A Good Place for a Nap

This pretty much sums up my philosophy in life since I am a big fan of naps! Shirley's 2 Girls is having a design team call and you can read all the information here. Since I have been having so much fun with their stamps and playing along with their Twisted Thursday challenge, I decided to submit my projects and hope for the best! They provided a sketch for us to follow and gave us the twist of using Paper Piecing on our project. I thought this chair would be the perfect thing for the paper piecing part of the challenge. I stamped the image directly onto the striped paper and then cut it out and added the silver brads to the chair arms. Then I stamped the image twice onto white paper, on one, I colored the dog and cut it out and the other became my main image panel. The circles were cut out with Nestabilities and I ran the smaller one through the Big Shot with a Swiss Dots folder. The ribbon is actually a stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps, from a set called Embellish It. I haven't done a lot of paper piecing, but recently I found some small, very sharp scissors which makes cutting out those pieces a lot easier. so I think I might try it a little more often.  Supplies used: main stamp image from Shirley's 2 Girls, paper and card stock are DCWV, brads are from Jo-Ann's, CB Swiss Dots folder, circle Nestabilities and ribbon stamp is from CDS.

TTC--Use Something Soft

It is a beautiful fall day here in Tennessee, the sun is shining, the sir is a little crisp and I see lots of color when I am outside. Perfect day for a fall inspired card. This is my card for the Twisted Thursday Challenge from Shirley's 2 Girls. The twist this week was to use something soft--Flower Soft, Fun Flock or Felt. I chose this image from S2G called Fall Gracie, I think she is too cute. This was a digital image that was printed out on my temperamental printer on a day that it decided to print. Everything was colored with Copic markers and then I used Autumn Flower Soft to fill in the pile of leaves at Gracie's feet. On the plain panel behind my main image, I used two eyelets from Making Memories and some twine from Jo-Annn's, all papers are from DCWV.

I've had a great day today. I have gotten some more done toward getting my craft space moved. I knew this project would be a huge undertaking and that is why I had put it off for so long. Because of our work schedules, we have only been getting to do bits and pieces of it here and there. but I can see progress being made. I cannot wait to have that done. It's also been a day of cleaning and laundry, which has not been so much fun. I am making BBQ chicken pizza for dinner tonight and am waiting for the crust to finish rising before I can get it ready to go in the oven. Have a great night!

Twisted Thursday Challenge-Add a Pumpkin

Wow, I am barely sneaking in with this Twisted Thursday Challenge! The twist on the provided sketch was to use a pumpkin on your project. I don't have any fall or Halloween images from Shirley's 2 Girls (yet!) and it took me a while to come up with an idea that would allow me to incorporate a pumpkin. I decided to play around with the colors with this set and make her into a green skinned witch--yea a reason to use a pumpkin! So I started with this great paper that came from Target's Dollar Spot and cut out the pieces that I would need to complete the sketch that we were provided. I stamped the image with Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. I cut out the images and adhered it to the card using foam dots. Those little pumpkins are from a set of stamps that I got at Michael's a very long time ago. They were stamped directly onto orange paper and then cut out and added to the corners of my card. Speaking of needing to get some of the great Halloween and Fall images from S2G, I need to do it before the end of the month while the Halloween images are on sale!

What's New??

Wow, I actually got to play along with a Twisted Thursday challenge on a Thursday! Usually I am not home and don't have crafting time until the weekend. The twist this week was to use chipboard along with the sketch that was provided. I looked at the sketch this morning and I had kind of planned out what I wanted to do and what stamp I wanted to use. I knew I wanted to use chipboard buttons on those circles. But, when I sat down to make my card, I had no chipboard buttons. I did, however, have these chipboard circles that have monograms on one side. I flipped them to the blank side and used Pebbles Metallic Chalks to color them the color I wanted them to be and then used my Crop-a-dial to punch the holes. Viola, I had chipboard buttons!! I tied twine in the center of each "button" before adding them to my circles. The main image, the sentiment and the paw prints are all from the same S2G set, What's New, which was my first S2G set I ever bought. My image was colored with Copic markers and the papers are from the DCWV Pet Stack. 

I am off work tomorrow, so I am hoping to have a lot of craft time. Well what I really need to be doing is working on the soon to be craft room! I am making progress. I can't believe I moved with so much stuff. I blame it on the fact that we had such a short engagement, I only had nine weeks to plan a wedding, who had time to pack! Finally, I am unpacking all those boxes and finding so many treasures. I have also found some kitchen items that I knew I was missing so that has been a good thing. Thanks for stopping by!

You Only Live Once

Here is my entry for the Shirley's 2 Girls Twisted Thursday Challenge. The twist this week was to use metal on your cards in addition to the sketch provided. I used the S2G set You Only Live Once, stamped it with Memento ink and then colored the image with Copic markers and a Sakura glitter pen. The sentiment was stamped with CTMH Desert Sand ink. My metal photo turns, brads and the flowers are all from Jo-Ann's and the papers are DCWV. I won the challenge last week, I was so excited. I am really loving these images, the more I use them the more I like them. My wish list just keeps growing longer and longer!

