IC189 Somethin' Different

I've been getting tired of the blue sky/green grass/girl in the middle kinda cards lately. I have trouble thinking of what other colors to use. Today's inspiration challenge was the answer. When I saw this rug, I thought it would make a fabulous background.

I've also fallen back in love with my Papertrey stamps. Returning to working full time has caused me to struggle to find time to stamp, my Papertrey stamps allowed me to do this background without a bunch of masking and coloring. I did this card in 1 hour which is FAST for me (not counting the coloring....I had this little girl in a stack of already colored images).

This fab sketch is from Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #74. I'm so glad Taylor is back to those Friday sketches....I missed them!

How do you like that wall she's sitting on? I love how those circles pop off the page. IRL this is flat as can be. I simple blended a little dark brown prismacolor pencil on the lower left and added a pop of white in the upper right (unblended). Really fun optical illusion, eh?

Stamps: Sugar Nellie Gorjuss Girls A Little Birdie Told Me.., Papertrey Out on a Limb Revised, Papertrey Guide Lines

Paper: Kraft, Mellow Moss, Elegant Eggplant, GP 110

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Whisper White

Accessories: Copics, Paper Piercer, Nesties, Dark Brown and White Prismacolor Pencils, Blender Pen (to add a little shadow to the leaves), SU 1/4" Chocolate ribbon

Enjoy!

Michelle B.

"Queen of the Scene"

SC237 Sarah's Bday

Ug, I stayed up last night to buy that new On My Couch set from Papertrey and then I was up early for today's sketch challenge! I'm tired but its sooo worth it!

I used today's sketch challenge to make a card for my niece's Birthday. She lives in the country so I think she'll like it. I didn't realize until it was too late that I shouldn't have cut my fence apart in the sketch. Too late now! I hand drew in a few extra clumps of grass. I also had to add a flower in the bottom corner because there was too much green and (the real reason) because I had a little fight with my paper cutter there!

I'm late for work so...All my usual deets here. It was just brought to my attention the other day that I wasn't linking up the correct place for MotherMark's cloud tutorial. Here is the correct link to a video on that technique. Sorry bout that.

Stamps: High Hopes Summer Sweetness
Paper: Regal Rose, Whisper White, GP 110, Real Red (flower center), SU DP
Ink: Soft Sky, Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Wild Wasabi, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copics, white Prismacolor pencil, ¼” circle punch (flower center), Martha Stewart Fence Punch, Flowers from Mike’s wedding section, Rectangle Nestie

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

“Queen of the Scene”

Come On In!

Hiya! So glad to find some time to do this card today (because it came out even better than the vision in my mind!). My inspiration came from this card in today's Featured Stamper gallery. I also tried to simplify from my usual style and didn't do so much coloring and cutting (well maybe a little less than usual! Ha!). The three things I changed were the color scheme a bit by adding more red, I added a garden around the window, and I left off the sentiment.

I started by stamping the window image on some kraft cardstock just for placement. Then I stamped my tree branch and the flowers. I used a blender pen to add a little bit of the next darker shade on the branch, flowers, and leaves for depth.

I got the idea for this fabulous siding from Michelle Zindorf's blog here. I turned my project upside down when I sponged in the darker color so it would look like shadows under the piece of siding. Here's what I mean:



I stamped the window onto red cardstock and cut out the pieces where glass would be. I stamped the window yet again onto some very vanilla cardstock for inside the house. It was a bit too bright so I toned it down by sponging on some Old Paper ink. The cupcakes are stamped on this layer and colored with Copics. I assembled everything to complete.

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Out on a Limb revised, Window Dressing, Love Blooms, Pink Cat Studio Limitless Limbs (cupcakes)
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Bazzill Kraft, Very Vanilla, SU DP
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Old Paper Distress Ink, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Rose Red, Bravo Burgundy, Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copics, blender pen

Enjoy!
Michelle B.
“Queen of the Scene”

Princess of the Pond

Lily is hanging out in the pond for today’s sketch challenge. I think I would have liked this a lot if I hadn’t been so sloppy in lining things up in the back…especially that frog in the upper left. I can honestly say that today was the first day I have ever felt like I needed a big honkin' flower up in the upper left corner! Unfortunately, I don't own any. That's what I get for rushing to work....gets in the way of my creativity! (notice I didn't say that if I had gotten out of bed the first time the alarm went off that I'd have had plenty of time! ha!)

