A twofer! Technique Thursday Challenge & A Sneak Peek!

Here's another sneak peek of the new releases from justjohanna stamps. I just love that pumpkin and the little Desmond Squeaker Birds. The big Desmond Squeaker Birds are pretty cute too.

This 4x4 card has a button, so it qualifies for the button challenge at the Technique Thursday Challenge, though I think I was supposed to use buttonS, as in more than one. Oh well. I have quite the stash of buttons and just got a bag of Foofala buttons as a birthday gift, so I'd better start using more than one per project or I'll have tons of buttons to pass down to my future great grand-children.

I used my Prismacolor pencils to color the images and Distress Ink to edge the card and the sentiment. The paper was a gift from a secret pal. I finally remembered that I had it, so I used it. Yahoo! I so love using my stash!

I'm so happy. More Prismacolors will be coming to live with me since I won an ebay auction thanks to one of my good friends who isn't scared of the 'bay (like me). Even better is that it's being financed with "found money". My friend bought a motherlode of dd's old American Girl doll clothes, furniture, and accessories. I'm splitting the proceeds with the teenager, since it was her stuff. But I'm the one who braved the wilds of the teenage wasteland (her room), cleaned it, and moved all the AG detritus into the closet in the spare bedroom.

End of today's ramble.

Thanks for visiting.

Wednesday Stamper

"Fish" was the theme for Wednesday Stamper and I'm getting this posted just in the nick of time. :D

I did complete it last week and even scanned it, but hadn't done anything to the file since then... So, I sort of procrastinated, but not really.

Anyways, all stamps are justjohanna's and include Priscilla le Chef and Michelle. I used the Sizzix diary die and broke into my stash of rub-ons. I'm not real good at getting them straight, but I've decided that added to the charm. I also used old, but beloved KI patterned paper, from my scraps file. Yay!

Then I amused myself further by adding Glossy Accents to the eyeballs of the fish and the cat.

Thanks for visiting today!

Another sneak peek!

Here's another sneak peek of three of the new justjohanna stamps that will be coming out real soon.

When I saw the cobweb image, I thought that it would work really well with the window that I made in AppleWorks Drawing Module. This time, I decided that I'd change the point of view from inside-looking-out to outside-looking-in.

So, I printed out another window, cut out the panes with my exacto (I really need exacto 101), put the cobweb onto a transparency, which I placed into the corners of two panes. I also put transparency behind the other two panes.

Then I thought to myself, well that window needs a cat! So, I colored Devilish Priscilla, cut her out, and stuck her in the window too! Then I realized that I needed window treatments, so I created a shade from dotted vellum, and adhered a piece of peach cardstock behind it all.

I had a piece of Cosmo Cricket that reminded me of a wood shingles, so I decided to mount the window onto that.

Being me, I realized that my cutting lines were visible, so I got out my white acrylic paint, and sloppily painted the wood "window frame" and intentionally got some paint onto the transparency.

I added the sentiment, which I think is totally hilarious and fits the state of my house! Now I need to ask Johanna to create a stamp about my catfur tumbleweeds.

Thanks for visiting!

A design principle that makes me happy.

When designing a card, tag, or scrapbook layout, I try to follow a few basic design principles. One of my favorite principles is "grounding", which does NOT refer what I do to the teenager when she misbehaves!

In design, grounding refers to placing an image so that it does not appear to be floating about the project.

I recently started doing something that really resonates with me. Perhaps it's my control-freak Virgo nature, but grounding a stamped image inside a letter just makes me really, really happy.

Anyways, both of these cards feature justjohanna stamps from the summer '07 release. I live in hope that Graduating Al will get a lot of use from me next June as my dd and her friends graduate. The paper is from Reminisce and is shimmery irl.

I think that Sleeper is the most peaceful and sweet looking bird ever. IMHO he looks wonderful inside the "C" in Peace. I do believe that I'll be re-creating that card for some of my holiday cards. My dh brought home the parchment-looking paper, which is very lightweight and is made for inkjets. It takes stamping really well and also makes chalked images look shimmery. It's very cool. I'm glad I stole it from him. *giggle* Anyways, the patterned paper is very old holiday paper from Daisy D. I'm glad I hoarded a stash of it because I still really, really love it.

Well, enough rambling for today. Try grounding some images in some letters. Maybe it'll make your inner Virgo smile too.

Thanks for visiting!

Sneak Peek! Yahoo!

Johanna, of justjohanna stamps, has been one busy lady and has a new release coming out in time for the holidays, including my most favoritest holiday -- Halloween! I just love driving around town sporting my chattering skull pin, my skeleton earrings, my devil ear headband, and my mummy shirt. Then I get to see all the adorable ghosts and goblins when they come to my door Trick or Treating!

Anyways, here are two sneak peeks.

Don't you love Belle as a witch? I know I do. But I love the sentiment, "Wicked is all about attitude" even more! I can see me using it for cards for all occasions, plus scrapbook layouts about the teenager and her familiar, our diva cat, Duchess! BTW, Duchess is now famous as she's in layout (by yours truly) featured in Cat Fancy magazine. *yippee*

I totally love Devilish Priscilla. I hope you can see her stylin' skull necklace. Both Priscilla and the background were chalked. I tried to make the background look a bit "hot".

Come visit next week when I'll have some more favorites from the new release coming up soon.

Meanwhile, thanks for visiting today!

4x4 Friday!

Here's my card for the Flourish theme at 4x4 Friday!

I diecut a large leaf from white core cardstock, ran it through the swirls Cuttlebug folder, sanded the embossed swirls, inked the leaf with several colors of Distress Ink, spritzed it with water, ironed it, sanded the edges, and finally inked the edges of the leaf with Copper Brilliance ink.

I stamped the Scenic Route Harlequin paper with Michelle's Big Scroll using Copper Brilliance. It's kind of subtle, but adds a bit of depth to the patterned paper.

I added a tag that features one of the new releases by justjohanna that will be available soon. I overstamped a harlequin pattern, then added ribbon, a charm, and metallic copper thread.

Thanks for visiting today!

Mixed themes!

Here are more cards using stamps by justjohanna, a variety of colorants, and patterned paper. Don't you love my bad pun on the invitation?

The owls are all from the latest release, under "new". The mini skull/crossbones is ever-so-trendy and perfect for milestone birthdays and edgy teenagers.

Thanks for visiting today!