Happy Halloween

One of my favorite characters is "Fluffles" by Stampendous. I am a cat lover and the stamps are just adorable. I have many of them and when I saw this vampire cat bat, I knew I had to have it! On the inside of the card I have the words "I think I thcared mythelf." I just pictured this kitty lisping thanks to the fangs!

I used my spiderweb Cuttlebug folder with two colors of paper to make the background. The eyeballs paper is by Heidi Grace. I colored the baby vamp with my Copic markers.

More Cards from Pam

Here are two more cards made by my friend Pam. She made these for a church card-making class and I think they are awesome! I know the ladies who participated in the class had fun making these!

Birthday Chicks

This was made for a co-worker who was celebrating her birthday recently. I added jewels all over this one to give it lots of bling! I just love this stamp and had a blas coloring it with my copic markers!

Scroll Tree with Bling - Variation

I enjoyed making the tree with bling so much, I wanted to create one that was girlie and with bright colors! I used Reagan's Closet paper by Heidi Grace Designs. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder for the hot pink background to give it some dimension. I used the Sepia brown ink from VersaFine for the tree and added multi-color tiny jewels on the tree for the bling.

Scroll Tree with Bling

I saw a card online that used this tree with the tiny jewels on it and I thought it was great! I had to do my own variation of course! I used the Hero Arts Scroll Tree stamp and VersaFine Spanish Moss ink. I found the scraps of the bule patterned paper so I am not sure who made it. It was probably Wild Asparagus or some similar paper as it was double-sided and super thick. I found some scraps of satin ribbon that matched and went from there.

I used the Stampin' Up slot punch to create the scalloped border and then punched holes in the scallops. I added more of the tiny jewels to the ribbon tag and the knot of the tied ribbon.

More Baby Cards

Wow...there must have been something in the water. I have received multiple requests for baby cards. First there were the baby boy cards...then a card for a "yet to be determined" baby... lol.

And now...baby girl cards. I used the same adorable stamp and changed out the color scheme. I hope they are appreciated!

Take Time To...

This is a card I made using one of the stamps from an Impression Obsession clear stamp set. I am still learning how to control myself with the copic markers. I find that small spaces are more difficult to create shading (and to stay in the lines!). Thought this was such a whimsical stamp for those who are "coffee-a-holics!" Give me a diet Coke any day...

Baby Boy Card

I was asked to make a card for a new arrival and I thought this little baby giraffe stamp by Inque Boutique would be perfect! I colored him with my Copic Markers and then added some clear Crystal Accents on the white parts to give it some dimension. I used a Fiskars edge punch at the top and the circle Nestabilities for the scalloped edges behind the stamped image.

I didn't have any words that said what I wanted, so I created the phrase on my computer and added that to the layout with a few brads. The patterned paper came from the Die cuts with a view Spring pack and the blue was from the Sprink pack of solids which was run through the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Folder. I think it turned out "P & A" (Precious and Adorable) !!!

Thank You Card Extravaganza

I had to made a BUNCH of Thank You cards for some folks who helped me assemble posters where I work. I used a new set from Inkadinkado for all the birds, so I had to try them all out instead of creating multiples of the same card. I had a blast!

A Card by Pam

I wanted to show off a card made by my friend Pam. We had a layout challenge at our stamp group recently and this is the card she made for that challenge. What a great job!

A Walk in the Woods

Good morning all...

I decided to go for a walk in the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park this morning. It was so nice and chilly, it was AWESOME! The leaves are only beginning to turn so the color wasn't there yet, but the smell of the leaves is ambrosia to me.

I took my camera just to play around and I have a few shots that turned out really nice. However, one of them tickled my funny bone and I had to add a caption and share it with everyone!!!

I found this tree that looked like it was speaking to me... I've decided to call him Placido Treemingo.....Get it?

My Brother's Birthday Card

My brother is turning the big FOUR-OH on the 19th. I was going to make him some depressing card touting how over-the-hill he is, but I decided to do something that was a little more uplifting!

