Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge #12 --- My Sketch!

I haven't been a very good blogger lately; no post for over a week! Shame on me! But I hope I make it up with today's post.

Sunday Sketch and Stamp is on Sketch #12 already! This week the sketch is mine --- whoo hoo --- I went a little Christmasy and a lot sparkly. Below is the sketch and though it looks very Christmasy you can adapt it to fit whatever occasion you wish!

Now, here is my card:

.... and a close-up:


I started with a blank white card base and covered the front with a bright gold moire metallic paper. The white tag is cut from glitter paper --- very snowy! The tree is from the Tree and Poinsettia stamp set at Impression Obsession, as it the poinsettia on top of the tree. I colored the tree with Copics then coated it with Pine Shimmerz. With diamond Stickles I followed the lines of the stamp on the tree, then added white glitter snowflakes die cuts and red rhinestones. The poinsettias in the lower corners are from Prima and are gorgeous. I made the bow with wired ribbon (I love gingham at Christmas) and set it on a bed of pine boughs made with the MS punch. A few more sparkles and some Joy, and there you have it!
I apologize for the yellowish color and blur in the photos. I guess all the glitz and glimmer was just too much to focus on! But I hope you get the idea and enjoy the card, nonetheless.
Now, off you go to Sunday Sketch and Stamp! You won't want to miss the other designers' cards and some big announcements!
Thank you for stopping by! Here's wishing you a wonderful week!
Barb
In God We Trust

Friday, September 18, 2009

Whiff of Joy Challenge #48 - Heather's Sketch

This week's Whiff of Joy Challenge is a fabulous sketch by Heather. Her sketches are always so interesting and fun! I've been coloring a lot of images from new Fall Stamp Kit! I love 'em so much! So, you might have seen "Willow sitting with a loaf of bread" in my last post; she is one of my favorites.

Here's my card, again in keeping with the autumn season. This DP has more rose color, but I couldn't get very good lighting for the photo tonight.

All the edges are distressed then touched with walnut alcohol inks. When I do Heather's sketches I like to add lots of textures and colors.

Materials:
Copics: Skin E000, E02; Hair E41, E53; Blouse YR0000, YR00; Apron YG03; Jeans YR21, YR24; Straw Y21, E33; Towel B000, B34.
Paper: K & Company
Flowers: Prima from Michaels
Brads: Autumn collection from Oriental Trading
Twine

And here is Heather's sketch! I just hope I did it justice.
Thanks for stopping by! Please feel free to leave your comments. It's nice to know you were here. Oh, and don't forget to hop over to the Whiff of Joy Challenge #48. You've just gotta see the design teams' projects! Be sure to add your own, too!
The WOJ Guest Designer Call is coming to an end in just a few hours. I think I'll add this one, too.
Barb
In God We Trust

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Whiff of Joy Guest Designer Call!!

Here's a very exciting opportunity! Whiff of Joy is having a Guest Designer call! As an avid fan of these remarkable stamps it would be such a thrill to be part of the incredible team that turns the images into works of art.

Ever since I received the new fall kit I have been coloring like crazy. So, rather than try to choose just one image for a card, I chose three. Thus, three cards. I have used all the images so far and just can't pick a favorite!

Here is the first card featuring "Willow with Grapes" and the "Fall Corner" (I guess that makes four images). I love the vintage harvest feel of this stamp and like to draw color from the grapes.


Materials:
Copics: Skin E000; Hair E31, E33; Dress G00; Apron E33; Grapes and Leaves BV08, R59, B32, YG25, YG67
Papers: Vintage prints from stash
Flowers: Primas with ivory roses.
Embellies: Gold self-stick pearls and pewter sentiment.

-----------------------------------
The second card features "Willow Seated with Bread". I found the background paper with such full rich autumn colors and everything just came together.


Materials:
Copics: Skin E000, Hair E77, YR24; Blouse E07; Apron YR24; Pants YG95; Linen B0000; Bread - a variety till I found what worked!
Flower and leaf: from a fall bunch from Michaels, but I added the metal flower center for sparkle.
Papers from my autumn stash
Sentiment is embossed in white
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Card #3 is for a little boy I know who is having a birthday. The stamp is "Sitting Farmer Oakley" who is so cute! Oakley is sitting on an actual pocket. Quite some time ago I bought a bunch of these pockets on sale, knowing they would come in handy some day. Well, that day has finally arrived. The pocket has a velcro seal at the top so little gifts can be safely hidden inside. I inserted a little card here.



Materials:
Copics: Skin E000, E02; Hair E08; Hat E37, E41, YR24; Shirt B99, B45; Overalls E07, E11, E33
Papers: 7 Gypsies

So, these are my entries for the Guest Designer Call. I hope they stand up to the fantastic entries already submitted. If you know me, you know I love Whiff of Joy and I would be so honored to be in the company of such creative people. So, please wish me luck!!

