imagine

A quick post to share a card I made using the Music Background stamp from Hero Arts. Got my fingers inky over the weekend and did some ink distressing in different colors. I like the color combo of Peeled Paint with kraft and pink and found the perfect papers in my scrap pile.

I added some tiny gemstones to the tops of each of the trees and gold embossed the sentiment from River City Rubber Works.

Thanks for visiting! I'm fighting off a cold--drinking tons of liquids and trying to get some rest. Hope you're all off to a great week!

Stamps: Hero Arts, River City Rubber Works
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Hero Arts notecard
Paper: from my scrap stash--October Afternoon or Cosmo Cricket
Ink: Peeled Paint distress ink, Memories, Versamark
Other: Gold embossing powder, gemstones

TD06--Anything But a Card

Wow, it seems like the 7th of November arrived so quickly! Which means it's time for another challenge from Tiffany Doodles where you can win up to 7 digis of your choice!

This month's theme is "Anything But a Card". Using a Tiffany Doodles digi isn't a requirement to enter the challenge, but we'd love for you to use them if you have some.

Here's my project using one of Tiffany's newest images--Ducky Umbrella. I made a desk calendar using an acrylic photo frame. After coloring the image, I stamped and embossed the sentiment and sponged around the edges to make the sentiment pop.

I added a grassy border on the bottom and trimmed the card to fit the frame. I didn't have any of the ready made mini calendars on hand, and found a printable one online. I printed it out, trimmed it and stacked the pages to create my own mini calendar.

Please visit the rest of the Tiffany Doodles team--many of whom are leaving this month (Sniff!)--to see their "Anything But a Card" projects. You won't be disappointed!

Tiffany Doodles

Tiffany Richards

Cammy Wall

Deirdre Horgan

Julie Masse

Kathy Racoosin

Kim Schofield

Lindsay Amrhein

Peet Roeven

Ruby McGuire

Shannon Neparko

Vanessa Menhorn

Virginia Lu

You have until the end of the month to enter the challenge here for your chance to win up to 7 digis of your choice. Hope you'll play along with us!


Stamps: Tiffany Doodles digital image "Ducky Umbrella", MFT sentiment
Cardstock: Georgia Pacific
Paper: Crate Paper
Ink: Versamark, Chipped Sapphire, Broken China, Antique Linen distress inks
Other: Copics, clear embossing powder, Sharpie poster paint pen, Martha Stewart grass border punch

***

As I mentioned earlier, several team members are leaving Tiffany Doodles, and Tiffany has an open call for anyone interested in joining us. If you are, click here for the requirements and an application. 

Ice Beary Greetings

Whiff of Joy came out with their Christmas images and I couldn't resist this adorable little bear. I colored him with Copics and added a bit of sparkle on the snow with some Crystal Stickles.

I love the Pendant Nestabilities die, ever since I saw my friend Sue use it here to create her stunning Christmas ornament. Then I saw Teri's card here and that's when I knew I had to get it.


What I didn't love was how the die wouldn't release the piece once it was cut. I kept wishing there was some type of Teflon spray that would just pop the piece out.

I finally solved the problem by putting a piece of waxed paper between the die and cardstock.

I also used a barbecue stick to poke out all the smaller pieces before sliding the stick under the die to help loosen the piece. Using a good quality cardstock helps, along with saying a little prayer.



If you've used them before, I'd love to hear your "sticky" solutions for getting your pieces out of your pendant dies.

Thanks for stopping by today! Whatever you do, I hope you have a fun weekend!

Stamps: Whiff of Joy
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento
Other: Copics, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nestabilities dies, Stickles, pop dots, waxed paper

Peace & Love

I may be the last person to finally own Hero Arts' Winking Reindeer and I've seen so many cute cards that used him. Love his ornate antlers!

I paired him with the Starry Sky background stamped with my favorite white ink--Papertrey's Fresh Snow. I think it's the "whitest" ink and I love how it looks on kraft.

I also sponged the ink around the edges of the card for a "frosty" look. The sentiment is from an older Hero Arts stamp set.

The "snow" on the ground was made with a Cuttlebug embossing folder which was a limited edition release from the UK.

I colored a clear gemstone with a Copic marker since I didn't have any red ones for his nose, and tied a bit of floss around his neck to finish him off.

Hoping to make more of these mini cards for Caring Hearts and Cards for Kids.

Thanks for visiting! Hope you're having a great week so far...

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink: Memento, Versafine, Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Stampin Up

Other: Copics, Cuttlebug, floss, gemstones, 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

Trick or Treating with Tiddly Inks & Simply Betty Stamps

Tiddly Inks has teamed up with Simply Betty Stamps for a spooktacular blog hop! Get all the details here and join the hop to win some fabulous prizes!

There's a small twist to the hop to share a "trick"--a favorite technique that you used on the card--or a "treat" which is simply sharing a project.

I chose "Rio", a digital stamp from Simply Betty who will be retired as a digi this Halloween (how appropriate!) and turned into rubber. I've always admired her super cool spider web skirt!

I colored her hair and face, and when I got to her lips, the color bled outside of the lines! With Copics, reds are the hardest to remove with the colorless blender. I thought I'd give it a shot, but the more I tried, the worse things got. Rio looked as if she'd eaten some strawberry jam and smeared her mouth!
She was already trimmed out--which took me forever!-- and it seemed like a waste to toss her just because of her mouth. So I decided to do a face transplant.

