Girls can do ANYTHING!

Meet Lavinia. She is such a hoot! I have wanted to get this image along with a bunch of other Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps ever since Kim Reid started her new line! and guess what?? While I went blog hopping through the KK DT's blogs during the last release a couple of weeks back, I won some Kraftin' Kimmie images! Can you say Hot Dang!!

So, of course I had a reeeally hard time choosing and had to get a couple more. I know, twist my arm.. But shipping was free, right?! So, I picked up a couple of the newest Pirate stamps and this adorable Steam Punk chickie I had been eyeballing. Now I want more from this line to go with the Gears die that I have preordered at work by Tim Holtz!

OK, so I made this card for this weeks challenge...Buttons and Bows. No problem there. do I ever make a card without either? Rarely. I used this weeks Friday sketchers sketch for my layout. The papers are from a K & Co pad called Wild Raspberry that I got at Michael's a whole back. They were perfect for the color combo over at the Deidrich dare last week (I was a week off there, oopps!) But I was in the mood for pinks and green, so it worked!

Once again I got to use my new Labels 10 Nestabilities and also my new Big Scallops Borders petite which I of course had to airbrush through immediately! Lavinia is popped up on dimensionals which you can see a bit better from the side view below.

The sentiment is from Steampunk Sentiments. also from Kraftin' Kimmie stamps. It is the most adorable and fun collection of sayings! There are 21 for only $9! A steal. All the rest of my supplies are listed at the bottom of the post. Copics are pictured below.

OK, so I did get some stamping done today! Yeah!! That means I have stuff to post for you for a couple of days! Thanks for dropping by! Have a great night!

-Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Steampunk Sentiments & Lavinia (Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps)
• Paper: Ocean Dot (Bo Bunny); white cs (Neenah); Wild Raspberry pp (K & Co)
• Ink: Palette Noir (Stewart Superior); Warm Red & Olive Pastel cats eyes (Clearsnap)
• Accessories: Labels 10, Big Scallop Border petite, Trio of Tags (Spellbinders); white ribbon (SU!); brads & buttons (Basic Grey); Copic markers: C0, R30, R35, R37, R81, R83, BG11, BG13, YG0000, YG93, YG95, E000, E00, E11, E53, E57, E59 & Gold spica (Imagination International)

CAS #7

Hey guys! I am back with more from InStyle Stamps today for the Club Anime sketch challenge this month! You can see the sketch HERE at the Club Anime Blog. There is a fantastic prize this month you don't want to miss out on so what are you waiting for??

I used Wanda for my card. I have wanted to do something with her for a long time and I was just in the mood for something bright and retro! Why? Well, its snowing...again. Hurmph. Oh, well, my kids got out eraly and all are occupied eith friends and whatnot so I hope to stamp the afternoon away!

So, back to Wanda. I colored my first Ethnic skin tone that I didn't toss in the trash because it looked like a mess! I think her skin turned out a really pretty shade! I used Copics E27, E25, E13, and E11. I also got to pull out my brand spankin new Labels 10 Nestabilities!

I cut her out centering the die over Wanda. Then I wanted to mask her so that I could airbrush my background. Well, I had already closed out the settings on my computer from having printed her, so how do you do a mask for a digi without stressing the size? I photcopied her in black & white then cut that out as my mask, and volia!

Hehe, I am so proud of myself. I also added some clear glaze pen to her gogo boots and leatherette belt so they would be shiny! This card is also entered for:

Papertake Weekly Challenge: Buttons, Bows, (Brads & Bling)

The Pink Elephant Challenge: Add some Green to your layout

So, all the supplies are listed at the bottom of the post. Please check in at the Club Anime blog to come play with us and to see the samples from all of the DT. Each of our names above our projects is a link to our blog posts so that you can get all the details about the cards and projects!

As always, thanks for hanging out with me a bit today! have a great snowy Tuesday!

-Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Wanda digi (InSTyle Stamps)
• Paper: Carob & Mango cs (Bazzill); white cs (Neenah); pp (Anna Griffin)
• Ink: Paprika & Pinecone Versacolor cubes (Tsukineko); Rose cats eye (Clearsnap)
• Accessories: Labels 10 Nestabilties (Spellbinders); flower (Prima); button (MME); dew drops (Robin's Nest): ribbon (SU!); clear glaze pen (Sakura); Copic markers: E11, E13, E25, E27, E29, E79, Co, C1, 0, YR61, YR63, YR65, YG01, YG03, R30, R32, R35, C5, ABS1 & Spica Melon & Silver (Imagination International)

Method Monday Aperture Card

Good morning to you all! I am thrilled to be able to do the Method Monday post for InStyle Stamps for the day! (You may have also seen this post in the ISS blog today)

I have wanted to do an "Aperture" card for a while now and this was about as good a time as any to give it a try!

First thing you need to do is to gather all of your supplies. I used a Score-Pal for my score lines, but there are many other ways to score if you don't have one.

I am going to show you how to do a double fold card with the frame cut out of the front. I started with a piece of cardstock measuring 12" x 5.5". Your finished card won't quite be as wide as an A2, but its pretty close and will fit into an A2 envelope.

Score along the long side of the cardstock at 4" and at 8". Then you want to fold over the right side into the middle first then the left side into the middle on top of the other piece that was just folded in.

Next you want to decide what shape you want the frame to be in the front of your card. You could use a Nestabilities oval or rectangle to cut out the center of the front, or even a punch or Coluzzle. I chose to put a frame on the front then to cut out inside of that.

This is the Polka dot frame from Spellbinders. I cut it out of a separate piece of white cardstock on my Cuttlebug and then embossed it.

While the piece was still in the die I airbrushed inside the openings with a copic marker (My colors are all listed at the bottom of the post).

I then attached this frame to the front or top panel of my card. After that I used an exacto- blade and cut out the center of the frame on the purple cardstock that showed through. (I also made a second frame and attached it to the back of this panel on the inside which can be seen further down in this post)

This is what the front will look like at this point. Now its time to work on the inside.

The panel that shows through the frame I wanted to jazz up a bit. So I added a layered panel of cardstock with a grass border that I punched with my Martha Stewart Icicle punch. This was then centered on this part of the purple card base.

My main image for the front is this adorable bunny digi stamp, which is NEW sneak peek from InStyle Stamps and it will be available March 5th at the webstore! Its called "Sweet Treats". I closed the card front so that I could center the bunny in the middle of the frame. I popped him up with some dimensionals.

Here is the front of the card after I added a few embellishments...a touch of ribbon from my stash (Fancy Pants I think??), and some die-cut and airbrushed flowers from the same Polka Dot Frame set by Spellbinders.

I also dressed up the inside of my card a bit using another new sneak peek digi image which is also available March 5th from InStyle Stamps, called "Eggtastic"! It was so fun to color...more fun than real dyed eggs, KWIM?

You can also see where I added the second frame to the inside of the card so that it didn't look so plain. Below are the copics that I used to color these images. All of my supplies are listed at the bottom of the post.

So! Now its your turn to go try an Aperture card! Please play along with us and then leave a comment if you do so that we can go check out your creation! Thanks for joining me today! Have great Monday and a fabulous week!

-Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Eggtastic, Sweet Treats (InStyle Stamps)
• Ink: None
• Paper: Purple, Green, Turquoise cs (Core'dinations); white cs (Neenah); stripes (Pinecone Press)
• Accessories: Score-Pal; exacto; cutting mat; Polka dot Frameabilities (Spellbinders); buttons (Basic Grey); ribbon (Fancy Pants); icicle border punch (Martha Stewart); Copic markers: RV00, RV02, RV06, RV09, V01, V04, V06, Y11, Y15, Y17, YR02,YR04, YR07, YG11, YG13, YG17, BG11, BG15, BG18, C0 & ABS1 (Imagination International)

Chickie Hop, hop, hop...

Wow! Sunday? Where did this week go? It has been insane around here as usual. I have had some issues as well with kids, but I think everything has worked out for the best. Thanks to the gals from my class at Enchanted Cottage the other day and all your prayers and well-wishes. My mood is back to normal manic and full-throttle!