If you love WOJ and want to be a part of their team for the next few months, pop on over to Katarina's blog for the details and enter your cards and projects!

Thanks for stopping by!

Barb

In God We Trust

Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge #11

What an awesome two weeks this has been over at Sunday Sketch and Stamp!! The response to our challenge #10 was phenomenal; broke all records! And what fantastic cards and projects! Thank you everyone who participated and you will want to join us for Challenge #11, too.

The sketch this week was provided by our lovely Arianne and sponsored by Pink Petticoat Digital Stamps. We all used one of the fun and fanciful images from Pink Petticoat. You just have to smile when you see these images!


I've been doing several cards with autumn colors and this wasn't any different. I love working with the rich colors. I used Cuttlebug die cut leaves and Nestibilities deckle rectangle die for the green background for the image.

I colored her with my Copics: Hair E08; Skin E000; Dress YR65, YG25. A few self-stick rhinestones for bling and she is ready to rock! She's so cute!

Now that you've seen mine, pop over to the Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge blog for details of this new challenge as well as winners of challenge #10. Don't forget to look at the other designers' projects -- they are awesome!

Thanks for stopping by!

Barb

In God We Trust

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Inky Impressions Challenge #14 - Pink and Brown, and MORE!

There is a LOT going on this week over at Inky Impressions! First is their challenge #14, which this card is for. No particular sketch this week but a color combination: pink and brown.

One of my scrapbook papers-of-old is this pretty brown and pink stripe with little blossoms and a distressed look. So, I added more distressing of my own along the edges. The paper flowers complement her skirt and the DP.

The image is colored with Copics: Hair E31, E33, E37; Skin E000; Skirt E77, RV04; Sweater and tights RV0000; bunny C01, C03. I always enjoy coloring this image.
Now, for the other big thing going on over at Inky Impressions: NEW RELEASES!! Not only is there a very fun blog hop going on but also lots of drawings! Ya just gotta see 'm. Oh, and the new stamps are available, too. I've ordered mine!
Thanks for stopping by!
Barb
In God We Trust

Friday, September 11, 2009

Whiff of Joy Challenge #47 --- Teal and Orange

The Whiff of Joy Challenge this week isn't a sketch, but a gorgeous color combination: teal and orange! This card came together quickly and was so much fun!

I have quite a stash of scrapbook papers from days gone by and this teal stripe nearly jumped off the shelf! Then came a couple of simple orange paper scraps and one of my favorite novelty ribbons. After that the images just took center stage and entered the spotlight.

Willow is colored with Copics: Hair E33 and E49; Skin E000; Dress BG13 and BG18, YR 21 and YR04.

I had colored the orange tree a while back so I don't have the list of colors. I added a few crystals for dew drops.
Thank you for stopping by. Please pop over to the WOJ Challenge blog. The Design Team's cards are amazing - ya just gotta see 'em!
Barb
In God We Trust

House Mouse Challenge #51 --- Song Lyrics

Last week when Carolyn and I were talking about our favorite country singers Trace Adkins came to mind first. So when I saw the House Mouse Challenge for this week I just laughed out loud knowing exactly whose song I would illustrate on a card, just not which one. I cranked up the ol' ipod to all things Trace and when "One Hot Mama" came on I immediately thought of this image. It's the same stamp I used for my Mother's Day card to Mom, who is a pretty hot Mama, by the way.



This hot Mama is colored with Prismacolors and glitzed with Stickles: Waterfall for the beads; Silver for the purse; Candy Cane for the shoes. Here's the rest of the materials"
Lettering: Cricut
Die cuts: Nestibilities on my Cuttlebug
Embossing: Cuttlebug Victorian folder on metallic paper
Flowers: Silk flower bunch from Walmart with black brads
Crystals: from my stash (meaning the label was missing)
Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to pop over to the House Mouse Challenge blog to see the Design Team's gorgeous cards. Why not enter one yourself? Got a song in your head?
Barb
In God We Trust

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Inky Impressions #13 --- Birthday! And Candy!!

This is the second post tonight (please scroll down to see the Whiff of Joy card). This post is for the Inky Impressions Challenge #13. Birthday is the theme because September is the birthday month for Inky's mama Nicole! Happy Birthday, Nicole! She also has some scrumptious birthday candy, too! You've just got to check this out!

And here is my card for Nicole:

Since September is the sapphire month I chose to use primarily blue with some sparkle. The white card stock is shimmery white and for the center piece I ran it through the Cuttlebug with the dotted swiss folder. The blue paper is embossed using the Cuttlebug Birthday embossing folder.

