Friday, July 31, 2009
HAPPY ANYAVERSARY!
So in honor of the big day I have made a little window card with Anya getting ready to blow out the candle and make a wish for many more anyaversaries to come. :)
Supply list:
cardstock: Bazzill and GP
papers: KI Memories
stamps: The Greeting Farm (Angel Anya- altered just a bit)
KI Memories bookplate, decorative paper clip and glitter brads
Doodlebug token and alpha rub ons
May Arts ribbon
inks: Memento tuxedo black and Colorbox blackbird chalk ink
Copic Multiliner black pens 0.1 and 0.3
Copic markers:
skin-E00, E33, E43, R20
hair-E21, E25, E27, E29
candle glow- Y02
dress and bow- RV13, RV14, RV25, RV29
cupcake and candle- Y02, V01, V04, RV000, RV00, RV21, BG000, BG10, BG72
Farm Fresh Friday
Only one day away...
And to top it all off the new stamps are to-die-for cute. Seriously, the new Spooktacular Halloween set... just about gave me a cavity it was so sweet. LOL! I can't wait to get these new ones and start playing, there are so many ideas already floating around in my head and that's a great feeling to have.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The anticipation is building
I'm having a hard time being patient, I even spent some time yesterday making my card for the big blog hop on Saturday and it is all ready to post... talk about being anxious!
Sigh, I'll just have to distract myself with other things until the big day comes. CHA sneak peeks work in that regard, so here are three top picks for today:
1. Jenni Bowlin- Yeah! There are new chipboard buttons being released! These are so cool... I think my faves are the oldtime photo ones but all 6 new designs are great. Her new memo books don't look too shabby either.
2. Making Memories- I don't think I can really narrow it down to just a couple things... this is a company I've been buying from for years and years now. They are pretty much a staple in my stash and they never disappoint. But I am really diggin' the 50's retro vibe of their new Christmas line.
3. TPC Studio- I don't know much about this company and didn't like everything I saw but their Woodland Whimsy papers and most especially the stamps with the hedgehogs are a must have for me. I guess it's because I used to have a few african pygmy hedgies as pets back in the day so they will always hold a special place in my heart.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
CHA day 2
So here is my top three list for today:
1. Tim Holtz Idea-ology- Two words... mask sheets. I LOVE playing around with masks, both Tim's and the Heidi Swapp brand, so the idea of being able to cut my own designs is too exciting for words!
2. Maya Road- Their new mini chipboard shapes are to-die-for cute! I especially love the teeny tiny little cupcakes... so stinkin' adorable!
3. Basic Grey- I'm sure their new collections (Eerie, Eskimo Kisses, Indian Summer and Nook & Pantry) are on a lot of people's must-have lists and I am no exception. It is hard to choose a favorite out of the four because they are all pretty amazing, though I will say that I am extremely excited to see them finally releasing a Halloween line... yeah!
Well this is a surprise!
Now it is my turn to pass this badge onto five blogs that inspire me. I am embarrassed to admit that being so new to all of this blogging stuff I'm only going to have three since some of who I would list have already been given the badge... Traci being one of them.
So here are three gals that I have come to check their blogs daily and thoroughly enjoy reading and seeing their creations:
Sandra- http://www.paperfuntastics.blogspot.com/
Elena- www.refinedfocus.com/redhairedgirl
Angie- http://www.angiesaspiringart.blogspot.com/
If you haven't checked them out yet I highly recommend it, there is a whole lot of inspiration there! :)
ETA- Oops... I just noticed that Traci gave one to Sandra too, oh well... it looks like Sandra is gettng a lot of love today! :)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Summer CHA starts today
This little obsession of mine makes this week especially exciting because right now at this very moment down in Orlando the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) is holding their summer retailer show. All the new releases for the rest of the year are being debuted and you will especially find lots of holiday themed items. There have been plenty of sneak peeks already shown on various blogs and websites so I'm going to use the rest of this week to do my own little top three things I'm excited to see... in no particular order of course... :)
1. My Little Shoebox- This is a newer company and I love their bright colors and whimsical designs. I'm especially excited for their Little Ladies and In the Forest lines... super cute!
