Party
Ink: Memento black, copics*, Colorbox Frost White
Accessories: Paper Trey Doily Die, Stampin' Up Indigo ribbon

*see the side bar on my blog for a chart of Copics that match Stampin' Up colors

Merry Monday Shaker Cards

2012-01-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

I was thrilled that one of my favorite cardmakers started a Merry Monday Sketch Challenge to get us ahead on Christmas cards - unfortunately, she's on sketch #5 and I have only done one of the previous sketches. I always have great intentions but then the week gets away from me with other card needs. So this week, I decided to do it first thing Monday.

The sketch has a basic circle, so I thought I would put together my first ever shaker card. Sounded like a fun thing to do and then to take up to my cardmaking group this week to duplicate.

NOT fun.

So not fun, that I will likely never do a shaker card again.

It's generally quite easy and there are great tools out there to help (check out the Shaker Frame adhesive by Stampin' Up). The problem is static!! Did you know that if you google "static in shaker cards" you get 11 million hits!! And the solutions are all ugly. They all seem to involve old dryer sheets or Swiffer cloths, BUT...you not only have to de-static the little window, you should also pour the little glass beads into a cloth and "gently" roll them around until they are de-staticed also. Seriously!!??

My 16-year old had to come watch every time that I tried something else, because I would hold the supposedly static-free plastic window over the glass beads and they would come "alive" and leap into the air to stick to the plastic window.

Finally, I read someone's plea for help that said she was at a gathering and they made shaker cards using page protectors, but now she is home using the fancy clear cardstock and everything is sticking. Ding...ding...ding. Forget the fancy stuff - I ran down to my husband's office and stole a page protector. After I swore a few times when the stuff wouldn't punch and would barely cut with a nestability - it actually works!!

This is most definitely a case of expensive isn't better.

If anybody has had better luck or has advice, please let me know.

(Actually...don't let me know...I don't plan on doing these ever again.)

If you have read through that long saga - here's the card...

And I have only just realized that I was going to put three little white glitter dots in the bottom right corner to take the place of the sentiment in the sketch, but this card is most definitely DONE.

Stamps: Papertrey Ink tag-its #9
Paper: Stampin' Up Green Galore textured CS, Melon Mambo, My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas dsp
Ink: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo, Green Galore, Bermuda Bay, Papertrey Hawaiian Shores
Accessories: Martha Stewart doilies (the package calls them "tags"), Stampin' Up Mambo ribbon, Martha Stewart Glass Microbeads, Stampin' Up Shaker Frames, circle punches, page protector

LIM Sketch: Comfort on a Difficult Day

2012-01-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

This week's Less Is More challenge is a wonderful basic sketch. I love sketches and I particularly love basic sketches because it allows each participant to go in wildly different directions. I am looking forward to browsing their gallery this week to see the variety because what I have seen so far on some of my favorite blogs has been great!

I have spent the week working on sympathy cards for our church card ministry. I particularly like the beautiful sentiment on this card to complement the simple scene.

I very lightly sponged the colors onto the white panel and then used a variety of stamps from Stampin' Up's Serene Silhouettes to create the scene. As a final touch, I spritzed it with pearl glimmer mist. In the photos, it just looks a little blotchy but IRL it has a dreamy look to it.

I have a busy card week this week - it's cardmaking at church so I have to put together a whole bunch of kits, it's release week at Sweet 'n Sassy - blog hop and release party on Thursday! - and . . . I have a fun announcement on Wednesday! Be sure to check back!

Stamps: Stampin' Up Serene Silhouettes, Verve New Mercies (sentiment)
Paper: Stampin' Up Barely Banana, Basic Black, white
Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Sky, Pink Pirouette, Marigold Morning (light orange), black
Accessories: EK Success Border Punch, Tattered Angels Pearl Glimmer Mist, sponges

A CASual Friday Chocolate Cake

2012-01-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

Today's Splitcoast Free4All Challenge says that is is Chocolate Cake Day!! So they challenged us to use Chocolate Chip and Crumb Cake on a card. As much as I hate to do this on Chocolate Cake day, I really need to make sympathy cards for our church card ministry. I originally started out with Cherry as an accent on this card, but I just couldn't get rid of the mental picture of a cherry on top of a rich chocolate cake - so a sympathy card just wasn't happening. It worked much better for me when I switched to blue.

I also used the CAS-ual Friday sketch challenge. I knew that it was meant to be when I saw that this week's sponsor is Sweet 'n Sassy and I actually already had pulled out their set Elegant Blessings to use on a classic sympathy card.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Elegant Blessings
Paper: Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist
Ink: Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Stampin' Up embossing folder, Marina taffeta, antique brads, and scalloped border punch

LIM Cut It Out with ColourQ

2012-01-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Since last Saturday, when Less Is More announced a "Cut It Out" challenge (using a hole or aperture in your card), I've known what I wanted to do - but I am only just getting around to it now! In the meantime, the CAS-ual Friday Challenge that I wanted to pair it with - using ONLY black and white - has expired. I'm not going to get into their gallery - but if you haven't peeked - it's a fascinating gallery to look at.

Our church card ministry is always in need of sympathy cards, so I found a simple silhouette bird and used a die cut that resembled a bird cage.

Since I didn't make the black and white card in time, I decided to try to give the same card some color. This week's colourQ challenge has some of my favorites! (I really did use Olive ink - but after a dozen photo attempts - you are still seeing an entirely different!!)

Stamps: Stampabilities bird silhouette, Sweet 'n Sassy Peaceful Swans (sympathy sentiments), Verve Small Phrases (I thought of you)
Paper: white
Ink: black, Stampin' Up More Mustard, Old Olive, Crumb Cake
Accessories: twine, SU Button Bouquet button, gems colored with copics, Papertrey die

Pink and Celery with a Tag

2012-01-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

This morning's CAS Challenge at Splitcoast is to use Pink, Celery and White. I had just received a very large flower from Layers of Color - so I knew right away I wanted to tone-on-tone the flower. But I couldn't figure out what to do with a sentiment, until I remembered The Paper Players challenge which was CAS with a tag. I thought a tag tied to the flower stem might be a perfect simple touch.

FYI - everything at Layers of Color is clearanced at 50-75% off so this very large Cottage Rose stamp is only $7.

Stamps: Layers of Color Cottage Rose, Daisy Bucket sentiment
Paper: Stampin' Up Certainly Celery, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink
Ink: Stampin' Up Pretty in Pink
Accessories: The Twinery Honeydew baker's twine, Stampin' Up tag punches

The Cousins' Birthdays

2012-01-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Look at this handsome and very silly group of kids - my two boys and my brother's two girls.

They all have birthdays within two months of each other - so we got together for one big celebration this weekend! (The little one was actually laughing hysterically - although this particular photo looks like she is upset.)

The birthdays meant that I got to make two birthday cards for little girls. (It's such a joy to do that as my boys rarely care about the cards that I make for them.) Here's the card that I made for Karina who is turning 4. I used this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and I am also going to enter this at Crazy4Challenges (which seems a little unfair as their challenge is to make a child's birthday party and the challenge came out on the day that I already had two cards to make!!)

I haven't used the elephant very often and I got a little chuckle when it called my name for this card. It's for my 4-year old niece, Karina, who is a tiny itty-bitty little thing - she still fits into 2T clothes! But she is a whirlwind - constantly on the move, non-stop chatter - probably where all her energy goes!

I put this card together for my 7-year old niece, Natasha.

There is a story behind this simple little card. I was ecstatic recently when my sister-in-law told me that Natasha wanted to make cards just like "auntie Kim". So, I put together a package of cardmaking supplies for her birthday gift. This card was made in the style of the package I put together - I pre-cut a number of colors of background cardstock and I used a variety of border punches.

Check out her face after she stamps her first stamp!

And then see how proud she is to color it in!

And this happy auntie can now proudly present Natasha's card! Look at her creativity - she even drew in tree branches for the bird!

ELEPHANT CARD

Stamps: Stampin' Up Wild About You, Hero Arts Birthday Messages (balloon)
Paper: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo dsp, Lucky Limeade and Pumpkin CS
Ink: Stampin' Up Going Gray and Melon Mambo
Accessories: Martha Stewart flower punch, Stampin' Up Pumpkin grosgrain

OWL CARD

Stamps: Hero Arts owls, Studio G sentiment
Paper: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo
Ink: Memento black, copics
Accessories: Martha Stewart border punch, Smooch Pearlized Top Coat (on balloon)

ENJOY TODAY (Natasha's card!)

Stamps: Hero Arts Wonderful Birthday
Paper: Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise
Ink: Memento black, Tombow markers
Accessories: Martha Stewart border punch, Jolee's flower stickers, Smooch Pearlized Top Coat (on hat)

Very Special Butterflies

2012-01-19T06:53:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to experiment with this dimensional technique and I though these butterflies were perfect! So I created a swarm/rabble/lek of butterflies. (I looked those words up. Aren't those strange and harsh terms for this beautiful group of butterflies?)

