Vacation Pics

Here's a few pics from vacation in Oregon. This place is beautiful!


Every kids dream to sit up in the front of the plane!



Michaela is having a great time with all the farm animals at Grandma & Grandpa's house!


Grandpa and Michaela :) This is the life!!




A hike up to Silver Falls. This last pic is behind the falls in a cave. We still have another week up here to visit and play.

Somehow we managed to stop at a craft store yesterday. LOL!! Of course I found a few new stamps I HAD to have :)

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Having A Blast...

...and cooling off in Oregon!

I'm up visiting my folks in Oregon right now. What a wonderful break from the HOT weather & humidity of Arizona monsoon season. We will be up here for a couple weeks...so I probably won't be posting any artwork till I get back home. You all will survive...right?! LOL

This card is pretty much all Stampin'UP! The little black stars are from a hand punch and I colored with Prismacolor Pencils & Gamsol. Everything else is SU.



If you look at the SU Spring-Summer 2008 catalog on page 66 you will see where I copied this card from. I did change it up a little - Punched Stars instead of Brads - Stars stamp from Background Basics instead of Sweet Stars Wheel. Both of those sets are being discontinued - so get them now if you want them!

Maybe I'll have a chance to pop in and share couple pics of my vacation. If you haven't already signed up for automatic updated when I post on my blog...you can subscribe over on the left of my page toward the top. Then you'll automatically get notified when I post.

Thanks for looking :) I'll be back soon!!

Getting ready...

...to fly to Oregon!

I wanted to squeeze one last post in before I leave in the morning for vacation. WAHOO!!

I made a quick card with a clear set called Party Pup from Elzybells. Just look at that CUTE CUTE puppy!! I colored him brown like my baby...Jewel. She's my 2 year old Chocolate Lab. Love her to pieces. Makes me want to go get another puppy :)



Look at this little guys face! LOL Isn't it the sweetest. :0) I have all kinds of ideas for this new set that I can't wait to get on paper!!



OK...gotta get off here a finish packing. Here's some quick details.

Recipe:
Stamps - Elzybells Art Stamps - Party Pup
Paper - SU Naturals Ivory, Basic Black, River Rock; SU River Rock Designer Paper
Ink - SU Basic Black, SU Soft Sky
Misc - Koh-I-Noor Colored Pencils; Gamsol OMS; Copic Spica Glitter Pen Black; Dimensionals; Cloud Stencils; Black Brad

Retail Therapy!

Shop 'til you drop!

Yes...I'm guilty! I shopped :) I could hardly wait for my new goodies to get here! I admit...it felt really good when that package arrived and I got my hands on my new Elzybells stamps. It seemed fitting to ink up Shopaholic Elzy first. LOL



Isn't she just the cutest ever! I SO want her hair LOL ;) I used 3 of my new stamps on this card. Coloring is done with markers and matches perfect with the papers. She looks so classy and summer fresh. This will be perfect for giving someone special a gift card. The main image and shopping bags are popped up on dimensionals.



I also treated myself to a personalized stamp.



I had to put a little sparkle on her with my Spica Pen...just because.

Recipe:
Stamps - Elzybells Art Stamps Art Stamps Shopaholic, Shop 'til you drop, Shopping Bags
Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; SU Riding Hood Red Cardstock; Doodlebug Swiss Dots paper
Ink - Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black
Misc. - Copic Markers E00, E01, Y15, Y21, R22, R29, C1; Prismacolor Markers Orange and Poppy Red; Copic Spica Glitter Pens Clear; Spellbinders Oval die; Score-Tape; Black Brads; Misc Ribbon; Dimensionals

When I see Pink, Black and White...

...I think Girly Girl

I decided to make 2 versions of this card. Which one do you like best?

See the black dots around the main image - that is done with a stamp. Not an oval stamp, a circle. So how did I get it oval shaped? It's a clear stamp and I just shaped it like that! Cool huh :) I stamped it on the cardbase with black ink first. Then I added Black Glitter on top with a 2-way glue pen.

