Dee's Studio

I have a new blog!

2011-08-26T10:51:00.000-04:00

I've decided to move my blogging over to WordPress. Blogger has been great, but there are some things that I just can't do here so I'm giving WordPress a try.

My new blog is: Salmon Brook Studio

I hope you'll stop by and visit!

Some ATC's

2011-07-02T17:45:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone...I hope you're all enjoy the long Independence Day weekend! We've got lot's of things going on here so I'll have to keep this post short and sweet.

These are a few ATC's I've made recently. The ones with the pieced backgrounds use a technique called Brick Wall from the December 2010 Technique Junkies Newsletter and the images on those are from Stampendous (I think). The fold-over card is a Magenta Style image colored with colored pencils and then accented with glaze pens.

Have a great weekend!

Another finished painting!

2011-06-23T12:45:00.000-04:00

Two in one month...I'm on a roll!

This beautiful little girl is our granddaughter, Piper. I painted her with colored pencils on Mi-Tientes paper. The paper is colored, a shade called "hemp", which is sort of a medium, warm flesh tone. I expected that the colored paper would make it easier to create skin tones, but I think I still ended up using every single peach, light pink, beige, tan, light brown, white, and cream colored pencil in my collection.

Thanks for stopping by today. I'm heading back to my studio. There's still a week left in June, and who knows, I might just finish another painting this month!

Happy Summer!

2011-06-21T08:44:00.000-04:00

Here's to summer--long days, abundant sunshine, open windows, gardening, song birds, thunder storms, outdoor picnics, vacations at the beach, sitting on the deck, walks in the woods, and all the other good things that summer brings!

Card info: Stamp used are Donna's Lighthouse and shells from Starving Artistamps; colored with pastel pencils using the Pastel Pencil Blending tutorial from Technqiue Junkies.

Thanks for stopping by!

Technique Junkies Stampbooking Blog Hop

2011-06-13T07:00:00.019-04:00

The Technique Junkie Newsletter Designers, along with some very talented Spotlight Stampers, are proud to bring you a special Stampbooking Blog Hop! During this hop, our designers will be using techniques from the recently released TJ Stampbooking CD. The CD contains 75 inspiring tutorials in pdf format. The tutorials are fun and versatile, and you can get more information about the CD and how to order your own copy here: http://www.techniquejunkies.com/stampbooking-cd.html

Of course, you could always win the CD that Jane is giving away on her blog, too. It's Jane's birthday today she celebrates her whole birthday week (great idea, no?) so this hop culminate on her blog for the give away. The prize is a copy of the TJ Stampbooking CD and all you have to do is leave a comment for Jane by the end of her birthday week (midnight on June 17) to be entered into a random drawing.

And now for my project. I'm not really a scrapbooker, but I do enjoy making small albums for gifts or to commemorate a special occasion so I chose to make a Page-in-a-Box mini album to show you.

This was such a fun and easy project...I can definitely see myself making up a few more of these! The stamps I used are from I Brake for Stamps and Starving Artistamps.

Our blog hop starts with Judy Jackson at the TJ Designer's Blog, so if you haven't been there yet head on over so you can start at the very beginning and be sure that you don't miss a thing. If you've been hopping right along, your next stop from here is one of our awesome Spotlight Stampers: Reagan Seifert @ Emora Designs.

And just in case you get lost along the way, here's the complete blog list:
Judy Jackson @ TJ Designer's Blog
Chris Dickinson @ Creating with Chrissy
Ann Clack @ Created by Ann
Shelly Hickox @ Stamptramp
Beth Norman @ Sunflower and Dragonflies
Tricia O’Bin @ The Passionate Stamper
Hetty Sanders @ Craft Chaos
Donna Duquette @ Dee's Studio
Regan Seifert @ Emora Designs
Holly Brown @ Glitter, Stamps, and Ink (Oh My!)
Pat Huntoon @ The Technique Trail
Jane Bosi @ Jane's Addiction

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the hop!

My Latest Painting

2011-06-03T00:11:00.000-04:00

I just finished this today--I think the paint was all dry when I took the picture. This painting is the final project for my Draw and Paint in Your Pajamas course. It took me much longer than I thought it would to get here, but I finished, and that, my friends, is a very good feeling!


Mayan Gold, acrylic, 12" x 12"

Gingersnap Creations Color Challenge

2011-05-26T09:06:00.000-04:00

Technique Junkies is sponsoring the challenges at Gingersnap Creations all month
and this week the challenge is a color challenge--Denim, Rust, and Dust and there's an overall Western theme for the month. On top of that, Pat asked that our TJ design team sample feature the Faux Denim technqiue from the December 2008 newsletter. That's a lot for my brain to keep track of, but I think I got it covered.

My cowboy is from the DoodleFactory Costume Party collection from Starving Artistamps, and the sentiments is also from Starving Artistamps. I colored him in various shades of denim, rust, and dust using my Copic markers and made him a lasso out of a piece of twine.

Happy Trails!

A Scrapbook Page to Share

2011-05-24T07:59:00.001-04:00

Yes, you heard right...a scrapbook page. I used to scrapbook all the time. I swear, I would do things just so I could take pictures and scrapbook them. I even signed on as a "consultant" for one of those home-party companies. Then I started rubber stamping and gradually my scrapbooking fell by the wayside. I never really gave any thought to combining the two hobbies. Until now, that is.

Technique Junkies has a new CD, Stampbooking, coming out next week that's chock full of stamping techniques to use in a scrapbook. When I first had a chance to look at the 75 tutorials that are included I thought, "Cool, I can use most of those on my cards." But then I made some sample pages for the CD and I was hooked on scrapbooking all over again. Now, I don't know that I'll ever go back to scrapbooking everything I do, but an art journal/scrapbook that I add to when the mood strikes me sounds like something I could really enjoy.

Anyway, to make a long story short, this new CD is just full of inspiration for scrapbookers, card makers and journal keepers alike. It's available for preorder HERE right now and will begin shipping first week of June.

The page I'm sharing with you today is one of my favorites from the samples I did. The technique is called Brayered Frames Border and the stamps are from Starving Artistamps.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Another Busy Week

2011-05-20T11:42:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a week! I have no idea where the time went. Last week the weather was nice so I spent most of my time outside. This week it rained so I've spent the week catching up on indoor projects which I plan to share with you over the next few days. I'll start with this Father's Day card. I know Father's Day isn't until next month, now is a good time to get your cards made and ready to go. For this one, I used a zebra stamp from Class Act, Inc. and a computer generated sentiment. I also used two tutorials from Technique Junkies: Faux Artisan Tiles (May 2011) and Torn Paper Frames (Dec 2008).

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back soon with another project to share.

Gingersnap Creations Spicy Supply Challenge

2011-05-12T15:07:00.000-04:00

Technique Junkie is sponsoring the challenges at Gingersnap Creations all month
and this week the challenge is the Spicy Supply Challenge - Take on Twine. No problemo--I love twine! What proved to be a real challenge was keeping with the overall theme of Cowboys and Cowgirls. Aside from the fact that I totally forgot that the month had a theme, I don't have any Western stamps except for a few horses. Hmmm, looks like my stamp collection still has a few gaps that need to be addressed. Imagine that.

Back to the card I made for this week. I had this new stamp (Beach Bonita by Victoria Case for SCACD) from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design sitting on my table and I think twine looks great on ocean inspired designs so that's the direction I took. I colored Bonita with Prismacolor pencils. Having just returned from a portrait drawing seminar, I decided to experiment with some of the colors that were recommended for auburn hair. I used several different colors in the hair, including cream, mineral orange, sienna brown, dark umber, goldenrod, vermillion, poppy red, and indigo. Fun! I can't wait to try those colors on a real portrait.

For the background, I used watercolor pencils with my Blended Blotches technique from the April/May 2011 Technique Junkie Newsletter. The Kraft brown mat also has a TJ technique--Cuttlebug Highlights from the October/November 2008 newsletter.

You're all invited to play along with the Gingersnap Creations challenges and there are prizes to be won, too. To see how to enter and got tons of inspiration, visit the Gingersnap Creations blog.

Thanks for stopping by my studio today!

Class Act Blog Challenge

2011-05-06T00:01:00.000-04:00

It's time for the May Class Act Blog Challenge, and the challenge this month was to use fabric or stitching, either real or faux.

My card uses a real piece of fabric which I backed with adhesive tape and die cut with my Cuttlebug. The rooster and sentiment (new from Class Act, Inc.) are foiled with variegated green metal leaf. I used Heat and Stick powder to apply the metal leaf.

Be sure to stop by the Class Act Insider blog and see what the rest of the design team came up with.

Thanks for stopping by my studio!

Cupcakes and Kittens

2011-05-02T09:55:00.001-04:00

Hi again...just a quick post to share a card I made for the current sketch at Cardabilities, sponsored by Technique Junkies. I used a tutorial from the April 2010 Newsletter called Corduroy along with an image from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design. The image is stamped on light blue card stock and then colored with colored pencils.

See ya later!

Rustic Birdhouses

2011-05-01T21:55:00.000-04:00

I made this card last week with every intention of posting it as soon as I finished, but you know how it goes. One thing leads to another and before you know it days have gone by. It's downright scary how fast time flies sometimes!

I used a technique on this card that I've been wanting to try for quite awhile now. I made a custom stamp pad by stamping my image (from Class Act, Inc.) on some Cut 'n Dry felt pad. Using the stamped image as a guide, I inked the pad and then stamped it directly into my paper. Then, I stamped the image over the colors with black ink. Very cool!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week!

Midnight Madness Sketch

2011-04-26T08:42:00.001-04:00

This week's Midnight Madness Sketch 101 at "priscillastyles" is being sponsored by Technique Junkies. As a member of the TJ design team, I made this card for fun and inspiration, and of course I used a couple of Technique Junkies tutorials. The technique I used on my design tiles is called Copic Texturizing, and it was published in the the April 2011 newsletter. For my tiles, I used my colorless blender to create designs that matched my background paper (Basic Grey Stella Ruby). I love the way the tiles came out looking like batik.

The second technique I used is called Sanded Core'dinations, which you can find on the Technique Junkies Emboss or Die CD. The CD chock full of cool things to do with your die cutting/embossing machine, and if you enter the sketch challenge this week you could win a copy for yourself along with a 1-year subscription to the newsletter. Just visit the "priscillastyles" blog for details on how to enter.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Fooling Around with Watercolors

2011-04-25T09:52:00.002-04:00

I bought an inexpensive set of Yasutomo Niji tube watercolors a few weeks back and finally broke them out of the box yesterday. For the 5 bucks I spent, I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with them. The colors are fairly intense, and I was able to mix any color I needed from the 12 hues included in the set. I'm definitely not a watercolorist, but this was awfully fun to do.

The stamp I used on this card is from Class Act, Inc. and the papers are Basic Grey Urban Prairie.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Earth Day

2011-04-22T08:59:00.000-04:00

To commemorate Earth Day today, I'm sharing this natural, earthy, and green card that I made using the Kissed Folder technique from the Technique Junkies Emboss or Die CD. This is such a great technique to add just a bit of texture to solid stamps, like I did here with my trees. The tree stamps I used are from Memory Box and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

Have a wonderful day and remember -- be nice to your Mother...Earth.

