It's Your Birthday

I did it!  I made a card!  After work!  On a Tuesday! 

It is shocking, but true.  I was determined to make this happen.  I needed to send my Grandmother a birthday card last minute.  I thought I was going to see her in person on the weekend and would have plenty of time to make the card.  Well after Sandy Hook, she is so sad and she has a cold and she swears it is the end of the world ...so she has banned us from coming to the house this weekend.  *Sigh*  Hopefully this card will cheer her up. 

Stamp: The Greeting Farm- Hats Off Miss Anya, Paper: Kaisercraft Up Up and Away, Accessories: Ribbon , rhinestones, sentiment from stash, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Dusty Concord Marker, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink,

Copics: Skin- E23, E25, E27, E29 Hair- E23, E25, E27, E29, E49 Denim- B91, B95, B97 Clothes- RV00, RV63, RV66, V91, V93, V95, Boots- E31, E33, E34, E35, E37

It's been a while...

It's been a while since I have posted.  So sorry for being gone for so long.  Hurricane Sandy really took its toll out here on the east coast.  It made things very difficult for a while for me getting to work and servicing my customer base who couldn't return to their offices in lower manhattan.  I am happy to say that everything is back to normal for me.  The "Zombie Apocolypse" effect that occurred the first two weeks after all of the devastation is over.   There have been so many effected and my heart goes out to everyone who lost their homes, possessions, jobs and even loved ones.  I am hoping to be able to go to Jon Bon Jovi's benefit concert 12-12-12 where all of the proceeds are being donated to Sandy victims.

I made this card while the power was out for a week.  I am hoping now that things are back to normal, I will be able to get back to my crafting.  

(Stamp: The Greeting Farm's Sweet Treats Anya, Paper Stickers and Washi Tape: Teresa Collins Tell Your Story, Copics)

In the meantime I have been having a ball with one of my newest hobbies... DIY Soak Off Gel Manicures.  I got the Sensationail Starter Kit that includes the LED lamp from drugstore.com (on sale till Monday $34.99).  

I am in love with Soak Off Gel.  It cures under the LED light in under a minute and then it is dry! No more painting your nails and then waiting hours for them to dry.  Plus the manicure lasts 1-2 weeks with out chipping and flaking off.  

I have been changing my polish every week because I like playing with the colors and trying to do different effects.  The soak off process takes some getting used to but I think I have gotten the hang of it.  With Hands Down nail wraps (they look like bandaids) and a little heat.  You soak for 10-20 minutes and then just push the softened gel right off your nail.  

When I did my first soak off gel manicure my nails were short and bitten down to the quick.  Below is have much they have grown in just 8 weeks.  I have been mixing and matching colors from other brands: Gelish, Red Carpet Manicure, Mally Beauty, and IBD too. It all works with the Sensationail LED lamp.  

(Top: Sensationail French Manicure Sheer Pink Kit + Red Carpet Manicure White Hot,  Bottom:  Sensationail Mauve Maven)

My Christmas shopping is done and now I need to start wrapping everything.  Now I need to get the Christmas cards done!

Hey No Birdies!

I am sick and working from home today :0(. Normally I start work at 8:30 but because I am sick I can't fall back asleep so I figured I would hop on the computer early and share the card I made yesterday. I finally broke down and got the Kaisercraft Hey Birdie Paper Pad. I really love the color combinations in this pad but hated the "bird" theme. I don't know what my aversion is to birds but I definitely have one. In the papers I chose to use on the card, I actually covered the row of birds with a row of trees. Really don't like those birds! Hope you like the card without them.

Supplies-

Stamp- Miss Anya Hats Off by The Greeting Farm
Other- Memento Tuxedo Black and Lilac Posies Ink, Cardstock and sentiment- Stampin' Up!, Hey Birdie Paper and Pearls by Kaisercraft, dimensionals, Copic X-press It Blending Card
Copics-Skin- E23, E25, E27, E29 Hair- E23, E25, E27, E29, E49 Denim- B91, B95, B97 Clothes- RV00, RV63, RV66, V91, V93, V95, Boots- E31, E33, E34, E35, E37

Copic Color Combo Ideas and coloring denim...

Today, I thought I would share a compilation of some copic color combo ideas that I have come across on my Internet browsing travels.

The Color Me Copic blog has a great video tutorial on coloring denim done by The Amazing AMY my personal copic hero!!! I decided to color a little denim myself. For my example image, I chose a stamp from the Miss Anya Hats Off collection by The Greeting Farm. I probably should have worked with full jeans instead of a denim skirt but I still like the look. Amy shows a very neat trick using the colorless blender solution to add denim texture to your image. I need to find myself a denim swatch to use for that. I have added some white detailing to my images using a White Sharpie Poster Paint Fine tip pen.

Many online stores offer copic bundles with pretty good pricing. I like that they take the guess work out of choosing colors. Some of the ones that have caught my eye recently when I was browsing the Splitcoast Stampers site were The Stamp Room and Make It Crafty. I thought I would take a minute to share the color combos they offer in case any one is in need of color suggestions.

