More cards to share with ya! (LONG POST)

Good morning! Hope you had a wonderful weekend. I did...I spent most of yesterday making cards. Shared one with you yesterday for the Copics Colour Challenge, so today I'll share the other four that I made. Yes, I made FIVE cards yesterday. Usually I'm good for one, maybe two...three if it's a really good day & the boys aren't pestering each other, but yesterday I was a maniac! *LOL* I even managed to get six loads of laundry washed, dried, and passed off to the owners for putting away.

This first one is for the Thursday Challenge (#13) over at Three Clovers Designs. At this point, I'd like to go on the record and swear that the green card base really matches the green in the flowers, but for whatever reason, the Camera Deity has ordained that it needs to appear more blue-ish minty green in the photo & mess with my punkin head! *LOL*I had a scrap of orange floral paper with white eyelets that I put to use here, the image of Fluffers the Cat from a stamped image swap that I recently participated in (colored with COPIC markers), and an epoxy sticker from the Dollar Bins at Michaels.

This little Tilda image is another one from the image swap & I just felt compelled to color her. She's so sweet & just made my wish list a bit longer! I decided to go "minimalist" on this card, but did embellish the envelope with matching punched polka spotted paper (I just love the way my little Aidan says that..."POKA SPOTS!"). *LOL*These are the COPIC markers that I used to color Tilda...This next card was made on a birch pre-made base, some PRETTY K&Co mat papers that I picked up on clearance at Michaels last week ($3 for a pad of double-sided K&Co papers is a good deal!), laces & twill tape that I bought yesterday at Wal-Mart, crocheted pink posies from Sharron, punched rose leaves from a Martha Stewart punch, a white Kaiser Craft flower, a blue rose from Prima, and some blue rhinestones. I posted it on PC Crafter's message boards & it seems to be everyone's favorite.And finally...my ORANGE card. Yes, I said orange. You know I don't DO orange. I had a really hard time with that one that I made a while back. I was going through one of my scrap paper boxes, when I ran across the orange harlequin paper. I had made an orange rose the other day (playing with my COPICs) and thought to myself, "Probably should do something with this before it starts gathering dust!" Well, here's what I did with it:Okay, I'll admit, this card didn't turn out as badly as I had imagined it would. In fact, I'd even venture to say that I actually LIKE how it ended...not so much the car wreck I had pictured in my noggin! *LOL*The floral lace punched border paper is from My Mind's Eye; harlequin paper from Provo Craft; acid orange base cardstock from Making Memories; punched rose leaves from Martha Stewart punch; sugar-coated tulle netting flower from Prima; rose is from a large sticker that I tore apart (for the little roses) and colored with a COPIC marker.

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!

COPIC Colour Challenge #13

Well, it's that time again. Maddy put together a sketch for us to use this week & gave us free reign on the colors. Here's our sketch:
Here are the COPICS that I used...
They were dictated by this little Prima flower called "Apple Map" - I think they're adorable.
Naturally, going off the "map" theme, I had to use my epoxy travel stickers by Fiskars.
And here's the finished card. I had some brown-toned map paper to use for the bigger background, but it was fighting with the flowers, so I went with the K.I.S.S. method of crafting (Keep It Simple, Silly!). *LOL*A special thanks to Charlene for the Tilda image (what a fun swap that was!). I've got more playing to do. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Happy Friday!

I have cards to share, but first I want to let you know that Elisabeth Bell is at it again! She's giving away one of her Guardian Angel sets, complete with accessories, and an exclusive Elisabeth Bell t-shirt (you pick the color) on 25May. So stop by & enter!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Blog Candy Alert!

'K! I'm only sharing this with you out of the kindness of my heart, because in reality, I REALLY, REALLY, REEEEALLY WANT TO WIN THIS ONE FOR MYSELF! *LOL* Seriously, look at this loot, how could anyone NOT want to win this?
A set of 36 COPIC Ciao markers (set A), (3) sets of Nestabilities by Spellbinder, Gorjuss girls stamps (set #2) from Sugar Nellie, a Fiskars apron lace border punch, (2) 12x12 K&Co paper pads (my fave!), flowers, ribbons, buttons...AND TO TOP IT OFF ~ the date of the drawing (23May) is Debbie's birthday and MY anniversary! It's FATE I tells ya!

So stop by Debbie's blog, wish her a happy birthday before she leaves on holiday, and sign up.

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Oh, WOW! Award #8

My little blog isn't even a year old yet (getting close, tho) and I'm up to 8 awards. WOWZERS! Gotta say, as much as I'm flattered & pleased (or chuffed as my UK mates would say) by this, I'm amazed that you feel my blog is award-worthy. Thanks ever so much Charlene! Not sure who I'm passing this on to just yet ~~ I have so many gals out there that I think rock. (Doncha think that we need a blue one of these logos for our male crafting counterparts? I DO cuz I have a few that I'd give it to!)

