New Stuff!!!

I went to Archiver's last week, on Friday and then on Saturday. Yes, I really do have a problem. Seriously it's not as bad as it could be because I had COUPONS!

Picked up some hot spot items, including some really cool Hero Arts stamps, which I cannot find an image of. They're really cute, feature some gems as well as one little image. I got the cluster of bats (because I'm GothamGal, after all) and a little trick or treater dressed up as a ghost. I want to say the ghost costume probably has an owl underneath it.

I also got to use a coupon for buy 2 hot spot items, get 2 free. So I got some stickers and brads featuring the character that is one of my favorite Imaginesce characters:

Some rubons and a package of straight pins--I think they're fancy pants (both of those items were). Some cardstock (buy 5 sheets, get 5--I got the 8 1/2 by 11 so I can finish some cards)...

I also got some BG rubons, which were on sale. I think they'll work really well with my Lime Rickey paper. I have a couple of ideas already, so you might want to get scared, LOL.

I tried that big blue one on my Crate Paper page that I'm making (pictures soon) and I was really impressed with it. The whole thing went on really smooth (NOT like the other set I bought that I mentioned previously), and I could stop and check my progress really easily on the BG ones--overall it went much better than the last American Craft rubons I tried.

Oh, and I FINALLY got a White Signo pen! Yes, the pen that people have been talking about for ages, I finally picked up. It's a white pigment ink pen and I like using it, been able to make eyes pop, as well as certain elements on pages. My big issue with it, though, is an occasional blockage. Is anyone else experiencing this?

Pictures are forthcoming. I spent a LOT of time over the weekend making some pretty things. They will be pictured soon, I promise.

Also, please be sure to check out Ildi Co. (the link is on the right and column)--they've got some really great images, and some fantastic deals that you need to check out. It's really cool seeing a stamp company grow from square one.

Happy Creating!

You Asked, I am delivering

I've been playing around with techniques, and, as one awesome web friend (::cough:: Anne at Gaal Creative ::cough::) asked what I'd been doing lately. So, without further ado, I'm adding some pictures of some different techniques.... Will try and post some more of my layouts in a bit...

I wanted to make a simple card, and I was inspired right after I bought the DCWV Summer Glitter mat stack from JoAnn's. I used my Hero Arts stamps and used StazOn. The tree is stamped on a transparency, it was colored in with Copics. I added some paper flowers to give some dimension. The whole card is kraft, as I've been addicted to it ever since I bought the Stampin Up package.

Kraft paper again, but this time there's a Hero Arts owl, tree branch and sentiment. I colored this little guy with Prismacolor pencils, and added some K and Company rubons to the side. A very simple, quick card.

I don't know if I've shown this layout before. It features Max and Evie (Peeves), and I was inspired by a Jessica Sprague tutorial. I really liked her emphasis on the corner rounder--and I have had to buy 2 (okay, lost one and then found it after I'd used the second one) of these awesome babies. Bazzil cardstock (and Bazzil edge), DCWV cardstock, printed journalling from the computer (again, something from the Sprague hybrid class). I really like the idea of hybrid scrapping, may have to try some more!

Wow! This was another inspiration from the summer glitter mat stack. This time I took some of the images from one of the Greeting Farm 's sets and colored them in with markers. Then I added them to the card. I think it needs something, some sentiment, but then again, I kind of like how simple it is. I'm thinking I might leave this empty until the opportunity presents itself to give it.

Okay, so I should have a few more things to add to the blog tomorrow. Next time, prepare for the emphasis on layouts! Take care, and happy creating!

What, I'm at how many posts?

This post marks 98 posts on this blog. Wow! I can't believe it. Can you believe it?
This has to mean another contest, but I'm not sure what yet. Maybe a Blog-Centennial Event. You know a century is 100 years, and a blog is 100 posts?

Anyway, Hero Arts unveiled their new website today, and it's FANTASTIC!!!! Seriously, really, REALLY nice. You should go check it here.

BIG week at Hero Arts

Big week this week at Hero Arts. They're unveiling something new on the site as well as giving away some awesome product. So, head on over there and check out their blog.

What are you waiting for?

