Christmas Wreath card

Ugh, I am so far behind on my Christmas cards!! Lol, that's funny to be saying at the end of July, hahaha. Life got busy, but I'm hoping to get back in the habit of making at least one each week. I'd like to finish up the last couple dozen before December. :)

When I saw that Sparkle's challenge this week was to use a wreath, I knew {exactly} which stamp to use!! When I first saw this image I immediately added it to my Wish RAK wishlist. Imagine my delight when my wish was granted not with images, but with a brand new stamp set!! I was so excited. Flourish images always intimidate me, so even though I've had this for months I haven't ever used it. But it was so much fun to color, and looks so pretty that I think I'll pull it out again soon. :)

Paper: October Afternoon; Stamps: Flourishes; Ink: Memento tuxedo black (image), StazOn black (sentiment). Copics, Sakura gelly roll glitter pens, vellum

I will admit it: I {love} this card! I almost don't want to give it away, lol. I think it is so pretty and elegant and deserves a place to shine... so I made it into my very first easel card, woohoo!

I had to tweak the tutorial on Splitcoast a bit, since I wanted it to stand more vertical. I scored the card base at 6" and 10", instead of 6" and 9". This gave it a lot sharper angle and looks much nicer in my opinion. :)

Tomorrow I won't have a critter to share for Farm Fresh Friday, but I will have some other Greeting Farm goodness for you, so be sure to stop by! See ya-

A simple sympathy card

I needed to make a sympathy card while I was away, and lucky for me I had this card mostly put together before I left, so I was able to finish it up fairly quickly:

Paper: The Girl's Paperie; Stamp: Paper Makeup; Punch: Martha Stewart Crafts; Ribbon: Taylored Expressions; Ink: Stampin' Up! "Baja Breeze". Nesties, stitching

I just love the flower silhouettes in the "Faith, Hope, Love" stamp set from PMS - they're so perfect for sweet, simple cards when I don't have time to color. I printed the sentiment out on the white cardstock before stamping and cutting out the image, since I didn't have my little sentiment stamps with me in Washington (how could I forget those?!). Sweet and simple, but most importantly I hope it brings comfort to my friend.

Tomorrow I have my very first easel card to share with you - I hope you like it as much as I do! :) See you then!

Tuesday Tutorial: Coloring Hair with Copic Markers

Hello hello! If you're joining me today you're in for a treat: the very first post in my new lineup of tutorials! I've had a mental list going of tutorials I've been asked to do or have wanted to do myself, and the time has finally come to start them. I won't have one every week, but when I do have one to share I'll be posting them on Tuesdays and calling them my Tuesday Tutorials (original, I know).

I thought I'd start off with a bang and show how I color hair with my copics. I know that there are several different ways and techniques to color hair, and I don't claim to be an expert; this is simply a sample of how I choose to color my images. I prefer to use 4 color tones, but it's possible to use three or even two. My sample uses the copic colors E09, E15, E13 and E11. This makes a nice, reddish-brown hair color.

**It is important to note that your cardstock has a huge effect on how your colored images will turn out. Certain cardstocks will lend themselves better to blending than others. I have tried Georgia Pacific, Papertrey, Neenah, Gina K and Stampin' Up!, and my personal favorite is Neenah - I use it for all of my personally stamped images.**

• First, stamp your image in your copic-friendly ink of choice. I prefer Brilliance Graphite ink, or Memento Tuxedo black if I'm in a rush. (the Brilliance I let dry overnight) For this tutorial, I used the stamp WS-Eric from The Greeting Farm.
  
• Start with your darkest color - in this example, it is E09. Color the center part as shown, followed by the areas of deepest shadow. Your strokes should always begin at the darkest part of the hair and brush outward.

**When coloring hair, it is best to use a "feathered" stroke. This means to lighten the pressure near the end of the stroke to leave a smaller, fainter tip of color. This makes blending easier and results in a more natural look.**

•  Take your next darkest color (in this case E15) and stroke from the darkest edges toward the "highlight" of the hair, covering the strokes already colored.

• Your next shade will be your main hair color, in this case E13. Once again, start at the darkest portions of hair and color toward the highlight, coloring over previous strokes (this helps the colors to blend). This color should "fill" most of the hair on the stamp.

• Take your lightest shade (E11 shown here) and sweep up through all previous strokes to the center of the highlights, leaving only small areas of white showing.

• At this point, you may be finished! But I usually make additional strokes to blend the layers using my two lightest shades. Sometimes I'll go back and add deeper shadows with my darkest color - whatever your personal preference is.

And there you have it! I apologize for the wonky white on my photos - the automatic white balance on my camera was being difficult. But I hope you were able to get the gist of how I color.

Have a great day, and happy coloring!

