Two Posts in One Day?

Stop the presses, I'm posting again! Since I had plenty of time to color in some images this weekend, all I've got to do is find some cardstock, possibly some patterned paper, and embellishments and put them all together :-)

I normally do not use Brilliant Blue but decided to pair it with Pink Passion for this one and really like how it turned out. The dp is from BasicGrey's Phoebe collection and I think it's perfect for this card! The image is one that Heather RAK'ed me and I think it's super, super cute!!!! These images are from a Norwegian company and are called Rakles. They are totally fun to color in and are HUGE!!! I colored several this weekend so you'll be seeing more soon.

Anyway, I colored her in with a variety of Copics and because I was coloring in the car, I didn't down which ones I used. She's matted on Brilliant Blue and Pink Passion and adhered over the patterned paper layer with dimensionals. The sentiment is a rubon from the SU SAB set of rubons. I'm still hoarding but do plan to start using these more often. I like how crisp and white it is against the card base. I punched a photo corner from Pink Passion and added some Pale Pink Dewdrops to the photo corner. I really wanted to see what some green ones would look like but I either didn't order them like I thought or they're hiding from me somewhere right now. The photo corner is up on dimensionals as well.

This card is also perfect for Cindy's Terrific Tuesday Challenge which is to pick a color you don't often use, try to see it in a new light, and use it on your card. As I mentioned, I really don't use Brilliant Blue--I think this is my original cardstock that I got my first year as an SU demo :-) but I think it totally rocks here. So, try it out, visit Cindy's blog, and let her know you played along.

So, voila! There you have it--another card to add to my stash for those days when I need a card for someone. Hopefully it will brighten their day!

Thanks for visiting!

Bleeding Copics?

Hi all!!!! We drove down to LA for the weekend and I took my Copics and some stamped images to color in the car. I was RAK'ed a variety of different images from one of my SBS3 sisters, Heather, that are perfect for coloring. A few of the ones that I colored this weekend bled out of the lines. I could fix some of them with the colorless blender but couldn't get the red to go back in the lines.

Anyone know why this happens? Is it the paper? Since these are RAKs I'm not 100% certain what the cardstock is but I'm fairly certain it's Whisper White. Did I oversaturate the cardstock? What do you think?

I'm bummed about this image since it's pretty cute. I think I'm going to use it anyway and find a way to cover up the part where the ink bled and I couldn't fix it.

Thanks for visiting!

Got Scissors?

Thanks for the scissor suggestions. I had a little spare time yesterday and ran to my LSS to check out their inventory. I really couldn't justify getting the Craft and Paper Scissors, even with my demo discount so I got these instead.




Now, I couldn't let these poor little scissors leave the store without a friend so I also had to get this companion. I have the tabletop cutter but decided I might just want to give the tiny one a new home and see how it is for portability and using my counter in the main room to stamp and make some cards :-)

Ummmmmm, is it normal that I'm now up to a 15% discount at my LSS? Or does that just say that I've spent way too much in the past year there? At this rate, who needs a SU Demo discount :-)

So, since I had new toys do you think I got the chance to play with them last night? I was going to. . .I really was. . .but I was so tired that I fell asleep on the couch immediately after finishing dinner.

Oh well. . .I don't think it's happening tonight either since we're going out to dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday a week late and then we're getting out of town for the weekend so I don't see it happening until maybe Sunday night. . .

Sigh, I really, really, really miss cardmaking. Wish me luck and maybe, just maybe I can squeeze one out tonight between finishing a load of laundry and packing for the weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

Mojo 34

I had a chance to do Julee Tillman's Mojo Monday sketch challenge this week. I got my new Papertrey Ink order in before dh and I went away for the weekend and finally got the chance to play. Can I just tell you that when I haven't stamped in awhile, my mojo completely disappears and it's soooooooooo frustrating. This card took me several hours to make over the course of the evening. Granted, it wasn't straight hours of just trying to make it work but it didn't just come together. I can't tell you how many white circles I die cut. . .I had to keep pulling out my Cuttlebug and Nesties since I kept messing up my circle with my ugly stampin ;-) I'm still not 100% thrilled with this card but it was well after midnight when I finished and I had an important meeting at work this morning so I had to throw in the towel and get some sleep.

