Tired Eyes and the Three Bears for Christmas

Oh my goodness my eyes are tired... I can't believe that I'm writing this at 3am... this seems to be a theme, and not one that I'm thrilled about but since I'm doing it to myself at least partially I can't complain too horribly. So, been up for about 18 hours maybe more(idk), but so far I've been to work, gone shopping for last minute Christmas gifts, Made a Birthday dinner for my father, Done the laundry and dishes, found time to make a blog post, finished a few last minute cards and once again I'm making a post. I have to be up in just a few hours to get the Turkey ready to go into the oven and then go back to work... :( Boo, I'm tired just thinking about it.

Any who I've been practicing with my copics and I stamped out some Lili of the Valley images that I bought last year.

I liked how the layout turned out, I think it's cute enough for a woman but also plain enough for a man. The Sentiment is part of the Grunge Sentiment set by Lili of the Valley, I was so happy to receive them for my birthday this year! The main image is James Bear - Christmas Tree.

This was the first image that I colored, it was my tester but I though that it was still nice enough for a card. I learned that it takes 4 reds in the copics to get this 'Christmas' color that I have on his hat. I'll have to double check but I think they were R69, R39, R36 and R26.

Second image, I liked this one a bit better, out of the three my mother liked this one the best.

Third image, I like this one the best (the tree at least) but it took a LOT of flicking!

Thats all for now, I'll add any relevant products later. for now I'm off to sleep! Products used for these cards: Glitter paper, Kraft paper, Doily, Lili of the Valley "James - Christmas Tree" and "Christmas Grungy Messages", Ranger Liquid pearls, Color Box 'white' ink, Copics and Art Institute Glitter 'Gold'.

Challenges entered:
Lolli Lulu Crafts - Christmas Challenge Launch (naughty or nice)
Deep Ocean Challenge Blog - Challenge #93 "Christmas is all around"
Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps - A Christmas-Eve Wonderful Wednesday! - Alexis
Kit and Clowder - December Challenge :: Animals

... So... it's been a while

     Umm... yeah. Title kinda says it all, it's been a while. < a hugely under exaggerated statement! So yeah, life kinda happened (or maybe it's that it didn't happen?). I wont drag on making tons of excuses but the highlights are that my craft area was over run, I kinda lost my mojo for a while and then last year literally on the day that I was planning on starting up and making Christmas cards I fell and sprained my wrist! My doctor was said that it was the worst sprained that he had ever seen with out someone breaking their wrist. So about 7 months latter my wrist finally healed up and I started to retake my crafting area!

So I'm getting back into the swing of things and recently discovered Kit and Clowder! I bought up the Skin and Hair class and I'm slowly making my way though it! I'm looking forward to the before and after pictures.

Today I'm sharing 2 cards. The first is a card for my friends birthday.

The image in the card is 'Take Me Away' by Tiddly Inks!

 
So you can see that I kinda fudged up on the legs of the tub. Next time I want to use gold I know not to use the pen's and instead just get out my paint and brush!

Next card is a Christmas card for the woman that sell me my MK moisturizer. No kidding that stuff really works, I was at the theater the other day and they gave me the student price! (ok maybe that was because I didn't have any make up on... I'm going with the moisturizer theory though!)

This stamp is 'Season's Greetings', one of my favorite's from Krista Smiths 'Simply Sassy' line. Also used on this card is Memory Box die - Snowflake Corner and a sentiment stamp by Dear Lizzy.

I made a little mistake on her eye that was covered up by some Shabby embossing powder. I also used a white gel pen, Ranger Liquid pearls and a clear Zig Wink glitter pen on her eye's and the holly.

Over all I'm pretty darn happy with how this card came together. I also used this image in a card exchange for Kit and Clowder, I'll post images of that card when the lady that I was partnered with receives it!

So that's all for today, I'm off to make more card's for Christmas!

~Sarah L

Challenges Entered:
Aurora Wings Challenge Blog - Challenge #9 Anything Goes
The Sugar Bowl - Challenge #119 Anything Goes

Thank You With A Cherry Chibi

Bonjour!

