Thursday, December 31, 2009

Mo's Challenge # 12


A New Beginning!
 

I hope everyone had a pleasant Christmas, and you are all enjoying a well-deserved rest after all the holiday preparations and celebrations.
We were fortunate to be able to spend time with all our children and grandchildren. It's wonderful that they all live near enough so that we can see them often, especially at holiday times. It's also great that they all get along so well and enjoy each others' company (ours, too, apparently! LOL!) We just all love to laugh!

 I can't believe that this is Mo's twelfth challenge! It's so much fun to create with Mo's images. I hope you are all enjoying the challenges, too!

Our hostess Lydia's challenge to us this week was to create a card or project for a "New Beginning"....a new baby, new home, new love...you get the idea.







I chose to make a magnetic calendar for 2010 to give to my sister-in-law for her January birthday. She has framed some of the cards I've sent her in the past, so I figured I'd make her something she could keep up for the whole year that would be decorative and useful.
The image is Mo's "Home, Tweet Home". It's available as a freebie to members of her PCP and SNR  groups, or for purchase in her online store.
I colored it with Copics and mounted it and the mini tear-off calendar (Created by Cat on SCS) on Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses DP and SU! card stock in  coordinating colors. It measures 5" x 7". I  used Diamond Glaze adhesive to attach  four 1" x 2" magnetic strips on the back. (That might be over-kill, but I didn't want it to pull off the fridge when she pulled off a page!)
Okay, now let's see what you'll do to celebrate something new!


Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Time to Myself

My husband has gone to an eye appointment and to do some shopping, so I had a little time to myself today. I finished a couple of  Thank You cards from days ago that I had a bit of trouble with. I find if I put them aside and go back to them later, things seem to iron out and I'm happier with the results.




 


I  had used larger Prima leaves that just didn't look right. Today I ripped them off and made some using my MS leaf and branch  punches.
The daisy is a digital that I downloaded from somewhere. Unfortunately, I have so many images stored that it's hard for me to keep track. I do wish that all artists would include their signature on the artwork. They could then be credited, and  it could always be cropped out before the image was printed if you chose to.
The background  was made using scrap pieces of CS that I ran through my Cuttlebug to emboss. I have sooo much scrap, so I'm always trying to find ways to use it up. Unfortunately, the pile grows faster than I can get through it!

The roses were made using SU!'s "Roses in Winter" set. I never get tired of making them or using them on cards....they're always a hit with the recipients. The centers were finished by gluing on some tiny seed beads.

Day Tripper


  



This card was also giving me the fits! I had the little guy from Mo's Digital Pencil colored weeks ago, but hadn't gotten around to putting a card together until today. I just couldn't seem to get it looking right until I hit on the idea of making those funky flowers.
I cut three sizes of CS and thoroughly abused them to get this look. First, I laid them flat and rubbed the edges with my scoring tool, which separated the edges and gave it a softer look. Next, I balled them up and rubbed them between my hands. I then sort of pleated them with my fingers to ruffle them a bit (I'm sure they were already felling a little "ruffled" at this point!). To finish off the center, I strung a few tiny beads on thin wire, threaded the ends through the Basic Grey buttons, then ran the wire through the holes I had poked in the centers of the stacked circles. I think they're the perfect embellishment to go with that bright, psychedelic Basic Grey DP. I hand cut the leaves and used an embossing stylus to vein them. Now I have to come up with a sentiment for the inside!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

All White Challenge #11


Faux Anaglypta
This is the card I made for Mo's Challenge this week. Lydia is our hostess for the month, and she challenged us to make a card that was all white except for the image. I was a little worried about pulling it off, but I like what I came up with!
Anaglypta is a heavy, embossed, white, paint-able wall covering, and  I think this card captures the look of it. I used Swiss Dots to emboss a 4 and 3/4" by 6 and 3/4" piece of white CS.  I then cut 1 and 1/4" squares and placed them carefully in another embossing folder over the designs I wanted to emboss. I then glued the embossed squares to slightly larger 1 and 3/8" squares. I adhered these around the large panel using mounting tape.
Then came the image panel. I printed and colored Mo's "Boughs for the Wreath" with Copics and sponged it lightly with blue. I added just a touch of White Lace Stickles, and used Nesties to cut it out and double mount it. I attached it to the middle of the card front with Tacky Tape.
The white poinsettias were made using the Martha Stewart leaf and branch punches. They were put together using Clear Tacky Gel and finished with two sizes of small pearl cabochons. I attached them to the card front using large dimensionals.
The card front is mounted on a 5" x7" card.



(The toy polar bear is one of my hundreds of stuffed teddy bears!)

