Some of my favorite things

Hi everyone. Over on my niece's blog, she posted that she tends to use the same basic five items over and over. In no particular order, here are my top five items. Oh yes, my ATG gun. When I first got it, I thought it was a bit bulky, but it really isn't. It's light and works perfectly!

My favorite scissors. The little Cutterbee scissors. I call them my bumble bee scissors. I love these scissors because they are sharp and small.

Inks. We all need inks if we're going to stamp! I use these two different types of inks: The Memento ink I use for stamping images that I want to color with my Copics and the Versafine for images I color with my Prismacolor pencils. I think the Versafine gives a sharper image than the Memento, but you can't use Versafine ink with Copics unless you heat emboss the image.

My Prismacolor pencils. I love these pencils. I store my pencils in highball glasses. I have 3-4 pencils of each color. I do this for a couple of reasons. One, I'm a pencil pig. Two, I figure if I have 3-4 of each color, when I go to look for a particular color, I won't have to search for the color. Oh, and I like the look of the full pencil cups. :)

And last but certainly not least, my Copics. It's about 50/50 now when I color an image. Sometimes it's Prismas and sometimes it's my Copics. I love these sketch markers and can't imagine crafting without them.

Thanks, Dana, for your post. How about you? What are your top five items you couldn't craft without?

Thanks for stopping by today!

House Mouse Monday Challenge #25

I tell myself I'm going to do a couple of challenges a week. Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don't, but I have good intentions. One of the challenge blogs I like a lot is the House Mouse Monday Challenge blog. They give you a sketch and all you have to do is use a HM stamp on the card. Sometimes they give away blog candy! Here is my take on this weeks sketch:

This stamp is called "Bear-ied in Paperwork". Reminds me of this specific time of the year - tax time! Oh, how I hate tax time. No, I don't do my own taxes. I just hate to get all the junk together for the tax guy, and I am not organized all year to keep it together. I'm busy being creative!

Ok, so there is a flower on this card. The original sketch has a bow tied there. You are free to change the sketch how you want - make it smaller, bigger, turn it upside down, sideways, etc., so I put a flower there. I cannot tie a nice bow to save my cards. Really. I even tie my shoes crooked. I didn't have a nice brown Prima flower, either, so I took a white one and colored it with my Copic marker. My card measures 5.5 x 5.5 and I colored the image with my Prismacolor pencils.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Cat chipboard book

I am so far behind I don't know when or if I'll catch up. Here's a book I've been working on this weekend. A friend of mine just had a litter of kittens. No, not HER! Her cat! haha!! I crack myself up sometimes. This is the front of the book. My sweet sister sent me this cat-shaped book for my birthday. It's so cute! I used DCWV Pet Paper for the book. I used some justjohanna Odd Bird Planet stamps on these facing pages. Aren't they just too cute?

This next layout is fun. I had this brown leather frame with lime green stitching in my embellishments drawer. I put foam dots around three of the edges to raise it up. See where the little green dot sticks out from the top? That's so you can pull out the picture from the frame. I colored the little kitty and put her in there until my friend puts her own kitty picture in there.

This one, I stamped and colored the Crazy Cat Lady in Training. The television set is a QuicKutz die for my Revolution. I raised up the television frame on three sides and put a ribbon pull on the left side to slide the picture in and out of the frame. The tag is for journaling.

I love the bright colors in the layout below. I have these little wooden flower pots that are cut in half. I got them at Michael's. I colored the wooden flower pot with my Copics and then put in some flowers with some glue. After that dried, I just glued it to the book.

I used another of my QuicKutz dies for the layout below. It's a file folder diecut. Two diecuts, actually. One for the cover and one for the tabbed inserts. I stamped and colored the image on the outside. Colored with my Prismas. There are six pages for pictures of kitties in this little booklet. YAY!

A long time ago, I was RAK'd with a bunch of kitty cat stuff and these stickers were part of that RAK. I thought it was cute to put the ingredients for a cat on the back of the photo book.

This book does not lay flat when closed. It's already about 6" thick. I tied some ribbons to the top of the book as you can see by the front view (first picture). I really enjoy making these little chipboard books. I hope my friend enjoys this book as much as I enjoyed making it for her.

Thanks for stopping by today.

I am Certified!

You notice I said "Certified" not "Certifiable", right? Ok, just wanted to get that straight.

On January 23rd, I drove up to Anaheim, CA to take the Copics Certification class. The class was fun, entertaining and informative. I really enjoyed learning the shading techniques that Marianne taught. We got to look through her sketch and coloring books, too. Woo hoo! The gals I sat with at the table were so much fun. Thanks gals!

