Copic Creations Challenge with Just Rite Stamps

It's the last copic creations challenge of the year and oh man is this one a good one!

I know everyone is busy busy busy with holidays things, kids winter programs at school, card sending, present making, shopping, oh it goes on and on but i hope you take the time to check out the Copic Creations challenge. The prize is an ENTIRE set of Copic Spica Pens as well as some stamp goodies from this week's sponsor, Just Rite Stamps!

Just Rite generously donated some of their new holiday releases for the Copic Creations team to work with. I chose the Vintage Christmas Set. MAN, they are BIG! I had no idea until i get them in the mail but i was absolutely giddy when i saw them! A big bonus is that Just Rite is having a holiday sale and this set is only 12.71!

So while my original plan was to make a card using the way cool vintage santa image... as I looked at the pretty stamps with the separate border around them, i thought, this is PERFECT for an ornament! I like to make a few ornaments every year and this year I havent gotten around to it with all the ickies in our house so this was just perfect!!! This is what came up with! It's a double sided ornament... the center dangles on a piece of clear thread so that it spins. Kinda fun... veeeeeeery hard to get it to stay still for a picture! ahahahaha!

And now for some detail shots of each cause I know it's a little hard to catch in the above shots.

First let me say that the challenge this week with copics is to make things Sparkle! (hence why the Copic Spica Pens are part of the give away!). Ok, so the other challenge is to get all that sparkle photographed, but man does it look pretty in person! I totally heart my copic spica pens!

Here's a look at my snowman... I lined every thing with the copic spica pens (black for his hat, lipstick for the hat band and scarf, clear all over him... then i went a little nuts and spritzed him with some smooch spritz and well, thats pretty much all that photographed! but outlining every thing in spica pen turned out really pretty!

Here's a close up shot of Mr. Snowman, not angled at the light!

Here you can see the liquid pearls i used on the snowflakes and snow on his hat.

Colors Used: Boo, B000 and B000 for the snow man... a smidgen of C2 was used in areas of shadow. His hat and coal bits are C9, C7, C5, C3 and his hat band and scark are R59. R29 R24

And now for Mr. Clause... first the shimmer shot... basically the same MO as the snowman except instead of liquid pearl accents, i used silver stickles in his eye reflection to give that Santa Glint. His glasses were colored with a gold spica pen. And yes, i went smooch spritz crazy and i couldnt hold the ornament still to save my life so it's all a little blurry. Sorry.

And now for a better version...

Ok, this one is a little blurry too but that was a photography mistake. I'm still learning the ins and outs of my new camera. haha. Absolutely NON of the shimmer showed up here, but you can see the glint in his eye from the stickles! :D

Now be sure to go to the copic creations blog, check out the other team members creations and get yourself entered to win this AWESOME prize!!!

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My Mind's Eye altered chipboard album

It's no lie i love the my min'd eye's papers! When i noticed that my local store, Scrapnesia, had these chipbard books (that were already printed on with the new line from MME) i knew i just HAAAAD to have one! Bonus is that i used scraps some some layouts and cards I made for the rest of the book included left overs from the embellies packs i got and since it was already printed, it was VERY easy to put together! My pictures arent the best because i took them in low light and didnt realize how fuzzy they were until i got them on my computer, but i think you'll get the idea! And look, ma, no stamping! hahahahaha!

Ok, so i'm in love with this book. No way i can give it away for a christmas gift as i originally thought i would do! Perhaps i'll just have to make more!

Have a great day everyone!

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Where I have been....

Hello everyone! This is a bit of a double post. :D But it does have to do with creative things!

This past month I have been busy busy busy! Lots of weddings to do makeup and hair on (the fall is a big wedding season in the south because it's beautiful and not as hot!) but I've also embarked on a new creative adventure... Photography! Seeing as I have done makeup professionally for quite a while, i thought it would be fun to learn photography to go along with it. It has been so much fun learning and practicing with models, but also time consuming as I've tried to take advantage of when I am able to shoot with a good model.

Now I dont plan on posting very much of my photography on this blog as this is my crafting blog... but my very first photo shoot does serve a bit as a dual post. For this photo i did the makeup, the hair and all the clothing styling (including sewing the tulle skirt and altering the flower for her hair accessory!

Here's a few of the photography shots!

For my first shoot, i was rather please with how it turned out. We also continued to shoot another look, but i'm won't bore you with that one here. If you are interested, you can read about it on my makeup and photography blog. :D

So about the crafty side of the shoot.... tulle skirts are not as quick and easy to make as I thought. It was fine, just not nearly wham, bam, thank you ma'am as i thought it would be!

But here's the part that I think my paper crafting friends would be the most interested in....

