Pretty Woman

If you have seen the movie "Pretty Woman" you'll remember the scene where Vivian Ward (played by Julia Roberts) accompanies Edward Lewis (played by Richard Gere) to the polo match. Do you remember the brown polka dot dress and wide brimmed hat she wore? Maybe I have seen the movie too many times because I love the clothes Vivian wore and the ensemble she wore to the polo match was gorgeous!

I just purchased six different Sophisticated Ladies rubber stamps from RubberNecker rubber stamps. This particular stamp is called Jessica. I think that she looks a lot like Julia Robert's character, Vivian, in the movie Pretty Woman.

This week's layout challenge for FRIDAY SKETCHERS was perfect for this stamp. So I used the layout (below) and blinged up my pretty woman.

These RubberNecker stamps are such fun to color. It is almost like having fashion paper dolls and I'm sure I'll be posting a lot of different cards using these sophisticated ladies of various decades.

Have an enjoyable Sunday.

Cheers!

I Wuf You

Yesterday, we had a blizzard. A full blown blizzard, snow storm, can't-get-out-the-door or even see-out-the-window kind of blinding snowstorm. So, while I was literally snowed in as the blizzard moved through our area, I decided to pop a movie in the computer and set up my watercolors and make a Valentine card for my hubby.

If you like cats and dogs and rubberstamping you must check out my good friend Tricia's rubber stamp company, appropriately named, PURRS AND PANTS. Tricia carries an entire line of kitty and dog stamps and sentiments.

Isn't the background paper fun with this image with the heart tree? I happen to find a little scrap of Valentine wrapping paper in my supplies. It wasn't too wrinkled so I got just enough out of it to use as special background paper to coordinate with the stamp and red crystal heart embellishments.

Do you make and/or send Valentines? If this snow continues to pile up like it has this winter so far and I'm going to be housebound, I will most likely be getting a lot of Valentines made.

Again, if you are a cat and/or dog lover, check out Tricia's stamp company PURRS AND PANTS.

Rose Porcelain Teapot

This rose porcelain teapot stamp is one of my older stamps and has been well used over the years but each time I use it I get the same joy as if it were a brand new purchase. The stamp is made by All Night Media and is from the Sandy Lynam Clough collection.

Last night I was tidying up my embellishments and realized I hadn't painted with my twinkling H2O's in ages. Well...that was enough tidying. I pulled out the little H2O pots, water and brushes and painted a bunch of images until I couldn't keep my eyes focused anymore. It was fun! For this teapot I used some teeny tiny dabs of raspberry colored liquid pearls on the base and handle of the teapot to give a bit of dimension like a real teapot might have.

I ran out of silver card stock and my silver leafing pen had gone dry so I didn't get to edge the card as I'd hoped to. Ahh...the hazard of stamping and cardmaking late at night. Can't get out to replenish supplies. But I like the way this came out anyway. It is simple. I'm not sure yet if I'll add a sentiment tag or use it as a notecard. In fact, I think I'll ink up this stamp again and try some different things with it.

For now, I had better pull on my boots and mittens and go out in the snow and do some shoveling. I'm sure I'll make a pot of tea when I come in.

Have a warm and cozy day.

Bark!

BARK! Bark, bark, bark! This stamp set was one that just jumped off the shelf and fell into my shopping basket. I couldn't help it. Really! This clear stamps set is by Inkadinkado and contains 6 different jazzy-snazzy dogs and 6 sentiments and accessory stamps.
I think these dogs need colors. Colors, that is, that are not common for the dog so this was a lot of fun checking out ribbons and background papers to help bring these pups to life.

Are you noticing a similarity in the cards, besides the obvious dog theme?

Each card is made in the same general layout. This week over at Julee's layout blog, MOJO MONDAY she presented this layout to use this week. It was perfect to use for this set of cards.

So here is not one, but a set of three cards using Julee's Mojo Monday68 layout challenge.

Now I need to get busy and use these cards for thank you notes and get them in the mail.

Have a barking good day
Cheers!

Love bird

I'm having so much fun with this new set of Vintage Bird stamps from The Greeting Farm (formerly known as Pink Poison). There are three different birds in the set. Yesterday I posted one of the birds and this one is my favorite.

Our Creative Corner Challenge site provided this layout sketch to use this week and I liked it so much that I used it for both cards (yesterday's and today's).

The designer paper is from All Night Media (Anna Griffin) and just seemed perfect for the Victorian/vintage look I was going for with the "Love Bird". The LOVE sentiment is also one of the stamps included in this set.

For this bird I decided to use my Faber-Castell markers to color the bird. I still learning to blend with them but it is coming.

I have been wanting to finish my cards on the inside and plan to do it more often. I stamped the flowers in a mauve pigment ink and embossed in clear and added a drop of ivory liquid pearls in their centers. The sentiment is from the Stampin' Up! set called "Sage Advice."

So here is card #2 using my new Vintage Birds set. Come on ladies....cave in and order this set. You know you've been itching to. Afterall, it was one of you "enablers" who showed me the set in the first place. You know who you are! Oh, and The Greeting Farm has super fast service. Even to me here in Canada.

Hope everyone has a delightful and creative day.

Cheers!

Hello

I discovered a new-to-me stamp company called The GREETING FARM (formerly known as Pink Poison) and I just love the vintage birds set. There are three different fancy birds as well as sentiments in the set. They certainly do present some wonderful coloring opportunities.

