Watercolor - Thank You Friend

Well I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas. I for one am done, done, done. After hosting 3 straight days of parties I can honestly say I was happy to put my house back in order.

Afterwards I cleaned my craft room which was in need of some desperate cleaning but a bit of organization as well. I have determined my room is just too small for all my needs but alas it's what I have so I pack it full and trust me it doesn't take much to get it out of organization.

Once it was clean I actually had to wait a day just to admire the fact that you could once again not only see my desk but the floor. 

Then it was time for some water coloring and making my Thank you cards.
I stamped my flowers from Simon Says Stamps Beautiful In Flowers stamps set and colored them in with Tim Holtz Distress Inks. I like to use the Pickled Raspberry and Abandon Coral together.

After my coloring was done I opted to use my new MFTS pp which is nothing but black and white polka dot pp. I love the pop it gives my watercolor panel.

I hope all of you have a healthy and happy New Year!

Merry Christmas - Window Scene

I stamped this window scene way back in September but never did anything with it. Every time I looked at it I said to myself it was too much detail and didn't want to bother coloring it at that time, well no longer.

I took the time to fill in the scene from Pink and Main using copic markers then diecut the exterior Window from Memory box and popped it up over the scene.
I also added the Christmas lights from Memory box and used a sticker for the sentiment.

Since the window scene was actually a tad smaller than the exposed window I filled in the bottom with with pine branches using my Martha Stewart punch and stamped the 2 pinecones and diecut them from Papertrey Ink. A lot of work for 1 little card but it is the epitome of a window scene I think.

Holiday Wishes

I was out in my yard the other day and spied my pink flamingos and decided I liked the idea of these guys in a Christmas card.

First I water colored a background and started reaching for the tried and true rectangle die when the circle ones caught my eye so I decided to change it up a bit. I did diecut my panel background in rectangle, added my circle, popped up the flamingos  up using foam tape then was trying to to figure out a sentiment when again I found my stickers and added the gold label and lastly a few enamel dots. 

All in all a fairly quick despite the coloring with copics and water colored background. 

HoHoHo

After completing my 5 minute card from Monday I decided to make another one, I mean what the heck they only take 5 minutes.

I recently purchased the Ho Ho Ho die from MFTS and figured it would be perfect, I tried both white cs and pp and preferred the pp, the die alone is cute but I wanted a bit more. I added the sentiment using a stamp from Memory Box and then it still seemed a little bland so I added my enamel dots, I was pretty happy with it and later came across the Santa sticker so what the heck I added him too.

Another quick and easy card!

Have A Holly Jolly Holiday

After decorating the house and 2 trees plus wrapping 30 gifts I knew I wanted a quick card for the blog today. I saw some stickers I had set aside for a DD and knew I could use them. I then instantly grabbed a postcard die because I was pretty sure they would look cute on a stamp. First I cut a postcard die in white then realized how much better it would look if it was red and the elf shoes were on white so I quickly grabbed my scrap paper and found some red.

After mounting the two cardstocks together and adding the stickers I spied my Pink and Main pp and found some paper that I thought would work, diecut another panel from my Fawn Lawn cross stitched dies and the only thing left was to find a sentiment which MFTS Santa and Friends stamps supplied. The only thing left was to put it all together and take a photo before the sun went down. Easy peasy a 5 min card for sure.

Merry Christmas - WPlus9 die

Yes another plaid card; tis the season or rather weather for lots and lots of plaid as its flannel season here even in sunny California.

I am still lovin this deer I bought a few years back and love the black silhouette with the plaid pp. I wanted to give him a white backdrop so using my Spellbinders die I cut and embossed it then added some silver foil snowflakes and topped him off with a bright and shiny Merry diecut.

I popped the deer, the white label diecut, and a snowflake to give the card some overall dimension.

There's just something about a red, white and black color combo that seems timeless and makes me think of booth Winter and Valentine's Day.

Peace and Love

Digging around in my stamps I came across these Holly and Leaves from Papertrey Ink that I never seem to use much and after browsing around in a Stampin Up catalog I decided I needed to do some stamping and opted for these florals. I wasn't sure at first what I wanted and after a few mishaps I was pretty happy with the my stamped outcome and just needed to add some pp and finishing touches like that snowflake die from Simon Says Stamp. And I'll let you on a little secret, I dropped the damn ink pad on the stamped card panel. Originally I was going to put the sentiment on the left side but you see I now needed to hide my mistake and thus the snowflake helped me rescue me from my clumsy hands.

