Verve Color and Sketch Challenge

This was the May Verve Project Parade color Challenge.










This is what I came up with.















I also used Julees MoJo Monday sketch for this week too. The stamps are from the Floral Whimsy set. This is my first set of stamps from Verve Visual. I am very happy with the stamps and the shipping time, I had them 2 days after I ordered them too. You can't beat that! The colors I used in the challenge were Papertrey Aqua Mist and Spring Moss and SU Pumpkin pie, Regal rose, and So Saffron. I colored in the images with a new TJ technique called Marker Water Coloring but I used the blender pen version with dye inks. I also used my Cuttlebug swiss dots and bloom dots embossing folders. Finished card is 41/4x51/2. I hope you like it.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great night.

Dragonflies Through The Window

Tonight is another Papertrey Blog Hop









Welcome to my blog. The challenge this month was to utilize score lines in a creative way as a decorative accent to any type of project. This is what I came up with.
I started with a piece of glossy white cardstock and did a 3/4" reverse grid with my Scor-Pal. Next I used a Blue Breeze Kalidecolor pad and brayered over the reversed score lines in a circle to get the lines to pop. After that I inked the dragonflies from the Pond Life set in white craft ink and stamped them on top of the finished background, then I added shimmer chalk.
I orginally learned these techniques from The Technique Junkies . They were submitted by Cindy Cade (Reverse Grid) and Jennifer Sennes (Starburst) but I came up with the idea to put them together.
I decided to make a video to show you how I made the card and do the techniques. This is the first time I have ever done this. The video is not as clear as I would like but you should still be able to see how I did it. Just click on the video below and let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by.

Sunset On The Water

Emilia finished 4th grade yesterday! We will take about a month off and then start 5th. We will do it part time in the summer then go back to full time in the fall. We are both ready for a break though. This is my 6th yr homeschooling her since I started when she was in pre-k. It makes me feel really good that we have completed another grade.
On another note My idol prediction was wrong. I am happy that David C won. I just hope his first album is good.
The card is another one I forgot to share with you. I made it for last months Technique Junkie Technique of the Month Contest. The technique we were suppose to use was the waxy cuttlebug technique from the current newsletter. The card was not a winner but it was a fun technique to do. Stamp is from The Angel Company.
I hope you all have a good holiday weekend. I am hoping to get some stamping done.

Modern Blocks Knitted Blanket

Last night Sophie hurt her paw somehow and we ended up in the doggie ER at 1:00 this morning. We were worried she had broken something but they thought she might have something lodged in her foot instead. All they did was poked a needle in it though. Poor thing. We think they were way off base on that so we left with her feet all wrapped up, some pain pills and $160.00 bill. We finally got to sleep about 3:30 this morning. She is doing better now and our vet thinks it is just a bruise so we are watching her for now.
On another note. I finished knitting this blanket last week and forgot to share it. I think it took me about 8 months to knit it but that is because I only knit for about 1/2 hr each day. My next knitting project is a doggie sweater for Lily. I know she is not going to need it for awhile but at least I will have plenty of time to finish it. It is already half done though. When I am done with that I think I am going to start working on my quilt again and hopefully finally finish it.
Tonight is the finale of American Idol. My favorite is David C but I think David A is going to win it. I actually think it is better that way so David C will have more freedom to do his own stuff. I have found that the past winners first albums have not been very good because the winner does not have much control over them. A lot of my other favorite shows are coming to an end too. Last night was the season finale of Dancing With the stars as well. I knew Kristy was going to win she deserved it though. Some of my favorite summer shows have already started again. I hope Deanna on the Bachlorette will find real love this time. So You Think You Can Dance starts tomorrow night and BB will start up again in about a month. I also saw that The Mole is coming back too. Hopefully that will be a show Rich and I can watch together. Well that's about it for now. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a good night.

Hippy Together

I hope you all had a good weekend. It is 84 degrees here right now. If feels like spring missed us and summer is here instead. I love it though because I hate the cold.
I made this for Melanie Muenchinger's Hip Hop Accessories contest. It was not picked as a finalist but I still wanted to share it with you. I started by making a shadow box. There is a great video for how to make one here. After I created the base for the shadow box I stamped the hippos and colored them with my Copics, then I created a mask for them with my Eclipse tape. When I was done with that I used my Copics and my airbrush to create the background. I used a torn piece of cardstock with the airbrush to create the clouds. I stamped the grass from the PTI Pond Life set with SU Always Artichoke ink and Papertrey's Spring Moss ink. I finished the whole thing off by adding the kite from the hip hop accessories set after I colored it with my Copics so it looks like the little hippo is flying it.
That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great night.