So, at the class I was showing the gals how to mask your image after its colored, then to cut it out with a Nestabilities die and mask the outside border at the same time while airbrushing the background. even though my die slipped and my border isn't well-defined, the image turned out so cut that I had to turn it into a card!

Thus this bright version of Chickie hop was born. If you have known me for a while you know that this is one of my favorite Stampendous! images :) I didn't use any pattern papers on this one, can you believe it?? But the image was all colored so I just matched it up with solid color papers and used the sketch challenge from Splitcoast Stampers this week as the guide for my layout.

Here's the pic of the copics that I used. Not a ton of colors on this one. I did add some yellow and Fruit punch stickles after the fact (and yes, Laura if you read this I am sorry, no Stampendous! glitter...but I don't have any yellow!!) The green background was run through my Cuttlebug with a QuicKutz embossing folder but its so hard to see in the pic.

Alrighty, thats it for now. I have to finish typing up my post for Method Monday tomorrow, so please check back in for a fun tutorial and card! Thanks for hoppin' by to see me today :0

-Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Chickie Hop, Hoppin' by (Stampendous!)
• Paper: Mexican Poppy cs (Bazzill); green, pink cs (Core'dinations); white cs (Neenah)
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Bkack (Tsukineko)
• Accessories: Labels 3 Nestabilties (Spellbinders); button (Basic Grey); ribbon (Creative Imaginations); yellow & fruit punch stickles (Ranger); Large dots embossing folder (QuicKutz); Copic markers: Y15, Y17, B04, C0, YR04, RV02, RV06 & ABS1 (Imagination International)

InStyle Stamps Blog Hop!

Its Blog Hop Time! If you arrived her from the awesome Maylee's blog then you are in the right place! If you just hopped in, you can start at the beginning of the hop at the InStyle Stamps blog :)

Our theme this month was flowers...so I used Ginger, out in her garden, planting flowers. She's one of my favorite Retro images from InStyle Stamps! I used the layout from last weeks Friday sketchers blog. My background green pp I ran through my Cuttlebug with a QuicKutz embossing folder...Diamonds, then rubbed over the top lightly with my Split Pea Versacolor cube.

All the pattern paper is from Fancy Pants, the flowers are all Primas from my stash, and he sentiment is by Unity. Nothing much else too hard here. I just love to color nowadays! The rest of the supplies are listed below.

OK, so from here its time to hop on over to the mega-talented Janelle and see what she has cooking for you today! Have fun on the rest of the hop! Please don't forget to check back in Monday when I am hosting Method Monday for InStyle Stamps, I'll be doing a tutorial and previewing some new release images!!

Until then, have a great weekend...I may have another post for you in the meantime! Thanks for visiting and please say hi!

-Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Ginger digi (InStyle stamps); Eco Chic (Unity)
• Paper: Fancy Pants
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versacolor cubes: SplitPea, Mountain Lake (Tsukineko)
• Accessories: Label punch & circle unch (SU!); brads & button (Basic Grey); flowers (Prima); Diamond embossing folder (QuicKutz); Copic markers: E00, E000, E11, E25, E27, E02, E09, E07, E33, R39, YR18, YG23, YG25, BG32, BG11, W1

I'm loopy for Loopy Blooms!

Good morning! I'm in a great mood today and I hope it keeps up for the day! All the kids got up early, didn't argue, and were even helpful. It was amazing. I swear aliens came and zapped my household then replaced every member with a foreign entity. Hmmm....

OK, on to the eye candy! Today I used one of the gorgeous new sets that is featured in the January 2010 Stampendous! catalog. Its called "Loopy Blooms". All the flowers are separate, along with add-ons and verses, etc. Its a very versatile set and I just adore the sassy little blooms!! You will be seeing a lot of this set in the near future too (wink)

OK, so I put al three blooms on one large acrylic block and stamped them onto some Neenah white cs. I added some bees and the thankful sentiment before I ran it through my cuttlebug to cut it. The background paper is Bo Bunny "Flutter Butter", a really pretty line that hit our store in late fall, but seems more springy to me. Below are the copics that I matched it up with. And all the other supplies are listed below.
So, thats it for now. I have to head to work for the day and do some major organizing! Be sure to stop back in over the next few days...tomorrow is the InSTyle Stamps Blog Hop and early next week I have peeks of new stamps, a tutorial and more!