I'm off to get the littlest munchkin ready for Kindergarten, then I'll come back & post some pix. I found a stash of cards that I dressed with clip art about this time last year, but compared to what I do with cards now, they seem woefully inadequate. I'm dressing them up a bit, then I'll parade them for your viewing pleasure. *LOL*

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

My Designer Imposter Dew Drops

Does anyone remember about 20yrs ago (oh, Lordy, I just dated myself!), when designer imposter fragrances were all the rage? You could wear Poison, Red Door, Giorgio, & Lagerfeld for about $20 per bottle, as opposed to $80 per ounce. Well, folks I actually had a briefcase full of the stuff and would sell it door-to-door. Chris used to tell me that I was the ONLY person he'd ever known that could actually make money doing that! *LOL*

Well, I guess in the world of crafting, times haven't really changed that much. I have REALLY been wanting to play with Dew Drops after seeing them on the European blogs, then the American blogs. They're so pretty! Translucent, pearly, & now metallic...the options were mind-boggling. BUT...they came with a price. Anywhere from $4 for a small pot of about 50 "drops" (yes, I actually found someone portioning them off & selling on eBay) to the original bottle for $6-9USD. Didn't matter, Chris's job was slowing down & with him being commission-only, that meant MONEY was slowing down. With three growing boys that are eating machines, food and clothing take priority over Mom's crafting "wishes." There HAD to be a way to get my hands on some of these, or come up with something close.

Enter, the PC Crafter Message Boards - there had been a discussion about these little gems last month & one of the gals gave us a link to learn how to make our own. The ladies that post for The Craftiblog were sharing how they learned to make homemade Dew Drops out of Scrap & Stamp Magazine. The lady that shared the link with us over at PC Crafter had tried it with GLITTER GLUE and announced amazing results. I got so excited...it was the perfect answer to my "I need it for next to nothing" situation. I already had a dual temp glue gun, I had glue sticks (not glitter)...so I grabbed my teflon coated craft sheet and set out to see if it really worked. I used 1 1/3 sticks of glue and though they're not as "clear" as they're supposed to be, I got nearly 100 Dew Drops to use on projects. Here's how they turned out:

Flat on the bottom...perfect for gluing down to papers & cards!

An added bonus...you can make different sizes and shapes. Do you always want round? What if you want them bigger? Or would an oval look cool on something? How about teardrop shaped?

Last shot of my first batch. You can see that they're a bit "milky" but for my first attempt and what I'm using them for, they work just fine. Hey, I'm not complaining, I already had the supplies on hand and they weren't being used, so... In the tutorial, they colored their drops in a plastic baggie with alcohol inks (I can practically hear Calv's mind whirling as soon as he reads this), but I didn't have any on hand. I DID, however, have my COPIC markers...they're alcohol inks, so why can't I color them one at a time as I need them? Well, as you can see from Saturday's post, I colored the bottoms of the drops, gave them about 30 minutes to dry, glued them down with a drop of Tombow & they worked, just like I needed them to.

Since I tried this glue stick technique, I've found that Heather has come up with a way to make your Dew Drop Imposters by using Crystal Effects Glaze. I haven't tried it yet...but I'm gonna!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Happy Saturday to Ya!

Hope your day has gone well. I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything since Monday. It's been a crazy week around here. I guess my boys are starting to get that "it's almost SUMMER" feeling and they're already cagey - bickering, bellyaching, whining...let the fun begin! *LOL* While Dad had them all out doing yard work today to shake off some of that excess energy, I stayed inside, away from the floating fuzz off the neighbor's quaking aspens and made a few cards.

This first one is on a pre-made A2 base; distressed acid green paper from My Mind's Eye; 3 dew drop designer imposters (made from a glue gun) colored on the bottoms with black COPIC marker; chipboard heart colored with pink COPIC and covered in "crystal" Ice Stickles (they're chunkier than the regular Stickles - kinda reminds me of German glass glitter); flower stamp from Lil See D's, colored with COPICs, "diamond" Stickles in the center; vine stitching stamp from the set Running Stitches by The Angel Company. A little better view of the details. Below is the inside - simple & a nice use of scrap paper. Envelope flap was stamped with the same vine stitches.


Another card on a pre-made A2 base; double-sided patterned paper by K&Co; distressed salmon paper by My Mind's Eye; SU scallop border punch (the holes in the scallops were done with a 1/8" hole punch); crocheted flowers; MS branch punch; EK Success branch punch; rhinestone brad; dragonfly charm; linen thread; chipboard from my stash; stamp "you can bug me any time" out of a TAC Bag from The Angel Company. Below, the inside of the card - acid green paper inside, the red "strip" is a piece reversed of the paper used on the front & punched with the MS lacy edge border. The envelope has a piece of the acid green paper punched with a SU scallop border punch. (sorry the pic turned out so YELLOW...not sure why it did that)


This one is on a 5x7 pre-made base; again K&Co double-sided paper for the main background; strip of the same paper reversed & punched with SU scallop border on the bottom; strip of My Mind's Eye distressed salmon punched with SU scallop border down the side; square piece of chipboard from my stash; liquid pearl in white; 3 designer imposter dew drops colored with COPIC marker; stamp out of the set Oh How by The Angel Company. Below, inside covered with My Mind's Eye in distressed light salmon; strip down the side K&Co double-sided punched with SU scallop border.
I'm gonna try to play some more tomorrow for Mother's Day. Thinking I might try another altered file folder - haven't made one in a while. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!