Life is Wonderful

On Splitcoast Stampers this week, the Try a Technique Challenge was to do some Dangle Doodles. I was so excited to take part in this challenge.

It was so much fun! I will be showing more of my doodles in the future. I wanted this project to be more non-seasonal than I've been doing lately so I decided to go with a botanical theme.

I used Copic Multiliner pens to draw my dangling doodles so I could color them with Copic markers without the black ink bleeding.

This sentiment is from from Words of Wisdom by Verve stamps. I doodled and hand wrote the partial frame around the bottom of the main panel, repeating words from the stamped sentiment.

I wanted to add a little special touch, so I used Clear Wink of Stella on the dangling doodle. It is lovely and so subtle. It is so hard to photograph, so you'll just have to trust me.

stamps; words of wisdom (verve)
ink; onyx black versafine (tsukineko)
paper; coconut swirl, horizon, kraft (bazzill)
accessories; E43, YG93, 99, BG72, 78, multiliner pens 0.7, 0.5, 0.2 (copic), clear wink of stella (zig)

CCEE - something down under
craft your passion - anything goes
crafty girls creations - anything goes
penny's paper crafty blog - anything goes

Cute Little Arrows

For a splurge of under $20, this card made me feel like a million bucks! I saw this pad of paper called 'The Story of Us' in a local craft store and thought I'd died and gone to heaven!! 

The backstory; My youngest turned 13 this year. All she wanted for her birthday was a real bow and arrows. She had done some archery at school in Phys Ed, and when we went to Mexico on holidays last year, there was an archery range at the resort. She is really very good at it. And so my awareness of all things bow and arrow related has been heightened.

And I saw this paper. *squeal*. And then I saw the tiny arrow dies from Spellbinders. I nearly fainted from pure, unadulterated joy! This card came together then and there. The trip home took absolutely forever.

This was an incredibly simple card to put together. I used an old verve stamp set, From the Heart. The knot I've used on this card is the Alpine Butterfly Knot because I know someone is going to ask and if I don't write it down now, I will never remember what it is.

I layered the Thankful Hearts die from Verve and stuck the arrow through the middle. I don't even know if Verve makes this die any more, it is that old. But it is absolutely divine here, and I'm so glad I thought of it!

Thank you for popping in on my random creativity. I have news to share next week, so stay tuned. It's a biggun. Really, really big! Have a great weekend.

stamps; from the heart (verve)
ink; onyx black versafine (tsukineko)
paper; the story of us (simple stories), kraft, raven, white, amsterdam (bazzill)
accessories; thankful hearts (verve), shoot!, petite labels one (spellbinders), linen cord (canvas home basics), gingham ribbon (may arts)

Viva La Verve! I love a good sketch.

I'm still on a Christmas Paper kick.  I found this Viva La Verve sketch and I wanted to use it with Christmas Paper in a non Christmas way.  AND my Christmas paper is perfect for this week's Curtain Call Act 64 colour challenge.

I pulled out some older Just Rite stamps, Joyful Hearts, for this card.  Really old Just Rite stamps, but totally classic!

I edged all the papers with my silver zig painty pen to give the appearance of layers without adding layers.  Simple elegance is the word of the day today.

stamps; joyful hearts set (just rite)
paper; midnight frost (bo bunny), canvas white, coconut swirl (bazzill)
ink; black soot, stormy sky distress ink (ranger)
accessories; lg classic oval nestabilities (spellbinders), white satin ribbon (may arts), silver brads (memory makers), tombow marker #491, bow easy

Dreamy, sweet kids

I love the new Ever After line by Cosmo Cricket. I know, I've said it before but sometimes, things are worth saying more than once. I watercoloured this image by Crafty Secret's 'Sweet Kids' set. Totally vintage darling and I think it goes *uber* well with this Ever After paper.

This is one of the cards I was dreaming about a few weeks ago. I still have another one in there, but I don't have a vintage pram stamp, so that card will just have to stay swimming in my idea pool. I love how this image just floats over the whole card. I think I'll set this one aside for a DD since her birthday is coming up and she loves this colour combination. I may get something a little more 'cool' done before her birthday with similar colours and keep this as backup if I can't get to it.

Have a terrific day!

stamps; sweet kids (carfty secrets), Fairy Tales (verve)
paper; new york, london, hazel, salt dotted swiss (bazzill), ever after (cosmo cricket), watercolor paper
ink; black onyx (versafine by tsukineko), basic gray (SU!)
accessories; oval and scallop oval nestabilities (spellbinders), brushed pewter brads (making memories), stylized silver HH, designer label punch, gray taffeta ribbon, silver cord (SU!), white satin ribbon (offray), reinkers (tangerine tango, sage shadow, basic gray, so saffron (SU!)

'Cause it's Valentines!

My DH was a red head when he was younger. I look at redheads all day. For me, doing this little boy as a red-head was a no brainer! It wasn't until after this image was finished that I decided to use it for DH's valentine card. It's kinda cutesy for him, but to be honest, I was running out of time!

I coloured this image with prismacolors and sponged around the edges just a little. I hand cut around the label. I'm thinking the rest is pretty self-explanitory... Go hug and kiss your Valentine!!!

stamps; first kiss (sarah kay by stampavie), maison frames (inkadinkado), wonderful wishes (verve)
paper; sandbox, french silk, coconut swirl (bazzill), pretty in pink (SU!), bittersweet (basic grey)
ink; espresso (adirondack by ranger), whisper white craft, pretty in pink (SU!), jumbo java (chalk ink by tsukineko)
accessories; all adhesive rhinestones (heidi swapp), white emboss powder (tsukineko), bittersweet buttons, brads (basic grey), brown in stitchz (bazzill floss), prismacolors

My decent circle card!