I colored another face, being extra careful to color in her lips without smearing, and trimmed it out. Then I adhered it over the original image and managed to salvage Rio and use her on my card.

Here's my finished card with Rio's surgically repaired face.

I found some patterned paper from My Mind's Eye with a spidery background that was perfect with Rio.

I also used Tim Holtz's new embossing folder and tied some seam binding that I dyed with Spiced Marmalade + Rusty Hinge distress inks.




Thanks for visiting today! Hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Stamps: Simply Betty "Rio" digital image
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Basic Grey
Paper: My Mind's Eye
Ink: Memento; Peeled Paint, Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge distress inks
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, Sizzix, seam binding, gems, pop dots

More snowmen

Hi all! Thanks to those of you who hopped with us on the Caring Hearts Blog Hop. There was so much inspiration along the way, and tons of wonderful ideas for holiday cards.

Remember that you have until Wednesday, October 27th to comment here as well as all the blogs on the hop to be eligible for some great prizes from great sponsors!

Just sharing a few more snowmen cards using Jane's Snowman and Bird. I kept it simple this time so I didn't have to use my sewing machine. The Nestabilities Label shape was embossed with a "snow" embossing folder, and I even flipped the snowman so he's facing to the left. Gotta love that about digis!

And here's another share of a true story. Sad, but true.

I opened up a new Crate Paper kit and was going through the papers, checking out the designs. The kit included two sheets of stickers--one of them a sheet of border trims.

I looked at the trimming. Cute designs, but why did they put French words on them? I took some French in high school and remembered that "mon" means "my". But what is "mous"? Hmmm........

I stared at it for a good minute or so.....wondering.....pondering.....

AND THEN I TURNED IT 180°.

Ohhhhhh...it says  SNOW!!
Hope you're all having a great week so far. Thanks for stopping by!

Caring Hearts Blog Hop

I found out through Alice's blog that our Flickr friend Vera was hosting a Caring Hearts Card Drive and coordinated today's blog hop. Caring Hearts will collect holiday cards to send to elders living in a nursing home, care home, or other assisted living facility. I couldn't pass up the chance to be a part of such a great cause.

There are awesome prizes for participants and commenters, too, so make sure you visit all the blogs on the hop to be eligible. You have until Wednesday, October 27th at midnight (CST) to leave your comments, with winners to be announced on Vera's blog on Friday, the 29th.

If you came here from Corry's blog, then you're on the right track. In case you get lost during the hop, the list of participants can be found on Vera's blog.

Here's my card using one of Jane's newest digis--Snowman and Bird--which is on sale over at Squigglefly. Although you can't see it, I added a bit of gloss on the bird and the snowman's carrot nose. And lots of Liquid Pearls for snow.

To participate in, or for more information about the Caring Hearts Card Drive, which will accept cards until November 15, visit Vera's blog post here.

Your next stop on the hop is Dawn's fabulous blog. Thanks for hopping along with us, and thank you, Vera, for coordinating this "feel good" event!

Stamps: Jane Beljo for Squigglefly, Hero Arts sentiment
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Stampin Up
Paper: Crate Paper
Ink: Peeled Paint, Tumbled Glass distress inks; Versafine Onyx Black
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, Liquid Pearls, Sakura Aqua Lip, ribbon, pop dots

And the winners are...

Happy Friday! I couldn't wait to announce the winners of my giveaways! Thanks to all of you who stopped by and left a comment. You're all so sweet!

The first winner, according to random.org, is Lin. Congrats, Lin! You've won the Sweet November stamps, Basic Grey paper pad, and Doodlebug brads.

And the runner up winner of my hand dyed ribbons and Basic Grey paper pad is Kelly Rasmussen. Hope you both have fun with your goodies! Please email me so I can send them out to you this weekend.

I'll be having more giveaways so don't be disappointed if you didn't win this time. Lots of paper, lots of stamps, just waiting for good homes.

♥ ♥ ♥

Thanks to my friend Alice, I'll be participating in the Caring Hearts blog hop tomorrow, to send some holiday cheer to those living in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. It should be a fun weekend for a great cause!
Happy weekend, everyone!

Grumpy Georgia

How often do you see an image with a grumpy face? When I first saw Amy's Grumpy Georgia, I knew I had to get her! Life isn't always a "bowl of cherries", and I love that Georgia has that little smirk on her face....she's such a cutie!

While I was breezing through Ben Franklin Crafts, I saw a bin of Studio g stamps. The new clear sets are only $1.25 and now come with a bit of bling--what a bargain! This stamp set caught my eye and I knew it was meant to be used with a grumpy gal.

Here's my finished easel card. I cut apart the "dear" from the "Santa", which is great when you're using clear stamps. And I just realized that this is my first Christmas card for 2010. Hmm...who can I send this to?

Stamps: Sweet November, Studio g
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Stampin Up
Paper: Crate Paper, Fancy Pants
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, EK Success ledger punch, Sharpie white poster paint pen, buttons



Thanks for stopping by today! Stay tuned tomorrow when I'll announce the winners of my giveaway!