9.29.2017

Cool Cat Coffee

 Today Robin's free for all challenges is your happy place... Coffee makes everyplace my happy place :) Did you know today is "National Coffee Day?" :) well, I knew and yes, I did make a pit stop at Dutch Bro's on the way from collecting the mail for work and again on the way home... So, being home and fully caffeinated after dinner there was time to stamp and color this Kitty to go from Unity Stamps with some mostly prisma pencils. The cat was stamped twice and cut out for just a little more depth on the cup.

 The sentiment on the front is from the Verve set called coffee helps. the ribbon is from Offray, the wonky stitched frame is from Simon Says Stamp, the base is some SU Cajun craze.

A look at what is on the inside, the cool cat and purrfect cup sentiments are the ones in the kitty to go set and the happy birthday is from SU. This one finished out at A6 in real life and is just something for the birthday card stash, thanks for stopping by.

9.27.2017

WOYWW # 434 {happy mail}

Happy Desk Peeking day! to play along with us, you can
 So, it's "Stamptember" for Simon Says stamp... 2 of 3 orders I placed through out the month arrived on Monday & Tuesday this week and on Tuesday after work I opened everything up and played with it a little. the color dot's were mostly a curiosity thing about other people's favorite colors... I already own the whole complete Daniel Smith watercolor dots and a hero arts card so, although they are not a lot of money they do not travel that well through the mail the one sheet was stuck to the back of the other so, I think I can take  wet brush and remove the cardstock from the tops of the paint. I probably will not buy anymore of these cards and just pick up the colors I like the most (eventually) a funny true story, now that I moved all the paint back upstairs however long ago that was... I have not water colored a single thing. I think I have a mental hang up about doing it in the only room we have left  with carpet.

I did pick up some things that were not stamptember releases. The thing front and center is not an embossing folder... its a flat metal plate.
( so, chances are it will be fairly fiddly to make it work but,
that has not come out of the package yet.)  if I had been paying better attention I would not have tossed that in the cart as I already own the matching stamp ( and have not played with it as of yet)
What did come out were some of the sentiments,
 So, this morning's view is of the drying piles of them on scraps. From this view you can see I did re-arrange the dies that are on top of the file cabinets. When I get that corner of the stamps done I will do a better series of shots of it all. (maybe when the rest of the stamps get unmounted and or sorted) that has taken a back seat to creating things for the booth in November.

And also in the house mail tuesday was this flash prize from the super sponsor Craftin desert diva's from the coffee lovers blog hop. ( holy cow that was fast right?) :) It's a cute little flipper ed bird with a snorkel & ducky floating ring with a star & the sentiment reads don't be afraid to get your feet wet.
Thanks for stopping by! 

9.26.2017

Assorted Christmas Cards

 One thing about paying attention to coloring at odd moments is it gives you a little stack of things that can be assembled quickly in other quiet times. so, as much as I like to color I think I make more of an effort to have things ready to color during those 30 day challenges. I have not colored every day this month but, on the days I did color I did do several images at the same sitting. This was one of those things colored last week (and assembled that just never got posted because of the coffee hop) It was done with prisma and polychromo's pencils.

 The sentiment is from Altenew Holiday wishes set, the holly is the penny black antique holly image. ( which is the same exact holly design as the Peace postage stamp collage one only this one is larger and just the leaves no extra's around it)

 The image is from Northwoods called Square birch & cardinal and the sentiment is from Altenew holiday wishes set.

 The Noel on this one is an vintage PSX one stamped with versafine toffee ink, which looks a little bit gold colored when it dries.

The tree's on this are from Taylored Expressions trim a tree die done with scraps and these are 3 1/2" square in real life. just little gift cards. because, I cut a forest worth of scraps with this die over the last few weeks late at night.

9.25.2017

Belated Wishes

This last sunday the featured stamper challenge headed to Beverly's gallery where I remembered this gorgeous card from years ago and chose it for my CASE. I just love her color choices there so, that was the given thing for me to keep was a blue-ish greenish colors and so the changes were to have this butterfly ( SU swallowtail)  Peeking in from the other corner, and instead of stamping a swirly background I used an gelli print I had made on deli paper with some acrylic paints and a swirly embossing folder for the pattern print. the Sentiment is from the Lil' Inker designs Just Sayin' set .
I did heat emboss this butterfly on a sheet of pale printed paper and then added some water based markers into the wells of the image with some Nuvo Neptune pearl drops on the edges. the base on this one is some PTI ocean tide cardstock so, it finished out at 5 1/2" square in real life.

