Tuesday, February 28, 2017

We Flamin-go Together


Several weeks past Valentine's Day, and this card was floating around in my head. I wanted to use these great palm frond stamps that I won from The Ink Road for coming up with a name for the stamp set - Frond of You. Lara sent me a set of the stamps with a small ink pad from Hampton Arts and some peach colored sequins. Every girl needs some sequins! I also used Lawn Fawn's Flamingo Together stamp set and dies to create this to sweet card.


Believe it or not, this is the first watercolor background I've ever done. I used Tim Holtz Distressed inks in Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon, and Salty Ocean on a piece of watercolor paper that I put water on before adding the  inks. Although I've seen this done many times, it took watching a Sandy Allnock video on Youtube for the lightbulb to finally go off! Go me! And thanks Sandy!

The palm fronds were done by inking the stamps up with Zig Clean Color Watercolor markers then stamping onto regular cardstock. Three of the images were stamped directly onto the background while it was still damp. I cut them all out by hand then added Olive Jade and Crystal Clear Spectrum Sparkle to them to get that little bit of shine.

Flamingos were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with Spectrum Noir markers.

I layered everything together and used glue and pop dots to get the height in the images. I didn't stamp my sentiment until I had the card completely assembled. I used my Misti to be sure that the sentiment was stamped clearly.



Saturday, February 25, 2017

Work...

I have the best job ever (at least for me). I'm a dispatcher for a delivery company. I handle five stations and around 15 drivers per day - routing, keeping up with deliveries, and answering the phone. AND I get to work from home most days. What more could a girl want? Oh yeah, time to craft.  LOL

This morning, I was staring at my laptop waiting for a driver to call in when I realized I had a small bag from Tuesday Morning in the back of my car. I ran out real quick to get it and by the time I opened it, I was itching to make something using the items - a roll of Artistic Wire's black mesh wire and a roll of Little B's black corrugated "tape."

I decided to use the cat from the Purr-fect Friends stamp set from My Favorite Things and went from there. After coloring the cat with my Spectrum Noir markers, I knew I wanted to use both the wire and the corrugated tape, but I wanted to add a feather into the mix somewhere. It took over two hours of looking at the pieces before I finally had an "ah-ha" moment and it came together. Added a sentiment from the Kindhearted Stamp set from Concord & 9th and I was finished.


Back to work now. My mind has slowed slightly. :)

Saturday, February 18, 2017

You Are the Best

Pulled out a couple sets of my new rubber stamps today and tested them between phone calls for work.

I love the cat in the "Purr-fect Friends" by My Favorite Things. She's adorable. I intended to make her coloring (the non-floral part) look like my Pongo kitty but sadly, that didn't quite go the way I wanted, but I still think she turned out cute. The sentiment stamp is from the "You" set by Simon Says Stamp.

I have several more images stamped out that I plan on coloring tomorrow. Maybe I'll use my Prismacolors instead of my Spectrum Noir markers.

Friday, February 17, 2017



I still love this card I made back in 2007. Faux postage has always been one of my favorite techniques and this kit from Stampin' Up was one of my favorites. I no longer have the stamps but do have several sets of the same type from other companies now. It's about time to pull this technique out of the locker.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Cleaning up



At least, I'm cleaning up digitally. I should be cleaning up physically, but that's for another day. I checked in at SplitCoastStampers and decided to upload some of the cards I've made recently. I never noticed I hadn't put probably three-quarters of my images into folders, so I'm in the process of putting them into folders. Wish there was an option to change a lot of them at once. Alas.

Random factoid: There is no longer two spaces after a period in a paragraph. I found that out a few weeks ago and it's so difficult to get out of the habit. I've been putting two spaces since I learned how to type in the early 80's. I would say late 70's but I typed so bad back then that it shouldn't even count as typing! LOL

As for the image above, it is from A Day for Daisies. I love her images and lately, have been purchasing at least once or two every payday. I <3 this little set of chairs. There is something so welcoming about them. The fact that there are birds does help a bit as well. Colored with Spectrum Noir markers.

Monday, February 13, 2017

Love You a Latte

It's been quite a while since I've been here. I keep thinking I'll get back into blogging and something happens and I forget. Today, I thought I'd try again and upload a card I made using some fab digital stamps from Verve Stamps. Too cute! Who doesn't love coffee?

I will admit, while I was coloring the cups (with Spectrum Noir Markers), I had to have been thinking about the beach, because before I knew it, I was singing "Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I want to take ya Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama Key Largo, Montego, baby why don't we go..." And it was all over.

I decided to go tropical. Looked up the lyrics to Kokomo and printed them onto a piece of scrapbook paper for my background. Added a little tropical blue cardstock and cork paper to surround the cups. The trim is from a local drug store/fabric store called "A & E Drug Store." They are marvelous!



Now I'm off to finish work for the day. Hope to be around again real soon!