I was in the mood for some vibrant, bright colors and had an idea to go with this week's My Grafico sketch challenge.
 

Here is the sketch:

And here is my take: 

Digital Stamps & Papers: Modern Trains © Sanqunetti Design – MyGrafico

Yes, I always take a sketch literally.  This sketch just seemed to work out and I have 15 minutes before the deadline….. so I'm making this quick.
 

The stamps & border DP are from Sanqunetti Design called Modern Trains Stamps and the Modern Trains Papers available at MyGrafico.   The stamps are colored with copics and here's a little secret, when I print background paper off, I use regular laser paper.  Yes, that's right the regular weight (20lb I think) which I just glue onto cardstock scrap and you wouldn't know the difference. 

Something a little different and a little more boy-ish.   Thanks for stopping by…. I think I'm going to bed.  Will be early for the first time in over two weeks…..  until next time.

Tags: Copics, digital papers, digital stamps, myGrafico, Sanqunetti Design, sketch challenge, trains

I'm off to see what other 'to-do' item I can get done and crossed off my list .  Until next time……

Tags: chin-chou fantasy art, Copics, Plate #30, Sweet Pea Stamps, Thousand Years Waiting

Happy Friday everyone!  Hey, guess what I just realized?  It's daylight savings next weekend!  This makes me both happy and sad.  Happy because it will stay light longer which is a good thing but sad because I will loose an hour of sleep and it'll be dark in the mornings.  But the "happy" wins out because Spring can't be far behind .

Today is my day to post for Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps at the Sweet 'n Sassy Digi blog.  With all the things going on at home, I once again was up until the early morning hours to get my blog post done.  The time consuming part is not the coloring.  It's not even the card assembly, (I'm getting better at not being too analytical in picking papers and colors) nope, it's thinking of what to say in my post! 

Anyhow, with all the fabulous digital stamps at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, I always have such a hard time deciding which digi I should play with.   After a great 'cyber' discussion among the design team, discussing gnomes and the memories they conjure up, I decided to create a card with Korin's Nathaniel Gnome.

Nathaniel was suggested by Chris Sather for the Digi Designer Contest. Isn't that awesome to see a stamp that you thought of?

Digital Stamp:   Nathaniel Gnome – illustrated by Korin Sutherland for Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

He's colored with Copics and for his beard I became daring using Liquid Applique. It's my first time using this medium and I am not quite sure if I like it. His beard is too smooth. I'll just have to try it again, right?

Now when I think of gnomes, I think forest, nature, woodsy type colors which is why I chose earth tones for my card stock and panels. I added the red card stock pieces to tie the color of his jacket and hat in with the card. Having said all that, Nathaniel is printed onto Neenah Solar White super smooth card stock which I generally would not have paired with earth tone colors. This time I thought the white gave it a nice 'pop'. I love white space .

The sentiment is from Gnome Sentiments. These are just two of several great digital stamps which were released this week at the shop. And if you don't see a digi stamp that you are looking for or think of one that would make a great digital stamp, enter your suggestion in the Digi Designer Contest. Hurry though, this contest ends March 19th! Wouldn't it be so exciting to see your name at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps? I think so

Yesterday was Digi Day at Sweet 'n Sassy over on our SNR group!  Although I could only pop in once during the day, I did manage to create a really quick card at lunch yesterday.   The challenge this week is to create something with the colors, yellow and pink.

Digital Sentiment Stamp:  Sing Unto the Lord from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

Like I said, just a quick and simple card.  You should play along…. it's so much fun and the ideas you get from seeing everyone's projects is awesome!

You'll want to make sure to check out Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps  because Korin is adding new digi stamps daily. 

Thank you guys so much for stopping by, for your support and understanding for being behind in leaving some blog love….. and for all the wonderful comments.  I treasure each and every comment!  Until tomorrow, have a wonderful Friday!

Tags: Copics, digital sentiment stamp, digital stamp, gnome, gnome sentiments, Sing Unto the Lord, Sweet 'n Sassy Digis

Welcome to Thursday's with Lindsay.   With 40 degree weather this week, I am really beginning to get spring fever.  Although I'm not a big fan of summer heat and humidity, I am so ready for spring.  Which always makes me think of all the yummy fruits which are more readily available during the summer months.

It shouldn't surprise you that I my card today features the "Strawberry Preserves" digital stamp, part of the "Pretty Primitives" digital set from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. 

I colored the image with Copics and had planned on using some Crystal Effects over the 'glass' of the jar, but my daughter went back into the hospital last night, so I finished this card at midnight.  Definitely not the best coloring.  And because it was such a quick card, I had to cut the 3rd strawberry off the image because I colored way outside the lines.  The papers are like from Martha Stewart and are very thin, like tissue paper.  On the package it's called Craft paper.  I didn't realize that when I picked up a pack last year.  Still works though.