Diamond Dotz - Snowman

Taking a side step from the cards to show you another diamond dotz. This is a snowman I did for my daughter and gave it to her for her birthday. It really looks wonderful matted and framed. I really think that wooden frame brings it altogether.

 You just can't capture the bling factor in a photo but trust me it shines without being gawdy.

Now if I could just finish my Santa, sigh.

Feliz Navidad

Originally I picked out and planned to back this cute doggy on some plaid paper but at the last minute I decided to add the string of lights and sadly the card just didn't look as good as it did on this wood panel so I had to make a slight change. 

The dog is from Tim Holtz, my lights are from Papertrey Ink and the sentiment from Simon Says stamp, and if you noticed there are no enamel dots. I am a little shocked myself since I use so many of them. 

Hope everyone enjoyed their Turkey day and had a wonderful time with family and friends. I for one am ready for Christmas, my calendar is already getting full and I hope the month doesn't fly by I really want to enjoy it. 

Christmas Advent Calendar

So every year I go to the expo, well twice a year and I always visit this one booth and lo and behold I found some Disney dies one year so I bought one, then sadly I lost it so next time the expo rolled around I searched for this booth to repurchase my die and the more time I spent in there the more money I ended up spending.

She had these Kaiser Kraft advent calendar displayed and I thought oh how fun it would be to do one in a Disney theme for the boys so I bought one plus the pull handles and some lights. But then I couldn't find any Disney Christmas themed paper so opted to search through my stash of paper and found all this Basic Grey and knew it would be a perfect match.

I began by painting the pieces (except for the boxes), then assembled the main structure and added on my pp. For the boxes I painted the inside, made a template then cut all the pieces out and attached all of that paper to the boxes and finally distressed the boxes and inked them. Yes it was a lot of work.

After I assembled  the calendar I knew I needed to add some other objects and I did use tinker bell for a bit of Disney and also my Tim Holtz star die with the word letter Believe that I glittered.

 I also poked some holes for the lights to shine through and a wreath

 

and I wanted to make a little scene on the ledge, again having a hard time finding what I wanted but finding stuff I could settle on like these cute snowmen. 

and of course I added 2 of those guys to represent each of the boys

and even though mom will be filling the boxes with treats, notes about what they are doing for the day or perhaps a poem I thought it would be fun to hide additional little characters in some of the boxes themselves. 

If you've read this far, be sure and enjoy your Turkey day tomorrow and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Noel

I want you to know that I bought a set of ornament stamps and tag dies from Papertrey Ink a good 5 years ago always thinking I will make my own tags for presents and never do. Sadly I saw them sitting there and figured I needed to give em some exercise.

I decided the round tag would work as an ornament and then scouring over my pp pads I found some distressed plaid from Tim Holtz and knew they would work well together.

The ornament die by itself looked a little bland to me and I saw these enamel holly dots I bought last year I think so time to put em to use.

I'm really digging plaid for some reason right now, I even bought my hubby a plaid tie to wear at a Christmas party and my dgd some black and white plaid pants as a Christmas gift and did I even mention all the throws I am making out of yep plaid fleece. I think I may be a little plaid crazy even.

Believe in the Magic Of Christmas

I confess I originally bought the Believe die and stamp set from Simon Says Stamp to use for Disney pages and when Tim Holtz came out with his starburst die set I was all over it for the exact same reason but marry the two together for a Christmas card and they have a magical effect. Once I die cut the stars I matted the card base over some glitter card stock to add the magic effect then used my stamps to complete this card. I did have to search way back for this red pp from Basic Grey but am always happy to use up my older product.

Hello December

Back to using my KI Memories pp I cut the trees using Pink and Main dies and gave them a snowy hillside from MFTS, and decided a little Lawn Fawn deer was in order to complete the scene. And since I thought it should be snowing I used a Simon Says falling snow template to add a bit of snow dimension on to the card. I also die cut the sentiment from Penny Black out of a bit of silver card since it went with that lovely purple so well.