9.24.2017

Kirkland Inspired


I could not get my internet to cooperate last  night but, this is something I put together for the inspiration challenge yesterday at Splitcoaststampers. the site it goes to is a store I have never heard of called Kirklands. when I read that word I think "Costco" haha. anyways, I had received this Abundant Blessings September Sentiment set from Unity Stamps last weekend and I colored a couple of the flower clusters on Friday and seen this door mug shot on the store site and thought the way the flowers are arranged is kind of wreath shaped and then just added the layers of texture to continue it.

 The flowers were stamped with Versafine Vintage sepia ink on some Neenah Millstone cardstock and colored with prisma and Polychromo's pencils. there is some white gel pen on the little white tipped springs under the big blooms too.
The only real difference with the pencils is ( more colors ) I was perfectly happy with every single prisma pencil color for years (except, there was not enough pinks and greens to suit me) and then I kept reading about the polychromos leads being stronger. ( this is true, I am able to get and maintain a sharper tip on these and they blend with the prisma pencils just fine) so, to me it was mostly a way to increase the color choices I have.

On the inside of the card is this really old sentiment from SU's season of thanks set. The corrugate is from Die cuts with a view, the goldish printed paper is from Kaiser Crafts, the Lace is vintage, that skinny copper sheer ribbon over the top of that is a new one from SU. the sentiment was die cut with a small petite oval die from spellbinders and the bottom of the floral panel was cut with a newer die from Concord and 9th called select a size borders. This card is 6" square in real life.

The layers of texture shot I loved from the store. the funny thing about that store was I seen some pillow's I liked and they are all "sold out on line" ( this is an online store link mind you lol) which just makes me roll my eyes. Anyways, thanks for stopping by.

9.22.2017

First day for Fall

 On this first day of fall is an Stamping Bella Lizzy Laptop that I had colored with the thought of "you know its fall when"... your fuzzy robe comes out...
 ( but, then I gave her PINK fuzzy slippers and the rest of the colors went not fall-ish downhill from there haha) so, I did not use her during the coffee hop and ended up adding this Impression Obsession sentiment instead. She is colored with prisma and polychromo's pencils.

because, I wish the first day of fall was a stay home holiday... Hubs thought differently...
This one is A2 in real life. Thanks for stopping by.

9.21.2017

Thankful {day7, continued}

 One last one for the Fall Coffee Lovers blog hop. This has been a lot of fun, Thanks for organizing it Amy!  This last week I still have not seen everything. This card below linked up as #1026 in the line up. I will keep poking around the line up over the next few days. If you have taken the time to leave me a comment THANKS that really tickles me. I grin from ear to ear as I read each one of them.

 I had colored this chick from Unity Stamps earlier in the week because, she is my favorite person holding a coffee mug that I own. I gave her red hair here because, I figured that would work well with a fall themed background haha. Plus, she is wearing a sweater cradling that mug too! Her set name is Angie girl dream of being, the sentiment is also from Unity Stamps the sentiment kit abundant blessings sept. 2017. 
This card is A-7 in real life, the mat window was cut with an Spellbinders a2 mat die and the sentiment was cut with a My Favorite Things jumbo fishtail die. 

She was stamped with versafine onyx black ink on some Neenah solar white and colored with a mix of Prisma & Polychromos pencils.

A view of the lumps shot with my cell phone which tinkers with the colors... but, you can see the texture in this view so, I decided to keep the shot. the leaf diecuts were done on some scraps with concord & 9ths layering leaves die. there is some scrappers floss tied in a bow around the Micheals plaid ribbon and there is also some foam pop dots under the sentiment panel because, of the height of the torn cork paper scrap tucked under the other side.

If you are going to play along in this hop, hurry. it ends soon. :) & thanks for stopping by!

Bean a Blessing! {day7}

 It's almost the last day's worth of hours for this fall coffee lovers blog hop going on now, you still have time to play along and get it linked up. :) Last night my first card from this hop won a flash prize stamp gift from super sponsor Craftin Desert Diva's. WOW right? :) I am so excited. anyways, here is another simple one for this thursday morning.

