Friday, February 27, 2015

Art Journal-y Baby

Hello Friday Friends!  Today I’m bringing you a sweet new image from A Day for Daisies and a fun new challenge!

This week it’s “Make it Art Journal-y”.



I began with this sweet little cat-fish princess called Cat Fish Kitty (on sale right now too!), printing her on XPress It Blending card-stock, colouring it up with Copic Markers.  

Now some of you might be wondering what it takes to make something “art journal-y”.  I’m not sure if I have a definitive answer, but her are some thoughts;   a lot of art journalling uses mixed-media methods to create ecclectic layers of colour, texture and shape.  Often you’ll see repeated themes or elements to make the design cohesive, and journalling or writing in the design.  If you google art journalling, or check it out on pinterest you’ll generate all sorts of inspiration to get you started.  

I’ll walk you through what I did for this design on the art journal layer.  I began by taking a 4 x 5 1/4 inch panel of thicker cardstock and using a Tim Holtz stencil, and some embossing paste to create the vertical lines.  After I allowed that to dry I took some re-inkers and a wet waterbrush and washed in some aqua in the background.    While that was drying I cut out some stars in this pretty amethyst colour, dribbled them with some purple copic solution randomly,  and then spritzed them with Mr. Huey’s spray in Shine.  I punched out some circles in Bermuda Bay cardstock, randomly scribbled some circles on them and did a little handwriting.  

Next I used another Tim Holtz stencil (Bubbles) and added more spritz overtop of the design in the aqua green colour and then again in the Shine colour.  I think in the end I dribbled some more reinkers over the design to continue that under the sea-circular theme I have going on.  It’s all a fun and rewarding way to get inky :)  



I added some letters along the bottom, because by that time it really took on a baby feel to me.  I layered the panels a bit wonky so it would have little less linear feel and add to the ecclectic style.  


Here’s the Copics I used on our lovely cat-fish princess :)



So please join us at A Day for Daisies for this fun challenge!  Here’s some more art journal-y inspiration!



Christine (you are here)


Monday, February 23, 2015

Hoppy Easter Mugshot

Do you enjoy making cards that have some creative interactive element in them?  Today I’m going to show you a cute one with some fun The Cat’s Pajamas goodies.  


I pulled out some adorable Easter stuff from TCP, this set is called Bunny Side Up.  I wanted the outside of the card to almost look like a somber police mugshot in neutral tones, almost like he got caught doing something wrong.  I stamped ‘da bunny in Memento London Fog ink and coloured him up with some soft C0, C1 copics.  I placed him behind a Framed Up 2 CutUps die cut in this deep purple, then accented with some of the cute papers from Echo Park - Creative Agenda, and some grey seambinding and silver Candi.  


Then the fun part is the surprise on the inside!  



Inside you open the card up to a popping up colourful hoppy bunny!  I’ve coloured bun up to match these papers and placed him on our Pop Up Pivot CutUps, so that every time you open the card he pops right up to you.  I’ve stamped the sentiment in various Memento Colours (Paris Dusk, Lilac Posies and Dandelion), curved around the papers (such a great thing you can do with polymer stamps is curve them to your desired effect).  

It was a cute Easter card to make :)

Don’t forget about the TCP Tuesday Challenge still on from last week.  It’s a colour challenge with the colours below, which are so fun and springy!  Great to get you out of those winter blues!  Come play along and you could win fun TCP goodies!  






Fading Lilacs Tutorial


Hello Gang, and happy Monday!  Today I invite you all over to the Power Poppy Blog to see my newest Tutorial, creating these pretty fading lilacs with digital image in Microsoft Word.

Thanks for stopping by!


Friday, February 20, 2015

Starry Welcome

There’s some sweet new images this week from Tammy at A Day for Daisies that you’re going to love.  Today I played with My Moon, giving the feel of a ‘welcome baby’ design.



I printed her onto XPress It Blending Cardstock, and then for a change I coloured her up withe Prismacolor Pencils, blending with OMS and blending stumps.  I gave her some cute little socking feet and then cut her out with a small border.  

The sentiment is an old one I had from SU that I tucked between the moon sides giving it a sort of awning feel.  



The papers are from an older pack Glitz papers, and a square of gold metallic paper behind.  Accents are simply little gems.  

Don’t forget that there’s still time to play in our “Add Some Glitter Challenge”  



Christine (you are here)


L for Love and Lilacs


What a beautiful lush and intricate flower we get to showcase today at Power Poppy!  I’m sure by now you saw their lovely introduction with the Instant Gardener Team on the 15th, and today the Bloom Brigade gets to put their spin on these amazing French Lilacs.  



