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

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

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

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

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

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

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