Paula is hapai!

I was so excited when I found out that our Flickr friend Paula is hapai (hah-pie')--the Hawaiian word for "pregnant". This will be her second baby and I thought what better time to use the new Mom image from The Greeting Farm. I sent this card along with some stamped images and I'm sharing it since she just received it.

I altered the image slightly by trimming off the pants that the mom was wearing and drew in and colored some legs. I also cut apart the Hero Arts sentiment so that it fit the space. I'm becoming a little more comfortable with altering designs and may soon start to switch heads and bodies.

Take good care, Paula! Have fun colouring!

Stamps: The Greeting Farm, Hero Arts

Cardstock: Stampin Up

Ink: Memento, Memories

Other: Copic markers for coloring, Copic 0.3 multiliner pen, Basic Grey buttons,

Nestabilities Label One, Inkssentials white pigment pen

Gobble, gobble!

We'll be leaving for the airport in a few hours, to celebrate Turkey Day (Ham Day) on Kauai and I'd like to wish you all an early Happy Thanksgiving. I'm so thankful for all the friendships I've made, and appreciate your visits to and comments on my blog.

Here's a pic of some Pumpkin Mochi which has become a Thanksgiving tradition over pumpkin pie in our family. For those unfamiliar with mochi (mo'-chee), it's slightly chewy and once you get used to it, you'll appreciate the taste and texture even more.

And here is the recipe, for any adventurous cooks out there:

Dry ingredients:

1 16 oz. box + 1/4 cup rice flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Wet ingredients:

4 large eggs

2 blocks butter, melted

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 29 oz. can pumpkin puree

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13" pan and set aside. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add the remaining wet ingredients. Combine the two mixtures, and mix well. Batter will be thick. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 1 hour. Let cool and cut into 1x2" pieces. It's easiest to cut mochi with a plastic knife. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Each piece has a zillion calories so enjoy in moderation.

Bon appétit! And Happy Thanksgiving!

Lucy's challenge & a cased card

Our super sweet friend Lucy is hosting her very first color challenge on her blog using her favorite colors: kraft, light pink, and aqua. Even with our Thanksgiving holiday, this week isn't as hectic for me--no Hero Arts challenge--and I'm glad that I was able to play in between the pre holiday baking. The challenge is open to anyone, anywhere and the deadline is December 1st. Head over to Lucy's blog for all the details and join the fun!

Stamps : Hero Arts, Hero Arts digi, Basic Grey sentiment

Cardstock: Stampin Up

Ink: Papertrey Ink, Versafine

Other: Copic markers for coloring, Nestabilities, Stampin Up Sizzlits,

Hero Arts gemstones, pop dots

This snowman card is a 99.9% lift from a girl named Teri, who happens to live in Hawaii. She does awesome projects and cards and I saw this snowman card on her blog and fell in love with it.

My original plan was to use another image, but I had the same Rachelle Anne Miller snowman and, with Teri's permission, I decided to use the same image as she did. And the Nestabilities pendant die arrived with perfect timing. I did use a different embossing folder and I substituted with the blossom die, but it's a definite lift.

Thank you, Teri! Please visit her blog for lots of creative ideas and inspiration.

Stamps: Stampavie, Savvy Stamps

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Ink: Memento, Copic markers for coloring

Other: Nestabilities dies, Cuttlebug, Hero Arts gems, Glossy Accents, ultrafine glitter, pop dots

Hello, Gamsol!

Since I've become a fan of Copics, my Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol have been stashed away. I was struggling with trying to color Uru and Bird, a Whiff of Joy stamp, with Copics. I didn't have the right greens, and some areas are super detailed. I ruined a couple of images because R39 bled through the lines, and it's really hard to "push" red with the colorless blender.

I picked up a Prisma and started coloring, using the Gamsol to blend and before I knew it, the image was colored! I'd forgotten how much I like using Gamsol and probably have more shades of Prismas than Copics.

There's a tutorial here on the WoJ site, that combines using Copics together with your Prismas and Gamsol. You lay a flat base of color with Copics first, and then use the Prismas and blend with Gamsol for shadowing. You can't do it in reverse order, or the Prismas will ruin your Copics.

Now the Prismas and Gamsol have earned a spot on my desk. I'll be reaching for them more often for detailed images...or until my Oozak order arrives.

Edited to note: I tried using Gamsol on digital images and there was some smearing. Do a test run on some small images before tackling a larger one.

Supplies:

Stamps: Whiff of Joy, Stampin Up (sentiment)

Ink: Memento, Ranger

Cardstock: Stampin Up

Patterned paper: Daisy D's

Other: Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, Nestabilities

Ribbon, twine and button (from Annie--thank you!)

