Helloooooo there! I'm secretly singing "Under the Sea" from Little Mermaid as I'm typing this post today. Such a happy song from a great movie. I'm getting into the theme of it all! The card for today features the lovely Miss Mermaid Anya! So frickin' adorable…really… I had a lot of fun with this one and kept adding stuff to her and enjoying using a very vivid and bright color scheme. Hope you like her too!

Here is a close up of the shading and coloring. I added lots of pearls to her, and created a little scene for her to float in…some coral, shells and a starfish. I kinda feel like mermaids should be all glittery and pretty, so I added stickles to her eyeshadow and her fins. 
 

 Links: iCopic Blog and if you want to buy Mermaid Anya!

Here are the steps I used to color her hair. Again…remember dark colors are hard…so take your time and work with it and practice. Also, be sure to leave some white space for shiny locks. I used E57 first to lay down the foundation color.

Next, I added some darker brown to her roots and ends to give some depth of color. I finished off with a lighter beige color to blend it all together. I even went over the white part with the E42. You can do that part either way depending on the effect you like.

Here she is pre-pearls and glitter!
 

She is a California mermaid…of course! Sending a little love your way from my corner of the world! I used a seashell border punch from Martha Stewart and lots of scallops to look like waves. Then I added some Making Memories shell brads and more pearls…I see it didn't take me long to move back to my "more is more" philosophy after posting that clean and simple card on Monday! haha.  

"Up on the shore they work all day, Out in the sun they slave away, While we devotin' full time to floatin'
Under the sea…."  

How can it be Monday again already (well, practically…late Sunday night)?! Hope your weekend was a good one! In quite the contrast from my last posted card…today's card is simple and clean with few elements on it! I like this style too, and was definitely inspired by this week's inspiration image at the iCopic Blog.  The first thing that caught my eye was the amount of white space. This gives you the feeling of calm. There is very little color in the image and so it  pops off the page at you. I used a Copic Marker for my sentiment…colored directly onto the stamp (R85)!

Here is my card:

This is the inspiration image and the color for the challenge…pink, yellow and white. I used the "cake" theme for my card too, but instead did cupcakes.

 
Lots of yummy layers and lots of white. I think by now you've been alerted to my passion for polka dots! One little cherry bling I found in my stash finishes off the card. I distressed the edges of the top white layer to give the card some texture. Clean and simple.

Sending you sweetest wishes for a great week ahead!

I was truly inspired to enter the latest Shabby Tea Room Challenge this week! I popped over to my sweet bloggy pal Audrey's blog on Monday and saw her gorgeous card…which led me back over to the Shabby Tea Room where I saw everyone else's cards! Then, mass chaos ensued as I got out a whole lotta stampin' supplies! The challenge this week is to welcome 2011 by making a card using ELEVEN different elements! I was psyched…now you're talkin' my language! I had just bought these pretty silk roses and was dying to use them! That started the pink theme rolling and there was no stopping me!

Here is my card:

This is how it started…

I'm quite sure there are at least eleven elements… 3 types of patterned paper, distress ink, kraft paper, twine, buttons, felt, pearl heart hat pin, 3 types of ribbon, silk roses, die cut bird cages, die cut banners, rhinestones, stamps, and glitter! Whew…I think I'm forgetting something…

LOVE this banner die set from Papertrey Ink. It makes tiny banners and tiny little top pieces for the banners. ACK. I cut the banners from the pink paper and the tops from cream color felt. I stamped the word LOVE in brown ink using a Hero Arts letter set. The birdcages were stamped on cream paper and I used pink and brown inks. That stamp set is also from PTI.

Pink Petunia Versamagic ink is a favorite!  
 
 

Um, yes, I caused quite a hurricane…

This is my favorite part of the whole card.

Or maybe this is…

BUSTED!!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!  

Hey! My craft room has been in Winter mode for a long time, and it's been raining cats and dogs here in Northern California… So today I'm sending you a little bit of sunshine in the form of Miss Hula Anya! Don't you wish you could get on a plane straight to Hawaii right now? Me too! Let's go! Oh, yeah, there's that…work. It was a good idea though!  I hope my card cheers you and warms you.

Today's card is my first official iCopic DT card. I hope you like it. Please make sure to visit the iCopic blog to see what is going on with the other designers too! I am putting the card pictures first and then I am posting A LOT of pictures of the coloring process if you want to check that part out too. Thank you for coming by to see me. Have a great day! Aloha!

She is so dang cute! I put some pink rhinestones in the center of the flowers in her hair. I used some punches to add a flower and leaves to the sentiment. It seemed kind of plain without it. The paper is from the AC Cardstock "tropical" collection – which I use often.  
 

I am new to these Anya images and I have three so far. They are really fun to color and there is one for every occasion. The other two I have are a Geisha and a Mermaid. I'm enjoying trying some new images!

