New Elyzbells are in the house!

I'll admit it. I'm a hopeless (hopeful?) romantic and I believe in the fairy tale. In fact, in many ways, I live it. I was married the first time for 16 years and thought I would be married forever. Unfortunately, it turned out that it was not just my decision to make and my husband told me he wanted out. It was by far the most painful and devastating time in my life.

Fast forward 6 years...I was in Vancouver, Washington with a group of friends having a drink at the hotel lounge. We had traveled there to root for our contestant in the Miss Washington pageant. I didn't know it then, but seated next to me at the bar was my future husband. We have been married 12 years now and I am happier than I could have possibly imagined. I definitely met my Prince Charming that night.

Sorry for the poor lighting in today's photo. I have made a few changes to my work area and I can see that I will have to rethink the lighting set-up...back to the drawing board.

It's all about the details:
Card stock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey - Two Scoops
Stamps: Elzybells Art Stamps
Ink: Palette Hybrid - Noir Black
Accessories: Ribbon, metal ornamental frame, foam squares
Tools: Wizard, Nestabilities, Copic Markers, Copic Markers, ticket punch

WSC 31

I have been wanting to ink up this adorable stamp from Lockhart Stamps for awhile now and Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I started with more of the My Mind's Eye "Kiss and Tell" collection, I love this paper! Then I stamped and colored the image with my Copic Markers and cut and embossed it with the Wizard and Nestabilities (or Nesties as they are becoming known around the net). The sentiment is from A Muse Artstsamps and I stamped it in Palette Hybrid ink in Claret. Sugar Coated chipboard from Doodlebug Design finished it off.

Hope you are lucky enough to enjoy a three day weekend too.


It's all about the details:
Card stock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye
Stamps: Lockhart Stamp Co. and A Muse Artstamps
Ink: Palette Hybrid - Claret
Accessories: Sugar Coated adhesive chipboard from Doodlebug Design
Tools: Wizard, Nestabilities, Copic Markers

Valentine the Sequel

Sorry I have been missing in action for several days. We had new carpeting installed and I had to pack up all my supplies to clear the room. Now I am working out of boxes until I can sort everything and put them in their rightful place. It is more than a touch stressful! I miss my old chaos, where I knew where everything was in my piles.

No stamps were inked in the making of this Valentine. That's a rarity for me, but I just received my new My Mind's Eye "Kiss and Tell" patterned papers and I love all the die-cuts that come in the kit. The little felt heart is by K & Company and the ribbon and scallop punch are from Martha Stewart's collection at Michael's.

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend.

It's all about the details:
Card stock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye (also Die cut)
Stamps: None
Ink: None
Accessories: K & Company felt heart, Martha Stewart ribbon
Tools: Martha Stewart punch

Everyday Moments

You know, I love all the amazing and complex cards that are being made these days. I love all the layers and patterned papers and embellishments galore. But sometimes, just sometimes, I need to make a simple card. Understated, without pretense, nothing too frou frou, just a little card stock and (in this case) ribbon with a smidge of bling.

I read a tutorial on Debbie Olson's blog the other day about using Scor-pal to do a lattice background. I used the same technique to make this simple diagonal background. The stamp is by Daisy Bucket Designs. I love this sentiment. It is such an amazing truth.

It's all about the details:
Card stock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: None (OMG!)
Stamps: Daisy Bucket Designs
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black
Accessories: EK Success gems, ribbon
Tools: Nestabilities, Wizard

Valentine Wishes

Ah, love is in the air. It's time to begin making valentines. I have been in love with valentines since grade school days when we would spend an entire afternoon making a big red heart envelope out of construction paper and paper lace. We would hang them up on the closet doors in the classroom. I can remember spending hours trying to decide which valentine to give to each classmate. You had to be really careful not to give the really mushy one to the boy that you had a crush on. Then, there was the anticipation of opening the valentines that you had received. My favorite memory was in 2nd grade when a boy named Richard gave me a whole box of valentines! Unfortunately, he wasn't the boy I had the crush on. Such is life!

I really dug into the back of my stash for this card. I still had a 6 x 6 pad of Cosmopolitan paper by Making Memories and the heart is a KI Memories Icicle. Pink and brown are one of my absolute favorite color combinations.

It's all about the details:
Card stock: Paper Accents -Pearlized Cream
Patterned Paper: Making Memories
Stamps: A Muse Artstamps
Ink: Brilliance Coffee Bean
Accessories: KI Memories Icicle, ribbon
Tools: Decorative Scissors, paper piercer

FS48

I haven't done a Featured Stamper challenge for a long time but I couldn't pass this one up. It's Nancy Riley and I am a big fan of hers. I visit her blog daily and admire her creations. It's not too late. Head on over to SCS and play along.

This is the card I chose to CASE. I love the simplicity of it. I used different stamps and paper but tried to be true to the layout. The PP is by Fancy Pants Designs and is part of their Botanical paper series. The flower stamp is from the Papertrey Ink Beautiful Blooms set and the sentiment is from Essential Sentiments by My Favorite Things. My favorite part of the card is the velvet brads by Making Memories. I love these things!