It's so easy to create this very dimensional grouping. I've also seen it done with snowflakes which is absolutely lovely. Simply stamp with white ink and another color ink (I went for tone on tone.) Let it dry. Then white emboss the top layer. You get so much dimension for these simple steps!

This card is for a very special young lady. She's in fourth grade and for most of her life she has had to deal with the fact that her little sister has been through three full episodes of chemo. I have a card for her sister too, but I never want to forget what big sister is experiencing. The whole family could use your prayers as this time around is particularly intense.

I actually started out in a different direction for this group of butterflies...a single strip on a birthday card. But in the midst of putting that card together, I realized that the look of the butterflies was EXACTLY what I wanted for this little girl - cute, but not cutesy...and I wanted a bigger group of them for her. But I do like the first card so wanted to share it also.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Polka Dot Silhouettes, Love from Rhubarb (You are Special), Happy Birthdays
Paper: Papertrey Ink Hibiscus Burst, Stampin' Up Melon Mambo
Ink: Colorbox Frost White, Versamark, Papertrey Hibiscus Burst
Accessories: Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Stampin' Up punches: oval, scalloped oval, scalloped border, Papertrey Hibiscus ribbon, Baker's Twine from The Twinery, white embossing powder

Sympathy with Serene Silhouettes

2012-01-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

Last week, I said that I needed to focus on Sympathy cards for the church card racks and that you would be seeing lots of sympathy - some even commented that they were looking forward to the ideas - and then I haven't made one since. Sorry...

Here's my card for today's Splitcoast Sketch Challenge. I have never focused on sympathy cards to send to men, but this silhouette set was perfect for the card.

No frills or ribbon or bling - just a simple sympathy.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Serene Silhouettes, Papertrey sentiment
Paper: Stampin' Up Going Gray, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Stampin' Up Going Gray, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Tim Holtz embossing folder, Quickutz die

Copics 101 on Splitcoast

2012-01-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I did an entire post on Copic Tips and Hints (you can find the link at the top of my side bar). I was asked to do a tutorial in the Sweet 'n Sassy forum on Splitcoast Stampers. It's a subset of my first post and it has been modified to use Sweet 'n Sassy stamps - but if you want to peek - it's here.

This is the card that I used to demonstrate getting good coverage and shading. (NOTE: this is not a great photo - in enhancing colors, I also "enhanced" the lines in the various Copic shades - but I am having some strange and bizarre computer issues - been using my son's to upload - and he is asleep and his PC is locked - so cannot fix it!!)

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Love from Rhubarb
Paper: white
Ink: Memento Black and copics
Accessories: Sizzix embossing folder, various Nestabilities, Papertrey Hibiscus Burst ribbon, misc gems

Week 2 of Online Card Classes

2012-01-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Week 2 of Online Card Classes: Clean & Simple began with a video on a window card and a folded flower - it was gorgeous and I wanted to copy it exactly!! But I needed to put my own spin on it and decided to try it with cupcakes??!!

I am going to give myself 3 points for creativity - but then deduct 2 for execution!! I have a few issues with the card, but I like the concept enough that I am going to post it anyway.

First, even though I used a cupcake sentiment and cupcake embossing folder - I still don't think it is obvious that my embellishment are cupcakes. I have tried adding candles and/or cherries (too busy) and after that I ran out of ideas to make it more cupcake-like.

Second, the sample card from Online Card Classes usew a patterned paper with distinctly different colors on both sides - it added so much interest when the folded part was a splash of color and I miss that on my card.

I do thank Kristina for all of her tips and hints...templates, how to line it up, etc...and now I am going to go exactly CASE her beautiful card.

Stamps: Stampin' Up Create a Cupcake
Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake CS and dsp, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose dsp
Ink: Stampin' Up Early Espresso
Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, misc baker's twine and gem, Nestabilities Circle, Stampin' Up Cupcake Punch

Another Idea from Online Card Classes

2012-01-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

I am up to Day 3 of using the techniques and ideas from Online Card Classes. So far, there have been five days of samples and videos and two bonus days(!) so I am just a little behind. And now a new week is going to start...whew!

On Day 3, Jennifer talked about monochromatic cards and Tami shared a gatecard sample. I put the two together to get this...

I used pop dots on my popped flower, but Jennifer had a marvelous technique in which she cut the die cut in the card stock and then six more of the same die cut in white. She layered those all together to "pop" the diecut and in the end she had a wonderful white effect on the sides. Gorgeous! But I simply don't have the patience to cut and then adhere all of those layers.

My banner and sentiment treatment came right from the sample gatefold card (thanks Tami!)

Stamps: Hero Arts Sending You Love clear set
Paper: Stampin' Up Calypso Coral CS and dsp
Ink: black
Accessories: Papertrey Ink flower die cuts, Stampin' Up embossing folders and button embosslit

Merry Monday #2: Dimensional Tree

2012-01-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

I have to HURRY with this post, because my Denver Broncos, led by the national hero Tim Tebow, are already down a touchdown in the playoff game and the game just started. They NEED to me to get with my family and start cheering.

Lesley, who does amazing sketches, has started a Merry Monday challenge to get us focused each week on a Christmas card stash. It's the second sketch of the year. I missed #1 but I hope never to miss again because our church card group makes SO many Christmas cards, a headstart would be such a relief!

This is a fold that has been around for some time and I never quite seem to get a card put together with it - but I love taking unique things up to the church card group and I think they will enjoy it!

It's an easy little tree to create. Cut four squares - 1", 1 1/2", 2" and 2 1/2" (and you can keep going if you want). Do these folds on each of the squares...

Fold it in half with your patterned paper to the inside. Crease it and unfold it.

Fold it in half diagonally with your patterned paper to the outside (this is double-sided paper, but I am using the polka dots as my pattern. Crease it and unfold it.

Fold it in half diagonally the other way with your patterned paper to the outside. Crease it and unfold it.

With your folds, you will be able to easily push the sides into the middle...

...and when they are all the way pushed in, you have a triangle.

Lay the triangle in front of you, base towards to you. See the side that I have sticking up a little...

...fold it down so that the edges comes down the middle.

Then fold down the other side.

After you get all four sizes done - easily nest into each other to make a tree. In this picture, I have already nested the bottom three - can you see how the top one is going to just slide right in!

Here's the Merry Monday sketch for this week.

Oh no, the Denver Broncos are now down two touchdowns!!

This is my second post for today - so read on!!

Stamps: Stampin' Up Short and Sweet
Paper: Stampin' Up Old Olive, River Rock, Real Red, Dashing dsp (very old!)
Ink: Stampin' Up Old Olive
Accessories: Fiskars border punch, red gems, red baker's twine

With Sympathy...with help from Online Card Classes

2012-01-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

I am thoroughly enjoying this session of Online Card Classes - it's all about my favorites - Clean and Simple cards!!

I am a number of days behind on trying new techniques. This card is for Day 2, at which time we learned about visual triangles and using masking to create illusions of layers.

These particular stamps come with dies to cut each one out. I used plain paper to cut out a center with a Nestability. Then I used the die cuts for the flower and the butterfly to cut a mask. I taped each piece together and lined it up on my cardstock before I stamped the script.

As a final step - I used the Nestability as a stencil and drew around it with a white pen.

Stamps: Hero Arts Antique Flowers and Butterflies, Papertrey Round and Round (sentiment)
Paper: Stampin' Up So Saffron
Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Gray, So Saffron pen, Colorbox Frost White
Accessories: dies from the Hero Arts stamp set, Nestability, white pen

My Refuge and My Fortress

2012-01-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

We had out church cardmaking gathering last week and our cards racks are looking colorful and full!!! That is...except for sympathy cards...so you will be seeing quite a few sympathy cards from me over the next few weeks.

This morning, I decided to play along with the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge. It has a rectangular section that worked perfectly for this verse...

I had also just seen this week's colors at the Color Throwdown.

I started this card with a very different vision. I imagined that the colors would make a beautiful brayered or sponged scene behind the verse - a little rolling River Rock hill with a hint of Daffodil sunshine and a Soft blue Sky. A few weeks ago, I rearranged my desk and I put my box of dies on top of the desk and moved the box of brayers and sponges that had been on top of my desk...somewhere??!! You have to realize two things - I have a craft CORNER and ... the box is bright green. There aren't too many too many places that my box of brayers and sponges could be hiding. But they are definitely hiding. So I simplified my card and I am happy with the results.

Fun news: my jaunty little fruits card was a Top Pick at Stampin' Royalty.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Our Refuge and Serene Silhouettes
Paper: Stampin' Up Soft Suede, River Rock, Daffodil CS and dsp, Soft Sky dsp
Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Suede, Versamark Champagne Dazzle
Accessories: Martha Stewart butterfly punch, EK Success border punch

Baby Set for a Special Teacher

2012-01-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Online Card Classes began their two-week Clean & Simple class. I had taken their Holiday Boot Camp class in November and was so very impressed with the quality of their presentation, their unique ideas and all of the little tips and hints that I picked up - that I was absolutely thrilled when their current class is my favorite style - clean & simple!

