Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all!  I hope you are enjoying a day surrounded by family and loved ones in celebration of the greatest day ever! 

And I just love this stamp that I found by Verses Rubber Stamp Company.  A perfect sentiment for today.  The cross is by Layers of Colors - Gothic Crosses.

Creative Belli Challenge #85 - Color Spray

The Creative Belli Challenge Blog is all about getting you to use some of those embellishments you have been hoarding!  We would love to have you join us every 2 weeks.  This week we were challenged to use color spray.  Our wonderful sponsor is The Stamping Boutique and they provided a few of their digital images for us to play with.  I checked out their store and seen some cute children, fairies, a Princess Jennifer line (sassy), and some great circular sentiments that would work perfectly with spellbinders!  With a variety of styles like this, you will need to click through all the catagories to see it all!

This week's challenge was to use Color Spray.  So here's what I came up with.  I kept mine pretty simple.  I just sprayed some patterned paper with yellow glimmer mist.  You can't really see the shimmer, but it looks pretty cool.  But, I'm sure the Creative Belli DT will be able to show you a variety of  uses for your color spray.  So hop on over to the Creative Belli Challenge Blog and check them out!

Hear comes Peter Cottentail !

Easter is right around the corner, so I thought I had better get some cards done and in the mail.  

Tip : Stamping on Ribbon
Well not much of an explanation needed.  But my tip is to use a juicy pigment ink.  I used Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate on the pink ribbon above.  I love the Brilliance line of inks for a pigment ink.  I also use VersaMagic.

Here is an Easter tin I made last year.

Tip : Altering a vegtable can

So inexpensive to make.  It's actually a vegtable can.  Squeeze the sides together slightly to make it longer at the top.  I sprayed it with this yummy brown texture spray paint.  Then smeared on a little pink acrylic paint.  I used my Crop-a-dile to punch holes in the side.  I painted wooden beads and threaded them on some brown craft wire.  I twisted the wire down both sides of the beads and attached through the holes on the sides.   It would be even cuter if you added some wooden balls at the bottom to create feet!
 

Here is an Easter Banner I made last year and posted over on my TAC blog.

Tip : Cardboard Art

The entire project is acrylic paints, stamps, punches and ink.  I used cardboard, tore off parts of the front to reveal the riples. I painted the backgrounds of each panel with layers of acrylic paints. Messy and fun!!

The Easter set I used on the tin and the banner  is No Bunny Like You by TAC.  All the florals are various TAC sets as well.  The font is Big Timber by Technique Tuesday.  This has always been one of my favorite TT sets because it's open.  So you can stamp it on any type of pattered paper and you have a perfect match for a layout.  Or stamp a pattern and then the letter over that. 

I hope this gets you in the mood to create something fun for Easter!

You can view more of my Cardboard Art HERE.

You can view more of my Collage / Mixed Media projects HERE.

GinaK Designs - "Lovely Shelf"

Good Morning.  Today I'm sharing with you a wonderful stamp set called "Lovely Shelf". (once you get to the link, scroll down to check this particular set out)  I designed this one using the colors assigned at the

Copic Colour Challenge Blog. 

Copic colors I chose:

purple - BV02, BV04, BV08

green - G20, YG03, YG91
brown - E55, E35

The sentiments are really versatile.  You can fill in "aunt", "mother", etc.  There are also other sentiments, "Thanks for a lovely gift", "What lovely news", etc.  You can get this one from GinaK Design.  The designer is Nina Brackett and I really love some of her sets.  You can check out all of her stamp sets, digital paper lines, and Perfect Patterns line HERE.
Nina's Blog

Prefer digital images???  Check out Nina's digital stamp line at Squigglefly
I created this one for this week's color challenge over at StampTV.

This one is not my usual card.  I'm thinking I would have liked it better if I had a white background with black polka dots.  No time to change it now. 

Stamps :  butterfly - The Angel Company "Wishing Happiness"
sentiment - GK Designs
Patterned Paper - 7 Gypsies


Thanks for stopping by!

