Thinking Inking

Lemon Tree

When I saw this Impression-Obsession Lemon Trees stamp, my mind immediately started crooning the chorus of "Lemon Tree." Am I the only one who remembers that?  I think it stuck in my head because it was the theme song for the Lemon Pledge commercials when I was a little girl. It was only years later that I figured out where that tune came from!

I colored the lemon trees with my Copic markers in the following colors: Y17, Y19, YG03, YG11, YG63, and G99.  Card stock  is Prism Sunflowers Medium, Black, and Neenah Solar White.  Ink colors are Adirondack Pitch Black and Sunshine Yellow. Background is stamped with a heart stamp from the Sweet Hearts set.

While I know that lemons aren't shiny in real life, I gave them a coat of Ranger Glossy Accents anyway.  The sentiment on the side is  from Verve Visual's Heartfelt Thoughts set.

I hope that you are staying warm!  It was -7 F actual temperature tonight when we were coming home. . . Brrrrrr!

Many Thanks

I've been admiring that Wonderful You set in the new SU catalog for a while, but I thought that before ordering it, I'd try to get by with the coordinating Stems and Silhouettes Jumbo Wheel. I'd still enjoy the big set, but as many stamps as I have around here, the wheel really was a wiser choice.

The verdict: I loved it!  I rolled the image in River Rock ink on a scrap of Poison Ivory card stock, then used a waterbrush to slightly tint the open leaves. I considered leaving the card monochromatic, but eventually decided to add a punch of color with Groovy Guava. I rolled the same pattern in Groovy Guava, then used a waterbrush to tint the blossoms, cut around them, and attached them with foam tape, adding a twinkle sticker for the flower centers. Background is a CHF backgrounder, Canvas (available at CHF or from Ellen.  Sentiment stamp is from an SAB set, Lots of Thoughts, available from your SU demo with a $50 order (US) starting February 1 and running through March 17. I used my Spellbinder's Nestability Small Classic Square die to cut and emboss the sentiment, then matted it in Groovy Guava card stock.

For you sketch-collectors, here's a quick one. (Some of you have been asking for this; I'll do them as I have time.)  Thanks for visiting!

CHA Chat: New Toy on the Block

Another CHA preview, coming in May from Spellbinders: the X-Calibur, a motorized die cutting and embossing machine, not to replace the Wizard, but to provide another option. It uses the same mats and dies as the Wizard, but rather than having to ratchet the die "sandwich" into the machine and through it, the X-Calibur pulls the sandwich through and gently releases it. (My husband might think it's worth it not to hear me ratcheting half the night! :-D)

Edited to add: Ellen Hutson has a post here that answers more questions about the X-Calibur, if you have questions.

I'll put it on my list to check out at CHA (Booth 5071)--along with those Cosmo Cricket new releases!  By the way, if you are attending CHA, what booths are you most eagerly anticipating?  I'm making a list and would love to know if you are aware of any "must see's."

I've mentioned this before, but if you are attending CHA, don't forget to come to the Copic booth as well. Marianne Walker, colorer extraordinaire,  is giving a training session on Saturday from 12 -5PM in room 201A of the Anaheim Convention Center. I think my flight gets in late enough that I can't make the whole session, but I'll be there as soon as I can make it! This session is open to designers, reps, teachers, and stores who have questions about Copic markers.  Marianne would like an R.S.V.P. if you can make it: contact her here.  Can't make it on Saturday?  That's okay--come by the Copic booth another day. Hope to see you there! Download cha_training.pdf

Finally, have you taken the SCS survey yet?   I'm sure that many of you benefit from this wonderful site that is such an invaluable resource to the crafting community. Here's a link to the survey.

So Sweet and Sketch

Tonight I wanted to share another card made with GinaK's  latest Stamps for a Cause set, How Sweet It Is, along with a basic sketch for you sketch collectors out there. For every How Sweet It Is set sold, Gina will donate $7 to diabetes research; you can find out more about it here.

Patterned Paper is SU's Soft Sky designer paper, paired with Chocolate Chip cardstock. I used the following Copic markers to color the focal image: BG11, BG72, E55, E57, W2, 0, C1, R14, R27, R11, and YR31, as well as clear and red Spica Glitter pens to coat the ice cream and toppings.

After coloring the image, I used my Spellbinders Classic Plain and Scalloped oval dies to cut and emboss both the focal image and its mat.  I punched a 1/4" hole in the side of the focal image where I had left a bit of dead space for the ribbon to come through. Finally, I added a small tag line at the bottom, using only part of the "You're so sweet" clause to keep my options open regarding what I might need to use the card for. (Do you do that too? Leave the inside blank so that you can stamp for whatever occasion you might need in a hurry?)

