Gorjuss - Puddles of Love

It's Wednesday and that means I get to show you some more great stuff from icopic!! I know I always say "I had a lot of fun with this card" but it's so true!! Look at this Gorjuss stamp called Puddles of Love:

I thought I would have a little play with trying to actually color a water puddle and rain drops instead of adding them with glossy accents. Here's a close up:

The raindrops were mostly done with my colorless blender and then I added a little shadow underneath. I was so inspired by these amazing papers from the Wild Rose Studio Summer Fiesta pack!   The sky was airbrushed with C1. I drew my sidewalk with a black copic multiliner.  
Here's the copic colors I used but I just noticed I left off the colors of the puddle!

I am pretty sure I used BG10, BG000, B00, BG72. I left some of the sidewalk white and I also added in some Stardust glitter pen. I did that on the raindrops also. 


My sentiment is from SP and Company.   The outside edge of my Designer paper was grunged with Copic Opaque just using my finger.
That's all for me today but I hope I'll get to see your creations in our challenge this week : )


Challenges:
Creative Card Crew  - Anything Goes
Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes
Make it Monday - Linky Party (always anything goes)
Totally Gorjuss - As You Like It 
Fashionable Stamping Challenge - Ribbons or Lace

Hugs~

One Crazy Stamper - Huge Blog Candy

One Crazy Stamper is opening a brick and mortar store. And we will be celebrating on the blog by giving away prizes galore during the month of September!!  You won't want to miss this. 


To kick things off we are giving away

Your Next Stamp's entire September Release!! (release date 9/10/11)

That's 18 high quality rubber stamps, worth $175


To enter click on the link above and follow the simple directions : )


Hugs~

Art Journal Page

Sometimes I feel my cardmaking friends must be thinking "Uuggh, she's at it again".. lol! Other friends I know are jumping on the Art Journal band wagon with me.  Heather recently posted her first page and it blew me away!!  

I am still practicing portraits because that is what interests me at the moment. I still work on other doodles and sketches but that is the bulk of what I personally am trying to learn. 

Before I lose you with my pictorial overload, another good friend Jan from She's Gone Digital has created an Art Journal Linky party. You can read all about it here. I  hope you will join us over there!!

Ok, back to my sketch. This was a practice of a three quarters portrait. 

A close up of my fav part that got covered when she was painted:

I laughed when I saw what is right above "heal". Can you see "head-strong".  I'm a Taurus and that term has been used to describe me a time or two : )

One last pic and a thought. I started this excercise of a 3/4 pose about three weeks ago. Then I got very frustrated because of the previous mention of the bleeding through ink. I eventually had to use about 10 layers of gesso before it stopped. What that did was cover my original sketch which I liked much more than the final outcome. I share all of that to simply say, I have found I LOVE pure graphite sketching and sort of wish now I had left her in her original sketch form. But this was afterall a painting excercise. But here is a pic of my most recent sketch I did over this past weekend. This one I am quite proud of:

She's 9x12 and was done with graphite. Thanks for looking! 

Oh, and in case you didn't know, the fabulous Lydia of SplitcoastStampers created an Art Journal page category for us!! They already had a category for altering journals (showing the outsides) but not one just for our pages. I emailed her and voila, she worked her magic! How cool is she??!!

Challenges:

She's Gone Digital - Art Journal Pages Linky Party

Craft Us Crazy - Anything Goes

Hooked on Crafts - Things with Wings

Flutter By Wednesdays - Anything Goes (must include a fairy, angel or butterfly)

Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Creative Craft Challenges - Anything But a Card

Hugs~

I'm grounded, but that's a good thing!

2nd post today so make sure to check my icopic Tilda card too : )

No, not grounded like we do to our tweens/teens. For punishment they can't leave the house, so they stomp around and sulk leaving the parents to be punished in return : ) Oh, those were the days, lmbo!!

Nope, this is grounding your image so it's not floating in mid air. That's the challenge this week at Make It Colourful "Ground your Subject". I merged two of my fav MiC images:

That's Juliette in the Lover's Pavillion. I had a hard enough time getting Juliette large enough to color and her skirt is so busy I ended up removing most of the background except the pavillion. Then I just colored in some grass. 

See the little flecks of white and yellow? Do they look like flowers? I flicked some acrylic paint with a stiff bristle brush.  

Thanks for looking : )

Challenges:

Make it Colourful - Ground Your Subject

Hugs~

Tilda with Ponytail ... Awww!

It's my turn to show you some more amazing products from icopic and today I've got a very special Maggie!

Isn't she just the cutest thing? That's Tilda with Ponytail.  Someone asked me recently how I cut out all those little spots (like right under her ponytail). Simple, I don't... at least not with scissors. I find it's much easier for me to cut out my images with an X-Acto knife. Then one other little tip, instead of going around the entire edge of your image with a black copic or pen to get rid of the white from cutting, I use each color of copic. For example, on her hair, I used YR24, face and arms E00, so on and so forth. It just takes a few extra seconds, I already have all those markers out and it really does add to the final over all look. Here's a close up:

Our challenge this week is to color your embellishment. I colored a plain white prima flower with my YG11 in polka dots. The center of my layered flowers is a brad from Wild Rose Studio.