Anyway, I absolutely looooooooooooooooove the Papertrey Ink colors!!!!!!! They are sooooooooo pretty and I will have to stock up. For this card, I used Lemon Tart & Berry Sorbet from PTI, and Whisper White from SU. The cardbase is Lemon Tart which is such a nice yellow. IRL, yellow and orange are my favorite colors and this is such a nice, springy, yellow that I can see myself reaching for more and more often. I embossed a piece of Berry Sorbet with the Swiss Dots embossing folder and adhered that to the cardbase with dimensionals. The circles are from the Complete Petite Circle set of Nesties and are attached to the cardfront with dimensionals. The ladybug body is from Little Lady and is stamped in Lemon Tart Palette Hybrid ink. This was overstamped with the dotted ladybug in Berry Sorbet Palette Hybrid Ink. I went over the dots and head of the ladybug with Ranger's Glossy Accents and colored over the antenna and dotted trail with my Clear Stardust Gelly Roll Pen. Just Because from Mixed Messages is stamped in Summer Sunrise Palette Hybrid Ink. The ribbon is PTI's Summer Sunrise Swiss Dot Satin Ribbon. Dewdrops are from the Flame assortment which I don't see at this time in Ellen's store.

All in all, this is a happy Spring card to brighten someone's day!

Thanks for visiting!

Scissor Help!!!!!!!

Kathat needs your help!!!!! Who do we ask for help when we don't know the way? The map....or my blogging buddies (yes, I watch way too much Dora).

I somewhat recently--in the last 12 months--bought a pair of Cutter Bee scissors that I've only been using for ribbon. Well, my parents are visiting from Thailand which means my stamping room is in disarray and out of commission since the TV is in there and some people don't like to watch sports 24/7 :-) I've been on somewhat of a stamping hiatus but the tiny bit I've done has been on the island between the kitchen and family room. . .Welllllllllllllll, I'm not the best about putting my things away immediately and the island is a mess and I left my Cutter Bees on the counter when dh and I went away. I found them near the couch. . .which is not where I left them...and I knew that they'd been used. . .I did stamp tonight (pic forthcoming when I have better lighting or access to my Ott-Lite) and when I went to cut some ribbon I discovered that someone had used my beloved ribbon scissors on something other than ribbon which means that they don't cut smoothly any longer. I'm really bummed right now and definitely need to get some ribbon scissors.

This is where I need your help. I'd love to know what you use to cut ribbon. I could go to my LSS and buy another pair of Cutter Bee scissors but they also have some that seem better (or maybe they're the same but have different color handles). I've also been looking at the Tonic Scissors that my LSS also carries. I could get the SU Craft and Paper Scissors but do I want to spend that much, even with my demo discount? What do you use for ribbon? What do you recommend? Give me your suggestion and if I end up buying what you suggest, I'll send you a little something :-)

Thanks in advance!

Random Blog Candy Thoughts

As I was going through Google Reader and blurfing, I was thinking to myself about blog candy. Do you all enter to win blog candy when your blogging buddies offer it up? Do you check out random blogs to win candy? Do you enter to win and then don't return to check up?

I do know that I've gotten more comments when I have blog candy which is to be expected. I know I've discovered blogs when bloggers give out candy.

However, I don't enter to win everytime I see blog candy :-) I don't enter to win on blogs that I know that I normally wouldn't return to or if it's something that I already have or if it's something that I know I wouldn't use and would just add to my stash of stuff. Sometimes, if it's someone I *know* or something cool, I want to comment but I don't necessarily want to be entered and wonder if the giver of the candy will be offended that I don't necessarily want their candy.

Just some thoughts. . .

and I had EVERY intention of stamping last night!!!!! Dh worked on his taxes and I watched the Biggest Loser finale. By the time I got the kids down, I lost my motivation to go into my stamp room and get my stuff. I think with my parents visiting and my stamp room in a state of chaos, it's hard for me to get motivated to stamp but I'm really missing it. My hope is to finish up work relatively quickly today and get home relatively early so that I can stamp. My mom's birthday is tomorrow so at the very least, I should stamp her a card since she's in the same country :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Before and After

Ok, I really hate pics of myself and I'm usually the one behind the camera. Here's a before and after shot to show you the new haircut :-) In the after pic my hair is slightly damp. We had amazing weather this weekend. Dh took ds to the beach when I was getting my hair done Saturday and we ended up going back on Sunday before I picked my oldest up. We don't get many beach days up here in the Bay Area--I miss Southern California at times--and my 5 yo absolutely loves the beach. I thought I'd share a few pics from Sunday so you can see why I didn't get any stamping done this weekend :-)

Thanks for visiting and don't forget to check back tomorrow for eye candy.

