Motorcycles make a Joyful Sound

Today is Wednesday-- My Sunshine's Stamps day in the sun! Lots of exciting stuff this week. The design team has a slick new name: Sunshine's Dream Team! Christina has re-vamped the store and it is more organized and easier than ever to "get the goods". Speaking of goods- check out "Racy Randyne" above- I love the pouty lips on this girly motorcycle. Members of the DT will be having a blog hop on 10/17 and it will be lots of fun with prizes and mystery blog candy for a random commenter.

I found my inspiration in the Truly Scrumptious sketch challenge #17 today. I used some ancient polka dot paper from Walmart, some scraps of Miss Elizabeth DP, some cork paper, Stickles (on the helmet) and the sentiment.

I had no idea what do to for a sentiment and decided to put away some stamps and saw the "Make a Joyful sound!" stamp in a Clear Artistic Stamps Christmas set. I know the sentiment isn't really for a motorcycle but I think motorcycles are LOUD and those who ride them cherish the noise.

I will have some exciting personal (non-stamping) news to share with you next week :)

Corrosively Mojoing

I made this card Monday and I feel like I made it a month ago- this week is racing by quickly.

Challenges:
Corrosive Challenge #31- Kiwi Kiss + Melon Mambo (pink + green)
Mojo Monday Sketch #106

I used a digital stamp from My Grafico and made it into a postoid. Simple but I'm happy ;)

I'll be posting a card from Sunshine Stamps later today.

SheetLoad sneak peeks!

Have you downloaded your FREE copy of the September '09 SheetLoad of Cards yet?! If not, head on over today and see what our artists did with their stamps from JessicaLynnOriginal.



The new issue will be out tomorrow, October 1st, and you can get a sneak peek at the new issue over on the SheetLoad Blog today.

Squigglefly Challenge #21

This is for Squigglefly Challenge #21- Black and White
As soon as I saw the DT's samples I knew I had to play! Coloring seems to take most of my time so I made this card in just a few minutes. I added some faux gems and a touch of diamond Stickles to the ears, eyes and butterfly for accent. The black layers have a touch of silver glitter spray on them too.

A Very Squiggly Birthday

Challenges:
Squigglefly SNR Color Challenge #5- Ruby Red, kraft, white, bluish gray
Stamp with Fun Challenge #26- sketch
Pink Elephant Challenge #34- Something with dots, punch, tag
Dare U2 Digistamp- Challenge #22- Punched shapes of diecuts

To make this even more fun- I haven't ever done the Pink Elephant or Stamp with Fun challenges! Seriously- the dark background is really a grayish blue with sparkles in it and it isn't as blue as it looks in my photo.

A Very Squiggly Birthday
Stamps: Man- Squigglefly; Polka Dot background and sentiment- PaperTrey Ink

Fall into a card

I started this card last night and just couldn't get it to work. My family decided to spend some quality time together so I abandoned the project (and enjoyed the family time immensely)! I returned to my studio this morning and with "fresh eyes" was able to improve the card.

Challenges used:

MMSC20
Digital Tuesday- "Falling Leaves" (I took it literally!)

Stamps:

Digi Shack (digital); All Night Media alphabet

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Wishes to My Mom! I drove her nuts when I was a kid but I appreciate her so much more now that I am a mom myself! The card is a little unconventional but so am I!

The sketch is from Friday Sketchers Week #71. The image is "Stuey" from Sunshine's Stamps and he is part of the Ocean Dwellers collection. The sentiment is from Studio G. The DP is from Miss Elizabeth (and no matter how much I use of it I just can't finish the pack!)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Sunshine's Stamps Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! I've created 2 new cards this week featuring new digital stamps from Sunshine's Stamps. Some of the week's release featured sports themed stamps- Ref Rodney and Fumble (a football). Even though I am not a major sports fan, I loved these images and immediately thought of some friends who would relate to them.

First up is a card featuring this week's Splitcoaststampers Sketch (SCS247). I thought it would be fun to make a more masculine card to say thank you for a tailgate or SuperBowl party (I know the SuperBowl is months away- same principle as Christmas in July- be prepared!) I opted not to embellish much to keep it manly but it was a little stark so I added the curly Q corners. the sentiment is computer generated.


For my second card, I opted for a soccer theme (the soccer ball is from All Night Media). I stippled the sky with lots and lots of shades of red, orange, yellow and pink (next time I might try to mellow it a bit with deeper/ more muted shades). Referee Rodney really gets into the game and has grass and mud all over his cleats! Have no fear his wife Heather will clean the floors after he gets home and forgets to take off his shoes before eating his snack! I tried to think of a clever sentiment for the lower corner and decided that I had fun making the card and wasn't going to sweat the sentiment.

