Author: stampcatwg

Hi everyone! WOOT WOOT! Okay I am totally excited to write this post tonight! Because…I'm a Hero Arts Fab Five Winner! Yay! Before I even had time to post this card I found out I won a prize on the Hero Arts Blog! The contest for March was a Birthday theme and I made this fun card with the uber cute new stamps from Basic Grey/Hero Arts! These images are so happy and silly and fun! Before I blabber on further…I'll show you the card!

I can't believe I won a prize! I get to choose $50 worth of product from the Hero Arts online store! OMG are you kidding me? How great is that!? I have admired and used Hero Arts stamps since I started stamping in 1994! Now I feel like I am a part of the Hero Arts bloggy family. I'm really happy about this! Can you tell? Hahaha.
 

These stamps are just so happy! Don't you love the little cotton candy and ice cream? They just remind me of summer and fairs and fun times. I colored them in with my Copics and then smothered them in prisma glitter to make them all purty and spar-ka-lay! You know I love me some gingham and some banners…There you have it.  

 
 Thank you Hero Arts! Have a great weekend everybody!

Greetings and Salutations! How's your week going? Mine is so far, so good! Lots going on this week. Tonight is my monthly stamp club meeting and I always look forward to that very much. We are a crazy bunch of women who meet at our friend Janice's house once a month to share our love of all things Stampin' Up! We eat, gab, stamp, gab some more, card swap, give Janice a hard time, stamp some more…you get the drift! We act like a bunch of silly girls and I adore it. We've been stamping together a long time. One of the things I always look forward to is seeing all the great swap cards.

I was having trouble getting some swap card mojo going so I started surfing the web looking for ideas. I knew I wanted to use the new Stampin' Up set called "Bliss." In my surfing I came upon this post by Shelli Gardner – the founder of Stampin' Up.  I used her layout and made some (if I do say so myself) cute swaps! Take a look!

Everything on this card is from Stampin' Up…down to the last tiny pearl! My all time favorite color from SU is Kiwi Kiss…I used it here with dark brown and Soft Suede. The new seam binding tape is just wonderful.

Here is Shelli's card that I got the idea from. Isn't it wonderful? I loved it right away! I will use this layout again for sure.  Everything about it is just shabby chic perfect!
 

Here are my little swappies all ready to go! I used liquid Tombow clear glue down the center of my butterflies to make it so their wings can pop off the page. I made some in three different colors so everyone can pick the one they want.
 

Hi friends! Another weekend zoomed on by and here we are Sunday night already…ready for a new week! I had a nice weekend and hope you did too! Yesterday was Mr. Buddy's birthday…and he's four already! Check out this post from his birthday last year (some cute pics).  I got to spend a little bit of time in the crafty cave…

I have a fun post to share today! A few months ago, when we were cleaning out the garage, the DH found a box with a bunch of cards I had made him back in the day. That was a hoot! It was nice to see that I have improved over the years! hahaha. I thought it would be a fun thing to share with my bloggy friends. I particularly liked this one card we found…and come to find out I still have the same Hero Arts stamp set from 1996! So, I made a new card along the same design and color scheme. Isn't it fun to see our old stuff? Try not to laugh too hard at my old card!

I told you not to laugh! Looks like somebody just got a whole bunch of new scissors!

I must have been very proud - to sign the back of my work!  

Here is the stamp set – still in great condition! A pretty set from Hero Arts that I would still pick out today probably. Nice and cheery for Summer or for a picnic theme project.
 

 

Here's my card remake! How nice to be able to use Copics! No crazy scissors used here! 🙂

 
Have a great day! Come back soon!  

HELLLLOOOOO! Well now, Spring has come full blast to my part of the world. It was 80 degrees here today! Yesterday we were out in the yard and my husband did the first mowing and trimming of the season. My hydrangeas are going CA-razy! So my card today is inspired by flowers and gardening. I surfed around this morning and came upon a great sketch layout from Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #110. This card sort of made itself once I got out the most beautiful patterned paper from Webster's Pages… I hope your week has been a good one and that something fun is in store for you over the weekend!

 The Sketch Image:

The gorgeous patterned paper:

I first cut the paper into strips and then into individual squares…It was hard to cut that paper…but now I have a big stack of pretty images to play with. I was trying to think of a way to make a note card set, but nothing good came to me yet. Any ideas? The butterfly and vellum do-dads are from a K&Company collection. Minimal stamping on this card…just the sentiment.
 

 
 
 Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. You make me happy!
  

Hi there! It's Wednesday…so I'm posting for iCopic Blog today! For this card, I'm using the sweet Birthday Anya stamp! Do you guys remember that Baskin & Robbins Commercial that goes Ice Cream and Cake, Ice Cream and Cake?"  I LOVE that commercial! It's silly and fun and happy. This card reminds me of that – nothing but happy birthday cheer! I hope you likey. Have a great day today!

One tip I have for you – in order to get your projects to match your patterned paper…choose your patterned paper first! Then, select your marker colors to match. Your projects will look professional and clean. 

