Hi guys! I’m writing this post from beautiful Oliver, BC: Wine Capital of Canada… YUM!
Today, all of us are playing with the new Printables Technique Tuesday recently debuted at the scrapbook conventions they go to. These three printed sheets (Candy Cane Wishes, Harvest Time and Hocus Pocus) consist of designs you can cut up and use to decorate cards, scrapbook pages and other fun paper crafted projects. They will be available through TechniqueTuesday.com soon.
I made three cards using the same layout for all three to show you how quick and easy cards can be with the Printables.

I chose some coordinating patterned paper (except for the harvest card where I used the Passion for Polka set) as well as some matching ribbon to go with the printables. Coming up with the layout was the hardest part (and that wasn’t hard…) and after that was decided the cards were done in mere minutes..



Be sure to check out the blogs of everyone taking part in today’s blog hop:


Tanis
Ashley
Charlene
Daniela
Laura
Sharyn
Kris
Jaclyn
Teri
From the comments received on all the blogs, we will pick one lucky person to win Technique Tuesday’s Verbose stamp set.
This is our way of saying thanks for your comments! You don’t need to comment on all the blogs to be eligible to win. But the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!
Comments must be posted by midnight on Sept. 2, 2011. The winner will be announced on Sept. 3rd sometime on the Technique Tuesday blog.
Thanks for joining us today!

So me and the fam’ are leaving tomorrow to go on a week-long camping trip with some friends, and I’m really excited because despite being a teacher and having the whole summer “off” we can’t afford to vacation the whole time, so this is it!! It’s camping lite, so that means we will be staying in a cabana with an open-air kitchenette and a bedroom! I can take my cardmaking supplies along and not be worried about dirt and sand and campfire smell.. lol.
I will be spending time with some pretty crafty ladies while we’re away, and although they’re not cardmakers/scrapbookers, they love to work with their hands so I’ve prepared a little “make ‘n take” for us to do one afternoon. I made it really technique-y because I think it will be fun to get really creative with the process.. Here are the projects:

I call these “Tobi’s Tim Tags,” after Tim Holtz, of course. Watch this video of his to see what inspired me to do these tags and how I did them! I used the same technique as he did to ink the tag except in addition to using distress stain I also used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists..
Tag 1:

I figured I would give the ladies a few options when making the tags, and this is the “Busy Background, Muted Butterfly” tag. I did the background according to Tim, then I die cut the butterflies from Grungepaper, embossed them with a Sizzix die, then painted them with NEW Picket Fence distress stain. (It’s opaque and oh so awesome…)

I then lightly distressed the butterflies with brown distress ink and used my finger to add subtle “old silver” highlights (Inka Gold Paint) with my finger.

Tag 2:

I simply stamped the background with brown distress ink and inked the edges and set aside. I took the die cut and embossed butterflies and sprayed a few different colours of Tattered Angels Mist on them, but the purple was so dominant it turned out looking one-tone.

That’s okay, it’s a pretty purple! I then inked the edges with Inka Gold and that was it. This was an easier tag to do, but I think I like it better..
I hope they like these projects!
So the next few posts will be on location. I had a lot of anxiety over what to bring. It’s so hard to narrow down what you might or might not use for an entire week… I’m glad I don’t go away/travel with my supplies often; it’s too hard to decide!! Have a great weekend!

It’s almost time for the seasons to change and Torico has illustrated some adorable little girls just in time for autumn! The images in this set were sized so that they can also be used with other stamp sets from Torico’s line for even more versatility.
Your last stop is Torico.. Enjoy!

Are you enjoying the sneak peeks so far from There She Goes? This is day two of blog hop challenges and if you missed yesterday’s you can start here at the TSG Blog.

No stamp collection is complete without a great set of background images that you can use in a variety of different ways. This fabulous new set illustrated by Torico will have you reaching for it over and over again for all of your stamping needs!

Here’s my card:

The pattern was stamped on kraft cardstock and paired with the same My Mind’s Eye papers I used yesterday. Apparently I can’t get enough of them! I repeated the pattern to make a background and added a few gold crystals to break up the texture:

Fabulous is a 4x6 set that includes a total of 13 stamps and will sell for $15.
Would you like a chance to win the Fabulous stamp set? Here’s what you need to do- go to each of the Trendsetter’s Blogs and leave a comment on their Fabulous Blog Hop Challenge post.

I am the last stop, so return to the TSG Blog and add your name to the Mr. Linky at the bottom of this Blog Hop Challenge post. A winner will be chosen randomly using a random number generator to receive their very own Fabulous stamp set. The winner will be announced Saturday Aug. 27th during the Release Party Chat.

