A Graphic Surprise

Last night, I sat down to work on Dawn McVey's current color challenge. I broke a new Martha Stewart butterfly punch out of it's packaging and went to test punch it on a subscription card that had fallen out of one of the kidlet's "My Big Backyard" magazines. When the butterflies popped out of the punch and landed on my table, I stared at them. When I realized they were holding my attention far longer than a test punch should, I knew that awesome butterfly had to make it onto a card!

I just loved how graphic it was! I punched two more from the same card (that would have ended up in the recycling bin), folded them, and glued their centers down onto black cs, allowing their wings to be raised up off the card.

The sentiment is from that juicy Damask Designs set by Dawn McVey for PTI. It arrived on my doorstep at the end of last week. I just love the font used! I'm looking forward to getting the rest of the set inky.....very soon!! :> Now back to that color challenge I was thinking about!

Supplies:
Stamps: Damask Designs - PTI
Cardstock: True Black, Pure Poppy, Stampers Select White - PTI
Ink: Craft White - SU!
Ribbon: Pure Poppy Satin - PTI
Punch: Classic Butterfly - Martha Stewart
Other: subscription card from kidlet's magazine

PTI Blog Hop!!

It's Hoppin' time!! This is the first time I am officially hoppin' and I'm looking forward to checking out what everyone has created this month! Creating a background was the challenge this month, so quite quickly I reached for one of my favorite sets, Guide Lines. I think I love it so much because of how unique it is! Combining the Guide Lines grid with a fun little image from Boxes, Bags & Tags I stamped up a tone on tone background with Versamark on the New Leaf cardstock that arrived on my doorstep from PTI just a few days ago. I couldn't make up my mind which ribbon color I preferred and then I realized, I didn't need to choose! I could use both by layering them...funny how the simplest things can just tickle you so! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Kraft, New Leaf, Raspberry Fizz - PTI
Stamps: Guide Lines, Boxes, Bags & Tags - PTI; One of a Kind - SU!
Ink: Versamark; Chocolate Chip - SU!
Ribbon: Raspberry Fizz grosgrain, New Leaf Satin - PTI
Bling: Bling It On - Lisa Bearnson
Punch - Spiral - SU!

A Stamper's Manicure

Pink, red, and brown with some glitter and Pearl Ex thrown in for sparkle.....those are the raw materials that gave me the stamping manicure that I am proudly wearing right now! Several hand washings later and my hands are still tinted with lots of ink. But, I will wake up in the morning smiling, because I will know that I found time to play!

While I was procrastinating getting back to the taxes, I kept thinking about a card I wanted to make. So I made a deal with myself that if I put in some time working on those taxes, then I could play with ink and make this card.

Apologies for the quality of this pic!! I am so not happy with it. I'm hoping to get a chance to take another pic tomorrow with better lighting. But, in the meantime, I thought I would post anyways.

Back to the card.... I took a piece of PTI's Summer Sun cardstock, cut it to size, and began inking the whole piece, tiered with three colors (Real Red on the bottom, then Positively Pink, and Pink Passion on the top - all SU! classic inks). I stamped Cornish Heritage Farms Trees Backgrounder (I LOVE their background stamps!!) on top. I took another small piece of the Summer Sun cs and inked in the same way and stamped my sentiment on top. Initially, I loaded the stamp with Versamark and then brown dye ink, stamped it, and burnished Super Russet Pearl Ex on top. I did NOT like it at all! Not wanting to ink another piece of cs, I just went over the letters with a Zig pen. And for the most part, problem solved! I really like the overall effect of this card and am sure I will repeat it!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Summer Sun, Berry Sorbet, Raspberry Fizz - PapertreyInk
Stamps: Trees Backgrounder - Cornish Heritage Farms; sentiment - Love You to Bits
Ink: Real Red, Positively Pink, Pink Passion, Chocolate Chip - SU! classic dye inks
Embellishment: Bling - me & my Big ideas icons

CPS 107 & Pink Elephant #6

Spring has definitely sprung around here! The trees are flowering, the daffodils have been smiling for awhile, and the vineyards are all being manicured and prepped for the growing season. So, I was in a springy kind of mood and thought it would be good to apply that to some challenges! I combined the current CPS sketch challenge and The Pink Elephant challenge to include buttons on this card. The sparkle on the card is from the pre-glittered DCWV cardstock and a little Stickles on the flower center. I inked the edges of the leaf stamped piece just a little, wanting to keep this extremely clean and intentionally quite white and bright. But, in hindsight, I would ink them heavier. There's always next time, right?!

