Sweet Anya Birthday

Here's another Saturday Sketch card! So sad, my motivation for cardmaking is usually needing one pronto for an upcoming birthday. I used Sweet Anya that I recently got from the sale at Die Cuts R Us. Again, followed the sketch pretty closely, except for the ribbon. I had already stuck the papers down when I realized hmmm, now I can't fold any ribbon over the corners. So I used some Quickutz photo turn die cuts with some little gems as the anchors. Hopefully they don't fall off in the mail.

The patterned paper and buttons are from the Basic Grey Two Scoops collection. I got the matching Bazzill cardstock from Embellish It. I colored with prismacolor pencils again, the usual for the skin and brown hair, Muted Turquoise for the pants, Jasmine for the shirt, Pink Rose for the ruffly tank, and Raspberry for the trim.

Good night!

More Prismacolor Hair

Can you believe it?! I actually colored another one! This is an Amelia I bought a while ago, again from that sale at Die Cuts R Us where I stocked up on TGF stamps. I didn't even ink her up until yesterday...I'm such a collector...and I can't resist a good sale. I'm going to try and upload it to the Club Anya WTW Prismacolor gallery later. Anyhow, I actually tried to pick my papers beforehand this time so I could pick corresponding colored pencils. It was an old Basic Grey collection pack, called Oh Baby Girl which I used previously on a baby board book, plus now I had some matching Bazzill cardstock from Embellish It. Except I didn't quite decide on the specific papers until after I colored and then ended up using the most basic patterns in the pack. And now I've forgotten what color pencils I used for the outfit, I think the accessories were Violet. The hair was Dark Umber and Dark Brown. I used Club Anya Jen's suggestion for the skin color, Light Peach for the face, Peach for the outer face, and Blush Pink for the cheeks. I used baby oil to blend, which I think sometimes doesn't dry completely clear, or else my blending stump was a little dirty, but there's a little streak in the middle of the face, which might not be too obvious in the photo. Initially I colored the necklace Violet, but everything seemed a little too purple so I colored over it with my Gelly Roll Stardust pen, which I also used on the star buckle.

I couldn't find a coordinating stamp pad in my collection for a sentiment, so I typed one up. The font is CK Cute, I might have gotten it from a free font Friday from the Creating Keepsakes website, I can't remember. I actually scanned a little piece of the cardstock and patterned paper so I could sample the color for the text and green circle, then put it together in Photoshop Elements, and printed it out. I pretty much left it at that, maybe it could use some kind of embellishment in the corners, or with the sentiment, I don't know, I didn't want to stick something on, then decide it looked funny afterward.

Eva, you're so great with making all the seasonally appropriate Halloween stuff. Which reminds me that I still have to buy some Halloween candy and a pumpkin from the grocery store...hope there are still some left.

And another birthday card

Hello again.  It's like feast or famine around here, I don't make anything for ages, and now I have 2 cards.  But I'm posting this one now since I'm going to enter it in the Simon Says Stamp shaped card challenge.  If I wait until tomorrow, I might forget or run out of time to write the blog post.

So I finally colored my Tiddly Inks Belinda.  Next time I cut her out, I'm going to leave a little white border, I couldn't really cut around her fingers, legs or bag nicely.  I finally colored some blondish hair, using the first color combination from Deconstructing Jen's prismacolor hair chart. 

Anyhow, pretty simple card.  The base is a Spellbinders scallop circle with an old Basic Grey patterned paper called Lily Kate.  I added a PTI white banner layered over a spring rain banner then stamped it with a PTI birthday basics sentiment.  Ideally the banner would be straight when you open the card, but I adhered the scallop circles together so a scallop was at the top (the card rolled to the side when I stood it up).  There is a glitter and sheer flower attached with spellbinder daisy leaves inked with some distress ink. Then I drew in some white dots on the scallops and added stickles.  OK, bye for real now!

Another birthday card

Well I'm back with my sporadic cardmaking.  September is a pretty busy month for birthdays around here so I figure I should get started on some now.  I tried the Deconstructed Sketch for the first time.