Oh, I almost forgot. Be sure to visit Nancy's blog to see all her incredible cards and projects.

It's all about the details:
Card stock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants Designs
Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Beautiful Blooms, MFT Essential Sentiments
Ink: SU Always Artichoke
Accessories: Making Memories velvet brads, foam squares

Sherbet

Just a quick post tonight because it's late (hmmm, is 2:00 AM considered late or early?) and I have to work tomorrow.

This card just reminds me of sherbet. Orange, raspberry, lemon, it's making me yearn for spring. I'm trying to use up some of my stash this year and I think this Scrapworks paper has been with me for a while. That's OK, I'll just take it one sheet at a time. Now if I could just stop buying new paper.....

It's all about the details:
Card stock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: Scrapworks
Stamps: Scrapgoods, SU Bodacious Bouquet
Ink: Colorbox Chalk Inks
Accessories: Ribbon, foam squares, heart pin, buttons
Tools: SU Distressor

Criss Cross

Another weekend come and gone. Are the weeks speeding up or is it my imagination?

I have wanted to make a criss cross card ever since I read Beate's tutorial ages ago and saw all the wonderful examples using this method. Now I wonder why I waited so long. It was fun!

It was so enjoyable doing something different. I have decided that since this is a new year, I really want to try new techniques and styles. So I'm going to try to do the Technique Lover's Challenges over at Splitcoast Stampers whenever I can.

It's all about the details:
Card stock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: KI Memories
Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Green Thumb; Lizzie Anne Designs, Jolies Fleurs
Ink: Brilliance Cocoa Bean, Colorbox Chalk Ink, Yellow Cadmium
Accessories: Liquid Applique', Ribbon
Tools: Marvy Punch

A Tale of Two Idols

Every sport or hobby has its all-stars.

When I first found Splitcoast Stampers, I was in awe of the talent I saw there. It wasn't long after, that I discovered the world of stamping and card-making blogs. Oh my gosh, I felt such an immediate sense of kinship and inferiority all at the same time. The creations I saw literally took my breath away. My blogroll lists several of my "idols" in this wonderful craft. Let me talk for just a moment about two of them.

1. Sweet Miss Daisy - aka Anna Wight
What can't this woman do? Her cards are incredible. She is a very talented photographer. She is an amazing artist. See that adorable image up there? It's just one of her many Whipper Snapper designs. She even operates an online store, Sassy & Sweet Crafts. Do yourself a favor and visit her site and prepare to be inspired.

2. Debbie Olson - Thinking Inking
Is there a design team or publication that has not benefited from the talent she brings to the table? It seems like every time a design or project catches my eye, it turns out to be one of Debbie's. Imagine then if you will, my astonishment when I discovered that she left a comment on my blog today...a complimentary comment! I couldn't stop smiling all afternoon. Thank you Debbie for making my day.

It's all about the details:
Card stock: Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper: Crate Paper
Stamps: Whipper Snapper
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black
Accessories: Stickles
Tools: Copic Markers, Spica Pens, Decorative scissors

Bathing Beauty

Altogether now, Ahhhhhh.

What is it about babies that make us so sappy? Look at those adorable little cheeks, don't you just want to pinch them? This darling image is from Art Gone Wild and is called Bathing Baby. I colored it using my Copic Markers and added Spica Markers to the bubbles to add a little hint of iridescence.

I ran across some old Fiskars texture plates yesterday and tried several "sandwich" combinations in my Wizard until I was happy with the embossing. The result is the dotted swiss effect on the white card stock. (Easier to see in a close-up, click photo to enlarge.) It's subtle but I really like it. The sentiment is half of a greeting from the SU Baby Talk set. I cut the sentiment apart and mounted the pieces separately so they could be used this way.

Hope your year is off to a great start!

It's all about the details:
Card stock: Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper: Crate Paper
Stamps: Art Gone Wild; SU Baby Talk
Ink: Adirondack, Slate
Accessories: Crate Paper Ribbon, foam squares, Spica pens
Tools: Nestabilities, Copic Markers, Wizard with Fiskars Texture Plates

The Butterfly

This is my entry for the TLC149 challenge over on SCS. I'm afraid I cheated just a bit. :-) Here's my sad sad story...

I was busy creating well after midnight last night. (Isn't that how every stamper spends their New Year's Eve?) I had the card almost completed when it dawned on me that the "butterfly" I had spent so much time piecing together to go with my sentiment was in fact a dragonfly! (See inset) Duh!

I am in the process of reorganizing my craft room and I could not find another butterfly stamp in all my clutter so I came up with plan B which did not include a stamped image. I have had this bright orange fake butterfly in my stash forever and decided to color one half with my Copic markers and emboss the other half with silver embossing powder. Just goes to prove where there's a will there's a way!

Happy New Year everyone!


It's all about the details:
Card stock: SU Very Vanilla, Bazzill
Patterned Paper: Foof-a-la
Stamps: Inky Antics, sentiment (Outlines Rubber Stamps - Dragonfly)
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Distress Ink, Fired Brick and Weathered Wood
Accessories: Ribbon, eyelets, foam squares, Butterfly, twill
Tools: Crop-a-dile, Paper piercer, mat pack