Happy Halloween!!

Friday, October 31, 2008

Hands down, this is my favorite holiday!! I have the house decorated (this year it's only the inside that's decorated since we live in an apartment), the candy ready and my witches hat dusted off! DD will be trick or treating with her cousin, who she keeps insisting will be dressed as a Prince, since she is Cinderella this year! LOL

Today happens to also be Hanna Stamps Challenge day and I have a card to show you. I would have done a Halloween card featuring Riley with his broomstick, but part of the challenge was paper piecing and I decided that Riley was too small to paper piece something on him! Sorry!

I combined two challenges with this card today. On SCS, this week's 'Ways To Use It' challenge was to use a crackled effect on your card. I've been dying to do this technique! This week's Hanna Stamps Challenge is brought to you by Amanda Sewell and is a sketch with a twist - you have to use the 'paper piecing' technique too!

For my card, I first stamped the snowflakes from Hanna Stamps 'Ski Bunny' set onto the kraft cs, then sponged the edges with white ink. I then stamped the skis onto some scrap Basic Grey patterned paper, cut them out and then glued them onto the kraft cs. Then with my Versamark ink pad, I covered the entire piece with the ink and sprinkled my UTEE embossing powder all over it. Heat set it and quickly add another layer of embossing powder before it has a chance to cool down. I did this one more time so I had three layers of ep over my image. Then I popped it in the freezer to cool down and harden. After about a minute I took it out and started bending it to make the ep crack. And that's all there is to that technique - cool effect don't you think??

Hope you all have a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween!

Supplies:

Stamps: Hanna Stamps 'Ski Bunny'

Ink: StazOn, Colorbox 'Frost White'

Paper: Bazzil cs, Very Vanilla, PP - Basic Grey 'Fruitcake - Avalanche'

Access: Ribbon, Martha Stewart snowflake and edge punch, dimensionals, UTEE embossing powder

Technique: Cracked Glass, Paper Piecing

A Quickie!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Get your mind out of the gutter!! I'm talking about cards, not whatever you were thinking about... ;)

I wanted to share with you a card I made for the last Hanna Stamps release party but never uploaded to SCS. Since next week is November's (holy cow where did the time go?) release party for Hanna Stamps and I'm hoping to have a bunch of new sneak peeks for you to oogle over, I figured I ought to show you what a quickie card looks like using the Hanna Stamps 'Ski Bunny' set!

The card is 3 1/2"x3 1/2". I really like the white, pink and red color combo and thought the 'accessories' in the Ski Bunny set would lend itself to this layout really well. I think this would make a great Christmas gift card, don't you think??

I have some free time tonight and I'm looking forward to inking up my new stamps from Rubbernecker for a card tomorrow.

Toodles,
Sandra

Supplies:
Stamps: Hanna Stamps! 'Ski Bunny'
Inks: StazOn, Pretty in Pink, Real Red
Paper: Bazzil cs, Georgia Pacific cs,
Access: EK Success square scalloped punch, dimensionals

Guitar Hero!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Can you believe this sentiment is a Studio G $1 brand from Michaels!? I always check the $1 bins at Michaels just in case they've actually updated their stock and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this set staring back at me!! It has other words in it that play around the same rock star theme. So you know I had to go home with it!

Hopefully I'm not boring you all to tears with my Anya cards of late. I'm just having sooo much fun coloring her that I can't quite stop! :D Imagine what I'd be like with some of Anya's beau, Ian. He's being released on Nov. 1st by Pink Poison, and I think I may just have to get him too!

So my very dear and funny friend Karen, who I might add, doesn't blog NEARLY enough, challenged me the other day to create a black and white only card. The last black and white card I attempted, I tried making my own background paper with stamps....didn't work out so well and I was afraid this challenge would go the same way. But, it's amazing what you can do with some patterned paper, glitter and some bling! :D

I know, I did break the rules a bit with the color on Anya's face, but I'm sorry Karen - I can't turn Anya into Marilyn Manson - it's just not right! LOL

Speaking of cute little pixies (Anya, not Marilyn!), yesterday was 'Tinkerbell Day' at our house. Disney released the new Tinkerbell movie yesterday and I have to tell you - it's the cutest little movie!! If you have a daughter, granddaughter or if you just want to get it for your collection - I highly recommend it!

