Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Twilight inspired cards!


Hello, long time no post. I am so sorry!! Between flu season around my house and everyday hoopla I've been immersed in too many other things to even get a moment to sit and stamp! Wow, I've missed it and I've missed hearing comments from some new online friends.

I recently devoured the Twilight book series. I loved them!!! Really, truly loved them. My fabulous friend and I were supposed to read them together but that didn't work out exactly but she read them also and loved them almost as much as I did. Thank you Kelley for becoming as obsessed as I am in Twilight and the upcoming movie!!!! Anyway, Kelley entered a Twilight fan contest to be part of an MTV audience of a Twilight special taping and participate in a Q & A session with the two main actors and the director, Catherine Hardwicke!! YAH....huge applause she got picked!!! So in true fan nature, I designed shirts and had them made for us to wear and on to the stamping part....I borrowed a couple images so that I could make cards to give to Rob and Kristen, the two main actors!!!! So I wanted to share them with you.

Aren't those cards great??
I loved them and they are truly my favorite cards I've ever made!! The Riley Vampire sparkles just like Edward does in the book and soon to be movie and I thought that Marie's Pink Poison Teacher Anya made a perfect Bella card!! I was able to give the cards to Larry Carroll of MTV and he promised to give them to the actors!! Isn't that exciting. THANK YOU LARRY!!!

The whole event was amazing and though it was completely different than we thought...it was beyond fabulous!!! I met so many fans of Twilight and chatted all day with them. NINE of the cast members came to the taping and answered so many questions. I've never screamed so much in my life. LOL!! I am still on a starstruck high from meeting Taylor Lautner and Jackson Rathbone. It was a night I will not forget!!! No cameras or video equipment were allowed to be brought in so I have nothing else to show you but I have some great memories of a fabulous day and night!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Pink Poison has it going on!!

I was very lucky to get two Pink Poison images given to me. Thank you Nancy for letting me have a couple of these fabulous images!!

Pink Poison/Splendid Little Company has some great stamp sets, and a fabulous and fun blog. Be sure to check out her designs and blog when you have a few minutes...you won't be dissapointed! =) The bird image is from the Xmas Bird set, and it is soooooo much fun to color! I really enjoyed dressing up these two love birds in Baja Breeze and the boy bird is outlined with a little Pacific Point too. I used dazzling diamonds on their belly feathers and some crystal effects on various portions of their winter wear to give them a little more depth. The sentiment is not part of Pink Poison....like I said, I don't own the set, but it is on my wishlist, so I pulled out my SAB set from last year and just used the top portion of the Christmas sentiment. Finally, a nice thick piece of Chocolate Chip ribbon tied it all together. These are not Christmas colors that I traditionally think of but I really like the combo together!



My second card is also a Pink Poison stamp. Meet Angel Anya....Marie has plans to dress her up many ways. Right now she is available as Angel Anya, Nurse Anya and Princess Anya. Superbly cute!! I really liked playing with her. She's a great size and FUN to color!! I used the new SU in color Baja Breeze and Whisper White as the main colors. I used my blender pens to color her up and added Dazzling Diamonds and Crystal Effects to really add some glitz and glamour to her day! I am sending this Anya card to my Chemo Angel patient. She's 6 and battleing kidney cancer. I send her a card or two each week and this card will really perk up her day!!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

More Cheers for You stuff!

Happy Thursday to everyone!

I have two more Cheers cards to share. I've had a ton of fun playing around with this set!!! The first card features the martini! I made this for my favorite cousin Travis. I used Kiwi Kiss, textured Chocolate Chip, Whisper White and a hint of Riding Hood Red ink. Travis just turned 28....such a youngun', and I wanted to make him a fabulous card! I used one of the DP from the Summer Home scrappin' kit. I love DP, and haven't purchased any of the fabulous packs featured in this new catalog. I'm missing out. I'm buying some with my next purchase. This layout was something I came up with for a swap a while back and I really liked how it turned out, so I tweaked it a tiny bit and think it turned out great, and quite manly! I loved the olive in the martini glass and decided to stamp the image twice, color and cut out the olive to give it added dimension...so then I layered it in between coats of crystal effects. =)