 These stamps are from Impression Obsession the ribbon is an older one from Micheal's from last years Thanksgiving line, I have not checked to see if they have it again this year or not.
The image is peeking up through from behind the mat frame. This is A-6 in real life.

 I did attempt to cut this with scissors but, the handle & steam gave me fits so, I ended up just cutting that off and keeping the body of the cup and re-stamping the whole thing on a fresh sheet for the base and layering the colored over the top. I don't think it photographed well ( it may on the click and enlarge them views) but, there is stardust gellyroll glaze on the edges of the mug. The browns are prisma & polychromo's pencils with some white gel pen over the top. The mat is from Diecutswithaview and the base is SU baked brown sugar.

When I was a kid in the 70's my mama had these black and glass mugs with the glass could pop out of them and they had handles in nearly the feet of them and so, when I seen this mug stamp for the first time that is exactly where my mind went, it looks like a fancy version of that. the Mugs name is "latte" and the sentiment is Bean a Blessing.  So, this is one of my oldest Coffee mug images that is still for sale with one of the newer sentiments. :) I am hopeful I can squeak one more in after work tonight so we will see. This card is #963 in the line up. Thanks for stopping by!

9.20.2017

Hare Hugs {day6}

Good Evening, Just a simple one for this after work evening for 
 ( you can find the details by clicking the colored words)



Just a simple one for hump day... The bunny in the mug is from the cat's Pajamas set called this could be vodka and the hug in a mug is from the Ton's set called  a hug in a mug.
The printed paper is from the Authentique Nestled pad, the Heart diecut is up on a foam pop dot and that lace is vintage. This one is A6 in real life.

A closer look I had colored the bunny the other day during the slow times at work with some prisma & polychromo's pencils (twice) so the bunny and the tea bag are cut out and popped up over the first image. I did use a white gel pen which I had forgotten dries lumpy on the eyes and then went back over the pupils with a sharpie marker... and it slid.. so, that's life. There is also some diamond glaze on the heart tag. I am supposed to be cooking dinner (ha ha) so, I will be making some comments later tonight again,  This card is #916 in this line up (OhMyGoshWOW)
Thanks for stopping by!

What's on your Workdesk, Wednesday #433

Happy desk peeking day! :) This post is part of the what's on your workdesk this wednesday hop that you can find the details of where to play along here at our hostess Miss Julia's blog. 

 If you view my blog any other times beside for WOYWW then you probably already know there is a fall edition coffee lovers blog hop going on now, and this is how it looks this Wednesday am. the remains of things I had colored on monday at work during the slow times and the stamps and inks and die I used on the tuesday post cards are still out, so I will most likely come home today and clean all that up before I make a wednesday card. There are a lot of talented and friendly people playing along with the coffee hop if you'd care to join us, it does not have to be a coffee project, you can do tea or cocoa or any warm drink theme.

 That mermaid tail is still floating around, I have been mentally kicking around adding it to a large cup. ( but, have not gotten that far as of yet) it will probably have to be a die as most of the stamped cups I have are pretty small scale wise compared to that Ellen Hutson tail.

 Some possibilities, I have such a large collection of coffee and or hot drink type images and sentiments it takes me longer to make a decision of what to play with than to make the cards. the gal in the back is from Unity Stamps the sentiment to her left is from the cats pajama's the sentiment to the right of that (awesome) is from Visible image, the one to the far right of that (prison orange) is from Riley & co. Those swirly mugs are from Impression Obsession (latte) the mug with the bunny is from The cats pajama's.
off to the right of that some recent Amazon things arrived last week and have not been unpacked. ( solid sticky sheets, embossing anti static a new pair of scissors just some consumables)
anyways, that's about what is going on here. The garden will most likely have a killing frost later this week and we had to turn our heaters on last night. ( there was snow at Crater Lake yesterday and the night before) but, we have all the canning done so, its just a matter of how long the lettuce and tomatoes in the green house can keep going before we resort to bagged stuff from the store again. Thanks for stopping by!

9.19.2017

A two-fer for {day 5}

 Good Morning and welcome to day 5 of the fall Coffee Lovers blog hop,  Where you can read all about how to play along and see more fun and beautiful projects.