Weekly Scrapbook Challenge #26

Hey everyone! Whew, I think I need a vacation from our vacation, lol. It was a fun and fabulous trip, but I am happy to be back and crafting in my own home again - it's sure difficult to create when I don't have all my supplies! Nevertheless, I managed to put together a layout for this week's challenge, which is to use circles. Try to incorporate the use of circles in at least two different ways. Here is my sample:

Paper: Creative Imaginations, kraft cardstock; Tags: office supply; Chipboard alphabet: Making Memories; Clips: Making Memories (upper right), Stampin' Up! (on title tag); Mini Alphabet Stamps: Studio G; Font: Memo

Instead of using patterned paper to anchor the clip and tag in the upper corner of the photo, I used one of my kids' boarding passes from the flight. I sprayed it with archival mist first to de-acidify it (is that a word??) so it will be photo safe. I also used 2 different size circle punches to create the skinny kraft-paper circles for the scallop under the photo.

I'd love to see what you create! Please link up any layouts you make this week so we can all see what you create. Remember, you don't have to follow the challenge - just get scrappy!

Blog Candy Winner!!

Ahhhhh, it's good to be home. Our flight was delayed last night, so instead of walking through the door around 10pm it was past 2am this morning, ugh. My kiddos were NOT happy waking up and getting off that plane, lol! But we are back safe and sound and I'm looking forward to falling back into our regular routine. :)

I apologize that I haven't been able to check blogs much while I was away, but I'll be back in the swing of things next week and will be around to leave some love as soon as I can. I love reading the comments you all leave me, and I'm anxious to return the favor! Thank you for all your sweet, encouraging words while I was away - I certainly missed my "frogs"!

But enough chatting... you want a winner, don't you? Well, here she is!!

Congratulations, Ashley!! Email me with your address and I'll get your goodies shipped out on Monday.

I had so much fun reading through all the entries and comments about what you like or want to see more of on my blog. Several of you asked for tutorials, which is something I have had in the works so you'll be seeing more of those for sure, yay! Thank you for the feedback - hopefully I'll be able to incorporate some of your other ideas as well.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!!



p.s. As you can see, I finally found a simple tutorial for taking a screenshot of the actual Random.org generator - or any screenshot, really! You can find it right here.

Farm Fresh Friday - Don't forget to FLOSS

Hi everyone!! It's Friday and you know what that means: Farm Fresh Friday! This week we had a great challenge from Kadie - to use embroidery floss. My creative juices were in short supply, so I went with my old standby of threading it through a button and tying it in a bow:

Paper: October Afternoon; Stamp: The Greeting Farm; Flowers: Prima;  Button: American Crafts; Scallop border punch: Fiskars. Adhesive gems, stitching, corner rounder, nesties

Be sure to check out The Greeting Farm blog to see how you can enter this week. And then stop by the rest of the team - they made some wonderful creations!

Critter Crew

Amber Hight

Jen Shults

Sandra MacLean

Sparkle Smith

Heather Schlatter

Farmers

Cindy Haffner

Kadie Ensley

Kim Nath

Mary Giles

Randi Wall

Melyssa Connolly

Mercy Kerin

I'm traveling home tonight with my kiddos and will pick a winner for my blog candy at midnight, so you still have a chance to enter. Make sure you come by tomorrow to see if you're the lucky one!! See you soon-

Francesca

I have avoided Kraftin' Kimmie stamps because I didn't want to start another addiction, haha. But I really, really wanted this stamp, so I bought it off a gal on Splitcoast and I'm so glad - Francesca is just too cute!

Paper: scrap bin; Ribbon: Stampin' Up!; Flowers: Prima; Jeweled brad: American Crafts. Memento ink, copics, corner rounder, adhesive gems, nesties

This card came out nothing like I envisioned. It's one of my "eh" cards, you know? But I don't mind - it just means I'll have to ink up this stamp and try again, lol!!

Tooth holder door hanger... with tutorial!

I had great plans for making a super-cute tooth holder for when my kids lost their teeth. But since my son lost his so suddenly (and prematurely, I might add) I only had time to work with materials on hand... which wasn't a lot, lol! I ended up fashioning this tooth-holder-hanger for him to use:

Here's what you'll need:

• about 18"x22" piece of material (also called a "fat quarter") or large scraps. I used flannel.
• ribbon 
• batting
• small piece of felt
• pins
• fabric shears

And here's how to put it together:

• Draw a tooth template on a piece of paper. You can download my pattern right here.
• After cutting out the pattern, pin it to the fabric and cut it out.

• Next, I cut a small piece of white felt for the pocket and stitched it to the right-side of the cut out flannel on the left. Be sure not to sew along the top edge!

• Cut another piece of flannel and a piece of thick quilt batting in the shape of a large rectangle. Make sure that both pieces are larger than the tooth-shaped flannel by a couple inches all around.

• Cut a strip of ribbon about 16" long.
• Make the following sandwich:

1. Rectangle flannel (wrong-side up)
2. Batting
3. Tooth-shaped flannel (right-side up)

• Pin through all layers around the edge of the tooth shape.
• TIP: It helps to pin with the heads along the outer edge of the material. This makes it easy to remove them as you're sewing
 

• Slip the ribbon between one of the layers of flannel and batting, curving it around so it can hang on the doorknob. Pin it to the flannel.
• Stitch a 5/8" seam (or whatever width you prefer) around the entire edge of the tooth.
• Cut batting and bottom layer of flannel along the edge to match the top layer, being careful not to cut through the ribbon.