Finally, my fourth Cheers card is actually the first card I made with this set. I used last weeks sketch SC194 from Splitcoast for my layout. I wanted to create something funky, cheerful and out of my norm! I pulled out the new Tangerine Tango for my base and of course my favorite Chocolate Chip and started playing. I used my trusty old crimper (first I had to dust it off though) to add a little texture to the Tangerine Tango color. The Baja Breeze, YoYo Yellow and Tangerine Tango are watercolor paper and I added the color with sponge daubers, then used the tiniest bit of water to fade them. It was something new for me and yes a little funky. I like to play around with new ideas. You never know what can come forth!

With the weekend coming, what kind of exciting plans does everyone have?

Have a great Thursday, and hope to see you all tomorrow! =)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Cheers to crystal effects!!

I can't believe it's been a whole week since I posted. Yikes! I am sorry to go missing in action! I've had a busy week, but have missed blogging way too much, so I'm back! First thing I wanted to point out was I got a new watermark! I've wanted one since day one, just hadn't found the right person to work with. I heard about Dina through another friend, she did a great job. Visit Dina's blog and check out all her available designs! She was super fast, very cost effective and wonderful to work with! Thank you Dina, I love it!!

One thing I was busy with this last week was coming up with a swap card with my local group of demonstrators and many new found friends. Originally, I had planned to use my Pocket Silhouettes set but.....my first order from the new catalog arrived and I had splurged on the Cheers for You set! Wow! What a great set! I've made four cards so far (I'm going to share 2 today and 2 tomorrow) and have many more ideas swirling around in my huge head. Seriously, it's a great set.

The first card I'm sharing is a version of the swap card I sent out. My friend Nancy Morgan shared a great idea with me about using chunky sprinkles and crystal effects. What a great look! I broke open my Summer Home Simply Scrappin' kit and used the designer paper and textured cardstock! My favorite piece of this card is such a tiny detail you may have missed it. The straw in my Blue Margarita is paper pieced with a tiny piece of designer paper. I put this detail in between the first and second coat of crystal effects. It appears to be floating don't you think?

For my second card, I wanted to dabble a bit with a white card. I've seen some amazing designs and have been quite envious. White cards look so crisp, clean and sophisticated. I pulled that riding hood red and white designer paper back out and grabbed a piece of Papertrey 110 lb basic cardstock that I borrowed. This was the first opportunity I've had to work with this cardstock but what a thick, crisp, and super white base it provided! I used my red square fire rhinestones (which I need to pull out more often) and painted on my versatile and trusty crystal effects. I wanted to add some pop to it so what better to use than Dazzling Diamonds sprinkled into the wet goo! So pretty! =)

What do you think? I love the detail the crystal effects provided. Don't forget to stop by tomorrow on your blogging expiditions and check out the other two creations I made with this set.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Wednesday already!


Wow, this week is flying by. I can't believe how quickly it's zooming through. When I was a kid, it felt like weeks went on forever, but now as an adult I realize what my parents said was true...never enough hours to do everything I want or need. LOL!! Back to school and fall brings on so many events. My favorite fall event as an adult is to root for my children at whatever sport or activity they are into. Last night I went to cheer for my oldest daughter. She is a freshman at North Bend High and is on the freshman volleyball team. Volleyball has been a great team sport for her! Anyway, five games into the season and they are undefeated. The girls are all the same as last year except for one addition. The girls have greatly improved in their skills and communication on the court! Woo Hoo...keep going Dogs!! On Thursday my middle daughter's first practice for soccer season begins, we love soccer. The crisp Saturday morning games with a HUGE cup of hot tea or coffee. Scarves wrapped around your neck and mittens covering your frozen fingertips while you clap and cheer. I promise to share some pics soon of both the girls doing what they do best.
Onto the card. I made this for a gentlemen that is retiring from my husband's work. I've dinked around with my Cricut that my husband graciously purchased for me for Mother's Day and feel awkward with it, have destroyed gorgeous designer papers and am unsure about half the capabilities it has, but today I used it to simply cut out 2 stars to layer together. WOO HOO!!! I then pierced the edges of them and layered my 1" circle punch right on top. They edges aren't perfect I eyeballed them but it gave it an extra touch. The color combo is one of my favorites for "masculine" cards. It's bordering blue, chocolate chip and very vanilla. I used Circle of Friendship and Print Pattern background stamps and am pleased with the finished card. Clean, heartfelt and of course handmade, always a great combination!
Today's question. What is your favorite fall pasttime? I shared mine, now it's your turn.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Fall is coming and Our Creative Corner Challenge




