Artful INKables Twilight Eclipse Blog Hop

Welcome to our Customer and Design Team Twilight Artful INKables blog hop! Make sure you start at the Artful INKables Blog, so you don't miss a single thing!

To celebrate the release of ECLIPSE today, we're highlighting the Artful INKables Twilight inspired sets: Into the Moonlight, Fictionally Inspired and Epic Tales. Artful INKables also has a set of Vampire Romance Themed Charms available!

I've been into graffiti lately and wanted to make a Twilight inspired graffiti wall. I started by drawing in the sidewalk. Using the emboss resist technique, I stamped the Twilight images. Then I masked off the sidewalk and sponged in the wall color. I drew in a few bricks here and there. I unmasked the sidewalk and colored it with Copics adding a few sprigs of grass here and there. I thought I was done but my DH asked how I could have a vampire card without blood. Good point I thought....so I made a special trip to the store to buy the drippy goo punch (not on sale and no coupon! Eek!). I punched out the goo on a scrap and used it as a mask to sponge the dripping blood here. NOW I'm done!

The next stop on the hop is ALISON.

In case you get lost along the way, here’s the order of the hop:
Kristin Soboloski
Laura Boyd
Michelle Barnett
Alison Heikkile
Sammi Betbeder
Michele Lourenco
Kim Nath
Erica Johnson-Wanzer
Patti Nelson
Chelsea Van Wyk
Tanya Johnson
Dawn Knight
Jennifer Olauson
Joy Stagg
Jackie Rakoski

Make sure to leave a comment on each blog along the way for your chance to win a $10 gift certificate to Artful INKables! Please leave your comments by Midnight, July 4th to be eligible to win!

Stamps: Artful INKables Fictionally Inspired
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Lovely Lilac, Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Really Rust, Creamy Caramel, Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Passion
Accessories: Fine black marker

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

FCD Wacky Wednesday 6/30

Today only (til Midnight), FireCracker Designs by Pamela will be offering the set Yoga 1 Chakras at 50% off! Check it out!

Michelle B.

Hot Pink Butterfly

Just a little CAS design for you today. For some reason I really wanted to color that butterfly from Bliss hot pink so here we are. I am loving this sparkly Cryogen White Iridescent paper from Paper Temptress. It's easy to color and blend with Copics and it retains the sparkle even after coloring. Here's a close up for you:



Stamps: FireCracker Designs by Pamela Bliss
Paper: Paper Temptress Cryogen White Iridescent, Paper Temptress Magenta Basis, Paper Temptress Olive Basis
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Nesties, Copics, white gel pen

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Black and White

This cool striped paper and fabulous ribbon are from Paper Temptress. I thought it looked kind of elegant so I wanted to keep with that theme and just use a simple fleur de lis image. I tried to color the image to look 3-D by putting a little grey shadow on the left side and varying the darkness of the image as your eye moves across it. I found that you can blend your Copics pretty easily on this paper and I like that you can see the stripes thru the coloring.

PS: Be sure to enter the FCD Eclipse Challenge. Details are HERE.

PSS: Get your FCD free weeekend digi HERE.

Stamps: FireCracker Designs by Pamela Parisian Romance
Paper: Paper Temptress Laser Silver Lustre, Paper Temptress Eclipse Black
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Paper Temptress 5/8” Black and White Stripes Grosgrain, Kaiserkraft rhinestone, Copics, Nesties

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Challenge #23 Backpack

Artful INKables Challenge #23 is to make anything but a card using red, white, and blue. I hope you'll play along for a chance to win free stamps! You can find the complete details HERE.

I thought this little backpack idea looked pretty cute so I gave it a shot. It was really funny and took just a little over an hour (I am sure I would be much faster the 2nd time after I had actually seen a finished one). You can find the instructions and templates for this backpack HERE. The only thing I did differently was that I printed the templates right onto my cardstock (instead of making a pattern from them). I just made sure that the printed side ended up INSIDE the box so none of the marks would show.

I added a little unusual embellishment on the ribbon. When I was out shopping for washers for necklaces, I came upon these little lock washers. They reminded me of all the clocks and gears in the stamp set so I grabbed them. Fun eh?

Stamps: Artful INKables Steampunk Sarah
Paper: Real Red, Night of Navy, GP 110
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Accessories: Brads, Ribbon from Pink Hedgehog, Lock Washers

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Twilight Challenge #4

Time for Twilight Challenge #4 hosted by Artful INKables. I hope you'll play along for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate and the opportunity to be a guest designer for a month! The complete details are HERE.

This week's challenge is to make anything but a card. I chose to make a team necklace but its kind of a sneaky one....its Team Jacob on one side and Team Edward on the other side! You could flip it around depending on who you are hanging out with that day. HERE are some instructions on making these.

