SC143 Sara's Bday

This card was made for my niece Sara's 9th birthday. Although difficult to see in the photo, there is glitter all over the mermaid's tail and also in the bubbles. I received this images over on the PIF images thread from Miss Boo (Thanks Boo!). The sketch is from challenge SC143.

I brayered and sponged the background in my usual way....I cut all 3 pieces, stuck them onto my Cricut mat and sponged and brayered away. This ensures that the color is even and straight across the piece.

Now the Sea Floor Background was too small to fit on the card the way I wanted so I cut out the two groupings of rocks and plants to separate them into the side panels. During assembly, I used a fine blacker marker to draw in the little hills of sand and the dots.

Stamps: High Hopes Sea Floor Background, High Hopes Sweet Anabela, PTI Pond Life (bubbles), Hanna Stamps Things Hanna Would Say
Paper: Bazzill Mediteranean, Pink Passion
Ink: River Rock, Brilliant Blue, Cool Carribean, Soft Sky
Accessories: Glitter pen, white gel pen, fine black marker, prismacolor pencils & baby oil, copic markers

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

SC188 Mom's Bday & BIG NEWS!

My mom loves to knit and crochet so this was created for her 60th birthday this week. I used the sketch from SC188 as a basis for this design. I used my usual technique (example shown here) of cutting everything first and then putting it back together on my cricut mat like a puzzle before I start inking.

I received this image from StampinScrapNewbie (Thanks Kim!) over in the PIF images thread.

My review: Great concept, a little dark & bland....you know how I like my bright colors!

Stamps: Stamping Bella Knitabella, Hanna Stamps Bookworm, Hanna Stamps Things Hanna Would Say
Paper: Blue Bayou, Bazzill
Ink: River Rock, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Blue Bayou
Accessories: Glitter pen, pop dots, prismacolor pencils & baby oil

OH, and in case you didn't hear.....I was chosen to be one of two September Ambassadors for My Favorite Things Stamps. Here's the announcement. Whoo Hoo!


Enjoy!
Michelle B.

OCCC Baptism Card

This card was made for my niece's baptism and also fit the bill for this weeks OCC Challenge (no DP & 4 layers max). I didn't load this card to SCS because I didn't even use a stamp (EEK!). Obviously this was greatly inspired by the many dresses I've seen on SCS but not any one in particular.

Stamps: None
Ink: None
Paper: SU Whisper White
Accessories: Swiss Dots embossing folder, ribbon from Mike's

Enjoy!
Michelle

St. Louis = Hot in the Summer

ETA: This card won a MFT September 2008 Ambassador spot. You can read the announcement here.

I live just outside St. Louis and it was about 100 degrees all last week! So, Hot in the Summer equals St. Louis for me. This was created for the MFT September Guest Designer challenge MFGD09.

The St. Louis Arch was created by using my Cricut to cut out a letter U. I turned it upside down and traced it to get my shape. I colored it as usual. I even remembered the windows at the top!

I tried a new technique on this card. I colored with Copics AND Prismacolor pencils on the dog, skirt, and hat. I found the instructions here.

And now for another painting trick. How did I know what angle to draw those lines on the sidewalk? Well first you find the center point of your center "horizon" line. Top to bottom, that is where the sky meets the ground (gotta ignore the buildings here). Left to right, its in the center. In this piece it is the where the center building meets the grass. Put the top of your ruler there and pretend it is stuck there on a brad so that the bottom can swing left to right but the top cannot move. Now move the bottom of the ruler left or right and draw your lines. Here's an illustration:

Stamps: MFT Going Places, MFT Can Ya Dig It?, MFT Gone to the Dogs
Paper: Night of Navy, Bazzill Red, SU DP
Ink: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Old Olive
Accessories: Cricut, Copics, Prismacolor Pencils & Baby Oil, White Gel Pen, fine Black marker
Time: Probably 2 hours (lots of starts and stops...busy day)
Enjoy!
Michelle

The Rocket Elf

This was completed for the last 2 OCCC challenges (Christmas Card & Sketch) as I was a little behind!

I'm scary with that embossing powder - what I mess I make!

As always, I cut first and then inked. I brayered and sponged to get the look I wanted.

ETA: Houses....had to have 5. I always try to work with odd numbers as it is more interesting to the eye (another painting tip carried over to stamping).

Stamps: A Muse Rocket Elf, Neighborhood Wheel, Lots of Thoughts, Background Basics
Paper: Bazzill Red, Silver from Mike's, Soft Sky
Ink: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Night of Navy
Accessories: Copics, glitter pen, white gel pen, stickles, embossing powder, heat gun, wavy ruler, glass mat & knife
Time: A little over 90 minutes

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Celebrate in the City

Spent the weekend at Table Rock Lake (Branson, Missouri) so I’m trying to get caught up on some great challenges that I missed over the weekend! This was created for challenge MFTSC42 (although I hope you don’t mind that I had to do the sketch in mirror image to use this stamp set).

I’m loving the “billboard” in the lower right corner! I’m also loving how the plane appears to be up on pop dots but its really flat. This effect is a result of the white gel pen highlights and a grey shadow underneath (my favorite trick lately).

I created the illusion of a large city by color and repeat stamping. I learned this little trick from painting landscapes…..Things that are closer in the front are more detailed and vibrantly colored. Things that are further away have less detail and are softer colored. That’s exactly the rules I used when I created this city. I only cared that the close buildings were stamped perfectly. I also highlighted each and every window of the close buildings with my white gel pen. For the buildings futher back, I stamped off on scratch paper before I stamped onto my card to produce a lighter and less perfect image. I used a lighter greay for each row of buildings as I moved “further away”. I’ve even colored with my lightest grey copic in areas where there is no stamping at all for some really faint, far away buildings.

Time: 30 minutes messing up figuring out how to layer those buildings and then 90 minutes on the actual card you see here.
Stamps: MFT Going Places
Ink: Soft Sky
Paper: Bazzill Red
Accessories: Copics, White Gel Pen, Cricut

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

You asked for it.....

OMG! Thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments. I am so honored. In response to your request, I've added a subscription thingee over on the right (I hope it works! Let me know!). I'll let you in on a little hint too. I use Google reader to manage all the blogs that I watch. Just login to www.google.com/reader using your regular google account and it will allow you to add lots 'o blogs and will highlight the ones that have new postings. I just go to that one website and can see all the blogs I watch on one screen. No emails. Very handy.

And to answer another question, my cards are taking 1-2 hours each. A lot of that is wasted time! On the monochromatic blue card below, it took me only 15 minutes to stamp and sponge that main panel. Then another 20 minutes searching for my one and only white gel pen that was accidentally put away with my Prismacolor pencils (I have 2 white gel pens now!) and then I finally went into assembly mode and played with a couple of designs before I settled on that one. I really enjoy the PROCESS of creating the card and don't really worry about how long it takes.

Thanks so much for your support!
Michelle