Miss Magoo's Creations

A Lil Scrap of Heaven's first HOP!

2011-08-15T09:00:00.022-06:00

Welcome to A Lil Scrap of Heaven's first HOP!

Your Project: Mini Album, Layout, Card, Altered Item, Canvas, etc. (you can use something you've already made) With the theme: Family, Friends, Togetherness, Inspiration, community, Love, etc.

We are a large family @ LSH with over 1100 members and growing every day. We want to show you the love, fun, and creativeness we share @ LSH. There is 12 prizes hidden in these blogs from Sponsors such as:

Lindy's Stamp Gang is giving away 8 prizes!

I Am Roses is giving away 2 prizes!

Karlas001 is giving away 2 $25.00 gift certificates!

More prizes given by

Geordie

Becca

Laura

Cynthialoowho

& LSH Members!

Please make sure to follow each blog and comment on each post and subscribe to each youtube channel and comment on youtube video's for your chance to win some amazing prizes.

Here's my project:

You can check out a video of how I made this here:

Lovely Sponsors:

Lindys' Stamp Gang @ http://www.lindystampgang.com/

I Am Roses @ http://www.iamroses.com/

Karlas001 @ http://www.etsy.com/shop/KARLAS001?ref=pr_shop

LSH @ http://alilscrapofheaven.ning.com/main

Now hop on to

If you get lost here is the list from start to finish!

Vikki Young @ http://kelsieskrafts.blogspot.com/

Louise @ http://mamajt4scraproom.blogspot.com/

Blue Crayons @ http://craftingwithblue.blogspot.com/

Gloria @ http://gloriawest.blogspot.com/

Katherine @ http://classydify.blogspot.com/

Victoria @ http://thingsilearnfrombear.blogspot.com/

Jennifer @ http://jenmcgee46.blogspot.com/

Kimberly @ http://berlykim37.blogspot.com/

Kathy @ http://scrapndaze.blogspot.com/

Shana @ http://www.shanasweetsblog.blogspot.com/

Deanna @ http://www.fernsfrills.blogspot.com/

Marie @ http://scrappypaperaddictions.blogspot.com/

Becca @ http://scrapbookcorazonyo.blogspot.com/

Laura @ http://prettypicturepages.blogspot.com/

Geordie @ http://gbetty138.blogspot.com/

Cynthialoowho @ http://cynthialoowho.blogspot.com/

LSH Family Hop continues on youtube, starting @

Tmika @ http://www.youtube.com/user/scrapdaworld

Laura @ http://www.youtube.com/user/craftylollypop?feature=mhee

Linda @ http://www.youtube.com/user/giftshoppe2

Sandi @ http://www.youtube.com/user/sancan12?feature=mhee

Joanne @ http://www.youtube.com/user/joannegreathead?feature=mhsn

Mariam @ http://www.youtube.com/user/mariamsatchell

Antonia @ http://www.youtube.com/user/Frede5558

And

Me!

To be added to the contest - you'll need to comment on the video here - comments have been disabled on this blog post:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=3XcMKBkqWgo

Thanks for Hopping!

Playing with Alcohol Inks - Another Art Journaling experiment

2011-07-23T10:54:00.000-06:00

So I recently bought a slew of Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads, and decided to play with them. This is what I made:

Cool huh?

A little hostess gift for an Aussie friend

2011-07-21T10:43:00.002-06:00

A few posts back I shared a chocolate box that I had altered for a swap - well the hostess of that swap is in Australia and due to the distance, she was unable to participate. So I thought I would send her a small chocolate box that I altered as a hostess gift.

Don't you just love the butterfly - and a very similar frame idea.

I made a video where I went into a little more detail as to what I did - you can watch it here:

Thanks for stopping by!!

Want to save money - make your own flowers to match!

2011-07-19T10:32:00.002-06:00

So money has been tight this summer - and I've resolved to make my own flowers. When I can buy a roll of white ribbon for $1, and make five flowers - of any color that I'd like when I can dye them with my Lindy's, its way better than paying $4 and $5 for one or two flowers. So I've watched a couple of videos on youTube and decided to give it a try - here are my results:

For these rolled roses - I followed this video by worker4ever123 and her mother.

For these grunge paper roses I followed this video by stampyra.

Bored one night - so a little art journaling on tags

2011-07-17T10:27:00.000-06:00

So one night, I was feeling creative - but didn't really have a project in mind. My boyfriend had brought home a four pack of Odells Brewery Double Pilsner with this amazing owl on it. So I cut up the box, and made this lovely tag:

I even painted the glass myself! I was so happy with it when I finished it. It was my first step into a larger universe - of art journaling!! I thought I'd share in the hope that it would inspire you to start art journaling too.

Altered Picture Frame

2011-07-15T10:24:00.002-06:00

About two months ago - one of my friends lost her horse unexpectedly and I wanted to send her something to keep a picture of him in as a memento. So I made this using one of the plain wooden frames from Hobby Lobby:

I either hand dyed or painted all of the flowers to match one another. I hand rolled a rose out of satin ribbon.

I was told after the fact that her family kept items in specific colors for specific horses, and the frame that I had made for her was in the colors that were meant for her horse - so that made it extra special.

Thanks for stopping by!

Aloha Surfer Girl!

2011-07-13T10:13:00.000-06:00

My last Greeting Farm haul included Surfer Anya - which I loved to death when I saw it!! And I just had to knock out a card using it for my friend in Hawaii when I sent her a little gift.

I used the Tahiti Mat Stack from DCWV - and colored her to match the paper.

Pick a Year - Artist Trading Cards

2011-07-11T10:06:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post today - So another swap that I was in required us to pick a year and make a ATC based on that year, or group of years. I picked the 1920s. Now I have no clue if mine fits in to the 1920s - but I made them anyway:

I used the Graphic45 Curtain Call Collection as a background and a stamp that I bought from Gabby - who was one of my fellow Bombshell DT members. I used some grunge paper flourishes died with Lindy's Black Orchid Silver Starburst stain and then some flowers made of seam binding that I aged a bit.

Neat huh? I'm always down with swapping ATCs with my fellow artists!

The Last Two Months Flew By

2011-07-09T10:05:00.000-06:00

Wow the months have flown - and I have been crafting the whole time and not sharing with you. For that I apologize. I'll begin sharing now!! I've been crafting with an amazing group of ladies on A Lil' Scrap of Heaven. If you're looking for a place that hosts fun and challenging swaps, this is your place. I've taken part in several swaps, one of which was a Chocolate Box Swap. Where the task is to decorate a chocolate box and fill it with goodies. Here's what I made for my swap partner:

I started out by painting it with metallic champagne paint around the edges and on 1" around the top. On the top of the box I painted block of metallic rose paint and then hand died some lace with Lindy's Stamp Gang Black Orchid Silver Starburst spray. I then lined the pink box with balsa wood stained with the same Lindy's.

I then used a pewter frame with a vintage image to make a focal point and surrounded that with hand dyed flowers, and custom made roses. A couple of sprays of bling and handmade stick pins finished it off.

Isn't it lovely? She loved every bit of it - it was a whole days work, but an amazing project.

What have you been working on?

Rockstar

2011-04-23T09:43:00.000-06:00

Happy Saturday Morning to all! So this weekend is going to feel like a short one - what with Easter Sunday tomorrow it means a trip south to be with my wonderful extended family. But last night during a Bones TV marathon (well, okay three episodes that I was behind on.) I rocked these out!

These are for my ATC card swap on a Lil' Scrap of Heaven - the theme was Music and requirements were bold colors or dimension. For a long time I read it as bold colors and dimension and was having a hard time coming up with something. But once I re-read the requirements I was golden. It just so happens that my local scrapbooking store was moving and had a My Mind's Eye stamp for 50 cents! 50! Sure it was a tad used - but it worked so perfectly with the sheet music I picked up at the flea market!

I'm so excited to get these to the hostess so everyone can see them in person!

Have a good weekend all!

If life gives you limes - Make Margaritas!

2011-04-20T09:00:00.032-06:00

So I had the desire to participate in the April Blast from the Past challenge by Taylored Expressions - use a stamp set that I have yet to use - and drink a delicious beverage at the same time! I don't know how ones night could get any better. No seriously, I really don't know - okay well maybe the Star Trek marathon helped a bit too... but that's cause I'm an uber nerd!

So here was the challenge:

Create a card featuring any Taylored Expressions Stamps released prior to February 2011! The theme for our April hop is "Clean & Simple". Often clean lines and a simple layout make the most beautiful cards! If you're looking for some direction, think lots of white space, limited layering, and a single focal image!

Pretty simple right - well when the images are amazing... its easy to make a clean and simple card. In this case all of the images and sentiments are from the Taylored Expressions set titled Chillax and are simply amazing to work with. I mean how much fun is this card for someone having a bad day?!

For a bit more detail to bring the eye to the image I used my Spica glitter pens to add some hand drawn corners on the image. And used a bit of Glossy Accents over the glass part of the marg to make it look like glass. Came out pretty neat huh?

And as always - gotta make the inside as pretty as the outside, in this case the lower right corner of the inside! In this case it was just stamped in black and embellished with my Spica pens just as a did the details on the front..

Since this is a hop - here it is simple and easy to jump to the next blog - everyone has done some amazing work:

Howdy!

2011-04-10T13:23:00.000-06:00

Howdy there blog land - just wanted to throw up a quick card that I made!

Gotta love Bombshell Stamps!!

Princess Paper Piecing

2011-04-07T08:00:00.002-06:00

So just a quick post - I got a bunch of stamps from All That Scraps that were princess related, there's a little princess in my life (my "niece" Fiona) and I'm so looking forward to using these stamps!! I already sent a really cute tag, but I thought I'd play with my Graphic45 Renaissance Paper and do a bit of paper piecing. Here's what I came up with:

Cute right! And the bonus is that I had just enough paper left to make my own flower for the card. I just learned how to make these things - and now I'm making them for everything!!

Back on Saturday with a big Bombshell Howdy! Hope everyone has an inspirational day!

Step into Wonderland - Graphic45 Style!

2011-04-03T08:00:00.001-06:00

So as promised - here's the second box! These were SO fun to make - and I think I went around covered in paint and glue for a week. That's how you know it was a good one.

Pretty nifty huh?! The detail on the Graphic45 paper is amazing. And thought the set is intended for Halloween - I couldn't pass it up for this. Again this is one of the infamous dollar boxes from Michaels and the flowers are Recollections spritzed with a bit of Smooch spray for some shine.

Pretty cool huh? I cut out some of the images, put them on some chipboard and modge-podge them in to place. The box was so amazing - and it went to an amazing lady, so it is fitting!

Renaissance Box

2011-04-01T08:00:00.002-06:00

So this was a gift for one of my cousins - I made one for each birthday that occurs in March and hand-delivered them to Scottsdale. I took pictures of two of the three - so I'll post them here for inspiration. They were made from the infamous wooden boxes from the Michaels dollar bin and decorated with Graphic45. They were each tailored to the person they were going to.

