Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Justa....

very quick post.  I am hoping like the dickens to get to crafting today and so intend to have a new card up for viewing.  In the meantime, I thought that I would post the Valentine that I sent to Lisa through the Hero Arts Flickr Valentine exchange.  I always, always enjoy the card exchanges that HA has and really wish that other companies would also have them.....I love to give and get cards!  Anyways, Lisa contacted me today that she had received her card so I will now share it with you!


It is HA Blooming Heart K5298 and also a HA sentiment.  I pull out this heart every year....kinda like it alot!  Thank you for stopping by.....I want to send a thank you to my new followers....I appreciate you taking the time to sign up and comment!  

Be well,
Sheila

Monday, January 30, 2012

Hero Arts...

stamps happen to be on my desk lately.  Why you ask?  Well, basically because I have been waaaaay too lazy to clean up my supplies and therefore, they are sitting on the edge of my "to clean and put away" table.  So, without further ado....here is another HA stamp that I always like to use ;-D called Tall Flower K5431 (but the weirdest thing is that I absolutely cannot find it anymore on the HA blog even though it is not a very old stamp...)  I also used up some scraps of pp that I had out as well as going the extra mile (at least for me) by punching out some butterflies to add to the card.  I like it....I decided against a sentiment as it seemed like I was in danger of over cluttering.  Here you go!


Thank you for stopping by today.  I appreciate your comments.  And, wow!  Have you all been getting some good looks at all the pics coming out from CHA2012?  Some fabulous looking products!  


Be well,
Sheila

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Fixated....

...on this particular Stampendous Stamp.  Love it to bits.  It is the Stampendous Jumbo Peony  and I am thinking it is mighty fun to color.  While yesterday I colored it in copics today I went for Faber Castell Big Brush markers with white chalk highlights on the tips.  I a also entering this card in the Color Throwdown Challenge #176 or CTD176.  I am loving the color combo that they had for inspiration this week and luckily had some cool pp to put a card together for it.  LOVE IT when that happens.  Anyways, here is the inspiration photo....



And here is my card.


Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  I am off to watch my son compete in a swim meet.  I LOVE swim meets!

Be well,
Sheila

Friday, January 27, 2012

Challenge Redux.....

...because, of course, I have used more patterned paper.  So, this is my second post of the day....please, if you are interested, scroll down and see the other card I made for the Lily Pad challenge.This time I paired the papers up with a HUGE Stampendous floral stamp called Jumbo Peony CRS5001-R.  Love it!  'Course I will need an envelope the size of a packing crate to mail this puppy but oh well!  So, this is another card that I am going to enter into the Lily Pad Patterned Paper contest.  I really had fun coloring this stamp and coordinating it with the papers.


Thank you so much for stopping by!  And, thank you for stopping back if you ended up visiting my for both of my posts today!

Be well,
Sheila

Challenges!

Yes, well, I am actually going to enter one today.....HA!  It has been like forever since I have had my act together enough to enter a challenge!  I actually don't have to work too hard at this particular challenge as it is The Lily Pad Challenge to use Patterned Paper.  And since I have, basically, been pretty well addicted to patterned paper for sometime now it really isn't tooooooo much of a stretch for me to take part in this challenge.  And, because there is NO LIMIT to how many cards one can enter and the challenge runs for about a month!-well, ya hey!- I am going to be entering to my little ole' hearts' delight!  The cards that I am entering today are both floral images mounted over pp.  Surprise surprise right?  Well, I go with what works for me I guess!  The first card with the Hero Arts Pom Pom Flower K5571stamp might be a little overly distressed. Oh well,...sometimes I think I get a little heavy handed with my distressing....either that or I need to clean or toss my little foam thingy ma'bobbers when the get too ink saturated.  Anyways, I had planned on the card being a little "brighter" but instead it ended up more "vintage-y" looking.


  For the second card that I am entering I guess I am going to have to create a second post.....I am not sure how to link up two cards from the same post to a single challenge.  It keeps kicking me back so if anyone has any tips for me I am all ears!  Thanks for stopping by....and please check out my other card...I think I like it better ;-D

Be well,
Sheila

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Valentines!