The first class included three CAS layouts. The video gave tips such as including dimension for interest and a great idea for masking the middle of the card. I always learn something from their videos - even though I have been crafting for a decade.

My task this morning was to create a card and a gift for my children's beloved 6th grade teacher who is having a baby! (This is very special news since a little over a year ago, we had to send a sympathy card for the loss of their first baby.)

The sentiment treatment was taken from this BabiesRUs gift card. I used Stampin' Up's My Digital Studio to create the sentiment. It would be very easy to create with stamps - probably stamping off first to get just a light color that will blend - I simply don't have basic alphabet stamps.

I also used the same colors but a different layout to create a set of six Thank You cards for her use.

The dimension that they talked about in the card class is found in the butterflies. These are the two layouts that I used from Online Card classes.

Now I need to get the family up and off - but then I am going to settle in with the Day 2 cards and video and see what else I can play with today!!

Stamps: Savvy Stamps thank you
Paper: Stampin' Up Shimmer White, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Papertrey Ink New Leaf
Ink: Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Stampin' Up Border Punch, Pearls, Vanilla Taffeta, Beautiful Wings Embosslit (first card), Martha Stewart butterfly punch (thank you card)

Predominantly Purple with Die Cuts

2012-01-09T08:12:00.000-07:00

I have put together two challenges for this card - this morning's Clean & Simple Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers is to use die cuts. This week's Less Is More Challenge is to go Predominantly Purple. I'm feeling a little guilty about the second challenge as I went "Absolutely Amethyst". On the one hand, it's in the purple family. On the other hand, I never really use purples, but I do use amethyst - so not much challenge there!!

My inside is a cute stamp that says "Just sitting here thinking about you".

Stamps: Stampin' Up Every Little Bit
Paper: Stampin' Up Almost Amethyst CS and dsp
Ink: Memento black and copics
Accessories: Poppystamps (Memory Box) small window, Papertrey border, Stampin' Up embossing folder.

Bear Hugs are the Best!

2012-01-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

I still have one stamp set to show off from the new release at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I was browsing this morning's Splitcoast Inspiration Challenge which is not something I generally play along with (inspiration challenges are HARD) - then I stumbled on this Old Blue Owl Clock...

I really hate to say that this tired guy (who clearly had way TOO much fun last night) inspired me to make this darling bear card (Rhubarb is definitely NOT that kind of bear), but Rhubarb does have that sleepy kind of look. I thought the wing patterns would be fun to duplicate - a little greenery (in white) and I like my card!

I am most definitely not a fussy-cutter - you can see my carelessness in this photo - but I wanted you to see the fun dimension on this guy!

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Love from Rhubarb
Paper: Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise, Cool Caribbean, black
Ink: Memento black, copics
Accessories: Ek Success postage border punch, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Papertrey Woodgrain Impression plate, Espresso Dimension Pearls (eyes)

It's Sweet 'n Sassy Release Day!!

2012-01-05T06:02:00.000-07:00

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps has an amazing release planned for this month, and the Design Divas are so excited about it! Eight new clear stamp sets and three new sets of dies will be available in the store tonight. Make sure you've got a warm, tasty beverage and some donuts ready....you won't want to miss a bit of the inspiration we have for you today!

You have probably arrived here from Amber's blog, but if you did just happen to find me first - it's definitely worth starting at the beginning - the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog. There is an amazing variety of stamps in this release - and you are going to want to see them all!

My tidbit for you today are cards using the new Punny Fruits & Veggies set. I was absolutely charmed by the jaunty grins on these little guys. They called to me to dress them up and I knew they were the type of characters that could pull off polka dots and stripes and pinks and oranges!!

Don't they just make you smile??

Then I was having so much fun polka-dotting and striping and smiling at these little guys - I had to dress up "hot stuff" too!!! He even got a little extra shine from Glossy Accents!

Next on the hop is Holly McMillen. Enjoy your morning and be sure to come back tonight!

And now take a look at the rest of the Design Divas (and our very special January guest)...they've all whipped up some gorgeousness today!

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog

Kim Singdahlsen - you are here!

We hope you can make plans to join us tonight in our Member Company forums over on Splitcoaststampers. We're having a Release Party, and it is full of great activities, stamp set reveals, and fun with friends! All of the partying will take place in our Release Party forum, so be sure to bookmark it! Hope to see you there!

(I did get inspiration for the first card from this week's Stampin' Royalty sketch challenge.)

A Freshly Made Throwdown: Birthday Buttons

2012-01-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

I combined two challenges today - the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the colors from Color Throwdown to come up with this masculine birthday card.

The edges are inked just by rubbing along a black ink pad. You never really notice this quick extra step until you have compared cards side by side - I took some before and afters on this post. That quick rub just gives it a little bit of a shadow and that little extra dimension.

I made the circle and square buttons out of two different dsps and then coated them with glossy accents.

It's my oldest son's 16 birthday!! I had planned to make something funny or sarcastic but just couldn't come up with anything in my collection. So when I saw these challenges, I thought I would go for something a little more grown-up. (I can actually enjoy his birthday because he hasn't completed all the requirements to get his driver's license so I don't have to panic because he is off on his own!)

Stamps: Papertrey Round & Round (sentiment), Background Basics: Circles
Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Gray (the circles) and Basic Black (the sentiment)
Paper: Stampin' Up Basic Gray CS and dsp, Real Red CS and dsp, Basic Black dsp
Accessories: Misc circle and square punches, misc star button, crochet thread

CAS: Beverages and Babies!

2012-01-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I thought that I would start out my new year with a clean and simple challenge because they are my FAVE!! Today's Splitcoast Stampers CAS challenge was beverages! I had recently unearthed my box of small embossing folders and was thrilled to find these champagne glasses.

Then I liked the card so much, I went digging into the same box and found folders for baby cards!

(I apologize for the shadows on these cards. I find that if I keep them shadowed, you can more easily see the embossed details. I have not mastered the art of bright, unshadowed pictures with clear embossed details.)

For the Newlyweds

Stamps: Stampin' Up Teeny Tiny Wishes, Glitz Designs script
Paper: black, white, Papertrey Fine Linen
Ink: black, Tim Holtz Antique Paper Distress Ink
Accessories: Cuttlebug folder, Nestabilities Scalloped Rectangle, Just Rite label die

Baby Girl

Stamps: A Muse sentiment
Paper: Stampin' Up Pretty in Pink, white
Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Gray
Accessories: Cuttlebug folder, Stampin' Up ribbons and embossing folder, small corner rounder

Sweet Pea

Stamps: Savvy circle background (it's actually a square of circles - I just stamped it on both sides of the image to stretch it out)
Paper: black, white, Stampin' Up Pear Pizzazz
Ink: black
Accessories: Cuttlebug folder, Stampin' Up gingham, basic hole punch

Thank You with Wildflowers

2011-12-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

I hope that everyone had a festive, magical and worshipful Christmas!!

It's a season full of generous acts, wonderful gatherings of family and presents, and special gifts - so for my post today, I wanted to say "Thank You" to all of my friends and family and even the strangers with a ready smile and a kind word.

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Wildflowers, Beauty in the Sea (sentiment)
Paper: Stampin' Up Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, K&Co Julianne dsp
Ink: Stampin' Up Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Poppy Parade, Tim Holtz Old Paper Distress Ink
Accessories: Nestabilities label, Stampin' Up Artichoke seam binding, Mr. Huey's Calico Shine mist, misc pearls

Merry Christmas To All

2011-12-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

Less Is More: One Word and One Word Only!!

2011-12-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

This week's challenge at the Less Is More blog is to use Just One Word. You can decorate around it - but only one word. I HAD to play because I just received a Papertrey Ink order that included their Wonderful Words dies.

If you look closely - the word is cut into the white cardstock and then the piece is backed with the pomegranate. The problem with this is that I had to use tiny tweezers and a glue pen to stick all the center pieces of the letters. It made this card slightly less than truly simple. We will be doing this at our church card group in January and my plan is to cut the word out of the pomegranate CS and glue it to the white - completely avoiding the hassle. I don't think it would make a significant difference, do you?

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Heart Prints
Paper: Stampin' Up Purely Pomegranate, Rose Romance (both retired)
Ink: Stampin' Up Rose Romance
Accessories: Papertrey Wonderful Words die, Martha Stewart heart punch, Stampin' Up Pretty in Pink Gingham

i{heart}2stamp: Unselfishness

2011-12-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

I have been playing along with Jen's i{heart}sketches all year long and this is my card for the final sketch.

I normally follow sketches almost exactly. I know they are supposed to be an inspiration and we are to use our creativity, but I find it more of a challenge to come up with ideas to make the exact sketch work. But I broke my own "rules" this week - I flipped the sketch sideways, I used a standard sized card instead of a square and the three circles became three clouds!