Embossed Thanks

I needed to make thank you cards for ds and wanted to play around with my Cuttlebug as well. I got my Petite Scalloped Circle Nesties and you know that I just had to use those! My SBS3 Sister, Denise, has a weekly challenge. This week's challenge was embossing and since this idea was already floating around in my head, I knew that I'd get the chance to play :-)

I like how this turned out and the only thing I would change about is is the color of the cardbase. I knew I wanted to use my Bashful Blue striped grosgrain ribbon but when I started these, I realized I'm really low on Bashful Blue cardstock. . .so, the cardbase is Certainly Celery instead. I think it would have turned out better in the blue but it's not horrible and my son will be using these as they are and I know he won't complain.

Cardstock colors used are Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, and Whisper White. I embossed the top portion of the Whisper White piece with my Thank You (I think that's the name) embossing folder in my Cuttlebug. I added a couple score lines underneath with my Scor-Pal but you can't see that since I covered it with the ribbon. Changito is stamped on Whisper White with Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black, cut out with a circle Nestability (I didn't emboss it but you can see it slightly anyway) and then colored in with the following Copics: E11, E13, E33, E29, RV04, and then outlined with C0. I matted this on a Petite Scalloped Circle of Bashful Blue. I tied the Bashful Blue striped grosgrain around the white piece and then mounted Changito over it on dimensionals. Finally, I mounted the white piece on the cardbase on dimensionals. I haven't been using my Cuttlebug for embossing that much lately and I've forgotten how much fun it can be and how much extra it adds to a card so I think I may be playing with my bug and embossing folders a little more later today.

In other news, we're having gorgeous weather up here!!!!!! I really enjoy warm weather and it really doesn't get that hot in the Bay Area that often but it was about 81 today!!!!! I also went in for a cut and color this morning and have been toying with cutting my hair shorter for awhile. Dh has really wanted me to keep it long and it was the longest it had ever been in my life--about down to the small of my back :-) Now, it hits my shoulders in the back and collarbone in the front. I feel so much lighter and even though I loved my long hair, I'm 38 and in a "professional" job so I can't do it forever.

Thanks for visiting!

Friday, Friday. . .

So, being on Spring Break doesn't make me happy it's Friday :-) I wish it were Monday and I had more time. Dh and I are going out tonight since his birthday was Wednesday. We're going to have dinner at The Slanted Door and I can't wait!!!!! If you get the chance to visit San Francisco, you've got to try this restaurant. It will be one of the best meals you've ever had!!!!!!





In other unrelated news, I'm still tripping out a little bit about a shooting on the freeway last night. You can read the story here. The car crashed right near our exit of the freeway and we had just driven by where this occurred about an hour before it happened. Random violence sucks!!!!

Finally, I've been nominated for an award by a couple of my blogging buddies.

I've been awarded the Arte y Pico award by Heather and Erin. Thanks so much!!!! Here's the rules:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material and also contributes to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given him/her the award itself.

4 The award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of arte y pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award

5. To show these rules.

So, I'm picking Yvette, Malieta, Colleen, Deborah, and Kelli.

Thanks for visiting!

Dino SC170

So, my *baby* boy turned 9 today. I don't know how the time went by so quickly. He's so excited to be 9 and I told him that I'm happy for him but he's definitely not a baby anymore. He knows the right thing to say and told me that he'll always be my baby.

I used yesterday's Sketch Challenge to make his birthday card. He loved it and was so cute since he's like "mommy, you remembered that I like dinosaurs!" How could I forget? He's loved dinosaurs since he was little and didn't have an imaginary friend, he had an imaginary dinosaur :-) Since he loves dinos, I try to get my hands on every dinosaur set that I can find and I don't get rid of them either.

Here's the details. The card base is Blue Bayou and I also used River Rock and Textured Whisper White. I ran the River Rock piece through my Cuttlebug with the Mesh Texture embossing folder and then attached it to the card base. I stamped the dino from Preshistoric Pals in Blue Bayou on the Whisper White and then masked him to stamp the trees in Chocolate Chip and Wild Wasabi. I stamped an additional dino on the top in River Rock but didn't really like it so I stamped it again on a scrap and cut it out and added it on dimensionals after I sponged in Wild Wasabi and Blue Bayou. I cut a little slit in the fold of the card and added some Double Stitched Blue Bayou ribbon and then paper pierced above and below the River Rock strip. I mounted the focal piece on dimensionals and then stamped the sentiment from Birthday Whimsy in White Craft along the bottom. Tah dah!!! All done and a cute card for a very happy 9 year old.

It's late and I'm about to get to bed. Thanks for visiting!