Welcome to the first of There She Goes August sneak peeks! Join us for the rest of the week for your chance to win some free stamps! First there were fairy tales and then fairies and now she has added a touch of country cottage to her fabulous build a scene stamp line! Use alone or along with the other stamp sets designed by Di to create wonderful handmade creations.
Here’s my card:

I’ve been loving my new MME “Lost and Found Two” papers so I went with a relatively simple colour combo to coordinate with the warm palette. After colouring the image and adding clouds I went over the image to highlight certain bits with a Copic Spica pen.. Check it out:

I love the subtle sparkle Spica pens add. It’s not like a huge blast of glitter that covers up all of the colouring like Stickles tend to do..

Beautiful Day is a 4x6 set that includes a total of 10 stamps and will sell for $15.
Would you like a chance to win the Beautiful Day stamp set? Here’s what you need to do- go to each of the Trendsetter’s Blogs and leave a comment on their Beautiful Day Blog Hop Challenge post. After you have finished checking out the eye candy and have left some love, return to the TSG Blog and add your name to the Mr. Linky at the bottom of this Blog Hop Challenge post. A winner will be chosen randomly using a random number generator to receive their very own Beautiful Day stamp set. The winner will be announced Saturday Aug. 27th during the Release Party Chat.
You should have arrived here from Tammy’s blog, and I am the last spot!! Thanks for hopping by!
Copics used: Hair: YR21, 23, 24; bricks: C3,5,9; Skin: E50, 51, 53, 11; Dress and hairband: E35, 49.

Two years plus a month since our wedding and I’m still working on my wedding srapbook.

Oh well.. Apparently I’m ahead of the game (according to a bunch of customers at my LSS).

Here’s a layout I did with the current Pencil Lines Sketch:

My parents lived next door to a couple who had sheep. We had a sort of Scottish theme at our wedding..

Scots.. Sheep… We thought it would be fun.

Sheep are skittish though, so we asked the neighbours if they could, with the help of their trained sheep dogs, wrangle the sheep into making an appearance in a few of our photos. They were good sports and we got a couple of cute shots.

On all of the layouts in my wedding album I’ve tried to include at least one butterfly. Butterflies were a huge component in the decor (99% hand-made by me of course) so I thought it would be fun to continue the theme in the album.. This butterfly is die cut from vellum and embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder.

I did the banner at the top by first gluing the twine down to the paper where I wanted it, then I free-hand cut the triangles out and adhere them with glue dots on top of the twine.

That’s about it! All patterned papers and stickers are from Cosmo Cricket. Letter stickers are Basic Grey.

Thanks for stopping by!

I made this card… Just because I like making cards… And I think it’s my most favouritest card ever.

Gorgeous new My Mind’s Eye: Lost and Found Two papers with an embossed vellum butterfly.

*sigh*

Today I set out to use my newly acquired watercolour crayons from Technique Tuesday. They have been around in the cardmaking world for quite some time, but I never got into them. I started making cards a few months before Copics entered our world, and you all know how that turned out for me…. Since learning to colour with Copics though, I have found that the skills I’ve learned – particularly about shading/shadows and colour theory – transfer to other colouring mediums. It’s kind of like learning to play the piano; it’s easy to pick up any other instrument after mastering the piano because piano gives you all-around musical knowledge. I’m not saying I’m GREAT at all colouring mediums, or GREAT at every instrument, but I can get by alright.  

Here’s today’s card using a new-to-me stamp called Belle on a Bike and watercolour crayons:

I added some tufts of clouds in the background – just experimenting – and played around with the greys for the ground.. The skirt is a little uneven and I know what I did wrong (I went back with the waterbrush and pushed the colour away when I was trying to even the colour out) and I will do things a little differently next time. Here’s a closer look:

When you’re watercolouring I learned that you have to start with light colours and layer darker colour on top, and each time you add a layer you should draw the colour across the whole area to avoid splotches like the one above. Lesson learned!! haha..

Have a great day!

Today is a fun day for me because I’m hosting this week’s Whimsie Wednesday challenge as well as giving tips on trends over at the There She Goes blog.. Whew!

