Another Altered Tin

Well, today is day 2 of our Secret Angel gift exchange at work. I made another altered tin, but this one is being used as a box for the gift inside. I bought a cute holiday-themed frame for Katie because I was thinking she could put a picture of her little boy in it. I made a mini pizza box, but it was too small. I didn't have any jewelry boxes that would fit the frame either, so I took this tin from my SU felt flowers...it was the perfect size! The flowers were relocated to another smaller tin (I hope I remember that they are in that one later on)! I used SU's retired Dashing dp (still love that paper) on the top of the tin and ran some red grosgrain ribbon around the side of it. The felt snowflakes are from SU and the brad from Hobby Lobby.

Now for the actual gift. I didn't want to leave the inside of the frame empy, and I didn't have a picture of her little boy, so this is what I did. I made my own picture! I used SU's retired Thanks Snow Much set stamped in black Versafine and colored him with copics. The sentiment is from Karen Lockhart. The snowflakes were stamped with Baja Breeze. This is what it looks like on the inside...sort of like a card! I wrapped the frame in some tissue paper too.

Well, that's all for today. Please stop by tomorrow. I should have the gift for day 3 posted! Happy Holidays!
Recipe
Stamps: Thanks Snow Much, 2008 Holiday Tag Collection (PTI)
Paper: Dashing dp, white, Riding Hood Red, vanilla
Ink: Versafine black, copics, baja breeze
Accessories: Scallop and round nestabilities, red-line tape, Felt Flurries, brad (Hobby Lobby)

Karen Lockhart Class

Before I show you what we did in the Karen Lockhart class I took at my LSS, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff, I have to show you the cutest picture of my little Lizzie. My husband has a pretty extensive garden in the summer and also grows pumpkins for the kids. He picked them today and had them in the wheelbarrow in the back yard. I'm always showing him cute pictures of animals, kids, and gardens that all of you post on your blogs, and he suggested we take a picture of Lizzie in front of the wheelbarrow of pumpkins and post it on my blog! I ran for the camera and we had Lizzie pose for this adorable picture. She wasn't bred as a show dog, but she sure thinks she is when she poses for the camera! Oh, and look at hubby's pumpkins...aren't they wonderful? After I took the picture, I thought we should have washed the dirt off of them! Oh well! On to the Karen Lockhart class.

You are probably wondering what the heck kind of card is that? Well it's not a card, it's my scratch sheet of coloring that Karen had us do. She uses Prismacolor pencils for all her images and is a pro at it! She showed us how we can see the range of color we can get with each pencil. We used the same pressure to get the color on the paper, but to get the darker colors we went over the same line more times and lightened it up as we created these "tornadoes" as she called them. We practiced this with the images she provided for us.

This is the first one we colored. I had a hard time getting the yellow to shade properly. I wanted more shading on the criss-cross design as well. She provided the patterned paper and cardstock and I put this together tonight. I had a really difficult time pulling this card together. It just needed something, and I'm not sure the snowflake is it, but it seemed to work. The sentiment is from SU's Home for Christmas, which can be found in the Holiday Mini Catalog.


This is the next image we colored. I really like this tree. It didn't take long to color, so it would be an easy image to mass produce. I used these prima poinsettia flowers I got at Michael's and a Martha Stewart fern punch using SU's garden green paper. The sentiment is from PTI's Believe and is stamped in real red. I used a glitter dot in the center of the flower. Funny story about this card...when I had it all put together, I realized I did it upside down on the card! How many of you have done THAT before? I had to cut it down and layered it on PTI's shimmer cardstock! Boy, does that stuff shine! So pretty!

This is the last one and the one that gave me the most trouble! I needed to have her card in front of me as a guide, and the other side of the table kept taking it! I guess they needed it more than me! I do like it more than I did that night, but I wish I would have colored the leaves more green. Karen's had some red and brown in them and mine just came out muddy-looking. I do like the way it looks all mounted and dressed up, though. I used PTI's First Fruits for the sentiment, primas, and dew drops.

Well, that's all folks! I enjoyed the class and wish I could have had Karen give me more one-on-one time, but I guess so did everyone else! Thanks for stopping by today!

Dare to Get Dirty?

