Wednesday, September 30, 2009

How in the world is it already Wednesday?

...and what happened to my blog?

Sorry guys!! I have had a couple of posts planned since Sunday. I just haven't gotten myself sorted enough to get them posted. I am trying to become more goal-focused, but this week that has meant double-workouts and little time for anything else. Oh, and yes, I have been reading too and once I get a book (or 3) going , well you might as well write me off until I get it finished.

But I am back and here (at least until I get my next series of books) to update this blog with some art. I have lots to catch up on today.

First a layout. This is a layout that I did from Sketch #38 from the 52 weeks/52 sketches site...
The weekend before Ben left, we took the day out to go to Grants Farms. These photos are of Ben and Kat feeding the goats. She didn't know whether they were cute or terrifying. It was so funny.
The main paper on this is a double-sided Amy Butler paper...one single sheet. That center blue piece is the other side of the larger floral orange piece. I just cut it out of the center, flipped it over and layered it onto the layout. I love it when you can do little cost-saving things like that!
Supplies Used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Sept. KOM- Go Ahead Wish (the quote is from this kit...today is the last day to get this kit at the bargain price of $24 for an entire sheet of 8 1/2x11 rubber!!!)
*K&Company Amy Butler paper (blue and the orange floral)
*Cosmo Cricket paper (bird and the orange plaid)
*Scenic Route alphabet stickers
*buttons
*Fiskars border punch
*Bazzill cardstock
*******

This is a card that I quickly put together using the Unity Store kom for Sept, Everything Extraordinary. I adore this kit and have not near had the opportunity to play with it like I hoped so be ready... I will have more to share with it soon because it makes my muse happy to think about the images in this kit!
I added a bit of shimmer/glitter to the tree that I hope that you can see in this photo below. The orange cardstock is also Bazzill Bling so the whole card has a bit of shimmer to it. That's the feel that I get from these early days of autumn...warm with snatches of the cool glittery weather to come. I love this time of year!
Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Everything Extraordinary
*Making Memories paper
*Fiskars border punch
*ribbon
*StazOn Timber Brown inkpad
*Prisma glitter
*glue pen
*Bazzill Bling
*corner rounder
******
These last 2 cards were on the Unity blog a couple of weeks ago, but I like to have everything recorded on here so forgive the repeat if you saw them over there...
*unity stamp co. simple blessings
*cosmo cricket earth love
*Fiskars border punch
*corner rounder
*bazzill kraft
*button
*watercolor pencils
*unity burnt umber inkpad
******
Supplies used:
*unity stamp co. harmonious sprig
*cosmo cricket paper
*watercolor pencils
*ribbon
*fiskars border punch
*bazzill cardstock

I'll be back tomorrow.
It's the first of the month and you know what that means...
NEW UNITY RELEASES!!!


Saturday, September 26, 2009

Final Day of Sketchfest!!


I can't believe that we are to the end of the 7 days of Caardvark sketches! I have had so much fun doing these this week. I am going to have to find something else to occupy naptime next week. ;o)

I actually have a couple of different cards to share with you today... one from the Caardvarks day 7 sketch and one from this week's Rubber Romance sketch. I did the Rubber Romance one first and loved the look of it so much, that I used the same supplies to work on my Caardvarks card.
******
This is my card for the Final Caardvarks sketch. I used the Unity Stamp Store kit of the month for September, Everything Extraordinary.
I LOVE the sentiment on this. It's great for a thinking of you card, but I could also see using it on the inside of a birthday card. So versatile and perfect.
Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Everything Extraordinary
*Basic Grey patterned paper
*watercolor pencils
*Unity Stamp Co. Burnt Umber inkpad
*Bazzill cardstock
*Sharpie white poster pen
*Marvy Uchida circle punches
******
And now for my card using this week's Rubber Romance sketch.
I haven't played with these stamps in so long and I simply ADORE them. Luckily, I have a couple of friends that recently made the RR DT and seeing their gorgeous artwork has inspired me to pull back out my pile of Rubber Romance. I still have some that have never even seen ink. *gasp* Don't report me to the rubber police, okay? ;o)
Supplies used:
*Rubber Romance Julia
*Rubber Romance Girly Girl (I cut this in half so that I could just use the "girly" side)
*Basic Grey patterned paper
*watercolor pencils
*Unity Stamp Co. Burnt Umber inkpad
*Bazzill cardstock
*Sharpie white poster pen
*Marvy Uchida circle punches
*ribbon
*Making Memories clip

I hope that you are having a fabulous weekend!!!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Evolution of a card...

Okay, let me preface this post by saying that this card is NOTHING like what I envisioned when I sat down to start working on it...LOL! NOTHING!

This is my card for today's Caardvarks sketch and I was totally stumped for a color scheme so I decided to incorporate the Moxie Fab Challenge for this week (to use gradient color) and of course, purple is mega-hot right now so that was an easy choice for me.

