pirate hanna sneak peek

Hi everyone! Tonight is THE night! The hanna stamps release party begins tonight at 9PM EST in the hanna stamps forum. There will be prizes, fun and challenges. I am even one of the challenge hostesses tonight so be sure to stop by and join in the fun.

Today I have a sneak peek of the hanna pirate set. I started by stamping my pirate image in the middle of my white CS and stamping one on scrap for a mask. Then I took a micron black pen and a ruler and drew in my ship deck/wood. I added some dots for the nails and some squiggly lines for the wood grain. I colored the image using copics and prismacolor markers. Next I took my homemade cloud stencil and sponged the clouds behind hanna (I masked hanna when I made the clouds). I made the stencil by taking a marvy scalloped oval punch and punching out a piece of acetate. I then stamped the coins, treasure chest, and parrot colored them, cut them out and attached to my scene. I used some gold stickles on the coins. I matted the scene and used the scallop blade on my cutter for the card base and the white matte layer. Before attaching to the base, I added my ribbon. I made my photo corners by punching out a square, cutting in half diagonally (2 triangles), cutting out the notch and added white dots. I used my ctmh letters to spell out ahoy and punched it and attached to the card. I hope you like it.

Supplies:
stamps- pirate hanna, ctmh letters
CS- real red, black, white
ink- palette noir, bashful blue
accessories- cloud stencil, stitched ribbon, SU scallop punch, white gel pen, gold stickles, copics

Gotta run and try to have some dinner before the festivities begin. See y'all there!

Another Hanna sneak peek and a sketch challenge

Well, I was hoping to have another post for you today. You see, I got ahead of myself coloring images and then had a bunch of colored images but no complete cards- oops. I am a very slow card maker because I am too much of a perfectionist. I have to try many different possibilities and then decided on one so even though the images were colored it still takes me a long time to make them into a card. So first, another sneak peek from hanna stamps.

. I started this card by stamping my image and coloring my image with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. A little side note here about my card building process. I tend to color my images based on colors in dp but sometimes not. I also chose the colors for my mattes and card base once the images are colored in. I then try different color mattes and see which looks best and then build up my layers from there. I know alot of people start with the card base and for me that is the last thing I do. Ok, anyways I put the pumpkin on my scalloped circle and added white dots with a gel pen. I stamped my orange strip with the 3 little candy corn stamps that come in the new set to create a bg and matted that with black. I stamped my sentiment onto my white and ran it through my cuttlebug. I received these really cute buttons today and knew that they would be perfect with this. I finished off by adding my polka dot ribbon. This great layout was using the mojo 48 sketch from Julee Tillman- love it!

Recipe:
stamps- trick or treat mini set from hanna stamps, sentiment from papertrey
ink- palette noir
CS- white, black, pumpkin pie
accessories- buttons, SU scallop circle, white gel pen, polka dot organdy ribbon, prismacolor pencils, gamsol, stumps, swiss dots cb folder

The other card I have for you is from the sketch challenge today on SCS. I watercolored this image last week with SU markers and my aquapainter and blender pen and tucked it away until I needed it. I followed the sketch and used a ticket corner punch on the main image and the rest is kinda self explanatory but just LMK if you have questions. The colors are from the dirty girl challenge from Carole.



here is a close up for you- the background is really a light blue for the sky but is not showing well in the photo.


Supplies:
stamps- high hopes jolie's little friend and sentiment
ink- palette noir, real red
CS/paper- bazzill bling yellow, real red, brilliant blue, prints pack dp, watercolor
accessories/tools- ticket corner punch, grosgrain ribbon, shimmer brads, stickles, SU markers, aquapainter, blender pen



I also have 2 RAKs to show you and I apologize that the picture is not good at all. I will try to retake it but I just did not want to forget to post these because they are just awesome and they are both dirty girl cards to boot LOL! The bella card on the left I received a few weeks ago and have been horrible about posting it. It is from Michelle Woerner (sf9erfan) and she also included some wonderful goodies for me including some ribbons, some dew drops and a variety of images. The star card on the right is from Denise Marzec (peanutbee) along with some great Annie LaPointe images I have been wanting to try. Arn't they both just gorgeous! Thank you so much ladies- I really appreciate your kindness and your thinking of me- huge hugs!!

