Color Challenge

Every week there is a color challenge on the COPIC Colour Challenge blog. This week's challenge used 3 COPIC colors that I didn't have, so I used two that I think are close. (I did manage to fit in a bit of red with my rhinestones.) Instead of B02, I used BG01 - Aqua Blue and instead of YG23, I used YG06 - Yellowish Green.

Supplies: Goodluckabella from Stamping Bella, printed paper from DCWV - Glitter Stack, K&Co rhinestones, COPIC markers, ribbon from HL.

Whimsy Stamps Design Call

Whimsy Stamps is having a design team call. Actually, two calls - one for it's "regular" Whimsy Stamps and one for Whimsy Animal stamps. Guess which one I picked? ;-) It's always fun to find a way to combine my love of stamping with my love of animals. You can find details on the design team call on this blog entry.

I, of course, made a dog card. :-) I used a sketch (#39) from the Mojo Monday blog.



I love this stamp! I bought it from Rubber Hedgehog. They have a wonderful assortment of animals stamps and the owner, Sidelia, is very sweet.

Supplies: Labs Are Love stamp from Rubber Hedgehog, printed paper from DCWV's "Pet Stack", ribbon from HL, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo, Prismacolor pencils blended with OMS, SU! corner punch.

Guest Designer Challenge

All of Whiff of Joy's stamps are beautiful, but as the mom of two girls (and one little girl in particular who is very fond of hot cocoa) I fell in love with "Willow with Cocoa".

Whiff of Joy is hosting a Guest Designer Challenge on their blog, so I inked up Willow and made this card.



Some close up shots:

I like how the COPIC colorless blender gives the jeans a sort of "stonewashed" look. I wanted to give this card a soft, antique-y look, so I did a lot of inking on the edges of many of the elements. This isn't usually my style, but I like how it turned out. I credit my friend and fellow stamping-supply-shopaholic Diana, with this idea - Diana never met an edge she didn't like - to ink! ;-)


Isn't she sweet?

Supplies: Whiff of Joy - Willow with Cocoa, patterned paper from Target, flowers by Prima and Making Memories, COPIC markers, ribbon from Hobby Lobby, Fiskars Threading Water punch, teardrop Paper Shaper punch, Palette Noir and Burnt Umber inks, VersaMagic mauve ink, antique brass brads.

Another Friday Night Blog Party

I've rounded up a few links for your weekend blog hopping. These blogs showcase some awesome cards featuring stamps from the new TAC magalog, Serendipity:

http://fosterdesignhouse.blogspot.com/2009/01/true-beauty.html

http://ritasangels.blogspot.com/2009/01/true-beauty.html

http://stampez.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/02/my-design-for-sketch-59.html

Check them out!

A forever home

My best news this week? That our former foster dog, Frederick, has found a forever home! (How's that for some alliteration?!)


We fostered Frederick during Christmas for a week or two. He was a really sweet and wonderful dog, but being an experienced foster family, we knew Frederick would be a hard dog to place. He was sweet. He was housebroken. He was good with pets and children. But he was LARGE.

I would check our shelter's Petfinder listings periodically to see if he was still there. I noticed last weekend that he wasn't apppearing in the listings anymore. It was one of those things - was it worse to know what happened or to think I knew what happened? Fortunately, our foster coordinator emailed me the other day to tell me that Frederick had been adopted last weekend. Yay, Frederick! (Now just don't yank your new owner's arms out when he/she takes you for a walk...)

Garden Joy

Here's a card I made with my new stamp set, Garden Joy, from the spring TAC magalog "Serendipity". It's based on this card on Jenn Muraoka's site.


Supplies: Gentle Beginnings paper collection (TAC), cardstock by DCWV, Palette Noir ink, Versamagic Dew Drop ink in Petunia, Fiskars flower border punch, Prismacolor pencils (buttons, eyelet and ribbon from my stash).

Fresh Spring Things at The Angel Company

This adorable set is available March 1st through March 31st only!


www.theangelcompany.net

If you're interested in purchasing this adorable set, please email me at lisatjmo@yahoo.com. I accept credit/debit cards (MC/Visa/Discover).

Also check out this FREE coordinating download: http://www.theangelcompany.net/Downloads.html

Challenge cards

I made two cards this weekend for blog challenges. Here's my card for this week's House Mouse Sketch Challenge:


Supplies: Cherries Jubilee (Mudpie) House Mouse stamp, red designer paper from Stampin' Up, Ivory cardstock from TAC, COPIC markers, Spica glitter pen in clear.

