Cute Little Valentine

Hi everyone! I thought that today I would play along with a few challenges out there. Lots of love/hearts/pink/red going on in my craftroom recently! This little cutie was made with the new Mini-Magnolia stamps available at Magnolia-licious. These little mini's are just the most darling things evah! The whole card here is only 3 1/2 inches square. I have masked Mini Jam Tilda with Mini Tin Boxes for the front of the card. Both of these stamps and many more minis are available at Magnolia-licious. The card is an easel card that has been created with Labels 1 Spellbinders Nestabilities. The image on the front was colored with copics and then misted with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist (which doesn't really show well in the photo).

I have kept the inside fairly simple as the card is so small. The sentiment is from a set by Our Craft Lounge called Dr. Pea-nut and is stamped on a die cut made with Scalloped Hearts Nestabilities.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Magnolia-licious Challenge: Pink/Black/Red

Just Magnolia and Hanglar & Stanglar: Anything Goes

Magnolia Down Under: Love

All That Scraps: Queen of Hearts

Have a wonderful day!

i {heart} you - 7 Kids Challenge Entry

The challenge for the next two weeks at 7 Kids College Fund Challenge Blog is i {heart} you which means you have to use hearts somewhere on your project. Lucky for me I just put the finishing touches on this card this morning, and I think it qualifies!

The heart die cut was made from a die by Cottage Cutz (sold out now but they are taking pre-orders on it) at the Scrapping Cottage. I happened onto their site a few months ago and fell in love with the doily heart die. It cuts beautifully. I have used it with both my Big Shot and my Grand Caliber with no issues.

I have been working on painting with Distress Inks (and Stampin Up inks) for the last couple of weeks. I am taking an online class by Angie Hunt through the Color Me Creative Classroom on DI watercoloring. This was my first attempt. Angie makes it look so easy and I suspect with a little more practice it will be. I am still trying to get the hang of shading/shadowing. I know where they are supposed to go and I put them in. However, when I photograph the image, the shadows aren't nearly as dark as they seem to me in person. I think I just need to get more comfortable with more contrast. Do take the time to visit Angie's blog, her creations are absolutely amazing!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! We are still snowed in and probaby will be for a few more days. Off to bake some cookies and spend some more time in my craft room!

Magnolia-licious Highlites Challenge

The challenge this month over at Magnolia-licious Highlites is to use pink, white, silver, and hearts. Well, after searching through my craftroom, this is what I came up with. I couldn't get out to the store to buy more supplies due to the huge winter storm moving through the area now but I thought it turned out okay considering I was using up scraps.

After inspiration from Kylie, I decided to make a mini-pizza box using a Magnolia stamp called Mini Love Muffin (available from Magnolia-licious). As much as I love the Magnolia stamps, I think I like the mini's even more since I tend to like smaller projects. I thought the little white heart-shaped sprinkles on the muffin went well with the hearts on the DP. After I took my photos I realized that I forgot to put the stickles on the little hearts on the muffin but I have added that now.

I had only one scrap of silver cardstock in my drawers full of paper. I tried to pull the silver out by coloring the muffin wrappter to match. This was also my first experience with seam binding and I am rather liking the shabby look of it. Below the seam binding is a little border created with the Tilda's Lace die (also available at Magnolia-licious).

Of course, I had to then make a matching Valentine's Day card to go inside. Nothing fancy, just a simple card. Using Spellbinders dies makes it easy to whip up a card in a jiffy. Both images (on pizza box and card) were misted with Glimmer Mist but you can't really tell it in the photos. One of these days I'll learn how to take good photos of my projects...

I was considering the possibility of shoveling the driveway but I think for now I'll just head back to my craftroom and play some more! Hope everyone is keeping warm during this storm of the century. =)

Coloring with Copics: muffin wrapper - C1, C3, C5, icing on muffin R81, R83, R85, muffin - Y21, Y23, YR24, halo around muffin - RV00, RV000

Week 35 Penny Black Challenge

Wow has this been a busy week having to work all five days and an evening of parent/teacher conferences.  I don't know how I would have gotten anything done except for the fact that I can't seem to sleep much past 4:30 am these days....can't figure out why.