Well thanks again everyone for visiting and bearing with all the posts today. Be sure to stop in tomorrow for some more hanna sneak peeks. Till then, have a great night.

Hanna Stamps Sneak Peek Week and some news

First some rather exciting news. If you visited my blog in the past few days, you probably noticed that I did not have any new posts (shame shame LOL) but did you notice the new additions to my side bar? Well, I have been unexpectedly been asked to join the design team for DRS designs! It was a very pleasant surprise as they have really cute stamps so be sure to check them out.

Speaking of adorable images...I finally have a sneak peek for you to see. Hanna Stamps is releasing 2 regular sets and 2 mini sets which will be available tomorrow night after the release party in the hanna forum on SCS. Here is the first of the projects that I have to post today- hope to have more today and definitely tomorrow. This uses one of the mini sets being released. I really do love this card and if you did not know, you would probably not guess this is a hanna image. Take a look

I started by stamping my scarecrow image twice- once on watercolor paper and once on scrap paper to use as a mask. I cut out my mask placed it over the scarecrow and then stamped the 2 corn stalks from the garden hanna set released a few months ago. My images were colored using SU markers and both an aquapainter and blender pen. I distressed the edges of it with my ruler and then sponged chocolate ink around the edges. I matted it and used faux stitching and distressing of the edges of my matted layer too. Did you notice the white edges on the orange layer? This is close to my heart paper and it has a white core so when you sand it or distrss it the white shows through- cool huh? I combined so many challenges into this card- the hanna stamps weekly challenge which was to use stitching on your card, 3 dirty girl challenges (distressing from Laura, sketch from Natasha, scene from Kitty) and the verve challenge which was to use 3 or more buttons. Be sure to click on the links if you would like to play along. You can see that I used faux stitching on the bg layer and the green strip as well. Soon, I won't be faux stitching much anymore as I ordered my janome sew mini from hancock fabrics yesterday and hope to try real stitching on my cards soon. I also sponged some choc ink on the twill and unraveled it a bit at the edges just like the scarecrow's arms. My image was attached to the card with pop dots.

Recipe:
stamps- trick or treat mini, garden hanna, things hanna would say, all from hanna stamps
ink- palette noir, chocolate chip
CS/paper- close to my heart autumn collection CS, watercolor paper, bo bunny press dp
accessories/tools- SU brads and buttons, twill, hemp twine, glue dots, pop dots, sponge, paper piercer, SU piercing mat, SU markers, blender pen, aquapainter

Be sure to check back for more sneak peeks from hanna stamps and have a wonderful day!

July Papertrey blog hop

Today is the papertrey blog hop and you can find out more info and see the list of participating blogs Here. For this month's challenge you were to use vellum. Other nice thing is that one of the dirty girl challenges this month was also to use vellum so I was happy to be able to combine the 2. I have 3 cards to show you tonight using vellum and all 3 of them use it a little differently.



This first card I stamped the ink directly onto the vellum and then layered the vellum onto white CS with vellum adhesive. The sentimnent was stamped and sponged while still in the nestability die.

Supplies:
stamps- PTI garden of life, birthday basics
CS- summer sunrise, choc chip, white, vellum
ink- summer sunrise, choc chip, spring moss
accessories- nestabilites, satin ribbon, sponge

The second card the vellum layer is placed over the white cardstock which is where the flowers are stamped. I did this to soften the bg and try a different look. The vellum is attached with vellum adhesive.




Supplies:
stamps- PTI garden of life, borders and corners circles
CS- PTI plum pudding, lavender moon, white, vellum
ink- plum pudding, lavender moon
Accessories- Marvy circle punches, plum ribbon, shimmer brads, paper piercer


The third card is a shaker card with the vellum layer run through a cuttlebug embossing folder.



The vellum is attached with adhesive under the image and with the brads. I used kosher salt for the snow inside the shaker. This card is pretty self explanatory and here you can find a tutorial on how to make a shaker card.

