Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge #19 --- Clare's Sketch

Happy New Year, everyone!  Here we are with the first Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge of 2010!  Clare has a fabulous sketch for us to use this fortnight.  Before I reveal the sketch and my card, I just want to thank everyone for participating in our 2009 challenges.  We just started off a few months ago and, thanks to support from awesome crafters like you, we have grown rapidly and having a great time!  I hope you continue to join us in the coming year, because it just gets better and better!

Now, here is Clare's wonderful sketch:

And here is my take on her sketch.  The sketch was a lot of fun and definitely a keeper!

The image is from the Sophisticated Ladies collections at Rubbernecker Stamp Company.  I have several of these images and love them all.  She is colored with Copics.  I don't mention this as often as I should, but I have to tell you that I get fantastic results using the white cardstock from Papertrey Ink and stamp the images with Memento Tuxedo Black.  I don't have to set the ink with heat and there is no bleeding with the Copics.  The cardstock is smooth and very sturdy at 110 lbs. 

All of the designer paper is from the gorgeous new "Belle Cafe" stack from DCWV.  With a Parisian influence, right down to a beret-capped dachshund, it was a great choice to go with this sophistacated lady!

I'm looking forward to seeing all your creations in the coming weeks!  Please be sure to check out the awesome projects from our design team, and pay a visit to other participants, too!  You won't be disappointed!

Thanks for stopping by!

Barb

In God We Trust

Interrupting the Christmas Cards for a Sparkly Birthday Card

A very dear friend of mine is having a birthday tomorrow. Her favorite color is red --- imagine, red at Christmas time! Well, I just happened to be in a red-coloring mood and did this image, and a few others while I was at it.

The image is from the Sophisticated Ladies at Rubberneckers. That collection is so elegant! This lady is called "Pearl" which was my grandmother's name. I could so easily imagine her in this classy gown.

The image is colored with Copics and accented with rhinestone swirls, red stones, and Prima flowers. The edge is trimmed with Martha Stewart border punch.

Along with the card we are giving her a delicious, decadent red velvet cake topped with cream cheese frosting. Yummmmm!

Like much of the Midwest we are experiencing very cold weather. Fortunately we are far enough south that we didn't get any of that heavy snow. It was strange, though, that we had just a few flakes of snow flying around even when the sun was shining through the partly cloudy sky. To all of you in cold and snowy weather, I hope you are hope safe and keeping warm.

Take care on the roads and stay well. Thanks for stopping by!

Barb

In God We Trust

Sparkling and Bright --- and Sexy!

After a couple of days without internet (aarrggghhh!) and then playing catch-up, I am back on-line with a couple of cards I made while out of touch with the blogosphere. I found out that there really is life without internet, but it's no fun when I can't "see" my friends and share new creations!

I did get lots of images colored, including these glitzy glamorous Sophisticated Ladies from Rubbernecker.

The first card is very sparkly with Miss Crystal colored with Copics B00, B000 and B0000. Then I added lots of Stickles Silver and Diamond. The dp is some I've had for a couple of years and just love the ornaments and colors. It is from Paper Heart. The gorgeous glittery aqua ribbon is from Michael's. This is one of my favorite colors.

I used two Nestabilities dies to showcase this lovely lady. Label 1 is turned at an angle with Label 2, embossed with Cuttlebug ornaments folder, on top.










Miss Holly is colored with Copics R59, R39 and R100. The presents are colored with the same reds as well as Lionet Gold Y28. Stickles Silver adds the sparkle to her dress. I used the Nestabilities Mega Curved Rectangle die to frame this lovely. Then cut red and gold papers with the new Poinsettia Nestie, held together with a sparkly brad. The ribbon is also from Michael's. The lovely gold holly dp in the background is from the Christmas Cheer Stack by K&Company.



























Inside the card is a gold poinsettia using the Nesties. I am so glad I bought this set of Nesties! What would Christmas be without poinsettias?

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you come back soon! I have all those freshly colored images --- including some new ones! --- to put on cards!

Now, back to my blog hopping! There is so much creativity out there to drool over! Have a wonderful and safe weekend!

Forever Young Mother's Day Card

I've been out of town for a few days visiting my aunt and uncle and found them to be doing quite well! They are 87 and 88 years old, coming up on their 68th anniversary and living in their own home. We had a great time talking and going out to eat, a drive over to the Amana Colonies in Iowa, more talking, looking at pictures, drinking coffee, and did I mention talking! We always have a very good time together.

Now that I am back home I am catching up on all my favorite blogs. It's always so much fun to look at so much talent!

