Bead pops are back!!

in a limited mix of colors matched up for upcoming holidays:

these come in a packet of approximately 150 bead pops. these are hand dyed by me and have just the right hint of shimmer to them - wonderful accents for cards and scrapbooking pages. the beads are flat-backed and adhere quickly with a dot of glue or a small glue dot. The beads are in two different sizes - so come on over and check them out!!

mini tutorial (just a good idea) and some splitcoast challenges

This is the weekly sketch challenge over on Splitcoast Stampers (SCS). I love this one because it gives a nice big area to do some stamping. In addition the color challenge this week was monochrome so i threw that in too on one of the cards :)









So here is the monochromatic one:

I stamped little Dancing Pezzy using the blues on one end of a kaleidacolor pad (Baby Powder) but the variation doesn't show well in the pic. the music notes are swirly pop bead pops and the glitter is ice stickles. i am very into my stickles right now. i really want to make a card that is just entirely stickled but i can't figure out how to do it without it being ridiculous........

Next up - i discovered a new favorite technique - faux watercoloring the September technique challenge over on T!m Holtz's blog:

i had JUST gotten this stamp set from SU and had yet to ink it up - it is perfect with this technique. i tried some other stamps but only have one more i really like that i hope to make a card with this week. on T!m's blog he used adirondack inks of course but i used the memento dew drops because they are just so perfectly sized and shaped for multiple inking on one stamp. this is definitely where having ALL the colors really helps! as a quick rundown - you ink up with several different colored iks. then spritz with water using the mini mister so there is a fine mist and stamp onto water color paper (so glad i had some lying around). for the spattered background i just inked up a spot on my craft mat, picked it up with a very wet aquapainter and then spattered it on. the top purple piece is velvet cardstock run thru the cuttlebug.

the bottom border is my mini tutorial/good discovery for you. it is done using some of that doodlebug crushed velvet flock which i love. so supplies: tacky glue, flock (could work with glitter too), stencil of some sort, cardstock, foam ink blending tool, and repositionable adhesive.

I used a fiskars border punch to make my stencil, i am thinking the cricut could make good ones too. attach your stencil to your cardstock with repositionable adhesive to make a mask. apply a generous amount of glue to your foam and smoosh it onto your cardstock. do it up and down so it doesn't move your stencil and be sure you get it into all the cuts.

quickly pour on the flocking and smoosh it into the glue with your finger.

Shake off the excess and peel off the mask so it doesn't dry on to your cardstock. cool huh?

posts may be slim next week IF studio G arrives like it should - i will be buried under shipping supplies!

hugs and happy stamping!

Meet the verve divas challenge (with quick tutorial)

I have not had the opportunity to play all of the meet the verve divas challenges but was feeling particularly ambitious AND i liked this sketch so i took the plunge!









And here is my card:

And a closer look at the details:

Again I was playing with the Halloween Trails set from Inkadinkado - this time stamped in encore purple metallic ink - much more purple IRL. The tag is stamped in encore silver. The background is another dimensional pearls and ink blending foam experiment. And of course some of Cat's gorgeous purple shimmery bead pops.

The background is quick and easy. Gather supplies; 2-3 colors of dimensional pearls acrylic paints, ink blending tool and foam, cardstock. Using ONE color at a time - squirt liberally on to a foam piece and dab randomly over the cardstock - you want it thick and texture-y in spots. don't cover the whole thing.

Repeat with other colors until you are happy with the results.

Do your skittles want to play dress up??? new stamp release!

To answer some questions on the skitterbug stamps - i drew them myself and they can not be purchased form anyone else. the skittles i used are died and then painted by hand by Catherine (my sidekick-hee hee) - she will have pics of her snail shells tomorrow - they are better than my attempt :)

is it really the END of the day????? good heavens where did it go??
so do you remember these gorgeous flowers we sprayed with shimmer mist yesterday? well they ar eback to help me introduce some new additions to my rubber stamp line!



















