Inspired By Nature and a comeback?

I'm back, sort of. My stamping mojo left me and I haven't really felt like stamping for quite a long time. But I've taken up hand embroidery and I love it and usually spend my time on that these days.

But my friend, Teresa, inspired me with her recent card creations and I'm kind of looking at my stamping stuff again. Where this goes I don't know, but at least I took this blog out of mothballs. :)

Below is the only card I've created for months. Even so, my mojo was nowhere to be found.



Maybe opening things up here again will help.

I like your style, Donna!

I'm trying to make more time to play lately. I've found that if I don't make time I will have none. There are always things I "need" to be doing, but a little fun now and then is what keeps one sane, amen?

This card was inspired by Donna Mikasa's creation found here. It doesn't really look like her card, but her colors inspired me. The red, yellow and green on the brown was what excited me. ALL her cards excite me. She's a card-making genius. But the colors on this one especially grabbed me. Thank God for inspiration! Where would we be without it?

I had a dickens of a time trying to photograph this card for some reason. Taking it outside seemed the only solution to making it look good. Inside pics all looked washed out. So it looks brighter than it really is. And shiny ribbon is just murder on a photo shoot, ya know?

I took the main brown piece and stamped the big image from Stampin' Up! I Like Your Style in black ink and let it dry. This was white card stock, btw. Then I did direct-to-paper inking all over it using Vintage Photo distress ink. Then I crumpled it up, smoothed it out, and did more inking to simulate creased leather. I used large eyelets to hold it down on the black cs underneath. I used a Crop-a-Dile to apply the eyelets.

For the dress forms I stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with Copics. Then after they dried I cut them out and sponged them with Vintage Photo ink. Same with the tag. I used pop dots to adhere them. The flowers are actually green and the hearts are yellow and green, but the sponging kind of washed them out. But that was intentional. ;)

Hoping to get more stamping done now that I'm forcing myself to play!

Thanks for looking!

Recipe:

Stamps: SU I Like Your Style

CS: Black, white

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Copics: R29, YR12, YG13

Other: Black organdy ribbon, paper piercing tool, sponge mat, corner rounder punch, spiral punch, foam tape, pop dots, large black eyelets, sponge dauber, Crop-a-Dile

Did you give up on me yet?

Hello to the 5 or so people who still come by to see if I'm here. ;) Has it really been since March that I haven't posted? Well, that's because I haven't been stamping until this past week when I finally cleaned up my stamping area. I can't work in a mess and I have been too tired and lethargic to deal with it. But I got out the bottle of cod liver oil in my fridge and took some every day this week and I've had more energy. I cleaned out our overflowing junk drawer and dealt with the box of junk drawer junk from the last time I emptied it! Plus, I went through our vast pen and pencil collection and checked to make sure all the pens worked and then sharpened all the pencils. And I threw out a lot! Not to mention cleaning up a big section of my study where I stamp. So thanks, cod liver oil!

This card is fairly simple considering how much I usually load up my cards, but I just couldn't think of anything to add that would improve it. I struggled a lot with the image and trying to color cleanly. Those Copics are so juicy that it's hard to color in small areas. I hope someday they come up with a marker that has the regular point, a smaller point (I never use the chiseled end, do you?), and can be used with an air brush. That would be perfection in my book. Aren't the CIAO markers like that except that they can't be used in an air brush?

Well, I'll go back to my cave now. I hope to be doing more stamping soon. My creativity is in a bit of a rut and I'd like to break out of my usual choices and do something fresh with some old stamps. *sigh* We'll see. Thanks for coming by! Today, I gave you something to see for a change! ;)

Stamps: Pure Innocence 023 digi stamp by Heather Ellis, word stamp by Stampin' Up! set Smorgasborders

CS: Black, Pocket Full of Posies by DCWV, White

Ink: Computer ink and Versafine Onyx Black

Copics: B41, YG13, YR12, R00, R02, R29, E33, V06, Colorless Blender

Other: Nestabilities Inverted Scallop Circle, Standard Circle, Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls embossing folder, black polka dot ribbon, sewing machine, corner ticket punch, 1/2" circle punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, velcro tab (for holding card closed), foam mounting tape.