Intentions

I made this card for an online pal that I've been meaning to send a thank you card to. I've been trying to create something different and something that I liked, but I couldn't find anything that really stuck with me. Last night I was watching the Celebrity Apprentice and put together some Basic Grey Phoebe papers on cards, along with some ranger glaze, then some brown ribbon and the flower. I loved it, but realized that it needed some stamping. So I set about to make a conversation bubble, then realized I had conversation bubbles on some American Crafts paper. Pulled out a sentiment from my Hero Arts stamps and stamped, then embossed. Put everything together.
But something was off, really off. I couldn't figure out what. Something just made me not want to send this to the really dear person. So I decided to take it to work, with the intention of sitting it on my desk to see exactly what it was that the card was missing (by the way, it was one of the first cards I've actually be able to cut down from a sheet of 8 and 1/2 by 11). I don't normally do this, but I have before...it just seemed right.
And then I heard the news. A very dear work friend with a pacemaker might have had a heart attack yesterday. She asked her son to take her to the hospital. She was a bit out of sorts last week, and said she felt dizzy. But she did play nicely along with my belated practical joke. She fell yesterday, too. They're running tests today, but she'll probably get another cath tomorrow morning. I spoke with her on the phone and she sounds good, heck she's only 52. But I started crying and tried to stop and then it hit me. "I have a card," I said to her coworker. So we put it out and people have been signing it. It's nearly full and I haven't even signed it yet. And what kills me is that I normally have tons of cards sitting at the desk, but cleaned a few weeks ago and got rid of them. No one seems to have Get Well Soon cards around here, so this was like the perfect thing.
Now I'll go home and start working on a card for someone that I need to thank. And I have a feeling that this one's purpose will be a little bit more defined and skewed towards a thank you.
I'm still a bit in awe. I mean, I didn't intend for it to be used in this way, but it just felt right. And I knew something was off. Do they call this type of thing divine, or am I reading too much into it?
Tonight I plan on some Scrap n' Telling--with the winner of the contest, some reviews and other stuff. Have to write at some point, too. This weekend had a lot of writing, which is good. I'm shooting for being 1/4 done by Wednesday's meeting, hopefully I can hit 35 pages at the meeting Wednesday, which would be lovely.

Bad Girl!

I bought some rubbah! Okay, first of all, I only went into Joanne's because I needed something for a swap. That was it--in and out. But then, I realized that the twopeas post about items being clearanced for $4.97 in the stamping aisle coming up at $.97 at the register. So I bought a few. The one on the right has a dress stamp that I've seen before--think as wood-mounted--and that I loved. There are some sentiments on that I can definitely use, too. It's stampendous, I think.

The middle one is Hero Arts, and I love that it's all about friendship. I didn't have any of those, so it's nice to see these! And for $.97, it can't be beat.

The last one on the left is Fiskars, and I really liked the squiggly lines. I want to take them and put them on some cut outs, maybe use them as journalling or frames. I can't bring myself to doodle on my pages, though I doodle everywhere else, and I thought this might make a good transition into doodling.

So I picked up two sets of stamps that I think a stamper might like and, how weird is this, her daughter owns an LSS that I've been to locally. So I'm thinking I might just drop off her stamp goodie package off at the LSS because I picked up a set of stamps that had some March sentiments on them. Figured she could get going with St. Paddy's Day and all that. She gave me her addy, but I haven't packed them up yet, so she won't get them until at least Friday. I could totally drop them off tomorrow night and she'd get them early. I think. I hope.

Have to pick up the BF tonight from the airport just before 7 pm. He leaves in the morning at 7 am, and last night was the RCBP meeting, so I haven't had quality crafting time in a while. Eeek! But I did do laundry, dishes and bathing the dog. Spent some time with Max, he's the animal we've had the longest and i let him sit with me all by himself last night while I read--and then I feel asleep and woke up to him touching his nose to my cheek, so that was nice. It's rare that he gets me to himself and he constantly purrs when he gets it. LOL. Evie wasn't happy that she wasn't with us, but she's by herself with us plenty when she wants to be. I spent a lot of time with the dog over the weekend, who she hates, because the dog wasn't feeling well and Evie hates him and Max was in a mood. Remind me again why animals are easier than kids?

Wishlist

I've been tagged on another journal, and I decided to post it here because I think it will help me stay good. In the next few weeks, I'm trying to abstain from buying anything scrap related except:

• Adhesive
• Photos
• Some crafty stuff purchased from a contact selling Stamping Up

Other than that, I'm really going to be cutting back and NOT getting a bunch of stuff that i don't need. However, if it's a good price, or I've been really good, I can buy things off my wishlist after next month.

