I've Been Bitten By The Stamping Bug!

Hello! Are you enjoying your Sunday? I sure am! I took some time to play along with Jen del Muro's Sketch For You To Try. You can check it out here if you'd like to.

I was looking through my paper to find something that had 3 coordinating patterns and came up with this DP from Crate Paper. It is really nice stuff! It is double-sided and CS weight. As I was making the card though, I had second thoughts.... I had one of those moments where I wondered, "What could I have been thinking?" It is pretty busy and there's a lot going on! I kept going though, because I hate to waste good paper! I do like how it turned out when I finished it though....

The image is colored with pencils and the wings have a coating of Art Glitter...they really sparkle! Rather than introduce yet another paper to the lineup, I chose to use vellum for the bottom panel. I like the way it looks; it mutes the DP just a bit. I used Bella Dots to cover the glue.

Image: Stamping Bella
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Sakura Black Gel Pen
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select, Dark Chocolate and Simply Chartreuse, Crate Paper DP, The Paper Studio Vellum
Embellies: Barbara Trombley's Art Glitter in "Polar Bear", PTI Dark Chocolate Twill, Bella Dots
Extras: Prismas/Crayolas/Goo Gone, Spellbinder's Nestabilities, EK Success 3D Dots

Thanks for stopping by today; enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Angela

Bellarific Friday: Sketch Challenge

Good morning! Yay, it's Friday! Friday also means another challenge for Bellarific Friday; this week it was a sketch...my very favorite kind!

I decided to do 1 more Halloween card since I love making them so much! This was a simple sketch; I like that it left the door open for embellishing. I used glitter, Bella Dots and felt clouds. The image was colored with pencils before glittering up Stella's crown and wand, and the ghost's face. The bat is punched out of Doodlebug Sugar Coated CS with a Martha Stewart punch.

Image: Stamping Bella

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Sakura Black Gel Pen

Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, SU! Tangerine Tango and Basic Black, My Mind's Eye DP

Embellies: Bella Dots, Doodlebug Glitter, PTI True Black Felt

Extras: Prismas/Crayolas/Goo Gone, MFT Die-namics Cloud Dies, Martha Stewart Bat Punch, EK Success 3D Dots

I can't wait to hop over to Blogabella to see the DT's cards and the rest of the other entries! Next week the challenge is 1-2-3: 1 image, 2 DP, 3 embellishments...sounds fun!

Have a great day; thanks for stopping by!

Angela

SC304: Changito Cocoa

Hello! I have had a great day today...just being lazy! I was cleaning my stamp area and found this Changito stamp; I had already printed this week's sketch and I thought the two would be perfect together. I guess I got sidetracked from cleaning.... Sometimes R&R is just more important!

Changito is colored with pencils and his eyes are dotted with a black gel pen. His jammies are paper pieced; other than that, I really didn't embellish the card. It is a simple sketch with lots of possibilities...I'm thinking I will use it again.

Image: Stampendous
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Sakura Black Gel Pen
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, SU! Soft Suede and Pumpkin Pie, Frances Meyer DP
Extras: Prismas/Crayolas/Goo Gone, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Forest Branches), Spellbinder's Nestabilities, EK Success 3D Dots

Thanks for stopping by today; I hope your day has been a good one!

Angela

TMS#65

Hello! Melissa, from the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog, has another sketch for us this week. Our sponsor, for this challenge, is Prairie Fairy Designs; Roberta has some really cute images.

I did have to adjust the layout a bit, since my image was rectangular. I flipped the sketch and altered the placement of the ribbon embellishment. It was fun to make a winter themed card; I just love snowflakes!

I added some shading to the image with gray pencils and a bit of blue and gray to the snow. Next, I cut the image and sponged the edges before putting the "puzzle" back together. I layered a couple of snowflakes cut with a Martha Stewart punch and embellished it with a Bella Dot.