Check out my post here at the TSG Blog to see how my need to organize and use scraps resulted in this card:

And check my post here to see this week’s Whimsie Wednesday challenge: 3 Patterned Papers featuring this card:

ps… Do your cats do this?? I think it’s the cutest thing ever…

It’s time for another fun TSG Challenge and this week I chose to do a colour challenge that was inspired by this beautiful makeup:

I love makeup, don’t you?? This compact is so pretty.. I want it. lol. The colors to use are baby pink, coral and black and extra brownie points if you throw in some gold somewhere on your card/project ;)

For the most part I used stamps from the set called Hibiscus. They are such a lovely flower, aren’t they? This stamp looks really good as a background, so I used both the outline and solid images to fill up the two different coloured cardstocks.

For the gold component of the colour challenge I rimmed the sentiment label (sentiment from Blossom by Blossom) with gold paint and coloured in the centres of the flowers with a Gold Copic Spica pen. Subtle, but in real life it bumps up the design a notch..

To be eligible for the giveaway, you are to create a card that uses 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 this challenge post. This challenge is open until the winner has been announced on the following Monday (Aug. 22). The winner will get a $5 gift certificate to use in the TSG Web store!

I love these little gnome images from Whimsie Doodles… I am giving this to my BFF for his birthday. I think he’ll get a kick out of the sentiment. I played along with today’s Featured Stamper Challenge and I chose to case this card by pawallen142. I really liked the interesting layout, everything grouped vertically in the middle. It’s great for longer images and it lets you see any interesting detail on the card-base. (I embossed the card with a cuttlebug branch folder..)

So.. speaking of Whimsie Doodles, here is a great opportunity if you love their stamps and love to colour:

Digital Stamp DESIGN TEAM CALL....
Whimsie Doodles is looking for some new creative team members to start designing with us beginning September 1st to February 28, 2012.
You don't have to have any experience with working with printable (digital) stamps....but you do need to have a printer.

Follow this link if you want to learn more: Design Team call

Call closes Aug 25,2011. Good Luck.. I have LOVED working with Melyssa and I encourage you to apply. You will have a great time!

I was cramming in a few more episodes of Drop Dead Diva tonight (my latest obsession) and at the same time got a couple of quick cards done! I played along with last week’s “Free For All” challenge at SCS, and it was “Itty Bitty Flowers” so I was on the look-out for small flower stamps.. This is what I found:

I stamped an image from the Technique Tuesday set “Fleur” in red, blue and white ink and adhered the panels to the cardbase with dimensional adhesive.. A pretty prima flower highlights the sentiment (from Swanky Sentiments) and that was my first quick card!

This card used an old PTI set (Beautiful Blooms, my first PTI set) and a Cuttlebug die that this stamp set was designed to accompany. (long before the days of metal dies…) I love cards like this that have a simple design, bold colours, and a simple message..
I hope YOUR day is fabulous! Take care.

Have you ever had to explain your craft-room and hobby to someone who’s never seen anything like it? Today a college friend came over to pick my brain about teaching music and she had a look at my “studio” and asked “So what IS this? WHY do you do this"?”

I was speechless for a second.. Why DO I do it? I was like, ‘Uh… um…”

Then she said, “Is this a business for you? What do you do with all of the cards?”

I said “Well, I work for a few stamp companies that send me stamps and I make cards with them… And I sell my cards at a flower shop, and I teach classes at my LSS…” but the conversation felt unfinished when it ended..

I have to admit that a whole room and thousands of dollars of stuff does seem excessive for a hobby, but that’s what it is.. Is card-making a PASSION of mine? I think so.. Is it crazy that I spend the money/time that I do on it? I don’t think so.. A colleague of mine from school has a very, very expensive hobby that seems really weird to me, he buys expensive sound systems for his house. We’re not talking Bose speakers, we’re talking $50k sound systems from stores that are INVITE ONLY. Do I think it’s excessive, yes, but it’s his hobby and it makes him happy. Anyway.. It was an interesting conversation..
Speaking of being excessive, here are some cards I’ve made over the past couple of days.. I’ve been productive! These are all for the Dare To Get Dirty challenges at SCS…

I made this card for this month’s Sketch For You To Try.. It’s my first one and it was fun! I used an older Kraftin’ Kimmie stamp that I actually had for sale in the garage sale I did and no one picked her up. The papers are the new, drop-dead gorgeous My Mind’s Eye “Lost and Found Two” papers. Pretty, aren’t they? Copics used: BG93, 96, 99; R81, 83, 86, 89; RV63, 66; E13, 15, 18, 31, 51, 53

The set Just my Type from Technique Tuesday is gorgeous on its own… So why not leave it? That’s what I thought, anyway. Doesn’t the typewriter stamp beautifully?