Inspiration to ink the stamps up came when Our Creative Corner challenge began for 2009. This week's challenge is the sketch below:

I stamped the bird with Versamark on watercolor paper, embossed it with gold detail embossing powder and water colored the bird using Tombow markers. Next I cut out the bird and mounted it on pop dots for dimension.

The designer paper is from All Night Media (Anna Griffin) and the red flower is from Daisy Doodles.

I made another card using another of the bird stamps in this set and using OCC's layout. It is fun to see how different cards look even when using the same layout sketch. I'll try to get that card posted tomorrow when the light for photographing is a little better.

Cheers!

Rustic Thank You

The Friday Sketcher's Challenge site presented a lovely layout using tags for its last challenge of 2008. I wanted to use this sketch in a rustic look and I chose a sweet stamp from an old Stampin' Up set called Garden Pleasures. I really like the challenge of the off angle layout in combination with the tags. This is the layout sketch we were challenged to use:

The tag is colored with Faber-Castell markers. The tag is made from a highly absorbent cardstock and I think that these markers work better on a glossier surface but trial and error is half the fun for me.


The photos make this appear to be on a white background but actually it is pale blue which, combined with the tan, brown and craft paper center looks much better in real life.

The next Friday Sketchers challenge will be posted January 9th. If you enjoy sketch challenges I encourage you to check out Friday Sketchers. Participants are from all over the globe and it is so inspiring to see a wide variety of interpretations of sketches on cards.

Cheers!

Many Thanks

It has been a while since I've been able to participate in the Mojo Monday layout challenges over at Julee's blog, Poetic Artistry. Each Monday Julee provides a sketch to inspire. This is this week's Mojo67 layout sketch:

I love this stamp. It is an old PSX stamp by Suzi Toronto titled "Daughter" that I've had for years and every time I use it I find it fun to color in a different way. For this card I colored the entire image with gel pens. (except the skin which I used Prismacolor pencils).


The designer paper is from a pad of Martha Stewart papers that I discovered at Walmart on sale. Isn't it fun? It seemed to be meant to go with this stamp and prima flowers. "Many Thanks" is from All Night Media (Anna Griffin).



A simple thank you card with a lot of groovy-ness! Ha haaa!

I hope you have a creative and fun Saturday!

Create Imagine Believe

Did you make resolutions for 2009? I don't make "resolutions" as such because if I fail to follow through with that which I've resolved to do, I feel like a failure. I do, however, set goals for myself in the new year. It is probably just semantics but I don't feel as much like a failure if I haven't quite met a goal. Rather, it just gives me more time to keep trying to follow through. Anyway, I did set a goal for myself in this new year to clean off my desktop after each card I make. I knew that if I do, I'll get far more accomplished. I don't even want to show you photos what my room looks like after just one card! YIKES!

So what does this have to do with today's card? I'll tell you. I HAVE been doing the straightening, putting away after each card and I'm really far more productive. I've been participating in quite a number of online challenges and have several to post. This card is made with my brand new Magnolia Stamp. I bought this stamp at Roses on Paper and now Roses and Paper has a challenge blog too!

The layout sketch for CHALLENGE #2 on ROSES ON PAPER CHALLENGE BLOG looks like this:

I colored Tilda with Faber Castell markers which I received as a Christmas gift. These are new to use to me but so far I'm quite pleased with the ability to blend. Does anyone else use these markers? I would love to hear your experiences and tips.

The designer paper is Daisy D's and on the lower portion of the red cardstock I used my Cuttlebug argyle embossing template.

My husband chuckled when he saw this card and said, "This card sure did give you the opportunity to use just about every embellishment and doo-dad you have!" He was close to being correct. Tilda's glasses have a small dot of "antique glass" colored dimentional glaze on them, and of course no card is complete for me without a little stickles glitter so I added stickles to her little wings. Prima flowers, brads, ribbon and twill tape, along with Martha Stewart border punch for the scallop and nestibilities oval die cuts around the imagine are just some of the other tools I used.

I had so much fun creating this card. Yes, it has a lot of "stuff" on it but hey...that's just part of the fun when making a card.

I'll post some more challenge cards I've been working on soon.

Cheers!

Let's ring in 2009

Happy new year, my friends! Did you stay up and ring in the new year last night? I'm afraid my husband and I are not night owls and we were asleep by 10:30. However, we greeted 2009 fairly early this morning (5 a.m.) when little Paige, our puppy, decided that the whole household should get up and have breakfast and play. I'll be darned. Guess what? We gave in to her wishes and got up, I fixed a big breakfast and we played for a while.

I want to show you a card I received for Christmas. It just arrived in yesterday's mail. Isn't is GORGEOUS?!! My 82 year old mother made this card for me and I just love it! She is going to give me a run for my money in the card making world.

Perfectly stitched and beautifully colored threads create a wonderful Christmas card.

Mom inserted a bright Christmas red colored piece of paper on the inside that served not only as a writing space, but also covered the back side of the stitching.


I just had to share this beautiful card with all of my card making friends. Watch out for my momma! I wouldn't be surprised if she decided that card making is a lot of fun and starts her own blog!

I hope that 2009 is a year holding promise of good health and much happiness for everyone.

Cheers!