A nurse and a witch....

Today I have two cards to show you. The first is birthday card I made for a customer who needed a birthday card for her sister who is a nurse. I love that stamping allows to customize cards any way we like. The recipients know that a lot of thought was put into a card that is so personalized. So when I heard that the sister was a nurse, I knew immediately that I run for my favorite Rubber Soul Stick People set! You thought I was moving on from those right? LOL! I love the design of this card. It was totally inspired by my awesome stamping friend Valerie Stangle. I really loved a card that she made recently that used two patterned paper blocks on one card. It will be fun to go back and look at her card to see how closely I cased her design, as I couldn't remember her exact layout...just the two pieces of patterned paper. I see that the card that inspired me is up on her blog now, isn't it cute? I used THIS patterned paper from Rubber Soul, same sheet of paper just flipping the design. I love that about double sided patterned paper, you always know it's gonna coordinate together nicely. This sisters is also available from Rubber Soul and I think this a great set to own(the photo of the set is not up at this time on the website). Of course if you have a sister(s), you know this set will be fun. And if you sell your cards like I do, I know that a *sister* section in my card stash basket will go over well. I might just add that category soon. To finish off the card, I used SU! Old Olive card stock, SU! Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Copic markers for some simple *color book* coloring, a yellow Copic Spica glitter pen for the nurse's outfit and a yellow sequin sticker from AMuse. The envelope is stamped and colored to coordinate. This card design will definitely be going into my card idea notebook. This next card uses a Lockhart witch stamp and the Happy Halloween sentiment is a wood stamp from Rubber Soul. I colored the witch in with Copic markers using fun, bright Halloween colors. I matted the main image several times then added it to my card front which is a Wisteria Memory Box note card. Patterned paper is from Doodlebug, Ribbon is from May Arts (available from my good friend Cindy at StarLitStudio), and the three purple Decorative Pearls are available at Ellen's store. Notice again that I ran my ribbon through the matted layers of the main image. By using pop dots, you are able to feed the ribbon through the layers easily.

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!

Ohhhhh, I love it when I give away goodies! I get to read SO many fun stories from you all. Thank you all so much for telling me about your Fall/Halloween traditions. I really love to hear that there are fun loving families out there that still do things together.

The lucky winner of the Ghosties set is:

Latisha said...
We do so many things for fall...lets see, I re-do my flower beds and plant mums. We take the kids to a corn maze, most corn mazes have pumpkin patches so we get our pumpkins there as well. I put out my outdoor fall decorations like hay, scarcrows and pumpkins. The night we carve our pumpkins we clean off the seeds and bake them. If the town we live in (hubby is in the navy) has a haunted house or garden, we normally will take the kids to that. The night of Halloween I never cook, we order Pizza. On Thanksgiving since we are far away from family we have single sailors over for a homecooked meal, since they can't be home also. I can go on and on about all of our traditions but I will stop here lol >"<

Latisha, Congratulations!! Please send me your full name and snail mail address and I'll get your stamp set out in the mail to you! Email me at : stamplady@satelephone.com

Usually Fridays mean that a nice relaxing weekend is coming up. Not so much the case this weekend. We'll have a fun time but we have a football game tonight, birthday party and slumber party tomorrow for Jordan and then a soccer tournament on Sunday. I hope you all have a GREAT weekend. Do something fun with your family, time goes by so quickly!!

Reverse Pocket Goblin Card...and instructions

Here's another reverse pocket card sample. This one uses stamps from a cute little Wordsworth set called Ghosties from Rubber Soul(be sure to check out the other cute Halloween stamps too, they are cute!!). I stamped the square sentiment block in black, colored in with a purple Copic marker, then added purple Stickles to some outline letters. I stamped the word *Booo* on the mat underneath then added an extra SU! Eggplant cardstock mat. The patterned paper is from Rusty Pickle, base cardstock is Stampin' Up! River Rock and the squiggly background stamp is also from Rubber Soul from the Backgrounds set. Grosgrain ribbon is from Stampin' Up! and purple sequins are from my local scrapbook store.

Reverse Pocket Card Instructions:

1. Cut cardstock to 4-1/4" x 11". Score at 5-1/2" and fold in half (my photo should read fold 4-1/4" x 11" card in half...sorry about that). Add patterned paper to front of card or stamp.

2. Score bottom of card at 1-1/2" and fold. This fold will be on the inside of the card. Adhere the two outer sides of the fold to the inside of the card with sticky strip. Be sure to put sticky strip far enough apart so that a gift card will fit inside. Stamp top of card with background.

