Bunny Love

Here we go. I finally got to my card today, using that Inkadinkado bunny stamp I colored with Copics yesterday. I decided to try this paper-piecing technique -- it sort of ends up looking like a crazy quilt, which I love. Wide swaths of color which really pop against the chocolate cardstock. To add to the quilting effect, I did some faux stitching with a white gel pen.


I wanted the bunny in the bottom right corner, so that the patterned paper pieces would radiate out from him, sort of radiating the love that's growing in his little pot there. That left the top right corner looking really empty. There wasn't room to add a bow anywhere, but I thought maybe a ribbon tab would work. I liked the way that looked, but it was still missing something, so I added a little green button to anchor it down.


And that was it. Easy peasy! (I say that as if it didn't take me more than an hour to do -- much of it just figuring out the placement of things.) How are you all doing today? I can't believe that I'm not one bit closer to being ready for Easter! Goodness, it's only like three days away and I don't have a thing for easter baskets or eggs or anything. I'm usually much more on top of things, but somehow it's just gotten away from me this year.

Do you have any special Easter traditions in your family?

Blender Pen Vs. Copic Marker Comparison

Whew! Today was a little less like a vacation day, since I spent the majority of it cleaning and organizing and dusting (ah-choo!) but it was nice to actually have the time to do that for a change. I got quite a bit done and plan on doing a little more tomorrow.

I decided to call it quits for the day and do some crafting, when my hubby called and said he was on his way home. We'd already made plans to go grocery shopping right after work, so I knew I didn't have time to do much.

This adorable little bunny image from Inkadinkado was calling to me, so I decided to do a blender pen vs. copic marker comparison and see which one I liked better. I stamped him once in StazOn black ink for the blender pen, then a second time in Memento ink for the copics.


In the past, I've always used the smooth side of watercolor paper for my blender pen, but unfortunately today I forgot and just used my regular Georgia Pacific basic white cardstock. You can see that it did not work well. The paper started pilling up almost immediately and the color would just not blend smoothly. I will definitely go back to my watercolor paper in the future. And I think I'm going to need a new blender pen as well. The nib is all yucky now. Good thing they're cheap!

The copics went much better, though it was sometimes difficult getting in the small spaces around his ears and such. There's a technique to just using the very tippy-tip that I still haven't quite mastered. Also, since I was in a hurry, I wasn't as careful as I usually am and I slopped out on the edges some. I really need some lighter shades of Copics, especially the brown. But I made do with what I have for now.

After that I had to rush out the door, as our plan was to utilize the wonderful child-care facility that closes at 7PM -- it's almost like you're on a date! To the grocery store. They do have a nice cafe there that we sometimes have dinner at (we feed the kids beforehand, of course) but we didn't have time for that today. LOST is on tonight! That's my favorite, favorite show. I've never missed an episode.


After we got home I cleaned him up a bit, drew in some grass (copics first, pilot pen after, otherwise it would smear and ruin my marker nibs) and filled in the sky. I managed to pick out some papers and snap a pic with the last of the good daylight, but I'll have to save the actual card making for tomorrow.

AND -- I'll get to try out my new Martha Stewart scoring board! Yay! I cannot draw a straight line to save my life, let alone score one. My hubby (knowing that it's been on the top of my wish list) surprised me by telling me to pull into A.C. Moore on the way home from the grocery store tonight, and he ran in and bought it for me (with me in the car with the kids on the cell phone, guiding him to the right place!). He even used a coupon and got it half price! Gotta love a man who can bargain shop! ;o)

Have a great night everybody!

Spring Joy

Happy Monday, everyone! How was your weekend? I'm so sorry that I didn't get a craft posted on Friday. On the way home from school, my son Elliott kept telling me that his ears were bothering him. He'd had a cold all week, so I wasn't sure if it was related to that or something else. We came home, I made lunch, got him comfortable on the couch, and started coloring this cute girl with chicks digi stamp from Softpencil. You can see where I tried out various color combos up in the corner.


But before long he was crying in pain and I ended up having to call the doctor and take him to the emergicare center as soon as Chaz got off the bus. We were still in the waiting room when my husband showed up after work, and were debating about whether or not he should take the other boys home when they called Elliott and I in. So hubby and the kids just hung tight. The doctors there were just wonderful, and even allowed me to take a peek into Elliott's ear with their instrument! Poor kid had double ear infections.