Sunshine's Stamps Guess the Caption Winner

Before I show you my Sunshine's Stamps cards for the week, I want to announce the winner of my guess the caption contest from last week. The correct answer was c "At least you got a birthday card!" My husband chose the winner from the correct entries and the winner was:

SPARKSGAL who said "I think u used comment "C". Cute card!"

Please send me an e-mail and let me know which image you want as your prize.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Mid Week News

I'll be posting some art in a few minutes but I wanted to tell you to check out Craft Critique today- they made their 1,00th post and have a HUGE giveaway of prizes. All you have to do is comment and tell them your favorite post out of their first 1,000!

So go leave a comment on their blog HERE!

***
Clear Artistic Stamps has a bunch of new stamp sets. Yesterday, I received Sparkles holiday Music and Stationary Time. A bunch of us from the DT ordered Stationary Time as soon as we saw it. So when I stamped today which set did I use? Yes- the Sparkles set to make holiday cards. I'm going to lose my cred with the team as a Frimch who doesn't like to make holiday cards ;)

So go check it out!

Hip Hip Hooray for Mojo Monday!

Hip Hip Hooray for Mojo Monday #105! Bet you can't guess what sketch challenge this is!

Typical for me after the card was finished I realized I had reversed the lower scallops from the sketch. Oh well- close enough ;) I used some orphaned paper scraps, a scrap of ribbon and even a scrap of lavender colored silk paper. The stamps are part of a cute set from Studio G. I tried a new background technique on the cardbase but I'm not thrilled with it.

I am trying very hard to catch up with my blog reading. If I normally visit you but you haven't seen me for a few days, have no fear!

Bee Crafty Bookmark challenge

Last weekend Bee Crafty blog posted a free digi and a challenge to create a bookmark with it. The DT made some great samples and I really liked the pile of books digi.

I opted to keep it very simple. To start I stippled on some tea colored Distress ink around the image then I colored with Copics. Finally I added some glitz here and there with Stickles and some speckled edges with ultra fine point Sharpies. That piece of ribbon was within eye site so I thought it looked good with the books.

I got the nod of approval from my daughter who asked me if I had made the bookmark for her! Since she is quite honest with her opinions about my art, I'll say this is a thumbs up (even though it it REALLY simple.)

Happy Saturday!

My apologies for neglecting to schedule blog posts during my parents' visit. I made this card Friday for Squigglefly's color challenge #4 on SNR group which was green/ gray/ black and white. I love the color combo but got into trouble (the card starts veering 80mph in another direction). I ended up adding some gold and silver to the mix. I textured some CS scraps with Fiskars Texture Plate (textile) and then punched them out. I've never seen leaves like that but sometimes you have to try it once. What I did learn is that I think that texture would work well for pinecones ;)

My parents are visiting us for the weekend. My Mom LOVED the Offray Ribbon Outlet near my house. My mom, daughter and I all had bags of stuff when we left! You'll see some of my new embellishments very soon ;)

Teriffic Thursday

This is a peek at one of the samples I made for my review of Fiskars Texture Plates at Craft Critique. I love that image from Squigglefly!

Speaking of Squigglefly they are having a blog hop tomorrow (9/18/09) to celebrate the launch of their newest images. If you are a fan of High Hopes stamps Squigglefly's newest illustrator, Crissy, used to illustrate for High Hopes. She created a new moose stamp which is adorable!

Clear Artistic Stamps has a new Halloween Fun Kit with two stamp sets, pearlized raffia (gorgeous) and metallic cardstock. Tomorrow on the Cottage Studio Blog there will be a new Rumble Challenge.

And lastly- if you want to win a free image from Sunshine's Stamps check out my card from yesterday. Select the right caption and you could win!

Win a free image from Sunshine's Stamps (9/23/09)

Today is Wednesday and each Wednesday I share artwork that I have created using digital images from Sunshine's Stamps. Today I used Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge #246. The image above is named "Stuey" and he is part of the Ocean Dwellers series. This week's release includes FOOTBALL IMAGES- Ref Rodney and Fumble (a football) and both are perfect for your favorite football fan or football widow!

THE CONTEST

Study the card above- what do you think Stuey is saying? I have generated 3 possible sentiments and one of them is on the inside of the card.