The stamp is from Eat Cake Graphics. Years ago, I made a Christmas card for our church card rack - the image on the card was so popular that I have had people request cards with this image every year since. If you want a good chuckle to start your day - check this out! (BTW - this image and other popular Eat Cake Graphics images are also available in quilt patterns. That's one hobby I refuse to even try because I seem to fall in love with EVERYTHING I try and I have enough card supplies, knitting yarn and patterns, and...going back in time...cross stitch floss, cloth and patterns to last a dozen lifetimes!)

By following along with Jen's sketches all year, I am eligible for a prize package - but to qualify, I need to list all of my previous posts here. If you are a follower, you have seen all of these before - but I need to show Jen that I did it!! Fingers crossed!!

January: With Love From Me to You
February: B is for Birthday
March: Asian Artistry
April: Field Birds AND You're a Star
May: Bird Cage in Brights
June: Hang in There
July: Colorful Kite
August: A Nostalgic Halloween
September: Musical Bird
October: Winter Owls
November: Snowman with Copics

For today's card:

Stamps: Eat Cake Graphics, Hero Arts Envelope Background (cloud pattern), sentiment is a part of a stamp from Stampin' Up's Very Punny
Paper: Stampin' Up Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight CS and dsp, Lucky Limeade
Ink: Colorbox Frost White, Memento black, Copics

Accessories: Papertrey Ink Cloud Dies, Nestabilities circle and zigzag circle, Martha Stewart grass border, Stampin' Up Baja ribbon and Round Tab Punch

Check out this post for Copic tips and hints

Let Go & Let God

2011-12-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

I was pawing through my supplies looking for something entirely different when I came up with this stamp and it spoke to me. I have had a very difficult time this year letting go of my own expectations of my life.

I have an unemployed husband (but no worries, we are in MUCH better shape than so many others in this situation - I am just tired of having him around the house!!).
My oldest son is now home being home-schooled (a blessing - but I am already tired of having him around the house too!!)
I'm heading back to school to freshen my credentials to find employment so I can get out of the house since everybody else seems to be here!! (I did have a career prior to a family, but it's been 12 years)

I had definitely envisioned a more stable and relaxed life. (Of course, I had also envisioned myself 30 pounds lighter - but I am working on that!)

Life really isn't bad...I have my God by my side and I know with all my heart that He has a plan for me. But I do have to be reminded of that once in awhile - even if it is by a rubber stamp!!

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Let Go, Let God and Serene Silhouettes
Paper: Stampin' Up Groovy Guava, Early Espresso, Afternoon Tea dsp
Ink: Stampin' Up Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi and Early Espresso
Accessories: Nestabilities Circle and Scalloped Circle, Martha Stewart ribbon

LIM: Variations on a Theme

2011-12-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

The Less Is More challenge for this week is a theme challenge - music - and I decided to do Variations on a Theme (tee-hee). How could I not do a music challenge given my living room has been converted to a music room to hold the piano, the organ, the saxophone, the clarinet, the trumpet, the snare drum, the hammered dulcimer, the bowed psaltery, the accordian (really!), and a myriad of records, penny whistles, harmonicas, etc.

I started out with the Stampin' Up Music Notes border. (NOTE: I only have it digitally - so this may not be the size that it is in real rubber!) First, I added the bird from Four Frames.

I had extra music note border pieces printed out and I still needed a couple of Christmas cards, so I went very clean, simple, yet regal for this card.

And I still had a border piece left so I prepared ahead with a card for my teenage saxophonist. I'm sure he will have a concert in the near future for which I will need a congratulatory card!

Isn't it just a wonderful season for music??? I have multiple Christmas playlists on my iPod and I just had one of my children who wanted to earn some cash go through all of my Christmas music, find all of it that was between 115 and 125 beats/minute and create a new playlist that I can use this walk to go on brisk walks!! Of course, I have been busy this morning with this challenge and with finally addressing and stamping and signing all of my Christmas cards - so haven't walked yet! But I am ready to go now!!

Stamps: Stampin' Up Four Frames, Jazzed Up, Verve Winter Wonder (Joy to the World)
Paper: black, white, Stampin' Up Marina Mist, Rich Razzleberry, Best Creations Gold Glimmer
Ink: black, Delicata Golden Glitz, copics
Accessories: Stampin' Up Label Punch, Scalloped Circle Punch, various circle punches (to do the "halo"), nestabilities rectangle and scalloped rectangle

Love Notes from Cocoa

2011-12-15T06:05:00.000-07:00

Sweet 'n Sassy is celebrating Cocoa Mouse with a blog hop!! If you are following along - you should have come from Bridget's blog. If you just happened on my blog and want to see lots more Cocoa cards, click back to the beginning - the Sweet 'n Sassy blog - to enjoy them all!

As I was looking through my Cocoa stash and trying to decide what type of card to make - I realized that as much as I love Christmas cards - I am really tired of red, green, gold and glitter! So I pulled out Love From Cocoa and made a very clean and simple card with all the sweetness of Cocoa!

The Lacey Border Die is also a Sweet 'n Sassy product - isn't it a great accent??!

Behind Cocoa is a fun look that utilizes Nestabilities - cut a scallop circle and an inverted scallop circle (a different set of dies) - they layer together for this fun "beaded" look.

To add to the blog hop excitement - we want YOU to hop along with us! All you have to do is make a card or project with Cocoa Mouse and add your direct link on any of our blogs - and it will show up on all of them!! (Linky tool is at bottom). One participant (drawn at random) will win their choice of ONE free Cocoa Mouse clear stamp set or FOUR free Cocoa Mouse digis. You have until Saturday, December 17 at 11:30 p.m. EST to add your link.

And even more excitement - during the month of December we really are Crazy 4 Cocoa. The entire line of Cocoa Mouse clear stamp sets and digi images are 10% off!

I have had so much fun this month playing with Cocoa Mouse images. I hope you are having a wonderful time on our hop and getting lots of new ideas. Next on our hop is Harriet.

Here is the whole list of design team members hopping along today:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

Korin Sutherland

Bridget Finlay

Kim Singdahlsen <----YOU ARE HERE!

Harriet Skelly

Jessica Fick

Kim O'Connell
Sandy Domelle

Monika Davis

Carol Longacre
Ceal Pritchett

Gifts for Friends, Teachers, Pastors...

2011-12-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

My wonderful family sat around yesterday running the Cuttlebug (my teenager actually got a Cuttlebug injury!!) and rounding corners (it will be interesting to see if my husband can use his thumb after punching 720 corners!!) while I stamped. The goal was to complete gift packages for all of those special people in our lives - teachers, pastors, friends, etc.

Of course, we had to keep it clean and simple to finish it all, so here is a set of 4 birthday cards that we will be giving to all of those important people.

The cards took so long, that I didn't have much time to come up with fancy packaging, so I got clear boxes from a paper supply store, used my computer for the sentiment and a variety of dies to create a little tag.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Happy Birthdays (all in one handy set!), Stampin' Up Posy Punch and Triple Treat Flower
Paper: Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler, Summer Sun, Old Olive, Baja Breeze
Ink: ditto
Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, Stampin' Up flower punch and Sweet Buttons Sizzlit, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Marvy Uchida button punch, Papertrey Ink tag and holly dies, misc gingham ribbon, black gems and crochet thread

Deck the Halls with Taylored Expressions

2011-12-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

Amongst many other fabulous products, Taylored Expressions has a wonderful series of wreaths for all seasons (plus die) and banners (plus dies). I recently got the Christmas set and now I am crossing my fingers for a sale for the holidays because I want the rest of them. So very sweet and detailed enough to make very interesting cards!

I used the classic Christmas colors from today's Splitcoast Color Challenge: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke.

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Wreaths of Joy, Banner Holidays, It's a Banner Day 1
Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke
Ink: Memento Black, copics, Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, Taylored Expressions wreath and banner die, SU Cherry Cobbler seam binding, Nestabilities, Glossy Accents, Gold Stickles

Chilling Out with Snow and Humor

2011-12-12T07:36:00.000-07:00

This is my second post today.

The first post has tips and hints on glittering.

The Splitcoast Clean and Simple challenge was to Chill Out! I am definitely feeling the need to chill so I did it on my card in two ways - a lot of snow, and a surprising and fun sentiment!

Do you like that pretty scene?? Check out what is hiding behind the door!!

(I'm trying really hard to get past the grammatical error in the sentiment. The way that this is written, it is comparing your lawn with your actual neighbors - the older gentlemen, the family, the annoying teenagers - it says those people look like your lawn!! A simple apostrophe in neighbors and it will accurately compare lawn to lawn. I'm going to try to draw one in but I wanted a photo before I flubbed my apostrophe!)

My first post today gave a step by step tutorial on glittering. I used that method to do the lawn and the trees. But to do the blue edges, I didn't want to waste glitter on the entire sheet. In this case, a 2-way glue pen is perfect. It's very easy to draw a line of glue down the edge. (These glue pens must have ridges or something because they "grip" onto the edge and keep everything straight.) Then just dip your edge into your Tupperware of glitter (see previous post).

Stamps: The Stampin' Place sentiment, unknown snowflakes
Paper: Stampin' Up Baja Breeze
Ink: Stampin' Up Baja Breeze, Basic Gray
Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter, Stampin' Up window Sizzix die, Emaginations tree punch

Glitter, Glitter Everywhere!!

