Paper rose thanks

Well, are you ready for another rose card? I'm binging on them, of late. Just in a rose making mood, I guess. This time I wanted to try some different, non-typical colors. So I went with Bashful Blue and Apricot Appeal.

For the Apricot cs I stamped the SU Filigree background stamp in Apricot Appeal ink. I ran it through the Cuttlebug using the "Swiss Dots" embossing folder. Then I sponged the edges with Basic Black ink. For the Bashful Blue cs I sponged Bashful Blue ink all over the cs and then stamped the SU Canvas background stamp in Bashful Blue ink. Then I ran it through the Cuttlebug using the "Textile" embossing folder and sponged the raised parts with more Bashful Blue.

I cut out the ovals, embossed the white one and used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to properly place the "thanks" stamp. What would I do without my Stamp-a-ma-jig?

For the roses, I stamped one in Apricot Appeal and one in Bashful Blue on white cs. For each rose, I stamped the biggest stamp 3 times, the medium stamp once, and the smallest stamp once. I cut them out and then sponged more ink onto the layers and sponged Basic Black ink on the edges and very lightly on the middle parts. I curled the edges and bent them until I got the look I wanted. Then I assembled them with Dimensionals onto the ovals. I stamped the leaves in Old Olive ink and stamped the smaller leaf stamp in Always Artichoke on top of the Old Olive. Then I cut them out and sponged them with more Old Olive ink and sponged the edges with Basic Black. I added them to the roses and glittered the flowers and leaves with iridescent glitter.

For the plaid ribbon I rubbed it on the Apricot Appeal ink pad thoroughly and let it completely dry before tying it to the polka dot ribbon.

Well, there you have it! Another rose card. Thanks for looking!

Stamps: SU Filigree, SU Canvas, SU Roses in Winter, PSX "Thanks"

CS: Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue, Black, White

Inks: Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Old Olive, Always Artichoke

Other: Cuttlebug "Textile" and "Swiss Dots" embossing folders, Nestabilities, regular and scalloped ovals, Embossing mat, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dimensionals, Polka dot ribbon, Plaid ribbon, Iridescent glitter, 2-way glue, Sponge

Roses in Winter from the heart

Can you stand this design one more time? Actually, 2 more because I have one more planned. This look just popped into my head and I had to make it. But I am slightly regretting the glitter being used on the rose. I'm not a heavy bling user, but I do like some. I had intended the glitter to be much, much lighter, but it wasn't to be for this card.

I stamped the Always Artichoke cs with Always Artichoke ink using the SU Canvas background stamp. Love that stamp!! For the red cs I did the same thing as on this card. I sponged Rose Red and More Mustard on Purely Pomegranate cs. If only Stampin' Up! would come up with a cs that color! Wow! I'd buy a bunch! I stamped the SU French Script background stamp over that using Baroque Burgundy ink. Loved the look that gave! Then I ran it through the Cuttlebug using the "Traffic Jam" embossing folder and then sponged more Rose Red and More Mustard inks over it to pop the embossing out.

Nothing new to mention about the Always Artichoke part with the "Swiss Dots" embossing folder. Pretty self-explanatory. The ovals, as well. Pretty much like the other 2 cards I described recently except that I used a sentiment (from SU All Year Cheer I) instead of an image. I lined it up using my trusty Stamp-a-ma-jig. The ribbons are also pretty self-explanatory.

The rose was made similarly to this card except that I stamped and cut out parts of another leaf stamp from the Roses in Winter set and Dimensionalled them to the tops of the leaves to add more oomph. I also glittered the edges of the rose with a rose-colored iridescent glitter. Still not sure that was a good idea, but oh well. I used lots of Dimensionals to put the rose together, and the leaves have several Dimensionals stacked on top of each other to keep them in place.

Well, there it is. Thanks for looking! I hope you enjoy this card. I enjoyed making it (except for the glitter part!).

