I just love the beautiful floral bouquet stamp designs from Penny Black. "Sweet Perfume" is one I think I'll be using quite often. Coloring it gave me the opportunity to become reacquainted with my Copic markers. Penny Black: Sweet Perfume 40-464 Magenta: Sending You Sunshine 07.952.F Memory Box Craft Dies: Distressed Windham Collage 30041 Memento ink in Tuxedo Black Ranger Archival Ink in Black Copic Alcohol Markers Sakura Glaze Pen (black) White 110# smooth card stock Nee

It's the Saturday of the Thanksgiving weekend. We've enjoyed a blessed day with some of our family. I've avoided the Black Friday store rush, although I do admit I did a little on-line shopping. And I continue to work on my holiday cards and class projects I've brought home. I recently joined a Yahoo group, Oriental Stamp Art. They offered up a card exchange. So, here are the two cards; we send a card to the 2 people following our name on the exchange list. Great idea! This c

I've worked and worked using this stamp from Penny Black, "Berry Kissed". I love solid-image stamps. I think they offer opportunities to use various mediums. This particular one keeps challenging me, and I welcome the challenge because it's an excuse to keep playing. Berry Kissed 40-492 stamped with the MISTI With this first card, I stamped with VersaFine ink in Toffee on the smooth side of watercolor card stock. Caron d'Ache Luminance colored pencils were then used to color

Know what happens when you bury yourself in the studio to continue with the ongoing never-ending clean-out, purge and organize task? Nothing real creative. It's Halloween month and as I unbury more and more Halloween stuff, I am working to resist the want to stop the organizing and start the Halloween fun. I have managed to organize all of my dies from Memory Box, PoppyStamps, Elizabeth Craft Designs and most of the Spellbinder dies. I still have the dies from Savvy, Penny Bl

Impression Obsession has wonderful dies and here is an example of a monochromatic seashore card theme using some of their new dies. On Kittie's blog post, she shows 3 different cards using this theme and coloring style. Click on this link to go to Kittie's post on her blog: http://www.kittiekraft.com/2016/07/monochromatic-beach-scene-in-the-classroom.html Mariette van Leeuwen created this card for Magenta using my new favorite Magenta stamp, bubbles. She colors it with the Ku

It seems like "forever" since I've posted. A lot is going on in my life right now, including a trip to Europe that starts this Thursday night. You've heard me talk about my membership in the RubberMoon Mail Club. This is a swap that I received earlier this year from the owner of RubberMoon Stamps, Kristen Powers, aka Kae Pea. It's on Stampboard and I love it! I've just about finished my extra card for the MoonMail swap; it will go to the same person I sent the postcard to. I'

Okay, after I looked at yesterday's card again today, I decided it wasn't very good at all! So I re-did it. Sorry to be repetitive but I think it's all worth it in the end. Hopefully, we'll all learn taking that second or third look might result in a much improved card design. I still used the Soft Finish card stock but used it as a stamp panel on an A2 card base. The bear was stamped in the lower left of the card with the same colors. The bow was stamped with Teal Zeal the f

My nephew is expecting his second son any day, any hour. His wife is going to the doctor tomorrow and they may find themselves with a new addition to the family before they return home . . . who knows! All I know is I cannot wait to meet Reed when he chooses to make his debut. Reed also has a big brother, Jack, who is 5 years old and is quite anxious for everything to happen. While I've been waiting to hear, I made this card. When I saw this stamp in the current Stampin' Up!

While working the Elizabeth Craft Designs' booth at the Scrapbook Expo in Puyallup last weekend, I was totally taken with a card that was on display. The die design is from Joset van de Burgt and the card stock is ECD's new Soft Finish Card Stock. This card stock has such a subtle texture to it; when Distress Inks are applied, the paper takes on a velvet-looking finish. Of course, I had to buy the die and the card stock. The Soft Finish Card Stock comes in two weights. Using

I belong to RubberMoon's MoonMail Club. For the low monthly subscription fee, we are sent a stamp that is designed just for Moonies, along with an extra goodie or two. RubberMoon and Inchie Arts work together very closely and I usually enjoy one of their Art Square Boards, i.e., inchies, twinchies, Art Swatch, etc. You can click on this link to read all about joining the MoonMail Club: https://rubbermoon.com/pages/moonmail-club. Some Moonies swap Moon creativity with that mo