Stamps: Artful INKables Fictionally Inspired
Paper: Real Red, Close to Cocoa
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Metal washer, black leather cording, Tombow Mono Multi Adhesive, emery board for sanding edges, Glossy Accents

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

An Unusual Request

A while back I received a phone call from my cousin's boyfriend. He asked if I could create a birthday card for my dog loving cousin using photos of her dogs. I said "sure" but wasn't quite sure how I was going to go about this. I hadn't tried to use photos on a card before but I was up for the challenge (I had to help this thoughtful guy out!). This is what I came up with.

Stamps: H and M Stamps Doggy Years
Paper: GP 110, Craft, Riding Hood Red
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Nesties, Copics, Spots & Dots EF

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Kid Silhouettes

I saw the most fabulous silhouettes of children on Nichole Heady's blog HERE and I just had to make a set!

(The blur in the right lower corner of each silhouette is where the kids signed their own name. I am a bit of a privacy freak when it comes to my kids so I obscured that in these pics)

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Ocean Diorama

You know how I love my scenes and creating depth....so why not a diorama box! The basic instructions for making a diorama box are HERE.

I used Nesties to cut the centers of my boxes out. I used the darkest color cardstock at the back and went lighter to the front, again creating depth. My little fishies are suspended on white thread that was colored blue with Copics. This was a really fun project and went quicker than I expected. Give it a shot!

Stamps: Artful INKables Aquatic Fantasy
Paper: Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Cool Caribbean (from an old stash. Sorry, I had to!), GP 110
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Whisper White, Pacific Point
Accessories: Nesties, Copics, Thread

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Open Roads - FCD Hop

Welcome to the June Firecracker Designs By Pamela Blog Hop! This month's theme is "Open Roads" and we are to focus on our favorite traveling tunes. I live in Missouri and my mom lives about 45 miles away in Illinois. This trip requires us to cross the Mississippi River and drive through rural areas. When the kids were little we used to sing "Over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go" and that is what inspired this piece.

I wanted to point out the cool papers and ribbon from Paper Temptress I used in this piece. I am LOVING this Cryogen White Iridescent paper that is used in the main image panel. It sparkles all over - even after sponging or coloring with Copics. I tried to get a pic of that sparkle for you:


The How To:
RIVER - I masked off the river area with a cut piece of paper and sponged the whole river in Bashful Blue. I sponged Tempting Turquoise just along the bank area. I stamped the "ripples" in turquoise.
GRASS AND TREES - I used the other piece of paper to mask the river area so I could sponged Old Olive in the grass area. I sponged Kiwi Kiss into the tree area. The trees were stamped with Old Olive (and I stamped twice before going back to the ink so that some trees look far away). I used a blender pen with Chocolate Chip ink to color in the trunks a bit. Grass was added to the river bank in Old Olive ink.
SKY - I sponged a bit of Bashful Blue into the sky and added a Chocolate Chip bird.

NOTE: The official start time of this Hop is Friday, at 8:00 AM (EST). If you arrived early, please be patient as all the links may not be live yet.

This is a “circular blog hop” where the only beginning is wherever you start!! You will know you are at the end of your blog hop when you’ve come back to the blog you’ve started from! (It’s not a huge circle…so it should be easy to remember where you started.) The winner will be chosen from a mystery blog hostess that we don’t even know who it will be until the hop is over…so that’s why you’ll want to leave a comment on EVERY blog, so you don’t miss out!**To find out if you’ve won… you will be contacted by Pamela via e-mail (so be sure to leave it with your comment.) and you can also find out on Pamela’s blog after the blog hop ends on Mon, at 8:00 PM (EST).

Now, to continue the circle, you will need to hop on over to SHELLY'S FAB BLOG!!!!

And don't forget to check out FCD's Eclipse Challenge HERE.

Stamps: FireCracker Designs by Pamela Just Breathe
Paper: All from Paper Temptress - Blue Ice, Cryogen White Iridescent, Canyon Brown/Cream Skinny Columns
Ink: Bashful Blue, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: 3/8" Brown Blue Polka Dot Grosgrain from Paper Temptress, Oval Nesties, Scallop Trip Border Punch

Enjoy!
Michelle B.
Designer for FireCracker Designs by Pamela

Twilight Challenge 3

Time for Twilight Challenge #3 hosted by Artful INKables. I hope you'll play along for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate and the opportunity to be a guest designer for a month! The complete details are HERE.

