Kids Class

I've been a little under the weather this week. :(

I'm pretty sure its a stomach bug but I'm also sneezy and achy. I've been on the couch most of the week, too weak to eat much less create.

Enough about my germs :)

my son's school asked me to teach a cardmaking class for about 10 girls (5th-7th grades).

I've always been a technique kind of person so to switch my way of thinking and come up with designs for beginners has been a challenge especially since all but one girl are new to the stamping world. I eliminated heat embossing , piercing and other lengthy techniques and came up with these 3 cards last night:

(Stamps from SU)

(Stamps from Cat's Pajamas & MFT)

(Stamps from MFT)

All three of these cards consist of dye inks and lots & lots of cutting. I'll be putting together class kits of 3 for 10 girls so I guess I'll have a lot of preparing ahead of me too. :)

My Haven!

Wow, I just realized I have not posted anything since last Wednesday, shame on me!

I haven't had a chance to create any new cards since my last post so instead I thought I would show some pictures of my little corner of paradise. It's not very much (for now), its a small 12'x12' spare room and believe me when I say it's filled to the rim with every tool, marker, cardstock and electronic device you can imagine. Once the basement is finished I'll have more room with plenty of wall units and counter space so I can create my little heart out.

For now though, I'm content with what I have:

(My designing table with everything I need within reach)

(Wall Decor, once I get my new room I'll be able to put up shelves to show off my work) (My cutting station)

(I got these drafting credenza from Mark's old office. They were going to toss it out!)

(This baby holds many stamps, embellishments and cardstock collections)

(I love this piece of furniture from Bestscrapbookshelf)(My trusty printer and computer, I can NOT live without them)

(A better shot of my desk. Yes, those are more stamps hanging in 3 tiers!)I'm also a Smallville fan, can you tell? :)

Wedding Bells are ringing....

Here are some wedding cards I worked on last night to put up on my Etsy store.
Spring weddings are right around the corner and these beauties are sure to bring a smile to newly wed couple.

Sweet 16 Invitations (picture retake)

These are definitely a lot better! Natural sunlight is the best source of lighting for my cards.
As I had mentioned in my previous post I'm designing invitations for an extended relative, she chose her layout already but I was on full throttle putting together different layouts and colors using her information. I've got to admit the chocolate and blue invitation is my new favorite!

All of my designs can also be customized in any color for weddings or other special events. These cards used... you guessed it Stardream metallic cardstock! Inks from Tsukineko & SU, Bazzill Bling Cardstock, Bling from Mark Richards & Kaiser and stamps from Fancy Pants and SU

(Elegant)

(Shabby Chic)

(Simple & Clean)

(Delicate & Sweet! Perfect for a Sweet 16)

(Embossed text)

Sweet 16 Invitations

Recently a relative asked me if I would design some sweet 16 invitations for a friend of the family. Everyone agreed the colors would be pink and silver so I put together several samples using pink and silver, in the end they chose the card from my princess collection.

While I was putting together some designs I took the opportunity to make samples using other popular colors and took pictures so I can post them on my Etsy store. I do have to confess that the lighting in my house stinks so I will have to retake the shots again during the day. For now I'll give ya a sneak peek...

(This is another one I'll definitely have to retake in morning, even though I used my lightbox it just doesn't compliment the metallic qualities of the cardstock properly. Nothing like good 'ole fashion natural daylight to remedy this problem!)

(I love the card below, though I will have to retake the picture so it can capture the embossed text properly)

All of my designs can also be customized in any color for weddings or other special events. These cards used... you guessed it Stardream metallic cardstock! Inks from Tsukineko & SU, Bazzill Bling Cardstock, Bling from Mark Richards & Kaiser and stamps from Fancy Pants and SU

Coffee anyone?

My inspiration for these cards came last night as I enjoyed a hot cup of coffee trying to stay warm in this -30 degree temperature.

The main ingredients in all of these cards are the new Greengrocer's Brown Bag Cardstock available through CutCardstock.com. The sentiments were printed on my Epson printer and the stamps came from Inque Boutique & Impression Obsession, and Gel-A-Tins. I picked up the stamp that looks like a Starbuck coffee cup with the three little boxes some years ago at a going out of business craft store, unfortunately I can't make out the manufacturer :(

I couldn't find a background I liked for the card above so I designed one for myself using reasons "Why coffee is better than a man". LOL (amazing what you can find on the Internet!)

I printed them on GreenGrocer's text weight cardstock and VOILA instant custom pattern cardstock!

I'm currently waiting for an order to arrive from Card-scents, they've got these amazing specially formulated scents just for cardstock! HOW COOL IS THAT? I'll add a little to my cards and I'll truly have a "scent"-ational card for my friends.

Of course they've got just about every imaginable scent so I've ordered a few to test the waters. I can't wait!

After all this coffee talk I think its time for another coffee break.

Just in case you're wondering about the coffee cans pictured above, if you love strong coffee and I mean you LOVE and can handle STRONG coffee then I totally recommend Mehmet Efendi Turkish Coffee, I pick it up at a local store Istanbul Market and they do have online shopping! You can prepare it the American way using your coffee machine but if you want to truly indulge in the tradition you can prepare in a Cezve (Turkish coffeepot). Another favorite is New Orleans very own Cafe DuMonde Coffee, enjoy a cup with some of their Beignet mix and you'll feel as your in the French Quarters. :)

Now it's really time for COFFEE!