Spring Tulip

2011-04-15T09:42:00.000-04:00

It's finally gotten warm enough around here to turn the heat off and open the windows. Well, most of the time anyway. In honor of spring finally arriving, I thought I'd share this tulip ATC with you today.

For those of you who haven't joined the ATC movement yet, ATC stands for Artist Trading Card. There are no rules for making them except that they have to be 2.5" by 3.5 inches. The idea is to make them and trade them with other artists. I made this one for a recent trade on Rubberstamp Chat.

The stamp is from Magenta, and I colored the flower with Prismacolor pencils. The background is a technique from the Dec. 2010 Technique Junkie Newsletter called Colored Pencil Resist.

Happy Friday! I hope it's a beautiful day where you are too.

Class Act Blog Challenge #3

2011-04-08T00:01:00.000-04:00

Our Class Act blog challenge this month is to make anything but a card. Originally, though, it was more specific--make a scrapbook page. Since my brain was already in scrapbook mode, I decided to stay with that idea.

For my layout, I used a couple of the newly released birdhouse stamps and colored them with Copic markers. The side borders are made using a Technique Junkies tutorial called Ribbon Spiral Strip from the October 2008 newsletter.

Be sure to visit the Class Act Insider blog to see the beautiful projects from the rest of the design team. You'll also find details on how you can join in the challenge and maybe even with this month's prize.

Thanks for stopping by my studio today and have a great weekend!

A Card of Many Challenges

2011-04-01T17:44:00.000-04:00

I was in the mood to play in some challenges today, and I made a card that fits several. The Friday Free for All on Splitcoast today is to make a project with a "home" theme, and these stamps from Class Act were sitting on my table just begging to be inked. My watercolor pencils were also sitting on my table from a project I did yesterday, so I used them for my coloring. Yesterday's Ways to Use It on SCS was Flower Frenzy, so I picked floral paper (Basic Grey Green at Heart) and embellishments (Hero Arts Art Flowers). For my layout, I used the current Card Positioning Systems sketch.

Thanks for stopping by my studio today. Have a great weekend!

Accidentally Relevant

2011-03-31T21:06:00.000-04:00

With all of the excitement surrounding the impending royal nuptials, it's probably very fitting that I made a card with a decidedly British royal theme. Truth is that I just now made the connection. So my card is relevant, but only accidentally. I find that amusing for some reason...I may be the only one who does, but that's OK.

So why did I made this card, you ask? I'm still working with the March new stamp release from Class Act, which includes this Buckingham Palace guard in the English doll set and it occurred to me the other day that Basic Grey Boxer would be the perfect paper to use. So here you have it! I colored him with colored pencils and used a clear glaze pen to add polish to his boots and buttons. I also used some black Flower Soft on his helmet (hat?).

Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, and GO UCONN!!! (both teams, men and women--ha!)

Promise of Spring

2011-03-29T19:48:00.000-04:00

I just finished this painting for Cindy Wider's Draw and Paint in Your Pyjamas course. One more painting and I'll be done! I've got some rubber stamping stuff to get caught up on, but I hope to get started on my final project later this week.

As for this painting, the assignment was to create a simple original painting using one of three different painting styles. The style I used here is semi-abstract hard edge acrylic painting. I haven't gotten any feedback on this yet so I don't know how successful I was in emulating that style, but I am pleased with my result and I learned a ton in the process.

Promise of Spring
Acrylic on canvas board
9" x 12"

Thanks for stopping by my studio today. I'll be back later in the week with some rubber stamping and paper craft projects. Later!

I'm Back!

2011-03-26T16:49:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks here--water in the basement, a trip to Vegas, and then lots of projects to do when I got home. I've been meaning to post something new here on my blog all week, and I'm finally getting to it now. It's going to be quick, though, because we have one of the grandkids for the evening and we promised her we'd go bowling. Life in the fast lane!

While we were in Las Vegas, we took some time to go sight seeing in the Mojave Desert. These photos are from the Valley of Fire State Park, a truly spectacular place.

And here's a very simple card that I made the other day. Nothing fancy because sometimes I need a notecard that I can send to a man. Apparently, they don't appreciate glitter and ribbons as much as we girls do! The stamp is from Class Act, and I used a technique from the new Technique Junkies Emboss or Die CD called Scored Embossing.

Thanks for stopping by!

I've been knitting up a storm lately

2011-03-16T09:19:00.000-04:00

Knitting has been an on again, off again thing with me since I was twelve or so. Right now its on again and I've been trying to use up some of my stash of yarn. It's not a big stash by any means, but substantial enough that I can't justify buying too much more. I do buy a little more, though, now and then--it's just too hard to resist.

Since about half of my stash one or two skeins and leftovers of this and that, I decided that the best way to use it up would be to do some charity knitting. This little set is one that I donated to an auction to benefit a local high school scholarship fund.

Those of you who are knitters will recognize the little jacket as Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. For those of you who aren't familiar, Elizabeth published the pattern in her newsletter in the 1960's and it's been a classic ever since. It's knit all in one piece and the surprise part is that it folds origami-style into this cute little jacket. It was so fun and easy to knit that I'm thinking about casting on another one.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

So here's the deal...

2011-03-13T14:32:00.001-04:00

...and it's a good one, too. Starving Artistamps is offering a free sheet of rubber for every $50 you spend. Sweet!

And here's a card...

The stamp is from Starving Artistamps (of course), stamped with brown Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. That gorgeous leather background is the Faux Tooled Leather technique from the Technique Junkies Emboss or Die CD.

That's all I have for today pardner. Thanks for stopping by!

Dutch Treat

2011-03-11T11:51:00.000-05:00

This card just had to be made. Sitting on my table right next to each other were my set of Dutch Doll stamps from Class Act, Inc. and my copy of the Technique Junkie Emboss or Die CD which, among 78 other awsome techniques, includes the Faux Delft Tiles technique I used here. How could I not made a card like this?

To create my center tile, I stamped the windmill image with Versamark ink onto watercolor paper, and then embossed it with white embossing powder. Next, I spritzed the entire piece with water and watercolored with several different shades of blue. When I diecut the tile, I also embossed the edge and then watercolored the edge with brown, using the embossing as a guide. The blue mat is cut and embossed from Core'dinations paper and then sanded.

Thanks for stopping by my studio. Have a great day!

Class Act Blog Challenge #1

2011-03-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

This is my first posting for the Class Act Design Team and the stamps I'm playing with this month are brand new in the Dolls of the World series. When I was a little girl, I had a set of It's a Small World paper dolls which I loved. I would spend hours drawing and coloring new outfits for them. Working with these stamps has brought back so many fond memories!

Today is also the first Class Act Blog challenge, and we were challenged to make a creation that used embossing, three or more layers, and bling. There wasn't really any challenge here at all. I knew right from the start what I wanted to use the Hannah, the little Dutch girl, and that I would use the Cuttlebug Highlights technique (Technique Junkies Oct 2008). I colored Hannah's costume with Copic markers and highlighted my embossing by on rubbing a couple shades of blue die ink directly from the ink pads. For my bling, I added crystals to my scalloped oval mat.

You are welcome to play along with us and maybe even with a prize. All the information you need to know about the challenge is posted on the Class Act Insider blog. You'll also find links to the rest of the Design Team's creations so be sure to pop on over there.

Happy Friday and thanks for stopping by!

Today is Sunday

2011-02-27T12:06:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are wondering, except for our power being out all afternoon, I enjoyed my Saturday on Friday. My Saturday on Saturday was even better, though. Lisa and Bill and the girls came over for corned beef and cabbage dinner, which to our collective surprise was delicious. I usually only make corned beef once a year because throwing an entire meal in a pot of boiling water is not my favorite cooking method. This time, though, I decided to try something a little different. I cooked the meat in my slow cooker all by itself. Instead of boiled cabbage and potatoes, I made Polish fried cabbage and noodles. I steamed the carrots separately so that they would still taste like carrots, and since I was on a roll, I made some Irish soda bread, too. What a fantastic meal! I will never, ever make a boiled dinner ever again, and I just might make corned beef more than once a year now.

The dinner I made yesterday is pretty exciting stuff to be sure, but here's the real subject of today's post. Are you ready for this? That photo you're admiring is a picture of an actual pair of socks knitted by my own two hands to fit my own two big feet. No kidding! I finally overcame what I thought was an incurable case of Second Sock Syndrome! This is truly cause for celebration. Maybe I'll declare another Saturday.

Thanks for stopping by, and whatever day it is where you are, have a great one!

Really? It's only Friday?

2011-02-25T12:45:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking all morning that today is Saturday. I've been telling my brain all morning that it's not Saturday; it's Friday, but apparently my brain wants it to be Saturday. I suppose I have no choice but to just go with the flow.

Fortunately, I did convince my brain that it is Friday long enough to get my Friday posting up for the TJ Design Junkies blog. I used a technique from 2007 called Cottoned Color for my card along with a digital stamp from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I printed my image on Solar White Neenah Classic Crest and colored it with Copic markers. The layout is from this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch, CPS #206.

Thanks for stopping by, and you all have a happy Friday. I'll be enjoying my Saturday.

Stampotique and Technique Junkies Challenge

2011-02-23T08:00:00.005-05:00

Stampotique and Technique Junkies have teamed up for and awesome challenge! The current Stampotique Designer's Challenge is to use a technique on a creation, and where better to find techniques than the Technique Junkie Newsletter? Stampotique is teaming up with the Technique Junkies design team to create using the Faux Barnwood Technique. Creations from both the Stampotique design team and the Technique Junkies design team will be shared on the Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog over the next two weeks so be sure to stay tuned to their blog.

My card will post over there on Saturday, but since you were nice enough to come visit my studio, I won't make you wait until then. I love sunflowers so I just couldn't resist this Stampotique image called Sunfleur. I colored her with Copic markers and used a computer generated sentiment. For my Faux Barnwood Technique, I used bright cobalt blue paint underneath. I just love the way it came out and I think the color looks so nice with my yellow sunflower.

And of course, you can join in the fun too! Complete details can be found on the Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog, but basically, this is how it works:

1. You must use only Stampotique stamps.
2. You must LINK to the Faux Barnwood Technique or a technique from Technique Junkies that you chose to use within your blog post.
3. Add a link to your challenge post, not to your general blog, using the Inlinkz tool on the Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog.
4. Contest will close at March 8th at 5 p.m. EST
5. HAVE FUN!!

Now here's the best part--there are two prizes for two winners! Pat Huntoon has been very gracious and is giving away one of the Technique Junkies Fancy Folds and Motion CDs PLUS a two year, online only subscription (2010 and 2011 issues) for one winner. The other winner will be receiving a $30 gift certificate towards stamps to the Stampotique store. The folks at Stampotique will randomly draw the two winners for the prizes before their next challenge on March 9th.

Thanks for stopping by today!

New stamps in da house!

2011-02-11T13:21:00.000-05:00

Starving Artistamps has a brand new collection designed by Nina Aaslund--Antidepresstamps Royalty! Can you say cute?

