If cursing offends you, run the other way and don't read my blog today!

Our house has been full of sickness for the last few weeks. First, I had some nasty crud that made me even more inclined to stay home on New Years than normal (ha! That's where you'd usually find me on NYE, but let's pretend I'm not an old fuddy fuddy, shall we?). Then my husband was struck down with the man cold. Ahem...I mean, bronchitis. The man cold came first but then it became bronchitis. Poor guy was down for the count.

Anyway, he felt better today and I felt the need for some inky therapy. I made a bunch of alcohol ink backgrounds. I love how the colors do their own thing (kinda like me) and I'm never 100% sure what I'm going to get. Add in some foils and it was a glorious mess! Behold:

Well, I had colored an image for a friend's birthday card but these backgrounds called to me. Here's where the cursing comes in. If the f word makes you cringe and cry, shut this blog down now. You've been warned. But if you're a Roadie like me, you might have been waiting for just the right birthday person to send this sentiment to. Here goes!

He he he. I love it! And I know she will, too. Materials include alcohol inks and deco foil. HFB stamp from the Ink Road stamped in black staz-on. I threw on some sequins and starlets (also Ink Road) in Chris Plum. You can find more cursing, snarky, fantabulous stamps here: https://ink-road-stamps.myshopify.com

One day, we'll meet at the Rainbow Bridge

Loss is hard. Loss around the holidays is just that much more sucky. Loads and loads of suck.

Unfortunately, a couple of friends lost their dogs over this Christmas holiday. One was 14, the other 17 and both were lost too soon. Any time you lose a beloved pet, it's too soon.

I have a really hard time with sympathy cards because just the idea that my loved one is sad makes my heart hurt. So, I cheated. I don't usually do the assembly line thing. Usually, each of my cards is individually made and unique. This time, I decided to make the cards the same. Nothing wrong with that at all, I just don't usually craft that way (let's be totally honest here...it's because I get bored making the same thing over and over. I'm not some card making virtuoso with limited edition cards! I'm just kinda ADD....lol).

And without further ado and digressions, here they are. Both dogs were black so I colored them that way. Stamps are CTMH. Then I used some dies, pop dots foe dimension and alcohol inks for visual interest. Ta-da!

I'm Santa...really, I am.

My husband and I have both had some major losses in life: a parent (mom for him, dad for me) and a spouse. We saw a memorial lantern a few years ago, with the "Christmas in Heaven" poem. Dave really wanted it but the cost was beyond ridiculous. When I saw lanterns in Michaels this year, I decided to make him one of his very own, personalized just a bit.

Here it is:

I set it up early, because Dave is the type who thinks Christmas decorations should come down on December 26th. I make him wait (impatiently, I might add) until after the new year.

To make it personal, I offset the presents a bit, so they look kind of cluttered. With three cats, that's how they often end up! I also added two of our three cats (the two that his late mom and wife knew; they never met my baby Athena). I put them in the usual places they like to sit. I chose a red lantern because it felt more like Christmas. Here's a close up or two:

Thanks for visiting and I hope your holiday season is full of warmth, love, and happy memories!

Not again...the need for sympathy cards

I really, really hate when I have to make a sympathy card. I guess we all do. My creativity escapes me because I am just too sad for my loved one who has experienced the loss.

In this case, I basically scoped out my Evernote stamp inventory until an image spoke to me. Unfortunately, I have no idea who makes the image; I got it at a yard sale, minus packaging. The background stamp is CTMH. The gold flecks are watercolors, added with a Yim Holtz splatter brush (I love that thing!). The flower was colored with copics.

Accio, Mr Mojo! (take 2)

Just a quick post. I'm getting ready to go ride some roller coasters! Woot woot! I'm dropping my Harry Potter card here. They're so much fun to make. Much easier than it looks, thanks to my Lawn Fawn scalloped box die, among others.

Teensy weensy

It's me again. Check it out...two posts in less than a month. I'm getting back to this blogging thing. Don't fall over from the shock of it or anything.

CC Designs was having a challenge in their Facebook group to make twinchies. I confess, I had no flipping idea what in the heck a "twinchie" could be. My brain automatically went to food. I don't like twinkies, so my initial reaction was not a good one (sorry, Christine). However, I was also intrigued. I love to learn and discover new things. One of the DT had posted their card as an example, but let's be honest: unless there's a ruler involved, it's hard to tell scale from a photo. But....Google is my friend. Google had an answer, as usual.

