Indecision run amuck!

I really wanted to color the new I Brake For Stamps hydrangea stamp to look like one our neighbor planted last year but then I was kind of stuck using the same colors in the background which produced a throw-back to the eighties floral sofas! The colors are much more concentrated in real life - the card kind of scanned washed out except for the ribbon, and the dark cardstock which is actually deep purple.

As you can see below, I couldn't decide on the layering LOL

STAMPS: I Brake For Stamps

INKS: Archival Grape

SUPPLIES: Tombow markers #'s 553, 027 068, and 772, Emaginations Crafts punch, Fiskars rectangle punch, gingham ribbon, stamp positioner

TECHNIQUES: marker direct to rubber, and Technique Junkies Watercolor Resist 12/02

NOTES: very hard to see here but the bkgd panel has a beautiful IBFS script bkgd embossed in white ~ the phrase was stamped with a dark purple ink and the layers are the same color

THANKS FOR COMING BY! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!! :o)

Gorgeous RAKS from Evelyn!!!

Can you believe the beautiful artwork Evelyn sent to me this past week? I love both pieces equally even tho they are totally different!!

This one uses the Aged Tiles technique from the Technique Junkie newsletter. The flowers are 3D with sparkley gold centers, and the panels are pop-dotted.



This one features a technique I've never seen in person ~ Pennywise Arts's 'Beaded Cuttlebug'. I must go check that out thoroughly - it uses an intriguing product called Sugar Beads! Here's the link for it, and you can see more of Evelyn's art there!!

THANKS AGAIN EVELYN - I LOVE THEM!!

Traveling Lovebirds

Hey! If you're Mom and/or Dad, do NOT scroll down any further or you will see the card I sent to you!!!

Anyone else, feel free ;o) LOL

Card measures 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

STAMPS: I Brake For Stamps / Time To Stamp sheet, and misc. words

INKS: Distress - Peeled Paint, Tattered Rose, Aged Mahogany, Brushed Corduroy, and Weathered Wood, Staz-On - Timber Brown

SUPPLIES: white gel pen, paper piercer, blender pens, crimper, distressing tool, lace, printed ribbon, feather, large pink brad, sponge

TECHNIQUES: Technique Junkies Pierced Spotlight, Faux Felt from the current newsletter and Faux Stitching

NOTES: after I put the feather in a tiny hole punched in her hat the spot looked too naked so I trimmed a little crescent from leftover edge cs and glued it down ~ I used the gel pen to color in his shirt front and color ~ to get the heart shape I folded a piece of cs in half and cut one side of the heart thru both layers and trimmed till it would fit within the framed on the image, then opened it up and traced around it with a pencil

Thanks for stopping by, and if you still need more to look at go check out the brand new cards on the Rare Image blog !!!

Fall Hydrangea

I love solid image stamps for the watercolored look, and this hydrangea actually has very fine details thru-out even though it's mostly bold.

Card measures 4 1/2" x 5 3/4"

STAMPS: I Brake For Stamps - hydrangea is on the New Stamps page, crackle square is on the newest birds sheet, and the prayer is on the Inspirational Phrases #5 sheet

INKS: Staz-On Timber Brown, Tombow markers, Stampin' Up! Creamy Caramel

SUPPLIES: flower punch, brushed brass brads, striped ribbon, distressing tool, water spritzer, pop-dots, dry embossing tool, dense foam mat, piercing tool

TECHNIQUE: Technique Junkies Torn Frames

NOTES: I followed the link in the post below to give the punched flowers more definition, and after putting brads thru I used pop-dots to set them up ~ to get the watercolored feel I just colored the flower stamp with markers and spritzed it likely with water before stamping ~ I think the crackle stamp was second-generation Caramel ink

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY! OH!! AND DON'T MISS THE NEW ARTWORK OVER ON THE RARE IMAGE RUBBER STAMPS SITE!!

