2010 is Year of the Tiger! Gung Hay Fat Choy friends! This year the date for Chinese New Year happens to fall on Valentine's Day so I'm posting a day early. The date is set by the moon. Read more about the history here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year.

 
Now, I like a celebration of any kind, and since I have many Chinese friends, I always make cards for this special occasion. I absolutely love the vivid red set against black and gold. Gorgeous. This year my creation is made with the popular joy-fold card concept. I hope you enjoy looking at this post.

This is the full card when it is closed:

And partially open:

and further opened:

 
Stamps from Kodomo and Papers:

Copic ink colors:

Close ups of the coloring process:

This chart helps me when I am making/coloring more than one of the same image. I can check the colors until I get exactly what I want.

Using the darkest color sparingly only for the center of his back and brow:

 Four shades of green…oh how I love green…

The year is flying by already and it's February 1st! Whew…almost time for Valentine's Day! And…if you live in Northern California…time for allergies to start. Spent the weekend with a gnarly sinus headache. Start the Claritin I.V. stat!  

I have two Valentine Cards to share today. I will have more as the day approaches. I've also been cooking up some cute cupcake toppers for my work treats.

This first card is for my monthly stamp club swap cards. Our meeting is on Wednesday night:

LOVE the new cuttlebug embossing folders for Valentine's Day! Took my white gel pen and made a little accent on the heart in the middle of the "O". The heart stamps are from an old Stampin' Up set. The black border on the card is a Tim Holtz background stamp.

This card has a totally different color scheme and feel to it. It's based on an Amuse card I saw in my local paper store. The awning is made by folding the paper and then putting pop dots underneath!

The little birdies and the glass are colored with Copic Markers. The whip cream is filled in with fine prisma glitter. I use Copic BG000, BG10 and G0000 whenever I want to make something look like glass.

 
More Valentine's to come. Stay tuned.

I have to mention that my favorite band - Green Day – won a Grammy last night! Wahooo! The song they performed was from their musical version of American Idiot, which we saw at The Berkeley Rep Theater late last fall. We recognized a lot of the cast – and now they're Broadway bound! 

Evidently I love a challenge! Today I'm posting my entry to the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger Challenge: Turqoise and Gold. I have an idea rolling around in my head for my own Tuesday Trigger…I need to create the card and send it in. Keep an eye out for it. 🙂

Here is the Tuesday Trigger image:

And here is my card:

 
I wanted to pick up the small amount of black in the photo as an accent. Also, I used the circular mirror for inspiration for my little frame. The Turquoise and white print paper actually has a slight shimmer to it that you can't see. The Gold paper is kind of a matte/burnished shimmery gold. The picture inside the frame is a sticker! This card has a nice old fashioned vintage-y feel to it.

Yesterday the DH and I went out and bought all the supplies to build a 'white box' for taking photos of cards. Just need to find the time to put it all together. Hopefully that will be a success. Until next time, Happy Monday and best wishes for a crafty week ahead! 

Does anyone remember the Phil Collins song "Inside Out?" That is one of my favorite songs of all time. I used to sing that at the top of my lungs back in the day.

Inside out is also the name of this Moxie Fab card challenge for January. I decided to have a go at it. The objective is to make the inside of the card just as wonderful (fab) as the outside! What a great idea!

 
I must say that I really like this card! It was made especially for my sweet friend JRR. She loves butterflies. When I saw this paper I knew I had to make her a card with it.

Here's the inside:

I'm still trying to get the picture thing mastered. This is the best I could do. Not crazy about all the shadows. Here are some detail shots:

 
No coloring on this card! I used brown Memento Ink for the images. Lots of layering… And, of course, Martha Stewart punches. As always, best wishes for a great day and happy stamping!

Okay, so is it acceptable to stay in your pajamas all day? Or do you have to take a shower and put on clean pajamas? This is just one of the dilemmas facing me today. It is pouring rain here and we are having a quiet day at home. Football is on in the family room and I am holed up in my crafty cave with Mr. Buddy.

However, as you can see, Mr. Buddy has different ideas as to what he would like me to do today…

This is my desk/work space and is doubling as a nap area.

He must have fallen asleep while reading…That can wear a man out, you know.

Seriously, you are NOT stamping today until my bowl is full and my head is scratched. Do I look like I'm kidding?

One cat out of the way and over to his blankie. I did manage to make a sweet little card to send to a far away friend. Here's the front:

Here's the inside:

 
 
Some close in shots:

    
   
Thanks for dropping by to see what I made today. I hope you are safe and warm and dry wherever you are. Back to the craft room to see what else I can cook up today. 

I found another color challenge online tonight and thought I would give this one a try as well.   You had to use Red, Pink and Black and also use hearts. Here are the details:  http://embellishmagazine.com/blog/2010/01/embellish-hearts-color-challenge-sponsored-by-the-cutting-cafe/

I thought this would be easy… and immediately got out all my Valentine's stuff. The red and black looked good, but I had a hard time getting the pink to work. I decided to do a collage/funky look for this card. I hope you like it!

And a close up:

 
I absolutely LOVE that red/white flocked paper from Stampin' Up! (Thanks Janice). It is so much prettier in person and reminds me of beautiful old wallpaper. 

I hope your week is off to a good start!

The card I made today was made for entry into Dawn McVey's Color Challenge #21. You can find her post about it here:  http://dawnmcvey.typepad.com/these_are_a_few_of_my_fav/2010/01/raspberry-suite-color-challenge-21.html

I really enjoy reading her blog and decided to do my first contest entry here. As I'm getting ready to post mine, there are already over 100 entries! The deal is – someone posts a challenge in which you must make a project using certain specific colors. I just happen to really like these colors. See below:

Here is my card!

And a close up:

 
One thing I am stuggling with is photographing the cards to get the right color and tint. It seems like that would be easy – but it's not! I need to study up on that a bit and may need to invest in a "white box" for the photos. We shall see…

Materials: Papertrey Ink 'On My Couch' stamp set, Memento Ink Pads, Bazzill Papers, and Basic Grey 'Urban Prairie' patterned paper.