Ever Grateful

This is the card I put together using the colours from today's colour challenge (bashful blue, certainly celery, and close to cocoa) and Lauren/mytime's sketch challenge. It's relatively simple, but I like the window effect the panels gives the scene. The main images are from gel-a-tins, Wild Things. The sentiment, ever grateful, is one of the many is So Many Sayings. I also found some of last summer's mini double-sided paper. I cannot remember what it's name is, but it went nicely with Polka Dot Posies and Bud Basics. It also went perfectly with this colour challenge.

Flying Fish!

I decided it was time for some doodling on my card. This was for another SCS challenge. I started with the fish, but I wanted to make it more interesting. At first I was just going to add balloons to the fish, but then how would he breath! So I drew a fishbowl around him and attached the balloons to that. I never liked how the balloons in Hip Hip Hooray were a solid stamp in a set of line-art. So after stamping, I outlined them. The sentiment just seemed appropriate with the theme :D I sponged the sky after doing all the stamping and colouring. I masked the objects so I wouldn't get them too muddied up.

A few more challenge cards

I made a few more cards yesterday. Here's the first one. This was done using the Monet technique. In the past, I have been unsuccessful with this technique. The key is patience! You have to get the paper to dry just so before stamping. I really wanted to use some Hodgepodge Hardware-Brass on here, but my whole tin is MISSING!!!! How does one lose something so large and noisy??? I have torn apart my crafting space for the last day, and nothing! I used a die-cut instead, which worked nicely. I used autumn leaf prints and aida cloth on here.

My second card is a totally different style. I combined 2 of the challenges for this one. I also tried a new colour combo that I might not have otherwise and I quite like it(mustard, turquoise, wasabi, pomegranate, and chocolate). I used Pick a Petal and So Many Sayings on here. I wanted matching designer paper, so I made my own using various circle punches. I don't really have any great tips on how to get such straight cuts for "out of box" style. My craft mat and blade weren't nearby, so I just drew a very faint line in pencil. Using decent light and a steady hand, I cut it out with scissors.

A few more "dirty" challenges

I did a few more challenges for the "Dare to Get Dirty" event at SCS.

This one was for Sharon/notimetostamp's challenge. I used gel-a-tins Wild Things, as well as the Houndstooth background, and one of the sayings from the new level 1 hostess set So Many Sayings. Because that set comes with 36 different sayings and images, but only 3 blocks, I went unmounted. I actually peeled the rubber away from the foam. Then, cut out the sayings really tightly. I left them unattached to foam. I will just use them with double-sided tape and an acrylic block. To make sure I don't lose any, I put three long strips of double-sided tape in the box they came in, and stuck them there. My colour scheme is burgundy, artichoke, and vanilla.


This card was created for Beate's sketch challenge. It gave me an excuse to use some more of the new sets! The definition is from Define Your Life and the gift is from Holiday Blitz. The letters are from gel-a-tins 1" and 1/2" Roman letters. I also used the Polka Dot background and did a little bit of ghosting (the gifts) and some doodling (the squiggles). I used the colours Wasabi, Pomegranate, and Guava.

It's that time again!

Time for a clear card! This one has a card base of 4.25x4.25. The black frame piece (3.23x3.25) is attached inside the card. The striped paper is from the Creepy Crawly line. I also found some fabulous (and inexpensive) black eyelets on my recent trip to Minneapolis. I suppose it's a bit early for Halloween, but you could also send this to a friend who just really likes pumpkins...

A few sketch challenge cards

The challenge yesterday was to make tend topper cards. These cards are generally 4.25x4.25, with a little extra layer going over the top fold. I made this one first. The proportions were not exactly right, but I figured I'd still post it. This card uses the new Big Celebrations set. I also stamped the polka dot background on the apricot in white.

This second one I like a lot more. I was inspired by the new Cosmo Cricket line, Gretel. I took my colours from there. I used Carte Postale on this one. I thought it would look pretty to make a cluster of plants using the leaves and the floral stamps in this set. To finish off the cluster, I cut out and popped up the bird image, flying in. Here's a tip for you. If your vanilla craft pad is too wet, try inking the stamp in the more opaque whisper white, then gently ink the vanilla onto the stamp. This way the vanilla mixes with the drier, stickier, more opaque ink and stamps nicer.