Head over to Lindsay's blog: The Frugal Crafter's Weblog,   to check out her latest projects, get a great freebie and visit the rest of the DT to see their fabulous work! 

Thanks for stopping by…. until next time.

Tags: Copics, digital stamps, Lindsay's Stamp Stuff

As some of you know, I've been attempting to finish up my craft room.  Over  the long Thanksgiving weekend, last year, I worked on it to at least be able to start moving my stuff into it and out of the family room.  If you missed the post and the pictures, go HERE. 

With Christmas approaching, I basically just started dumping stuff from the temporary craft room (aka former family room) into the new room. 

Just to show you what a big task it is to move all the stuff, here is what my temporary craft room looked like a week before Christmas.

This is what it looked like right before Christmas, after I got the family room cleaned out:

The next  picture shows the 'stuff' that I haven't even moved yet.  And I'm talking TWO closets full:

Downstairs family room closet.  U shape shelves, perfect for storage but no light.  Couldn't see anything.

Next is my guest bedroom closet upstairs:

Keep in mind that I have dabbled in all sorts of different crafts over the last 20 years which is why there is so much stuff.

So after Christmas, the wind really kinda went out of my sail.  I really didn't work on it any more other than moving stuff around so that I could get in there and try to craft.  This is what the room looked like Saturday morning before I got started:

Isn't it amazing I could create anything at all???

And here is what it looked like after 3 trips to the hardware store and working on it both Saturday & Sunday until 11:30pm:

Not bad, eh?

But what I am really excited about is that I finally found a perfect way to store my Stamp Wheels and my Nesties:

I will frame in the rough edges later to make it look all nice and neat.  Right now I needed to clean out totes and just need my area to be functional. 

One last close up look at the wheel storage:

Now you know the reason why I am absent from PCP or SNR, especially over the weekends.  I am happy to say that after this past weekend, I am finally able to see some progress, woohoo!  Plus once the weather turns nice,  I can finish building some other storage ideas I've had.  For one, under the counter, I'll be building/installing slide-out shelves.  I would love to figure out how to install a swivel pull-out desk to create like an L-shape (for the paper trimmer, score It, etc…) that I can swivel back underneath the counter so it's out of the way.   I think I've got something but we'll see.

I'm also planning on building a narrow, staggered shelves for the individual rubber stamps which means 3 more iris carts will be emptied and free up more space.  Lots of ideas, so little time. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Maybe I gave you some ideas for storage…..until next time!

Tags: craft room, remodeling

Good morning everyone.  I am so thrilled to be a featured stamper over at Tuesday Morning Sketches this week.

I had a lot of fun creating a card following this week's sketch:

Joni from Inktegrity is this week's sponsor at TMS and I was so fortunate to be able to play with one of her digital stamp "Sammy the Seal".

Another quick & simple card.  I used one of my older SU stamps to create a background on the card base, then dug out some even older SU Dsp, cut some strips and used my Nesties to cut the circles.  After I assembled the card, added the ribbon and the rub-on sentiment.  Hm, wow besides the digi stamp, everything on this card is Stampin' Up!.  Haven't done that in a long time, lo.

A great big thank you to Melissa for having me as a featured stamper!  Make sure to hop over to TMS and play along!!!  You can win a $10 gift certificate from Joni at Inktegrity.

Thanks so much for stopping by…… I'm off to work, sigh!

Tags: Challenges, Copics, digital stamps, Inktegrity, Tuesday Morning Sketches

Wowsers, my Monday has been…. MANIC… to say the least, but more about that later.   I thought I had scheduled this post already.  Hm, apparently not.   So without further ado….. (yeah, I had started this at lunch and it is now after 11pm….. that's how my day went!)

Digital Stamp: "Amber Reads" from Clip Art and Scrap

Remember my card from Saturday introducing you to Amber?  This is Amber reading.  Another cute digital stamp from Clip Art and Scrap.  I really enjoyed coloring her, again, with Copics.  I kept the color palette simple.  Colored the chair gray, used some gray, green & black card stock for the panels.  Kept the card base white.  The black panel was die cut with SU's Top Note die.   Really quick & simple.  But I totally love this card.  The sentiment "Dream" stamp is from Inkadinkado.

And I so need to apologize to Jehanne.  Jehanne is the illustrator/owner of Clip Art and Scrap and in my hurry I completely forgot to mention this.  Sorry Jehanne, sometimes I'm a complete ditz.  Actually I was working on cleaning my craft room.  Worked on it all day Saturday until the wee hours in the morning.  I think I got to bed Sunday morning around 3:30 am.  Then got up Sunday around 9 am, had my coffee & toast and hit it again.  Since I had to work today, which meant getting up at 6am, I got to bed around midnight.   I had totally planned on getting to bed tonight at a decent hour – like 10pm, yet here I am and it's already 11pm.  (So if I don't make any sense or am repeating myself, lack of sleep will do that, lol)

Yes, I have before & after pictures of my craft room.  I'll post them tomorrow morning before I go to work…. too tired and my head is pounding.