3. Punch the Stampin' Up! slit punch as far in as it will go in on the top center of the card.

4. Adhere the focal image piece to the front of the card with sticky strip. It's easiest to punch the slit punch first, add sticky strip to the front focal image, then place the focal image piece under the slit portion.....then press down to secure the sticky strip. This focal image piece can be whatever size you like, depending on the size of your stamped image, mats, etc.

5. Tie ribbon around card front. This can also help to hold down the gift card, stamped images or maybe a note you want to insert in the pocket. Okay, who wants a FREE Clearly Wordsworth Ghosties set, courtesy of Fred and Dani at Rubber Soul? This is a set of 5 acrylic stamp set. You will need acrylic blocks to use this set. I'll pick a winner on Friday after school. I'll pick a winner from all responses that answer this question: What is your favorite Fall or Halloween tradition? Or what one would you like to start? For me......I love to go on hay rack rides with my dad driving his old mini tractor and trailor...carving pumpkins.....making homemade Halloween costumes.....trick or treating.....soup in the crock pot.....Friday night football games.....yummy pumpkin bars....decorating my house.....scaring my husband......making Halloween cards and treats...!

Reverse Pocket Baby Girl

Edited: Hi there, I will be glad to do a tutorial on the reverse pocket cards. I have another reverse pocket card all ready for tomorrow's post and I will take some photos of how to make one. They are easy and not a lot of measuring.....which I like!! Have a great day..I'm off to sub!!

I haven't done one of my reverse pocket cards forever! If you aren't familiar with this design, I created it for a demo I did for a Stampin' Up! Regional in KC a few years back. It's made just like a regular pocket card but instead of folding the flap to the outside, you fold it to the inside. Then you punch a flap on the top to tuck the focal image into. The inside then holds a note or a gift card, cash, etc. This card uses Crate Paper patterned paper and the cute Lockhart baby carriage image. I colored the image in with various pink Copic markers and then paper pieced the blanket and carriage top. Image was cut and embossed with a classic Spellbinder's rectangle die and matted on two other Spellbinder's cut mats. The sentiment was created with a Stampin' Up! mini alphabet and a Papertrey Ink circle outline. It's punched and layered several times and embellished with ribbon and silver cord. To finish off the card, I used 5 decorative pearls from Ellen's store. I love making this card design when I give gift cards or have an extra little note I want to tuck inside. Or how about you stamp some images and send them to a friend, this would be perfect! If you need more instructions, just let me know.....it's late and I've got to get ready for work tomorrow but I'll be glad to answer any questions for you.

Yeehaw!

Q and A: I spoke to Kate at Copic and she said that storing the markers vertically is OKAY. So my markers can rest in their cute little pink tote once again!

Okay, I promise to move on from the Rubber Soul Stick People collection after this card. The images are just so cute I had to try them all!!This is a sassy little cowgirl and I am certain that once my friend Lori sees this stamp, she'll want lots of cards made with it. Her husband is a cowboy and her two girls make the cutest little cowgirls. I stamped the cowgirl with Palette Black Noir ink and then colored it in with Copic markers. There are some very small spaces in these stick people images and I love how the Copics keep a nice, sharp point. I cut and embossed my image out with a Spellbinder's Die Template from the Standard Tag collection. I talked with Ellen and I think she'll be carrying this die set in her store in the future. I'll let you know when it's available, woohoo!! To attach the ribbon, I punched a hole with my Horizontal Slot Punch from Stampin' Up! then tied a bow from some red Martha Stewart ribbon. I added red Stickles and some red AMuse twinkle stickers for some bling. The background paper is from the Rubber Soul Shake It Up Collection.

Stack-o-Cupcakes!

Mmmm, I'm so hungry for a cupcake right now! Remember this image that I posted a few days ago with my Copic techniques. Well, here's the finished card. A pretty and simple birthday card that will go into my card stash....my ladies are wanting me to bring my basket to school so I need to make some refill cards! This card uses a Memory Box card base and Memory Box pink polka dot paper from the Sugar collection. The images are from Karen Lockhart and can be purchased from Ellen's store as well as the papers and the fun decorative pearls that I used on each cupcake. You can see the packaging sitting underneath the cards. I love those little embellishments! Ribbon is from May Arts. Image was colored with Copic markers and a Copic Colorless Blender.
Here's a close up of some shimmer that I added to the cupcakes. I used my Copic Spica Silver Glitter Pen to make foil cupcake liners.

