I'm up for Method Monday this week at InStyle Stamps and I thought it would be fun to play around with some acetate! There are so many cool things you can do with acetate and I want to show you a couple of them today!

I am using a sheet of acetate for my card front that I cut down from a 8.5" x 11" piece that I bought in a pack. It can also be purchased in smaller sheets as well as in pre-scored cards. Once I cut my piece down to an A2 card size I simply scored it with my Sor-Pal.

The next thing I did to it was to run it through my Cuttlebug with an embossing strip to hit just the edge. It leaves a cool white look to the part that was embossed.

If the embossed part doesn't appear as dark as you'd like you can also sand over as I had to do with this card so that it would be more pronounced.

For my image I used Cupcake Chloe, one of my favorites from the Chloe collection from InStyle Stamps. She was colored to match the cute Sweet Shoppe papers from Collage Press. I then took a few of the papers from this collection and added them randomly to the acetate card base.

(I tried coloring in the flowers on the edge, another thing you can do with acetate if you have Copics or other alcohol based markers. It looked kind of cool but my colors weren't quite right. Instead of starting over I just used some Copic refill solution to "erase" the color! Remember when coloring directly on the acetate that you need to use darker colors)

I punched a circle from an extra piece of acetate then stamped a cupcake with Staz-on and added glitter to the edges using PVA glue and Stampendous! pearl glitters.

To attach my papers to the acetate I chose to add glue to the backs on the parts that would not show through the card. You can also use a really invisible glue such as Zip Dry or use eyelets. For the small acetate circle I simply added a dimensional adhesive (from Glue Arts U Cut It pak) behind the cupcake so that it would not show through.

Here's what the finished card turned out like. (The top view is below).

Thanks for joining me today! Why don't you give acetate a try? You should be able to find it at any craft store :)

-Cyndi

Pixie Dust Studio...Harry Potter release!!

He's here! Harry and all the crew are being released to day as digi stamps at Pixie Dust Studio! Just look at how cute he is! And if you scroll down to the bottom of the post I have a pic for you of all the images in this release...Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, and even Scabbers, Crookshanks and Hedwig! A Harry Potter fans' ultimate stamp collection!

For my card I kept with the Gryffindor colors using the same Graphic 45 paper as yesterday's card. The "H" is a chipboard letter that I inked with Old paper distress ink and a touch of Fired Brick. The H can also stand for his pal Hedwig, hehe! I am so in love with these images!!

Here's the rest of the crew. And don't worry, if you can't decide then you can get the whole collection and save a bit! So rush on over to Pixie Dust Studio and pick up some magic!

Thanks for visiting today...look out, this is the first of 3 posts for the day! AND I will be back with more tomorrow!

-Cyndi

Its off to Hogwarts...

One more day til Harry and his fellow wizards arrive at Pixie Dust Studio! But today you can have a peek! For my card I used Hermione. No, she's not my favorite character, but this did turn out to be my favorite card of the bunch this week :) And yes, my jaw dropped to the floor when Kathy showed us this release! It is magically magnificent!!

I used Wendy's sketch for Papercraft Planet this week and in keeping with the simplicity theme there I went with the Dyeing for Punches challenge at Cute Card Thursday also...to use NO punches or diecuts. Wow, thats hard. Just a trimmer.

I was stressing finding any burgundy or gold paper in my stash...but Betty had the perfect group of Graphic 45 papers in stock at the crop this weekend! Totally Gryffindor, eh?

OK, head to the Pixie Dust Studio blog for more peeks today and tomorrow, and check in at the Pixie Dust web store later for the full release! Its scheduled for tomorrow, but hint...Kathy never waits!

Thanks for flying by today! I have lots for you this week including challenges, new releases, blog candy, and maybe even an announcement, so check back in!!

-Cyndi

Funhouse Sneak Peek

Its time for a sneakie peekie for you of Pixie Dust Studio's new Funhouse collection!

Sorry I am a bit behind today...we had the last day of band camp and performance/potluck this afternoon. I am so impressed at all they have accomplished in just 8 short practice days! AND my youngest DD Rachael got an award tonight...you see she's an oboeist and they don't normally march, so she has taken it upon herself to memorize all of her music!

So, on to the eye candy! I used the Funhouse "Just Batty" for my card. Isn't he just the cutest? Wait til you see the rest of this release! I will be sharing more tomorrow as well as a graphic showing all the images from this collection :)

I made my sample into a Big Buckle card since I hadn't done one of those in a long time. My papers are the wee bits of leftovers I have from last year's Fancy Pants Halloween line. I am seriously trying to use up some of my old stash!