Color Combos sold by The Stamp Room:

CAUCASIAN 1- E000 E00 E11

CAUCASIAN 1B- E000 E00 E11 R20

CAUCASIAN 2- E000 E00 E21

AFRICAN AMERICAN 1-E11 E13 E21 E25

SANDY BLONDE- E40 E42 E44

DARK BRUNETTE- E25 E49 E53 E59

BRUNETTE- E25 E31 E50

BLONDE 1- Y21 E97 E99

AUBURN W/ GOLD HIGHLIGHTS- E15 E18 YR21

RED 1- R22 R24 R27 R29

PINK- R81 R83 R85

REDDISH PLUM- RV91 RV93 RV95 RV99

ORANGE RED- R00 R02 R05 R08

ORANGE/PUMPKIN- YR12 YR15 YR18

GREEN #1-G20 YG63 YG67

LEAVES AND GRASS- G20 G85 G99

OLIVE #1- G40 G94 G99

NORTHERN OCEAN- BG70 BG72 BG75 BG78

DARK BLUE GREEN- BG93 BG96 BG99

SKY BLUE- B21 B23 B24

MEDIUM BLUE- B32 B34 B37

DENIM- B91 B95 B97

VIOLET- V12 V15 V17

BLUE VIOLET 1- BV11 BV13 BV17

BLUE VIOLET 2- BV20 BV23 BV25

GRAY PLUM- V91 V93 V95

WARM GRAY- W0 W1 W3 W5 W7

COOL GRAY- C00, C1, C3, C5, C7

Make it Crafty also has some cool videos that are much longer than the standard You Tube time frame.... here on her blog. I just love watching her color and adore her Australian accent!

She uses these interesting color combos... I just love what she calls them and her accent!!!

Light Skin Colour SetE00, E01, E11 for pinkish skin

E50, E53 for a light olive complexion

Hair
‘Dusty Blonde Set‘YR31, Y18, Y28
Auburn hair – E13, E17, E19

Clothing
Rustic Blue Set B93, B95, B97, B99
Pretty Pink Set – R81, R83, R85, R89

Wood/Trees/Fur
‘Dusty Brown hair E41, E44, E47, E49

Leaves
‘Flora Green‘ G40, YG63, G28

Flowers
‘Purple Set‘.BV00, BV13, V17

Here are the copic color combinations inspired by Paper Trey Ink colors:

Plum Pudding V91 V95 V99

Lavender Moon RV32 RV34 V06

Scarlet Jewel R83 R85 R89

Pure Poppy R24 R29 R59

Raspberry Fizz RV04 RV17 RV19

Hibiscus Burst RV10 RV13 RV14

Sweet Blush R20 R22 R24

Berry Sorbet R30 R32 R35

Terracotta Tile YR65 E08 E19

Orange Zest YR12 YR15 YR18

Melon Berry R01 R02 R05

Summer Sunrise Y32 Y35 Y38

Harvest Gold Y21 YR23 YR24

Lemon Tart Y21 Y26 YR24

Pinefeather G24 G28 BG99

New Leaf YG11 YG13 YG17

Ripe Avocado YG93 YG95 YG97

Simply Chartreuse YG23 YG25 YG95

Spring Moss YG91 YG93 YG95

Enchanted Evening B95 B97 B99

Blueberry Sky B91 B34 B97

Spring Rain B41 B45 B37

Hawaiian Shores BG15 BG23 BG49

Ocean Tides BG72 BG75 BG78

Aqua Mist BG11 BG13 BG18

Dark Chocolate E55 E57 E59

Fine Linen E41 E42 E44

Smokey Shadow T1 T4 T6

Royal Velvet BV13 BV08 BV29

Happy Easter Anya!

This week I have a quick card to share (sorry about the annoying flash).
I wanted to do a little something cute for Easter so I used the free Easter Anya digi from The Greeting Farm. I hope you likey!

Also, I thought I would share some Copic Color Combo Pages I made for my journal with the new copic colors.

Ingredients:

Stamps: Easter Anya digi by The Greeting Farm, sentiment stamp from Stampin' Up!

Paper: Cardstock- The Paper Source, Copic X-Press It Blending Card, DCWV Glitter Stack, PaperTrey Ink Gridlines

Ink and Accessories: Grape Jelly Memento Ink dew drop, Pearls and Rhinestones from stash, SU! Dimentionals, Martha Stewart Edge Punch, Copics: E31 E33 E35 E23 YR30 YR31 V12 V15 V000 RV63 E00 E11 R20 E0000 E81 E87

Fun with the new Copic colors!

Hello everyone! I finally got a chance to play a little bit with the 12 new copic colors. I thought it would be cool to experiment a little and see what other colors they looked good with and how I could use them.

I tried out all of the new colors V20 V25 RV55 RV63 RV66 YR30 YG61 BG53 BG70 E23 E81 E87 and added in some existing colors that I thought went well with them like BG45, BG72, YG63, YG93, YR30, and the E20's. I haven't come up with a good color combo to use with RV55 yet although I did add it to E23 to make a redish toned hair color.

