Row of houses.

I figure it's not too late to post a little something in honour of World Card Making Day. I made a few cards this weekend. This was not actually one of them, but I've been meaning to post this one for a few days. I really love this image. I just had to make it bright and colourful. I had wanted to stamp a "Welcome to the Neighbourhood" on there, but I don't have that as a stamp. Besides, the "Congratulations" would likely have more opportunities for use.

Stamps- DoodleFactory Neighbourhood, Boards and Beams (PTI)

Happy Fright Night

I saw the latest DoodleFactory Halloween release, and just had to get them! I always enjoy Irene's artwork, and the Ghoulies were no exception.

Here's a quick card I put together.


Supplies:

• Stamps: Ghoulies, Spooky Sweets, Tin Types Background
• Ink: Tuxedo Black, Fresh Snow, Elegant Eggplant
• Paper: Ripe Avocado, Smokey Shadow, Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, White
• Accessories, etc.: Goopy edge punch, Copics, pop dots

Special Birthday Delivery!

Here's a birthday card I made for someone who loves robots. I thought it'd be cute to pair Blip and Bloop together with a cupcake and a truck. I thought it'd be funny to have the frowning robot on the back of the truck. He's sad because he wanted to drive.

If you're a DoodleFactory fan you should check out the latest releases. They are awesome! I cannot wait to get my hands on them. There's even a cool combo pack deal . Plus if you use the code savetenNT you'll get 10% off!

Supplies: Stamps: DoodleFactory Country and Urban, PTI Mixed Messages Ink: Tuxedo Black Paper: Real Red, True Black, White Accessories, etc.: Copic, stickles, pop dots, dot texture plate

SA sponsored 2S4U

It's time for another sketch from the sketches site, 2 Sketches 4 You. Starving Artistamps is a sponsor this week, so once again, the design team decided it'd be fun to play along. I enjoyed the sketch and decided to feature one of my favorite DoodleFactory images, Fern the deer from the great outdoors set. I coloured it with Copics, cut it out and place it on the circle. I added a matching sentiment and then pieced together the rest! The card ending up being 5.5 square.
Supplies:
Stamps: The Great Outdoors and matching sentiments
Ink: Rich Cocoa
Paper: Pink Pirouette, White, Regal Rose, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa
Accessories, etc.: Copics, pop dots, nestabilities

A sketch card.

Starving Artistamps is sponsoring 2 Sketches 4 You this week, so the design team had fun making cards for the challenge!

Here's my challenge card. I had actually had part of it completed for quite some time. It was just sitting, waiting for the right card.

I coloured the octopus at least 2 weeks ago. I had added texture to it with liquid pearls, then set it to dry a safe distance from my desk. There it sat, possibly forgotten about for a bit... But then I saw this sketch and knew it would work quite nicely! I added all sorts of embossed and other circle backgrounds here. I wanted a fun and funky, bubbly theme!

Supplies: Stamps: Urban Sentiment Set #2, DoodleFactory Creatures Paper: Taken with Teal, Green Galore, Barely Banana, White, Cool Caribbean Ink: Tuxedo Black Accessories, etc.: Copics, Texture Plates and Folders

CPS Card

Starving Artistamps is one of the sponsors on CPS this week. Here's my take on the sketch. I was going with a "Fern Gully, the Last Rainforest" vibe. Anybody remember that movie??

Card features Boaz the Bat and Jungle Backdrop. Thanks for stopping by.

Hop!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Check out Heidi's blog for the next stop in our blog hop. You're going to want to visit all the other blogs because one of us has some great blog candy to give away! Here is the complete list in case you just started hopping from here: Juliana Swanson http://stampinwinkyfingers.blogspot.com/ Lisa Somerville http://www.lisasomerville.com/ Donna Baker http://stampamaniac.blogspot.com/ Donna Duquette http://www.deesstudio.blogspot.com/ Kathy Daume' http://www.kathy-prettyinink.blogspot.com/ Lori Tecler http://www.inkingaloud.blogspot.com/ Lydia Fiedler http://www.understandblue.blogspot.com/ Andrea Cloutier http://andreasscraps.com/ Natasha http://palmtreesandpogosticks.blogspot.com/ Heidi Kingery http://www.sweetheidijo.blogspot.com/ Leigh O'Brien http://sunflowerstudio.typepad.com/sunflower_studio/ Irene Silva http://doodlefactory.blogspot.com/ To the new releases: http://www.starvingartistamps.com/

Here's my first card. It uses the amazing Urban background. I LOVE this background and I had way too much fun with this card. It's got 4 layers of dimension. I started with a cityscape colour appropriate card base and built up from there. It was all coloured with Copics.