Well I'll just get right into it, the card I have to share with you today has been a bit of a pain to make. I started trying to make it on the 16th I think... and It just was not coming together. I kind of had this plan in my head before I started and It was just not coming together like I had hoped. I could have gone out and spent $20 or so and I'm sure that It would have worked, but lets get real that is not something that anyone wants to do for just one card. So instead I finally threw out my original Idea and pulled it all together in about an hour last night. I'm happy with the way that it turned out, I made this card for a challenge DT call and so I could have something to send my grandmother. So here it is, let me know what you think!

Close up!



Inside view!

So that's, that. I really like the simple, clean layout that I ended up with. There might be one or two thing that I would change If I did this card again, like just using a black card base instead of white! Including the card I ended up with 5 layers of paper on the front!

So the Image used is another Manga Chibi by Sureya, Her name is Velvet and she is based off of another image titled 'The SOLDIER or The Cook?' by Kokoroyomi. Also note that while Sureya has free images that you can use for cards or coloring projects, these images can not be used on something that you sell. However if you like her style you can head on over to Make it Crafty's store and buy some of her stamps that she has for sale!

The embossing pattern is a folder from Cuttle Bug, the ribbon is just something that I have had in my stash for a while, the cherries are a die cut from Hero Arts, and the punch with red and white is from Martha Stewart. The image and cherries were colored with Copic and a white gel pen. And finally the sentiment was made by me! And let me tell you that was not easy to do, I'll post it below for you to use if you like.

I hope that everyone is having a good weekend so far, and if you have time Sassy Studio Designs is having a blog hop today with a new release of Disney Villains! Also Whimsy Stamps is on day 4 of there August release blog hop, and they have some really cute stamps and dies for you to see!





You will have to let me know if there is trouble with downloading this. I haven't done a downloadable image before so I'm in the dark.

XoX ~Sarah

 

Challenges entered:

Crafty Ribbons Challenge - #26 Feeling Fruity (DT Call)

Stamp N Doodle - Loaded with Layers

Pixie Dust Studio Challenge Blog - Food Theme

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - Challenge #147 Ribbons and Bows

Splendiferous Creations - Black and White with a splash of color

Wishcraft - Waist Not Wednesdays wk28

 

Retro Jules

Good afternoon everyone! Well it's still morning for me, but I just know that I will get interrupted and it will be well after 12 when this gets posted! Today I have a cute retro-ish, very red card to share with you. I'm actually not sure if I can call this retro but the paper was EP - Happy Days I just love the rose print and those poke-a-dots.

The card layout is based off of the current 'A Die for a Sketch' Challenge (#3). This is only the third sketch challenge that they have posted but I like how they keep it simple. The sketch that you get just shows the paper layout and you are free to use and place embellishment's as you like.

Close up on the image that I used. There are a lot of challenges right now that want you to make your own background. I used distressed ink for a sunset cloud background and then for a field of flowers. I'm not so sure if I love it but it's kinda cute. I really like how I colored her dress but I'm thinking that I should have colored the poke-a-dot part on her dress blue instead of red.

I tried to follow the sketch through on the inside with a few small changes and a little less embellishment. When I went to cut out the red circle I couldn't find my extra red paper, so I ended up cutting it out of the middle of the background red. Once I had everything together and started to put stuff away I then ended up finding the extra red paper that I had had out. Isn't that just how it works?

Final picture and big question. How do you attach your flowers to your cards? I had asked one person and she said that she just used glue dots. When I started using flowers on cards I would cut off the stems and then place them using glue dots, though I did try to use glue a few times and figured out fast that it wasn't going to work. Now I tend to twist the stems of my flowers together before using glue dots to place them on my cards. So my question is, short of stapling, is there any other way besides glue dots to adhere the flowers to a card?

~ A small tip from this card, when using ribbons that have a loose weave they tend to fray very quickly. There is a product called Fray Check that you can use on the ends of the ribbon, you only need to use a small amount and it drys fairly fast and clear. I really like it because I don't have to worry about my bows falling apart thread by thread.

