Hello...Happy Easter!

A quick post and card to wish you all a Happy Easter! I printed out this Pure Innocence Digistampcharacter and colored her up in a few minutes.

Rather than struggle with coloring a "smooth" egg, I dabbed the colorless blender over the entire surface of the colored egg. I love the mottled look.



I also used the new Spellbinder die called Reverse Wonky Rectangles. Isn't that a fun name?

* * *

My Hero Arts Flickr friends will recognize Ivy, who I met for lunch yesterday, along with her hubby Eddie, and the B-boys, Brandon and Bryan.

I'm so glad we got to meet up, and I had the privilege of sitting next to BryBry, who scarfed down all of his popcorn chicken.

Thanks for the goodies, Ivy, and I hope to see the Wongs next year--maybe at the new Disney Aulani resort?

Enjoy the rest of your vacation and have a safe trip home!

A glossy balloon

Hello and Happy Friday! This week seemed to zoom by, and I can't believe that February is just around the corner. I'm getting a jump start on some cards since there are quite a few friends and family with birthdays next month.

I was playing with a favorite Pure Innocence image and I wanted to share how I created the gloss on the little girl's balloon--without using Glossy Accents! Lisa Spangler shared this technique in a Hero Arts video here. (Around the 2:51 mark)

On the original image, the balloon is cut off. I printed the image again and finished drawing in the rest of the balloon, cut it out, and colored it with Copics. I pressed the image onto a pad of Versamark ink and sprinkled clear embossing powder over and heated it with my heat gun.

As soon as all the powder was melted, I immediately poured another layer of powder over the image and heated it again. I repeated this process three more times. Each time the balloon became smoother and glossier.

You get the same result as if you used Glossy  Accents, and as soon as it cools, you can handle it without having to guess if it's dry--and there are no air bubbles!

Hope you try this technique and use your Glossy Accents for smaller, more manageable images.

Thanks for visiting today.....hope you have a fun weekend ahead!




Stamps: Digistampcharacters, Papertrey Ink sentiment
Ink: Versafine, Versamark
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye
Other: Copics, clear embossing powder, Nestabilities, puffy heart sticker, sewing machine, pop dots

O Christmas tree!

Hi there! Did you get your Christmas tree yet? We did! Last year was our first Christmas without one and we resorted to an artificial tabletop model that my daughter's boyfriend gave her. Not the same...

Several containers of trees were rejected because of pest infestation, and sent back to the mainland so a lot of island folks were without trees. We had to put our presents around the tree and it just wasn't the same. No pine scent, too.

So this year, my hubby made sure to get a tree after the second shipment hit the stores. We'll probably decorate it tomorrow and start putting our gifts under it.

Here's a card made with a Pure Innocence digi from Heather Ellis' Digistampcharacters. She's such a cutie and got herself a little tree, too. 

I noticed that the girl is getting older and appears to be losing her baby fat. Doesn't she look a little slimmer?

Hope you're having a great weekend. I'm off to hunt for our box of ornaments! Thanks for stopping by...

Stamps: Digistampcharacters, Hero Arts sentiment
Ink: Versafine, Colorbox
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Stampin Up
Paper: Cosmo Cricket
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, Liquid Pearls, pop dots, pearls

Pure Innocence Christmas

If you're a fan of Pure Innocence images, Heather Ellis has a few of her images on sale here! Due to popular customer demand, she's still keeping her older images and offering them at a great price. Some of the digis are only £0.50 which is equivalent to 79¢US!

I made a tent card using one of her older images, but I removed the mistletoe so the main image would fit. After coloring the image with Copics, I tried to texturize some pieces of clothing by tapping the colorless blender over them for a "woolen" look.

Beate Johns has a wonderful tutorial on making tent cards. I love that a tent card stands up nicely, and can still be folded flat for mailing.

Hope you have a great week....Can you believe that November is here??

Stamps: Digistampcharacters
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Hero Arts layering paper
Paper: Crate Paper
Other: Copics, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nestabilities, Liquid Pearls, ultra fine glitter
Finished card size is 4.25" square

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

Cupcake girl

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a safe Fourth of July. Overall, it was a lot quieter in our neighborhood this year, maybe because of the possible ban on fireworks here in the islands.

Just wanted to share a new Pure Innocence digi image by Heather Ellis that I found here in her online store. I colored her with Copics, added some glaze on the frosting with a Sakura Aqua Lip pen, and white dots on her dress with a Sharpie poster paint pen.

