Baby Shower

What a great day to be in SA!  Today the weather here was just stunning.  I love these blue-sky-bird-chirpy days.  Anyway, here is a card commissioned by my sis-in-law Cindy for a co-worker's baby shower.  She has chosen the "Team Safari" theme for the nursery, which consists of cute jungle animals who are into sports!  Peace.

Aloha and Mahalo!

Here is a card I made using a fabulous stamp that my BFF Debbie gave me.  It's from the Rubber Stamp Plantation company in Hawaii (http://www.rubberstampplantation.com/store/quiltstamps.htm).  The stamp is from their quilt collection and is called "Large Ulu Quilt."  I wanted to use it right away so I made her this Mahalo (Hawaiian for Thank You) card.  I created the background using glossy cardstock and Tim Holtz Adirondack alcohol inks.  The technique is to put a little of the inks and some alcohol ink blending solution on the felt applicator, then tap the applicator on the glossy cardstock until you are happy with the look.  Then I took some additional blending solution and dropped it directly on the cardstock.  For this background, I chose Sail Boat Blue, Sunshine Yellow, and Citrus.  I love how you never know what your alcohol inked background will look like, but it always looks really cool!  I stamped the "thank you" swirly stamp with Archival ink.  Because I am a sloppy stamper, I had a little bit of a smeared image.  Ergo, I punched out a butterfly, and voila, You would never know there was a smear under it.  Hee hee.  Peace.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I had so much fun making Valentine's Day cards this year!  I used art from the Tim Holtz Seasonal paper stack as the focal point.  Other elements include paper doilies, and die-cut hearts (Sizzix Hearts - Tipsy), and Tim Holtz tissue tape.  The card background is inked with Antique Linen and Worn Lipstick distress inks.  First I applied the Antique Linen using the ink pad directly on the cardstock.  Then I used the foam applicator to add in the Worn Lipstick.  I inked the white paper doily, the die-cut hearts, and the tissue tape with Tea Dye distress ink.  For the hearts, I copied some text from Romeo and Juliet and printed it in a nice script font on my printer and then ran it through my Sizzix Big Kick.  I inked the edges of the hearts and the vintage clip art with Vintage Photo distress ink.  Finally, I used a Tim Holtz flourish stamp with Versamark ink and embossed it with Zing Gold metallic embossing powder.  I love the collage look.  It's so forgiving!  And as Tim says, "Embrace Imperfection!"  Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!  Peace.

Copic Froggie

Hi everyone!  Today I wanted to share this Froggie birthday card with you.  It features a kraft card base, some Nestabilities label dies, a Copic colored image, and a bow made with the Bow-Easy.  Also, I finally broke down recently when Hobby Lobby had their punches on sale for 50% off and bought circle punches.  Now I own circle punches in quarter-inch increments from 1 to 2 inches.  It makes my life much easier than cutting them with the Cricut.  I really love the color combination here.  It just makes me happy!  Peace.