Pineapple Anyone?

Hello Friends...

Pineapple anyone?

Today I wanted to share my mixed media tag that I made for the Gecko Galz challenge 

Good Old Summer Time

I just love this image from the Aloha set, it is a perfect summer time image and it was the inspiration for the entire tag.

I started off by spritzing Bamboo, Dandelion and New Sprout Fireworks! Shimmery spray ink onto my craft mat. I then pounced the tag into the mix several times (drying the tag between layers).

Note: I had a small scrap of Yupo on my table that I used to pick up the remaining ink.

After the inks had dried I stamped flowers, leaves and vines from the new Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamp set - Southern Charm using VersaFine Clair Inks.

I stamped the pineapples and exotic leaves from the Sunny Studio stamp set Fabulous Flamingos onto the inked scrap of Yupo with VersaMark ink and embossed with Black Mboss embossing powder. The pineapples were colored with Memento Dual Tip Markers.

I stamped the sentiment (also from the Fabulous Flamingos stamp set) onto a scrap of white cardstock and trimmed.

All of the various elements were fussy cut and adhered to the tag. I added several different bits of ribbon to finish off the tag.

Happy Summer all!!

I would also like to enter this MM tag in the 

Mod Squad MM Tag Challenge!

Supplies:

Gecko Galz - Aloha

Imagine - VersaMark, VersaFine Clair, Memento Dual Tip Markers, Fireworks! Shimmery Spray Ink

Sunny Studio - Fabulous Flamingos

Rubber Stamp Tapestry - Southern Charm

Yupo Paper

Tag

Ribbon

Cole Update...

Hi Friends ...

I'm not asking for cards or anything...several people have asked so I thought I'd share it here.

I wish I had some good news but Cole fell over the weekend and broke the same leg he broke the last time in the same exact place.  I am just so sad, upset, worried, etc. you name the emotion and it's floating around in my head.  

I wish he didn't have to go through this, I wish he didn't have this horrible disorder, I would gladly take his place but I know none of this is possible. Dh said we just have to be thankful that he is as healthy as he is and hope that he grows out of it.  I know this is true but it still eats at me.  I'm a fixer...I have to fix things but this is something that I can't fix and it's very hard to accept that.

Anyway, I thought you'd want to know...

By the Sea...

Hello my Inky Friends!

Today I have several cards to share with you filled with shells.

Rubber Stamp Tapestry released several brand new peg stamp sets and two of those sets are lovely sea shell mixes - Fine and Sandy and Seaside Treasures. 

I wanted to step outside of my color safe zone and decided to go with orange as the main color on this card. I started off by creating the background with stipple brushes and VersaMagic inks (chalk inks). These inks/colors are perfect for this beachy card.

I went with teal,coral and gingerbread for my second card again using the VersaMagic Inks.  This time I wanted something clean and simple...or at least that was my goal. I'm sure CAS purists will say there are too many shells but once I got started I kind of got carried away. I drew a simple line box leading down to the sentiment.  It is mounted on a piece of Turquoise/Gold Glossy Rinea Foiled Paper to add just an extra touch of elegance.

I wanted bold in your face colors for this tag/card combo. All of the stamping was done using VersaFine Clair inks which really pop.  The background of the tag was made using Nuance pigment powders in greens and blues. 

My final card was created using both of the sea shell sets as well as the Undersea Adventure set that has the darling fish, squid, jellyfish and more. I used Gina Marie's Stitched CIrcle Plate Background Die as a jumping off point and created 6 little underwater scenes.

I hope this inspires you to get in the beachy mood.

Have a wonderful day friends!!

Stay Inky :)

Supplies:

Rubber Stamp Tapestry - Fine & Sandy, Seaside Treasures, Undersea Adventure
Imagine - VersaFine Clair; VersaMagic; Stipple Brush; Memento Dual Tip Markers
Gina Marie - Stitched Circle Plate Background Die
Rinea - Turquoise/Gold Glossy Foiled Paper

Put a Face On It Challenge

Hello Peeps...

I hope you're having a nice start to your week...

it's a bit drab here - foggy, cool and overcast.

There's a new challenge at Lost Coast Designs...

#78 - Face On

and here is what I created....

I just love the Up Close & Personal set of stamps...a variety of intriguing faces to use for all sorts of things.   

I also used this fun saying that is perfect...

because we are the world to our pets.

The background was made by stamping the faces onto a piece of sky blue cardstock using Morning Mist VersaFine Clair Ink. Once it had dried I sprinkled a bit of Magenta's Nuance Pigment Powder and gave it a spritz of water.  Subtle but just what it needed.

Celebrate the 4th in Style!

So excited to share one of my latest creations...

Rinea GIANT Size Firecrackers!!

These things look amazing on my front porch...the shiny foiled papers from Rinea are a real eye catcher. They stand out even on grey days which seems to be often this summer.

The best part is they are so easy to make.

All you need are a few cardboard tubes, Rinea's Patriotic Crafters Pack and a bit of adhesive and you're set to go!

Check out the complete tutorial here:

Create Giant Size Rinea Firecrackers

Supplies:

Rinea - Patriotic Crafters Pack, Shredded Assorted Foiled Papers (for the "crackle" on top)

Cardboard Tubes

Chipboard (to cover top of tube)

Adhesive

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy...

I am so excited to share a new set of peg stamps with you...

Undersea Adventure!

Actually this is only one of the 9 newly released peg stamp sets but for some reason it jumped out and me and I had to use it immediately!