Finally broke out my Sweet and Toxic boy stamp.  And colored him with distress inks.  This was my 2nd time trying to use distress inks.  It gets a bit messy with all the water, and sometimes I feel like I can't control the brush nicely or stay within the lines or blend nicely.  Which is why sometimes doing artsy things gets me a little uptight...

Anyhow, used some Oliver paper from Basic Grey, and a leftover round piece from the card kit.  Stamped the sentiment and cake from PTI's tag series.  I used some tiny attacher staples for the side, I guess I should have used regular size staples so it would show up better.  I guess you can't really see the row of staples at the bottom either.  I couldn't really think of what to use for boy embellishments so just did a line of staples at the bottom that ended up blending into the paper! Oh well.

Well, it's getting ready for back to school around here too.  Hopefully it won't get too crazy the first week.  It might take me a whole month to get readjusted to the school schedule now.  Bye!

Bo Bunny Baby Board Book

Say that 3 times fast! This was my first attempt at a chipboard album...it basically looks like the sample photo that came with the album. Cutting and sanding the paper was a little painful, maybe that's why I'm procrastinating on the "FAMILY" board book. But the Basic Grey file set makes the holes and curvy parts a little easier to smooth down. The patterned paper and ribbon is from the Basic Grey Oh Baby! Girl collection pack. (Yes, my products are old, I'm pretty cheap and tend to buy them on sale when they're like getting ready to discontinue them or something). But I've just found a matching cardstock pack from Embellish It! (on sale - and even cheaper because it's an old collection!) plus I ordered even more cardstock for some other Basic Grey collections that I have. (Argh! More spending!) It's the first time that I'm ordering from Embellish It, but I believe the owner taught the class at the Creating Keepsakes Convention where we made layouts using Basic Grey paper. Hope the black bars over the eyes aren't too weird looking...like a fashion don't?

Another Wild Sprout, Eric

Where has the weekend gone?  I can't believe it's almost Monday again!  I only managed to make one card, and a pretty basic one at that.  It's based on the Which One Wednesday sketch this week at the Farm Fresh Challenge blog.

Since I already had my Basic Grey Recess papers and somewhat matching Prismacolor pencils out, I used that paper pack and color scheme again.  The cardstock is Papertrey ink.  I actually remembered to look through all my things to try to use something I haven't yet and picked out this scroll die cut edge from a Tim Holtz die.  I also picked a boy image that I haven't stamped yet, I had actually forgotten that his name was Eric but found it out there somewhere on the internet.  I think I have to practice hair coloring on every single stamped image and make a little reference book or something because every time I see a new hairstyle it messes me up!

 The sentiment wasn't actually part of the sketch, but I wanted to stick one on somewhere, so I moved Eric over to the side a bit.  I used the "happy birthday" from PTI's Tag-It's set, again.  And the tag is from a cuttlebug set of tiny tags.  I've been wanting the PTI tiny tags die, but I guess I should be satisfied with what I already have, even if they don't come with coordinating stamps... :-(

I also found this beaded chain thing I bought a while ago, I think from that Bazzill warehouse sale.  I didn't have anything in mind to make with it when I initially bought it, but it was on sale!  I thought it might match this time on a boy card.  So I used those eyelets again, I think they set a little better this time.  Then I strung the tag on.  The foam squares on Eric and the tag help hold the chain in place.  The only problem I'm having is deciding what to do with the ends on the inside.  I don't really want to cut it because it could still be useful as a necklace.  I might just tape it all down on the inside, then it could also be re-used as an embellishment.

I almost forgot, but as a sidenote, I started labeling my photos and posts, just so people who want to communicate with Eva are getting to the right person.  Or maybe if some challenge blog thinks Eva is entering twice or something, in the event that is not allowed.  Whatever the case, 99% of the posts are going to be by Eva anyhow, so I don't think it will be too much of an issue.  But it did give me a chance to play with a fun free action (from ages ago though) from Atomic Cupcake to make our names!

A Wild Sprout Dylan Happy Birthday

Sorry, I don't have very original titles for my posts.  I'm just amazed that I have something to post.  Today is the start of "no homework" week for my son, which translates into less work for me as well...at least for today.  So I decided to make a boy card for the Farm Fresh Friday challenge.

