I've been PEEPED

Look at all the Peeps things my niece, Dana, sent me. She knows I love Peeps.

• The pink Peep lights up when you put it in water.
• Bag of candy. Individual bags inside hold Peeps and Chicks
• Cylinder thing in front is a blue raspberry lollipop
• Big package is Peeps play-doh
• Stuffed Peep

Wasn't that nice of her to think of me? I think so. I will see her in PA soon and I will give her a big giant HUG!!!

Stop and smell the flowers

Finally I got to sit down and color! Seems like ages since I've been able to do that. This first image is from Joanie over at the Stamp Shack. She sent out the same image to different people and we made cards with it. Very interesting to see how each person interprets the design. The image was stamped on white cardstock and I colored it with my Prismas. After I finished, I used my Xacto knife to cut out the image. I adhered it to the yellow cardstock, hoping that it would look like the image came from the yellow cardstock. I guess it does. It took me forever to find just the right background paper for this card. I have a bazillion sheets of paper in this room, but nothing jumped out at me. This is as close as I'm gonna get. This image is from Jennifer at the Stamp Shack. She did as Joanie did and sent out many images to many people to see their interpretation of the image. We call this a Virtual Swap. We don't send the cards anywhere, we just share our cards online. This sweet pea image is from PSX. I LOVE PSX stamps, but they don't make them anymore. They are so fun to color. This image was colored with Prismas. I colored the flowers my favorite sweet pea colors. The background was colored first with a light blue, then a darker blue and finally the darkest blues blended out from the corners. I left the center lightest just to add interest to the card. I am terrible with embellishments, so I just put on a velvet ribbon with some gem brads.

Irridescent Medium MESS

I made such a mess tonight.

Julie gave me a present. I got some Winsor & Newton Irridescent Medium. It's a shimmery substance that you add to your watercolors or acrylics to make it shimmery. You can also paint it directly onto paper. It is lovely.

Well, I thought it would look cool if I painted on a light layer of the medium over my colored pencil work, not knowing whether it would stick to the waxy surface of the pencil. It did stick beautifully. But then I had to go and mess it up.

I decided it had just a little too much shimmer for me (did I say that?), so I put a little water on a cotton pad and attempted to wipe it off. Carefully. It did start to come off, but then so did some of the pencil color. Oh no! So I wiped a bit more to get the water off then a bit more, and then I smooshed it over onto the white background. Shit. It carried the color over to the background and made it blurry. Look near the head by her hair. See? Yeah, you see it. There are smudges at the base of her dress, too. It's just a mess. But it shimmers!

So, did I throw it away? No. I chalk it up to experience and will not do this again, unless I WANT this kind of a mess. Oh, the stamp is pretty cool, huh? It's a new Terry Medaris stamp. At least one thing is cool about this image.

Terry Medaris class was today

Today was the day Terry Medaris came to town. Terry is a artist and art teacher from Arizona who uses Prismacolor pencils. He comes to teach classes at Cat's Craft Cupboard. Here's what the classes were: Class One was all about choosing and blending colors together. Class Two was working with the Prismas on dominoes, ceramic tiles and heat shrink plastic. Class Three was about using a light source and shading in your colored pencil art. I took the third class - again! I took it a year ago, but I didn't practice enough, so I forgot how to do it. I will have to practice a lot to get it right, but I had fun in the class. Here are the stamps I bought today. Some of them are new images that are not yet in the catalog or on his website. I met up with Tami (teabear), Julie (lostluggage) and Johanna (justjohanna) for lunch and then we went shopping at the Scrapping Cottage. After that, Tami went back to class and Julie, Johanna and I went to her house for a little order filling and playtime with Jake. I took Jake some cars, his favorite thing. I did not realize he had SO MANY! I do not know the exact number, but he must have at least a thousand, I don't know. We're talking Matchbox cars. Baskets and baskets full of cars. It was a fun day, especially since I could spend it with my friends.

