Lime Tart Sketch Challenge -- v 2.0

Here's a second card based on the Lime Tart sketch challenge!

The scanner didn't like the bulk caused by the heart gem, so there's a bit of distortion. Oh well.

The papers are SEI. The scalloped bits are Doodlebug Frills. I love those.

Stamps are from justjohanna.

Thanks for visiting today!

Lime Tart Sketch Challenge!

Here's my take on the sketch challenge hosted at the Lime Tart Blog. Check out the sketch and check out the kits. They're nifty.

I used my beloved Flair papers. "True Love" is probably my most favorite line of love/Valentine themed papers! I also used my even more beloved "Intertwined Kitties" stamp by justjohanna.

Anyways, thanks for visiting today!

Shocking! Two posts in one day!

These cards feature the new release by justjohanna stamps. Click here. to check 'em out. They're now available and are just totally wonderful.

Chalk, chalk pencils, watercolor, and Twinklin' H2Os were the colorants this time. Sadly, the light blue of the sky and/or water and the grey of the shadows doesn't show up in the scan. You'd think I'd remember "non-photo blue" from my years working in the publishing/printing industry. Plus, the scanner completely erased the cool shimmery look of the chalked cupcake frosting. Ah well.

Back to the blog!

I was out of town last weekend for a "Girls' Weekend" and had a great time. I returned late on Monday, so I've been neglecting my poor blog. Fortunately, it's not a person, feline, or plant, so it didn't suffer at my hands.

Since my return, I've been busy making cards and have a bunch to share. And I'll have "blog fodder" for several days as I've got more too!

These cards all feature justjohanna stamps and whatever paper and colorant I felt like using. I seem to be in a circle phase at the moment and am really enjoying my Marvy Uchida punches and my new QK cookie cutter circle dies. I also want to kiss whoever invented the VersaFine Onyx Black inkpad. I just love the crisp clean images I get when I use it.

Ah. I will note that the cards are much niftier irl. My scanner does not like sparkly and I'm a magpie at heart. So, just know that the peacock is sparkly from Twinklin' H2Os, as is the background of the fish card. You also can't see the air bubbles that I made with Stickles.
Enough rambling for now. I'll most likely post more stuff later. Yahoo!

Some new cards to share...

Hmm. That's not one of my catchier titles, but it'll do.

I've been playing with Pentel's Color Brush Pens, Metallic Brush Pens, and Aquash Watercolor crayons.

The Color Brush pens yield a watercolored look. They're a bit tricky to use since they are very, very "juicy". I solved that by using 120 lb. watercolor paper! The colors are great though and there are no brush strokes, which are both huge positive points for me.

The flower card features justjohanna's Flora Hugabundous. First I used the Aquash crayons to color the inside parts and edges of the flower. I then used the Color Brush pens as a coloring and blending medium. I added color to the uncolored parts and then blended the watercolored areas into the solid color. The flower pot is a punch, which was chalked to add depth and detail. The paper is by Basic Grey (mat) and Cosmo Cricket (stripes).

The "road" card features justjohanna's Rolling Hills stamp. I touched up the road with the grey Color Brush pen. Then I squeezed a few drops of green ink from the Color Brush pen onto my craft mat. I used a waterbrush pen to color the "grass". I added a bit of water or straight color and blotted as I went. After that part dried, I went back and added orange flowers with the Color Brush pen. I used my waterbrush to wet the Aquash watercolor crayon and then created the "sky" by inking along a torn edge of scrap watercolor paper.

I made the two "Proud" cards to see the difference between Metallic Brush pens and Twinklin' H2Os. Both cards feature Lumiére* Peacock and the Waltzing Matilda alphabet by justjohanna. The first card, with Basic Grey, uses the Pentel pens to color the images. I used the Watercolor pens to color the peacock's body and the word, "Proud". The feathers were colored using the Metallic Brush markers, which like the Color Brush pens have great coverage and color, but are very "juicy". I inked the edges of the layers using sponge daubers that were inked with the pens.

The second peacock card uses Twinklin' H2Os to color the images. I also used stickers for part of the sentiment. I went a different way with the card and used FiberMark's Bling papers to create the card's background.

*the accent in Lumiére is supposed to go the other way. Sadly, I can't figure out how to keyboard it. Sigh.

Orange you glad you stopped by?