I have never been a big Valentine's Day person. I mean, if you love people then show them all the year long....right?  After I became a mom I loved making Valentine cards with my kids....both making cards with them and also for them.  Then they got older and I would just make cards for them and for my husband.....but still, they were never my favorite type of cards to make.  So, one of my goals this year was to actually sit down and make Valentine Day cards.....enough to send out.  Especially enough to send out as I was unable to get Christmas cards sent out this year......so, I have begun the Valentine card process.....and surprisingly?-it has been pretty fun.  I live what I have made so far and have a few more ideas in my head.  I will readily admit that when it comes to to these types of cards my creativity is on vacation but with some fabulous patterned paper I feel I was able to make some nice cards!  On my first 3 cards I used Hero Arts Stamps Blooming Heart K5298Daisies K5586, You and Me Cl567 and on my final card I used a Northwoods Rubber Stamp.  All paper is by Echo Park.  Here they are:






Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you are having a great day!

Be well,
Sheila

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

A Birthday....

card for my lunch buddy.  And what is a lunch buddy?  Well, a lunch buddy is an elementary school aged child that is paired up with a responsible adult (me) to have lunch with each week.  This is a program run by Big Brothers Big Sisters and it helps pair "at risk" kids or kids who might  need an extra bit of attention in their daily life for whatever the reason.  I have been paired this year with an adorable little kindergartener who is a complete chatterbox!  Each week we have an hour to eat our lunch in the school library and then either color, play cards, board games or read books together.  Well, she just had her 6th birthday this past saturday and so today I brought her a little birthday card and present.  She LOVED the card....she is a very "crafty" little girl and loves to play with crayons, papers and stuff.  She was so cute and so excited about her present and card!  Again I used all Hero Art Stamps.  First I covered a 5x5 card with some lovely patterned paper and then built up the layers from there.  I used Hero Arts Wish Big , Life of the Party Words and finally a Hero Arts cupcake cling stamp set that I can't find on their website any more.  So, here is my card.....



...and I hope that you have a great day!  It is sunny....that intense winter sun and actually also kinda mild here in Wisconsin.  I love it!  I actually am able to turn my heat down and let the house warm up naturally from all the sun streaming in through the windows.  Take care!

Be well,
Sheila

Monday, January 23, 2012

Missing.....

my crafting time and missing my blogging.  Really.  And truly.  The stomach flu really swept our house catching all but my son (who I think missed it because of his daily swimming and immersion in chlorine?) and while the actual flu itself is miserable for the 24 hours it decides to take over it is really the recovery....the getting the energy to get back to all of my daily routine is what takes took long.  So between that and wanting to spend time with my girls before they both left to go back to college and work I found that my crafting time was cut down to....well, down to nothing!  And, the funny thing is, I signed up for the online clean and simple card class.  Last summer I also signed up for a class.....and both times that I have signed up for a class I have either had a major life event or illness occur the day the class started!  What are the chances right?  Oh well, thank goodness these classes can be done at one's own speed....which for me is turtle slow.

Today, I have two cards to show....both using some new Hero Arts stamps that I have been itching to try as well as using a technique that was used in the first day of the card class.  Basically for each of these cards I masked off the center and stamped around the mask to create some interesting dimension.  In the flower card I first stamped the flower, masked it, then covered that masked with a square mask and then stamped the background.  The HA stamps I used were Wish Big , You and Me , Newspaper Background Design Stamp , and the Pom Pom Flower .  This is really a different style for me and I have to admit that while it was somewhat frustrating it was also fun and I do like how the two cards came out.  The Wish Big card was the hardest with all the masking.....and I need to use better masking paper I think for multi-masking like this in order for the paper to not slip.  But, again, it was fun and different and def something I will try again!  Here are my cards!



