Bombshell Stamps Hump Day Hop!

Alison, our very lovely and very talented Blog Hop Captain, set this month's theme which is "Leap into Action!"

Here's what she had to say about the theme!

It's February! And, it's a leap year! What's more, is our Hump Day Hop happens to fall on February 29th, so of course I just had to challenge us to do something with the word "leap" in it! So what's the challenge? "Leap into Action!" What's it mean? I want you to make your Bombshells heroes.

I asked my daughter about female super heroes. She named a bunch I had never heard of so I dated myself by going "old school" and morphed this cowgirl (see below)...


...into Wonder Woman!


She's ready for her close-up:


You're asking, "How did she do that?"

Well, here goes (in my usual excruciatingly boring detail). I first stamped and embossed Sheriff Pin-up from the Retro Cowgirls set with VersaFine so I could get a detailed impression. I heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I scanned it, imported it to PhotoElements, and erased her stetson, bandana, boots, and gloves. I kept the lasso because Wonder Woman used a golden lasso! I printed it out and added elements of Wonder Woman's costume. Then I colored it up with Copic markers. (I kind of messed up the gold reflections. Oh well!) A Spica glitter pen was used to add blue eyeshadow and a "W" to her head piece.

I had patterned papers from Bo-Bunny all picked out but then I said to myself, "Self, you received some fabulous stencils from the Crafter's Workshop for your birthday and/or the holidays, why not use Punchinella and Sunburst?" So I grabbed the Sunburst stencil, taped it to parchment print cardstock, and airbrushed it. I wasn't totally thrilled, so sponged some Distress ink too.

I removed the stencil and sprayed the whole deal with a Mini-Mister filled with Copic Blending Fluid. I know I'm not supposed to do that, but I'm sick anyways with the sinus infection from Hades, so I figured what the heck? It still wasn't singing to me, so I sprayed some Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist and that was good. *Grin*

I took the Punchinella stencil, taped it down to a piece of the same parchment paper, put some fun foam underneath it, an embossing plate over it, and ran it through my Big Kick to add texture. I kept the stencil in place and sponged some Brick Red and the Seasonalredberry Distress inks over the stencil.

All edges were distressed with my trusty Tonic distressertoolthingy, edged with Distress ink, and edged again with Krylon gold leafing pen.

The sentiment was created with sparkly glittery stickers because I did not have a freaking stamp that said anything about "wonder" or "wonderful" with birthdays or otherwise. I could NOT freaking believe that. Really? Really.

I finished the card with sparkly star stickers from Stampendous. And now I'm done with my explanation of my so-called creative process. Ta-Da!!! (I used bold face to wake you up!)


I should have been your last stop on the blog hop, but here's the list in case you missed a stop!!!
Bombshell Blog:
Alison
Alex
Laura
Kelli
Glittery Katie
Alaine
Kickisen
Kim

Thanks friend!

While I was coloring the second "Madame Cat" card, I realized that I was not happy with the total pinkness of R81, so I made my own "less than R81" pink Copic marker by mixing one squeeze of R81 refill with a few pipettes full of Copic blending fluid.

The result is a paler pink which I used to color the dress of this super-sweet little girl from the same Cats unmounted sheet by The Enchanted Gallery.



I used E40 & R0000 for her skin; YR30, Y23, and & 26 for her hair; R81 & "less than R81" for her dress, and C1, C0, C00 for the kitten.

The patterned paper is from the Urban Prairie 6x6 pad by Basic Grey. The scalloped ovals and the bottom layer (with the paper lace trim) was popped up on dimensional adhesive. The pearls and button were airbrushed with R83 and the Copic airbrush system.

The edges of the patterned paper and the little sentiment-bearing tag (Mixed Messages by Paper Trey) were distressed to add a shabby feel to the card. Last of all, the card is a small one, measuring 3.5" x 5". Fun size!!!

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall be entering this card in the following challenges:
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge -- Layers of paper
• Outlawz Greeting Mondays: Pearls & Lace

Encore -- Madame Chat

Madame Chat had an relaxing weekend at her home on La Cote d'Azur and is heading back north to her pied a terre in Paris.

After several spa treatments, she's feeling much better!

Here she is back at the train station in Paris:



Here's a close up!


Madame, from the Cats sheet by The Enchanted Gallery, was colored with Copic markers. Since she was more relaxed, I used cool greys for her fur (a la Russian Blue breed) and gave her a new coat, hat, and fur stole.