Join us at Mo's Challenge. We'd love to see your work!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Big Trouble!

Oops!



I've had this image for a while and just got around to coloring it. Isn't she a mess?! I think most of us with kids have found them in a similar situation at least once.
Our middle child got into the cabinet in the bathroom when he was still in diapers. He was only out of sight for two minutes, and, when I found him, he had poured out a bottle of blue-colored shampoo and one of Pepto Bismol and was mixing them in a big purple puddle in the middle of the floor. He looked up at me with a big smile and said, "Look, Mommy! Purpee!" I had to laugh! At least he had learned his colors!
The DP on this card was printed off the computer. I embossed the purple and Banana CS.
The yellow bloom is a Prima Trestle Rose.
I had purchased some Prima leaves on line and realized that most are much too large for cards. I took one of the largest and used a Martha Stewart punch to make some that were a better size. The lace is some that I've had for years since the days when I actually sewed on fabric!
The inside of the card says, "Oops! I'm sorry...guess I  really messed up this time! Will you forgive me?

Friday, December 11, 2009

Tu-Tu Cute!




 I love these chubby little ballerinas, but I love all of Mo's images!
This is for the Sketch Challenge on Splitcoast today. I don't often get to participate, but school was called off today because of a heavy snowfall. Yippee! I might not be that happy about it when the day has to be made up in June, though.








I'll get to stamp a little more today, but I do have to take time to decorate the dozens of gingerbread boys and girls I baked over the weekend. I put them in cellophane bags tied with yarn and hang them in the panes of my bay window in the dining room. Two of our grandchildren are spending the day with us, so they'll help me until they get bored!
I also want to get a bit of decorating done. I haven't even started yet, because I was supposed to have surgery on Monday, and was going to be recuperating over the holidays. Yesterday the doctor decided that the surgery is to be postponed for at least a  month, so now I'm in more of a holiday mood!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Mo's Challenge # 10



Singin' Your Praises!

I really like blues and yellows together...it's just such a  cheerful combination! 
Lydia's challenge to us this week was to make a Thank You card using one of Mo's images. 
I decided that I'd use "Tomorrow" and not color her with the usual red and white dress and red hair. Now she's just any little girl singing out her thanks!
I love doing the "out-of-the-box" technique with Nesties. It looks difficult, but is actually pretty simple to achieve. 
Here's a tutorial by Diana at Paper Cookies that's easy to follow. Give it a try and you'll be hooked!
I used SU! Yo-Yo Yellow and Ballet and Bliss Blue CS. The white is from PaperTrey Ink, and the designer paper is from Basic Grey.  I colored the image using Copics and popped it and the sentiment up with mounting tape.



Come over  and join us in Mo's challenge. We'd love to see your work.



Sunday, December 6, 2009

Oh, no! No Mo!






This is the first card I've made in a very long time that didn't use an image from Mo's Digital Pencil! I think by now I can safely say that I'm addicted.
Every now and then I like to make a floral card. This image is a digital from DZ Doodles. Though we had our first snow storm of the winter last night, this card has a fall look, because I love the warm colors of red, gold, and orange any time of year. I also needed a little break from Christmas cards!
I find that before I start to color a realistic flower or  bird with Copics, I like to check out color pictures to remind myself  what the real thing looks like. For instance, the insides of some chrysanthemum petals are a contrasting color to the outside petals. I was a floral designer for years in what seems like another life, so you'd think I wouldn't need to refresh my memory!
I used PaperTrey Ink white CS, SU! olive, gold and orange, and Basic Grey designer paper. The sentiment is "Elegant Cheer", also from SU! The pearl cabochons and border punch are Martha Stewart. I used the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder and Nestibilities label dies.
Lately, most of my cards are 5" x7". That size gives you a bit more room for embellishments than the smaller A2 size. I have to use up all the "stuff" I've been accumulating!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Visions of Sugarplums





This is my DT card for Mo's challenge #9 this week. We were to make a Christmas card for someone special using traditional Christmas colors. I chose to make this for my 6 year old granddaughter, who, along with her cousin and brother, certainly makes every day a little sweeter for her Pa and Mimi!
The stocking is from Mo's Digital Pencil, of course,  and the sweets are from a coloring book page. I used several shades of red, green and gold Copics to color the images and gold and silver Spica pens to add a touch of glitz. The sentiment is computer-generated. I used mounting tape to pop up both the main image panel and the sweets. I put the white cs through the Cuttlebug, using two embossing folders. The satin ribbon covers the blank spot  where they come together.

I hope you'll make a card for someone special in your life and enter it in the challenge this week. We'll be looking forward to your visit!

Where's the Shine?!






