TECC36 AND bellaholics challenge all in one!

FINALLY got some extended play time in this weekend. Hubby did a fanFREAKINGtastic job taking the baby of my hands ALOT this weekend - LOVE him! alas he is out of town for the week so i will be on my own *hair stands on end* - so i have a double duty challenge card today. i used this -->-->
sketch from Taylor's cupcake challenge.



and here is my card:

FINALLY inked up one of my new chichiboullies from stamping bella - this is patricia cupcake - isn't she ADORABLE?? the embossing is rubbed lightly with a brilliance pearlescent thyme dew drop - i find the dew drops are easier to do this with - not as much gets on the unembossed parts. the patterned paper is from the new DCWV sweet stack - oh wow is it YUMMY!! the buttons are from SEI - oh how i love SEI - and that is where the bellaholics challenge comes in - we had to use 5 buttons.

i colored the image with copics and then used spica glitter pens for her cake - it's not a cupcake but it's close right? also rubbed the embossing from the nestie with the same thyme ink. her wings are painted with perfect pearl perfect pearls powder and an aquapainter.

In case you missed it yesterday i am having a sale on big & juicy Rainbow ink pads - $8 instead of $12!! and free shipping still in effect!

i have a very exciting project for you tomorrow so be sure to come check it out!!!

skitterbugs minus the skittles for OCC challenge

So I have been doing my best to keep up with the challenges on my friend Amy's blog she does with a very talented group of girls - Our Creative Corner. The challenge is posted on Saturdays and the last one was a limited supplies challenge - NO designer/patterned paper and FOUR layers or LESS. So here is a 3 card set i came up with using some as yet uninked stamps from My Favorite Things. In addition they each have one of my newly released skitterbugs stamps.


Now i DO LOVE them with the altered skittles for their little bodies (see pic at right) but i wanted to show everyone they can be just as cutie patootie on their own!



So here are my 3 cards:

Colored with copics. New cuttlebug folder along the bottom and then inked with a versamagic dew drop (also available on my website). stickles in the center of course. The strip across the center is velvet paper. shape is the new storybook cricut cartridge, dots are liquid pearls and then each corner has a kaiser stick on pearl. little bee skitterbug.

another new CB folder and lots of the new glitz stickles - ruby slippers, colored with copics, red is another velvet paper. scallopped oval is cut with nestabilities. Little ladybug skitterbug.

finally, top and bottom are velvet paper embossed with CB borders. stickles dots and a little snail skitterbug.

for an update - my altered beads for these are completely sold out :( but no worries!! order away and they will be shipped straight from sugar n scraps in canada. i still have stamps left but they are going fast! in addition i have three more in production that i am sure you will love including one for halloween!

don't forget to sign in for blog candy on yesterday's post!!!

now off to work i go - meaning holy mess batman - my kitchen looks like an explosion!!!!!!!

BLOG CANDY plus SFYTT ala pearl mist re-visited - reinker tutorial #1 AND BLOG CANDY

hi all! i decided to talk a bit about reinkers this week in our tutorials. i think reinkers can often be an under-loved supply. of course, they can be used to add more ink to a pad that is running out but there are other ways you can use them too. my sample card today is from Jen's Sketch For You To Try:

and here is the card (minus a sentiment):

This card has a number of different pearl mists made using perfect pearls, water and reinker in a mini mister. The main image is from Inkadinkado and i inked it up using the Royal Satin Kaleidacolor pad. The circle design is cut from the storybook cartridge on my cricut. all pieces are matted with brushed gold paper from SU.

most folks love the shimmery sprays and so do i but i could not afford the glimmer mists. then i came across this little recipe on T!m Holtz's blog and i have been spraying everything since! It is so inexpensive since the "ingredients" have other uses too.

So gather supplies: for each color you want to make you need perfect pearls, reinker, a mini mister, a little "scoop" and white cardstock.

Fill the mini mister 3/4 up with water. add 10 drops or so of reinker - it does not need to be distress re-inker. Add a pea-sized scoop of perfect pearls. shake really really well.

I always spritz on scratch paper the first few times to get the colored mist flowing. i made four different colors to show here but it is very difficult to truly see the differences. in one i had just gold perfect pearls and water - no reinker. one had eggplant reinker and forever green perfect pearls. one had currant reinker and bronze perfect pearls. the last one was cranberry reinker and pearl perfect pearls.

On my first piece of cardstock i used the eggplant spray - i got a deep purple color with green shimmer in the light. and the currant spray which was a deep red color with a bronze shimmer. the colors blend together well.

when you first spray the paper it will curl up but don't worry. it straightens up on it's own. if you want deeper color or more shimmer you can do a second coat.

I sprayed the stamped image with the gold spray - no reinker. this leaves shimmer only (gold in this case) and no color.

i also sprayed the gold spray on the green card base as well so i am left with a card that is still green but with a golden shimmer.