All layers of the patterned paper are from a Madison Avenue Lost & Found 6x6 pad by My Mind's Eye. The color scheme was perfect, there were sheets with words en français, and there even was a sheet with Le Tour Eiffel!

An Alterations die was used to create the banner. The sentiment was added with brown Doodlebug rub-ons. Both the sentiment and the focal image were popped up with dimensional foam adhesive squares. Distress inks were used to add a vintage touch and brown pearls were added to complete the card!

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card in the following challenges.
• The Outlawz Copic/Promarker Fridays "Anything Goes" challenge
• Simon Says Stamp and Show "New York, London, or Paris" challenge (I'll take Paris!)
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge -- Layers of paper

The Traveling Cat

It's my last "official" card for my Outlawz Copic/Promarker Fridays Guest Design gig. I sure had fun playing along and am still gobsmacked and chuffed that they asked me!



Sometimes it's fun to make up back stories for my cards. I've decided that the Traveling Cat image from the Cats sheet by The Enchanted Gallery is leaving Paris after a torrid rendez-vous with Puss in Boots and this is their sad au revoir at Le Gare D'Austerlitz.

Anyways, she was colored with Copic markers. I used the "dirty rag" technique on her fur stole. The patterned papers are from the Boxer 6x6 pad and the Curtain Call 8x8 pad by Graphic 45. The sentiment is from the Tiny Wise Words set by Rubber Soul, which is a fabulous set of wonderful little sentiments that used to be a rub-on sheet too!

I'm not totally thrilled with this one, but done is done and done is good. I plan on making a lighter colored version using Madame Le Chat soon.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card in the following challenges.
• The Outlawz Copic/Promarker Fridays "Anything Goes" challenge
• Simon Says Stamp and Show "New York, London, or Paris" challenge (I'll take Paris!)
• iCopic Lovers Weekly Challenge #70 -- Animals

Argh.

I was just editing my "Talented People" link list and inadvertently deleted the entire thing. *sigh*

Karma's Helper

Here's some music to listen to as you read this entry!



When I saw this stamp, Drucilla by Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps, I giggled like a maniac. I asked around to see if any of my friends had it and could stamp a few images for me. The lovely and talented Cheryl stepped up. If you don't know her work, check out her blog (linked),then come back, and thank me!

Things have been a bit chaotic lately and I've been experiencing a fair amount of schadenfreude, so I decided it was time to color Drucilla and put her on a card. While I was coloring, I was singing Bad Karma by the late and great Warren Zevon.

I figured why not enter a Kraftin' Kimmie challenge? Voila, like magic, a sketch challenge appeared.

Here's the sketch:


Here's my take on the sketch, though I did flip it a bit and fudged some sizes, but after all, sketches are for inspiration, no?


Drucilla was colored with Copic markers. It's not my best, but it doesn't suck. Plus, I don't have many images, so I'll clearly need to purchase this stamp. All the patterned papers are from Cosmo Cricket and are fairly old. Gotta love using up stash!

I was playing around with sentiment ideas when "Karma's helper" came to my mind, so I used glitter stickers to spell it out. Then the card still needed something, so I die cut a ribbon slider heart, added ribbon, and three pins. Now whoever I send this to will have the tools for the job, though I suppose I'll have to craft a Voodoo doll for them too!

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card in the following challenges:
• Kraftin' Kimmie Challenges
• Outlawz Copic/Promarker Friday "Inspired by books, movies, and songs" challenge. though the card actually inspired the song in my head.

My first award!

The sweet and talented Alison gave me a Liebster award. Thanks sweetie!



These awards give small bloggers with less than 200 followers some well deserved recognition for their creations. Here are the rules:
* Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
* Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
* Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
* Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed.
* Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

Here are my five, in no particular order…
Glittery Katie
Alaine
Susan
Sandra
Jodi

Mardi Gras Fish

Yep. I changed 'em again.

It's Friday! Do you feel inspired?

This Friday's challenge over at the Copic/Promarker Challenge at the Outlawz is to create a project that is inspired by a book, movie, or song.

I love challenges like that since I find inspiration everywhere! When I was a child, my parents took me to see Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun on Broadway. She was flat out amazing! About a month ago, I was idly flipping through the channels, found the movie version, and watched the whole thing. It was fabulous! The old MGM musicals are so delightfully old-fashioned and hokey!

