Bloomin' Birthday Wishes

I just received these flowers (In Bloom stamp set-PTI) and wanted to bring them to life with a bit of colour. First I cut them out, then I chose an assortment of Copic markers and got to work. Although the design itself is quite simple, the card was not the quickest. Colouring, blending, then adding shadow details and colouring some more isn't the fastest process. But I think it's well worth the effort!

I had to laugh, my sister pointed out that they kind of look like cabbages. I could kind of see that, especially with the central flower. But hey, just one more way to use the image, right?

Supplies:
Stamps: In Bloom, Everyday Button Bits
Ink: Rich Cocoa
Paper: Rustic Cream, Pumpkin Pie, Ripe Avocado
Accessories, etc.: pop dots, copics

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcake

Last week I was doodling out ideas for cards. I was thinking how cute it would be to pair the smaller fruit images from Fruitful with a cupcake from Cupcake Collection. I stamped the cupcake top in Dark Chocolate and did the holder and raspberry with Scarlet Jewel, the leafy part was done with Ripe Avocado. Then I used those 3 colours throughout the rest of the card. In order to make the scallops all the way around my card I cut out two sets of the scalloped rectangles, then overlapped them. It's pretty cool how easily that works out.

Supplies: Stamps: Cupcake Collection, Fruitful, Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: Scarlet Jewel, Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate, Fresh Snow
Paper: Scarlet Jewel, Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado, White
Accessories, etc.: corner rounder, scalloped nestabilities (oval and long rectangle), ribbon

Basket of Birthday Daisies

I love stamp sets that inspire me to colour. Vintage Picnic is definitely one of those sets. It's so much fun to mix and match the baskets and fillers and then choose a medium to colour them with! For this card, I went with Copics as my colouring medium of choice. The layout is ultra simple. I jazzed it up a bit by adding a fancy satin bow and a dotty background.

Supplies:

Stamps: Vintage Picnic and Sentiments, Polka Dot Basics II

Ink: Rich Cocoa, Summer Sunrise

Paper: White, Chocolate Chip, New Leaf, Summer Sun

Accessories, etc.: Nestabilities, satin ribbon, Copic markers, pop dots

Special Birthday Delivery!

Here's a birthday card I made for someone who loves robots. I thought it'd be cute to pair Blip and Bloop together with a cupcake and a truck. I thought it'd be funny to have the frowning robot on the back of the truck. He's sad because he wanted to drive.

If you're a DoodleFactory fan you should check out the latest releases. They are awesome! I cannot wait to get my hands on them. There's even a cool combo pack deal . Plus if you use the code savetenNT you'll get 10% off!

Supplies: Stamps: DoodleFactory Country and Urban, PTI Mixed Messages Ink: Tuxedo Black Paper: Real Red, True Black, White Accessories, etc.: Copic, stickles, pop dots, dot texture plate

Blog Hop- a day late

I totally forgot about this month's blog hop. I meant to participate, but was away on holidays. I happened to have a project mostly made before I left, so I finished it off tonight. It uses 2 of the backgrounds from Background Basics: Text Style. I also just picked up the wooden buttons and vintage tea inks, so I was itching to try some distressing techniques.

Supplies:
Stamps: Men of Life, Vintage Picnic, BB: Text Style
Ink: Vintage Touch tea inks, vintage cream, dark chocolate, scarlet jewel, enchanted evening
Paper: Scarlet Jewel, Rustic Cream, Enchanted Evening
Accessories, etc.: pop dots, sponge, wooden button, twine, twill

In the Wild!

Here's one more sample for the DTGD challenges at SCS. Amy is hosting this one, the theme is all things wild (i.e. animal related). I decided to use Gordie the Giraffe and some fun DCWV Safari Kids paper. I drew my colours for the giraffe from the paper. I wanted a somewhat realistically coloured giraffe, so I stuck with the brown tones. I stamped the greeting several times on the oval to make a fun background, then coloured and cut out the giraffe and placed it over that. I added a bit of ribbon and a flag sentiment and that was that!

Supplies: Stamps: Gordie the Giraffe, Birthday Basics
Paper: Night of Navy, White, Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss, DCWV Safari Kids DP
Ink: Spring Moss, Prussian Blue, Rich Cocoa
Accessories, etc.: Copics, nestabilities, pop dots

DTGD 2009!

It's time for another "Dare to Get Dirty" over at SCS. I made samples for two of the challenges today.

First up is the Clearly Creative challenge with Krystie as host. I punched out several stars from Scor-Tape sheets and placed them all over my acetate card base. Then I covered them with glitter. Yellow, blue, stars, and glitter made me think "baby card".

Next up is Becca's Die Cut/Punch challenge. I had lots of fun with this card and used both a die cut and punches. I started with the Bigz Top Note die, then stamped several stars, punched them out and placed them all over.