I love this stamp, but I can't remember who makes it...I guess that says something about my age (I am the older sister).

I used my copic markers to color the tree and decided against using fall colors for this card...there was something about leaves dying and falling off the tree that didn't work for me!

Instead, I went for green leaves...life springs eternal. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder and some ribbon, brads, and other doo-dads to make it pretty!

Mom's Birthday Card

I wanted to make a very special birthday card for my mom...

I am still honing my skills with Copic markers and tried coloring an image printed on color laser copy paper. I had pretty good results. I had a bit of trouble getting the inks blended on the slick paper, but it was my first try.

I cut the image out and layered it on some Bazzill Bling paper. A few buttons, some ribbon and ba-da-bing...a cute birthday card for my mom!

Fall Birthday Card

I finally finished my version of the challenge from World Cardmaking Day! I had colored the image with Copic markers that day but didn't have what I wanted to finish the card.

I used some small leaf punches to add some accents. I drew the veins in to give them more dimension.

Beware of Cat

I just love this image from Impression Obsession! I am working on learning to use my Copic markers and had fun with this stamp. However, I still don't have many colors (especially browns) and that made this a little more mono-chromatic than I wanted. I think it turned out nice despite my lack of marker colors!

I used some paper from the fall paper stack by Die Cuts With a View and added some ribbon to give it a little something extra. The border at the bottom is one of Fiskars' punches.

World Cardmaking Day!

On Saturday, I got together with a few of my friends to celebrate World Cardmaking Day!

Our celebration was from 9:00am to 6:00pm and we had lots of fun! Some of us even managed to make a few cards along the way. (Mostly we socialized...but who cares!)

The first few pictures are of those who participated in the event.

The above picture is of Pam and Sandra. Pam is munching on something tasty and checking out Sandra's beautiful cards. (I'll show them later!)

This is Kaye and Vanessa... They are obviously deeply engrossed in something!

This is Janine...I must have caught her by surprise...

Carla is all by herself in this photo...What's up with that?

I challenged the group to create 1 or more cards using specific stamps or items. A few chose to participate and I have included their cards below.

I thought this would be a fun challenge to do as I have postage stamps from around the world! Unfortunately nobody participated in this challenge. I may have some belated entries though!

I did have some willing participants for this challenge:

Janine did this card using one of the stamps:

Pam also did a card using the same stamp:

The next challenge had a few takers as well.

Kaye made this cute card for our friend Cindy who could not make it to this event. Kaye loves hedgehogs and Cindy adores the duck Mallory...so this made a perfect card!

Carla made this cute card with the haystack....A great play on words....

Sandra did some BEAUTIFUL cards using techniques she saw on Michelle Zindorf's site...

I actually made a few cards as well, but they aren't complete. I will post them as soon as they are finished. No matter how much stuff you drag to an event, you are always missing that "something" needed to finish off a card.

Whew... I think that is all for this post.

Copic Marker Certification!

I have now become a certified Copic Marker Instructor! I even have the official certificate to prove it!

I had a great time yesterday at the training class in Charleston, South Carolina. However, the UPS man was on our hit list! The shipment of markers and materials (including our "goodie bags" were supposed to arrive on Tuesday, but they didn't arrive until about halfway through our class. We got a lot less "play-time" with the markers than some, but we made the best of our situation.

Now I just have to practice a bit until I feel more comfortable using the markers. Plus...I have to start collecting more markers so I can have lots of colors to choose from.

I will try to post a card soon using my new skills! (Or at least I hope I have some new skills!)

Magenta Bird

This is a card I made using one of the newer Magenta stamps that I fell in love with. Birds and swirls with a distressed look are very popular and I guess I am adding more fuel to the fire!

I wanted to keep it more of a mono-chromatic look and used some paper scraps I had that I think are from Wild Asparagus. The ink is Cranberry Crisp by Stampin' Up (an older "In Color"). I also used the ink to distress the edges to give it more dimension.

Amazingly enough I had a button that was very similar in color, so I cut off the shank and adhered it over the two ribbons. I think it is quite elegant looking!