This stamp is new-to-me and I couldn’t wait to colour him up. These papers are more My Mind’s Eye “Lost and Found Two” and this particular line is my favourite. Normally I’m not a fan of gold, but the colour palette is scrumptious. Copics: YR21, 23, 25; E50, 51, 53, 71, 74, 77, 79.

This guy is from a There She Goes set called My Little Friend. I pleated the lilac ribbon, but only on the outer edges.. It’s always tricky to adhere a layer on top of thick ribbon, so I thought I’d leave it flat just in the centre.. I really liked how it worked out and will be doing that again, for sure! Copics: YR18, 63; E40, 41, 50, 51, 11; BG70, 72, 76; YG21, 23, 25; RV63, 66, C3.
Thanks for stopping by!

It's new release day and to celebrate our August release, we are having a little party with Lily Pad Cards!
Visit each of our Doodlelicious Diva blogs (click their links in the sidebar!!) today to see their card featuring our new August images and the Lily Pad color combo below...

 
Here’s what I did with the colour combo:

It looked like a more traditional combo to me, so I went with a quasi-vintage feel. As I was looking for coordinating papers I searched high and low through my paper stash and I kid you not, this is my only piece of navy blue patterned paper. It seems I don’t like this colour very much.. lol

I made a second card with a trendier feel:

I am in love with this colour combo (Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet and Black – all PTI colours) and I thought the image looked great uncoloured. I added a couple shadows with my Cool Grey markers and that was it!

A few black pearls were added to the banner for some va-va-voom and that’s it!
Check out the challenge post at Lily Pad Cards to see what their Design Team has done with the August images and find out how you can win a $15 Gift Certificate to the Whimsie Doodles Online Store, $15 will go a long way!! And while you’re at it, check out the Whimsie Doodles blog to see all of the August images.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day.

Have you jumped on the Smash Book bandwagon yet? It is absolutely NUTS at my LSS.. There are waiting lists 3 pages long for these things, and the other day when we got them in there were ladies standing outside the door waiting for them. It’s the craziest fad I’ve ever seen over a papercrafting item.
I am using this Smash Book to keep track of and log info about cardmaking. I am not a journaller, but I LOVED the look of the books and a colleague of mine used one of her Smash’s as a papercrafting resource and I thought it was a wonderful idea.

I bought a pack of calendar folders and I’ve written in all of my design team requirements as well as the card classes I have coming up in it.

Here I have glued in left-over alterables and favourite pieces of paper (the patterned paper is from our wedding invites) to remind myself of good ideas I've had... (they're few and far between, so I must document them. lol)

I’ve been playing around with a new technique and I’ve glued in a few different samples to show my classes at the LSS when it comes time to teach the technique.
Do YOU Smash? Do you love it? I wonder and hope that all of the people who rushed to buy these suckers are putting them to good use. They sure are fun.
PS.. Tomorrow is reveal day at Whimsie Doodles and here are a couple of sneak peeks for you:
Every release I am reminded of how lucky I am to be on the team. The images are so crisp and clean and are a cinch to colour.. I love them so much.. See you tomorrow for the reveal!

I’m still having a great time (despite a seriously crappy end to a good day) making cards for the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges at SCS. Here are two cards that consist of a few techniques/challenges on each card.

First, a simple one-layer card:

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I’ve really enjoyed pulling out some of my dusty chipboard and doing stuff to it! This chipboard is from Maya Road and all of the shapes were already cut out for me, I just had to ink ‘em!

If you click on the photo you may be able to see some of the finer details, but after painting the chipboard with white paint, then spraying with glimmer mist, then rubbing gold paint on the edges I covered everything with Ranger’s Rock Candy Crackle paint. It doesn’t get crunchy like Rock Candy Stickles, but it dries with cracks and you can then ink up the chipboard a little more to enhance the cracks.. It’s pretty awesome.

My second card is polar opposite:

I wanted this to be a lovely, elegant anniversary card that a husband would buy for his wife. I did a cool technique where you run the paper through an embossing folder then stamp (I used a woodgrain background stamp) on the cardstock. Only the raised/embossed portion will get stamped and you are left with this look:

Neato, huh? Thanks for stoppin’ by! Stop by SCS and try a challenge if you haven’t already: Dare to Get Dirty master thread.

Supplies for card #1: Stamps: amuse: thanks; Paper: pti; Ink: ranger distress ink; Accessories: maya road chipboard, glimmer mist, white and gold paint

Supplies for card #2: Stamps: technique tuesday - swanky sentiments, hero arts woodgrain; Paper: pti; Ink: versamagic - jumbo java; Accessories: embossing folder, ribbon, brad, nestabilities