Father's Day card - super late!

I know how completely late this is, but I wanted to share the Father's Day card I made. Things have been SO crazy at work, that I haven't had a chance to post on this blog.

It's a 4 1/4" square card. The image is a digi stamp from Mo Manning and is called "Daddy's Shoes". Isn't it sweet? :) I used my Copics to color him up and used a card from the July issue of Card Maker (pg. 48) as the inspiration of my layout. The paper is from the Complete Boy paper stack by My Minds Eye and the cardstock is from Stampin Up. The sentiment was created with a combination of Lawn Fawn's Sophie's Sentiments set ("happy" and "day") and a Martha Stewart alpha set ("Father").

I'm excited to have a few days off to catch my breath from work. I can finally catch up on a few things around the house and enjoy some time with the family. And hoping that some of the heat we've had in Michigan will let up a bit. These 100* days are for the birds! :) Hope the weather has been a bit cooler in your neck of the woods...and if it has, please feel free to send a bit this way!



Bun In The Oven card!

I haven't played with my Lawn Fawn sets in a while, but this set was calling my name today. It's called "Plus One" and is so cute! And no, I'm not expecting! But there will be a new baby cousin for my kids to play with this summer! How exciting!

So here we are:

And here is the inside of the card:

Copics used:
BG10, BG11, R81, R83, C1, E13, E15
After I colored the oven with my Copics, I added a layer of Glossy Accents to the front to mimic the glass door of a real oven. Unfortunately it doesn't really show up in this picture, but the effect is very cute in person. First I ran my base card through my BigShot for a dotted background. I then used a bit of plaid scrap from the Olivia 6x6 paper collection and a scrap of baby themed paper that's ages old. I think it's from Hot Off the Press. A button from my collection and a bit of bakers twine and the card was finished. I'm thinking about trimming a bit of the plaid off the front of the card...it just seems a little bit out of proportion now that it's all put together. What do you think?
The card sketch is #354 from Splitcoast Stampers. Stop by and join the fun! :)

And here was my desk companion this morning...Jewel spent quite a while sitting under my desk lamp getting nice and toasty! :)

Birthday card

Here is the card I made for my daughter's 5th birthday. I had sooo much fun coloring this digi stamp from Saturated Canary on Etsy. She's called Ellie's Birthday. Isn't she cute? :)

Copics Used
Skin: E000, E00, E01, R20
Hair: E31, E32, E34, Y17
Shirt, Socks, Hat: B00, R27, V06, YR08, Y17, B05, G07
Skirt: B91, B93, B95
Boots: C3, C5, C7, C9
Balloons: B00, B05, Y11, Y17
Highlights: AtYou Spica, Clear

We had a wonderful party for her surrounded by our family. I'll share pictures soon!

Knight in Shining Armor card

I wanted to share the card I made for my husband for Valentine's Day. I know, we're over a week past Valentine's Day, but it's been a crazy week at work and at home and this has been the first chance to take a picture and post it.
Take a peek!

The stamp set is Mr. Knight? by Craft Lounge. Cute, huh? I kept the coloring pretty simple, using my Cool Grays C1, C3, C5, C7 and my Reds R29, R27, R24. I then used a black pen to add dashed lines and layered the card on red and gray cardstock from Stampin' Up. The dot paper is from Basic Grey.  My husband isn't into lots of embellishments, so I kept things pretty simple, but I was pretty happy with the way it all turned out.

Tonight I'll be working on a card for my daughter, who is turning 5 tomorrow. Five!!! How did that happen??? Watch for pictures soon of the day! Her party is Sunday so we've spent a good portion of the day getting supplies, decorations, etc. Tomorrow I'll be baking her cake and getting the rest of the food ready. Wish me luck!

Anyway, hope you enjoy and hope you have a wonderful weekend! :)

Listen to Your Heart card

Here is the color version of the "One and Only Heart" image by Sweet Pea Stamps that I used in this card. I added quite a bit of purple (B60) to her hair and used the same color for the dress. I really love the expressiveness of her face and hope to get a lot of use out of the stamp.

The card is layered onto more of the Immortal Love matstack from DCWV. "Twilight-y", yes, but it had a bit of the quietness I was hoping for in this card. I love that the neutral background lets the touches of red pop. The sentiment is from a Tim Holtz set that I bought at Michaels. I really think that this sentiment says it all: "Listen to Your Heart"...how many of us go through life wishing they had done that? I know there have been moments in my life I wish I had done that instead of listening to my head. :) 

Otherwise the week has been pretty busy...we're in the middle of hiring season so my time at work has been filled with interviews. My daughter's birthday is in a week so we've been working on getting that organized. We planned to have her party on Saturday but it turns out that there are a lot of family conflicts that day so we're moving it to Sunday, which also happens to be Oscar night. We host a party on that night as well. If I thought we were nuts to have 2 parties in 2 days, I should be committed for thinking we should have 2 parties in 1 day. Oh boy. :)

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Copic coloring in gray tones

So tonight I cooked 18lbs of penne pasta. Yes, 18 pounds. Big D's school is having  a family Valentines Dinner & Dance tomorrow and so the members of the PTO have been prepping the food. I think I've seen enough penne for a while!

But in between batches of penne, I sat down and did a bit of Copic coloring. I wanted to practise some monochromatic coloring, which I rarely do. It's a fun challenge!