I started out by stamping the lily pads and flowers (filled them in with ink and blender pen) and embossing them. Then I inked the sky and pond using bashful blue. For the horizon line, I held a scrap of paper across and sponged some tempting turquoise across and blended it down into the water. I used a Nestie to cut out my main image panel. I "eyeballed" the placement of the lily pads and flowers on the blue and green layers (wished I'd have used my Stamp-a-majig!) and stamped them with Virsamark. Lily is totally colored with Copics and cut out. I outlined Lily's wings with glitter pen. I also added glitter pen at the base of her flower and smudged it upwards with my finger. Assembled everything and I'm off to work!

Stamps: Pink Cat Studio Enchanted Lily, Papertrey Ink Pond Life
Ink: Bashful Blue, Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Pixie Pink, Green Galore, Gable Green
Paper: GP 110, Whisper White, Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Copics, Nesties, Glitter Pen, Virsamark pad, Virsamark pen, clear detail embossing powder, heat gun, blender pen

Enjoy!
Michelle B.
“Queen of the Scene”

Happy 4th of July!

I saw this American Flag card by Michelle Zindorf and was blown away. Later we had a craft day for our Girl Scout troop and I wanted to make cards for the troops with this idea. The girls made the flags on the front of the card (with some help of course!). It was funny how some felt compelled to count out the 50 stars and other's would be happy with just a few. I had printed off a sentiment on cardstock for the inside layers and had the girls all sign their names. Later at home, I assembled all the pieces into these cards and mailed them off to the troops just in time for today!

Couple of pointers if you'd like to do these with your kids: I tried to use cheap ink pads. This was a bad idea because they fell apart with all the dragging. Go ahead and let them use the good ones. Have the card base and inside pre-assembled so it doesn't take you months to get that part finished (like it did me!).

The "how to" is also included in the link to my inspiration card above.




Enjoy the 4th!
Michelle B.
"Queen of the Scene"

Bella in the Garden

Another card I made last week but had no time to get posted...Ug. I started with the Bellarific Friday Sketch. I was inspired by Emily and Sue to use some DP for the "grass" of my scene (I'm DP challenged you know!).

This girl has been sitting on my stamp table all colored and ready to go for a while.....but with blue jeans. Because I had colored only with Copics, I was able to go right over the blues with browns and make her fit perfectly into the color scheme of this card. Now that's fun!

Stamps: Stamping Bella Gardenia Greenthumb, Stamping Bella “Have a Sunshiney Day” Sentiment
Paper: GP 110, Chocolate Chip, SU Old Olive DP, Bashful Blue
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Copics, Ribbon from Mikes, Word Window Punch, glue pen, dazzling diamonds, Nesties

Enjoy!

Michelle B.

"Queen of the Scene"

Dawn L Saves the Day

So I got up this morning and looked at the sketch and said .... man, I can't do that. I couldn't think of anything to do in 9 panels with nothing larger than 1 piece of the panel. Ug. So I went back to bed. Then I was laying there thinking how I should get up and do a card for last Sunday's Featured Stamper, Dawn L. She's always so kind to me in the gallery and I hadn't had a chance to honor her yet! Then it hit me....I remembered a wonderful ocean card she had in her gallery. AND IT WOULD WORK FOR TODAY'S SKETCH! I changed the sketch, the stamps (but kept the ocean/fish theme) and the color scheme.

Thanks Dawn for saving the day and congrats on being the featured stamper!!!

Stamps: Stampendous Sushi Bowl, Stampendous Loads of Sushi, Stampendous Many Happy Messages, High Hopes Shell 2, High Hopes Sea Weed, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Paper: Whisper White, Green Galore, Night of Navy, GP 110
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, River Rock, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point,
Accessories: Copics, blender pen (to cover those tiny areas I couldn't cut out)

Enjoy!

Michelle B.

"Queen of the Scene"