November Fairy Sneak Peeks for Paper Makeup Stamps

The sneak peeks have begun for Paper Makeup Stamps! Yesterday the newest wordart was sneaked, today it's new fairies! This month I decided to visit a favorite childhood christmas memory! The Nutcracker!!! Not as many crafting friends know this, but i was a hard core dancer at one time (ok, in my YOUNGER years!) but i continued to dance Ballet thru college.

I have been in The Nutcracker Ballet 9 times! I never reached the prize role of the Sugar Plum Fairy, but I did dance the part of Claire (among many many other roles thru my years of dancing).

So for me, the holidays and the nutcracker go hand in hand!

When i asked Diem to create some nutcracker themed fairies, she was very excited. We had a lot of fun chatting back and forth about the images. Be sure to check out the company blog for sneak peeks of all the fairies!

Here is my card using the Sugar Plum Fairy and one of the new holiday wordarts!

I used yesterdays sketch challenge (SC305) for my card layout and the papers are from My Minds Eye. The collection is from their Lost & Found line and is called Market Street: adore. It's a little hard to see in the photos, but the text paper is written in french! I have no idea what it says, but i thought it was awfully appropriate for a ballet image!

Here is a closeup of the Sugar Plum Fairy...

She was color with copic markers... R81, R83, R85, R89, E53, E51, E21, E00, E25 and a lot of spica pen which unfortunately i didnt get a good picture of.

I played around a bit with the shading around the image. I'm not sure i've quite got the hang of the "dots" but it's fun to play! Even though this isnt an overly christmas card, it is still the Sugar Plum Fairy. I plan on sending this card to my ballet instructor all those years! She trained me from the time i was 6 til i was 22! She deserves a card!

DOn't forget there are ways to win free rubber this week over on the PMS company blog, so check it out!!!! And please join us in our release party this coming sunday from 9-11 pm EST in our forum!!!

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I thought of you the otter day...

I love this Otter from the Retro Cuties collection from Paper Makeup Stamps.

I cant believe i havent had a chance to color her up yet!! I mean she was released MONTHS ago!

hahaha! I also used the sketch from last week's sketch challenge on Splitcoast Stampers...

Obviously, it's becoming pretty obvious that my most recent paper obsession is Echo Park! I love love love this paper company! And having gotten to meet them at CHA sealed the deal for me. Very nice people! I love the style of the paper, the bold rich colors without being too much! The current trends in color pairings but not so much that i cant use the papers years from now (HA, like i'll have anything left!)

I colored Olive the Otter using Copic Markers... E37, E35, E33, E30 and R30 for her cheeks.

Her apron i tried my best to match to the paper... Since i was coloring in small spaces, i let the copic colors be further apart so you can see the contrast. R32, R37; BG10, BG45, BG49' G12, G14, G40. I added some pink glitter to the top of my cupcake for just a little bit of special something!

I paired the Otter with her matching sentiment from the Cutie Critter Sayings set.

I stamped the sentiment in versamark ink and then used some Vanilla embossing powder by American Crafts over the top. It have a slight shimmer to it but it's still opaque. VERY pretty!

I should have used an embossing buddy but the added distress print texture to the paper sort of makes it all tie in. :D

You can view more takes on this sketch in the SC293 gallery on splitcoast!

Have a wonderful day!!!

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Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge 38

Holy cow, i got crafty! And when i say i got crafty... i mean i got CRAFTY! My parents left yesterday ( a bit bummed about that) and my hubby went on a one day fishing trip. Even though i was feeling a bit on the yicky side (ok, the way yicky side, thanks to the REAL pms), i couldnt not take advantage of the opportunity to craft with reckless abandon. So i did get 4 cards done. They took all day, but it's fun when you can just work in bits and pieces all day long. THe hardest part about a day of crafting... is waiting to post all the fun! hahaha!

Ok, today i'm showing you my card for the Makeup 4 the weekend challenge, even though it's no longer the weekend! I did make it on the weekend! hahahah. The great thing about the M4TW challenge is it does not HAVE to be done on the weekend, you have until wednesday each week to get it done. And this week there is FREE RUBBAH being given away! Check out the post to read the details!

So this week, Paper Makeup Artist Bonnie challenged us to use Lime, Turquoise and Kraft on a card with the option of white and/or black as our neutrals. This is not a go to color combo for me, but i'm thinking maybe it should be! I loved working with this palette!

First i picked my papers from the Summertime collection from Echo Park. You know i'm pretty addicted to cloud paper so there was no twisting my arm to pull this out! But i also wanted an idea of where to go next with my card since i was feeling a bit mojoless!

So I took a peek over at the challenges for the week at Splitcoast Stampers. The ways to use it challenge was to use buttons. I have NO shortage of buttons! So i dug thru the neutral jar and found a shiny black one! Perfect! Since looking thru some of my fav cards people have sent me the other day, i knew i wanted to play around with the button inside a bow trick. And the Ways to Use it challenge reminded me! PERFECT! I found some pretty aqua satin ribbon (offray) that matched my papers and went to work fashioning my bow. Yep, i dont think it's perfect, but it's definitely something i'm going to be playing with more and more! I was able to cut my ribbon in half lengthwise to "sew" on my button.

My sentiment is an oldie but goodie from Paper Makeup Stamps called Don't Tell God. I think this is one of the most true sentiments out there! Love it! I stamped it on kfrat cardstock and cut it with the Labels 4 nestabilities die by spellbinders. I used a larger die from the same set to cut my cloud paper. I couldnt find any black pearls in my stash (I KNOW!) so i had to fashion my own! I just took some white pearls, my Copic 100 marker and the airbrush and VIOLA, black pearls! :D

And that's my card for ya today! Have a good one!

