Mojo Monday week 172

Wow! Week 172?!? Time flies, doesn't it?



I was in the mood to do a whole sheet of some stamped images as a background for a card, kind of a lighter version of the Double Time technique. So I used Stampin' Up!'s Doodle This set, which I think is retired. They retire stuff way too fast these days!

I used a mixture of Copics and SU markers to color the images along with a water brush, and I used an air art gun with a (SU) Basic Black marker to get the sprayed black splotches.

There is clear glitter on the main flower element and I glued a gem to the center to give it some wow.

This card has lots of cuttlebugging on it. I used the Tiny Bubbles, Mesh and Forest Branches embossing folders.

The "Thanks!" stamp is by PSX.

Thanks for looking and have a lovely day!

More Spring - Sending Happy Thoughts

Hello all! I am so wanting Spring to come. Can you tell? Ha!

This Tiddly Inks image grabbed my attention when I was surfing over at Etsy for digital stamps. Interestingly, she's called Spring HuggaBugg. She certainly does make one feel like it's Spring to look at her with her adorable flowery dress and her big flower. I loved coloring her.

I used the technique I posted about yesterday on the main image. It was a little tricky getting the die to line up properly after placing the trimmed flower out of the way before cutting the oval. I had to cut into the flower more than I expected, but I like it better that way. So it happily worked out.

I am loving my Copics! I know I say that a lot, but I can't help it! They are just so nice. And so forgiving. I like that!

Here is a pic of the colors I used:



The black was used around the edges of the flower, carefully. I prayed my way through that part because I did it after the card was finished. Phew! I was relieved I didn't ruin anything!

It might be hard to see, but I used Crystal Snow fine white glitter on the center of the flower and on the edges of her wings. Just a little extra zing thrown in.

I used my homemade Bow Easy again to make the bow. It's getting easier each time. I don't need to look at the tutorial anymore!

I had started this card before I found out about this week's color throwdown colors, so I was tickled pink that I used colors very similar to them. A little serendipity in my week!

I did the Midnight Madness #43 sketch challenge over at the "priscillastyles" blog, but chose the simpler one of the two and embellished it differently, as I could not think of anything to put where the butterflies were on the more complicated version.

Hope your week is going well! We had snow yesterday and it's pretty much gone already. That's 2 snows this Winter in NE Georgia! Very unusual! Have a blessed evening!

Stamps: Spring HuggaBugg by Tiddly Inks, Sending Happy Thoughts from Hero Arts CL305

CS: Black, Celebration AC Patterned Paper by American Crafts, Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White

Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, printer

Copics: B0000, BG10, G40, YG13, Y21, YR20, YR23, E41, E93, R00, R02, R20, R22, R24, R29, C00, C1, T1, Special Black 110

Other: Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder, Nestabilities Classic Oval Small, Classic Oval Scallop Small, Sizzix Architectural Accents die, SU Pumpkin Pie marker, SU Summer Sun marker, 3D-Dots, green satin ribbon, Crystal Snow fine white glitter, glue pen, Diamond Glaze to glue down bow

Clean & Simple? Not Sure.

I don't think I'm cut out for the clean and simple look. I try, but I just can't help adding things. At what point is it not clean and simple anymore? Would you consider this clean and simple?

I took this week's challenge (#79) on the Clean & Simple blog.

It was my excuse for getting to color another Pure Innocence image. I used a mixture of markers and Prismacolor pencils. The head is colored with the pencils and the rest is done in markers. I'm just counting the days when those Copics arrive! I so wanted to blend and add dimension, but I could only do that so far with the markers. The card stock starts flaking if I run the markers over it too much. I know that will be different with the Copics because they have an alcohol base rather than a water base.

This little girl is Pure Innocence 004, found here. Heather Ellis's PI images are still on sale if you want to grab some of them. When I bought them, the 1 pound images were only $1.61 US. Less than $2 for endless coloring opportunities!

Have a blessed Sunday!

Recipe

Stamps: Pure Innocence 004 by Digi Stamp Characters, Just Because by Savvy Stamps

CS: Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, Pure Poppy and Spring Moss; Black

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, printer

Markers: Copic C1, Special Black 110; SU Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Gable Green, and Yoyo Yellow

Other: Cuttlebug Bloom Dots embossing folder, Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Circle Small, Standard Circle Small, Long Classic Scalloped Rectangles Large (for edge of sentiment strip), Prismacolor pencils, Stamp-a-ma-jig, ticket corner punch

Sketch books from Taylored Expressions and Mojo Monday

I found out the other day that you can get all of the 2009 sketches for Mojo Monday right here (pdf). Just print out and put in clear page protectors. You can save room by putting them back to back. Or if you're really savvy, print them on both sides of the paper. I ain't there yet.

And today I discovered that you can get all the Taylored Expressions sketches all in one place right here (pdf).

Does it get any better? Thanks to Taylor and Julee for making this so easy for us!

Sweet Friend Birthday

Please forgive the crooked word sayings! Don't you just hate it when everything is just so on a card and then you ruin it by goofing up some last minute addition? I wasn't about to start over! I guess I'm getting over my perfectionism. That's a good thing!

This card design is the sketch challenge for this week's Mojo Monday (Week 123). We had the choice of either doing it round or square. I took the round challenge since I don't do round cards and thought it was about time I did. I even did up the inside!

Mine was a tad different from the MM sketch. I turned the bottom left embellishment into a full-fledged flower with stem and leaves, by accident, actually. After I laid the flower on the line of grosgrain ribbon I was inspired to turn the ribbon into a flower stem and I added leaves to further the theme.

