Monday, April 30, 2012

Two of a kind.....

with enough differences to keep it all interesting!  Today I have two cards using the same Northwoods Rubber Stamp Company image.  I generally like to stamp an image twice and then color it differently....I feel like that helps me initially to "get to know" my images.  I love this rose stamp and had a lot of fun coloring it.  I went more vintage with the color choices and really love to layer blues around the images to create a background.  For some reason it reminds me of Grandma Bess and my Aunt Nell.  On the inside of these cards I have  stamped the sentiment "Everything is coming up roses".  I also went much bigger with these two cards then I normally do. They are app 5 x6 3/4 and I found it challenging to work on a bigger "canvas".  I do think though that I am going to make larger cards more often though as so many of my stamps are larger and I feel I do a disservice to them when I try to cramp them onto a a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2....I often feel that my cards tend to look  busy then.  So, here they are....



I haven't been able to craft much since I took my copic certification class and it has made me somewhat crazy at times.  It has been busy here as we have had several track meets, prom, visits with both daughter's and State Solo and Ensemble for music.  This has all been packed into about 10 days and yesterday, when there was nothing planned, I finally set aside some time to craft and really, it was so soothing to be by myself.  I watched/listened to a documentary off of Netflix and just spent time quietly coloring.  My plans are always to be able to do a bit of craft each day but usually life takes over and craft takes a very distant back seat to whatever else is going on. I really don't know how you ladies who work outside the home or have little ones home all day are able to find time to produce as much as you do.  My hat is off to you! It is an on going challenge for me to find my "me" time even though I know how much better my mood is when I do make time for myself.  I know that I am not alone in this balancing act!  I find that if I keep my various craft area's clean and organized I am more apt to find the time to have fun.  When they are messy I get so involved in the cleaning, straightening and organizing that "my" time becomes "stress" time rather than a more relaxing experience. Hmmmmm, am I just learning the value of cleaning up after myself??? I think so ;-D

I do hope, however, to talk a bit in another post about my copic class experience.....I will say now that I really loved it and feel that I learned so much.  One thing that I can safely admit is that I learned how much I still have to learn!  On that note I will say goodbye and thanks for stopping by!

Be well,
Sheila

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Loving.....

this floral image.  I have colored it twice here and am absolutely going to be coloring it again and again!  It is a Northwoods Rubber Stamp that I cut out and then also stamped again and cut out the furtherest calla lily on the left side.  Then that lily is popped up on dots.  A little bit of stickles in the center of the flowers and voila!  It's done!  Really had fun coloring this ;-D......can you tell?  And tomorrow, well tomorrow I head out of town for my copic classes and certification and I AM THRILLED!  I think it will be so fun.  I will definitely share all about it when I come back.


I just noticed that on my pink card I forget to distress where I was holding the card......can you see the place where my thumb was?  Will certainly correct that before I send it out!

Be well,
Sheila

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Life is...

...sweet!  That is the sentiment that I think of whenever I color up this particular image.  Unfortunately, I don't have that sentiment!  But, still, I love this little simple pot of strawberry plants and it seemed the perfect little image to make a fresh, spring-y card.  I wanted to make a "clean" card (well, clean for me ;-) for a wonderful family who are so kind and generous in their treatment of  my son.  He and their son have been best buds for years and years now  and they have welcomed my son on trips with their family.  In fact, their whole extended family has been so kind to Corm that he thinks of them as a second family which I think is just wonderful.  So, along with a gift, I wanted a sweet little card for them. This is a Northwoods Rubber Stamp Co image and is colored with copics and stickled in the center of the flowers with yellow stickle.


Thanks for stopping by today.  And again, thank you so much for the wonderful comments!

Be well,
Sheila

Monday, April 16, 2012

Pretty pumped...

as on Thursday and Friday of this week I get to attend  Copic Certification Courses.  I am so excited!  I have been checking the Copic class website for quite awhile now....even before I ever owned a Copic marker!  My reasoning was that Copics were such an investment that if I were to start buying them I really needed to learn how to use them.  Take classes and learn techniques.  I have never taken art or any type or art classes since probably 5th grade so doing all this card making was fine and fun and besides the stamps not too expensive but Copics, well, Copics were another deal entirely!  The markers are more expensive, the paper is more expensive therefore all of my mistakes are more expensive!  So, I learned that Copic does have real classes and I then I learned that they are few and far between and by that I mean....they were in  cities no where close to me!  So, I broke down and bought the Copics anyways and studied people online, followed the Copic blog as well as other blogs related to coloring with Copics.....and continued to troll the class website hoping for a class somewhat nearby.  Finally, there were standard and intermediate classes offered in Minn....about 6 hours away from me.  But then....yippee yahoo!-there was the same set of classes being offered in Milwaukee, Wi....a town about 1 hour away from me.  I applied online so fast my keyboard was smoking!  And I was accepted and now I am super excited to go!  I think it will be fun. My class is being taught by Debbie Olson and I have always loved her blog and her coloring.  I hope to learn so much....like how to add detail and better blending, better use of colors etc.  I will let you know how it goes next week!

