House Mouse Monday Challenge #34

The theme for this week's House Mouse weekly challenge is "Springtime". I thought lots of cardmakers would be making cards with flowers, so I thought this image would be great for spring, too. Whenever the weather gets warm, I always go for the popsicles. My favorite flavor is orange, so that's what I gave these mice. Thanks for the opportunity to enter the challenge. It's always fun.

I used the spotlight technique for this card. It's easy to do. Stamp your image twice. Choose an area on the image that you want to highlight. This would be an area of interest, like the two mice and the popsicle. Color the area on one stamped image. Cut it out with your circle cutter. Since my stamped image is very large, I chose a large circle. If I would've chosen a smaller circle, it would've looked a little silly, I think. So I cut out the circle area and then I used a black marker to edge the circle for a little definition. Adhere the circle to the card. That's it. Try this technique sometime. It's quick and fun.

Earth Day winner!

Thanks to all of you who participated in my Earth Day Challenge. The winner of my challenge is: Jenn! Double N Jenn! Here's a link to the winning card. Congrats, Jenn. Please EMAIL ME and give me your name and address so I can get your prize out to you!

Earth Day Challenge

** Holy guacamole, my post didn't post on time! I had it set to go but I must've put in the wrong time. A million apologies. On with the post: Happy Earth Day!! When I think of Earth Day, I think of doing things that save the earth and the earth's resources. When I buy things, I try not to buy things that have a lot of packaging that will be thrown in the trash. That's just me. When I read magazines, it bugs me so much that they put in so many of those little inserts, attached or not, that want you to subscribe to their magazine. I've found 4-6 of them in just one magazine! My challenge to you, is to take one of those subscription inserts and use it somehow on your card. You can color it, tear it, stamp on it, ink it, paint it, whatever! Here's what I did with one of the inserts from my magazine: I used all OBP stamps and stamped them on white cardstock, cut them out and mounted them on top of the subscription card. I pop dotted the earth topiary and the kitty. The chaise is cut out and adhered to the card and the chandelier is stamped, embossed, colored and glittered directly to the card. I colored my subscription card with Copics. I gave it a good base coat with one color, then used a tissue soaked with colorless blending solution and another Copic color and dabbed it on. You could do the same thing with alcohol inks if you had a glossy cardstock. Let's see what you do with your subscription cards. You have until midnight tomorrow to finish this challenge and all the other challenges by OBP design team members. You do NOT have to use OBP stamps, but if you have 'em, use 'em! Here's what you do. Make your card and post it on your blog. Make a comment to this post with a direct link to your post on your blog. Here's some more info: OBP's Design Team will be hosting challenges on their blogs. These challenges will also be posted on OBP's Group area of Paper Craft Planet. You'll have until Thursday at midnight to complete any and all challenges. Do you want to know what you're playing for, other than the satisfaction of making some awesome cards and projects? One winner from each of the challenges will receive either an Earth or a "Limited Edition" Al on Earth stamp. That one winner will then be entered into the drawing for one of the grand prizes:
 o One winner will receive $100 in Odd Bird Planet stamps
 o One winner will receive $50 in Odd Bird Planet stamps
 o Five winners will receive a 25% discount coupon when they place a Odd Bird Planet order. Here's the schedule (all times are PDT), challenge hostesses, and their blog urls: 6:00 am – 9:00 amRina, Sparkle, Suzy, Godelieve 9:00 am – 12:00 pmNicole, Tracy, Dianne 12:00 pm – 3:00 pmKim, Tanis 3:00 pm – 6:00 pmBeth, Marnie, Teresa 6:00 pm – 9:00 pmLaura 9:00 pm – 12:00 amDebbie, Kathi Ok, enough information! Let's get crafting. I want to see what you can do with those pesky subscription cards!!!

Happy Earth Day!

Well, 6am came and went. I overslept. Check HERE for the schedule of Earth Day events. Each person on that schedule will be hosting a challenge in that time slot. Follow the instructions on each blog so you know where to post your card. Don't forget to check out the OBP forum on Paper Craft Planet. Lots of info and happenings there, too. My challenge is at 9pm tonight. Come back and see me!

Earth Day coming up tomorrow!!

There is going to be a HUGE Earth Day celebration tomorrow, Wednesday, April 22nd over on Odd Bird Planet. Many of the OBP DT members will be hosting challenges on their blogs - with prizes!! You will have until midnight on Thursday the 23rd to finish any and all challenges. Check back at 6am tomorrow for more information. Get ready to be crafty!

Chilly Spring Day

I know I shouldn't complain about the windy, chilly weather here in San Diego County, but I am. I live in North County for a reason - I like it warm, almost hot, so when the weather turned out to be only 58 and windy (15 mph), I was disappointed. It did rain a bit yesterday and that was nice, but it was over by evening. Now it's just cold and I want warm spring days. I'm actually more ready for summer, but I know spring has to come first.

Here is my attempt at feeling springy. I made this spring banner last weekend at craft night at Johanna's. I used my Hero Arts alphabet set for the big letters. The paper is from a DCWV spring pack I got at Michael's over a year ago. I have this banner hanging on the outside of my cubicle wall at work. It needed some brightening up, that's for sure.

For each section of the banner, I cut a 8.5 x 11 paper in half to 5.5 x 8.5. On the 5.5 side, I measured to the middle of the side, which is 2.75" and then cut from the opposite corner to the middle of the paper to my mark. I did that from each corner. I covered each triangle with paper from the DCWV pack and then embellished simply with flowers and sparkle gems. I outlined each letter with black diamond Stickles. Each section is bordered with lace from my stash adhered with double-sided red sticky tape.

It was fun to get out my box of Primas and see which ones matched, and I've come to one conclusion: I don't need all those flowers in all those colors. You know why? Because I can just buy white or cream AND COLOR THEM! Look at the picture above. In the "S" section. See the orange flower? Now see the yellow flower? Well, those started out as white Primas. Check it out below.

The yellow came out a bit brighter than I wanted, but hey, this was an experiment. The orange matches my paper perfectly. So do you know how I did it? With Copics!! It was super easy and if you put enough ink on the flower, you can blend the colors nicely.

That's it from me today. I'm getting geared up for Coachella. It's going to be a fantastic weekend. The weather will be hot - in the high 90's - and the nights will be cool - in the 60's. I can't wait to hear all the new bands as well as the well-known bands. Did you know people come from all over the WORLD to this music festival? It's so awesome!

Have a crafty weekend and we'll catch you on the flip-flop.

OBP Sale is almost over!

Happy Sunday! Hey, you didn't forget about the sale over at Odd Bird Planet, did you? Ok, good. I'm sure you were just waiting for pay day, right? Yeah, me, too. I love this stamp. It's Larry Strongbird. Regular price for this stamp is $10, but you can get him for only $7 until April 8th. I colored him with my Prismacolor pencils. I can't remember which colors I used. I always forget to write that down. I Cuttlebugged some violet shimmer stock and matted it with black. The reason I chose violet and yellow is because they are opposite on the color wheel. In other words, they are complementary colors. Whenever I can't decide what colors to use on a card, I get out my color wheel. It comes in very handy. That gives me an idea. Do you think a tutorial on using the color wheel would be beneficial? Here's a close-up of Larry Strongbird. I love how his leotard is leopard-spotted. I think that's funny. I'm working on my shading. I think my perseverance is paying off. I'm learning how to shade in details, like his muscles. Kind of gives the arms/wings definitition. Here's the list of stamps on sale over at OBP. There are so many, I'm sure you can find something for yourself or maybe for a gift? Have a great week!