I used my Cuttlebug polka dot embossing folder to make the background oval. The papers are from Basic Grey and the Cake and Ice Cream stamp is from Hero Arts. I cut her out and popped her up on some foam tape. Added flat ribbon and just a couple of buttons… 

Marker colors:  E00, E000, RV10 (face) Y21, Y35, Y11, E31 (hair) YR01, YR02, B02, B04 (dress and cake)

Hi! It's that time again! Time for the super fun Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop! The theme this month is Spring. I know I'm ready for Spring…aren't you? Spring to me is all about color, and especially the soft pastels of Easter. So, my card for today features my favorite Spring color theme of pink and green. I used the In the Park stamp set from TE and also the pretty scalloped eyelet border die! I hope you will take some time to hop around and see all the cool cards from today! Thank you for stopping by!

Won't you take some time out and check out everyone's entries?!

Rock on girlfriends! How adorable is this stamp! Go on over to iCopic store and check out all the wonderfulness they have from TGF!  The images from The Greeting Farm are so fun to color and guaranteed to put a smile on your face! Today's girl is Chelsea, and she is just so cute with her ipod rocking out to her tunes. I knew I had to use bright fun colors for this one! Today's Wednesday, so it must be time for me to post over at the iCopic blog! Have you gotten your new colors of Copic markers yet? Twelve new colors? Are you kidding me? Thanks for stopping by today. I will also have one more post for today for the big blog hop at Taylored Expressions. It's a busy day…and I'm not even home! hahaha. Still sending you my love and greetings from Miami…

I stamped her, as always, with my Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and then colored her with Copics…not too much shading on this one because I knew I was going to make her dress sparkly with glitter…like a disco queen! haha. The hair color is exactly the same formula as the retro Birthday Anya card from a few weeks ago. I am liking this blond combination.

A pretty resin flower for her hair…those are from Michael's. The You Rock stamp is from a Stampin' Up set that I have had for a few years.
 

Hi peeps! I'm still in Miami right now…scheduled this post before I left. I thought by now I would be homesick so I'm posting a card of a pretty house… This is one of my design team projects for the Eat Cake Graphics blog and I've used one of their gorgeous house images. This card would be great for a new home card or a missing you card. Hope you likey!

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I used my Copics to color the house in some browns and golds and greens. The key and flower were already in my stash of goodies. I thought the patterned paper fit nicely since it is phone book listings! How fun is that? I cut the image out and popped it up wiwth some foam tape.  

Are you wearing green right now? I sure hope so! You don't want to get pinched! Happy St. Patty's Day to you one and all…it's the day when we are all a little Irish and can have a little fun! What are your traditions? Green Beer? Corned Beef dinner? I don't usually do anything special, but I do like to wear green. I always have struggled with making cute St. Patrick's Day cards…Nothing ever seems to come out just right. This year I saw examples online and in magazines where people made shamrocks out of heart punches. I decided to try that and make it my own. I am happy with how they turned out! Simple and sweet. I hope you have fun today!

Here are my hearts and stems. I cut the hearts with a punch and then freehand cut out the parts for the stems. I used some pretty patterned paper with green leaves. Not too overboard with the green…a nice soft shade. 

The card base is cream color and I inked up the corners. I used some light brown ink to stamp a shamrock background. The kraft paper is the focal part and I used a fine tip brown pen to draw the lines around the edges. This is an easy way to add a frame. It looked too plain before I did that! Added some twine to the center of a pretty green button and there ya go!

Hi! It's time for my weekly iCopic Blog Design Team post! Today's card features the lovely Cheeky Cherry Pie stamp from The Greeting Farm! She is too too cute! Love her retro hairdo and her sweet eyelashes! I had fun getting out all the gorgeous red Copic Markers to ink her up! I always use my trusty Memento ink pads for using with my Copics. A list of my marker colors is at the end of the post. I can think of many uses for this card…I think it would make a pretty thank you card for a gal pal…

Here is a close up of my coloring. Shading with red and brown is hard…If you try it and get discouraged, don't give up! Keep practicing! Use the darkest colors sparingly and blend, blend, blend.

 Some of my supplies…

Isn't she just Sweet as Pie? The sentiment is from a cute cooking set from Hero Arts and I stamped a red heart in the middle of it. The flower is from Prima and I added stickles to it to jazz it up a bit. The paper is from Stampin' Up and I've been hoarding it…but I made myself use it!
 

Marker colors: Hair: E42, E43, E57 and E31. Skin: E00, E000, E11 and RV10. Red parts: R29, R27, R24 and R22. Pie tin: C2 and C1.