I layered the image on a Cuttlebugged birthday background that was sanded to show the white core. And although you can't see it, the little pearls are Glitter Domes given to me by my sweet niece. Thanks, Heather!

Don't you love that huge cupcake? I'll be sending this to a little sweetheart who'll be turning 2 in a few days.


Stamps: Digistampcharacters by Heather Ellis
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill 
Other: Copics, Nestabilities Labels Eight, Cuttlebug birthday folder,
Sharpie poster paint pen, Aqua Lip clear glaze pen by Sakura,
Glitter Domes, sheer ribbon, pop dots

Etsy inspired challenge #81

When I saw Virginia and Dawn's posts about the Etsy Inspired Challenge, and that Heather Ellis' Digi Stamp Characters was the sponsor, I wanted to give it a go.

I visited Ponder and Stitch and browsed their beautiful fabric cuffs in vintage prints.

Here is the one that inspired me:

And here is my card:

The image is from Heather Ellis' Mouse in the House series of digital stamps. Isn't she cute? Since I have almost all (or all) of her Pure Innocence girls, I thought I'd move on to the mice and Purr Button kitties.

Stamps: Digistampcharacters, The Greeting Farm (sentiment)

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill

Ink: Memento, Colorbox

Other: Nestabilities, Sizzix embossing folder, Copic markers,

pop dots, ribbon

***

You have two more days to enter my giveaway by leaving a comment here. I've enjoyed reading the "feel good" moments so far....thanks for sharing!

Sweet Home Alabama

Joy and Jared have left the islands and are now back in Alabama. Yes, we did the "ugly cry" at the airport and then burst out laughing because we looked so hideous! Their flight was boarding by the time we parked the cars, so it was a quick goodbye and all I could think was, "Have a safe trip!....Where did I put my pop dots?" I really missed crafting!

I like Jennifer McGuire's idea of giving out unannounced RAKs to random commenters. It really embodies the true meaning of a RAK! And you can spread out the love. Now I just have to find and sort out my supplies and blog candy.....

Meanwhile, here's a simple Easter card using two Pure Innocence girls. The little girl with the basket is a clear stamp from My Favorite Things, while the one with the Easter hat is a digi. I'll be sending this card to a sweet friend who'll be spending Easter away from home.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you all have a great weekend and wish me luck in finding my stuff.....

Stamps: My Favorite Things, Digistampcharacters by Heather Ellis

Cardstock: Hero Arts, Papertrey Ink

Other: Copic markers, Nestabilities dies, Sizzix embossing folder,

ribbon, pop dots

Yes, I sewed!

Here are two cards that I took to the sewing machine! Sweet Lucy gave an excellent tutorial here on the basics of sewing on your cards. It really motivated me to pull out the Singer and start stitching.

I especially like her idea of sewing only on the patterned paper piece and not through the card. You attach it after stitching, and the card has a clean finish inside. Genius! Thank you, Lucy....you are such a great teacher! My next hurdle is zigzag stitching....

This card uses Sugarplum Paperie digital paper from The Hybrid Chick. I never thought I'd be using digital papers but I couldn't resist the distressed dot pattern, and this was a free digital download with super cute designs. Big hugs to Alice, who is now a Digi Chick, for introducing me

to their digi yumminess!

Here I was inspired by Jenn's card to bend the scallops and give the card some dimension. Next time I'll try a double layer like she did.

Stamps: Pure Innocence digis, Savvy stamps sentiment

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned paper: Sugarplum Paperie digital, Making Memories

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black

Other: Copic markers, Nestabilities, Marvy oval punch, sewing machine, distressing tool

My first CCC

I've been lurking Deborah's Card Chain Challenge for several months and finally decided to play along. After signing up, you create a card and send it to an assigned participant, and your "link" is doing the same. You have the choice of a card sketch, color palette, or a theme.

Dawn Turley of New Zealand, sent me a parcel full of goodies. Not only did she send a card, but she included a bookmark, tags, and some backgrounds made with alcohol inks. And she used some Pure Innocence images, too! Thanks so much, Dawn.... it felt like Christmas!

I decided to go with colors and sent this card off to Susan McRae in Canada. I used the Pure Innocence garden girl together with the new sentiment set from Hero Arts. Love that font! And you can't go wrong with Cosmo Cricket papers....

Check out Deborah's blog to see all of the "chains" in her January CCC. It's fun to see where a card came from and where it went. Thanks, Deborah! I'm looking forward to the next CCC!