I'm soooo stoked! I've been lucky enough to see the preview of the next release of justjohanna's stamps and they're wonderfully whimsical, punny, and fun! I can't wait for them to be out!

Here's a sneak peek at two of them!

If you want to be notified about the new release, go here, and sign up for the newsletter!

You also might take a look at the other dt members' blogs because they might be "sneak peeking" too! There's a list of them on the right hand side. ----->

I sure am easily amused.

Picture me if you will, at my table, surrounded by a huge mess of stamps, inks, papers, adhesives, and assorted othere supplies chortling to myself with glee as I create these very punny cards, that will probably only amuse me.

I used one of my QuicKutz ShortKuts phrase dies which yielded three phrases: "Congrats", "Best Wishes", and "Good Luck". I decided to use all three phrases to create cards, but being me, had to change them around just a bit.

Here are two of them. "Best Fishes" uses the ever-so-cute Michelle fish from justjohanna stamps. "Good CLuck" uses QuicKutz' Funky Chicken die, which I just had to have.

I hope that the cards make you giggle just the tiniest bit. Or failing that, bring a very tiny smile to your face!

Paper Crafting Time Warp!

It seems that most papercrafting magazines (stamping & scrapping) work at least 6 months in advance.

So, here it is, we've just celebrated July 4th, it's 90+°, and the magazines are looking for stuff for Christmas, Valentine's Day, and St. Patrick's Day.

Therefore, I've been a busy little person and have been working on some projects for these magazines.

Here are a card/tag/bag set and two cards that I've submitted recently. If they get picked up (fingers crossed everyone!), I'll have to pull 'em down. But, I figure I've been such a woefully horrendous blogger, I should just put 'em up for now and hope for the best.

This project kind of grew. I started with the card, but had some leftover stamped and colored Sylvies. So I created a "tweet bag" and a tag to go with the card. The stamps are mostly justjohanna. I used Sylvie left, Sylvie right,, "you're so tweet", and "Waltzing Matilda" alphabet for the "tweet bag". The patterned papers are Lily Kate from Basic Grey. The images were colored with Prismacolor markers. I used Purple Onion's "Happy Valentine's Day" and a QuicKutz rub-on on these too.

"Purrfect" uses justjohanna's Intertwined Kitties, which is one of my favorites! I used Basic Grey's Blush papers for this card with a QK scalloped frame, an old punch, and some other stuff. I computer generated the sentiment.

The St. Patrick's Day card features the justjohanna rolling hills stamp. I chalked the cloudy/blue sky and the rainbow and then printed the Irish prayer over it.

I'm a bad, bad blogger.

I'm a bad, bad blogger and really have no excuse. I have been busily making cards and suchlike, I just haven't gotten around to scanning anything.

I have been taking photos of the cats and the kid, but haven't printed a photo in ages.

Apparently my follow-through is rather poor.

***
Tomorrow is Flash & Duchess'* 8th Birthday. Their birthday present is a can of Chicken of the Sea tuna.

In honor of their special day, I will post cat layouts. Big whoop I know. And yes, the cats have their own album and yes, they've both been published. Pretty much every one if my family has been in one of my paltry amount of published layouts. Except me.

Anyways, "Tennis anyone?" features Flash. He's a handsome fellow and very photogenic. He also is the most dog-like cat I've ever met. He's a ginormous wimp and is afraid of thunderstorms. He also has lately become a murderer, having caught and killed several mice.

"Basketcase" features Duchess who is a very beautiful, albeit odd-looking cat. Her mom (and Flash's mom) was a Cleo, a tiny tabby, who went into first heat, escaped, and had herself some fun. We don't know who her dad was and Cleo's owners wouldn't go door to door to find him. Spoilsports. Anyways, we think her dad was a ragdoll. She's got tabby markings, but is a longhair and has the fur and demeanor of a ragdoll. She's a very serious cat and is our alpha cat. She is also known as "Mouselicker" because she captures mice, holds them by their tails, and licks them. She's got loads of personality and is a very sweet and beautiful girl. I think that Priscilla looks like Duchess. What do you think?

Wowza. I can ramble, no?

Bet that was way more than you wanted to know about my kitties.

*Grammar question and I'm too lazy to look it up in Strunk & White. Where does the apostrophe go? Should there be one after Flash too?