Tip of the day: If you are wanting to use ribbon on your card front, try this. Tie the ribbon around the card front. Then adhere the bottom colored mat underneath the ribbon. Attach dimensionals to the back of the main image and then adhere that OVER the ribbon. This helps the main image from having a hump in it and possibly popping off of your card front. It also makes your card look like you put some real thought into it.

Questions: By now many of you have received your Copic marker and Spellbinder's dies. Any questions that you have? I try to answer questions from your responses but sometimes I miss some.

One question that was asked was about storing Copic markers horizontally. I had them packed vertically in my little pink tote bag in some previous photos. I have sent this question to my Copic friends and am awaiting an answer......but I can probably guess that storing them horizontally is probably a good thing. This helps the ink to not settle in one end of your marker, thus preventing the other end from drying out. I'll let you know what I hear back. And typically I do store my markers horizontally unless I'm taking my little tote with me somewhere. Thanks for the question!!

Road Trip!

Once again, I've been stamping with the Rubber Soul Stick People set. There's so many fun images in this set that I just have to try them all! This little gal is ready for a roap trip. And so am I! Well, actually my road trip isn't til the first weekend in November but I'm counting down the days. There are six of my scrapping friends who rent a swanky hotel conference room with one adjoining room(we don't sleep much)...then we scrapbook from Friday til Sunday. I think we even booked the room for Thursday this time too. We go twice a year and it's about the only time I scrapbook. I get about 30 or so pages done and have the BEST time!!

So back to this fun card, I thought it would be fun to send one to the girls going scrapping with me. They'll get a kick out of it. I used bright, fun colors from Memory Box and some Rubber Soul patterned paper. To color the image, I used Copic markers that closely matched the colors in the patterned paper. I cut and embossed the image with a Spellbinder's rectangle die and then matted that on a cut and embossed scallop rectangle die. The embossing on the shapes really adds a lot of texture without having to add extra layers.....love that!! To finish off the card I added orange Stickles to the girl's dress, velvet Ric Rac and two Amuse Twinkle Stickers.

Tip of the day: I highly suggest at least a yearly road trip with your girlfriends. It's so refreshing, fun and inspiring. Do you have road trips planned? I'd love to hear about them.

CRAZY FOR COPICS.........THAT'S ME!!

You might quite possibly freak out with today's post. Or at least get a little giddy and jump up and down in your chair. Or squeal a little. Or groan because I'm a total enabler and am going to make you want more Copic markers and accessories. Whatever the case, settle in and get a cozy grip on your computer mouse!! Here we go.

I have a ton of photos for today (don't peek, stay with me now). So I want to write in short little blurbs so I can keep your attention. Lots of my photos are of unfinished work because I just couldn't wait to share some new techniques with you. So stay tuned to my blog because all of these samples will become finished projects some day soon.

Now for this little tote...it makes me happy just looking at the photo. It's almost better than a new purse, and I DO like new purses!! It's an All My Memories mini scrapbook tote and I got it at my local scrapbook store. They had them on clearance the other day for $5 bucks (regularly $15) and I bought the 5 they had left. I thought I would use them for kids' gifts filled with art supplies being the cool mom that I am...but two got snatched up for my Copics. This one in pink and brown holds all 48 of my *Ellen Copic Colors* plus a Colorless Blender and all of the Copic Spica Glitter Pens. Is this just not heaven??? I even organized them into colors kinda like a rainbow. They are sooooo purty sittin' in there! I keep this right on my work table and it's always within reach. I also take this with me every day that I sub. During my free hour, I color stamped images. This was nestled in another bigger work tote that I take to school...some boys saw the tops of the markers and said, *Gee Mrs. Wooderson, you sure bring a lot of eye makeup to school with you!*. I had to laugh!! Who needs eye makeup with you have Copics!???
Here's a finished card I made using the Karen Lockhart slippers. This image is gender friendly and can be used for guy or gal cards(check out the cute robe too when you pop open that link, again gender friendly). Here I'm using it for a male get well card. The image was colored with Copic markers on a scrap piece of cardstock, scratched up with a paper clip and then matted with SU! Old Olive cardstock. I was playing around one day at school and that's how this card came about. For the background, I made a plaid square using the chisel tip of Sketch Copic Markers. Then I got out my Colorless Blender and scribbled back and forth over the image, creating a light to dark blended effect. It was totally a scrap piece but I really liked how it looked so it made it's way onto a card. Keep the guy images coming Karen, we love them!