Supplies:
stamps- PTI mailbox greetings
CS- bashful blue, brocade blue, vellum, white
ink- palette noir, brocade blue
accessories- copics, silver hardware, taffeta ribbon, snowflakes cb folder, acetate, kosher salt, nestabilities

I hope you have enjoyed my cards for today. Have fun blog hopping!

Watercolor Wednesday

This week there are so many challenges going on over at Splitcoast for the dare to get dirty 2008. There are 2-3 challenges posted per day in addition to the normal weekly challenges. It is very tough to find enough time to do them all so when you can combine several challenges into one card it is a VERY good thing. Check out this link to see the list of the dirty girl challenges if you would like to play along. They are going to be giving away prizes if you finish all the challenges before Aug.1. I watercolored a couple of images last night because I was in the mood to color and I was really hoping that at least one of them would fit into the challenges today. Well, you can imagine my delight this morning when I discovered that the weekly sketch would work perfectly. I was also able to combine 2 of the dirty challenges into it also for a total of 3 for 1. Yippee! Take a look:



I really like how this came out and I am really loving watercoloring! To start, I stamped my image on watercolor paper. However, I masked off part of this stamp with scotch tape because it really has 2 dogs in it. You can see the original image here. I then watercolored the image with my SU markers and an aquapainter and a blender pen. I added crystal effects to her nose and colored the bow with a clear spica glitter pen. I have to tell you how I chose my colors though- Jody's challenge was to use ribbon as your guide for your card and to choose that first. So that is what I did, I picked the dog image because of the brown ribbon and the pink and green were also picked from the ribbon. To further coordinate and match which you know I like to do, I chose the green dp with the squares and used the square hardware to go with the squares on the ribbon. I just LOVE when everything pulls together so well. You can see today's sketch here. If you would like to see some tutorials for watercoloring with markers, you can refer to Julie and Maria's blogs which show everything you could want to know. Keep in mind that the most important thing about this technique is to use good thick WATERCOLOR paper. You can find this at craft stores and Stampin Up carries it which is what I used. The watercolor paper is what allows the color to move and blend, I tried on regular paper and it did not work- my friend Sue is witness to this.

Here is a close up for you:


Recipe:
stamps- Whipper Snapper opposites attract, hero arts sentiment
CS/paper- SU watercolor paper, choc chip, prints pack dp, looks like spring dp
accessories/tools- square punch, copper hodgepodge, ribbon, SU markers, aquapainter, blender pen, crystal effects, clear spica glitter pen

Have a blessed day and be sure to visit again soon :)

Some company challenges

Hi there. I hope you all had a nice weekend. I was not able to do the challenge today on Splitcoast but I do have a couple of cards to share that I made this weekend. Time and computer problems have prevented me from posting them until now. This first card is for the hanna stamps weekly challenge. Check THIS out if you would like to play along.

Frances came up with an awesome sketch for us this week. I was originally going to use a Riley but I knew that the other DT members were using them so I wanted to do something different. I started out by using my coloring my image with my markers and punching them out with my Marvy punches. I paper pierced the scallops and went around them with a white gel pen. I ran my yellow strip through my cuttlebug and matted it. I stamped my sentiment on one of the tags that comes with the set and colored that image. I used my cropadile to set the eyelet and tied the ribbon through it. I used some scraps for the 2 red strips. I added some stickles to the presents.

Supplies:
stamps- perfect package from hanna stamps, sentiment SU season of joy
ink- palette noir, real red
CS- real red, olive, banana, white, dp- DCWV
accessories- organdy polka dot ribbon, copics, crop a dile, SU eyelets and brads, CB swiss dots, stickles, Marvy giga scallop, mega circle, white gel pen, paper piercer

The second card is for the verve challenges. The first is the Verve project parade which was to make an ATC. The second was the verve weekly challenge in which I incorporated the ATC into my card. The challenge was an inspiration challenge. It was so cool to be able to do that- a 2 for 1 deal LOL! Take a peek



I started out by stamping my scripture main image and then using my nesties to cut it out. I embossed it with the nesties and then sponged ink around it while the image was still in the die. I pierced a couple of rows beneath the image and added primas to the corner. Here is a closer view of the ATC


I then made a grid pattern on my white paper with a scor-pal scoring at 1 inch intervals both horizontally and vertically. I stamped my floral image in the center of each square and then stamped a smaller image in the intersections of the grid lines. I used a spica glitter pen in the orange centers. I tied my ribbon which a dyed using my ink pad around the center and attached the ATC over the top using pop dots. I really like how this came out and I really love the color combo.