2011-12-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

I promised every one yesterday that I would do a post on glittering. Some of you got a little excited and then I started getting embarassed, because my tips are SO basic and easy. I had to remind myself that that's what I love to do on my blog!

A year or so ago, I was with three very experienced cardmakers and we were watching one of them do something very basic but in a way that was new to all of us - and the rest of us just shook our heads and said "why didn't I think of that"? That moment made me aware of the fact that we often get so focused on new tools and techniques that sometimes we overlook the basics. So here are my basics of glittering.

Here's the card...

First, I am at heart a clean and simple cardmaker - so easy is ALWAYS better. I almost never glitter small, detailed parts of the image. I typically glitter the entire image panel or, at most, a large portion of the image. This keeps it simple.

Second, get a large bottle of glitter (see recipe at bottom). Then dump your bottle into a flat, square Tupperware. I don't know about you, but I spent a lot of years carefully sprinking glitter onto my image, then tapping it off onto a scrap paper, then using that scrap paper to funnel the glitter back into the bottle. Putting it in a Tupperware makes it so much easier! My Tupperware stays full of glitter year round!

Third, pull out your create-a-sticker machine. I know many, many crafters have this sticker-making machine, but few of us actually use it. Mine is only ever used for glittering, but it's an inexpensive machine and so worth it for this process!

The steps are simple....

Put your image (or in this case, my patterned paper) through the Xyron UPSIDE-DOWN so the sticky ends up on the top surface.

Roll it through the machine and it comes out face-down on the paper. (This is terrible paper to demonstrate with because there is pattern on both sides. I am glittering the polka-dot pattern which is on the other side.)

Peel it off and dump it in your Tupperware of glitter and you have a totally glittered square of paper!

I also glittered the ornament on the Cocoa image. Larger portions of an image are also quite easy to do using the same techniques. All you have to do is create a reverse mask.

Put your masked image, face-down, through the Xyron.

Peel off the mask and dump the image into your Tupperware of glitter.

As with all basic techniques some of you have been doing this all along. Some of you may have even easier ways of doing it. But some of you just had a light bulb come on. I know that I did the first time that I saw glitter in a Tupperware!!

I hope you all can find time these last few busy holiday weeks to get good and glittery!!!

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy A Cocoa Kind of Christmas
Paper: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo dsp and CS, Lucky Limeade dsp and CS, Tempting Turquoise dsp
Ink: copics
Accessories: silver "pearls" from Michaels, Nestabilities Oval and Lacey Oval, Stampin' Up embossing folder, Creative Impressions snowflake brads, misc white grosgrain and silver cord, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter (4.5 oz. bottle - it's big!), Xyron 2.5" create-a-sticker machine
Challenges:

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge:

Just Add Ink: (My apologies to the Just Add Ink ladies if you have to remove my link. JAI has a strict no advertising policy. I re-read their rules and it says you can't LINK to a product so I made sure not to link anything. But I did obviously mention a couple of product so I totally understand if you have to remove my card. However, I was so inspired by the colors and the silver balls in your photo that I definitely wanted to mention the challenge!)

Freshly Made Sketches: Merry Snowflake!

2011-12-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

I was playing at a girlfriend's house yesterday...she has more Stampin' Up stuff than I do!! (But I have her beat on every other brand of stamps.) I had Serene Snowflakes out and found some paper scraps in her stash. It all seemed perfect for this week's Freshly Made Sketch.

I go through SO much glitter during the holidays...I LOVE "frosting" image panels. I do have a post written and scheduled for tomorrow that shows a very simple way of doing this.

Stamps: Stampin' Up Serene Snowflakes, Tiny Tags
Paper: Stampin' Up Real Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, SU dsp
Ink: Stampin' Up Real Red
Accessories: Stampin' Up Old Olive Taffeta, Emaginations Snowflake punch, SU Jewelry Tag, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter

CAS-ual Misting: Heartfelt Sympathy

2011-12-10T16:47:00.000-07:00

When this week's CAS-ual Friday challenge came up as using mist, I laughed. I don't do mist. I TRY to do mist. But it's just too uncontrolled and random for me.

Unfortunately for me, right after I laughed, an image popped into my mind. I need sympathy cards for our church card racks and I imagined a silhouette flower with a mist making it hazy. I saw a gray card with a white mist - after 4 or 5 failed attempts - I changed to the colors in my current card. (And I'm not even going to tell you how many times I stamped and then didn't like the misting!!)

The above picture really doesn't do it justice. The cardstock is Papertrey Ink's Fine Linen which is fast becoming one of my go-to neutrals. It can be used like a kraft but it's got a warmer tone to it (less gray than this picture looks). So it seemed natural to use a golden mist.

And once again, I have to say, this is why I love challenges. My mist NEVER comes out - but I am very happy with this particular card!

Stamps: Stampin' Up Just Believe, Close As a Memory
Ink: Black
Paper: Papertrey Ink Fine Linen, Black
Accessories: misc gold balls, Tattered Angels Gold Glimer Mist

Sharing a Cup of Tea

2011-12-07T06:36:00.000-07:00

I love the idea of slowing down for awhile during this holiday season and sharing a cup of tea with a friend. However, that friend would definitely not be a mouse!! Not even the darling Cocoa Mouse!

My plan for this card is to include a tea bag and to invite a friend for a small break from the holiday madness!!

I used this week's color challenge at Splitcoast: Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi and Real Red. And I used the The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge.

Cocoa Mouse is this month's focus at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps - the whole line is 10% off through December!! Cocoa has stamps for holidays, seasons, birthdays, summer vacations and more! I have some Valentine Cocoa stamps that I will be sharing next week!

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Tea Time Cocoa
Paper: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Candy Cane dsp, Red Glimmer CS
Ink: Memento black, copics
Accessories: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla Taffeta, Spellbinders circle and oval, EK Success Border Punch, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter

Twine, Unique Colors and a Gift Sketch

2011-12-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

I generally don't put more than a couple of challenges together - I'm just not talented enough to see which ones work well together! But today, I saw the CAS Challenge at Splitcoast (use twine) and I remembered the Stamping 411 Sketch which looked like a gift. Then, as I was scrounging through my Christmas papers for a center panel for the gift sketch, I came across a pack of paper from Stampin' Up then I had not even opened - probably because it had very nontraditional colors - just like was required by this week's Paper Players Challenge!

Stamps: Stampin' Up Just Beclause
Paper: Stampin' Up Blushing Bride, Candy Cane Christmas dsp
Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Gray, copics
Accessories: misc baker's twine, Stampin' Up Oval Punch

Freshly Made and colourQ: Reindeer and Ornaments

2011-12-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

I like to play along with Freshly Made Sketches as often as possible. They have a requirement that the card be "clean" - not necessarily simple - and that is exactly my style.

With this week's sketch, I pictured Christmas ornaments. Then I decided to go a unique direction and pair it withe blues in this week's colourQ challenge.

That's when things started getting out of control!! Wouldn't the background look nice with some white, sparkly spritz. Then I should sponge the edges. Then I needed to add some glitter to the top of each ornament because of the snow. And pretty soon this card was out of my personal definition of "clean"! But I LOVE it - it's one of my favorite Christmas cards this year.

I spritzed it with Mr. Huey's sprays - both Calico White and Calico Shine.

Here's the sketch....

Here's the colors...

So I decided that I wouldn't be posting that card for Freshly Made and I had to make another. I'm going to show you both of them in this post so you can see how wildly different cards can be made with the same sketch. (I recently read a blog post...not one of my faithful followers/commenters so no one take offense...that stated how much she hated sketch challenges because they were so limiting.) Limiting??!! Check out this card and see how "limited" that I was...

An entirely different look, isn't it??

The reindeer is from an old Stampin' Up set called Holiday Sampler. I found it when I was rummaging around for a sentiment for the first card - it was literally dusty!! So I simply had to use it.

I ran a glue pen around the edge of each piece and dipped it glitter for a subtle shine.

Of course, any one who dislikes sketch challenges is obviously wrong...but it's OK that I really dislike inspiration challenges!!

THREE ORNAMENTS:

Stamps: Stampin' Up Oh My Word (ornament), Season of Joy (sentiment)
Paper: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Marina Mist
Ink: Stampin' Up Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Sahara Sand, Colorbox Frost White
Accessories: Mr. Huey Calico White and Calico Shine, Martha Stewart snowflake border punch, Stampin' Up Marina Mist Taffeta, sparkly twine and Decorative Ornament Punch (just the top)

RUDOLPH AND HIS PALS:

Stamps: Stampin' Up Holiday Sampler, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Stampin' Up Garden Green, Frostwood Lodge dsp, Red Glitter Paper
Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Stampin' Up Cherry Twine, Garden Green Grosgrain, Oval punch, border punch, label and modern label punch, Cuttlebug snowflake folder

A Techno Play Date!!

