I am off to Arizona tomorrow to help my Dad with some things. I hope to be back by the end of the week but I anticipate the blog may be a tad sleepy until next week.

Kazan's sketch

I had to do the other sketch for the latest Caardvarks challenge.
I pretty much put this together with odds and ends that I had floating about my desk and my ATC bits file.
Canvas Stamp- SU!
Die cut corner- Sizzix
Martha Stewart edge punch
vintage image downloaded from the internet
dymo labeler
Indian hand made paper
silk flower

Laura's Sketch

Here's my take on Laura's sketch from Caardvarks.

My circular embellie grew kinda large so I had to take the card up to 5 x7 and turn the sketch sideways to make it work.
I have really gone rather gaa -gaa over Martha Stewart punches lately- I used her rose leaf, butterfly, and border here. The butterflies and leaves I punched and then pinched up to give them some dimension.

The stamps are from Paper Trey Ink.

Patterned paper is more of that Heidi Grace that I got GOBS of at Big Lots (I don't think that I will ever use it all up!!!)

misc- flower- Prima
Button- Making Memories
floss- DMC
ribbon- KI Memories
pearls- Hero Arts
Corner punch- SU!
circle punches- marvy uchida
"skittles"- Michaels (dyed with Ranger ETOH ink)
ink- palette noir
Card stock- georgia pacific, close to my heart

A little home decor project

I was rooting around in the stamp cave and came across these lovely tags by English artist Sarah Lugg and decided to mount them and frame them. I just added a few dimensional embellies to them to further trick the eye with the images photographed on the tags.(You could get a similar effect with those old Fresh Cuts tags by Rebecca Sowers)I found the 8 x10 black frame for $3(!!!) at Wallyworld. So I actually did 2 of these utilizing different tags from the paper kits that I had.

For Long Haired Cat owners only!

Only you can appreciate the humor in this card!
I woke up to 3 of these little "surprises" the other AM. (Thanks Simba!)
I got 12 of these funny little InkaDinkaDo clear stamps at Joann's the other day.
I really had to root around to find them in the dollar bins by the cash register.
The sentiment that comes with it says "happy birthday" but I cut out the "birth" portion and stamped happy (space) day and then hand wrote in "hairball aprreciation" on the inside.
he he he he!
PS- I put crystal lacquer on his eyes .I really wanted googlie eyes for him and could not find them ANYWHERE! Of course, now that I am all finished with these cards ...I found my googlie eye stash today! GRRRRRR!

Another Amberly Grace card

Did I mention that I really like this paper?!
I used the new flower punch and some of the flowers from the Audrey embellishment jar on this card.(I think that I just might need to order all of them :::sigh:::) The sentiment is from "Be Still".

Spring Card

In all honesty, I usually stink at complicated cards like this but now that I have a Scor-pal I feel more confident in attempting them. I got the directions for it here at SCS.I admit to a moments panic half way through it where I had no idea what to do next but plowwed on and actually got it done- amazing for me!
I stamped the butterfly from Butterbees and more, masked it off and then stamped the script over it. Colored it in with a light wash of watercolor.
The pretty paper is a new one called Angelee.

Amberly Grace

I love the soft soothing color palette of these Amberly Grace papers.
The tri-fold card I got the idea for off of the Cricut message board. The base is a piece of CS 11 x 5 inches. Score at the following increments (I love my Scor-Pal!) 2,4 1/2,and 7.
The inner fold will be a mountain fold that you will adhere together with double stick tape This will make your card fan open like a little 3 paged book.
You can't see from my photos but I decorated the insides with the coordinating tags from the paper collection with sentiments stamped on them.

The other lil card was just an excuse to play with my new flower punch and Audrey embellishment jar of goodies. I did stamp "decorative corners" over the paper in a very soft brown ink.

Caarvarks On the Farm

Well Yeeeee Haw!
Here's a challenge I could sink my inky hooves into!
I just made these cow cards last week and they fit Caardvarks latest challenge to a moo-ie tee!

Cow Stamps-The Angel Company
Patterned paper-The Angel Company

Another Playful Kitty

I really love this naughty lil guy peeking out of his pot!
I thought that the Boo gift with purchase sentiment just went perfect with him.

*Helpful hint*~ for the eyes on critters- it's hard to see in photos but I always go back over the black stamped portions of eyes with a black glaze jelly pen- it gives the eyes a little raised dimension and sparkle that really brings them to life.

My latest favorite stamp set....

is....playful kitties from The Angel Company

I had a nice big box delivered by the Man In Brown for me to play with yesterday on my birthday- what perfect timing!
My creative mojo is really gushing right now so please excuse the onslaught of cards that will be coming!!!
For this card I stamped the kitty in archival black ink on plain old Georgia Pacific card stock. Colored in with my new BFF's- the BIC markers.
The patterend papers are from the Juliette collection

I used one of those nifty lil ribbon brads that I always seem to forget that we carry and the sentiment is one of the new gift with purchase stamps.

Cheap alternative to Copic markers

Imagine my delight when I happened upon this blog by Jacquie video

I found this on Friday, high-tailed it on down to Staples and got my package of 36 markers for only $19.99 and have been a coloring maniac ever since!
(Yesterday, I was in a stamp store with DH and I showwed him the price of one Copic marker was $5.99 and he was soooooo glad that I got the BICs instead.)
Appearantly, the Sharpie markers work the same too. Be sure to check out Jacquie's video and blog because she is the expert and tells a lot about them all.

My first attempt with the BIC Mark-it's

I followed the video directions to the tee on this. I did find that when trying to color in an embossed image with fine detail lines that is is very tricky to get the pen nib into the small spaces to color!(I later tried the markers just on plain cardstock with water proof ink and thought that results were fine- see duck below... I would think that if I was to have a problem with smearing it would have shown with the light yellow ink)

side by side comparison

Here are 2 samples of the same image colored in w/ 2 different techniques . The finished card on the left was done using the Magic Pencil technique. The card front on the right features the BIC Mark-It markers. I still have some practicing to do on my blending and shading but I do like the vibrancy and depth of color with the markers.

hedgie pals

Here's the last of the cards that I submitted for the PC Idol contest.
Stamps- Penny Black, The Angel Company
PP- K and Company
Prisma glitter
Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol
Doodle Bug paper frill
Bling- Hero Arts
"Skittles"

Definition of a Friend

Here is another one of the cards that I had submitted for the Paper Crafts idol contest.
Stamp- The Angel Company
PP,buttons - Autumn Leaves
Cricut die cut
Border punch-fiskers
"Skittles"-dyed with alcohol ink
DMC-floss
Flowers- Prima
Bling- Hero Arts
Krylon gold leafing pen

happy hedgie

I had almost forgotten that I had this old retired set from The Angel Company.
(How I could forget a hedgehog is absolutely beyond me!)
This was one of the cards that I submitted for the Paper Crafts Idol open audition. Unfortunately, I didn't make the cut but at least I have 3 very cute (IMHO) cards to post to my blog over the next few days.