Still MORE new stamps releasing in September

Apparently ALL my favourite stamp companies decided to gang up on my pocketbook in September. I just read ANOTHER post about some new stamps....from the DOODLEFACTORY!!!!

If you check out this post from their blog you will find out how you can win the new release!

There's also a chance to win by participating in a sketch challenge they are sponsoring. All the details are in the above noted post....

Best of luck to everyone!

Why Lee Valley Workshop Pads are so handy

So if you have seen my blog candy post , then you know that one of the things I have included is a workshop pad from Lee Valley.

Here is a scan of my scribblings for the card you will see shortly to demonstrate why I love these pads.



I scribble the purpose of the card across the top and then proceed to fill it up with all the pertinent details - the source of the sketch, the stamps, the papers, the inks, the PrismaColor pencils and anything else relevant.

The sketch of the card, scribblings regarding the paper measurements and which paper is which in the sketch.

And this is the card that I actually made!


Details (in case you can't read my scrawl)

Finished size: 5x5 inches
Sketch: Card Patterns #28
Stamps: StarvingArtistamps Doodlefactory Zot and sentiment
Papers: Basic Grey Offbeat - Casual and Radical, CTMH New England Ivy Cardstock
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black
PrismaColor Pencils: 1005, 911, 941, 923
Embellishments: CTMH Cranberry Grosgrain Ribbon


By the way, have you commented for a chance to win my blog candy?

New Doodlefactory Release!

Gak! I just popped onto the laptop while dinner is simmering away (mmmm....beef curry - I do make a MEAN beef curry by the way) and saw a post over on the Starving Artistamps blog about the latest Doodlefactory Release!

I LOVE IT !!!! Here's a peek......



Oh they are too cute! Love the Dinosaurs.....Love the trees...there goes my resolve not to be buying new stamps when I have uninked ones sitting in my craft room!

So, go check out the post! You could win some candy - in the form of the new stamp sets!

Hope you are having a lovely weekend -- must go check on my curry!
.s.

Did somebody say "Luau"?

First of all, if you are my friend, Dorothy - back away from this post! You can come back AFTER your birthday party. I'm serious! I'll know if you are pretending to be surprised when you get this card! I will!


Okay, now that the house-keeping is done (Dorothy if that's you....I really meant it!) on with the details for this card. Ah yes -- the Divine Details if you will. Verve Stamps Project Parade day 1 poses the question: How do you come up with your design?

Well, for me it is always a combination of things

• first: the occasion. For this card, it is all about the birthday party theme.
• second: the papers. I got my July PaperCard Kit from PaperWorksCo on Monday and I thought the Banana Float and Katawba flip papers would be perfect for a Hawaiian themed card.
• third: the stamps. I happen to have picked up the Doodlefactory Tropics stamps from StarvingArtistamps a while back and turns out they were perfect for this card!
• finally: the sketch. Sometimes it is one of my own and sometimes it is a sketch from one of the many blogs I follow. This time it is from The Next Level . And it has a twist - the image is to be 3D (decoupaged).

So, what did Miss Long-Winded come up with this time? Well.....here it is....



Busy, huh? A couple of things of note about the stamped images:

• the little hula guy has his head and skirt popped up on dimensionals. And I curled up the bottom edges of the top layer of his grass skirt.
  
• for the palm trees if you are familiar with the stamp set you know that the two trees don't face in the same direction. The larger of the two trees faces in the opposite direction from the one shown here! How did I do that? Simple enough - ink up the stamp, roll over it with a brayer and then roll the brayer onto card stock. Proceed as usual to colour. Note that the image DOES turn out lighter than if you had stamped it directly so you may need to use a darker ink or tweak the outline before/after colouring.
  