Wanna see what else you can do with some Copic reinkers and some Colorless Blending Solution? This is a transparency just dotted with reinker colors. One tiny little droplet spreads out into big circles. It's fun to just watch it happen. I entertained myself for a full 10 minutes on this samples, I think!! Can't wait to use this!!

Here's sample of some scribbles colored over with the same color marker. You can see the scribbles still because the top layer darkened the scribbles, even though it's the same color. The border was made with short little lines of color, then I took my Colorless Blender Marker and let a little bit bleed where two colors touched. The image is by Karen Lockhart.
Who loves coffee? I do and it's about time that I get some more samples in my stash basket. My card buying gals LOVE the coffee cards, especially during the colder months. How about a coffee stained background? This sample was made by scribbling a brown marker onto cardstock, then squeezing a big droplet of Colorless Blending Solution straight from the refill bottle. How fun is that? Image by Stampin' Up!
Plaid giraffes, anyone? This background was created by drawing a plaid background onto cardstock. Then I took my Colorless Blender Solution refill bottle and drew plaid lines on top. The colors bled together where the solution criss crossed. Image by Stampin' Up!
This is one of my faves and I can't wait to make more of this one. First, aren't the stamp images adorable? My friends Joy and Daisy sent them with an Eclectic Paperie order. I believe they are by Stampendous or maybe Penny Black?.....either way, they're available at the store. The background was again created by making plaid stripes with Copic markers in fun, bright colors. Then I took the Colorless Blending Solution refill bottle and squeezed on droplets of reinker fluid. It bleached out the color and made some fun dots. I could see putting some clear page pebbles on top of those dots, or they could be used for rain droplets too. Oh I'm giddy myself,now!
Tip of the day: Gee, like you need more tips today!! LOL! I am so happy to share today's post because I had such fun making these sample pieces. The moral of today's story is this: Get out your markers and just play around. You don't have to be an accomplished artist to have fun with Copics. And the other fun accessories like refills and the Colorless Blender Solution only increase your possibilites of the fun stuff you can create. That also gives you more *bang for your buck* too. I'll be experimenting more with Copics and will post all my fun findings. Enjoy, everyone!

Oh, one more tip: When you purchase Copics, I suggest buying them in at least sets of two that are in close color range plus a Colorless Blender. Like two greens, or two shades of pink, or a red and an orange that are close together in color. Why? Because when you sit down to shade an image, like a pumpkin, you'll have at least two colors to blend together AND the blender to blend even more or to remove a little color. And think about what colors you'll be working with soon such as oranges for pumpkins, earth tones for Fall, greens and reds for Christmas, blues for sky backgrounds, a skin tone for Bellas or Rubber Soul stick people images, etc. You can also scribble two colors together on a CD case and create new colors.....red and blue make purple, etc. And don't forget that Ellen has her 48 Copic colors that are very close in color to Stampin' Up! colors. You can purchase Copics and all the Lockhart stamps at her online website store HERE. So let the coloring begin!!!

Let's go shopping...

Edited today: You can purchase the standard tag die set directly from Spellbinder's. Just click on the link within my text below and it will take you right to the die set. Hope that helps!! I'll talk with Ellen too, I'm sure we could talk her into carrying it in her store.

Next Thursday, I'm getting the girls out of school early for a doctor's appointment then we are going shopping for Jordan's birthday. The girls are getting old enough that they like to shop for their gifts and pick out their own things so we're heading to the big city....well, bigger than our tiny town! It's always a fun day because we hit Sonic, Target, the local scrapbook store, Michael's and then I go wherever the girls want to go. Then we end the day with these wonderful frozen custards that are totally sinful.

Sooo, I thought a shopping card would be fun to make! I used the shopper girl from the Stick People set that I've been using from Rubber Soul/Wordsworth. I think she's just the cutest thing ever! I paired her up with a Spellbinder's tag die template and used my Stampin' Up! horizontal slot punch to tie the ribbon through. I then cut a green mat for the tag with my paper trimmer. The word *shop* is also by Rubber Soul, it's such a quirky, fun little alphabet set called Sally Bet. Background Hoopla paper is also by Rubber Soul and card base is a Memory Box cantaloupe notecard. Just under the patterned paper, I stamped a scallop line from a Papertrey Ink set and the bottom of the card is cut with Fiskars scallop scissors. The image was colored with Copic markers in bright, fun colors and the shopper girl's dress is covered with blue Stickles. AMuse twinkle sequins finish off the tag for some extra bling....and to hide an ink smudge!

