Happy Love Day!

Happy Monday and Happy Valentine's Day! Do you have any fabulous plans? I'd love to hear!

Just sharing one more Valentine using a stamp from Penny Black called Hedgehog Kisses. My friend Ashley, formerly on the Penny Black design team, shared a coloring technique using distress inks and daubers.

I don't own any daubers and my LSS was out of them, so I used what I had--my ink blending tools and Fantastix for the cheeks and feet blush. The hedgies were colored with Antique Linen and Walnut Stain, Fired Brick for the balloons, and I used some make up blush for the cheeks and feet.

The background was stamped with Hero Arts' Large Canvas Stripes, and the ticket is from Purple Onion Designs. The "xoxo" is also by Hero Arts.

I loved using this technique--thanks, Ashley! It made for quick coloring and gave my Copics a little break.

Hope you all have a love-ly Valentine's Day! XOXO to you for stopping by today...

Stamps: Penny Black, Hero Arts, Purple Onion Designs
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Paper Accents kraft
Ink: Memento, Papertrey Ink, Ranger Distress inks
Other: Ribbon, pop dots, twine, Signo pigment pen

More bunny love

Oh how I ♥ Lawn Fawn's little bunny! I'm entering this card in Lawnscaping Challenge #3 which is all about love. I hope I made the deadline...

I made the watercolored background alá my friend Alice, by laying down some color on my craft sheet (Broken China and Shabby Shutters distress inks), spritzing it with water, and then swiped a piece of cardstock through it.

I used up more Cosmo Cricket paper scraps for the banner and this time, I used Harold's ABCs  to stamp LOVE. I added puffy heart stickers on the banner and on the rabbit's rump. The punny sentiment is also from Lawn Fawn's My Silly Valentine set.


Hope you're all having a great weekend! Thanks, always, for stopping by...
Stamps: All Lawn Fawn
Cardstock: Watercolor paper, Paper Accents kraft
Ink: Memento, Versafine, Ranger distress inks
Other: Liquid Pearls, puffy heart stickers, pop dots, twine

L O V E

Hello! Hope your week is going along well. Just sharing another card that I made using Tiffany Doodles' Love Letters digital stamp set.

I changed the colors again--this time to red--and used the same Classic Fabric Design stamp for the background.  After inking up the stamp with Fired Brick and Barn Door distress inks, I stamped off once, then lightly spritzed some water before stamping again, giving it a watercolored look. I kind of like that!

I ink distressed around all the edges with Antique Linen distress ink and the rayon seam binding was dyed with Fired Brick distress ink. I embellished with a single pearl and the card was done.  Easy peasiest Valentine!

You can find this digital stamp set in Tiffany Doodles new store. For the month of February, you'll receive 10% off your order of any 5 items purchased in the store. This includes Tiffany's great digis and papers, too.

♥ ♥ ♥

And look at what Tiffany is offering on Valentine's Day! One day only, you'll receive a 50% off discount if you purchase all 15 Valentine digital stamps and stamp sets! 50 stamps for under $20....What a love-ly deal!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Stamps: Tiffany Doodles digital stamp, Hero Arts background
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Paper Accents kraft
Ink: Ranger Distress inks
Other: Nestabilities, rayon seam binding, pop dots

Bunny love!

I think by now most of my friends know that I'm a bunny lover ♥. We were the proud owners of four bunnies--three of which lived for 11 years! In bunny years, that's a long life.

When my dear friend Kiara created this adorable bunny digi, I just had to grab her and created a super quick card. This digi is a freebie which you can download in the Tiddly Inks PCP group here. If you're not a member, simply ask to join!

I used my Copics to lightly color the bunny and added some Stickles and Glossy Accents to the eyes, hearts, and wings. I finished off by stamping "Love Ya!" on the inside of this shaped card.



Kiara created this digi especially for her daughter, and I hope it's the start of many more digis from my creative friend. Thank you for sharing it with us, Kiara!

Stamps: Bunny digi by Kiara, Hero Arts sentiment (inside)
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, heart and flower stick pins, Glossy Accents, 
Stickles, puffy heart stickers, pop dots

TD 09 -- Valentine Challenge

Tiffany Doodles' February challenge is all about Valentines! And Tiffany has added a ton of new Valentine images to her store, from banners to sentiments, and of course, hearts!

For my card, I chose the set of Love Letters. I love the vintage look of the letters and the words and sentiments that they form.

Since these are digital stamps, I played with the color on my computer to get as close as I could to the ink that I planned to use.