2 cards for Kay

My friend Kay is in the forfront of my thoughts and prayers lately.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer, underwent a double mastectomy, and is now going through chemotherapy.   Through all of this she has been so strong, and a wonderful testimony for God.  Her faith and hope are amazing to me.  She has the best sense of humor, so, although this card would not be appropriate for just anyone, it is just right for my friend Kay.  I hope this brings a smile to her face in this very difficult time.

If you would like to join me in praying for Kay, we are praying for her white count to come up, so that she can continue in her battle. 

Stamps : FireCracker Designs by Pamela Fruit Cup

Colorization : H2O watercolors

I'm using this one for the Cupcake Craft Challenge this week : food/drinks
So this is another one I made her.  A little more appropriate.



I'm using this one for Charisma Cardz Challenge Blog.
The challenge - Spring

Stamps :  FireCracker Designs by Pamela  Easter Blessings (florals)
sentiment Impression Obsession

Thanks for stopping by!

Clean and Simple

 I really love the Clean and Simple challenge blog.  I have checked it out many times, but never played.  Well this week I decided to play along and this is my version of their sketch.

I needed a quick get well card for a friend and their blog was a wonderful resource to get me heading in the right direction. 

Thanks for stopping by.

I hope you are having a great week!

Spring Themed Blog Hop!

Aren't these little chicks so cute!  I couldn't help but add some yellow Fun Flock.  They are from a stamp set designed by Faith Hofrichter, aka markie's mom over at SCS.  Faith and her husband started their own online store, Mark's Finest Papers.  Faith calls her line "Speed the Cat Designer Collection".  If you get a chance check out some of her stamp designs and the other wonderful stamp companies she has in stock (Flourishes and Tattered Angels).

Mini Album #1 : Lucky Me! Altered Coater Album

Let me begin by defining "luck".  I believe there is no randomness in this world.  I believe that all things come from God.  I believe that He has a divine purpose for myself and my family.  So when I use a word like "luck" in my creative process it means blessed. 

I am blessed from God above!  

I am so thankful for my DH (met him when I was 15, and he is "still the one", on most days, teehee), my children (these photos are a little old, Travis is 22 now and Nicole is 20 and I could not be prouder of these 2 young adults who choose to follow God and trust Him to lead their paths.

I am so thankful for this little pup!  Well she is not a puppy any more, but she is only 7lb, so to me she will always by my little pup.  She has brought me so much joy!

And I can not leave off the BFF's.  I love these girls.  It took me to age 40 to find best friends who love the same things I do,  and I cherish them.  It will break my heart to leave them behind when I move to Texas.

The ProjectThis is a 4x4 coaster book.  I used my Crop-a-dile to punch holes for binding.  I painted the coasters with a dark brown.  Then I started going through my stamp catalogs for images that I though would be cohesive.  You can't go wrong with flowers, butterflies, and hearts!  I then pulled out some "friendship" and "family" stamps for their respective pages.  And last but not least some "decorative" stamps.  You gotta throw some swirls in there, right??

I created all of my own embellishments by stamping on beige cardstock with either green or yellow ink, since I decided these were going to be my colors.  I used cuticle scissors to cut them out.  I also embellished this little album using some of my punches, flowers, border, scalloped corners, one of the butterflies and scalloped ovals.  And I had to throw my deckled scissors in there somewhere (my favorite pair).

The DP : brown stripes - Basic Grey, green polka dots and flourishes - My Mind's Eye.

I used a piece of acetate as a page just before the photo of my pup.  I used Staz-on and stamped it with swirls and colored it in with a yellow gel pen. 

I'm thinking about making a few extra and to sale on Etsy.  I have lots of cards I need to sale and some gently used stamp sets as well.  Since we are getting our house ready to sale, I'm in the mood to let a lot of stuff go.  I actually don't know anything about Etsy though.  Can I sale gently used stamp sets on there??  Or is it for ONLY handmade items??  I'm going to have to research that!

Thanks for stopping by and letting me ramble!  I hope you have a wonderful week!

Creative Belli Challenge #87

It's time for another Creative Belli Challenge!