I got to use two of my new COPIC markers on this card, Cardinal Red and Brick Beige. I'm so glad I have some good "House Mouse colors" now. (I used Brick Beige, Sand, Skin White and Blush on Mudpie.) I think these images look best and are easiest to color with markers.

Here's a card I made for the Anya Club blog CASE challenge:


I'd been eyeing the Anyas for a while, so this was all the incentive I needed to buy one of their digital images. Instant gratification - gotta love it! Anya is SO much fun to color with my COPIC markers! I love coloring hair. (Probably sounds weird, but I really do.) Here are some close ups:

Supplies: Dorothy Anya digital stamp by Greeting Farm, "Hello" stamp retired from TAC, COPIC markers, scallop scissors. (Ribbon and papers were just grabbed from my stash, so sources unknown. Sorry!)

This card was CASE'd from this card by kerryberry04012008

Helping our Four Legged Friends

Stamp credit: Dogwalkabella by Stamping Bella

This card is dedicated to two very ambitious and hardworking young girls, Amanda and Libby. Through their efforts, our entire city has become involved in a shelter makeover contest on ZooToo. Our local shelter, the Central Missouri Humane Society, is in desperate need of bigger, updated facilities to handle the thousands of animals that pass through their doors every year. Here's a recent interview with the girls that aired on a local radio station:



If you'd like to help, please email me at lisajtmo@yahoo.com and I will send you an invitation to join. Your acceptance is an automatic 50 points for CMHS! On behalf of all my furry friends at CMHS, thanks!

Friday Night Blog Party

I really had intended to share another card with you tonight, but I've been battling a stomach bug this week and, right now the bug is definitely winning this round. Instead, I'd like to share some cool blog links that I collected today. Check these out!

Lauren M stamps with TAC - If you spend much time blog hopping, chances are you've seen Lauren Meader's beautiful work. (She also designs for Papertrey Ink and other companies.) She has some pretty cards on her blog made with "Love Blooms" from TAC.

Gina K's free digital paper download - Gina K is launching a new free program called "Stamp TV". To celebrate, she's giving away free digital paper downloads.

Cammie's Box Tutorial - This free template allows you to make 2 gable boxes out of one sheet of 8.5 X 11 cardstock. (This is a great Scor-Pal project.) I am dying to try this one out!

Have fun bloghopping your way through these links!

A Taste of Spring

Here's another card that I made for Saturday's CM/TAC crop:


Supplies: bunny stamp from "I Love Easter" by TAC, printed paper from TAC's Designer Collection in Winterberry, Creative Memories 12" Decorative Trimmer, Prismacolor pencils, white Fun Flock (on bunny's tail), Prima flowers, small brads, ribbon (discontinued TAC item).

Here in Mid-MO, we're in the midst of a cold spell - again. I'm SOOOO very ready for spring!

Quick Valentine gift bag

Here's a super quick gift bag idea. I had to come up with something almost instantaneously with very little sleep. With more time (and more mental mojo!) I think I would've added scalloped strips to the top and bottom of the printed paper.


Supplies: Kraft bag and printed paper from Target, stamp from Greeting Farm stamps, Copic markers, Fiskars border punch, sheer ribbon from Bags and Bows, and paper scraps from my stash.

You may have noticed something new on the right side of my blog. I've heard Playlists on other people's blogs and decided to add one to mine. I have mine set up so that it does NOT automatically play. (I hate when you're blog hopping and some music automatically starts playing.) So, if you want to hear music while you check out my blog, just click on the Play arrow. There's a little something for everyone - everything from "MySpace Girl" pop to Bruce Springsteen's mournful "The River" to Queen's hardrocking "Tie Your Mother Down".

Fish Story

I will be giving a short "crop talk" at the next monthly CM/TAC crop here in Columbia (February 21st). I will give some examples of using your Creative Memories tools and products to make cards. This will be one of my sample cards:


The base card is made with TAC's Kraft cardstock. The image, from "Fish Story" is stamped on TAC's ivory cardstock with Palette Noir ink and colored in with Prismacolors. (I'm sure all the true fishermen/women out there are rolling their eyes, but I just kinda guessed how to color this guy in!) The rest of the card is made with CM products - the large square Shapemaker punch and paper scraps from a discontinued line of CM scrapbook paper. This was a quick card to make and a great way to use up some scraps that were just too nice to throw away.

If you live in mid-MO and would like information on the crop, please email me for details and directions.