Here are the coloring process pictures. I hope this will help out! If you have questions, or if there's something you want me to demo in the future, please leave a comment or send me an email! Start by coloring in with your first color. I chose the medium shade of what I was coloring.

Add some darker low lights in the center…

The go back and blend over the entire image with your lightest color. This will melt all the colors together. You can also go back and add more dark if you want – adjusting to your taste and style.

For faces, I like E000, E00 and RV 10. Again…blend with your lightest color…

For her grass skirt, I started by making strokes to mimic what I thought a grass skirt would "feel" like. Then I went back and blended in the lighter colors.

The hair is the most difficult part! I'm still practicing this and trying to get better every time I color. I started with a nice medium golden yellow. The reason the hair looks shiny at the end is because I left white space to show the light hitting her head.

 
 
Here's the end result!

Hello! Life is starting to get back to normal, what with the holidays officially being over and all. I took today off from work to regroup, clean house and get caught up on blogging! Tomorrow…solidly back to reality. Uh Oh.

This week marks the start of my time as part of the iCopic Blog Design Team! WOO WOO! We are starting off with a GREAT color challenge: Red, Cream and Brown. Love that. Click here to go to the Color Challenge Page for the iCopic Blog! Later in the week (Wednesday) I will have my first post to share with you. Wednesday will be "my" day over at iCopic, and I hope you will follow along with me!

Today's card using the color challenge combo:

Here is the color challenge inspiration image. I was immediately drawn to using the strawberries and the basket. I love this color combination. I know I will use it more often. I used a pretty cherry red color and brown ink.
 

 

I used an old PSX stamp that I love and my trusty Copic Markers. The colors I used are: R27, R24 and R20, G17, G14 and G12, and Y11 and Y15. Red and black are the two hardest colors to blend and shade. Try blending in some pink with your reds to lighten them up a bit.

I had me some fun in the old craft cave yesterday bustin' out lots of supplies and making a ginormous mess while creating these two cards. I had stamps, paper, ink, felt, buttons, pearls, ribbon, dies, more stamps…flying everywhere. I used some of my fun Papertrey Ink (PTI) supplies for these shabby chic birthday cards and I have been itching to use this pretty banner paper too. Thanks for coming by today to see what I'm up to. Are you ready for 2011??

Here is the first card:

The stamp set is called "Just the Ticket" and has fun sayings and borders to use on your cute little tickets. The die cuts out your paper perfectly and then you can stamp right inside. Marvelous! The ribbon is PTI in the color Hawaiian Shores.  

This die cuts out perfect blossoms. I used PTI cream felt. It is the perfect shade of winter white. I put a button in the center and then a pearl on top.  

This is another flower die from PTI. This one you thread some ribbon or floss through the holes and it gathers together into a three dimensional flower! This is the small size. The kit comes with three sizes and I think they all fit together if you want to go big!

How fun are those ticket stamps??? ACK.  

I want to make a bazillion of these flowers!! Wouldn't they be cute on a hat or on a sweater? I can think of so many things to do with these little gems.  

Here is my second card – using the other type of flower:

This photo is included to share with you what a hard scrabble life my poor kitty has. I bet you feel all sorry for him out there fending for himself…NOT.  Yes, that is the famous Mr. Buddy under the covers in bed! (With the electric blanket on). He's looking at me as if to say "I don't know where you're gonna sleep, but I am quite snuggly thank you very much." So hilarious.  

Have a wonderful day everyone!                                    

Greetings and salutations! Christmas has come and gone again…really hard to believe…and next week we will enter another decade! I hope everyone had a great Christmas day! Santa brought me a Mad Men Betty Draper Special Edition Barbie! Score! I also got some yummy candy and a gift certificate to my LSS. Score! It was a calm and peaceful day for us. Mr. Buddy is happy that everyone is home to keep him company for a few days. I have already read one book and am 3/4 through another one. It feels good to relax a little and slow down.

Some super cool, fun, exciting, neat-o news for today! I am a HUGE fan of the Blog "Inspired By" by Jill Foster. LOVE her blog. She finds other cards/bloggers that she likes and then makes cards inspired by them. Guess what? She is inspired by ME this week! YES! I'm so honored and can't wait to see what's up over at her blog every day. I hope you will check out her blog too…she is AMAZINGLY talented and I know you'll love her work.

Switching gears today I have two cards I made with the same stamp and the same theme – New Years! I used the adorable stamp from Penny Black called Hedgehopper. He's so funny in his little airplane. It is meant as a Valentine's stamp, but I made my own banner to fly behind him to announce a New Year's greeting instead.

Here is the "day" version using a bright color scheme, some PTI felt clouds and an aqua airplane:

Here is the "night" version using some metallic fireworks, some blings, the cute Hero Arts townscape and a blue airplane: