Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Are My Colors Giving Me Away?

Can you tell I want fall to get here and bring cooler temperatures!?  We had 107 and 110 degrees here this past weekend.  This is crazy.  But here we are with another Wednesday coming around, which means it's time for another challenge at The Pixie Cottage!  This week's theme is back to school, and there's also this wonderful sketch to follow.  Do one or the other, or do both.  I followed the sketch, using "Pumpkin Bench" by Sandra Hammer, available at Michelle's Scrapbooking.  I colored it with Copics, cut/embossed with Spellbinders Deckled Oval die.  The little pots and flowers are a Rubber Stamp Tapestry set.  All paper is MME. 

Challenges: 
Crazy 4 Challenges: Male themed card.
One Stitch At a Time:  Halloween or fall theme.
Cards For Men:  "G"...Goodbye summer. Thank you Mandy!  :)
Creative Card Crew:  Anything goes

Stamps:  "Pumpkin Bench" from The Pixie Cottage, Rubber Stamp Tapestry "Pottery Garden".
Paper:  My Mind's Eye "Home" pack,  The Paper Studio.
Ink:  Copics, Colorbox Queues. 
Accessories:  Spellbinders Deckled Oval, seam binding, leaf charms.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Summer Nights at The Pixie Cottage

Summer nights is the theme at The Pixie Cottage this week.  We also have a great sketch to follow too.  Either/or, it's up to you...come join us!I usually follow both theme and sketch, but this week I chose the theme.  I used Hannah on Bench, available at Michelle's Scrapbooking.  Even though it's blazing hot here and she's wearing long sleeves, I'm imagining Hannah in a Vermont summer night setting.  My daughter is about to start her senior year of college up there, and she said the nights have been in the 50's already.  I colored Hannah with Copics; still need lots more practice with them.  Cut the image with Spellbinders oval dies and added the sunset "glow" with Distress Ink.  All DP is Graphics 45.  The flower was made using Spellbinders Rose Creations, then glitzed up with German Glass Glitter. 
Challenges:
Midnight Madness:  Sketch 118
Paper Sundaes:  Sundae bar
One Stitch at a Time: Bling
Shabby Tea Room:  Sweet Days of Summer

Stamps:  The Pixie Cottage "Hannah on Bench".
Paper: Graphics 45 "Once Upon a Springtime", The Paper Studio.
Ink:  Memento, Copics.
Accessories:  Spellbinders Ovals and Rose Creations, deckle edge scissors, buttons, handmade flower, German glass glitter, twine

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Midnight Madness Meets Delicious Doodles

This card is for the Delicious Doodles DT call. The image is called Sexy Goth Girl, by Teresa Sherman and available at Stitchy Bear Stamps. The sentiment is from Verve's Artful Elegance set. I used the clean and simple version of the Midnight Madness sketch. Crazy 4 Challenges theme this week is monochromatic image. This image already has a lot of shading, but I added a bit more with Copics cool and warm grays, plus a hint of color for her eyes and lips. Cut/embossed with Spellbinders Labels 14. I really like the somewhat vintage feel to the card, along with the bit of whimsical with the image. 
Challenges:
Midnight Madness: Sketch 117, CAS version.
Paper Sundaes: Just saying hi.
One Stitch at a Time: Anything goes.
Digis With Attitude: Anything goes.
Crazy 4 Challenges: Monochromatic image.

Stamps: Sexy Goth Girl digital stamp by Delicious Doodles,
Paper: SU! cardstock, Basic Grey Cappella.
Ink: Colorbox Queues, Memento
Accessories: Spellbinders Labels 14, Wild Orchid roses, Kort and Godt flowers.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Big on Birthdays at The Pixie Cottage!

This week's theme for The Pixie Cottage challenge is Big on Birthdays.  There's also a great sketch to follow, and as always you can follow the sketch, the theme, or both.  I went with both.  Again.  :) This card was made for a friend's daughter, who loves ballet. I used the cute digi stamp Bellini (love the bows on her trunk!) by Artish, available at Michelle's Scrapbooking.  I colored the image with Copics, rounded the corners and inked with Colorbox Queues.  The little "presents" were made with scraps and the "ribbon" is a skinny strip cut with deckle edge scissors and covered with glitter.  The bows were cut with my Cricut and glittered as well.  My friend is French, so I thought the birthday sentiment in French was fitting.  She said to use lots of pinks, purples and blues.  Definitely got all that covered.  Can't help but think of Dr. Suess when I look at this card. :)
 

















Challenges
Papertake Weekly - Bingo (pearls, ribbon, bling for my free spot)
Simon Says Stamps and Show - Bling
My Time to Craft - G is for...(mine is gift and girlie)
Everybody Art - Gifts.