Cards of a Different Size

I've been having a tough time getting just the right embellishments with my cards. I just can't seem to figure out if they need ribbon, buttons, glitter or what. When I do stamp an image, I believe it should be the focus of the card, not the embellishments, so I have a hard time choosing anything. I decided that maybe it wasn't the embellishments, but the size of my cards, so two I made today are different. I call the first card, "Make A Wish" for obvious reasons. I've been wanting to use this flower corner for a long time, but didn't know what to do with it. I think this is a little different way to use it. The corner flower stamp and the sentiment are by justjohanna. I stamped the images on white cardstock and stippled the background with yellow dye ink from CTMH. I stamped the floral corners on the cardstock and then stamped the sentiment in the center. I colored the flowers with my Prismas and then added a little black Stickles on the dots and flower centers. Card size is 4x4. This next card is 6x6. I can't remember what paper I used. If you've seen my craft room, you know I have more paper than I'm actually aware of, so I can't keep track of all the different ones I use, especially when I use more than one manufacturer. Anyways, on with it... I used Michelle the fish and the swirly tail stamps for this card. I used my stamp positioner a lot on this card. I stamped Michelle in an X pattern in the center, then positioned the swirly tail inbetween the fish and then between the swirls. I think it makes this look a little oriental. I really like playing with justjohanna stamps in different ways. And that's all there is in my cardmaking world today. John and I have been working on putting down Pergo downstairs, so that definitely cuts into my crafting time, but the floor is looking great. More info on that later.

History

On Mother's Day, Mom shows me this package full of old postcards. She wonders if I want them or what she should do with them. Most of the postcards were written to my great-grandma Hahn back in the early 1900's, with a few going to her brothers. Mom got these postcards from Grandma Margaret, who got them from her sister, Carol (my great-aunt) and daughters to Regina. I start looking through the postcards and I'm in awe. There are the usual embossed florals, the old-fashioned photographs with kitschy sentiments, and then there are a few that I think are outstanding and believe they are really worth something. The first one, the Pantalette Suffragette is in excellent condition. It was mailed to my Grandma Hahn back in 1912. I saw this same postcard on an auction site for $75. Now the second postcard, the watermelon one, cracks me up. It is so politically uncorrect, that I find it funny. Could you imagine sending out a postcard like this today? Oh, the Rev. Jesse Jackson would be making a personal call to you, don'tcha know! So all in all, there are 250+ postcards in this bag. I talked to my sister about them, and we agree that they should stay in the family. I'll put them in an archival storage album and I'll also get a pricing guide for curiosity's sake. Interesting things we find, huh?

Sick Hopper

I'm a bit late posting this card. I made it yesterday but didn't get around to posting and blabbing about it til today.

This is a new stamp from Stampabilities. It's called Bunny Boo Boo. How cute is this? My friend, Jennifer, sent me some images to color. Way cool.

This was stamped on Rosie's cardstock. It has a bit of a "tooth" to it, so it takes the colors well. I actually colored the bunny in 10% warm grey. If the image was stamped on darker cardstock, I would've used white to color the bunny. I highlighted with 50% warm grey. The rest of the colors, well, let's just say I used browns, greens, peaches and yellows. Real specific, huh? I never write down what colors I use unless I'm teaching a class or something like that. The background paper was from my 6x6 stash.

I'll be putting this card in my "for sale" box at work. I think I will charge $4 for this card. I know, I know, that's not enough, but hey, someday when I'm famous, people can say they bought one of my cards for only $4!

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day in the U.S.

I want to wish my Mom a happy, happy Mother's Day. I know I don't tell you enough how much I love you and love to spend time with you, but I do. We like to do the same things and you are fun to be around. I also want to tell you how proud I am of you. You have come out of your shell in the past year and it is wonderful. I see you fitting into your new retired life, finding activities you like to do and taking those trips you've always wanted to take. I'm glad you are doing that. I sometimes don't know what to say, but then just being together is great with me.

Wishing you the best Mother's Day so far. I am proud to be your daughter. I love you, Mom. xoxoxo

Tami's Color Challenge #4

Tami's color challenge this week is to do a red, white and blue card. I jumped right on that challenge, but then came to a dead stop. What stamps will I use? Can they be colored RW&B? No. Most of my stamps are not geared that way, so I had to be creative.