Garden of Life Artist Organizer

This is the other project I made for this months Papertrey Guest Star Stamper contest. I orginally saw something like this made on the Martha Stewart show. Martha used Oil cloth for the outside layer though. I thought it would be cool to use Nicoles idea for stamping on basic Muslin fabric for the outside of my organizer instead. I started by stamping 4 of the Garden of life flowers and leaves on the muslin with the Perfect Match Inks. I used felt to create the inside layer. You can get the directions for making the inside layer here. I added 2 extra inches to mine so after I sewed both layers wrong sides together it would still be big enough after I turned it inside out. I finished the organizer off by adding Berry Sorbet Grosgrain Ribbon to close it. I am happy with how it turned out and can see myself using it often. If you have any questions about it that I have not answered here let me know. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a good night.

Garden Of Life Bookmark

This is the gift I made my mom for mothers day. It is also one of my submissions for this months Papertrey Guest Star Stamper contest. I got the idea for it here . I painted twinkling H20's directly on the base sunflower stamp from the Garden of Life set before I stamped it. Then I did the same thing with the overlay stamp and leaves. The ribbon is the Lemon Tart Saddle Stitch Ribbon from Papertrey. My mom loved it. Tomorrow I will share the other project I submitted. Have a good night.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers that read my blog. It is just another Sunday around here because I think everyday is mothers day and I don't want to do anything special. Days like this make me even more grateful to have a wonderful daughter and mother though.
This is the card I made for my mom. I used Julee's Mojo Monday sketch week 36. This is the first time I have ever done one of her sketches. I have wanted to do one for a while now but did not have the time. Hopefully I will have time to do more of them in the future now.
I started off by stamping the flowers from The Angel Company with Palette Noir black ink on Papertrey stampers select white cardstock and then colored it in with my Copic sketch markers. After that I matted it on SU Night of Navy cardstock. I used my plain and scalloped circle Nestabilities to create the flower for the sentiment and then stamped the Happy Mothers Day saying on it in Night of Navy ink. Sentiment is from the Pond Life set from Papertrey. The cardstock on the left is SU ballet blue and was embossed with the cuttlebug dots folder. The cardstock on the right and the bottom of the flower is from the Kimberly Hodges Designer paper pack that I had gotten from my local Scrapbook store a few years ago. The ribbon is SU 1/4 grosgrain white ribbon colored with a vermilion copic sketch marker to match the paper. I finished the card off by matting it with SU Summer Sun cardstock. I know Daisy's are my mom's favorite flower and her favorite color is blue so I hope she likes it. She is coming by in a little bit so I can give it to her. I also made her something else as well but I am going to wait until Tuesday to show it to you because I am entering it in this months Papertrey contest too. That's it for now. I hope you all have a great day.

Double Digits

I finally got around to making a scrapbook page of Emilia's 10th birthday. I started out making this for a purple color challenge in the Stampingscrapbookers group I belong to. I did not get it done in time to enter the contest but I still wanted to finish it. After that I decided that I would like to have it done and posted on National Scrapbooking Day which was Saturday but unfortunately that didn't happen either. I finally got it done the other day though. All cardstock is CTMH. Emilia's favorite color is purple so that made the challenge easy for me to do. I got the idea for the layout from an old CTMH catalog. I changed it up a little bit though. The tag on the left side pulls out to revel the journaling this is what it says:

For Emilia’s 10th birthday we took her to the Four Mile House.
We ended up getting a private tour because nobody else was there.
We all really enjoyed it. When the tour was over Emilia got to go
inside the tee pee and pick out a souvenir from the gift shop.
She chose a tiny tea set. After that we got her favorite lunch at
Boston Market. When we got home her birthday present (Kaya)
still was not here. We had to order her from the Chicago AG store because
the AG catalog was sold out of her. Emilia was starting to get bummed out
that she was not here yet. At that point I was not sure if she was going
to make it either but at 5:30 the doorbell rang and it was UPS delivering
her. Emilia was so excited to see her and so was I. Later that night Stacie,
Alexandra, Grandma and Papa came for dinner. We had Emilia’s favorite
foods, steak, mashed potatoes, peas and salad. I also made her favorite
double chocolate cake for desert. It was a great birthday!

I made the title using CTMH patterned paper, my cuttlebug and the Your Not The Boss Of Me cuttlebug letter dies. I used crystal effects to give it a 3D effect. I stamped the middle layer with the CTMH Confetti and Favors set. After that I stamped on the purple ribbon using white Stazon and a sm polka dot from the polka dot Papertrey set.
That's it. Now I have to start working backwards and make pages of Emilia's other 9 birthdays. I can't believe it took me 10 yrs to make a birthday page for her. At least it is a start though.
Now I am off to work on a mother's day card for my mom. I hope I can come up with something soon since mothers day is Sun. When I finish it I will share it with you.