Copic Creations Challenge with Belles and Whistles

Well I'm fading fast as I type! So i will type fast!

If you are looking for my My Time Made Easy post, please scroll down!

The 1st means a new challenge from the Copic Creations Challenge team. This time we want you to use SATURATED colors. Check out the Copic Creations Blog for all the details!

Our sponsor this round is Belles and Whistles stamps. I thought this cutie was just SO sweet and she was definitely fun to color!

Copic Markers used...

R30, R32, R35, R39

BG15, BG18, BG10

YR12, YR18

Y21, YR23, E25

E00, E21

YG63, YG67

Be sure to check out the blog and all the other design team members to see their awesome creations!!!!

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Paper Makeup Stamps sneak peek!

OMG, ok I should totally be in bed, but i'm typing up my post for tomorrow!

I will keep it short and to the point!

Paper Makeup Stamps is having a much anticipated release on September 7th!

Today we start our sneak peeks and we are debuting a new line a-dorable images!

They are called the Color Kids and man, i love to color them! So stinkin' cah-ute! I can say that because I didnt draw them. hehe. Diem, our fabulous illustrator of the fairies and critters is also the illustrator for this new line. :D

Here is my card using Color Kid: Star Student

Here is a close up of the image itself...

There are 2 more color kids that are being released! But you'll have to head over to the PMS blog to check them out. hehe.

Now i'm off to bed, i have to be up in 6 hours for a 12 hour work day! Yipes!!! Which me luck!

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My Time Made Easy Monograms Made Easy!!!!

Today is the release day for My Time Made Easy!

Today each design team member has a special personalized gift for you using some of the new release stuff plus an older template!

I chose to use the template Slip Cover along with the new Monogram Defined stamp set!

Now let me tell you a little story of why i chose to create this gift. My grammie (named Velma, hence the V) is th best card sender IN THE WORLD! Seriously! She never forgets a holiday! Everyone gets a card, me, each child, etc for every holiday. All of her children and grandchildren and GREAT grandchildren love their cards from Grammie. But most importantly... there is always a "grammie note". She writes a little letter, usually on a little piece of notepad paper. The note will tell about the weather that day, and who she might have had lunch with (she lives in a very small town in Nebraska). Really on the whole, the grammie notes have no information that is important. Sometimes I get to learn about the basketball game one of my younger cousins played, etc. But i LOOOOOVE my grammie notes! Since my grammie's birthday is in february, I thought this would make a great gift for her!

Unfortunately for me... i didnt realize i cut off the "from the desk of" at the bottom of the notecard! And that was a lot of stamping! The From the Desk Of is also in the Monograms Defined set!

Here's a close up of the V. Isnt the font gorgeous! The dotted circle around the V is from the Just Because stamp set.

Ok, i've rambled on long enough and I'm pretty sure my post is actually a few minutes late now! SO... go check out these fine ladies!!!!!

Kristin Bueter

Catherine Doucette

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Katie Cotton

Lisa Kind

Monique Hansen

Pam Imholz

Tangii Crain

and our Guest Designer Naomi

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PMS sneak peek - new moody!

Ok.. i dont know what happened to my week, but suddenly i feel like i'm scrambling to keep up.

Ahh, the joys of getting back into the swing of things after the holidays. Thank Goodness my boys at least have a couple hours of preschool here and there this week!

Still - i'm going to keep this point short and to the point!

In case you missed it, Paper Makeup Stamps is having sneak peeks all week of the stamps to be released this friday, January 7th at 9pm EST. Check out the PMS blog to see OOODLES of samples from the Paper Makeup Artists!

Today we are showing off 2 new additions to the Moody collection by Cynthia Liu!

Here is Moody for France!

Not the best picture in the world since i took it with my phone, but thats how my day as been! SO the colors are a little off, but i still think you can see my card pretty well.

I colored her using Copic Markers (YG93, YG95, YG97, BG10, BG34, E00, E21, R20, E25, E27, E49, E30... um, i think thats it. NO<>

Paper is from My Mind's Eye, quite contrary collection.

And now as much as i feel the need to finish emails... it's almost 1 am! ACK! I need to go to bed! Lots to do tomorrow!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

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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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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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PMS peeks, Christmas Cheer!