And I needed help from a sketch.  I just now discovered that Beate Johns has a list of challenge blogs on her sidebar so I happened to click on Sunday Sketch and Stamp and the latest Challenge #51 was up.  I think I should have scaled my card a little better since there seems to be a lot of blank space up top, oh well.  I added the eyelets on the left side, and now I remember why I don't really care for eyelets, I don't know how to attach them nicely!   I used a Basic Grey paper pack called Recess with PTI cardstock.

I used one of the Tag-Its sentiments, and just punched out a 1 inch circle and added a twine bow.  Dylan is colored with prismacolor pencils.  Something was weird with the blending stump I used for his clothes, it didn't blend too nicely...I think the tip was too pointy.

Bye!  (Possibly for a few weeks)

Another Mystery Monday

Hello, I finally have another card. Eva has been busy this past week! Which is a good thing since I was on spring break and now need a vacation to recover from my vacation. Unpacking and doing all the laundry after a super long car ride was really tiring, and I didn't even drive! I must be getting old. Anyhow, here's my card for Mystery Monday over at Club Anya. I seem to be off schedule with the Saturday sketches nowadays.

I finally got to use my new Creeper! (I need to go browse some blogs and galleries and pay closer attention to how people color curly/wavy hair). I again used the Basic Grey paper pack, Urban Couture, that I used for my first Creeper card. Somehow it seems to match the vibe of the Creepers.

I used the big heart doily (thanks, Eva! again!) in place of the curved piece. I was debating about cutting it in half, but then thought it might look weird like that and instead just let it cover most of the card and patterned papers! I also cut the red piece down a little so more of the blue background paper would show since I got a little overzealous with the distress ink and everything looked brown! Hopefully it looks like it I tried to match her dress color and not like I just picked a color out of the air.

I used a PTI birthday tag stamp for the sentiment and mulberry paper flowers with PTI buttons tied with floss.

Well, this might be it for me again for a while. At this rate, I'm never going to get through all my new stamps!

Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!

Hello again. I'm surprising myself by making so many cards. I think my free time is directly proportional to my husband's free time...when he's free to watch the kids! He can watch football and the kids at the same time, right? I think this is my last thank you card. There's no more son vs. daughter card, they're all getting combined into one card now.

Anyhow, here's another card based on the Saturday Sketch on the Club Anya blog.

It's the Creeper, Monday (thanks, Eva, again!). My son said "she's staring at me with scary eyes!" But I think she's cute. I even tried to give her some green eyeshadow. I don't know if I was supposed to color in some irises or not. Now that I see the colored picture at the Greeting Farm store, I realize I colored her outfit strangely. Right after I colored her right shoulder and chest area with a green pencil, I realized it was supposed to be skin. So I colored it over with black and pretended she was wearing a black turtleneck shirt under the tie-on baggy striped shirt. I guess I need to work on experimenting with different colored hair. I always color black or brown hair since I already know which pencils to use.

Anyhow, the patterened paper is from the Basic Grey Urban Couture pack with matching Bazzill cardstock. Again, a super old paper pack, but I think I got it on clearance. I've been a hoarder, I feel like I don't want to cut into a nice brand new sheet of pretty paper, but I'm gradually getting over it. I even cut some of the matching ribbon. But I tied the bow like 4 or 5 times so it would be in a place where I wasn't wasting too much ribbon on the right edge. Plus it took forever fiddling with the ribbon to get everything lined up nicely so the red stripe was on top for the tails and the bow. I tried the 2 bunny ear loops tied together method for this particular bow. I think next time I should try the shoelace bow and see if that's any easier.

Took me a while to decide what to use for the decoration at the bow area. Plus trying to put a sentiment somewhere. Then I remembered that tiny "thanks" stamp so now there is a green thanks bouquet. I got a bit carried away with the white Sharpie poster paint pen. That's why the flowers look a little messed up because I drew on them after I already stuck them down with the foam adhesive. I was debating about trying my sewing machine for the border, but then I thought it would be faster to draw. Plus I would be really mad if I messed up the sewing on my cute patterned paper that I already cut down to size.

Anyhow, next I need to start on some birthday cards. But I'm going to wait for my PTI Big Birthday Wishes stamp set to come first.