Monday, May 31, 2010

Mojo Monday and Just Magnolia!


Hello everyone....well, here's my take on the Just Magnolia challenge this week!  The challenge was to make your card "Hot & Spicy". 

I thought these Bo Bunny Kitchen Spice papers would be just perfect.  I also combined the challenge with this week's Mojo Monday where the challenge was to use one of these sketches!!   Obviously I used the square one on the right - but I think if I find time this week, I might just attempt the one on the left as it's cute too!! :)   Thanks for stopping by - come and play along if you can!! :)

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Happy Birthday Magnolia-licious!!! :)

The Magnolia-licious Yahoo Group is celebrating their second birthday....with 8 weeks of challenges!!!  This week's challenge (week #3) was to create a card/layout using this sketch:


Here's the card that I came up with and the copics I used to color the Magnolia image.


I just love all these challenges.  I have a few more up my sleeve for today - just hope I can continue to feel well enough to sit at the desk for a little longer!! Thanks for stopping by!  Check back soon!! :)

Finally!!!

Finally I'm feeling well enough to play at the scrap table again.  For those of you that don't know, I had some surgery last Tuesday (LAVH/BSO) and have been recouping at home for the last few days but too sore to move much.  Today I had some challenges calling to me - so I just couldn't resist coming down to the scrap table and attempting to color something!! :)  The first challenge I attempted this afternoon was the monthly challenge over at the Little Stamp Shoppe.  Heidi has offered 15% off your next order as well as some fabulous Hanglar images to win.  I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a chance to color the hangler images!!! I LOVE them!!!  Can't wait until we find a source for these in Canada/US.  Anyway, the challenge was to take inspiration from the colors in this picture:

Well, you may or may not know - but yellow is not one of my favs...! Bleck.  however, I did use it some in the hair and pulled from the other colors - blue, cream, brown to come up with this:

And here are the copics I used to color the image in case you are interested:

Thanks for stopping by - hope to have some more copic goodness for you soon! :)

Monday, May 17, 2010

The AMAZING RACE Contest over at Life Preservers!!!

Need to restart your engines??? Lost your mojo???  RUN over to LP and sign up for this fabulous contest, which will begin on the 6th of June!!!   It's going to be a ton of fun.  If you've ever joined an LP contest before than you KNOW that Von and Admin do an awesome job of running these contests.  They are fun and they have LOTS of twists and turns.  I missed the Bachelor one - but I wasn't missing this one!!!  Oh...and did I mention - there's PRIZES!!! .....AWESOME PRIZES!!!!

Oh...and just incase you need another reason to get your mojo flowing - Von is having an online crop....and trust me THESE are fabulous!! The DT rocks at getting those challenges out and there is a ton of inspiration from the talented girls on this board.  Definitely worth taking the weekend off for.....go pencil it in....June 11 to 13th.  I CANNOT wait!!! :) 

Sunday, May 16, 2010

May Copic Reveal - Savvy n Sassy!!



Here is my copic reveal for the month of MAY over at Savvy n Sassy!!  Remember, you can still get into the Copic Club if you're interested...it's a GREAT deal on markers!!!

Tip-to-Tip blending - this one is EASY - but these are gonna get harder....so lets start practicing!! :)


Tip-to-Tip Blending (select parts taken from the Copic Manual)

This technique really demonstrates one of the unique properties of Copic Ink. Tip-to-tip blending is good for long, very skinny areas like flower stems, where you wouldn't have enough room to get a blend using one of the other techniques. Works for any color combination, though it's easiest to learn with a light color and a dark color. In tole painting this technique would be similar to "loading your brush".

1. Use your light color as your "brush". Carefully add a bit of the dark color to the tip. This is the trickiest part of this technique as it is hard to figure out if you have applied too much or too little ink.





2. Start from the dark side of your object, and in one long stroke pull your brush across the shape. your dark color should gradually fade into your light color. If you need to darken or add more color apply in the same way. In the same direction.

This technique will not contaminate the tip of the other marker. If you are working with the colorless blender you can also pull ink directly from the dirty barrel of the colored marker. There's tons of ink all over the edges of this marker. Using the tip-to-tip technique takes care of this messy situation as you just color right from the barrel instead of the tip resulting in less waste of ink.

You can also use the tip-to-tip blending technique on the cheeks in your images using R20 or some similar color. This really softens up the image as you are adding color and blending at the same time. You don't tend to get those harsh lines that way.

In my sample - I used the tip-to-tip method on my stem. You can see how the stem is darker on the top closest to the flower and almost fades to white as I went down the stem. I also used the tip-to-tip technique on the flowers, starting with using darker orange on one of my yellow markers.



Also, I use the tip-to-tip technique when I don't have a particular color that I want between two shades. For example, on my little gal's boots, I didn't have one of the 0000 images to blend with, so I used the tip-to-tip technique with my blender pen and a darker copic to blend a lighter shade when fading to the lighter color. By the way, if you note the bling on the bottom of this card - the bling was a gift in a goodie bag that I received and the gal had mentioned she bought it at the dollor store. It was just plain clear rhinestones when I got it and I used my copics to color it to match my card!! Fun eh??




In my third image I used the tip-to-tip technique to again blend in a lighter color. This is really evident on the socks and on the top portion of her dress. It just works really well in situations where you might not have the perfect "in-between" color.