My card today is a fun little image and sentiment from WhipperSnapper Designs.  I never have enough "get well" type of cards on hand and when I saw this little guy (what IS it about chickens?) I decided to splurge and bring him home.



The photography here is so hot but the card is cute!  I GA'd the noodles, the beak and the carrot slices.  The coxcomb is colored and then stickle with rusty hinge distress stickle to make it "bumpy" and textured.  The chicken is cut out and popped up on dots and all of it is layered on lots of patterned paper!  Thanks for stopping by!

Be well,
Sheila

Sunday, April 15, 2012

A simple thanks...

...will suffice.  Today I have a simple thank you card.  Thank you for all of the really lovely comments that you all have been making.  It really makes me feel so good.  I started using copics last October and  have had so much fun playing around with them.  I find that when it comes to "mistakes" the blender pen is my beeeeeessssst frieeeeend! But, I do appreciate all the sweet comments and compliments on my coloring....it really does make me feel so happy! Now to today..... I love the look of poppies....such a vibrant color! As a kid, I remember heading to the store with my dad and him telling me why people were stationed there handing out paper poppies on a green wrapped wire.  I always loved making our donation, saying our Thank You's and then receiving a bright paper poppy in return.  I really like this particular poppy image that I used today.  It is by Northwoods Rubber Stamp Company and the sentiment is, perhaps, Hero Arts or Penny Black.....it was from my sentiment "pile" that never seems to get put away!  I used Authentique patterend paper.  What I would do differently now is dropped the sentiment down a bit.  It looks a little high to my eye.  I originally was going to mat the image on white followed up with one mat of colored cardstock.  But recently I have been playing around with matting on color, highlighting with white and then finishing on another color and I like the richness that triple mat gives to an image.  But, in this case I didn't measure it out and thus the sentiment is "off".  Oh well, as my father in law used to say....measure twice cut once!  Good rule to follow!  Here is my card ;-D


Today I hope to get to a bit of crafting and quite possibly curl up with a good book....it is storming quite a bit today.....lots of wind, rain and thunder!

Be well,
Sheila

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Nothing like.....

the scent of lilacs to make me feel like spring is here....or at least well on it's way!  I love lilacs and have always had a large bush of them  planted no matter where I have lived.  They aren't fully blooming here yet but soon!  My oldest daughter also loves lilacs and I made this card to send to her as she is in an apartment in Minn and misses the bush in our backyard.  Again, this is a Northwoods Rubber Stamp image and I colored with copics.  I also used yellow stickle to highlight the center of the little white flowers as well as adding some random dots of stickle to the lilacs.  I then smoosh those dots down to give the lilacs a little bit of highlighting with out giving them too much sparkle and shine.  I don't know if this photographs too well but in real life....well, it's pretty gorgeous!



Thanks for popping in today.  We are supposed to hit 70 or so today and are headed down to my husband's and my hometown for a cookout at my sister in laws.  It should be fun!  I feel like I haven't seen family forever as everyone has been soooo busy lately.  Enjoy your weekend!

Be well,
Sheila

Friday, April 13, 2012

Spring...

is in the air here in Wisconsin and I finally feel like I can go at my floral images with abandon!  I LOVE to color flowers and those images are probably 90 % of my stamp collection.  I suppose that butterflies would be my next fav to color ;-)  Anyways, just a quick post today as I want to get out into the sunshine for an extended walk.   I think I have said before that I will be walking 60 miles in August for breast cancer.  I went to this walk in San Francisco in September of 2011 and it was such a positive experience that I want to try it again.  So, each day I really  need to try and  get out there for a loooong walk. But, back to my card.....I used a Northwoods Rubber Stamp Co. (man- I love their stamps!) floral image and colored it with copics.  I stickled the center of each flower with a sunshine yellow stickle, mounted it on several layers of patterned paper and cardstock and that's about it I guess.  Oh, I guess I also lightly ran my scissors down the green paper strip as well as around the deeper purple square to add a bit of distressing.


I hope you are also enjoying your day and I plan to get around to more blogs tonight before bed.....am still playing catch up!

Be well,
Sheila

Thursday, April 12, 2012

A Little Bird.....