Recipe:
stamps- verve plain jane scripture, verve thoughtful florals
ink- pumpkin pie, not quite navy, cool caribbean
CS- cool caribbean, not quite navy, pumpkin pie, white
accessories- scor-pal, paper piercer, primas, SU brads, spica glitter pen

thank you for stopping by!

My first award!!!

I am so excited- I was given my first blog award. Allison of Stampin When I Can gave me this cool award. Thank you so much Allison, this is awesome and it means a lot to me!

What's shakin?

Sorry I could not post yesterday but we were having some major internet issues which resulted in some hardware replacement. So I will post yesterday's and today's cards here today. I love them both and hope you will too. Here is the first for today's challenge.



This is for the ways to use it challenge today which was to use a spice on your card and for the hanna stamps weekly challenge which was to use acetate on your card. If you have never made a shaker card you can find the awesome tutorial for it here
I must admit that having the nestabilities made this soooo much easier for me than the last time I did one. I also liked using the kosher salt (mixed with some glitter) inside the shaker as opposed to the microbeads because it was not full of static like the beads. I first colored my image then found the size of nesties that would best fit it. After following the tutorial I stamped my bg and cut the corners using my slit punch. This was attached and brads were added. I stamped my sentiment and punched it with the word window punch. I tied ribbon around the middle and attached my shaker with glue lines since they are stronger and will hold better. I finished off the card by accenting some stickle accents to the snowflakes.

Supplies:
stamps- snowman riley from hanna stamps, TAC ornamental snowflakes
ink- mellow moss, bliss blue, banana
CS- bliss blue, banana, white
accessories- Kosher salt, glitter, foam tape, acetate, white gel pen, slit punch, word window punch, striped grosgrain, shimmer brads, stardust stickles

Here is the second card- I love how it came out. I could not believe that I actually colored it LOL.



I am running low on time here so I will be quick with the description and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions I did not answer. I colored my image with prismacolor pencils and gamsol and then sponged the edges. Actually all the layers are sponged with cocoa ink. I stamped the flower from the set on both the blue and artichoke layers with tone on tone inks. These were then overstamped with the linen bg inked with cocoa. I faux stitched both bg layers and attached everything together. I used various hardware pieces and ribbon to finish it off.

Recipe:
stamps: long time friend, PTI mailbox greetings for sentiment
ink- artichoke, cocoa, choc chip, bordering blue
CS- same as above
accessories- prismacolor pencils, gamsol, stumps, aged copper hardware, stitched ribbon, paper piercer, choc chip marker

Well have a wonderful day- I am off to the "Y".

Grid Technique

The challenge for today on Splitcoast was the grid technique. At first I was not too excited as lately I have done quite a few as backgrounds on my cards but then I thought that I never did try to stamp on the grid. So that is just what I did for something new and I love it! In fact I love it so much that I did several and I even started a few more with different images to finish off another time. Here they are for you to see:





I started out by creating my grid scoring at 1 inch intervals. Then I stamped my image on the side where the score lines go in not the raised side. I actually made a mistake and stamped on the wrong side first so I thought that I would just mention this if you have not tried this technique before. You can make any size grid (1/2" intervals) or make them in diagonals too but I went with 1 inch because it resembles looking out a window for this particular image. I then matted my image and for 2 of them I stamped my sentiment with versamark ink and embossed it with embossing powder on vellum. This was attached to the image with brads. Believe it or not, once I got the idea down these are pretty fast to make- must be since I made 3 AND made homemade sauce and meatballs today LOL!