Yes, you can Dare to Get Dirty if you are an SCS Fan Club Member. There is a whole other part of SCS for Fan Club Members that is fabulous! Just another perk for being an SCS member. All this week, the "Dirty Girls" are putting out challenges. Holly, aka Toy (who happens to live about 3 miles from me), put out this sketch challenge. If you are a Fan Club member, you can find it here. I loved this sketch and started this card at 1:00 AM! I was busy all day, and finally got a chance to look at the challenge! Crazy, I know, but when I get my second wind, I could stay up all night (night owl, I guess!).

Back to the card. I had to find an image small enough to fit this oval. I was bummed because I thought I had oval Nestabilities, but realized I didn't. Luckily I had the Marvy ovals that worked fine. In the end, I chose this Karen Lockhart stamp (it's called Tomato with Greens). I colored it with copic markers. I used a white gel pen to highlight the tomato. I also used Spica glitter pens in silver for the hanger and clear to add some shimmer to the greens. It doesn't show up in the picture, but when the light hits it, it's quite shimmery. I used the white gel pen again to draw some dots in the scallops of the mat for the main image. I used the largest scalloped Nestability I had to cut the white piece and then ran it through the Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder. I needed some sort of embellishment, and went for the new SU buttons. This one is Riding Hood Red. I put a piece of celery grosgrain ribbon I found in my ribbon jar behind the button. I thought the sentiment from Rosie's Roadshow fit with this unusual stamp and put two dew drops on either end. (I thought it was appropriate to use this stamp as I won it at the WNY SCS gathering I went to in April that was co-hosted by Holly! Thanks, Holly!) I finished it off with a dew drop on the button. I'm really pleased with how this turned out (for 1:00 in the morning!). In hindsight, I wish I had added some Crystal Effects to the tomato to give it some shine and dimension. I have two more cards to share, so keep on reading after the recipe.

Recipe

Stamps: Tomato with Greens (Karen Lockhart), Rosie's Roadshow (sentiment)

Paper: Certainly celery, real red, white, Summer Picnic and Certainly Celery dp

Ink: Adirondack pitch black, copic markers

Accessories: Marvy punches, Nestiabilities, cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, SU button, ribbon, dew drops, white gel pen, dimensionals, Spica glitter pens

With Sympathy

I have a friend who recenty lost her father. A few days before she had to put down her precious dog, Maggie. So I have two more sympathy cards to share. This one was inspired by Julee Tilman's card. I fell in love with it, so much so that I had to purchase these butterflies, called Fluttering By by Verve Visual, Julee's company. I started by pulling out this new dp from SU called Bella Rose and then paired it with Chocolate Chip and the new In Color Riding Hood Red. The butterfly was stamped on the white piece in Chocolate chip, again on a scrap piece of white, then again on the dp. I paper pieced the butterfly, cut it out and mounted it on top of the one stamped on the white piece (I did this because I did not want to cut out the antennae). The sentiment, from PTI's Mailbox Greetings, was also stamped in Chocolate Chip. When I mounted it on the white card, it looked a little bare, so I ran it throught the Textile cb folder, scalloped the bottom with SU's new scallop border punch, and added a strip of chocolate chip and the dp on the bottom. Dew Drops were added to the butterfly's body and anntenae and on the scallops on the bottom. (I've recently found these dew drops and have been using them quite frequently, as you can see). The inside looks like this. I love this sentiment by River City Rubber Works that I got at my LSS many years ago. The little butterfly is from Verve's Petals and Stems. I have another after this recipe so scroll down.

Recipe

Stamps: Fluttering By, Petals and Stems (Verve Visual), River City Rubber Works

Paper: Chocolate chip, riding hood red, PTI white, Bella Rose dp

Ink: Adirondack espresso

Accessories: Cuttlebug Textile folder, dew drops, SU scallop border punch, dimensionals

Goodbye Four-Legged Friend

This last one is a sympathy card for my friend who recently lost her Dalmatian, hence the black and white. I didn't have a Dalmatian stamp, so I used this one from Whipper Snapper, Sweet Sniffs of Spring, and made him look like a Dalmatian (well, sort of...use your imagination!). The image was colored with Prismacolor pencils. I think I added Crystal Effects to his nose (I don't remember because I sent it out a while ago as soon as I made it). I wanted to make this a black and white card, so I chose this patterned paper from DCWV called All Dressed Up (it's a great pack!). The ribbon (yes, that's ribbon running vertically) is something I picked up in a sale bin at Walmart. I chose to add the red to coordinate with the flower. It needed something else, so I added the paw print.