It's another day of sneak peeks from Paper Makeup Stamps!

Today we are showing off a new illustrated christmas set called Christmas Cheer.

This set is SUPER fun! At least i think it is! There are 5 images, all large enough to work with on a scrapbook layout, but still small enough to use on cards. These ornaments are my favorite!!!

I kept my card simply ( i had a date night tonight with my hubby! woot woot! but less time to work on a card!) The great thing about this image is that since the word joy is in the ornament, i felt like it could go sentiment-less.

I colored the image using copic markers (R22, R24, R27, R29, R59; YG63, YG67, YG11, YG91, E42, E41). The paper is from the i believe collection from My Minds Eye.

I used Labels 9 from spellbinders to cut out the image and then used my copic airbrush and w1 marker. A white gel pen completed the look for me.

Be sure to check out the PMS company blog for more images from this fantabulous set and enter yourself to win it!

Have a great day!

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A scrapbook page with My Mind's Eye

This post is going to be a quickie, but this is a scrapbook layout I did a bit back. Remember the My Mind's Eye scrapbook page i did of gabe at the zoo? Well this is the matching page. :D

I used different papers from the Alphabet Soup collection from MME, but of course since it's the same collection, it all matches pretty well. :D

Quick story on whats going on in the photos... at the Indianapolis Zoo there is a cheetah exhibit. To raise money to help the almost endangered cheetah species, you can pay .50¢ to "race a cheetah". Now of course the cheetahs dont actually line up. Haha. You do run past their exhibit, but you are racing a light that is the speed of a cheetah running. Yeah, i think Jack made it about 2 feet before being outrun. hahah. But he had fun and Bopi (my dad) got a great camera shot of him in action!

I used elements from the "pop out" elements page. The scallop border, picture frame and arrows all came from this sheet. I used the sheet on a card and another scrapbook page too and i STILL have left overs.

So whats what i have to share with ya today! Have a great one!!!

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Paper Makeup Stamps Release in Review and my BLOOOOOG CAAAANDY

ETA: Blog Candy Winner Annouced Below!

Hey everyone! I know i promised my blog candy days ago! Shame on me! But this is my release burnout time, so i'm sorry about that! haha!

Today is a Release in Review day for PMS so I thought i'd share the card i made for one of the Release party Challenges (a sketch! - link up your card to this post!) There are prizes involved!

Here is my card!

I used Chatty Cathy and some super fun paper by My Mind's Eye that i snagged from my LSS the moment i saw it because i knew that miss Chatty Cathy was coming! It's perfect, is it not?

this post gives you the details about the release party challenges, the prizes and samples! You dont want to miss out on the fun.

I changed the square to a circle and cut Chatty Cathy out with a nestie before airbrushing some bright orange for an extra pop of color.

Ok ok ok, i know you are excited about this blog candy! Well, i've been gathering it all together and need to get a good picture of it all. Still, i suppose better get it posted already! For those who missed why i'm having a blog candy, i recently went over 100,000 hits on my blog! So i'm pretty excited and have been gathering "favorites" to put together in 1 big blog candy!

Here's some of my favs i've collected for you!

Paper Makeup Stamps! You know I'd have some PMS didnt you?!

Ok, so many of my followers have some paper makeup stamps in their collection, so i'm putting up a $50 gift certificate towards any stamps of your choice!

PLUS - The Will to Daydream Card Kit

Copics - My most everyday used colors... E00, E21, E25, Y21, YR23

Spellbinders BRAND NEW RELEASE of the Eyelet Square Die Set

(quite hard to find mind you!)

Rosary Bracelet from Arelia's Pretties in pink and grey! Made just for one of my readers and donated by Rachel. It is just GORGEOUS!

$5 gift certificate from My Time Made Easy so you can get yourself a fun new template to play with!

And now some other new stamp sets from some fav companies....

Boom Goes my Heart from Unity Stamp Company

Inspiration from Close to My Heart

Wishing you the Best From Verve Stamps

A Slew of embellies from PizazzaPlenty

A clear stamp set - super cute... wish i knew who made it. hahahaha

And i'll likely add more... but right now we're just under 200 work of goodies!!!

