Autumn Splendor

Penny Black stamp set Autumn Splendor. Watercolor paper for a simple CAS card.

Family

It was 20 years ago on September 16th that my mother passed away. This past September 16th we laid our brother and her youngest son to rest with her and Dad. I know that Kenny is now at peace in God's loving care. 

After the service all of the siblings went for a walk down memory lane. We started at our childhood home in Willingboro, NJ and walked to Corpus Christi school and church like we did so many times back in the sixties. We ran into the current owner right after we posed for the picture above and he said he has lived in the house for 40 years. Thanks for taking such beautiful care of the place all of these years. He asked us if we were the ones responsible for the little hand prints in the back porch patio that my Dad poured. Guilty! Would have loved to have seen them. We were short our youngest brother on our little journey and will always miss him. Be at peace, Kenny.

The first picture is all of us girls standing in "Dad's parking place" at Corpus Christi Church. We never parked anywhere else :)

The second picture is what is left of the original school yard where we lined up and did our calisthenics. So much of the school is exactly as it was. Even the bathroom stalls were a dark Pepto Bismol pink and the speckled tiles were the same but the speckles were mostly worn away.

Magical Day

A quick CAS card using Lawn Fawn stamp set and paper. Used Wink of Stella on wings and added plaid drawn in on their dresses. Colored fairies in Copic markers.

Corgi Thanks

For the 30 day Coloring Challenge. The stamp is from the Hero Arts Party Time set. I drew a tail on it so it looks like our Cardigan Welsh corgi and tried to mimic his brindle colors with Copic markers. This will go to our breeder who took such wonderful care of our Rocket while we were away on vacation. The papers are older ones from my stash of stuff- Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl

Washi Tape Background

For the Coloring Challenge, I tried Kathy's washi tape background technique. Stamped floral image first, then I used a scalloped washi tape in an X pattern. Chalk pastels in quadrants, colored in the white area with black Copic and added white dots and white stitching with gel pen.

Coloring Day 6

For Day 6 of the 30 day coloring challenge. Practicing with Lyra polycolor pencils on a coloring book page.  

Best Fishes!

For Day 5 of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge -come and play!
I used a page from the Johanna Basford 2017 calendar, colored in Copic markers. My grown-up coloring books are so relaxing, fun, and therapeutic! Love.

Johanna Basford coloring pages

I just completed my first full page from Johanna Basford's Lost Ocean coloring book. I used the Lyra polychromos colored pencils, also added some Stampin' Up! chalk pastels in light blue and turquoise for background.

Lawn Fawn Love Ya Bunches

This adorable new cling mount stamps set with matching dies is from Lawn Fawn, exclusively at Ellen Hutson's shop. I think they are completely adorable and make great cards for kids! I used some retired Stampin' Up! designer papers and card stock, colored images in Copics and used Lawn Fawn stitched frames dies for main image. I was inspired to use my monkeys to day when I played in the Featured Stamper challenge, top card inspired by Beverly- Krafty Aunt who's posts also brought my attention to Send A Smile 4 Kids and their birthday card challenge and card drive.

Alcohol Inks

Playing around with some of the Adirondack alcohol inks and mixatives for the colorful background. Stenciled a doily on top of that with Nuvo Soot Black Ash embossing paste. Sentiment is Stampin' Up! Hello There set, retired.

You Rock!

Painted some rocks today! Easy and fun :) 

Lawn Fawnatics

For the current Lawn Fawnatics challenge to make a black and white card with a pop of color.
I will also be sending this along with a batch of cards for this month's Cards For A Cause to go to hospitalized children. Great cause, if you have a moment to send something. Just make sure to keep it positive, upbeat and non religious as requested by the organization.
MAILING ADDRESS:
Cards for Hospitalized Kids
7290 W. Devon
Chicago, IL 60631

I used the Lawn Fawn Sweet Smiles set and the Stampin' Up! sentiment from a retired birthday set. Colored in Poppy Parade, Yellow, Green Galore, Turquoise, and Lilac markers. Added Wink of Stella glitter to glass ball and silver plate on bottom of dispenser.

Bonjour Paris

This little cutie set is Bicycle Built For You by Lawn Fawn. It comes with coordinating dies that I don't have yet so I cut out all of the pieces by hand for this one. I used Memory Box cloud dies, Martha Stewart grass punch on designer paper for grassy hill, Lawn Fawn road die for path that I stamped with Itty Bitty Backgrounds by Stampin' Up! The Eiffel Tower is by Tim Holtz. I love combining various stamps and supplies on my cards to make them unique.

Coloring Book Craze

It's been fun to watch the coloring book craze that has been going on for a while. It really is great therapy, bringing back the little kid in all of us! Some of these books can be fairly pricey so be on the lookout for them at half price book stores and your local thrift shops. I found these for a couple of bucks each. Not sure why the previous owners bailed on the coloring hobby but happy they donated to recycle and bring someone else joy!
For lots of coloring inspiration check out the Pinterest boards. There are so many amazing artists out there sharing their knowledge to inspire and make the world a more beautiful place. The Johanna Basford colored pages on some of these boards are works of art. (Book shown above with protective cover removed. It's a really nice quality journal style book). So pick one up and start practicing! Even if it is 15 minutes or a half an hour a day.

Koi Harmony

I used the shaving cream technique to create the water background on white card stock with Tim Holtz Stream and Moss inkers. The koi is a two step stamping set with coordinating dies that finished off the rest of the card. Stitched Frames rectangle die is by Lawn Fawn.

Colored Pencils review

I will be posting more reviews and projects on a more regular basis later on in April. Hope you will stop back and visit me often.