Below are my entries into this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge which is to create a "romance inspired" card.  I actually finished these a day or two ago for Valentine's Day but I think all three fit the challenge.  I love all of the Penny Black "cute" stamps.  They seem to be the ones I always go back to.  

The front of the first card was made using the Penny Black clear stamp set "Every Which Way."  The hedgies were colored with copics and then I added some dazzling diamonds glitter on the hearts.  I thought it went well with the "sugared" brads.  The lower left corner just screamed ribbon blossom to me so I decided to try one with a little less ribbon this time.  I used 30 pieces of organza (no grosgrain) for this one.  The DP is Stampin Up.  I also used a Martha Stewart punch for the lacy heart border and the labels 2 nestabilities from Spellbinders.

The next photo is of the upper inside of the card.  This image was an older image that I purchase singly and is a wood mounted stamp.

And the lower inside, again using nesties and the Martha Stewart punch. The brown DP in the photo above and below are actually the same.....I think I must have changed the lighting between photos somehow.

The second card again uses stamps from the Penny Black clear set "Every Which Way."  This card is a little simpler but I like the bright colors.  The three hearts on the right side are "popped" but it is hard to tell this from the picture.  I used the word window punch. curly label punch, and heart to heart punch from Stampin Up, and circle nesties.  The image was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with copics.  The DP is all Stampin Up.  

The inside top of the card.....

The inside bottom of the card.....

This is the last and simplest of the three cards.  The hedgie is from the same Penny Black clear stamp set.  The hedgie was colored with copics and then I added stickles to the bubbles.  As you can see, I used my favorite Martha Stewart heart border punch again as well as circle and scalloped circle nesties.  I also used the large and small tag punches from Stampin Up.......love my punches!

The inside of the card is also pretty simple using more Stampin Up DP and two stamps from their set called Love You Much.  The stamp in the lower right corner was stamped on very vanilla cardstock and then punched out with the Stampin Up scallop punch.

If any of you bloggers out there can tell me why when I click on some pictures on my blog it brings up a bigger picture and why sometimes when you click all you get is the exact same size image as the original....I'd love to know!

In case it is another week before I post again, have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

I Love Snow Days!

I love snow days, especially when school is called off the night before. Sometimes I think teachers want them more than students do although my two boys love them as much as me. I remember loving to play in the snow as a kid and making snow angels. I really never got into the snowman or snow fort thing. There was never a cup of hot chocolate as good as the one I drank after coming in from playing in the snow.....you know, the cup half full of hot chocolate and half full of marshmallows. I'm sure I'll be upstairs fixing some for the boys shorty!

So, on my day off, I decided to look for a challenge to enter and found this one at A Spoonful of Sugar. The challenge was to make a card for someone you love. I had just finished making the card below for my mom for Valentines Day so I thought it would be perfect for this challenge. So, Mom, if you're reading this, pretend when you get it in the mail that it is the first time you've seen it! Inside the box is a valentine gift that I'll have to reveal later....don't want to spoil the surprise. However, I will give you this hint......if you look carefully you'll see a clue!

Paper: Stampin Up Close to Cocoa, BasicGrey Bittersweet Collection
Ink: Ranger Distress Soot Black, Stampin Up Close to Cocoa, Stampin Up Rose Red
Coloring: Copics
Stamps: House Mouse, Karen Lockhart
Punches: Flourish punch by Paper Shapers, Heart Border punch by Martha Stewart, Curly Label Punch by Stampin Up
Other: Nestabilities, Ribbon Blossom Tutorial by Pam Bassett

First Post/Challenge

Hi and welcome to my brand new blog. Please bear with me as I learn all of the ins and outs of making a blog. I am learning albeit slowly.

Below is my first entry into a challenge. It is my entry for the Week 33 Penny Black Challenge which is for "Frames." I am still learning the art of coloring with Copics having been a "Prisma girl" for several years now. I like them more and more each time I use them.

Snowman Stamp: Penny Black
Paper: Stampin Up Pixie Pink, Becket Expression Radiance Cover
Glitter: Stampin Up Dazzling Diamonds
Pearls: stash
Ink: Ranger Distress Soot Black

Embossing Folder:  Cuttlebug
Coloring: Copics