You know you wanna win this! Well... my blog is propelled by my followers! So leave a comment here telling me how YOU follow my blog. If you are already a "follower" then great. In you google reader? Subscriber? Blog Roll? I'm just very interested to find out how you guys like to see what i do! If you want to repost this candy on your blog... maybe help me find a new crafter who might like my blog, thats great! But not required. :D

You have until September 30th to enter!!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!!

AND NOW!!!!

The winner of the blog candy chosen by Random.Org is....

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Paper Makeup Stamps Blog Hop!

It's here! It's finally here! The Paper Makeup Stamps blog hop!

If you've been going along the hop you should have come here from the always ingenius Randee's blog! If not... well then you need to start at the beginning. There is a LOT of information on the company blog that you just don't want to miss about this release!

And now I have some info of my own about my project... and I know you're along for the ride of a long hop, so i'll cut the chit chat and get right down to it!

Here is my project for you...

It is painfully on my mind that my baby is going to turn 2 in a week! TWO! Thats a full blown toddler and not a baby. I'm actually having a very very hard time with it and my hubby seems to think it's both funny and that i'm mad at the same time!

This card and little giftie i made for him. Ok, so it's true that a 2 year old cant really appreciate a card made for them, but I handwrite a long note inside the birthday cards of the boys and then tuck them away for them to have when they are older. Granted again, they are BOYS so maybe they will never really care. haha.

But for a 2 year old boy.. Gabe does love his clothes. Actually, he loves running around naked too. Haha. but when you pull out a new shirt for him he squeals in delight "MY SHHHHHHHHHHIRT!" and clamours to put it on. So even though he wont really get that i hand stamped it, he will get that its new and it's a duck and there are bubbles which is all i can ask for! :D

So yes, this shirt is hand stamped using Bubbles the Duck and colored with copics. I've been planning to do something like this, for, oh, months now! And i'm finally getting around to it!

I stamped the image with memento ink and then heat set it. Then i colors it with copics and heat set it once again. And that is that!

So here's the matching card. Of course again, i used Bubbles the Duck on my card.

I also used a sentiment from the Little Moments sentiment set. This set was previewed yesterday, but i didnt have a card to show. but today i do! haha! I adore this sentiment from the set. I think it's my favorite! Maybe it's because i'm terribly nostalgic right now with the thought of my baby turning 2. Did i tell you my baby is turning 2 in a week! ACK!

It truly is the little moments we have to enjoy the most before they are gone. I've been trying to take the extra time to do trips to the park, zoo, playdough in the kitchen, etc lately because i just feel like all too often I get wrapped up in how busy things get, and i miss the little moments. The ones we are supposed to enjoy the most!

Here is a more closeup view of the image and sentiment. Bubbles again was colored with copic markers. Y32, Y35, Y38 for his yellow feathers and then Y32 and Y0000 for his belly. Because the yellow tones can get so bright and not so much "shadowy" i used a bit of w3 and blended that with my deep yellow colors to make sure he still looks shadowed.

Okily Dokily! Thats what i have for you and it's time now for you to hop along to the next stop on your route! Please give a warm hello to our guest designer for the whole month, Alex Lundgren. Alex has been a lovely fan and supporter of PMS and i'm so happy that she is joining us for the month!

Ok... one last thing for you! My LETTER! My letter for you is the letter I!

Check back in to my blog tomorrow... i'm going to post my BLOG CANDY for reaching 100,000 hits!

Have an awesome day! I hope to see you tonight at the PMS release party! 9PM EST, be there or be square!

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Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge M4TW40

WOOT WOOT! I have a card done for the Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge.... on the day it's issued! Man that feels good! I hate that i dont participate as much as some of my team does! Bad Mama! hahahaha! Anyhoo - for this week's challenge, Danni Bindel has challenged us to create a birthday card! Thats easy enough right?! Well i thought so!

So here was my thought process... doesnt it seem like birthday cards are the ones that sneak up on you? You think to tell your kids (because you dont dare tell them days early or you get asked every day if it's time for the party... or at least thats my house!) So you tell your kids... we have a birthday party to go to today! Then it dawns on you... oh CRAP! we have a birthday party to go to today! Ok, again, thats what happens in my house! hahahahha!