As always, thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogosphere and remember that you comments always make my day!

-Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Loopy Blooms (Stampendous!)
• Paper: Flutter Butter pp (Bo Bunny); white (Neenah); green & brown cs (Bazzill)
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Bisque, Olive Pastel cats eyes (CLearsnap)
• Accessories: Labels 1 Nestabilties (Spellbinders); ribbon & buttons (Bo Bunny)

Sassy Cheryl's

Hey guys. I guess that you have figured out by now that I forgot to schedule my post before I headed to work this morning, huh? Well, here you go, finally. Today I am featuring a couple of cards using digi images that I downloaded from Sassy Cheryl's, a pretty new company that I stumbled on. Her images are absolutely adorable, very different from all the others out there. Very much like illustrations in a children's book. Each one tells its own story. Above is a peek of the 2nd card when you scroll down, but first...
First up is my card I made with "Duck Dance". I mean, how stinkin' cute are these guys? I know, right? I colored them with my copics to match this fun SEI paper that I picked up at CHA. Then I added Moonlight white smooch to the ducks bodies to shimmer them up a bit. The grass was glittered a touch, as were some of the pink spots on the duck's top. The happy Easter sentiment is from a Close to my Heart set, the ribbon is Stampin' Up!
Above are the copics that I Used for this one, and below are the supplies:

• Stamps: Duck Dance digi (Sassy Cheryl's); sentiment (CTMH)
• Paper: white cs (Neenah); pink, brown cs (Bazzill); pp (SEI)
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)
• Accessories: Large Scallop Circles and Labels 1 Nestabilites (Spellbinders); flowers (Prima); ribbon (SU!); buttons (MME); Mint & Rose glitter (Stampendous); Copic markers: YR000, YR02, YR04, R81, R83, R85, YG000, YG01, YG03, E53, E57, E59 (Imagination International)

Here is the full card for "The Simple Gift" This one I printed pretty large then framed it with a Technique Tuesday tile and airbrushed the inside of the frame. I usedc the same SEI paper and same basic colors. the ribbon is from Michael's and the sentiment is by Elzybells, I just omitted and did it half and half instead of all in a row.
Go check out Cheryl's great images! Many are just $2! a total steal if you ask me! There will be a new Challenge blog next week, and She has a new group on Papercraft Planet as well and is giving away a free image there!

OK, so I am signing off for the night! have a great week and stop back in to see me another day :)

-Cyndi

• Supplies (card 2):
• Stamps: The Simple Gift digi (Sassy Cheryl's); Friends Forever (Elzybells)
• Paper: White cs (Neenah); Brown, apple green, white cs (Bazzill); pp (SEI)
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black & Chocolate Brown(Tsukineko)
• Accessories: chipboard tile (Technique Tuesday); circle punches (SU!); ribbon (Michael's); brads (Basic Grey); flower (Bazzill); Copics: R81, R83, R85, E000, E00, E11, E59, E57, E55. E53, E51, YR000, YR02, YR04, YG000, YG01, YG03, BG10 & ABS1 (Imagination International)

SC268: Shopping Diva

Good morning! Its a beautiful Sunday here in NC! Starting to feel like I actually live in the South. So, I had a bit of stamping time last night while Michael played on the Xbox. The day was spent driving kids to and from so a break was nice!

But, on the kids note I did get a call that Rachael's Math Counts team placed 2nd in the Regional competition yesterday! WooHoo! State Competition here we come!

Did you notice I added a few blinkies? I was having problems rearranging my gadgets and I thought it was Blogger. No. It was using Chrome as my browser. Firefox is better. Go figure.

OK, but enough of kids and tech talk. Back to the stamping, right? Well, one of the blinkies I added is a "Pixie Dust Challenge Star". I won the challenge last week at The Pixie Dust Challenge blog with my pink/black/red/white card which you can see HERE! Cool!