I used the adorable court jester stamp to make this Valentine for my hubby. He's probably going to say that I'm a fool all the time, not just for him, but we won't go there right now, OK?

I did my coloring on this one with Copic markers and pulled my colors from the Basic Grey Green at Heart papers. The gold frame is a Technique Junkies technique called Hammered Hardware and see that ribbon? It's from a Coldwater Creek shopping bag! My layout is a challenge sketch from Splitcoast Stampers, and my colors and theme fit today's Free for All Challenge over there as well.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Just one more to go!

2011-02-04T10:42:00.000-05:00

I finished the Paint and Mix Color unit of the Draw and Paint in Your Pyjamas course leaving me with just one more unit to go before I can claim my certificate. The final unit is Compose Original Art, and I'm so excited to finally be here. It will be a proud moment when I get my certificate, but at this moment, right here, right now, I feel like I've reached a destination. This is what I came here to learn. I'm finally here!

This was my final project for Unit 2, a copy of Cindy Wider's "The Holiday Makers". In the dead of winter, it was fun to work with Cindy's bright, tropical colors...it truly did feel a bit like being on holiday.

Thanks for stopping by my studio today. Happy Friday!

Emboss or Die Sneak Peek Blog Hop

2011-02-01T01:17:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Technique Junkie Newsletter Design Team sneak peek blog hop! We're celebrating the launch of the NEW TJ Emboss or Die CD! This Cd has 79 pdf tutorials with ideas for getting the most from your Embossing Folders, Die Cut Machines and Electronic Cutters. The tutorials are in step-by-step format with pictures for each step and include fabulous artwork examples from the TJ Design Team. The CD is $17.95, and you can order yours here from my sidebar or from the Technique Junkies site. Pre-orders are being taken today, and the CD will be mailed the first week of March.

This card uses one of the techniques on the CD: Kissed Folder.

Okay now you are in for a real treat! This sneak peek blog hop is in a different format than what you might be used to. All you have to do is click on one of the pictures below to be taken to any of the team's blog and to view their work -- and the thumbnails are on everyone's blogs, so you can hop around anywhere all you like! Note: all of the entries from the Design Team will be up by Tuesday morning at 8 am.

I hope you enjoy the sneak peek -- and make sure to get your CD ordered today!

Progress

2011-01-27T09:18:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I told you about my goals for the coming year, and I'm glad to say that I've made some progress. I'm working on the final project for the Paint and Mix Color Unit in Cindy Wider's Draw and Paint in Your Pyjamas Certificate course. If all goes well I should be done with it by Monday. These are the rocks I painted the other day.

On the card-making front, I'm happy to report that I've been chosen for the Class Act Design Team. My term starts at the end of February, but I'll be adding links to their site and challenge blog before then. The Class Act image collection strikes just the right balance between cuteness and realism, and they're versatile and very usable; not gimmicky or overly trendy so I'm really looking forward to working with them.

Speaking of things to look forward to, it's almost time for the next edition of the Technique Junkies Newsletter. I've seen all of the beautiful artwork created by Pat the design team so I can tell you that you won't be disappointed! Pat is also releasing a new CD soon. We'll be doing a blog hop on February 1st to introduce the CD so be sure to stop by.

I have one more card to share with you from the Dec/Jan newsletter before we move on to February's edition. I used the Bricks technique with scraps of printed paper in pastel shades and copper patina colored embossing powder. The butterfly image is from I Brake for Stamps, and it's stamped in Adirondack pesto ink and colored with Prismacolor pencils.

Thanks for stopping by!

Really? Haven't we had enough?

2011-01-23T16:26:00.001-05:00

I'm dressed in polar fleece from head to toe today. This is why:

Issued at: 3:18 PM EST 1/23/11, expires at: 12:00 AM EST 1/24/11

Wind chill warning in effect from midnight tonight to 9 am est monday,
The NWS in taunton has issued a wind chill warning, which is in effect from midnight tonight to 9 am est monday. The wind chill watch is no longer in effect.
Locations, southwest New Hampshire, central and western Massachusetts and hartford county Connecticut.
Hazards, dangerously cold wind chill values.
Wind chill values, 25 to 35 degrees below zero.
Winds, northwest 5 to 10 mph.
Temperatures, 10 to 25 degrees below zero.
Timing, late tonight through mid morning Monday
Precautionary/preparedness actions,
A wind chill warning is issued when the wind chill index is likely to fall to -25 degrees or colder for at least 3 hours. A wind chill index below -30 can bring about frostbite in as little as 10 minutes. Outdoor exposure should be limited. If you are heading outdoors, dress in layers and keep your hands and head covered to protect against frostbite

Oh, and there's more snow headed this way for Wednesday. Really? Is that entirely necessary, Mother Nature?

At least this crappy weather means that I have plenty of time to spend in my studio. I've been working through the acrylic painting unit of my Draw and Paint in Your Pyjamas course. I painted this tree the other day, and at the moment, I'm painting some rocks. It's fun, but boy do I have a lot to learn!

Thanks for stopping by my Studio. Stay warm out there!

Six Inchies of Snow

2011-01-20T16:29:00.003-05:00

We're expecting yet another 6 inches of snow tonight so I thought this would be the perfect time to share my latest batch of inchies, made for a Winter/Snow inchie swap. The six inchies were fun. The six inches coming tonight, I don't know...not so much.

I used tons of different stamps, inks, techniques and what-not, but as best I can recall I'll try to give the details. From left to right, starting with the top row:

1. This one uses a technique I invented using Fiskars texture plates. Just rub the plate with a couple colors of Ranger Distress Ink, spritz with a little water and lay a piece of paper on top for a second or two and the remove the paper and let dry. The snowflake plate that I used here makes some amazing snowy skies. The sentiment is from smARTworks and I embossed the whole thing with clear embossing powder.

2. The background is light blue card stock sprayed with some Smooch Spritz. The snowflake is embossed with white EP and highlighted with some Stickles.

3. I stamped the little penguin with grey ink, did some simple coloring, cut him out and mounted him to a scrap of printed paper. The inchie is glazed with Ranger Glossy Accents. Once everything was dry, I added a small green crystal.

4. I stamped the image with blue chalk ink onto lavender paper and highlighted the snowflake with a silver glitter pen and a lavender crystal. This one is also glazed with Glossy Accents.

5. These penguins are part of a much larger stamp by Serendipity. I stamped them with black ink onto printed paper, embossed with clear EP and colored with Prismacolor pencils.

6. For this one, I stamped the fourish, from I Brake for Stamps, onto a scrap of printed paper and embossed with ivory/gold EP.

Thanks for stopping by my studio!

And the Winner is...

2011-01-16T07:40:00.000-05:00

I shook my iPhone for a random number, and the winner a Technique Junkies Fancy Folds and Motion Paper Crafts CD is Faith in Florida. Congratulations, Faith!

Fabulous Friday on Saturday

2011-01-15T08:21:00.000-05:00

This week's Fabulous Friday challenge at Frosted Designs, Use Paint, is sponsored by Technique Junkie and several cards made by TJ designers are featured on their blog today. For my card, I made a silly little Valentine using a tutorial from the Aug/Sep 2010 newsletter called Acrylic Emboss. I also sponged a Martha Stewart doily with pink paint to match my card. My jittery little creature is Zot, a DoodleFactory Creature available at Starving Artistamps.

Look like fun? You can play along and maybe even with a prize. Post a link to your project using paint on the Frosted Designs blog by noon, January 20th and you'll be entered to with a copy of the Technique Junkie Fancy Folds and Motion Paper Crafts CD and a 1-year online subscription to the newsletter. Sweet!

I'm a Design Junkie and Loving It

2011-01-14T10:00:00.002-05:00

I was always sure it would be, but with a few months as a design team member under my belt, I can absolutely say that this is one sweet gig. I get to play with art supplies, Pat and the other team members are awesome, and the Technique Junkies tutorials are amazing...it just doesn't get any better!

The design team collectively maintains a blog, Design Junkies, featuring techniques from the various newsletters, CDs and the website that Pat publishes. I contribute on the second and fourth Friday of each month and since this is the second Friday in January, I have a card to share. The technique I chose to feature is called Pencil Highlights and it was published in the Sept./Oct. 2010 issue of the newsletter. The stamp I used for the technique (on the background panel) is from Rubber Stampede. The rose, which I embossed with Ranger Tea Dye Distress Embossing Powder, is from the DoodleFactory Backlit Blooms collection from Starving Artistamps.

When we post cards to the Design Junkies blog we index them by technique name, and we've started to build a nice gallery of samples. If you're a newsletter subscriber looking for recent examples of older techniques, be sure to grab a cuppa sometime and give the blog a browse. For those of you who aren't subscribers yet :), there's still plenty of inspiration to be had so grab a cuppa and head on over there too.

Thanks for stopping by my studio, and Happy Friday!

Little Drawings

2011-01-11T11:11:00.000-05:00

Last week I told you about my big plans for the year, and those goals will take up a good portion of my time. But what if I need a little instant gratification along the way? My rubber stamping hobby fills part of that need. Cards are quick to make (in theory, anyway), and making them gives me opportunity to experiment with my art supplies.

But what if I want to do some instant gratification artwork that is entirely my own? For me, the answer is to work small. I've fallen in love with the Artist Trading Card (ATC) format and find that the 2.5" x 3.5" size is just perfect for practicing and experimenting. Small enough so that I can finish a drawing in about and hour, but still large enough to allow for a fair amount of detail.

These are a few of the ATC's I did for the holidays. With the exception of the poinsettia with I painted with acrylics, all are colored pencil on Bristol vellum.

Christmas Poinsettia

A miniature version of my 2010 Christmas card.

My little chef nutcracker.

Santa Nutcracker

Soldier Nutcracker

Snowman Ornament

Thanks for stopping by my studio today!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T14:32:00.001-05:00

Wow. I know. Long time, no blog. It's not that I didn't have anything to show you and it's not that I didn't have anything to say. It's just that day after day, I just never seemed to find the time to get here. All in all, I had a very busy and thoroughly enjoyable holiday season. I hope yours was wonderful, too!

So now it's January and time to get serious about a few things I've been trying to accomplish. I don't really believe in making resolutions because I've always found them to be counterproductive. Too often we resolve to do things that aren't completely in our control, and when we can't accomplish them we feel like we've failed. I'd rather have goals to work toward and give myself the flexibility to adjust those goals if I need to.

One goal I have is to finish up a couple of classes I've been taking. The first one is Cindy Wider's Draw and Paint in Your Pyjamas certificate course that I've been working on for the last year. I've learned so much, and my confidence has really grown, but now it's time to finish! I'm going to be pretty busy with that for the next few weeks, and I'll try to keep you up to date on my progress here on my blog.

Although I haven't finished Cindy's course yet, I've begun training to be an instructor for the course on her website, DrawPJ.com. So my next obvious goal is to finish the instructor training and start teaching. If any of you out there reading this are like I was and always wished you could draw, I'm here to tell you that you CAN draw. You just need some guidance, some encouragement, and some practice. OK...you need lots of practice most likely, but it is something you can do. If you're interested in giving it a try let me know, or visit Cindy's site. She has a free two-week trial available so that you can preview the course if you wish.

