You're my type of chick

Hi again friends,
Today I have an Easter/Spring card to share.
Here it is:

 I used the My Basket of Eggs Pure Innocence stamp (My Favorite Things) for the image. I colored her with the no-line coloring Copic technique which I enjoy, but is challenging.

Here's a closer peek:

 I masked her with Eclipse masking paper and then ink blended the background with Distress inks. I used a few of the iridescent sequin from the Sweet Pea mix (Pretty Pink Posh.)

Here's the innies:

 The sentiment is from another PI set called One Sweet Chick.

I used this week's MFT Sketch #269

Thanks for popping in today!
Have a great *Ü*

Crafty Haul #1 Video

Hi crafty friends,
Today I have a different kind of video for you. I'm sharing some of my latest crafty purchases in a haul video. I got a new video camera and needed to see how easily I could work with it. I don't have a set up for "over the head" recording so I'll have to figure out something else. Now that I can record in HD, you'll be able to see all my blunders in high resolution! haha!

 You can also watch it on my YouTube channel ---> HERE.
 
I bought all the stamp sets and the Ken Oliver craft mat from a local craft store, but you can find them from online stores like Simon Says Stamp or Ellen Hutson.

Here is a link for the Black Velvet Silver brushes at Dick Blick. They had the best prices I've seen. I purchased the size 2, 4, and 6.

I purchased the Kuretake Gansai Tambi set of 24 from Amazon and the Finetec Watercolor pan set of 12 pearl colors from Art Supply Warehouse. (My favorite art store!) *Ü*

Let me know what you think of these haul videos.
Thanks for watching and for popping in today!
Tootles,



 

Lucky and Love

Hello there friends,
I have a couple of cards to share today.
Here's the first:
 I'm getting ahead on my St. Patty's Day cards.  *Ü*

I used the Wishing You Luck ALM stamp (My Favorite Things). I don't think MFT still makes this line, sorry, but I'm using what I've hoarded got. I can't tell you how many things went wrong with this image...ugh, but I decided I was going to use it and make the best of it. She's colored with Copics, & the background is ink blended with Distress Inks. While I had the masking fluid on her, I spritzed the background with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls mist (Ranger). I stamped the shamrock on another piece of cardstock, colored it, & popped it up with foam tape. The plaid paper is from the Subtle Plaids 6x6 paper pad (MFT). The "lucky" die cut is from the Wonderful Word dies (Papertrey Ink).

Here's a peek of the innies:

 The sentiments are from the Card exchanging friends stamp set (Simon Says Stamp) and the shamrocks are from My lucky charm stamp set (Lawn Fawn).

I used this week's MFT sketch #268

One more card to share...
This one went to my Grammy for Valentine's Day:

 I used the Color Layering Orchid in a Pot stamp set & coordinating dies (Hero Arts). I bought both orchid sets from the last Hero Arts release and they are fantastic!
 Here's another peek:

Thanks so much for stopping by the ol' blog today.
Until next time...
Tootles!

Firecrackers

Hi again friends,
I have one more card to share for Chinese New Year.
Here it is:

 I used the Firecracker stamp (Sister Stamps) which is colored in Copics. I thought I would share a couple of (bad) pics of how I created this scene.

First, I needed to mask:

Since this is all one single image, I had to think about how I was going to mask all of the images (including all the tiny bits) knowing I wanted to use my Distress Inks on the background. I was not about to cut masks for all those teeny tiny bits so I used two different types of masking: liquid & paper. I stamped my image and masked the girl and boy with masking paper (Eclipse) and used my Fineline Masking Fluid Pen on the firecrackers and all the tiny bits. Then I used my Distress Inks in Candied Apple, Fossilized Amber, and Black Soot to ink blend the entire background as shown in the pic. (The white is where the Fineline fluid resisted the ink.)

Next, I removed the masks:

I peeled off the paper masks and gently removed the Fineline fluid with a gummed remover. So all I needed was to color my images.

Here's a closer peek:

I added some yellow Stickles to make those sparks really sparkle and shine!

Here's a peek of the innies:

The sentiment is from Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink).

Here's the completed card:

The sentiment is from Winter Scripty Sayings (Lawn Fawn). I added some black photo corners to each corner so that it would seem like it was a photo that had captured this fun moment in time *Ü*

I hope you're having a lovely crafternoon or two this weekend.
Thanks so much for popping in!
Until next time... Tootles!

Happy Virthday!

Hi friends,
My friend's birthday is on Sunday...as in Valentine's Day. So I thought I would make a birthday + Valentine's Day = Happy Virthday! card for her.

Here it is:

I thought I would create a Valentine's Day kind of card on the outside (so she would think that's what it was- hehehe) I used vellum in the background which I ran through the Heart Blocks embossing folder (Cuttlebug). Next, I created a shaker with the Tag Builder Blueprints 5 (My Favorite Things). 

Here's a closer peek:

 I threaded the arrow through the "happy"die cut (simon says stamp).

Here are the innies:

 I hope she gets a giggle from it *Ü* ...but just in case she's like my other friend, whose birthday is on Christmas and WILL NOT accept birthday gifts wrapped in Christmas paper or a birthday/Christmas gift, I made a back-up-just-birthday-themed card!

I used this week's MFT #267 sketch:

 and this MFT Color Challenge combo #39:

Thanks so much for peeking today!
Have a great day!
Tootles,

Bouquets and Balloons

Hello there friends,
I have a couple of birthday cards to share today.
Here's the first:

 I used the Color Layering Large Orchid stamp set and coordinating dies (Hero Arts). As soon as I saw it, I KNEW I had to have it! *Ü* ---You know I *heart* Orchids just like my Grammy! I used a little strip of gold glitter washi tape & some black striped vellum washi tape to anchor them and tie in with the sentiment stamped & heat set with black embossing powder. I embossed the background with the Tribal Chevrons embossing folder (Darice).

Here's another peek:

 I added clear Wink of Stella to them. If you've seen orchids up close, you know they have their own natural wink of stella shimmer to them, so I was trying to mimic the shimmer that nature already provides.

Here's a peek of the innies:

The sentiment comes from the LJD Pretty Poppies stamp set (MFT). I have a video of how I created this card coming soon!

 I used this week's MFT sketch #266 for BOTH the inside & outside of my card.

 and I took my color palette from the MFT color challenge

 My second card:

 Different kind of feel than my first, but so much fun! I took inspiration from a card Betsy Veldman created a while ago. She used vellum for her balloon shakers. I used my fuse tool (so I wouldn't have to sew) to create the shakers.
Here's another peek:

These really shook easily! I used the Shaker Shapes: Balloon dies (Papertrey Ink) and the balloon strings came from the Party Balloons dies (Lawn Fawn).

Thanks for hanging in today!
Have a wonderful rest of the week!
Tootles,

Year of the Monkey

Hi there friends,
One more sleep and it'll be the weekend! Yay *Ü*
Today, I have a card to share that I created for a teacher of Chinese in my department for Chinese New Year.
Here it is:

 This stamp is called Lion Dancers (Sister Stamps) and the banner is Xin Chun Kuai Le (SeeSaw graphics). I masked the images & ink blended the background with Distress Inks in Candied Apple, Fossilized Amber, and Black Soot. Then I removed the masks & colored the images with Copics.

Here's a closer peek:

I know it's hard to see, but everywhere there's white, I covered it with the Clear Wink of Stella brush so it's sparkly! *Ü* And I added a wiggle eye for fun! There are little dots of gold all over the background, which is hard to see too :(  I've had this stamp for a while & finally got around to inking it up- I think it's adorable! *Ü*

Thanks so much for peeking today!
Tootles,