My wishlist includes:

(aren't hero arts stamps awesome?)
(Repeat sentiment above)
(again, repeat!)
I've got a bit of a bird phobia, but I love the two below:




(I don't have one, but there are a lot of things I want to try, and apparently it's a good tool to have!)
(A bone folder is a great tool for cardmaking!)

I'm thinking I also need some sentiments (which I might get from stamping up) and some embossing powders (gold, silver) from there, too. Eventually I want more colors of ink, but that can wait...
And there's one other thing that's on my wishlist, which should not be a surprise to those of you who have read my blog as of late:

Yes, I've caught the Prisma bug, maybe I'd get some copics at some point, but I think at this point my money would be much better spent with the colored pencils. I've even got a little list of what I want to pick up the next time I'm in the store with some money. Which would also mean getting more stamps that I can color (because I have a lot of stamps that aren't open and blendable, I used to choose stamps I fell in love with to watercolor versus ones for blending... They have a lot of small detail areas, very closed space, KWIM?)...

Oh, and I have a new stamp company love--Anya by the Greeting Farm. Within minutes of discovering this company, I bought some digi-stamps and can't wait to buy more. Also hoping to buy some physical stamps, after this spending ban I have has been lifted--it's so HARD! Be prepared to fall in love.
I'm not posting all of the stamps here that I really love, because it would be the entire site! There's something adorable about all of the stamps, and the Anyas (the little girls) are so adorable!!!!! I love this company... And look forward to seeing new things from them.


So what's on your crafty wishlist??? This inquiring mind wants to know...

Brand New Coloring Technique

So, as I said in my last post, the Coloring Challenge over at Stamp Haven's Winter Haven, has you submit two pieces, one featuring something you usually do (mine was twinkling H2Os) and the other that you've never done.
I knew once I saw Sandy's Amazing video on Magic Coloring that I had to do it. And so I experimented the better part of the week and just didn't get it right. So then I saw a webisode on Hero Arts, where she explained it as well. Then I watched Sandy's video again, and I GOT it! Finally!!!
Now, let me point out that if I were to read about it, I would have been fine because I can learn anything from a book. The video took me some time. At first, I was just using once color, and then last night, it was like a creative wind ran through the house, inspiring me--I was supposed to use 2 colors!!!!
Here's a link to Sandy's wonderful video. I like hers a bit better than the one at HA. Why? Well, first off, the kitty is wonderful, and secondly, I like that she keeps her points sharp.
I am unable to keep all my points sharp, however. My four favorite colors of my prismacolors (Mulberry, Crimson Red, Tuscan Red and one other one) seem to keep breaking, which I've heard could be a fault with the pencil themselves.
I love this Hero Arts Peacock! It took a while to color it, but I LOVE the result, which I thought I wouldn't be able to do. So I turned on a Netflix movie (Shelley DuVal's Fairie Tale Theatre Disc 6--anyone else remember this early 80s ABC staple?) and kept at it. I took my time, didn't rush through, and I was really pleased with how it turned out. So pleased, in fact, that I'm giving the card to someone at a birthday party tonight (shh!).
It's on the same glittery cardstock from DCWV as my other one. With BG's Urban Prarie Buttons, and some green ribbon that I had a piece of. I really like this ribbon, but have no idea who made it.

So, what's the moral of this little blog entry? If you're nervous to try something, try it any way. And if it doesn't turn out, it's a learning experience. If it does turn out, you'll love it...Good luck and Happy Creating!

The Coloring Technique I Know

So I was trying to do a few challenges for Winterhaven, over at Stamp Haven, and I spent a LOT of time last night working on one--the coloring challenge!
I love color. I love crayons. I love colored pencils. I love markers. I feel, truly, as if the world is a better, more colorful place thanks to my Caran D'Ache watercolor pencils (Which I was introduced to in Switzerland when I was 13). I finally got my second tin 15 years later, they last long and they seem to have the best color, in my opinion.
Well, instead of watercolors, I decided to do something else that I tend to use a lot, Twinkling H2Os. I can't remember which colors I used for this Hero Arts stamp, but I added a dot of Glossy Accents by ranger to a lot of the circles. The card is a DCWV glitter card and the accent paper is BG Urban Prarie, with the buttons from the same line (I LOVE BG lately, and I love their buttons, too).
The basic principle of the Coloring challenge is to do something you're used to doing, as well as something new. And I LOVE the something new that I did... Check it out in the next post.