Toodles,

Sandra

Supplies:

Stamps: Pink Poison/Splendid Little Company 'Rockstar Anya', Studio G $1 from Michaels

Inks: Creamy Caramel, Distress Inks 'Black Soot'

Paper: Bazzil cs, Georgia Pacific cs, PP - Deja Views 'Botanical' (from Michaels)

Access: Ribbon, Martha Stewart glitter, Michaels bling, circle punch, dimensionals, stickles

A Rockin Mermaid or two!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

I stayed up late last night because my daughter was (and still is) battling a high fever. I wanted to be somewhat coherent in case she woke up. So I ended up stamping out a bunch of Anya's and coloring them up. And let me tell you - it's a LOT of fun!

I'm really kicking myself now that I didn't get any more of Pink Poison's stamps when I put in that order. You guys are probably going to be sick of seeing the only two I have by the end of the week! :) I promise to space them out!

Today I'm showing you three cards I made last night.

Meet Rockstar Anya! Isn't she the coolest thing!? One of the main reason's I got her was because my daughter likes to do the 'rock on' sign with her fingers. It's sooo funny to hear a 3 year old say "Rock On!" hahaha

I colored her up with my trusty aquapainter and SU inks again and sponged the edges of the watercolor paper with the same Pretty in Pink and Real Red colors that I used on Anya herself. When I pick out my patterned paper, I love putting high contrasting colors together for the 'POP' value. Black definitely makes the hot pink POP! To add the sentiment, I borrowed from the fabulous style of Paula over at Paper Possibilities.


My next card showcases the sweetest little Anya yet! Meet Mermaid Anya. And can anyone guess why I had to have her?? Yes, my daughter LOVES her Disney Princesses at the moment and Ariel is da bomb at our house! Hahaha

This is a nice and simple layout but I think the rich purples make this card stand out more.

Again, Anya is colored up with my aquapainter but this time I used chalk inks. They create a soft color intensity and I think Mermaid Anya is much more gentler than her Rockstar alter ego!

I did use SU's Vintage Violet on her shell and fin because I didn't have a darker purple in the chalk inks. The patterned paper is faux stitched and edged with some purple cs cut with decorative scissors.

I thought that a white tag was going to be too intense for the card, so I watercolored it with Creamy Caramel, sponged the edges in Distress Inks 'Tea Dye' and stamped the sentiment in purple.

My last Rockstar Anya card for today. Don't you just LOVE her blue hair?? I wish I could pull off that hair but with my curly hair, I'd end up looking more like a Brat doll than a rockstar! LOL

This card was inspired by the stunning work of Faith Hofrichter and her unique style of edging her layers in stippling or dots. She also happens to be on the Pink Poison Design Team!

I instantly thought of using stars and this glitter paper from Michaels when I ordered this stamp.

Normally I would use the glitter paper as an accent on a card and not as background paper, but this paper screams rockstar, so I decided to use it up front and only added some eyelets and silver cord for the finishing touch.

Honestly, I couldn't decide where or what to add as a sentiment, so I just left this card 'sentiment-less' on the front. I will probably make it into a birthday card and add a sentiment to the inside.

Ok, so that's it from me today. I'm off to get some rest while my daughter is sleeping too - Sunday naps are the best! ;)

Toodles,
Sandra

Supplies:

Card 1
Stamps: Pink Poison/Splendid Little Company "Rockstar Anya", MFT sentiment
Inks: Archival Brilliance 'graphite black', Pretty In Pink, Real Red, Creamy Caramel, Distress Inks 'Black Soot'
Paper: Bazzil cs, Canson Watercolor paper, Georgia Pacific cs, PP - Crate Paper
Access: Ribbon, Scrapworks brads, dimensionals, Stickles

Card 2
Stamps: Pink Poison/Splendid Little Company "Mermaid Anya", MFT sentiment
Inks: Archival Brilliance 'graphite black', Vintage Violet, Creamy Caramel, Certain Celery, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink 'Warm Violet and Wisteria' , Distress Inks 'Tea Dye'
Paper: Bazzil cs, Canson Watercolor paper, The Paper Studio cs, PP - DCWV 'Old World' stack
Access:Ribbon, dimensionals, Stickles, circle punchs and decorative scissors