Image: Prairie Fairy Designs Digital Stamp

Ink: SU! Going Gray

Paper: G.P. 110, SU! Baja Breeze, PTI Smokey Shadow, and Kelly Panacci DP

Embellies: Offray Gray Grosgrain Ribbon, Bella Dot

Extras: Prismas/Goo Gone, Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch, EK Success 3D Dots

I hope you will head on over to the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog to see what the rest of the Design Team has come up with. Maybe you will play along with us this week too!

Thanks for stopping by; have a good one!

Angela

CAS90: Pumpkin Chick

Good Monday morning! I hope you all had a great weekend!

I thought I would take a quick peek at the Clean and Simple Challenge over at SCS; I decided I had to play along since the challenge was to use gingham or checks. I thought for sure that there was some black/orange gingham ribbon in the stash, but I came up empty. I made my own by coloring the ribbon with a SU! marker. Although my fingers are a lovely shade of orange, it was pretty simple and worked like a charm.

This card was super fast and easy. The chick is colored with pencils, accented with glitter, and cut out with Nestabilities. I scored a couple of lines on the cardbase, added the ribbon, tied it off with floss, and added the image panel. Voila'!

Image: Stampendous "Chick or Treat"

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Orange Marker

Paper: PTI Stamper's Select and True Black, SU! Tangerine Tango

Embellies: Doodlebug Glitter, Ribbon fx Black Gingham Ribbon, DMC Black Floss

Extras: Prismas/Crayolas/Goo Gone, Scor-Pal, Spellbinder's Nestabilities, EK Success 3D Dots

Thanks for stopping by today; I hope your week is off to a great start!

Angela

SC 303: Hiya Gorgeous

Hello and happy Wednesday! I made the time to participate in the SCS sketch challenge today; it felt so good to sit and make a card just for fun!

I am also entering this card in the Really Reasonable Ribbon challenge #10, which was to make a Halloween card or gift packaging using ribbon.

I was out of town last weekend and had the opportunity to shop at three scrapbook stores; I found this paper and web ribbon, so I thought I would put them to good use. Have you ever heard of the girls' paperie? I think they must be fairly new. Anyway, they really have some pretty papers and embellishments.

I used a digital image from Pink Cat Studio; the sentiment is rubber. The image is colored with pencils and accented with a black gel pen. I used some black Bella Dots for embellishing, to mimic the dotted DP. I discovered that I could create a "photo corner" effect, which I thought was kind of fun.

Image: Pink Cat Studio Digi "Itty Bitty Betty Broom Ride"
Sentiment: Pink Cat Studio "Kiki Kitty Stamps" Set
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Sakura Black Gel Pen
Paper: G.P. 110, SU! Tangerine Tango, PTI True Black, The Girls' Paperie DP
Embellies: Black Web Ribbon (unknown source), Bella Dots
Extras: Prismas/Crayolas/Goo Gone, Spellbinder's Nestabilities, EK Success 3D Dots

I wanted to show you my first version of the card, too. I was done, but I was thinking it a bit bland. I really wasn't sure what else to do so I went ahead and photographed it. All of the sudden it occured to me that the white sentiment panel stuck out like a sore thumb. I got out my scalpel and did a bit of "surgery" to unglue the frog's leg from the white panel. I was amazed at the difference the addition of the orange sentiment panel made. After adding the orange panel, I was finally happy with the finished card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Angela

TMS#64 (A New Trick, Too!)

Good morning! It's Tuesday so that means we have another fun sketch to work with from Melissa over at Tuesday Morning Sketches. This week our sponsor is Bee Crafty and Merrigan sent me this fun image called "Whimsical Girl Heart Garden". I just love her heart-shaped flowers!



The image is colored with pencils and I dotted her eye with a black gel pen. Her outfit is paper pieced and I finished off the image panel with some glittery Bella Dots. I realized after I glued the DP down that I had planned to round the corners like the sketch.... Shoot! I really don't know where my crafty mojo has gone! It seems to have deserted me.... I am really hoping it makes a comeback this week, since I have some days off; I really miss putzing around at my craft table!