So the Image was colored with Copic's and distressed inks, the roses are from wild orchid crafts, Spellbinders Tear Drop Circles and the Standard Circles were used as for my die cuts, the butterfly is from a Close to my Heart package from about a year ago, the bow is just a piece of scrap ribbon that I had and a corsage pin is stuck through the middle, and the image is Saturated Canary - Jules.

Thank you for stopping by!
XoX ~Sarah

Challenges entered:
A Die for a Sketch - Challenge #3
Saturated Canary - Challenge #23 The Great Outdoors
StampARTic - Dies
Allsorts Challenge Blog - Week 167 Going Around in Circles
Just Some Lines - Layer it Up Challenge
Totally Papercrafts - Challenge #120 Frame It
Crafty Ribbons Challenge - Challenge #25 Seeing Spots and Dots
Simon Says Stamp - Lets Play BINGO  (Ribbon-Free-Blooms and/or Die cut-Free-Glitter)

Manga Chibi

Hello everyone, have we enjoyed our week so far? Any big plans for the weekend? I myself don't have any big plans, though after today I have the rest of the weekend off. We have been having some nice weather lately so I'm hoping that it will hold out and I can catch some rays! Well enough about that, today I'm sharing a card that I made up last night. I was really hoping that the Gorjuss Girl stamps I had ordered would have shown up in the mail yesterday, but sadly they didn't. So Instead I went ahead and made a card with a cute Chibi image by *Sureya.

Cute right? I like to think that I'm getting better at this shading and coloring with Copic thing. I had seen a tutorial where it was mentioned that a BV color would help you image look more realistic. I went ahead and tried it for this image but I thing that I used a little to much on her forehead, though I think that I did pretty well for her arms and neck area. The legs again maybe a little too much, but hey I'm still learning. My biggest problem doesn't come from using the Copic's them selves but rather waiting long enough for the ink to dry. Sadly I don't get the opportunity to wake up in the morning and know that I will have the time to make a card that uses 'X' paper and 'X' image. I usually get home and find that I have the time and inclination so I find a sketch or Idea for what to do and find an image, then I just want to go straight into coloring...

So angled view and a view of the inside, I tried to keep with the sketch and follow it through to the inside. The paper that I used is 'Hello Summer' by Echo Park. The 3 heart buttons in the upper right corner are Button Farm (make your own) Buttons also using the 'Hello Summer' paper. The white flourish on the corners of the image are a Memory Box Die, Quinn Flourish, cut in half. and the Motif with 'Faith, Hope, Love' stamped on it is from Spellbinders 'Persian Motifs'.

*I'm not sure if they still make the Button farm thing. I bought it 2 years ago at a CKC show but I didn't see it this last year and I can't seem to find it on the web. If any one knows if and or where you can get these though I would love to know where to get more.*

Be sure to check out *Sureya 's open coloring book if you like this image, while I can't find this exact one in her coloring book at the moment. She has a bunch of other really neat manga type images!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
XoX ~Sarah

Challenges Entered:
CMC Copic Challenge Group - Anything goes w/ a Girly Twist
Card Crafters Circle - Challenge #33 CAS Clean and Simple!
Pile It On - #31 Cute as Can Be
Graphicat Sketches - Challenge #13
Stamp N Doodle - Use Your Favorite Color (pink and blue)
DYSU Challenge Blog - #83 Polka Dots
Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #228 Clean & Simple
My Heart Pieces Digital Stamp Challenges - Use Designer Paper

A Fairy Bee Card

Hey everyone!

So how was that post last Sunday? Everyone enjoy it? Ok, yes... that's a joke. I'm really sorry about that, I woke up sick again on Sunday and couldn't breath much less think, turns out that I developed a sinus inffection. Got some med's on Monday and spent the next few day just feeling bleh. But, were over that now... kinda. This card that I'm sharing is one that I made up last night for a friends sister. For some reason I just always see black and yellow as her colors, so we have a black, white and yellow card today.