Thank you so much for stopping by.....I will be over to visit at your "house" as I get caught up in my own life!  I like my coffee with a bit of honey and cream and never refuse a biscotti when offered ;-D

Be well,
Sheila

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Stomach flu.....

...has hit my house hard so I apologize for not getting to all my favorite blogs ;-(   I hope to be on the upswing though today and will look forward to strolling through everyone's lovely work!

Be well, (or at least more well than the Hnilicka House has been)
Sheila

Monday, January 9, 2012

Been missing....

...my crafting time the last few days!  But today I was able to sit down and ink a new stamp from Hero Arts that I just love.....what is it about flower stamps?  Cannot resist them!  Anyways, this is the HA Classic Tea Flower as well as a HA sentiment.  I also used Basic Grey Piccadilly papers to layer the card and highlight the image.  That pad has really fun papers.  I like that all these different companies are coming out with 6x6 pads.  I am finding that even though papers aren't from the same year or even the same company I am always able to mix and match lines.  Anyways, here is my card.  I hope you like!


Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you are having a great start to your week!

Be well,
Sheila

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Distress....

..inks have not been a big part of my card crafting lately.  I don't know why because I love them and I always used to use them.  Always!  But after I began to purchase some copics all of my crafting time was really devoted to learning how to color with them.  So, a lot of my other crafting supplies got pushed to the side...put away for the time being.  Well, now the time being has arrived and today for whatever reason, I pulled out the distress inks and got inky.  And, wow-fun.  Actually, I think that I tend not to do distress inks in the winter because...now hang with me here.....because I wear long sleeves due to the cold weather.  I might have a long shirt and a long sleeved sweater on and toooooo many of my cuffs, no matter how far I pushed them up, had these weird ink smudges on them.  So, I went all neat and tidy for a bit.  But seriously, I like messy at times.  So now I keep a long sleeved ugly old crafting sweater along with an apron in my crafting room.  And I am happy.  Happy being messy with my distress inks.  Today I pulled out a really cool Penny Black stamp called Berry Red, Snow White  4202L.  And then, while I know that this isn't truly spot coloring......I thought that I would "spotlight" the  silhouette image with white pencil.  Finally, I rubbed shimmery chalk over the card to make a soft haze over the scene.  I like it....I would hope to blend it better next time but I'm okay with how this turned given I haven't been distressing lately.




Then, I have a thank you to everyone who replied with suggestions for improving my photography.....I hope to look into your suggestions this coming weekend.  Anything has to be better than what I am doing!  And, of course, thank you so much for stopping by....I love to read your comments!

Be well,
Sheila

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Pulling out...

...a Penny Black favorite.  I know, I know.....for those of you who have followed my blog or stopped by flickr stream you have to be getting tired of this particular stamp.....and probably tired of me coloring flowers blue but oh well!  Love this stamp and love love LOVE me some blue flowers!  This is Penny Black Cheerful 4160k as well as Penny Black Music Background 2025M . The rest of the card is pretty self explanatory....some pretty patterned papers, bling and a ribbon.  The die cut is a Tim Holtz.  And, that's about it I think!  Here is my card ;-D


If anyone OUT THERE has some tips for me on photographing my cards I would greatly appreciate the help.  My cards generally look "crooked" and the glitter is usually not visible.  Also, I get a big "shine" effect from the flash....suggestions...anyone? anyone?

I also wanted to tell you how excited I am to be able to display the Jill Foster Inspired by blog blinkie.....I don't have many blinkies and this one really makes me happy ;-D  If you have never been to Jill's blog I really urge you to stop by....you won't be disappointed!

Be well,
Sheila

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Birds, birds...