What an amazing flower!  I just love the look of lilacs, and the many colours they come in.  Unfortunately because of goofy allergies, I can’t smell them too deeply!  So, I’m quite content to colour them up!  

I printed the digi onto XPress It Blending card stock colouring the image up with Copics,  then I trimmed the whole image out carefully.  Because I added a sponged-in background layer, I also sponged in a bit of light green ink onto the center of the lilac image so that it would blend more with the background and eliminate some of the white space that wasn’t cut out between the intricate blossoms.  

I also printed the lilac image, enlarging it quite a bit onto the green card stock as a background layer.  It’s just a nice repeated element.  



Just look at that sweet little ladybug!  I love that tiny pop of red.  Finishing touches include some gingham ribbon, and sewing.  The sentiment is from our new stamp set Good Thinking:  Love Notes stamped in Memento Bamboo Leaves ink.  



Here’s the Copics I used.  



And here’s your inspiration by the Bloom Brigade beauties!  


Allison Cope
Christine Okken
 (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones
Katie Sims
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Poppy Birthday


I’m ready for something cheerful after a few snowy cloudy days, how about you?  After I finished my “chores” today I sat down to play a little with the Mojo Monday sketch and some Verve.  This set is called Poppy Birthday and I really love the sketchy doodly feel to the blossoms.  I also really love orange and fuchsia together for some bright cheerfulness so that’s where all this went.    The blossoms are stamped and coloured with Copics (see below for colours), and then cut out.  I created a circular frame with a TCP Cut Ups die and then plugged it all into the sketch with some random designer paper I had in my stash.  



I’ve looped some baker’s twine behind the flowers and stamped the background in Memento ink.  

Well, my last couple of weeks have caught up with me.  I’ve had a cold for a week, my daughter had the stomach flu yesterday, my husband has been gone for 8 days (coming home today!), and that’s left me as one tired girl.  I’m headed for a nap!  Hopefully this has cheered you up today!  


Thanks for dropping by!  

Monday, February 16, 2015

Friends are Like Flowers



Happy Tuesday friends!  We’re kicking off a new challenge at The Cat’s Pajamas today and it’s a lovely spring colour challenge hosted by Nancy.  I love these colours together!  

As always when we’re issued a challenge I flip through my sets and see what might work for what we’re given, when I saw these pretty Simple Blooms again I knew they’d be perfect.  



When I want to add more than one colour to a silhouette stamp I usually take my ink pads and strategically ink the parts of the stamp in the colours as best as I can (so green on the leaves and stems and purple on the blooms, then after it’s stamped on the paper, I come back with a marker and fill in any details it missed.  This also gives more definition and life to a silhouette stamp set.  

After that I added in the pretty aqua background pointillism to bring all the colours together, and then stamped the sentiment in SU Pool Party ink.  I die cut out this image with the Framed Up Cut Ups die just tipping it on it’s side.  It works perfectly to accommodate the sentiment.  



Finishing touches include some pretty ribbons in aqua seam binding and some pretty satin polka dot ribbon in purple, adding some sequins and also a couple of sweet little butterflies from the Butterflies Cut Ups die.  It’s such a pretty combination of colours with the hope of spring!  

So we hope you’ll play along with us and these colours.  The challenge goes for 2 weeks and you can win Cat’s Cash to spend in the TCP store!  

Have you heard the news at TCP?  Alma’s holding a sale!  While she’s on holidays, she’s giving us a discount celebrating the LOVE.  Place an order between February 13 - 23 and you’ll get 14% off.  Shipping will start the 24th.  Stock up on what’s been on your wish list!  



Here’s the Cat Pack Kitties playing along today:

Christine (you are here)



Friday, February 13, 2015

Moonlit Owl

I’m back today with another “sky” themed design with A Day for Daisies!  (Power Poppy is just below this post)  This week we’re issuing a new challenge and it’s all about “Adding some Glitter”.  When I saw these adorable little owls, all I could think of was creating a shimmery night sky.



I began by printing this sweet little Whooo Loves You Owl Sister digi onto XPress It Blending card stock.  I carefully fussy cut it all out after colouring with Copics.  Then I created a bit of a window in my navy card stock.  Behind that layer I added a circular moon with Eclipse Tape, sponging with Not Quite Navy ink.  Then I lifted off my moon mask, added VersaMark ink to the circle and embossing with Iridescent Ice embossing powder to make it glittery.  




To create the strips of glitter I added Scor Tape to the horizontal and vertical edges, sprinkled glitter overtop, burnished the glitter down, dumping off the excess, and viola!  It’s sparkly (and so am I :) )  A little silver cording and some navy organza ribbon finish it off.  

So please join us in creating something glittery!  A Day for Daisies images are so fun to work with, and because they are digis they are also affordable.    