When I found out about this week's challenge, I decided to make a card inspired by the movie. It's also inspired by some of the songs in the musical, such as "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" and "There's no Business Like Show Business".

Here's a poster for the movie!


Here my take on it, though mine's a bit more risqué!


I used Bombshell's Retro Cowgirl set for "Annie" and for the gun. :D Annie was stamped with Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. I opted to color her outfit with BG to comply with a challenge over at the iCopic Lover Blog, plus I really wanted to use my brand new BG 57!

The gun/"Bang" sign was stamped with VersaFine and heat set with clear embossing powder since I wanted it to have a bit more dimension. I colored both the gun and the sign with my Copics, then added a tad bit of turquoise Spica to the sign and the sign's tassels.

After both the Cowgirl and the gun/sign were colored to my liking, I used Pumice Stone Distress ink to age 'em.

The filmstrip was an experiment that actually worked! Woo-hoo! Gotta love that! Anyway, I cut an inkjet transparency to size, used my Bind-It-All to cut the the sprocket holes on either side, then used a Spellbinders die to cut the apertures (my new word for the month). Then I airbrushed the "film strip" with C10 and E18 Copic markers.

The patterned papers (film can and tickets) are from the Curtain Call 8x8 pad by Graphic 45. The ticket paper was particularly wonderful since all of the words on the tickets relate to both the theatre and musical version of Annie Get Your Gun! The edges of all the patterned papers were distressed to add to the vintage look.

I wanted to add a metallic accent, so I searched through my stash and found some old gold stars. I hammered the daylights out of 'em with my Tonic/Tim Holtz Distress Hammer (which finally got destinkified), then put them in a baggie with some Stream and Black Alcohol inks. I would have used matchy-matchy Copic refills, but I don't have those colors.

Once again, I've droned on and on. Sorry about that.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card in the following challenges:
• Outlawz Copic/Promarker Friday "Inspired by books, movies, and songs" challenge.
• Simon Says Stamp & Show "Anything Goes" Challenge
• iCopic Lover Weekly Challenge #69: BG markers

Third Coast Rubber Stamps is back!

Third Coast had a huge recurring computer virus that created major havoc last fall. The good news is that they're back and will be releasing new stamps, including Steampunk images, really soon!

This card was submitted to Rubber Stamp Madness, but alas, didn't make the cut. Too bad, so sad! But at least that means that I can share it with you!



Danica (VB-138-L), found on page 15 of the Spring '07 Catalog, was colored with Copic markers. Patterned cardstock from Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante 8x8 pad was used, together with a mess of gears that I found at Michael's. There's also a watch buckle and a tiny gear on her top hat!

Thanks for visiting today!

Happy Valentine's Day again!

I warned you all that I would be back with another "Love is in the air" card, didn't I?

Well here it is!



This time I pulled out the fabulous Victoria Case/Susana's Custom Art City Skyline stamp that I treated myself to last fall.

When I saw it, I immediately thought it would be very cool to add hearts, clovers, snowflakes, and Christmas trees to the facade of one of the buildings, so I did just that!

First I stamped the image onto dotted Basic Grey White Basics cardstock. Then I punched a heart, adhered the punched heart where I wanted it with temporary adhesive. I then placed the piece of cardstock containing the negative (heart-shaped hole) over the heart, lifted the heart out of the aperture, and then sponging ink through the aperture.

Then I lifted it up and colored the skyline with Copic markers. I masked the cityscape and then airbrushed the cloudy sky by using a torn piece of cardstock and the airbrush system. Airbrushing against the torn edge creates a cloudy pattern. (This technique also works with ink and chalk. Plus you can use it to create a underwater scene.)

I was feeling whimsical, so I pulled out the In the Clouds set by Taylored Expressions that my husband had gotten for me as a holiday gift. I've always loved blimps, so I was thrilled that he got this stamp set and the matching dies that go with it! Good man, he is!

I stamped the small heart blimp with the same Memento ink I used to sponge the heart, then die cut it, and adhered it to the sky with dimensional adhesives.

Since I do not have a "Love is in the Air" stamp (though I should, but haven't found one.), I used my trusty Dymo labeler to add the sentiment.

Thanks for visiting today.