Another goal of mine is to revamp this blog and improve my web presence. I've purchased the rights to the Deesstudio.com domain and plan to build a website with galleries for my artwork and cards. I plan to make some of my work available for sale. As I said, my confidence has really grown, and I feel ready to take that next step. My plan is to sell original drawings and paintings, commissioned portrait drawings, as well as greeting cards and other craft items that I make.

Speaking of greeting cards, I'll be continuing my on-going rubber stamping obsession, excuse me, hobby, because I just plain love it. It is an active goal of mine to get onto one more design team in addition to Starving Artistamps and Technique Junkies. I'd also like to see if I can get some more of my work published, but with everything else I have planned, I'm not sure how much time I'll really devote to that one.

So there you have it...my grand plan, or part of it at least. I've got other things in the works, but I'll save those for another post.

If you're still reading this post, thanks for hanging in there! I'd love it if you'd leave me a comment so I know who my most faithful blog readers are. Come to think of it, you deserve a reward. I have an extra copy of the Technique Junkie Newsletter Fancy Folds and Motion Paper Crafts CD to give away. Leave me that comment by January 15th, and I'll enter you in a drawing to win the CD.

Just one last thing before I go...I have a card to share with you. I made this one for the December 2010 issue of the Technique Junkies Newsletter using the Deconstructed Collage tutorial. The stamp is from I Brake for Stamps, and the papers are from Basic Grey.

Happy New Year!

'Tis the Season!

2010-12-18T09:18:00.001-05:00

Oops! It seems that I've forgotten to post anything here in over a week. Maybe this will explain...

Ha-ha...cracks me right up! The stamp is from Sparkle-n-Sprinkle and it's colored with Prismacolor pencils. The background technique is one from the December 2010 Technique Junkies Newsletter, called Pencil Resist. The papers are Basic Grey Fruitcake collection, and the sentiment is from Stampin' Up!

I've got to go make merry...hope you're enjoying the holiday season as well!

Merry Winter!

2010-12-10T10:06:00.000-05:00

Well, technically it's not winter yet, but it sure feels like it around here. My thermometer is showing a measly 13 degree right now. Brrrr!

The card I have for you today uses a technique from the August/September 2010 Technique Junkies Newsletter called Soft 'n Sparkly. I have quite a bit of Flower Soft in my collection, but I don't think to use it often enough. While working on this card, I remembered this technique and decided to give it a try for the trim on Juniper's outfit. Boy, was I surprised at how much I like the look over plain Flower Soft. I just wish I know how to take a photo that shows off glitter in all of it's true glory!

The stamps I used (Juniper, the circle background, and the sentiment) are all from Starving Artistamps. I did my coloring with Copic markers and used Ultra Fine Pine Flower Soft and Sparkle and Sprinkle Laser Green glitter for the Soft 'n Sparkly technique. The papers are from the Basic Grey Jovial collection, a new favorite of mine.

Happy Stamping and stay warm!

I Just Can't Wait

2010-12-06T15:00:00.000-05:00

Remember when you were a kid and it seemed like Christmas would never get here? Now it seems like it gets here so fast there's no time to enjoy the season. I'm sure it's because, as kids, the only thing we had to do is sit and wait like little Jupiter here. Although...he's an elf so shouldn't he be busier?

Jupiter (from Starving Artistamps) is colored with Copic markers, and the brick wall he's sitting on was made from a tutorial in the December 2010 Technique Junkies Newsletter. I took my wall one step further and embossed it using extra coarse sandpaper as my embossing plate (I used a piece of black gasket rubber and a couple of shims to get just the right sandwich thickness for my Cuttlebug). I lost some of my "mortar" after I did the sandpaper embossing so I went over it with a Versamark pen and added more embossing powder. It went on kind of messy, which actually made the brick look more realistic.

Here's a detail so you can see the texture.

I made the tag from a piece of white chipboard airbrushed it with a Copic marker and a couple of grungeboard numbers that I dyed with distress ink and covered with distress Stickles.

Whether it's going by fast or slow, I hope you're enjoying your holiday season!

A Neat New Technique for You

2010-12-04T19:16:00.001-05:00

The background for this card is a technique I came up with for Technique Junkies, and it appears in this month's newsletter.

The newsletter has a step-by-step tutorial for this technique, but I'll give you the condensed version here. First, go dig up those blue Fiskars texture plates that you just had to have a few years ago. You're finally going to actually use them! Take one of the plates and smoosh a couple of colors of distress ink all over the plate. Spritz the plate with a little water and then lay your piece of cardstock on the plate. After a couple of seconds, lift off your cardstock and check out your totally cool background!

I used the snowflake plate with Broken China and Stormy Sky ink to make my background. The image is from Starving Artistamps and is colored with Copic markers. It's doesn't show in the photo, of course, but the white and blue panels are glitter paper. The layout is this week's sketch 195 at Card Positioning Systems.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your new technique!

Busy as an Elf...

2010-12-03T12:59:00.000-05:00

That's been me the last couple of days making cards with my new Juniper and Jupiter stamps from Starving Artistamps. The little cutie is Juniper Elf. She's partly colored with Copic markers, and partly paper pieced. The card layout I've used here is called Flap Fold, and it's one of the cool tutorials on the Technique Junkies Fancy Folds and Motion Paper Crafts CD. I have to admit that I don't always have the patience to do fancy folded cards, but this one was easy to cut and even easier to put together.

Stay tuned...I'll have more holiday cards to post other the next couple of weeks. Like I said, I've been busy as an elf!

Finally!

2010-12-01T14:02:00.001-05:00

I can finally start sharing some of the projects I've been working on lately!

I'll start off with this set of Artist Trading Cards that I just finished for a trade over at Drawspace.com. The theme was Windows and Doors, and I decided to use Art Deco stained glass window designs for my cards. I sketched the designs in pencil first and then inked them with a Rapidograph pen. The coloring is done with Inktense pencils.

Have a great day! I'll be back tomorrow with a greeting card or two to share.

Tuesday Again

2010-11-23T09:44:00.000-05:00

It's Tuesday again...and I've got nothing show from my studio. I'm working on several art projects, but nothing is in any shape for showing at the moment. I've got lots of knitting going on, but most are for gift giving so I need to keep them under wraps. I've got some stamping happening, but it's of the top secret variety.

You'll get to see all of that stuff eventually, but for now, I'll share a card I made last month with my DoodleFactory Gourds and Pumpkins stamps from Starving Artistamps. The pumpkin is stamped onto an alcohol ink background with Versamark, "embossed" with Heat 'n Stick powder, and foiled with black foil. I edged the mats with black Stickles, and added a textured metallic Prima flower and leaf for a little bling.

Before I go, I'd like to wish everyone here in the U.S. a very happy Thanksgiving, and to everyone else, have a great week!

A Mixed Bag

2010-11-12T11:20:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday, everyone! It's weird, but even when you aren't working, Fridays still feel good. The big difference is that Sunday evenings and Monday mornings also feel good.

As the title of this post says, I've got a mixed bag for you today. First, I want to thank everyone for the lovely comments on my last post...they mean so much to me!

And while we're on the subject of comments on my blog, I realize that I forgot to choose a winner for the Technique Junkies CD #8 at the end of October. Better late than never, I just shook my iPhone for a random number and the winner is #10, Donelda.

Yeah, and I missed my semi-regular Tuesday post again. I did think of it, and even got as far as getting my camera out to take pics, but the battery was shot. I put it on the charger and one thing led to another, and here it is Friday already. Anyway, here's what I'm working on at the moment. First up is my Bug Light picture. I don't even know how many hours I've put into the sky so far. It's not quite done yet, but I'm going to leave it for now and move on to a different area. This is a pretty lousy picture, but it is proof that I've gotten at least a little bit more done on this one.

The project I'm really excited about at the moment are these mittens I started knitting last night. The cuffs are done with corrugated ribbing, which I had never tried before. I haven't done stranded knitting of any kind in quite awhile so at first it felt like I was knitting with two left hands with all thumbs. But, once I got the hang of it, I was zipping along pretty well. I found the pattern on Ravelry. If you knit or crochet and haven't discovered Ravelry yet, be sure to pay them a visit. The site has tons of patterns, forums, blogs, groups, databases that let you catalog your yarn stash and supplies, and project albums. It literally took me days to explore the whole site!

The final item in my bag today is a card that I made for the Design Junkies blog using the Designer Tiles technique from the August 2008 newsletter. The stamps are from Inkadinkado, the papers are a mix of scraps and new Basic Grey Jovial, and the "grout" is Ranger old paper Distress embossing powder.

OK. I think that's it for now. I'll see ya when I see ya!

Tuesday in My Studio

2010-11-02T23:39:00.003-04:00

It's Tuesday, and I almost forgot my "regular" Tuesday post again. Almost. It's not midnight here yet, so this still counts.

Last week was a very eventful week--Riley (our adorable new little granddaughter) was born on Friday; also on Friday, my husband Dave retired after more than 40 years at the same company, we went with friends to see a Patriots football game on Sunday (they won), and on Monday we got to meet Riley for the first time. She's a cutie, isn't she?

I did manage to find some in my studio, though, and almost finished this drawing. I did the main part of the drawing with Prismacolor pencils on Colorfix sanded paper. I've used rough paper before, but never anything this rough. The paper demands a much looser style than I'm accustomed to, and I found it thoroughly enjoyable. Since Colorfix is a paper intended for use with pastels, I thought that doing the background in pastel would be absolutely perfect. And, it may well be a perfect solution. The only catch is that I don't have the first clue how to use pastels. So as soon as I take care of that little detail, I'll finish this one.

Thanks for stopping by my studio!

No Tricks, Just Treats

2010-10-30T09:30:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, ready for some treats? As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm giving away some awesome blog candy for Halloween. Just leave me a comment by midnight EST tomorrow (Halloween), and you'll be entered to win a copy of the 8th Edition Technique Junkies CD.

I was a guest designer for the October 2009 newsletter, so some of my cards on the CD, Including this one. The technique is called Sepia, an easy technique that you can use to make lovely vintage cards. The stamp I used on this one is available from Starving Artistamps.

Pat is also releasing another new CD--Fancy Folds and Motion Paper Crafts, which you can order right here using the PayPal link in my sidebar. I don't know about you, but I shy away from fancy cards sometimes because the instructions are just not that clear. This CD has 60 tutorials that take the mystery and guesswork out of cards with fancy folds and moving parts. And GUESS WHAT? Pat Huntoon and I will be at the Greater New York Art Stamp Show on Long Island next Saturday (Nov. 6) to demo some of the cards designs and Pat's going to teach a class. If you're attending the show, make sure you stop by and say hello...we'd love to meet you!

Tuesday in My Studio

2010-10-26T10:53:00.000-04:00

I just realized that I missed my Tuesday post last week. So much for this being a regular feature on my blog...guess it'll just have to be semi-regular now.