...or two.  I just love coloring birds (even though I think they are difficult as all get out) and so when I saw this particular image from Northwoods Rubber Stamp Co. I simply had to snatch it up.  I colored near my computer this time....so that I could google what a chickadee looks like.  Sometimes I find  this works best for me when coloring.   I deviate plenty from the colors that a flower or bird is supposed to be but when I really want my image to follow nature's palette I find that google and my computer are my best friends.  I  made two of these cards as I practiced coloring.  I am pretty pleased with how they turned out and actually haven't put any sort of sentiment in/on them yet as I think that they could be used for a multitude of occasions.  I did add a bit of yellow stickle to the inside of the apple blossoms as well as to the Candi dot.  I will upload both here to show how different the background "sky" can be when applying layers of color.  I believe I like the lighter sky better.  Backgrounds are something I am working on as I tend to go a little heavy handed when coloring.  I am surprised at how difficult it is to achieve a "light touch" when applying layers!



Thank you so much for stopping by.  I really appreciate the comments.  And, as always, I hope you are having a nice day!

Be well,
Sheila

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Another day, same

stamp.  I used the Hero Arts Large Floral Background stamp (cg403) again but this time stamped and embossed and then colored the WHOLE image.  Then I found an area in the image where I felt it could be divided and so cut the colored area into two panels that I trimmed out and mounted on white, purple and lavender card stock.  These really were pretty easy peasy cards to make.....one of these no think images to color while watching tv!  But I think that they make really lovely cards and will probably stamp a "thank you" sentiment on the inside.  My son needs some thank you cards to send out and he LOVES it when his mom makes him pretty floral thank you notes!  NOT! I also believe I am going to enter these cards into the contest/challenge at A Blog Named Hero . Well, anyhoo...here are my cards.  This first one is the smaller of the two panels and I left it "plain" with just a bit of GA on the Candi Button.


The second card I blinged up a bit with lavender Stickles on the flowers as well as the Candi Button.  Not really sure which one I like better.  I guess I like them both!  


Both cards are 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 and I love that I was able to get two nice cards out of one colored image!
I hope you are having a nice day.  It is sunny and mild (er) here today and after my walk I hope my 18 year old college daughter will be awake (it is 10:00 am sheeeesh!) so she and I are able to do something!

Be well,
Sheila

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

April Showers.....

bring May flowers.  Or, at least that's what this image suggests to me ;-D  This cute little WSD image is so happy and fun that it made me smile when I was in the store and I bought it on the spot.  Kinda rare for me as I usually am not toooo much of a impulse buyer when it comes to stamps.  Snort!  Anyways, she was really fun to color although I will readily admit that the finished colored version is not what I started out with in mind.  But, one of my goals this year in crafting and in life in general is too loosen up a bit.  Not demand so much perfection out of myself.  In the past I would have thrown this cutie away....but now I am trying to be more "creative"by finding ways for "mistakes" to work. But, as I look at this picture more closely I can see that I need to tack the bow down more firmly as the glue dot is showing......... But, all in all, I am pretty pleased with the finished product ;-)






And, this is the sweet little sentiment that I stamped on the inside.  Again, a WSD stamp.  Look into their sentiments if you have time someday.  They have such a HUGE selection of fun and quirky messages that work really well with other non WSD images.



And my road trip was successful in picking up my daughter from college yesterday.  By that I mean, I picked up my daughter AND two of the cutest pair of spring/summer shoes.....isn't it fab that my new FAVORITE shoe store happens to be in the very same town that Clarice attends school.  Since she started going there in the fall I think I have managed a side trip to this store each and every time.....supporting the local economy!

I hope you all have a great day today.....it is somewhat gloomy in my town at the moment but hopefully will brighten up later.

Be well,
Sheila

Monday, April 2, 2012

And an ace....

or rather one card.  I had a little time yesterday to assemble an image I had into a little birthday card.  The image is a Whippersnapper Designs stamp that I paired with a birthday sentiment.  I went with softer colors on this card  and I like how it turned out.  Pretty easy!




Now I am off to pick up my middle child from college in Madison for her spring break.  It will be nice to have her home.  She is has Type 1 diabetes and has been hit hard with mono for the last month and 1/2 but has wanted to handle it all on her own.....which has been super hard on her mother!  So she has stayed in school through sickness and managed her health care, doctor visits and college classes as well as mid terms. Although, I will admit that she has done a great job of taking care of herself.  I will be happy to have her home to pamper though...

Finally, thank you to everyone who left me such kind messages.  I really appreciate it and hope to be able to return the favor in the next day or two.  I have been surfing but not commenting due to time constraints.  But, everywhere I visit the work has been amazing!

Be well,
Sheila