• Leave a comment with the letter (A, B, or C) of the sentiment I used.
  
• Next Wednesday, September 23, 2009 I'll use Random.org to select a winner from all comments with the correct answer.
  
• The winner will receive a free image (winner's choice) from SUNSHINE'S STAMPS.
• One entry per person please
  

a) "Frankly Scarlet, I don't give a fin!"

b) "If you rub my fins... I'll rub yours!"

c) "At least you got a birthday card"

Please leave me a comment with which sentiment- a, b, or c is inside my Stuey card above. If you are not on Blogger please include an e-mail address so I can contact the winner.

If I get more than 50 comments, I'll add a second image to the prize!

Good luck!

Happy Birthday Brother in Law

Just a quick post from me today. My next Craft Critique Article is due first thing tomorrow morning and I am trying to finish it.

This is a birthday card for my brother-in-law. It is a very simple and quick card because I follow the premise that stampers/ crafters appreciate elaborate cards the most ;) But seriously I just love that owl image from Doodle Dragon Studios (Dustin Pike) and I wanted it to be the focus. BTW- Dustin Pike announced he has sold some of his images to a RUBBER STAMP company so he will be retiring some of his similar digi images. Get them while you can here.

The tree is a freebie digi from Lost in Scraps.

The sentiment is computer generated.

PS I will be leaving comment love tomorrow. I appreciate every comment and blogging buddy I have out there ;)

Postponed x 3

I made this poor card last Sunday and it got bumped/ rescheduled 3 times this week. So today I owe it a moment in the spotlight. I really like my NoteCuts1 template from ShortCuts. It is pretty easy to print various sizes so you can layer them. Another favorite on this card is webbing spray! I love the dramatic effect for a background. I also used one of my new favorite sets from Clear Artistic Stamps which is called Garden Beauty. I colored the image with my palest Copics.

Rhonda's got blog candy + my dinner

Celebration time! My new blog friend Rhonda (also a senior leader of the Squigglefly DT) is celebrating her blogaversary and is offering some fab blog candy. To help her celebrate, Squigglefly gave her 2 digital images to share. So right there we have 2 things to celebrate- 1) blogaversary and 2) free images! Not to mention that next Saturday, September 19 Squigglefly is making a big announcement and launching new images (some of which are already on their site- nymphys, cornucopia + more). Way, way cool stuff! So go visit Rhonda- awesome blog, awesome blog candy!

The entire Squigglefly DT has been tantalizing, teasing us loyal fans about September 19. I can't wait!

I really like this image of the boy and girl "courting". I liked it so much I made 2 cards with the image:

The first card uses the Dare U 2 Digistamp Sketch Challenge #21. I did boo-boo and neglected to put the sentiment in the upper right corner but since there isn't a million dollar prize and my family isn't in deathly peril, I'm just going with it!

Card #2 was inspired by the scraps from card #1 and the Taylored Expressions sketch #82. I use the term inspired by because it was my jump-off point and I really went down the road and turned left twice to get my final sketch! The sentiment is a stamp from Studio G. I had to do a little stamp surgery- the heart was originally to the left but it wouldn't fit my oval so I trimmed it off and now I have 2 stamps!

This was what I made for dinner tonight! And my lasagna tasted as good as it looks!

Over at the Cottage Studio

Today I'm the featured DT member at the Cottage Studio blog for Clear Artistic Stamps. This is one of the cards featured and I did a mini-tutorial about watercolor crayons in my posting. Please visit and leave me comment love ;)

Digitally Rocking Out with Mojo!

Digital Tuesday's challenge #23 was kids (and teens and babies).
Mojo Monday #103 was this sketch.

Rocker Girl is from Squigglefly and the stacked alphabet is from Jody Poesy (Alluring Impressions but I think it is a discontinued stamp.) The DP is from Daisy D- I love that line of paper (gift from my Mom).

Swimming with the Fish x3

This trio of cards was created using images from Sunshine's Stamps: Suzanne Swordfish and Clammy Pete.

This card utilizes the Mojo Monday sketch for this week. The sentiment is computer generated and I added some bling to Suzanne's string bikini and tossed on a few punches for embellishment. And as a personal note- this is one of the only times EVER that I have been able to capture sparkle on a digital photo!

This card, featuring Suzanne Swordfish once again, was created using Caardvarks sketch #3 for this week. The "happy anniversary" sentiment is from Stampola. I might give this card to my husband for our anniversary next month.