I think the most impressive thing I learned was choosing the right type of paper for the job. Marianne gave us samples of different types of papers to try. My favorite one was the Prism paper that is just slightly glossy. The ink doesn't bleed over the stamped image line and I like the smooth look. The other paper I liked was the Neenah paper. It allowed the ink to soak into the paper all the way to the back with out bleeding out all over the place. You all know NOT to use watercolor paper, right? It will suck your markers dry very quickly. Also, choose your inks carefully. Since Copics are alcohol-based, you'll want to use a dye-based ink. If you use an alcohol-based ink, such as Staz-On, the ink will bleed into the marker and vice versa. Probably not the look you were going for, I'm guessing. I use Memento Tuxedo Black ink. You can get it at most every stamp or scrapbook store, but I get mine at the Paper Garden Store. You can also get your Copics there, and by the way, THEY ARE ON SALE RIGHT NOW! Here's a picture of me receiving my certificate from Marianne Walker herself. Thanks for stopping by today!

Some things never change

John and I cleaned out the garage this weekend. Well, not totally cleaned out, but we whittled down the pile of junk in there. I am determined to get my car in there. We made a pile of stuff to give away. I took pictures and put the stuff on craigslist. Amazing thing, craigslist. Anywho.....

As we were cleaning out boxes and stuff, I found the box with all my scrapbooking pictures. How did that get down in the garage? I don't know, but it did. In that box, was the book that my parents kept of me and my school stuff. It's just a comb-bound book with envelopes inside that you can put school pictures and report cards. It's fun to look back on how I used to look.

This is my Kindergarten picture. I was six. I am a December baby, so I started school a year later than most kids. I remember this vest, too. It was fuzzy and I loved the pin on it. I felt so grown up. So I share my kindergarten picture with you. BTW, my teacher's name was Ann Flynn and I loved her so much! I just remember her being so kind and loveable and wonderful. Many teachers have made an impact on me, but I digress.

Here is my kindergarten report card. Click to make it bigger. Interesting now to see what Mrs. Flynn reported as my strengths. I still believe those are my strengths today. Of note, check out #4 on the list: does well with art materials. Do you think I loved coloring as much then as I do now? I think I did. I've always loved coloring.

Ok, now about the major concerns. Why does it have to say MAJOR concerns? Can't it just say CONCERNS? Anyways, I've always had a tough time controlling my feelings. My dad used to say I wore my feelings on my shirt sleeve and I agree. My feelings are hurt easily even though I don't admit it, to anyone or myself. Cannot accept criticism? I have matured in this area, thank god. At least I don't cry when someone says anything critical about me or what I do.

Ok, so now you have a peek into the real me. I'm a real blonde, my eyes are blue and I still wear funky glasses. How about you? How about a peek into your kindergarten picture and maybe even share your report card?

Paper Craft Planet Sketch

You must be wondering how I've been able to make so many cards in the past few days, huh? I've had this past week off from work, that's how. Oh, I've done a few things other than make art, but mostly just made art. It is my week OFF, after all! Over on Paper Craft Planet, they had a sketch that looked fairly intriguing. I thought, "ok, I'll just knock this one out right quick". Ok, yeah, right. It's taken me hours and I didn't even have to color anything. I colored the image earlier in the week when I just felt like coloring images for a day. The heart image and the Love and Hate image are from Bombshell Stamps. I got the lyrics from "Burnin' Love" from the internet. So yeah, I colored the heart image with my Prismacolor pencils. The Love & Hate sentiment is embossed with black powder. Both the heart and the sentiment banner are pop-dotted. Here's a little close-up of the heart. I'm showing you this because I just love this image. I would've colored it with my Copics, but there are some really small places and I can get better detail with the pencils than with the Copics. When I see this image, I envision jewelry. It would be so cool to have a pin like this. Oooh, maybe I'll make one out of felted wool. Another project, another day. This is the left hand side of the card. I really wanted to use my black paper with the shiny pink lips on it but couldn't figure out what to put on top of it. Finally came up with this teal lace. It needed something else and so I brought in a bit more of the white from the card from the lyrics area and used a narrow white ribbon to weave through the lace. I can't say it's my favorite look, but it did ok for the card. One other thing that was fun, was making this card 4x9. It fits into a regular business envelope. Thanks for stopping by today. Go check out Paper Craft Planet!

Cuttlebug Challenge #12

Hi again. It's me.

I was going through my blog feeds and I saw that Teresa updated her blog recently and made this really cute card. She posted a card that she made for the Cuttlebug Challenge site. The challenge is to emboss your cardstock and then sand it.

I used some of my Black Magic cardstock for the background on this card. It was such a muted color, that I used some soft pink/mauve cardstock and colors. The colors don't match in the picture but they do in real life. Really they do. I used Odd Bird Planet stamps this time. I used the Birdie Cake and the Happy Birthday sentiment. It's a quick and easy card to make.

Caardvarks sketch challenge

Hi there!

Did you know there is a sketch challenge over on the Caardvarks site? It's a really cool one and the winner of this sketch challenge wins a prize! Yep, a prize!!

Go see it - it's very cool. You have until January 17th to get your card entered in the contest.

For my card for the challenge, I used Bombshell Stamps. As soon as I saw the sketch, I knew what stamps I wanted to use, but I didn't know what colors I wanted, so I started digging through my folders of paper and found this older kit I hadn't ravaged yet. This is how I choose the colors I want to color my images most times. If I do it the other way around, I have a hard time matching my colored images to paper I have. I colored these images with my Prismacolor pencils. The colors I used are listed in the next picture.

