I Love Puddle Jumpers!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Happy Friday Everyone!

Are you as happy as I am that it's Friday? Oh yes sireee! I'm soooo thankful it's only a few hours until the weekend! I've had a very busy week at work (which is why I've been so quiet this week) and I am looking forward to taking it easy for a couple of days. How about you?

One card I did manage to whip up this week is this one!

I {heart} these Puddle Jumpers! And sweet Mary Jane is up there amongst my favorites!

Since Valentines Day is right around the corner, I pulled Basic Grey's Olivia paper pad to make this card. Not an obvious choice for a romantic card, but when I saw the hearts paper, I knew it was perfect for Mary Jane! As always I used my ever faithful reinkers and aquapainter brush to color her in. Then I cut her out and popped her on a panel made with various papers from the Basic Grey collection, Bazzil cardstock and the Labels Eight Nestie. The layout is from this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch #100. Some of my favorite crafting tools are my Fiskars decorative scissors. I especially love the small scalloped ones, which I used around the edge of scalloped nestie panel. LOVE that look!

Got any plans for the weekend? We're laying low with all this snow we've been getting. Although, we may be painting our downstairs bathroom if we can decide on a paint color! :)

Thanks for dropping by and have a good one!

Supplies

Stamps: Claudia & Company 'Mary Jane Puddle Jumper', There She Goes 'Sentimental'

Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Baha Breeze, Regal Rose, Ruby Red, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap and Black Soot'

Papers: Georgia Pacific, Bazzil Basics and Bling, PP - Basic Grey's 'Olivia Collection'

Access: May Arts Stitched Ribbon, Kaisercrafts Adhesive Pearls - Rose, Martha Stewart Edge Punch, Spellbinders 'Labels Eight' and 'Large Scalloped Circle Nestibilities, Fiskars Decorative Scissors, Sponges, Dimensionals

TSG90: Wet Embossing!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Good Morning!

How are we all today?? We had a nice, relaxing weekend. I slept in Saturday morning then we went antiquing in the afternoon. I picked up a 1910 old car magazine aadvertisement for $5 and popped it in a frame I bought at a garage sale last summer for $8. It's a pretty little piece that will probably go in my bedroom or maybe the upstairs hallway. Not sure yet. I can't wait to hit the garage sales and antique stores this summer!

This week's There She Goes challenge, TSg90, is all about wet embossing! So get out your Versamark ink and your powders and get busy!

I pulled out my favorite set to wet emboss with - Spread Your Wings! It has nice bold lines to it and perfect for embossing! I inked up the biggest butterfly with Versamark first, then with StazOn, then I stamped it onto some Strathmore Bristol Vellum. Then I sprinkled the clear embossing powder on the stamped image and heat set it. Then I brought out my Distress Inks and SU reinkers and colored up the butterfly in contrasting colors to the Basic Grey Curio paper I used to make the card. I also used some of that paper to make the medallion behind the butterfly. (You can check out my quick tutorial on how to make the medallion....here.) I added glue to the edges with a Quickie glue pen and sprinkled some of Martha Stewarts Black Glitter all over it. It gives the medallion such a great look! Then I stamped a horizontal decorative strip with the cross stitch stamp from the In Stitches set and clear embossed them. The layout was from this week's Card Patterns sketch CPS98.

To be eligible for the giveaway, you are to create a card that utilizes wet embossing techniques, and then come back to the TSG Blog to add your name and a link to your project in the InLinkz that is located at the bottom of the challenge post. This challenge is open until the winner has been announced on the following Monday (Jan 24th). The winner will get a $5 gift certificate to use in the TSG Web store!

By participating in this challenge, you may also find yourself in the Trendsetting Spotlight that shines on the TSG Blog every Thursday. We will be on the look out to find challenge cards that stand out and show Trendsetting qualities. TSG stamps are not required to participate in the challenges but are appreciated :)

I hope this inspires you to play along with us this week!

Supplies

Stamps: There She Goes 'Spread Your Wings' and 'In Stitches'

Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Versamark, Really Rust, Baha Breeze, More Mustard, Distress Inks 'Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Broken China and Peeled Paint'

Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, PTI Kraft Cardstock, Glitter Paper - Black, PP - Basic Grey's 'Curio' collection

Access: Stampendous Clear Embossing Powder, Tiny Twinkles - Black', Martha Stewart Glitter - Black, Sponges, Dimensionals

Claudia and Company Surprise Release!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Good Morning and welcome to the surprise January release for Claudia and Company!