....everywhere I see birds!  At least lately when I am stamping and coloring.  I actually think that birds are somewhat hard to color....no, make that really hard to color.   Unlike the liberties that I take with flowers, (such as coloring them any old color I please) I feel like when it comes to birds I must be a bit more accurate.  So, I have been looking up pix of birds on my ipad and then putting the ipad next to me when I color to get a general idea of what a budgie, or a cardinal, blue jay etc....looks like.  It's a challenge but it has been fun and without realizing it I have kinda accumulated  a number of really nice looking bird stamps.  So today, I focused on two more Northwoods stamps that feature birds.  I colored them on Christmas evening  when just about everyone in Wisconsin (including my family) had settled down to watch the Packers play football.  And, settled in to watch the Packers beat the Detroit Lions.... much apologies to my Michigan friends...but really, after 20 years of not winning on Lambeau we couldn't let a win happen on Christmas!  Anyways these two stamps are from Northwoods Rubber Stamp co and if you like to color take some time to stroll through their stamps.....I have never bought one from them that I haven't enjoyed!  I am just passing this on...I don't work or am not affiliated with any companies but there are some stamps and stamp company's that I tend to go back to again and again.  Hero Arts, Penny Black, Northwoods, LaBlanche to name a few.  I have never been displeased with their products and so I am going to try and remember to pass on my enjoyment whenever I find something that I really like!  Anyways, here are my cards and I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed making them....which was considerable!



Take care and enjoy the winter.  We have finally had some snow and falling temperatures here in Wisconsin and so it is really beginning to look like winter....sigh!
 I also want to point out a great give away on Cathy's Blog The bright Side of Life...Where Craft and Creativity Meet.  She is giving away a new, bright spanking new Penny Black Valentine cling and man o' man is it gorgeous!  Check out her blog and see the card she created with it....the possibilities are endless!  








Be well,
Sheila

Monday, January 2, 2012

Jill Foster....

....has posted the final "inspired by " card of mine and it is another one that I am glad that she picked!  You know how it is....some cards are just near and dear because they were fun to make, or they were for a special person and sometimes they are a favorite for the simple reason that they turned out exactly the way the way I pictured them in my mind ;-D  Anyways, skadoodle over to Jill's Inspired by......blog today as she has my card and her interpretation and BONUS!!!! a really wonderful PB&J video on a technique that I believe I am going to make time to experiment with today.  Jill's interpretation of my card is really wonderful today.  I love the intensity, the depth of color that she always seems to achieve with her colors.  It has been such a pleasure to have been featured by Jill.  Way back when I first started getting into blogs (and yes, I will confess that it was with the help of my kids....)  there were a few blogs that instantly jumped out at me and became favorites.  One was "Inspired by...." due to Jill's idea of focusing on one person each week and then stretching her own  artistic wings in order to present her own stylings on that person's card.  What a great idea right?  And the added bonus for me, especially as I was just starting out, I was just navigating the internet and blogs in general is that Jill BLEW OPEN a veritable blog window for me!  All of a sudden I was able to surf her blog, follow her daily, or tune in for an end of the week visual feast on a new (to me) and exciting artist.  I could tap into her "archive" of names and see more great work and at the same time, learn how to also be "inspired by" other's work.  Thru Jill's blog and the exposure to many others, I learned more about balance, placement, color and perhaps for one cardmaker starting out....how you could create absolutely amazing cards with just white pieces of paper.  I would look at her cards and be enthralled that her backgrounds were once just the same simple white papers that I had in my own room.     So, thank you Jill,  no really, THANK YOU JILL....not just for spotlighting me these last few days but for "helping" me out when I was a faceless person half a country away learning how to surf the 'net and trying very hard to create a card that was "good enuf'" to upload to Flickr.  You're such a sweetie girl, and I am so happy to have met you last summer!

Now, I also have a card to share today!  Such a bonus for you all right?????  A "book" and a card.  I know, I know, I can get kinda "windy" in bloggings at times....Anyways, here is a new Northwoods image that  I finally had the time to color up.  I like it but the "mounting" of it is a little bit of a problem for me.....it doesn't mount nicely with any circlular dies I have so hence the "naked mount....any ideas from you on how to place this image?  Otherwise, it is a simple card with some pp scraps and a sweet Penny Black sentiment.  Then, red stickles on the berries and Glamour Dust on select areas to represent snow.  Enjoy your day and Go Badgers!  (Rose Bowl today.....)



Be well,
Sheila