A cookie for Santa

Here's another of Amy's original digi designs--Cookie Break Santa. Love that name! See the little cookie in his hand? Now that's my kind of Santa!

I love how quickly you can start using digis after you download them, and being able to resize them, too. Not having to clean your stamps, or wonder where you're going to store them is an added bonus.

It wasn't my original intention to make a brown Christmas card. But I liked how the reds and greens looked against the background and decided to leave it as is. You can find Cookie Break Santa along with more of Amy's digi fairies, angels, and elves at All That Scraps.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up

Ink: Memento, Ranger Distress Inks, Versamark

Stamps: Amy's digi, Hero Arts

Copic markers for coloring

Nestabilities, Cuttlebug embossing folder

Felt leaves & gemstones (Hero Arts), pop dots

White embossing powder

Meet Fidget Goblinspider

Super talented Amy has designed a number of stamps and showcased them on her blog. Not only are they awesome, but she's made a perfect card with each of them. They are now on sale in digi form at All That Scraps and they're going fast!

She designed several fairies and I bought Fidget Goblinspider because I fell in love with her skirt. It reminds me of a mushroom or toadstool, and I loved her hairdo. Loved it so much that I cut off a part that was too intricate for me to trim. Now Fidget has an unexpected new 'do and I apologized to Amy--and got some cutting tips and words of advice: Practice, practice, practice!

I used a card base that I made a while ago, added some glitter to the dots on Fidget's skirt, and Glossy Accents (again!) on her eyes. Isn't she a cutie? Check out Amy's blog to see more "November Sweets" and get them while you can at ATS.

Another Izzy

I think Izzy is one of my favorite images to color right now. I still want to try a darker skin tone like Kelly did, but that means placing another order at Oozak for darker brown Copics.

I'm entering Caardvarks' circle card challenge with this buttony Izzy card. The background was made using Jennifer McGuire's distressed background technique which I love, especially with the Peeled Paint distress ink. I applied Glossy Accents to Izzy's eyes again, a technique which was shared to me by Kelly.

I'm planning to send this to a friend's daughter who is recovering from a nasty flu. I'm sure she's on her way to recovery and hopefully back in school.

Sweet and Goth

Sugar Nellie is a Scottish based stamp company and I recently bought a few of their Gorjuss Girls to play with. Their designs are so "girly" and are just the right size to practice Copics coloring. And they're easy to trim out, too

--a big plus for me!

Amy shared this card on her blog using Goth Girl and I didn't know what was "Goth" about her. I just liked how she was sitting and I wanted to place her on a circular design.

She has a teeny skeleton barrette, so I did an "Amy" and used a baby wipe to wipe away the skeleton and drew in a little heart. Check out Amy's tutorial here and here to see how she alters images.

Now Goth Girl isn't Goth anymore! Thanks, Amy, for sharing your altering tips and giving me the confidence to change that barrette.

Meet Izzy

The Greeting Farm came out with a new line of stamps called Twinkle Tots and when I saw them during their sneak peek, I knew that I would love them.

The stamps arrived on Wednesday and I couldn't wait to ink them up and color them. They're a little different from the Anya designs--a little more realistic--and a lot of fun to color. This is Izzy and I added a little Glossy Accents on her eyes to make them shinier.

Here's a close up of Izzy's eyes. If you look at them long enough, they start to look a little scary--like real eyes!

Maybe I shouldn't have used the glossy stuff....

Thanks for visiting!

Hope you all have a great Aloha Friday!

Twin awards

I was doubly surprised when both Amy and Jane honored me with the same award two days apart. I'm supposed to share five things about myself and then pass this award on to five others. So here goes:

1. I'm sitting here at my new desk on my new swivel chair and my feet are dangling. I think I'm shrinking by the week.

2. Even though I bought a bunch of Copic markers in Japan, I just placed an order for about a dozen more from Oozak....because Rusty emailed me.

3. Some days I'll stay in my pajamas until noon. Or at least till 10am.

4. I'm getting excited about Thanksgiving, not because of turkey, but because of ham. I LOVE Costco's spiral cut ham so much that my last Mother's Day gift to myself was a 7lb. shank.

5. I do share the ham with my family.....

And now, to pass on the award to the lucky five who I'm hoping will accept it and pass it on:

Denise, Kiara, Deborah, Lysa, and her super creative sister, Maylee.

Thank you, Amy and Jane, for your friendship and the award. I honestly wish that I could pass it on to all my blogging friends because all of your blogs do put a smile on my face, always.

Hope you all have a great week--can you believe it's November?