I don't do mornings

Hi there. Here is my card for the one layer, favorite drink or beverage challenge over at Less Is More.

Stamp is from Whipper Snapper. Stamped it in Versafine, heat embossed with clear embossing powder and then colored with Copic's.

Got out the air compressor and air brushed the yellow morning sunshine around her to give this a bit more color depth.

Sentiment is from Paper Company.


See you soon!

Good things....

Hi everyone! I had an opportunity to play around with a few challenges last night. Verve has a eat me, drink me inspiration challenge that was the basis for the start of my card.

All stamps and dies are from Verve.

Cupcakes are colored with Copic's and the middle one is popped up using a foam square.

To get the ombre effect on the cardstock I got out my air compressor and airbrushed with a Ciao marker. Which means that I had to manipulate it a bit with some foam squares to get it to fit into the air gun.

Stitched dies are from My Favorite Things and the stitched banner die (black cardstock) is from Simon Says Stamp.

This card is for the following challenges:
Verve Eat me, Drink me June challenge
Simon Says Stamp - make it masculine
The Friday Mashup - ombre

Friday Mashup #156 - Ombre

Hi everyone! I saw the ombre and sketch challenge over at The Friday Mashup and decided to give it a try.  Here is the sketch.

Pretty easy clean and simple sketch and doing something in ombre seemed to work within the sketch.

I already had this image from Gorjuss Urban stamps sitting in my pile waiting to be colored. I used the following Copic markers to color her.

Skin - E00, E51, E53 and E93
Dress and Ombre background - B34, B37
Hair - YR21,YR23, E37

The picture frame die is from Papertrey, Ink. and so is the Happy Birthday sentiment.

I got out my air compressor to air brush on the blues. I really like how it came out.

Added the blue rose that I picked up in the $1 bin at Michael's and tied a length of navy bakers twine to finish off the sketch.

The Gorjuss stamps are just wonderfully packaged and so much fun to color. I found them through a card that was posted on Pinterest.  I linked up this set above.

Thanks for stopping in!

Masculine birthday

Hi everyone! Here's my take on the masculine challenge over at Less is More. I really liked the card made by Chrissie and was inspired by it to make this.

I was originally searching and destroying my stamp collection looking for a different stamp when I stumbled upon this Sunday International cattail stamp. I used Memento markers to color on the stamp and then huffed on it to get a decent image the first time (which NEVER happens for me).

I got out the air compressor and airbrushed a piece of vellum to make the "water" for the pond. To create the ripples I used the cloud border die from Paper Smooches and just turned it up side down.

Dragonfly is a Memory Box die. Sentiment is from Papertrey, Ink.

Off to do chores. Thanks for stopping by!

Just because

Greetings all! I made this card last week using a sketch I liked (not sure who's it is now) and forgot all about it.

The image is from Plum Purdy and stamped in Versafine - then clear embossed so that I could color it with Copics.

The flower is felt and I had to air brush it to match all the elements on the card. The button is a die from PTI that drives me batty! It doesn't have any punch holes to get it out of the die once you cut it. I tried using washi tape, tape, etc. to get it out and finally had to dig it out with my piercing tool. Grrr! Do you have any dies that are frustrating to you? What do you do to get around it?

Designer paper is from DCWV - The pumpkin patch! I just love this 6x6 pad of dp! Sentiment is from Verve. Black rhinestones are from Kaisercraft.

Thanks for stopping by!

FMS#90 - Bright orange poppies

Hi all! Here's my take on this weeks Freshly Made Sketch #90. Get your sunglasses out, this one is bright!

Stamp is from The Cat's Meow (link to site in post below). I stamped it in Versafine and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Copic markers in Y35, Y38 and G21, G24 used to color.

The tangerine designer paper is from PTI and the lime green is from Bazzill. The button was airbrushed using Y38 and then I added the polka dots using Rangers white enamel.  At the last minute I decided to add the paper piercing along the outside of the green panel for some interest.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Blue Birthday Card

Hello out there! Wanted to share another quick and simple and cheap card using dollar bin finds at Michaels.

The designer paper is from Treasures by Shabby Chic and I'm assuming that the stamp and paper roses are as well.The dollar items were the dp, stamp and the paper roses.

I colored directly on the stamp with Copic markers, spritzed with alcohol ink and stamped it onto white cardstock. Birthday wishes sentiment is from PTI. I also used the same blue Copic marker with my air brush and colored the white roses blue. Punched out a few leaves from the MS craft punch and glued them behind the roses.