Wildflower Silhouettes

Here's a pretty quick and easy card for a little card club I go to once a month on Tuesday evenings. It makes use of Prima-style handmade paper flowers which you can find a tutorial for here

Card measures 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

STAMPS: label and quote - Stampin' Up!, wildflowers - See-D's, distressed shadow and faux stitch - Hero Arts

INKS: Stampin' Up! Mellow Moss and Pale Plum, Staz-On Jet Black

SUPPLIES: white gel pen, Liquid Pearls, mini Glue Dots, ribbons - dotted grosgrain and black/white gingham, dry embossing tool, flower punches

NOTES: this ended up busier than I meant it to be LOL but it looked too plain without the 3D flowers ~ I used the white gel pen to outline the silhouettes that fell inside the distressed green rectangle to make them really seem to be floating on top of it ~ I meant for the dotted ribbon to be on the bottom but I applied my ribbon with the card upside down unknowingly ~ don't miss the link at the top for making your own prima-style flowers! Here are my hints - when rounding the flowers use the largest ball ended embossing tool to avoid tearing the paper - a foam mat works best for the surface to work on - try making the flowers using the new

Technique Junkie Faux Felt technique!

Paris Tiny Collage

Another card featuring the Stringing You Along technique from the brand new Technique Junkies Feb 09 newsletter...

Card measures 6 1/4" x 5"

STAMPS: I Brake For Stamps - Time To Stamp sheet, fleur de lis was a freebie :o)

INKS: Stampin' Up! Kiwi Kiss, Adirondack Mushroom, Staz-On Jet Black

SUPPLIES: smooth-topped adhesive-backed rhinestones (my new favorite bling!!), paper flowers, gingham ribbon, string, vellum, sponges, flat Glue Dots

TECHNIQUES: Technique Junkies Stringing You Along from the Feb 09 newsletter

NOTES: I just noticed this would be a great layout for using up atc-sized pieces ~ Staz-On works great anytime you want to stamp your words on vellum, which I love because it doesn't cover the bkgd completely - and speaking of the quote, in the photo it is striking me as too plain so I'm going to add tiny bling to both sides of the author's name like I have on the fleur de lis ~ the paper flowers are very dimensional in person so I use flat Glue Dots between each layer to make sure they aren't going anywhere ~ I totally took the color inspiration from the very reasonable bag of green, white, black and brown assorted flowers by Hero Arts - in real life they match perfectly and there is more difference between the green and brown - try to picture all the greens as more limey than olive...

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Curious Cat

You know animals are near and dear to my heart and I have neglected the poor cats on my Rare Image Rubber Stamps PETS sheet long enough!! I thought this brand new Technique Junkie technique Stringing You Along would go perfectly :o)

Card measures a whacky 7 1/2" x 4 1/2" LOL

STAMPS: cat - Rare Image Rubber Stamps, Meow - DMD Clear Stamps (single, in an Archiver's $1.99 bin), phrase - Rubber Stampede, baskets - PSX (all one stamp)

INKS: VersaMagic Dewdrops - Gingerbread, Sahara Sand, Wheat, Pumpkin Spice, and Red Brick, Adirondack Espresso, Stampin' Up! Creamy Caramel

SUPPLIES: embroidery floss, antiqued copper brads, large Pop Up Glue Dots (1/2" x 1/8"), small stipple brush, distressing tool, cotton string, sponges, Sakura Quickie Glue pen, Glue Dots Minis, small pop-dots

TECHNIQUE: Technique Junkies Stringing You Along from the Feb 09 newsletter

NOTES: to make the cat a calico, I applied the dewdrop pads to the rubber in various areas and then edged it all with the Espresso pad ~ for the basket shading I stamped the row of baskets in Espresso on the same bkgd paper as the cat, trimmed some out, then stippled the edges with Caramel, and the Espresso just at the edges ~ to shade lightly under the cat and yarn ball, I applied the wheat ink directly from the pad ~ for the yarn ball I formed a Glue Dots into a circle (they start out kind of oval) and wrapped my embroidery floss around it, varying the direction after every three. I glued the ball down with Glue Dots Minis and the trailing floss with thin strips of Quickie Glue at intervals, leaving some loose ~ the baskets have a mini pop-dot on the edge the sticks out over the panels ~ the cream panels were edged with the Pumpkin pad and the bkgd panel was edged with the Espresso pad

Stay tuned - I have a Paris-themed card using this technique in some very different colors coming up tonight or tomorrow...!