Image: Bee Crafty Digital Image

Ink: Sakura Black Gel Pen

Paper: PTI Stamper's Select, SU! Rose Red, Basic Grey "Euphoria" Collection

Embellies: Wright's White Grosgrain Ribbon, Bella Dots

Extras: Prismas/Crayolas/Goo Gone, EK Success 3D Dots



Tips and Tricks:

I had to photograph this card late last night and I have a dark kitchen---black cupboards and cherry colored walls. Even with over 900 watts of light, pictures look dark. I found, that if I put my Ott light close to my card, I was able to get much truer color in the photo. I usually try to take photos outside, but I think this will be a good option if that isn't possible. If you have one, give it a try.



I hope you will head on over to the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog to check out the design teams' cards. Hopefully you will play along too!



Thanks for stopping by today; have a great week!



Angela

PTI Swap Card: Joyeux Noel

Hello! One of the things on my "to do" list was to finish up my PTI swap cards and get them in the mail...today! I CASE'd a card of Nichole Heady's from the last PTI release; I did change it a wee bit though.

The dove is one of the dies from the last release, and the felt is PTI Ocean Tides. I love the quality of the felt; it is very plush and cuts so nicely. I used some Swarovski flatback crystals to add a touch of sparkle.

Stamps: PTI Turning A New Leaf and Peace Be Still

Ink: SU! Certainly Celery, PTI Ocean Tides and Smokey Shadow

Paper: PTI Stamper's Select, SU! Certainly Celery

Embellies: PTI Ocean Tides Felt, Swarovski Flatback Crystals

Extra: PTI Dove Die, SU! Crystal Effects

I'm excited to get my swap return from the PTI swap; they always rock!

Thanks for stopping by!

Angela

TMS#62: "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!"

Hello there! I havn't posted since last week's TMS challenge...I just came off a 6/7 day stretch, had out of state company for the weekend and started a 4/5 day stretch today. So, I am really looking forward to some more crafty time!

Okay, back to TMS! This week the fun theme is "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!" Do any of you remember saying that when you were a child?! This week the challenge is all about packaging and our sponsor is Deedee's Digis. The set I am working with here is called "Batty Boo"; I love the fun sayings!

I had a lot of fun ideas but not the time to execute them, so I decided to go for some cupcakes. These are Malted Milk Cupcakes and are supposed to have crushed Whoppers on top, but the only Whoppers I could find were peanut butter or strawberry.... Neither sounded good, so I decided some orange edible glitter would be festive! DH brought up the point that I could have saved a lot of time and bought some cupcakes.... Now, where is the fun in that?!

I printed the sentiments, die cut them with Nestabilities and layered them with a scalloped border. Next I adhered the toothpick and followed that with another scalloped layer so they would look nice from the back side. For the tag, I colored the image with pencils and accented it with glitter before die cutting it and layering it. I punched a hole and used embroidery floss to hang it with. I placed the cupcakes on a small black frisbee that I found in the Target Dollar Spot and tied the wrap with some Halloween ribbon. Voila! Easy (and yummy!) Halloween treats to hand out to friends or neighbors!

Image/Sentiments: Deedee's Digis

Paper: G.P. 110, SU! Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black

Embellies: Doodlebug Glitter, Black/Orange Grosgrain Ribbon (my stash)

Extras: Prismas/Crayolas/Goo Gone, Spellbinder's Nestabilities, DMC Floss, Frisbee, Plastic Wrap, Toothpicks

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you will head on over to the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog to check out the rest of the DT's goodies...I know I'm really excited to see what they have all come up with!

Angela

Tuesday Morning Sketches #62

Good morning! It's time for another sketch from Melissa over at the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog. Our sponsor this week is Meljen's. I don't know if you know it or not, but I am a big fan of monkeys! I was super excited to get this cute image!