In case you are woefully uninformed like me, a twinchie is a 2x2 card. That's two inches by two inches, folks! That is one TINY card. I've made 4x4 cards before, but never a teensy weensy 2x2 card. I confess that I was flummoxed. I started going through my images in Evernote, trying to figure out which one I wanted to use. Then...DUH...it smacked me upside the head. I had the cute little turtle I'd colored when making my last card (see previous blog post). Then I didn't use him, and he was sad and alone.

Now he's happy and having fun on a twinchie, with a bunch of dies and some bubbles. Look at him, he's practically dancing!

See what I mean about scale? No way you can tell this little dude is on a 2x2 card. I've figured out a way I'm going to use this whole twinchie on a bigger card and share him with a friend, though. As always, thanks for stopping by.

I'm so excited...

...and I just can't hide it (and now the song will be stuck in my head all day. Not sure I did myself any favors there).

CC Designs is having a DT call. I love their stamps and dies! Love, love, love them. They're too cute and so much fun to color. I could have applied when the call was first opened about two weeks ago, but I had to make another card. I couldn't just use "old" cards from ages ago, could I?

Turns out, I ended up making TWO cards, although the first one was actually in process when the call came out. She's for a friend who loves mermaids. This is one of my absolute favorite sets from CC Designs, and also one of the first I ever purchased. It's called Under the Sea and you can find it here. Anyway, let's get to the card, shall we?

 I went on layering and die cut overload, but I so love when I get to do that. Lots of dies, alcohol inks, beads, embellishments! So much fun to make!

I recently purchased the adorable Puppy Power set and Puppy Accessories Dies. I really wanted to play with them, and I've been seeing these great inside shadow box cards, so I decided to try to make one. There's some trial and error involved there, but overall, it was much easier than I thought it would be. The problem? There are too many cute puppies. I couldn't decide which to use! lol. I finally came up with this card front:

  

And this fun interior/inside:





 

Then this guy happened, because I couldn't stop once I started playing with them. I find CAS to be an art form that I have a difficult time mastering, but I like to try on occasion. He's got a big shadow around him because he's on an action wobbler. I've got another card to send to the team for consideration, too, but I think I've gone picture happy enough for now. Thanks for looking and have a fabulous, crafty day!

 

 

Accio Mr. Mojo!

I don't know where he went and I don't care. I threw out my spell and Mr. Mojo came home. Hallelujah! I had some time to create this weekend. The weather was nasty, so my plans to drive to West Virginia were postponed. Dave is still recovering from surgery, so he wasn't up for doing much (though we did go to the movies. Check out Breaking In! It was pretty good!). That left me with some time on my hands. I'm reading an awesome book (another thing to check out if you haven't read it already. I'm late to the bus on this one. The Book Thief is thought provoking and so well written). However, I just couldn't sit still anymore. Ideas were running through my brain and had to come out. They were like the little winged keys in Harry Potter. You know the ones. Poke, poke, poke. OUCH. And then you get the right one and it opens all kinds of doors.

I hightailed it up to my craft room. I had precolored a bunch of Harry Potter images and they were doing a little dance, calling me. It helps that I needed to make a Harry Potter card for a swap partner, I think. But, shh...don't tell her that. I haven't mailed my swap yet.

These little guys got moved all around until I found a configuration I liked. It involved a lot of clear acetate to make them stand higher.

I started with the Lawn Fawn Scalloped Box Die. I printed some Harry Potter newspaper images from Google. I had to resize them in Word to make them super tiny. I used a Golden Snitch die from Character World, while the Dobby die cut, papers, and sign are from Paper Play. All were purchased on Simon Says Stamp.  Harry, Hermione and Ron are from The Greeting Farm. Hagrid is Sweet Stamp Shop, I believe. I have lost his packaging. As usual, they are colored with copics.

Time to whip out the copics again and color some more of these cuties! Thanks for stopping by today. I always enjoy visits. And comments!!! Please leave one.