All set for Valentine's day?

What I'd love is a big ol' box of Godiva chocolate on the special day! But no - I've put myself on a bit of a healthier diet. Caught the flu the first of January, lost 10 pounds and decided to keep it off. Hoping to keep losing more by eating take-out just once a week and dessert only on the last weekend of the month.

You'll probably have to click on this one for some detail...

Card is 5 1/8" x 5 3/8"

STAMPS: I Brake For Stamps ~ GOOD NEWS! the little quarter sheet with this collaged cupid heart and three phrases is on sale this week on the Specials page!! ~ I used a variety of different IBFS images around the main heart collage - if you'd like to know about any specific one just email me and I can send you to the page it's on ~ the flourish used in the corner and around the edges is in the Stampinback section

INKS: Stampin' Up! Pink Pirouette and Red Riding Hood, Staz-On Jet Black

SUPPLIES: Radiant Pearls asst. colors, small paintbrush, sponges, Cloud 9 Design Rain Dots, white gel pen

TECHNIQUE: Technique Junkies Blocked Collage 02/09 newsletter

NOTES: I stamped the heart on a scrap of heavyweight white cardstock using the black ink and trimmed the banner out of it ~ I pop-dotted the banner in the center and tacked the ends down with double-stick tape ~ the flowers were all colored in with a tiny paintbrush and Radiant Rain in assorted shades so they are shimmery in real life ~ I highlighted the large roses with white gel pen ~ after all the red inking was done it looked too monotone and I wanted to tie in the black of the banner so I stamped the flourish repeatedly around the edges, and then sponged a little ink over just the very edges ~ I stopped at JoAnn's looking for some black rhinestones for the corners but not finding any I liked I picked up a pack of these gel look embellishments - I think they work

Thanks for stopping in!! :o)

Thank you Shar!!

My fabulous friend Shar generously gifted me with this blog award!! Isn't it beautiful? Go check out Shar's blog when you get a minute - she has got great art and a really helpful listing of various links including a TON of cool stamp companies on her sidebar.

I would love to draw your attention to the following stamping bloggers ~ beautiful art but more beautiful people, in no particular order :o)

Lisa

Jackie

Judy

Beth

Manna

Tera

Ret

Faye

Wouldn't you love....

...to be sitting under this tree on a warm sunny day reading a good book?! We in the North sometimes get a little jealous of all of you living in the South when it's winter time!! LOL But I wouldn't trade the way Spring follows Winter here for any other climate (ask me next year when Winter is just getting rolling!)

STAMPS: tree - Rare Image Rubber Stamps, GARDEN sheet ~ words, bkgd - Stampin' Up!

INKS: Adirondack reinkers in Willow and Lettuce, SU markers in Olive Green and Chocolate Chip, clear embossing ink, Staz-On Timber Brown

SUPPLIES: SU picture hanger hardware and brad, green rivets, Cropadile, small brass brads, white grosgrain ribbon, fine twine, corner rounder punch, SU blender pen, water spritz bottle, clear embossing powder, file folder

TECHNIQUE: bkgd is Technique Junkies Background Smoosh Resist from the 02/09 newsletter

NOTES: to get the varigated colors in the foliage I used a blender pen and the olive marker ink I had scribbled on a sheet of plastic to color the whole thing, then went over the lower areas with the marker directly, using the fine point to follow existing lines, then used some Willow reinker, spritzed with water, and a paintbrush to fill in some paler yellowy green areas near the top ~ background cs is actually a light and a dark brown, not black like it appears on screen

Thanks for checking in and enjoy the rest of your day :o)