Julia's Dragon -- And a Fussy Cutting Tip

Supplies used: Dustin Pike Digi Images, SU Cheers to You. Copics, Crystal Effects, MS Crab punch, mini pom poms, Liquid Applique, Cuttlebug EF. Taken with Teal, Black, White, Red CS.

Oh Julia!!! This one's for you!! Yes, it only took me 3 weeks but I finally finished up my DDC that Julia (aka Create With Me) hosted way back when. She pointed us to these adorable F-R-E-E Dustin Pike images and we were to make a card with the Pirate Dragon and the background. I got him all colored up and then did lots of fussy cutting. Which brings me to my tip... I almost always take a black marker and draw around all the cut edges of an image that I've fussy cut. It's a very subtle detail, but I like how it kind of almost looks like you cut everything out perfectly that way, no white borders where you don't want them. Plus it makes the coloring pop a little more. IMO... :) And, on with the card.. Next it just seemed to me that this guy was a happy go lucky sort of fella, one party animal. Really. So I pulled out my SU Cheers to You set and made him a beer mug. I added some beer foam (Liquid Applique), a little extra dripping down the side cause it's sort of sloshy on that big ship and used Crystal Effects where the glass of the mug would be. I then cut away his sword and replaced it with the mug!! Then, I decided a party animal needs a party hat. Ya?? So I stamped a little hat from one of my $1.00 clear stamps from Michael's and added some mini pom poms. NOW we gotta party guy!! Right?? Lastly, I invited some ocean friends to the party, but so far only the crab has made it on board. He was created with Martha Stewart's little crab punch (50% off coupon this week ladies!!). I doused him in Crystal Effects to imitate the shinny shell surface he hauls around. So there you go!! Are these fun Digi's or what???!! :) Hope you're enjoying your weekend!! I'm so glad you stopped by!

More Inspiration!

Supplies: SU Serene Sunflower, Stamps by Judith basket, Copics, Heidi Swap Mini Ghost pieces, Cuttlebug EF border, We R Memory Keepers hardware, misc. ribbon, white gel pen, yellow Stickles, SU Patterns Pack II.

Hi All! I get to host another weekend of the Inspiration Challenge over on SCS!! I hope you'll join me!! I went with this website "Creative Wall Coverings" this week. I found this website awhile back because I love wallpaper designs! (I actually have about a dozen wallpaper sample books that I use for inspiration and as DP!) Anyhow, the thing with this store is that it has ALL KINDS of wall coverings and home decor, not just wall paper, so there's lots of inspiration to be found if you poke around!! I also love sunflowers!! Yes indeed, they can be found all over my house in a variety of forms. So the "Sunflowers by Linda Spivey" all caught my attention! For my card, I stamped SU's Serene Sunflowers (I want to buried with this set) and a Stamps by Judith basket. The sunflowers were stamped with Summer Sun and Pumpkin Pie, and the basket is colored with copics. I added 3 Heidi Swap Ghost Mini butterflies to the sunflowers and decorated them with stickles and a black faux pearl. I think I like them just plain, (thinking out loud) personally...next time... Finished off with some hardware by We R Memory Keepers and some curly yellow ribbon. So I hope you'll head over to SCS and join in the IC this week!! I'd love to see you there!! TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Just Loopy!! -- LONGEST POST EVER!!

I have been punching with this Loopy Corner and Border punch by my girl, Martha Stewart, all weekend. I got carried away today and found out I could make a fun whimsical flower with the corner punch so I thought I'd share it with you. So here you go... You need a strip of paper 1-1/2" wide, and it can be any length -- you'll end up cutting off the length as you go along. Just punch the first corner of the strip, rotate it, punch the next, and so on. What is so very cool about these punches, is that the sides of the punch flip open and closed, so you can manuver them onto the straight side of your paper (vs. just the corner) to continue punching. Punch sides open. Punch sides closed. Since it's not an exact science (you have to watch the bottom of the puncher so you can place your paper in there just right), sometimes you'll have these little slivers that you have to trim. And here's a card I made with my loopy flowers. I punched these today (while watching "Grapes of Wrath" ugghhh!!!). I found the fun sketch on the Crafts for Eternity website. I have been wanting to join in this one because they always have really cool and interesting sketches so I gave it a whirl. Along with the cool sketch, you had to include something with the letter "G"!! How convenient for me, I still had my "Rock Star" set on my craft table so I used one of the GUITARS from the set to complete the challenge!! I made it kinda girly because of the colors of the loopy flowers, but I don't think that will be a problem for the girl-teen I plan to send this too! She's very much into rock 'n roll and girl rock bands!! Anyhow, I added some cute clear puffy stickers I had in my stash (they gotta be from Michael's $1.00 bin but can't swear to it), to the center of the flowers and ribbon from SU. TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