Stamps: SU Roses in Winter, SU All Year Cheer I, SU French Script, SU Canvas

CS: Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranate (sponged with Rose Red and More Mustard), Black, White

Inks: Basic Black, Rose Red, More Mustard, Baroque Burgundy, Old Olive, Certainly Celery

Other: Cuttlebug "Traffic Jam" and "Swiss Dots" embossing folders, Nestabilities regular and scalloped ovals, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dimensionals, 2-way glue, Rose-colored iridescent glitter, Sponges, Plaid ribbon, Polka dot ribbon

Summer By the Sea - Bliss

This card is the same basic design as this one I did the other day. I liked it so much I decided to play with a different image and colors, but kept the original sketch design. I'm planning to do one more after this, so I hope I don't bore you with the repeated elements! ;)

The only thing I'll say about this one, since I already described the making of the card similar to it, is that I messed with the main image a bit. The boat normally doesn't extend that far back, so I extended it with the narrow end of my Basic Black marker. The water line was added and I realized it was crooked (!!) after I finished it. I hope it's not too noticeable. I was NOT going to start over! Too much work involved!

For the streaks in the water I used a mostly-dry brush and some Night of Navy and CTMH Dutch Blue inks to get the lines after coloring in the water with Bordering Blue and Bashful Blue. It was a blue fest! ;) I just kept layering colors over each other until I got the desired effect, adding more Night of Navy under the boat. The same with the boat - layer upon layer.

I love these sketchy images, don't you? I hope to see some new ones in the new SU catalog next month!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamps: SU Summer By the Sea, SU Canvas, SU By the Sea wheel, "Bliss" stamp from Jody Poesy

CS: Creamy Caramel, CTMH Dutch Blue, Black, White

Inks: Creamy Caramel, Basic Black, Night of Navy, CTMH Dutch Blue, Really Rust, Close to Cocoa, Blush Blossom, Bordering Blue, Bashful Blue

Markers: Creamy Caramel, Basic Black, CTMH Dutch Blue, Blush Blossom

Other: Cuttlebug embossing folders "Spots and Dots" and "Swiss Dots", Nestabilities, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dimensionals, Water brush, Black ribbon, Plaid ribbon

Petal Prints in 3's

This was not a hard card to make for the most part. I punched the Basic Grey "Blitzen" collection designer paper out with a square punch and the black cs as well. Then I ran the dp squares through the Cuttlebug using the "Mesh" embossing folder.

The reddish background is Ruby Red and I ran it through the Cuttlebug using the "Perfectly Paisley" embossing folder. Glued everything down (using Dimensionals for the squares) and put the whole thing on black cs.

The main piece was the only part that was a bit difficult. I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig, which I cannot live without, and stamped the top flower first. The flower is from the SU Petal Prints set. Since I was going to heat emboss it for a dramatic effect I first dusted the vanilla cs with my embossing pillow and then stamped the flower in Brilliance Graphite Black ink. The neat thing about Brilliance inks is that they stay wet just long enough to heat emboss with them, but do dry soon enough if you just want to use them as a regular ink. Since I was heat embossing and didn't want to smudge the other flowers I did them one at a time, heat embossing each and letting them cool in between so nothing would smear or smudge.

Once I got that done I needed to hide some stray flecks of ep, so I used a couple of the speckled stamps from SU Itty Bitty Backgrounds with the Brilliance ink and just let it dry. That did the job.

I wanted to oomph it up a bit, so I did 3 black eyelets in 2 separate places. But there was too much black. I had gotten rid of almost all of my colored eyelets awhile back and only kept my black, white, gold, silver and copper ones; and now that I have a Crop-a-Dile I wish I hadn't. Oh well. So I covered the eyelets up with some clear gems. That fixed it pretty well. You can hardly see them. And it saved me from having to start over on that piece.
I had wanted to use a different-colored ribbon than the one I chose, but nothing else looked as good to me. Black stamping accessories are like the little black dress of stamping. They go with everything and always look good. Plus they flatter everything around them. How could I not use them? ;)

To set the main vanilla piece off I put black cs and then a different dp (from the Basic Grey "Urban Couture" collection) behind it, then added the polka dot ribbon. I mounted it on to the squares with Dimensionals.

That's about it. Thanks for looking!