Here is the front of the box - the wooden knob is the one that came with the box - a little designer paper and some crackle medium and it fit perfectly.

The flowers are all recollections from Michaels - Prima esque - but way cheaper! And the grunge board henges and ideology key!

There's so many details:

I'll post the second of the two boxes I have pictures of on Sunday! So stay tuned - same bat time, same bat channel!

A Captured Fairy

2011-03-30T21:58:00.000-06:00

Hiya Blogland! Wow - I guess I could say that it took me about two months to catch this little beauty - but really it didn't. I've been so busy with work, projects for family and decompressing in general that my blog has been put to the wayside. But I intend to remedy that now! I have a couple of projects that I can post now that they've been given to those intended. This one doesn't have an intended yet - but I'm sure I can find someone who will give her a good home:

I've been watching a lot of youtube videos - like this one from CynthiaLooWho - and was inspired... but all I had was a little itty bitty bottle, and had feathers only in red. I think she came out well and I may manage to acquire more supplies to make her some friends.

Here's a few more shots of the bottle itself - that was part of the fun "catching" her!

Speaking of, I still need to come up with a name - I'm thinking Poppy!

So here's what I did on Friday....

2011-01-31T08:00:00.002-07:00

... I learned to blow glass! Well I started learning - and in one word AWESOME! I'm not kidding, it was hot but it was totally a blast. And I had an awesome teacher who let me make mistakes so I could learn to fix them. Mind you I've never done this before, but I've gotta say if I can scrap together $90 a month, I'd totally take a lesson a month until I get the hang of it. Here's some pictures of the action (Sorry on the quality - taken with my cell phone):

And my creations:

For those of you in the Northern Colorado area who may want to learn this very special and amazing skill - the place to go is Glass Rocks here in Fort Collins. There aren't many people in Colorado that teach this, but Dottie is happy to. Here's her website:

Discover Your Wings - A Moxie Fab Challenge

2011-01-30T17:24:00.001-07:00

Sorry I've been so quiet all, when work gets busy - its sometimes hard to come home and keep creating. I did do something awesome after work on Friday, pictures will be posted tomorrow. But this needs to go up today, because today is the last chance to enter in the Moxie Fab Bright and Bold Challenge for this month. And since I just found this fab website about three days ago... then saw they were giving away a cricket, just wanted to throw my hat in the ring!

So without further ado -

Cute right?! I LOVE this color combo, simply love it. Anyway so here's what I did:

1) Cut circles using my Fiskars Circle Cutter - Total life saver since my Slice cuts circles like a 3 year old - pretty sure it was something with the glue on the mat. Either way, the circle cutter lets me make circles of any size - so I'll be using that. The circles are cut from PTI Stamper Select White, Smokey Shadow, Raspberry Fizz, and an orange that I've had for years. Don't use the color much, until now!

2) Used Memento Tuxedo Black to stamp the butterflies from Bombshell Stamps, then colored them with copics and added orange stickles and hot pink flock for some dimension.

3) I then used the black organdy ribbon to tie a nice big bow around a PTI Stamper Select White cardbase.
4) The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions - Discover Your Wings set.

Stay tuned! Tomorrow I will share what I did on Friday afternoon... trust me - you'll love it!!!

Corset Beauty - Bombshell Stamps

2011-01-25T08:00:00.002-07:00

So I was walking down the street by my office - and there is this lovely little waxing studio called The Screaming Peach, and I saw a lovely corset in the window. I thought about how to accomplish the same look using one of my favorite Bombshell Stamps. So here's what I did -

1) Stamped the image on some white cardstock and colored everything but her bathing suit using my colored pencils.

2) I then stamped the image again on some Raspberry Fizz cardstock from PTI. I drew using a pink colored pencil the lines of the boning on the corset. Then I traced those lines with a glue pen and glittered them up.

3) I then used some thread to sew on some fluffy yarn from Basic Grey. Using the needled and thread to tack the ribbon down around the edges of the corset.

Pretty neat huh? Gotta love inspiration when it strikes! I also used some really awesome bling and pretty matching ribbon. (Including my Epiphany punch to accent the flowers.)

As always the card isn't finished until the inside is just as pretty as the outside.

Hope you all have a really good week! Tomorrow is Wednesday - its that much closer to crafty weekend!

Cupcake Thing

2011-01-24T08:00:00.005-07:00

So sitting around - watching Julie and Julia, and I got the hankering for some cupcakes. But because of the ever expanding waistline, its best if I just color and glitter up some cupcakes instead. Doesn't have the same taste - but it has the same sense of satisfaction at the end!

Now what made this totally easy was the Key Ingredients from Taylored Expressions - they send you everything that you need to create awesome cards. I highly recommend checking it out, its like a present every month! And it has never disappointed!! The stamp is a Stamping Bella classic - as is the saying that I used on the inside. The best part is this simple card can be used to brighten anyone's day - not just a birthday!

I then practiced with glue pens and real glitter - instead of the usual stickles. I decided to keep the card simple - and do the saying on the inside:

I want to thank everyone that has stopped by - though I've missed a couple days this month, the process is getting much easier. I do have some other projects that, because they're family related, I don't want to share any images without consent. So I may not be posting each day of the week, but I normally spend a couple hours each Saturday to make up something I can post here. If you like what I do - you can follow me on twitter, facebook and on my blog. I love hearing what everyone has to say.

Crisis in the Magoo Household ...

2011-01-21T08:00:00.002-07:00

All - I just want you all to know that we had a crisis today in the Magoo Household. Everything with today's card was going swimmingly, until I went for the black organdy ribbon - and found that I was out. Red Alert!!! After a severe breakdown, some tears and hyperventilating into a paper bag, I was able to calm myself - and think, what would GinaK do? Of course! Some grosgrain ribbon - with a pre-tied into a bow! It was a eureka moment to be sure... and the red alert status was downgraded to a yellow alert. And tomorrow, a venture to the Hobby Lobby to acquire more of this staple of the craft room. You all can now sleep easy knowing that all will soon be right in the world!

I give you the result of the crisis - and this weeks entry inspired by the Case Study Challenge #23!

It actually turned out quite lovely - I die-cut everything using my Slice - the red curly thingies (technical term), the black and white circles. All Slice - so versatile!! The stamps were from Verve - Hearts on Fir e - and the ribbon has been previously explained.

The white/clear gems I received in last months Key Ingredients kit - and they came with Embellie Gellie, which I'd honestly never used. But I must say it is magic... magic. And as always the inside has to be as pretty as the outside!

Pretty neat huh? Well now that I've had my moment of panic - I'll sign off for now. I hope everyone has a creative and healthy weekend - hug those you love and let them know.

See you next week with more exciting tales in crafting...

A Purple Flutter Fantasy - Club Anya Saturday Sketch 1/15

2011-01-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Purple is really hard to match - and I colored this cute little Anya before I picked the paper. That's breaking my rule of picking the paper before coloring. So here's what I decided to do - just make the whole card in different shades of purple - what do you think?

I think it came out alright. I used the Basic Grey Wisteria 6x6 paper pack - and my sewing machine. The flowers are from Prima:

I even made a matching clip to put up in the left corner! Just by cutting a small strip of paper - and covering the back with my ATG tape and affixing it to a very small clip that I had sitting around.

Pretty neat huh? I think she came out really cute!

I want to thank all of the beautiful people that read and comment on my little corner of the internet - you have no idea how much comments make my day! Thank you all so much!

Cupcakes Make Everything Better - Viva la Verve Week #2

2011-01-18T08:00:00.002-07:00

On Friday I found a new scrapbooking store! I was so excited - it was neat, organized and amazing. Well I found a EK Success punch there that I just had to have - had to. It is called Real Estate Sign. And it was perfect for sayings on cards - see:

Just the white part is the actual punch and I went through and made my own mat for it. But its beautiful. The stamps are from Verve Stamps. I combined two sets: Cupcake Affair and Fairy Tales. Fantastic huh?

And as always - the inside should be as pretty as the outside -

Tomorrow, a The Greeting Farm in its most purple form. Thanks all for stopping by!!

Flirt - Graphic45 Inspired by Love Challenge

2011-01-17T08:00:00.004-07:00

Happy Monday! This would be my last day off for a while - so I'm planning on enjoying it. I started by working on a challenge for one of my favorite companies. The art on the paper made the card super easy. Here's the challenge:

Since Valentine's Day is coming up, we thought it would be fun to have a card-making challenge inspired by love. Using Graphic 45 paper, design a Valentine's card for someone you love and post it on our Facebook Fan page.

And here's what I came up with, inspired by my love - who loves the color orange (Broncos orange - but this is close). So made specifically for him:

The paper is Steampunk Debutante - which is still the most amazing paper, so versatile. And if you come across it - buy it now, because it may get hard to find. The orange flower is Prima - and I got to bust out the sewing machine that Santa brought me.

Here's some of the details:

Enjoy your Monday!! For tomorrow, my Viva la Verve challenge - for what would be their week two! I'm a bit behind... but its all good.

Hope you all had a crafty weekend - and thanks for stopping by!

Video: Coloring Bombshell Stamps

2011-01-14T08:00:00.002-07:00

So as those of you who have been reading a bit longer - of my favorite companies, Bombshell Stamps has to be the most fun for me. I thought I'd share, for my second video - my coloring technique for the Retro Cowgirl set. You'll have to forgive me, I was a bit of a mouth breather due to my cold - and frequently lost my train of thought in this one.... but I think it came out okay.)

Enjoy!

Until next week blogland! I hope everyone has safe and crafty weekends. Can't wait to see what everyone will be making!!

Seifer the Cat

2011-01-12T08:00:00.004-07:00

So I'm also a scrapbooker - though you'd never know it. This layout I've been meaning to post for a while. This one is about my little kitten turned 18.5lb big buddy.

It reads:

May 29th 2010

Isn't it funny how fate brings animals and their people together? Charles and I went to work as normal, and came home with a little fuzzball of a cat. We were not looking for another creature to look after but how could we pass this option up? He was offered to us by a co-worker, and since he was found starving under a trailer on a farm, with him we got a quart of fresh goats milk from the food animal barn to help him gain back his strength.

After a trip to the vet to be checked out he came home with us. Little more than a fur and bones and weighing in at only one pound, six ounces - his litter box was an empty Kleenex box, his first room was the bathroom and his best friend was a little beanie baby dog of the same size. He learned many skill early including how to get his big sister Magoo to hide and not come out, how to get people to do his bidding and Charles even taught him how to play World of Warcraft!

And as the time passed he gained both weight and cuteness factor, the likes of which has never been seen. He chases his big sister Magoo around the apartment; she immediately saw (and still sees him) as little more than an annoyance that she has to avoid at all costs. He quickly found out that the food is as plentiful as the love, and both are dished out in droves by both of us making sure that he gets lots of attention.

Now he knows he's the boss, the toughest cat he's ever seen ... but back then he was just our lil' dude!