All of my papers are from Wild Rose Studio also. I love them!! My sentiment is from the Lawn Fawn Sophies Sentiments set. Oh, and I can't forget that twine!!
Last but not least, here are the copic colors I used:

I hope to see you in this weeks challenge, and we would also love to see any of your copic creations on our facebook page. You just might find yourself on our Saturday spotlight!


Challenges:
KB Cute Monday - Twine
Paper Creations Ink - Flowers

Hugs~

Love Lolita Butterfly - One Crazy Stamper DT

Hi everyone!! Hope you are enjoying your week so far. At least it's not Monday anymore, right? It's my turn at bat for One Crazy Stamper. Today I have a card using Love Lolita Butterfly by CC Designs:

I really enjoyed stamping with lighter colored inks and I am sure you will too! This was stamped with London Fog before coloring with my copics. Any of the lighter colors I think will work and what a fun way to challenge yourself! Here's a close up:

Because I stamped with lighter ink I was able to take great liberties with her eyes. I used a sepia copic multiliner pen to add her eyebrows and lashes. I also used a black copic multiliner to do all that detail on her wings. I really wanted them to look like monarch wings.
My papers are Cosmo Cricket PixieLicious.  She was cut out with Spellbinders Nestabilites in both Circle and Scallop circle. The finishing touches were some Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Spiced Marmalade and some Stickles.
You still have plenty of time to get in our Fun in the Sun challenge : )




Challenges Lolita in entered in:
Happileigh Scrappin' Challenge - Girly
Hooked on Crafts - Things with Wings
Paper Playtime - Anything Goes
Woodware USA - New Technique (light ink stamping)

Hugs~

Sundays with Crissy - Mudzie Plays Scarecrow

Finally, the big day is here!! I can tell you that I am part of Crissy's Crew and the Sundays with Crissy Challenge Blog!! It is a true honor to work among such amazing talent AND to ink up Crissy's images!! Case in point, take a look at Mudzie Plays Scarecrow available at Squigglefly:

Our challenge this month is K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple Stamper).  

Here's a close up:

These are the copic colors I used:

Thanks so much for looking. Please swing by Sunday's with Crissy to have a look at all of my teamies amazing projects and we would love to see what you come up with for this challenge : )

Other challenges Mudzie is playing in:

The Outlawz Copic/Promarker Group - How Does Your Garden Grow?

Forever Friends - Include an Animal

Lawnscaping Challenge - One Layer

Hugs~

icopic All About Children Blog Hop

Welcome to the iCopic All About Children Blog Hop. You should be arriving here from Rachel's blog, if not, please head back to the iCopic blog where our hop begins. You won't want to miss any of the beautiful projects along the way.

I have a wonderful kid to share with you! Hope about a soccer playing LaLa?

That's Soccer Marci from LaLa Land Crafts.  The sentiment is from SP and Company's Mix and Match Occasions set. It is absolutely perfect for this image. The #1 was just hand written.

Here's a close up:

These are the copic colors I used:

Thanks for stopping by! Your next stop on the hop is Kelli's blog. Don't forget  to leave me a comment and play along with our All About Children challenge because we are offering some wonderful prizes for our blog hoppers.

Also I just received an email from Ashley at icopic and she is having a customer appreciation sale this weekend so make sure you check the store blog too!!

Hugs~

TGF - Creeper Crew Monday

Have you been enjoying your week? I have been! You know how every once in awhile it's like a fire's been reignited for the ol' mojo? I feel like I've got mojo to spare so for all of ya's feeling a little, you know, just "eh"... let's get excited!!! 
Even though I've colored this image before, using new colors made her feel like a brand new stamp to me. Here's Creeper Crew Monday from The Greeting Farm:

I would've never have gone to this color palette but I got my inspiration from the gorgeous papers by Authentique and I really like how it turned out! Even those little touches of pink were perfect for her pink tipped hair : ) Here's a close up:

Does this girl lack attitude? I almost thought about using the sentiment "As if.." but didn't know if people still said that... it's kinda 80's or maybe it was the 90's, lol! What I did use for the sentiment I pieced together from both the Amy R Sassy Sentiments set (DIVA)  and Lawn Fawn's Sophies Sentiments  (love you) onto a ticket stamp from my stash and I think it works pretty good.
Here's the copic colors I used:

The other stand by's are my Memento Ink, X-Press It adhesive tape and Tim Holtz Distress Inks (for this card I used Walnut Stain). I seriously don't know if I can make a card without those three : )


Well, that's all from me for today but don't forget to come back on Friday to join us for our blog hop at icopic!! My first one as part of this team and I am really excited! Also, I hope to see you in the challenge this week and how about uploading some of your copic projects to our Facebook page?  That's a great place to add anything you are working on that may not fit this weeks challenge.