The specifics of the card are below for those who might be interested:

card dimensions: 5 x 5 inches

Paper: PaperworksCo July PaperCard Kit
Banana Frost(edit:yeah I had this wrong, fixed now): 4.75 x 4.75 inches
Katawba Flip: 3 x 3 inches cut with 3rd largest of the small circle nestabilities
Yellow Bazzill cardstock: 3.5 x 3.5 inches cut with the 2nd largest of the large reverse scallop circle nestabilities, 1.5 x 2.25 inches cut with Cuttlebug Oval Slider Die Cut
Green Bling Bazzill cardstock (I used the non-bling side): 3.5 x 3.5 inches cut with the 2nd largest of the large reverse scallop circle nestabilities
White cardstock for image panel

embellishments: ribbon and brads from PaperworksCo July PaperCard Kit

Inks:
CTMH: Black, Chocolate, Citrus Leaf
PrismaColor Pencils: 941, 940, 930, 929, 912, 911, 913

Stamps:
StarvingArtistamps: Doodlefactory Tropics
CTMH: alphabet (not sure which one as the envelope doesn't say - I think it was a promo only)


Thanks for stopping by today - and big applause to you if you made it all the way to the end of this post! I appreciate that you took the time to visit!

Happy Birthday from Rupert

So after taking it exceptionally easy yesterday -- I think I was feeling a little under the weather due to a mild allergic reaction and had a TWO HOUR NAP in the middle of the afternoon, I got myself organized in terms of things I needed to do and this little card is the first of those tasks.



Isn't Rupert (from the Doodlefactory Line by StarvingArtistamps) cute? Those of you familiar with Rupert know that he is actually carrying a flower on the stamp but I switched that out for a nummy cupcake to make this into a birthday card for a friend of ours. Rupert is coloured with Prismacolor Pencils blended with Taltine. Dimensionals have been used to pop him up. The image panels were cut with a mix of small and large circle nestabilities.

This card actually works for a couple of card challenges this week. I am using this sketch from the Secret Craft Saturday Challenge. I decided that with the patterned paper I used for the background that I should keep the rectangular panel plain - I simply embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder that mimics the paper.

And since this is a BIRTHDAY card, it is also great for the Whimsy Stamps Challenge this week to make something for a birthday!

And here are the particulars for this card:

finished size: 6 x 6 inches
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey - Archaic (Relic) 5.75 x 5.75 inches
Card Stock: Bazzil Basics Mud Pie: 6 x 12 inches (card base), 2 x 5 inches, various mats
Bazzil Basics Safari: 1.75 x 4.75 inches, various mats
White: image panel and stamped image bases
Prismacolor Pencil Colours: 940, 946, 925, 941, 909, 1005
CTMH inks: Black, Chocolate, New England Ivy
Stamps: StarvingArtistamps: DoodleFactory - Rupert
CTMH: Annotations (D1307)
embellishments: dew drops, ribbon

Verve Stamps Release Week

Verve Stamps is releasing their next lineup of stamps this week - Friday to be exact. You can see the challenges issued at this post on their blog. I was a little busy this week (the garden calls) and only found time to do one of the awesome sketches in time for the deadline. I have a bunch of cards to make this weekend though and you can bet that the rest of the sketches WILL be used on those cards.

This is my take on the VSJUN02 Sketch.


I think this one appealed to me as the one I HAD to make because it reminds me of quilt blocks (which reminds me must work on my brother's quilt on my days off next week). PLUS....the big panel in the middle was just perfecto for this little guy from the Doodlefactory line of stamps from StarvingArtistamps (did you know they are having a blog hop on July 8th...new release!!!!!!). The cupcake (it is NOT a muffin my dearly beloved - it has FROSTING!!) is also a doodlefactory image.

I'm still playing with my Prismacolor Pencils so both images were coloured with them. I still haven't perfected "the Jenn" and don't think I ever will. I decided his little crown needed some sparkle and lucky me, I had stopped earlier this week at Michael's and picked up some little gems that were on clearance!

Anywhoooooos......ta ta for ta-night! Friday night looks like it will be a stamping night at Chrissy's while our dearly beloveds head out for an evening of D&D (this card is actually going to one of the other D&D players). I'll be thinking of the cards I need to make this weekend and probably do a few images for those - end of school year cards for my three nieces and nephew in Newfoundland, birthday cards for my dearly beloved's SIL and a friend of ours, an anniversary card for my cousin and his wife. And those are just the cards I need to have finished THIS weekend!