2. Pink Paislee- Now I'll admit, this company has never been on the top of my list before but I'm really impressed with what they have done for this release. My favorite is their Halloween line, Twilight. Though Mistletoe&Co is pretty cool too.
3. Shabby Green Door- Another new company though they are a division of Daisy Bucket... what caught my eye from them are the four spools of colored twine that go with their Farmer's Market collection. I'm all about adding twine to my cards these days so these will be a definite must have for me!
Monday, July 27, 2009
A summer card for a summer day
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Nothing but blue skies
I also wanted to take a sec and send out a big "Thank you" to all you ladies who have left such kind comments on this little fledgling blog of mine. It encourages me to know that maybe this wasn't such a crazy idea after all!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Club Couture
Anywho... for my little summer girl I went with the trends of: mini dress, big bold belts and bangles, as well as a sassy side ponytail. I used a combination of the Miss Anya with the flower basket (head) and Rain from the rain, snow, shine Miss Anya set (body and skirt), both heavily altered using my light box method to create this 'heart breaker'.
I also broke my summer rule of using only papers from my scrap bags on this card... I know, I know... BAD Amy! But seriously, how perfect is this new Making Memories Just Chillin' line for the challenge?! I couldn't resist. Plus it was only an 8x8 paper pad so that barely counts anyway... ;) Supply list:
cardstock: Georgia Pacific
paper: Making Memories (stripe, floral) My Mind's Eye (yellow card base)
stamps: The Greeting Farm (Miss Anya, Rain, Snow, Shine sets)
inks: Memento tuxedo black, Colorbox dark peony chalk ink
Making Memories heart breaker die cut
Ranger Stickles and white Inksentials pen
Fiskars Uppercrest border punch
misc: brads, acrylic heart
Copic markers:
skin: YR000, E11, E13, RV21, BG000 (eyeshadow)
hair: E02, E08, E09, E18
dress: V06, RV04, RV17, RV19
belt and bangles: Y13, Y35, BG13, BG09, YG00, YG03
Friday, July 24, 2009
One down, one to go
For this kind of altering where I am just taking a few things away from an image, all I do is ink up the stamp and then with the corner of a slightly damp paper towel I carefully wipe the ink off of the parts of the image that I want to change. Then I stamp the image and draw in what I want to add with a Copic black multiliner pen... usually a 0.1
Now it looks like I just need to be patient while they add this challenge category to the galleria then I can get my entry in there... :)
Gotta get busy stampin'
In the meantime, here's a card I did for the Trip it Up VSN challenge. I used my light box method to alter these two Miss Anyas into a pair of trippy hippies and had a lot of fun with it. :)
Supply list:
cardstock: Bazzill, GP
old as the hills unknown swirly paper from my scrap bag
stamps: The Greeting Farm (Miss Anya and Rain, Snow, Shine sets) October Afternoon (Road Map van)
ink: Memento tuxedo black and Colorbox lagoon chalk ink
misc: computer generated title, daisy trim
Copic markers
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Hot summer days
Despite my lack of enthusiasm for these dog days of summer I do love me a great summer color combo or two... I made this card for the last Club Anya VSN sketch challenge and it features my fave summer colors, yellow-orange and aqua. I used the Dress Up set but I did alter Anya a bit by replacing her head with Cheer Anya's head... the hair just looked a bit more summer funnish to me. I also used UTEE on the glasses to give them a glossy sheen that you can't really see in the pic.