Mom knows best....

I thought I would send my mom a card for all pie baking and jam making she helped me with this summer. This little stick person mother holding the pie was the perfect stamp! And the sentiment fits just right too. These images are from Rubber Soul and there's an entire Stick People set!! Ack, they're just too cute!! I love how they are SO simple but still convey such fun moods. And I love how they fit onto this embossed Spellbinder's tag too, it's like they were made for each other Instead of punching a hole in the tag and tying on a ribbon the traditional way, I opted to just tie a ribbon around the top of the tag. I only made one loop of my bow and then snipped the ends at an angle. Ribbon is from Michael's by Martha Stewart. I colored the image with just a few Copic colors. Don't underestimate the coverage of the Copics. Although my image is simple and doesn't have much color, the Copics blend SO evenly! It almost looks like you cut the dress from a piece of red card stock. Looooooove them!! The fun paper is by Rubber Soul also, another one of those patterns that look like lots of layers but it's from one sheet. Corners are snipped with SU! corner punch and AMuse twinkle stickers were added to some of the circles in the patterned paper. Tip of the day: Arrange little embellishments, like the twinkle sequins on my card, in a triangle arrangement. Triangles are very pleasing to the eye and help to lead the eye around the card.

Blueberry Shoe Pie!

This card was inspired by a day of baking that my mom and I did. I'll tell you more about our pie in little bit. For this card I used Karen Lockhart's blueberry shoe pie stamp. Karen has several versions of shoe pies and I think they are SO clever! I colored this shoe with what other Copic color than BV04 Blue Berry, E31 and B96. I was able to get the variation of shades by simply layering on the same color of blue for the blueberries and the beige for the pie crust color. To add some sparkle, I used a clear Copic Spica glitter pen when I was all done coloring. The image was cut and embossed with a Spellbinder's Oval Die Template and then matted on a SB's scallop cut oval. For the ribbon and envelope I stamped Karen Lockhart's new Vine Millinery stamp in blue ink. You can check out all of Karen's new Millinery stamps at Ellen's website. Here's a close up of the Copic Spica glitter pens. Shimmery and sparkly!
And here's that pie I was talking about. Some time ago, I experimented with freezing prepared pie filling ingredients. I had a bunch of peaches and so I mixed up my pie filling and froze it in pie plates. I needed to see if it baked up okay as a pie, so I had my mom make her delicious, flaky pie crust and we tested out the pie filling. It was delicious and tasted *oh so fresh*!!
Have you ever had one of these? I don't know what you call 'em but my mom always made thise little pie crust things when she baked a pie. She took the left over pie crust, rolled it out and sprinkled on cinnamon and sugar and dotted it with butter. Rolled it up, shaped it into a crescent and baked it along with the pie. I think I loved these more than the actual pie. So when she started making one the other day, I was immediately taken back to my childhood...such a good memory. I also remember the day that the elderly Mrs. O'Neil came for her perm. My mom had baked a pie and one of these yummy crescent crusts.....Mrs. O'Neil ate the entire thing..didn't save me a morsel!! Little did she know that those tasty treats were for ME!! I had to watch Mrs. O'Neil verrrrry closely after that when she came for her perms. Pie crust stealer!!!! LOL! On a side note, check out my pot holders....Jordan made the little one from some scraps, my mom made the jean pocket ones and those old terry cloth ones are my favorites from my grandma. I keep on washin' em and they still keep on doing the job!!
Tip of the day: Use the Lockhart Millinery stamps to embellish your envelopes. They are the perfect length for a regular A2 size envy.

Muted Floral Bouquet

This will be probably be my last of summery type cards as I'll be moving on to Fall and Winter here soon. But I just couldn't pass up the season without showing off one of Karen Lockhart's watering can bouquets. This card came together so easily by using a Spellbinder's cut and embossed oval template and the next size bigger scallop Spellbinder's die template. This simple matting system gives just enough detail that it doesn't overpower the focal image, yet there's plenty of interest to still make it an attractive yet simple card. Patterned paper is from Basic Grey and grosgrain ribbon is from Stampin' Up! Base note card is from Memory Box. The scallops were stamped with a little Papertrey teardrop clear stamp.