Here is another piece i sprayedwith all three colored sprays. For the final card i had one piece sprayed with cranberry and pearl PP - this piece i cut and put through the cuttlebug in one of the new embossing border folders. the other two colored piece i cut in the cricut. the pierced holes were done using my T!m Holtz design ruler.

while i was spraying.....we were talking on Scrapping Friends about spraying white flowers to match your project and making them all shimmery. so i dug out some white primas:

and one red one :)

and i sprayed away with my leftover shimmer sprays. i did one in each color, one with the gold only and the red one with gold only too.

and here they are! once again the camera doesn't begin to do them justice. but the reinker really gives vibrant good coverage. stay tuned tomorrow to see what i have used these on - I have a new product i am releasing tomorrow....do your skittles want to play dress-up????

AND NOW SOME IMPORTANT stuff - goodies!!!!!! for my first giveaway i have a pack of the gorgeous velvet paper i have been raving about!

to enter leave me a comment - it can be on anything you want me to know :)

showin some mojo love for my stampscapes!

oh how i love when i get time to do sketch challenges! this one is this weeks Mojo Monday Sketch from Julee:

i left off the top strip because it didn't add to my design but i want to make another one now - if only i had time.....i also did this one using Tuesday's color challenge over on SCS - sahara sand, groovy guava and white. so on to my card:

This one was SUCH fun to do. i used a new stampscapes stamp, new versamagic dew drop ink pads i just stocked on my website AND my new cuttlebug folders!!

the background piece is run through the cuttlebug and then i ran a versamagic dew drop over it in sage to highlight the embossing. these are chalk inks which i have never used so i don't kow what others are like but these are DEEEElish!! coverage is vary opaque and creamy and they blend SO WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (i will get them up for ordering this weekend i hope!!) i cut the 2 circles with George and the scallop with celebrations on my cricut. then i ran the white circle through the cuttlebug with one of the decorative circle embossing folders. this one was highlighted with versamagic pink grapefruit and the foam blending tool - perfect for highlighting embossing.

the stamp is autumn brook. i inked it with various colors of versamagic (dew drops are perfect for this sort of precision inking) and then stamped it on white cardstock. many people get very fancy with their coloring of stampscapes but this shows it can be simple too! i mounted it on sahara sand and embossed the edge with one of the new embossing borders. again i inked it with the foam blending tool. the piercing across the top was done with the tim holtz ruler so i get perfectly spaced dots.

i will definitely be playing with these versamagics more!!!
PS - remember our UTEE tutorial with the cracked glass? you have GOT to run over and see what catherine has done with it on her blog!!!!

Faux metal - alcohol ink tutorial

alcohol inks and tin foil are an awesome combination:

the squares are inked, cut on a cricut and then embossed with a cuttlebug

gather supplies: white cardstock, heavy duty tin foil, xyron or full coverage adhesive, paper creaser, alcohol inks, blending solution, felt and applicator tool.

i cut my cardstock in 4 pieces so it fits in my xyron and then run it thru.

lay out your tin foil as flat as you can get it and attach the cardstock pieces to it.

you want to get it as flat as possible - i use my bone folder (paper creaser) and gently smooth it out.

now carefully tear the tinfoil off from around the cardstock pieces

Now you are ready to ink them - we use alcohol inks because the tin foil is slick and alcohol inks are made for slick surfaces. apply 2-3 colors to your felt pad, add some blending solution - the more you add the more your colors will blend and lighten up.

Here are my pieces inked up.

here they are laid out after i cut them with the cricut - they cut very well.

here are some close ups of them cuttlebugged! if you rub them a bit some of the ink sometimes rubs off and the tin shows through. or you can swipe a staz on pad over the raised portion.

image is pink petticoat colored with copics, versamarked image is one of my own with a bit of perfect pearls to highlight the butterflies.

the F is grungeboard - i covered it with versamark and several colors of perfect pearls and spritzed with a mini mister to set it.

a few other samples i have done:

and the winner is....plus more coasters!!

KatGreen from The Board - that's the cricut board of course!! Kat I can't email you because I can't get the cricut site to come up but i'll try again later! come on over to the website and check out the colors of perfect pearls I have available and then email me your two color choices. I'll include some of my tutorials as well!

And now on to the coasters - these things are SO much fun - i just may have to make one for my step-mom too! the three i have today are super special i think because instead of using the regular $2/bag skittles from Ms i used some of my newly arrived super gussied up skittles from Cat over at Sugar and Scraps on Etsy.

The first one uses Jen's Sketch For You To Try that she posts each Saturday - they are ALWAYS excellent:



And here's the coaster:



The technique junkies technique i used is called Rainbow Brilliance. And CHECK OUT the adorable SWIRLYpops in Oscar Gold:



The next installment is a "2-page spread" using the color challenge on Splitcoast - Certainly Celery, Pretty In Pink and Chocolate Chip - I immediately went for the pictures of Pezzy helping me make chocolate "cake-cake"




BUT i cheated on the technique requirement I set for myself. I just really thought the colors would be perfect for this new technique I came across over on Debbie's blog using multiple passes thru the cuttlebug. I just LOVE the way this looks!



and OF COURSE the adorable little POLKApops in Pink Posies:



I had no pre-planning here all the parts just came together with no effort - don't you just LOVE when that happens???

well I hope ya'll have a wonderful day!! SO glad you stopped by!