I am using fridays cupcake sketch from taylored expressions:

now what on earth are skittles some of you may be asking. Skittles are very similar to the robin's nest dew drops and i currently carry many altered "skittles" as bead pops on my website. they were nicknamed skittles after the screen name of Catherine, the girl who does the altering. and so we got to thinking and here is what we came up with:

And now some close ups:

And the stamps:

i know the pic is insufferably tiny but click here to see them on my website! Now it is simple to dress up your skittles - simply stamp the little bugs and add skittles. each set comes with 8 alterd skittles (or bead pops) and more can be purchased if you want them. You can also make your own OR simply use the little cuties on their own as stamps. more samples to come!!

In addition don't miss my little giveaway i posted yesterday - a pack of SEI's velvet paper - oh so yummy! just post a comment on yesterday's post by 3am eastern time wednesday - i will pick a winner when i get up! i'll have more to giveaway tomorrow!

Thinking Outside the Block Fridays!!!

ok i am going to apologize for myself now but i am just WAY to tickled with myself over the latest acrylic block creation! i have LOTS of pics so i can show each side. the cube is 6 of the square blocks:

I started by printing my pics using the contact sheet size. These fit perfectly on the blocks with some room to decorate. I put a tiny drop of glossy accents on each front corner of the pic and then glued it front side down so that it would be on the inside of the block.

next i inked the edges of the top and bottom block with brilliance pearlescent ink and heat set them with a heat gun. The top is sky blue and the bottom is ivy green.

i stamped littlew bugs and a phrase from a studio g set with brilliance pearlescent inks and heat set too. i ADORE these little dew drop inks i have added to the store - the size and shape of them makes it a BREEZE to ink up your stamp in several different colors.

next i attached two squares of patterned paper to the INSIDE sides of the top and bottom blocks with a thin layer of mod podge.

now for assembly. i used e6000 glue. i applied it to all four edges of the bottom piece and attached all four sides and let dry. then i applied the glue to the edges of the top piece, laid it down and slid the block down over it - perfect fit!

This pic really shows the 3-d looking effect of having the pic and paper on the inside and the stamping on the outside.

i decorated the top with a piece of grungeboard from the minis set, inked well with more brilliance pearlescent ink and two primas from the paper patch. i covered the centers with glossy accents and then loaded them up with various colored green seed beads. i dotted dimensional pearls around the edges.

Each corner is an indent so i ran a line of glossy accents along each one and dropped some Blue Lagoon bead pops in upside down. i did one corner at a time so they could dry. these are by catherine/silly skittles and available on my website - she does an excellent job with them - not just dies but all shimmery and variations in color are superb!

i plan on making more of these it turned out so cute. i may even make some two blocks high for larger pics or more pics.

remember to send me a link if you make this or any other project with your extra blocks! don't collect studio G and don't have any blocks - you can order them on my website! if you have an SCS gallery put TOTB in the keywords!

2 sketches 4 you DT call

here are the two cards i made for the DT call over on 2 sketches 4 you - a blog i JUST discovered and hope to play on more:
First the sketches given














And the cards:

Some details for you:
i got these cute little acrylic charms from CTMH and dyed this one with alcohol ink.

Images are the new studio g series 16 and colored with copics

one of the new edge punches YAY!!

bird is pink cat studios and snail is pink petticoat. i printed it out at 5x 7 size so the images would be a bit smaller. the tweet is stamped with brilliance pearlescent chocolate ink and heat embossed with clear. wanted to try it but really the pearlescent ink looks great by itself. then i went over the flower, stem, and plumes on his head with a versamark pen and brished on some perfect pearls. images colored with copics.

the background stamp is also pink cat, stamped in versamark and brushed with various colors of perfect pearls. added lavendar dreams bead pops at the bottom and for the prima centers.

yellow stickles for the dots - i am into dots right now if you haven't noticed!

sentiment is from the new studio g series 16 - LOVE the sentiments in this set. stamped in brilliance pearlescent chocolate for more shimmer.

all are products i carry so check the web store if you want some!!