I shall enter this card in the following challenges:
• Copic/Promarker Challenge at the Outlawz
• Simon Says Stamp Love is in the Air Challenge

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a second "Love's in the Air" card similar to the other one, but different too. And yes, there will be a third one since that's one of my favorite sentiments for Valentine's Day! Plus, it goes so well with stamps of flying things like birds, fairies, hearts, planes, blimps, dragons, and balloons.

Enough prattle from me. Here it is!


This one used Bombshell's All My Heart set, which was colored with Copic markers. Then since I liked the previous card's combination, I did it again. The rub-on sentiment was added to a banner from Bombshell's Banner Sayings set! The patterned cardstock is reversable Bo-Bubunny dots.

I'm editing because I forgot that I added glittery stuff to the wings.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card in the following challenges:
• Copic/Promarker Challenge at the Outlawz
• Simon Says Stamp Love is in the Air Challenge
• "Lurve" Challenge at Bombshell Stamps forum!

My kitty is bigger!

Yay.

Love is in the air!

This Friday's challenge over at the Copic/Promarker Challenge at the Outlawz is love-themed, "Valentine’s/ Friendship/Anniversary".

Here's my card, using the Lil' Angel with Banner stamp from the Bombshell Angel set!



Repositionable Scotch Tape was used to mask the banner before inking it the stamp. The tape was peeled off and the image was stamped and colored with Copic markers. It was then masked again and the background was airbrushed over a cloud stencil.

The sentiment uses one of the banners from Bombshell's Banner Sayings set with rub-ons! The patterned cardstock is reversable Bo-Bubunny dots.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card in the following challenges:
• Copic/Promarker Challenge at the Outlawz
• Simon Says Stamp Love is in the Air Challenge
• iCopic Challenge #68: Hearts (The arrow is a heart!)

Bombshell Sketch Challenge

As you know, I create the monthly sketches for Bombshell Stamps that are featured on both Bombshell's forum and blog. Feel free to use the sketch to create a Bombshell card of your own. If you share it with us at the blog and/or forum, you might win your choice of one free set from Bombshell Stamps!

This is February's sketch:


Here's my take on the sketch. The card also complies with the purple, green, and gold challenge on Outlaw's Friday Copic Marker Challenges.



Here's a close-up so you can see the rub-on caption:

Removable Scotch Tape was used to cover the skull from the martini glass containing the Party Pin-up from the Man's Ruin set. The stamp was inked, the tape was lifted, then stamped twice, and colored with Copic markers.

The head, torso, arm, and parts of both legs were cut out from one of the colored stamped image.

The other image became the base of the stamped card and includes the martini glass and Party Pin-up's posterior portion and parts of her legs. This was coated with several layers of clear embossing powder and one layer of Polysparkle embossing powder.

The cut-out portion of the Party Pin-up was adhered over the embossed image and green Stickles were added to the top of the glass.

The patterned papers are from the Once Upon a Time pad by Deja Vu. Gold metallic, purple, and green cardstock were used to add layers and metallic border stickers were added as well. Green Doodlebug rub-ons spell out the caption "Let the good times roll!" to the top of the card. The sentiment stamp is from the late, lamented Odd Bird Planet.

Thanks for visiting today!

Outlawz Guest DT Gig!

Woo-hoo! I was surprised and delighted to be asked to be a guest designer for the Friday Copic/Promarker Group at The Outlawz for the month of February.

Our first challenge was a color challenge! We were to use purple, green, and gold for Mardi Gras.

Here's my card!




I used ching-chou kuik's Masked Fairy in Green by Sweet Pea Stamps. She was colored with Copic markers. Gold and purple glitter pens were used to highlight her mask and her wings and a Sakura Glaze pen was used to add dimension and shine to her jewels and the wand's handle.

I die cut a Fleur De Lys Rectangle from Basic Grey paper. While it was still in the die, a Harlequin stencil from The Crafter's Workshop was put over the die. The seasonal purple Distress Ink was sponged over both the die and the stencil, then spritzed with Gold Perfect Mist.

The patterned papers are from Basic Grey's Kioshi 6x6 pad and 12x12 Origins paper (green).

The sentiment is from Fairy Fantasy Unmounted Sheet by The Enchanted Gallery and was stamped onto one of my beloved Spellbinders labels.

Little golden pearls by Recollections were used to add some regal touches to the upper left corner, the corners of the frame, and the sentiment. I wish they still made those since they are way nifty. :(

Thanks for visiting today!