Then the next problem was, I couldn't find any R&B paper that went together. Sometimes you have a blue-red red and sometimes you have an orange-red. Sometimes the blues are red-blues and sometimes they are green-blues. Arrrrgg!! So I dug into my stashes of paper and found the remnants of a class project I did at the Cottage. The printed cardstock here (the flowers) are from the Heart Throb collection by Bo Bunny. I hope Tami doesn't mind me taking liberty with the blues.

I was dying to use my new 4" daisy QuicKutz punch, so I cut the flowers out of the pieces of Heart Throb paper. For the white background, I used the shrubbery stamp by justjohanna and randomly stamped it on the paper. Then I adhered the flowers. I quickly became aware that this card was not going to be my usual 4.25x5.5 card, so I made it into a 5x7. I matted the shrubbery background with a bit of the turquoise Bo Bunny paper and then adhered it all to a piece of red Prism paper. I trimmed the flowers from the edges of the card, stamped the sentiment (by justjohanna), matted it and then I was done!

Thanks, Tami, for your weekly challenges.

* * * Parte Dos * * *

I made another card for the RW&B Challenge. This one is way simpler, though. I used my CTMH inks to stamp a paisley stamp on white cs, then cut out the daisy shape with the QuicKutz. Cut out another daisy with the blue cardstock. Cut blue rick rack and ran it through my Xyron and attached it. Corners are cut with the SU punch. Red sparkle cardstock and a giant gem for the flower center.

I've been tagged!

I’ve been tagged by Cat and now it is my turn to list seven random things about me, so here we go:

1. If I drink a cold drink from a cup, it must have a straw in it or I will never finish it.
2. When I step up onto a curb I always use my left foot. When stepping down the curb, always my right. I will even do a little quickstep to make sure my footing is right.
3. My ring size and my shoe size are the same: size 8.
4. I am legally blind in my right eye.
5. I love the smell and taste of puppy kisses.
6. I like to sunbathe naked. (Ok, I’m sure you need therapy now.)
7. Halloween is my favorite holiday.

Ok, so now you know a little about me. Maybe more than you wanted to know - especially #6.

I love Limepeel

I love the Prismacolor pencil, Limepeel. I think it goes with so many of the other colors, that I use it a lot. I mean A LOT!!

I colored this gal last night around 3am. Yes, 3am. Dopey me drank a Red Bull with my dinner. This is the way felt around 3am so I just kept on coloring. Her dress is colored with the limepeel pencil and highlighted with moss green, I think.

This image is by Art Impressions andI think it is hilarious. For some reason, she reminds me of my grandma, Stella. Grandma didn't have red hair nor did she dress like this, but she was tall and thin and always drank coffee. Oh, and she always had a cigarette in her hand. Ah, childhood memories.

Sunny Days

Today was a fabulously sunny day, so I made a sunny card. I kept looking at this stamp at Cat's, but never put it in my basket, and yeterday I did! Jill, did you buy it yet??

It's such a happy, cheerful stamp. I just love any House Mouse image, though. I'm starting to get quite a collection. I love the new designs, but the old stamps are really my favorite. You can see House Mouse stamps here.

I stamped this image on Rosie's cardstock. I don't know what else to call it. That's what Cat calls it so there ya go. The paper is not smooth. It has some "tooth" to it. The "tooth" is great because when you color with the Prismacolor pencils, you're able to get more color into the paper. I think it allows for better blending. Also, when I color on the "toothy" paper, I don't get that wax bloom like I do when I color on a smooth paper. Just my personal preference.

When I color House Mouse images, it takes me a looooooong time. I really take my time and think about the colors and then layer and layer and layer them. I often go back and add just a hint of another accent color as well. No one probably notices but me, but that's ok. I don't usually use the colorless pencil blender, but I do use it on the mouse fur. I like a lighter touch of color on the mice, so I don't want to color too hard. Using the colorless blending pencil allows me to put down a little color and then spread it around with the blender.

That's it for this card. I think I'll dig out my Terry Medaris stamps and color one or two of those. Did you know he is coming to town to teach some colored pencil classes? No? Click here to go to his website and see the list of classes. One may be near YOU!

TTFN!

UPDATE - 5/8/07: This card was chosen as Card of the Month for April on HM Stamps website. How cool is that??