I love fall. It's probably my favorite season. Oh sure, I love summer but it gets too hot towards the end and I start feeling all woozy. LOL!! Autumn though is warm during the day, and crisp and cool during the mornings and evening. The feel of the crisp morning air on my skin, feels like mother nature's kisses. I think of warm apple pie and the turning of the leaves are just a gorgeous beauty that I love to admire. My favorite memory when I was a kid was the leaves when they fell...we had three large maple trees in our front yard. My brother and I had to rake them all, but first we could play with them. We would rake them into pretend walls, with cutout doors and have our own "house" on the front lawn. We would spend all our time hanging out there, goofing off! I was driving home from Canyonville last night and though I really don't like that curvy Hwy 42 but I love looking at the river covered with all the trees and bushes. Well, of course there are hints of changes in store and it really brought back my days of pretend. It was so beautiful to see the rust colors mixed in with the greens. I wish I had brought my camera. On splitcoast and many of the blogs I've surfed over the last couple weeks I've been seeing signs of fall also in many designs. I've stalked the Our Creative Corner blog for some time. I've admired many of the cards that the designers have made! I decided it was time to participate myself. This weeks challenge was great....a sketch challenge!! I enjoy sketch challenges because they give me new ideas and layouts that I wouldn't have otherwise thought of. I decided to turn the Our Creative Corner Challenge into a fall colored card. I bought this pack of DP at the end of the last catalog and truly love the papers in it!!! I've been hoarding it, but now is the time to break it out and use it up!! What do you think?


So I've been frequenting Splendid Stamping with Pink Poison and I love her designs (Check it out when you get a chance, as a matter of fact she is giving away a free stamp set each week this month!!) and one of the great things about her blog is that asks a daily question. I thought how great that would be to incorporate. So, I'm going to give that a go too.


Thank you to all the recent visitors and comments!! This is a kick and it is so fun to see your happy thoughts!
So on to today's question...Do you have a favorite season and what about it makes it your favorite? Can't wait to hear your favorites!
Have a great Monday...see you Wednesday!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Another fabulous weekend sketch by Beate!! WSC57

I love Fridays!
It culminates the end of a work week, gives me a reason to take it easy for a couple days and look at Beate's blog and check out her weekend sketch. Todays seemed simple enough, clean lines and lots of room for creativity. It took me a while to decide on stamps, on colors, even on techniques. Maybe I needed more structure. LOL! I tried something different. I used the emboss resist technique with my Flight of the Butterfly set. For a first effort it turned out ok, and I'll give it another go or two some time. I like that set a lot, but have a hard time making it fit together like it is in my mind....oh my mind can be a cluttered place. LOL!! I pulled out my For a Friend (retired hostess set) set to add a sentiment. That set is great and I used it a lot!!! I used retired colors of Purely Pomegranate and Soft Sky and balanced them out with the new in color Pink Pirouette. That color is fabulous and I don't think I will ever tire of it. I used my scallop edge punch and pierced the pink cardstock and then finished the edges off with my new favorite technique of sponging and added some piercing around the edge of the soft sky cardstock. Finally, I added three bright pink dew drops and grabbed my camera and headed outside.
It's pretty overcast this morning on the Oregon Coast, but almost always it burns off and turns out great! September is a beautiful month here.
I want to again say thank you to all my visitors, family and friends. This is a fun new thing and I appreciate every comment....don't be shy, let me know what you think!
Hugs and have a great Friday, T