Thanks for stopping in! I'm glad that you've now seen the pictures of both of my "kids". Tune in on Friday to see a video instruction on how to best color the Bombshell Stamps Retro Cowgirl! Until then - may you be blessed by your families and kids of all different types.

My Little Corner of Heaven on Earth

2011-01-11T08:00:00.016-07:00

So, as every crafter knows - the place where one creates is the most magical of lands, a haven, a sanctuary. Well I thought you all should see mine, because I love looking at other people's spaces. I spent all weekend cleaning between my naps and only when the cold medicine was in full force. I pulled everything out on the floor - sorted it into appropriate categories and then placed it all back neatly on the table.

So here it is:

I may eventually do a video tour, but this is the main part of the room. My amazing uncle built the table for my Grandfather - I then inherited the table after he passed. I have a whole post on my Grandfather and his influence on my crafty nature - here. So this table is very special to me. Now I made some additions - like all of the white cabinets (gotta love Target) And the white shelf that goes over both of the towers to hold even more stuff.

I made this slide show for you to enjoy (which I found out after all that work that it doesn't play here on the blog - so I'll have it open in a new tab for you - and it repeats, so if you see the whole table like you do above, then its over :-) ):

If you would like a video tour - I'd be happy to do one - it just means that I need to clean the other side of the room :-)

For tomorrow you'll get to meet Seifer the Cat! - Until then.

Cheeky Cherry Weekend

2011-01-10T08:00:00.004-07:00

Well happy Monday to all! I sure hope that your weekend was more productive than mine. I've been fighting a bit of a cold, that left the creative side of my brain in a slump. I was able to get a couple cards done - all with the same theme:

Aren't they just the most darling! I'm in love with The Greeting Farm Cheeky Cherry Collection - in love. Not only are they a blast to color, but they simply make a card. This first one is Cheeky Cherry Pie! She reminds me of pictures I've seen of my grandmother when she was younger. And the paper I got from a Key Ingredients kit, its called Modern Homemaker by October Afternoon. Isn't it just perfect?

The Cheeky Nurse is just perfect for my family, my mother is a nurse and I think this is her favorite stamp. She has most recently been giving them away at work as part of Employee of the Month kits.

Cheeky Rockabilly is just perfect for this paper. It was an old piece of My Mind's Eye Laundry Line - which never should go away... the whole line was just amazing!

And of course I love supporting the troops - and Cheeky Mate gives me a creative way to be patriotic. The background paper is also from The Greeting Farm called Dirty Rodeo.

Be sure that if you enjoy my blog that you know you can follow me in several locations, all to the right of this post. Twitter - Facebook and following me on Blogger with any number of accounts. It helps me know who is reading, and gives me the ability to get to know you all better.

Thanks again for stopping by!! For Tomorrow - A Tour of my newly cleaned workspace - and what I was really up to all weekend!

Video Review - Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio

2011-01-07T08:00:00.004-07:00

Today I thought I'd treat you to a little video demo of my newest tool - the Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio - so here it is!

Fort Collins Local - www.shopcapture.com
Online - www.epiphanycrafts.com

You can find more videos about how these punches work on the official Epiphany Crafts website :-) Go on and check them out!

In this video:

Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio - SST-01 Punch - $24.99 (Locally it was $28.99 - but with shipping it evens out)

Epiphany Crafts Bubble Caps Round 14 - $4.99 (Again, I bought mine locally for $5.99)

Basic Grey - Max and Whiskers 6x6 paper

Thanks for visiting! I'll be back next week with more pretty things to show everyone!

Birthday Birdie!

2011-01-06T08:00:00.002-07:00

Its always nice to have birthday cards around - just in case someone surprises you and you feel like doing more than just posting a message on their facebook wall. I recently had a co-worker ask me to make up cards, so that his wife could have a stash just like this to dip into. Well here's one of the cards that I made for them:

I used a quick paper piecing technique for this card- for those of you who may not know what that is:

1) Stamp the image that you want to piece on multiple colors - for this one I chose a periwinkle, brown and aqua with a base of white.

2) Decide what parts of the image you would like to have in what color. And cut them out carefully - so as not to lose the edge of that part of the image.

3) Use some glue, to affix the peices on the white background image - this creates an awesome look, in very little time.

I then used a Spica pen to give all of the black a bit of sparkle and shine. And the stamps are Verve Stamps - Birthday Suprise!

Pretty neat huh? Always a good thing to keep several cards on-hand!

For Tomorrow: My Very First Video Review (If I have time this week, I'm hoping I will) - I'll be reviewing a new toy that I got last month that makes quick embellishments out of any kind of paper.

Viva la Verve - January 2011 - Week One

2011-01-05T08:00:00.004-07:00

So, as I pointed out in a recent blog post - Verve Stamps have quickly become one of my go to companies for unique and beautiful images that are also versatile. I only have four sets, but I already feel like I have infinite possibilities when it comes to what I can do with them. It allows me to step out of the box a bit and create something that I wouldn't normally have done. This is my first Viva la Verve challenge, and I loved the sketch - it may become one of my new favorite challenges.

I was thinking about all of the people that make a difference in our lives, and they normally don't' get the appreciation they deserve - and then I set out to make a card for one of them.

Here's what I came up with:

It ended up being extremely cute. I used the Fairy Tales set and double stamped the circle from that set in two different colors - PTI Chocolate Brown and Technique Tuesday Lilac. It actually made the whole image pop- cool huh?

And as always - the card has to be just as pretty on the inside as it is on the outside - so a little bit of decoration, with a sentiment from AmyR's Thank You Sentiments set.

Pretty neat! Exciting to be entering yet another new challenge - Hope to see you all tomorrow, when I use Verve stamps to create a paper pieced bird to wish someone a fab day!.

Babies Babies Everywhere! - Baby Bear!

2011-01-04T08:00:00.002-07:00

So I think I've used this bear more than once here on my blog - but this one came out so cute that I can't help but share it!

This was a set that was created by Taylored Expressions - one of my favorite companies - called Beary Special. And the set is so versatile - since each piece is separate, it is easy to create everything from baby cards to sympathy, get well and happy birthday! Anyway, I love using it for baby cards - This one is super simple too, it was all in the details:

There are wings behind the bear that you can barely see - but they're there and they glitter and sparkle!! Again colored with prismacolor pencils and then mounted on some nestabilities squares - it makes for a simple but heartfelt welcome for any little one. The ribbon is amazing as well - it came with one of the many Key Ingredients kits that I've received over the course of the last six months. Its a subscription service that you can check out here.

Tomorrow - My Viva La Verve Sketch Challenge entry for week one - so stay tuned!

Babies, Babies!

2011-01-03T08:00:00.004-07:00

Man - I must just be at that age where everyone around me is having babies! One last month, two due this month - and one that I just found out about. I love kids, babies especially - I have yet to meet someone that doesn't love babies. So I made a couple of baby cards - one that I'll show you today, and one for tomorrow.

This one is all about using non-traditional baby colors, well what I think are non-traditional anyway:

With this one, I used a stamp set that looks to be missing now from The Greeting Farm website - but it is a really cute baby themed set with little accessories and two little babies - and several sayings. I found an alternate site that was selling it here. The patterned paper is from Papertrey Ink - Bitty Baby Blessings patterned paper pack.

I used my nestabilites to cut the two circles, and the image is actually cut on the card base and colored with my trusty prismacolored pencils - So I cut a hole in each of the layers - here's the detail on that:

Really cute huh?

Many thanks to all of those that have been stopping by and leaving such lovely comments on both my blog and my facebook page. Its always good to know that I"m not posting to a black hole on the internet. :-)

Life is in the Little Things - CASE Study Challenge #20

2011-01-01T08:00:00.025-07:00

Wow! Its the New Year! I look back at the past year, and it went so fast. All kinds of things happened - all seem like just yesterday. I'm so excited to be on a creative streak and to be able to share it with everyone here. So here's a quick little post for this, the first day of 2011 or 1/1/11!

CASE Study Challenge #20

So the challenge was to create something using this very beautiful card as inspiration:

So here's mine:

Isn't it lovely? I'm just in love with Verve Stamps at the moment, and this was a set I bought about two years ago when we lived in the other apartment. I wasn't sure what to do with them until I saw the inspiration card ... and then it was just that - inspiration! So using my Hearts on Fire and Fairy Tales stampsets, I set off to make this creation.

The cardstock is from Papertrey Ink - Raspberry Fizz, True Black and Stamper Select White. The stamps were stamped using Tuxedo Black from Memento and then highlighted with a Sakura Stardust pen in Grey. The Bling is Kaiser Crafts.

And a card isn't finished until the inside is as pretty as the outside:

What do you all think? I want to wish my readers a Happy New Year - I'm looking forward to meeting new crafting friends this year - trying new things - and improving my skills to share with all of you!

Post Christmas Crafting Countdown - Day 5

2010-12-31T08:00:00.002-07:00

A Family Tree worthy of the Living Room -

So for years, my mom has been asking me to make a family tree for the living room. So I logged onto Ancestry.com and did a little research - and went through old family documents, pictures. And I came up with this decorative piece for the living room at my parents house:

All of the plates are filled out, I photo shopped out some of the names for my family privacy. The cards were printed out on my computer and are affixed with photo corners to allow for switching do be done when more information is found. Each plate is mounted on foam squares to lift them out a bit. The frame itself is really cool - and the front of it is hinged to allow for easy access to the names - when more research reveals more information on each member.

And that was my month in a nutshell - each night working on pieces of these five projects! Whew - what a month. Well now I'm back to getting my Etsy store stocked and running again - so there will be more posts. Talk to you all soon!!!

Post Christmas Crafting Countdown - Day 4

2010-12-30T08:00:00.005-07:00

The Bristow Box

So every now and again, I find an item that I pick up with no idea what I'm going to use it for. This box was one of them. It was just a paper box that had an accordion insert. It had been sitting here for about three months and I finally had an amazing idea. My sister has the cutest dog - and she adores him, so I made her this:

The paper that I used for the entire box was Basic Grey Max and Whiskers. I painted the box in a metallic blue and distressed it a bit... and then decorated the insert like this:

Pretty neat huh? Oh and the cat - that's Miss Magoo, she's modeling the finished product for you.

Tomorrow: A Family Tree worthy of Mom's living room.

Post Christmas Crafting Countdown - Day 3

2010-12-29T08:00:00.004-07:00

So you know how it is, you're at the crafting store and you see the most amazing 12x12 paper and you just have to have it. Well every time I see Graphic 45 paper, I'm overcome with this feeling. In some cases the paper is just to beautiful to actually use as a scrapbook paper, and to cover it up - but it should be its own centerpiece. Well this was the premise for one of the gifts I gave to my sister:

With this, I just embellished the beauty of the paper a bit. It was first mounted to a canvas using Mod Podge and then used Crackle Accents on the watch faces. Stickles on the roses, border, butterflies. And Tim Holtz Sprockets and Gears and Metal Foliage.

What do you think?