The Deets:

Stamps: Don't tell God by Paper Makeup Stamps

Paper: Echo Park, summertime collection; kraft cardstock by neenah

Tools: Labels 4 Nestabilities by Spellbinders

Accessories: Kaisercraft pearls, copic airbrush, offray ribbon, button from stash, memento ink and sponge daubers

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PMS Makeup for the Weekend challenge, M4TW25, WT267

Everybody's workin for the weekend! Ok, that'll be me this weekend! 2 weddings! A new release to prep for. Stuff to make for MTME. It will be one busy weekend! But, if there is one thing that can get me thru anything, it's beautiful weather! And i particularly like beautiful weather that comes out of bad weather! Ever since i was a little girl i've been fascinated with rainbows, that something so fun and amazing can come some something so blah!

Well, this week's Paper Makeup Challenge (that's right, i'm actually participating, so sad that i dont often, i know!) is to use the colors of the rainbow! Amber challenged us to this! It's so fitting since her blog title is So Many Colors, So Little Time! That girl loves her colors!

Here is my card - probably taking the challenge a smidgen too literally!

This was a way fun card to make. Definitely a little different from my norm. First i just colored the image (with copics) with reckless abandon! I just wanted her bright and colorful and rainbow-ie! Then i suddenly thought, hmm... i wonder if i'll even have any paper to go with this! WOOPS! Then i remember that i had read the Splitcoast Ways to Use it Challenge (WT267) was to use lots of different patterns on a card. So i started thinking about how to use up all those random scrap pieces of paper i can never seem to get rid of! And i knew this would be perfect!

Now here's another fun thing... after i made my new diagonal stripped paper (tip, just glue your pieces together on a thin sheet of paper, THEN cut your rectangle or whatever shape you are making!) I decided, that instead of adhering my image to the top, lets do something a little different! So i took a circle nestabilties die (by spellbinders) and cut out a circle to create a window. Now window cards are not new to the cardmaking world, but i'm not sure i've ever made one, so this was a fun new thing for me!

Here's the inside of my card...

Well since i had already colored my image (remember, with reckless abandon!) I couldnt just have it in the inside of the card because I had already stamped it on a square piece. Drat the cat! SO, i cut the image out with a larger circle nestabilities so that it would still be larger than the window. Yes i repeated the sentiment, only this time i split it up (just by only inking up part of it at a time). I couldnt decide where i liked it better, so i used it both places!

Plus, i LOVE that quote! That Dolly sure does have some good ones! Right up there with Dr Suess in my book!

Ok... i'm beat, it's after midnight (as i type) and i have a full day ahead of me tomorrow! So i'm out like a light! Be sure to check out the Makeup for the Weekend challenge! And check out these Paper Makeup Artists for their awesome and very colorful takes on the challenge!

Amber Kroening

Tangii Crain

Dawn Mercedes

Katie Cotton

Lisa Kind

Lisa McKinney

Shaela Odd

Tina Hale

Have a wonderful weekend! I probably wont have another post up til sunday or monday! :D

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Beccabatgirl rocks my world! and IC154

Wow - i meant to post all of this yesterday and somehow i thought i did, but obviously i didnt! Woops!

First of all, i want to say that Becky Carafa or beccabatgirl on splitcoast ROCKS MY WORLD! We had been discussing a possible trade since she had a verve visual stamp set i really liked. I was having just a plain ROUGH day on monday. And i even commented that i needed some happy mail or something to brighten it up. Well, happy mail indeed! Becky mailed me the stamp set plus a super cute card, just for the heck of it! She wants nothing in return for it! So some fantastic karma needs to head her direction because she totally made my day, thats for sure. And it couldnt have come at a better time. So if you could do me a favor, visit her superb blog and leave her some love??

Ok - onto my card for the splitcoast inspiration challenge card for this week. This weeks challenge was to get some inspiration from the Felted Garden. I chose one of the throws as inspiration.

I used the embossing resist technique. I chose the lucid leaflet stamp from Unity's Gratitude=Joy set. I stamped in versamark on white daisy (ctmh) cardstock and then embossed with clear detail powder. I used the sponging technique i read the other day on Mel Stampz's blog. I'm getting into the idea of reinkers, so i'll need to be buying more! I used SU's soft sky and baja breeze. It's mostly soft sky, and then baja breeze mixed with soft sky for the outer edges and right around the leaves. I still think i have a lot ot learn when it comes to sponging techniques, but it's not stopping me from doing it. Eventually it wont take me forever to get 1 card done that way! My sentiment is from Unity's July Kit of the Month I chalked inked the edges of the cardstock with creamy brown cat's eye chalk ink and tied a satin brown ribbon for just something extra. It's all mounted on chocolate cardstock.

I actually did something to the inside of my card. I've decided i really like that and need to do it more often!

I used the same leaf that i did on the front onto i stamped it with soft sky ink. My sentiment is from the Simply Said
kit also by Unity.

This card will be put in my with Cause of the Month cards. Dont know about my cause of the month yet? Click on the button in my sidebar to learn about the organization.
If you want to donate some cards (they can be made previously) send any thank you cards plus envelopes to me and for each card you said, i will put you in my drawing. 1 lucky winner will get free shipping to Unity compliments of the wonderful angela!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

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