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Friday, November 20, 2009

Happy Birthday Carly!

My niece, Carly, is celebrating her birthday next week. Carly is a high-energy child, so Abby Celebrating by Mo's Digital Pencil was the perfect image for her card.



Isn't she a cutie? Abby was colored with copic markers (colors below), and highlighted with a white gel pen.


When I printed Abby, I printed 2 additional copies of the balloons so I could pop them up off of the card to make them look like they are floating. I normally would add some crystal effects to the balloons for a nice glossy finish, but I've found that this makes my copic ink run. Waa! So instead, I added a touch of sparkle with a clear spica pen (which, of course, doesn't photograph well).


My card today does double duty as it uses the Charisma Cardz #46 sketch, and follows the rules for Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge #7.

Markers used:

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Fairy Christmas...a color challenge

 

With only 35 days left until Christmas, I've really got to get cracking on my holiday cards. I get tired of using red and green on all my cards, so when I saw this weeks Digital Tuesday Challenge was to make a card using white, purple and silver (or gold), I thought it would be perfect for a non-traditional card.


My sister-in-law loves snowglobes, so I knew Christmas Fairy Holly by Mo's Digital Pencil would be perfect for a card for her family this year. Isn't she sweet?



Holly was colored with copic markers, and then I went over her wings and the bells on her sash with a Sakura Stardust pen for a bit of sparkle and silvery sheen. I dotted a bit more on the ruffle of her skirt for a little more oompfh.



For my snowflake accent, I punch 2 snowflakes out of vellum. I used my V95 copic to color the largest snowflake to make it stand out against the white background, and then covered both snowflakes with Twinklets (are you sick of hearing about them yet? LOL!). I just love how they sparkle!


Copics used:

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Wishing you peace...


Meet Kimi, one of the adorable new holiday digital images by InStyle Stamps. Isn't she a cutie?


Kimi was colored with Copic markers (see photo below), and then had diamond Stickles added to her wings for a bit of sparkle. I dotted on a bit of gold Spica pen to her halo and sash as well for a little metallic shimmer. The pretty snowflakes are vellum coated with Twinklets Diamond Dust.

I'm doing quintuple duty with my card today. I made a holiday card using a digital image for this weeks Digital Tuesday Challenge, I've got glitter for Cute Card Thursday, coloring with gold for Copic Creations, I used the sketch by Friday Sketchers, and finally, the snow theme goes with InStyle Stamps Over-the-Hump Blog Candy Challenge. How's that for multi-tasking?!? LOL!

If you'd like to purchase Kimi, or any of the other adorable images from InStyle Stamps, click HERE to recieve a 5% discount on your purchase.

Markers used:

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Happy Birthday Paul!


When I saw this delectable image, Western Heat, by Victoria Case Art Designs, I knew it would be perfect for a birthday card for my friend, Paul.


I colored Western Heat with copic markers, and then used a silver spica pen and a sakura stardust gelly roll pen on the belt buckle for a little metallic sparkle. Paul is a simple and clean kind of guy, so I kept my embellishments to a minimum with just a few brads and an embossed layer for a little "oomph". On the inside, I used the computer to print "May all your birthday wishes come true." I know mine would if this guy showed up on my door step! LOL!

Copics used:

Monday, November 2, 2009

We've moved, and you get the house warming gifts!

InStyle Stamps has moved to blogger, and to celebrate our move, we have presents for you! The first 150 people to subscribe to the new InStyle Stamps blog by 6 pm, Monday, November 9th will be given a free digital image or free digital paper of their choice. You must subscribe by the time frame given and leave a comment on this post on the InStyle Stamps blog with your email address. So what are you waiting for? Go check it out!

Spread the Love blog hop for Jaimie

Welcome to the “Stamp Something…for Jaimie, Spreading the Love & Hope” blog hop. If you came here from Jaime Schlangen’s blog, then you are right on track. If not, then please start at the beginning of the hop at Katharina Frei’s blog.

Jaimie and her mother were the victims of a senseless crime that resulted in the death of Jaimie’s mother, Kimberly, and left Jaimie seriously injured. (See details below.) We want to flood Jaimie with love and well-wishes, and are asking everyone who reads this to take the time to join our special Card Drive Challenge and send Jaimie a card. We have generous sponsors who have kindly offered up some prizes to anyone who makes a card, posts it on their blogs, and lets us know they mailed it out.

A little about the cause of our hop:

On October 4, 4 teenagers armed with knives broke into a home in a small town in New Hampshire. Alone and sleeping inside were a mother and her 11 year old daughter. These 4 boys broke into this home with the intent to rob and kill anyone inside. They stabbed the mom, Kimberly Cates, to death and left her daughter, Jaimie, for dead in their driveway. It was a completely random act, their home was chosen only due to its secluded surroundings.

Our hope is that everyone hopping around today will stop for a moment and think about Jaimie and her father and what life must be like for them now. One moment in time has changed their lives forever. We are asking that everyone reading this message please take a moment to make a card and send it off to Jaimie. You can make something very simple or much more involved, but please share some words of hope and love and let her know that people do care and want the best for her. Please send your card to the address below:

Jaimie Cates
c/o Mont Vernon Fire Station
Main Street
Mont Vernon, NH 03057

The hop will run until Monday, November 9th, so you have a full week to participate and make a card for Jaimie. Once you’ve sent your card, pop on over to the Stamp Something…for Jaimie blog and leave us a comment for a chance to win some fabulous prizes generously donated by our sponsors.