The 2 thin black strips on the bottom are just little strips of cardstock glued down. The crystals on the sentiment are my favorite Swarvoski Flat Back Crystals attached with a little dot of crystal effects. Angel Dust Art Glitter is on the balloons to give them girly girl sparkle. Sentiment and main image oval are attached with dimensionals.

Recipe:
Stamps - A Muse Art Stamps Simple Wishes Clear Set and Circle Frames Clear Set
Paper - A Muse Pink Dots Cardstock; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Bazzill Black Textured Cardstock
Ink - TsukinekoMemento Tuxedo Black
Misc - Copic Marker RV11 Pink; Ranger Inkssentials White Opaque Pen; Marvy Uchida Punches; SU Word Window Punch; 2-way glue pen, Art Glitter Black and Angel Dust; Swarvoski Crystals; Misc Black Ribbon

Christmas in July

My New Little Chubby Bird

This little Chubby bird is one of the new winter holiday A Muse stamps released during A-Muse-A-Palooza last week. I decided to use it for the first time and do another one of Heather's share your spark Fridays. This weeks "spark" is to make something for those winter holidays in December.

I decided a little winter scene shadow box card would be fun for Chubby Bird. I think he looks stunning in his orange scarf & hat :)



Look at all that snow on the trees....and the soft snowflakes sparkle in the air!



Chubby bird has the perfect spot out on that limb to just sit and think.



One place you can find a tutorial for making a shadow box card is HERE on Cammie's Blog. Another one is on Splitcoaststampers HERE.

My cardbase is 5.5" x 4.25". I drew the tree by hand to match up with the branch on stamp. It gives a nice dimensional look :) I also created my own custom glitter brads. I took white brads and heat with my embossing gun - holding them with tweezers. Then I dipped the tops in SU Irridescnet Ice Embossing Glitter and heat set a little more. Perfect snowball brads!! Main stamped image is attached to green cardstock with dimensionals. Then green cardstock is attached to cardbase with dimensionals as well.

Recipe:
Stamps - A Muse Art Stamps
Paper - A Muse Patterned Cardstock; SU Certainly Celery; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
Ink - Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black; SU Certainly Celery Classic
Misc - Copic Markers BG10, YR16, E33, Y11, Colorless Blender; Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3 mm Black; Dimensionals; Glue Pen; SU Dazzling Diamond Glitter; SU Iridescent Ice Embossing Glitter; White Brads; Spellbinder Circle dies; Score-Tape; Misc Ribbon; Glue Dots

Peace, Dream and Wishes

Look how cute this little Elzybells is!

I could play with Elzybells stamps all day long. They are so adorable! One of my cards says "Make a Wish" and if I could have a wish come true....I wish I had all the Elzybells stamps! That would be a dream come true :)

Both cards have plenty of sparkle. Click on the pics for a larger view and you can see :)




To carry the stars down the card I just inked up that part of the image on the stamp. Hand doodling around the layer adds a nice frame to the image. Coloring is done with both Copic and Prismacolor Markers. I added some sparkle with a Clear Spica Glitter Pen. Rubbing White Shimmer Chalk on the cloud of the Make A Wish card gave it a really cool finish. On the Magical Day card I used a glue pen and glitter on the stars and cloud. For the dress I rubbed on Purple shimmer chalk after coloring with purple markers. It looks awesome in real life!

The Stars are punched out with EK Success punch and I doodled on those as well. The little rhinestone in the middle is Swarvoski - it has beautiful shine!



Aren't those Elzybells just the cutest!!

Recipe:
Stamps - A Muse Art Stamps - Elzybells and Sentiments
Paper - A Muse Cardstock for card base, Bazzill CS, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
Ink - Tsukineko Memento Black Tuxedo
Misc. - Prismacolor Markers, Copic Markers, Copic Spica Glitter Pen, Glue Pen, Glitter, Marvy U Punches, EK Success Star Punch, Shimmer Chalks, Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3 mm, Dimensionals, Swarvoski Flatback Crystal, Crystal Effects

Make A Scene Version 2

I just had to make another one :)

See details of challenges on post early today. Yep...2 posts in 1 day!