Beate's Weekend Sketch

If, like me, you were a fan of Beate's weekend sketch, you've missed seeing her weekly sketches. She's back from hiatus and here's her new sketch: Weekend Challenge Sketch #68

Here's my card:


This was a good sketch for me because I'd bought this package of tall K&CO cards at Michael's and never used them. I just bought this set of acrylic dog stamps from Inkadinkadoo at Michael's and thought this stamp would work well with the floral patterns in the cards. (These cards have a coordinating print on the inside of the card, so I cut my circles out of another card that coordinated with my base card.) The ribbon and largest flower were both white and I "dyed" them with one of my Copic markers. I love using my Copics to do that!

Hearts and Roses

Happy Valentines Day! First the hearts... This is a box I decorated and filled with Dove chocolate hearts for Ali's teacher. I'm not really happy with how it came out, but that's what happens when you get home at 9 PM on a weeknight and have to make something before you go to bed!


I wanted to show it to you anyway to show you the cute diecut boxes you can get from my fellow Angel, Donna on her site, K&A Diecuts. If you buy from her, let her know I sent you!

Now for the roses. Well, *a* rose. Well, actually a Rosencrantz! This is our latest foster, Rosencrantz. We're calling him R.C.


He's a real sweetie. I'll have to get some better pictures of him. He's all back except for a white "bib" on his chest and two white front paws. DH says he looks like he's wearing a tux. :-)

Happy Valentines Day!

Sweet blog candy!

Here's another great blog candy giveaway:

http://inknscraphabits.blogspot.com/2009/02/birthday-blog-candy-give-away.html

Join me in wishing Jennifer a happy birthday! (I'm pretty jealous about that cruise!)

Blog candy alert!

Check out Melissa's blog, Creating From the Heart!. She's giving away some awesome blog candy, including DCWV stacks from the new "Sweet" collection. Good luck!

BIA & a Bella

Ali has been having trouble getting ready on time in the morning lately. (It's a good thing for her we have two schoolbus routes that go through our neighborhood!) She does better when she has a to do list to follow so I made her this little notepad with my Bind It All:


Parisabella is Ali's favorite Bella. She is awfully cute. :)

For My Friend

Here's another challenge card:


I'm getting a little smarter about this. This card covers both the Twinkling Tuesday challenge and the Papertrey Ink Friends til the end challenge. There definitely wasn't time for two cards tonight!

This friendship card is for my friend, Pam. We have been friends since we took flute lessons together in 4th grade! Purple is Pam's favorite color, so a purple color scheme was a must!

Mojo Monday

New blog sketches are about the only good thing about Mondays! Here's my card for this week's Mojo Monday card challenge:


Happy Monday! (Yeah, right!)

Magalog Samples

Here's a few samples using "Everything's Blooming" from the new TAC "magalog", Serendipity. This first one uses the sketch I posted earlier in the week.


Supplies: Everything's Blooming, Cha-Cha cardstock (printed and solid), Prismacolor pencils, Cuttlebug flower dies, Creative Memories circle Shapemaker, yellow brad.

This card is based on a sketch from Heather's blog:


Supplies: Everything's Blooming, Mia's Cottage cardstock (printed and solid), Prismacolor pencils, Cuttlebug flower dies, brads.

PTI Challenge/giveaway

PaperTrey Ink is hosting a blog giveaway to celebrate their new cardstock sampler. You can check it out here: Cardstock Sampler color challenge.

We had to submit the card TODAY! Not much planning time there, Nicole. ;-) Fortunately, I had these flowers left over from an early card project. So, I used purple as my additional rainbow color. I can't say I'm wild about this card, but it fits the color scheme!


Supplies: ocean blue cardstock unknown, all other colored CS by TAC, flower dies for Cricut, "Recollection" brads available in Michaels (I think), Fiskars Threading Water punch and ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

Monthly TAC Contest for February

TAC has been sponsoring monthly contests on their website. They are giving away awesome packages of stamps, papers, etc.! This month's contest can be found here:

February Catelynne Giveaway


Check it out! Good luck!

Also check out my Feedblitz subscription box on your right. Subscribe to get automatic notices of new blog posts, including future TAC sales, product debuts and contests!

Details are sketchy...

I love card sketches! There are sooo many places on the web to find sketches! Here are some great places to start looking:
Split Coast Stampers - Wednesday Card Challenge
Prairie Paper and Ink
Mojo Monday
Page Maps - Card Maps
So Sketchy
Oz-Some Stamps (Monday sketches)
Taylored Expressions
Triple the Sketch

Here's a sketch from me. This is an update of an older sketch I made for my old yahoogroup.


Have some fun with it and try it out! I'll post a card based on the sketch later this week.

Valentine Candy

Melissa is giving away some sweet Valentines blog candy over on her blog, Creating from the Heart. Check out the beautiful Valentines projects she has up on her blog. So much pink - I love it! :-)