With the sun still shinning and kidlets wanting to go outside some more, I'm gonna head out back and play (maybe even get ambitious and pull some weeds.....I'm so not a gardener! lol). For those of you who have sunshine, I hope you are able to enjoy it. And for those of you still with Winter weather, may your Spring spring soon!!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Stampers Select White - PTI; Glittered green - DCWV; medium green - from stash
Stamps: Best Blossoms - SU!
Ink: Gable Green, Glorious Green, Pink Passion (all classic inks) - SU!
Ribbon: Raspberry Fizz Twill - PTI
Other: Magenta Stickles; Buttons from stash; lime green embroidery thread

Sprinkles and Frosting

Here is another one of those cupcakes that I mentioned last weekend. The frosting on this one was made with alcohol inks though, instead of markers. The sprinkles are again, a pink Bic Mark-It pen, colored on white cardstock, punched out with a hole punch, and then coated with Crystal Effects. I traced the stamped "Happy Birthday" sentiment with a purple Spica glitter pen. I would have preferred to emboss it, but with sleeping kidlets in a small house, an embossing gun is not always a welcomed tool! :>

Everytime I work on these cupcakes, my daughter stands next to me, licks her lips, and says, "Mmmm....cupcakes! My favorite!!" What cracks me up, is that to my knowledge, I don't think she's ever even had a cupcake before!! Yet, she is totally obsessing on them and is now asking for cupcakes for her pink birthday party coming up later this spring. Isn't it funny, she has a gazillion toys and yet what makes her happiest (right now) is watching me stamp and color a cupcake (or blow bubbles outside :>)!!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Cupcake & Sentiment - Inkspirations
Ink: StazOn - Black; Versamagic Chalk - Eggplant
Cardstock: Stamper's White Select - PapertreyInk; Lovely Lilac, SU's old pink (can't remember the name), Elegant Eggplant - SU!
Other: Orchid Dew Drops - Robin's Nest, SU circle punch, Pinata Alcohol Inks, Crystal Effects, Purple Spica pen - Copic, and fringe ribbon from a swap table

Lauren's mytimess26

Lauren Meader's blog is one that I frequent pretty regularly, but I've never done one of her sketch challenges before. So, no time like the present, right?! I stuck really close (like glue) to Lauren's sketch and consequently, it came together very quickly....until I got the bright idea to trace over the stamped images in the circles! (Note to self: do not attempt that again with one kidlet running back and forth and the other kidlet asking for legos to be separated every three minutes!) I stamped them in PTI's raspberry fizz (yes, I think this is my favorite color these days!) and then traced over the whole image with a pink Spica glitter pen (yup, another favorite). Hopefully I will play again with more of her sketches!

Supplies:
Stamps: Notes for You - SU!
Cardstock: Kraft, Pure Poppy, Raspberry Fizz, Vintage Cream - PapertreyInk
Ink: Raspberry Fizz - PapertreyInk; Onyx Black - Versafine
Embellishments: Raspberry Fizz Grosgrain ribbon - PapertreyInk; Orchid Dew Drops - Robin's Nest

Cupcake PlayDays

I've been in a daze of cupcakes, sprinkles, frosting, and fun these days. No, there aren't any great smells wafting in from the kitchen, more like the paper, ink, markers, and Crystal Effects kind! I wanted to make a birthday card and knew I wanted to use the one and only cupcake set that I own. I made several cupcakes using both markers and alcohol inks. What I am sharing today is a card made with a cupcake using Bic Mark-It Permanent Markers and Prismacolor Markers. Hopefully, the alcohol inked ones will make it to paper soon.

I stamped the cupcake, colored the frosting with the Bic markers and the wrapper with a Prismacolor marker. But, my cupcake was in serious need of some sprinkles! Not happy with any of the embellishment options I already had (bling, dew drops, brads, etc.), I opted to color some white cardstock with both kids of markers, punch them out with a hole punch, and then add Crystal Effects to the top of them....super easy! By far, the most difficult part was not touching them and waiting for them to dry! I also did not have the right shade of yellow cardstock to stamp the "Happy Birthday" sentiment on, so I again colored white cardstock with the same yellow marker I used to color the frosting, stamped the sentiment, and trimmed it out....voila! matching yellow cardstock! I had so much fun making my sprinkles and more than half of them did survive the drying process (and my impatience AND curious kidlet fingers!). I am so excited that I can make these little embellies in any color that I have a marker for!



Supplies:
Stamps: Inkspirations (no longer in business) - cupcake & sentiment; Papertrey Ink - Polka Dot Basics
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink - Stampers Select White & Pure Poppy; SU! - Pacific Point
Patterned Paper: Yellow w/polkas - stash (from about eight years ago...no wonder I hold onto stuff!)
Ink: Versamark, Versafine - Onyx Black, Bic Mark-It & Prismacolor Markers
Other: Ribbon - stash (from a great swap), SU! - Crystal Effects, foam squares - Target $ Spot