Any Copic hand-colored charts out there for sale?

Hey everyone! I'm pulling my hair out trying to pick Copic markers again, and I thought it would be wonderful if someone hand colored a chart with the actual (Sketch) markers and sold it. But I can't find anything like that out there. Do any of you know of such a thing? Or could I get someone with all the colors to color me a chart? I'd be willing to pay you for your time. It would be a lot cheaper than buying markers I'm not happy with!

Anyone? Anyone?

How I spent some of my birthday money

I love organizational tools. Enough, in fact, to spend precious birthday money on them.

I had been drooling over the Color Cubbies that I've seen around the stamping blogosphere and knew that someday I would have some of my own.

At first I was only going to buy 2 as I don't have a very big Copic collection yet and I thought I could use them for my SU and CTMH markers, as well. But the shipping was pretty high on 2. So I put one more in the cart just to see if it would change by much. Well, 3 was barely more in shipping than 2! So I figured I'd just bite the bullet and get 3 now even though it meant I'd have less to spend on other things.

I LOVE them!



They're really well made and packaged. Good and sturdy. And I don't think they're too expensive. It is so easy to see all of my markers at a glance now, and it's so easy to remove and replace them.

Now I just need to decide which Copics to buy so I can start filling 'em up!

Birthday money to spend

Oh, you guys, I have very generous parents and a mother-in-law and now I have some cash to spend on myself! I'm thinking that more Copics is a must because I use them pretty much every time I stamp now and my collection has some bare spots to fill in.

But otherwise, is there anything new coming out that is a must-have in your mind? I've not been keeping up with the trends since I've been avoiding spending money until my past stamping debt heals. And no, birthday money will not go toward my debt. It is off limits! ;)

Inexpensive way to make alcohol ink applicator pads

If you use alcohol inks and an applicator with removable felt pads, here's a tip I ran across that keeps the cost down on those pads.

More frogs!

These frogs are not altered much. I actually did them before playing around with the frogs for the last card.

For the stamped background I used SU Shapes & Shadows, doing the Double Time technique by overlapping complementary images and leaving some white space, then cutting a piece for my card. Then I ran it through the Cuttlebug with the D'Vine Swirls embossing folder.

I used the Swiss Dots folder on the frog pieces and the Forest Branches folder on the yellow cs. Almost everything is textured!

I colored the frogs with Copics. I just can't seem to use anything else as the Copics are so gentle and smooth on the paper.

Thanks for looking! Today is my birthday and I'm meeting a friend for lunch. This card will be for her. I hope you enjoy it!

Recipe:

Stamps: SU Unfrogettable, SU Shapes & Shadows, SU Upsy Daisy

CS: Pixie Pink, Black, Summer Sun, White

Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, Pixie Pink, Certainly Celery, Summer Sun

Other: Copics, Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls, Forest Branches and Swiss Dots embossing folders, Nestabilities circle, inverted scallop circle and rectangle and scalloped rectangle dies, black organdy ribbon, foam tape

The many faces of Unfrogettable

I never realized how versatile the sitting frog from SU Unfrogettable was. It was so much fun playing around with the features using just the thin end of an SU Basic Black marker. Now I need to see what other stamps I can embellish like this!

I had to be careful not to touch the black ink with the Copics as I colored them. The Copic ink makes the SU marker ink run, unfortunately. And the Versafine ink I stamped with also is not Copic-friendly. So you have to be careful. But I liked the more cartoonish way I colored the frogs. I meant them to show a little white here and there. It looks more whimsical, I think.

I used puffy fabric paint for the girl on the bottom right's pearls.

Nifty tip: To switch the direction of the eyes, draw eyelid lines over the pupils. Then redraw the pupils in a new spot.

Thanks for coming by for a look!