Blingy Best Friends

Here's a card featuring some of the Bazzill Bling cardstock I picked up last week. I bought the pastel pack. On a sidenote, I had always been calling it Ba-zill (rhyming with Brazil). Only once at CHA was I corrected with the "Razzle Dazzle Bazzill". On another sidenote, my new catalog stuff JUST arrived, WOOT!

Anyway, back to the card... I used the gel-a-tins set "Best Friends". This image can be used as wings for the little girls in the set, but I thought butterflies with floral trails would be pretty. I embossed it with the new Sweetheart gelly glitter. I threw on some polka dot ribbon, and made a little butterfly charm with polyshrink. I tied on the charm with unwaxed dental floss. If you need white thread that doesn't fray easily for something like tying a charm on, try dental floss! It works REALLY well.

A little bit of CHA

Here are a few of the photos I took. First up is from the Doodlebug booth. I absolutely LOVE their stuff, I wish there were more local places that carried the stuff though. The chipboard houses were adorable. I loved the tiki-themed one!

I liked the butterfly, flowers, and sparkles theme to the booth as well. This was a cute window display taken from inside the booth.

On my way to Basic Grey, I wandered through Me & My Big Ideas. After seeing all the Sanctuary ads earlier this year, and then the Sanctuary bags everyone was carrying around I checked that out. I took a picture, however, I was more entertained by these adorable glitter stickers just right of the Sanctuary display. My favorite is the little penguin tangled up in the cords. How cute!

Lastly, is a picture from Basic Grey. You really DO need to see these papers in person to fully appreciate them. After seeing them all, I chose Mellow as my favorite.

I have returned!

I'm back in Winnipeg! The show was a lot of fun, very intense and visually overwhelming. There's just SO much to look at. I didn't take as many photos as I would've liked, but that's okay, since I had a great time! Sorry, no card update tonight. I arrived at 8:55, picked up some extremely tasty sushi on the way home from the airport, watched the taped "Canada's Next Top Model", and now I am just taking care of a few emails and then crashing. I'll be sure to update tomorrow, I just don't feel like loading the camera onto the computer right now. My cat Sammi (aka "my little stalker") has taken to laying right in front of the USB port, plus my camera is still in a bag. Until tomorrow...

Another Heads-Up

I will be once again heading out of town until Monday. You may recall I am heading to CHA. I am ridiculously excited!! I will be at the gel-a-tins booth (we are at Booth #1102). Stop on by if you attending the show!

I also finally finalized my New Catalog order. That should be arriving just in time for when I get back. In case you care, here is my list:

Batty for You- it was just too cute to resist. I have a total soft spot for Halloween sets, but never allow myself to get them. Well this one, I finally said YES!

Creepy Crawly- I had to get the matching paper, didn't I?

Big Celebrations- I "lost" a bunch of good watercolouring images with the retirement list. I liked this one. I've heard mixed feelings on this one, but I think it's a cute idea.

Holiday Blitz- I immediately liked this one, but it's on the pricy side. I decided to go ahead anyway. It's too cute!

Polka Dot- I have been wanting a Polka Dot background forever!

Define Yourself- I love the idea of definition-style sentiments. My only sadness towards this set is the letter N's word/definition. Being a Natasha, I was hoping for something cool, but the word is nearly.

I was pretty restrained with accessories. I just bought a whole new slew of stuff last week, and I figure I have a while to fully decide if the new items are for me. I like the idea of the Pretties Kit, but really, I don't know how much I would use it. I'm not a big Prima girl. For now, I've just got the Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon, a 9x9 clipboard, and the 1"-circle punch.

I also will be getting the Level 1 Hostess Set, So Many Sayings. I think I may just have to go unmounted with that one!

Let's see, I think I still have a few samples left that I haven't posted here yet. Here's something

that I made "in honour" of my brother and his girlfriend. They aren't getting married any time soon as far as I know, but their first name initials fit nicely with my design. They are also both musicians, and the & from Pretty Fancy alphabet, and the Spiral Symphony are both very musical looking to me.

Quick Colour Combo Challenge

I really liked the tranquil vibe of this week's SCS colour challenge. I pulled out my gel-a-tins set, Wild Things. I used the 4 challenge colours to make a spectrum scene (order was Navy, Bordering Blue, Mellow Moss, then Artichoke). Next I stamped the grass stamp repeatedly with the moss dye ink. I let that dry, then did the wheat image in Artichoke. Lastly, I wanted a sentiment, so I took the "peace" sentiment from the Mini Fancy Flakes. I wanted to do something fun with the background, but I was trying to keep the card to all one vendor. So I grabbed a piece of scrunchy plastic that I had seen on my computer desk and dipped that into the mellow moss craft spot and used that to stamp the paper. Then I added in bordering blue craft ink. It makde a really neat background!