The background is stamped with Hero Arts Classic Fabric Design and the seam binding was dyed with Black Soot distress ink.

Tiffany has decided to shorten the challenge to two weeks and there's a change in the prizes, too.

For more information, visit Tiffany Doodles, see the rest of the design team's cards and be inspired to join us!

Stamps: Tiffany Doodles digital stamps, Hero Arts
Ink: Ranger distress inks, Hero Arts shadow ink
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Other: Nestabilities, rayon seam binding, pearls

cutie pie

Hello and Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Just wanted to share a quick card I made to welcome a new baby. I tried to use "boyish" colored papers for the banners and the cloud background was stamped with Versamark ink on kraft.

The rabbit is colored like a "hotot" rabbit--a breed that we once owned. They look like they have a pair of black eyes but it's one of the main characteristics of that breed.


Thanks, always, for stopping by. Please visit tomorrow--the 7th--for a new challenge from Tiffany Doodles with a "love-ly" theme!

Stamps: Lawn Fawn, Hero Arts
Cardstock: Hero Arts kraft
Paper: Making Memories
Ink: Versamark, Staz On
Other: Twine, pop dots, puffy heart stickers

find joy every day

The last challenge at the Hero Arts blog was to create a card with inspiration from their new 2011 catalog. The whole catalog is gorgeous--I love the cover!--and brimming with fabulous ideas.

My card is based on this card by Jennifer McGuire featured in the new Hero Arts technique video Hero Hues. I caught a glimpse of it in the preview, using the new silhouette stamp Musical Walk and some tone on tone stamping.



                                                                      

Card by Jennifer McGuire

Photo courtesy of  Hero Arts' video

I simplified her card and created this.  I used the Large Canvas Stripes DB and the Raindrop Background DB and lots of Hero Arts pearls.  I love the mixed fonts on the sentiment, and the lace on the bottom was a gift from a friend.

Now to practice "kissing"--the next technique for this month's challenge at Hero Arts. You can watch Shari Carroll demonstrate it here in her video tutorial. Wish me luck...

Stamps: All Hero Arts

Cardstock: Paper Accents

Ink: Hero Arts shadow ink, Ranger distress ink, Versafine

Other: lace, pearls

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

Tiffany Doodles Sneaky Peeks!

Tiffany Doodles has been having sneak peeks of three of the newest floral digis that will go on sale in the store on Friday, January 28th.

Peeks of the angel trumpet and daphne have already been shared and today's peeks are the beautiful nicotiana from some of my fellow DT members. Aren't they gorgeous? You'll receive two digital images in a set, one of which fits inside of an oval shaped die.

I was planning to share peeks of my cards yesterday, but I was having major problems with the Copics smearing the digital images in certain areas. I tried heat setting, praying, muttering little curse words....

I emailed Tiffany to whine about my problem and she suggested that I emboss the image as soon as it came out of the printer. I've heard about stampers doing this but never tried it myself. Out of sheer frustration, I decided to give it a try.

I poured some clear embossing powder as soon, and I mean AS SOON as the card rolled out of the printer and lo and behold, the powder stuck! A quick zap with my heat gun and you'd think I used embossing ink.

I let it cool, and then colored it and there was no smearing at all! Hooray! Problem solved! And no damage to my Copics, too.

Here are the two cards I made with the daphne. Even though they're a day late, I managed to learn something new, and hope to share this tip with you if you ever have a problem with smearing digis. Thanks, Tiff!

Remember that the three new floral digis go on sale January 28th and if you purchase all three sets, you'll receive 10% off through the weekend. What a great deal!

Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy the rest of your week...

Love you tons

I made a "lazy" card this weekend, using one of Penny Black's new Valentine images, Hedgehopper. I love this image of the flying hedgehog, trailing along some love. I call this a lazy card because it has very minimal coloring on it and I managed to give my Copics a rest.

I basically used just my Prismacolor pencils and highlighted most of the image. Gotta love this technique on kraft. I added some white dots on the clouds and a little Glossy Accents on the hearts and the card was done.

An easy peasy Valentine. And very lazy....

Thanks, always, for stopping by. Hope you're all off to a great week!

Stamps: Penny Black, Studio G sentiment, Hero Arts DB

Cardstock: Paper Accents khaki

Paper: Bo Bunny 

Ink: Memento, Versafine, Ranger distress ink

Other: Nestabilities, Papertrey Ink cloud die, Prismacolor pencils, 

Glossy Accents, Signo white pigment pen, pop dots