HELLLLOOOOO! Well, it's late Thursday evening…which is practically Friday in my book. It's Friday Eve you might say. Just like Christmas Eve only it comes every week! I'm hanging out in my stamp room tonight watching American Idol (it's so good this season, don't you think?) and finishing up my blog post  to share with you. I made two cards for today, one kind of shabby chic and full o' stuff and one kind of clean and simple. I was inspired by Stacey's Stamping Stage Curtain Call Color Challenge #71! The colors are: Kraft, Cherry Cobbler red, Yellow/Gold and Mustard. MMMM. Yummy. When I saw the challenge colors, I instantly knew which papers I wanted to use. Therein lied the problem…

My favorite color paper from Stampin' Up is cherry cobbler! LOVE love LOVE it. That part was easy. Then I picked out some nice Kraft paper from my stash and then some mustard polka dot paper. Then…dun dun dun…I got out the Webster's Pages Spring Market Collection papers. OMG. Really? Seriously? Maybe the prettiest paper I've ever seen. I ain't lyin'. So, every molecule and fiber of my being is telling me "you must hoard this paper and you must not make pretty cards with it, because then it will be all used up." Do you have that voice too? But, I made myself cut this gorgeous paper in half, and then half again…sigh. I have declared 2011 the year of no hoarding of craft supplies…and I was proud of myself!

Okay…you're probably like…get to the cards already Wanda! Here is card #1…Those little bees have been in my stash for years! I found a pretty red label holder…and a rose…I really wanted that gorgeous paper to be the star of the show. Used a Kraft card base and edged the papers with distress ink.

Here is the Curtain Call Color image:

Here is card #2…the clean and simple version…made with the same exact supplies and color scheme! You don't know how hard it was for me to resist.the.bling!! I like it too, though. Love the banners with the roses, especially! I might do more of this…make a second card…hmmm. Got me thinking…

Happy Weekend Peeps! 

Thank you so very much for coming by!

It's Wednesday…you know what that means! It's my turn to make a project over on the iCopic Blog! Today's card features the lovely Birthday Anya stamp and a retro color palette with a new shape. I used tons of markers on this one…and I tried a new color of hair. Let me know what you think!

The finished card is about a four inch square. I used the largest size round scallop nestie and then fit the smaller circles inside. I put one gingham circle with the pattern straight up and down (red one) and the other gingham circle on a diagonal (blue one) for visual interest. I crammed a lot of stuff on that little card – lemme tell ya!

This entire card was inspired by those little pre-made rosettes! I just fell in love with the colors and they made me think of the 40's so I made Birthday Anya feel kind of retro with her golden hair and some vintage lace and pearls. 
 

These are all the Copics I used on this one! 

I tried a new color combination for hair this time, so I thought I would share it. I wanted really soft light golden hair. You'll see that all of my colors were not from the same color group. I was winging it!

The final result and close up of the coloring:
 

Hi friends! I have some announcements for this Sunday morning…and then I'll be back with some cards tomorrow. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! We have been kind of lazy so far, but in a little while we'll be heading out for some errands and a nice lunch together.

First announcement is just a reminder that I am teaching two Spring Cards classes next weekend at the Paper Garden Boutique! I'm very excited and there are a few spots left. Please CLICK HERE for all the information about signing up. Below are some pictures of the projects we're making. Five cards with a cheerful Spring theme. I'm using brand new stamps and papers from Memory Box and some favorites from Impression Obsession, Amuse and Hero Arts. Hope you can join me!

Second announcement: Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last blog post about the Sucre goodies and giveaway… The winner is lucky comment #13! Renee! WOO WOO! Congrats Renee! If you read this before I email you, send me your address so I can pass it on to Sucre. YAY!

 
 (I couldn't figure out how to get this darn thing on my blog, so I took a picture of it!!!)
 

Lastly, I just wanted to share this cool poster/image from Mary Engelbreit. It made me happy! Have a fabulous day everybody! 🙂

Today's post has a lot going on! This is my weekly post for the iCopic Blog and also I used a sketch from the Mojo Monday blog to get my layout started! I colored this image quite a while ago and it is one that I use as an example in my Copic classes. I finally turned it into a card! A shabby, vintagey card! I think it nicely illustrates a different way to use your Copic Markers to achieve a soft, glassy feel. This is a super super old stamp from PSX.

Here is the sketch!  

Here are the colors that I used – you can see I used very light shades in four different color families. When coloring, I left a lot of white space in the center of the bottles. I did this so that the images would appear see through, just like glass. I used my colorless blender pen extensively to push the color out the back of the paper (see pic below) so that just a very small amount of color was left.  
 

Here is the back side of my image. See that there is more color on the back than on the front!? That is because I kept using my blender pen over and over until I got the effect I wanted.

Are you in love with this seam binding ribbon like I am lately? Ooh La La. I found some keys in my stash and a pretty lavender flower. Then, I dug up some vintagey papers… I have been doing a bit of reorganizing in my craft room and found some good stuff!

 Here is a close up of the coloring of the bottles…

For the life of me, I could not get that ribbon, flower and keys to stay put! I had a needle and thread on my craft table left over from another project…so I actually sewed all that stuff right onto the paper! That'll teach it! Hahaha.

 
And…finally…this card is my entry to the MOXIE FAB Stamping with Markers Challenge!!! I hope you will go on over and check out the post and enter…because…you could win 36 Copic Markers!!! WOO WOO! Have a wonderful day.