Supply list:
cardstock: kraft, GP
paper: My Mind's Eye (plaid, solid blue) Scenic Route (polka dot)
stamps: The Greeting Farm (Dress Up set, Summer Dress Up add on, Cheer Anya) Hero Arts (sentiment)
flowers: Prima
misc: brad, white paint
ink: Memento tuxedo black and Colorbox dark brown chalk ink
Copic markers
Keep cool... you know that's what I'll be trying to do... ;)
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Not much going on...
Now onto my card for the day. This is a simple one I put together for the FFF Supplies, Supplies challenge a couple weeks ago. We were supposed to use at least two different stamps, punches and bling.
Supply list:
cardstock:DCWV and GP
paper: Daisy D's (plaid) October Afternoon (yellow floral tab) BoBunny (yellow polka dot) Doodlebug (yellow floral) Marcella by K (yellow linen solid)
stamps: The Greeting Farm Wild Things and sentiment
punches: Marvy medium and large scallop circles
misc: bling and machine stitching
Memento tuxedo black ink
Copic markers
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Bella Blvd sneak peeks!
Bella Blvd have only been around for about a year but Stephanie's designs had me from 'hello'... I love her color combos and her designs are so inspiring to use. And now there are four new collections to look forward to:
Super Stud
Flirty
Camped Out
and Plastino
The BIG news this release is the addition of some new embellishments to the product lines and can I just say there will be stamps... oh yes there will be stamps... yeah! I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the cute little robot image from Super Stud will find his way onto a stamp... want to check it out for yourself? Go to www.bellablvd.typepad.com you won't be disappointed.
My card today actually features Bella Blvd papers from the Family Tree line... love 'em!
Supply list:
cardstock: Georgia Pacific
paper: Bella Blvd (trees, stripe) October Afternoon (ledger scallop)
stamps: The Greeting Farm (Forest Friends set)
Ranger Stickles
ink: Memento tuxedo black ink, Colorbox dark brown chalk ink
ribbon
Copic Markers: E30, E31, E33, E35, E37, E39, YR21, YR23, YG93, YG95, YG97
Monday, July 20, 2009
Monday, Monday...
This is another altered Miss Anya fairy and the card is following my summer goal to use up as much of my paper scraps as possible. In fact, I took it a step further on this one, see the wood grain pattern in the background? That is actually the packaging from a Making Memories stamp set I had gotten recently. I thought it was too pretty to throw away and I was very proud of myself for putting it to use so quickly... yeah me!
Supply list:
cardstock: Bazzill, GP
paper: Scenic Route, MM packaging
stamps: The Greeting Farm Miss Anya, Hero Arts sentiment
ink: Memento tuxedo black, Colorbox dark brown chalk ink
Copic markers
misc: ribbon, pearls
Hope your Monday is wonderful!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
One more to add
Class cards
I built this class around the whole idea of using rub-ons. I've found that even though they have come a long way in quality over the past few years there are still a lot of people out there who think they are too difficult so they never try them. I also wanted to give them some ideas on the different types of surfaces you can apply them to... that they go on so much more than just paper.
So what rub-ons to choose for such a class? It wasn't a very hard decision, I like that the Basic Grey Olio rub-on books come with such a large variety of coordinating images and greetings... perfect for making a bunch of cards. I went with the Porcelain book because I thought the butterflies, bees and birds worked well for a summertime class, and they are just pretty colors. ;)Supply list:
cardstock: Bazzill
papers: My Mind's Eye (solid rose, pink and yellow) BoBunny (floral) October Afternoon (yellow pattern and text)
rub-ons: Basic Grey Porcelain
Fiskars border punches: Threading Water and Effervesence
misc: Heidi Swapp ghost butterflies, ribbon, bling, buttons
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Another altered fairy
An altered Miss Anya
This one is from the original Miss Anya set and she had some shopping bags in her hands. So what I do is:
- 1. stamp the original image
- 2. then place it on a light box and use a thin sheet of computer paper over it to trace the basic outline of her head and body
- 3. next I take it off the light box and get down to drawing in the new clothes I want her to be wearing and adding the wings, all in pencil
- 4. once I have her just the way I like, the new sketch goes on the light box and I place a sheet of Georgia Pacific cardstock over it and trace the design with Copic Multiliner black pens. Mostly using .03 and .01
- 5. now a fairy is ready to color and cut out... not the quickest thing to do but I enjoy it
Supply list:
Bazzill cardstock
GP cardstock
KI Memories paper (stripe)
BoBunny paper (floral)
Daisy D's paper (pink)
The Greeting Farm Miss Anya and sentiment from the Never Ever set
Art Warehouse dotted journaling lines stamp
Prima Flowers
Kaiser Craft pearl
Ranger Stickles and Inksentials white pen
Autumn Leaves baby blue ink
Memento tuxedo black ink
Copic markers
yellow puff paint
Friday, July 17, 2009
Farm Fresh Friday
More Greeting Farm love
Thursday, July 16, 2009
one last post for the night
and again...