Christine (you are here)


Cancun Skies



Hola Amigos!  It’s been a crazy week here, and though I’ve been working on things in the background, I’ve not had much to show for you here.  One of things I have been doing is rehabing my leg after breaking it this fall.  Right now it’s either on the bike, elliptical or swimming most days.  I’m hopeful that when I see the specialist again in March I can avoid surgery.  

Today I’m all about warm Mexican climates in our Power Poppy Power & Spark Challenge!  Julie challenged us to use the sky as our inspiration and I’m using my all time favourite sunset photo, taken in Cancun a few years ago.  First here’s the card.  



I began by dabbing some reinkers onto a clear stamp block, blending slightly with a water brush, and then smooshing the clear block onto damp watercolour paper.  It runs and bleeds in a random way.  Which is sort of what you’re going for.  Then I added waterdrops and swishes of my waterbrush to lift off some of the colour in sections, patting it dry with a paper towel.  It gives such a nice washed out effect.  

Once that was completely dry I embossed this gorgeous splashy sentiment from Big Scripts in gold.  Can you tell that I REALLY love this set?  I also embossed some of the primroses from the Potted Primroses set onto some more watercolour paper, used the reinkers again to add some colour and then cut them out.  


Here’s the inspiration photo I took in Mexico.  Sigh....that would be amazing to be there again.  White sand, turquoise water....beautiful sunset.  It was dreamy, and one of our best family vacations.  


You can also see some gold “splatters” on the design, here I just randomly dabbed some versamark reinker onto the paper and embossed.  I’ve also wound some gold cording behind the primsroses for a little accent, and a wee bit of washi tape along the top.  

So we hope you can be inspired by the sky in your neck of the woods and create something for our Power & Sparks Challenge.  It’s a month long challenge with free Power Poppy stamps to win!  



Here’s the gang playing along today...


Christine Okken (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker


See you back here in a few hours for my A Day for Daisies post.


Friday, February 6, 2015

Love Showers

Hi again!  It’s another double card Friday :)  If you’re looking for my Power Poppy post, please just scroll down.

Here I have an adorable little design from A Day for Daisies with the February Club Kit.  Tammy has a whole new round of super sweet images for you today.



I got to play with the very sweet little Raining Elephant.  The little umbrella in his trunk is so cute!  And the raining hearts are really sweet either for a love card, or even for a baby shower.   I paired the image with some new Echo Park paper - Through the Year.  It worked perfectly with the umbrellas in the design.    

I coloured the image with Copics, adding the polka-dots to the umbrella with a Picket Fence Distress Ink marker.  Then I wrote in the little “love showers” words along the bottom.   This is this week’s Mojo Monday Sketch.  



I kept it really simple because the paper is quite busy just adding some pretty pink twine, some polka dot embossed hearts and a couple of heart stickers.  


Take a peek at what the team has to show you....


Christine (you are here)

Thanks for dropping by - enjoy your Friday!


Waterstained Orchids

Hello Friends!  I’m back with a Power Poppy Friday for you and today we’re ushering in something NEW!  We’re starting a monthly challenge on the first Friday of every month.  Each month a new Bloom Brigader will set the theme.  We’re calling it the Power & Spark Challenge! It’s all about sharing design power, and inspiring a creative spark in you :)  You can get all the info on the Power Poppy Blog today.  

This month’s challenge is called “ The Sky is the Limit”, and it’s all about making a card inspired in some way by the sky! 


Here’s a picture I took on a morning our older son had a volleyball tournament that began quite early that day.  The pinks and oranges of the sunrise and the grass below is what inspired my card. 



I pulled out two new and lovely sets from last week’s release - Orchids Rock and Big Scripts.  

I embossed the beautiful orchids several times on watercolour paper giving the feeling of being surrounded by flowers.  Then I took some reinkers and a waterbrush and watercoloured the flowers in pink, allowing the colour to really stain the paper in some spots.  Then I also added in some coral using a marker to deepen it and go with the sky colours.  And finally washed in some green and coral to the background.  The sentiment from Big Scripts is stamped in Pixie Pink ink, and washed in with some coral ink.  

To finish the design I added some clear shimmery sequins and rhinestones to accent keeping it quite clean and simple.  




Here’s the gang ready to show off some beauties to you....

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
 (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber

Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan



Monday, February 2, 2015

Go Forth and Eat Cake


               Happy Tuesday!

The Kitties in The Cat Pack at The Cat’s Pajamas have a great new challenge for you this week...it’s Anything Goes!  So that means you can put anything together from TCP and play!