Stamps:  Bellini digi stamps from The Pixie Cottage, "Bonjour Merci" from Crafty Secrets.
Paper:  DCWV Pocket Full of Posies, The Paper Studio.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Corner rounder, Cricut, glitter, Stickles, ribbon, SU! punch, pearls.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Ridiculous Shipping Charges

I came across this post about outrageous shipping charges on Donalda's blog.  I have backed out of a shopping cart many times when I see the unreasonable shipping and handling charges.  Hopefully some of these companies will take heed if enough people stop ordering from them.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

House Mouse ATC

When I first saw that the challenge at House Mouse and Friends Challenge blog was to create an ATC, I pulled out a bunch of HM stamps that could work for that little space.  I decided on this cute little image, called "Oh Happy Days" when my cell phone rang...my ring tone is Billy Idol's "Dancin' With Myself".  I used to play that song really loud on my stereo and spaz out (couldn't be called dancing) while I did house work.  So I stamped little Monica and colored her with Copics.  Clipped the corners, sponged with Distress Inks and added the tiny punched butterflies along with their dancing Stickles trails.  Thought the sentiment was perfect, and stamped it with Sepia.
Challenges: 
Mark's Finest Papers:  Anything but standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.
If the Shoe Fits...Scrap it:  Show Us Your Green.

Stamps:  House Mouse "Oh Happy Days", Verve "Beautiful You".
Paper:  Neenah Solar White.
Ink:  Distress Inks, Memento.
Accessories:  Corner rounder, butterfly punch, Stickles

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Say it With Flowers at The Pixie Cottage

This week at The Pixie Cottage we have another great sketch you can follow, or you can follow the theme and use flowers on your creation.  Or, you can do BOTH, which is what I did.  I used Spring Time Hannah With Butterflies available at Michelle's Scrapbooking and More.  I colored the image with Copics, then sponged on the clouds with Distress Inks.  The big rose was made with Spellbinders Rose Creations die, and the little ones with a small retro flower punch.  The gold sprigs were cut from vellum with a Marianne D die.
Challenges
Sketchy Colors: Pink, gold and white.
Gingerloft:  Make it sparkle.
Everybody Art: Summertime.
Papertake Weekly:  Handmade flowers
Creative Inspirations:  Summertime.

Stamps:  The Pixie Cottage "Spring Time Hannah With Butterflies", Verve "Fairy Tales".
Paper:  Neenah Solar White, DCWV Lace and Linen, vellum.
Ink:  Memento, Colorbox Queues. 
Accessories: Spellbinders Rose Creations, Labels Fourteen and Big Scalloped Circles, retro flower punch,  The Paper Studio Intricate Swirl embossing folder, Marianne D Decorative Elegance die, glitter, foam tape.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

A Spoonful of Sugar Birthday

Oh what fun...to be a guest at A Spoon Full of Sugar! :).  This week's challenge is Birthdays.  I used this sweet image from Whiff of Joy, called "Willow With Sunhat", colored with Copics.  I followed the sketch at Paper Sundaes, making it into a shaped card by cutting on the fold with Spellbinders Grand Labels Eleven, and used the color scheme from CR84FN.  Willow was cut/embossed with Spellbinders Labels Fourteen die, and the sentiment, which I printed off my computer, was cut/embossed with Ribbon Tags Trio die.  The lavender DP is Lilac Avenue by KaiserCraft.  Tiny buttons from Michael's painted with Platinum Liquid Pearls.

Other Challenges:
Whiff of Joy - Buttons and Bows.
Paper Sundaes - Sketch.
CR84FN - Lavender, celery, gray.
Craft Your Days Away - Birthdays.
Crazy 4 Challenges - Shaped card.

Stamps:  Whiff of Joy "Willow With Sunhat". 
Paper:  KaiserCraft Lilac Avenue, The Paper Studio.
Ink:  Computer,  Colorbox Queues.
Accessories:  Spellbinders Grand Labels Eleven, Labels Fourteen, and Ribbon Tags Trio, seam binding, buttons, Wild Orchid roses, Crealies CL CS 11, Marianne D LR0150 Forest Branch.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Happy 18th Birthday to My "Baby"!