So many colored pencils out there, how to choose? Hopefully I can save you some time and crafting dollars by being the Guinea pig here. I tested the Prismacolors, Derwent Inktense, Lyra, and EK Success ones today. My favorites were the Prismacolors and Lyra, they went onto the paper so smoothly with a soft creamy feel that I loved. I used Whisper White thick card stock to try these out, I found this to be my favorite for alcohol markers and general coloring.

The Derwent were nice but not as creamy, they seem to be a bit more waxy and shiny for my personal taste. I'll most likely use these when I travel, if I lose them or leave them behind I won't be as sad. (Have to always have a portable craft, right?) 
The EK Success were really not great, you have to go over and over it to get decent color and they left shreds of pigment on the paper. They kind of put the suck in Success.

I would recommend just buying a couple of Prismacolor pencils to start. They sell them separately in most large craft stores. Maybe some greens to practice leaves with, you can always use these colors! I know it's tempting to buy whole sets of things as it is usually less expensive this way. Test first if you can, it's not a bargain if you're not going to use it or are always on the hunt for something that works a little better for you.
The Lyras are lovely too, I'll be on the lookout for some deals on them while I am in Germany.
Happy coloring, y'all!

Great Glasses, Batman!

There was an unusual challenge today over at Splitcoast to use glasses/sight images of any kind for your project and I had the perfect stamp for it! This large eyeglasses stamp is an older one by JudiKins that I have had for a long time and had never used yet. Didn't quite know what to do with it.
I used Stampin' Up!'s heavy Whisper White card stock which is great for extra stability and coloring with alcohol ink markers. I used a doodle flower stamp set from Sizzix (don't know the name of it but it came with a bunch of sentiments, some flowers and a set of frame dies). You could easily doodle your own flowers, these look pretty basic. I added some extra little circles with my Micron fine tip marker pen. The sentiment is from Our Daily Bread and is called Missing You, which is the sentiment I stamped on the inside of the card.  

Picket Fence and Flowers

I used the combination stamp set and coordinating dies from Sizzix (Stephanie Barnard line) in various Stampin' Up! card stock colors and Hero Arts ink spots. The Hero Arts inks seem to stamp better, more clear images than SU for me on the colored card stock.

Brushos Birthday

I can't recommend these Brushos color crystals enough, they are so much fun to work with! Simply spritz watercolor paper with water and gently sprinkle some Brushos on and let them spread out. I poked little tiny holes into the top of the cap so they don't come dumping out all at once. I got the set of 12 colors on Amazon, they also sell them on ebay if you prefer that venue.

Smile!

Another using the adorable Lawn Fawn Sweet Smiles set colored in Copic markers with some miscellaneous designer papers that I chose to mimic the gumball shape. I am on a mission to start using my overwhelming collection of papers. It's SO hard not to keep buying more and more but I will try.

Sweet Smile Gumballs

I simply could not resist this Sweet Smiles set from Lawn Fawn with all of those little faces in the set. They are pretty tiny stamps so you have to be pretty careful getting a hold of them and getting them back onto the window sheet without losing them. I think I will be putting smiles on everything for a while :) I added some glossy Crystal Effects to each of the gumballs for that realistic candy coating shine!
This is for this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge, the SCS color and teapot challenge challenges. Card stock, ribbon, and papers are all Stampin' Up!

Sand Dollar or Sea Biscuit

I'm not quite sure if this is considered a sand dollar or a sea biscuit. I'm from NJ and the sand dollars on the East Coast have holes on the edges and top. This one is from the Washington coast and I left it in it's natural state to make this ornament. The next one will be bleached and cleaned to see if I can make it a brighter white.
 I used the photopolymer stamp from Flourishes "Coastal Christmas" set and it was not too difficult to stamp it carefully onto the slightly rounded shell. Colored with Copic markers. You have to sort of dab the color on since the shell is rough and will tear up your nib if you try to color back and forth. I braided some bakery twine for the hanger. Can't wait to add this to my beach tree next season. I had the most difficult time finding beach/shell themed ornaments out here in the Pacific Northwest. They were a lot easier to come by at my previous home on the Jersey Shore :)

Carte Postale Triptych

I used various Tim Holtz alcohol inks and Carte Postale stamp set for the background on glossy white card stock. Added some silver mixative and alcohol blending solution. Stamped more random images from the same set and embossed in gold. I salvaged the gold Eiffel Tower charm from my Lancome make-up bag and secured it with gold cording.

Step one for the above card was to stamp all over the glossy card stock (Tim Holtz acrylic stamps).

Added several differnt colors of alcohol inks. This is what it looked like before I began to dab it with the alcohol blender solution.

Antique sheet music

I let out a squeak of joy when I came across these antique sheet music books at the thrift store yesterday at 2 for .99 with an additional 30% off of that. At 100 years old they are in really decent condition and I'm almost sad to use them for paper crafting, but will anyway. I will surely post what I make with them!     

Thrift store finds

How could you not love Julia Child? Always fun and informative, you can't beat some of these classics. I have to laugh at the cover of this book, Julia with a mallet gleefully fixing to bash a chicken. What a unique, wonderful chef she was, and we have her to thank for pioneering food television and teaching home cooks how to up their game. Found this lovely treasure of a book from 1968 at a thrift shop for 50 cents :) Looking forward to trying some of these recipes this month.

Multiples Monday

Working with one stamp set I created four different cards. This cute background stamp is from Hero Arts and it is paired up with a coordinating embossing folder by Sizzix. A fun find at a bargain price from Tuesday Morning. I will be trying to feature this technique using various stamps and supplies each Monday, so stop by for more ideas and inspiration!