Before I left went out of town, I made this Mother's Day card for my step-son's fiance. She is young, a model and loves fashion. Not to mention a great mommy to their 2 year-old son! So when I saw this stamp called "Jasmine" from Rubbernecker Stamps I thought of her. Oh, to be young and skinny again! Wait, I never was skinny. Well, let's just say, "Forever Young"!

The card is actually made from some scraps (I never throw anything away!) and the light yellow card stock is embossed with Cuttlebug. The beautiful model is colored with Copics, and the flowers were stripped from a stem of silk flowers I bought at Walmart then attached with tiny brads. The leaves were stripped from the stem, too.

Penny-pinching tip: I bought stems of flowers in several colors at Walmart. They were a dollar each and I have dozens of little flowers and the leaves for accent. They stack smartly with other larger flowers or stand alone. In a previous card I showed these little flowers in white and dipped in glitter.

Well, on to looking at every one's new creations! Thanks for stopping by!

Lovin' Fashion!

More fashions? Yep! These fabulous fashion stamps from Rubbernecker are called "Sophisticated Ladies" and I love, love, love them! So here are a couple more cards with them, and there will be more in the future!! What do I do with all these? Well, I have given away a couple of them and the others will go in my shop where I hope customers will love them as much as I do.

The DP for this card is the fabulous new "Que Sera" by K & Co. The image is colored with water color pencils.

The card doesn't carry much in the way of embellishments, but I used Judi Kins Diamond Glaze on the butterfly, cut around the right wing and tucked the image plate under that wing.

I love this outfit! It billows with attitude! (Hee hee) So I water colored it to match one of my other favorite K & Company DP sets, cut some scrolls with Cuttlebug, rectangles with Nesties, and some square brads for bling. Sophistication and Sass!!

Recently the daily mail has brought me my first Anya stamps, my first Sarah Kay stamps, my first Papertrey Ink paper and stamps, my first Our Daily Bread Designs stamps, and, of course, the Whiff of Joy Spring kit. My mail carrier is a crafting buddy of mine and I know she is dying to see what I've been getting! I am having a blast!! There should be quite a variety of cards coming soon.

I am also still rebuilding my studio --- Whew! --- and will show my progress in there. I didn't know how much stuff I have!

The blog candy give-away is so much fun and I am meeting so many new crafters! If I could afford it I would do this more often!! Let's see, I do have a blogoversary coming, and a birthday, then maybe 10,000 hits..... hmmm. Stay tuned, everyone.

Thanks for stopping by!

More Fashion Ladies

When I found these wonderful stamps at Rubbernecker Stamp Company I knew I was going to have a ball coloring the beautiful outfits in so many fun colors! And I am! Sometimes I just color a bunch of images; other times I color them to match DP.

Both of these lovely ladies are attired in outfits made of watercolor. The bright orange and pink spring dress went beautifully with this fun 2-sided paper from Heidi Grace and embellished with plastic flowers that add a touch of neon to the card.

The lovely lady in blue is ready for a night on the town, surrounded by flowers from Fabric Fancies, against a background from S.E.I., and lots of sparkly rhinestones (shhh--- she thinks they are diamonds! ;-) ) Her dress and fur are highlighted with white Shimmerz. This is the first time I've used Shimmerz and I see more in my future!

I hope you enjoy these. Thanks for stopping by! Your comments are welcomed and appreciated!

A Change of Pace

As much as I love making greeting cards, I'm finding I love rubber stamping, too. I started making cards many years ago, but didn't use rubber stamps until my niece introduced me to Stampin' Up about five years ago. But even then I strayed from the stamps until recently. Since meeting so many wonderful artists online, I have also found stamps and images that just don't show up in your typical Michael's or Hobby Lobby. There's a degree of exclusivity here. I never would have found Whiff of Joy and the adorable Willow, Charlie, Oakley, Lizzie, and the others if not for going online. And that is just one of many stamp companies I have found.

Lately I've been showcasing Whiff of Joy, and there will be many more of those darlings to come. But tonight I'm showing Greta, one of the beautiful Sophisticated Ladies stamps from Rubbernecker. This is a birthday card for my future sis-in-law (I just hope she isn't checking my blog for the next couple of days). I colored this image with water color pencils. These are beautiful images and so much fun to color. I'll be posting more in the days and weeks to come, so I hope you come back to take a peek.

Paper: K & Company coordinated doubled-sided DP

Corner flourishes: Cuttlebug corner die

Flower and buttons: from my stash

Thank you for stopping by! Let me know you were here with a comment so I can go visit you!