Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday, and I just have to share this pretty card that from Susan T. from smARTworks sent me.

Thank you, Susan...you made me smile!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #16

Our inspiration piece for this round of the challenge was the room from Pottery Barn.  I love this room.  It reminds me of my family room, or more accurately, it reminds me of what my family room could look like if I had any talent for decorating!

Anyway, I love red, and I especially like the way it pops against the neutrals in this room, so I kept the colors for my card.  The rooster pillow on the sofa also caught my eye for a couple of reasons.  First, I have roosters in my kitchen, which is next to the family room, so that pillow would be a perfect accent on my own sofa.  Second, I actually had a rooster stamp that would work!

The stamps I used on my card are from smARTworks.  I stamped the rooster with Adirondack Pitch Black ink onto white cardstock and colored it with Copic markers.  The white was really stark white, so I went over that part with a very pale warm grey, which toned it down just enough.  That pretty paper is a digital download available from Close to My Heart.  It's meant to be black and white, but I printed it on kraft cardstock instead.  The flowers are Hero Arts, and the layout is from CPS142 over at Card Positioning Systems.

Everyone is invited to play along in the Divine Diva challenges, and if you do, please link your creation here. If you upload to PCP or SC, use the keyword DDIC16. For even more inspiration, please visit the other Divine Divas: Anne, Chris, Lori, Julie, Keri, and Kerri.

Hope you can join us!

Silent Night

I have another card to share using the new Nativity set from Starving Artistamps.  This was such an easy card to make, and I really like the way the star shines brightly against the soft neutral color palette.  The images and sentiment are stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink on Ivory Pearl cardstock, which is so shimmery in real life.  I did my coloring with Copic markers in muted shades and added a single crystal to the star.

If you're liking this set as much as I do, don't forget that you can get 10% off my using my discount code:  SAVETENDD

My Mojo Returns!

You may have noticed that it's been a little quiet around my blog lately.  It's true that I've been busy lately, but the biggest reason is that I've had NO MOJO!

I'm happy to say that I found at least a little of my mojo this week and was able to make this card, which I'm quite pleased with.

The image I used is from the Starving Artistamps The Nativity collection.  I used the Technique Junkies Penciled Twinks technique to color the image.  Basically, you shade the image with colored pencils, and then instead of plain water, use Twinkling H2O's or any other shimmery watercolors to blend the pencil. 

For my layout, I used the sketch from SC254 on Splitcoast.  The background paper is Basic Grey Marrakech, and the square panels are red cardstock embossed with my Cuttlebug.  I sprayed the background panels with Gold Smooch Spritz for some extra glitz, and I have to say that I just love the effect!  To finish the card, I added a gold bow and a Prima crystal embellishment.

That's all for now.  My friend and I are off to the mall for some lunch and a bit of retail therapy.  Hope you have an enjoyable Saturday planned as well!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #15

It's been awhile since we've had a Divine Diva challenge, but it's time for another one today.  Our inspiration this time was this perfume gift set from Pacifica.

First of all, let me just say that I really wish I had a set of Nestabilities that cut fancy medallion shapes like the ones in this design.  Do you hear me Spellbinders? 

Ok, back to the  challenge.  There are so many elements that I like in the design for this packaging, but the gift box immediately struck me as a cool layout for a card.  Since I don't have any Nesties that cut fancy frames, I used a rub-on frame instead and cut it out with my oval nesties.  My printed papers are from Basic Grey, the image and sentiment are from Starving Artistamps (DoodleFactory Home Decor collection), and I used Copic markers for my coloring.

Everyone is invited to play along in the Divine Diva challenges, and if you do, please link your creation here. If you upload to PCP or SC, use the keyword DDIC15. For even more inspiration, please visit the other Divine Divas: Anne, Chris, Lori, Julie, Keri, and Kerri


Have a great day, and join us if you can!

The smART-Word for November is Gratitude

Well, it's November 1st and time for a new smart-Word challenge.  Susan chose our word this month and came up with one that is very fitting for November:  gratitude.  If you'd like to play along in our challenge, just make a card that says "gratitude" to you and post a link on our smART-Word challenge blog.  Every one who enters is eligible to win the monthly prize drawing, so what are you waiting for?

Here's the card I make to kick off the challenge.  This image (ABC-Bountiful) just said Thanksgiving to me, and I thought it would be perfect on a thank you card to use this time of year.  I colored the image with Copic markers, and since I didn't want any embellishments to complete with the image, I just did a bit a piercing in the corners and some simple layers to finish off the card.

Hope you can join us this month!

Happy Halloween!

This is a project I made for the Oct/Nov 2009 Technique Junkies Newsletter, for which I was a guest designer.  The ornament is a clear class ball that I painted from the inside with white acrylic paint.  For the black spots, I used the Technique Junkies tutorial called PKGlitz and added a crystal to the center of each spot.  The charms made with shrink plastic using colore pencils and images from the Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Witches' Brew collection.

Happy Halloween!