And this week the Belli girls want you dig into your stash and use some of those clips we all have.  Dig deep, I know you have some!  This is Creative Belli's first sketch challenge as well.  So to play along, hop over to the Creative Belli Blog. 

My clip was given to me as part of a blog candy package!  Since the paperclip ends extend from the sides, I couldn't  help but use my clip in another way! 

Don't you love this bird house image???  I fell in love with it the minute I seen it!  It's one of the new digital images from FireCracker Designs by Pamela.  Check them out HERE.  I colored it with my Copics, inked the edges and added some pearls.  Friday there will be a Design Team Blog Hop showcasing some of FCD's digital images.  Don't miss it!  And you can get a freebie HERE.

Teacup Card

Good Morning!  Today I am sharing a tea themed card with you!

Product Review

I have to do a product review with this one.  I don't usually state negative opinions, but I have to tell you, I tried the Fiskars circular punch on this one and did not like it.  Of course part of the problem was my own.  I accidently threw away the cutting template.  But I had another sewing template that guides you for cutting 4" and 6" circles (the sizes you are suppossed to start with)  and it didn't work.  I could not get it to punch through cardstock.  I'm wondering if the circle you start with is a different size and the final product is 4" or 6".  That may be my problem.  So if anyone has one of the cutting templates that come with it, I would appreciate a measurement on the diameter.  I really do want to like this punch, teehee.

You can view all of my Tea / Teacup related projects HERE

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Project Details

Stamp Set : The Angel Company

Border and Circular punch : Fiskars

Deckle sissors (my favorite)

Flowers - Bo-Bunny

DP - My Mind's Eye

Scor-Pal Tutorial

I wanted to try a creative use for my scor-pal, so I created scored lines diagonally and then sewed on seed beads at the intersection. What a fun tool!

Stamp set : Wee Ones from The Angel Company!

Scor-pal Tutorial

Today I decided I would focus on showing you how to create a criss-cross pattern using your Scor-pal and then re-post a couple of projects. Start with a square piece of cardstock (mine is 8"x8"). Lay your cardstock on your Scor-pal with each of two corners along the 6" line as shown below.

Now score lines 1/2" apart. Turn the cardstock so that the other 2 corners line up on the 6" line and score lines at 1/2" intervals. The result will be a criss-cross pattern on your 8" x 8" piece of cardstock. You can now cut this into smaller squares to use as you like.

On this sample I layered 3 different color inks to create this mosaic look. I just brusted the ink pads over the panel and then used a brayer to help blend the colors.

This one is an example of the same technique but the pattern is a grid instead of a criss-cross.

Also consider using your Scor-pal to create a simple border.

Hope this simple tutorial inspires you to use your Scor-pal for more than just creating a simple fold for your cards !

Flourishes - From the Garden

I'm using Flourishes for the first time this weekend and I just love this set, "From the Garden".  I hope to be able to purchase more of their sets in the future.  Flourishes is another one of those generous stamp companies who holds challenges and gives away a gift certificate to their online store!  I'm so excited to finally have one of their sets and play along this week. (I think you can play along even if you don't have Flourishes stamps). 

This weeks challenge is use scallops.  To play along, check for new challenges each tuesday HERE.  And to purchase some of their wonderful stamps, check out their online store, or check them out at Mark's Finest Paper Company. 

Thanks for looking!

Designing with Vintage Digital Images / Stamps

I am so excited to be a Guest designer for Digital Two For Tuesday today.

As I have mentioned before I LOVE Cora's vintage images and today's post is no exception.

I haven't spent alot of time designing with images of children, so it was fun to do something diffenrent.  I would love to have you join me for this challenge.  To play along, hop over to Digital Two For Tuesday, download these  images and join me this week.  The images are free.  After you have created your project, post a link in the comments section, and I will check them out.  I can't wait to see what others come up with!   Cora just ask that you not post the actual images anywhere else and that you give her credit when you post you project.  She spends alot of time shopping for and repairing these images for us to use. 

You can find these images to copy and print HERE.

Wanna see what other projects I have created with Cora's free digi's??   Click HERE.