2011-12-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

Sadly, I need sympathy cards for our church card ministry. I was browsing challenges and saw soft colors at Play Date Cafe. I paired it with the sketch at Technostamper.

These are so not colors that I would have put together, but I love how soft and gentle they are.

As I was looking through embossing folders for the first card, I found a butterfly folder that I had not yet used and thought it would look great with these colors. It seemed a little "cheerful" for sympathy so I made it Get Well.

I also had to share some pictures of a fun moment from yesterday. We have some very cold, snowy weather. My oldest is in charge of taking the garbage out to the corner (which when you have 5 acres is quite a haul). He had forgotten to take it out last week so we had piles. With his new learner's permit for driving, he decided he would load up the back of the car with trash bags and drive them out. Made sense to us. Somehow this is what happened...

Front end in the ditch!! The truly inexplicable part of this is that our driveway is about 20 yards to the left of where he is, so it's not like he shot out of the driveway too fast and ended up in the ditch??!!

Then he had to come get Dad to help him. Can you imagine how mortified he was to come tell Dad? Of course, I grabbed my camera. Andrew is actually walking from our driveway in this picture, so you can see how odd it was that the car is in the ditch almost by the neighbors house??!!

It turns out that after he unloaded the trash, he tried to U-turn so he didn't have to back down the driveway. You can tell that the road is very icy - so he just slid right off!

Scott just pulled forward a little bit for traction and it came right out! But it sure is going to be fun teasing Andrew about this over the years. (And clearly we have to teach some snow driving!)

We are going to head up to our mountain place a little later today so I won't be back until Monday. We are thrilled because the forecasted high in the mountains is 12F and the low is -9F. We are a strange family that that excites us, aren't we??

Stamps: Stampin' Up Kindness Matters (butterfly), Perfectly Penned (Get Well), All That Scraps Sympathy Sentiments
Paper: Stampin' Wisteria Wonder, Groovy Guava, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Ink: Stampin' Up Wisteria Wonder, Groovy Guava, Soft Suede
Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing (leaves), Darice embossing (butterflies), Stampin' Up embossing, (stripes on fence), Stampin' Up Scallop border punch, Nestabilities oval and scalloped oval, My Favorite Things die (leaf), misc pearls and gems colored with Copics

Technostamper is the fun challenge that lets me show you all the other entrants. Remember, you have to go the blog if you want to enter yourself.

Splitcoast Sketch and a Sweet Chickadee

2011-11-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

Every time that I pull out this sweet chickadee, I walk away with a smile on my face!!

Check out the "frost" on the berries. And can you see the glossy accent on his eye!

Here's today's Splitcoast Sketch Challenge.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy God's Purpose
Paper: Stampin' Up Creamy Caramel, Real Red, Silver Glimmer, Echo Park Dots and Stripes (the Sweet 'n Sassy online store carries the Dots and Stripes series)
Ink: Memento black, copics
Accessories: Nestabilities Fleur de Lis Square, Cuttlebug embossing folder (the actual folder is just a sprig of holly but I moved it around on the paper to fully cover), Stampin' Up Red Taffeta, Ranger Glossy Accents.

SCS Color Challenge: My Faves

2011-11-29T08:46:00.000-07:00

I had sworn that I would not make any cards today - at least until my craft area was clean - which could easily take the hours that I have to create! But I saw the color challenge at Splitcoast and couldn't help myself: Krafty White Pizzazz. Kraft is so natural and Pear Pizzazz is so soft and White is so clean!
I combined the colors with this week's Fall to Layout to create this little scene.

Stamps: Stampin' Up Pennant Parade, A Muse sentiment
Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, white, Silver Glimmer
Ink: Stampin' Up Pear Pizzazz, ColorBox Frost White
Accessories: misc circle, scalloped circle and star punches, oval nestie (to cut the snowy hill), Stampin' Up Embossing Folder, American Craft ribbon, Making Memories bird brad,

Clean & Simple Up and Away Rudolph!

2011-11-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

The sketch for today's Splitcoast CAS challenge is wonderfully flexible. The sample card is rustic and as I browse the gallery I see teddy bears and snowflakes and cute little dogs!! I went for Rudolph taking off into the snowy sky!

This is my second post for today so keep reading!!!

Stamps: Hero Arts Reindeer Stamp & Die-Cut set, Papertrey Signature Greetings
Paper: misc green and white, Stampin' Up Silver Glimmer Paper
Ink: Stampin' Up Real Red, Memento Black and Copics
Accessories: Nestabilities Scalloped Squares, Cuttlebug border snowflake folder, jingle bells, red rhinestone noses and silver twine

Freshly Made Wildflower and Thanks

2011-11-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone! I hope that all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving had a wonderful and relaxed holidays! I found myself within enough time to really think about everyone for whom I was grateful and I made sure that I called and/or made cards for them.

This card is for a particular friend who has recently gone so far above and beyond for me. I asked her to simply "point me in a direction" and she made phone calls, did research and gathered materials! Her own cards tend toward vintage collage. I don't have the talent nor the supplies for that style, so I tried to base the card in my own fairly simple style but by adding a text background and some sponging on the edges, I think it takes on a vintage look.

I added a little golden shimmer on the main image and the red panel and the flower centers use a sticker that is full of glitter!

I used this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Wildflowers, Stampin' Up Tiny Tags
Paper: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla, Black, Cherry Cobbler, First Edition dsp
Ink: Stampin' Up Markers in Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Sweet 'n Sassy Lacey Eyelet Border die, Stampin' Up Artichoke Grosgrain and Tiny Tags punch, Tattered Angels Gold Glimmer Mist, Mark Richards Candy Bonbon Stickers

Less Is More: A Bit of Bling

2011-11-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

Less Is More is SUCH a great challenge. Mandi and Chrissie, the hosts, are full of fun ideas and their inspiration cards are always amazing. But, even more amazing, are the entrants each week. If you are ever stuck for clean and simple ideas - just pick any week and browse for awhile. I am guessing that this week will be a particularly full week of entrants as the theme is...

A BIT OF

...and who doesn't like bling!!

Check out the shine on this tree!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Stylish Sentiments: Holidays, Bitty Background Basics
Paper: white
Ink: Delicata Golden Glitz
Accessories: Best Creations Red Glimmer Cardstock, Papertrey Merry & Bright dies (I don't have the coordinating stamp set but used the Bitty Backgrounds to add the patterns), misc ribbon

Papertrey November Blog Hop: Warmth & Joy

2011-11-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. My husband did all of the cooking (he doesn't even let anybody in the kitchen!); my brother and his family joined us; we all ate too much and we all played* too much. Besides the food, the highlight was viewing the photos that my brother had taken on a recent trip to Israel. Amazingly, he stood in exact places named in the Bible as sites of Jesus' miracles!

A side story...we gave my brother his birthday card which included a wolf image. Before opening it, he held it to his head (imagine Johnny Carson as Carnac), thought awhile and said "it's a wolf". My jaw dropped. It turns out they read my blog on a regular basis and I had posted it early!!! Lesson learned...you never know who reads the blog!

Today, I am playing along with Papertrey Ink's November Blog Hop.

The inspiration photo for today's blog hop is a dream - I wish my home could look like that. Unfortunately, I am married to a man who prefers a minimalist look to Christmas and my boys couldn't care less as long as there are presents! But I love the photo because it is heavily decorated by still so fresh and natural. I was inspired by the clean look of the photo, the warmth of the wood, the greenery and the dangling skates.

I used multiple Papertrey sets on this card. The sentiment is from Stylish Sentiments: Holiday. The pine boughs are from Bells & Boughs. The ornaments are from Tiny Tags and the coordinating die set. I used Bitty Background Basics to add the pattern on the white and gold ornament.

Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Paper: Papertrey Pinefeather, Pure Poppy
Ink: Delicata Golden Glitz and ink to coordinate with Papertrey Pure Poppy and Pinefeather
Accessories: Papertrey Cane Print Impression Plate, misc ribbon

*How did we define "playing" yesterday??
With the turkey tryptophan sleepiness and given many of us had colds, this was our excitement yesterday...a lot of iPad/iPod action and you can see my brother's knees and laptop as he shows us pictures of Israel! My oldest niece discovered the app Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo - a BIG hit - and my boys loved helping/playing with her. My youngest niece was doing a memory match game - there were 24! squares on the screen and she methodically found every match! Amazing!! I'd love to tell you what my sister-in-law is doing/playing but I think I will hold on to that little tidbit just in case she EVER again shows my brother his birthday card on my blog!!

Happy Birthday to Uncle Kurt

2011-11-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

Today's Splitcoast Sketch Challenge seemed perfect for a wolf and a rising moon. Yesterday was my brother's birthday and the wolf seemed perfect. He and his family are coming to our home for Thanksgiving so I will give him the card then...I'm not late...really....(that's my story and I am sticking to it!)