This is a really fun set, and a really worthy cause. If you try the sketch, I'd love to see what you come up with; leave a link for me in the comments area, please. Thanks for visiting!

Hearts Aplenty

How about another altered Frappuccino container?  (Yes, I had to drink that Dark Chocolate Mint Frappuccino in the interest of blog fodder.)

My son has been asking for conversation hearts since the first day we saw some in a nearby grocery store.  I thought I'd get some stamping mileage out of them before passing them along to him!

I used a Rubber Soul Love Heart as my primary image, with both Flower Heart and the Love Is in the Air set as well. Pink cardstock is Prism Frosted Pink. Inks are SU Regal Rose, Summer Sun, Only Orange, Sage Shadow, and Lavender Lace. (I tried to coordinate with the conversation heart colors.)  Ribbon is SU Rose grosgrain. I stamped the hearts side by side on one piece of cardstock, then I trimmed around them to create a band. The two ends overlapped a bit, but that is in the back. I used a strip of super sticky/redline tape to attach the band to the bottle.

I wasn't sure that I was happy with the little 3" x 3" gift card, so I made one more, a scalloped one cut with my Spellbinders Nestability Oval set. It has a couple of raised layers, one with extra details further raised.  I'm still not sure which one I like better. What do you think?

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Finally, I have a revision for you. The majority of you agreed that on my Saturday post, the wide chocolate grosgrain did not work. I tried a pale yellow, an ivory, and a narrow chocolate, and I didn't like any of them either. I ended up adding just the sage dotted circle from the PaperTrey Borders and Corners Circle set. Does that work any better for you?  If not, I'm still finished with this card! ;-D  Thank you for your helpful feedback, and have a great week!

NEWSFLASH! (edited to add): Tammy Nichols just gave me a heads up that Cosmo Cricket has released a sneak peek of their new lines on their blog.  I can't wait to see what they've do with these at CHA!  Here's a direct link to the new release post. Enjoy!

How Sweet the Sound

Okay, tell me the truth: is that chocolate ribbon too much?  I like it in real life, but on a picture it just seems heavy to me, like it could tip the whole card over to the left! Stamps are from the Kim Hughes Cute Curls set, while backgrounds are CHF backgrounders Pretty Pattern  (here or here) and French Script (here or here). The sentiment is from PaperTrey's Out on a Limb.

Cardstock colors are watercolor paper, Neenah Natural White, and  Prism Frosted Cobalt, Frosted Yellow, and Island Mist Medium. I used watercolor crayons to paint the bird.  Ink colors are Adirondack Espresso, Butterscotch, and Stonewashed (similar to Chocolate Chip, Brocade Blue, and More Mustard/So Saffron, for those of you who have asked for translations :-D). I used my Spellbinders Nestability Classic Plain and Small Scalloped dies to cut my mats and focal image.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

Do you have a few minutes (less than five, even on dial-up!) to take a survey for SplitCoastStampers?  I'm sure that many of you benefit from this wonderful site that is such an invaluable resource to the crafting community. Here's a link to the survey.

On yesterday's composition book, B. liked it--whew! One of the advantages of home-schooling is that you don't have other children teaching your child what he or she is supposed to like and dislike. I'm quite sure that if my seven-going-on-eight-year-old boy had hauled that notebook to school, someone would  have teased him about it, and he would have hated it before the hour was up. But since we are home most of the time, he is free to like it. . . if he chooses. We may not always home-school, but for now, it is good, and I am grateful to have the chance to whet my son's appetite for learning.  

Finally, you will notice that my bloglists have now been combined!  I had two of them and had been following directions to get them combined but having no luck. A nice Typepad person realized that my file was too long to import and divided it into two files--bless her! If you see a link (especially belonging to you) that is wrong, would you please drop me a comment or e-mail? Thanks for your help!

B's Piano Practice Logbook

I'm not sure what my son will think of his altered piano practice logbook when he wakes up, but I hope he likes it!  We repurposed a composition book that he had used once or twice for school last year. I used Crate Brunch Collection papers to cover the front and back of the notebook, and I simply painted the spine with some Adirondack Distress Crackle Paint (Color: Shabby Shutters). Ribbon is SU's Wild Wasabi with a sponging of Antique Linen Distress ink.