Last year I was lucky enough to win this I love Tea stamp set from super sponsor Uniko. For this card I stamped the cup on some Neenah solar white with Avery Elle Vino pigment ink and then colored the cup with some prisma pencils. I was trying for that translucent look some cups have and may have gotten the bottom a little dark but, its also a different look for me so, I also on the other hand like how this turned out. This card is A-7 in real life. the mat under the stamped panel is the reverse side of the basic grey Kissing booth paper I used a Poppy stamps tailored stitches die for that scalloped edging. The mat under that is from the blush line. The base is PTI vintage cream.
A closer look, I wanted to add the heart image to a tea bag tag and I had come across this tiny circle in the Sizzix Tags and words set, So it was also stamped with the vino ink and then I color dusted some distress tea dye ink along the edges of the tag. this has some scrappers floss through the hole I think this tag is too small for even a bitty staple and I cut a slit into the top of the cup with an exacto knife to tuck the strings behind the stamped panel. there is one tiny foam pop dot under that tag to keep it in place as I only stamped the front side of it.

 So, this is a two-fer kind of a day... I have way more fun things to play with than 7 days worth ha ha. so, here is a recent happy mail from Your Next Stamp, its called Java Geek.  
I just think this is so fun and so silly. the elements chart was stamped and then diecut with a MFT pierced fish tail die and I cut off the vertical sides with scissors. then layered this to the scrap that was run through a Cuttlebug wicker weave folder. Now, I had intended for this to be a A2 card but, I knew I wanted to tuck in the go cup and because, I had centered the stamping it made the cup over hang, so I ended up diecutting all those layers (including the original cardfront) with a simon says stamp stitched rectangle die, and layering this to an A-6 base so, the edges of the cup are still on the card.

I had paper pieced a scrap of paper bag card onto the white go cup and then stamped the glasses and then cut that out with scissors before I stamped the glasses a second time on just white card to remove the krafty color from the inside of the lenses. (its easier to me than trying to color over the color with a gel pen) you can kind of see the bottom layer under from this angle. I also added some diamond glaze to the glass lens but, I don't think that photographed very well for me this time. You can click on any photo in this blog to see an enlarged one and use your browsers back button to continue reading.
Anyways Happy Tuesday! and thanks for stopping by!

9.18.2017

Be Happy {day4}

 There is a Fall edition of the coffee lovers blog hop going on now, you can find out all the details to play along with us here (click the colored words).
 You can do anything warm drink themed, coffee, tea, cocoa. :) Have fun with it!

For day 4 another one of my newest Unity stamps that came in the mail recently this set is called Chapter one. This was stamped with some versafine on Neenah solar white and colored with polychromos pencils. the panel was die cut with a stitched square and is up on foam pop dots over the My Minds Eye darling dear plaid print. the base is kraft and is 5 1/2" square in real life. Thanks for stopping by!PS this is card # 518 in the link up ( holy moly I am never going to catch up with commenting on everything but, I peek in during the down times at work :) )

9.17.2017

Not my Color... {day 3}

 And that is the absolute truth for me, Although we have a lot of rust and Orange colors in our home I do not own a single piece of Orange colored clothing.
And yes, I am one of those I drink coffee for your protection chicks...
 So just for laughs here is a quickie for day 3 of the Fall edition Coffee Lovers blog hop going on now. ( you can find the details to play along here) The tea cup and saucer die is from Sizzix, that sentiment Prison Orange is not my color is from Riley & Co. funny bones line and this one is A2 in real life. the cardbase is from one of those Hero Arts kit of the months so, the outside has color and the inside is white. ( I file those cards by color in a drawer so, I no longer remember which one sorry) the mat under it was cut with an Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle die from some old Basic Grey print. I cut the tea cup from scraps, the sentiment has some Distress Pumpkin Pie ink and was cut with an Nellie Snellen oval die. the burlap string is from May Arts. This is card # 466 in the link up. ( WOW there are so many great projects posted so far this go around)  Thanks for stopping by.
you can find all the details here of how to play along with this hop.

9.16.2017

Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop {day 2}

 In these last few days of summer leading up to fall 
(insert a fist pump here Fall is my favorite season) 
there is a new Fall edition of the Coffee Lover's blog hop going on now.
For this hop you can use any hot drink images, tea, cocoa, and of course Coffee.
 And there is lots of talented and friendly people playing along
It started yesterday and I had received some happy mail from Unity Stamps last night which included this Fall to go cup & sentiment (and it is larger (YAY!) than the one they came out with a while back with the heart on it) and I promptly colored a couple of the images. And then it got dark way too for my eyes so, they had to wait until daylight to become a card.

