King and Queen of the Farm

Happy Monday to you! Did you all have a fun weekend? We watched Hawaii's Little League team clinch the US title and fall short of beating Japan for the World Series championship. It was so exciting and fun to watch and we're so proud of them for going as far as they did.

Just sharing a card I made for the King and Queen challenge at The Greeting Farm. You had to create a card with a Greeting Farm couple to "reign the farm".

I decided to use Jeremy and Odette from the Roll Call set because they were the best dressed couple. I used scraps of October Afternoon papers that I used on an earlier card, along with my new Nestabilities Labels 14. Love that shape!

And you still have a couple of days to leave a comment on this post, for a chance to win a Cheeky Glamour stamp. I'll be announcing the winner on September 1st.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

Stamps: The Greeting Farm

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Paper: October Afternoon, Papertrey Ink

Ink: Memento

Other: Copics, Nestabilities, paper roses, pop dots

Texturize with Kelly!

On this week's WTW, my good pal Kelly Booth shared her technique for texturizing on her very first video here. Did you see it? Lots of technical help from her sweet hubby and very informative, too!

Here's my card using Oliver & Amelia's Happy Day from The Greeting Farm. I used a crocheted flower that I bought on Etsy, saturated it with Copic colorless blender and followed Kelly's tutorial.

Can you see his jeans? I love how it turned out like an "acid wash" and I dabbed a little on each of the dinosaurs, too. Fun! It also gives a lot of dimension on your images and it's fun to watch the "magic" appear.

Thanks for visiting today! Hope you try some texturizing and have a great weekend, too!

Stamp: The Greeting Farm
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, Tim Holtz embossing folder, ribbon, button, pop dots

ATS Crinkled ribbon challenge + a giveaway!

All That Scraps' Wednesday challenge is to use crinkled ribbon on your card. How could I not enter this challenge? But I have to admit, I love making the crinkly ribbon more than I know how to tie it!

Here's my card using Cheeky Glamour from The Greeting Farm and the purple crinkly ribbon that I dyed using Dusty Concord distress ink. Isn't she sweet?

Truth be told, I had her colored and cut out quite a while ago and she was just waiting for the right time to make her appearance.

The background is a Purple Onion Design damask stamp that I just love. I think it goes perfectly with her vintage look.

I happen to have an extra Cheeky Glamour stamp that I would love to give to someone who will give her a good home. Simply leave me a comment on this post and tell me if you tried making your own crinkly ribbon. Or not. Just leave me a comment!

Random.org and I will be choosing someone on September 1st and I hope it's YOU!

Stamps: The Greeting Farm, Purple Onion Designs, Hero Arts 
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Hero Arts kraft notecard
Ink: Memento; Dusty Concord, Peeled Paint Distress inks; Versafine
Other: Copic markers, Nestabilities, rayon seam binding, half pearls

Color Me Copic Challenge #2--Kim's Grass Tutorial

The second challenge at Color Me Copic is to make a card and grow some grass alá Kim and her coloring tutorial here. I decided to use The Greeting Farm's Izzy again--she's my favorite Twinkle Tot--and make a sepia toned card. Pure laziness on my part.

After coloring her, I cut out the image with the Nestabilities Labels Eight die. I followed Kim's tutorial and made the grass a little taller.

I used some October Afternoon papers and finished it off with some red grosgrain ribbon. No sentiment was used so that I can use the card for whatever occasion later.

♥♥♥

And thanks to all who hopped along with the Lawn Fawn ♥'s Cards For Kids blog hop! There were so many wonderful cards and projects and I love how some bloggers got their kids get involved, too. Such a feel good event!

Go here to see if you were one of the lucky random winners of some great prizes!

Stamps: The Greeting Farm
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Paper Place kraft
Ink: Memento Brown
Paper: October Afternoon Thrift Shop
Other: Copic markers, Nestabilities, pop dots, ribbon

Lawn Fawn ♥'s Cards For Kids Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome to Lawn Fawn ♥'s Cards For Kids blog hop! We have all come together today to make cards for a wonderful cause--Cards for Kids! We hope to encourage you to also make cards for this great cause and have fun along the way. So please hop along with us, and make sure to leave comments as there will be prizes for commenters and participants!

On with the hop! If you arrived from Rhonda's blog, you're at the right spot. And if you do get lost along the way, you can always start at the beginning at the Lawn Fawn blog.

Stamps: Lawn Fawn, Hero Arts, Gina K Designs

I'd like to share two cards with you. The first uses Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Sea and I chose the adorable whale for my mini card. This card was quick and easy and there are several sea critters to choose from in the set. The sentiment is from Nina Brackett's Heartily Yours Additions.

My second card is suitable for an older teen, like Sami. I used Chelsea from The Greeting Farm and created a 4x4" easel card. Hope she likes it!