I'm thinkin' I like the photos on the left like this, so I guess I'll stick with this set up until I learn more.
Ok, here's another past Greeting Farm Dotty Spotty challenge. I used the Wild Sprouts Edward stamp that I had won when Marie liked the name I suggested for the weekly challenges, Farm Fresh Friday. Like most of my good ideas it came to me while taking a shower... why inspiration seems to come to me in the bathroom I may never know, I don't think I want to! :)
Supply list:
Bazzill cardstock
Making Memories Just Chillin' paper (woodgrain)
October Afternoon papers (red and blue polka dots)
Bella Blvd paper (stripe)
The Greeting Farm Wild Sprouts Edward stamp
October Afternoon Road Map car stamp
Studio G alpha stamps
Copic Markers
brads
and again...
Are you tired of seeing Greeting Farm challenge cards? Not me! What can I say, these have quickly become some of my most favorite stamps to play with. This is one of three cards I made for the Dotty Spotty challenge.
Supply List:
Bazzill cardstock
The Greeting Farm stamp (Miss Anya)
Paper Trey Ink polka dot stamps
Tim Holtz Distress ink
Studio G sentiment stamp
Colorbox Chalk ink dark brown
Prima flowers
Copic markers
ribbon, brad
and again...
Let's see if I like this any better...
Here we have yet another past Greeting Farm challenge. This one required you to use three different Greeting Farm stamps on one card. This was also my very first attempt at coloring with Copic markers, I have since become completely hooked on them! Though I still have a lot to learn with blending and what not.
Supply list:
Bazzill cardstock
Basic Grey paper
The Greeting Farm stamps (Geisha Anya, The Wishing Tree and bird)
Hero Arts sentiment (arigato)
Prima flower
bling
Ranger Stickles
Copic markers (sorry don't remember which colors)
chalk
airbrush pen
Once again
Ok, I'm going to figure this photo posting thing out eventually, grrrrrrrrrrr... I am SO not computer literate.
Anywho, this was another challenge at The Greeting Farm. It was to create a single layer card. There was a lot of time and patience put into this one, what with having to stamp and mask off, stamp and mask off, repeat, repeat, repeat to give it the illusion of depth. I love how it turned out though, so it's all good. :)
Supply list:
Heidi Swapp card base (the sentiment was pre-printed on it)
The Greeting Farm Fairy Chloe and Fairy Tink stamps (I <3 fairies)
Hero Arts weedy looking stamp
Ranger Stickles
Staedtler watercolor pencils
ZIG platinum marker
Just trying to get the hang of this
Testing... testing...
Honestly, I thought I would be the last person on the face of the earth to have a blog. But, here I am. I blame it on The Greeting Farm... those stamps are just too darn cute and I'm enjoying the community over there so when the big Anyaversary blog hop was announced I didn't want to miss out.
Thus, a blog is born.
I guess it will be a good place to post pics of my cards and what not.
Please bear with me while I try and figure this whole blogging thing out. :)