Saturday, June 22, 2013

So sweet, I can't believe I forgot about her!

Look at this cutie. I don't know how I did it. Maybe it was the insane amount of stamps that I have. Maybe it was that I purchased her so long ago, when she was first released (before her retirement). Maybe it was my fascination with my newer stamps. I don't know what insanity possessed me, but I forgot that this little sweetie was hanging out in my collection until Whimsy released their new stamps this month. She came out of retirement to be one of them (lucky girl!), and it just sparked my befuddled brain. I thought, "hey, wait! I think I have that one!" and sure enough, I found her hanging out with my other Elisabeth Bell stamps. Of course, I've got so many of them, she just got lost in the shuffle, poor little thing. Anyway, here she is, resurrected from the little stamp storage area in my scrap room. Isn't she darling? You can find her now at Whimsy stamps.

I colored her with copics. More specifically, E42,41,40 and R85,83,81 for her outfit, with a red stardust pen for some bling. I added pink frantage around the image, made my own little rosette out of lace, stuck pink rose ribbon through with a hatpins, added some old crochet, a vine die, butterflies, leaves, a charm, and a gingham ribbon, then perched her on some paper I made myself out of scraps. I love the look of patchwork, so I took a bunch of my scraps and made my own.

Sorry for the rather washed out picture. I'll try to get a better one later, before I gift her to a coworker on Monday. She needs the uplift; she's been dealing with some health issues and a bit of homesickness lately. Since she makes my days at work more fun, I decided I needed to do something for her, too.

This card is for the following challenges:
Whimsy Inspiration Challenge Blog - shaped card

Friday, June 21, 2013

Father's Day Furry Fun and Disappoinment, too. :(

Well, Father's Day has come and gone. It's not always an easy time of year. My dad died in June of 2002. My husband also passed on, but in 2009. We didn't have kiddos of the human variety, so we made a little bit of a fuss over being parents to our babies in the fur suits. So, that usually meant a card and a special meal, plus getting fussed over for him. However, I am not the type to dwell on the reasons to be sad. I like to look at things in a positive light, so I got myself all excited over a gift that my brother-in-law and I had collaborated on for my father-in-law. Here's my card. Can you guess what we planned to get him, just based on the theme of the card?
I hope you are better at guessing from clues than my poor father-in-law. He just didn't get it, despite the fact that he has been talking about getting another dog for over six months now. So, Squid and I decided we'd do that for him. Since it's important that you find a pet that "meshes" with you and your family, we also decided to let him pick his dog. He was so excited and filled with chatter about it for the rest of the night. We made plans to go out yesterday to find his new best friend. Something happened between Sunday and yesterday, though, that made him change his mind (hence, the Father's Day disappointment alluded to in my title). He decided that now is not the right time, and he'd like to wait. Since adding any pet to your family is a huge commitment and responsibility, I just made him promise to let us know when he's ready. One day, we'll add another adorable furry friend to the family, just not today. On the plus side, I had the day off of work, so I enjoyed some time to myself, relaxing around my house and getting some stuff done. It was a much needed bit of time, that's for sure. I hope you have something fun planned for the weekend. I hope to get some cleaning done and maybe even make a few cards, since my other plans for the weekend fell through. I'm going to make the most of it!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Whimsy Stamps New Release Day 3

Hello and welcome to the Whimsy Stamps June Release Review Day Blog Hop! Woot Woot! In case you can't tell, I've been bouncing off the walls and super excited to join the DT for this month's release. I think I drove poor Simonne crazy, but she was too nice to say so.

Anyway, yesterday (June 19th) Whimsy Stamps released this month's new rubber designs, Shapeology dies and Whimsy Designer Paper packs. From June 18th until today the Whimsy Stamps DT and Special Guest (that’s me! yippee!) are showcasing these fabulous new goodies with a daily blog hop and I am part of today's hop! Each blog hop has a prize of 2 new release stamps hidden somewhere along the way and you have 24hrs to enter each prize draw. To be entered into today's blog hop prize draw, be sure to leave a comment on ALL of the DT's posts listed on the Whimsy blog by 12.00PM EST tomorrow. All winners will be announced on the Whimsy blog tomorrow!

For my blog hop card, I inked up the adorable "Sweet Sparkle" by the very talented Sylvia Zet. I love these images because they are so cute and so easy to color. Here's what I did with her this time:

For my last card with this image, I went a bit brighter. This time, I toned things down a bit for a softer look. I colored her with copics and added some sentiments from the new release called "Seashells by the Seashore". Papers are Graphic 45. I used punches to make the butterflies, photo corner, and grass, as well as my cloud die from Spellbinders and a Sassafras Lass flower to mimic the sun.

Remember that the entire new release is available to buy right now from the Whimsy Stamps store along with all your Whimsy favourites. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you’ve enjoyed the new release!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

I hope you're not tired yet! It's the second day of hopping along with Whimsy's New Stamp Release

Hello and welcome to the Whimsy Stamps June 2013 Release Day BLOG HOP! It's day 2, baby! Lots of good stuff from the talented Whimsy DT (I'm so honored to showcase my work alongside theirs. How cool is that?), plus fabulous new goodies in the Whimsy store. In case you missed it, Whimsy Stamps has released some brand new Rubber Stamps, Stamp Sets, Whimsy Shapeology Dies and Whimsy Designer Paper 6x6 packs. These new goodies are available to buy right now from the Whimsy Stamps store along with all your Whimsy favourites. Please visit the Whimsy blog for a full reveal of this month’s new release.