Head on over to Caardvarks and check out the sketch and submit your card, too. The more, the merrier!

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you had a fun and safe New Years.

Happy New Year!

It's almost 2009. Wow. Where did 2008 go? I just wanted to tell you all how much I have enjoyed browsing your blogs, participating in your swaps, chatting with you on the message boards, and making so many new friends. I don't know what I would've done without you this past year. Ok, I would've gotten more housework done, but what's more important? Yeah, I thought so. :) Best wishes to all of you, all my crafting friends, for 2009 and all years to come. This quick card was made using Bombshell stamps and colored with Prismacolor pencils.

Birthday Card featuring Odd Bird Planet stamps

A new video. YAY!

Do you voodoo?

My son, Tony, is very crafty. Look what he made for his friends for Christmas. Are they cute or what? This little voodoo thing started a few months ago. The crafty group at Odd Bird Planet headquarters invited him to join the group that month and he decided to make these little guys. Or are they girls? The ones he made that night were different than these, but cute just the same. He hit my fabric and embellishment stashes and came up with these. I can't decide which one I like best. I like the feather top one, but then I like the pompom headed one, too. Tony actually came up with the design and he hand sews them and then stuffs them. I've told him he needs to sell them on Etsy. What do you think? Do you think they would sell there? I just love that they are original and all different. BTW, I don't think these are real voodoo dolls. There isn't anyone's hair sewn into the doll or anything. He calls them something else. Maybe he'll make some and post them on Etsy. If he does, I'll let you know. Thanks for stopping by today.

He's not supposed to be there

I walk into the room and this is what I find. He knows he's not supposed to be there, yet when my head is turned, he does it anyways. I know he wants send all his feline friends email, but don't lay on the keyboard. Please! Use your paws! He gets his hairs all over the keyboard and all those bits and pieces of fluff fall between the keys. This is Gizmo. He is my shadow. I can't go anywhere without him at my heels or under my feet. He is a Bengal. Have you ever had a bengal? They are quite different from regular kitties. They are a cross between the Asian leopard cat and the domesticated house cat. He has a very distinct purr and sometimes in the middle of the night, he'll wander the house yowling. For what, you ask? I have no idea. We're used to it now, but when he started it, it was kinda creepy and annoying. How can you be mad at this cute fuzzy face? I can't. I talk to him and tell him to remove his furry body from my laptop and he just winks and meows. He knows I won't throw him off. Problem is, he wiggles around and his wiggling opens window after window and all I hear is dinging, ya know? Oh, and his soft, fuzzy paw. Isn't it too cute? Bengals have the softest, most sparkly fur. When he lays in the sun, you can see the natural glitter to his fur. If I didn't already have 3 cats, I would definitely get another Bengal. They are so playful and fun. Oh, and did you know they love water? I just needed to post something besides cards. Tomorrow I'll be posting cards again. I'm actually going to be posting another tutorial, but I don't know if it will be done by tomorrow, so check back on Sunday for sure. Thanks for stopping by today.

Almost Christmas

Yes, it's almost Christmas, can you believe it? It snuck up on ME for sure. I've only got a few days at best to get my gift box to my sister and her family in the mail or it will surely be late this year. I've been working on a bunch of different projects recently. I've been making some Christmas cards using some of the new Odd Bird Planet images. There are so many new cute images this time, but then I say that every time Johanna releases new images. So cute!!! I colored all these images with my Prismacolor pencils. Nope, no Copics this time. I'm not too excited about those funky snowflakes I drew in the background of this first card, but hey, once the ink hits the paper, what are you gonna do, right? I do love the velvet ribbon, though. Let's say that redeems me for the tacky snowflakes, ok? This next card is a gatefold card. I got a bunch of these cards in a pack at Cat's Craft Cupboard ages ago and I'm just now using them. Besides the card base on the second card, all other paper is Paper Salon's "Dazzle" paper. I think it's last year's paper, but I had it in my stash. I'm trying to use up what I have before I buy more. Yeah right. If you believe that, I've got some swampland in Arizona to sell you. This last card is my favorite, I think. I just like him all colored in the unexpected blue. He looks jazzy, huh? Kind of like you're waiting for him to break out in a jig or something. What kind of dances do you suppose gnomes dance? Is it a gdance? Or a gwaltz? Maybe a ghokey-gpokey?? It's late. My jokes are bad and I'm going to bed now. Thanks for stopping by today!

Holiday Mail for Heroes

Holiday Mail for Heroes is a partnership between the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes to deliver one million holiday cards to American service members, veterans, and their families in the United States and around the world. So when you're making your holiday cards this year, make a few extras and send them to: Holiday Mail for Heroes P.O. Box 5456 Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456 All cards must be postmarked no later than Wednesday, December 10, 2008. Please feel free to pass along this information to cardmaking friends via your blog and/or email. Together we can make a difference! Here are some cards I made for our heroes.

All stamps are by Odd Bird Planet. Paper is by Crate Paper and all images are colored with Copic sketch markers.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Monday Morning Comic