I felt like coloring

I felt like coloring last night, so I stamped some images that I haven't used ever or in a very long time. This first one is one I've never used, but one that I love. It's a Paula Best stamp that I got at the expo in Riverside. I love Paula Best stamps. They are so funky and fun. My usual MO when coloring an image that has a person on it, is to color the flesh first, and that's what I did here. I had an idea in my head that I wanted this to be a bright image, so I used pinks and blushes for her skintones. I didn't completely finish the skin tones because I wanted to see what other colors I came up with around her face and then I'd match the highlights with those. I love yellow and red hair so I tend to mix those colors together. Then I just went a little crazy. Blue and green fish, red wings, purple sweater. Color, color, color, blend, blend, blend. This is a new stamp from Magenta. I love their new images. So funky and fun, too. These little birds just had to have lots of color, so I went for it. A simple sentiment from Hero Arts and I was done with this one. Next was this Indian pottery stamp. When I bought it I knew I wanted to stamp it on Stampbord. This is a 2x2 piece of Stampbord and I just went a little crazy with the VersaMagic dewdrops on the background until I got what I call Indian colors. I let the background dry and then I stamped the pottery stamp on top. After that dried, I used my scratch knife and scratched into the Stampbord surface to bring out some highlights. If I didn't do this, my image would've blended into the background due to the inks and colors I used. I love stamping on Stampbord. Have you tried it yet?? If you want to and don't have access to Stampbord, post here and I'll send you a piece. I'm serious. You can put any medium on this stuff. It's amazing! haha I should work for Stampbord, huh? These next two are the same stamp, but I wanted to do two color combinations. When I was looking in my green paper drawer for just the right shade of green paper for the orange card, I found these Outlines leaves that I had clear embossed and tossed in the drawer. I thought they would be perfect for this card. I don't know if they really are perfect, but they go ok. On the pink card, I am not thrilled with the turquoise flower brad there, but I spent nearly 30 minutes trying to tie the perfect ribbon bow, that I just gave up and stuck a brad on there. Done. Hey, wanna see something fun? Check this out: Stampbord Events. Look at May 12. Yes, I am signing autographs! lol

I fell in LOVE today!!

I know this is not crafting, but I just had to share. About three times a year, Palomar Community College here in San Marcos has an Art and Pottery sale. I always find some little knick knack or a fabulous bowl by Mr. Karady, but today, oh today, I found this treasure! I don't usually go for the blown glass items, but this one spoke to me. Just looking at it makes me breathless. I love the colors in this one. How many artists will venture into the orange zone?? Not many. I love how this person, MAD are the initials on it, made the sparkly swirly parts. You gotta enlarge the pic to see the sparkles. Oh and all the insets of the bits of color! Oh my god, I just can't stand it. I think I need to take a shower now. Oh, this is a vase. No, not pronounced vase, but VAHZ. It is classy, it is gorgeous and it was $70. Oh, I never paid that much for a piece of glass before, but this was an exception. I saw it, saw the price and walked away. Did that about 5 times, and then decided that it made me so happy, I must have it. This MAD person had lots of art there today, but this is the one that made my heart sing.

I Got My Mojo Back!

Ok not THAT mojo, my CRAFTING mojo!! Sometimes the inspiration just comes to you and sometimes it comes to you in the form of a magazine. The latter is my case. My new Cards magazine came today. I didn't know what I was gonna do before that because I needed to make some cards for Johanna and I had no creativity whatsoever. I think it's back now, baby! This first little number is called "This Chick Loves You". I put Candace up there on the sentiment. It may be hard to tell, but the blue cardstock is shimmery. It's the new Bazzill paper we got in our Self-Addressed kit for April. Lovely, isn't it? This card measures 4x4. Don'tcha love the rhinestones?? I've been waiting and waiting to use this kitty cat stamp and tonight I finally found something I could stamp it on. I'm not in love with the colors of the kitties. I used my Prismas, but I should have underpainted with white like I did on the LOVE part. It would've brightened up the colors. This is the last card I made, "Happy Birthday with Sprinkles on Top". I added the small cupcake from the cupcake row stamp. I can't believe I actually had ribbon that was that lime green and red. See? It really is necessary to buy all that ribbon!