Thanks for looking!
Melisa

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Project Details

Card #1

Patterned Paper : 7 Gypsies Barcelon Line, Matarro.

Emphemera : Jenny Bowlin Red Memo Notebook

She has some really cool products that I REALLY need to add to my stash!

Colorization : Copics

Ribbon : Antique shop

Charm : local Stamp Store - A Small Cleverness

Card #2

Patterned Paper : old My Minds Eye from 2008

(Yep, I'm using up my stash and lovin' it!!)

Border Punch : EK Success

Colorization : Copics

Shirt and socks, blocks : light red : R32 and then combine with R27 for shading (use R32 to pick up a little R27 from a plastic surface, or try tip to tip)

Collar, sleeves, shorts red : R27

blue shirt and blocks: BG0000, then combine with BG72 for shading  (use BG000 to pick up a little of BG72 from a plastic surface) 

yellow collar, shorts, blocks :  YR31 and then combine with Y26 as described above for shading

green blocks, bunny jacket : YR31 and then YG91.  The color in the paper was a weird greenish yellow that I just had to play with to get a shade that matched.  I added a little brown on the jacket when I was distressing the project using my eye shadow applicator and my palette burnt umber

skin : E50, E000, R00

brown hair : E35, E37, E29

blond hair :  I can't remember, sorry.

bunny : E41, picked up a little E35 to shade

Impression Obsession Challenge Time - Stamp a Background

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your wonderful comments this week!

Today I'm posting a card for this weeks Impression Obsession Challenge - STamp a BAckground.  But first I have to warn you - DON"T enlarge the photo of this card - it's really bad, teehee.  I had a copic emergency this morning, my very first.  I ran out of BV00 while I was trying to finish up this card and the blending is not quite what it should be.  You should have heard me talking to it, "come on baby, just a little bit more".  Time to order some of the refills.  Or DH may think I need to be committed!

So for this card I created my background by stamping the same image repeatedly.  You can check out the Impression Obsession Challenge blog to read about upcoming challenges and an opportunity to win $25 gift certificate to their online store. 

This set was designed by Sarah Phelps and it is one of Impression Obsessions clear sets.  You can check out more of their Clear Stamp Sets HERE.  Impression Obsession has a great online store where you can choose between Clear Sets, rubber unmounted or mounted, and cling mount. 

So I created a second card one using this set, minus BV00.  I just love these florals. 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Still the ONe!

Hello ladies.  It's time for another Firecracker Designs by Pamela Blog Hop. 

This months theme is "Romantic Lyrics". All of us will be sharing projects created with this theme in mind. And the best part for you is Pamela will be giving away some awesome blog candy. But to qualify for the drawing you have to post comments. She will randomly pick one of our blogs and then randomly pick from all the comments posted on that blog. So you will want to read ALL the blog hop details below and leave comments on each of the blogs to qualify for the drawing. Make sure you leave your email address in your comment!

I was a little ambitious on this project and didn't complete the whole mini album, but I was so inspired by FCD's "Heart Strings" stamps set and the theme that I wanted to create a mini album.  So when the entire project is completed I will show it off.  But for today I am revealing the cover.  I love the song "Still the One" because my DH is that for me.  We met when I was 15, dated for 5 years and then married.  We have been married for 24 years and he is my rock, my best friend, and the only one for me!

Blog Hop Details ...

The official start time of the FCD Blog Hop is Friday at 8:00am (EST). If you have arrived early, please be patient, as all the links may not be live until 8:00am (EST).

This is a "circular blog hop" where the only beginning is wherever you start. You will know you are at the end of your blog hop when you have arrived back on the blog you started with. (There are only 9 of us, so you should be able to remember where you started)

THE WINNER ... will be chosen by our mystery blog hostess. Who is she ? We want know until after the blog hop. So make sure you leave a comment (with your emial address included in that comment) on EVERY blog to qualify!!

Pamela will contact the winner via email (don't forget to leave your email address with your comment) and post the winner on her blog on Monday 8pm(EST).

You can read on below for more of my project details OR continue on to the next blog !

Next Blogger to check out is Michelle !