The stamp is from Sweet Pea Stamps, and is called One and Only Heart by chin chou kuik. I am loving the faces that this designer creates! I used my cool gray Copics (C1, C3, C5, C7 and C9) as well as a touch of B60. I wish the shading on her skin showed up better in the photo, but I took the picture after midnight so the lighting isn't the best. I'll try to upload a brighter picture soon.

I then layered it on designer paper from the Immortal Love matstack by DCWV. I've had it in my stash for a while and really have struggled to find ways to use it so I was happy to have an opportunity now. I kept it very simple because I didn't want to distract from the image or the paper. I'm sure I'll find a friend who is a Twilight fan that I can send it to. :)

I have a color version of this image as well, but I need to mount it to a card base. As soon as I do I will post a photo. For now I need to pack up the pounds of pasta and finally head to bed. Goodnight!

Spring Fairy card

Hi everyone!
Today I'm sharing a card I finished last night. I ordered 2 digi stamps from The Greeting Farm, Spring Fairy and Autumn Fairy. They are SO cute! I love how sassy they are! I haven't had a chance to color up Autumn Fairy yet, but couldn't wait to show you Spring Fairy! I am submitting her for the very first TGF Farm Fresh sketch challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers (TGFSC1).

The Copics I used were:
Skin: E00, E11
Hair: R81, R83, R85
Dress: BG11, BG13, BG15, BG45
Wings: BG11, BG13, YG06, 0 Colorless Blender (to add tiny dots to the tips of her wings)
Highlights: At You Spica pen, Clear

After I colored her I cut her out with my detail scissors. Following the sketch, I used Lemonade paper from Basic Gray to add the layers. (I love this paper, and have been hoarding it...I really should just track down another 6x6 pad! :) ) I sponged the edges of some white cs with Pixi Pink ink from Stampin Up and layered this little fairy on top. It's a very subtle change in the texture and thought I would give it a try since I didn't have my dimensionals handy.  I tried dyeing the fabric flower (also from SU) with Lindy's Stamp Gang mists, but once it dried it was far too light (and purple-ish) for the look I wanted. I used the same Pixie Pink ink to sponge over the flower and got a much better result. I then just used some adhesive pearls to finish it off and called it a day!

My family think she looks very mermaid-ish, and I can see how they think that with all the aqua tones I used. I'll have to play with some other color combos and see if I get a different look. Watch for more posts soon! :)
Enjoy!

Making cards

I made a few cards recently...it's been hard to get the time to work on projects but I finally had a bit of time to work. I've been in the mood to work on "romantic" cards lately. Perhaps because of Valentine's Day, maybe because I've been watching too many sappy movies! :) Anyway, here are the cards I came up with:

I broke out my Copics for the first time in ages...I love this sweet stamp I found at Hobby Lobby, and have lots of plans for it. I was really pleased at how the shading on the umbrella turned out. :)

Once it was colored, I cut it out and popped it up with dimensional adhesive. I stamped the image on the card front before I layered the cut image and did some quick coloring to match the layered image, although I didn't color the center and I didn't do the same amount of shading as on the top image. The sentiment stamp is from American Crafts, and maybe it's just me, but I never seem to get a crisp image from these clear stamps.

I found this quote on Google some time ago and knew it would be great for a card. I printed it on vellum with my computer, and next time I think I would try to print directly on the card...I really don't like the vellum tape that I had to use to secure it. Maybe it's time to invest in a Xyron sticker maker? The background script stamp is a retired stamp from Stampin' Up. The little heart is from a set of small enamel sticker set I found at Joanns ages ago (I think in their dollar section?)

This image from Stampin' Up was colored with Prismacolors and mineral spirits. I'm really loving the blending abilities with these pencils...so worth the money! (especially with a 50% off coupon from Michaels!) 

I used a Lawn Fawn stamp set for the background and the sentiment stamp is from the dollar bins at Michaels. The Memento ink in London Fog was a little darker than I expected...I was hoping for a more subtle look, but nevermind! I used the same tiny dimensional heart sticker as I used in the second card.

It was great to finally spend a bit of time getting inky fingers. I've missed it, and really need to set some more time for myself to work on things like this. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day. :)

Friend card

I made this Friendship card thanks to the inspiration from a Splitcoast Stampers sketch challenge. When I'm in a bit of a creative funk this is my go-to place to find inspiration!

I got this sweet little girl from The Greeting Farm after eyeing in for a while. "Snuggle" reminds me of my daughter and her favorite stuffed animal, a little pink bunny she has had since she was an infant. So naturally when I sat down to color her, the bunny had to be pink! I really need to add to my Copic stock...I only have a couple of pinks so there really isn't much to see in terms of blending. Ah well. Add it to the wish list! :) The sentiment is also from The Greeting Farm, and everything is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. The set has some very cute sentiments...I can't wait to use the "I like you more than puppies" stamp in a future project!

The card stock is from Stampin Up, and the bit of patterned paper is from my overstuffed envelope of scraps. :) I think the paper is from 2006, probably bought at Joanns.

I punched the edge of the sentiment piece with a scallop punch from Stampin' Up (I really have to thank them for my obsession with punches!) and for a little added twinkle, used some tiny rhinestones along the edge.

I tried to keep this card pretty low dimensional so it could still be mailed. Pretty simple, but a soft color scheme that would be great to send to a friend for any reason (or no reason at all!)

Enjoy!