Well... given the right products, birthday cards dont HAVE to take an hour to make. Especially when about 15 minutes is all you have! This one actually took me LESS than 10!

So granted the only stamping I did on the card was my sentiment. The rest all came from the paper scraps of the layout i did the other day from THIS post. The paper is from My Mind's Eye Alphabet Soup. I am still LOVING this paper! I mentioned this in my post the other day, but it is double sided THICK paper! And i dont mean thick like too heavy for a card. But it's sturdy.... PERFECT for a card OR a layout. The additional elements are from the die cut sheet. Remember i told ya i'd show you some other ways to use them up! ;)

I did ink the edges of the elephant die cut a bit just because i wanted it to have the worn look I had given the papers by using Antique Linen distress ink. I used foam adhesive under the elephant and the buttons (i tied the twine thru the buttons prior to using the foam adhesive)

The sentiment is from the Cutie Critter Sayings sentiment set.

I cut the sentiment with the smallest die from the Spellbinders Labels Trio set and then layered it on top of another piece cut from one of the larger dies.

Now you know you wanna get in on this challenge! Check it out on the company blog! We will be drawing 1 lucky card for a free stamp! You dont have to have any PMS stamps to play, but you do need to use a PMS stamp or digi to win.

So check it out and have a FABULOUS weekend! Be sure to check back in tomorrow... i'll have my first peek of the My Time Made Easy release for you to see!!!!

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Stop the presses.... i scrapbooked!

Thats right, you read the title correctly, i actually scrapbooked! It doesnt happen often, not NEARLY as often as it should! I'm going to try to work on that! And since i've been added to the Design Team for Scrapnesia, one of my requirements will be to do some layouts for the store! YIPES! THE PRESSURE! I hope i can fulfill my obligations to fullest potential!

Well... my first assignment was to use this new paper collection called Alphabet Soup by My Mind's Eye. I had my own eye on this collection when i saw it at CHA. So i was ecstatic to be assigned it! The papers are BEYOND adorable! So much that i worked on a few layouts! And i'll be using it up on some cards too because it's just SO cute! You'll be seeing a lot of this paper line from me, so i hope you dont get tired of it! ;)

Here's my first layout!

These pictures are from when the boys and I went to the Indianapolis Zoo with my parents this summer. The boys LOVE going to the zoo and the Indy zoo is FAR more spectacular than our zoo (our zoo is adorable, and we can get thru it in about 45 minutes... it's a great treat/reward for the kids... the indy zoo takes all day and you STILL dont see everything! But thats why it's so cool!) Anyhoo - this is gabe at the giraffe exhibit. Be still my mother's heart, giraffe's are her favorite! And apparently gabe's too! He REALLY wanted to get closer as you can see!

I knew i wanted to scrap these pictures, and when i saw the extras in the Alphabet soup collection that had giraffe's i was so excited! All the papers are double sided which of course gives you lots of options. I did happen to use 4 different sheets for this layout. The giraffe cut out and word bubble are from the die cut sheet which i just loved! I dont always like die cut sheets... this one is really great! With lots of stuff you can do with it! You wont be stuck with a bunch of left overs... so it's well worth it! I'll show you other uses for this sheet later!

The giraffe playing card is from the card deck. The deck retails 4.99 BUT there are 2 of every card and there is a card for every letter of the alphabet! So i will cut the deck in half and have 1 half of the deck for crafting and the other half of the deck will be some fun playing flash cards for Gabe. You could also use the cards to play memory! I may just do that with the leftovers (be sure to remove the matching card that you used on a layout or craft project! hahahaha!)

Ok, so thats my SCRAPBOOK LAYOUT! I'm still proud i scrapbooked! And without coloring or stamping! ACK! ;)

On one more note... i am soooooooo close to 100,000 hits! It's exciting for me! I'm going to have a nice BIG blog candy when i get there! So stay tuned!!!!!!

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A PMS card for fun!

Ok, so normally PMS and FUN don't go together! But when you're talking about Paper Makeup Stamps, it's definitely fun!

Last week I taught a copics class at Scrapnesia and we focused on coloring blonde hair. This image is one of the ones that we colored in my class.

This one in particular using my favorite blonde hair combo... Y21, YR23, E99.

