6 Soccer Cards

Well the good news is that I FINALLY was able to get Dress Up Billy and Billy & Lilly's Accessories stamps (because I had the cash on the same day my favorite store had both stamp sets in stock). The bad news is that I had to make 6 soccer cards and I hate to mass produce - Blech! 3 Billy cards were made for my DS's soccer coaches and 3 Lilly cards were made for my DD's soccer coaches.

I brayered the sky in Baja Breeze and added a little Blue Bayou in the upper corners. The ground was sponged in Wild Wasabi with a little Old Olive to the lower corners. Of course, I used a mask to mark off the areas where I didn't want ink (see below for more on that). Then I removed the mask and just free hand sponged Old Olive in a circular motion to get that greenery where the sky meets the ground. I like how it created a shadow under the bushes when I ran into the Wild Wasabi areas. It needed a little texture so I stamped some leafy shapes with my Kittie Kit. I drew a white line for the bounds of the soccer fields with a white gel pen.

The kid's uniforms were colored to match what their team's wore. I had to "frankenstein" Lilly a bit (I mean I used body parts from different stamps). I thought Lilly's body needed to be toughened up a bit so I used Billy's body with Lilly's head. I also removed Lilly's earrings - we are always reminding our girls to remove their earrings before the game.

The main panel was cut into 3 pieces, a layer of Summer Sun was inserted. I drew in the little marks for the foot kicking and the ball flying, and finally stamped the sentiment in Night of Navy to finish. Shew.

Now whenever I have to mass produce something, I create a "jig" (I guess I've watched too much Norm Abram & This Old House on TV!). I mark on a scrap of paper where my main panel (or item to be stamped) goes. Then I mark the position of my mask for the ground in this case. Other times, I mark where the borders of the stamp block go. This helps me quickly line the image up each time without having to rethink. Here's a messy pic of what I'm talking about (I use scrap paper until it dies!).













Stamps: Pink Cat Studio Dress Up Billy, Pink Cat Studio Lilly & Billy Accessories, Kittie Kit Cause a Scene Outdoor Master
Paper: Night of Navy, Summer Sun, Whisper White
Ink: Baja Breeze, Blue Bayou, Wild Wasabi, Old Olive, Night of Navy
Accessories: Copics, Prismacolor pencils & baby oil, white gel pen, ½” circle punch


Enjoy!
Michelle B.
"Queen of the Scene"

Rudolph Backdrop

Well, I mentioned to you the other day that I was working on this huge Reindeer painting and I promised to share it. So, here it is. Be sure you click on the picture to make it bigger so you can get a good look.

This measures about 4 foot x 4 foot. I'm only 5'2" so you can imagine me crawling around on the basement floor to reach all the areas of this painting. At one point I felt something wet on my knees and realized I was in the middle kneeling on wet paint! Eek! It took about 3 hours to complete (so why does a tiny card take me 2 hours?). The large areas are all painted with a sponge so it goes pretty quick!

Here's a closeup of the eyes. I love to paint eyes! I spent a lot of time doing the colored part of the eye. I was having fun and just kinda lost myself in it!


What's it for? In my spare time (Ha!) I'm a co-leader for my DD's 4th grade Girl Scout troop. Each year the troops at our school do a fund raiser called the Santa Sale. For sale are very inexpensive items for children to purchase as gifts for their family. This was painted to be used as a backdrop for photos to "get your picture taken with Rudolph". Another troop is making frames to go with this. Imagine a child standing just to the right of Rudolph's head. How cute it's going to be!

I did use one stamp: Snowfall

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

Santa Sky

The OCCC challenge to use silhouette’s inspired this creation. I don’t use a lot of DP but have been trying to get better at that. I often find, as in this case, that I just couldn’t leave this DP alone and had to stamp on it too!

For the main image: I first punched a circle out of a post it. I used the outside piece as a mask to sponge my moon in Soft Sky. Then I used the inside of piece of the punch (the actual circle) to mask the moon while I sponged Blue Bayou around. I kind of kept an angle from the upper left to the lower right and sponged Night of Navy down from there. I used Blue Bayou to again to blend in the line between those two colors. A little black in the lower left corner and a little more Blue Bayou in the upper right and I was done with the basics. I stamped the trees in Night of Navy and then Basic Black. I added a little white Prismacolor pencil to the right side of each tree to help them “pop”. I stamped Santa in black and added a little white gel pen to the right sides of this image as well. Finally the sentiment was stamped in Whisper White.