Post Christmas Crafting Countdown - Day 2

2010-12-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

My First Card Show

In early December - my wonderfully supportive aunt held a little card show at a party she was hosting. She asked me to make 10 sets of cards and send the stock down from my Etsy store. Both of which I did - here were the cards sets I made - a bit of Gina K inspiration:

For these I used the Botanicals stamp set from Gina K - and using an embossing technique using clear embossing power and ink from Papertrey. The technique for this card can be found here. Each set is made up of three cards in three different colors - and it was lots of work, but well worth it. I heard that they were much enjoyed!

Post Christmas Crafting Countdown - Day 1

2010-12-27T08:00:00.002-07:00

As I promised, over the next few days I'll be posting all of the projects I've been working on over the course of the past month - because now they've all been given to their intended recipients, and I can now take a deep breath!

My Christmas Card

I made cards to go with all of the gifts that were sent to family out of state:

The card is extremely simple, but sometimes that's the most elegant. The whole card is a a Papertrey Ink masterpiece - using the White and Blue Shimmer Cardstock and the stamp set is an oldie, but a goodie from PTI called Snowflake Serenade. I absolutely love this set and don't know what I ever did without it. The ink is Tim Holtz Distress ink in Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans.

Here's the inside:

Enjoy! On Wednesday I'll be posting a fantastic shadow box that I made using some Graphic45 paper!

Ho - Ho - Ho! Its December - where does the time go?

2010-12-01T21:31:00.009-07:00

Its crazy how fast time passes isn't it? Well I've been one busy lady over the past three months! I think about making things every day, but for some reason time escapes me and I find that it is December and I've not posted since September. Work has been crazy - which is funny, you'd think it would be a bit more structured with regards to my time - but its not. And many times I get home, and I'm just too exhausted to do much of anything. On the plus side - I have wonderful family and friends that encourage me to keep up with all my crafty goodness!

You'll notice that the Etsy store is pretty bare - that's because my awesome Aunt in Centennial request that I send cards for her jewelry party. So into a box they went - along with a very special custom order for her. They're there now...eagerly awaiting adoption into loving hands - so here's hoping that everyone loves them, and I get a little bit more money for my Christmas gifts - or crafting addiction. *shrug* We'll see where the money goes once I get it.

So it is my goal this Christmas to make as many gifts as I possibly can - and part of the handmade gift is the handmade wrapping and trimming that goes with it. So here's my first "tag" - inspired by the amazing - awesome and totally my crafting idol - Tim Holtz and his 12 Tags of Christmas.

Here's an attempt to capture some of the holiday spirit:

The best part about the whole thing is trying techniques that I normally wouldn't - this wasn't planned, and was one of those inspirational moments. I was able to try out techniques I've only seen on web-videos and Tim's blog. I'm excited to say, I think I can get the hang of most of the techniques I tried with a bit more practice. This time was just a "let's see where it goes" type moment.

In this tag:

Adirondack Alcohol Inks: Oregano, Red Pepper, Mushroom
Distress Ink: Tea Dye, Black Soot
Image: Paper Inspirations - Father Christmas - Colored with Copics
Grungeboard: Plain Elements
Distress Crackle Paint: White Picket Fence
Metal Embellishments & Ribbon: Making Memories

This tag - I was told - is too nice to put on a present. What do you all think?

Bleached Happy Birthday Cards

2010-09-08T22:07:00.005-06:00

I can't believe how time flies, this time last year I was part of the awesome Bombshell Stamps Design Team and now I"m just workin' hard for the man. But there are those weekends where inspiration hits, and I get more done than I expected. This past weekend was one of those, and awesome! I organized all my scraps, drawers and supplies, got caught up on my StampTV and got to go to Estes with some really dear friends. All in all a successful weekend, and I thought I'd share the fruits of my labor with you! I'm always running short of birthday cards, and I can't tell you how many birthdays I seem to be un-prepared for, but now I've come up with a solution... make gender neutral birthday cards in groups. I practiced the bleaching technique found here: http://stamptv.ning.com/video/bleached-leaves

Here's what I came up with:

I used Papertrey Ink paper and In Bloom stamp set and sat down with some bleach and tested it on several different colors of paper from PTI (In the image above: Ocean Tides).

I thought they came out very well. If you like them, you can check them out on my etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/listing/55886711/birthday-trio.
Have a crafty day!!

Holy Moly - March 1st

2010-08-21T12:31:00.004-06:00

Wow! I can't believe time has flown so fast! I'm not sure if people really care what I've been up to, but I'm going to tell you all anyway. The last few months has meant in increase of responsibilities at work, which would be fantastic if a raise went along with it, but alas no. So, that has kept me rather busy. I traveled to Phoenix during July, love to see my family out there, but good lord is it hot. I purchased a new car, which has cut into my crafting spending, but getting to work somehow managed to trump my ability to purchase items... :-(

I've worked on finishing up the design for www.coachdevlin.com and for anyone working/living in the Northern Colorado area and looking for a physical trainer/life coach, you won't find any better than this guy! Andrew is fantastic.

Another charity that I work for is www.ayaf.org started by a good friend of mine and his family. They just recently built a school in South Africa for a small township there. I cried when I saw the pictures. You can see them for yourself here: http://www.ayaf.org/Blog/

And to top it off I've started stocking my etsy with some of my latest creations. The store is still in its infancy, and I have yet to sell a darn thing, but can't say I'm not trying.

Welcome to the new Bombshell Team!!!!

2010-03-01T00:01:00.002-07:00

I would like to extend my endless thanks and appreciation for the opportunity that I've had for the past six months to be on the best Design Team on the web. To Shannon and the entire team that I've had the pleasure of working with for the past six months, many thanks for all of your encouragement and support. You are all very special to me and I appreciate everything that you've done for me! Never ever hesitate to ask me for anything, I look forward to continuing the bond that have been created here, encouraging and supporting you all as you have done for me.

To the new design team, you are about to embark on a journey, make new friends and expand your creativity beyond boundaries. I am excited for each and every one of you!! Many blessings!!!

You can check out who made the design team here: http://www.bombshellstamps.com/designteam.html

Rise and Shine

2010-02-28T00:01:00.001-07:00

As promised, the image that I colored for you yesterday as part of a project...

Tomorrow is a very special post, so be sure to stop in!

Babies, Babies EVERYWHERE

2010-02-26T00:05:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure if it is just me, but it seems as though there have been babies everywhere in my world. My co-worker, personal trainer and best friend all in the span of the past six months. This was made for my trainer and his wife for the birth of their son:

It was way to cute not to post!! Thanks for stopping by, tomorrow I'll have a tutorial on coloring yet another fab Bombshell Stamp!! Stay tuned!

Bombshell Wet and Wild Challenge

2010-02-25T00:01:00.002-07:00

Here was the challenge:

"Wet & Wild" CONTEST GUIDELINES: (CONTEST ENDS FEB. 28, 2010)
The creation can be a card, layout or altered item, but must:

1. use a Bombshell Stamp somewhere
2. project must involve a nautical theme, use a wet medium, or both
3. post a photo of your creation on the Bombshell Forums!

So this was a new challenge for me in using a wet medium, so I picked up some Mod Podge and went to town. I also painted the frame:

What do you all think?

- Mama Said Knock You Out - My last Bombshell Hop as a DT Member

2010-02-24T00:01:00.001-07:00

Man - Have 6 months gone quickly! And here's me wasting a whole month without posting. It seems like just yesterday I was jumping for joy at Shannon's acceptance letter, and now it is time for me to wish only the best of luck to the upcoming DT!

I'm sorry to all of my readers out there, I've been working myself into the ground. I've got lots of creations, one more tutorial and two more Bombshell projects up my sleeve for the remainder of the week (all are sitting on my camera, it just takes me sitting down and blogging them up). But for this post I intend to keep things short and to the point, you have so many wonderful creations this week, and mine is just a simple example of being "Punchy". I used my Nestablities dies to frame up our lovely Hula Bombshell for a birthday card for a very dear friend. The patterned paper is part of the Tahiti Beach stack from DCWV.

Enjoy!!

Don't forget to check out what the other Bombshell Ladies are up to!!!

PerkyNihilist
BoHoRose
Patti
Stempelientje
Meredith
Erika
Angela
Sy
Cheryl
MaryG
Kas
Kathi
MissMagoo
Gabby
Steph
Kelli
Kim
Angie
Sunghee

Bombshell Hump Day Hop - ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

2010-01-27T00:01:00.004-07:00

The Challenge:

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE - From the lovely and always talented Angela

We all have our own home remedies...a pinch of this, with a dash of that and gargle. *giggle Well, it's time to put your thinkin' caps on, and ALTER an item you have laying around. That's right...don't be content with that over the counter crafting stuff...take something you have and give it a little bit of TLC; a pinch of this glitter and a splash of that alcohol ink. (Hopefully you won't have to gargle....*wink) Let your imaginations run wild as you use your Bombshells to breathe new life into an otherwise boring item.

So I look around and what do I see but a bottle! I beer bottle, that I got on a trip to Washington DC. Man was it just screaming for some pretty decorations!!!

Given that the challenge was ALTERnative MEDICINE, what better medicine for Valentines Day than Love Potion #9!!
Decorated with a little computer magic for the lettering and some kickin' Bombshell Stamps this bottle is ready to hold any love potion you can give it!

The back reads:

Always been a flop with chicks?
Been that way since 1956?

What you need is: Love Potion #9

Made exclusively in the sink, and though is smells like turpentine and looks like India Ink, hold your nose, close your eyes and take a drink.

Warning: You may end up kissing everything in sight. May also confuse day from night

Bottled by: Madame Rue - 34th and Vine

Lets see what the Fab Bombshells and Crew have been upto this week!

Angela

Sy
Alyssa
Katie
Kas
Kathi
Keely
Gabby
Steph
Terra
Kelli
Sarah
Lina

Martini Daddy-o

2010-01-26T08:00:00.001-07:00

So I promised to use that wolf from my tutorial early last week. Well here it is, and it matches the sketch that I have challenged those readers who have time! (Pssst... there's blog candy for the winner!!!)

Want to try the sketch out for yourself? Here's how!

A little ATC action!!

2010-01-25T22:51:00.004-07:00

So just a quick post tonight. My apologies that I've not been posting this week. Last week ended up being one of those that went so fast because of work that it was Saturday before I knew it.

I'm going to extend my sketch challenge from last Sunday for this week. Everyone was really busy and I want to give until this coming Sunday January 31st. You can see that post below this, or click here.

As for tonight here's a quick glimpse of the ATC cards that I got done this weekend, all that is left is to get them in the mail!

Blog Candy - Week Three!! - And a Website Layout Challenge

2010-01-17T15:04:00.009-07:00

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO SUNDAY JANUARY 31st!!! - There's still time!!!!

Howdy all!!!

I'm so glad to see that I had two entries in last weeks challenge! Kas and Sy, thank you so much both of you for playing along. I can't choose, so both of you e-mail me your addresses, I'll be sending you both something for playing along!