The Swiss dot embossing folder is used on the white cardstock and the card base is enchanted evening from PTI. Labels 4 used to cut out the main rose image and the blue layer behind.

I distressed the designer paper with a sponge dauber and Navy ink from A*Muse Studio.

A little different, but still a clean and simple card. What do you think?

Tags, tags are everywhere!

Seems that everyone is buzzing with the techniques and tags that you know who does every year for Christmas! I have to admit to following along and trying out some of them. Here are two that I've recently done that were inspired from watching (er, reading) along.

This one uses Tim Holtz stamps from Stampers Anonymous. I heat embossed the trees and snowflakes. The snowflake die is from Provo Craft and is cut out using grunge paper. I painted it with white craft paint and added some pearl luster medium too. It almost came out looking silver - hence the silver button in the center. I added a bit of stickles to the snowflakes here and there, but you can't really see them in the picture. The blue is faded jeans distress ink that is sponged on.



On this tag I used distress inks in pumice stone and vintage photo. The wood grain is an old back ground stamp from SU and stamped in Vintage photo - then I sponged around the edges with it too.

The sentiment and decorative element are from Papertrey ink (Big and Bold Holiday Wishes) and is stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento ink. The red is pure poppy Palette ink. It's hard to see "the" in Tis the Season due to the wood back ground stamp. If I did it again, I would probably use black ink.

The poinsettia is cut from grunge paper using nestabilities and I painted them with red craft paint. Added a bit of red stickles to the edges to make them stand out. The swirl die is from TH and it's also cut from grunge paper. I air brushed it using Copic's and then smeared some Star dust Stickles all over it.

Lastly, I used barn door distress ink to color the seam binding that I tied to the tag. I think this one is my favorite so far, which do you like best?



Don't forget about my blog candy challenge! Link your CAS one layer card to be included into the drawing! Entries will be allowed until midnight PST on 12/15.

TDS Showcase - special recipe

Hello everyone! Here's another image that is available over at the digi shack for $1. I've been doing a bunch of digi surfing lately and I'm amazed at how much people are charging for images. You can always find a lot freebies out there but if you want a good deal without breaking the bank, head on over to The Digi Shack!

The image is colored with Copic markers and cut out using nesties! I also got out the compressor and did some airbrushing for the card. The polka dots in the back ground were done using a template and the blue flowers were colored using two different shades of blue.

The center flower also got some black enamel polka dots added to it using the Enamel accents from Inkssentials.

The sentiment is from PTI and stamped on a chipboard tag and then tied on with scrappers floss. Which was also colored with Copic's.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great week!

TDS showcase showdown

Hello all - it's Wednesday which means another showcase showdown for TDS!

Here's this weeks card!

Toni (owner of The Digi Shack) included this in the Halloween section of older images that she brought back this year! I just love this mask, which is so New Orleans and Mardi Gras but also works well for Halloween too!

I colored it in shade of purple with Copic markers and then added some stickles to bling it up! I just got some Enamel accents from Inkssentials that I bought at Micheal's and used the white to add the dots around the outside edges.

The swirl is a die from sizzix and is cut out using some grunge paper. Next I got out the sparmax compressor and Copic's to spray it purple to match the colors in the image. The I took a white paint pen from Sharpie and added in the white dots. A square nestability was used to cut out the main image and it just so happened to fit right in the swirl!

Designer paper is from Paper Pizazz. Stay tuned for a non-Halloween card with an image from TDS next week! I'm getting a bit tired of Halloween cards..........

Thanks for stopping by and live your day to the fullest!

Happy Fall

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend! It rained here but it was needed, so I ended up doing house work and creating in the studio.

Here's a card I posted for the CAS challenge over at SCS last Monday. The challenge was to use polka dots.

The stamp is from Plum Purdy and is colored with Copic Markers. The sentiment is from Stampendous. I added a bit of scrappers floss (colored with Copic's) to the knot in the satin ribbon.

Spellbinders nestabilities in square and the tag were used to cut out the main stamped image and the sentiment. A black brad helps keep the tags together.

All cardstock and the polka dot paper are from Papertrey Ink.

I also did a bit of stamping and coloring on the inside of this card.
What do you think?

