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

Shh... It's a secret!

I'm being a bit naughty in posting this card, but honestly I can't help myself it's almost Christmas and I've been dying to post this for about 3 weeks! This card was made for the Kit and Clowder card exchange that I took part in this year. I hadn't touched my copics in quite some time when I started on this image so I was thrilled with how it turned out! I was in a bit of a rush trying to get this card done (not that it made it go any faster... ) and ended staying up until something like 3am in the morning finishing it.

Isn't it so pretty! :) I tried so hard to make it just a red and white card but I ended up adding the green onto the holly flourish.

And close up!
I love how that gold spec ended up on her eye, the big snowflake is covering a spot where my heat gun burnt the paper. Oops! 

Embellishments!

I used several items on this card for the first time that have just been sitting in my stash doing nothing but collecting dust. The Post Card stamp is from a Close to my Heart set that I "just had to have" several years ago. The round flourish is actually a buckle die by Memory Box, again something purchased several years ago at a show. The deer die cut and the large snowflake were purchased last year.

Products used on this card: Simply Sassy stamp 'Seasons Greetings', Ranger - liquid pearls, Stampendous - shabby white embossing enamel, Memory Box - Ringed Buckle, Impression Obsession - Deer Trio, Martha Stewart - boarder punch, Spellbinders - Label (#???) Dies, Wild Rose Studio - Holly Flourish die, Close to my heart - Stamp(?), red Glitter paper, red rhinestones, Tim Holtz - Mowed Lawn, and Copics.
(^I'll try and fill in some of the missing names tomorrow)

So that's about it for now, I'm off to finish a few more last minute cards!


Challenges Entered:
Lolli Lulu Crafts - Christmas Challenge Launch (naughty or nice, <hope that my card works...?)
Crafty Little Fairies - December Holly and/or Ivy
Shopping our Stash - SOS #181: Red Alert

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)

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

Valentines Day and Saturated Canary

     Welcome, to my first ever blog post of firsts', but instead lets just call it 'Valentines Day and Saturated Canary'. After nosing my way around the Saturated Canary Challenge Blog for several months and buying up a few of her images, I finally managed to make up my first ever challenge card.

     For the Saturated Canary 'Challenge #10'-red, pink and white. I used Krista's (< the brilliant mind and sole designer behind Saturated Canary Digital Images) 'Making Valentines' Digi. To color her I used chalks and colored pencils. I added a small dab of glitter to her eyes for sparkle and also used a white gel pen to pop the poke-a-dots on her shirt and knee patch.
     This card is also part of the Gresham Craft Warehouse, January Paper-craft challenge. The three required items for this challenge were the white doily, the clothes pins popping up the SCDigi, and a pink and white checked 6x6 paper that I cut with a Tim-holtz heart die.

Hope you enjoyed it!
Sarah