And now for this weeks challenge! I'll be picking one website that I find truly inspiring by layout and design and then challenge you to make a project based on that layout! This weeks challenge comes from a local company that everyone in Northern Colorado holds true and dear to their hearts:Aside from their fantastic alcoholic creations, they're locally owned, operated.. almost completely green. (And they have a fantastic graphic design team!!!) Here's their front page:

Here's your challenge: Here are the rules:

1. Link here using the Mr. Linky tool to your blog or forum where you post your creation: card, scrapbook page, altered item, whatever you'd like :-).
2. Please include "MMWS01" in your tag so everyone can find it.
3. You are welcome to copy the sketch to your blog as long as it is properly linked.
4. Most importantly, have fun!

DEADLINE: Saturday, January 23rd.

Here's the Loot:

And get to gettin'!

Oh man! What a week it has been...

2010-01-13T21:34:00.019-07:00

Holy crap! You know how a week starts out super easy, and then turns super long on a dime. I've spent every evening at work late... and then working on projects unrelated to paper products in any way. But tonight (after I actually left work) has been all about paper. And one of the projects I've been working on tonight is part of two separate challenges (Thanks Nicole!!)

The first is:

The second challenge is the start to finish challenge from Moxie Fab World. Where finishing off the inside of the card is half the fun. So, on Nicole's suggestion, I'll be entering it for that as well :-)

I've found a new blog! Can you tell? Anyway... here is what I was inspired to create:

The card was a simple thought, and I've had this lovely Bombshell sitting on my desk since the stamp set arrived... I colored it that day and I have had her watching over me. This lovely bride wants to share her luck!!

What do you think?

Oh and just a friendly reminder of my own little challenge, if you're looking for a little extra blog candy this month check here: Image Inspiration Challenge

Coloring the Bombshell Sugar Daddy

2010-01-11T00:05:00.002-07:00

Week Two of Blog Candy - The Very First Image Inspiration Challenge

2010-01-10T00:00:00.001-07:00

And the winner of the first 'Trim the Fat' blog candy is:

That means -

Gail said...: My resolution is to get my craft room done(SOON!!!) and start using all the items I have bought(collected). I would love to get my stuff published too.....wish me luck!!!

Please send your contact info to the e-mail address below my picture on my blog, and I'll get this stuff out to you ASAP! I wish you the best of luck getting your craft room done!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So a new week, and a new challenge. This week it is inspired by an item from the Etsy store of Brian Kennedy, a fellow Bombshell Stamps enthusiast. Check out his Etsy store at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BRIANKENNYCHICAGO . He has some fabulous creations!!

Anyway, here's the challenge.. use something about the image below to inspire your creation for the week. No specific project type, just work with the the colors, the flowers, the Asian inspiration, whatever you'd like!! I can't wait to see what you create!

The candy this week will be chosen at random from the entries, so place your entry in the Mr. Linky below. I'll bet you want to know what is on the 'Trim The Fat' giveaway this week, well here it is!

Here are the contents: K& Company Blue Awning chipboard letters; Pinecone Press Reflections: An Ever Changing Perspective; Basic Grey Ribbon; Making Memories Self Adhesive Acrylic frames - Love; Crate Paper Rub-on Sentiments; Making Memories Page Pebbles - Thank You; 7gypsies Typewriter Words; Several My Mind's Eye Chipboard/Paper Embellishments; EK Sucess Photo Stickers - Coctails; Fiskars Paper Edgers; Spool of Light blue ribbon with white stars; and BE - Bare Elements - Anthology Kit - with 130 different pieces.

What do you all think? Are you all ready to create?!

This contest is now closed! Thanks to those who participated!

Funday Sunday - A Knight's Tale

2010-01-09T22:30:00.008-07:00

Welcome to the day of the week where I participate in a contest posted by fellow bloggers, and this week its the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge:
For this challenge I watched the movie and picked a line that I would love for someone to say to me. It seemed like a good determination of what would make a good card. I picked the scene where William and Jocelyn meet at Banquet, inspired by the tunic that is so artfully described as "green... um trimmed in a kind of pale green, uh, with, uh wooden toggles" and he said this:

Here is the front in a bit more detail:

And then the internal has the second part:

1) I printed the quotes on paper and used my largest square nestabilities to cut and emboss the first layer.

2) I then used the largest fleur-de-lis from the Damask Designs stamp set from Papertrey Ink, and embossed it in clear ink, this allowed me to age the paper a bit and give it a parchment look using my Vintage Touch inking system from PTI. The stars are from my Ahoy Sailor! Bombshell set.

3.) The quote is then layered on top of Ripe Avocado (PTI) then a layer of fiber from Basic Grey, and then gold velum and then True Black from PTI.

4) The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye's Laundry Line. The flourishes are Tim Holtz Grungeboard colored with Avocado Mist from Maya Mist. The metal embellishment is something that I purchased in the jewelry section of my local Hobby Lobby.

I think it came together nicely!

If you're stopping by to find out who won the blog candy that was posted 1/3 then stay tuned, that post will happen at 1/10/09 at 12:00PM MST. As well as the post displaying this weeks challenge and blog candy.

Enjoy!! Thanks for stopping by!!

A Thankful Thursday

2010-01-08T12:44:00.004-07:00

So yesterday ended up being quite busy. I was 'hired' (in that we bartered an exchange of services :-) Which makes me a super happy camper!!!) to develop a website for my Personal Trainer, and spent the evening working out the initial designs. So I apologize for the delay in my official thank you for the month. My primary inspiration was my Grandfather and the subject of my second post on this blog, found here.

So after he passed away I lost some of my creative mojo, and it took a while to get it back. One of the first places that I actually found on accident while I was visiting the local Starbucks, it had just opened and was full of the most beautiful and unique scrap booking supplies. On top of it all, the whole store is neat, organized, and is run by two wonderful women. I bought some paper on a whim and made my thank you cards for my birthday presents, those cards were a hit with my family and Capture has since been a hit with me.

This week I'd like to thank the spark of my inspiration:

If you're in Northern Colorado, Check them out! Their 3rd Year Anniversary party is Saturday, January 16th.

A Pirate's Heart

2010-01-06T12:45:00.003-07:00

The Lovely Ms. January - Lyss - is our Challenge Captain for the month and has come up with a resolution to not procrastinate. Which I thought was a lovely idea!!

So here it is, my first Valentine's project of the decade!!

The pillow box was scrap, I received birthday presents in it... and it was in great shape! Why not recycle? I found this fabulous paper with metallic hearts at my local scrapbooking store Capture and its the first paper that I've seen in a long time without a manufacture mark. The pirate is from A Pirate's Life set from Bombshell Stamps.

Think I'll be giving this as a gift filled with all kinds of delicious treasures!!!

Happy Hump Day everyone!!! Two more days till we can all boogie down.

Don't forget! There is still three more days to register for my blog candy for this week. I'll be doing a new blog candy each and every week this month, so please check back each week this month for new blog candy!!!

Cowboy Billy

2010-01-05T12:02:00.001-07:00

Sorry ladies. This one got a little sparse, it turned out that I had a rather eventful day at work. And ended up with much less play time than anticipated.

Never the less, I was able to create something with an image that I've had up on my board for about 6 months. This one ended up quite simple, because the image is so cute that I wanted him to stand out. Cowboy Billy is a digi from Pink Cat Studio, isn't he darling!!

Hope everyone has a lovely and productive Tuesday! Tomorrow I help spread the word about one of the two Bombshell challenges for the month.

Don't forget to read my post about how to win this weeks blog candy! Click here for details.

Thanks so much!

2010-01-04T12:00:00.001-07:00

This pretty little card was just a really quick creation. The main colors and focal point were pulled directly from the patterned paper from K&Company. Isn't it fantastic?

Don't forget to register for this weeks Trim the Fat Blog Candy! See my Sunday post for details.

First Sunday of Blog Candy!!!!

2010-01-03T16:21:00.007-07:00

I haven't always been good at posting religiously, but this month I intend to step it up. I've been devoting lots of time to sitting around and moping about how horrible things are... wrong way to view things. As the New Year is a time to make resolutions, some that we intend to keep, and others that we initially have the intention to keep but somehow they get lost on the wayside. Well my crafting brings me joy, even if it is just temporary, so I think I will resolve to bring my creations to everyone else in the hope that it brings them a bit of joy.

Here's the new schedule:

Funday Sunday: I will either participate in a challenge for a fellow blogger... or I'll challenge you all! Either way, I get to see all of the things that make the crafting community online so great!!!
How to Make it Mondays: How to use one of the beautiful stamps to embellish scrapbook pages, boxes, tags and bags!
Use it up Tuesday: Where I will use things that I've purchased, instead of buying something new. With this one I'll go over where I got it and then attempt to inspire you to use something up that you've been staring at for months.
Hump Day Hops: I'm only a Bombshell DT member for a few more weeks... gotta make the most of it.
Thank Goodness Thursday: Thursdays will be all about thanking people that inspire me. That may be just a post or a fantastic project.
Friday and Saturday: These days I may post I may not. These days are typically me catching up with things... but if I'm inspired... you know I'll be there. (Besides... sometimes it takes a lot of work to be inspired to make all of these wonderful things.)

I'm hoping to keep this schedule as close as I can, and I'll do my best to always post something.

Well as promised, all be it a bit late, here is the first of four blog candies to be handed out this month. I explained in my last post that I was going to be trimming the proverbial crafting fat... well here it is:

(What you see above: Wild Asparagus paper pack with other paper embellishments, Rub-on title and two paper titles from My Mind's Eye, 2 Pinecone Press books Finishing Touches and Stamping and Scrapbooking, Studio Six Chandelier stamp, 7Gypsies alterable notebook, Nostalgiques beaded stamps, EK Success drink stamps, Bazzill Collection Pollished Pebbles, 5 mini spools of ribbon, and a pair of Provo Craft paper scissors in a zig-zag pattern. Green pencil storage)

Holy Moly that's a lot of stuff!!! And I pulled four times that out of my stash that I purchased but will never use! Best that it gets a good home. This is where you come in:

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to post one of your resolutions and the steps you intend to take to get there as a comment here. One comment will be chosen at random and the winner will be announced next Sunday. Please feel free to spread the word, the more the merrier!!!

Well get to gettin' .. I'm excited to hear the resolutions of my fellow crafters!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2010-01-01T16:57:00.001-07:00

So the new year is here. For many this means a new start, resolutions that we all intend to keep. For me, the new year means that it is time to go through my scrapbooking stash and share what I'm not using with the rest of the world. So on Sunday I'll be posting the first of four blog candies... Packages with a little of everything. There may be a challenge... There may be a question to answer.

It is my resolution to lose the weight, trim the fat.. Though in this case, the fat is fantastic crafting goodness! So check back soon for more details. First post will hit your PC on Sunday, we'll go each Sunday after that until the end of the month.

Stay tuned fellow Bloggers!!! I'll chat with you on Sunday !!!