So I used a white on white resistance circle pattern paper for the background circle and distressed it with black ink. Two doily's were used too make a nice ruffle frame that was glued it behind a Lacey Circle Spellbinders. Spellbinders in the corners are from the 'Fleur De Lis Accents', and in the top left is a Memory Box die cut 'Elegant Scrollwork'. Pearls are used in the background as well as pearl head pins sticking out of the flowers. The flowers are from wild orchid crafts and were all yellow to start with but I used my yellow copic's to add some extra color to the tips of the petals. Also used a cute black and white check ribbon to make a bow for the corner.

Close up! I just love all of these yellows, they make the whole card look so happy. Some glitter was used in her hair as well as on her wings and shirt, she is a fairy after all. As for the 'Bliss', I thought that it fit with the card but it also happens to be the name of the girl I made this card for.

A little play on words, more die cuts as well as some washii tape for the inside of the card.

Well thats all for now, I will be making another post today with all that i promised last week with the art walk and all. Cant wait to show the painting that I bought, so pretty! I hope that all of you had a great week and awesome weekend!

XoX ~Sarah

Challenges Entered:

A Die for A Sketch - Challenge 2

Saturated Canary- Challenge 22 Black and White + One(color)

DYSU Challenge Blog - #82 For a Friend

My Heart Pieces - Use a Circle or a Square

Paper Crafting Journey - Pearls and Swirls

CMC Copic Challenge Group - Anything goes w/ a Girly Twist

Creative Card Crew - Challenge 15 Black Card Stock

Stamp N Plus - Challenge 2 Anything Goes

A Birthday Card For My Brother

Hello everyone,

How was your Saturday? Being on the west coast its only just getting to 6PM here, but for many of you it's already come and gone. I'll share all about my Saturday tomorrow, but for today I have a Birthday card that I made up for my brother. And this time not only is it done early, but he will be getting it early as well- *gasp*!

So nothing to fancy, he's a guy who just doesn't see the need for that stuff. Though he does love his cats. Cats and Trains are what hes into ever since he was young. And while I would get a whole big lecture about why the train that I choose was wrong or how I should have colored it, I figured that a cat image was a safe bet!

A close up on the cat. I was coloring late at night so I ended up trying to add a weird elementary school sun. I kinda tried to fix it, I'm sure that he wont even notice. I was also using water color pencils and trying to get some shading in on the cat, I think I kinda succeeded but that can be a bit hard to do as well, you almost have to work in layers.

Last picture of it standing up. You can see that I put in a pocket for a gift card back there. I used a glassine envelop and then put paper over it to write a message on. Over all I think it worked out, though I kept wanting to add flowers or bling to it! All of the things that I used on this card were just kind of leftovers that came together from my stash, though the stamp is 'La Blanche'(? those were the only words that I could find on the stamp).
Another post tomorrow about the Art walk that was here in Gresham today, and maybe another card!

XoX ~Sarah

Challenges Entered:

Pals Paper Arts 139 - A Sketch Challenge
Dude Time Doodles Challenge - Anything Goes (For a Dude)
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Lets Hear it for the Boys
Wishcraft - Waste Not Wednesdays wk27

Tropical Snowman...

'Ello my freaky darlings!,

Lol, I couldn't resist. I only watched 'The League of Extraordinary Gentalmen' once, but that line has stayed with me and popped up at the most random times. How is everyone on this Friday evening? Big plans for the weekend? Me, I'm going to do my best to crank out some more cards and try and sew my quilt together. And somewhere in there I suppose that I'll have to go get my brother a birthday present.

Nothing too special to share today, I've been trying to make cards all week but people keep getting in the way. So today everyone was gone when I came home from work, I sat down and made a Christmas card based off of a sketch challenge. I'm all done making my card and taking a picture, then I'm looking for this challenge so I can link it up and... turns out the sketch I had was 2 weeks old! I just had to laugh! But any-who here it is...