Happy Birthday to my Uncle

My Mom's older brother has a birthday next week so I made a card tonight to send to him. After dearly beloved MOCKED my last Carl the Cupcake card --- I won't REPEAT what he said, I decided to use a different cupcake. This one is from the Doodlefactory. Jenn, the enabler, is responsible for this as I HAD to get this set after seeing some of the cute cards she has made with hers.


Dearly Beloved's comment on seeing this one is somewhat more repeatable this time ---"ooh...psychedelic cupcake -- or is it a mushroom?"....MEN!!!

Notice the background on this card? Same as the father's day card I made for my brother. Just did a little something different with the image.

details:
card measures 5 x 5
panels: cut with nestabilities dies
stamped image: doodlefactory

Happy Father's Day - To my brother

With Father's day a week away, I am just starting to make my cards. I am the queen of procrastination - and express post!

For this card for my kid brother, I used this sketch from Sketch Saturday.



And this is the inside of the card.


details:
card measures 5x5
outside sentiment: Verve Stamps
inside sentiment: CTMH
stamped image: Doodlefactory
Papers: unknown brown pattern + Bazzil + Basic Grey

Happy Birthday - Doodlefactory style

This card is for a co-worker who celebrates his birthday today. Tomorrow he gets this card:



along with some cupcakes and home-made peanut butter cups. Actually, a whole bunch of peanut cups were made - 6 dozen in fact. Mostly to be taken to his Mom in Nova Scotia (she's a fan of my pb cups). I made so much filling I actually have a whole cake decorating bag full left-over. My dearly beloved made a suggestion for a square I could make so.....I'll be in the kitchen again tomorrow night!

This card is for a few challenges on the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's site. The sketch is from the Little Paper Shop challenge. I decided to play it up a bit and make this a clear card for another of the challenges. I also attached the rectangular panels by sewing them on (for another of the challenges to included stitching on your card). And finally, I attached three buttons for an element of the sketch for another of the challenges.

My little guy is another Doodlefactory image. The cake and sentiment are from Stamps and Smiles. Links to both sources are on the left side of the blog.

It's Your Special Day

Last Sunday, I spent the morning and most of the afternoon at Jenn's with Tanya , stamping up a storm. We're all fans of the Doodlefactory and each have a different assortment so, we got together so we could each stamp up a bunch of images from each other's collections. Of course, this just adds fuel to the flames for having to get the images we DON'T have in our collection.

So, Jenn was a doll and I tried out her Prismas for colouring up this little guy from HER collection.



I still have a LONG ways to go before my talent begins to even approach her skill, but I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Prismas so I can start practising.

The sketch I used for this card is CPS117 from Card Positioning Systems.

The papers are from a digital paper pack offered as a freebie download on Stampin Out Alzheimer's . The download was offered by Libby Wiefenbach . Aren't they they cutest?

The sentiment is from the Today's Date CTMH stamp set.

Time for a card

or two....

This card is a CASE of Jenn's card.... . But much less detailed.



Paper, heart image and sentiment are all CTMH. Ribbon is from Michael's ... awesome sale this week 4/$1. This card was for my dear friend and her husband who celebrated their 15th anniversary just last week. The green panel is cut with my nestabilities.

And finally I got to use one of my new Doodlefactory stamps (no they have not yet all been EZ-mounted...just Beezely). Guess what kind of card this is? Yup....a bee-lated birthday. Isn't that terrible? You would think I would have just raided my stash of cards but no, had to make this instead.


The flower is made with my peony nestabilities - layers of mulberry paper. Toss on a few dewdrops I got from PaperworksCo, some Stickles (also from PaperworksCo) on the wings....and some hand-doodled bee tracks and away we go. This belated birthday card was posted just today to a cousin of mine in Newfoundland who celebrated her birthday a couple of days ago.

Ta da......two cards!