Howdy!! -- Bombshell Hump Day Hop - #14

2009-12-30T00:01:00.004-07:00

Woah... where did that month go, seriously. I think it went about as fast as my paycheck. Its been a busy, busy month. It started with my cat... and the namesake of this blog.. she went and got sick. Which kept me up for several nights. She is better now and sleeping on the back of my chair. It seems as though Christmas lasts two weeks around here between the shopping, cooking, family events, computer dying forcing me to get a new computer(finally), and so forth. I'm finally posting both the Bombshell Sketch Challenge and the Miss December challenge:

Today was a trip to the Denver Museum of Art for a little more inspiration. And this ends up being a rather long story, so here goes.

My friends always come into town for the holidays, and I always try to plan something were everyone can be in one place. So this year it was to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to see the Ghengis Khan exhibit. So I called all the proper people, gave instruction... all be it a bit later than I'm sure some would hope. There were a few drop-outs and finally it was whittled down to four people so we could all fit in my car. Driving there, south on I-25 from the Fort, I hit a huge piece of something and completely tore open the oil pan on my car. Huge hole... Oil EVERYWHERE! I pulled over, had ol' blackie towed to my dad's Meineke for repairs and continued our journey. By now it was about 1:30 PM. We walked to the museum which was PACKED, and attempted to purchase tickets... sold out. So we moped for all of 30 seconds and decided to hit the art museum instead. Talk about inspiration for my own personal crafting!! There were all kinds of things that I picked out the colors on... lines... textures.. it was like an overload. There was a western exhibit that we went through... I just had to work out something special:

It has been a seriously long day... but everything this month went by so fast. I have plans for January, the month of resolutions... and will involve some blog candy. So stay tuned, that post will go up Jan 1st 2010!!

Lets see what the other ladies have been up to this month:

Mary G.
Ms. December - Erika
Kathi
Nicole
Kas
Gabby
Terra
Katie

Until next time!!

Stamps used:

Bombshell Stamps Sets- Retro Cowgirl, Pinstriping, Lady Luck

Goofin' Around on this Lazy Sunday

2009-12-06T14:05:00.003-07:00

Good afternoon all! I figured I hadn't been creative in a while... so I thought I'd try something. I purchased some plain glass ornaments the day after Thanksgiving, and thought that I'd give decorating them a shot. I'd never stamped on a surface that was a) concave and b) glass. So I pulled out the Versmark pad, Bombshell stamps and embossing powder and gave it a shot:

Whadda' think?

Hope everyone is has a happy and healthy week!!

Bombshell Blog Hop

2009-12-02T10:37:00.002-07:00

Its that time again, but not for me. I've been way too flustered to get something up again this week... I promise to post my two cards soon.

Here's the first December Hop hosted by the lovely Ms. December - Erika Taylor

Ms. December
Angela
Katie
Alyssa
Terra
Sarah
Kathi
Kas
Gabby

Who's Got The Button? -- Bombshell Hump Day Hop

2009-11-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a week, nothing overly exciting, nothing extraordinary, but lots of little things all coming together at once. Including a package from Bombshell Stamps!!! What better way to share my new stamps than to use the stamps and present you with the Bombshell Hump Day Hop! This week's challenge, that I DID choose to accept was Who's Got the Button?! In which we need to use buttons in our designs. Well here's mine: Inspired by the patterned paper - Glitz Designs, Rebel - which I picked up at Treasure Box on a whim, this sly wolf -Bombshell Stamps, Sugar Daddy - is just waiting to swing you onto the dance floor!! And remember the rules of this little fiesta, comment on each person's blog and you'll be entered into a contest for a lovely prize pack from Bombshell Stamps:

Shall we see what the other lovely Bombshells are up to?

Angela
Kathi
Ms. November - Mary G.
Glittery Katie
Kas

All the Single Ladies - Bombshell Stamps Hump Day Hop

2009-11-11T00:01:00.001-07:00

Oh man... was this ever WAY harder than it looked. You're talking to the queen of layers, bling and other such sparkly things here. The mission, that I did choose to accept, was to make something with just a single layer... SINGLE!!! That means, no Copics, no second layer patterned paper... nothing but the bare bones of the card. What a fantastic challenge!!!

So I finally decided on a gift set of cards, and in honor of Veterans Day... a little of the Red, White and Blue!

Each card is just one, single, solitary layer, with this beautiful bomshell from the Ahoy Sailor! Bombshell Stamp line. Colored with colored pencils and gamsol giving a nice vintage look.
Here's a close up:Shall we see what the other delightful, beautiful Bomshell's have in store for us this lovely Veteran's Day?

Angela
Kathi
Ms. November - Mary G.
Gabby
Lyss
Kas

Lost the Mojo?!

2009-11-05T23:01:00.004-07:00

Evening all! Man, I've been really out of it for the past week or so. My boyfriends birthday was a week ago, and mine was Saturday so I was busy with all of that, and to top it all off my boyfriend was under the weather all weekend! I went back to work on Tuesday, and that has been crazy too!!! I guess it's not really life if it isn't crazy huh?

I finally had the chance to sit down and work on something, only to hate my first version... and then remake the whole thing. I know I can be my own worst critic, but I have a really hard time sharing something that I'm not really proud of. (Especially when the project involves anything Bombshell!) And after I had myself a little pity-party over the first attempt, I decided to try again.

So here it is, attempt #2:

What do you think? There are a couple of companies I might submit it to to see if I can get it published... but I'm not sure!!! Just one of those nights I guess, oh well! And now to bed.

Supplies:
Stamp set: King of the Road - Bombshell Stamps
Paper: Smokey Shadow, Pure Poppy, Silver, Cream, Stamper Select White - Papertrey Ink
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder: Diamond Plate
Nestabilites Dies

20+" of Snow

2009-10-29T07:28:00.001-06:00

This is my back deck today, and yet I'm still going into work... hmmm...

Angel and Devil - Bombshell Hump Day Hop

2009-10-28T07:34:00.006-06:00

Good (snowy) morning ladies! Just a quick post to show you all what I did with the coffin pattern for this weeks hop. I couldn't decide which one to post, they're both so lovely! I'll post more when I get to work, but first I have to forge my way through the snow to get there, only to have them close work about noon like they always do. Then the adventure is forging my way home.

Okay, so on with the hop! Remember the rules, each comment you make enters you to win a fab Bombshell prize pack for the month:

Let's see what all of the other Bombshells made for today:

Angela
Kellie
Lyss
Terra
Kas
Miss Magoo
Sarah K
Glittery Katie
Gabby
Nicole
Kathi

Bombshell Stamps Tutorial: Coloring the Mermaid from Mermaid Anchor

2009-10-27T09:15:00.001-06:00

Mr. Monkey Thanks Taylored Expressions!

2009-10-25T12:09:00.005-06:00

So I just did something wild and crazy!!! (Or more like you'd be wild and crazy not to!) I signed up for the Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients. This means that on the 18th of every month I receive in the mail the most wonderful supplies for around $22(including shipping)!! And since what is in the kit is a surprise to me its like I'm getting a gift every month.

This month's kit included:

Paper from Cosmo Cricket: Earth Love (Fantastic set made from recycled paper and managed forests)
Matching Cardstock
Matching Ribbon (Assorted variety, all AMAZING!!)
Maya Road Chipboard Birds
and a mini Avocado Mist Spritzer for an extra snap of color

Then every month Taylor is kind enough to let us participate in a contest showing off something we made with the key ingredients kit. Here's my fab creation:

The only two pieces that aren't part of the kit are the flower in the lower right (Prima) and the stamp is from Taylored Expressions Beary Special stamp set.

You can find out more about this amazing deal here!

Thank you always for stopping by!

Sugar Skulls with the Scent of Pumpkin!

2009-10-22T21:26:00.003-06:00

So I got bored this weekend and decided to try out the new StampTV trick that GinaK posted a week or so ago, one to decorate candles. Well I just had to try it:

What do you all think? The tissue paper was a bit wrinkled, but I think it adds "character"... don't you?

Happy Friday!!!

Piece it Together - Bombshell Hump Day Hop

2009-10-20T23:27:00.003-06:00

Good morning everyone! It's that time of week again. Let's see what all of the lovely Bombshells are up to today, just in time to get you through the longest day of the week and closer to the weekend (a.k.a. two-day-crafting-fest!!) This weeks theme from the ever brilliant Angela was to paper piece something together. Now, this just has to be one of the hardest things for me to do, either that or the ladies here have made it look much easier than it actually is. (I've got a feeling that it is a combination of lack of sleep and stress that is preventing my creative juices from completely flowing) Have to be honest, I've seen some of the other wonderful projects and mine almost pales in comparison to my fellow design team members. The one bonus of this week is that I finally got a photo tent, so the images come out to be the proper color!! But here goes:

In a little more detail:

Okay, so on with the hop! Remember the rules, each comment you make enters you to win a fab Bombshell prize pack for the month:

Let's see what all of the other Bombshells made for today:

Angela
Terra
Jacquie (Ms.October!)
Kas
Gabby
Glittery Katie
Sarah K
Lyss

Picture This - Bombshell Hump Day Hop

2009-10-14T00:20:00.004-06:00

All, this is going to be a super quick post just to get this out there:

The theme of this weeks Bombshell Stamps DT Hop was "What was I thinking?", where we took something that we purchased on a whim, a thought.. a glimmer.. AND I just got my Sugar Skull stamps from Bombshell Stamps this past week, and I thought it would be nice to make a little frame out of a frame that I purchased for a WHOLE dollar!! That's right ladies, $1 for this beautiful hand painted frame. I pulled out some old acrylic stamps, painted the blue, the flowers, and borders. The green is actually a stamped pattern using one of the border stamps from one of my Sugar Skull stamps. The idea here was color, celebration... the skull is colored with my copics, covered in the Crackle stuff from Ranger and then rubbed over with some black paint (which I'm beginning to dislike how dark it came out).

Well what do you think?

And on with the hop, and you know the rules, comment on each and every post folks and each comment will enter you in a chance to win a fab Bombshell prize pack!!

Here's the rest of the Fab Bombshells!

Angela
Kas
Jacquie (Ms.October!)
Gabby
Sarah K
Glittery Katie
Lyss
Kathi
Terra
Nicole

Oh, and as an update on my Susan G Komen foundation donation, I received 23 comments, which is $23 donation the next time I stop at Safeway. (I'd do it on the website, but then you get on the list for ALL of the charities... and I just don't have that much money because I'd feel obligated to donate to all.)

Thank you to all who commented!!

Babies, Babies EVERYWHERE!!

2009-10-09T00:00:00.002-06:00

It seems as though there are going to be babies everywhere this year and into next. My facebook list of friends with child continues to grow, and I'm excited for every one of them!! There are two confirmed girls and this is a card that I made for one due at the end of the month (crosses fingers that it's October 31st... the BEST. BIRTHDAY. DAY. EVER!!)

For this card I used the Beary Special set from Taylored Expressions. I'm in love... the set is so amazing, and part of the profits made from the set go to charity!!

Remember that each and every comment this week on my blog earns $1 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation! So comment (The comment count so far is an even 20)!! :-) Think Pink ladies!!!

