a big honor!! and Technostamper Monday lunch sketch

Do you LOVE your cuttlebug??? i KNOW i do and so when i heard i could put in a "request" - not so much a pre-order - for the folders coming out at the end of the summer of course i jumped on it - Haylie-Jo over at Crop Stop is FABULOUS!! She is your one stop shop for all your QuicKutz, Boss Kut, Sizzix and Cuttlebug dies, embossing folders and storage sleeves AND she ships FREE to the US and Canada!!!!!!!!! Well she contacted me and would like to use my creations as examples of the versatility of the cuttlebug folders! What an honor!! i am looking forward to working with Crop Stop and creating fab new things for them! and now i NEED to buy more cuttlebug goodies - HA HA HA!!

next up is last Monday's Technostamper sketch from Mary Jo- yes i know - i am a wee bit late!! so here is the sketch:

and the card - a birthday card for my sweet (and a bit neglected) hubby:

how ADORABLE is that stamp?!?!??!?! got it from stamping bella - hubby has this huge obnoxious jeep he goes rock crawling in - well pezzy LOVES to play in it in the garage while daddy is working on it. so when i saw this one i knew i HAD to have it! the trees are a stampscape stamp and i stamped it on the back of a transparency and then alcohol inked the front in attempting a camo look. Stamp is colored using prismas and gamsol and then i used clear skittles for the headlights.

now back to work for me!

wishing you all a very Happy Mother's Day!!!

Adorable new goodies on the website and BLOG CANDY!!!

i am pleased to announce some new additions to the Bead Pops family - these adorable hand altered half beads are just perfect for scrapbook pages, card making, and other paper-crafting items. they are so whimsical i just HAVE to smile every time i look at my little bottles and packages on my scrap table. I have added more colors to the SUGARpops, POLKApops, SWIRLYpops and JEWELpops groups AND there are now MIXEDpops and glittering PRINCESSpops which are available in bottles as well as the cards.

now WHAT ABOUT THE BLOG CANDY you ask - here's the scoop - I am giving away a Ranger Big & Juicy Rainbow Ink Pad in Happy Birthday!


and here's some info:

The Biggest, Juiciest Rainbow Stamp Pads! We developed a BIG 4-1/4" x 6-1/4" raised felt pad
brimming with our most popular dye ink color combinations. The rainbows are hand inked in
vertical stripes on partitionless felt and placed in our new #3 sculpted case with hand
brayered labels. Great for brayering fabulous water-color backgrounds on large areas such as
photo album pages.

• Acid free
• Non-toxic
• Quick Drying
• Raised Felt Pad
• Removable Hinged Lid
• Easy clean up

Now PAY ATTENTION - here's what you do - go to the bead pops pages http://www.pezadoodle.com/SugarandScraps.html there are two pages. Pick out your favorite and leave me a comment telling me which one it is. I will take comments until Monday at midnight and then pick a random winner - be sure not to leave me an anonymous comment or i won't be able to get ahold of you!

more exciting changes (and giveaways) are in the works so BE SURE TO STAY TUNED!!!!

Ranger Paint Dabbers

I am beginning to add the Ranger paint dabbers to the inventory in the store and played with them for the first time. i saw this tutorial and could not pass it up. (this whole blog is amazing).

the first card was done for sketch challenge #5 over on the board at Paper Patch. we were given this sketch from pencillines.com but were challenged to turn it into a mother's day card.

and here is mine:



I used gold paint dabber but laid it on smooth. then alcohol ink over that. then the texture on the corner and strips was added by dabbing the paint dabbers and then drying with a heat tool. went over it again with alcohol inks. and of COURSE the dots down one side SCREAMED for some pops from Sugar and Scraps and I just so happened to get some brand-spankin new ones in that matched PERFECTLY! Sands of time - shades of gold, bronze and deep burgandy and all shimmery. Below is a close up of the pops and the texture.


next card is based on the mojo monday sketch over on Julee's blog if you play by sunday there is a prize up for grabs!!!

For this one i used the bronze paint dabber, alcohol inks and then the background squares are smudged with matching peeled paint distrass ink and sprayed with pearl mist using the bronze perfect pearls. it is cloudy today so i just could NOT get a pic that really showed the shimmer on this one.



The sentiment is printed out and then i used one of the newest Studio G stamps for the frame.

well i am off to tech club (pray the baby is good for her sweet dada!!)