So the paper is My Mind's Eye - Colorful Christmas, I used watercolor pencils, the Sakura 'Starbutst' (name?) pen, and some glossy accents on the image. The stamp is by Great Impressions, the snowflake border punch is Martha Stewart. I used the Elegant Scrollwork by Memory Box, and the 'Merry Christmas' (which I just thought was too cute) is by Impression Obsession.

Tip: I know that I've said it before but, all those snowflakes from the punch... SAVE THEM! I have no idea what I'll use them for but there so pretty. I'm going to make them into stickers and save them for another Christmas card or project. This is a great way to add to your backgrounds or even give them to the kids for there art projects! (and yes I love using '!' mark!)

So something new for me was using the layers upon layers of paper. I do love the effect when others do it, but for me I'm almost afraid to do that. This was one of the reason why I forced myself to do this sketch, trying to get past that fear and just create. My card was so 'top heavy' that even if I hadn't already planed on it, I just had to put paper on the inside so it wouldn't tip over.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll try to post again by Sunday at the latest!

XoX ~Sarah

Challenges entered:

ATC & Cards With Attitude - Challenge 18 Anything Goes
Annabelle Stamps Blog - Say it with... Christmas
Stamping with the Dragon - Christmas in July

Baby Girl Pocket Card

Hello Everyone!

Not a whole lot to say today just sharing a card. I made this on the request of a friend, who's nephew's girlfriend just had a baby. It's kinda different for me because I didn't use a digi, or a stamp, though not for lack of trying. I have to admit that I was defeated by the image of a baby elephant! The image kept smearing, if it had worked then this would have been done on Friday. But as I was gone for the weekend, I finally admitted defeat this morning and used a butterfly punch from Martha Stewart.

Though I did not use a digi, I did print this out since I dint have a stamp.

So not much going on here. I used a flower border punch and put little gems in the middle of each flower. A scalloped circle by Spellbinders. A little rhinestone flourish. And the butterfly like I said above is Martha Stewart, I punched out 3 and layered them to give the wings some dimension. The paper is Olivia by Basic Grey. I was so happy to use this, I had bought a bunch of this a while back not knowing what I would use it for and now I finally have a card to use it on. I might end up making more of these just to have on hand or sell.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week, I'll try to get two more cards done and posted so check back if your following!

XoX ~Sarah

Challenges entered:

Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central - Bling
Make it Monday - Anything Goes

PS- it was ridiculously hard to find challenges to enter, everyone is doing Christmas in July and what not, lol!

PPS- insperation for this card came from Angie's post Sassy Wedding Garter on Yuki's Girls. Thank you so much for the insperation Angie, I was a bit lost on what to do and then I saw your card and knew that it was just what I needed!

Wishing you a Simply Marvelous Birthday!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Today I'm Sharing another Monochromatic card. I cant say that I meant for this post to be a monochromatic but a friend liked my previous card and asked for a card for her niece. I had originally thought to use the same image, but seeing at the birthday is in July I decided to use this cutie from Saturated Canary. I had asked Krista if I could remove the copic in this digi because I planed on using it for a friend who isn't really into crafts and what nots. But I thought that It would work for a teen as well, and to be honest I was just itching to use this one!

Wishing You a Simply Marvelous Birthday

Isn't she cute? Her name is Sketchie and she can be found Here in the SC digi shop. The sentiment is kinda hard to see in the pic but in person you can read it just fine. I love these stars that I used, they were left over from my freedom card. Everything else is pretty much the same as my Moody for Snow card that is posted below, so I wont re-list all of that. I have one more card coming this week so stay tuned!