I love circle cards. I love looking at them. I love thinking about them. I admire the cards done by those who do them well. Generally, I suck at them. Really I do. I'm not trying to self-depreciate for the sake of compliments. I'm deliberately trying to do circle cards to overcome this challenge of mine. Stampin' Up! is carrying a darn cool circle cutter and I want to master it (I haven't yet - I still get a funky join spot/jog upon completion of the circle) so I can show my hostess ladies this cool tool and teach them circle cards. I love round things - our old kitchen had round swirls embroidered on the curtains and the rods had cute swirls on the ends as well. I just have to breathe through circle cards and keep doing them.

I played it safe with this layout and kept concentric circles to achieve balance. My circle cards usually end up unbalanced and just weird. I want to add non round elements later and experiment with less symmetrical layouts.
Here are the instructions for this center from Tim Holtz. He did a series of tags for the 12 Days of Christmas, and this particular thing he did with Fragments really struck me. That man is brilliant - really he is.

Okay, I'm off to do toady's challenge on SCS - jazz up patterned paper... Hmmm - which to pick from the 3 foot stack?...

stamps; filagree fantasy (verve), thank-you (inkadinkado)
paper; salt (bazzill), baja breeze, soft sky (SU!), offbeat 6x6 pad (basic grey)
ink; baja breeze, not quite navy (SU!), distress ink embossing ink (Ranger - it does smell like cinnamon!!! I'm in love!)
accessories; fragments, long fasteners (tim holtz), large scallop circle die (Sizzix), white satin ribbon (offray), clear ep, diamond stickles (ranger), white gel pen (sakura), blue adhesive rhinestone (kaiser)

WT200 Wanna be a Rock Star

I think this card was created by my alter-ego. So much black!!! Oy!

This challenge is about using stars. As soon as I saw that, I knew I wanted to use this hostess set, one of the preview sets - A little somethin' - from the upcoming spring-summer catty. 'Rock Star' stamp - hmmmm - calls for black, and it occurs to me pink would have been good here too, but I stumbled on this Kaiser paper that's been in my stash for awhile called Grunge. I pulled all the colours from there. There is this paper Bazzill brought out in their destinations line called Berlin. It's really funky - it's black with a greenish brownish tint too it. It's one of those colours that I'm just never sure I'll find the right place to use, but wow it has impact.

I used Labels Two and Ribbon Tag Trio Nestabilities available from i {heart} papers. I'll admit it - I'm a nesties-oholic. Love the things. Use them prolifically! Bless the day Nestabilities were conceived and produced (bless Ellen Hutson!!!!!!!!!). And the new ones Spellbinders has coming out are outrageously fabulous! Oh mercy, I'm in trouble.

I just got the Verve set I used for the sentiment called All About You. I love the clean graphics Julee uses. I thought this sentiment was appropriate, and if nothing else, rock and sock(s) rhymes. I KNOW! I have seriously flawed logic, but what the heck - it's all good.

stamps; a little somthin' (SU!), all about you (verve)
paper; onyx black (paper accents), berlin, brown, string of pearls (bazzill), grunge (kaiser)
ink; tea dye, vintage photo, walnut stain (distress inks by ranger)
accessories; labels two, ribbon tag trio nestabilities (spellbinders), black satin ribbon (offray), mini screw brads (karen foster), star rhinestones (Q&Co), border punch (martha stewart), star punch (SU!), diamond stickles (ranger)

IC161 Joy for Mourning

Today didn't go at all like I thought it would. I feel a little like my life consists mostly of poop and food. I'm not complaining, so please, don't even think that.

I ran a stool sample from the rescued mom dog we have to the vet yesterday since she still has diarrhea. She has an intestinal bacterial infection along with round worm. And lice. We've seen hundreds of round worms in their stool since they received pest meds on Monday. I promise I'm not exaggerating the numbers. At first I got the shudders, but I'm used to it now. So, mom is on antibiotics, and I decided it would be for the best if we took puppy stool in to have it tested. Whisper (the little girl) is very sick. All three dogs have a bacterial infection.

I haven't seen any of them lethargic since they arrived until this afternoon. Whisper is timid, but has been quite social since she arrived. This afternoon, she barely woke while we had company and I was in the garage cleaning up. Scoop poop (puddles - they aren't even cow patty like anymore), wash down the floor, bleach the floor. This is all usually a game for the puppies and it makes the clean up less of a chore for me. Not this afternoon. I'm hoping the puppies are dopey from the antibiotics and not getting sicker. I'll know more tomorrow. We have a good vet, and I'll be in regular contact with him, calling him again on Monday morning.

I saw today's challenge on SCS this monring and thought - gorgeous cakes!!! I have GOT to do this challenge. But then the vet happened and all the poop hoo haa haa. Finally, I got to it and this is the result. It's quick and simple - I expect that will be the way it will be consistantly for awhile. I hope this card looks pretty self-explanitory.

stamps; Isaiah bible verse (verve)
paper; bashful blue (SU!), french silk, coconut swirl (bazzill)
ink; brilliance pearlescent chocolate (tsukineko)
accessories; square nestabilities (spellbinders), chocolate chip satin ribbon (SU!), white satin ribbon (offray), scor-pal, adhesive pearls