More CHA sneak peaks!

Here are a few more designs I did. I was having fun with the red and black theme. I just LOVE this alphabet set: Pretty Fancy Letters. I put it with the some hearts from Pet Shop, as well as Hearts-a-Flutter. The swirls are from Spiral Symphony. I embossed them with the jet black super glitter. It sure sparkles in real life! The letters were also embossed with the ruby red slippers super glitter.

For this next one, I was just having fun with symmetric designs. This card uses the Wallpaper Series #2. Both of the Wallpaper sets would be awesome for making very cool designer paper. I picked up some flocking powder, so I was thinking of using that later for some very cool effects. I finished off this design with a few of the gelly gems, I used the gems from the Dazzle Me set. The final layer of the card is the black frame, I had already mounted the cardfront on some white 12x12 for transportation.

And, now it's time for the Tagging. The 7 random facts seems to have come around again (I last did it on April 25th), so I guess I will just have to come up with 7 more items!

1) I HATE having wet eyebrows, it is a severe pet peeve of mine. They are the first thing I dry out of the shower.

2) My music playlist is only 37 hours right now, and I'm thinking, it needs more songs!!

3) I love going to check the mail. I know it's really lame, but sometimes that walk to the superboxes is the highlight of my day. Hey, you never know what could be in there!

4) I like making up ridiculous "nicknames" for people that end up being excessively long. Like I've called my brother Tubana Banana Cabana Boy (say that 5 times, fast!), and my sister "Tee Tee Bo Gee Gee".

5) I was a Sims 1 player, but I have moved on to the Sims 2. I love designing the houses!

6) Speaking of houses, when I entered university, I had every intention of becoming an architect, but the prof. of my intro class completely turned me off from that path. So I ended up in Geography, which I had only picked up because I needed a 6-hour credit course to fill in for French, which I had dropped.

7) I haven't yet placed an order from the SU! new catalog!<> It's not that I don't want new stuff, it's just that I keep going away, so there's no point ordering something when I'm not here to receive it!

I've returned, for a little while

I am back for now. I will be taking off again Wednesday for Chicago-CHA. Speaking of CHA, I've got the all clear to post my gel-a-tin summer '07 samples. Here are a few for now...This first one uses Funky Flowers and Little Critters.




This next one also features Little Critters. I cover the chipboard with yellow craft ink, then stamped the z's and smaller bees over top. The bees within the squares are embossed with jet black super glitter, so they really shine.

The final one today also features Little Critters. I wanted to showcase this snail, it's too cute. I haven't seen any images of top-viewed snails, and I really like this one. It's neat how you can make such a cool background with just the one stamp. The sentiment is from the Holiday Cheer set.

If you're curious to see the new releases, check out this link: New CHA Summer 2007 Products. There are some new accessories as well: scented powders and new gems!

Hello Friend!

When I checked out this week's colour combination (here ), I couldn't say no. Turquoise, red, and green are one of my favorite combinations! These colours scream cheerfulness. You can't help but smile when you see them together! This card is relatively simple, but it took a bit of time to get all the circles just right. I used the stamp-a-ma-jig. I have to admit, after working with clear stamps all week, it's hard to just let things flow with the rubber stamps. I'm so much more anal about placement now. I guess I'll be using that stamp-a-ma-jig a whole lot more than I used to. I really like both types of stamps, but they both definitely have their own sets of advantages and disadvantages. Anyway, enough about that, here's the card!

In other news, I will not be updating until maybe Sunday. I just wanted to give a heads-up. I am going on a mini-holiday. I guess I'll do the tagging response then. I know, you all can't wait to read 7 random things about me...(please note the sarcasm :D )

River Rock & Guava

You know, when I first saw River Rock, I wasn't a big fan. I bought the reinker anyway, but still I hadn't used it much. Then I was looking through this DCWV "Far East" paper mat stack. I saw this lovely paper with, look at that, tones of river rock and groovy guava. I decided to pull out this lovely stamp that I got for Christmas. It went nicely with everything. The rest of the card came together after that.

The stamp on here is called Plum Branch, it's made by Judikins.