Stamps: Stampin' Up Nature Silhouettes, Papertrey Take 3 Summer (sentiment)
Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke and Shimmer White, Papertrey Enchanted Evening and Dark Chocolate
Ink: Stampin' Up Dark Chocolate, Distress Ink in Wild Honey and Mustard Seed (sponged onto the shimmer white circle)
Accessories: Tim Holtz embossing folder (trees), Papertrey Impression Plate (woodgrain), Martha Stewart border punch, Stampin' Up Crumb Cake Taffeta, Nestabilities Circle die

Less Is More: Silhouettes

2011-11-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

Although I had envisioned a very different card when I first bought this set, I love that today's Less Is More challenge "forced" me to try it in a CAS style. Clean and simple cards keep everything in stark relief - black/white, humble/royal, death/life ...

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Season of Love
Paper: black, white, Best Creations Gold Glitter cardstock
Ink: Staz-On Black
Accessories: Martha Stewart border punch, Memory Box star die

P.S. This is my second post for today.
P.S.S. If you are a Copic "user", be sure to check out yesterday's post as I have some special gifts for you!

Jewelry Inspiration with Snowflake Flourish

2011-11-19T07:36:00.000-07:00

I generally don't play along with inspiration challenges. I think it's my actuary/math background. I like the structure of a sketch challenge or the guidelines of a color challenge. But I do often look at inspiration challenges and today's inspiration challenge at Splitcoast Stampers pointed us to a fun Etsy store - Singing Cat Studio. I plan to order a necklace but I am having a tough time narrowing it down!

I had this Snowflake Flourish set in my overflowing box-of-stamps-that-will-not-be-put-away-until-they-see-ink. I thought it would work well to mimic the flourishes, textures and colors of this bracelet.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Snowflake Flourish
Paper: Stampin' Up Old Olive, Bermuda Bay, Brocade Blue, Canson Gold
Ink: Versamark, Stampin' Up Old Olive
Accessories: Detail Gold Embossing Powder

Friday Focus: Coloring with Copics

2011-11-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

I am NOT an artist.

I cannot even draw a stick figure that looks right.

But...even so...I am passionately in love with Copic markers. I am a very simplistic user of Copics but they are so easy to use that even my simple methods look good.

So, I have a few "gifts" for you today regarding Copic markers:
1. Some simple examples with tips to show you how easy they can be and how good they can look.
2. The charts that I have created for Stampin' Up matches and Papertrey matches.
3. Links to many other sources that can teach you much more about the basic techniques and can also teach you much more advanced techniques.

Disclaimer: I have not been trained nor certified by Copic, but I do

read all of your blogs and follow various forums. What I CAN do with

"expertise" is gather all of this information into one post!

Thanks to all of you for the information that you have shared.

WHAT ARE COPIC MARKERS?
Copics are alcohol based markers...as compared to Stampin' Up or Tombow markers which are water-based. The alcohol allows to fully saturate your paper thus making it easier to develop rich colors and to blend colors.

Copics come in Original, Sketch and Ciao. You don't want the Originals as they only have a broad tip and fine tip. Sketch and Ciao have a brush tip which allows you to color.

If you do any shopping you will quickly see that the Copic Ciao markers are significantly cheaper than Copic Sketch. I started with Sketch markers so kept going in that direction. The explanations that I can find are that Ciao markers "offer all the features of the Sketch Marker, but in an economical size" - obviously a little vague. Frankly, I haven't explored any more than that because the one BIG difference for me is that Ciao markers come in only 180 colors while Sketch markers come in 346 colors and I am totally anal about matching colors!

Copics color are identified with a letter and a two-digit number.

The letter defines the color, e.g. R = reds, YG = yellow/greens.
The first number identifies the family within the color. The second number identifies the lightness/darkness.

For example, the markers R05 and R08 are both reds, they are both in the same family because of the first "0", but the R08 is darker than than the R05. R85 is also a red but it is an entirely different family based on the first "8" and is not comparable to the first two.

CAN COPICS DO EVERYTHING A WATER-BASED MARKER CAN DO?
Copics cannot be used to color directly on stamps. They dry too quickly for you to apply multiple colors.

(FYI - having said "don't do it", I have seen technique videos coloring on stamps, but it is a royal pain!)

BASIC COLORING

Card Info: Stampin' Up Posy Punch
Stampin' Up Crumb Cake CS and dsp, Razzleberry Taffeta
Challenges: Cardabilities Sketch Challenge and
colourQ color challenge. (ColourQ is one of my long
time faves! Cardabilities was new to me on their last
challenge and I thank them for the shout out
on this snowman card. Their sketches are very fun and
easy to work with!)

Saturate it
To get the full depth of color, you cannot be afraid to saturate the paper.

Here's the front of my circles:

Here's the back - totally saturated!

Circular Strokes
Coloring in little circles will give you better coverage. If you color back and forth, you will be surprised how often you will notice - often not until the card is entirely done - that you have white streaks where you didn't quite get everything colored.

Basic Shading
I am a very simplistic shader. The links that I have at the bottom of this post give you some very artistic examples of light sources, etc. to create amazingly realistic shading. I simply shade around the inside edges to make my image appear to have some dimension - for example, the circles appear more rounded - they have the dimension of darkening toward the "back" and lightening near the "front".

1. Give your image a light coloring with your lighter marker.

2. Before it dries, add your darker marker around the edges. If you do this right away, the "wetness" of the bottom layer will start blending the darker marker by itself. Be sure to use circular strokes or lightly draw "feathers" toward the inside - you just don't want a defined line because it's hard to blend.

3. Color over the whole thing again with your lighter marker. Keep coloring until you don't see the edges any more. Remember - saturating the paper is good! (As I am writing this, I see that my photo does not do justice to the last circle - check out the original card to see what it should really look like!)

**BONUS**

Did you notice the gems on the card? Did you notice that they matched? Gems and pearls can be colored with copics!!! Once you get a collection of Copics, you never have to buy a colored gem or pearl again!

Slightly More Detailed Shading
Even without getting overly "artistic", Copics make it amazingly easy to add a variety of colors to an image.

Card info: Sweet 'n Sassy Spring Tulips
PTI Terracotta Tile, SU Wasabi, Basic Grey Curio
Challenge: Sketch from Pals Paper Arts

Layering up colors like this is quite easy.

1. The first step is to add the highlights in the darkest color (you could lay down a light color first to help blending.

2. Then add highlights in the next color.

3. Color over the whole thing with the lightest color - just color until it is saturated and colors are blending.

4. In the fourth tulip, I went back and added some of the darker color again - I didn't want it quite as washed out. You can do this dozens of times. Let's say I add to much of the red, I can color over it again with the yellow and add a little less red. Copics are very forgiving!

Degrees of Shading

It is often said that if you buy a specific Copic, you should pick up a color that is one or two away from that color. For example, if you buy R22, you should also buy R24 so you are able to shade. (See the examples above on Basic Shading.) I don't necessarily agree. To save money, you can definitely shade with a single pen. Conversely, you may find that you prefer a bigger difference in your shading.

1. The first circle is colored with R22. Then I went back over the edge with the same R22. There is still a shaded difference!!

2. The second circle is colored with R22, then edged with R24, then I went over the whole thing again with R22. There is a little more difference, but is it worth it. I would suggest that if you have a big budget, perhaps it is worth it - but I think the first circle works almost as effectively with one marker.

3. The third circle is quickly becoming my favorite. I colored it with R22, then edged with R27 - a FIVE number difference. I like the richer shading.

It's all preference and if you don't yet know what you prefer - start building your collection with single colors and work toward shading colors after you have figured out what you like.

Shadows and Dimension
So far my examples have been filled-in areas. Copics are also excellent at adding shadows and dimensions. Again, I cannot emphasize enough that I am a VERY basic Copic user. I have put links below in which people create true art with perfect shadows and subtle skies. I believe you can still create a wonderful card with these basic tips.

Card info: Penny Black snowman
Cosmo Cricket dsp, SU Pool Party (glittered), Daffodil, Poppy
Snowflakes are from a Martha Stewart border punch
Challenge: Sketch from i{heart}2stamp

So, let's break down the shading on this snowman. It should be subtle, but it makes a HUGE difference!

1. The first snowman has his muffler, hat and the little bird colored. He's cute, but a little flat.

2. On the second snowman, I have taken a light gray marker and run it around the inside edges of the snow. This gives the appearance of a rounded edge, giving this guy a little more dimension.

3. On the third snowman, I focused on popping him from the background. A light line of blue sky makes him appear more "forward", giving it even more dimension!!!

These basic shading colors are a must-have in your collection. I even find myself shading around solid stamps to pop them from their background.
Some recommended shading colors are:
   C1 Cool Grey, W1 Warm Grey (there are light grays than these, but I find they tend to totally fade into the paper)
   B000 Pale Porcelain Blue (also B0000 Pale Celestine is a little more subtle so I use it on more subtle cards)
   Y000 Pale Lemon (for a sunny background)

Coloring Faces
There are a few markers that you are going to want to pick up to color faces.

