Sweet Pea Stamp Off

I thought I'd shared the card I made for the Sweet Pea Stamps Spring Stamp Off. You can go here if you'd like to vote for your favorite.

I used Spring Witch and colored her with copic markers (including 4 of the NEW shades!!!). The image was actually stamped three times as I layered it to give it a bit of depth. Spring Witch and her kitties are the first layer, the cherry tree is the second layer, and the sky is the final layer. It has a wonderful 3D effect in person but doesn't photograph all that well. *sigh*

The "cherry branches" were made with an SU flower punch and bird punch. For the branches, I punched out branches in brown and in green, cut the leaves off of the green one and glued them on top of the brown ones.

Copic Markers used:

Autumn Falls

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but here in upstate NY we've been having unseasonably cool weather for the past 2 weeks or more. We were doing yard work this past weekend, and I noticed that the leaves on the neighbor's maple tree are already starting to change colors. Oh, my! The colors stuck in my head, so when I got in the crafty mood, it was a no brainer to play with Sweet Pea Stamps Autumn Falls. Isn't she gorgeous?

Autumn Falls was colored with Copic markers, and highlighted with a white gel pen. I colored over her tail with a clear Spica pen, and added star dust Stickles to her outfit and the leaves for a bit of extra sparkle. The pretty dp is from the DCWV Pocket full of Posies matstack, and the rest of the paper is all SU. I picked up the leaf gems at the dollar store ages ago, and touched them up a bit with my copic markers to make the colors match my image.

Challenges I participated in with this card:

Stamping for the Weekend - anything goes
Stamp with fun - card for a girl (this is already on it's way to one of my girlfriends)
Paper Cutz - anything goes

Stamp Something - Recipe Challenge + candy winner!

Happy Friday! Are you ready for the latest Stamp Something challenge? This week, we are being sponsored by Paper Jewels, and have a recipe challenge for you. To play along, you will need to make something with designer paper, ribbon, a bow and a tag.

For my project, I decided to ink up Purple Comfort by Sweet Pea Stamps. Isn't she gorgeous?

Purple Comfort was colored with copic markers, and has stardust stickles on the lace of her gown as well as on the cat's wings. My designer paper is some SU from my stash, and my ribbon is a Big Lots find that perfectly matches SU Certainly Celery. I doubled over some of the ribbon on both sides of the center panel for a "bow" and also have bows in Purple Comfort's hair. My tag was cut by hand, and was outlined with a Sakura stardust pen for some shimmer. All of the pearls on the card were originally white, and were colored with a B34 copic to match the rest of the project.

Copic markers used:

Challenges I participated in with this card:

Stamp Something - recipe
Stamptacular Sunday - pearls and swirls
Everybody Art Challenge - fairytale
Charisma Cardz - going round in circles

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I hope everyone enjoyed our birthday blog hop this week! The lucky winner of my mini candy is...

#3 - Sylvia from Minnesota!

Congrats, Sylvia! Please email me with your mailing address to claim your prize!

Two of Something...

**Update** Candy is now closed!

Happy Friday! Did you have fun at the Stamp Something birthday blog hop yesterday? If not, be sure to go here to start the hop as you still have time to enter to win some fabulous prizes!

Seeing as it is Friday, it's time for our weekly Stamp Something Challenge. This week, we are being sponsored by Karen's Doodles, and are challenging you to make a project with "2 of something". Two buttons, two ribbons, two designer papers, two images, your choice!

I decided to stick with the birthday theme, and used It's My Birthday by Sweet Pea Stamps to make a card for my supervisor. (Happy Birthday Pat!)

She was colored with copic markers, and has lots of stardust stickles on her wings and tail. For my "two of something" I used two designer papers (SU in Lovely Lilac) from my stash. I received them in a RAK ages and ages ago, and keep forgetting to use them.

Copics used:

Challenges I participated in with this card:
Stamp Something - two of Something
ABC Challenge - U is for unused stash

Stamp Something sketch challenge

Happy Friday! We're getting sketchy at Stamp Something this week, and are being sponsored by Simon Says. To play along and enter to win a $20 gift certificate, all you need to do is make a project using the above sketch, and then link it up on the Stamp Something blog.

For my card, I decided to ink up Winterberry by Sweet Pea stamps. The colors are not ones I would normally pick, but I recently got some yummy dp by My Minds Eye and was itching to cut into it, so I decided to step outside of my color comfort zone.

Winterberry was colored with copic markers, and then had a ton of stardust stickles added to her hat and dress to dress things up a bit. I just love all the sparkle!

Copic markers used (the orange in the middle is YR02):

Thanks for stopping by!

Something Stitched...