 This image was stamped twice on some Neenah milstone with Versafine Vintage sepia ink and colored with polychromos and Prisma pencils with a tiny bit of gelly roll stardust glaze and then a happy finding, my white gel pen died last week so, I ran into a local Micheal's store and they only kind they had were these signo broad uni-ball white gel pens. and so, I grabbed one, tried it on these on the "dots" and although you cannot touch it, this ink dried slightly 3-d as little bumps. ( very cool) I used a couple of spellbinders die sets on the image panel and the tag. ( Curvy rectangles and framed tags 1 sets) The lid and the pumpkins, and main floral band were cut out from the second image and glued over the base. So, there are no foam dots between the layers but, it does have a little bit of texture/dimension from that. Found this old ( I think it may have been Halloween) glitter ribbon and copper elastic cord to finish it off. this card is A-6 in real life. Thanks to everyone who makes this hop happen and thanks for stopping by! as soon as it warms up here a dutch bro's run is in my near future along with some commenting.This is card #299 in the link up.

9.13.2017

WOYWW # 432 {cleaned & Christmas}

Good Morning & Happy desk peeking day!
If you'd like to see more or play along the link up starts here at
 
 A little pile of images I had colored at work with my ( duplicate) pencils I have there, but I did not take that little blue zipper bag with me in advance so, none of the pigments have been melted as of yet. It's kind of funny because, I had fully intended to color up some fall- ish warm drink type images because, there is a fall coffee lovers hop starting this coming friday. but, what was colored was Christmas and Patriotic. ( I also have a tin of previously stamped images at work for just this reason to color during the hurry up and wait that happens there)

I have my limits to how long and how much disorder I can tolerate so, I hit the wall and had to clean up everything last weekend . I did make 2 cards after that one for the Inspiration Challenge and one (below) for the featured stamper challenge that will probably go to my mother in law next month. so, the remains of what was out on Sunday afternoon are still sitting here but, it won't take that long to clean them up to make the next mess. off to the left are a couple of images I had colored last week with some papers that may work for them on top of some things in progress that I ended up putting into clear sleeves. ( larger than say an avery elle pocket these are sleeves that would fit an 8.5x11" piece of paper without bending it) this particular view shows you some of the mess that hides under the table.

The featured stamper challenge headed to Rachel's gallery this week and I loved how she tucked the sentiment into this card so, that was the jump start for mine. on mine those wreath dies are from last years Hero Arts (sept) kit of the month. and there was such drama about people really wanting this set that did not buy it who were disappointed with the amount they had for sale ran out before those people bought them. I had this whole guilt thing going on and I set this kit aside and did not play with it. So, when I looked at Rachel's card I knew I had wreath dies hiding and I dug them out. I changed the stamps ( this sentiment is from Elizabeth Crafts) and the colors and switched the pearls for buttons. but, I think you can see the bones of her card here. Thanks for stopping by!

9.09.2017

Inspired by with a side of Harvest Hello's

 A few days ago, I received this Military Birthday sentiment in the mail from Impression Obsession and I knew I had this Patriotic mailbox image so, they were an instant pairing in my mind. This morning I had seen that the Inspiration Challenge at Splitcoaststampers has gone to the design seeds color combo site and I came across this image that stopped me in my tracks I loved the faded worn colors and layers of texture on this image a great deal.


 and my brain said oh, go start making some Veterans Day cards and then I remember I had set this sentiment into the play with it soon basket and it all kind of fell together from there. I know this is probably not what the people at Impression Obsession were thinking of when they hosted their Harvest Hello's challenge but, this is where I landed. It's also not a Veteran's day card but, will head to one even with the spring flowers in the image.


The base is some fancy pants corrugate and the faded blue print on the postage stamp frame is I think some really old basic grey. the lace is vintage. All the stamping was done with Versafine Onyx black ink on some smooth Neenah solar white (80#) and colored with Polychromos & Prisma pencils with a hint of clear wink of stella over the flag mailbox and the watering can. This finished at A6 in real life. Thanks for stopping by.