For my second card I wanted to do something a bit softer, especially since it was the countryside landscape. I went with pencil crayons and mineral spirits. I thought the little version of Basel the sheep was so perfect, especially with that sentiment. The nice thing about the miniature versions of the DoodleFactory Animals and Creatures is that they fit so nicely in this landscape! I love it!

Next up is a bit of a jungle scene. I knew that if I coloured this with markers or pencil crayons it would look similar (i.e. a LOT of green) to a brayered effect, so I took the less time consuming route on this one. Note that getting brayered backgrounds just right isn't necessarily easier than colouring!I added a bit of shading and other highlighting to the background then added in the monkeys. I thought it'd be cute it have the greeting on a little flag!

Finally is a card featuring the tropics background. I knew I had to do a sunset sky theme here. So I got out the glossy cardstock and started sponging. I cut out the background and adhered it over top. I really wanted a sparkly ocean, so I got out the stickles. I was having issues with it (I thought that stuff was non-settling!), so I squeezed onto a scrap piece of paper until enough finally came out. Then I took a paint brush and painted over the blue. I am quite happy with the effect- no globs and an even coverage! To the left is an up close and personal look at the glittering, glistening ocean. Paradise found seemed like the perfect greeting.

Here's the completed card. Other than the background, which was made using various dye inks, the entire card was coloured with Copics.

Be sure to check out everyone else on the blog hop. I cannot wait to see what everyone else did with the background images. I had even more fun than I expected with them!

Sweet!

For this card, I had a bunch of ideas running through my head because I wanted to use at least 3 elements. First off, I wanted to use the happy gingerbread man, secondly I wanted to make background strips with the silhouette images, and thirdly, I wanted to place a greeting somewhere, but I wanted it to really pop out.

As is pretty typical for me lately, I started by colouring the main image, then found paper to match. I realized the colours I chose reminded me of Neapolitan taffy. And just like that, it came together. I stamped one silhouette image per coloured strip. Next I decided on the greeting "sweet". I decided that didn't quite cut it though, so I got out my stamp-a-ma-jig and place the rest of this holiday greeting around it. I have to say, this is not a typical "me" card, but I like how it turned out. It's just fun.

Supplies:

Stamps: Santa's Sweet Shoppe and Sentiments

Ink: Rich Cocoa, Pixie Pink, Lemon Tart, Creamy Caramel

Paper: Chocolate Chip, White, Creamy Caramel, Pixie Pink, Lemon Tart

Accessories, etc.: Pop dots, deck the halls quickutz alpha, Copics, SAMJ

A few holiday brights

I uploaded these two cards to the Starving Artistamps gallery blog today so I thought I'd share them here as well. I know I tend to lean towards 2 colour palettes over everything else, brights and earth tones. Well, with this stamp set, I just couldn't resist bringing on the brights in full force. They are just so cheerful!

First up is my favorite polar bear. I had considered doing the white shading with the greys, but I had just done another card doing that, so I went with the icy light aqua. I decided to get really crazy and pair that with its retro complimentary colour- coral, and then I brought in a touch of olive (as if it wasn't feeling a retro enough vibe yet!). For this card, I knew based on past experience that PTI's Berry Sorbet and Sweet Blush were well matched to the coral Copics I coloured with. However, I knew it'd be difficult to find the perfect aqua. So I did the old standby. Cut out a piece of white cardstock with a nestability and then coloured just the edges with my aqua marker. I was even more certain that I would never find matching ribbon, so I cut a strip of 1/2 white satin and coloured that. It's interesting what alcohol based markers do fabric. The ribbon still has its sheen and satin softness, but it becomes very stiff as the colour soaks in. This can be beneficial though, that knot is not going anywhere.