I stamped the music background from a Wordsworth clear set called Lyrical Love, and the notebook page on which I wrote the definition for practice is Lisa Strahl's Lined Paper backgrounder (available from CHF or Ellen now). The large chipboard button is a Cosmo Cricket Buck Naked button.

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The letters are cut with a Cricut Opposites Attract cartridge. (I used their new Design Studio software to edit some of the long tails out of the script font.)  I'll tell you tomorrow whether he loves his newly bedecked notebook or thinks it's too "girlie."

 

Valentine's Challenge Answered!

Do you know what a S.W.A.K.-Down is?  Neither did I.  But I've rarely let that stop me before and  wouldn't want to start now! Lisa Johnson (SCS LisaLisa) from Poppy Paperie issued a challenge to several bloggers to see what we'd come up with using her heart notecard template that she had made to fit the PaperTrey small heart tins. I've used my heart tins, so I used Lisa's heart notecard as a tag for my altered bottle of  Dark Chocolate Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino. 

First I stamped images from PaperTrey's Sweet Love set, using Adirondack Cranberry ink. I used my Spellbinders Nestability Classic Scalloped Oval die to cut the Prism Blush Red dark mat layer behind the main label and hand-trimmed the main label. The tag uses Lisa's pattern, with an added hole for gold elastic cord so that the tag can be attached to the bottle cap.  I used some A Muse Heart Twinkle Stickers to enhance here and there, and white taffeta to tie the large label on the frappuccino bottle. (And the best part is that I can drink it unless my son gets to it first!) Happy Valentines Day is stamped in Adirondack Espresso ink to continue the chocolate theme.  I also made a little lid medallion to finish "dressing" the bottle.

Other players who accepted Lisa's challenge were: Emily, Lauren, Becky, Julie, Lynn, Jenn, Amy, Taylor, and Geny. Of course, Lisa has to play too!  You are cordially invited to go see what each one has done with Lisa's  Valentine card challenge. If you'd like to play too, please leave a link. I'd love to check it out! Thanks for visiting.

Edited to add: Nichole played too!  We weren't expecting that, but it's great to see her take on the same template, a sweet accordion book!

Watercolored Wedding Card

I've always loved this little bride image, and several of us have been petitioning for a groom to go with her.  I'd say that Karen came through in flying colors; he's perfect beside her!  I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the placement right, centering them close together in the middle of a square Fabriano Medioevalis notecard. After watercoloring them with watercolor crayons and a waterbrush, I used the largest of my Small Plain Square dies to emboss the card front. (Nichole's tutorial on that is here.) How about that rock? I couldn't resist! It was the smallest rhinestone that I had--a bit overwhelming, and way too tiring for someone with fingers that thin--but it was a necessary embellishment. . .

For the envelope, I used an Itty Bitty Vase stamp and coordinated the flowers in it with those in the bride's bouquet. I added some Spica Glitter pen accents (clear, melon, and lavender) in both the bride's bouquet and the vase. It was fun to pull out my watercolor crayons again! Thanks for visiting.

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Supplies:
Paper: Fabriano Medioevalis 4-3/4" square notecard and coordinating envelope (I got these from StarLitStudio's e-Bay store, but didn't see them in there tonight. You might try e-mailing Cindy thorugh her blog if you are looking for these.)
Stamps: Lockhart Bride, Groom, and IB Vase
Tools: watercolor crayons and waterbrush, Spica Glitter pens by Copic, Spellbinders Nestabilities Plain Small Square
Accessories: Hero Arts clear rhinestone; irridescent whiet organdy (can't remember where I bought this roll)

Newsflash:  Some of you have been writing me about my Copic  marker colors, saying that Ellen didn't carry all of the colors that I've been using.  FYI,  Ellen now has them in stock! In fact, she's got some that I don't even have. . . No doubt I'll have to remedy that situation! ;-D

Circle Card Make a Wish. . .

Saturday I received two goodie boxes from Northridge Publishing--LOVE the quality of their magazines! One of them had some fabulous Scenic Route papers--paper in colors that I might have overlooked in a store, but as I looked at them,  I fell in paper-love.  The somewhat retro style of the paper made me think of my PaperTrey Beautiful Blooms set. (And I will definitely check out the Scenic Route paper next time I paper-shop!)

I pulled my color scheme from the paper, stamping in the following Adirondack inks: Lemonade, Butterscotch, Citrus, Lettuce, Sunset Orange, and Terra Cotta. I used Prism's Natural Smooth cardstock to cut the card base from, using my Spellbinders Nestabilities Large Scalloped Circle Die set. (When you cut through two layers with the Spellbinders dies, you need to use a lighter weight cardstock. SU's Whisper White and Very Vanilla cut fine, but the SU Naturals would not.) It is hinged at the very top--on three of the scallops.