Changed it up a bit with a white cardbase, different birdie from A Muse Clear Set called Animal Wishes, no grass under birdbath, sentiment is different and is also from the Animal Wishes set. Flowers from A Muse Clear Set called Simple Wishes. Everything else is pretty much the same. Click pic to see it closeup.

Tada!

Excuse me while I Make a Scene!

Making A Scene With Patterned Paper

I combined 2 challenges for this card.

Heather has a weekly "share your spark Fridays" challenge. I just discovered this a couple days ago. How FUN! Friday July 4th was to create something using patterned paper.

Then...on the A Muse Addicts Forum are Weekly Challenges. This week is all about making a scene using A Muse stamps. Thanks go out to Jennie for this fun challenge!

Here are all the stamps I used for my card. Sentiment is from A Muse Clear Stamp set called Simply Wishes. Fence is from The Saltbox Studio Clear Stamps set called Fences. 4 wood mounted A Muse Art Stamps. See the wood stamp with the little bird and reindeer...that is an Elzybells stamp available from A Muse. I inked up just the birdie on that stamp for my scene.

The patterned paper is called Mixed Lattice Teal - but I'm not sure what company it's from. As you can see there are TONS of wonderful scenes you could make with just a few stamps.



Birdhouse and Birdbath stamped on SU Apricot Appeal CS with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and cut out. Copic and Prismacolor markers to shade and color them. Flower cut out with Marvy Uchida punch and shaded the edges with Copic Marker. Happy Birthday punched out with SU Word Window punch. Cardbase is SU Naturals Ivory CS. Green CS is just a scrap I had laying around that match :) I love using scraps!



Branch, birdie and a little around the grass under the birdbath colored with Koh-I-Noor pencils and Gamsol. The music notes are from a CTMH stamp set. I hand drew the line from the branch to the birdhouse and the grass under the birdbath. Clear Copic Spica Glitter Pen here and there from some sparkle, but you can't really see it well in the pics.



Now it's your turn to go"Make a Scene!" :)

Dashing through the snow...

New A Muse Stamps!

I made this card today at Stamp Works. It's A-Muse-A-Palooza week and this is one of the FREE make-n-take cards we got to do. Of course I saw TONS of new "gotta have" stamps from A Muse!!

Click the pic to see it better!

Recipe:

A Muse Stamps, Patterned Paper and Ribbon.

Image colored with markers. Glue Pen and Glitter under sentiment.

Polka Dot Challenge

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge #5

Michelle's super fun challenge was to make a card with Polka Dots. We can use anything polka dot - stamps, ribbon, paper etc.

I had so much fun with this I decided to make 2 cards. Both cards I used Polka Dot paper from Doodlebug and all stamps used are from A Muse :)



The Birdhouse was stamped on card base and then I stamped it again and cut out the birdhouse and glued it down to the base. The little bird by the sentiment I cut out and glued on. Sunflowers are colored with markers and then added Orange and Yellow Copic Spica Glitter Pen on top for the "gotta have" sparkle stuff :) I did put a little sparkle on the birds tail feathers too.

In the closeup you can see I stamped the birthday cake a second time and cut it out to pop up on dimensionals. 2-way glue pen and glitter to add birthday sparkle on the cake and candle flames. I love my new Presents Background stamp (Thanks Katie!)

Recipe Card 1

Stamps - A Muse Art Stamps - clear set Sets Simple Celebrations & Simple Wishes
Paper - GP White CS, SU Chocolate Chip CS, Doodlebug Swiss Dots paper
Ink - Tsukineko Memento Rich Cocoa, Prismacolor Markers, Copic Spica Glitter Pens Yellow & Gold

Recipe Card 2

Stamps - A Muse Art Stamps - clear set Sets Simple Celebrations & Simple Wishes, Mini Oval, Presents background
Paper - GP White CS, SU Pomegranate CS, Doodlebug Swiss Dots paper
Ink - Tsukineko Memento Rich Coco, SU Purely Pomegranate and Apricot Appeal,
Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Marvy Uchida Scalloped Punches, EK Success Square Punches, Art Glitter - Angel Dust; 2-Way Glue Pen, dimensionals