Stamps: SU Petal Prints, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

CS: Black, Ruby Red, Vanilla, Basic Grey "Urban Couture" and "Blitzen" designer papers

Inks: Brilliance Graphite Black

Other: Cuttlebug "Perfectly Paisley" and "Mesh" embossing folders, Square punches, Detail Black embossing powder, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Clear gems, Black eyelets, Polka dot ribbon, Dimensionals

Roses in Winter SC184

Oy vey! Was this a hard challenge! I nearly gave up several times, but I am so glad I persevered because I'm pleased with the final result. However, I think trying to photograph this card was as much trouble as trying to design it! That pointed square on the bottom kept the card tilted when standing by itself, so I had to come up with a way to keep it straight. I think I need to get one of those cheapy plate/picture stands for cards like this. For now I had it stuck with Dimensionals to a big square punch. You can see it a little underneath.

Where to start? I originally was going to try doing this color challenge with this sketch challenge. But I got this wild idea to sponge Rose Red and More Mustard on the Purely Pomegranate cs and liked it so much I canned the color challenge (for now).

But first I stamped both the SU Print Pattern and the SU Canvas background stamps in Rose Red ink on the Purely Pomegranate cs. I always love that stamp combo as a background. But I'm not sure how easily you can see it in the pic. Click on it to enlarge and then maybe you can see it...at least a little...maybe. Trust me, it's there.

I wanted to cuttlebug the background (of course) and went with the Diamonds in the Rough embossing folder. Then I sponged it with Rose Red and More Mustard. Wow! What a great color that came out! Kind of an orangy red. Looks really rich in person.

My squares go off the card, unlike in the challenge design. I couldn't see going with a really small square punch, as it would've limited what I could stamp in the squares. And although this card would be a challenge to get into an envelope, I still like the way parts stick out. After I was done with the card, I thought that had I realized before stamping the sentiment and gluing everything down that this card would've looked really cool standing on its short side I would've changed the sentiment around.

For all the green square backgrounds I sponged Old Olive ink along the edges of Certainly Celery cs. For the little squares I stamped scenes from a SU Friendship's Journey stamp and 2 SU Botanicals stamps and a girl's face stamp from Rubber Cottage on white cs. I sponged them with Rose Red and More Mustard to match the background. I mounted them with Dimensionals on the green and then on black.


For the big square I knew I wanted the rose from SU Roses in Winter done in 3-D, so I stamped the biggest part of the rose 3 times and the middle part 1 time. I used Rose Red ink. I cut out 2 of the 3 biggest rose images and the center of the third one. Then I cut out the middle image. I sponged them all with Rose Red and More Mustard and then sponged the edges with Basic Black ink. I stuck the 2 largest rose images together, rotating one a bit to add a swirling effect. I stuck the middle rose image on next and then cut a piece of a Dimensional to stick the smallest piece on. The 3 leaves were stamped in Old Olive squiggled with a bit of Always Artichoke marker right on the rubber. Then I huffed on the stamp and stamped it. Then I sponged the edges with Basic Black ink.

After I stamped the sentiment from SU Happy Harmony I ran the white cs through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. Then I adhered the rose and the leaves using Dimensionals.

Before putting all the squares on the background I added 2 polka dotted ribbons to continue the polka dotted theme of the main piece. I adhered the ribboned background to black cs. Then I added the squares...with Dimensionals. You can see I love Dimensionals a little too much.

Phew! It doesn't sound complicated, but it sure felt that way!

That's about it. Thanks for looking!

Stamps: SU Roses in Winter, SU Print Pattern, SU Canvas, SU Friendship's Journey, SU Botanicals, SU Happy Harmony, Rubber Cottage "Girl Face LG"

CS: Black, Purely Pomegranate, Certainly Celery, White

Inks: Rose Red, More Mustard, Old Olive, Basic Black

Other: Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" and "Diamonds in the Rough" embossing folders, Big and small square punches, Polka dot ribbon, Always Artichoke marker, Dimensionals, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Sponges

Playing with Nesties and the CC172 Color Challenge

This card may not look like it made me crazy, but it did. The one thing I didn't struggle over was the main image. That I had down right away. The rest was *ugh* grueling to say the least. I had wanted to combine a sketch challenge with a color challenge, but ended up more focused on the color. The sketch challenge I was aiming for was SC183 but that little extra piece #2 was just baffling me. So it's that challenge minus the #2 piece. :)

The SCS color challenge this week is not my cup of tea. I felt no excitement at the thought of trying to create something using Groovy Guava (a peachy color), Barely Banana (pale yellow) and Chocolate Chip (dark brown). But I did like the choice from 2 weeks ago - CC172 - of Taken with Teal (a dark turquoise), Wild Wasabi (a soft green) and white. And of course, being who I am I threw in some black to pop those colors out. Couldn't help myself.