Supplies-
stamps- Thomas Kinkade Stonehearth hutch, Stampin Up sentiments
ink- versamark, versafine crimson red, versafine olympia green, SU night of navy
CS/paper- bliss blue, night of navy, true thyme, cranberry crisp, holiday thyme dp, vellum
accessories- stickles, organdy ribbon, cord, brads, embossing powder, scor-pal

So, I would be interested to know which one you like best and why so if you have a minute to comment that is great.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mojo Monday double challenge

Hi everyone. It's been a few days since I have posted, did ya miss me LOL? I was busy with family and friends as 2 of my very best friends in the whole world just happened to both be in town at the same time! It has been years since the 3 of us have spent time together so it was so nice.

Anyway on with my project for today. I love doing challenges as you all know and only wish that I had time to fit more in as there are so many great ones out there to try. My challenges for today both are verve challenges. I did the mojo Monday 45 sketch combined with the verve diva color challenge.



This was the first time using my new verve stamps and let me say I just LOVE them! I never tried them before and they truly stamp so well and of course the images are super cute. So glad I took the plunge and tried them and with free shipping till the 15th how can you go wrong? I started by stamping my stems and did it so that the flowers would hang over the rectangle. I stamped my flowers cut out each layer, went over then with a clear spica glitter pen and mounted them separately with pop dots for dimension. I also added crystal effects to the center of the flowers. I stamped my butterfly, cut it, added mini rhinestones and colored it with the glitter pen. I pierced a trail for it and made sure that it went onto the flower panel. I used my slot punch for the orange strip to make my scallops and pierced all 3 middle strips. I also used my choc chip marker to create the stitching on the olive layer. I stamped my sentiment and punched it out with my word window punch. The flower panel was attached with pop dots and ribbon was tied at the bottom. Brads were added to the lower corner to finish off.

Here are some close up pics:




Supplies:
stamps- verve petals and stems and thoughtful flowers
CS/paper- saffron dp, pumpkin pie, choc chip, old olive, GP white
ink- old olive, pumpkin, saffron, choc chip
accessories/tools- word window punch, slot punch, clear spica glitter pen, olive brads, mini rhinestones, crystal effects, paper piercer

Have a wonderful day! I hope to get some entries done for the Papertrey GSS contest. Man there are not enough hours in the day!

See ya soon,

A sketch challenge Wednesday

Sketch challege day on SCS and what a challenge to me it was LOL! I seriously struggled with this one- you can see it here. I had a hard time trying to figure out what stamps to use. I should have used one of my hannas because they have great accessories which would have been great in the little squares. Next time perhaps. Take a peek



I started out by stamping my main image in black with versafine onyx on shimmer white and watercoloring parts of it. I actually stamped the image 3 times (lost one) so that I could cut out the leaf and raise it up. I used some of the other stamps in the set and stamped them on the smaller squares. All of the images were sponged with black and double matted. I scored the textured amethyst CS with the scor-pal to create a diamond grid bg to coordinate with my squares. I stamped my sentiment and cut it out with my word window punch and attached to the upper corner. I added black shimmer brads that I got from hannastamps to the other corners. I tied some black grosgrain ribbon around the middle and then attached the main image using pop dots over the ribbon. It turned out ok but again the sketch was not easy for me.

Supplies:
stamps- Fresh cuts
CS- textured amethyst, celery, black, shimmer white
ink- versafine onyx
accessories- black grosgrain, CM square punches, blender pen, shimmer brads, scor-pal

thanks for visiting today and have a wonderful day

Color Challenge Tueday (CC174)

Farewell my Faroese Friend

I know I have not posted in a couple days and I hope you have all had a nice holiday and weekend. I must admit that I have been on quite the emotional roller coaster today. Today we said goodbye to our exchange student who lived with us for the past year. We took her to the airport earlier this afternoon. This year was filled with many ups and downs, unmet expetations and lessons learned. It was a tough year in many ways but today there have been many tears shed. I am crying while typing as a matter of fact. One of the last things I said to her was that it is hard to be both a mom and a friend at the same time- I hope that explains it. I did not feel at all like stamping today if you can believe it but I do have a fairly simple card I can share that I made the other day.