Holiday Wishes - MFTS

I wanted to keep using my KI paper but thought I'd give it a break and use some Pink and main pp since they have such yummy pp. Using MFTS Elf stamps and dies for this card. I popped up the white banner with the sentiment along with the tree and elf. And as usual there's those enamel dots to finish off the card.

Are You Yeti for Christmas - MFTS

As promised my KI paper along with MFTS Yeti stamp. I decided to use all the products as they had intended eons ago and just added my Yeti, sentiment and a couple of enamel dots.

I didn't have a banner die long enough so I cut it and then just attached it neatly hiding my cut edges so it gives the appearance that it's longer than it really is.

Happy Halloween - Stuff

It doesn't seem right posting Christmas cards on Halloween so am showcasing a couple of costume or cosplay items I made for the Disney trip that we wore. 

First up I used my Silhouette to create this Darth Vader Tank for my dd. I designed the images and cut them out according to a picture I had from a museum trip I took with my older dgs of the actual Darth Vader costume.

I went as Chewbaca so I made a fur vest and his bandolier bag using my sewing machine. I painted some foam blocks silver and got inspiration from both pintrest and also from Myth Buster's Adam Savage's Youtube video. 

And here we all are with Chewbaca at Disneyland. My youngest son went as R2D2 and my middle grandbaby as a Storm Trooper, wished he had his hat on because he really looked cute with it on. Oh well.

Because they don't allow full length capes at Disneyland my dd wore a full length cardigan sweater and as we were walking in to have the picture taken they were playing the death march music. I told her it was a good choice because it had the effect of a cape as if she was Darth herself.

Enjoy your trick or treating and stay safe!

Let It Snow - MFTS

When I first started my Christmas cards I remembered my KI paper and really wanted to use it but I just couldn't find it anywhere so I started my cards without it but it did inspire me to use more cooler color tones and thus the Yeti gets a blue background from Pink and Main.

The Yeti is from MFTS and the Snow die is from Papertrey Ink. I offset the pp die a little so give it more interest and help to see it better then after die cutting my panel out from MFTS dies I popped it up on my base card along with the Yeti and Snow. I finished off the card with *gasp* enamel dots, as if I don't use a lot of those.

I did however find my KI paper when I started making this one so I knew I had to us a Yeti on that pp as well. So next week you'll see that one.

Merry and Bright - Kraftin Kimmie

So for all you old timer scrappers you may recognize this pattern paper and if not the paper than maybe the company, KI Memories. I was looking through my stash when I spied this paper and it immediately caught my eye and I remembered my fondness for it. I set it aside for my Christmas cards so you'll probably see a lot of it.

The color is not traditional and for the life of me I can't recall any other manufacturer using this color combination but I wish the would it's truly has a nice wintry feel to it.

This paper hard to tell from the photo has a sheen to it like frosted glass so I paired it with some a flat silver mirror cardstock on my Merry die cut. I used another Kraftin Kimmie stamp here and then adorned it with a few enamel stars, some bling and a tiny glittery star.

Merry Christmas - Kraftin Kimmie

Not quite ready for Christmas yet but I am feeling maxed out on Halloween cards so changing it up a bit and starting on Christmas cards.

I love the bright festive colors and am using more of these on my cards, in fact I actually have some pastel pink and lavender than I am in love with.

This guy is from Kraftin Kimmie and I stamped him on some cardstock and colored his with copics. Die cut the panel from MTFS and popped the panel up on some pink and main pp.

Halloween Diamond Dotz

 So if you remember my other post on diamond dotz it was something I started doing at the expo and my friend being the enabler she is helped me succumb to yet another craft. I began with an innocent enough small panel then graduated to this medium size one and when I was done I had it framed. This one did not take that long and it is really hard to see the beauty of this through a lens but it really is quite stunning.

I picked the Halloween project because one I like Halloween and two I knew my grand kids would love it so figured on giving this to my dd for her birthday. Little did I know the grand kids would find it and show to their mom so of course I let them take it home pre birthday celebration. I then ended up buying 2 Christmas ones, a Snowman and a Santa that I figured I could keep one and give one to my dd for her birthday.

I already completed the Snowman and had it framed, I have to say it turned out gorgeous and am still working on Santa.

Interestingly enough when I took this pumpkin one to Michaels I found out that all the big craft stores are now carrying these. I was also surprised to find that most of the girls at the framing department were big into them. A few people have stopped by to look at it in the store and asked about the project and where to buy them, which is how I found out that the craft stores were carrying them.