Here's the view of the card partially opened. All the supplies are listed below.

Be sure to head over to the Pixie Dust Studio blog to see more peeks using this collection. AND don't forget to head to the store to pick up some of these adorable images tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by tonight! Have a great one :)

-Cyndi

Supplies:

Stamps: Just Batty digi (Pixie Dust STudio); Boo! (A Muse)

Paper: pp by Fancy Pants; cs (Bazzill)

Ink: Palette Noir (Stewart Superior)

Accessories: Designer Label punch, word window punch, & circle punches (SU!); ribbon (Michael's); dog tag punch (EK Success); Copic markers

Stampendous! Saturday sketch Challenge

TGIS! I actually got to sleep in this morning til almost 9 thanks to my little one! He's finally getting on summer hours! I took Michael and Taylor to see "Knight and Day" last night. Perry refused; he thought it looked stupid. It was definitely a date flick...action for the guy, romance for the girl, and lots of humor. As long as you don't expect it to be a true action movie you will like it. Tom Cruise is back to his Jerry Maguire charming self as the critics are saying :)

But alas, you want to see some eye candy, don't you? It was my turn again this week to draw up the challenge for Stampendous! I created a square card sketch for you, but it doesn't have to be square. My additional challenge is to use glitter as well.

Above is the sketch. If you would like to join us just create a card (or scrapbook layout) using the sketch and then link it back to the Stampendous! blog. You have until Thursday night 12AM PST for your submission. As always there will be 2 prizes up for grabs!!

This is what I ended up with using "Wildflower Sprigs" a clear set from Stampendous! I colored directly on the stamp with my copic markers then reactivated the ink with a spritz of Copic blender solution before I stamped it on the paper. This creates a nice watercolor effect. I also added a foreground layer of smaller wildflowers in Old Paper Tim Holtz Distress ink and then airbrushed lightly over the whole image while still in the Nestabilties die.

This is a closeup of the image once the glitter is added. I randomly dotted my Quickie Glue pen on the Magenta flowers then added Rose Jewel Stampendous! glitter. The sentiment and the 3 scallops are all stamped with other images from the same "Wildflower Sprigs" stamp set. The rest of my supplies are all listed at the bottom of the post, and below is a photo with my copics.

Thanks for visiting my blog today! Hope you have a great weekend :) -Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Wildflower Sprigs (Stampendous!)
• Paper: pp by Bo Bunny; Java (Bazzill); Ivory (Papertrey Ink)
• Ink: Tim Holtz Old Paper Distress Ink (Ranger); Berry Sorbet (Papertrey Ink)
• Accessories: Labels 4 Nestabilties & Fancy Tags (Spellbinders); Rose Jewel Glitter (Stampendous!); ribbon (stash); Mini mister spray bottle (Ranger); ABS1, Blender refill solution, & Copic markers (Imagination International)

InStyle Stamps Blog Hop!

Its Blog Hopping time again at InStyle Stamps! If you arrived her from Jodi's blog then you are right on track! If not...why not start at the beginning of the hop at the ISS blog!

This month our theme was "fathers". When Virinia gave us some image choices I had to laugh when she included the "Milk Man", and so of course I just had to use him!

I wish I had a sentiment or were even creative enough to create one on my computer about the milk man, but its humor enough to me just to use this image! I printed him really large so I didn't have a lot of space to add much to the card, so I just kept it very simple. He is available in the Retro section of the InStyle Stamps store :)

OK, so do you want some more eye candy?? Head from here over to Taylor's blog!

Thanks for stopping by my corner of the world! Have a great weekend :)

-Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Milkman digi (InStyle Stamps); sentiment (CTMH)
• Paper: Joy Ride pp (Cosmo Cricket); white cs (Neenah); Java cs (Bazzill)
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black)
• Accessories: Circle & corner punches (SU!); copic markers

InStyle Stamps Color Challenge

OMG!! I am so late with this post, so sorry! This card has been completed for DAYS but I couldn't get near a computer last night or today.

BUT...I had a terrific day today teaching 5 gals at Enchanted Cottage today. It was a fun group...2 different groups actually. But I want to give a special shout out to my 2 new friends from Switzerland...Martina and Dani...you gals were so energetic and cheery and its been great having you at the store all week!

On to todays challenge though. It is time for the InStyle Stamps Color Challenge, and this month we had an inspiration piece. You can see the inspiration as well as the rest of the Design Teams' cards over at the ISS blog. ALSO, find out how you can play along and have a chance for a cool prize!