Thanks for stopping by and if you get a chance, stop by Jehanne's blog and tell her just how cute her digital stamps are !

Tags: clip art and scraps, Copics, digital stamps

Hi Everyone,

For my card today  I used ©ching-chou kuik's Love is Gone from Plate 29.   I really  tried to step outside my comfort zone by attempting to use several embellishments and lots of layers.  LOL, it never looks as good when I try to do this.)
 

After coloring the image with Copics, I use my Copic Atyou Spica Glitter pens to add some sparkle. I also used Dimensional Glaze on the sun in the upper left hand corner. After assembling the layers, I stamped out the sentiment from Verticals Plate 4 but because it was a bit too long, I just cut the individual words apart, used Distress Ink to blend the edges, then layered them onto card stock and stacked them to make them fit .  LOVE these vertical sentiments!!!!!

I found some K&Co. Winter Wonderland Paper Pack & Die-Cut papers in the clearance aisle at Jo-Anns which worked great with the color theme. Just because it says Winter or Christmas, doesn't mean I can't use them for other seasons, right? The flower is from Prima and the butterfly embellishment is from Accent Factory.

Here is a close up, hopefully you'll be able to see the glitter:
 

I definitely have to work on adding bling & embellishments, to get comfortable with that.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to swing by Sweet Pea Stamps, especially if you haven't seen the latest release…. you're going to love it!

Tags: chin-chou fantasy art, Copics, Love is Gone, Sweet Pea Stamps

I couldn't resist.   Mention sparkle and that is what comes to mind, hehehehe!

Welcome to  Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays challenge #29 and like Edward Cullen, the challenge this week is to use SPARKLE!

So use a little or use a lot and then make sure to head over to the SSDS challenge blog and link up your creation.  You have until next Friday to get your sparkly projects created.    Heather Ellis of Digi Stamp Characters is this weeks sponsor.   Thank you, Heather.  You'll want to head to her store HERE to check out all the cute digital stamps.

But for all the details of this week's challenge as well as who the lucky winner of last weeks challenge is,  hop over to Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays. 

Digital Stamp: "Amber Heart Balloon" from Clip Art and Scrap

I'd like to introduce you to Amber.  Isn't she a cutie?  I think she is adorable.  She's a digital stamp from Clip Art and Scrap colored with Copics.  Notice I did use sparkle.  Not a lot, just on the balloon.  Geez, I forgot how long it takes for Stickles to dry.  Just a quick and simple card.  Thankfully tonight the card design and assembly went relatively quick. 

You really have to head over to Clip Art and Scrap to check out all the other adorable digital stamps Jehanne (owner of CAS) creates.  Adorable, whimsical and just all around fun to color, I promise

Before I close, this will be my last post as DT member for Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturday.  It's hard to believe that the six months are already up.  SSDS was my first DT position and I learned so much thanks to everyone at SSDS.   Girls, I luv ya and perhaps once I get things settled with the house (lots of home repairs to be done this spring),  I will still play along with the weekly challenges.  (You can't get rid of me this easily, lol).

I'm off to clean my very messy craft room…..sigh, very messy!

Tags: challenge, clip art and scraps, Copics, glitter, SSDS, whimsical

You guys have no idea how happy I am that it is Friday!!!  I am bound and determined to get my craft space somewhat under control because it is a total – and I mean TOTAL – mess.

With this major mess, it was amazing I finished three cards last night.   Even if it took agonizingly long to do so.

Today is my day to post at the Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Blog, so you will want to head over there to check out two of the cards I created last night. 

My third card was created specifically for  SNS Digi Day at the group forum at SNR.  The challenge was to use stripes somewhere on your project.

Digital Stamp:  "Little Piggy" illustrated by Korin Sutherland @ Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

Isn't he too cute?  This "Little Piggy" is colored with (what else?) copics.  I used the sentiment that comes with him on the front because I plan on adding to this sentiment depending on what I need.  I was thinking of "This little piggy – ……..wishes you a Happy Birthday"  or "…….. is thinking of you".   I'll just generate it on the computer and print it out when I have a need for it.

Sweet 'n Sassy is releasing just awesome digital stamps almost daily!  You have to check out the digital stamps created by Korin's kids.  And they are just 7, 10 and 12 years old….. some awesome talent.

Thanks so much for stopping by and as always THANK YOU for all the sweet comments.  I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend.  My plans are to tackle the chaotic mess and at least attempt to make it an organized mess.  Yeah, I'll let you know how that goes, lol.

Until next time….

Tags: Sweet 'n Sassy Digis