You're Special

Hi there and happy Friday to you all.  Today I am going to share a fun technique using Tombow Dual Brush markers and stencils to create a fun watercolor background.

For this card, I started by taping a stencil onto a large piece of watercolor paper and then going over the entire stencil with embossing ink and then I removed the stencil and embossed it with black powder.   Next, I spritzed the paper with a fine mist of water and scribbled some pink, yellow and orange Tombow Dual Brush pens onto the paper and then rubbed the colors around with my finger.  If your paper has dried a bit, just give it another spritz and continue moving the color around.  

Next, I trimmed down the piece to the size that I wanted for my card and added a black and white mat.  I used Tombow Xtreme to hold the watercolor piece to the black cardstock and then some Tombow Foam Tabs to adhere the white panel to the orange embossed card.  

I stamped the sentiment with black ink onto a white scrap and popped it up with some foam tabs.  I added some die cut butterflies and sequins as a finishing touch.

Congratulations!

Hi there! 

I am back with the final card in my star series.

This card would be great for the graduate in your life.

I chose to use the colors of our local high school, but you could change it up to fit whatever school you needed it to be.  

I used the Hero Arts Stylish Stars die to cut the large star opening into some blue cardstock and then embossed it with a dots embossing folder.  Next, I used the Memory Box Starry Nights stencil and some Denim Adirondack ink on a white panel.  I cut the white panel a little smaller than the blue embossed panel and used some Tombow Xtreme Adhesive to adhere the panels together.  Tombow Xtreme is great for heavier items or textured papers as the hold is very, very strong. Have you tried it yet?  I added the star panels to a black layer and then to the white card base.  I created some banner flags in black, navy and white and the stamped the "congratulations" sentiment from the Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler set.  For a finishing touch, I added some Stardust pen to the stars and silver cording around the panels.

Poppy Tumbler

Hi there, this is ABC (anything but a card) week on the Tombow Blog so I decided to share this tumbler that I made with you.

When you get the tumbler, it comes with a template that you use to design your own insert.  

I traced the template onto the back of some Memory Box Gingham Check cardstock and cut it out.  Now this is where the fun begins.  I die cut several of the Memory Box Poppies from some orange dotted cardstock and then shaded each flower with the Tombow Dual Brush pen in Light Orange (#025).  The flowers were attached using Tombow Mono Aqua.  On the stems of the flowers, I just dabbed tiny dots of the Mono Aqua and it worked like a charm.  

I added some die cut clouds that were adhered with a little more Tombow Mono Aqua and the grass die cuts were attached using Tombow Mono Dots Adhesive.  

This is a quick and easy project and would be great fun to do with kids.  Just think how much fun they would have making the tumbler in their favorite colors/themes.

Sunshine Cheer

Happy Wednesday!   Today I am spotlighting the Sunshine Cheer set from Our Craft Lounge.  This set is very versatile and is sure to be a classic in your collection.

For my first card, I used the adorable cloud and heart rain drops images to create a quick card that would be good to send a loved one who is far away.  The heart rain was stamped on a scrap of distressed dot paper from Memory Box and layered onto a white scrap and then adhered to the red card using Tombow Mono Dots adhesive.  The cloud was stamped onto a scrap of white paper and popped up with a Tombow Foam tab just above the heart rain.  The image was stamped in black ink.  Some twine and buttons finish off this card.  

For this card, I stamped the adorable sun image several times and then colored it with Copic Markers and added some Diamond Stickles for sparkle.  I added some blue/white twine and an orange button and it was good to go.  

When my boys were little I used to send You Are My Sunshine to them.  They would probably look at me like I was nuts if I thought about singing it to them now.  :)

I would love it if you would head over to the Our Craft Lounge Blog and check out the other "Fun in the Sun" cards I am showcasing today.  

Pick a Posy

Hi there!  Today I am sharing some of my favorite floral stamps from Our Craft Lounge.  I think flowers are wonderful because you can use them for any occasion.  

I used Thankful Flourishes for this card.  I saw this layout while surfing the web a week or so ago and I just love it.  The flower was colored with Copic markers and the leaves were  watercolored with Tombow markers.  See our pens can play nice together.  :)

For this card I used the cute little flower border and birthday sentiment from Tweet Thang.  The flowers were colored with Copics.