Next up is a simpler card (well less layers and no embellishments). I decided to make a scene using masking as my main technique. So first up I stamped the sleigh, then Santa, then the 2 elves. Once again the marker colours dictated the rest of the card's colour choices. I tend to do that, but hey it usually works out, so why not right?

Supplies:

Stamps: Santa's Sweet Shoppe, Holiday Sweet Shoppe Sentiments , Dot Background

Ink: Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Paper: Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet, Real Red, Green Galore, White,

Accessories, etc.: satin ribbon, pop dots, nestability

CPS89

This week's CPS sketch is sponsored by Starving Artistamps, so the design team decided to play along! Here's my take on the sketch. I decided on images first, chose my marker colours, then found cardstock to match. I just love these mushrooms from the Fairy Tale sheet. I used various Copics to colour them in, added a red mat, then stamped some of my own patterned paper using the Dot background. I decided to let the mushrooms star in the image panel, since I was pairing them with the punny "fungi" sentiment.

Supplies:
Stamps: DoodleFactory FairyTale, Fairy Tale Sentiments, Dot Background
Paper: White, Pure Poppy, Spring Moss, Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Tuxedo Black-Memento, Wild Wasabi
Accessories, etc.: Copics, pop dots

Spook or Treat

So this month's challenge, in the spirit of October, was for a Halloween creation. Here are the guidelines:
Challenge Focus: Create a Halloween card or treat holder.
Required Element: Googlie Eyes! We want to see those eyes jiggle!
Restricted Element: No pumpkins! You'll have to use a different image associated with Halloween!
Keyword: DCST1008 (click to see the uploads at SCS)

Here's my card, I kept it simple, but I quite like it. I started off by choosing one of the DoodleFactory Halloween II images. This is Trouble the cat. I used various grey markers to colour him in. Next came the googlie eyes. How perfect are these embellishments for this image!! They don't look out of place whatsoever! I added some Doodlebug paper, a bit of sparkly ribbon, and then put everything onto a vellum card base (which was decorated with some white craft ink and spiderwebs). I can't wait to check out everyone else's!

Supplies:

Stamps: DoodleFactory Witch's Brew, Grave yard sentiments

Paper: Vellum, Basic Grey, Doodlebug, White

Ink: White Craft, Memento Black

Accessories, etc.: Purple ribbon, Copic, googlie eyes

Starlight, Starbright

This is one of those cards that started out because I really wanted to add some glitter to one aspect of the image. I really wanted a sparkly moon an d some sparkly stars. I coloured those with a yellow marker, then applied the glue and glitter. Next, I wanted a tent that fit into my mental image of what a tent should look like. For some reason, aqua and teal tones fit that image. I really love how the colouring turned out. Now, the hardest part was finding cardstock that matched the tent. Luckily I found this textured piece of paper from Colorbok that matched nicely.

All stamps from Starving Artistamps-
The Great Outdoors and Outdoors Sentiments

Cute Little Camper

I absolutely love this adorable camper from the DoodleFactory Great Outdoors release. I thought it'd be cut to just feature the camper on a card. I went with semi-retro colour scheme: red, white, and grey. The red cardstock layer is actually a piece of white cardstock that I coloured with the same marker used on the trailer. If all you are wanting is a thin mat that matches your coloured image, this is a good and quick method.

Supplies:
Stamps: Great Outdoors, Outdoors sentiments
Ink: Tuxedo Black
Paper: White, Basic Grey
Accessories, etc.: pop dot, Copic markers

Robo-Rock

Yeah, it's a cheesy title... However I just LOVE using these robots with the "you rock" sentiment. In general DoodleFactory news, have you seen the new Halloween release!?! These are adorable. I'm thinking they may be my favorite yet! There's also some other fun new stuff over at Starving Artistamps- some nice new backgrounds as well as some entertaining witches.

If you're interested in winning some new stamps, you may want to go here.

Anyway, here's my robot card.

