Don't forget the dog!

I was making this piece when DS had a friend over. His friend was fascinated with this dog image and insisted I work it into my piece. I think he was right!

I am saying another goodbye here today as this is my last official post for FireCracker Designs by Pamela. Snif. I can't believe its been a year already! I'll be keeping my eye on those girls!

Stamps: FireCracker Designs by Pamela Sally’s Garden of Weedin, Pitchin’ In, and Just Breathe
Paper: Riding Hood Red, GP 110, Whisper White
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Copics, Nesties, Clear detail embossing powder, Versamark pad

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Baseball Locker

First let me say that it is with great sadness that I must announce that this is my last official Artful INKables Design Team post. I have loved the people and the stamps at AI. It is now time for me to move to less structured stamping as my job continues to be taking a lot out of me.

Now on to the happy part....my DS's bday was this week and he loves baseball. It doesn't happen very often but I had absolutely NO IDEA what to make for him. I spent about an hour looking at baseball cards over on SCS and I stumbled upon this one made my Kristin of Artful INKables. The way the bat was positioned on that card made me think of it leaning inside a locker and here I am.

The card is 2 1/8" by 5 1/2". I drew a thin black line about 1/8" from the edge all the way around. For the vents, I cut 3 straight lines at the top and then snipped the eges up a bit. I rolled them in my fingers to open them up a bit. I repeated these steps at the bottom of the locker door. I masked the word "vampire" while I inked up the baseball stamp and then stamped it into position. I colored in a little locker door handle with Copics and a white gel pen. For the inside, I stamped the ball and bat image into place and colored it with Copics. A sentiment finishes the inside.

Thanks for the fun to all the Ink Girls....I'll be keeping my eye on you!

Stamps: Artful Inkables Fictionally Inspired (front cover image), Into the Moonlight (ball & bat), and Birthday Best (sentiment)
Paper: Real Red, GP 110
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copics, white gel pen, fine black marker

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Funky Garden

This piece was totally inspired by this funky dp. I find I like these DP's with the large bold patterns but I'm not always sure what to do with them. Here's a little learning experiment. I drew all the colors on the main image panel from the dp.

The fence & frog were stamped, colored, and clear embossed so I could sponge in the dirt and sky right over them. The lovely lady was stamped and colored seperately and glued into position.

Stamps: FireCracker Designs by Pamela Sally’s Garden of Weedin
Paper: Reflections DP from Mike’s, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, GP 110
Ink: Baja Breeze, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Copics, Nesties, Ribbon from Pink Hedgehog, clear detail embossing powder, Versamark pen

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Gears

Inspiration is everywhere. This piece was inspired by a logo screen on some computer software we use at work! When I saw these lock washers at the hardware store, I immediately thought of all the gears on this stamp set.

The main piece was simply made by brayering two shades of blue in the corners and then stamping the main image in the darker shade of blue. I used glue to attached the lock washers.

Stamps: Artful INKables Steampunk Sarah
Paper: Whisper White, Pacific Point
Ink: Bashful Blue, Pacific Point
Accessories: Lock Washers

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Book Inspired Hop

Welcome to the August Firecracker Designs By Pamela Blog Hop! This month's theme is to be inspired by a book cover. I choose to use both the sketch and colors from THIS book.

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).

I made each of the colored panels by stamping the images in the darkest version of that color. I then sponged the ink color to match the paper about half way to the center. I then sponged the darkest version of that color just around the edges of the panel. The vanilla center panel is cut with a Nestie and then 3 sides were trimmed with my paper cutter to get the same shape as in the book cover. Love when I can figure out how to replicate something like that!

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

Stamps: FireCracker Designs by Pamela Sally's Garden of Weedin
Paper: Basic Black, Real Red, So Safron, Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Bravo Burgundy, Pefect Plum Elegant Eggplant, So Safron, More Mustard, Old Olive, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Nesties Labels 3

Enjoy!
Michelle B.
Designer for FireCracker Designs by Pamela

Dragonfly Loveliness

Well.... Everything is lovely here except my photography! I have taken so many pics of this card but just can't get a good one. So, I just gotta let it go!