For my card, I decided to use Vanessa, one of the adorable anime images by
InStyle Stamps. I had pj's just like this when I was a teen (mine were blue and red), so this image always brings back memories of slumber parties with my friends. You know, the ones where you pigged out on Mountain Dew and Doritos, and stayed up all night giggling over boys. Those were the days! LOL.



Jaimie's favorite colors are hot pink and black, so that determined the colors I used for my card. I colored Vanessa with copic markers (see bottom of the post for the colors) and then went over the LOVE on her pj's with a silver Spica pen for a little sparkle. (There is a close up below so you can see the sparkle better. It is really pretty IRL.)



My card layout is from the Club Anime sketch challenge for this week. Jaimie is not a girly-girl, so this layout was perfect for a non-fussy card. I just added a prima flower and some flat-backed gems for a little bling. I'm not sure of the brand of the patterned paper. It was in a stack of loose sheets a friend gave me a while back and the name slips my mind.


Now what are you waiting for? Head over to Erin Bai
ley's Blog to see what she has made especially for Jaimie.

Markers used:


**I noticed after I uploaded the photo that my RV02 marker was turned the wrong way, so that is the mystery pink ciao.

Friday, October 30, 2009

ISS Blog Hop - Set the Table

It's the last Friday of the month, and you know what that means - it's time to go blog hopping with InStyle Stamps! If you didn't come here from Lysa's blog, then you might want to go to the InStyle Stamps blog to start the hop so you don't miss any of the great projects the dt has in store for you!

Since Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner, this month our theme is "Set the Table". And as usual, we will have some great prizes to give away, so make sure to read all the way down to the bottom of the post to see how you can get entered into a drawing for some great goodies!

For my project, I decided to use the adorable new Anime images, Virginia and William. Aren't they just the cutest little pilgrims?

Around here, "Setting the table" during the holidays always includes a pretty container of seasonal flowers. I decided that my pot of mums needed a little dressing up, so after coloring Virginia and William with my copic markers, I cut them out and used glue dots to attach them to a pair of chop sticks I had laying around (unused, honest!).

The mums came in one of those plain jane green plastic pots, so I rummaged through my collection of decorative pots and found this great tin basket. I added some green ribbon around it, and then used my nestabilities to make a cute flower for the sentiment.

The flower is very simple to make. Just use a scalloped circle nestie in a size to coordinate with your center circle, and snip in each scallop toward the center to make your "petals". The sentiment is computer-generated using one of my favorite fonts, Kayleigh. (Download it for free here.)

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On to the Blog Hop details...

We will be giving away a Grand Prize to one lucky Blog Hop participant and also have a prize for one lucky design team member. To enter, hop through the design team’s blogs, (leaving a comment at each stop, of course!) and then go to the InStyle Stamps blog and vote for the designer who's project inspired you the most. (You're going to vote for me, right? LOL!) Then, in order to be entered into the drawing to win the grand prize, leave us a comment on that post.

I'm the last stop on your hop today, so now you'll want to go back to the InStyle Stamps blog to vote and enter the hop contest.

Thanks for playing along with us today!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Holiday Wall Art

This weeks challenge on Mo's Challenge blog is to make anything but a card. I've had an idea kicking around for some framed holiday art since I made a card with the oh, so sweet Singin So Beautiful last week, so I decided to participate.

Once again, I colored the kitties to look like my two Siamese, Octavian and Emmalee. The image was colored with copic markers (you are going to gasp if I ever use anything else, right?) and then I added Twinklets to the ground for some snow. I thought the sky needed a little something more, so I drew in some snowflakes with a white gel pen and added more Twinklets for some snowy sparkle. To finish off the piece, I used glue dots to attach real miniature bells to Octavian's collar, and then added 3 larger bells and a ribbon to the mat.

I had one heck of a time getting a decent photo of the entire frame, so below is a close-up of the image so you can see it better.


I forgot to take a photo of the copics I used, so sorry! They basically are the same colors I used in this post, with the addition of G85, G82, G40, and G24 for Octavian's collar and hat.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Sweet birthday wishes...

This week's challenge on Copic Buzz is to make a card without any patterned paper. I've been using patterned paper on just about all of my cards lately so this was quite the challenge!



I used the oh, so adorable Bronte and Louis by Mo's Digital Pencil for my image. Bronte and Louis were colored with copic markers, and then had white gel pen accents added.


I added more white gel pen to the eyes to make them more expressive. (click image for a larger version)

Markers used:

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Meowy Christmas!


Anyone who knows me, knows how much I adore my furbabies, Emmalee and Octavian. (Emmalee is the lilac point Siamese, and Octavian is the flame point Siamese, shown above.)


When I saw the adorable Singin So Beautiful at Mo's Digital Pencil, I knew I had found the purr-fect image to use on a holiday card for Octavian's foster mommy from Siamese Rescue.

Think she'll like it? The image was colored with copic markers, and I used Spica pens in gold, buttermilk, and clear to accent the bells and red ribbon. The sentiment is computer-generated. I kept the layout clean and simple to make it easier to mail.

This card is also my entry for the Copic Creations challenge #14, coloring with black. (Emmalee was colored with W5, W3, W1, W0, and W00.)

Copics used:

Thanks for stopping by!

 
Blog design and header created by Melissa Earnest.
Fairy Ava and Tree Stump images © InStyle Stamps.
Background paper by My Mind's Eye.