Christmas with Mari Ko creations and more

It's official. I'm terrible about this Christmas card thing. Every year, I buy more stamps; I buy more stamps than I could possibly use on several years' worth of Christmas cards. I buy paper. I buy embellishments. I plan cards. I make lists of where I'll send them. I color images (or at least stamp them off). That, my friends, is where it stops. If I get ten cards together, I'm lucky. I don't know what's happening with me. Maybe it's the holiday hubbub and getting caught up in other stuff. This year, I could even use the excuse that the need for sympathy cards jumped to the top of the list (unfortunately). It's just an excuse, though. I need to admit it. Here. Publicly. I am terrible about the Christmas card thing. I wholeheartedly suck at it.

That being said, I did manage a few this year. I joined a few swaps and a card was a requirement, so I knocked some out for that. I also wanted to play with my box card die from Lawn Fawn. I needed to make some cards for the Mari Ko DT (always fun to do). Every single image I used on the below cards was new to me this year. I have images from last year (and years prior) that I have yet to use, but everyone needs something new, right? lol

Here goes:

Let's start with this little guy because...Oh my. How stinkin' cute. This is an adorable little Unicorn from Mari Ko creations. You can find her right here. I colored her up with copics, adding Journey Glaze to her eyes and the lights. I did the background with Distress Inks (I need more oxides. It's a NEED, I tell you!). I wanted to keep her kind of simple. I think I managed that, although it's difficult for me.

While working with Mari Ko's images already, I decided I just had to throw another one into the mix.

The front closes so it looks like an iphone case. lol. Again, rather simple but hopefully effective and fun for the recipient.

I placed an order with CC Designs this year. They have some of my favorite images right now. Beyond precious stuff over there. Go see here.

This one was for one of my secret sister swaps. I wanted to make a little snow scene like these cuties were playing in the snow together. They were so easy to color and I love their little frolicking selves. What's not to love about them? You know you need them. They have so many cute Christmas images over there. I might have bought a few more (or maybe more than a few).











Then I had another secret sister. She's big into camping. I mean, loves it! I didn't have any camping stamps. At first, nothing grabbed me when I hit the great and powerful Google. And then....

Come on! Look at him!!!! He's roasting marshmallows with his own fire. It's no secret that I love cutesy dragon images. I have loved dragons since I was young (I'm going to digress here, but hello, Game of Thrones and dragon awesomeness). I pulled out some pink and green Christmas paper and embellies, and went to town with him. I just love him! He is calling to me to try a black or purple dragon. Maybe dark grey with purple stripes?!?! My brother's birthday is on Jan 3. He is also a huge dragon fan. Hmmmmmm.....





And finally, I pulled out my Lawn Fawn scalloped box die. I am so in love with it that I haven't even used my magic slider or shadow box dies yet. They're calling out to me from their packages! I made four of these guys, just moving the characters around a bit. They are from a set at Simon Says Stamp. Take a peek:

If you read through this whole long post, I am impressed and appreciative. Thank you so much for taking the time. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays! I hope your days are full of love, family, friends and laughter. Oh, and crafty goodness!!! Yay for crafty goodness!!!!

Well, hey there, foxy mama!

Just a few more days and it will be time for our first ever challenge at Mari Ko Creations! I am so stoked. Oh, wait. Guess I need to tell you a bit about this new company, huh? My dear friend Mari has started a digi stamp company with a variety of images. She's got foxes, snowmen, flowers, sentiments, and then some in her etsy shop. The prices are super reasonable, too. I get the pleasure and privilege to be on her Design Team. This is going to be so much fun!

For our first challenge, it's Anything Goes. Easy peasy, right? Only thing you gotta do is use her mama fox and baby image. It's so cute, it won't be hard to use. Plus, you get it for $1 HERE. You can find a buck. I know you can.

Here's what I did with it.

I am on a shadow box/diorama kick lately. This is my second one and I am having so much fun. It's hard to tell in the pic, but the papers bow out; it's not flat across like a tv. Mama fox and her baby are featured right in front. Then I added in some foxes with their pumpkins and plain old pumpkins behind them. I colored everything with copics: C00, E07, E08, E21 - 25, E33, E37, YR 07, YR12 and YR14. This is the first time I've colored pumpkins with four or five different colors. How did I do?

Mari's going to sponsor a new challenge every two weeks. This first one will run November 5 - 18. The image is available NOW, though, so you can start working on your project. Go on, go get it! Upload your card to the Mari Ko Creations Facebook page for a chance to win. Come on, you know you wanna.