My drawing table is empty at the moment. I've got a few projects started that I should be working on, but they aren't quite capturing my attention right now. I've got some class assignments that I should be working on, and I think I will work on them this afternoon. But for the most part, I'm in "I just finished a drawing and I don't know what I want to do next" limbo.

I did finish up a little drawing of a cardinal yesterday. It's a copy of a drawing from Kaaren Poole's "Drawing Birds in Colored Pencil" book, and I did it in hopes that it would help break me out of my limbo. I'm starting to get some ideas for my next project, so maybe it's working.

Well, I'm off to tackle some of my classwork. Have a great day!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #38

2010-10-21T08:51:00.001-04:00

Sorry to be a little late joining the challenge this week. I've had this card essentially done for days, but I was waiting for a little bit of last minute inspiration to tell me how what embellishments to add. Well, inspiration never came, so I'm taking that to mean that this card doesn't need any embellishment. Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Lori gave us a couple of different photos to choose from this time, mostly involving apples and pears. I only have one pear stamp and no apples to speak of...hmmm, maybe I do need more stamps? But I digress. I did have my DoodleFactory Gourds and Pumpkins (from Starving Artistamps) out on my desk, though. Done up in the right colors and looking at them with my eyes squinted, they sort of look like the apples and pears on this cake to me!

In the inspiration photo, the fruit is surrounded by luscious chocolate so I surrounded my fruits with a chocolate brown frame and placed everything on a ground of cocoa brown. My gourds and pumpkins are paper pieced from scraps and then shaded with Copic markers. The wood grain background I used is also from Starving Artistamps.

The other Divas always come up with divinely inspired projects so be sure to take a few minutes to visit their blogs and have a look.

Lori
Anne
Chris
Julie
Kerri

Hope you are inspired to come and play along. Just leave a comment on Lori's blog with a link to your card. We can't wait to see what you create! The keyword for uploading on online forums will be DDIC38. Have fun and look for the next challenge on November 4th.

Does it Get Any More Fun Than Halloween?

2010-10-18T14:14:00.000-04:00

I don't think so! Isn't Morty here just a scream? He's from the DoodleFactory Ghoulies collection from Starving Artistamps. The DoodleFactory always comes up with great Halloween images, but these are my all time favorites...creepy dead hands down, lol!

I colored Morty with Copic markers using the most undead colors I could find in my collection. The rest of the card design is all about grungy, dirty, dusty, creepy and dark. I distressed, sanded, crumpled, tore, sponged, embossed, spritzed and cut with wild abandon. I felt kind of like a mad scientist having way too much fun.

I love Halloween so much that I'm going to give out some blog candy on Halloween. A copy of the Technique Junkies Newsletter 2010 Edition (CD8) will go to one lucky winner. Just leave a comment on my blog between now and midnight EST October 31 and I'll automatically enter you to win. In fact, leave lots of comments. I'll give you one entry for each day you leave a comment (one per day), and to be sure I can find them make sure to put your comments on this post or any of the posts I made between now and the 31st.

Happy haunting my little ghoulies!

Tuesday in My Studio

2010-10-12T09:45:00.000-04:00

I think I'll make this a regular feature on my blog. Tuesday will be my day to show you my works in progress, and every now and then, a finish or two.

Today I actually have a finish to show. It took me all day yesterday, but Hannah's portrait is done. It's such a good feeling to finish something. I should do that more often!

Hannah, Graphite on Arches hot-pressed watercolor paper, 9" x 12"

Thanks for stopping by my studio!

Fall is Here for Real

2010-10-10T17:45:00.001-04:00

We had a light frost last night so it officially feels like Fall around here. The foliage isn't at peak yet, but we have quite a bit of color and the air is filled with the sweet smell of dried leaves. This is my absolute favorite time of year. I love the weather, the colors, and the upcoming holidays--starting with Halloween.

I really enjoy making Halloween cards so I'm only too happy to be working on my design team cards for my latest batch of stamps from Starving Artistamps. The card I made today uses the jack-o-lantern faces from the DoodleFactory Gourds and Pumpkins set and Hollow from the DoodleFactory Ghoulies set.

The glowing faces in the background are done with a simple resist technique. I stamped the faces with Versamark and then embossed them with clear embossing powder. Then, I just smooshed on some Weathered Wood Distress Ink and used a paper towel to wipe the ink away from the faces.

I made my frame from scraps of paper. I cut a bunch of 1.25" square from scraps and glued them down to a piece of thin cardstock and then I cut out a variety of shapes, including this frame. I put a piece of vellum behind the frame so that Hollow, colored with Copic markers, would stand out a bit from all the chaos.

Thanks for stopping by my studio!

Frankie

2010-10-08T08:58:00.001-04:00

Today was my first post on the Technique Junkies Design Team blog, and I'll be posting there on the second and fourth Friday's of the month. I made this card to showcase the Texture Duet (October 2010) and Sanded Core'dinations (April 2010) techniques, but Frankie is really taking center stage. He's from the DoodleFactory Ghoulies collection from Starving Artistamps.

The Core'dinations paper I used on my card is called Black Magic, and I love the stuff so much it's hard not to hoard it. I colored both Frankie and the sentiment (Starving Artistamps) with Copic markers. You can't see it in this picture, but Frankie's eyes and the letters are shiny because I went over them with a glaze pen.

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by my studio.

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 37

2010-10-07T08:00:00.009-04:00

It's the first Thursday in October, which means that it's time for another Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge. I also just realized that I've been doing these challenges for a whole year now. It's been a fun year with some truly beautiful inspiration photos--thanks for inviting me to play, Lori!

These Classico soaps from Cambria Cove were our inspiration this time. I just love the colors and the Art Deco patterns on the wrappers. Truly beautiful.

I'm also trying to participate in the Hope You Can Cling To card drive to benefit those affected by breast cancer, sponsored by Splitcoast Stampers. I'm not sure that I'll get all of them done, but I'm going to try. This card is for challenge HYCCT02B-Lingerie Inspired. The stamp I used is Simone from the DoodleFactory People collection at Starving Artistamps. I colored her with Copic markers and paired her with a sentiment from the Classic Decor collection, also from Starving Artistamps. The layout I used is Laura's sketch #62 this week at 2 Sketches 4 You so I covered a lot of challenge ground with this one!

The other Divas always come up with divinely inspired projects so be sure to take a few minutes to visit their blogs and have a look.

Lori
Anne
Chris
Julie
Kerri

Hope you are inspired to come and play along. Just leave a comment on Lori's blog with a link to your card. We can't wait to see what you create! The keyword for uploading on online forums will be DDIC37. Have fun and look for the next challenge on October 21st.

Tuesday in My Studio

2010-10-05T21:02:00.001-04:00

I spent the entire day today noodling around in my studio. I made lots of cards, worked on room layout for my drawing class, and I also did some more on a portrait of our granddaughter Hannah. Not a bad day's work, if I do say so.

Here's one of the cards I did today. It's a quick little card that I made using the DoodleFactory Gourds and Pumpkins set from Starving Artistamps and this week's sketch from Card Positioning Systems. I stamped the pumpkin and gourd onto orange paper and colored them with Prismacolor pencils. The printed paper I used is Basic Grey Indian Summer and my scalloped mat is embellished with cinnamon Stickles. The rest is pretty straightforward, I think, but if you have a question, just holler.

And here's where I'm at with Hannah's portrait. I've got about 10 hours into it so far, and I'm guessing it will take me at least another 8 to 10 hours to finish. I have no idea how long it should take to do a graphite portrait this size (9" x 12"), but I thought it would be quicker. I've spent a lot of time fussing with her mouth and eyes, and I'm not through fussing yet! It's coming along, though, and I'm pleased with it so I'll just take my time and finish when I finish. Thank goodness I don't have a deadline!

Well, that's a little peek at what Tuesday looked like in my studio. What I should also show you is a picture of the mess I made, but I won't. Not that I wouldn't show you, but if I go in there to take a picture, I'll have to look at the mess again, and I just can't bring myself to do that. Yeah, it's pretty bad!

Have a nice evening (or morning, or afternoon)!

October TJ Sketch By Design Blog Hop

2010-10-04T08:00:00.145-04:00

Hello Junkies! Welcome to the October Blog Hop showcasing our Design Team's artwork using the By Design sketch and techniques from the October newsletter!

I hope you arrived here from Jane's blog--her card was awesome, wasn't it? If you didn't, please take a minute or two to join us at the beginning of the Hop on the Technique Junkies Design Team Blog so that you don't miss any of the stunning artwork the designers have in store for you!

You too can have an opportunity to participate in this challenge and maybe even with a prize! October is Pat's anniversary month--she's been creating the Technique Junkies Newsletter for 8 years. Wow! Congratulations, Pat!!! To celebrate, Pat will make one lucky winner a TJ Subscriber for life, including all back issues and CD's to fill in the winner's collection.

So how do you enter? First, create a card using the design sketch and follow the directions for entering the contest on Pat's blog. You will need to send Pat your card or share it with the TJ yahoo group or send Pat the web link where your card is posted, and you will need to comment on Pat's blog.

Now for my card. I used the Faded Texture technique on the bottom panel...quick, easy and fun! The harlequin background stamp on the top panel is from Starving Artistamps, the crows are from I Brake for Stamps, but I'm afraid I've long since forgotten where I got the alphabet stamps.

Hetty is the next stop on the Blog Hop, but here's the entire list just in case you get sidetracked along the way:

Judy's post @ TJ Design Junkies blog
Jane @ Jane's Addiction
Donna (that's me!) @ Dee's Studio
Hetty @ Craft Chaos
Beth @ Sunflowers and Dragonflies
Kimm @ Artful Sentiments by Kimm BT
Cathy @ Artful Observations
Chris @ Creating with Chrissy
Pat @ The Technique Trail

Happy Stamping and Happy Hopping!

One Studio Fits All

2010-09-30T07:46:00.000-04:00

It's been so long since I posted. I was on vacation last week and we've been generally busy, but really, time isn't the problem. It's more of a lack of direction. I've been toying with the idea of doing two blogs, one for cards and one for my art, but when it came right down to it, that idea stopped me cold. So back to the one blog for everything. Just like my real studio, which is packed to overflowing with supplies for all the different things I do, this blog will be for everything. There. That feels better already!

So what have I been working on, you ask? I've got several projects going (I always do), and today I'll show you a couple that I've actually finished.

I mentioned awhile back that I had become a member of the Technique Junkies Design Team, and since the October newsletter has been mailed and is also available online, I can start sharing the cards I made with you. The two I'm sharing today were published in the hard-copy version of the newsletter.

The first card uses a technique called Puzzle Layers. The image is from Twisted Papers, and I colored it with Copic markers. I didn't color the entire image three times, just the parts I needed, but I will admit that this one took some time to do.

My second card was much quicker to make. The technique is called By the Inch, and it's a great way to use up leftover technique sheets. I started off with a sheet I made using the Antique Wallpaper technique from the June 2010 newsletter. The stamps I used are from I Brake for Stamps.

It's going to be a nasty, rainy day here today so I plan to spend it in my studio. I'm not sure which project I'll decide to work on, but I'll be in there doing something, and I promise I'll have more to share soon!