A little "ME" time to create and play!

After the crew left yesterday I found myself with some free time (the first time in weeks). My hands had been itching for messy designing so I busted out the shaving cream, ink bottles, alcohol inks and paints for some marbling fun!

A Marbling technique was used on for the background using Galactic Blue Pearlescent liquid acrylic paints and shaving cream. Snow Garden (Kodomo) was stamped in Onyx Black (Versafine) on Quartz (Stardream Cardstock) **note Versafine is an instant dry pigment ink however it does not dry instantly on stardream cardstock due to the special coating added to the cardstock, this buys you some time to throw some clear embossing powder and get superfine detailed embossing.** I colored the image with copic markers and accented with White Flocking powder, Nirvana and White Satin Glitter (Art Glitter Institute), sentiment from Happy Harmony set (SU), images were matted on Black Tie and Blue Eyes (Bazzill Bling)


This is also a marbling technique using reinkers, the colors are bolder than the liquid acrylic inks, Quartz (Stardream Cardstock) was also used. I used So Saffron (SU), Chrome Yellow (Nick Bantock Ranger Collection) and Almond (source unknown). Cherry Branch was stamped with Onyx Black (Versafine) and embossed, image was then colored with Copic Markers. Sentiment from Words of Wisdom (Kodomo) stamped with Versafine and embossed. Images were mounted on Onyx (Stardream Cardstock)

I used my favorite technique for this card, Alcohol inks . I colored the image with copic markers and used the copic colorless marker to blend the colors from the background into the flower colors. I used the same sentiment as the card above and matted them on black textured cardstock.

Let the Demolition Begin!!

After a week of feeling as we were sleeping outside the sanitation crew finished demolishing the walls and thoroughly cleaned and disinfected all the concrete walls and floors. Even better they finished removing all the turbo fans yesterday morning. YEAH! Today the plumbers arrived and they've begun the jack hammering the floor to get to the sewer line.

After the first 15 minutes I decided if I was going to endure the noise the entire day I needed to retreat to my room plug in my headphones and raise the volume as loud as it goes! Unfortunately, the jack hammering still sounds as if it were being done right next to me. LOL

I'm also envisioning what my future studio will look like hoping this will make the time go by faster.

Here's a picture of our plumber friend working away.

All that noise and there's barely a dent in the floor!

This is part of our BIG problem, this portion of the sewer was shattered and waste's scattered around. YUCK-O!

Hmmm!

I'm scared to know how much this is going to run us!!

Time to start selling more cards, by helping hubby I'll help myself so I can get my new studio sooner!!

More Snow!!!

Yes, more snow hit Chicago yesterday and most of today.

The kids had fun outside until Ian fell and got snow inside his gloves then it wasn't fun for him anymore and he wanted to go in and drink hot cocoa.

(Ian before he fell)

(My snow bunny)
(Say cheese.....)

(They wanted to help Daddy shovel the snow)

(Smile now, in a few years daddy will be watching both of you shoveling the snow from inside the house) (That's A LOT of snow!)(It had been snow plowed earlier in the day)

How much longer do we have to endure the bitterness of the winter season???

I'm ready for warmth, sunshine, flowers, gardening, BBQ's and lazy days in the pool!

CutCardStock Designs pt. 2

Here are two more cards designed using Cut Cardstock products.

Other than using metallic cardstock I love working with Asian stamps, papers, etc...

This card features Swimming Carps (Kodomo Inc.) stamped with Ancient Page ink (clearsnap) onto Quartz Stardream Cardstock, a watercolor technique was used using Marvy markers and accented with Nirvana Glitter (Art Institue Glitter), image was further accented by carefully popping up parts of the Carps with 3D tape, final image was then layered onto silver reflective cardstock and matted onto Bluesteel Curious Metallic Cardstock.




This card was created for a special friend, the sentiment was computer generated and printed onto Crystal Stardream Cardstock, image was stamped with Ancient Page ink onto watercolor paper, a watercolor technique was applied using Marvy markers and accented with sugarcoated bubblegum glitter (doodlebug), image was stamped and colored twice. The first image was cut and adhered to the sentiment using my trusty Xyron. I then cut out two flowers and a leaf from the second image and placed over first image with popup tape. Completed card was layered onto Rose Quartz Stardream Cardstock and matted onto a precut and scored A2 Coral Stardream Cardstock

CutCardstock Designing

As you may have had previously read, I was honored when my card was chosen in a contest CutCardstock.com was having at the beginning of the month. Part of my prize included a package filled with goodies from CutCardstock but my real prize was getting the opportunity to design for them during the month of January. Here are two of my designs thus far:

For those of you familiar with my work you know I love anything metallic! I love the elegance it brings to invitations and cards, that's why I choose to create an invitation.

CutCardstock has these Gatefold Invitations in various colors. They carry them in 3 sizes, the one I used is a 5"x7" in Ruby. The insert is Silver Stardream and the gold is a reflective cardstock I picked up at a local store. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it online. The stamp used came from Bella Brush made by Fancy Pants, ink Pale Plum came from SU and the text was computer generated on my handy dandy Epson.

This design is perfect for weddings because the band holds everything together just tuck in the RSVP and envelope inside and mail away.

I'll be posting other cards I designed next week :)