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