The thing I like best about this card is the sentiment on the inside. I found it used on a card on SCS a while ago and they mention it was from DRS Designs, so I went right on over and got it. I says "Four legged friends are a very special part of any family. Special thoughts are with you now that you've had to say goodbye." Since I'm a dog-lover, as are many of my friends, I had to have it for special cards like this one. Thanks so much for sticking with me on this long post and please stop by again!

Recipe

Stamps: Sweet Sniffs of Spring (Whipper Snapper), DRS Designs, Stampendous (pawprint)

Paper: Black, real red, white, DCWV All Dressed Up dp

Ink: Adirondack black

Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, ribbon, dimensionals, circle punches, Crystal Effects

Sketch Challenge 4th of July!

I did this card for the Sketch Challenge on SCS today. I know I say this all the time, but these are my favorite challenges. I'm usually sketch-challenged when I sit down to do my cards. So these really help.

Today's sketch was perfect for what I wanted to do with this Karen Lockhart image I just got last week at my LSS, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff. I left a little white cardstock above the image to accommodate the sketch and used it to tie this fabulous star ribbon onto. I purchased it at AC Moore (it was on a roll of 4 ft. for $1). It worked so nicely. I first colored the image with copic markers (there are about 15 different colors going on in this one little image)! Then I went looking for red and blue dp to match. I came up with SU's Cutie Pie and retired Cerise. I can't wait for SU's new catalog to come out to see what new dp they have. I just love their papers lately! I mounted everything on black cardstock to give it some pop. There was some white space that needed something. I had also purchased these glitter dots at my LSS along with the stamp, and they worked perfectly to fill in the white space. These glitter dots can also be purchased at Gina K designs. I had purchased some other colors from Gina K and was happy to see that my LSS carried them too! I took the picture and then put the card in a envelope and sent it off to my Aunt Vi. She's well into her eighties, and loves to send and receive cards. I've made some for her in the past and she loved them. I have make more for her. I think she'll like this as well! Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps: Karen Lockhart

Paper: PTI White, black, cerise, cutie pie

Ink: Adirondack black, copic markers

Accessories: ribbon, glitter dots, dimensionals, stickles, crystal effects (for the dots)

To Friendship

I am really fortunate to have some really great friends in my life who I have known for many years. But there is one who has been my friend since I was five and she was three. She is like a sister to me. I never had a sister, just one wonderful brother, so I'm lucky to have a friend I can call a sister. Her family is like my second family, we've been on vacations together, "girls' weekends", we've gotten each other through family tragedies, etc. I had a birthday recently, and not even one of those "special" birthdays, just a regular old birthday. Maria surprised me with a beautiful bracelet. It's a Pandora bracelet and she put three charms on it (I should have taken a picture of it)! It was such a generous gift, I couldn't believe she did that! I've neglected sending her a thank you (sorry, Maria!), so this is the one she'll receive.

I just got this Karen Lockhart stamp and was playing with my Copic markers the other day. I liked the way this particular image came out and decided to make a card with it. One thing led to another and it evolved into this thank you card to Maria. I like the sentiment and think it's perfect. Since I had already colored the image, I had to find paper to match. I wanted the base white so it looked "fresh". Then I looked through my stash of patterend paper and came up with this Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl Anna paper. I liked the colors and the flowers matched those in the image. The river rock came next, then the ruby red. The ribbon is just a happy accident! It matched perfectly and I like the checks (it reminds me of a picnic table cloth). The sentiment is stamped in ruby red and the brads started out white and were colored with a copic marker (I didn't have the right red and this worked). The river rock looked too bare, so I stamped it with Sanded background stamp with river rock ink. Well, I hope Maria likes it! If you are reading this, Maria, STOP and wait til you get the card! Thanks for stopping by!
Recipe
Stamps: Karen Lockhart chair, PTI Green Thumb (sentiment), SU Sanded bg
Paper: PTI white, river rock, ruby red, Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl Anna
Ink: River rock, ruby red, Adirondack Pitch Black, copic markers
Accessories: brads, ribbon, dimensionals