The last card is from Caardvarks sketch #1 for this week. I added "EEK" at the end because that really summed up my day, my feelings about this card and tha I was lucky that when my daughter tossed her stamp into the dirty stamp bin it JUST missed hitting this card. You have to love digital photography- the "pink" is actually peach and the background on the image is actually a deep purple and lavender. Multiple photos and attempts at color correction failed. I agonized over the colors for this card for way longer than I should have- please trust me- the colors "work" in real life.

Aren't you thinking "EEK" after reading all that?

Oh my stars it is a challenge!

Squigglefly Challenge #18 is to use red + green (not Christmas) + at least 2 stars... this is what I made. The pack of paper calls this atomic red but it looks pinker in the photo. All images are from Squigglefly. Check out their new Woodland Nymph- isn't she cool?

Show us your SheetLoad

It is time for the monthly Show Us Your SheetLoad challenge over at SheetLoad of Cards!! To be entered to win, all you have to do is create a single, Fall-themed, card that utilizes the sketch from the latest issue.



Head on over there today and find out how you can win one of two gift certificates from the September sponsor - JessicaLynnOriginal!

Save the date you wicked cat!

This week's Corrosive Challenge was cats! I'm allergic but I do own a few cat stamps (which don't make me sneeze)! I made this last night but it was too dark to take the picture.

The stamp is a $1 stamp from Michael's and it originally had a square border which I hated so I did surgery to remove it! The ribbon is from Offray, Spider Web image from Inkadinkadoo and the background was made using a Fiskars texture plate and then rubbing a white watercolor crayon lightly over the texture to bring it out. I added Stickles to the spider web and cat's eyes.

Rumble #15

Clear Artistic Stamps is hosting Rumble #15 and the theme is woodgrain. The design team made some fantastic projects and you can see them HERE.

I'm working on two crafting related projects so I'm laying low from my blog for the next few days. You'll see some of the fruits of my labor soon. Some of it involves new stuff- but I can't show you the products yet because it is for Craft Critique. Craft Critique had some great articles this week including an article about SU's new policies- the comments on the article were extremely insightful. I'm not affiliated with SU in any way but the freedom of expression debate fascinates me because I have a journalism degree.

Mojoing + Squigglefying

**update 9/5** I won the Gold Star Prize for this card on the Squigglefly weekly color challenge #2 in their group on SNR! I am excited!

I stacked the challenges on this card for my Mom:

Squigglefly Color Challenge: Pumpkin, Cranberry & Kraft
Squigglefly Challenge #17: Non rectangular/ non square card
Mojo Monday Week # 102

My Mom (how appropriate) bought me the DP from Paper Studio, "Mom" is from Clear Artistic Stamps and "Million" is from Squigglefly. The background is Notecuts1 by ShortCuts which can be used with a digital cutter or printed and cut by hand.

Hiccups + Sunshine's Stamps

I had lots of fun with this release from Sunshine's Stamps. Ironically*, I was inspired by Tipsy McStagger- the perfect mascot for an Irish Pub! Tipsy has a line of T-shirts, greeting cards (including bloodshot eyes!) and motivational posters. The motivational posters were generated on an online site but this is my blog so I decided to include them!
* I don't drink at all

Blog Hop for Clear Artistic Stamps

Welcome to our first Clear Artistic Stamps blog hop!! This week we are introducing our new additions to the Design Team as well as 10 new sets that have recently been released. Our blog hop is a short 10 station affair and there will be prizes that you can win if you leave a comment at each hopping blog that you visit! My new stamp set to showcase is the wonderful Sparkles Bright & Happy Holidays.


This set was designed for Winter but as soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect for flowers (and stems!) I used the blossom and star images for the flowers and 2 of the stems. For the stem on the left I used the the snowman's polkadot hat. So Winter/ holiday stamps can be used year round! It was fun to update this old file folder.


Here is a list of our blog hop stations, feel free to just hop on to the next person or start at the beginning at Belinda's blog. You have until Wednesday 09/09/09 to visit and leave a comment to be entered into our drawing. First prize will be the fun Limited Edition set Thoughts of an Egret and there will be runner up prizes as well!

• Belinda
• Heather <--- you are here
• Nancy
  
• Wendi
• Samantha
• Lisa
• Jean
• Etha
• Jeanne
• The Cottage Studio

Just Published- SheetLoad September

It is time for the new issue of SheetLoad of Cards - September 2009 - sponsored by JessicaLynnOriginal!



Head over to the blog today to download your FREE copy and make sure to check back later this month for chances to win prizes from the sponsor.