For my card I used one of the new "A Day in the Life" series from InSTyle Stamps called "Shopping Day". Since the inspiration had so much white in it I kept my colors very minimal...didn't realize how hard that would be for me to do! I then cut out the image with my Large Standard rectangle Nestabilites and the yellow mat with my Jumbo Scallop Rectangle Nestabilities. The next layer is White cuttlebugged with Swiss Dots then layered on the white card base.

OK, so I will hopefully have my Stampendous! sketch challenge up by tomorrow so check back! Thanks for visiting with me today :) -Cyndi

OHDBCGA with InStyle Stamps

Happy Hump Day! Its the "hump day" of the month...that means its time for a giveaway at InStyle Stamps! Head over to the ISS blog to get all the details!

Also... our fearless DT leader Taylor Usry had her baby finally! Congrats to Taylor and baby Owen!!

Our theme this month is fathers...trying to get a bit ahead of the game, ya know? So for my card I chose one of the new "A Day in the Life " images we are now carrying at the InSTyle Stamps store! This one is called Father and Kid.

I picked up a couple of other challenges along the way for inspiration! The colors for this card are from the Color Throwdown Challenge Blog. This weeks picks were Baja Breeze, Old Olive, So Saffron, and Kraft. (I know these are Stampin' Up! colors and I haven't been using them anymore....but the colors are really close!) And I HAD to play since my friend Barbara issued the challenge!

Since I already had the yellow thrown in, this also led me to this weeks recipe challenge from Ella at the Pink Elephant Challenge...TPE66...use yellow, pattern paper, and buttons! My papers are from Bo Bunny and I added a bit of Old Paper Tim Holtz ink around all the edges to age the look a bit. Sentiment is from Verve. The copics I used are all pictured below...there are WAY to many to list. Used a lot of neutrals this time :)

So, be sure to head to the InStyle Stamps blog to find out how you can win some new images and to check out all the other awesome dad eye candy from the rest of the DT! Each has a link by her card so you can go leave everyone some love!

Have a great rest of the week! Thanks for stopping by :)

-Cyndi

CAS9: Chloe Moonbeam

Its that time again for the InStyle Stamps Sketch Challenge! This weeks sketch, CAS9 is brought to us by DT Coordinator, Taylor Usry. You can see it over at the ISS blog as well as see the creations of the rest of the Design Team!

We would love for you to join us in this challenge! as always, there is a prize to be had :) Just link up your creation over at the ISS blog so we can all come by and check it out!

For my card, I used one of the new adorable inages from the InStyle Stamps Chloe Collection. This is "Chloe Moonbeam" and I just HAD to pair her with this adorable sentiment from A Muse.

I chose colors for this card from the Color Throwdown Challenge blog...this weeks challenge is Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red, and Tempting Turquoise. So I pulled out this fun Piggy Tales paper for inspiration. All other supplies are listed below, as well as a photo of all the copics I used. (See, I am trying to get back on track!!)

I want to say a huge thanks to all my followers and friends for sticking with me when I am not so caught up every day :) I love all your sweet comments! Have a great weekend and be sure to check back tomorrow for the new Stampendous! sketch challenge!!

-Cyndi

Supplies:

Stamps: Chloe Moonbeam digi (InStyle Stamps); To the Moon (A Muse)

Paper: Row, row, row your boat pp (Piggy Tales); black cs (Bazzill); White cs (Neenah)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: Small Ovals standard & Labels 13 & Jumbo Scallop border (Spellbinders); flowers (Prima); brads (Basic Grey); Ribbon (Creative Imaginations); Smooch; Copic Markers: Y11, Y15, Eoo, Eooo, E31, E33, Y21, BG000, BG45, R37, R32, YG17, Co, 0 & ABS1 (Imagination International)

Ella Lollipop

Happy Friday! I am so happy to be back home again! The New York trip was a blast but hey, its been 2 weeks since I have been out of my normal routine. Its quite tiring, ya know?

For today I have a cute little Lollipop card for you. I made this for Enchanted Cottage and haven't had a chance to share it with you yet. This is "Ella Lollipop" from Stamping Bella. Isn't she just adorable?!! I kept her very simple to focus on the simplicity yet utter cuteness of the image (in total Lori Boyd style!)

The pink paper is new "Green at Heart" from Basic Grey, the green card base is Bo Bunny, as are both ribbons. Ella was colored with Copic markers then I went over the dots for real clarity with my Signo Uniball white gel pen. All supplies are available at Enchanted Cottage.

OK, be sure to check back tomorrow for the second edition of Stampendous! Saturday Sketch Challenge :) Thanks for visiting today. Hope you have a marvelous weekend!