 

Since Birthday cards are often in need, I pulled out this fun set Forget About the Cake from TCP and did a little Prismacolor pencil colouring and paper piecing with this cute paper from Echo Park - Fine and Dandy to create this fun birthday cake design.  

Polka-dot icing sounds like fun, so I paper pieced that part of the cake, and also created these fun banners with the Bitty Banners CutUps Die.  The sketch is a cute one from Deconstructing Jen.  I sponged the inside of the die with some Memento Summer Sky ink to soften the effect.  



It’s just a few fun buttons to accent the design and some washi tape to give it some colour pop.  

Go Forth and Eat Cake friends!  

Now I hope you can pop on over to see what the other girls in the Cat Pack have to show off to you today.  Then we hope you join us in the Anything Goes Challenge!  


Here are the Details on how you can join in on the fun:
  1. Every other Tuesday a new challenge will be posted here on this blog as well as on our Splitcoaststampers forum and our Facebook page.
  2. If you want to play along you just upload your design using the InLinkz button below*. If you want to display your pretties on Splitcoaststampers use keyword TCPTUES283. Only the entries uploaded to the Inlinkz button will be considered for Swanky Stamper at the end of the month.
  3. You must have your project posted by the Monday, 12 midnight EDT before the next challenge to be eligible to win the Cat Cash.
  4. Cards and projects are not required the use of a Cat’s Pajamas Stamp or CutUps die.
  5. On the following TCP Tuesday, the winner will be chosen at random from the previous challenge and will receive a Cat Cash Voucher for $10 or $15 if a TCP product is used.
  6. At the end of the month, The Swanky Stamper will be selected from all the weekly entries. The Swanky Stamper will receive some of the stamps from our next release and get to play along with us at our Pajamas Party and Blog Hop. AND… They’ll even get a special spot in the Gallery highlighting the project that won them the gig and a snazzy badge to display on their blog. The Swanky Stamper will be announced the First Monday of the month on Splitcoaststampers, Facebook page and this Blog.
  7. The Swanky Stamper will be announced the First Monday of the month on Splitcoaststampers, Facebook page and this Blog.




Sunday, February 1, 2015

Power Poppy February Blog Hop!


Well, we hope you’ve had as much fun as the Bloom Brigade has had this past week in the February  Storm of Creativity Release at Power Poppy.  We’ve shown you some fabulous and creative sets that I think are all special and unique and beautifully designed - all to help you create beautiful things.  All five of these wonderful new sets are now available to purchase!  

Today we’re winding up the celebration with an awesome Blog Hop, and I have two designs to show to you.  

The first design is with the new Potted Primroses set that I love so much.  



One of the really fun things Marcy designed in this set was based on a very fascinating concept in Gardening Societies in the UK that developed over time.  It’s that of Auricula Theatres - a special way of displaying these prized plants on shelves;  it was very popular in the 1700’s and is again enjoying a new resurgence.  

This is what The Telegraph from the UK said about them.  "The Plants are formally displayed on shelves in rows in theatres, with pretty scalloped roofs to protect from their two bugbears: the rain in winter and sunlight in summer. Fans of the auricula can paint and convert old shelving units, garden arbours and door-less cupboards to show off their charms.  

With all of that fun background, I just had to design an Auricula Theatre with stamps and paper.  I coloured up the image with Copics in shades to match this older MME paper I found.  I love the cheerful yellow, orange, teal and green colours in it.  I created a window in my theatre with a Spellbinder’s die, and then created a scalloped awning overtop, just like in the real theatres to hang over the pretty little plants for protection.  


Here’s an Auricula Theatre example in real life (source), how fun, right?  



Here you can see the little details including the seambinding, buttons and twine to finish it off.   Below are the Copics I used.  





Now for my second design I took a totally different direction!  It’s Mixed-media, yet still Clean and Simple.  


I showcased the fabulous Big Scripts set with a lot of fun inky techniques.  The sentiment is embossed in white onto watercolour paper.  Then I watercoloured the paper with shades of deep blue, teal and grey re-inkers, adding salt to the paper when it was still quite damp to get a salted effect (the salt lifts off some of the colour of the ink and gives it a neat effect).  Then I stencilled on some more ink using a Tim Holtz Burlap stencil,  and finally with the stencil on I spritzed the paper with Mr. Huey’s Spritz (Shine).  My fingers were pretty blue when I was done, but it was so fun to play. 



I’ve added a simple die cut heart, as well as sequins onto the design placing it all on a lightly watercolour washed cardstock background.  Very fun and I think it really suits the style of this set.  


Now these fabulous girls in the Bloom Brigade have so much more to show off to you today....



Allison Cope
Christine Okken
 (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Katie Sims
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

and the final stop is our beloved creator herself Marcella!

Thanks so much for sharing this week with us!