Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Bombshell's Hump Day Hop!

Yay! The last Wednesday of the month has arrived and that means it's time for the monthly Bombshell Stamps Hump Day Hop!!!

Kas, Bombshell's lovely Hump Day Hop Captain, has set the theme for July, which is She's A Firecracker, Alright.

Kas said,
I would love to see something along the lines of:
1) Red - White - Blue
2) Firecrackers (Bombshells)
3) Military
4) or sparkling like a firework!


Here's my take on the challenge:



Close-up:


I took the "easy" route and went with a red, white, and blue color scheme and used the Sailor Girl (and a sentiment and the ropes) from the Ahoy Sailor set, which fills the Military category too!

The images were colored with Copic markers. The stars were colored with Sakura's Stardust Glitter pen. Distress Ink was used to edge and age the image. The patterned paper is from the Boxer collection by Basic Grey.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Now that you've seen my take on the challenge, be sure to hop along to the others on the list below. Remember: each comment will earn you another chance to win a fabulous prize!

Hump Day Hoppers:
Kas
Katie
Kathi
Cheryl
Steph
Meredith
Alison
Danielle
Keely
Angie
Laura
Kelli
PerkyNihilist
Jodie

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Perfect together!



I think these two stamps work together beautifully, which will probably prove that I am a bit demented, but so be it.

The hour glass is a digital stamp by Smeared Ink. The skeleton and its martini are traditional stamps from the Calaveras Fiesta set by Bombshell Stamps. Both images were colored with Copic markers. The sentiment was made with rub-ons that were on clearance. Their quality was poor which was why. Distress Inks were sponged onto the image piece and the torn cardstock strips.

Thanks for visiting!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Sending mental margaritas



This card is to cheer someone up who has been going through a rough patch. It uses pink and black, which is the challenge over on the Crafty Secrets forum over at SCS.

I used the gal and the thought bubble from Crafty Secrets' Party Queen set with a margarita stamp by Memory Box. The images were colored with Copic markers.

The patterned papers are by Crafty Secrets as well. The ribbons are stacked and are from my stash. I used a bunch of flowers all piled on top of each other to reinforce the pink and black theme.

Thanks for visiting today!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Enchantment

This scene is what I imagine happens in my back garden late in the evening. The card fills the SCS Crafty Secrets' forum challenge #128 -- Things With Wings.



I sponged several colors of Distress Ink onto white cardstock and then spritzed it with water to get a splotchy effect. When it was dry, I stamped the swinging fairies with Onyx VersaFine ink. I stamped the stars and moon with VersaMark and then heat embossed with white and silver embossing powder. I actually was not bummed about the stray embossing powder. I think it looks nebula-like. The stars, moon, and Fairies are from the Fairies set by Crafty Secrets.

I mounted the scene onto black cardstock, then mounted that onto a a black card that was punched on one edge with a Martha Stewart/EK border punch. I added a silver holographic sticker strip and heat embossed some more stars and "Enchantment" (from one of my cck Fantasy sets by Sweet Pea Stamps.

Thanks for visiting today!

P.S. I hope no one does a Google Search for "Swinging Fairies". If they find this, they might be very surprised. *snortle*

Friday, July 16, 2010

It's time!



The image is a digital stamp from Smeared Ink, which I colored with Copic markers, then colored over it with a Perfect Medium pen. I used several layers of clear embossing powder to add a clear, shiny dimension to it. When it cooled, I sponged several colors of Distress Ink over it to coat the piece. I spritzed some water to add that cool splotchy effect and distressed the edges.

A Cuttlebug folder was used to emboss a piece of color core Core'Dinations cardstock. I sanded the surface to reveal the light blue core, then cut two flourishes so that I could slide the stamped piece into it. The edges of this piece were distressed as well. I poked a hole in the watch fob and used pewtery floss to attach the watch to the Cuttlebugged background.

Thanks for visiting today.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Bombshell's July Sketch Challenge!

Here's July's sketch by moi that you can see over at the Bombshell Stamps forum!


Here's what you can win for using this sketch for inspiration!


Here's my take on my sketch:


This amazing stamp is called Rose's Portrait and is part of a great set that is relatively new to the Bombshell Stamp Collection. The set comes with Rose's Portrait, aRose with Banner Stamp, aRose Bud Rubber Stamp, a "Thinking of you" Text Stamp, and a "Rose Speaks" Poem Stamp.


I do love Rose's Portrait. My grandmother's name was Rose and she wore beautiful shawls, so this stamp reminds me of her. Next time I'll have to make her eyes brown to match Grandma Rosie's!

I colored Rose with Copic markers and added a bit of Spica glitter pen to add some sparkle to her earrings. The patterned paper with the roses is by Crafty Secrets. The pink patterned paper was a largish scrap from my stash.

I'm moderately happy with the roses and her shawl. I need to work a bit more on getting the shadows on her face right.

The blue is a bit lighter irl, but since I took the photo indoors at night, there are serious shadows in the lower left.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Now get busy with the sketch and win some goodies!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Two challenges -- One card!

This one qualifies for Splitcoast's Sketch Challenge 288 and TCP Tuesday's Color Challenge! It also qualifies for a third one (something about using a previously unused item), but I forgot where I saw that challenge! Ha. It's not easy being me.