See her flower in her hair? I picked that up at hobby lobby in the bridal section. They have them in all different colors. But the thing about them i don't like... they a brightly colored and SHINY! It just didnt have the rustic fall look i wanted for the photo. I've come across this problem before in paper crafting... when a flower you want to use just isnt the right color? Or looks cheap like it did in this case. SO what do i do.... i break out my copic airbrush and alter away! You can spray just about ANYTHING with the copic airbrush!

I don't know about you, but i'm definitely liking the altered version more so than the original. I suppose maybe for the original purpose of something for bridal the bright and shiny works.. but I think the airbrush gives it so much more dimension!

I used a couple different browns to achieve the final look. E59 on the leaves to make them brown instead of peach. E25 slightly over the petals to just give them a little more depth and edge and then E49 (super dark) not in the airbrush, but i used the brush tip side to color the stemens (the pearls in the center)

Now obviously these would be a little large for a card or even scrapbook page, however they might work great on an altered item and you can apply the same principle to airbrushing smaller flowers and such.

So thats what i have for ya today! Don't forget you can airbrush more than just paper!

Have a great day!!!

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December PMS Fan Blog Hop

Well, my night hasnt gone as planned. My sweet little 2 year old threw up all over me! SO needless to say we've been snuggled on the couch (don't worry, we changed!) Now i'm making my post just in time for the hop, but you'll have to forgive my post for being brief (i can hear those of you breathing a sigh of relief!)

You should have just come here from the PMS Blog which gives you most of the info you need... so i wont be redundant. If you havent read that post yet, you may want to!

For the December Fan Blog Hop, we are all making holiday or winter-ie cards! Thank goodness i've had my card done (what a nightmare that might have been!) I used the image I colored in the video tutorial i posted the other day (scroll down thru my posts if you missed it)

Here is my card...

I used Moody for Holly which is from the last release from PMS. The Happy Holidays sentiment is from a release last year called Season's Greetings.

And now if you are planning on doing the hop in order, you'll be hopping to my mama, Carma Shawger!

I adore that my mom has been bitten by the crafting bug and we can share this mad obsession together! It's so much fun!

Just in case, here is the hop order...

December Fan Blog Hop for Paper Makeup Stamps

1.	PMS Blog - Start Here!	14.	Christi Thorsen
2.	Katie Cotton	15.	Carole Chesser
3.	Carma Shawger	16.	Shaela Odd
4.	Tina Hale	17.	Simonne Clay
5.	Tangii Crain	18.	Angie Sprouse
6.	Jami Bova	19.	Stephanie Zito
7.	Dawn Mercedes	20.	Lisa Kind
8.	Maria Gurnsey	21.	Lindsy Harness
9.	Kristie Wilson	22.	Michelle Van Patten
10.	Anita Hovey	23.	Lisa McKinney
11.	Christi Snow	24.	Michelle McDaniel
12.	Danni Bindel	25.	Andrea Vernagus
13.	Randee Elsing

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Have a wonderful day!

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Purging what i havent opened!

Hello Everyone! After a bit of recently holiday splurging i'm realizing i need to, ehem, bump back up my holiday budget! So i'm going thru my stash and finding things that i havent opened (and a few things that have been opened, but that just arent seeing the love....)

Prices are CHEAP TO GET THEM OUTTA HERE! haha!

Buyer to pay exact shipping costs.

Thanks everyone!

Ok, i have no idea why it's cramming all the stuff for same into 1 paragraph because when i edit it's nicely spaced. Here is a link to my for sale blog... it will be easier to read!

Bellas - $4 each

Sistahhoodabellas – on ez mount

Take a stand Kirby

Have a seat maya

Battiful darling

Hulabella and sentiment

Yogabella

Staceyfishabella

Miniwagonfella

Goodluckabella

buzzyhuggabug

Close to my heart clear stamp sets

Butterfly kiss C1299 unused - $5

Adorning corners D1322 unused - $8

Shining Star D1320 unused - $8

Endless Love D1260 unused - $8

Delight in Everything (some staining) D1204 - $5

Say It In Style D1283 unused - $8

With Love d1284, 2 used - $7

Other Stamps

CC Designs Bear Hugs - $5

Gina K 0 King of the Grill (new) - $12

Stampin Up, Define Your Life - $20

The Greeting Farm – My Guy Ian – New, Uncut - $10

Wardrobe 2 – new uncut - $8

Older Pirate set, I cant remember the name, I never cut it - $5

Nesties

Large Square Classic (still in plastic) – 12.50

Impressabilities – wanted to love them, never even used them! $3 each

Flowers, Butterfly, Floral & Stone, Tulips, Cherries, Flower Silhouette, Paisley

Cuttlebug folder – holly leaf (new) - $3

Copic Wallets – holds 24 markers each (these have not been used, I have 2) - $10

Cricut Carts – never linked to a gypsy or jukebox

Zooballoo - $15

Makin’ the Grade - $15

George and Basic Shapes - $15

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Paper Makeup Stamps December Sale and Free Shipping!