-Cyndi

Little Bunny Tilda

Little Bunny Tilda, hoppin' through the forest... hehe! This is one last leftover Easter card that I never got around to blogging while out of town. It was one for my Magnolia Easter class at Enchanted Cottage.

Isn't she just the cutest little thing?? She is colored to match this beautiful ribbon by May Arts that I was just dying to use The papers are from the 3 Bugs in a Rug "Little Chick" collection. Sorry its hard to see the card, I took the pic at work. Click on the image for a closeup and that will help!

OK, I'm outta here. Back from Florida for 2 days then off to New York! I have to catch up on piles of laundry, DT stuff, bills, groceries, etc. Check back in Saturday for the first Stampendous! sketch challenge!

Happy Friday! Its time for this months Sketch challenge at InStyle Stamps! Be sure to head over to the ISS blog to see all the fabulous eye candy from the Design Team!

I am using an awesome new image from InSTyle Stamps called Lorelei. She is such a beauty. I enlarged her quite a bit so I could focus on her face more. (You are seeing about 2/3 of the actual image) I love the beauty of digi stamps that I can manipulate them however I want!

I printed her on Neenah Classic Crest White and then colored her with my copic markers. She is colored to match this fun "Kioshi" paper from Basic Grey. The background cs is Bo Bunny Double Dots, button is Basic Grey and ribbon is Piggy Tales. The sentiment is from "Boutique Sentiments" from Amy R Stamps. I ended up flipping the sketch to the side for my image to work.

I am in Florida as I type, so this will be a bit short! Here's the copics I used:

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful weekend and a Happy Easter!

-Cyndi

Wedding Week: Day 3

Its the 3rd day of Wedding Week at InStyle Stamps and the image we are previewing today is called "Couture Cake". Be sure to check in over at the ISS blog to see more samples of this gorgeous and funky image and also to check out the deets on Virginia's newest contests, giveaways and offers. She has a friend in the Wedding business that is being featured this week and you don't want to miss the special offers!

OK, have you ever TOTALLY finished a card that you almost love, then decide it needs one more thing, only to end up RUINING the whole card???? Arrgh! I wanted some shimmer or sparkle, Pulled out my new Vanilla Smooch spray which is NORMALLY not so clumpy and very light. And what do you know...clumps. HUGE wet gooey clumps EVERYWHERE.

Its still ok, but NOT what I intended. Hurumph. Anywho. I LOVE this image! I colored it with copics of course and then cut it out with Labels 10 Nestabilites. The sentiment is from my Favorite ever Verve set, "Anniversary Birds". Papers are by My Minds Eye. And we will not even MENTION the stupid smooch, right?

OK, I will have yet one more post today if you can believe it! Samples for class cards for this weekend! So check back!

Thanks for hanging with me today! -Cyndi

Supplies:

• Stamps: Couture Cake digi (InSTyle Stamps); Anniversary Birds (Verve)
• Paper: Abbey Road pp (My Minds Eye); pink cs (Bazzill); brown cs (WorldWin); white cs (Neenah)
• Ink: Palette Burnt Umber; Topaz Versacolor; Rose Coral Cats eye
• Accessories: gems (Bazzill); Labels 10 (Spellbinders); Vanilla smooch spray; Copic markers: R02, R05, RV11, RV17, E31, E25, E29 & ABS1 (Imagination International)

Shepherd Tilda & Catch Up

Good morning! Sorry to be so scarce lately. I have been trying to play catch up on doing samples and Class projects for Enchanted Cottage.

For those of you who are local I have a LOT going on in the next 2 weeks before I head out of town for the following 2 weeks. I will put my schedule of classes in the next post for the day!

Also its Wedding Week over at the InStyle Stamps blog this week. There is lots going on including GIVEAWAYS and tons of previews ! I will have a sneak peek here tomorrow for you with "Couture Cake" from InStyle Stamps, and I will also have a card for you for our Over the Hump Day Blog Candy Give Away!

For now, I have a bit of eye candy for you! This is "Shepherd Tilda", one of the newest Magnolia stamps from the latest Easter release. And yes, we DO have these in stock at Enchanted Cottage! I kept the layout relatively simple since this will be one of the class cards for this weekend. Isn't she just the cutest?!!

Heres a closeup for you of the coloring. I matched her up with new papers from 3Bugs in a Rug and NEW Prima flowers from the Watercolor collection. She was cut out with the new labels 11 Nestabilites from Spellbinders. And here's the copics I used. All other supplies are listed at the bottom of the post.