By the time we were through, it was after seven and everyone was hungry, so we decided to use the kids Book It coupons for free personal pan pizzas at Pizza Hut. Love that program! So glad it's still around.

Anyway, it was too late when we got back home to finish up the card, so I decided to just save it for today. And here it is.


I cut out the girl and chicks, and drew and cut out grass pattern on the back of the green polkadot paper from My Mind's Eye. I glued that to the front of the cloud paper from Citronella, and attached that to some bright salmon pink Bazzill cardstock to match her dress.

I stamped the sentiment from Studio G in Olive Pastel Colorbox Chalk Ink for a tone-on-tone effect, and tied on some bright yellow polkadot ribbon from American Crafts. Then I just used my regular Tombow tape runner adhesive to attach the girl and chicks to the grass and called it a day.


I'll tell ya, it's so nice to be on Easter vacation! I took it easy pretty much the whole day. Spend way too much time online, cleaned up my office a little, and now I'm heading down to make shrimp alfredo with a garden salad and garlic bread for dinner.

I could get used to this!

Wooly and Wonderful

Once again, another late-night post. How are all you out there in the blogosphere tonight? Maybe some of you have already drifted off to dreamland, which is where I'll be headed just as soon as I finish this post. It was a long, emotional day.

Anyway, I'm here now and I've got a card to share with you all. A friend recently asked me about possibly making some knitting themed cards and after some searching, I came across this little clipart image and decided to color it and use it on a card.

I apologize for the bad lighting. The sun was already well on it's way down when I finished, and there was little natural light left to photograph it.


I used Copic markers, C3, RV11, R22, BV00, BV08, BG10, BG13, R02, and Y11. Bazzill cardstock and papers from My Mind's Eye. American Crafts ribbon and various buttons. I mix mine all together by color, so I'm not sure who they're from. I added a little faux stitching in a white gel pen around the edges for some interest.

I think it turned out pretty sweet.


One more day of school and then my kids are off for Easter vacation. I am so behind on Easter this year. I haven't bought a thing for baskets or the egg hunt or anything. How 'bout you all? Are you all geared up for Easter?

Delightful Butterfly

Happy Wednesday, everybody! How are you all doing today? I'm sitting here watching the American Idol results show as I type this, eating a slice of pepperoni pizza with a glass of Arizona iced green tea (totally addicted to the stuff!), so I think that qualifies for multitasking! Lol. Seems I do that a lot these days -- life just keeps getting busier and busier. And that's how I like it, pretty much. At least that way it never gets boring. Although sometimes it's nice to have a little downtime. Especially if you want to get crafty! It's pretty hard to multitask when you're working on a project. Which is exactly what I did this afternoon. Check it out.


I was in a purple mood for some reason (obviously) so I went with an entirely purple theme. I used a darker cardstock base, and stamped a Hero Arts background stamp with plum ink on a pale lavender cardstock. I wanted to see if I could emboss it, so I did, using clear embossing powder. I don't know that it made much of a difference though.

I then stamped a butterfly from The Paper Studio in the plum ink on white cardstock, and again on the back of the patterned paper. I cut both out and glued them together only in the center. I tied the ribbon from American crafts so I could figure out where to center the butterfly, then folded up the top wing layer a little bit so that they popped up.

I stamped the sentiment from Fiskars on the lavender cardstock with the plum ink and cut that out. I had planned to pop it off, but decided it looked more like it was part of the pattern when it was flush with the card, so I attached it that way. And as a final touch, I added a few mini gitter dots to make the butterfly body and drew on the antenna with a white gel pen. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.


Also, I got a chance to run up to Joann's this afternoon and bought a yard of blue ribbon for $.99 and changed that first sympathy card. I think it looks so much better now. I'm a firm believer in putting your best foot forward, or giving it your best, or however you want to say it. What we put out into the world is a direct reflection of who we are, and I just didn't feel comfortable giving out a card that I knew was not the best that I could do. Now I can breathe a little easier when I bring it to my writers group.