Have a great day!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 36

2010-09-16T08:01:00.003-04:00

It's time for the second September Divine Diva challenge already? Time seems to move in hyper-drive since I stopped working. Maybe it's true that time really does fly when you're having fun. Who knew?

Speaking of fun, this book cover was our inspiration this time. I already had my DoodleFactory Backlit Blooms stamps out on my table, so naturally, I used those. This is the poppies stamp, and I just covered up the poppies with a couple of big Prima flowers. I didn't have two flowers in the color I wanted, so I airbrushed them with Copic markers. At 5 inches by 7 inches, this card is a bit bigger than I usually make, and I have to say, I like the bigger format.

Be sure to check out the cards made by all the Divine Divas for this challenge!

Lori
Anne
Chris
Julie
Kerri

Hope you are inspired to come and play along. Just leave a comment on Lori's blog with a link to your card. We can't wait to see what you create! The keyword for uploading on online forums will be DDIC36. Have fun and look for the next challenge on October 7th.

Craft Season has Begun!

2010-09-10T17:29:00.000-04:00

It's after Labor Day, the weather has turned cooler, and the days are shorter. All of these things signal the beginning of Craft Season, which almost immediately turns into Holiday Craft season. All of a sudden, it doesn't seem to early to start working on Christmas cards, and here's my first one.

I used the DoodleFactory Backlit Blooms Poinsettia and sentiment from Starving Artistamps. The poinsettia is stamped with Copic markers. Yes, you can do that! The instructions can be found in the June/July 2010 issue of the Technique Junkies Newsletter.

Starving Artistamps has a whole slew of new stamps out besides these gorgeous blooms. Best of all, Tracey is giving away some of the new stamps as blog candy all month on the company blog. Check it out and spread the word!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 35

2010-09-02T09:01:00.000-04:00

It's the first Thursday in September, and that means it's time for a Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge.

The photo Lori chose for us this time is a page from a Sundance Catalog. I just love all the character in that wooden chest, so I tried to duplicate that in my background panel. There's lots of stamping, sponging, embossing, sanding, and stamping again on there. In real life, it really does have quite a bit of depth and character. Too bad my photo skills aren't good enough to show you!

The flower image I used in a new DoodleFactory Backlit Bloom from Starving Artistamps. I stamped the flowers with Fluid Chalk ink onto a piece of light aqua paper. The paper has a beautiful fabric texture, and the chalk ink works really well to show off all that texture.

Kerri couldn't join us today, but be sure to check out the cards made by all the Divine Divas for this challenge!

Lori
Anne
Chris
Julie

Hope you are inspired to come and play along. Just leave a comment on Lori's blog with a link to your card. We can't wait to see what you create! The keyword for uploading on online forums will be DDIC35. Have fun and look for the next challenge on September 16!

Where did the week go?

2010-08-26T08:19:00.000-04:00

I've been so busy since I left my job that I don't know how I ever had time to work! It's been an entire week since I posted on my blog, and here I was thinking that I would be able to post more often.

To add to my time management issues, most of the stamping I've done in the past couple of weeks has been of the top-secret variety. I did do one card that I can share with you, though...

I used a great tutorial from the latest Technique Junkies Newsletter called Splash-n-Stick (Pat has an awesome subscription special on her blog right now), which is a great way to use some of the Magenta Peel-Offs stickers that I can't seem to stop buying. The papers are from a Basic Grey Boxer 6x6 pad.

Thanks for stopping by my studio today!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 34

2010-08-19T08:14:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it's already time for another Divine Diva challenge! This time, Lori chose a magazine ad for Lindt chocolate. I had lots of ideas for this one and ultimately settled on replicating look of the journal. I loved the colors, and besides, I have LOTS of buttons!

Lindt chocolate magazine ad.

All of the papers I used came out of my scrap pile--Yay! I just taped the pieces together from the back and then cut my panel so that the seams fell at 30 and 60 degree angles. The stamps I used are old favorites from Inkadinkado and the cupcake is colored with Copic markers.

Be sure to check out the cards made by all the Divine Divas for this challenge!

Lori
Anne
Chris
Julie
Kerri

Hope you are inspired to come and play along. Just leave a comment on Lori's blog with a link to your card. We can't wait to see what you create! The keyword for uploading on online forums will be DDIC34. Have fun and look for the next challenge on September 2!

More News

2010-08-12T13:54:00.000-04:00

I got a note from Pat Huntoon last week asking if I was interested in joining the Technique Junkies Design Team. Heck yes! So I'm happy to announce that I'll be contributing to the newsletters starting with the October/November 2010 issue. I'm so excited--thanks, Pat!

Today happens to be Try That Technique Thursday at Technique Junkies so I thought I'd play along. The featured technique this week is Gated Tags from the February/March 2008 newsletter. I don't usually make these special fold cards, but I have to admit, they are fun.

All of the stamps I used for this are from Starving Artistamps. Since there is so much going on with the card itself, I kept the stamping and coloring simple. The images are stamped in various shades of chalk ink, and the lighthouses are colored with Prismacolor pencils.

Thanks for stopping by!

Smooth Sailing

2010-08-08T09:36:00.000-04:00

It's official. Friday was my last day at work, and I'm retired...nothing but smooth sailing from here on out! My husband will follow along sometime before the end of the year.

So many people have asked me lately how I will keep myself busy. Won't I be bored? Um, no. My job was the boring thing that got in the way of all the things I want to do. No. I won't be bored. Yes. I will be busy.

One of the things I plan to busy myself with is this blog. More and more I've been feeling like I need to have two blogs--one for my cards and one for my art. On the card blog, I'd like to start a challenge, do some tutorials, and be much more consistent in the way I present the cards. My art blog will be a place for me to post my artwork and my thoughts--I envision this blog as an online art journal.

For now though, I'll keep sharing cards here like I always have. This one uses stamps from Starving Artistamps --my buoy background and the sail boat from the Juniper and Jupiter Go to the Beach set. I stamped the background with Tea Dye Distress Ink onto a piece of paper from the Basic Grey Basics Kraft paper pad. The sail boat is colored with Copic markers, and I used a few long forgotten white snaps for embellishment.

Enjoy your day!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 33

2010-08-05T07:20:00.000-04:00

Our inspiration this time comes from Lovely Package. Would you believe that these are tequila bottles? They really are lovely!

I was especially taken with the beautiful soft pastel colors so those were my jumping off point. I decided to mimic the colors on three panels just the way they are on the three bottles. I stamped my flowers (Inkadinkado) with White Brilliance ink onto the colored cardstock and then added color with Prismacolor pencils. The dotted borders and the green zigzag border are also drawn with Prismacolors. To further carry the floral theme, I debossed my background panel with an Impressibilities stencil.

I have to say...I'm pleased with the way this card came together. And, I would also like some pretty tequila!

Be sure to stop by the other Diva's blogs to see how they were inspired by the pretty tequila bottles. There blog links are in my sidebar. And as always, we welcome you to play along with us (use keyword DDIC33 or DDIC if you upload to SSC or PCP).

Thanks for stopping by the studio!

People, People! Take a Seat!

2010-08-02T16:12:00.003-04:00

Take a seat and browse all the wonderful creations from the Starving Artistamps design team using the brand new DoodleFactory People Take a Seat collection.

I used Lizzie and Casey from the Cutie Kids set, and there's also a Sophisticates set that's perfect for more grown up occasions. Be sure to check out the other designer's blogs (links are over in my right sidebar) for examples of both sets...as always, they've done themselves proud!

Oh, and did I mention the sale? To celebrate the release, Starving Artistamps is having a 3-day sale. The flyer at the bottom of this post has all the details.

Summer Fun

2010-08-01T10:25:00.001-04:00

I've never tried water skiing, but people swear that it's fun. As for me, I'd rather be in the boat than being dragged behind it, lol!

I so think this image from Starving Artistamps is fun, though. It's from the Juniper and Jupiter Go to the Beach collection, and I used it along with the Weave background and a sentiment from the DoodleFactory Tropics collection. The image is colored with Copic markers and layered onto a panel I made from scraps of blue paper. I had originally planned to use a plain red background, but the paper I chose was a bit too bright for my taste and kind of clashed with my ribbon. To fix that, I stamped it with the mesh background in a darker shade of red ink, which toned it down, added some nice texture, and unified all of my various shades of red. I didn't think to take before and after shots, but trust me...the difference is huge!

See you tomorrow for the new DoodleFactory release! In the meantime, go have some summer fun while there's still some summer left. Where did July go, anyway?

Save the Date!

2010-07-30T20:39:00.000-04:00

What's that you're saying? It's been way too long since the last DoodleFactory release?

Well, I couldn't agree more, and the good news is that your wait is almost over. Starving Artistamps will be debuting a new DoodleFactory collection on Monday August 2nd. From cute to sophisticated, there's something for everyone in the release!

Here's a little peek of what I did with one of the new stamps...

Still at the Beach

2010-07-27T21:32:00.000-04:00

I'm still having fun playing with my Juniper and Jupiter Go to the Beach stamps from Starving Artistamps. This card was so easy to put together, and I just love the way it came out. The lighthouse is colored with Copic markers and that great cloud background (also from Starving Artistamps) is stamped with light blue chalk ink. The sand dunes are made from kraft paper torn, embossed, and edged with chalk ink.

Mmmm...I can almost smell the salt spray!

At the Beach

2010-07-24T10:35:00.001-04:00

Starving Artistamps just came out with TONS of new stamps. One of the new collections is called Juniper and Jupiter Go to the Beach, and these stamps are from that collection. For this card, I gave my Copics a bit of a break and pulled out my Prismacolor pencils. And, (*GASP*), I also used my sewing machine. The blue background is Core'dinations paper, embossed and then sanded. The layout is from this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch #176.

It's going to be way too hot here for a real beach day, so this will have to do. I'm staying the the AC today for sure!

Bug Light

2010-07-18T20:41:00.002-04:00

This is the other of my illustrations that is now available as a stamp from Starving Artistamps. I drew this from a photo I took of Bug Light on the breakwater at the entrance to Portland Harbor, near South Portland, Maine. This little lighthouse isn't very far from Portland Head Light, and there are four or five other lighthouses nearby so my husband and I made an afternoon of touring the area and photographing them. If you're ever in that area, it's a fun way to spend an afternoon.

For my card, I stamped the lighthouse on white cardstock and colored it with Copic markers. Then, I cut out the top of the image, along the horizon and lighthouse, and layered it over a background that I stamped with light blue using Starving Artistamp's new Build-a-Cloud stamp. To finish of the card, I added some layers and a sentiment. Wicked quick to make and suitable for anyone from Down East...or a Connecticut Yankee like me...or anyone who likes the sea.

Thanks for stopping by!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 32

2010-07-15T07:42:00.000-04:00

Our Inspiration this week comes from the Container store. Lori chose this lovely gift wrapping for us to work with. I was inspired by the beautiful soft colors, the delicate flowers, and the distressed background.