This week the sketch has a bit of a twist...there's a window cut into the card front and the image is on the inside. I had a hard time photographing the card so I used some painter's tape to tape it shut while I photographed it. I used Spellbinder's Nestabilities to cut the window; next I used a scalloped die, and then a circular die inside of it to cut the border. The inside of the card has a border as well; I thought it looked more "finished" that way.

The image is colored with pencils and the card is embellished simply with Prima flowers. I didn't want to cover up the words on the pretty DP.

Image: Meljen's Digital Stamp
Paper: G.P. 110, PTI Dark Chocolate, SU! Blushing Bride, Pebbles DP
Embellies: Prima Flowers
Extras: Prismas/Crayolas/Goo Gone, Spellbinder's Nestabilities

I hope you will head over to the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog to check out the DT's creations. Anita, from Cards and Coffee, is our Guest Designer this month. I hope you will be able to play along!

Thanks for stopping by today; have a good one!

Angela

Tiddly Inks Challegne #23

I'm squeaking by again with the Tiddly Inks challenge...a new one will be posted tomorrow. The challenge for this past week is glossy accents or cracked glass. I went with the cracked glass technique. It's a bit hard to see in the photo though.

I colored the image with pencils then applied 4 coats of UTEE. Then I put the panel in the freezer for a few minutes before bending the panel to crack the "glass". I then rubbed a bit of Creamy Caramel ink over the top and wiped it off with a tissue. I embellished simply with a ribbon to keep the focus on the image/technique.

Image: Tiddly Inks Digital Image

Ink: SU! Creamy Caramel

Paper: G.P.110, PTI Dark Chocolate, SU! Cool Caribbean, Heidi Grace DP

Embellie: Wright's Chocolate Ribbon

Extras: Prismas/Crayolas/Goo Gone, Suze Weinberg's UTEE, EK Success 3D Dots

Thanks for stopping by; I'll be back tomorrow with a card for Tuesday Morning Sketches!

Angela

SCS SC300

Hello and happy Friday! I have a Halloween card to share with you today using this week's SCS sketch challenge. It was the 300th sketch, so in honor of that they are giving away lots of prizes! You still have time to make a card and enter.... Check it out!

I used a card kit, that I received in the mail earlier this week, from my Secret Sister. Actually she is not really a secret, since I am the hostess of the swap! But I'm keeping my knowledge to myself until the reveal.... There were tons of goodies in this kit: DP, CS, embossed backgrounds, 2 stamps, gems, ribbons, and a container of fancy brads. I have enough goodies left to make many more cards....

Just a word about the secret sister card kit swaps.... This is round 3 and they are so much fun; if you ever get the chance to be in one, go for it. I have had fabulous secret sisters; I tell you, they really know how to coordinate all the goodies to make outstanding kits. I will confess that I do have a problem with the card kits though...I want to hoard them! I have them all in a big plastic bin and I love to just look at them! Really...no kidding! I have decided to change my ways though and start using them...that way someone else can enjoy them too, in the form of a card.

I wasn't really sure how to color Riley, so I looked in the SCS gallery to get some ideas. I just went with varying shades of the same brown pencil. I did add a bit of glitter and some felt clouds and a bat brad to the image panel. I think my coloring came out okay. I really like the images I see that have a lot of "white" or lighter areas within the colored area, so I am trying to work on my technique.

Image: Riley Moose "Witch on Broom"

Ink: Memento Tuxedo BlackPaper: G.P. 110, PTI True Black, SU! Elegant Eggplant, DP (kit)

Embellies: Bat Brad (kit), Ribbon Fx Eggplant Organdy Ribbon, SU! Black Grosgrain Ribbon, Doodlebug Glitter

Extras: Prismas/Crayolas/Goo Gone, MFT Die-namics Cloud Dies. EK Succes 3D Dots

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you have a great weekend!

Angela