Card 3
Stamps: Pink Poison/Splendid Little Company "Rockstar Anya"
Inks: Archival Brilliance 'graphite black', Cool Caribbean, Buckaroo Blue, Creamy Caramel, Distress Inks 'Black Soot'
Paper: Bazzil cs, Georgia Pacific cs, Canson Watercolor paper, PP - The Paper Studio (from Michaels)
Access: Making Memories Eyelets, silver cord, Fiskars star punch, signo pen, dimensionals

Pumpkin Festival

No cards yesterday, sorry about that, but I had a very good reason - Keene's Pumpkin Festival! It's a major deal around these parts and rightly so - we set the world record for the most pumpkins in one place back in 2003 with 28,592. (It was broken in 2006 in Boston, apparently using dubious tactics!)

We didn't break the record this year, but our family had lots of fun just the same. Especially my 3 yr old!

If you pop back in this afternoon, I'll have a bunch of Pink Poison cards to share with you! As happy as my daughter looked in these photos, she ended up sick as a dog last night and is needing some 'mummy TLC' today. :(

Pink Poison ROCKS!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Two posts in one day?! I just had to though because I have an amazing stamp to share with you all. I received my first two Pink Poison rubber stamps in the mail last night and these little Anyas are the most darling little things you have ever seen!

Back on October 1st Pink Poison's owner, Marie, posted some one day only pre-release singles that she is going to have in her shop on Nov. 1st (I think). There were four on offer and silly me only grabbed two of them! Doh! So they arrived last night and I already inked them up and made a card with them! :D I couldn't help it - they simply ROCK!!

I stamped out Rock Star Anya twice and colored one image of her with SU inks and my aquapainter on watercolor paper and on the other image I just colored the two strands of hair over her face. Then I cut both of them out, colored the edges in with my black sharpie pen then stacked the small piece on top of the main image.

If any of you have any Pink Poison stamps, then you may already know about the 'Pink Poison Olympics' Marie is hosting all this week over on her blog. The prizes she's giving away are CRAZY good! I may just have to make an attempt!

Oh, and dont' forget to scroll down for my earlier post I made today!


Supplies:
Stamps: Pink Poison/Splendid Little Company 'Rockstar Anya', Hampton Arts sentiment
Ink: Archival Brilliance 'graphite black', Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Creamy Caramel, Vintage Violet, Distress Inks 'Black Soot'
Paper: Bazzil Bling cs, Canson Watercolor paper, PP - Making Memories 'Black Small Dots', Scenic Route 'Salem Briggs-Street' & 'Loveland Ruby Ave'
Access: American Craft ribbon, dimensionals, stickles

Let it snow!

Wahooooo it's Friday! And I have the day off from work! That also means it's Hanna Stamps Challenge time! Today's challenge, HSC40, is hosted by Cindy Haffner and today's theme is snow and snowflakes!
I tend to do the obvious, so I chose Ski Bunny Hanna that was released this month! It was a no brainer - sometimes I like no-brainers! ;)

Hanna and the skis are colored up with SU inks and my aquapainter then cut out with my trusty detail scissors. I used the small snowflake stamps in the set on the band across the card too. I used my Martha Stewart snowflake punch and decorative edge punch as well as decorative scissors. Add some ribbon and some bling and I'm done!

If you get a chance, head over to the Hanna Stamps forum and have a go!

Well, I'm off to run some errands! Hope you all have a fabulous Friday!

Supplies:

Stamps: Hanna Stamps 'Ski Bunny'

Inks: StazOn, Cool Caribbean, Buckaroo Blue, Pretty in Pink, Morning Marigold, Creamy Caramel, Distress Inks 'Black Soot'

Paper: Bazzil cs, PP-Basic Grey 'Figgy Pudding - Dasher'

Access: Ribbon, dimensionals, MS Snowflake punch and decorative edge punches, decorative scissors, detail scissors, 1-1/8" circle punch, Michael's bling