I used the Hola Tequila and Make Merry sets by the Cat's Pajamas and the lime slice stamp by Odd Bird Planet. The image was colored with Copics and then glitter was added to the rims of the glasses.

The lime slice was colored with Copics with a very odd, but cool, result.

The rectangle/circle panel and the circle sentiment are up on dimensionals.

The pink is raspberrier and the yellow is honeyier in real life (<---referring to the colors). Silly camera and silly camera's user. :D

Thanks for visiting today!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Special Bombshell Hump Day Hop--DT ATCs!

Bombshell Stamps' Design Team decided to exchange ATCs with each other. It took us a while but thanks to PinkStar, aka Steph, we did it! Once the cards were sent out and received, we decided that we needed to hold a special Bombshell Hump Day Hop to show 'em off.

Here's what all of my ATCs looked like all together:


Here's a close up of mine:


I used Bombshell's Homeward Bound set to create my ATC. First I computer generated the quote that I used, printed it 6-up, then stamped the ship over the quote, and cut out the ATCs to size. I colored the image and background with Copic markers. When I was done, I stamped the compass with VersaMark and used clear embossing powder to heat set the images.

Just in case you're interested, here's the quote that I used:
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain


Here's the list of the DT members, who participated in the swap and are showing off their goods!
Steph
Kathi
Alison
Erika
Cheryl
Kelli
PerkyNihilist
BoHoRose
Katie
Kas

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Smeared Ink also makes digital images!

As you may know, Smeared Ink makes thick, high quality rubber stamps that are a bit offbeat in theme. Now they're making some digital stamps as well.

This card features one of them, a gypsy fortune teller!


The image was colored with my Copic markers. All three patterned papers are by Daisy D. I"m so sad they're out of business. I loved their papers! I think the card needs something, but I couldn't decide what, so I left it as is. Sometimes less is more. I didn't add a sentiment for the same reason.

The layers really are even. The camera angle is a bit weird. Ah well.

Thanks for visiting today!

Oh my! What I just did!

I'm freaking brilliant. I decided that I wanted to stick my paper crafting resume on my blog, so I did so. Easy. Fine. Then in my infinite brilliance, I thought to myself, "Self, why would you want your resume to show links to all these other creative geniuses on your blog?" Self replied, "I wouldn't". So I deleted them.

Now all my lovely blog rolls are gone, gone, gone! Now I need to reconstruct them.

Sucketh overly.

Grrr. I'm a dolt. A doofus. A hat-wearing donkey.

*sigh*

Monday, July 5, 2010

Smeared & Smudged Gets Grungy with Simply Betty!

Woo-hoo! It's time for a Smeared & Smudged Blog Hop!

Simply Betty is one of Smeared & Smudged's fabulous sponsors for the month of July! The DT even got to play with the awesome My Kids Emo World stamps! Betty herself challenged us to "Get Grungy with Simply Betty Stamps!"

"What's up DUDE?"


Close-up of the sentiment:


Close Up of the Dragon:


My skater dude, Christian, was stamped and colored with Copic markers. The dragon was coated with a layer of Crackle Accents. The sentiment was created with Karen Foster smiley brads ("What's Up?") and metallic ribbon letters. The patterned paper (all Basic Grey) was tattered, scratched, torn, and inked. I even rolled the wheels of a finger skateboard in ink and then onto the gray solid-ish paper. I added a gazillion staples using my Tiny Attacher (Idea-ology), which I love!

Now that you've seen my take on the challenge, visit the other Smeared & Smudgers blogs. Remember to take part in the challenges at Smeared & Smudged to have a chance of winning some of these cool stamps.

Here's the hop list!
Terra

Tori

Alison

Kelli

Jean

Sarah

Danielle

Black Dragon

Lady Brayton

Meredith

Kim

Kathi

Debbie

Betty *Betty had an emergency last night and will not be able to get her blog updated until later. Please check her blog another time!*

****Last minute addition to the list!!!****
Lisa

Sunday, July 4, 2010

My Rose Fairy Challenge card!

This one is for the challenge over at Crafty Secrets' SCS forum. The challenge is #CSSC126! The challenges was to use red, white, and blue in an untraditional and non-patriotic way!

I think I did it, but you can be the judge of that!

Here it is!


This fairy is from the Fairies set by Crafty Secrets sets.

The fairy looked tired to me since she's slumping a little bit, so I gave her a nice branch on which to rest and catch her breath. Picking roses whilst hovering in the air is hard work!

She was colored with Copic markers with a touch of white gel pen and Glaze pen on the pearls in the fairy's hair. The patterned papers are from two different sets by The Memory Box, but they coordinate really nicely. The dotted satin ribbon is from my stash. The rose is by Recollections. The card base is shimmery white, but that doesn't show on the photo.

I have not decided what I'll do with the card, so there's no sentiment yet. That can be added in the bottom panel at a later time.

Sorry the photo is so poor. Serious shadow problems. *sigh*

Thanks for visiting today!

Happy July 4th!



The card uses the Ahoy Sailor set by Bombshell stamps. The image was colored with Copic markers. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on white-cored cardstock, which was then sanded. The sentiment was computer-generated and sits atop a Spellbinders Fancy Label die cut.

Have a great holiday and thanks for visiting today!