This is the first card I've made with my new Nesties, and may I say that they are the coolest! For some reason I thought they were going to be heavy, but they're incredibly light, yet sturdy. I used a plain oval and a scalloped oval. You probably already could tell that, though, right? ;)

As usual, I went nuts with the Cuttlebug. I can't get enough of that Cuttlebug!!!!! Help me someone!! It has been one of the best investments I've ever made in my card making.

For the square green piece I used the Swiss Dots folder. Then I mounted it on black cs. On the Taken with Teal piece I rolled the SU By the Sea wheel in Basic Black, then ran it through the Cuttlebug using the Spots and Dots embossing folder. Then I mounted it on the main Wasabi cs piece. The spots folder reminds me of water a little, this being a beach scene and all. I figured I'd give the Tiny Bubbles folder a rest. Wouldn't want it to become overheated, ha!

I cut out and dry-embossed the white oval for the main image. Then I stamped it and had to touch up parts of the image that ran across the embossed parts with a marker. Next time I will stamp before embossing. I mostly colored the image with markers. But I used Creamy Caramel ink from the pad and a water brush for the sand.

I want to point out that watercoloring on regular white cs will cause a bit of warping. So keep that in mind if you try it. The oval is a tad warped on the bottom. Not a biggie, but it slightly ruins the perfect look of the cut oval. *sniff*

The "friends" stamp was kind of a last minute thing. It was hard trying to place it in a comfortable spot on the card. So I had it kind of opposite the bows for balance.

For the bows, I used pinking shears to trim the ends which gave the ends of the black and white plaid ribbon a frayed look. I like that.

I almost forgot to mention that I used the SU Canvas background stamp on the main green piece, stamping it with Certainly Celery ink because I don't have Wild Wasabi ink, only paper. Worked perfectly, though. I just love activity all over my cards, don't I? ;)

I used Dimensionals to pop up the oval and the square pieces. Love those Dimensionals! I should buy stock!

Thanks for looking!
Stamps: SU Seaside Sketches, SU By the Sea wheel, SU Canvas, SU Smorgasborders (sentiment)

CS: Wild Wasabi, Taken with Teal, Black, White

Inks: Certainly Celery, Basic Black, Creamy Caramel (for sand)

Markers: Taken with Teal, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Summer Sun, Baroque Burgundy (for red highlights in brown hair)

Other: Cuttlebug embossing folders "Spots and Dots" and "Swiss Dots", Nestabilities ovals, Dimensionals, water brush, Plaid ribbon, Thin organdy ribbon

My Nesties have arrived!!

I'm so excited to finally have some Spellbinders Nestabilities in my possession! As soon as I have time I'll get to creating something with them. I'll be using my Cuttlebug and learned how to properly sandwich the dies by watching this video:


I've been really busy canning and running errands, so haven't had much time to stamp. Soon!

House Mouse is in the house!

I have always wanted a House Mouse stamp collection, but being the cheapy I am I could never plunk down the money for one, knowing I wouldn't use it often enough to justify the cost. But while I was in Hobby Lobby the other day, lo and behold, there was a House Mouse stamp on clearance for 1/2 off! How could I pass up such a deal?

Yesterday I played with it and used the Gamsol/Prismacolor method for coloring the scene. What fun! I stuck with very muted tones to keep with the hot cocoa theme. I colored the mice dark gray in honor of our newest pet rat, George, who happens to be that color and who has big ears and an inquisitive little face (he's a baby rat).

I used Chocolate Chip cs as the base and layered it with black and Sage Shadow, attaching the muted plaid ribbon to the black and Sage cs first. But first, the Sage Shadow cs was stamped in Sage Shadow ink using the SU Canvas background stamp. Then I ran it through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. After coloring the main piece, it was run through the Cuttlebug using the Tiny Bubbles embossing folder (natch!) and adhered to black cs. I used Dimensionals to pop it up over the ribboned part.