My first card is a pretty straight forward clean and simple card (at least it is for me). 

I started off by stamping the sentiment (Mom & Dad clear set) using VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink. I then started adding the fish...the green angler was first cause he's just so stinkin' cute!  Next the puffer, some orange jellyfish and finally the school of bright green mini's. I used a blending brush to give the feel of water here and there and finished it off with some glitter bubbles!

After the first card I decided I wanted to think out of the box or rather the sea just to see what I could come up with.  I decided upon a fish conga line!  I started off with the squid and decided to add a puffer and angler fish line and well, I couldn't stop until the entire panel was full of fishy conga lines - LOL!!   Added the sentiment and called it good.

My final card happened by accident.  While I was testing ink colors on the squid I happened to stamp them side by side and noticed it made a new look so I experimented a bit and found something that worked great! It actually made me think of a water ballet with these fun fish! 

I drew tiny circles across a white cardstock panel and used that as a starting point to stamp. I stamped the squids with the tips of their heads on the edge of the pencil circle - 4 purple then 4 pink. It worked so well that I tried the puffers and tossed in the little mini's for fun. After I had stamped all of the designs I went back and erased all of the pencil marks, added a gemstone at the center and mounted it on the green card base.   I can't wait to take this idea and pair it with different fish/colors.

Can you tell...I LOVE these creatures!!

Supplies:

Rubber Stamp Tapestry - Undersea Adventures, Mom & Dad

Imagine - VersaFine Clair Inks

Sunny Studios - Sentiment Stamps

Gemstones, Glitter, Cardstock

Green Ferns, Yupo Paper and Mboss!

Happy Friday!

Today I wanted to share my latest project on the Imagine blog...

Imagine's Color of the Month for June is Fern Green. I hadn't intended on taking the color challenge literally but as luck would have it I had a new fern peg stamp as well as a new fern metal cutting die from Spellbinders so it worked out perfectly and I ran with it.

I also wanted to play with Imagine's new Mboss embossing powders so I played around with a bit of Yupo paper that I colored, shrank and embossed the edges.

I also embossed the sentiment...white on black which really makes it pop.

If you'd like full instructions on how I created the card you can hop on over to the Imagine blog here -

Learn How To Use Yupo Paper In A New Way

Supplies

Imagine

VersaFine Clair Inkpad – Shady Lane, Rain Forest, Verdant

VersaMark

Mboss Embossing Powder – Gold, White

Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray – Ivy Cottage, Bamboo Leaves, Pear Tart

Sheer Shimmer Spritz – Gold

Stipple Brush

Other

Yupo Paper

White & Black Cardstock

Rubber Stamp Tapestry – Fern

Spellbinders – Ferns

Heat Tool

Gold Thread

Lemon Lime & Black

Hello my inky friends!

Today I wanted to share what I created for the current challenge over at 

Lost Coast Designs....

Challenge #77 - Lemon, Lime & Black

Not your usual summer card huh?

I started off by stamping the doodle garden twice, once with black ink on lime green cardstock and once on black cardstock with white ink.  I fussy cut both images and twined them together so they fit on the yellow card.

Next I stamped the doodle flower 3x, colored with lime green colored pencil and fussy cut.  Those were glued directly onto the background.  I then stamped the skull and colored it with both lemon and lime colored pencils, fussy cut and mounted it on the card with double stick foam tape.

My first impression of the challenge was WOW, this is going to be hard because these are not the usual colors I work with but I have to tell you this was LOADS of fun! I really enjoyed stepping out of my color box and playing with something new.

I hope you try your hand at these colors ...

If you do, be sure to enter them into the challenge for your chance to win!

Lost Coast Designs Rubber Stamps: Three Small Skulls, Sketchy Flower, Doodle Garden

Imagine - VersaFine Clair - Nocturne; StazOn Pigment Ink - Snowflake

Other - Colored Pencils, Cardstock

When Life Gives You Lemons... Gecko Galz Good Old Summertime Challenge

I was inspired by Gecko Galz new challenge - 

Good Old Summertime!

It's been a while since I've done much with collage images but this challenge really sparked something so I decided to give it a go by making this Lemonade Pocket Letter....

I used images from the collage sheet - Let's Make Lemonade, computer generated sentiments which I printed out on vellum, lemon stamps from Sunny Studios (Slice of Summer), and Staz On Pigment Ink and VersaFine Clair inks from Imagine.

Both the yellow and green background papers are gelli prints that I made over the weekend.

I added some sequins and gemstones to finish it off :)

It was nice to get back into being creative.

This just tickles me...since she was a bit to large for the pocket, I cut a small hole at the bottom of the pocket and poked her leg through. 

Supplies:

Gecko Galz - Let's Make Lemonade

Imagine - VersaFine Clair, StazOn Pigment

Sunny Studio - Slice of Summer

Gelli Plate Prints

DecoArt Paints

Vellum, Sequins, Gemstones

Craft Day

I mentioned in my last post that my Mom and DIL were getting together to craft this past weekend.  We did and it was so much fun! In the morning we worked on painted canvases that we topped with glitter :)  Yes, you know I have to play with glitter!!

Morgan's creations...

Mom's art

And mine...

After lunch I pulled out the gelli plates and we play some more. 

Neither of them had ever worked with a gelli plate but as you can see the results were amazing...

Mom's

Morgan's

Mine

It was such a fun day we've decided to have an art day each month after Mom gets back from Newfoundland.