Supplies: Stamps: DoodleFactory Urban, SunSpirit Studios sentiment

Ink: Tuxedo Black

Paper: Stampin' Up DP, gable green, turquoise, white

Accessories, etc.: orange ribbon, rectangle nestabilities, pencil crayons, pop dots

Rockin' Dragon

So I picked up a few more colours of Copics yesterday which put me in the colouring mood. I believe all the colours I used on Drake I already had, but I was having lots of fun experimenting with different colouring techniques before I finally made a card. The big thing I learned: definitely do NOT over look the value of having the shades of grey. When you want that slight shadow over top of some colour, the greys come in very handy. I didn't use them on Drake, but I did on some of my other items yesterday. I also found having one of the lightest colours in each grouping works nicely in place of the blender pen. So for Drake, I coloured his body first with YG95 (Pale Olive), then I added in some shadows with G99 (Olive). Next I went back with YG95 to blend the two Olives. There was still an apparent line of separation between the colours, so I took YG91 (Putty) and went over the entire body with that. That blended the colours nicely.

Supplies: Stamps: Drake can be found here! Sentiment can be found here!
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper: Only Orange, Old Olive, Stampin' Up! last year's Halloween DP
Accessories, etc.: Poly-Twill ribbon, pop dots, Copics

Beach Party!

I really love the DoodleFactory stamps for making scene cards. It's funny, before I came across these stamps I NEVER made scene cards. The images are just so much fun to colour and piece together. Despite the colouring and masking this card came together pretty quickly. I stamped the trees and huts, masked them, drew the dunes, then brayered the sky and sponged the sand.

Stamps: DoodleFactory Tropics
Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento) Cool Caribbean, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Copic markers, brayer, sponge

Heads Up!

Have you ever wanted to attend a rubber stamp and scrapbooking show??

If you're in the Ontario area you just want to make a day trip down to Hamburg, NY. It's about 38 miles from the Canadian border at Niagara Falls! August 23 and 24, 2008at the Agri Center at the Fairgrounds. For show information visit our host: http://www.stampscraparttour.com/

Starving Artistamps will be there, sadly I will not :(

Although here is a Starving Artistamps card to get you in the mood. I had lots of fun with Copic and shimmery type products- Brilliance Moonlight inkpad, pearl ex, Spica pens, and satin ribbon. Stamps from here!

Just keep swimming!

Here's a quick and fun clear card for you. One thing I LOVE about making the square clear card is using this layout. All you need is a fun image that will fit nicely into a 3x3 square and a sentiment that is also about 3 inches in length. Find the perfect coordinating embellishment and you're set!

Supplies:
Stamps: Starving Artistamps Tropic Sentiments 2 DoodleFactory Tropics,
Ink: Tuxedo Black, Stazon Jet Black
Accessories, etc.: gelly gems, Copic markers, Acetate

Paradise Found!

For this card, I was wanted to show how the DoodleFactory Tropics set can be used for not just ultra cute character type cards. There are a lot of other beach images in the set that can stand on their own quite nicely. This large palm tree is one of those. I ran my orange paper through the cuttlebug with a texture plate to give it a cooler look. The palm was coloured in with pencil crayons, and the sentiment was cut out using a Nestabilities tag die.

Supplies:
Stamps: DoodleFactory Tropics, Tropic Sentiments 2
Paper: Teal, Orange, Green, White
Ink: Black
Accessories, etc.: tag die cut, corner rounder, pencil crayons, spica, twill ribbon

In other news, we're still waiting on the Top 20 PaperCrafts Gallery Idol to be posted, and for voting to begin. Voting is set to begin tomorrow, and continues for 2 days. Check here out for details: http://www.papercraftsmag.com/gallery/. Please vote, it doesn't have to be for me, but the more votes the better! (I'm tashers over there, by the way)

Surf's Up!!!!!!

Sometimes cardmaking seems a bit TOO fun. I had a good time creating this card. At first I thought the scallops might not work with a summery, masculine type theme. But, you know what, I really like the postcard vibe they brought to the card.

Supplies:
Stamps: DoodleFactory Tropics and tropic sentiments 2
Paper: River Rock, Chocolate, Orange, White
Ink: Versafine Black, turquoise
Accessories, etc.: Rectangle Nestabilities, Copics, Spicas, pop dots