This is Halloween!! This is Halloween!! ... Bombshell's Hump Day Hop

2009-10-07T00:04:00.004-06:00

I don't know about the other Bombshells, but I think I was singing this song the WHOLE time I was making this weeks challenge:

With that said I give to you this weeks challenge as given to us by the lovely and talented Ms. October, Jacquie:

Color Challenge: Orange, Black and Green with a splash of Purple if desired.

So what I did was use the skeleton from the Retro Cowgirls set and then thought to myself, "how cool would it be to try a shaker card?" So that's what I did, I cut up an old clear box to make the window, used some foam tape, filled it with Halloween colored sprinkles (the little black ones are candy spiders!) and sealed it up. I came across an A-dorable Halloween paper pack from K&Company at Michaels and had to use it.

And on with the hop!

My fellow Bombshells:
Jacquie (Ms. October)
Angela
Kas
Kathi
Miss Magoo
Terra
Stephanie
Gabby
Nicole

And don't forget that each comment left on my blog this week earns $1 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Think Pink!!

The Color Pink

2009-10-05T09:00:00.002-06:00

192,370 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in American women in 2009.

With this fact in mind, and the fact that it is Breast Cancer Awareness month, it is time to look to the other people in our lives and tell them that we care. There are people in my life that have been affected by breast cancer, I admire their strength and courage.

So for this month, I offer you a challenge. Get involved. Donate Yoplait lids, when you go to the store donate when the checker asks you if you'd like to give $5 to cancer research, go to this site: http://ww5.komen.org/getinvolved/getinvolved.html and pick something. Anything. Encourage the men in your life that pink is a very manly color this month (Hey! If football players in the NFL can man up and wear pink then any man can.) This is our chance to get involved, here's what I'm going to do. For every comment that I receive this week on my blog I'll donate $1 (Up to $100... cause that's what the budget allows this month ladies) to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Now what are you going to do?

Aqua Cowgirl - Bombshell Hump Day Hop

2009-09-30T08:21:00.005-06:00

Just a quickie this morning since my commitment ran way over last night.

This weeks challenge was to use pencils, any kind of pencils... well let me tell you how excited I was about that!! (No, Seriously... I was SUPER excited!)

Here she is, my latest pencil creation! Not only did I color her, but I colored the background paper to match (PTI Black and White Basics)! All with my Prismacolor pencils.... as was the theme by the lovely Angela!

Now you know the drill... hop from blog to blog, posting comments along the way and you'll be entered to win a fabulous gift prize from Bombshell Stamps!!

Angela
Kathi
Mary G
Glittery Katie
Miss Magoo
Terra
Stephanie
Sarah K
Gabby
Jacquie
Kas
Lyss

Every person is the architect of his own fortune

2009-09-24T00:10:00.000-06:00

Inspired by the ever brilliant Gabby, and The Greeting Farm, I couldn't help but enter this weeks Club Anya Mystery Monday Challenge. This week it was Joni's Rule of Three... Three colors, three embellishments. Every masterpiece had to have the colors pink, black and white in it as well as three separate embellishments.

I know it's kind of a clash in cultures, but my boyfriend got this fortune in his cookie tonight. He read the fortune before eating the cookie, so I teased him about it because that's a super big no-no ... well he put on his "I'll show you" grin and let me read the fortune: "Every person is the architect of his own fortune". I wanted to do something with it, because he really did show me.

I hope everyone is having a happy Thursday!!

Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend - Bombshell Hump Day Hop!

2009-09-23T00:03:00.006-06:00

Wow! What a busy busy week. Thankfully projects at work seem to be wrapping up and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You may ask yourself, "Erin, Why would I ever care about your projects at work?" ..(or you may not...) And my answer to that question is " When I get all of my projects back to a manageable level, it means more time to create!!" I'd like to get a challenge up and going, I'm thinking a crazy color challenge or something? What do you all think?

But here it is ... what you all have ACTUALLY come here for:

I received the new Basic Grey 6 x 6 paper pad from All That Scraps yesterday and was immediately inspired by the colors!! And since the challenge just about screamed sparkles, I got a piece of hot pink glitter paper from Capture. To top it all off I have the lovely Butterfly Queen from BOMBSHELL STAMPS(!!!) to throw the whole thing over the top.

What do you all think?

Remember how this hop works now, leave a comment on each blog and at the end of the month there will be a fabulous prize from Bombshell Stamps!!! Anyone can comment, and anyone can win!

And now on to the rest of the lovely Bombshell ladies who will be brightening our drab and dreary Wednesday with their fab creations!!

Angela
Kathi
Glittery Katie
Kas
Terra
Stephanie
Sarah K
Mary G
Nicole
Gabby

Birthday Wishes

2009-09-16T23:25:00.001-06:00

There were so many birthdays this week! So I was inspired to make this card! Happy Birthday all!!

Sorry for the quick post, but things have been super busy this week... today I hear about my PROMOTION!!!! Or at least that is what is supposed to happen at 1PM today. We'll see if it actually happens, because if it did it would severely reduce my workload, stress and overall feeling of constantly being exhausted. I'm still working on opening my online store, just haven't had the ability or chance to sit down and post everything. I promise I haven't forgotten and I know I've missed my deadline.

Anyway, back to getting ready for work!!

Coloring the Butterfly Queen - Bombshell Hump Day Blog Hop

2009-09-16T09:09:00.005-06:00

It's that time of the week, the Bombshells have been super hard at work creating something to get you through the week! Check out their creations:
Kathi
Nicole
Glittery Katie
Kas
Angela
Terra
Mary G
Gabby
Anam

As for me, I've created this lovely tutorial for you all to enjoy! Have a good Hump Day!!!

Dia De Los Muertos - Check it out!

2009-09-14T10:00:00.001-06:00

Sorry! This weekend I was feeling a bit under the weather and didn't get anything completely finished for my blog. However I do have good news, Bombshell Stamps has new stamps up for pre-order!

You can check them out here:

http://www.bombshellstamps.com/sugarskullstamps.html

I'm so excited that I've already ordered two...

I hope everyone is having a good day!

With Sympathy

2009-09-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

The one thing that I dislike making is sympathy cards, I'm extremely emotional and there's something about sympathy cards that really gets me. I would prefer that my PTI With Sympathy set never touches ink, but unfortunately that's just not possible. Instead I focus on the beauty of the card, and hope that it brings even a small bit of comfort during a very difficult time.

With this card I tried a couple new techniques, embossing clear onto black card stock (in this case True Black by PTI). It took a couple tries but I was able to manage getting the background images just right. Once again the card is completely PTI with exception of the ribbon and the flowers. It reads "Although no words can really ease the loss you bear, just know that you are very close in love and prayer."

Thanks again for stopping by!

Little Deuce Coupe

2009-09-12T10:24:00.000-06:00

So last week the lovely Kathi from the Bombshell Stamps Design team posed a challenge that I couldn't resist: create a project using song lyrics and Bombshell Stamps. Couldn't pass this up! And to top it off Shannon had just sent me two car themed stamp sets (King of the Road and Pinstriping). I once again, as always, immediately thought of my dad, and with old cars and my dad it has to be the Beach Boys! So here it is, my Little Deuce Coupe:

The car is stamped on PTI Stamper Select White using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. It is then colored with Copics (yes, I only have red ones at the moment, at least when it comes to car colors... but that will soon change!) I then used a technique that I had never used before! I used my Glossy Accents to give the red paint a high gloss, spent all Saturday waxing it type finish. Super neat, and it turned out with no bubbles or errant cat hairs!

I think it turned out really well! So now it is time to pose a question to my ever growing loyal readers... I need to do a tutorial, and I'm thinking along the lines of how to color a Bombshell ala Miss Magoo. What do you think? Is there something on your blog that you've been dying to try but weren't sure how to start? I have to admit I'm quite the novice myself... but I'm getting pretty good with my Prismacolor pencils as well as my Copics. You let me know what you think!

Thanks for stopping by!

Get Well Soon

2009-09-11T05:31:00.000-06:00

So I've recently become OBSESSED with The Greeting Farm stamps. They're super cute and a blast to color. And in honor of the best nurse I know, my mom, I present my first Get Well Soon card!!

Nurse Anya is stamped on Stampers Select White from Papertrey Ink and colored with my Copic markers. She's matted with again, Stampers Select White and Smokey Shadow. The red polka dot paper is also from PTI, in the Itty Bitty Dots collection. The flowers are Prima.

Doesn't she make you feel better already?

Thanks for stopping by!!

Butterflies

2009-09-10T09:00:00.000-06:00

Every now and then its just nice to make a cute card... I don't have any children of my own, but fairies, butterflies and princesses are fun no matter what the age! Here's a card I just whipped up from one of the pre-colored images that were just sitting around. This is Flutter Anya:

For the inside I used the Butterfly Wishes set from The Greeting Farm. It says "Life is full of ups and downs, we dance, we laugh, we cry... yet this I know - in dreams we grow, we spread our wings, we fly..."

Thanks for stopping by!

There Is Nothin' Like a Dame - Bombshell Hump Day Hop!

2009-09-09T00:01:00.011-06:00

Welcome to the Bombshell Hump Day Hop!

Here's how it works:
Start at any of the Design Team Member Blogs and take a peek at their Hump Day project. Leave them a comment and tell them what you think about it! Then follow the links to the other DT member blogs and leave them comments. The more comments you make, the more entries you will have to win a great prize from Bombshell Stamps at the end of the month!

This week all of our projects are based on Ms. September's Challenge. Ms September is Sarah K, and she challenged us to make a project inspired by a movie. So let's get started shall we:

When I was asked to come up with a project inspired by a movie, my mind was for some reason drawn to the song "There is Nothin' Like a Dame" from South Pacific.

Here's my South Pacific inspired card, Miss Nellie with Bali' Hai behind her surrounded by beautiful flowers. I used the Bombshell Angel yet again and just gave her a little haircut. The palm tree and sea shell are from the Hawaiian Girl set. The image is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on PTI Stamper Select White, colored with my trusty Prismacolor pencils and blended with gamsol. The flowers are Prima which I got in a bundle from Overstock.com for $24.95... there were over 600 flowers in the bundle!!!

Now that you've seen my take on the challenge, add your comment and then hop on over to the other Bombshell DT Member blogs, and don't forget to join us again next week!

Our Hostess of this Wonderful Challenge
Ms. September - Sarah K

Our Lovely Guest Designers
Mary G

The Rest of the Amazing Bombshell Hump Day Entries
Terra
Kas
Angela
Nichole
Kat

Kindness

2009-09-08T06:00:00.002-06:00

Recently I was given a little present for my cat Magoo from a woman that I hardly knew. I had mentioned my cat once or twice and she went out of her way to make a little toy for her. I wanted a special way to thank her, and I had just received an adorable kitten stamp set from The Greeting Farm. It was like the stars aligned, with the help of AmyR's Friday Sketch (AMYRS74) the idea was complete:

The image is from The Greeting Farm and was just released this past month, it's called Ginger Bell and the sentiment is from AmyR'sThank You Sentiments Stamps. The stamp itself reads "How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it! - George Elliston"

Thanks for stopping by!!