For the sentiment, I stamped the SU Canvas stamp on white cs in Sage Shadow ink. Then I stamped 2 words from the Geometric Thoughts set by CTMH. I sponged More Mustard ink over that and punched it out with a circle punch (turning the punch upside down to see where to punch). Then I punched out a bigger circle of black cs and adhered them together with a Dimensional. I punched a 1/8" hole in them and tied the tag to the bow with black hemp cord. I used a Dimensional to position the tag on the card so it would float, but not move.

The main image was colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol was used to blend the colors. I used mainly greens and browns. The mice are a blend of black and white with 2 peach colors for their exposed body parts.

This was a fun card to make. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for looking!

Stamps: House Mouse "Hot Cocoa 02", SU Canvas, CTMH Geometric Thoughts

CS: Chocolate Chip, Black, Sage Shadow, White

Inks: Sage Shadow, Basic Black, More Mustard

Other: Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" and "Tiny Bubbles" embossing folders, Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, blending stump, Dimensionals, 2 circle punches (1" and 1.25"), 1/8" hole punch, sponge, plaid ribbon, black hemp cord

SC182 a second time

Playing with this design challenge again. The hardest part of doing this design is in placing the squares in the right places. I goofed in that respect and had to cut out the squares along with the black background they were attached to. It turned out alright in the end, but my squares are still not perfect. I need to get. over. it. Too perfectionistic.

I don't know if you can see the embossing on the designer paper (can't wait till I get that OTT-LITE I ordered!), but I used the Cuttlebug "Bloom Dots" embossing folder. The Making Memories paper I embossed for this card tends to be a bit too thin for embossing, as embossed image pierces the paper a bit; and if you look closely, you can see the white inner core of the paper. I often sponge it with ink to cover that up, but left it alone on this card since it wasn't terribly noticeable.

And of course, I had to use "Tiny Bubbles" somewhere on my card because I am obsessed with that folder! I used it to emboss the orange cs behind the scooter girl from SU Paris in the Spring.

The scooter girl image was stamped in Basic Black dye ink and was colored with markers. I popped out the package, vase and one of the flowers to add some visual interest. I also used Diamond Glaze on the sunglasses to mimic glass and added some to the headlight, as well. I used the sentiment on one of the stamps in the SU Life Cycles set. I cut the sentiment away from the image and mounted it on the edge of the wood block so I could use it without having to block out the image. Do you ever do that?

I used a water brush and the Bordering Blue ink pad to give the smoke puffs some color. The marker was too intense for that job.
I put Dimensionals behind the white cs, the black cs and each individual square. Yeah, a lot of Dimensionals! That wasn't my original plan, but oh well. I love the popped out look.

The rest of the card's info is pretty self-explanatory. See recipe below.

Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Paris in the Spring, Life Cycles

CS: Only Orange, Black, Making Memories Cheeky Collection - Abby designer paper, White

Inks: Basic Black, Bordering Blue

Markers: Pixie Pink, Basic Black, Only Orange, Sage Shadow, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Summer Sun, Bordering Blue, Creamy Caramel, Blush Blossom

Other: Cuttlebug embossing folders, "Bloom Dots" and "Tiny Bubbles", Square punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dimensionals, Diamond Glaze, Water brush

OTT-LITE on the way!

I have been schlepping along with bad lighting for long enough! Besides trying to get colors right in my artwork, I've had a time of it trying to photograph my cards so that they look the same in a picture as they do in real life. Some colors just don't photograph well under my lighting situations. Reds and pinks are the hardest to get right.

I saw a post at Emily Giovanni's blog one day and saw how she sets up her cards to be photographed and I decided to do the same thing. She uses an OTT-LITE and 2 pieces of white cardstock and that's it! I thought this was the most frugal way I'd seen (apart from setting the card near a window IF the lighting was just right) to photograph a card. So I ordered this one from Joann's today (40% off and free shipping) and will begin experimenting with it as soon as it arrives. It had been rated 60 times and still had a 5 star rating. I think I can safely assume I'll be happy with it. ;)

What do you do to photograph your artwork? Are you happy with your set-up? Would you buy it again?