Oh, how I wish I could take a great picture! This card is so cool IRL (in real life!).

Stamps: Amuse Santa Silhouette, Snowfall, Lovely as a Tree
Paper: Blue Bayou, Whisper White, SU DP
Ink: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Night of Navy, Basic Black, Whisper White, circle punch
Accessories: white Prismacolor Pencil, white gel pen

Enjoy!
Michelle B.
“Queen of the Scene”

Volleyball Anyone?

This is post #2 today so be sure to read down.

So I'm cruising along this morning, making some cards and working on a huge painting of a reindeer (more on that when its done). And then it hits me.....The volleyball dinner is TONIGHT and I don't have the cards done. EEK! (are you seeing a trend here with me lately?) So, I hurried to change gears and start this project. I made two of these for DD's volleyball team to give to their coaches tonight at the end of season dinner. These are not colors of my choosing - I had to "take one for the team" and use the team colors of Navy and Yellow.

The main image was a PIF from Anemone (Thanks Kelly!).

The crowd was made by stamping faces from All In The Family in rows and coloring it all in with Copics (even the background).

How I Color

Stamps: High Hopes Settin Sara, All In The Family, Hanna Stamps Things Hanna Would Say
Paper: Night of Navy, Summer Sun, Close to Cocoa
Ink: Night of Navy, Distress Ink Aged Linen, Brilliance Black Graphite
Accessories: Copics, Prismacolor Pencils and baby oil

Enjoy!
Michelle B.
“Queen of the Scene”

Shiny Reindeer

This was just made because I had an idea in my head (no challenge for this one). Lots of shine here with embossed snowflakes and gold glitter pen on various parts of the Reindeer image. This fabulous image is a PIF from Turtlescrapper (Thanks Jaclyn!).

First, I made a mask (see illustration below) for a hill. I held that in place to mark off where the sky would end. I stamped snowflakes using my Virsamark pad and embossed in clear. I then sponged Soft Sky into the sky area. When I was done, I used a paper towel to clean any ink off the snowflakes. Then I started moving that mask down into the snow area and sponged a soft line of Soft Sky along the top of the mask (see illustration below again). This is another painting trick: You want the peak of the snow drift to be white and the blue is used to create a shadow behind your snow drift. When I paint snowdrifts, I even turn my painting upside down to make this easier. Where’s the Blue Bayou? On the outer edge of the bottom most white layer….it needed just a little more kick!



How I Color

How I Get my Layers to Line Up - Cut then Ink technique

Stamps: Whipper Snapper Rodney Reindeer, Merry & Bright
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou
Accessories: Copics, Prismacolor Pencils and baby oil, gold glitter pen, Virsamark pad, clear detail embossing powder, heat gun

Enjoy!
Michelle B.
“Queen of the Scene”

Masculine Snowman

This was created for the Beate’s Weekend Sketch Challenge # 66. I thought this would make a great masculine Christmas card so I actually made 2 of them!

I first heard about using Kraft as a background for a white snowman from Denise aka Peanutbee. It looked pretty cool and I’ve been wanting to experiment with different color skies so…. I thought I’d give it a try. The snowflakes & sentiment are stamped in Whisper White. The snow mounds and snowman are colored in using Prismacolor pencils and baby oil. It was fun so give it a try!

Stamps: Merry & Bright
Paper: Soft Sky, Kraft, SU DP
Ink: Whisper White
Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils and baby oil, Always Artichoke brads, ¼” circle punch

Enjoy!
Michelle B.
“Queen of the Scene”

To the North Pole

This was created for the All That Scraps DT Challenge #26 to make an easily reproducible Christmas card. I made this in 25 minutes and for a 2-hour-a-card-kinda-girl, that was FAST!

Now, I didn't have a North pole stamp but I didn't let that stop me. I just simply got out my CC Designs Sugarplums Halloween set and made a North pole from one of the signs, the sign post, and a 1/2" circle punch. I hand wrote "North Pole", colored with copics, and added some icicles by "drawing" them in with Stickles. Here's a close up:









I dry embossed the center panel with my Snowflakes embossing folder. I ran my Virsamark pad over the top and covered with Winter Wonderland embossing powder from Mike's. This layer was finished with a shot from the heat gun. Assemble the layers and I'm done.

Stamps: CC_Designs Sugarplums Halloween
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White
Accessories: Copics, Snowflakes Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Virsamark Pad, Winter Wonderland embossing powder from Mike’s , ½ inch circle punch, White gel pen

Enjoy!
Michelle B.
"Queen of the Scene"