Whew, I'm so glad to see that Casey is safe for another week! Don't get me wrong girls, I'm a happily married woman, but he certainly is nice to look at. ;o) And his voice isn't bad either.

I'm also cheering on my girl Didi. I love her. Great voice, great look, great personality. I hope she goes far.

Off to watch the rest. See y'all tomorrow!

My Sympathies

As promised, I've returned today with my sympathy card, though I have to admit, I'm not happy with it. I hesitated to even share it with you all, but I did say that I would, and besides, sometimes it's good to see others mistakes so we don't have to make the same ones ourselves.

The bottom half of the card isn't too bad, but the ribbon is just awful, in my opinion. I found this beautiful navy velvet ribbon and I thought it'd lend the card a formal elegance. I wanted to tie it in a bow, but the ribbon was so thick that it stuck way off the page and just looked heavy and wrong. Even just knotted as it is now doesn't really improve anything.


Unfortunately, I don't have any other ribbon that matches and I've already spent my meager crafting budget for this week (thanks to a one-day sale at Michael's on Sunday) so I don't know if I can do anything about it. The card has to be done by Thursday so that my writers group can all sign it (the friend who lost his daughter is a member) so that doesn't leave me much time. I might just scrap the whole thing and try to come up with something else.

I rolled up the edges of the petals with a pen to give it some dimention. I do like that effect. Maybe I can salvage the flower if I remake the card.

I also don't like how the sentiment almost blends in with the pattern on the paper.


You'll notice I darkened up the center of the flower quite a bit to try to get it to match the ribbon. I think I liked it the first way better though. I don't have any real deep blue copics, so I had to go with something in the blue violet family.

flower petals: B21 (Baby Blue), B06 (Peacock Blue), and BV13 (Blue Hydrangea)
center: Y11 (Pale Yellow), Y15 (Cadmium Yellow)
stem: G24 (Willow), YG03 (Yellowish Green), and G05 (Emerald Green)

I finished this up late last night, then spent this afternoon making another card to send from just myself. I'm fairly pleased with how this one turned out, though at one point I nearly threw the while thing in the trash! I wrestled with that stinkin' bow for like 20 minutes. Ever have one of those days? Anyway, the bow finally got tied decently and the card got finished.


I first picked out my papers -- I chose this yellow print from Cosmo Cricket, gray cardstock for my focal piece and yellow for the card base. I arranged the hydrangea stamp and the sentiment how I wanted them on the gray, then picked them up together with a large acrylic block and stamped them with Versamark ink. Then I sprinkled the whole thing with white embossing powder and embossed it using my heat tool. I wrestled with the silly ribbon until I was satisfied, and popped it off the card using 3D dimentionals.


I really like the effect from the white embossing powder. You could use that in so many different ways. It took a little bit for me to get the hang of -- at first I couldn't tell which part was melted and which was still powder, but I caught on. As with anything, you get better with a little practice.

Well, that's it for me tonight. If any of you out there have had to make a sympathy card, I'd love it if you could post a link in the comments section. I'm interested in seeing what other people have done with a card that requires such sensitivity.

Now go spend some time with your loved ones!

Copic Coloring - Engraved Flower

I'm feeling a little subdued today. I found out this weekend that the daughter of a friend passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack, and my heart's been breaking for him ever since. He's a dear man who has always had such a positive outlook on life, but he's recently had a whole slew of bad luck concerning the health of his loved ones. And now this. I can't imagine the pain he's going through.

I wanted to make a sympathy card for he and his wife, but I've never made one before, and it's not something that's easy to do. There's a lot to consider, as far as images, color, and sentiment, that will hopefully convey your compassion and support to the family.

I wanted to use this engraged flower cling stamp from Hero Arts that I won in the blog candy giveaway from Kathy at the Daily Marker. I colored it with Copics, choosing hues of blue and yellow.


As far as the rest of the card, I've taken it apart several times and I'm not going to have it done in time to post today. I'll save that for tomorrow. I seems wrong to make it too cheery, and yet you don't want it to be too somber either. It's a tricky balance.

Well, I'm going to close for tonight and take a few moments to watch my children as they sleep. Hold your loved ones close today and tell them that you love them. Life is so fleeting -- make the most of every moment while you can.