So let's see what you can come up with....leave a comment with a link to your blog and I'll be sure to check it out!!! Happy coloring - thanks for stopping by!! :)

Friday, May 14, 2010

Christmas Card Challenge #23

This week over at the Christmas Card Challenge Blog we had to follow this sketch:

Here is my take on it.  Yesssss, another one done for the pile...I just love these little challenges - I am going to be one happy camper come December!!!!  I wish you could see the bling on the snowflake a little better in this one....and the rhinestones on her coat and her cute little earings....but alas, it is what it is...just trust me.... it's all there.  
Well, have a great weekend everyone and thanks for stopping by!!  I should have some more goodies loaded over the weekend!! :)  Stay tuned!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

So for those of you that aren't in the know - yesterday was {Inter}National Scrapbooking Day - always one of my most favorite days of the year.  I always try to do something scrappy on this day and this year was no exception!! My Gal Pals and I rented a Bed and Breakfast in Winfield and spent the ENTIRE weekend scrapbooking and cardmaking!!! :)  We stayed HERE and let me just say - if you're EVER looking for a beautiful bed and breakfast in the Lake Country area - this is definitely the place!!! Gary and Al are fabulous hosts.  You should have seen the breakfasts.....AMAZING!!!  Definitely recomment the Eagles Nest - you won't be dissappointed!! :)  The weather wasn't the greatest, so we did end up spending most of the weekend indoors, which was perfect for us as we just wanted to scrap anyway.  My GF Marion who owns Voet's Coffee in Vernon was the perfect hostess.  She knows how to treat us gals right and she SPOILS ME ROTTEN!!!!!   She always brings me a huge bag of coffee and this weekend I was LUCKY enough to win the BIG door prize!!!  Can you believe this gift basket??? Isn't it GORGEOUS!!!




Then...I was lucky enough to win another prize by Marion - some beautiful washcloths and this Teddy Bear who is super soft.  He didn't last long once I got home though.  Immediately Brayden spotten him, named him Russ and I came up the stairs to hear him say "Welcome to your new home, Russ"!  Priceless!!! :)  Marion also gave me another huge bag of coffee - I swear I haven't had to buy coffee in two years!!! Isn't she the greatest - she is the most generest person EVER!!! She also provided meals for this weekend  and snacks for us ALL to share.  AMAZING!!!!   Also, I got to try the new french vanilla flavored coffee and can I just say YUMBO SCRUMBO!!! :)  If you're ever in Vernon - pop into Voets and get yourself some.  I spotted some other flavors in my huge basket too - can't wait to try those ones!!! :)   So what's in the little stripe bag you ask??? Well, another goodie bag given to us by the owners of the B&B!!   It is FILLED with goodness - make up, lotions, hair products, perfume - all kinds of fabulous stuff.  It was PACKED with tons of goodies!!!  We were totally spoiled ROTTEN!!!   Anyway, sadly the weekend has come to a close and I'm back to reality!!! Came home to find a new COW in the yard.  Brayden calls him Don - Wayne calls him Norman.  Not sure which name will prevail at this point but the poor little fellow isn't too happy.  He's been crying all day for his Mommy and the other cows across the pasture.  I guess this is normal, even though I did go out and try and talk to him.  He's quite a pet and apparently once he gets used to us, we'll be able to pet him and what not.  As I can't see the pasture from the house, Wayne has asked the neighbours to keep an eye on him as well.  Last night I guess he tried to get through some barbed wire - poor little guy!! :(  Anyway, I'm sure he'll be fine.  Nice to have a built in lawn mower again!! I'm hoping he loves his new home! :)  Well, that's all for today ....have a great week!! :)

Thank you - C.C. Designs

My last card for the evening....just a cute little C.C. Designs Cherry Emma that I colored with distress inks.  I used the Early Bird line from Cosmo Cricket and the ribbon is from Savvy n' Sassy.  Isn't it cute?!!!  Thanks for stopping by....the has just been a FABULOUS National Scrapbooking Day!!! So much fun hanging with the ladies and just creating all day! :)

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Just Magnolia Challenge - Week #53 - Bev's Sketch

This week at Just Magnolia - the challenge is to make a card with a Magnolia stamp based on this sketch!  My take on the challenge is below.  I used my distress inks and colored Tilda.  My girlfriend Tania made (yes, that's right MADE.....!!!!) the beautiful yellow flowers and the ribbon is from Savvy N Sassy of course.  So much fun to take part in these magnolia challenges every week!!  I love my Magnolias!! :)

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!!!!

Having a blast - hanging out with the girls at a rented B&B all weekend - what could be more fun???!  The food has been awesome, the company spectacular and my mojo is in full swing!!!  Can't show off some of my creations until the 15th but here's one I can share with you now!  This one is for the final challenge of the month at the Stamp Shoppe.  Heidi is offering 15% off the Chasing Butterflies and the Lazy Days collection (coupon code: Spring) and if you are the WINNER of this month's challenge - you get 15% off your order!!! Just in time for the new Fairytale release boy, that would really come in handy as this new collection is AWESOME!!!!  Can't wait till it arrives in the store !!!  Anyway - here's my card for the challenge which was to make a "special fold card".   Unfortunately, you can never see the bling on photos, but trust me - it's there - it's really blingy in real life.  Also - I used fun flock on the hat and pom that you can't really see in the picture but in real like there's lots of texture!!! :)

I also used this card to submit for Sparkles weekly Christmas Card Challenge.  This week's challenge was to use PINK!!  Soooo fun for Christmas!!  Loved this challenge!! :)

Thanks for stopping by - hopefully, I'll have a few more things to show you later today.  It's already been a VERY productive weekend!!! :)