*This is my second post for the day, so if you are looking for my Wags 'n Whiskers post, please scroll down.*

Are you ready for another challenge with Stamp Something? This week we are being sponsored by Paper Jewels, and are challenging you to make... Something Stitched!

For my card, I decided to use the lovely Winterberry by Sweet Pea Stamps. She's supposed to be a winter stamp, as the name implies, but I wiped the ink off of the snowflakes before stamping her to make her appropriate for any season.

Winterberry was colored with copic markers, and then had plenty of sparkle added with some (ok, LOTS) of stardust Stickles. I added more stickles to the flowers, and then some copper colored Studio G glitter glue to the branches. My paper is from the Once Upon a Time stack by DCWV, and also has glitter on it, so this card sparkles like crazy in real life!

Copic markers used:

Challenges I participated in with this card:

Stamp Something - something stitched
Creative Card Crew - vintage / aged
Paperplay - shiny happy people
Practical Scrappers - markers
Stamptacular Sunday - sugar & spice & everything nice
One Stitch at a Time - anything goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Misty Reflections...

As soon as I saw Misty Reflections, one of the new releases by Sweet Pea Stamps, with her two adorable kitties, I knew I had to have her. I finally had time to ink her up over the weekend, and had fun coloring the kitties to look like my cats.

The layout is a fun sketch by Create4fun, and I used some BoBunny papers from my stash. I added lime green stickles to the leaves, and gold stickles to her necklace and the star dangling from her hat. There are more stickles on the flowers for some added sparkle.

Markers used:

Challenges I participated in with this card:

Create4Fun: sketch
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge:  anything goes
Copic Creations - favorite technique (coloring brunette hair)
Fussy & Fancy - green
Cute Daisy May - anything goes
Pollycraft - sparkly things
Cupcake Crafts - going green

Happy Birthday, Jamie!

My SIL's birthday is next week, and for once, I actually have a birthday card made a head of time! Jamie LOVES stars, so I thought "It's Your Birthday" by Sweet Pea Stamps was the perfect choice for her card.

"It's Your Birthday" was colored with copic markers, and had a bit of sparkle added to her wings with spica pens. I added Ice Stickles in Lemon Ice to the flame and little stars, and I'm afraid I went a little overboard. This was my first time using the Ice Stickles, and they dry to a more solid finish than regular stickles do. I actually had to do in with a pin and scrap off some of them so you could actually see the stamped lines! So be warned if you're like me and haven't tried out Ice Stickles before - use a VERY light hand when applying them.

The sentiment is also by Sweet Pea Stamps, and I thought it went perfectly with the image. Jamie has been having a rough time of it lately, so I thought a nice inspirational saying would be appropriate.

Copic markers used:

Challenges I participated in with this card:
Sweet Pea Stamps - spring / color challenge / flowers
Paper Sundaes - color challenge
Magical Crafts - things with wings
By the Cute & Girly - spring is in the air
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays - anything goes
Cute Card Thursday - celebrations
Cupcake Crafts - flower power
Stamp with Fun - Spring
Crafty Cardmakers - feminine form

Thanks for stopping by!

Midnight Waiting redux: a skin tone comparison

I was chatting over on the Sweet Pea Stamps group on PCP tonight, and coloring ethnic skin came up. Now I happen to have your traditional Irish coloring (translation: I'm white as a ghost) so as you might imagine, most of the people I color tend to be on the pale side. LOL. My hubby is conked out on the couch with a wicked headache, so since my Friday night plans are effectively out the window, I decided to spend my free time experimenting with a new color combination for skin tone. What do you think?

Yes, I know, I used Midnight Waiting by Sweet Pea Stamps on my last project, but a) I like the image, and b) I thought it would be interesting to do a color comparison.

Midnight Waiting was stamped with Memento ink, and colored with copic markers. When the ink was dry, I used my copic multiliner pen to extend the tree branches a bit. Once I had the card together, I decided it needed that little something extra, so I stamped another copy of the butterfly hair piece, colored it and cut it out. I carefully folded the base and attached it with two-way glue, and then used a glue dot to pop up the wing for a 3D effect. I then used Stardust Stickles & a Sakura Stardust gel pen (can you tell these are my go-to glitters?) to add some bling to her wings and jewelry.

I used a simple card layout again to keep the focus on the image. This layout was completely CASE'd from an adorable card (scroll to bottom of post) by Kittie at Kittie Krafts. Kittie excels at simple but gorgeous cards, so go give her blog a gander if you are looking for some ideas. You won't be disappointed.

I've had some questions on how I do my background, so look for a tutorial in the next couple of days.

Copic markers used:

 

Challenges entered with this card:

Cute Card Thursday - spots and dots (my background is both)

Dutch Dare - summer

Copic Color Challenge (loving those browns!)