Your next stop on the hop is Jess. Don't forget to leave comments along the way for your chance to win some great prizes! Thanks so much for hopping with us!

Stamps: The Greeting Farm
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Paper Place
Paper: Basic Grey
Ink: Memento, Versafine
Other: Copics, star buttons, clear buttons

Revisiting Izzy

I'm hoping to play with some older stamps and give them some love again. I have so many uninked stamps, or stamps that I wanted so badly when they were first released, and then stamped them only once after I got them. Or not at all...

Do you have those stamps, too? Please say "yes".

Izzy is one of those stamps. So I paid her a revisit and stamped and colored her. After cutting her out with the deckle Nestabilities die, I added grass to the bottom, using Kim's tutorial shown here. I also dabbed some Glossy Accents on her eyes and used an Aqua Lip pen to glaze her lips.

The challenge at All That Scraps is to use die cuts and I was glad to see Izzy in the ATS store so my card qualifies--and I made the deadline, too!

Thanks, always, for visiting! Can you believe it's already the middle of August?

Stamps: The Greeting Farm
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Patterned paper: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Antique Linen distress ink
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, seam binding, paper roses, pop dots, 
Sharpie white poster paint pen, Glossy Accents, Aqua Lip pen

Oh, baby!

Happy Saturday! Hope everyone had an uneventful "Friday the 13th" yesterday...

I needed a card for a baby boy, so I grabbed my trusty Purple Onion Design noteblock and a paired it with a baby digi from Digistampcharacters. Love the noteblocks--I own about 6 of them!--and they make for a quick card every time.









After I took a shot of the baby in the sitting position, I used some Un-Du and removed him, then placed him in a "sleeping" position, just to see what it looked like.

Showed the card to my hubby and he said it looked like the baby was doing ab crunches so I put him back, seated.

Will FINALLY send this card off to a dear friend's daughter in Arizona....

Thanks for visiting today! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Stamps: Purple Onion Designs, Digistampcharacters
Ink: Colorbox
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Hero Arts notecard
Other: Copics, Sharpie white poster paint pen, Un-Du adhesive remover

A black and white princess

Hi there! Just a quick post today, sharing a black and white card using Tiddly Inks' Everyday Princess. I didn't realize how much I would like coloring this way. It's pretty relaxing and not stressful at all. Especially if you don't have all the Copic colors, like me!

Rach gave a great tutorial here on black and white Copic coloring, and I tried to do shiny black hair like Lysa shared here. All in all, it's a fun and fast way to color an image and something different, too!

Stamps: Tiddly Inks, Cornish Heritage Farms
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Patterned paper: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento, Colorbox
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, sheer ribbon (thanks, Kelly!), puffy heart sticker, pop dots


I'm hoping to catch up with blog hopping this week! Apologies for popping up only so often but the gym has become my second home and I'm proud to say I've dropped a few pounds....with many more to go!

Thanks, always, for visiting! Hope you continue to have a great week!

Whisper Thank You

Happy Monday! Just sharing some cards I made over the weekend using a Frost It Pink kit--Whisper Thank You--by Hilary Kanwischer.

She put together some gorgeous Melissa Frances papers and embellies, and I pretty much copied her examples to the T.

It's the first time that I used a kit that required no stamping or coloring! I even pulled out my Singer and did a bit of sewing on the edges.

This card is my fave--love her sweet face!-- and I think I'll be buying Melissa Frances papers ala carte and making more of them.

The photos were taken with the portable Photo Studio that I used for the first time. I'm still getting used to it and I think I have to play with the lights and angles a bit more.



Thanks for visiting today! Hope you all have a great week!

TD03 Challenge--Flowers!

Today's the 7th and that means it's time for another challenge from Tiffany Doodles! This month's theme is "flowers" and all you have to do is create a card using a flower. Tiffany has tons of flower digis in her store, but feel free to use ANY flower from ANY stamp company and join us!

She created several flowers that are within Nestabilities shapes so you can die cut your image before or after you've colored it, neatly and quickly. If you're like me, and your trimming skills aren't the best, having a "Nestie friendly" image is a blessing!

I chose the Dahlia With Oval which comes with two images. Besides the dahlias inside of an oval, there's some dahlias in a vase and I decided to color that image for my card.

The cardstock is embossed with the new Tim Holtz embossing folder and I sanded it to make the white show through. Love doing that!

The sentiment is from Nina Brackett's Heartily Yours Additions, and there's my hand dyed ribbon that I made to complement the dahlias.


Be sure to visit the other team members to see more floral goodness:

• Tiffany Richards
• Cammy Wall
• Cindy Lee
• Deirdre Horgan
• Donna Mikasa -- you are here!
• Julie Masse
• Kathy Racoosin
• Kim Schofield
• Lindsay Amrhein
• Peet Roeven
• Ruby McGuire
• Shannon Neparko
• Vanessa Menhorn
• Virginia Lu

Get all the challenge details from Tiffany Doodles, and hope you'll join us!