This card is a recent favorite of mine.   I used stamps from the Pretty Petals and Big Birthday Wishes sets. I colored this card with my Tombow Irojiten Colored Pencils and a wee bit of Gamsol.  

For this last card, I didn't use a floral set, but I wanted to show you how nicely the Big Birthday Wishes set works when paired with a pretty flower.  Funny thing about this card is that I made it for our very own Debbie Corbari's birthday and it is still riding around in my car waiting to be mailed.  I am the worst when it comes to mailing things.  Heck, she may get it in time for her birthday next year.  :)

Thanks for visiting us today, I really appreciate each and every visit.

Two chances to win!

Happy, happy Monday to all of my amazing blog readers.  I wouldn't, or couldn't do it without you!

Please read all the way to the bottom of the post as there are two different ways to win some fabulous goodies this week!

Today I am sharing a card  that was created for Our Craft Lounge's amazing illustrator, Debbie Corbari.

In honor of Debbie's birthday the Our Craft Lounge Challenge 108 is a photo challenge with a bit of a twist to create a special birthday card just for her.  

I used Debbie's Big Birthday Wishes Crafty Clear set to create my card and adorned it with  this beautiful pink flower and trim from May Arts.  

The first way to win this week is to:

Play along with us this week and be entered to WIN!  You will be entered to WIN a $20. gift certificate from Our Craft Lounge.  You have until 11:59pm on Thursday, March 15 to enter.  Participate as many times as you like!  A random winner will be selected and posted on the OCL blog at the beginning of next month.  Here are the rules:

Use any stamps that you wish-get BONUS POINTS when you use OCL stamps!

Link to your card/project at the bottom of the OCL Challenge 108 post using the link tool provided.  Be sure to link DIRECTLY to your challenge card/project - not a general blog or gallery link and add the appropriate photo.

Use the challenge as your basis - do whatever inspires you, but please it on the challenge.

If you upload to the gallery at Splitcoaststampers (SCS) please use the keyword OCL108.

Still with me? 

Here is the second way to win:

 We are so excited that May Arts shared some wonderful ribbon with the design team and we have some great projects from both of the companies on the OCL Blog today!

You'll want to check the OCL Blog each day for the rest of this week as there will be little peeks of the samples our team prepared. Now don’t forget to leave some love everywhere each and every day this week because there will be FIVE prize packages of blog candy this week!

Now for some blog candy! May Arts sent us lots of YUMMY ribbon to share with all of you! WOOHOOO! So we’ll have 5 Prize Packages to give away this week. You have lots of ways to enter EVERY SINGLE DAY this week + one BONUS entry!


Daily leave a comment on each of the following:


1. the OCL blog,
2. each designer’s blog playing along that day (you will find a list of designers on the OCL blog), and
3. OCL's Facebook page.
BONUS ENTRY: If you “LIKE” OCL on Facebook, you’ll get a bonus entry (as long as you tell us you did it) ~ if you've already "liked" us, let us know that too!

We will pick 5 random comments this weekend and our winners will be announced next Tuesday, March 20th here on the OCL Blog.



Whew, you made it to the end.  Wishing you lots of luck on winning!

Thank You

Hello.  Whew, it feels good to get in the studio and do a bit of stamping.  I have been sitting out a bit and nursing a sore left shoulder/arm.  I am not 100% yet, but I was itching to get into the studio and get inky.

Today's card is for the Outlawz Twisted Thursday challenge today.  

The challenge is to use:

Glitter, green, brads and ribbon.

I have to admit, this card was a comedy of errors while it was coming together.  I decided to do a clean and simple card because I didn't want to overwork the arm.    Maybe that was the first mistake. LOL  Anyone who knows me, knows that clean and simple cards usually take me as long as layered up foofy cards do.

I picked out the Mediera stamp from Amuse as it had been sitting on the shelf forever and it needed a little love.  I stamped the image across the front of a white panel with aqua and moss inks and was pretty happy.  Oops.....I had intended to emboss one of the images with some crystal embossing powder so to fix that boo boo, I stamped the image again and embossed it with the crystal powder (hard to see, but it is there) on a small panel, layered it up and placed it over one of the moss images.  I then proceeded to layer to an aqua panel and then the green card using foam tape between the aqua and green. I stamped the sentiment on the front and I am thinking it looks pretty good at this point.....but.....I forgot to add the brads!  I cut off the legs from the brads and added them to the card with some Glossy Accents.  So after a bit (a long bit) I am happy with the card and set it up to take pics.  Guess what?  No stinkin' ribbon on the card.....good golly, I really should have gotten up from the desk and walked away at that point but where would the fun be in that?  I tied a little knot of ribbon, added it to the top and called it done.  