Well, it has begun. What has begun? The moving of the crafting space. We are redoing the downstairs den with my crafting space and Kip's favorite forms of entertainment--the TV, Playstation and XBox are all going to have a new home soon. We decided that this will give up both more room than we currently have and allow us to spend more time together. I am so excited about the space but not so much about the part of actually moving everything. My parents were visiting this weekend and Mom helped me get started. We made some good progress. I hate to admit it, but there were still boxes from when I moved in after we got married. Yes, we have been married almost four years and there were still boxes that needed to be unpacked. Another thing that I am excited about is the fact that when we are finished, I will have extra space so that friends can come over and stamp with me, in my craft room!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great start to your week.

Caroling Cats

This is my card for the Shirley's 2 girls Twisted Thursday Challenge. There is a sketch provided and then a twist--this week it was to use the sketch and twine or raffia on your card. When I read the challenge, the post says that the DT will be using cats on their projects and for some reason the cat part of that stuck in my head so I thought I had to use cats too. Next time I will read a little closer! I only have one S2G stamp that has cats on it so I used it, but I cut the cats out so that they would fit with the sketch. We have three cats here at our house so I colored them to look like two of them. Images were stamped with Memento ink and colored with Copic and Spica makers and I used a white gel pen to make the strips on the orange cat. The Christmas tree is from Inky Antics and was stamped with CTMH Chocolate ink and colored with Copics. I used some red seed beads on the wreath and the tag is a Cuttlebug die. I bought that patterned paper when I first started making cards, it was a giant pack of Christmas papers and I love them, I can't remember who made it though, card stock is Making Memories. 

We have had a great weekend, hope you have too. Kip built a compost bin for our backyard and I managed to get some things done around the house. We have been eating healthier for the past couple of weeks which means time sent planning meals, shopping, food prep and cooking all our meals. It has gotten easier with each week and I try to do as much of the food prep as I can on the weekends to save as much time as I can during the week. I think I chopped about 10 onions today, but that is the only time I will have to chop them all week. On the menu tonight; chicken fajitas and it's time to get them started. Thanks for dropping by!

Twisted Thursday Challenge-Purple and Orange

Here is my entry for this week's Twisted Thursday Challenge on the Shirley's 2 Girls challenge blog. The twist to the sketch provided was to use the colors purple and orange. Sketch challenges are my favorite challenges to play along with and the twists are a fun addition. I don't have any of the S2G Halloween images (yet!) so I pulled out this set that I got from Michael's last week. I stamped my image with Memento ink and then colored my monster with Copic markers. I used scalloped oval Nestabilities for my large oval and CTMH ink for the sentiment. The paper and card stocks are from DCWV and the brads are from the Paper Studio. I tried again to make my monster look like he had some fur and tried to create some texture with my Copics. I think this attempt turned out a little better than the last one.

Samantha is here today and wanted to play along with the challenge too. She enjoys doing challenges with me on occasion, but this is the first sketch challenge she has attempted. She picked out the papers she wanted and I cut out the pieces for her. She used an  image from the same set as mine, and the image was also stamped with Memento ink and she colored the image with Copic markers. I have been trying to teach her some basic blending techniques with the Copics. She is learning to chose different shades in the same color families so as soon as she started to color she went and picked out three different shades of orange. In person you can see the beginnings of some shading going on there, not too bad for a seven year old! To finish off her card she added some spider confetti to each corner. Thanks for looking!

(Samantha is the daughter of my friend. She is also my little crafting buddy!)

Paint it Red

Good evening! I hope everyone has had a great weekend. I have been able to spend most of mine here at the house, so that is a great weekend to me. Other than church and the grocery store, I have been home. My card tonight is for the Twisted Thursday Challenge on the Shirley's 2 Girls challenge blog. The twist to the sketch provided was to Paint it Red and make red your primary color. My image uses a digital download that I got a couple of weeks ago on SNR Card Universe. The image was colored with Copic and Prisma Markers and I used  Spica markers on the glasses and the things sprouting out of the flowers. The paper is Daisy Ds and the card stock is DCWV and the eyelets and twine are from my stash. I had an interesting experience with those eyelets, I punched the hole and put the eyelet in place and when I went to set it, my hand slipped and I slammed my hand into the desk somehow. I am fine, but it smarted for a little while. That's the first time I have ever been injured by an eyelet! Have a great start to your week and thanks for stopping by. I love reading all the comments, thanks for taking the time to do that.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I get later and later with these Thursday challenges, but fortunately I have until Wednesday night to get them done! These sketches are a lot of fun, check them out some time. This was a Twisted Thursday Challenge and the twist to the sketch provided was to use any punch on our card. I created my polka dots on the background with a standard size hole punch and then I just glued down the dots where I wanted them to be. I had to adjust the size of the image panel just a bit so that I could fit the image I chose on there. The image is from Shirley's 2 Girls and was stamped with Memento ink and then colored it with Copic markers. I went over the black stripes in the shirt with a Spica marker. The little flower at the bottom is also a stamp in this set and I embossed it with Ranger Red Tinsel embossing powder. I could not get it to emboss evenly so I went over it with a little red glitter glue. All papers and card stock are DCWV. 

