Hop Over to the Lily Pad to Win Hero Arts

I became a Member of Lily Pad Cards today! Go become a member for a chance to win a collection of Hero Arts stamps. Contest closes at 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, July 15.

This is a new site I've grown to love. The little blue guy is a hoot and there are lots of fun videos and challenges to enjoy. I hope you check it out...you can click on the blue frog and it will take you there. Easy peasy!

OWH & WE R Memory Keepers Event

OWH and We R Memory Keepers have a month-long event planned for July. Be sure to stop by We R Grateful for details and prize info. There are lots of cool prizes with a grand prize cruise. You have until August 5th to send cards to qualify.

For those of you who don't know about OWH, it is an nonprofit organization that sends cards to our deployed troops. These blank handmade cards are made by American crafters (like me) who wish to help the troops stay in touch with home.

It's so worthwhile and rewarding...I hope you'll consider helping!

Magnolia Tilda Summer Stamp Kit 2011

There is much controversy over Magnolia's latest stamp kit for summer 2011. I thought it would be fun to re post the image from our Magnolia Yahoo Group for my visitors to check out and comment.

I have to say, I'm so glad I didn't get around to ordering this kit which would have been the first time for me. Last summer the kit was so much fun with summer stamps from the Bon Voyage collection. Ironically, I visited Magnolia's site and had it in my cart and something stopped me. Boy! I'm really happy as I'd have been very disappointed. They are cute stamps but none are very summery. However, sometimes these unusual stamps net the best cards. I'm still pining for Edwin's Town and Edwin's Fish which I never got around to ordering.

Here are some helpful links I visit so you may explore Tilda's wonderful world:
The Official Magnolia Inspiration Challenge Blog (TOMIC)
Stamp Club Kits
Magnolia's Online Store
Magnolia-Licious Store
Tilda's Town (free shipping)
CC Designs Magnolia Department
7 Kids Kollege Fund Stamp Store

Wowzers...Loads of Card Sketches!!

Looking around the internet today I came across Card Positioning Systems indirectly from OWH and am I tickled. If you're like me, you love sketches or recipes since they make cardmaking so much easier. Haven't tried one yet? Be sure to check this site out and have a look around checking sketches. There are lots to see!

For those of you who are unfamiliar, "sketches" are digital puzzles of a sort that give you a guide to follow when designing a card. Check this one out and you'll understand what I mean:



Each geometric shape represents an element ie. the narrow strip across the middle could be ribbon or lace, the top square a white block with a stamped image, and the 2 background pieces could be patterned paper to coordinate with your image or focal element. I'll toss a quick one together so you can see how it all works! Check back in the a.m. to see what I put together for OWH.

Stamper's Dream Blog Hop

I rarely suggest a bloghop or blog about one (other than OWH) but this one was so enjoyable I wanted to share it with my visitors. If you have a few minutes and want lots of terrific inspiration Stamper's Dream is sponsoring a hop and has some terrific candy to share. Check their blog to get started. I promise, the cards and projects you see are very inspiring!
Here's a peak at their candy:

You have until Thursday, June 16th to comment for a chance to win!

Lily Pad is Tres Cool...a little blue too!!

I used a tiny stamp set from those $1 bins at the craft store for this card!
This cool set of stamps was my first purchase from Papertrey Ink.
I love them and the great dies!
I found a cool place to share...the Lily Pad. I've been enjoying their Youtube videos for ideas for fun quick cards for OWH. The cards are two I made for their challenge which will soon head off to OWH for our troops. I hope you enjoy and take a moment to stop by the Lily Pad too.

I'm A Cover Girl...Woohoo!!!

This cute little card is the cover shot currently at the Yahoo's "Magnolia Card Kit and Swap" group. Thanks to Melanie for adding her! If you want to learn more about the group and join us please be sure to hop on over HERE. If you love Tilda and company you'll want to join us soon!

This card dates to when I was first teaching myself to color with Copics so I won't even go into the color selections! The dock stamp is not a Magnolia stamp and was just quickly stamped on brown Bazzill cardstock. I added a couple simple fish cut from the Cricut Doodlecharms which I pop-dotted and added a bit of twine to make them look to be hanging. Tilda's toes are dipping in a bit of water I deco'd with diamond Stickles. The sun is an ancient Sizzix diecut I purchased on eBay.

That about does it for this post. I hope you'll stop over and join the fun with our little group on Yahoo!

Bling It Emerald Faery Challenge

Hurry over and check out the 2nd challenge on the new Emerald Faery Garden challenge blog. You have until June 15th to upload your entry which could win you a terrific prize. The theme they've chosen for this challenge is "bling".

To "bling" my 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" card up a bit, I added several faux pink crystals with lots of diamond Stickles. The sparkly circle around Ally & Beeble was first given a rub down with a pale pink stamp pad then slathered it in tons of Stickles and allowed to dry. I moved on to my Whimsy Sentiment Tickets which were stamped with Ranger Distress Ink in fired brick and outlined in more Stickles. I handmade the large cardstock rose and gave it a dousing of diamond Stickles too. It always turns out my preferred form of "bling" is wonderful Stickles...I just LOVE the stuff!
To add a little more sparkle and shine I added Glossy Accents to give Beeble some dimension & my pink daisy a dewy look. The wings had a coating of Stickles and Glossy Accents! I used dimensional foam tape and squares to give Ally and my glittery circle a little interest and "lift".
The digi image was colored using the following Copic markers:

skin - E0000, E50, E00, R11, R20
hair - E0000, Y00, YR21
flower - R00, R11, R20, R22, G20, G82, YG00
clothes - B91, B95, C1, C3, RV25
wings - E0000, BG0000, RV000, B00

...a couple tiny Prima rosebuds nicely accent my handmade rose!
I'd also like to enter this in the following challenges:
Crafty Catz #84 Pink & Green Challenge which ends June 2nd.