Anyhoo if you need another craft by all means this one is easy and very enjoyable as I tell my husband its like a cross between paint my numbers and counted cross stitching. I also know there are other brands out there especially on Amazon but have heard the bead or dotz don't shimmer as much, the area you cover in dotz is way less than the original dd panels, but they do have a plethora of unique projects so you'd probably find one that appeals to you.

Have A Spooky Halloween - Tim Holtz

This last die from Tim Holtz's trio is a skeleton. I have to say I really am amazed at how thin and crisp these die cuts are. I thought for this last guy I would do something with a distressed look. I started with a tag, inked it up with some pumice stone distressed ink and then just kept layering stamps, inks and embossing.

I matted the grey card stock down and then popped up pattern paper, I then adhered the tag to the pattern paper and popped up the skeleton for some added dimension, Then finished the card with a sentiment and orange and black check bow.

Happy Halloween - Tim Holtz

The second of the spooky trio is Dracula who pretty much looks his part for a silhouette. There were also 2 little bats that really are very effective so I paired them with Drac. 

Just love the shimmer of the silver foil card and using up some scraps that were sitting on my desk. The purple with the silver really is quite yummy together. 

Happy Trick or Treating - Tim Holtz

So I recently purchased Tim Holtz's silhouette dies and gotta say I really do love them. I think these would be great on a layout, in a pocket page or mixed media.

I never the less used them on cards. Up first is Frankie, I love how he is hunched over it really gives a creepy effect to his character. For this card I stamped my background and used MFTS die to add a frame to the overall card. Used some stickers that I picked up from Michaels, a few enamel dots and a stamped sentiment from Stampendous. A pretty quick card.

Trick Or Treat - Greeting Farm

This is another digital image I printed out I believe last year and never quite go around to doing anything with it. At the time I thought she was too large for a card but giving her a second glance I realize that's not the case.

 The stamp or image rather is from Greeting Farm, pp is from Authentique and those sentiment stickers are from *gasp* Making Memories; such a long time ago.

I am also including some sneak peeks of an altered project that I am working on for my dd and grandsons.

Using a lot of Basic Grey. In fact I am so happy to use up this Santa, he was perfect for what I needed.

Happy Trick or Treating

Another purple and black color scheme as well as more Pink and Main products. Obviously this little cutie goes with my previous set of monsters and the pp is also P&M.

Tried to keep this one pretty simple and found a pumpkin sticker from my bargain shopping last year so it seemed like it kind of belonged with her. 

I think this is the card will be a perfect for my little grand daughter. 

Eat, Drink and Be Scary

I think this has to be a first for me where I see pp and then select a stamp based on it. When I saw this blue and black paper from Pink and Main I began sorting through my stamps to find something to use with it when this KK stamp jumped out at me. I immediately saw her with that two tone hair and knew she would do the trick. 

So after stamping, coloring, fussy cutting and popping her up on the card I had to find a sentiment, and believe it or not, it's a rub on. I can't decide if I miss these or not. I will say it came off clean with no additional words sticking to the card so I was happy about that.  I also saw her with a kitty by her side so I added the stamped cat. 

Have to say I am kind of liking this color for Halloween, not your traditional colors but its pretty cool looking IMO. 

Have a Terrorific Halloween

This is another stamp set I wish I had dies to. I inadvertently stamped these guys with the card being vertical instead of horizontal, thus I had to trim my panel pretty close to the images. 

I opted for green on this card and I suppose we all kind of think of monsters of being green thanks to Frankenstein. 

The Halloween die is from Simon Says Stamp and the sentiment from Stampendeous. The alien or monster guys are from Technique Tuesday and pp from Pink and Main

You Are Fang-tastic

Sometimes when you make a mistake it works out in your favor. In this instance I trimmed my pp way too small and I wanted to make sure you saw it cause I just love my new Pink and Main 6x6 HW pad, so I was forced to diecut a smaller rectangle panel for my cute spooky kitty. I have to say I think it was a great mistake. 

The cat is from Simon Says Stamps and the sentiment is from Stampendous. And for some reason I am addicted to purple and black. I did another cute card in those same colors and also my previous Kraftin Kimmie witch card. 