First of all... how sad is this, I've had this card doen since November 13th and i'm just now posting it?! Sheesh. Ok... now onto some fun news....

Paper Makeup Stamps is having a mega sale thruout december! I have put together some fun grab bags in all sorts of different themes (fairies, monsters, moodies and even a mega grab bag) The grab bags give you lots of goodies for a fraction of the cost. And i've had the best sellers pressed just for the occasion! These grab bags are sure to please!!! You can read all about this sale HERE.

And now onto my card....

I used Spike for this card. I love that guy! He's actually on sale right now at PMS! Oh yeah.... did i mention new sales items were added as well.... AND there is FREE SHIPPING ALL MONTH LONG! Spike was colored with copics E42, E44, E47; BG34, BG10; YR18, YR12

The paper is from a new collection from My Mind's Eye. I just love what MME has been coming out with lately!!! The sentiment stamped right on top of the patterned paper is from the birthday cheer stamp set.

So thats what i got for ya today! I'm hopeful to video another little tutorial for you today and have it posted over the weekend, so stay tuned!

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Copic Creations Challenge with Whimsy Stamps

Scroll down if you are looking for my My Time Made Easy blog hop post!

Today is another day for the Copic Creations Challenge team and this time we are challenging you to focus on your light source!

Light source to me is something very important with coloring! The trickest part is to remember that your light is coming from the same spot so if you have multiple images in your stamp image, it might he to the right corner on one image and right above for another. Keeping continuity with your light source really helps to make an image come to life!

Here's my project for you (using a Whimsy Stamps digital image!)

Now i will apologize for not turning my image into an adorable card like all my fabby design team friends did (their cards all amaze me!) but with the ickies i've had, i decided to just focus on the image! The most fun, was that i printed the image much larger than would fit on a card and made myself my first Christmas decoration of the year! Since I havent felt up to decorating the house just yet - this is also the first decoration i've even put up (for the photo... and i'm not taking it down!)

I decided to have my light source come from the upper left corner. I've had many of my students ask me, how in the world do you determine where the light source is coming from?!

I take my cues from the little details the illustrator has left. Notice on the center snowman's hat? There are lines along the sides, but not just there at the top. So i'm letting that be the lightest part of his hat, and if the light is going to hit there, i need to make sure the other snowmen follow suit. it may help you to place an object (that you wont move!) at the point you determine is your light source. Just make sure not to move your image either!

I didnt have any sentiments from Whimsy Stamps, so i used a PMS sentiment from the Snow Happy set. It's appropriate, no?

Now if you havent already been to the copic creations blog... you need to go go go! Lots of beautiful samples and details on how to enter in our contest and win prizes!

Good Luck!

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My Time Made Easy Blog Hop

It's the 1st which means lots of posts and goodies to share today!

Let's start out with the My Time Made Easy blog hop!

Since it's the holidays, MTME is taking the month easy just releasing 1 template, but OMG, this template is CAH_UTE! And i just adore how many uses it can have! Just Perfect for the holidays! Ok, so a LOT of the MTME templates are good for the holidays because afterall, the templates were created to take your gift giving to new heights!

The template being released this month is called Wonderfully Wrapped...

here is my take...

So sweet isnt it? I adore the way the side lays over each other. And you'd think it might be complicated? Oh, SOOOOO easy to put together! I'm thinking teach gifts, cookies for all the neighbors.... seriously! I have NO mojo these days with this wretched head cold and this came together so easy peasy! To spice things up a bit, i cut the decorative layers out of adhesive fabric and stitched it right onto the paper. The texture on it is divine!

Here's the side view. Now you dont have to cover where the flaps overlay, but i thought this button and cross stitch ribbon added a nice little touch. A simple bow, some bling, a flower, so many choices to dress it up or down!

One last photo for you!

Here is how i decorated the front. I wanted to keep it simple since I wasnt exactly sure who I was gifting to yet... and Just For You from the Just For You stamp set seemed to do just the trick! I stamped it inside one of the frames from the Killer Curves stamp set and tied it off with a brown tulle bow. BTW - i'm completely obsessed with Tulle at the moment!

Ok, so thats what i have for you before i pass out in bed!

Dont forget, there is more wonderful things to see from the design team!

Check these ladies out!

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