You can find Plum Purdy by Renee Mullins here! I wish she would take some of her new designs and make them into stamps too!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Father's Day Card

Here is my card that I made for my Dad for Father's Day!

I used the tree from the TAC set Mountain Scenery and stamped it in Palette Jardin Moss. I got out my air compressor and air brushed the sky onto the card using my Copic's, and added the geese (SU) at the last minute to fill in the empty space on the card. I did use black card stock for the base of this card - I just could not find any shade of green that looked half way decent behind those tree's. I also thought that the black really made things pop. he he he - no pun intended.

Have a great Father's day!

A few TAC cards to share

Hello everyone! I wanted to share two sketch challenge cards that I did over at SCS that use TAC stamps.

This one is Butterfly Bits. I stamped the butterflies in Memories Muted Violet chalk ink, that was stamped off once. Then came back with the same ink full strength to do the flowers. I added liquid pearls in white opal to the centers. The back ground strips are done using my direct to paper polished stone technique. If you want to see my tutorial on that, click here. The back ground paper is a pearl sparkle from paper accents.

This next one is done using the Everyday Events stamp set. It's colored with prisma color pencils and blended with OMS. I also used the black glaze gel pen for the centers of the flowers in the window box. The cloud back ground was air brushed with Copic Ciao markers and a cloud stencil. As you can see I used my nestabilities rectangle dies to cut out the main image. Paper is from the Core'dinations line. The red prima flowers were added to match the window box flowers. I had to cut a flower apart that looks like a leaf, to make one.

These sketches are from SCS - numbers 184 and 185 and can be seen here.

I'll be leaving for a weeks vacation on Sunday - will post another card sketch before I go tho!

Card sketch #78 - Believe

Here's sketch #78 - measuring 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.

This one is a little different, with some off center layers and embellishments.





This is another stamp image from A. Hopkins from Gina K Designs, Botanical Dreams! This set is just amazing and so versatile! The leaf is colored with Copic marker in Willow green (G24) and outlined in gray. I used a store bought acetate tag and colored it with my Copic Marker air brush system! I really liked how soft the color turned out!The small square is a piece of cork that came with sticky back on it already that I purchased eon's ago at Michael's. I just punched it out using my small square punch, pealed off the backing and placed it on the card. It's a pretty thin piece of cork but it took some wiggling to get it out of the punch in tact.

Thanks for stopping by - hope the rest of your week goes quickly!



Supplies:
White card stock and Ivory CS (base)
SU designer paper - distressed with Palette burnt umber
Bazzill green CS
Palette Noir and burnt umber inks
Copic Markers
Hemp
Acetate tag
Cork

AC-100 Sparmax Compressor review

If you read my previous post, you know that my DH bought me a compressor to use with my Copic markers. I've been playing around today and thought I'd do a review on the compressor and show you some samples. First of all here's the compressor.

I bought this at COPICmarkerS.com - a period style and the service was great! This is the cheapest place that I found for this brand of compressor. So, for the pro's and con's.

Pro's -

• Small and light weight - 8.4 pounds


• Maintenance free


• Quiet - motor is 1/8 HP


• Long braided hose - almost 10'


• Really powerful for how petite it is - max pressure 80 psi


• No more buying air cans
  

Con's

• Cost

Here are a few of my samples:

The sky and grass are done with Copic Sketch markers in B00 Frost blue and G07 Nile green. I masked the mountain range when air brushing and used my Picasso stencil for the clouds. The Mountains are colored with Copic Ciao markers in Sand E33 and E30 Bisque. The snow is liquid applique. I stamped the forest of tree's in Palette Jardin Moss. All stamps are from Alota Stamps. This turned out to be my Father's Day card for my Dad this year.

This next example was done using a template. I cut out the star die onto a piece of acetate and air brushed it onto the white scalloped circle. Noticed I used the Copic Ciao marker in Y17. All I did was use a piece of square foam tape to position the marker correctly into the air grip. Sentiment is from The Angel Company.
I used the Copic black multi liner in .003 to add my dots around the star and scalloped edges.

This is going to be one item that I will get a lot of use out of! I think I got a pretty good deal - DH bought this for me so I wouldn't complain about the money he spent on a canoe. Who do you think will get more use out of their new toy? Definitely me! =) You can only use a canoe two, maybe three month's out of the year - I get to play all year long!

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings/review on the compressor. Have a great weekend everyone! I have a strong suspicion that I will be out on the water in a canoe, instead of air brushing!