How Do You Hang Your Charms??

This is cased from the gallery of today's Featured Stamper over on SCS -- Joanne (aka Jojot). I love her style, her card sketches and coloring are so clean and easy on the eye. Her gallery is amazing! I chose to CASE her "Garden Borders" card. I kept to her layout and color scheme and even added a charm; but everything else is changed. There's no way I could recreate that fabulous border so I sort of just faked it with a Fiskars border punch and Martha's Loopy Corner punch (I used the negative of the loopy punch). I used a stamp I have that I had never used until today -- "Mod Garden" by Judikins s (side note to Joan Ervin -- do you remember this one??!!) and a bird image from Birds Galore by Inkadinkado. The ribbon is a scrap that I had, I can't believe I don't have black ribbon. Hmmm. Do I need to go to Michael's??? While I was adding the charm to the ribbon, I wondered what other methods people use to hang their charms on their cards?? I used to struggle with that task until I came across a spool of this stretchy clear cord that I don't know why I have or where I got it from! It's strong enough to be threaded through the ribbon knots and buttons and other small holes when I need to hang something but don't want it visible. And it's stretchy, so once you've knotted it, it stays tight. You, of course, can see it if you're looking for it (like here in this photo -- click on the photo to see it up close); but otherwise, it works pretty well. What do you all do?? How do you hang your charms?? Hope you're enjoying your weekend!! I'm so glad you stopped by!

I'm Hosting! Come Join Me Today!

Supplies: SU Cheap Talk, Eastern Blooms stamps. So Saffron, Bermuda Bay, Pretty in Pink, Dusty Durango CS. Versafine Onyx Black ink.

This card is for the IC this week inspired by the Pylones website! (Stephanie asked if I could fill in for her for the next couple of weeks -- uh, YA!!) Pylones was one of the wonderful stores in NYC that we visited on our recent trip and I loved their style, bright colors, and fun ideas!! I wanted to share it with everyone so I knew I was going to have this opportunity to do that when I got back. The inspiration piece I chose from the website is this Ali Baba Serving Tray. I used Sizzix Bigz XL Scallop die for my card base and Nestibilities to make all the circles. The branch and bird are SU Cheap Talk and the popped-up flowers are a blossom from the Eastern Blooms set. I doodled polka dots onto the flowers and tied off the branch with a coordinating black ribbon. TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Rock Star Card!

Supplies Used: SU Extreme Elements, Inkadinkado Rock Star. White, Black and Sage Shadow CS. Versafine Onyx Black and SU Sage Shadow ink. SU Build a Brad and Jumbo Eyelet.

I left work early today knowing I had some goodies arriving today!! (OK, who out there has NOT done that!!!?) :) I also still have a pile of new goodies I got from the Ink Pad in NYC last week that I hadn't yet broken out -- including this fantastic Inkadinkado Rock Star set! It's perfect for the all the teen boys in our family with birthdays coming up this fall -- all of them are playing in the school band, either drums or guitar. So I'm thrilled to have found a great set to use for birthday cards!! For this card, I stamped the large splat and dotted splat from the SU Extreme Elements set in Sage Shadow ink onto white CS. Then I stamped the guitar and Rock n Roll skull with Versafine Onyx Black over the splats and embossed the images with clear EP. I layered those onto Sage Shadow CS, and then onto more black CS. The main black panel is embossed across the bottom (but didn't show up in the card photo) with one of the new Cuttlebug border folders from the Pop Culture set. I used the one shown in purple there on the left. I made a matching brad using the SU Build a Brad and a little skull from the Rock Star set to attach my flag. Pretty simple stamping! I just love those two sets together!! TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Double Handle Box