My Christmas cards are all one-of-a-kind....I don't ever make the same exact card twice. Consequently, I make them almost all year long whenever the mood or a new idea strikes me, until I have enough to send out.
This one uses  Mo's 'Sending Peace'. I think it's a lovely image for Christmas.
I wish you could see this IRL! I used gold and silver Spica pens to outline the details on her wings and dress, which give it a very subtle and pleasing glitter. Of course, it doesn't show in the scan, and I couldn't get a decent picture, either. I think I'm going to have to invest in a new digital camera and one of those little table top photo studios!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Adventures in Card-making..... Problem Solving




This is a card I made a few days ago. Originally there were no scrolls on it, but while trying to edge the white frame in gold, the marker splotched! Of course, there's no error you can't cover up with a well-placed embellishment, so now there are scrolls.
I couldn't get to my acetate sheets upstairs (I can't climb stairs, but that's a story for another time), so I cut apart the top of an old card box and used that for my window.
I don't have an icicle border, but I do have Martha's Dripping Goo punch, so I trimmed the goo to look like icicles!
The poinsettias I had planned to use were much too big, so I improvised and made my own using a five petal punch and punching out just one of the flowers from an SU! three flower punch.
After all that, my 'shaker' card doesn't shake! I only used one thickness of mounting tape when I should have used two. I wasn't about to bother fixing that mistake!
I had to overcome a lot of slip-ups in designing this, but I think it turned out okay....after all, I did use one of Mo's images!
I really like the non-traditional colors of Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses DP. It's so much fun to match your Copic choices to a pretty paper!





I decided it was about time that I started photographing my cards instead of scanning them after the scan of this card changed the colors completely. This isn't the best photo, but it's my first, so please be kind. At least the colors are truer.
This is one of Mo's newest images. Isn't it adorable? It would be good for Christmas or a birthday.
The little toy cat is part of my collection of miniature things

The supplies and tools I used:

Cuttlebug
Petite Oval Nesties
Embossing Folder
Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses DP
PTI White CS
SU! Pomegranate, Turquoise, & Wasabi CS
Martha Stewart Loop Border Punch
Satin Ribbon
Mounting Tape
Ribbon Flowers
Tiny Pearls
Copics

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Finding My Way

Please forgive me as I try to find my way around. I'm just blindly forging ahead, trying to get this the way I want it. I've changed the blog name from "My Hart's Desires", because I found too many other sites with very similar names...one was even for adult viewing! That one was the deciding factor!
The new name has more to do with my interests. I started stamping years ago when my daughter decided to move all her stamping paraphernalia from her house to an empty upstairs room in mine, then never found the time to come over to use it. I started playing with all the goodies and got hooked! Her original stash has grown exponentially since then. I never met a tool or embellishment I didn't like!
I've always had cats in my life, and presently have two guys..... Nomar, a huge gray tiger that my youngest son named after a former Red Sox ballplayer, and Elijah, a blond tiger with fur like a teddy bear. They are both with me whenever I'm stamping or on the computer.
As for the collections...I seem to have a problem. Over the  years I have collected, Hummel figurines, salt glazed pottery, antique wood-working tools, miniature chairs, other miniatures of all kinds, porcelain dolls, teddy bears, Christmas decorations, hand carved paper mache molds, and STAMPS!
Aside from the bears and, of course, the stamps, most of my collections are small and manageable. The bears line the walls in our computer room, and the stamps fill an entire armoire, several other bureau drawers, and two under-bed storage containers in my bedroom!
Since I discovered digital images within the past year, my rubber stamps have been gathering dust! I love digitals.... they are inexpensive, can be downloaded on the spot, storage is not an issue, and you can do so much with them. Of course, when I found Mo Manning's images this past summer, I was blown away! Now I have another collection....over 100 of her images! It's just like eating peanuts...once you start, you can't stop!
Well, that's the story behind the blog name change. I'd love to hear the meaning behind some of the names you've chosen!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Mo's DT Challenge # 8

 Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! I'm full and happy after a day spent with family and friends.



This week we were to make a card merging two images into a Christmas scene. I used a card program to merge Thursday's Child with the door to create this scene. This is the equivalent of masking with rubber stamps. It's fun and fairly easy. You can also just cut the images out and create your card that way, too. Give it a try and come over and share your creations with us in Mo's challenge for a chance to win one of Mo's sweet images.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Hello... and welcome to my blog! I'm so excited to finally have a blog, and glad you will join me on this maiden voyage.

I made this card for the 6th Challenge at Mo's Digital Pencil using the sketch created by Caryn, our November Hostess.



I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a comment.

Thanks for visiting!