And there you have it! A simple, quick little doorhanger where a little tooth can be kept safe from being lost under a pillow, hahaha.

Thanks for stopping by - have a great day!

Little Biker Dude

When we went up to Big Bear earlier this month, I didn't take any PMS or Critter Crew images with me. I wanted to be able to relax and play with stamps that don't fill any of my DT requirements. And although I don't really need a boy card anytime soon, Eric was just begging to be inked up!

Paper: Scrap Within Reach; Stamp: The Greeting Farm; Clip: Stampin' Up!; Punch: Martha Stewart Crafts; Star brad: JoAnn Essentials. Memento ink, copics, silver brads, adhesive foam, stitching

I finally figured out what he's wearing, but not until AFTER I colored him. I guess he's like a biker dude - wearing leathers over his jeans and draping his leather jacket over his shoulder. At least I *think* that's what he's wearing, haha. Oh well - next time I'll color him "correctly"! ;)

Weekly Scrapbook Challenge #25

I promise that this is the last digital layout you'll see for a LONG time, lol!! I already have a "real" one to showoff next week so you know my word is good. ;)

This week, my challenge for you is to use brackets. You can use a single bracket, a pair of brackets, or even a bracketed frame, like I used on my layout:

Stamp: Paper Makeup (digital wordart); Stitched bracket, grid, masking tape: Pamela Donnis Designs; Paper and other elements: unknown

My son lost his first tooth a bit prematurely (it's a long story), but as soon as he did, I thought of this wordart quote I designed for Paper Makeup Stamps. You can get it and some other cute tooth images and sayings right here.

If you want some more ideas on how to use brackets, you can check out these layouts and this one. And be sure to link up here if you play along this week!

The Greeting Farm is turning 2!!!

...And we're having a {huge} party and blog hop to celebrate!! Check out all the information on this post over at the TGF blog.

Hope to see you there!!

Farm Fresh Friday - Digi-know?

Hey peeps!! It's time for another Farm Fresh Friday over at The Greeting Farm. This week, Melyssa gave us a two-part challenge: to use a digital stamp, and to try a new technique. Here's what I created:

Paper: Making Memories; Stamp: The Greeting Farm; Punch: Stampin' Up!; Embossing folder: Provo Craft; Ribbon: craft supply. Nesties, stitching, adhesive foam

I used the digital stamp Randy with Flower, and for my technique I also tried the out-of-the-box technique for cutting with nesties since I've never done it before. You can see a great tutorial for it right here.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Critter Crew, as well as the Farmers for more samples this week:

Critter Crew

Amber Hight

Jen Shults

Sandra MacLean

Sparkle Smith

Heather Schlatter

Farmers

Cindy Haffner

Kadie Ensley

Kim Nath

Mary Giles

Randi Wall

Melyssa Connolly

Mercy Kerin

Swimming Lucy

When Sparkle first told me that she was starting a stamp company, I was {so} excited!! And I was even more excited when I saw her images - they are adorable!! This is a card I made using Swimming Lucy:

Paper: Fancy Pants; Stamps: Sparkle Creations (image), Amuse (sentiment); Flowers: Bazzill (orange), Prima (red); Jeweled brad: American Crafts. Memento ink, copics, glossy accents, adhesive gems, spica glitter pen, adhesive foam

Isn't this image just too cute?! She released 8 images for her grand opening and will have more for each monthly release. You can check out her company, Sparkle Creations right here. This is also my entry into her first challenge: something summer. You can check out that challenge here - you have until Sunday to enter! :)

Clickabella

My sister-in-law Pam is a digital designer, and her work is fantastic. Not really my style, but she's very popular and sells a lot of stuff, haha. You can check out her website here. I wanted to use a techie-type stamp to make her birthday card, so I chose to use Clickabella:

Paper, ribbon: SEI; Stamp: Stamping Bella (image), Papertrey Ink (sentiment); Flower: Bazzill; Clip, button: Stampin' Up!. Memento ink, copics, adhesive pearls, stitching

I only had about 20 minutes to pull this together before I had to run off and mail it, haha. And I realized after I colored the image that Bella is sitting in mid-air! She must have some amazing leg and core muscles, lol.

Have a great day everyone!

Beautifully Fabulous

Today is another review day for Paper Makeup Stamps, hurray! I am showing off my set "Beautifully Fabulous":

Paper: The Girl's Paperie; Stamps: Paper Makeup; Flowers: Prima; Punch: Martha Stewart Crafts; Ribbon: Taylored Expressions; Copic colors: E55, E53, E51, E50, E00, E000. Stitching, adhesive pearls, memento ink

There is an inside stamp that goes along with this saying - it says "...but at least you'll look great while you're being bad!" Hahaha, too funny. There are also 3 other sentiments in this set to accompany the image. This is also my card for the SCS color challenge CC124.

Be sure to check out the PMS blog to see all the other fabulous creations from the Makeup Artists. See you tomorrow!