More ribbon experiments!

Hello, and happy Friday! I spent the better part of Tuesday dyeing more rayon seam binding and I wanted to experiment with different inks to see what results I would get.

Most videos mention putting the ink in a spray bottle, but since I don't own too many mini misters, I used the "moosh" technique. I mooshed the distress ink pad on my craft mat, spritzed some water and sopped up the color.  That technique produced these results with Stormy Sky and Rusty Hinge.

My friend Cheryl Valadez suggested Copic reinkers and the colorless blender in a ziploc bag and I had to give it a try. Here are the results for that technique, using R85 and YG95. Thanks, Cheryl!

I love the intensity of the colors. The only drawback is the cost factor and the really strong smell that remains for quite a long time.

I used some of the pink ribbon on this card that I made using Tiddly Inks' Everyday Princess and paired it with a new Kid's Quote sentiment stamp that a dear friend gave me.

Let me know if you've tried dyeing seam binding and what inks you've tried. I'd love to see your results!

***

Thank you all for your birthday wishes! Turning 39 wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. And here's a shot of the sliver of birthday cake that I savored...





For those of you who asked, my daughter purchased the Photo Studio from Ritz Camera at the Ala Moana Shopping Center. I think any specialty camera shop might carry it. I'm looking forward to using it and seeing the results.

Thanks, always, for stopping by...Have a great weekend!

Another birthday rolls along...

Today, August 4th, is President Barack Obama and American race car driver Jeff Gordon's birthday.  And mine. I was trying to block it from my mind....But some very dear friends and my family wouldn't let me.

First of all, my dear sweet hubs hired a PERSONAL TRAINER for me! Her name is Allison Campbell and I love her! She works me hard and I'll be spending 10 weeks with her and hopefully, build up my core strength and turn some fat into muscle! Make that lots of fat.

My daughter and her boyfriend gave me this! I think they felt sorry for me when I would crouch down on the floor and prop my cards against the TV stand, trying to get a good shot. I'm hoping I can now take photos any time of the day. Love it!

My dear friend Kelly sent me this adorable card and a box of goodies. Look at the shine on Flirty Anya's hair!

Alice told me she's sending me this amazing box that she recently shared on her blog. Talk about awesome paper engineering! Love it!!

Such sweet friends...I am blessed.

Tonight, I'm looking forward to some yummy sushi for dinner...and a very thin slice of cake!

Sweet November's Halloween release!

Happy Monday! Today is the much anticipated  release of Amy's cute Halloween kiddos--Sweet November Baby Tricks or Treats--at All That Scraps! I colored two more of her adorable images, trimmed them out and attached them to a trapezoid box made with My Mind's Eye papers.

I filled them with my fave Reese's dark chocolate peanut butter cups and let's see how long I can hold out before I untie those ribbons...Happy Halloween to me!

Visit All That Scraps now to get your hands on these adorable images in both rubber and digital form. Start stamping up some Halloween goodness for your little goblins, or for yourself!

Also, if you left a comment on Amy's blog during the previews, head on over there to see if you're a lucky random winner of one of her stamp+candy giveaways!

Stamps: Sweet November by Amy Young
Cardstock: Neenah
Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye
Other: Copics, Sharpie white poster paint pen, sheer dot ribbon, mini star buttons, pop dots

Happy 2nd Anniversary, TGF!

 The Greeting Farm is celebrating their 2nd Anniversary with a fantastic blog hop happening now! The hop starts at the Farm and you'll find
the hoppin' order there, too.

Here's my card using Creeper Thursday and I based the design on Mercy's card here, substituting flowers from a Basic Grey Lemonade kit, for the circles.

Notice anything different about Thursday? Since it's been pretty hot here lately, I gave her a summer 'do and lopped off her pigtails--by accident! I was doing so well trimming her out and--whoopsie!--there went the left pigtail. So I cut off the other one and I think she looks pretty cool. She's even smiling a bit more!

I'd like to wish Marie, the Farmers, and all of Club Anya a very Happy 2nd Anniversary! Thanks for the awesome stamps we get to play with and for making the Farm a fun place to be! Here's to many more years of stamping fun!

Thanks for hopping by! Now return to the Farm and 

continue on the hop...

Stamps: The Greeting Farm Creeper Thursday, Papertrey Ink sentiment

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Martha Stewart kraft

Patterned paper: Basic Grey Lemonade

Ink: Memento, Colorbox

Die cute: Basic Grey Lemonade

Other; Copics, Nestabilities, Sizzix embossing folder, Sharpie white poster paint pen, pop dots