Hugs~

Challenges:

My Time to Craft - Use something with the letter "G" (girl)

Shopping our Stash - Weakest link (see blog for details) Mine are girly stamps, spellbinders, papers and of course... Copics)

The Stamping Boutique - Stripes and Dots (her shirt has stripes)

Paper Playtime - Anything goes

Little Umbrella - Fun in the Sun Challenge

Hi all!! Well, in my neck of the woods we are quickly coming to the end of our summer season. The last two days have been absolutely gorgeous!! I thought I better take advantage and ink up one of my all time fav stamps one more time for our Fun in the Sun challenge at One Crazy Stamper. Check out this amazing image from Mo Manning called Little Umbrella:

I absolutely adore her attitude!! I've stamped her before but I just had to ink her up one more time this season.  I have been totally intrigued by a new technique introduced to me by Zoe of MiC which is to stamp in a light color ink.  Here I used Desert Sand Memento Ink but I've also seen beautiful results using light blues and London Fog.  She was then colored with Copics. Here's a close up:

I rather like the way this turned out! My background was done by airbrushing after masking my image. I then used my reinkers with a stiff bristled brush to flick on the specks of darker colors.  (I think I used E33 and E35).

Here's the other Copic colors I used:

My papers are Cosmo Cricket Salt Air 6x6 paper pack.

You still have plenty of time to join us for our Fun in the Sun challenge this month : )

Thanks for looking!

Challenges - 

By the Cute and Girly - Sea

Digi House Design - Recipe 

Make it Monday - Anything Goes

The Shabby Tea Room - Polka Dots

One Stitch at a Time - Anything Goes

Hugs~

Smell The Flowers - Art Journal Page

Well today another good friend took the Art Journaling plunge and I am sooooo proud of her! Look at Danni's amazing page here. I still struggle with just what it is about this that sucks you in but once you try it, you'll "get it". Danni had to overcome all the same fears I struggled with.  I bet you have the same ones:

• I'm not an artist
• I'm not good enough
• I don't have the right supplies
• Uugggh... how do you fill up the empty page : )

But, it is so much stinking fun!! Another good friend Sharette has started also and she altered a notebook she picked up at Michaels for $1.00! 

The page I am sharing today started life last week as a practice sketch and watercolor of the hydrangeas in a rusty watering can. (But it could have just as easily been collaged from a garden magazine).

The background is watercolors and acrylics. The rest is some vintage graphics I downloaded,  a few stamps, a doily, some pieces left over from some papers I created last month and some copper leaf. Oops, almost forgot about the prima flowers and rhinestones : ) I have found out (the hard way) that the gel medium leaves a resist so my lettering was very trying. But then again, it's not very evident in these pics but there's both pink and turquoise glitter glue smeared all over also. Ok, enough blathering.. here's a few close ups:

And one of my fav little bits:

hehe... that stamp has my name smack dang in the middle. That was so sweet of them.... lmbo!! If you watched my altered dominoes with copics video (on my tut's page) then you heard me say stamping on tissue paper and then glueing it down with gel medium makes the tissue paper transparent. Well those brownish, vintage looking bits were stamped on those cheap, brown napkins from McDonalds. I LOVE how it turned out and I think a whole page with that as the background will be in the works sometime soon. 

Ok, so who wants to take bets on who my next cohort will be? I have my money on Heather or Jane ; )

Yoo hoo, two more are showing interest!! You go Bren and Jan!! Oh and Ann too!! The more the merrier!!

Hugs~

The Greeting Farm - Blush Bonnie

All I can say about this stamp is wow! I mean, seriously.... WOW!~

Meet Blush Bonnie from The Greeting Farm available at icopic. She was so much fun to color! I knew I wanted her to match these amazing papers and brads from Wild Rose Studio.  I went with oranges for her dress, sock and shoes and I really like how she turned out.  I used Tim Holtz Spiced Marmalade to add some orange to the "Thinking of You" (which comes with the image) and also to some of my flowers.
 Here's a close up:

Here's the colors I used to color her:

I should've crossed off YR02. It's so close to YR65 that I didn't bother using it.  You can see how I do that halo effect around my images here. This time I used V93 and V91 instead of the blues and went pretty heavy with the colorless blender to give it that blotchy look.  I am really loving V95, V93 and V91 for shadowing atm (at the moment). They are very grayed down purples and I am finding them perfect for shadows. Love them!!
I used Copic Opaque around the edge of the striped panel. I also used it with my stylus to put the dots around the scalloped die cut.  The other unsung heroes of every card I make is my Memento Ink and my X-Press It tape and papers.
Don't forget to play play along in our challenge and join us on Facebook : ) 
Also, mark your calenders for Friday, August 19th to come join us for our blog hop!! 


Challenges:
Cupcake Craft Challenge - Stitching (Real of Faux)
Digi Design House - 1,2,3 Recipe
Lexi's Creations - 1,2,3 Recipe
Make it Monday - Always Anything Goes
Anyone for Anya? - Summertime (I hope my bright colors and flowers meet the challenge) 
Paper Creations Ink  - Stitching

  

Hugs~