This week's challenge is to show which team you are on. I am TEAM JACOB! I modeled this after one of my favorite shirts (although mine is purple, silver, and has a big fleur de lis on the front). After I was done with this I realized that the way I made this pretty much followed my Collage Tutorial so there you go! What? You can't sketch out the shirt shape? Have no fear, here's a rough template for you to print out and trace onto your cardstock. Sorry I didn't have a chance to clean it up. Note that I used a circle punch to cut the neckline.

COPYRIGHT and ANGEL POLICY
This image is copyrighted to Michelle Bartnett 2010. All rights reserved. This image is for your personal use only. You may not redistribute them in any fashion including copying, lending, re-selling, duplicating, sharing, giving as a prize, or posting the raw images or files online. It's free for heaven's sake - just send them here to get it!!!!!! This images may not be made into physical rubber or acrylic stamps. Please give credit for the image. You may sell hand made products that include this image.

HOW TO USE THIS IMAGE
To use this from a Windows machine, just right click on the image and you'll be able to choose to save the file to your computer. I usually go into a program such as a graphics program or Word and insert this file and print. You can also resize the file before printing if you want.

Stamps: Artful INKables Into the Moonlight, Artful INKables Fictionally Inspired
Paper: Very Vanilla
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Accessories: Clear detail embossing powder, stamp-a-majig, circle punch

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

FireCracker Designs by Pamela - News

Today's Wacky Wednesday sale set is Leading Ladies.

Don't miss the Eclipse Challenge HERE.

Or the free Twilight Inspired digi HERE.

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

FCD Eclipse Challenge

Friends, I have been sooo busy lately, I haven't even had time to spend any money on stamps or supplies! THAT is SERIOUS! Ha!

This evening I am sharing a piece for FireCracker Designs by Pamela's Eclipse Challenge. The complete details are HERE. I hope you'll play along for a chance to win free stamps! PS: No whining about not having any FCD images! You can pick up a freebie digi HERE.

I am doing challenge #1 - Black Circle, White Circle, Red Ribbon. The black circle is embossed with the Bird Call embossing folder (I kinda moved it around to only get the grass and no bird) and has a red ribbon tied around it. The white circle is stamped with the wolf and 2nd generation stamping (ink the stamp, stamp on a scrap, and then stamp again on the piece without reinking...gives a soft look) of the moon, and the word Eternity. The edges of this circle are sponged as well with Basic Grey and a bit of black. The base layer has some wolf prints, the word Forever, and the edges are heavily sponged in black.

Stamps: FireCracker Designs by Pamela Love Bites
Paper: Basic Grey, Basic Black, GP 110
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Basic Grey, Going Grey
Accessories: Bird Call embossing folder, Ribbon from Pink Hedgehog, nesties, stamp-a-majig (sentiment)

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

French Country

I have been working on this card off and on for 2 weeks....just couldn't get it right! Originally, I had the yellow base, the blue horizontal stripe, and the main image panel. I trimmed down the yellow base and the main image panel and layered blue behind each piece and that's exactly what it needed. Now I am ready to show this to you.

With a torn piece of paper, I masked off the area where the bottom of the Eiffel Tower would be and then stamped the tower. I used the same torn piece, moving it around, to sponge in the greenery under the tower. I used Mother Mark's Cloud technique for the sky.

FCD NEWS!
FCD is hosting an Eclipse challenge. The complete details are HERE. I hope you'll play along for a chance to win free stamps!

Also, don't miss this weekend's digital freebie HERE....also Twilight inspired! No whining about not having an FCD stamp appropriate for the challenge now!!!

Stamps: FireCracker Designs by Pamela Parisian Romance
Paper: Summer Sun, Pacific Point, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Grey, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Old Olive, More Mustard

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Spotlight on Fish

Think Ink Challenge #22 is to try a new technique. I hope you'll play along for a chance to win! Complete details are HERE.

Yes, I know I create spotlighted scenes all the time but here I went for the more traditional spotlight technique where the rest of the piece is UNCOLORED (gasp!). It was very tough for me to leave all those images uncolored but I think it turned out kinda cool. It also gives me an alternative for those time when I'm in a rush! I'm guessing you don't really need much instruction here, eh?

Stamps: Artful INKables Aquatic Fantasy
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Papertrey White
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copics, Nesties, Stamp-a-majig, fine black marker (to draw the sea floor and a few sand hills), Fiskars Boundary Waters punch

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Twilight Challenge 2

Time for the next Twilight Challenge hosted by Artful INKables. I hope you'll play along for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate and the opportunity to be a guest designer for a month! The complete details are HERE.

This week's challenge is to use Twilight Themed colors - red, black, and white. I was inspired by this little screen saver thingee my DD put on my phone (she said it was perfect for me and boy was she right! She also told me its an iPhone app called Backgrounds).



I stamped the images in white. Then I went over certain areas with a white gel pen to darken. I also colored in certain areas lightly with a white Prismacolor pencil for a little shading.

