A Little Sunshine

Today's post is just a bit of fun I decided to have on Friday night after spending ALL day in bed with the most wicked headache.  I finally got to feeling normal around 9:30P and sat down to do a bit of coloring.  I'd seen the Bellariffic Friday's sketch for October 10th and thought I'd give it a shot.

So I took the Uptown Girl - Audrey Loves Her Makeup and colored her using my prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits.  I fussy cut her and sandwiched her between two pieces of acetate.  The frame was made in the card front in both pieces using the Taylored Expressions - Frame it Up 2 die.   I placed the patterned paper on the front of the card temporarily - and die cut both pieces at once to ensure it would be accurate.  Then before adhering the patterned paper (My Mind's Eye - The Sweetest Thing) to the card base I added Audrey between the two pieces of acetate.  This created a beautiful window that would show the sentiment on the inside of the card.

I was able to draw a clean black line around the frame to accentuate the shape just a bit.  To do so, I fit the die back into the window and use a thin black marker to trace around the die. I think it adds just a bit extra. 

The inside of the card ready "Some days you just have to create your own sunshine" and is from another Uptown Girl pair - Sunny is Stylish.

I think she turned out lovely!  Thank you all for stopping by today!!

If life gives you limes - Make Margaritas!

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:

Discover Your Wings - A Moxie Fab Challenge

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!!!

Cupcake Thing

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.

Babies Babies Everywhere! - Baby Bear!

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 EVERYWHERE!!

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!!!