Thanks for stopping in! I truly appreciate every visit that I get :) -Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Shepherd Tilda (Magnolia Stamps)
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)
• Paper: White (Neenah); blues (Bazzill); pp (3 Bugs in a Rug)
• Accessories: Labels 11 Nestabilities (Spellbinders); silk ribbon (May Arts); buttons (Basic Grey); flowers (Prima); border punch (EK Success); Copic markers: E0000,E000, E00, E11, E31, E33, E35, E55, E57, E59, R30, R32, R35, G20, Y04, Y21, C0, BG000, BG01, R000 (Imagination International)

Painting the Roses Red...

Good morning! I have my card for you today for the Alice in Wonderland Challenge blog. The theme this week was a color challenge...Red, Blue, and Purple! Ok, that was just screaming for me to print out this fabulously creepy image from The Greeting Farm called "Twisted Tea", one of the three new "Creepy Cakes" digi images they released this month.

Twisted Tea was colored with no other than my Copic markers, then I used the sketch from Club Anya & Friends Blog (which I know I can't submit for the challenge, but hey it worked!) for my layout. I added lots of sparkle to her hair and other accessories with my Spica glitter pens. I had to rummage through my old paper stash to find pp's that would work and I came up with this black and white print from Amanda Blu and the red print from an old SU! print pack.

The circle Nestabilites is layered onto a Blossom Nestabilies, then I added a bit of bling around the edges. I layered some Primas then attached them together with these fun Mini Jewel Brads from American Crafts. The black cardstock still looked a bit plain so I ran that layer through my Cuttlebug with the Spiderweb folder. How perfect is that?

The doodling around the circle is by hand to match the kinks in her hair. The sentiment I printed out from a digi file called "Alice in Sassyland Sentiments" that I downloaded from Sassy Studio Designs.

Alrighty, I am finishing up my Latte and then headed home to finish working on class samples for work! Have a great day! Thanks for hanging out with me :)

-Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Twisted Tea digi (The Greeting Farm); Alice in Sassyland Sentiments (Sassy Studio Designs)
• Paper: black pp (Amanda Blu); Real Red pp (SU!); Black & Blue cs (Bazzill); purple cs (Core'dinations; white cs (Neenah)
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Warm Red cats eye (Tsukineko)
• Accessories: Blossom & Large Circle Nestabilites (Spellbinders); ribbon &Mini Jewel Brads (American Crafts); Cardinal jewels (Bazzill); flowers (Prima & Fancy Pants); Spiderweb embossing folder (Cuttlebug); jumbo scallop scissors; Copic markers: R46, B14, B18, BV04. BVo8, BV000, C5, Co, C3, E000, & Lipstick red & Lilac Spicas (Imagination International)

Texturizing Jeans Tutorial

I have a cool tutorial for you today! This is a technique that I show in my Copic 102 class at Enchanted Cottage. I thought it would be fun to show you all here. Below are the supplies you will need. (Note: i also use the Copic ABS1 airbrush system to do the background later, but that is optional for you)

For this technique I love using this adorable Changito image from Stampendous! He's hugging his daddy's legs...which are of course just right to make into jeans. After he is stamped, go ahead and color him with the copics of your choosing. The colors I used are shwon and listed at the bottom of the post.

After your image has been colored fully then you are ready to texturize! You can make all kinds of amazing textures with Copic colorless Blending Solution. For jeans I cut a small piece off the cuff of some old jeans. I put a small amount of Colorless Blender solution in a Mini Mister from Ranger. Spray the jean scrap pretty thoroughly.

Then apply the jean scrap to the image, trying to keep it just over the jean portion of the image, so you don't make Changito look like jeans too! Press down pretty firmly. You can move the scrap and repeat as needed.

Here is a close up so you can see how well the texturizing works! Pretty cool, huh? A special thnaks to Sally Lynn MacDonald for suggesting creating Jeans texture. She did my Copic certification last year.

Next I masked off the Changito image as well as all around the outside of the block so that I can spray the area with my Airbrush system.

Here is what the image looks like masked off as well as what it looks like before I trim the panel and finish off my card.

ANd finally for my finished card. I used papers from My Minds Eye Abbey Road Collection. The sentiment is also from Stampendous! All supplies are listed below and all the copics I used are also pictured at the bottom of the post.

Well, thanks for stopping in today! Be sure to check back in tomorrow for my first peek from Hula Week at InSTyle Stamps!

-Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Knee Hugger Changito, Hang on to You (Stampendous!)
• Paper: Abbey Road pp (My Minds Eye); white cs (Neenah); Kraft cs (Bazzill))
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versacolor Pinecone & Mountain Lake (Tsukineko)
• Accessories: buttons (Basic Grey); Copic markers: 0, E11, E15, E25, E27, B41, B45, BF72, G82 & ABS1 (Imagination Internatioonal)