For the coloring, I want to start showing you some simple things that you can do with your Copic markers. I know there is a lot of discussion about the Copics right now......some of you absolutely love them like I do, and some of you are not quite sure about the Copics for various reasons. Ellen has given some great product reviews about the Copics as well as myself, Trudee, JulieHRR, Debbie Olson and many others. You can visit past posts on all of our blogs about those details. But what about those of you that now have purchased your Copics, have tried coloring with them, and are having some troubles? Your coloring doesn't like like what we do, you can't get them to blend, you aren't as artistic as others....all comments I've heard or read on other blogs or message boards. Well, here's my feelings for those of you that are needing some help: Hang in there and stay tuned to blogs/websites that offer help with the Copics. These markers are a very high quality, artists tool and with that comes the need for continued education. It's just like working with watercolors, or other paints....you need time to get a feel for how they work, you need to practice, practice, practice, and you need to get some education about how to use them and what all they can do for you. So be patient, keep working with them, find the right inks and papers that you prefer...and stay tuned. I really want these to work out for all of you that have made the investment of the Copics. You paid good money for them so you need to be totally satisfied with the end results. You can do it, and I am glad to help you out with any questions you have.

Sooooooo with all that said, I have a card that ANYONE can do for today. The focal image was colored with Copics in a fun way that I will share and then I used the Copic Air Brush System to give the entire background a pink color wash.

For the colored watering can: It's so simple, you won't believe it. I grabbed up what Copics I wanted to use for the can and flowers. I based my color selection from the patterned paper. So I chose a few greens, blues, pinks and a yellows. I took the lids off all the markers and then held the markers in my left hand, open tips up. Then I just started dabbing color onto the stamped image. I didn't outline a thing, I just kept dabbing my Sketch tip end onto the paper. I totally blended the colors by just letting each color bleed into the next color. If one color was too dark, I used the colorless blender to lighten it. If one color needed to be darker, I dabbled on a darker shade of that same color. To keep within the lines of the stamped image, I just let the colors bleed to the edge and just filled in a little. But there is no base color colored in. This was so fun and it's a fast way to color also, plus it gives the image a real watercolored look. Now I know you can do this! Go try it and let me know how it works out. Keep your colors within just a few shade differences, keep your colorless blender handy and just be very *loose* with your coloring. My painting and rendering teachers always said that in college *be loose*......meaning don't overthink things, just do it.....with a light hand. Let me know how it works for you!! This is a great way to get to know your Copics.

Party Girl!

I love these little stick images from Wordsworth/Rubber Soul! Aren't they just simple and fun? Well, this chick is ready to party down! She's from the Party Collection set and it contains all these other fun images too. I can see that is a set that I'll use lots as I have many girlfriends that enjoy their cocktails now and then. *wink* I colored in the images with Copic markers and for some added bling, I added orange Stickles to the girl's dress. She is sparkleeeeeeeee tonight!

Now check out the paper. It looks like I've done three layers, right? Actually, it's only one layer of patterned paper. It's from the 8 x8 Hoopla Collection at Rubber Soul. If you zoom in on the link at Rubber Soul, you can see this sheet on the lower right hand corner. I simply cut one mat and it looks like three layers. Can't get much easier than that!

To finish up the cars, I layered the focal images up with cheery mat colors, added punched photo corners and colorful brads. These cards just make me happy looking at them!

Supplies: Paper and stamp images can be purchased at the Rubber Soul site. Copic markers are available through Ellen's online store. White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Palette Black Noir Ink pad available at Ellen's store.

Tip of the day: To create a little asymmetrical design on your cards, add a few elements to your finished design to offset the balance. For my cards, I used the three brads an the photo corners.

Holiday House

I FORGOT TO ADD: Vicki Crisman, who is an awesome paper crafter, is giving away some awesome goodies on her BLOG. She designs for Scrap Muse which offers scrapbooking kits and she's giving away the September kit on Monday. So go sign up for the free kit. It would work great with cards and other paper crafting projects too. There's some of that fun Fancy Pants felt stuff in there too, I'm drooling over that! Tell Vicki I sent ya and I hope you win!! And a big hello to Nessie from Europe, thank you for visiting my blog today!!!