The stamp image is Moody for Dreams. I also stamped the background on the blue cardstock with stamps from the Swirlie Buds set.

After I got home from the class I decided to turn her into a card... and i decided she needed to be blinged up a bit! You can catch traces of the stardust gel pen i used in her hair in the above photo. But I also used lots of spica pen in various colors throughout that are a little harder to capture on film. I also stamped the leaves from Swirlie Buds on the blue cardstock in versamark dazzle ink and it gives just a little but of sparkle. I havent used the dazzle ink much... but this time i also used it to sponge the edges of the white cardstock and fell in love! Again, next to impossible to capture that kind of subtle sparkle on camera (well, at least on MY camera! haha!) but in does look rather special in real life!

This sentiment is also an oldie but goodie from Paper Makeup Stamps. You can find it HERE.

I used Liquid Pearls (falling in love with those!) all around the cardstock border... but didnt have the color i wanted for the orange patterned paper so i decided to use distress stickles. I was NOT pleased with the outcome and even less pleased when i knocked my card over before they were dry! *sigh* oh well. I guess i just need to buy every color of liquid pearls!

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Hello World...

An ironic subject title.

Today I will be heading to North Carolina to go to my grandma's funeral.

She lived a good life, to 95 years old. Somehow it doesnt make it much less sad. So i'll be away from the blog world for a few days, but then i'll be back, and then i'll be gone to CHA! Thats my silver lining right now.

However, this is a card that I've had done for quite some time... and i just keep forgetting to post it! Silly me. The card was done in my copic class last month!

The stamps (both image and sentiment) are from an Inkadinkado set called Welcome Baby.

I truly adore this set. The baby images are just precious! There is also a turtle, puppy and bear as well as some other sentiments.

In the copic class, we were working on blending some tricky colors. I love these Blue Greens, but getting these tones to not look too bright and still give you some depth can be tricky. I started with BG10 and BG11. I added BG23 (the rest of the BG1_ family is too bright for shadows in my opinion) and BG72, BG75. The red patches are R24 and R27.

The paper is all from the My Mind's Eye Love me Love me Do pack. I totally heart my mind's eye!

So thats my card for you today. I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend. Cherish your time with your loved ones!!!

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And finally my card!

Man, i really do need some retail therapy! Maybe of a new computer!

I got the computer issue sorted out WE THINK! I finally figured out i could turn my computer on if it was sideways (dont ask how i figured that out!) But that established it wasnt a software problem, it was an inner workings of the computer problem. And since we just installed a new hard drive (as my other one died last week as you might remember), that was the first place i looked. Sure enough, if i turned the computer upside down, you could see the harddrive move. Like it wasnt fitting snug as it probably was supposed to. Being the crafty person i am, i made a little cardstock shim like I would if my dies werent quite tight enough in my cuddlebug. And as of right now, it's working! Let's hope it stays that way!

Ok, so today is the 4th of July! Happy Independence day to all my American readers!

We plan on spending some fun time grilling out, but first i do finally get to share a card with you!

Here is my card showing off the soon to be released Retail Therapy set, designed by Shaela Odd for Paper Makeup Stamps. This set is so fun. I'm a big fan of nice large images so i can color (or paperpiece) so i tried to keep many of the images a good size. Big enough even to go on a scrapbook page, but not so large they they really wouldnt work well on a cardfront. If i do say so myself, i think i did a great job on sizing! haha!

Here's my card using the adorable purse image!

I was so excited when i found this paper at my Local Scrapbook Store, Scrapnesia. They carry all the My Mind's Eye papers and lately i have been LOVING My Mind's Eye! This paper (from the Abbey Road collection) was beyond perfect for this card! The entire sheet was just smaller than 12x12 with a very fun decorative edge. I trimmed off the edge and use it on my card (similar to what i did the other day with the sassafrass lass paper!) This may be my new favorite way to maximize some paper!

I added a pearl by kaisercraft to the closure of the purse and used Liquid Pearls to make the handle of the purse a little more 3D and lush.

For my sentiment strip I added some rather large pearls by martha stewart. Very fun and eye catching!

Whew - so thats my card for you. Better late than never i suppose! Dont forget (if you havent already) check out the PMS blog for more sneakie peekies! And have a fantastic day!

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