Sketch for you to try

hi all! quick post today - the weather has been so nice we are spending lots of time outdoors which means not much is getting done indoors!! todays card is for Jen's usual saturday Sketch-For-You-to-Try post:


i turned the sketch on it's side for this one. the image is for a May challenge over on The Board (cricut message board) for the magic colored pencil technique using gamsol. We are all sent the same image and then get to see what everyone decides to do with it :) the hive is cut with the cricut, papers are Le JArdin from Stampin Up and fibers are CTMH.

now to go hide in my studio and see what fun new things i can create for you before the family morning zoo starts!!

Mother's day project

In addition to the super fun coaster album I made this box for my mom too. This was SO much fun!! i am making two more! i got the instructions from Vernell as a tutorial for the Ranger yahoo group I am in:


The box is a wooden $2 box from michaels. first I painted it with a gold Ranger paint dabber. i also painted the Harlequin Grungeboard hinges gold too. Then i covered the lid with versamark and vintage photo distress embossing powder. i wanted it to look pretty distressed so i snaded it in spots with a sanding block so the gold would show thru - doesn't really show as well in the pics but i TRIED!! The stamp is from Local King Rubber (given to me by my FAVE friend cat - **waves to cat**) and is stamped in chocolate chip ink. the edges are done in vintage photo with the ink blending foam tool. then i misted with water, crumpled, smoothed and rubbed a bit of antique linen over the wrinkles.



the hinges, the box and the gold german scrap (forgot where i got it - SORRY!) were a bit too GOLD so i sponged some vintage photo ink around the sides of the box and over the hinges but the scrap is slick so it wouldn't stick. for that i used ginger alcohol ink. i attached the german scrap and the hinges, added cinnamon sickles (FAB color BTW) in the holes of the hinges and added a few NEW skittles/pops i just got in stock. These are WONDERFUL and shimmery and should go up on the website tomorrow so BE ON THE LOOKOUT for those. they come in larger bottles. the ones used here are MIXEDpops in Sands of Time. i tell ya i am in love with these like i am in love with primas......


i am really pleased with this one :) i mailed it off this morning - hope my mom likes it!!!!!

now i am off to work on a surprise in the making for all of you!

Final Coasters done!!

ahh so those of you who have been following along - i finished my last three coasters last night. i didn't have a card sketch to use but i did this first one based on a portion of this LO sketch from Got Sketch that i had laying "in line" on my table:


and here's the sample - i used alcohol ink press from the tech junkies newsletter, primas as the scallop piece and SWIRLYpops in Starry Night Blue for the skittles.


Next up i caved and used no card sketch - i was too impatient to wait for monday to roll around. of course now i am wondering what i will do with the monday sketches.........the tech junkie technique used is reinker splash with peeled paint and tempting turquoise reinkers. crackle paint is also peeled paint. the skittles used on these are JEWELpops in Strawberry Daquiri - SO could not get a pic good enough to do them justice!!




next up is the back cover, however you don't get a whole pic - just a SNEAK PEAK as it is something that will be coming in a big announcement VERY SOON - so make sure you STAY TUNED! the skittle here is a PRINCESSpop in Yolanda Yellow - the princess pops have some colored and some clear - all glittered so these are the clear ones. tech junkie technique is pouncing using ranger's dimensional pearls in eggplant and bottle (bottle being my new fave ranger color)


the letters are from the new grungeboard minis set. i inked them up really well with eggplant reinker and then covered with a thick layer of Glossy Accents. All of these materials, including the pops embellishments and the blank coasters, can be purchased on my website


now to figure out how i will put them all together.......

New Product announcement!!

As you all know I LOVE using the "skittles" embellishments and i especially ADORE the altered ones I ordered from Sugar and Scraps. well i love them SO much i have decided to offer them on my site - check them out if you haven't seen them! Sugar and Scraps

and now for the next installment on my never-ending coaster album. The first sketch is from poetic artistry:

and the coaster:



So this is a pretty loose following of the sketch but i find i am occasionally a little limited....the technique junkies technique i used is artsy dimension. i really liked it alot more than i thought i would. In fact i promptly ordered more of Ranger's dimensional pearls and will be adding those to my inventory as well so look for them on my website soon! the Skittles used here are my most favorite - SUGARpops in Galactic Grape - they look good enough to eat!!

Next up is the sketch by MJ over at Technostamper:

And the coaster:

i really love this one. i may have to use this theme on more things! the technique used is a variation of the aged metal technique using alcohol ink and tin foil then embossing thru the cuttlebug (oh boy do i LOVE my cuttlebug!! Look for an exciting new announcement about that coming soon!) for the strip under the pic i used a bow and some skittles instead -these skittles have a sort of aged gold/green patina distressed look to them and just fit PERFECTLY with the background. i brayered the coaster with matching distress ink before attaching everything.

Have a stampin happy day!!!