Ellen's getting ready for the holidays at her store. This month the featured stamp is called Holiday House and is a Karen Lockhart design. You can find it HERE along with a kit to make some fun cards. For my card, I used some of my favorite papers from Cosmo Cricket. They have a beautiful holiday line this year. I oohed and aahhed over it at CHA this summer. For the design of card, I used one my favorites from my sketch book. but this time I turned it sideways for a fun twist. There's a piece of patterned paper on the right and a scallop cut piece of patterned paper on the left. The seam is covered with velvet ribbon. The scallop cut was done with the large square Spellbinder's Die Template, it fits perfectly on a standard size card. Mocha Decorative Pearls were added for some bling. For the main image, I used Copic markers to color in all those tiny spaces. The Sketch tips stay so pointy, it's always easy to color in those small spaces. I also used a gold Copic Spica glitter pen on all the Christmas lights and snow, but the camera just did not pick up the glittery effects. Trust me, this card shimmers. I wanted my colored image to be a little more muted so I took my brayer and Creamy Caramel Stampin' Up! ink and brayered over the image. That gave it the worn look like the patterned papers have. All edges of mats and the card base were inked with a burgundy Copic marker. This gave all the edges some definition so they stand out a little more.

Criss Cross Halloween!

This is for all you Stampin' Up! fans that have been asking to see some SU! creations. A few years ago I designed a card pattern which I name Criss Cross Cards. I absolutely love making pocket cards and this one is the best version yet. Beate, at Splitcoast Stampers, did a tutorial last week on my Criss Cross Cards. So I thought I would make one and join in on all the fun. The tutorial is HERE so no need for me to explain it all again. If you haven't tried one, you really should!!

All paper, inks and stamps(except the two Papertrey sentiments) are from Stampin' Up! The two white flat sacks are from Michaels. Ribbon from May Arts.

I did change a few things on my Criss Cross Card. I made the band 1.25" wide and only had 11" long paper. So I folded it to the back and used another scallop punch to create a *made by* emblem and adhered it where the gap was. Voila, there's a solution to everything! Hope you enjoy ladies!!

It's Chilly Outside!

Wow, I can't believe how nice it is outside today!! I don't know what the temperature is but it's almost sweatshirt weather in Kansas. We have had such unbearable temps this summer and high, high humidity. So to celebrate the cool down, I thought I would share this wintery card. This fun image of carolers(set is called Carolers) from Wordsworth/Rubber Soul is so dang cute that I didn't think it needed too many other embellishments so I kept the card simple. I used a snowflake background paper from Rubber Soul also and embossed it with my Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder. So I've got a double snowflake thing going on...you should try embossing some patterned papers, it's a fun effect! And the Cuttlebug folders do work in the Wizard, if you're one of the proud new owners of a Wizard. The focal image was colored with Copic markers in bright fun colors, the girls sporting red dresses and the boys in cool blues and greens. I cut the image out with an oval Spellbinder's Die Template and embossed it too. Then I mounted that on a red scallop cut oval. Placed dimensionals on the back for some added depth. Red stitched grosgrain ribbon finishes off the card. Memory Box note card.

If you wish to order sets and/or paper from Rubber Soul, simply to to their website and click on the *how to order* button for instructions. You can phone, fax, mail or email your order. There's a ton of fun new sets.......may I suggest an iced coffee and a day of online shopping? LOL!

Those blingy thingies?

You guys like those? Stamping Bella has them in her store and calls them *baubles*. They are SO fun to play with. Look for them to come soon to another store just a click away!! I apply them with small sticky dots but you can also use a drop of glue....I'm not patient enough for it to dry though. I think they are glass because I had a broken one and it looked and felt like broken glass. I'm not certain though.....all I know is that I love em! Jordan saw them on a Halloween card I made and called them *witches pimples*.

Librarian Bella

I love this Bella. I have a friend who just got her masters in Library Science and she will most likely take over the librarian position in our high school next year. So I love to make cards for her and she loves to send lots of cards to her librarian friends. I was so excited when Emily announced this Bookwormabella, I had to have her right away.

To keep in the librarian theme, I stamped the background on the base card with a Stampin' Up! little alphabet background stamp. Background paper is from SU! too. Then I stamped the library pocket card image from SU! on white card stock then cut it out with a rectangle Spellbinder's Die Template. I love that image and use it tons. I think it looks really cute on this card with the scallop edges. Tied that with SU! stitched grosgrain ribbon then adhered it to the card front. Then for the main image, I colored the Bella with Copic Markers, using single solid colors then going back over the areas for a little shading.

I showed my friend and she loved it! She'll be wanting lots of cards with the Bookabella image and she even wants me to make her a few fun business cards with it too. Now that will be a challenge!

Pumpkins for Sale!