Today we are holding a New Release blog hop to share creations made with some of the brand new Crissy Armstrong, Elisabeth Bell, Meljens Designs and 2 Cute Ink stamps. Each blog hop during our new release has a prize of 2 new release stamps hidden somewhere along the way and you have 24hrs to enter each prize draw. To be entered into today's blog hop prize draw, be sure to leave a comment on ALL of the DT posts listed on the Whimsy blog by 12.00PM EST tomorrow.

Now let's get to the cuteness, shall we? For today’s card I used Elisabeth Bell's Tweetest Friends. Regular visitors to my blog know that I have been a huge fan of Elisabeth Bell for a long, long time. I can't even begin to count how many of her stamps I have inked up and loved, and I am happy to add this beautiful little girl and her birdie friend to my collection. Check her out:


Isn't she precious? I colored her with copics and then cut her out with some trusty Spellbinders dies. The sentiment is also from the new release; it's a set called "Seashells by the Seashore". I added some seam binding and a few other bits of eye candy before finally declaring this card to be done.
Thanks so much for stopping by today. Don't forget to come back tomorrow to check out the final day of the new release. We've got good stuff in store. I promise!
 
As an aside, I'm entering this card in:

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

We're hopping for Whimsy's Newest Stamp Release!

Hello everyone! I am beyond excited (dancing around the room, hollering like a banshee), thrilled, happy, and whatever similar adjective you can find to be the Special Guest for this month’s Whimsy Stamps release! Today is the first day of the Whimsy Stamps 3-day June release event and we are kicking things off with a Sneak Peak Blog Hop! To be entered into today's blog hop prize draw of 2 new release stamps, be sure to leave a comment on ALL of the DT's posts listed on the Whimsy blog by 12.00PM EST tomorrow. All winners will be announced on the Whimsy blog on Friday.

Today we are excited to share sneak peeks of some of the brand new Wee Stamps, Kenny K and Momas Collection stamps that will be available to buy from the Whimsy Stamps store TOMORROW! For today’s card, I inked up Sweet Sparkle by Sylvia Zet. I'm a huge fan of her images, because they are just too cute and so sweet. Plus, they're just such a pleasure to color. Ok, I'll shut up and show her to you. Here you go:


Doesn't she just make you want to smile? I decided to give her really bright hair, so I made her outfit a bit more neutral so it didn't clash. She's colored with copics, but I know you're not surprised to hear that. For those of you who visit this blog, you know that's my favorite medium. Anyway, after I colored her up, I just started tossing things at the card to see what would stick. There's some dies, some seam binding, pearls, a metal, and a few different types of flowers thrown in there. I finally decided it was done. What do you think? You want to own this little stamp, don't you? Go ahead, go get her. She's available tomorrow. And wait for tomorrow, because I know you'll like that stamp, too. Cuteness!

Don’t forget to stop by again tomorrow for the full reveal of the new release and the New Release Blog Hop! Thanks so much for stopping by and happy hopping!

Friday, June 14, 2013

Whoops! This post is way overdue!!!

My friend Sara's birthday was way back in the early part of the month. I made her a card but didn't want to post it since she is a frequent visitor to this blog. Well, she told me that she got the card, loved it, and so forth. Yeah, that was something like 10 days ago. I should have posted it long before now. Better late than never, as the saying goes. Plus, I am going to a crop tomorrow and don't feel like packing, so posting on my blog allows me to do something other than pack and yet still feel productive. So, here she is:


She's an adorable stamp from Sweet Pea, illustrated by Conie Fong. She's called "Flowers on the Beach" and you can find her here. Isn't she precious? This card has a lot of my typical crafting style, which is to say, grab any nearby embellishment and toss it at the card until something suits. As you can see, lots of metal, flowers, punches, stick pins, even a button and some cheesecloth. I also played around a bit with some frantage. I think the silver frantage works great with this image; it looks kind of black Hawaiian beachy. I'm waiting on some of the white frantage, though. I ordered it a while ago but it got held up. Darnit all. I am not patient and hate waiting!
This cutie was colored with copics. I've added some bling in the flower centers. I also distressed the edges of the papers, which are Graphic 45. I guess that's about it. I have to go pack now. I don't feel like it, but it would kind of suck to go to a crop with nothing to do all day!!! Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Mingling!

I'm involved in various groups for various things. One of those is a yahoo group focused on creating with the adorable Magnolia and Wee stamp lines. As part of this group, I participate in a "mingle" where you make a card for another group member and mail it to them. I was late this time around and got my card in under the wire. Here she is:
This is just a quick post to drop my card and run. I am trying really hard to get some other cards created tonight. Mr. Mojo is being a brat. He wants to take a nap, but I'm trying to wake him up. I already gave him a bath in glossy accents. He's all pretty and shiny now while he naps, the little brat. Wish me luck on waking him up, so I can finish the cards I started at a crop yesterday!