Yesterday was my husband's birthday. He's not a flashy person; he likes most everything to be of simple lines and color. We went to Seattle to enjoy dinner with his son, so I decided this card would be the perfect one for him, thanks to Altenew Stamps. On a piece of Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Card Stock, I stamped the image with VersaMark using my MISTI. I heat embossed with white embossing powder. With the small distress ink pads, I applied two colors of Distress Inks; I

I am staying with the Penny Black Stamp set, "Bouquets." Yesterday, I featured one of 4 bouquets in the set. Today's bouquet is my favorite of the four. I stamped it onto an Inchie Arts' art board and used watercolor brush markers. The art board accepts the watercolor markers exceptionally well. This was my first attempt. What's nice about the brush markers is that the fine point of the real brush applies color in very tight corners and crevices. Those teeny spots are sometim

I'm knee-deep in creating cards for a class. For a quick break, I thought I would share with you what I saw on various blogs that I really liked. I love this card that Justin Krieger made for the Stamp Ink Paper CASE Challenge this week! Click on this link to Justin's blog for the details; http://jkcardsonline.com/2016/06/sip-challenge-53-case-the-designer/ Earlier in the year, Karen Dunbrook made this monochromatic card. It appears to be a very easy technique to use when you

Another graduation card ready to go. I came upon my stash of Lost Coast Designs' stamps and this stamp I've waited and waited to use. I thought all of the pencils were appropriate for a high school grad, since Lord knows how many pencils a student goes through over the years. I stamped the background stamp with VersaFine in Toffee onto white card stock. It was matted with a piece of So Silk card stock in purple because that's one of the school colors. Both panels were adhered

This quote says it all about my blog. If I waited for perfection, it wouldn't happen. When I started this blog, I just wanted to share with you what I'm doing and what I like. In trying to post most every day, it does become a challenge to create something for each day. My desire is to not always stay within the comfortable box and but rather leap outside it. Whether or not it's perfect is not the point; the deed is that I've traveled outside the ordinary and known to somethi

I'm upright and mobile. I'm comfortable in my home. All of this is a good thing! Yesterday I learned that a very good friend's wife is enduring a traumatic medical condition under the top-notch care of Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. Today, I learn that one of the attendant's at Hannah's grooming salon has lost her home to a fire; luckily, their 12 year-old son spent the night with his grandma and was not in the area where the fire caused the most damage. Please look aroun

The weather has been absolutely scorching. Yesterday it was in the 90's and today it hit 90 again! I am ever so thankful that we have air conditioning in our home. This will be a very short post because this heat has just worn me out, and I've had quite a day. You're probably very tired of hearing me rave about the Pen and Ink stamps by Josephine Kimberling. But I'm not tired of using the stamps, over and over and over again. I needed to make a birthday card very quickly; of

The new feather stamp from Magenta has been sitting on my work table, awaiting its turn. I bumped it up a few spots because I couldn't wait it out any longer. Cut 2 of the 4 dies of Tim Holtz Sizzix die set to use as stencils. Applied StazOn ink with dauber. Stamped feathers with Memento ink using the MISTI. Colored with Magenta's Nuance. Stamped sentiment using the MISTI with VersaFine. With scrap of faux leather card stock, cut a frame using Memory Box Stitched Rectangle La

The sun is shining and it's a beautiful spring day in the Pacific Northwest. The day after a holiday weekend means lots of errands. And I'm still wanting a leisure holiday pace. What to do? Make a very simple card. I had 3 squares of handmade paper intended for another unknown use. I had a new die from JustRite. With a panel of white linen card stock, I used the new die which cut 3 stitched square openings. I stamped the brushstroke with Electric Pink ink and took the heat gu

My husband's cataract eye surgery this morning seems to have been a success. Upon returning home, I immediately escaped to my studio to make up for the lack of time in it yesterday. Stamped on 140 lb. watercolor card stock (smooth side - 4.5x4.5) with Memento's Bahama Blue. With a wet watercolor brush, moved the color into the petals. For darker accent areas, used Teal Zeal and Elderberry (sparingly). Die cut 2 frames, smaller opening with linen card stock; larger opening wit