Getting back in the swing of things

I am such a fair weather blogger.  I apologize to anyone who follows my blog - I must be really boring.

My goal for 2012 is to post more than once every 2-3 months.  I'm actually hoping to get back to post every week.  

Here's to hoping.

Anyway, I've also been sucked in Pinterest.  If you don't know what that is, it's a website where you can create virtual pin boards of your interests (get it: pins + interests = Pinterest?)  I've been a pinning crazy person over there - it's so easy to get stuck on that site for 2+ hours.

Well, the first project I want to show was inspired by something I pinned - a lollipop card.  Here's the link to the blog it was originally found on: http://daydesigns.blogspot.com/2011/07/cas-ual-fridays-challenge-11-sweets.html  I thought it was absolutely adorable and I needed to do something like it because I had some baker's twine on hand.  I was originally thinking of doing hearts because of Valentine's Day - which I might still do because it's a cute idea. I had these star shapes in red line tape that I'd bought from Texas Jody Lynn (her blog's in my blog list) and since I've had them for 3 years and not really used them, I figured that was a better choice than running a sheet of tape through my Cricut. 

So after I got the baker's twine taped down and ran my backgrounds through my Cuttlebug, I realized that they weren't very Valentine-y.  More birthday-y, especially with the birthday sentiment I had.  So they became birthday cards.  

OH, running the orange background through the Cuttlebug was an adventure.  It's Impressability plate - which needs the tan embossing mats to actually make an impression into the cardstock.  Well, they went missing and I had to tear the Dungeon apart to find them.  Or rather, clean up.  My work table is cleaner than I think I've ever had my work table since rearranging.  I found them on the corner of a table - the other table, not the one I cleaned off. *shakes head*

Supplies: Stamps: PTI - Everyday Classics. Paper - Georgia-Pacific White, PTI Pure Poppy, New Leaf, Orange Zest, Harvest Gold.  Ink: Palette Noir. Embellishments: Cuttlebug embossing folders, Impressability plate, red line stars, baker's twine, lollipop sticks, Diamond Glaze, PTI ribbon.

While on Pinterest, I came across a pin that linked back to Nicole Heady's blog (she's one of the owners of PTI.)  It showed a technique where you stamp an image in white ink on colored cardstock, then outline the image with Copics. Which looks really elegant.  So I decided to try it last night with the leftover cardstock from the lollipop cards.  The issue I discovered is that you need to do this on darker cardstocks - Harvest Gold is too light of a color for the white to show.  I liked how this looked so much that I made 15 more cards today in most of the other PTI cardstock colors I own.  

Stamps: PTI - Year of Flowers Morning Glory and Lily of the Valley.  Paper: GP White, PTI Pure Poppy, New Leaf and Orange Zest.  Ink: SU White White craft.  Embellishments: EK Success punch, Copics.

So that's it for right now.  

I'll be back hopefully later this week with a tutorial on how to make a snowflake wreath (another Pinterest find that I tweaked.)

 

Yay for days off

Yep... I took a day off today. It's a Use or Lose situation at my work, so I'm working on the using them all up. :)

It's so nice. I finally made it to the post office - I've had a box of 40-some cards that was destined for the troops sitting on my floor for almost a month.

I picked up 11 more Copics at a local store. :)

I also made some cards that I've photographed and am actually about to post here. I know, I'm in shock too.

So after I put the new Copics into the basket, I was flipping through my cardstock to find a color combo that inspired me. I pulled Old Olive, So Saffron and then decided that Groovy Guava (one of last year's In Colors) would be a great pairing. It's such a summer color combo.

One of the things I knew I needed to make was a graduation card and following the inspiration of Joan B (who's in my blog roll), I used the stars from Papertrey's Anniversary set, Everyday Classics.

My first card looked so great, I had to do another - this time a birthday card. I already have a Christmas order - an assortment of cards to be given to a coworker's mother. So this card's going into that pile.

Stamps: PTI - Everyday Classics. Paper: So Saffron, Old Olive, Groovy Guava, Vintage Cream, dp. Ink: So Saffron, Old Olive, Groovy Guava. Accessories: dimensionals, quickie glue pen, glitter, spiral punch.

Hope everyone's week is going well,

On the other side of the wedding

So... my brother got married last weekend and it was beautiful, I cried (because I'm sappy like that) and it was all-around fun.

I scrambled to be ready and now I'm scrambling to get back into the swing of things. And at the end of next week...

SCHOOL ENDS. *tries not to run screaming*

On the bright side, I went shopping with my best friend Erica this weekend and on a whim I went into Pottery Barn to see if I could find anything that would work for my Copic storage. Not that I have anything against the plastic containers, but I wanted something cute.

And I found this:

The basket - the markers are mine.

I tried to find a picture of it on the Pottery Barn website and it's only sold in the stores (I got mine on sale.) Because it's designed for carrying glasses or bottles, there's a wire and then nothing separating the sections - NOT good for markers. I cut up a piece of backing from an SU dp pack and created dividers. Now the Copics stay in place.