We're growing pumpkins this year! My dad had a few extra pumpkin seeds and there was no room left in the garden for them. So I told him to just throw them in the flower bed next to the house. Well now they are taking over! I have about a 20' area in the yard where they have vined and vined. AND we have pumpkins growing. I thought it would be way too hot for them because we didn't water them much but there are about a dozen orange pumpkins hiding in the vines. The girls can't wait to pick them for Halloween! I can't wait to line my sidewalk with them and tell all our guests that we grew them ourselves!!

So I thought this card would be fitting for today. The image is Karen Lockhart's pumpkin cart and matching sentiment. It's such a fun image to color. I used my wonderful Copic markers again. I have found that I like to color my images ahead of time and then have a little stash to pick from when it comes time to make a card. This way, I'm not spending too much time on creating cards. I take stamped images and my markers with me to the pool or when I sub on my free hour. It's so fun to just sit and color like a little kid.

For this card, I also used some pretty patterned papers from Rubber Soul. I thought the viney floral pattern on this paper resembled pumpkin vines. I used the reverse side for the orange colored horizontal strip. Giga and mega circle/scallop punches for the main image. Memory Box note card for the card base.
Tip of the day: Many of you have also asked about the type of paper and ink I use with my Copic markers. For the ink, I have been using a Palette Noir Black Hybrid Ink Pad. I heat set the image with my heat gun and it works great! I also hear that the Ranger black ink pad works well too so I need to try that one also. You can find both of these ink pads at Ellen's store. For card stock, I have been using two types. The first is Neenah Classic card stock from Ellen's store which she offers in three neutral colors. And for a thicker card stock, I have been using the white card stock from Paper Trey Ink.

Another question that a viewer posted was if I use Prismacolors with my images. I primarily use the Copic markers so I don't use many colored pencils. But Karen Lockhart and Ellen Hutson use them often so be sure to check the archives at Ellen's blog. She has done several posts on coloring with colored pencils.

Also a question about more Stampin' Up! samples. I still do my monthly workshop so I will try to post some of those samples more often for you.

Thanks for the questions ladies! Have a great day. I'm off to sub!

Birthday Cards!

Check out these fun cards! I made them using Crafty Secrets new Sexy Little Numbers set. It's got the cool vintage numbers and several other matching sentiments. For this first card I added the *again* word by using a separate Crafty Secrets alphabet. The main image is stamped on white card stock, then cut and embossed by using Spellbinder's Die Templates. Zoom in on the little scallop....it's an oval cut from some fun Crafty Secrets 6 x 12 patterned paper that has a calendar image on it. I just love how cute the tiny little die cuts look on a card. Background patterned paper from Crafty Secrets too. For this card, I'm using one of my current favorite layouts.....two separate patterned papers with the top portion cut with a Spellbinder's Scallop Die Template. Ribbon tied around the seam of the two patterns. Here, I used the Sexy Little Numbers set to make a customized card for a sexy 40 year old! SU! solid card stock and ribbon, Crafty Secrets patterned papers.

Tip of the day: Use your alphabet sets to make one of a kind cards. If you don't have the sentiment you are looking for, alphabets help you create any type of card you want. Get them out, I know you have them!

We have a winner!

Sorry I didn't get the winner of the baby blog goodies posted last night. We went to a wedding reception so I didn't plan the timing very well.....usually we're sitting at home on any given Saturday night! But we do have a winner and here's the lucky girl:

Peggy S said...
Cute Stamp! Nice card, too! Many of my favorite memories center around the summers we spent at our cottage on Lake Erie. We moved in as soon as school was out and stayed all summer going home once a week to mow the lawn and do the laundry. We returned home just in time for4 the start of school after Labor Day. Great times and Super Happy Memories!Peggy S. from Ohio

Congratulations Peggy!!!!!!!!! Please email me at stamplady@satelephone.com with your full name and mailing address and I'll get your goody package out this week! A big thank you for all that commented on my blog, where have you all been hiding???? I have to say that I got big warm fuzzies from reading all of your comments. Childhood should hold so many fond memories and I'm so glad you shared some of yours with me. And many of your memories brought back some of the same for me: baking, camping, playing in the woods, looking at Christmas lights, watching The Wizard of Oz(that was a MUST), and just spending time with family and friends. Out of all the comments, almost every one was about spending time with family and just playing and doing family things. There was no mention of Ipods, computers, Bratz dolls or My Space!! Boy, those were the good ol' days right? Thanks again for sharing your friendship with me!