Hard to believe that 18 years ago I was in the hospital having my baby boy!  Time flies so quickly.  Tyler has grown into such a wonderful young man.  I am so very proud of him!  Trying to get a picture of him is like nailing Jello to a tree, but I do have a pic of him in my sidebar. :)  Below are some cards I made for him...from me, my mom and my daughter. 
I have been wanting to try the reflection technique, and I've seen it used many times in blogland with this set from Stampin Up.  I couldn't find a piece of the plastic packaging - and I have a stack of it somewhere, so I stamped the "reflected" part onto a plastic baggie.  Colored the grass with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, and the water with the pencils.  Clouds sponged on with Distress Inks.  I flubbed the right edge of the image, so cut it off and scooched it over to the edge.   Embossed the card base with the Tim Holtz folder.  Stamped the sentiment from Crafty Secrets and cut out with Spellbinders Labels Trio tag.    
Challenges
Cards for Men - Clean and Simple.
Paper Sundaes - Clouds and Sky.
Desert Islands Crafts Challenge - Itinerary.

Stamps: Stampin Up "Lovely as a Tree", Crafty Secrets "Glamour Girls" (sentiment).
Paper: The Paper Studio, Neenah Solar White.
Ink: Memento.
Accessories: Spellbinders Labels Trios and Labels Eight, Tim Holtz woodgrain EF, Dew Drops.

This next card was made with the "Open Sea" set from Stampin Up.  Compass was stamped with Versamark and embossed with gold EP.  All other images stamped with Memento sepia ink.  Sentiment printed from computer, torn and inserted into the Tim Holtz eye pin.

Challenges:
Craft Us Crazy - Anything Goes.
Creative Card Crew - Best Foot Forward (encouragement). 

Stamps:  Stampin Up "Open Sea".
Paper:  The Paper Studio, scraps.
Ink:  Memento.
Accessories:  Tim Holtz large eye pin, gold EP, foam tape.

Last but not least for Tyler's birthday cards is this one using Stampin Up's Sense of Time set.  Clock was stamped on the crackled looking DP scrap.  The smaller second hand was stamped on another scrap, inked and attached over the clot with a the clock hand.  The clock face was then attached to Spellbinders Labels Three.  I used a couple other scraps for the background, embossing the one with Tim Holtz Clock EF. Added the gears from Tim Holtz. 

Stamps:  Stampin Up "Sense of Time".
Paper:  HOTP DP.
Ink: Memento.
Accessories:  Spellbinders Labels Three, Tim Holtz Clocks EF, Tim Holtz gears and second hand. 

On another note, my daughter finally came back from her Navy training cruise, having spent 60 days on a submarine.  She's one of the first females to be allowed on subs. That was the longest period of time we have gone with no contact, and I have to admit...I almost went bonkers.  But she is back home for a few more days, before having to go back to school in Vermont.  Her fiance is here as well, and we sat down and did these Save-The-Date notices for their wedding.  I had gotten this Marianne D Frame die while Shelbie was under the water and thought it would make a nice background for the notice.  I had a mock-up ready when she got here, she liked it, and I put her to work on getting 160 of these made up.  After showing her how to do sponging, I did most of the die cuts, printed out the center portion, Shelbie did all the sponging, her fiance pitched in by cutting all the corners, and I added the Liquid Pearls.  They are very pretty IRL!  Here is a close up of each...one has blue, the other lavender.

Stamps:  None.
Paper:  The Paper Studio.
Ink:  Distress Inks, computer.
Accessories:  Marianne D LR0111 Frame, Liquid Pearls, corner rounder.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

A Favorite Technique at The Pixie Cottage

This week at The Pixie Cottage we're sharing our favorite technique.  I love, love, love embossing, especially "dry" embossing.  So many different options available, from embossing folders, to smooshing something like an onion bag or piece of screening in your machine's "sandwich", to get all sorts of wonderful designs embossed into your paper. 
I used Copics to color the adorable "Hannah at the Pond" by Sandra Hammer, available from Michelle's Scrapbooking.  Not sure why, but the clouds came out extremely pale in the picture, but IRL they look great.  I sponged Stormy Sky Distress Ink around an hand-cut cloud mask.  Then I attacked almost every piece of paper with the Cuttlebug embossing folder, except for the dotted background.  :)  The flowers were punched with Nellie Snellen punches.  I then sprayed them with water to soften up the paper fibers to get a deeper impression in the embosser.  They were then tipped with Perfect Pearls. 

Challenges: 
Paper Sundaes - Clouds and skies
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Anything Goes - Pick of the Bunch (Flowers)
Crafts and Me - Anything goes

Stamps:  Hannah at the Pond from Michelle's Scrapbooking.
Paper:  HOTP, SU! CS.
Ink:  Copics.
Accessories:  Corner punch, Nellie Snellen flower punch/embosser, Cuttlebug EF, Drew Drops, Perfect Pearls, Stickles.