Card Info: The Angel Company Dear Friend
SU Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Saffron, Bashful Blue, Pear Pizzazz
Challenge: Splitcoast Friday Free For All

Sitting here in Parker, CO, I generally have one set of markers that I use for faces. I color the face with E50, I shade it with E51 and I add rosy cheeks with R20. The I Like Markers blog has this detailed post on various skin colors.

**BONUS**

Did you notice the polka dots on her shirt? I used a Copic Colorless Blender. I think this pen has been named incorrectly. You do NOT need it to blend colors as I have previously demonstrated. What it does is pick up color. For her shirt, I just dabbed it around to pick up some color and lighten the polka dots. I also know that it is used to pick up mistakes like when you color outside of the lines. Frankly, I have never had much luck with that, although I have seen great demonstrations. You can see by the close-up of this little girl that I didn't even try to pink up the pink smear on her back!

TIPS AND HINTS

Does cardstock make a difference?
Yes. My absolute favorite cardstock comes from office supply stores - Neenah Classic Crest 80 lb. Cover Stock. I use Solar White for white and Natural White for off-white. I actually buy it by the ream as I use so much of it, but many on-line stamp stores sell packs of 10 of each color. Two that I can quickly think of are Ellen Hutson and Sweet 'n Sassy and I know there are many others.

From some of the main companies - I know that Papertrey's cardstock and Gina K's cardstock is recommended. Stampin' Up's Whisper White is not recommended. It has a bit of a glossy coat and the ink just doesn't blend well.

Does ink make a difference?
Yes. As a rule of thumb, think opposite. If you are water-coloring, use alcohol-based ink like Staz-On. For alcohol-based coloring with Copics, use water-based dye inks. And even dye inks seems to have differences that I can't explain, e.g. I get smearing with Stampin' Up ink and copics.

The inks that I use for copic-coloring are Memento and Adirondack. I have a black pad and a brown pad from each of them that I use everytime I bring out the copics!

Some people do have a problem with printer inks when you are using digital stamps. I have a Canon printer, I used to have an Epson - and I haven't had a problem. BUT...I also color a little more carefully - I don't necessarily just color across the image - I pay attention to the image lines to avoid any potential smearing.

Best places to buy Copics:
There are many on-line stores that have multi-packs of Copics that are reduced. I have mixed feelings about multi-packs as I built my Copic collection based on Stampin' Up/Papertrey groups of colors. Multi-packs could give you a bunch of colors you rarely use thus negating the savings.

Our big box stores - Hobby Lobby, Michaels - do carry a small line of Copics. When they are on sale, it's a great place to start.

If you are a Papertrey user - they do sell sets of three to coordinate with their various colors.

My favorite online store is The Merri Artist. Their prices are some of the best, their shipping is reasonable and fast.

How do I budget my purchases? Where do I start my collection?
1. Are you a Stampin' Up or a Papertrey user? In the left column, I have downloadable charts of the Copic matches to both of their colors.

2. Do you have a favorite color group? I really like the Stampin' Up Brights collection, so I would start there.

3. Do you want to immediately start with a coordinating lighter or darker marker (see "Degrees of Shading" above)?

4. Do you do faces? If so, pick up E50, E51 (shading) and R20 (cheeks) for basic "caucasian" coloring. Or check out some of the advanced videos below for other color schemes. Also...the I Like Markers blog (noted below in "Links") has this detailed post on various skin colors.

5. You want a couple of very light colors on hand for the shadows and dimension. I like Shadows: C1 Cool Grey, W1 Warm Grey, B0000 Pale Celestine, B000 Pale Porcelain Blue, and Y000 Pale Lemon.

How long do they last? Are they refillable?
Yes, they are refillable, but frankly, in the four years that I have been "using", I have never had to refill a marker. I have very little to offer you here - except...if you ever have to refill, before you invest in the equipment and refills, check if any of your local stores do it. We have a store in the Denver area that keeps all the refills and will do it for a small charge - MUCH smaller than investing in your own equipment and refills!

CHARTS FOR STAMPIN' UP and PAPERTREY INK
I use Stampin' Up cardstock and Papertrey Ink cardstock. I love having coordinated sets - so I have the ribbons, buttons, brads etc for the color lines. A logical extension is that I have created reference charts for Copic markers. So...if I am doing a card with Crumb Cake and Rich Razzleberry, I pull out my chart and start coloring!!

These charts are my gift to you!! Just go the left column and find the DOWNLOAD section. Click each chart and when it comes up, use the File button on the toolbar to either Save it or Print it. The boxes on each chart are left blank for you to fill in as you build your Copic collection. Be sure to print your copy on the same paper that you will be using for stamping so, when you color in the squares, they will be the same color that you will be getting on your cards.

The matches on this chart come from many different sources. I have studied the forums on Splitcoast, I have studied the blogs of Copic experts and, when I still don't like the matches, I have actually thrown my own "opinions" into the charts. (FYI - I am particularly fanatical about greens so those blends are all mine.)

It is VERY important that you know that paper does make a difference. It is possible that something I feel is a perfect match on my preferred cardstock, Neenah Classic Crest (details below) may appear different if you are using something else. I don't think they will be radically off - but just wanted you to know!

BASIC COPIC CHARTS

It is handy to have a chart of ALL of the available Copic colors. Then, when you make a purchase, you can add a dash of that color to the appropriate square in the chart and (1) you don't run the risk of buying duplicates and (2) you can use that chart to find the color that you like.

Sharon Harnist has great charts on her blog. I use the first "blank chart" of all 346 Copic colors and the 24 Spica Glitter colors to use keep my inventory.

OTHER LINKS and RESOURCES

Basic Copic use:
A book by Annie's Attic called Copic Coloring Guide is a very nice resource. (I have also seen it at Archivers). It starts at the VERY beginning with types of markers and the coding on each one. Then it goes through basic coloring and blending tips. The pictures are nice and the card samples are basic, yet cute. (Annie's Attic also has a good book called Coloring Techniques for Card Making that includes colored pencils, watercolors and even some basic info on Copics.)

Danielle, on her Neat & Tangled blog, just did this post with a video of her using Copics on a butterfly. It's so easy to see the idea of circular strokes, feathering and blending when you see it done! She also says she will be doing further posts on Copics.
The ultimate online Copic guide is the I Like Markers blog. Marianne is the product director/specialist for Copic markers. She started a blog in 2008 to demonstrate every aspect of using the markers. She goes through best papers, best inks, basic colors, etc. But the trick to using this blog is to start reading it in reverse!! Think of it like an instruction manual. Her first posts give you the basics; her recent posts are very advanced.

For advanced techniques:
In my disclaimer at the very beginning of this post, I mentioned that I was not Copic-certified. If you ever want to really learn about the full potential of these markers, watch the I Like Markers blog for a certification class near you.

You will be blown away by the amazing fall leaves on this post on the Prickley Pear blog spot. They give a dozen different color combos and samples.

Amy Rysavy, on her Prairie, Paper & Ink, has done dozens of videos on coloring with Copics. She's in the middle of a series of Christmas cards that are amazing. Amy is a true artist with Copics (as compared to my simplistic style). Check out this post and video to see the attention she gives to a face! Amy's blog is worth watching as her videos are detailed and informative.

I Love Mementos is an online store that has an amazing blog with posts from some of the best in the business. This post has a video with a great demonstration of blending techniques. She discusses "palette blending" and "feathering". (FYI: this blog also does videos using distress inks that make it all seem so easy!)

Also on the I Love Mementos blog is this video on coloring faces and hair.

There are hundreds and hundreds of videos out there - I just selected these few to give you a taste of how Copics can work.

ARE YOU EXHAUSTED and OVERWHELMED??

I am actually hoping that that is not the case. My goal was to show you how truly easy it is to use these wonderful markers and create art - even without any expertise!! They are an expensive investment, but I find that they are one of my most used tools - and I wanted to give you the knowledge and direction to try them for yourselves.

Please feel free to ask any questions. I may not know the answers, but I will likely know a direction in which to send you!

Enjoy!!

A Passion for Papertrey: CAS Christmas

2011-11-16T08:06:00.000-07:00

I have been lurking on A Passion for Papertrey's challenge blog for some time - such great ideas!!! They are "a place for Papertrey Ink fans from UK and Europe to come together". That's a little ways away from Colorado, USA. But they graciously allow worldwide participants, so when this week was "CAS Christmas", I knew it was calling my name.

I had already gone down the path of using this Papertrey set when I saw this week's Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge, so it seemed like a logical fit to play both challenges!

I used a new gold ink pad that is absolutely fabulous. It's Tsukineko's Delicata Golden Glitz. Look at this fabulous coverage!

Don't forget to come back Friday for a Friday Focus on Copic Markers which includes a downloadable sheet of Copic marker matches to all Papertrey and Stampin' Up cardstock!!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Bells & Boughs
Paper: Papertrey Ink Pinefeather and Scarlet Jewel, misc gold
Ink: Delicata Golden Glitz, Distress Ink: Aged Mahogany, Stampin' Up Handsome Hunter (ret.)
Accessories: Papertrey Bells & Boughs dies, Sizzix embossing folder

Here's the Splitcoast sketch for today...