Thanks for hanging in there to read all about my saga.  I love you all!

Welcome March

TGIF!  This week on the Tombow blog we have been given a "Designer's Choice" week.  I decided to share my March calendar page with you.

This page is 5"x 7" and stands up on its own with an easel back.  I started with a base layer of kelly green cardstock and then adhered some Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock with my Tombow Mono Adhesive Dots, Roller.  Next I inked up the shamrock image from the Our Craft Lounge, Shamrock Blessings set with three different green colors of Tombow Dual Brush Pens using the thumping method to ink up the stamp and then stamped them to the bottom of the white calendar panel. I did the same thing for the flowers that I stamped in the upper left corner using the same green Tombow Dual Brush Pens and adding two tones of purple Dual Brush Pens.   Next, I cut out another piece of kelly green cardstock with the Spellbinders Nestabilities Mega Dies, Labels 17 and adhered the calendar panel to it with Tombow Mono Adhesive Dots, Roller and then attached this panel to the calendar base popped up with Tombow Foam Tabs.  The sentiment was also inked up with the Dual Brush Pens and stamped onto some white cardstock.  I cut the sentiment panel and background layer with my Spellbinders Nestabilities Die-Petite Ovals set and popped it up onto the calendar with Tombow Foam Tabs.  The two shamrocks were cut from the new Memory Box Lucky Leaves dies, embossed with clear embossing powder with a touch of Glitter Ritz Warm Highlight glitter from Elizabeth Craft Designs and adhered to the calendar with Tombow Mono Multi.

Thank You Favor Boxes

 Hello there!  All week on the Tombow blog my fellow DT members have been sharing our creations using the Pantone's 2008 color called Blue Iris.   I decided to make some little Thank You boxes (filled with something sweet, of course) to have on hand.

(click on picture for larger image)

 Tombow's Dual Brush Pen #555 (Ultramarine) is the perfect match, so that was my starting point.   I used the Lifestyle Crafts Rectangle Box Die to create this adorable little 2 x 3 x 1 favor box.  I then cut out several white flowers using the MFT Mini Rolled Roses Die and the Memory Box Small Pinwheel Posie Die.  Before I rolled the flowers, I used the Tombow Dual Brush Pen #555 to tip the topside of each of the flowers.  I then rolled them and secured each one on the bottom using Tombow Mono Multi adhesive.  Just a little drop on the bottom of each flower held them nicely.  I then inked up a Memory Box Thank You stamp with the same Dual Brush Marker (for a perfect color match) onto some white cardstock and cut it out with a circle die and adhered it to a blue scallop circle using Tombow's Mono Adhesive Permanent Dots Roller and adhered that to the top of the box with Tombow's Foam Tabs.  I used a little more of the Mono Multi to adhere the flowers to the thank you panel and then I used some of the Tombow Mono Aqua around the top of each flower and sprinkled them with Elizabeth Craft Designs Warm Highlight Glitter.  A little ribbon and some bling and these boxes are ready to go. 

February Calendar

Hello and happy Monday Y'all!  Did you know that Our Craft Lounge announced it's 100th challenge last Friday?  The theme for this challenge was to use numbers.  I have to admit, I was stumped at first and didn't know what I was going to do.  I e-mailed my OCL partner in crime, Debbie Fisher, and she came up with a boatload of suggestions for me.  All of a sudden, the light came on and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I decided to make a 5 x 7 calendar page for February.  Yeah, I am ahead of the game!  I printed the calendar and then cut it down to the size I wanted.  I stamped the adorable hot air balloon from the OCL Spilling Over Cling Set onto some white cardstock with black ink and then stamped it again onto this adorable light blue paper from Pebbles.  There are the cutest itsy bitzy white stars all over the light blue background.  LOVE!  I paper pieced the balloon, basket and the little heart.  I used a piece of Cranberry Distress Dots cardstock from Memory Box for the little hearts.  The hearts that are spilling out of the basket are pink and sparkly!  I attached the calendar panel to a red layer that was diecut with a Spellbinders die.  The calendar panel is attached to the base with foam tape to give just enough lift to allow the ribbon to slide underneath.