Whacha Swappin'

2009-09-07T17:05:00.004-06:00

So I participated in my very first Split Coast Stampers (SCS) Artist Trading Card (ATC) Swap this week. And I had to have the hostess explain what size they were supposed to be. The theme was Betty Page. Once I got that worked out this is what I came up with:

Here they are just a bit closer to see the detail:

What do you think?

These were super simple, 2.5"x3.5". Background paper is PTI True Black, the Zebra striped paper is actually fuzzy!! I got it at Hobby Lobby for half off... the minute I saw it I knew it was perfect. The stamp set is Bombshell Angel from Bombshell Stamps, stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics. The flowers are all Prima from Michaels.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday Quickie

2009-09-06T17:22:00.005-06:00

Man has it been a busy couple of weeks. I normally get time to make things, but when it comes to post its midnight!! So here's a little quickie before I go to meditation class:

Supplies

Paper:

Kraft Cardstock - Papertrey Ink

Ocean Tides - Papertrey Ink

Green Tea Leaves - Papertrey Ink

Stamps:

With Sympathy - Papertrey Ink

Life - Papertrey Ink

Ink:

True Black - Papertrey Ink

Ripe Avacado - Papertrey Ink

Aloha Bombshells!

2009-09-01T21:48:00.004-06:00

Good evening all! Man have I been busy, lots of family events... mixed with lots of work! So I decided to get down with my crafty self tonight! Here's a quick Bombshell card in honor of this being my very first day on my very first design team!! I'd like to say Aloha to all of my fellow Bombshells!

So I don't know about all of my fellow stampers, but I find that I tend to stamp images, color them... and then they just sit there awaiting the perfect card. Well, this little beauty has been up on my "to do" board since I ordered her two months ago!! This lovely Bombshell is from the Hawaiian Girl set. She's colored with Prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. The paper is from Cosmo Cricket and was actually a piece of Valentine's paper! The Aloha! Tag is Technique Tuesday chipboard stamped and aged by yours truly!

I thought she was darling!

Aloha Girls!!

69' Chevelle

2009-08-23T20:51:00.004-06:00

Holy moly, what a busy month I've had! Its been super crazy at work, and all of my little extra projects have been keeping me busy for the rest of the time. But I did however have a chance to make my dad a card to go with his birthday present, and I'd like to share it with all of you:

It turned out amazing didn't it?! One of the newest stamp sets from the ever wonderful Bombshell Stamps collection titled Vintage Raceway. Colored with Copic Markers on PTI Stamper Select White. The car is actually embossed in black ink before it was colored to make it as dark as possible. I wanted all of the details to completely stand out in this amazing stamp. Seriously! Click on the image to see all of the fabulous detail!

The white background is actually aged a bit with inks from PTI's Vintage Touch Inking System and it added a lot to the look of the card. I used a sponge to ink the color straight onto the card stock after I distressed the edges a bit. The image is matted with PTI Smokey Shadow and then on top of the base red from Basic Grey's Lime Ricky collection. The card itself is Kraft Cardstock from PTI.

Enjoy! And thanks for stopping by!

It's Official - I can open my big mouth!

2009-08-23T12:00:00.008-06:00

Given that this month has been super busy work wise, I have had little time to post all that I've been working on. I have some posts that will start here soon, but for now I am able to open my big mouth on my two announcements I hinted at:

1) I'm a BOMBSHELL Girl!

I am proud to announce that I have been chosen to represent Bombshell Stamps on their design team. I have some tutorials already planned, maybe even a video. That whole process will be starting about a week from now. I will try my best to keep to a schedule that will include color, theme and sketch challenges, some tutorials and contests so that you too can be the proud owner of Bombshell loot! Congratulations to all my fellow Bombshell girls if you're reading this! I'm very excited to work with each and every one of you, Shannon has managed to pull together some amazing talents.

For friends and family who have no clue what this means:

For the next six months I'll be working with a great group of artists to help promote my favorite stamping company! I will have projects, contests and tutorials throughout the month. Exact schedules are to be decided and posted later, but it is quite an honor to be picked for such a position! I can't tell you how excited I am about it.

2) My Etsy Store: Miss Magoo's Creations

I will grand open my brand new online store on September 15th barring any huge problems or interruptions. I've been working on building stock. The web address and all information will be posted here on my blog as well as in a window on my Facebook page. Details will be posted here as well as via e-mail to close family and friends.

That is all for now :-) Have a big week of preparations ahead of me!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little Note

2009-07-26T21:09:00.005-06:00

I find it down right hilarious that I go and make this big deal about being back, and then it's over a month before I post something again. But I have some awesome news, that I don't think I'm allowed to announce yet. (It will be soon I promise... you have no idea how hard it is to keep my mouth shut about it!) As for what I've been up to:

African Youth Aid Foundation: www.ayaf.org . For the latter part of June and most of July I've been working with my friend Bryan, the President of AYAF, to get this site up and off the ground, assisting with promotions and doing overall maintenance. This is an absolutely wonderful foundation that helps children in South Africa get medicine, build schools, provide clothing and such. It is definitely a charity that I adore working for. Please visit the site for more details!
Special project for my cousins in Arizona... an alphabetical journey of their son's first year. It will be adorable when it is finished. But because it's not my son, I don't feel right publishing the finished pages to the world.
I've recently been attending a Buddhist center here in Fort Collins, and they found out that I have computer skills. Ergo, I've been earning some extra merit by helping them with promotional material, maintaining and updating their website and such.
Been prepping stuff for my big announcement that should be happening in the next few weeks. As soon as it is officially announced, I can absolutely shout it from the roof tops! It will be with this BIG announcement that I will also be launching the next part of my plan.. MUHAHAHAHA! So stay tuned!
AND... I got a kinda, sorta promotion at work (in title only) that has been keeping me plenty exhausted during the day and night just to keep up with my old job and organizing and developing the new position (which I kinda just invented...but the Director thought it was a great idea, so here I am).

So to all my friends in the blog-o-sphere, please hang with me. Once I make this announcement, I'm going to do my best to post five to seven times a week as my job permits. (I'm hoping to have all of the other projects to a point where they're complete or maintainable with little effort on my part.)

I'm Back Baby!!

2009-06-23T21:58:00.005-06:00

After a long move ALL the way across the street, finding everything, putting it all back... and designing a website for a charity site, I'M BACK BABY!!! Here's my first creation made for posting (as I anxiously await my new Bombshell Stamps!)
The whole card was super simple, I use my Bombshell "A Pirate's Life" colored with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol. Layered her on top of a piece of Smokey Shadow from PTI. The patterned paper is from the new Basic Grey Marrakech line called Sencha.

I have another card that I made for a very good cause, so that will be posted tomorrow. Just need to put the finishing touches on there.

Have a good day!

Happy Birthday Lauren!!

2009-05-04T10:26:00.005-06:00

For Lauren's weekly challenge, she wanted us to create a birthday card based on this sketch:

So here's my take:

The image is from The Greeting Farm and is titled Geisha Anya. I got her on Saturday, isn't she lovely?! I colored her with my trusty Prismacolor pencils and Odorless Mineral Spirits. The patterned paper is just origami paper that I got from Michaels. The flowers are Prima and is a downloaded font from 1001 Free Fonts called Osaka Sans Serif printed the sentiment on my computer.

Real cute huh? Happy Birthday Lauren!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Paper:

Card Blank - American Crafts

Origami Paper - Michaels

Pure Poppy - Papertrey Ink

Stamps:

Geisha Anya - The Greeting Farm

Ink:

True Black - Papertrey Ink

Embellishments:

Flowers - Prima

Red Bling - The Paper Studio

Font:

Osaka Sans Serif - 1001 Free Fonts

Sunday Quickie

2009-04-26T12:36:00.002-06:00

Hi there again all! I got bored this morning and should have been cleaning, so I should make this quick. I made this lovely card for a set using PTI's Life stamps. I'm planning on giving it as a gift later on in May so I don't want to post it all until then! But here's one:

PTI April Blog Hop - My Timeless Templates

2009-04-25T17:11:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my very first entry in the PTI Blog Hop! The goal tonight was to use My Timeless Templates in our projects. I sat for a long time thinking, what can I make and after about 1000 ideas that I had I figured I'd make a pretty way to organize my markers! So I pulled out my PTI cardstock and made a very important decision, which of these lovely colors will hold my most prize crafting possessions. I finally decided on Raspberry Fizz and Dark Chocolate.
I used the Filled with Flair Timeless Template and cut it in Chocolate Brown. Now I do have to mention that my cheap printer isn't actually able to pull the paper through, so I ended up printing the template on another sheet of just plain copy paper and then cutting it out and tracing it onto the Chocolate Brown. The inserts that I used were Raspberry Fizz cut to 4"x8.5" and the just simply rolled into a tube. I did adhere the circle when I picked the size so that two tubes would fit in each box, I didn't however glue the tubes into the boxes, I wanted to be able to remove them if I needed EVEN more room...I guess that 'if' should be 'when' huh?

I got my first background stamping is as well using Damask Designs which I stamped over the Raspberry Fizz cardstock with my new Hibiscus Burst. After a good deal of practice I was able to make all of the lines straight enough to be beautiful. Then once I did I used the pattern that came with the Timeless Templates to make the side pieces.

The front piece is a piece of cardstock that was cut to a tag form. I dyed it with my Hibiscus Burst ink pad, and then used the Fresh Alphabet stamp to spell out markers, (which was a funny event in itself, my boyfriend is my spell-check and I asked him to look at it. He did say it was spelled right, then once it was stamped he then said no wait, why did you spell it wrong.. I of course freaked out because I spent so much time making the tag look the way I wanted. Such a tease!). I tied the whole thing together with a piece of brown gross grain ribbon. The best part is I can make more boxes and add them... nothing is affixed together so I can pull everything apart and add more boxes in the center.

What do you think? Fancy way to store markers, huh? Thanks so much for stopping by, now I'm off to the next blog!

Supplies:
Filled With Flair - Timeless Templates - Papertrey Ink

Paper:
Chocolate Brown, Raspberry Fizz- Papertrey Ink

Stamps:
Fresh Alphabet - Papertrey Ink
Damask Designs - Papertrey Ink

Ink:
True Black, Hibiscus Burst - Papertrey Ink

My Time to Color Challenge 01

2009-04-25T15:38:00.009-06:00

Lauren's first color challenge was to create something with the following four colors:

Here's what I came up with:

The stamps are from Verve Visual and called Birthday Surprise. I used PTI Lemon Tart, Pure Poppy and Spring Rain and matched it with a Dark Grey from my stash of scraps. I paper-pieced the balloons and his cute little hat.

Supplies:
Cardstock
Lemon Tart, Pure Poppy, Spring Rain - PTI

Stamp:
Birthday Surprise - Verve Visual

Ink:
True Black - PTI