Supplies:

Stamps: Everyday Classics, Birthday Basics

Ink: Summer Sunrise, Orangerie, Paris Lights, Lemon Tart, Prussian Blue

Paper: Bitty Dots (Summer Sunrise, Spring Rain), White, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sunrise, Spring Rain, Lemon Tart

Accessories, etc.: Bigz Top Note die, large and small star punches, pop dots, glitter, Scor-Tape sheets, acetate, satin ribbon

Cheer Up!

This card started out as a challenge of sorts. My sister and I were at the mall one evening and we saw this t-shirt. I was quite amused by it and somehow we got on the topic of me recreating it in card form. So I drew my best rendition of the features on cardstock, cut them out and pieced them together. I thought PTI's fresh alphabet was a nice font substitute.

Paperworks Co. Release!

As you may have seen, PaperWorks Co. has released a second set of adorable animal stamps, this time, it's the Aqua Amigos! Be sure to check out the store site for a few deals (good until July 23rd). First up is Ollie the Octopus! I thought that PTI's colours Aqua Mist and Ocean Tides went nicely with the ocean theme.

Next up is Carlos the crab. I went with bright cheerful colours and a computer generated punny sentiment.Thirdly is Wallie the whale. I went with a classic clean and simple design here. First I printed out the sentiment. I jazzed it up a bit by added scalloped "waves".
The final image is Tommy the turtle. I have a soft spot for turtles and was quite excited when I saw this image! I coloured all the images with Copics, I wanted to add a little something extra to Tommy. It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but I added crystal effects to make the shell really shine.

Mark the Calendars

Please join us tomorrow (Wednesday, July 15th) on the Paperworks Co. blog at 6:00pm MT for something BIG and Exclusive! I'll be there chatting!

Here's a card that may give you an inkling of what's to come...

I stamped and coloured the lion, then added a bit of flock to make the mane ultra fuzzy!

Stamps: Safari Friends, Wild About You

Ink: Rich Cocoa

Paper: Tangerine Tango, Summer Sunrise, White, DCWV Safari Kids

Accessories, etc.: Copics, Nestabilities, ribbon, brads, pop dots, white flocking powder

Starving Artistamps/Doodle Factory Blog Hop!

Welcome to our new release BLOG HOP! We are super excited to present our newest DoodleFactory release CLASSIC DECOR. Our designers have been having a blast working with these new images. It is with great pleasure that we also have some super talented special guests joining us for this hop. Be sure to visit ALL the stops on our hop because one of us has a complete collection of the new Classic Decor release to giveaway as blog candy! The first stop in our hop is with the incredibly talented Donna Duquette. From there she will direct you to the next stop on the hop. Here is the complete list in case you get lost somewhere along the way: START HERE: http://starvingartistamps.blogspot.com/ Donna Duquette Juliana Swanson Donna Baker Kathy Daume' Lori Tecler Lydia Fiedler Andrea Cloutier Natasha (you are here) Irene Silva Dawn Mercedes Jenn McMillan Nina Aaslund Laura Davis Kazan Clark Tracey Berkey Our new releases are already loaded in our shop, ready for immediate shipping and... for the next 3 days we are offering a blog hop special. Buy the complete classic decor stamps and sentiments collection (both the classic decor stamp set and the coordinating classic decor sentiment set) and get all the cling cushion you need for the two sets FREE! You can find the new stamps here: CLASSIC DECOR STAMPS:found here! CLASSIC DECOR SENTIMENTS: found here! Thanks for visiting with us today! We hope you find tons of inspiration and have lots of fun visiting with our designers!

Here are my creations. Let me tell you, this set really brought out the interior decorator in me. I've never used paper piecing much, but these pieces just beg to be stamped on your favorite designer papers and arranged!

First up a classic room setting- I used Scenic Route papers, from a Christmas collection here. The lamp cord was created by cutting a piece of cardstock ultra thin and breaking the fibers in it so it became more string like.

Next up, I was dying to use some Basic Grey. These patterns are from the Sugared collection. This one ended up having a bit of a "Mrs. Claus invites you for tea" vibe. The window was made by stamping the decorative panels onto vellum and colouring them with Copics. I used Stamper's Magic Tape to adhere them to the window.

You know I couldn't participate in a blog hop without at least one clean and simple type card. I embossed the chandelier, coloured it with Spicas, cut it out, and then placed that on a shimmery textured background.

For my final card, I wanted to show how well previous DoodleFactory creatures fit in with the scenery. Here, I've replaced Numnum's cookies with a bit of wine. He's getting an early start on the anniversary festivities! The papers for this one came from Basic Grey's Two Scoops

Be sure to continue on to the next blog hop stop: Irene Silva- DoodleFactory illustrator and cardmaker extraordinaire.