There is still time to play along with this challenge, head on over the the Our Craft Lounge blog and play along.  You could win a prize and some awesome bragging rights!

Challenge Calendar

Hi there!  The hustle and bustle of Christmas may be over, but things sure aren't slowing down much around here.  Last Wednesday was the first time I enjoyed a day of working in my studio.  I am busy, busy preparing projects for January.  

To help me keep on track, I decided to decorate a calendar that I had picked up in the office supplies department at Wallyworld.  

 

I started by covering the spine of the calendar with some distressed dot print paper from Memory Box.  I used Tombow's Permanent Stamp Runner to attach all of the cardstocks to the cover of the calendar.  The main background print is from October Afternoon (I think).  The chipboard letters for the word "calendar" were just plain white and I used a Tombow Dual Brush pen in Orange to color the letters to match perfectly.  Love that!  Did you know that you can use the Dual Brush pens to color match many items to coordinate with whatever project you are working on?  Too cool!

I didn't do too much to the inside of the calendar as I need lots of space to keep track of my projects and upcoming classes, but I did add some of the Tombow Permanent Stamp Runner to the back of some rick rack trim and used it to cover the space where the two prints matched on the inside cover.    

I used two coordinating Dual Brush Pens to add the month name and some doodles to the bottom of the page.  Don't mind the teeth marks on the lid of the orange pen, a few years ago my dog thought it might be a fun chew toy.  

Let's Party!

Whew wee it's been party time on the Tombow blog this week.  Today is my turn to share in the party fun!  So let's get started!

 I have created this little party ensemble of a card, gift box and of course a little sweet treat as a thank you for coming to my party :)

For each of the projects I used stamps from Printworks. I created the card starting with a Seaglass notecard     from Memory Box and layering with a scrap of glittery striped paper from my stash using Tombow Permanent Stamp Runner.  The balloons were colored with Tombow Dual Brush Markers and then added a layer of Tombow Mono Aqua to each of the balloon tops and sprinkled them with glitter. I  dabbed the gifts with the Mono Glue Pen  and used a scrap of My Mind's Eye paper to paper piece the gifts.  A few rhinestones and a little ribbon and our card is done and we are ready to party!

For the gift, I used another Seaglass notecard to create this little slider gift box.  I used the same method as above to adhere all of the layers, create the balloons and paper piece the gift.  The image panel was added to the box using Tombow Foam Tabs.

Here is the box opened just a bit........hmm I wonder what kind of beautiful bauble is hidden inside?

So now our party is coming  to an end and why not send our guests home with something sweet.  I wrapped two candies with a bit of the striped glitter paper and  then cut a piece of  Seaglass notecard big enough to wrap around them and come together at the top.  A little ribbon holds this sweet treat closed.  

Hoping your next party is as fun as this one was! 

InLinkz.com

CAS Let it Snow

Good morning!  I hope this finds you off to a good start for the week. The season may be fall, but we have had some unusually cold weather last week with snow at the 8000 ft level.  Lucky for me I am only at 3200 ft elevation and we only had the cold and not the snow.  I am so not ready for the white stuff.  I do like              stamping snowflakes though and have tons of them in my stash.  

I am working on my CAS skills.  I actually completed this card in less than 30 minutes.....a new CAS record for me. :)  I started with some Gina K. Designs kraft cardstock (this is the best kraft cs on the market IMHO) and embossed it with the Snowflakes CB EF at the top and very bottom of the card, leaving a little ditch for my sentiment.  The sentiment is from Verve's Holiday Phrases set and the snowflake is from Penny Black.  The date on the side of the snowflake is 2001 and I bet that I have had it since then.....it has been well loved!  The stamping and distressing were done with the new seasonal Gathered Twigs Distress ink.  The red print is from the Memory Box Distressed Dot collection.  We all love our bling so I finished my card off with a few red gems.  Who doesn't love a little sparkle?

Todays card is for two challenges:  The Outlawz Sunday CAS1009 challenge which was to use your favorite stamp(s) and the CR84FN40 challenge which is to use: red, brown and kraft.  Isn't their graphic beautiful?
 

InLinkz.com