The stamp I used for my card is an older Magenta tile/frame stamp, which I just love and have used many, many times. This time, I stamped and embossed it in white onto a piece of shimmery white cardstock. I then watercolored the frame and flower with Derwent Inktense pencils. The mustard yellow background is stamped in a matching color ink with my SU Sanded background stamp. My apologies for the quality of my photo (it was dark at the time)...in real life the colors are a bit more vibrant.

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to see what the other Divine Divas have some up with this week. You can find their links in my right sidebar. And, as always, we'd love for you to join us...use keyword DDIC when uploading to Split Coast or Papercraft Planet.

Bye for now, and have a great rest of the week!

The Rest of the Fish

2010-07-14T07:35:00.000-04:00

These are the last two ATC's in my tropical fish series. Both are done with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils on Arches hot press watercolor paper.

These were fun to draw, but I'm ready to move on to something else.

I'm off to contemplate my next project...have a great day!

Me

2010-07-10T18:27:00.000-04:00

It's done. It pretty much looks like me. I'm happy. No...I'm ecstatic.

This is done with charcoal on grey Mi-Tientes paper. I guess it wasn't so bad to do in the end, but I'm still glad to have it done!

Something's Fishy!

2010-07-09T18:24:00.000-04:00

I've been having a blast drawing fish for an ATC swap over at Drawspace. I'm loving that I get to use all the really fun colors in my pencil sets!

This first one is a Black and White Heniochus Butterfly Fish. I love the way the fish came out; not as thrilled with the coral/rock stuff I concocted, but I'm calling it done before I make it any worse.

And, this second one is a Queen Angelfish. I used LOTS of pencils coloring this one!

I've also been using these fish as an excuse for not starting my super-scary-I-don't-want-to-do-this-maybe-I-should-just-quit self-portrait for the online art class I'm taking from Cindy Wider (awesome class, btw). Well, I'm happy to report that I've finally started said scary project. The deal I have with myself is that I can't do anything else until that portrait is finished. No excuses. Period. So next time you see me here, you'll be seeing...me.

Celebrating Another 100...and a First!

2010-07-07T07:35:00.000-04:00

I'm going to start with the first because I pretty darned excited about it. This card features my very first illustration-turned-rubber-stamp! It's available from Starving Artistamps and I shamelessly encourage each and every one of you to order one, or even two! I also have a lighthouse stamp that I illustrated, which I'll show you a little later, but you can feel free to buy that one too while you're there, lol!

Alright now, let's talk about the card itself. I colored my image with Copic markers. The colors I used are as close as I could approximate the colors for Color Throwdown Challenge #100. So there's the 100, and it's a biggie, too! Go check out the prizes (including that sweet Giggle Bears, Birds and Bees set from Starving Artistamps) that are up for grabs and tell me it not worth making a card and joining the fun. Go ahead...try to tell me that!

There could be yet another hundred here today, but I'm not celebrating that one. It was 101 here yesterday, it's supposed to be near 100 here today, and tomorrow doesn't look much better. Yikes! Every day like this is 100 more reasons I'm happy we decided to spend the money to install central air in our house, which believe me, I am celebrating. If you're stuck in this brutal heat wave, too, I hope you've been able to find refuge from the heat.

Stay cool!

100 Inchies

2010-07-02T18:19:00.002-04:00

After making and trading inchies for about a year, I had quite a pile of them tucked away in a basket. Now, what fun is that? You can't see them in a basket. So here's what I did with 100 of them:

I took a 12" by 12" Ampersand Art Board and sponged it with various shades of brown acrylic paint. Then I just stuck my inchies on with some red liner tape. It looks awesome hanging on the wall next to my work table, and I can enjoy looking at my inchies all the time now!

Only 50 more to go until I can fill up another board! If you'd be interesting in swapping inchies with me, just post a comment here and let me know.

Divine Diva Inspriation Challenge 31

2010-07-01T07:40:00.001-04:00

It's July already...can you even believe that? I can't. Well, at least we have a long weekend coming up!

This week's Divine Diva Inspiration challenge (from HWTM Daily Blog) is all about summer, and I love the colors and the theme. Only problem was that I didn't really have any nautical-themed stamps when I made my card.

So I went with those wonderful red flowers on the tall vase. The stamp I used is a clear dollar stamp, and I'm not sure at all where it came from. I stamped the flowers with red ink and colored very quickly with a Copic marker. Then, I stamped a bunch of flower with blue ink, cut out the centers and layered them over the red flowers. The final touch was a dot of glue and some blue glitter. I considered just leaving the card with just the flower panel, but in the end I couldn't resist adding some red ribbon and a Martha Stewart sticker.

I'm sure the other Diva's have some awesome cards to show you, so please take a minute and check out their blogs (links are in my side bar to the right). Chris couldn't join us this week, but we have a fabulous guest designer to fill in for her: Dana at Dana's Dabbling Studio.

Happy July, everyone!

Fun Stuff!

2010-06-27T13:22:00.002-04:00

True to plan, I've been packing lots of fun into this weekend. Yesterday, Dave and I went out and did some shopping, and I scored a couple of new outfits and an external hard drive so that I can back up my thousands of photos. We had dinner out and stopped for an ice cream cone afterwards, and then I spent a couple hours in my studio. After Dave went to bed, I indulged myself with a couple of episodes of True Blood. What a perfect day!

Today is going pretty well, too, even though I do have to do a couple of unavoidable chores, like laundry. I slept in a bit, had a late breakfast, and noodled around in my studio all morning finishing up a few projects I have in the works. This little pink fish ATC is my favorite of the lot:

It's done with Prismacolor pencils and Derwent Inktense pencils on Arches hot press watercolor paper. Fun stuff, but I have to stop now because I have to get ready to go to a party.

The only bad thing about a weekend like this is that work is going to stink all that much more on tomorrow morning, lol.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Happy Saturday!

2010-06-26T11:28:00.000-04:00

Phew! Made it through another work week. This one was especially challenging to put it nicely. Next week isn't shaping up to be much better, so I plan to get as much enjoyment out of this weekend as possible!

For today's card, I thought I'd share this one made with a butterfly image from Starving Artistamps. Making this was so much fun, I'm not sure why it's still legal! I started with a technique from Technique Junkies called Double Duty Melted Wax. It's a simple technique: stamp your image on white cardstock, add crayon shavings (just scrape the side of the crayons with a craft knife), cover with parchment paper, and heat with a craft iron until the wax melts, which it does pretty quickly. When I did mine, I still had some of the white paper showing through. I was using my Clover mini-iron with a tiny little sole plate, so I just melted some crayon right on the iron and applied it directly to the paper with the iron, which I think is the traditional en-caustic painting technique. Whatever it's called, it's pure fun! In not time flat, I had five of these butterflies colored using different color schemes.

I didn't put a sentiment on this card because this is one that I can use in a pinch for many different things. When I decide to use the card, I'll add a sentiment to the white tag and also attach a gift card, money, a piece of chocolate...whatever is appropriate.

I hope your enjoying your weekend, too, and can have a little fun of your own. Bye for now!

Giggle Bears, Birds and Bees Blog Hop!

2010-06-23T11:00:00.018-04:00

Welcome to the Antidepresstamps Giggle Bears, Birds and Bees Blog Hop!

We're so excited to present this new collection of stamps designed by Nina Aaslund, available at here at Starving Artistamps.

If you've just stumbled onto this hop from my blog, please start at the beginning at Starving Artistamps.
You'll want to make all the stops because somewhere along the way there is some one-day-only BLOG CANDY! One lucky winner will win an entire collection of the new release!

And now for my cards. They are all colored with Copic markers, the printed papers are from Basic Grey, and I used copious amounts of Stickles. The stamped sentiments and the woodgrain background stamp are also available from Starving Artistamps.

I'm Sweet on You!

Bee-cause I Love You, honey

happy birthday

Juliana @ Stampin' With Inky Fingers is the next stop on the hop, but here's the complete list of hop stops just in case you get lost along the way:

START HERE: Starving Artistamps Company Blog
Irene@ Tales from the DoodleFactory
Nina @ Ninas krumelurer
Donna @ Dee's Studio (you are here)
Juliana @ Stampin' With Inky Fingers
Lydia @ Understand Blue
Jenn @ Confessions of a Scrapaholic
Dawn @ Everything Under the Sun
Laura @ A Day in the Life of the Paper Poppy
Lori @ Inking Aloud
Eva @ Muffins pyssel
Tracey @ Stamp-o-matic

Thanks for visiting, and enjoy the rest of the hop!

Be there or be square!

2010-06-21T13:14:00.001-04:00

Starving Artistamps is unveiling a new collection of stamps by Nina Aaslund! If you've visited the Starving Artistamps Gallery blog, you already know that Nina is a very talented card designer. Now, she can add "incredibly talented designer of Antidepresstamps" to her already impressive resume!

To celebrate, the entire Starving Artistamps design team, along with some very special guests, will be having a blog hop on Wednesday, June 23 starting at 11:00 a.m. EDT.

I've shown a little sneak peek of one of my cards, but I don't want to give anything away except to say that these images are way cute and oh so fun to play with! So be sure to join us on Wednesday for the Antidepresstamps Giggle Bears, Birds and Bees blog hop and see for yourself!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #30

2010-06-17T08:00:00.083-04:00

Welcome to the latest edition of the Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge! Our inspiration this time is this image from the Nostagia Organics homepage.

This challenge is my favorite so far, for a couple of reasons. First is that when I first saw the photo, my reaction was an audible groan. All I saw was clutter, and I just couldn't imagine what I could possibly come up with. In fact, I started working on my card early because I was so sure that I would struggle for inspiration.

Happily, that turned out not to be the case, and I love the card I made. Really, it felt more like the card was telling me what to do, and I was just along for the ride--another reason I loved this challenge so much. I started with the background paper, a piece from my Basic Grey Boxer pad. I then realized that I had a corner punch that would mimic the corners of the plate. Hmm, and I could probably use my Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps to come up with a similar pattern. So that came together pretty darned well, and then I remembered that I had the perfect sentiment (Serendipity stamps). OK, now here's where it gets good...I recalled that my cyber-friend Donelda posted some pretty homemade strawberry embellishments on her Wiggy's World blog. Perfect!

I put everything together with a pretty blue bow. Just as I finished, my DH walked into the room. It gets a little spooky here because I think the card was talking to him, too. He looked at it and said that it looked nice but it needed something in the other corner. "Buttons?", I asked. "Yes, buttons", the card replied. Really perfect now!

One thing I love about all of these challenges is seeing what the other Divas have come up with. You can see their creations by clicking the links in my left sidebar. And, as always, we'd love for you to play along!

Still Noodling Around with Techniques

2010-06-14T21:27:00.000-04:00

Here's another card that uses a technique from the current Technique Junkies Newsletter. It's called Glimmer Marbling, and this photo doesn't even begin to do justice the the effect. In real life, it's shimmery and shiny, and all the layers give it depth, much like real stone.

The focal image I used is from Layers of Color. I stamped the medallion with black Versafine ink onto a scrap of printed paper and embossed it with clear powder. Then, I used Copic markers to color portions of the design.

I guess that's it for the time being. I'll be back Thursday with another Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge, and I have to say, it's my favorite so far!