The sketch has 3 squares on the left side of the card so I thought that this would be a great way to show off the new kit of the month incentive kit from Unity, Bitty Backgrounds. From there the style of the card just evolved into the card that you see here. The Mr&Mrs sentiment is one of the (MANY) stamps in this months Unity kit of the month, Go Ahead Wish. I love the elegance of it. It would be perfect for an anniversary or wedding card.
Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Bitty Backgrounds
*Unity Stamp Co. Go Ahead Wish
*Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
*Marvy Uchida square scallop punch
*Fiskars border punch
*purple twine
*StazOn Jet Black inkpad
*various cardstocks

Thanks for visiting today!!!


Thursday, September 24, 2009

Good Intentions gone Very, VERY Wrong...

I decided last night that dinner needed to be a fun event for a change of pace.

So we spread a huge blanket out in the middle of the floor, ordered pizza, and decided to have a pizza picnic in the living room.

I let Jacob decide what we would watch since neither one of us older people wanted to really watch another episode of Dora.

He chose an episode of Pushing Up Daisies (we have these on DVD.)

{Granted, I haven't watched any of these shows in a LONG time, but from what I remembered, they were bright and sunny even though they were always investigating a murder.}

I figured that the whole murder aspect would go over Kat's head and that she would enjoy the visual eye-candy that the shows always emparted.

I was wrong.
Last night's episode focused on a murder by bee-stings.

Kat usually is in bed and asleep by 7:15. Last night it was 9:30 and only happened because I sat on the stairs outside her bedroom where she could see me for 2+ hours.

Today, we are trying to reverse the trauma by watching Pooh Bear...
with friendly honey-making bees.

I thought that a happy bee card might help the healing process too, so here is today's Caardvarks Sketchfest card...
Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Little Buggers
*Unity Stamp Co. Bitty Backgrounds (circles) FREE if you become a subscriber to the Unity kit of the month this month!!!
*Unity Stamp Co. Giving it all Meaning (Dictionary background)
*Prima packaging (that black and white dotted paper is the backside of their bling packaging)
*Foofala paper (yellow)
*Nestabilities Labels
*Marvy Uchida circle punches
*Making Memories ribbon

Let the healing begin...




Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Today's Card...

I am still working through the wonderful sketches that are being posted everyday this week over at the Caardvarks Challenge Blog. Here is my card for today's sketch...

Supplies used:
*K&Company paper collection
*Nestabilities Labels 4 (I think...I need to look that up)
*Cuttlebug embossing folder-Swiss dots
*Unity Stamp Co. Burnt Umber inkpad
*brads

I'll be back tomorrow with another card and I am putting the final touches on a layout so I should have it to share tomorrow too!


Winner! Winner!

Thank you all for your warm comments about both the blog and my artwork!! Here is our winner...

StampinCathy said...

Wow your card is awesome and love the colors, texure, and details. Love your inspiration piece too!
Thanks for a chance at this sweet candy. You are just to sweet.

12:58 PM


Congratulations, Cathy! Drop me an email (snowchris_01@yahoo.com) with your mailing address and I will get your new stamp kit out to you!!!


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Caardvarks Day 3 of Sketchfest...

{This is post #2 for today.
If you missed the first one, be sure to go down and check it out
because there is blog candy being given away on that post.}

This is day 3 of the Caardvarks Challenge Blog Sketchfest (7 days of sketches.) So far, so good. I am loving these sketches. They are so easy to create with that it hasn't been any problem at all getting them completed each day during naptime. For today's sketch, I turned the sketch on its side...

Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Christmas Bough
*Webster's Pages 6x6 Christmas collection
*flat backed pearls
*CTMH New England Ivy inkpad
*CTMH Barn Red inkpad
*crocheted trim
*buttons

And just another reminder...don't forget to check in on the blog post below....

As Promised...

As promised, I have a color-coordinated card to go with the new blog look AND a giveaway at the bottom of this post...

First, a little bit of detail just to show you how good Veronica (blog-designer extraordinaire) is. I didn't have much of an idea of what I wanted. I just knew that I loved the clean graphic style of her new designs and wanted her to do something similar, but I wanted to give her something more for direction. Recently, I picked up a gorgeous book, Paperie for Inspired Living, and pictured inside of it was this gorgeous purple and green inspiration board...

(inspiration board photo from Paperie for Inspired Living)

That shows you her pure genius...she knew exactly what I wanted and created this gorgeous blog design. I highly recommend her blog-design services (plus, she is just plain fun to work with...)
*********
And now for my project that I made inspired by the same inspiration board...
For this card, I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch (#105.) I used a Parisian stamp set that I have had for a while from TJ Designs (part of Tweety Jill), but had just not had the opportunity to get it inky. It was perfect for this project.
The shape for the main focal point of the card is the stamp from Unity's Birdie Inspiration kit.
Lots of little details on this project (this is my favorite style!)
Supplies used:
*TJDesigns- Journey to France Stamp set
*Unity Stamp Co. Birdie Inspiration (focal journal shape stamp)
*Memory Box papers (purples)
*Prima digital paper (green background)
*discontinued corner punch from 3 grrrls
*flat-backed pearls
*CTMH Pansy Purple inkpad
*StazOn Jet Black inkpad
*Fiskars border punch
*ribbon and trim
*******
And now for the fun part,
leave a comment here today and tomorrow morning I will draw a winner from the commenters to win this stamp kit from Unity, Frame this Alpha.