After stamping the flowers, I used Cuttlebug Flower Die #1 die to cut the flowers; the leaves are cut by hand. (Both All That Scraps and Eclectic Paperie have these dies in stock at the moment.)

"Where did you use the Copic markers?" you might be wondering. Give up?  On the ribbon!  This was some white satin-edged organdy that I found at Really Reasonable Ribbon and got just for emergencies such as this when I don't have the perfect ribbon color. I used BG72 to color/dye the ribbon to match the paper! By the way, I used my SU slot punch to make a place for my ribbon to run through the card front. (I have a Basic Grey slit punching system somewhere. . . but I can't find it!)

The envelope is made using Lauren Meader's Scor- Pal envelope tutorial. (Thanks, Lauren!) Small sentiment is from PaperTrey's Mixed Messages.  Circle cards are really fun; I'm seeing them everywhere these days. If you haven't tried one already, try one!

Stamps: PaperTrey Beautiful Blooms and Mixed Messages
Papers: Scenic Route Ashville Edwin Place and Hillyard Avenue
Cardstock: Prism Natural Smooth
Inks: Adirondack Lemonade, Butterscotch, Citrus, Lettuce, Sunset Orange, and Terra Cotta; Distress Antique Linen
Accessories: Hero Arts clear Rhinestones, foam tape, satin edged organdy

Cheery Scalloped Flowers

Tonight's playtime with my new SU SAB set, So Many Scallops, convinced me of one thing: if you order this set, make sure you order the coordinating scalloped punch! When I pre-ordered the So Many Scallops set, I debated ordering the coordinating punch, but my frugal side won out. After all, I have almost all of the Nestabilities known to man, as well as many of the Marvy punches from my pre-Nestability days. Who needs another scallop? (If you find trimming around flowers relaxing, you do not need it. . .)

Seriously though, once you get past trimming a couple of flowers, this is a cute set and pretty versatile as well. For this card I used the Ginger Blossom patterned paper, and River Rock and Very Vanilla cardstocks. I used basically the same layout sketch that I used on my Bella challenge card yesterday, except that I elongated it a bit and used two patterns of paper rather than one as the background.

Stems are a piece of River Rock stitched grosgrain cut up the middle and run through my Xyron. (You need something pretty sticky to keep the cut edge from fraying. I wanted some flowers centers and didn't have a punch that was the perfect size. Fortunately, I had a Spellbinders Nestability Large Plain Circle set, and the smallest circle in that set worked great for flower centers. I sanded them slightly to make the embossing stand out, then I sanded the patterned Paper card edges just a bit so that they would coordinate with the flower centers.  Ink colors are Groovy Guava, Regal Rose, and sentiment (from SAB set Lots of Thoughts) in Ruby Red.

Thanks for visiting!

Girls and Sweetness:January DD DDA Challenge

The January SplitCoast DD/DDA Challenge was to use a girl theme, incorporating sweetness (our interpretation), and using a non-A-2 card size. I had some Bellas that hadn't seen ink yet --perfect for this challenge, especially since someone very special to me is expecting!

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Meet Teddybella! Isn't she the sweetest? To compound the sweet factor, I used some of my absolute favorite paper, from Cosmo Cricket's Little Girls Biography Collection. Since we weren't allowed to use an A-2 card size for this challenge, I used a 4-1/4" square card base, setting the focal point to the left so that I would have extra room on the right to add a knot and a small sentiment (from PaperTrey's new Mixed Messages set).

Teddybella is stamped on Poison Ivory cardstock with Adirondack Pitch Black ink, then colored with the Copic markers shown on the left. I used my Spellbinders Plain Rectangle die to cut and emboss the main image. I had a little trimming mishap with my first colored Teddybella, and being determined not to waste that one entirely, I cut it apart to add some dimension to the finished card. While I was mounting that red gift bag with foam tape, it occurred to me that it could use some tissue protruding from the top; I love details! Stitched grosgrain is SU's Soft Sky, warmed and aged a bit with some Antique Linen distress ink.

Just in case you're a sketch collector, I'm tossing in a sketch for this card.  If you happen to use it, leave me a link; I'd love to see what you come up with! Be sure to check out the SCS Gallery where this challenge is posted. (New pieces will probably be added all day.) If the past is any indicator, they should knock your socks off. Enjoy!