I'm in technique-trying-supply-buying heaven!

2010-06-10T12:43:00.000-04:00

The latest issue of the Technique Junkies Newsletter came out a couple of weeks ago, and I've been in heaven ever since. Normally, there are several techniques I want to try, a few I like but don't have the supplies for, and a few I really don't care for. This latest issue is one of those really fun ones...I like just about every technique AND I have most of the stuff I need. Most of the stuff, not all of the stuff, which to me is the perfect situation. I can do plenty of playing with what I have, but I still "need" to make a trip to an art supply shop, or even better, a rubber stamp show which just happened to be nearby last weekend. Just doesn't get any better than that!

On this card, I tried out the Antique Wallpaper technique and I'll be darned if it doesn't look just like a piece of antique wallpaper! The image, a Hero Arts stamp that I've had forever, is stamped with Adirondack Pesto Ink onto cardstock that I first airbrushed with a light green Copic marker. I then colored the carnation with more Copic markers.

I hope you've found a little crafting heaven of your own this week! Bye for now...

Le Cirque

2010-06-06T22:12:00.000-04:00

This stamp from Starving Artistamps reminds me of a performer in a Cirque du Soleil show. I've seen three of the shows and have thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of every one of them. OVO is coming to Hartford in a few weeks, so it's a pretty good bet that I'll get to see my fourth show. Yes, they're that good!

Part of the fun of a Cirque du Soleil show is that your senses are completely overloaded. In keeping with that spirit, I used bright, contrasting colors and busy patterns. The layout for my card it the Technique by Design sketch from the current Technique Junkies Newsletter. The technique I chose to focus is Background Whimsy - Copic Method. I could NOT get any of my THREE white gel pens to work so I pitched them all in the garbage. Instead, I used white acrylic ink and mixed in a little bit of white acrylic paint to make it more opaque, and then painted my white highlights with a small liner brush. It was WAY easier than using a pen. I am so done with those white pens!

Have a great week. I have to be in work early tomorrow, so I have a little more time to pout about the weekend being over, then it's off to bed for me.

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 29

2010-06-03T07:17:00.000-04:00

This bedroom design featured on the Better Homes and Gardens website is the inspiration for our first Divine Diva Inspiration challenge for the month of June. First, let me just say that I love this room! My guest bedroom walls are the same shade of blue as shown here and I already have dark brown and white accents, but I would never have thought to add lavender to the mix. Care to guess what I'm going to be adding to that room?

I love this color palette so much that it became the major inspiration for my card. I just happen to have the Basic Grey Wisteria 6" x 6" pad which had the perfect shade of lavendar. As I was thumbing through the paper pad, I remembered the DoodleFactory Classic Decor set from Starving Artistamps with it's little table and vase of flowers. Bazinga! The papercrafting tools and supplies started flying after that, I'll tell ya! I used Copic markers for coloring, Adirondack Pitch Black and Colorbox Fluid Chalk Chestnut Roan inks for stamping, and my Cuttlebug and Nestibilities dies to create my frame, which is cut slightly smaller that the background panel and affixed with Stamper's Magic POP tape, also from Starving Artistamps.

The thing I enjoy so much about this challenge is how all of the Divine Divas come up with beautiful creations, obviously using the same inspiration, but all so unique. You can see all of their creations on their blogs: Anne, Chris, Lori, Julie, and Kerri. And, don't forget that you're welcome to join us. If you do, post a link on Lori's blog, and if you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet, use the keyword DDIC.

See you again soon, and if you happen to be at the Heirloom Stamp and Scrap Paper Arts Festival in West Springfield, MA this weekend, be sure to stop by the Starving Artistamps booth and say hi to Tracey. You never know, you might run into me, too!

Juggling Act

2010-05-31T10:15:00.000-04:00

I am so going to hate going back to work tomorrow after my nice long weekend when the only part of my schedule that I had to juggle was which hobby to do when. But enough thinking about work--I still have a whole day left!

Doing his own juggling act is this cutie clown from a set of circus images that Tracey sneaked into the Starving Artistamps line awhile back. She doesn't always release images with a lot of fanfare, so it's worth it to check out her "What's New" page every so often. You never know what goodies you might find!

For the layout on this card, I used the sketch from Card Positioning Systems challenge CPS 169. My clown is colored with Copic markers, and I used brads for the juggling balls.

Well, I'm off to make the most of my last day off.

Just checking in...

2010-05-29T09:12:00.000-04:00

I've been busy working on things but really haven't had anything to post here. Finally, though, I have a couple of things I can share.

First, I guess I should confess that I've become an Inchie Addict. I've been doing some swaps on RubberStampChat, and I'm totally hooked on these little things. Why? They're tiny, and I've always had an inexplicable desire to make things in miniature. They're easy, or at least they can be. They can be made from the tiniest little scraps--again, the inexplicable tiny attraction. They're FUN!

These are some of the inchies I've made for recent swaps. I've used all kinds of stamps and techniques here so I won't detail everything here. But, if you have a question about anything, just drop me an email.

The second thing I have to admit is that I really, really enjoy drawing portraits. This is a real revelation to me because when I drew my first portrait (the one of my grandson), I didn't so much do it because I wanted to, it was more because I felt that I should try at least try one. But it was fun! And I want to do more!

So right now I'm taking Cindy Wider's Portraiture in Your Pyjamas on Drawspace.com, and the second thing I have to share with you today is a graphite portrait I did for that class.

Well, that's all for now. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 28

2010-05-20T07:31:00.000-04:00

I love Clinique Bonus time, and I still can't believe I didn't get this one. But, thanks to Lori choosing this photo as our inspiration this week, at least I have a card!

This card was really pretty easy to make. I embossed a scrap of hot pressed watercolor paper (unlike cold-pressed, it's smooth) and then added color with Inktense pencils. I didn't actually draw on the paper, I took color from the tips of the pencils with my wet brush and painted the colors on. The butterfly is from Starving Artistamps, and it's colored very quickly with Copic markers. The whole thing took me about an hour, which for me is lightening fast!

The other Divine Divas always come up with some amazing cards, so be sure to have a look at theirs too. You can see all of their creations on their blogs: Anne, Chris, Lori, Julie, and Kerri. And, don't forget that you're welcome to join us. If you do, post a link on Lori's blog, and if you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet, use the keyword DDIC.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pssst...

2010-05-15T10:16:00.000-04:00

Here's another card I made awhile back and never posted. The lovebirds and sentiment are from Starving Artistamps, and I colored them with my trusty Copic markers.

It's a really nice day here for a change, and maybe, just maybe, the threat of a killing frost has finally past. I'm going to go way out on a limb and put in some plants this weekend.

Happy Saturday!

Check it Out!

2010-05-09T13:20:00.001-04:00

There's a Virtual Rubber Stamp Convention going on right now at Rubberstamp Chat. Starving Artistamps is there with a great discount offer along with over 20 other vendors. If you like a bargain (and who doesn't?), check it out before it ends tomorrow.

My card for today features Flob from the Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Creatures II collection doing the underpants dance. One of the other creatures is probably taking way too long in the bathroom, lol! Flob is colored with Copic markers, and the rest, I think, is pretty easy to figure out.

To all you mothers who happen by here, I hope you're having an enjoyable Mother's Day. I'm fixing a fancy gourmet dinner for my mother-in-law, Sauteed Chicken Cutlets with Asparagus, Spring Onions and Parsley-Tarragon Gremolata. Hope she likes it!

A Miracle of Sorts

2010-05-08T09:25:00.000-04:00

Glory be! I made this card for this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch challenge (165), and I'm actually posting it before the challenge ends. What next? Will I get my whole house clean at the same time? I just don't know what to think anymore, lol.

My card uses images from the Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Creatures II set and paper from the Cosmos Cricket Early Bird Mini Deck. Don't they play nice together?

I think the details of how I made this card are pretty straightforward, but if you have a questions just leave a comment and I'll be happy to answer.

I gotta run...lots to do today!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 27

2010-05-06T08:00:00.012-04:00

It's time for another Divine Diva Inspirations challenge, and this time, I even had time to make a card. When looked at the inspiration photo (from The Inglenook Decor) for today's challenge, the first things I noticed were the white alabaster frames and those beautiful butterflies. Even though the arrangement in the photo is fairly monochromatic, a closer look revealed all kinds of shapes, textures, and materials. I incorporated a few of my favorites in my card -- the shimmer of pearls, the colors of shells, and even some beads.

I will admit that the beading on this card took a fair amount of time, but it's not hard to do. I pierced holes around the edge of the brown panel by using my sewing machine unthreaded. I attached the beads by using a running stitch by hand. You actually have to go twice around to get a solid line of beads, which is what makes it time intensive.

The rest of the card is very quick and easy. The reddish panel is just a piece of cardstock with some acrylic pearlizing medium dabbed on. Once the paint dried, I ran it through my Cuttlebug and embossed it with a swirl pattern. I distressed the edges, and since I had my sewing machine out, I stitched around the edges, too. The butterfly is a Creative Imaginations adhesive rub-on on brown card stock, foiled with gold foil. My white frame is cut with a Nestabilities die from pearlescent paper. The only stamp I used was the sentiment (Stampin' Up).

It's good to be back after my little hiatus, and I can't wait to see what the other Divine Diva team members came up with. You can see all of their creations on their blogs: Anne, Chris, Lori, Julie, and Kerri. And, don't forget that you're welcome to join us. If you do, post a link on Lori's blog, and if you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet, use the keyword DDIC.

Thanks for stopping by!

Technique by Design

2010-05-04T23:07:00.000-04:00

I made this card for the Technique Junkies Technique by Design challenge. The challenge gives a sketch along with the added requirement to use a TJ technique in at least one of the background panels. On my card, I used Dabbed Shimmers on the left and upper right, Metallic Parchment on the middle right, and Polished Stone on the bottom. I colored the flower (Hero Arts) with colored pencils, masked it, and then stamped the text background (Inkadinkado). The card seemed a bit unbalanced so I added a few Dew Drops and some Barbara Trombley's Earth Elements Tailings, which added just the right amount of sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you bright and early Thursday for the next Divine Diva Inspiration challenge!

Lovebirds

2010-05-02T16:55:00.001-04:00

I've been organizing my image files, and I've come across quite a few cards that I never posted for one reason or another. This is one that I did last fall using stamps from Starving Artistamps. The lovebirds are colored with Copic markers and the background is created by stamping the feather randomly in shades of orange and red. A very quick and easy card!

Have you made your mom's card yet?

2010-04-25T09:04:00.000-04:00

Good morning, Everyone! It's a rainy day here, and you know what that means--can't do yardwork so I'll have to stay inside and play in my studio. Aw, poor me!

It's getting to be time to think about getting Mother's Day cards done, so here's one for your inspiration (and further proof that the DoodleFactory Creatures II from Starving Artistamps are suitable for any occasion!):

I colored Mom Spinkle and 'Lil Spinkle with Copic markers and the sprinkled both Spinkles with some Art Institute Glitter. I also glittered up the heart and the Prima flower and added a sentiment with some rub-on letters, and voila!...a Mother's Day card any mother would love!