Address Book

A friend of a friend is moving away, so I was commissioned to make an address book. I picked up a $1.00 book from a local dollar store, then set about making it so much cooler. First, it didn't come with tabs, that had to change! Using my round tab punch, I punched out 13 vanilla tabs and 13 kraft tabs. Then I stamped the alphabet on them with the Rough Edges alphabet. I attached them to the pages using sticky strip. Next came the cover...I thought this Scenic Route paper made perfect sense! It's double-sided, which made for a nicely coordinated spine and cover. Finally, I needed a label for the book. I pulled out my gel-a-tin's What's Your Sign stamps, then stamped in "addresses" using Rough Edges again. I have to say, this is definitely a big step up from the original cover. It was very drab and dreary!

A Party Invite and a book

Since I only recently got Mix and Mingle, I better use it, right! So here's a fun little card. I LOVE this Scenic Route paper. I am slowly becoming quite obsessed with orange, olive, and turquoise together (kind of like how I was with my winter colour combo-obsession: chocolate, teal, and rose). It just seems very summery to me, and I keep using it! I kept it very simple, because usually with invites, you'd be making several, so I kept it mass-production friendly (minimal layers, one step stamping/inking, easy embellishments).

I also felt like playing around with chipboard. Whenever I do this, I almost never have a final project in mind, I just like covering chipboard. Like today... I just grabbed a chipboard flower, then some paper, then I set to work. Only after I had it all nicely sanded, I actually really looked at it. What the heck would I do with an alphabet covered flower??? Well.... how about decorate a journal with it! So that's just what I did. I still had plenty of alphabet paper left, so I figured I'd cover the back with it.

Another not-so new one...

Well, it's new in that it uses a new hostess set, but this too was already uploaded at my SCS gallery. It is a very simple card, but I'm really happy with it. It uses two of the new in colours- blue bayou and soft sky, and the hostess set In the Spotlight.I had to use the stamp-a-ma0-jig for the frame of dots, and even then, it was a "hold-your-breath-and-hope-you-don't-slip" experience.

A little baroque

I had posted this in my SCS gallery earlier this week. I totally forgot to post it here. This was a colour combination that I came to by grabbing a piece of DP from a box and matching SU! colours that I had to that piece of paper. The colours ended up being Sahara Sand, Elegant Eggplant, Not Quite Navy, and Perfect Plum. One of the fun things about this card is that it actually works in all 4 directions. There is no definite up or down, left or right.

In other news, I have been stamping up a storm, but they are for CHA releases so I cannot share just yet. I've been having lots of fun though, I can't wait to post them! It's also nice having the daytime to be creative again!

A pair of mini-cards

One thing I've noticed these past few months is that mini-cards are definitely very popular. And with good reason, since it's so much fun to think about layouts for a different canvas, so to speak. Here are two 3x3 cards featuring the Happy Birthday set from gel-a-tins For the card on the left, I decided to include something that I NEVER do, a staple. I received some coloured sharpies, one being a teal one, so I decided to do the staple-ribbon look, and colour the staple teal to take away some of the harshness. Well, I'm not sure how people normally staple ribbon on their cards, but I had a hard time with it. I figured it was just another way to attach ribbon. I practically had to glue the ribbon down first before I could staple it. For the card on the right, it's pretty basic. I jazzed up the main image with stickles and cut the teal frame out with mini scalloped scissors.

Starry Birthday

I have been wanting to do the spectrum background stamping with the white crayon resist for a while, I'd just been putting it off (I don't really know why). Finally, last night I found that white crayon and set out creating this one. I'm really happy with it. It's a fairly simple layout, but it turned out exactly how I wanted it to. For those curious, my spectrum background was made using yoyo yellow, summer sun, and pumpkin pie.

Announcing...

The opening of Pink Cat Studio Digital Scrapbooking store! For the past few months, I've been making pages with these delightful products. If you're into digi-scrapping, take a look here Pink Cat Studio . Here are a few fun pages I designed. The first one uses parts of the

Tropical Delight Kit. I used the papers and the brads from this kit for this layout. The picture is from a walk I took one weekend. There were some gorgeous lilacs, so I had to photograph them!

The next one features the Pink Diva Kitty. The page features two of my diva kitties: Gizmo and Sammi. The photo didn't totally go with the papers, so I applied a pink filter, and look at that, it goes perfectly! To see more of my creations and others on the design team, check out the online gallery: http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/DigitalGallery/.