Monday, September 21, 2009

New Digs!!

How do you like my new blog look? I love it!! Veronica is genius with graphic design and getting everything just perfect!!! If I had known that she was going to be so speedy, I would have tried to match my card to the design for today. Maybe I can work on that for tomorrow's post...

But for today's post, I have a new card to share using today's Caardvarks sketch for their Sketchfest 2009. I simply reversed the orientation of the sketch for my version...

Supplies used:
*Unity STamp Co. Shoot for the Moon (new release!)
*Unity STamp Co. Tickled Pink (sentiment)
*Scenic Route Loveland paper collection
*House of 3 digital paper (yellow)
*ribbon
*watercolor pencils
*buttons
*Fiskars border punch
*nestabilities labels (corner)
*StazOn jet black inkpad

I'll be back tomorrow with a card to match the new blog...
and maybe even a giveaway...does that sound fun?


Sunday, September 20, 2009

Caardvarks Sketchfest 2009

Caardvarks is an amazing challenge blog and they are hosting a special challenge this week, Sketchfest 2009. Every day this week, they will be posting a new sketch and you have 24 hours to get it finished. My goal this week is to do them all within the 24 hour deadline (oh, and exercise everyday and eat right, but those are my goals every week! LOL!)



So here is my card for today's sketch...
We went to a little town in Missouri yesterday that has a wonderful little stamp store, Inkspot of Natalie, and I picked up this cute little Witchabella from StampingBella... Isn't she fun?!?

I colored her with my trusty old watercolor pencils while watching football last night, not knowing what I wanted to do with her at all. I was so excited when I saw the sketch today because it would work perfect for her...
Supplies used:
*StampingBella- Witchabella
*Unity Stamp Co. Following my Heart (damask stamp on the kraft background)
*ribbon
*stick pin
*Making Memories Halloween tag
*Making Memories bling chipboard
*watercolor pencils
*StazOn Jet Black inkpad

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Who Does That?!?

Who takes a fabulous, fun Thursday tradition...
and changes it up to make it more fun and MORE fabulous?

Who Does That?

Unity Stamp Company DOES!!!

Welcome to our new Thursday tradition...
Who Does That!?!

And to start us off with a huge bang, Unity is releasing a TON of gorgeous new stamps on the website today. Go check them all out!

I have used a couple of the new stamps in my artwork today. First the layout using the new Game of Chance Bingo stamp (click on the photos to see them better...)

These photos were taken the day that we took our road trip to the University of Missouri. I love both of these photos and when I look at them, I am overwhelmed by how lucky I am that I have these 2 in my life...
I used the journaling stamp from the LeChic Vintage kit. I thought that the notebook paper was the perfect embellishment for this page from photos taken at a university.
Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Game of Chance Bingo
*Unity Stamp Co. LeChic Vintage
*Unity Burnt Umber inkpad
*Scenic Route paper
*Bazzill Cardstock
*Martha Stewart seam binding ribbon
*Heidi Swapp chipboard alphabet
*Fiskars border punch
******
My second project is simply another 4x6 page from my art journal using another one of the new collage stamps, Declare Freedom. I also used the stamps from the Unity exclusive kit for Memory Making Crafts, Unity in America to create the "my hero" sentiment at the top.
Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Declare Freedom
*Scenic Route paper
*Marvy Uchida circle punches
*ribbon
*Unity Burnt Umber inkpad
*watercolor pencils (added some of the distressing color)



Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Good Tuesday Morning!!

I have got to stop starting new books right before bedtime. I am too old to stay up past midnight and still be able to function correctly in the morning. LOL!

I have a layout to share with you today. These are absolutely some of my favorite photos from the summer of Kat playing in the puddles and the yard at my parents house. The morning sun was just perfect to catch the wispy's of her hair. I just love these photos and have been dying to scrap them, but not really knowing what I wanted to do with them, then I ran across this sketch (#18) at 52 sketches/52 weeks... (click on the photo to get the full effect of the layout.)

I used one of the new collage stamps, Lovely Lilacs, from Unity Stamp Co. on this and I just love the effect that it has on the overall look of the layout. I stamped it in pink (sweet blush from CTMH) and then accented it with my watercolor pencils and just a tiny bit of brown ink around the edges. I paper-pieced the butterfly with a darker pink and curled his wings just a bit to give the tag a bit more of added dimension.
Supplies used:
*Unity Stamp Co. Lovely Lilacs
*Unity Stamp Co. Le Chic Vintage (journaling strips stamp)
*MM papers
*Bazzill kraft
*Prima blossoms
*Prima bling
*CTMH Blush inkpad
*watercolor pencils
*Pink Paislee alpha stickers
It is also my day over on the Unity blog and at some point today I should have a couple more pieces of artwork using some new stamps coming up over there so be sure to keep an eye out for it....


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