That's right! Claudia and Company is releasing four new digital images today and you guys get to see a look-see of one of them right here, right now! :)

What a sweetie pie right?! Puppy Love and three other images were designed by John Grutta, Claudia and Company's newest illustrator! He's created this sweet image for us just in time for Valentines Day.

I colored up Puppy Love with my reinkers and aquapainter brush on Georgia Pacific cardstock. Then I sponged the edges with SU's Cool Caribbean and I drew a border around the edge with a Micron pen. Then I used papers from October Afternoon's Modern Homemaker and made a quick and easy card background.

All four digial images are available RIGHT NOW in the Claudia and Company webstore! But that's not the best part! To help celebrate today's big release, John gave Claudia an image to give away FOR FREE to every reader who visits the C&Co. blog!

Before you race over there and grab your freebie image, please take a minute to check out what the other girls on the design team have created for you all!

Lori Boyd
Kadie Ensley
Kim Costello
Krista Van Tol
Risa West
Sandra MacLean
Sheri Gilson
Tori Wild
Tracy Clemente

Thanks so much for popping in today! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Supplies
Stamps: Claudia & Company 'Puppy Love' and There She Goes 'Everyday Greetings'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Creamy Caramel, More Mustard, Regal Rose, Ruby Red, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen and Black Soot'
Papers: Georgia Pacific, PTI Kraft Cardstock, Bazzil Basics, PP - October Afternoon 'Modern Homemaker'
Access: Ribbon, Martha Stewart Edge Punch, Micron Pen, Sponges, Dimensionals

Etsy Friday Finds

Happy Friday Everyone!

I've had such a great time window shopping on Etsy this week! There are lots and lots of Valentines Day gift ideas floating around there! I found some gorgeous ones to share with you today.

Wendy Jung
Aren't these beautiful?! So delicate and pretty! These would look great in my bedroom!








Bookity
I SOOOO want to make these! You and I both know we have lots of paper we could use! hahaha






Bobbi Lewin
Now I wish I could make these! They'd look great hanging along my bannister.






William Dohman
It's amore! I have a thing for typography and wood....it's a match made in heaven! :)

Baffin Bags
These bags are AWESOME! I bought myself and a couple of friends one and they're impeccably made! Sooo useful too! Great for all your Copic markers or even your cards!





Be on the look out for another post from me later this morning!

Wonderful Winter Wishes

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Good Morning!

I hope everyone along the East Coast is doing ok today with all the snow we've been getting. We got slammed last night but at least in the NorthEast we know what to expect and are prepared for it!

Last weekend I made this cute card using my favorite There She Goes set by illustrator Torico. I absolutely adore her unique illustrations!

One of my favorite things to do is to offset the main image on the main panel and stamp the sentiment opposite it, like I did with this card. It creates a nice sense of balance. And it worked really well with this image of the two little girls because it creates a background for them instead of floating in mid air.

White is a really hard color to show and I've found it's best to just show those areas in shadow and highlight the areas around the white. Like the little girl's jacket, I colored the shadows in with SU's Going Gray. Then I colored most of the area (or background) around her with Cool Caribbean, so the white parts of her jacket would really pop. Worked out pretty well, don't you think? I ended up coloring her big sister's jacket in with Regal Rose and Ruby Red so it would contrast nicely. One thing I have been working on lately is remembering to leave some highlights on my images. It's hard when you use reinkers and you don't have a blender pen to remove some of the ink!

One blog I love to visit and get my color fix from, is Tori Wild's blog. She has a fantastic ability to combine the perfect colors and create vibrant, colorful cards. I spied this gorgeous card and had to case it! I changed the patterned paper and went with The Girl's Paperie's Tinsel and Twig collection and a little bit of Basic Grey's old Eskimo Kisses collection, used a different image (obviously!) and changed out the embellishment to something a little simpler. I love how this card turned out!

I hope you're having a fabulous week so far and I thank you very, very much for stopping by today!


Supplies
Stamps: There She Goes 'Wonderful Winter Wishes'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Soft Suede, Going Gray, Regal Rose, Ruby Red, More Mustard, Cool Caribbean, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP - The Girls Paperie 'Tinsel and Twigs' Collection and Basic Grey's 'Eskimo Kisses' Collection
Access: PTI Rustic Button Twine - Jute, PTI Button - Chocolate, Machine Stitching, Sponges, Dimensionals

TSG89: Color Challenge!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Good Morning!

Did you miss me?! I'm sorry I've been so quiet lately. Just trying to find my groove again after the holidays. I so enjoyed the time off from work and play that I prolonged it as long as I could! Do you blame me?! ;) But I'm back this week with avengence! I made a couple of cards yesterday and I can't wait to share them with you!