The stamp I used is from the The Greeting Farm Miss Anya Dressy set. I believe I stamped the images on PTI Stampers Select White cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink (I had stamped this sheet out eons ago for practicing coloring hair and never used it).

If I had to pick favorites of these new colors I would have to say E23 is a must add to your collection. It makes coloring darker skin tones in the E20 rage a lot easier to blend. BG70 is a great alternative to BG10 and BG11 for blending with the BG70 range as well. YR30 is a great one for doing pale blonde hair and for doing highlights around an image too. Hope you find this information useful! Happy coloring!

Happy Anniversary

I am finally back... I had food poisoning...it was very very very bad! Here is a card I managed to make before I fell ill. I made it for my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. Since they were married in 1950 I thought the 50's Sweetheart digi from The Greeting Farm was a perfect fit!

Aren't they just too cute!

Recipe: 50's Sweetheart digi from the Greeting Farm, Wine Bottle digi from Becky's Place, PTI sentiment stamp from Enjoy the Ride stamp set, PTI Stampers Select White and Vintage Cream cardstock, Making Memories vintage papers, Zva creative pearl swirl, crotched lace, Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap distress ink, Copics: wine bottle image- C00 C1 C3 BG11 BG72 BG75 G24 G82 YG11 Y00 Y35 YR24 RV34 RV69 E09 0 Uniball Signo White Gel Pen, sweethearts image- E19 E18 E15 E13 E40 E41 R83 RV34 C3 C5 C7 C9 W5 W7 W9 B41 B45 B37

flutter

I found these cute Heidi Swap pink Damask stickers at Tuesday Morning last weekend. 51 stickers for $1.99. I see me using these to make many matching scrapbook background pages.

News- I will be giving away some Blog Candy in the next week or so to celebrate 20 follows/16,000 views.... I am still working on putting together the bundle of goodies...so far it will be some Prismacolor Colored Pencils, 3 Copic Markers: a Colorless Blender- V000 -V15, floral embellishments, a stamp set, Copic quality cardstock, mini Ink Pad, a Scrapbooking kit, Designer Paper...

You must be a follower of my blog to be elligible to win... and I will not be doing the give away until I hit 20 followers...so sign up to follow if you are interested.

Recipe: Freaky Flutter digi stamp by The Greeting Farm, SU! sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes set, SU! Pink Pirouette Cardstock, Pink May Arts Satin Ribbon, Value Lace from A.C. Moore, Nesties, Reflections pearls, Prima Roses, and Copics:

Quick and Simple Chenille Flower Embellishment Tutorial

Happy Saturday! Today is my guest designer featured tutorial over at Die Cuts R Us Design Team Blog.

My tutorial demonstrates how to the make a Chenille Flower Embellishment pictured in my card above.

I stamped Yoga Anya onto Neenah cardstock using Memento ink. Next I colored my image using copic markers. I die cut my image using a nesties oval and left the paper in the die while I sponged on some Antique Linen distress ink around the edges. I adhered my image onto a scallop oval die cut from nesties. I rounded the corners of my Basic Grey Kioshi patterned paper and then sponged on some Antique Linen distress ink around the edges of the paper. I made a knot in my ribbon and adhered that to my patterned paper. I used one of the new Tim Holtz Sizzix dies- Elegant Flourishes to die cut some self adhesive glitter craft foam I found at the craft store and added the flourishes around my image. Next I stuck on my Chenille Flower using two glue dots and finally I added some pearls to the bottom corner of my card to finish it off.

Recipe:
Supplies Available from Die Cuts R Us-
Yoga Anya stamp by The Greeting Farm
Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink
Basic Grey Kioshi 6 X 6 Paper Pad
Kioshi Collection Stitched Brads
Memento Die Ink Pad Tuxedo Black
Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb Cardstock
GluGlider
Also used:
PTI Pink Shimmer Cardstock
PTI Plum Pudding Swiss Dots Satin Ribbon (reverse side)
Nestabilities Petite Oval and Scallop Oval Dies
Sponge Dauber
Kaisercraft Self Adhesive Pearls in Blush
Adhesive Glitter Craft Foam
Chenille Pipe Cleaner
Corner Rounder Punch
Copic Markers:
Face: E000, E11, E21, R20
Hair: E25, E27, E35
Clothes: RV0000, RV10, RV21

Chenille Flower Tutorial Supplies needed-
Chenille Pipe Cleaner (available at any craft store)
Jumbo Brads- I used a Basic Grey Kioshi collection Stitched Brad
A round object or you can use your fingers (for picture taking purposes I used a Judikins Color duster handle)

1- Wrap your pipe cleaner around your finger or round object one time and bend the lose end around the rest of the pipe cleaner to secure the first loop.

2- Now wrap the pipe cleaner around again in the opposite direction.

3- Wrap the pipe cleaner around again multiple times until you have used the entire length of the pipe cleaner...

keep wrapping in alternate directions...

This end result will be 4 loops if you use the color duster handle and 5 if you use your fingers.

4- Now insert your jumbo brad through the center of your flower and bend back the prongs in such a way that it secures the pipe cleaner in the shape you have created.
Finished- Now you have a finished flower to add to your card.