Thanks for all the comments on my bathroom redo! I am very happy with the way that it turned out, and my husband likes it too. Decorating is not something that I have done a lot of since we got married but I have decided that I would like to take one room at a time until the whole house is done. 

Twisted Thursday Challenge

My Shirley's 2 Girl's Twisted Thursday Challenge is showing up on Saturday! I rarely have any extra time on Thursdays so I glad I still have time to play along with these challenges. The challenge was to use the sketch provided and the twist was to use four brads. I decided to do something different with this image, I have always colored these with Copics but I wanted to see what they would look like colored with Prismacolor pencils. In addition to the pencils, I used a little of a glitter pen to color the metalware on the bag. About the sketch, I rotated it onto it's side because of the size of the image I chose to use. The pink paper was embossed with a Quick Kutz embossing folder and I chose this one because I think it mimics the pattern in the bag and I chose four heart brads since the sentiment mentioned love. The patterned paper is from Bo Bunny, the card stock pieces are from DCWV and the brads are from Jo-Ann's.

If you remember last month, I challenged myself not to purchase anything new and to use up some of my stash? I did very well with that challenge and am continuing to decrease some of the items I have been hoarding. Since I do enjoy challenging myself, one of the things I am doing this month is to change up the way I color things. I tend to always use the same medium to color a particular brand of stamp. For instance the S2G stamps I always uses Copics, same thing with Hannas and Rileys, MFTs and stamps from The Greeting Farm. I always use pencils on Lockhart stamps, House Mouse and most anything with flowers or scenery. The only company I mix pretty much equally is Clear Dollar Stamps, it depends on the image I am using but I do use both pencils and markers with their stamp sets. So for the past week or so, I have been coloring them different than I normally do. It has been an interesting experiment and definitely made me think in a different direction.

I loved reading everyone's comments on their creative processes. Especially the ones that mentioned finding new ideas in the clutter on their desks! I am so happy to know that I am not the only one that finds new ideas on my messy desk. I am actually working on mine right now since it has been overtake by half finished projects. I wish those messy little gremlins would stop messing up my work space when I go to bed! Enjoy your weekend.

Polka Dot Mermaid

I made this card to play along with the Shirley's 2 Girls Twisted Thursday challenge this week. There was a sketch that was provided and the twist was to use polka dots. This is a new stamp that my wonderful hubby bought me this weekend. I stamped the image with Memento ink and then colored the image with Copic and Prisma markers. I used some liquid pearls and a Spica pen on the necklace and yellow Stickles in her hair. My polka dots are the ones I embossed with my new Polka Dot embossing folder from Quickuts. I used scalloped circle Nestabilities for my circles. I think one of these reasons that I like these stamps so much is the fact that they look great with the bright colors that I like to use. 

We had a great time in Indiana. Of course I paid a visit to the best stamp store in the world, Papertrix, which has been the hilight of all my trips to Indiana.  Man, I love that place! They have everything there. I came away with this stamp from S2G. a couple more Lockhart stamps, some gorgeous paper, a Scor-Bug and a couple of other odds and ends. In addition to shopping we had some time to just relax and be together, talking and hanging out. 

We also got a chance to see a movie. Kip went and saw GI Joe and his parents and I went and saw Julie and Julia. (BTW, we are both okay with going to the movies together and seeing different movies.) It was such a good movie, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The reviews I read weren't that glowing so I was pleasantly surprised. Thanks for dropping in tonight!

My First Digi Stamp

And my second post of the day! I found this stamp on the Shirley's 2 Girls Challenge Blog. There was a sketch provided, plus this digital image and three sentiments. The challenge also listed a twist--you had to use something clear on your card. So this is full of firsts, I also embossed a piece of acetate. The image was colored with Copic and Prisma markers and then I went over the crown and wings with a gold Spica pen. The frosting on the cake was done with Stickles. I really like their images, I first got to play with them at the Copic class that I took in May. A couple came home with me and I can't wait to get some more!

Okay, I have a question for those of you that use acetate on your cards. How are you supposed to adhere the stuff? Everything I tried showed through. Right now, it is anchored in the areas behind the other panels. I would welcome any suggestions!

So how do I feel about Digi Stamps? I can see the appeal, the main reason being that the image can be adjusted to different sizes, I love that idea, and I could see being able to use my images is a wider range of projects. Also storage isn't really an issue either. I am running out of storage solutions for wooden and clear stamps. The cost is also on the attractive side. Would I use them again? Yes, I will. Do I like them? A lot better than I thought I would. The biggest drawback isn't the images or anything to do with digital stamps in general. This part of my opinion has nothing to do with this stamp or anything. Not having a computer or a printer in my crafting space is a problem. Right now the computer is upstairs on one end of the house and my crafting space is downstairs on the opposite end of the house. I would definitely need a better printer though if I were to use these on a regular basis. Maybe when I replace my computer, I will be able to get a printer too. Thanks for stopping by!