It's Monday and that means another There She Goes challenge! It's a color challenge this week and we're challenging you to use the colors....PINK, RED, GREY and BLACK.


The new Love Birds set has this adorable heart flower stamp in it and I love how whimsy it is! With my trusty reinkers and aquapainter brush, I colored in the flowers with SU's Pretty In Pink in the center, and a combination of Regal Rose and Ruby Red for outside. Old Olive was used for the leaves. Then I used a large scalloped circle nestie to cut the image out and I sponged the edges of it with Distress Inks Antique Linen and Tea Dye. The layout came from this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #99. For the colors, I went straight for Basic Grey's Olivia paper pack. They were a perfect match for this challenge! The gorgeous sentiment is from the new Sentimental set that I haven't had a chance to play with until now.

Would you like to play along this week?? To be eligible for the giveaway, you are to create a card that utilizes the colors provided, and then come back to the TSG Blog to add your name and a link to your project in the InLinkz that is located at the bottom of the challenge post. This challenge is open until the winner has been announced on the following Monday (Jan 17th). The winner will get a $5 gift certificate to use in the TSG Web store!

By participating in this challenge, you may also find yourself in the Trendsetting Spotlight that shines on the TSG Blog every Thursday. We will be on the look out to find challenge cards that stand out and show Trendsetting qualities. TSG stamps are not required to participate in the challenges but are appreciated :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!


Supplies
Stamps: There She Goes 'Love Birds' and 'Sentimental'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Old Olive, Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose and Ruby Red, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Frayed Burlap'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, Glitter Paper - Black, PP - Basic Grey's Olivia Collection'
Access: Ribbon, EK Success Corner Punch, Spellbinders Large Scalloped Circle Nestibilities, Martha Stewart Edge Punch, Machine Stitching, Sponges

Claudia & Company January Blog Hop!!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Welcome to the January release blog hop for Claudia & Company!

If you've found your way here from Risa's wonderful blog, then you're on the right track! But if you haven't and would like to check out all the awesome cards the girls have whipped up for today's hop, then head on over to the Claudia & Company blog to start the ride there.

If you haven't heard already, DieCutsRuS changed it's name! They are now officially known as Claudia and Company! It's a name you know and love so the change won't be a hard one to wrap your head around! Their new website is http://www.claudiaandcompany.com/. Not only can you purchase your favorite Claudia and Company stamps there, but you can purchase all kinds of supplies for your card making needs.

Today's release is for two new Puddle Jumpers and you are going to just LOVE them!

Meet Puddle Jumper Mary Jane!!

Adorable right?! Love that hair and I'm always a sucker for polka dots! Mary Jane is just in time for Valentines Day. She comes with her very own heart stamp accessory! To make this card I used this month's Sketch For You To Try and paper from Cosmo Cricket's Circa 1934 collection.

Introducing...Puddle Jumper Todd!

Boys need Valentines Day cards too! And Puddle Jumper Todd is perfect for the little guys (and big guys too!) in our lives.

I used this week's Friday Sketchers #135 layout for this card as well as some of that yummy 6x6 sample pack of My Minds Eye Fine and Dandy - True Blue collection of papers.

And the best part of all this - is that these Puddle Jumpers are available RIGHT NOW from Claudia and Company webstore!!

If you get lost along the way, here's a list of all the blogs you need to check out!

Claudia and Co. Blog
Lori Boyd
Sheri Gilson
Krista Van Tol
Tracy Clemente
Kadie Ensley
Tori Wild
Risa West
Sandra MacLean
Kim Costello
Guest Hopper - Pam Varnell

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Your next stop is...Kim Costello!!

Supplies
Card One
Stamps: Claudia & Company 'Puddle Jumper Mary Jane', The Greeting Farm 'My Fav Thing'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Cool Caribbean, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Black Soot'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PTI Kraft Cardstock, PP - Cosmo Cricket 'Circa 1934' and Bo Bunny
Access: Ribbon, Heart Button, Spellbinders Labels Four Nestibilities, Machine Stitching, Sponges, Dimensionals

Card Two
Stamps: Claudia & Company 'Puddle Jumper Todd' and 'So Random Sentiments Set Up/Down Edition'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Soft Suede, Buckaroo Blue, Really Rust, Cool Caribbean, Distress Inks 'Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen, Tea Dye'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PTI Kraft Cardstock, PP - My Minds Eye 'Fine and Dandy - True Blue' Collection
Access: Ribbon, PTI Button, DMC Thread, Spellbinders Labels One Nestibilities, Machine Stitching, Sponges, Dimensionals