Stamps: Artful INKables Fanciful Flowers
Paper: Basic Black, Real Red
Ink: Whisper White
Accessories: White gel pen, white Prismacolor pencil, ribbon from Pink Hedgehog

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

FCD Wacky Wednesday 6/9

Today only (til Midnight), FireCracker Designs by Pamela will be offering the ATC Set at 50% off! Complete details are HERE.



Also, FCD has a sketch challenge (and a chance to win a digi from the FCD store!) on a new digi forum located HERE.



Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Oh, Man! This Rocked!

Most of the time, I have no problem giving away a card I have made. Every once in a while, I like one so much that I kinda want to hang on to it. This was one of those cards I had trouble letting go of....but I had to leave for the party 5 minutes after I finished it! (I would have liked to get a better pic but I was out of time).

I started with THIS sketch from Club Anya. I "frankensteined" this girl by using the head from Camille and the body of Odette so she would look most like my graduate. Now...I need a graduation cap. I started by punching a 1 1/4" square of grey cardstock. I trimmed it to make it more diamond shaped. In the photo below, I placed a punched pink 1 1/4" square under it to show how I trimmed. I sponged a little black in the center bottom. I also punched a little more than 1/2 of a 1 1/4" circle. I used the 3/4" punch across the bottom to make the two arches. I added a little white highlight on each piece and a tassel of embroidery thread to finish. Fab!


Stamps: The Greeting Farm WS Camille, The Greeting Farm WS Odette, The Greeting Farm Roll Call sentiment Paper: Basic Grey, Pink Passion, Very Vanilla, We R Memory Keepers dp, GP 110
Ink: Basic Grey, Momento Tuxedo Black, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: CB Stars EF, EK Success Binding Edge Punch, Nesties, Copics, 1 1/4" square punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, embroidery thread, white Prismacolor pencil

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Collage Tutorial and More About Me

Hiya! If you haven't already seen it, hop on over to the Artful INKables blog HERE and check out the tutorial on Collage Stamping that I wrote. If you'd like to learn more about me, I was recently their featured stamper and you can see that article HERE.

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Its a Wedding Summer

I have several weddings to attend this summer so I need to get those wedding cards done! This was inspired by (but not an actual use of) a sketch from Taylored Expressions (# 116 HERE). Although it looks dark in the photo, the hearts and sentiment are actually shiny silver. Anyone have any good tips for me on photographing shiny things? I can't figure it out!

FCD News - Be sure to check out the FREE patriotic digi for this weekend HERE.

Check back with FCD on Wednesday for the Wacky Wednesday Special!

Stamps: FireCracker Designs by Pamela Bliss & Parisian Romance
Paper: Papertrey White
Ink: Versamark pad
Accessories: Silver embossing powder & heat gun, Cricut George cartridge

Enjoy!
Michelle

Peace

How about another card for DD at camp? She's going to be gone a whole week! Eek! This is her favorite color combo and she loves all the clothes that are out now with peace signs on them.

Feels funny not to write instructions but I'm figuring you've got this one covered!

Don't forget to participate in the Twilight Inspired Challenge HERE.

And the Eclipse Blog Hop HERE.


Stamps: Artful INKables Pick a Pocket Piece
Paper: Papertrey White, Green Galore
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore
Accessories: Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Ribbon from Pink Hedgehog

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Butterflys Fly Away

Hey, how have you been? I've been working a ton of hours and had no time to post anything. Now there are probably 1000 things I ought to be doing besides making this card but I just had to be me for a few minutes!

I need to make some cards to send to DD while she is away at Girl Scout Camp. I started with today's Sketch Challenge. I wanted to use the "giggle" sentiment with this little cutie. Then I guess its getting late and I'm getting slap happy: I then started to wonder what she was giggling about. How about a butterfly on her head? I will also enter this into the Club Anya Song Inspiration Challenge. The song? Miley Cyrus has a song called Butterflys Fly Away and also Party in the USA says "Butterflys Fly Away" and I thought either of the lyrics to those songs would be appropriate for DD going away to camp.

This image was colored with Prismacolor Pencils.

The sky is DP with a bit of sponging (the white was just too bright). The grass is some really old DP that I can't remember where I even got this. There's a little fence punch and some butterflys with White Prismacolor pencil accents. The trick to getting those clouds and fence to match up all the way across....build the scene as a 4 x 5.5 scene and then cut it to fit the sketch. When you put it back together, everything will match up.

Stamps: The Greeting Farm Summer, The Greeting Farm Anya Says
Paper: GP110, DP, Pink Passion, Lovely Lilac
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Martha Stewart Fence Punch

Enjoy!

Michelle B.