I don't know what these boxes are really called, but I'm totally smitten with this new Sizzix Bigz Box #2 die that I got from SU recently. I first saw these double boxes on DOStamping with Dawn's blog. The box can hold so many different things, 3x3 card sets, gift card holders, 100 Calorie Snack bags, Cookies, toiletry gifts, just tons of different ways these can go. It's a really nice size. A masculine version could be made to look like a tool box, don't you think??While I was playing around with the die, I made the little brown purse that is in this photo. It was easy enough to add on another inch of CS (rounded the corners) to the front to make the flap come further down over the box. I then folded a strip of matching CS and attached it to the sides with brads to make the handle. But, it won't do...no, not at all. The handle is too short so you can't freely open up the front flap!! Even though it's quite functional, I just didn't like that someone would have to struggle with it. So I tried again, and this time lengthened the handle sufficiently and now I am pleased to report that it works great. The longer handled purse is shown in the back of the photo. I used Dusty Durango and Bermuda Bay CS on it. Both purses use the SU Sizzlits 4-pack dies called "Lots of Tags" as a "latch" on the front. I haven't even made the box it was designed to make yet!! These are so super easy with the Sizzix die!! TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Don't Make Me Use Markers!!!

Supplies: Image by Peachy Keen, sentiment by Hero Arts. SU Markers, Blender Pen, MS Loopy Border punch, Basic Grey Brads, gingham ribbon.

It's Belli Challenge day, and this week we want to see what you can do with water based markers!! Remember those?? Before the days of Copics? Aghhhhh!!!! I gotta say, this was tough, and I learned very quickly that I've been completely spoiled by Copics!! I have to pass on to you though...after I finished my card, I happened upon this blog "Ruths Stamping Corner" and she has a great tutorial on coloring with markers...talk about a "duh" moment!! I had completely forgotten the technique. So stop there if you have any apprehensions about coloring with water based markers for some good tips!! The images we got to use for the Challenge were provided to us this week from Peachy Keen! Such adorable images, check them out here!! Peachy Keen Stamps. If you would like a chance to win a FREE stamp from Peachy Keen, join in the Belli Challenge this week -- show us what you can do with WATER BASED markers!!! Post your card to the Creative Belli Blog using Mr. Linky or if you upload to another gallery website, use Keyword CBC72 and leave a comment letting us know you posted your card! The image I chose from Peachy Keen is Happy Scarecrow. He's totally colored using SU markers and a blender pen. You can see by this close-up that the blender pen and I battled it out, and the result is not pretty!! Ya know, it just doesn't work much like the colorless Copic blending pen at all!! There was much "pilling" and fiber shedding. But I persevered alas, can't win 'em all!! He is what he is!! LOL!!! I drew a plaid pattern on the corner of the reverse side of the main layer (yes, with SU markers!) and folded it over to add a little dimension and interest. The sentiment is stamped in Craft Whisper White ink. I punched the bottom border with Martha's Loopy border punch and finished it off with a fat gingham ribbon and coordinating brads. Be sure to check out the other Creative Belli girl's Blogs for gorgeous inspiration using water-based markers! See my sidebar for their blog links!! Have a great day!!

Andy Warhol Butterlies

Well, not exactly Andy Warhol, but my first thought when I saw how this came out reminded me of that style! ANY how... this is for today's Inspiration Challenge!! The IC Challenge is from this website called The Curiosity Shopper . I ended up choosing this Butterfly set found in the Dressing Room category. I kept to a cool color palette of greens and blues with some red and orange butterflies for a pop of color. I used a Judikins' Flying Insects Cube to stamp a butterfly onto multiple colors of CS. I then punched them out with one of Martha's butterfly punches. The teeny "With Love" sentiment in 3 of the squares is from SU's Yummy set. I added some dotting around the edges of the labels with the sentiment. The large sentiment on the bottom of the card front is from Hero Arts "Cards Sentiments" set. That's it for tonight. NYC pictures coming tomorrow!! TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!