This card was done for the limited supplies challenge on Friday on SCS. You were only allowed 4 layers on the card which is what I have here and believe me that was a tough one for me LOL. You were also only allowed 4 embellishment/specialty tools and could only use red, white and blue. So this is what I came up with. I did not want to make a patriotic card as I would not most likely get use out of it until next year. I thought that this was a nice masculine card. I stamped my image and watercolored it using my aquapainter and inkpads. I distressed the edges of it with my ruler. I used one of the bg images (Old World Map) that I got from my friend Ellen in the pif thread and sponged the edges of it and my card base. I cut a strip of red and crumpled it with my hands and sponged navy over it and attached to the card. I used my word window punch and also crumpled the punched out piece and sponged it attaching them with brads. I finished off by adding my twine to the side of the card.

Supplies:
stamps- SU Coast to Coast
ink- palette noir, bashful blue, not quite navy, real red
CS- real red, not quite navy
accessories/tools- word window punch, pewter brads, twine, sponge, aquapainter

Hanna Stamps Sneak Peek Day 4- Final day

How exciting as today is the day for the release party of the new stamps from hanna stamps!!

When: July 3rd from 7-9PM
Where: hanna stamps forum
What- fun, prizes, challenges and more sneak peeks

My card today uses the new patio mini set being released tomorrow. I stamped my tree image and colored with my prismapencils and gamsol. I shadowed my image with my copic B00 marker and triple matted it. When I saw this image for the first time I new exactly which dp I was going to use for it- isn't it perfect for this? This card came together pretty quickly for a change. I stamped my sentiment and used my punches for it, piercing around the scallops. I finished off the card by tying my ribbon and using dew drops in the corner. What do you think?

Supplies:
stamps- patio from hanna stamps, hero arts sentiment
ink- pallette noir, old olive
CS/paper- fall flowers dp, old olive, sahara sand, really rust
accessories- SU olive grosgrain, SU scallop punch, CM circle punch, paper piercer, dew drops, prismapencils, gamsol

Hope to see you all at the party tonight!

Hanna Sneak Peek Day 3

Hi there and welcome to my third day of hanna stamps sneak peeks. I only have one card to show you today. Take a look:



I stamped my hanna image twice so that I could use one as a mask. I stamped my table omitting part of the stamp so that I could stamp the flower on top of it. I stamped the plant beneath the hammock and I stamped my drink and book images and cut them out. I masked off hanna, the table and plant to stamp my grass in my scene. It took quite a while to stamp and mask everything but I like how the scene came out. I stamped everything a few days ago but left it because I was not sure of the colors or layout that I wanted to use. So when I saw today's sketch on SCS I knew it would work for this and that is the layout I used. I chose the colors based on my dp. The scene was colored with my copics and prismamarkers. I colored the bottom grey to look like Hanna was on her patio. So I can't say I am completely happy with how this came out. I had a hard time with the hammock color and used 3 different colors and none were what I wanted- still not. I should have done it in a lighter brown than I did. The tan I first did was too light though. Second, I should have left the grass out, it looked better without it. Thirdly, the yellow lemonade just didn't fit with the other colors. On most days I would have pulled this apart and started over but to be honest with you, I am just not feeling well today with my sinus headache and cramps so this will have to do. Besides, it is not that bad- I just know I can do better. Maybe I will try again with this tomorrow.

Supplies:
stamps- patio mini, lazy days, bookworm- hanna stamps, PT mailbox greeting (grass)
ink- pallette noir
CS/dp- lavendar lace, regal rose, celery textured, flowers for you dp
accessories/tools- nestabilities, copics, prismamarkers, rhinestones, turquoise grosgrain, paper piercer

Speaking of tomorrow...be sure to join us from 9PM-11PM for the release party in the hanna stamps forum where there will be chatting, challenges (hosted by me), and prizes. Mark your calendar to join us. Be back tomorrow with another peek- have this one done already and I am happy with it too.