And I have room for more markers - when I expand my collection.

I wanted to show off.

Wishing everyone a great week,

Another Sunday card

It's not a Featured Stamper card though. I went through the gallery and didn't find a card that I wanted to try to CASE.

I went shopping yesterday. It was to get a present for my best friend who has a birthday on Friday - which I did get - but I wound up getting a lot of stuff for myself too.

I found 3 more Copics that I "needed" (aka - didn't have, were on sale and not too dark in color), I bought a non-stick craft sheet, a Tim Holtz ink spreader thingy, refill pads for that, some Distress Embossing ink, Distress Embossing Powder, 2 colors of Liquid Pearls, 2 Tim Holtz mini masks, and an Inkadinkado clear stamp set.

So... I wanted to ink up my new set. My fairy is stamped in Palette Noir and colored in with Copics. I then added some glitter on her wings and the trail. It's very sparkley in real life. She's cut out and layered with Oval Nestabilities.

The background is a piece of Bashful Blue dp that I got in a 6"x6" as a SU hostess gift last year. I ran it through my Cuttlebug and then made it visible by dragging my Certainly Celery pad over it.

The sentiment is from Stamping Bella.

Stamps: Inkadinkado - Beautiful Fairies, Stamping Bella - Thank You Fairy Much. Paper: Bashful Blue cs and dp, Certainly Celery, Select White. Ink: Palette Noir, Certainly Celery. Accessories: Copics, Nestabilities, glitter, dimensionals, ribbon, Cuttlebug, paper piercer.

I have the urge to make some more cards, so hopefully it'll be a 2 post day.

Another card... finally

Today's Ways to Use it Challenge (WT) on SCS was to use white - ALL white.

At first thought, it was a little freaky. I know all white cards are classy and sophisticated, but I want COLOR! Following Julia's (the hostess) example, I grabbed my Glimmer Mist. My quilt and the Primas are sprayed with Sherbet and Spring Violet.

I'm in love with the Quilters Sampler stamp sets by Papertrey. It's so much fun to make your own quilts with paper. To add a little more variety in my quilt blocks, I colored parts of them in with my Copics.

Stamps: PTI - Quilters Sampler. Paper: Select White. Ink: Palette Noir. Accessories: Glimmer Mist, dimensionals, Copics, Primas, lace, brads.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day,

My Copics are here!

Yay for super-fast shipping!

My 13 new markers, refill for my colorless blender and a new pair of Dahle scissors (which were free with my order) all arrived today.

I'm so happy.

I've already filled in the spots on my Copic marker chart and I need to get the marker cases and slide them into their spots.

A mid-week challenge

And a quickie post because I have to be to work in an hour and I have a headache.

Today's Thursday and the challenge today was to use stripes - striped paper, striped ribbon, striped stamps, create your own stripes, etc. Which is right up my alley because I have a LOT of designer paper in all sorts of patterns: stripes included.

I also have stamps that I haven't used before. Which isn't as big of a shock as it would have been last year - I've been so tired. So I felt required to show some love. Flowahbella is stamped in Dark Chocolate Palette ink and colored in with Copics.

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Flowahbella. Paper: More Mustard, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, white, My Mind's Eye dp. Ink: Dark Chocolate Palette. Accesories: adhesive pearls, dimensionals, Copics.

Grandma's doing better - she's out of the hospital and in rehab at a nursing home. Hopefully she'll be able to get enough strength to go home to Grandpa soon.

Wishing everyone a good rest of the week,

Copics on Parade

I've been having fun playing around with my new Copic markers. On Saturday, I stamped a page of Stamping Bella images and sat in front of the tv and colored. Some of the images look better than others, but that's part of learning.

I made cards with my newly colored images. Each image is colored differently.

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Eloise Greengrass, MFT - Essential Sentiments. Paper: PTI Select White, Basic Black. Ink: Palette Noir. Accessories: Nestabilities, Copic Markers.

Today's challenge was to play with Tacky Tape and glitter. A sticky, messy business, but I actually came out of it glitter-free (well, as far as I can see.) I layed out my tape (relatively straight thanks to some graph paper I had on my table) and added 2 colors of Martha Stewart glitter. I'm a bit frustrated that I didn't get full coverage - there are bits of Tacky Tape still able to get stuck to other bits of paper, the table, etc.

My image is from Cherish by Clear Art Stamps. It was stamped twice - I colored just the rose on one of the images, cut it out and popped it up with a dimensional. It's all colored with my Copic markers. My black layer was hand-trimmed.

I rushed through this card - it needs something else: a ribbon for the bottom, a sentiment down there, another heart. I just don't know.

Stamps: Clear Art Stamps - Cherish. Paper: Regal Rose, Rose Red, Basic Black, PTI Select White. Ink: Palette Noir. Accessories: Tacky Tape, Martha Stewart Glitter, dimensionals, Copic Markers.

Hoping that the roads aren't total skating rinks,