Sweet Stampin - scallops

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Love Somethings...

Happy Friday! Valentine's Day is just a little over a week away - are you ready? Just in case you're not, this week at Stamp Something, we are challenging you to make a project using a "love" theme. This week our challenge is being sponsored by Bunny Zoe Crafts, so don't forget to pop on over to the Stamp Something challenge blog and leave us a link to your project to be in the running for the prize.

For my card, I decided to use Midnight Waiting by Sweet Pea Stamps. Isn't she gorgeous?

Midnight Waiting was colored with copic markers, and then had Stardust Stickles added to her wings and hair jewelry. I kept the card layout nice and clean so as not to detract from the image.

Now head on over to the Stamp Something challenge blog to see the lovely creations the rest of the dt has in store for you!

Challenges I participate in with this card:
Stamp Something - love
Crafty Creations - wings
Creative Card Crew - Valentine's Day
By the Cute and Girly - love
Papertake Weekly - love
Quixotic Challenges - fairies
Charisma Cardz - love

Copic Colour Challenge #50
Paper Sundaes - Valentine's Day
Pollycraft Monday Challenge #33 - things with wings

Love you to the Moon...

Back when we were first dating, my husband gave me a book on the moon for my birthday. It's filled with gorgeous photos, but the very best part about it is the inscription he wrote inside the front cover: "I'll love you to the moon and back." There was more to it than that, of course, but that was the phrase that stuck in my head.

  

When I saw ching chou kuik's Red Hearts by Sweet Pea Stamps, it immediately made me think of that book, so I decided to use it on a Valentine's Day card for my husband.

The image was colored with copic markers as usual. I wanted to do something a bit different for the background, so I randomly scribbled on color with a R81 and my custom pale YR21* (I have two of these - this one was the darker of the two). I then used my custom pale R81* and custom super pale YR21* to blend the darker shades together. After I was finished with that, I dotted the whole thing with the copic colorless blender pen to give it an interesting texture. Note that you don't have to be too precise when coloring because the clolorless blender pen hides any less than perfect areas. I really like the effect, so don't be surprised if you see it again with different color combinations.

I always get asked about my custom markers, so I did a color comparision swatch for you so you can see the difference between the original copic color and my custom blends.

 

*The formula's for my custom pale markers are as follows:

pale YR21: 5cc's blender fluid + 80 drops YR21 refill

super pale YR21: 5cc's blender fluid + 30 drops YR21 refill

pale R81: 5cc's blender fluid + 35 drops R81 refill

Challenges participated in with this card:

Charisma Cardz #3 - fruity colors (raspberry, banana, and blueberry)

Crafty Creations #51 - Valentine's or Love

Creative Card Crew #43 - punch it (Martha Stewart Lace Heart punch)

Midnight Madness #37 - sketch (MMSC37)

A Spoonful of Sugar #87 - Lots of Layering

Copic Buzz Weekend Technique #1 - using your blender pen to create texture

Simon Says Stamp - punch it! (Martha Stewart Lace Heart punch)

Thanks for stopping by!

Whimsical Swirls...

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! The hubby and I decided to stay home this year instead of rushing here and there like usual, and it made for a very relaxing holiday. I even got in some crafting time while Hubby was busy playing the new Wii game Santa left under the tree for him.

While playing on PCP recently, I noticed a banner ad for Sweet Pea Stamps and had to go check them out. Anyone who knows me, knows I am crazy about cats, so as soon as I saw ching-chou kuik's Purple Woods stamp, it just had to go in my shopping cart. Isn't it lovely?

For today's card, I used the sketch from Whimsical Wednesdays for my layout, and also played along with the Charisma Cards Challenge (anything BUT Christmas), the Crafty Creations Challenge (no rules), the Kraftin' Kimmie Challenge (Sparkle, Baby!), and the Creative Crew Card Challenge (anything goes). Be sure to stop by and check them out!

The pretty blue paper I used is part of the Pink Petticoat Elegant Swirls digital paper collection. I embossed the white card stock with the Cuttlebug "Birds & Swirls" folder to match. The gemstones were originally clear, but I colored them with a BG78 copic so they would stand out more. I just love how versatile copics are!

I colored the image with copic markers, and then used a chocolate Atyou Spica pen to add highlights to her hair. I decided I wanted a lot of shimmer on this image to go with the fantasy feel, so I also used a Sakura Stardust pen on her dress and eyeshadow, and then finished it off with some Stickles on kitty's wings and on the leaves. You can see the glitter better in the above photo. I don't know about you, but glitter never wants to photograph well for me, at least not without washing out the rest of the project.

Copic markers used:

Thanks for stopping by!