Got Candy

I still love my Kraftin Kimmie stamps. These girls are so cute and spunky but aye yi yi I have to fussy cut them, wish there was a die for them to make my life or card making easier.

The pumpkin die cuts are from Impression Obession and my pp was from a pad I picked up from the expo is from Fancy Pants Spellbound.

Just here for the Boos

This is my ugly card, I have decided I went over board on all the black and white. I have a hard time doing clean and simple and this card is a prime example of that.

Originally I had the quote and the ghost, but it felt naked so I added the stars, but it seemed odd so I added the graveyard scene and then I thought I was done until I added bats...then I said enough..LOL so here is my ugly Halloween card. I guess if you can have an ugly Christmas sweater I can have an ugly HW card. 

Full Treat Bag

This is my discount card, why you ask well because I first stamped the skeleton from a Cosmo Cricket set of stamps I picked up super cheap, then I combined him with a quote card from a set of pocket cards that I picked up for practically  nothing and then attached a few bat stickers and a trick or treat bag that I bought discounted last year from Michaels, so it's a very inexpensive card you might say. 

Witches Go Riding

This card is a combination of Rubbernecker and Papertrey Ink stamps. After selecting my base pp I thought it would be nice to have kind of an orangish tinted moon, I first stamped the moon in orange then layered on yellows so it wouldn't be an obvious shade of orange. Then I just had to apply the bats but alas after stamping my bats I had a smudge of black ink on my card..ugh! trying to fix it made everything worse so damn it I had to cover up the flaw. This led to the extra die cut bats to hopefully hide the hideous flaw. 

It was till lacking some punch so a few sequins help give this a bit of color lift. 

Ghoulish Greetings

Another purchase at the expo was these Pink and Main cute little monster stamps which also have coordinating dies. One of the things I hope to get back to doing is sending my grand kids cards in the mail again. My oldest granddaughter is now 3 so she is about the right age to start sending her cards as well. 

With my new purchase in had I stamped, colored with copics and diecut the images. Then popped them up on my panel which sits on my mat that was die cut from my Lawn Fawn stitched dies. Then adhered that to my pp panel and base card. 

Ghostly Greetings

Some of the things I did accomplish while being away was some sewing of a cosplay Chewbacca outfit for myself to wear to Disneyland for a Halloween time trip. I am taking my dd and my 2 youngest grandsons and plan on having an awesome time. We are all dressed as Star Wars characters because that's what the boys choose.

While getting ready for the expo I came across this digital Greeting Farm print (obviously from some other planned use that I never used) and packed it along. I found a few Halloween themed paper pads so it was easy to marry the two together, I did opt for a neutral tone and colored her with copics and then popped her up against a die cut spider web. 

Been Too Long!

Sorry readers but I had to drop of for a bit. Feeling a bit overwhelmed I took what I thought would be a few weeks off but ended up injured then my son's poor kitty was attacked and needed a nurse while watching the boys and trying to fit in a plethora of projects so hard to believe its been almost 3 months.

I did manage to go to the Expo in August and revamped my creativity dry spell. I am now happily to report to be in a much more calm, somewhat organized and healthy state.

Since it had been so long when I went to the expo the first thing I did was of course go shopping and picked up these cheap stickers which helped me to spawn off two quick and easy cards which made me more comfortable kick starting my creativity time.

I am also happy to report I have made many Halloween cards and am starting in on some Christmas ones as well.


It was so easy to make these cards. I cut some cardstock panels, die cut the pp panels and then just stick it all together, 5 minutes or less cards. Simple and Clean.

Watercolor - Easy Peasy

One fool proof method for waster coloring with little risk is to heat emboss a stamped design then just paint in the lines. The emboss edges are raised so it keeps the color inside the lines and you don't have to worry about any blending if you don't want to.

I took a Papertrey Ink stamp, heat embossed it in white and then working one color at a time, gave the area a wet wash then using a wet brush picked up some color and added the color to the wet section, this causes the color to bloom in larger areas or you just fill in the section. Too much then use a paper towel or dry brush to pick up the excess.

For my flower I did overlays some colors to add more interest and allow them to bleed together a bit. The center is nontraditional but I really didn't want to use black.

After I painted the flower I diecut and popped it up on foam tape, then added my sentiment and voila!