Recipe:

Stamps: SU Unfrogettable, SU I Like Your Style

CS: Black, Real Red, White

Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Ink Antique Linen

Markers: Copics, SU Basic Black

Other: Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes embossing folder, Nestabilities circle die, inverted scallop circle die, black hemp, foam tape, white puffy fabric paint, sponge dauber

Little black dress sihouette cards

I saw this post at a new-to-me creative blog. I thought her idea of making such simple cards with just a couple pieces of cut out cardstock on a white background was pretty cool. These make me think of Julie Ebersole's style (JulieHRR).

Frog fun

I'm in the process of making a card using SU's Unfrogettable set (retired) and I thought it'd be fun to play with the sitting froggy a bit. So I made a few changes to the frog's appearance. How fun is that!

You can see in this pic what the original frog looks like:



And here are some new characters I came up with:





The possibilities are endless! Do you ever alter your stamps for certain effects?

Tiddly Thanks

This card is, once again, not what I had originally planned. I was inspired by Donna's Tiddly Inks challenge card that is all white except for the Tiddly Inks image (and the sentiment), so I was going to do this week's Mojo Monday sketch in all white using a Tiddly Inks image as my focal point. Except it didn't look as good as I'd hoped. So as I often do, I just made my own design for the image I chose.

I was originally going to have the Thanks stamp (an old wood-mounted stamp by D.J. Inkers) going vertically along the right side and the fairy also vertically in front of the small white rectangle. But the balance seemed off and I turned the card to the right and had the fairy perpendicular to the white rectangle with the sentiment horizontal. That felt better! Then I popped the Thanks sentiment after coloring a second copy and that made things even better.

Oh, the fun and frustration of designing a card!

Btw, I colored the images using these Copics:



Mentioning the whole vertical/horizontal thing reminds me of a skit by my favorite comedian, Brian Regan. Here's a clip about Pop Tarts where the vertical concept comes into play. Enjoy!



Recipe

Stamps: Tiddly Inks Spring HuggaBugg digital stamp, Thanks sentiment by D.J. Inkers

CS: White, Real Red, Black

Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, computer ink

Copics: E00, E93, YR00, R29, BG13, 110

Other: Cuttlebug Traffic Jam, Swiss Dots, and Forest Branches embossing folders, Nestabilities rectangular dies, clear glitter, glue pen, red gem, black polka dot grosgrain ribbon, white grosgrain ribbon, foam tape

Is your blog listed on my website?

Just wanted to put the word out that if you have a stamping blog you'd like listed on my Other Stamping Blogs page on my website, please leave your blog address in the comments and I'll add you. I'm happy to promote anyone who loves the paper arts!

Yukon Bear

Someone in my comments section anonymously requested that I do something with my SU Yukon set. I love requests like that! Thank you, anonymous person! So here goes...

...btw, if there's a stamp set you'd like me to play with please speak up. Sometimes these little nudges are what gets my mojo moving.

This card was done intentionally simply. After wrestling with that last card (thanks for the kind comments!) I wanted an easier design. No cuttlebugging, no designer papers (I skipped that on the last one, too, did you notice?), no paper piercing, just simple stamping, you know, like we used to do before accessory mania took over. It's funny, but I think I get more positive feedback when I go simple than when I doody it up.

So for this one I did direct to paper (basically rubbing the ink pad on the cardstock until it's fully saturated) on Always Artichoke cardstock with the Always Artichoke ink pad. It gives the cs a leathery or suede-ish appearance. It's wonderful for masculine cards.

Then on the More Mustard cs I used the Distressed Ink Antique Linen, direct to paper, and after that I stamped the SU Print Pattern background stamp in More Mustard over that.

For the bear I stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored it and the main background with Copics. I touched up the background trees a bit with an Always Artichoke marker.

Well, it was fun taking out one of my least-used sets and one of my most-used background stamps to play, so thanks again for the nudge, whoever you are!

Recipe

Stamps: SU Print Pattern, SU Yukon, SU Inspired By Nature (saying)

CS: Always Artichoke, Black, More Mustard, White

Inks: Distress Ink Antique Linen, More Mustard, Always Artichoke, Versafine Onyx Black

Other: Ticket corner punch, Nestabilities dies, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Copic markers, SU Always Artichoke marker, foam tape, gingham ribbon