** Oh- and on a special note Krista Smith is going to have a  FREE digi on her blog this coming Monday and Tuesday before it goes into her shop so be on the lookout for that. And now through Saturday (mid-day I think it was) you can grab a discount code from her blog and use it for 30% your purchase in her digi shop. **

XoX ~Sarah

Challenges entered:

Celebrate the Occasion - Challenge #70 Happy Birthday
Creative Card Crew - Challenge #14 Swirls and Pearls
Stamp N Plus - Challenge #2 Anything Goes
The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog - Challenge #22 Glitter and Bling
Crafty Boots Challenges - BINGO  (Pearls, Stripes, Blue)
Stamp N Doodle - Monochrome
Saturated Canary - Challenge #21 Bling it

Freedom... and Captain America's Shield

So yesterday I was busy, busy! I finished 2 card's and then I was inspired to start another before I lost my idea. So this card is a red, white and blue card for the Saturated Canary Challenge Blog and I also took some creative liberties with a sketch from Graphic Cat, I think that it still works but it's really up to them to say if it does or not. So hear it is...

My first time coloring with Copics, I just happened to have enough to use these colors. I think It looks pretty good for my first time and only watching online videos, but I'm sure that Taking a class is next up as soon as there is one in the area! I really like the embossed stars and hearts that I did behinde her! It was also my first time making a bundle with the flowers (using floural tape and what not) thought that turned out good to but I had to play with it for about 10 min or more to figure out how to put it together.

This last pic was just to show off the Captain Amewrica shields, I made my own temp-let's and really like how they turned out. I had bought a pack of Thresa Collins stars and they were all shiny/sparkly on the side that sticks out except one. I ended up using that one on CA's older shield, thought It turned out good for the over all effect!

Hope you all enjoyed!

XoX ~Sarah

For this card I used Plain red, white and blue card stock, Silver glitter(sparkly! lol) card stock, and a sheet of blue poke-a-dot Bo Bunny card stock. Red, blue and sliver embossing powder,  red and white striped and blue poke-a-dot  crafter's tape. Flowers from Wild Orchid. The stamps are a Forth of July set(pg 80-81) by Close to my Heart. and the image is a digi from Saturated Canary. Oh- and glossy accents was used on her sweat drop.

 Challenges entered:
Graphic Cat - Sketch #10
Saturated Canary - Challenge #20 Red, White and Blue
Paper Makeup Stamps - Challenge #42 Anything Goes
Totally Stampalicious - Red and White and?

much happiness

     Wow, what a week! Even though spring has "started" we still had snow this last week in the Portland (Oregon) area. I haven't watched the news but I'm sure that this is the latest in the year that we have had snow, for the last twenty years at least. Over this last weekend I was able to go to the 'Heritage Rubber Stamp Show' at the Expo Center, it was pretty awesome.

    About 2 weeks ago we had the 'CKC Scrapbooking' Show in the Convention Center, but for as great as I thought it was last year, this year not so much. Maybe its more of the same product every year, but there were a some venders that did not attend this year and some vendors who just didn't bring the product that I had hoped to buy.

    I was really overwhelmed at the 'Heritage' show though, there were a lot of vendors that I had not heard about (ok so I have only been scrapbooking for 2 years now, so thats not hard but... still!). I was able to buy a handfull or so or rubber stamps, which made me happy since the ones I bought are not availible in stores near me.

    My mother fell in love with the last both we went to which had Eggimal's. I'll make some soon and show you what they are all about if you don't know already! So after a long day spent walking on concreat, spending too much money and a few hours longer than we thought, I came home and finished this card that I had been working on, off and on for the last few days. So Here it is!

     This card is a Sketch challenge for 'Graphic Cat' and product/image challenge for 'Saturated Canary'. I alredy had the image colored from a while ago when I bought my first batch (yes, batch) of Saturated Canary Digi, the image is 'Tressa the Princess'. Lucky for me It matched perfectly with the 'Konichiwa' paper by Basic Grey that I had just bought! I used the 'Kanji Phrases' stamp set from Close to my Heart for the sentiment and Spellbinders 'Fanciful Flight' (butterfly), 'Scalloped Circles' and 'Fleur De Lis Motifs' for my shapes. I have caught myself using the 'Clear Star' and 'Souffle' Sakura pens a lot, you can see this on her dress and a little in her eyes.

XoX ~Sarah

Challenges Entered:
Saturated Canary - Challenge #13 Twine
Graphic Cat - Sketch #4
Make It Monday - #82
Always Crafting - Creative Mondays CH#4