* OWH Memorial Day Weekend Blog Hop *

Happy hoppin' cardmaking friends! I wanted something very special for the Memorial Weekend OWH bloghop so I decided to draw my own image. The cute little bear was a breeze to sketch but a "bear" to color with Copics. Can you believe it took about an hour and half to color this simple looking bear? The bear measures approx. 3" x 3" and is double matted & pop-dotted on an A2 size card. The paw with real tissue was also pop-dotted to give some fun dimension. The nose, eyes, & tear were coated with Glossy Affects for a wet look. Please leave me a comment or email me at rba0422@gmail.com if I can provide coloring info. on the copics used.

I hope you enjoyed my little original creation destined to travel to some far off sandy place to help some young hero stay in touch with home. Please follow my blog and come back soon, oh and do leave comments...I love hearing from fellow cardmakers.

Please be sure to visit COURTNEY who has another great card for your enjoyment. AND...most importantly...get crafting cards for the troops!

Now...hop on and have a great time!!!

((Grrrr on Blogger my little bear says! If comments aren't working try this on your rounds...jot comment in the box, then click pull down menu next to "comment as:" , and select name & URL...it really allows you to comment and links back to your blog!))

Update - Glory beeeee....the FOLLOWERS list has reappeared! I hope you'll "follow" my blog so you can stop back for a visit soon. Thanks for stopping!

ABC & Hero Arts Fabulous Flowers Challenge

I've finally taken the time to use the wonderful Blossom Art Flowers CL495 set of Hero Arts stamps I got from ABC Crafts a long while ago. The combo of the daisy flower and my leftover parts of a digital image of Emerald Faerie Boo from my tutorial seen below. Sentiment is PTI.
(See Copic colors on the faery in tutorial below.) I haven't had much experience coloring flowers with Copics yet!

The daisies & leaves were colored with RV00, RV21, RV23, RV25, RV29, G20, G83, YG00, YR21, & YR23.


I used several fun techniques on the card, first being masking of the trio of HA flowers. To do this stamp a flower on paper, cut it out, lay/secure it over a stamped image, & stamp another. I then fussy cut the lower border of the flowers, sewed around the sides without flowers, matted it in pink and pop-dotted it over a trio of pink, green, & gingham layers. The faerie was fussy cut with an extra head and wings which were pop-dotted to the faerie, wings were coated with Stickles and Glossy Affects. I also covered the flower centers with Glossy Affects and sprinkled them with gold seed & bugle beads for some fun texture. The paper is all from my stash, with DP by Basic Grey & pastel pink embossed floral by Bazzill. This layer was sanded to make the embossing pop with a little white chalk around the edges. I added a little distressing here & there for interest and topped it all with a pink bow and vintage white organza ribbon.

I often admire the wonderful cards made by the Hero Arts designers but don't often join their challenges. It will be fun to enter this easel card.




Other challenges I'm honored to enter:
ABC DT Challenge - May Flowers(ends 5/21)
Word Play Weekend #3 - "Wing" challenge
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes(ends 5/26)
Crafty Creations #119 May Flowers(ends 5/25)

OWH Father's Day Shirt Card

It is amazing the wonderful things one finds on Facebook and throughout the internet, specifically I mean Operation Write Home OWH. It is one of my favorite charities! A few days back up popped a cool card for Father's Day that I just had to try. The tutorial offered here is on the OWH website. The challenge was to make 5 and send them in to fill a shortage of Father's Day cards destined for our troops in the Middle East. I was surprised when I ended up with 18! They were so much fun and afterall each 12x12 sheet of old "ugly tie" scrapbook paper yeilds 9 ties. And after you get the hang of the origami tie they move quickly. That means 19 cards made in 2 days...woohoo...it had been a dry spell so its fun to do something worthwhile again and before I knew it I had a nice size stack of them...

If you're looking for a way to use up old paper, this is a most worthy use. I love the blue pinstripe shirt and can see someone's dad wearing that crazy tie!

My new Whimsy Mini Everyday Postage stamp makes a perfect sentiment for a dad card for anytime during the year.

Making an Embossed Picture Frame

This was a fun project that was born years ago when I saw someone run a bottlecap through a Wizard...I thought ah-ha! I can run other things through there with paper and make interesting things myself, right? This was my first try after so many years...shame on me. It was so fun and easy and looks great on my card. The little Making Memories brass frame will last forever so I'll use it again and again.

To get started I used the following sandwich with my Cuttlebug: A plate, B plate, metal frame, cardstock, Spellbinders rubber embossing mat (or 2), B plate. I cranked it through and reversed it back again.

After cutting out the frame and window, I antiqued the frame lightly with a mini catseye purple chalk stamp pad and backed with a contrasted green cardstock. I made the backing by tracing the wrong side of the frame and cutting out about a 1/16" greater along the perimeter than my tracing line. For my faery project, I attached the base image to the green cardstock backing after tracing and cutting inside my tracing line so none of the image showed around the frame. The frame was then pop-dotted into place over my green cardstock backing and faery image to give a 3D appearance. To finished things I added & pop-dotted another head & wings to my faery which I allowed to overlap the frame for a little whimsy. To finish things I added lots of diamond Stickled to the raised areas of embossing and a few purple self-adhesive pearls...I think tiny AB crystals would have looked better but these worked in a pinch! I hope you give it a try!