All the designer paper is from the Basic Grey Lemonade collection.


Did you notice anything unusual about this card? There is something missing that usually isn't. Can you guess?



Have you guessed yet? I'll give you a hint. It starts with "b".

Thanks for looking! I'm pretty tired right now or I'd go into more detail. It's one of those icky days for me that we ladies have. Blah.

If you have any questions about how I made this card, feel free to ask.

Have a lovely weekend!

Recipe

Stamps: Sweet Celebration by Taylored Expressions

CS: SU Pretty in Pink, Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, Basic Grey Lemonade Collection designer papers

Inks: SU Rose Romance, CTMH Kiwi

Other: Nestabilities Standard Circle Large and Small, Classic Scalloped Circle Large and Small, Flower Creations 3; Martha Stewart Embossed Zigzag border punch, small oval punch, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, paper piercing tool, sponge mat, sewing machine, Basic Grey Lemonade buttons, pink grosgrain ribbon, Basic Grey Lemonade brads, Sticky Doos foam square

Cuppie Birthday!

Hello! Yes, more stamping! I'm on a roll, I think! 

This sketch design is the same Mojo Monday sketch as the last card I made (from Week #122). It's a good, simple sketch. I find I prefer the simpler sketches, as they give you more freedom to play. 

The colors I chose were from this week's color throwdown (#76) at The Color Throwdown blog, except that I don't have Melon Mambo. So I used Positively Pink. I think we all need a little Spring, yes? 

I hadn't played with my birthday cuppies in awhile and needed a birthday card. So out they came. I thought the colors worked well with these bright, cheerful stamps, don't you? 

Speaking of cheerful, there's nothing like a dog to cheer you up on a miserably gray and dreary day. We are loving our sweet Basset girl! We left her alone for the first time today so we could go to church. She woofed at us in her crate as we were leaving, voicing her concern that maybe we had unintentionally forgotten her. I was a little worried. But she was just as we had left her when we got back, and oh, the happiness at seeing us! Dogs are the best, aren't they? 

One thing you might notice on this card is that I didn't use any designer paper. Lately, it seems I reach for the dp first thing and I was getting kind of tired of the routine. So I determined that I was only going to use card stock this time. I have to admit that I enjoyed staying away from the dp for a change. It used to be the norm before all this dp hit the market. Remember how we used to stamp a lot more on our cards? The dp revolution changed that. I kind of miss the old way sometimes. Do you? Or maybe you still rely heavily on cs. Of course, I still had to busy it up, didn't I? ;) 

I used the retired (still shaking my head over that one) SU Canvas background stamp on the Positively Pink and Old Olive cs's and then cuttlebugged the PP cs with the D'Vine Swirls embossing folder to add even more interest. 

You probably can't see it very well on the So Saffron cs, but before cuttlebugging it I stamped the pile of cuppies from the Sweet Celebration set by Taylored Expressions upside down and right-side up in VersaMark ink. Well, I think the rest is pretty self-explanatory and I must get ready for school tomorrow. I have some prep work to do for the kids' schedules (we homeschool) and it is late! 

Have a lovely Monday and thanks for coming by for a peek! 

Stamps: Sweet Celebration by Taylored Expressions, SU Canvas 

CS: Papertrey Ink True Black, SU Positively Pink, SU Old Olive, SU So Saffron, PTI White 

Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, VersaMark 

SU Markers: Creamy Caramel, Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal, Bordering Blue 

CTMH Markers: Pink Carnation, Topiary 

Other: Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls and Spots and Dots embossing folders, Nestabilities Classic Oval Scallops Large, Classic Oval Large, ticket corner punch, black gingham ribbon, yellow gems, Black Micron archival pen (for stripes on candles), 3D-Dots, Stamp-a-ma-jig, paper piercing tool, sponge mat

For my mother

To make my mother's card I went with a card sketch at the Mojo Monday blog. This one is from Sketch 81.

I just love the girl image from the retired SU set Friendship's Journey. It's so versatile. I like versatile stamps. Stamps can be so expensive. If they're not versatile they're wasting money no matter how cute they are.

One set I have not used much at all, but need to is SU Travels Abroad (also retired). I used the Arc de Triomphe stamp from that set to visually balance the girl image.

The "Mother" image is from a Hero Arts stamp that I blocked. It actually says "Happy Mother's Day", but I blocked out everything but "Mother".

I used the Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder on both front panels of Basic Grey Porcelain paper. The buttons are also from the Porcelain collection. I tied embroidery floss to them and glued them down.

I'm recovering from some minor surgery I had yesterday, so please forgive me for not putting in more details on this post. I'm in a bit of a Lortab fog. TFL!

Stamps: SU Friendship's Journey, SU Travels Abroad, Hero Arts Happy Mother's Day (C1402)

CS: Mellow Moss, Basic Grey Porcelain collection, Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Ivory

Inks: Mellow Moss, Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Basic Brown, Creamy Caramel

Other: Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder, Nestabilities Labels One, Classic Scalloped Rectangles Large, Classic Rectangles Small, Standard Circle Large and Classic Scalloped Circle Small; Ornare Decorative Corners piercing template, Tsukineko sponge daubers, 3D-Dots, Sticky Doos, paper piercer, sponge mat, buttons from Basic Grey Porcelain Collection, embroidery floss, moss organdy ribbon, sewing machine, Post-It notes for blocking, Stamp-a-ma-jig