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

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!

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!

Sweet Valentine's Wishes

Here's another card with an image I colored while visiting family this weekend. I have loved Ching Chou Kiuk's images ever since I first saw them. I have quite a few, but tend to add more to my collection on a regular basis. I just can't help it; they are so pretty and ethereal. This was one of the easier ones to color, as it doesn't have as much background details as some others.

I based the design after Cardabilities sketch #68. The sketch calls for a rectangular card and I probably should have stuck with that shape instead of square. I feel like there's too much negative space on the sides, but it's a little late now! I was afraid to cut the background paper too much, because I was worried I'd end up covering up the butterfly.

I colored the image with copics, added glitter with a spica pen, liquid pearls in her hair, and chalked a sky background. Papers are Creative Imaginations. I used my spellbinders nesties to cut her into a circle and make the heart border. Since my husband's passing, I don't really have anyone for whom I make Valentine's cards, so I am hopeful that having all of the hearts around the image gives her a romantic enough feel to qualify for the challenge at Sweet Pea, as well.

As always, thanks for visiting!

Butterflies and things

It's time for a new challenge at Belles n' Whistles. I am lucky enough to be their guest DT member for this month and next month. How exciting! This month, Audhild is challenging us to use butterflies. Not hard, since I love them. It was harder to stop adding them as I was making the card. After all, it is all about showing off this adorable image called "Ice cream butterfly".

Isn't she cute? I colored her with copics and used chalks to add a light sky behind her (it shows up better in real life). If you want this image for your very own (of course you do!), you can find her HERE.

Flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts. The shape around the image and sentiment are both from Spellbinders dies. The little cameo is actually an old earring; I just cut off the hook. Papers are Graphic 45 Little Darlings collection. The butterflies were punched with a Martha Stewart punch. I got the lace corner from my friend, Tracy. I'm almost out of them, darnit! I want more! I got the square doily behind the papers from a bulk sale on ebay. I think that about covers it!

Thanks for looking. Now go on over to the Belles n Whistles challenge blog to see what the awesome DT has created. And while you're at it, why not give this fun challenge a shot?