I used my score-pal to make the grid. I stamped the lovely dragonflies on the main panel. Although you can't see it here each dragonfly body has glitter pen accents. I attached the main panel to the card base. The rhinestones were placed in the open spaces and touched with a light blue copic so they coordinate. A ribbon and sentiment finishes the piece.

Stamps: FireCracker Designs by Pamela Sally’s Garden of Weedin and Oops-a-Dasies (sentiment)
Paper: Papertrey White
Ink: Bashful Blue
Accessories: Score-Pal, Kaiserkraft Rhinestones, Copics, Circle Punch, SU Bashful Blue Ribbon, glitter pen

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Purple Sunrise

There is still time to enter Think Ink Challenge #26! This time we are to make a non-standard card and use purple. Complete details are HERE.

Since I love purple, this was a fun challenge! I used the brayered sky technique here for my purple background. Then I simple stamped some flowers and leaves. Don't forget to add a bit of white gel pen to those silhouettes to really make them pop! I also added a punched butterfly silhouette and let one wing fly off the page for fun!

Be sure to check out the Artful INKables clearance sale HERE.

Stamps: Artful INKables Plant Prints
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Almost Amethyst, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Nesties, White Gel Pen, Stamp-a-majig, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Last Wacky Wednesday

FYI - This is the last Wacky Wednesday sale over at FireCracker Designs by Pamela. Today only, Horses of Courses is 50% off!

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Sunny Window

I love making window scenes! I haven't done one in a while so this was really fun! I am combining two sets from FireCracker Designs by Pamela. One thing I love about so many of the FCD stamp sets is how they all work together.

HERE is how I make the window frame and ledge. I sponged the yellows and blues onto a piece of cardstock. Then I cut them apart into 4's. When I do this, I actually remove 1/8". I don't just cut them apart and spread them out. This gives a more realistic look especially on more complicated designs. AFTER I cut them apart, I decided I needed the shadow of the flower tree. Ideally, I would have stamped that first but you gotta be flexible, right! The water can and plant were stamped on separate cardstock, colored with copics, and cut out to glue into position here.

Stamps: FireCracker Designs by Pamela Sally’s Garden of Weedin and Silhouette Flowers
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Papertrey Kraft, Whisper White, GP 110 (plant and water can), SU DP
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Score-Pal, pop dots, Copics, White Prismacolor pencil (for accents on the silhouettes)

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Vintage or Christmas?

I started off making a little vintage purse but after I started, I realized I had choosen Christmas colors. I guess it could go either way. Ya think?

The box inside is based after THIS tutorial (had to change the size a tad to fit inside my main panels). The outside is a die cut piece of Vanilla cardstock with 1 1/2" squares of dp as my "quilt". I die cut another piece for the sentiment and little swirls in the center. Here's a side view of the piece so you can see how it all fits together.

Stamps: Artful INKables Sew You
Paper: Very Vanilla, Ruby Red, Always Artichoke, Basic Grey Boxer DP
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Garden Green, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Nesties, Paper Piercing Tool, Making memories Brad, Score-Pal

Enjoy!

Michelle B.

Twirling Scarecrow

Hello! Today's FireCracker Designs by Pamela sale set for Wacky Wednesday is Tumbling Scarecrow. Hurry over and get yours for 50% off today only!

I decided to make him really tumble and twirl by making him a spinnner card. HERE's a tutorial for the spinner card. I was two lazy to walk upstairs and get two pennies so I just layered some punched circles to get the height and stiffness of a penny. It works pretty well. Of course, I had my heart set on placing the cutout just as you see here before I realized my word window punch wouldn't reach. So, I sketched the back of the piece with a pencil to mark where I wanted to cut and then made the cuts with my paper cutter.

The clouds are just roughly sponged with More Mustard onto Very Vanilla for a very fall look. The grass is sponged using a torn paper mask. The leaves and sentiments were then stamped into place. I happend to pay attention to the time and it took me 45 minutes to make this card. Here's another look:


Stamps: FireCracker Designs by Pamela Tumbling Scarecrow
Paper: Soft Suede, More Mustard, Very Vanilla, GP 110
Ink: More Mustard, Soft Suede, Riding Hood Red, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copics, ¾” circle punch, pop dots

Enjoy!
Michelle B.