Card Catch-up

I figured it was time to show off the 2 cards I've made this week.

The first card is actually from Tuesday. It's for the SCS Color Challenge of Kiwi Kiss (I used Old Olive), Baja Breeze (I used Sage Shadow) and Pretty in Pink.

Since I am horrible about birthdays, I figured I needed at least 1 belated birthday card in my stash.

Image is stamped in Palette Noir and colored in with Prismacolor pencils and baby oil. Her jammies are paper pieced with Pretty in Pink dp. The sentiment is stamped in Sage Shadow ink and punched out with a 1 1/4" circle punch.

The background is a piece of Old Olive cardstock that I laid a Tim Holtz mask over and sponged with Old Olive ink. I think it looks pretty cool.

Stamps: MFT - Here's the Scoop. Paper: Sage Shadow, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, PTI Select White. Ink: Palette Noir, Old Olive, Sage Shadow. Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, baby oil, stickles, ribbon, Tim Holtz mask, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, dimensionals, button.

And then there's today's card. FS112.

Here's the card I CASEd: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1188266

Changes:
I added a card base (I didn't want the Copic bleed-through showing)
Colors
Ribbon placement
No sentiment
Used a scalloped oval nestability as a mask

*Useful information if you choose to do something like this masked image*
My mask is the "negative" image from the nestability (the frame you get after you punch out the oval.) It was also notebook paper so I didn't get gaps in my stamped image. Copics bleed through this VERY quickly, so keep your marker light when you're working around the edges. Make sure you're able to remove your mask when you're done (personal experience on this one.)

I think I might be getting better with my Copics. Which is good.
Stamps: MFT - Can Ya Dig It? Paper: PTI - Spring Moss, Select White. Ink: Palette Noir, Ripe Avocado. Accessories: Copics, nestability, ribbon, dimensionals, white Prismacolor pencil.

Here's to a week that hopefully brings spring,

The Slippery Slope

Once I started buying again...

I won't say I can't stop - because I CAN. I just don't have the will or want to stop right now.

I'm trying, but it's not easy.

My LSS is now selling Glimmer Mist.

I found out because I was there asking for donations for work - my kids (my group) love playing with patterned paper and stickers and all that fun stuff.

I'm thinking of having an Ongoing Scrapbook for our summer. Have a table with scrapbook items out and when we get new pictures of a trip (or just regular day) let the kids create the page - and journal it.


***edited to add***

I just looked at my counter and I have less than 100 hits before I'm at 10,000! Blog Candy when I reach 10K.

An Early FS

So... the Featured Stamper was posted early on SCS. Which is great, especially since I was in the mood to stamp.

Today's Featured Stamper is...

Beate.

Which is fabulous because she's one of the rock stars of Splitcoast. It's surprising that she hasn't been chosen before.

It's scary (in a way) because she's ONE OF THE ROCK STARS OF SPLITCOAST. How on earth do you CASE Beate - and make it look good?

Well, it's not nearly as rough as I thought it would be - or a rough as finding a card in her gallery that doesn't have more than 20 Favorites. (I told you she's a rock star.) I settled for a card that had about 25 Favorites.

Here's Beate's Card.

You have to change at least 2 things - rules of the Featured Stamper Challenge. I changed:

Stamp
Colors
Size of the card - mine is 5.25" square
Left off the circles
No paper piercing
Stamps: Rubbernecker - Rose. Paper: Sage Shadow, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Basic Grey Marrakesh dp, Stampers Select White. Ink: Palette Noir. Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, dimensionals, ribbon, brads.

I'm excited to see the start of my daffodils and tulips in front of the house - it means spring's definitely on its way.

Wishing everyone a great rest of the weekend!

Shopping Therapy

I know it's been a while since I've posted - I'm creating, just not taking pictures of stuff.

Plus life's gone wacko again, so I've been laying low.

The kids at work were CRAZY this week - Wednesday, Thursday and Friday especially. It's the full moon at work.

So... armed with a 20% entire purchase coupon from Michael's, I did a little shopping therapy.

Yeah, making it past Easter without a purchase didn't fly.

It was a Tim Holtz day: one of his stamp sets, some Distress Stickles, the clockwork mask set, 2 jars of Distress Crackle Paint, and a set of Fragments.

Oh, and some Prima gem stickers.

I'm feeling a little guilty, because I cheated on the spending ban again.

But some time in stamping therapy (with my new goodies) with wash that guilt right away.

Frugal Stamper

Today's WT challenge was to be frugal and find things that help us save. I think Julia was talking about embellishments, but I tried my best for my entire card.

Items I didn't buy:
Ribbon - it was given to me by my boss. She knows I make cards and apparently she's been saving ribbon for me.
Felt Flower - it was part of my reveal gift for the VSN Secret Sisters last August. It's one of the things I dug up when I was cleaning the Dungeon on Sunday.
Damask background - I won a contest on the Flourishes forum on SCS a while back. I don't think it's what I asked for, but I use it A LOT.
Dimensionals - part of a package from a CCRAKer.

Imogen the Fairy is stamped in Palette Noir on PTI Cream. She's colored in with Copics (very carefully, I had bleeding of both the markers and the ink.) The background is another piece of Cream, embossed in clear and sponged with Pure Poppy ink and Fired Brick Distress ink.

**NOTE: As you can tell, Palette inks (Pure Poppy is one) stick to embossing powder. This was a bad move on my part and this isn't what I wanted the background to look like.**

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Imogen the Fairy; Flourishes - Damask. Paper: Real Red, PTI Cream. Ink: Versamark, Palette Noir, Pure Poppy, Fired Brick DI. Accessories: Copics, clear ep, dimensionals, ribbon, felt flower.

It's pouring outside. I'm hoping that we're not about to wash away.

Wishing everyone a dry few days.

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 New Improved Dungeon **Lots of pictures**

First off, I'd like to say that confession is good for the soul (yesterday's post.) I felt I needed to be honest with myself and make it clear to anyone who reads the blog (and possibly cares) that I'm not perfect when it comes to things like not spending $. I'm trying to save up, but the urges get to you sometimes.

On Saturday I mentioned that I needed to clean the Dungeon - my stamping area in the basement. It was a mess and desperately needed to be organized. I also promised pictures.

I headed down there yesterday afternoon with my handy-dandy iPod and set off to work. (I had laundry going as well, so multi-tasking was the name of the game yesterday.)

Two and a half hours later, it's not perfect, but it's a whole lot better than it was.

Before pictures:

A random box I brought downstairs and never cleaned out (I actually stacked stuff on top of it.) A crate of extra SU cardstock and a pile of things to be altered.

Cart where I put my SU stamps.

The view down my table.

My dp rack and area around it.
Papertrey cardstock (and surrounding mess.)

Table - closest to my ink caddy.

Table - where I sit and work.

Table - dumping ground.

Middle/After Pictures:

The box is gone! (the rest of that stuff isn't mine.)
Yeah, I know, the crate looks messier than before. I moved all my dp into one place and I had more alterables to store.

View down the table. Yeah, it's worse - I had to put stuff someplace in order to sort it.
The cleaned off dp rack and new storage.

Hey, you can see my box of Papertrey cardstock! (which will be replaced by a file crate and files)

Another shot of the messy tabletop. But hey, we're making progress! Final status of the cart - Cuttlebug alphabets, plates and Nestabilities are stored in that purple storage caddy on top. View down the table. I figured out that the tray is perfect for the rolls of ribbon I've had floating around. Messy tabletop - not so messy now!

A clean tabletop!