As for the lovely Lili, she is serving up a yummy birthday cake, just for Mama Nicole. I colored Lili with Copics. Her hair is Y21, YR24; skin is E000; jeans are B54 with silver Stickles; sweater is RV 91 with more silver Stickles. The cake is YR0000, YR00, B0000, B29, B32 and silver Stickles.

I like the idea of having a birthday month. Since mine is October I'd better get the memo out to my hubby right away!!

Thanks for stopping by! More importantly, pop over to Inky Impressions and with Nicole a Happy Birthday! And be sure to enter to win her amazing candy!

Barb

In God We Trust

Whiff of Joy Challenge #46 --- Bev's Sketch

This is the first of two posts tonight. I have two challenges that I want to showcase, even though new challenges will come out within hours. Gee, I dislike getting behind! I doesn't help that Blogger is running slow tonight!

Anyway, the first challenge is the Whiff of Joy using a beautiful sketch by Bev. I colored the new Fall Willow with a Baby Turkey using my indispensable Copics.

I'm in an Autumn kind of mood so I used rich fall colors for the image and the papers. The papers are from my scrap pile. I've been trying to use up a lot of perfectly good papers. The flowers were from a clearance sale at Michaels, but I dressed them up with shimmery blossoms from the bridal bunches.

Copic Colors for Willow's outfit are: Pants R39 with Candy Candy Stickles; Apron Y21; Blouse BV04. (I forgot to write down the hair colors, but I am pretty sure the skin is E000)

And here is Bev's lovely sketch.

Thank you for stopping by! I hope your week is going well and that you are finding lots of time for crafting!
Barb
In God We Trust

Monday, September 7, 2009

Lili's Prayer

Lili's Prayer from Inky Impressions is the perfect image for "get well" wishes, sympathy cards, and even encouragement blessings. She has appeared in a couple of my cards lately.

This card is of a color combination that I wouldn't normally use, but it does "pop"! If I was a red-head I would surely wear green and purple! Lili is beautiful in anything she wears!


Here are the details:
Colored with Copics: Skin E0000; Hair YR65, E08, YR21; Pants Vo9; Shirt V01; Vest YG17
Green Card Stock
Patterned paper from my scrap drawer.
Flowers: bunch of shimmery bridal bouquet from Michaels
Cross: Charm from Walmart craft dept
Stick on pearls
Scrap of purple ribbon
Thanks for stopping by! I hope everyone in the US is enjoying a lovely Labor Day! To you all, have a grand week!
Barb
In God We Trust

Friday, September 4, 2009

WOJ Wedding Carriage

Just a quick post tonight to show this simple (well it looks simple) wedding card. It really was pretty simple to make, once I got the gorgeous Flower Soft in place. It's the first time I've used it and it looks so pretty. I will definitely use it again, just not so much at one time --- near the ceiling fan --- with a dog on my lap!


The Nestibilities are the best things in my tool box. To keep the focus on the bride and groom in the carriage I repeated the die cut on the inside for a personal message.

As I finish up all the photos I took at my brother's wedding my card-making time is limited, but there are many projects I want to get to. This was one of them, and it turned out so pretty!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend and be safe if you are traveling for the holiday.
Barb
In God We Trust

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

I'm a Guest Designer for Copic Colour Challenge This Week!!

I've been keeping a secret for a few weeks.... I get to be a Guest Designer for Copic Color Challenge this week! This is so exciting for me because, as many of you know, I LOVE Copics!! My creativity soared when I discovered them less than a year ago.


The colors for this week are.................
And here is my card with those gorgeous, rich fall colors and one of the new images from the Whiff of Joy Fall Stamp Kit. I can almost hear the rustling of falling leaves!




Stop by Copic Colour Challenge and see all the other beautiful creations using these colors. Then, give them a try yourself. Even if you don't have the exact colors, chose some close enough and you'll have a wonderful fall pallette.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a grand day!
Barb
In God We Trust

Inky Impressions Challenge #12

Inky Impressions is one of my favorite challenges, but I have missed the past couple of weeks. Here I am, down to the wire, but I have this sweet little card for the sketch. To make sure it is posted quickly I actually put it on the scanner rather than take a photo, but it doesn't look too bad.

The paper is from one of my favorite stacks, La Boutique by K&Company. I used sheer ribbon along the left side and blue velvet across the botton. The image is colored with Copics: Hair, Y11, Y21, Y25; Pants, B0000; Top, R00, R22. The flowers are Fancystix topped with cream colored bunches of roses.

Please visit Inky Impressions as they will be previewing new images soon. I can't wait!
Thanks for stopping by! I'm off to get this posted and eagerly wait for the new challenge coming out tomorrow!

Barb
In God We Trust