So, I won a free image and I chose "Shopping Diva" from Pixie Dust Studio. She even comes with her own little "Princess Pup" bonus image! Here she is a bit more close up:
I think I should have left well enough alone when I added the Glimmer Mist at the end, it made her a bit fuzzy for the photo. She was supposed to appear glitzy...which she does IRL, but the photos don't take well of Glimmer Mist and leave the crispness of the image in tack. Oh, well. Next time I will snap the photo, and THEN glimmer the card!

I used the sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers as the layout for the card. The sentiment is from an adorable set by Unity that has been very lonely for a long time. The rest of the supplies are listed below for those interested. The copics I used are also pictured below.
Well, thats it for now, but I am scheduling a post for you tomorrow since I won't have time to get one up then. As always thanks for stopping by and thanks for all the lovely comments!

-Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Shopping Diva & Princess Pup digis (Pixie Dust Studio); Shopaholic (Unity)
• Paper: Mocha Divine (Bazzill); white (Neenah); Serendipity Robotics pp (Sassafras Lass)
• Ink: Palette Burnt Umber (Stewart Superior); Celedon, Paprika, Bark Versacolor (Tsukineko)
• Accessories: Labels 4 Nestabilties (Spellbinders); Patina Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels); buttons (My Minds Eye); flowers (Prima); Copic markers BG000, BG10, BG32, BG49, E000, E00, E11, E59, E57, E55, E41, E44, R39, C0 & ABS1 (Imagination International)

InStyle Stamps peeks day 2

Good morning! I am back with another preview for you from InStyle Stamps! When I saw these new images a few weeks ago I was totally in love! For those of you who know me I am totally addicted to Paranormal Romance novels right now! (No, not just Twilight, the REAL adult Vampire type books...look at my list to the left....Laurel Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, JR ward, etc)

So, Ramie is right down my alley! She is just a gorgeous image and I had fun coloring her. I chose to give her Violet eyes, which seems to be a common theme amongst Paranormal writers. and they turned out pretty cool looking! For a change I colored first, then picked out papers and whatnot around my image.

I did my hair different today, you may have noticed. Less blending on black is a good thing I found. I picked some paper from Little Yellow Bicycle to pick up the purples and then looked for black accessories...the flowers are Prima (notice the cute skulls on the white one :) The sentiment is by A Muse from their last Fall line and I thought went perfectly!

The copics that I used are pictured below and the supplies are listed out as well. All of the new Anime and Retro images will be released tomorrow at InSTyle Stamps so be sure to head over and pick out a few! In the meantime...check out the ISS blog for more awesome samples!

Thanks for stopping by! Please be sure to say hi! -Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Raime digi (InSTyle Stamps); Wicked (A Muse)
• Paper: Zinnia pp (Little Yellow Bicycle); Vintage Violet cs (Stampin' Up!); white cs (Neenah); Black cs (Bazzill)
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)
• Accessories: Swanky Frames tiles (Technique Tuesday); Black gems (Hero Arts); WHite gel pen (Sakura); Viloet ribbon (SU!); jumbo scallop scissor (EK); flowers (Prima); clear button (American Crafts); Lavendar Spica & Copic Markers E000. E00, E11, E13, C1, C3, 100, BV00, BV02, BV04, R46, R39 (Imagination International)

ISS Peek Day 1: Erica

Today is the first day of Sneak Peeks at InSTyle Stamps for February! I am so excited to share these images with you because they are sooooo cute! Today I have Erica, a new Retro image that will be arriving at the ISS webstore this Friday!

Erica was colored to match this fun retro looking paper from American Crafts. My only complaint is my "black" hair. I colored 2 different images and wasn't really happy with either. My coloring on the grays looks blurry and yucky. But, I think the rest of her turned out cute, especially her sparkly green eyeshadow!

I also made my own glittery buttons with clear glitter buttons from American Crafts and a Red AC slick writer. The sentiment is Verve. Below are the copics that I used.

OOpps! I forgot to tell you that I based this card on the Friday sketchers sketch for the week!

Be sure to check out the InStyle Stamps blog for links to the other DT's cards! and tomorrow I will be back with a new Anime image for you! Thanks for visiting today!

-Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Erica digi (InStyle Stamps); Great Expectations (Verve)
• Paper: American Crafts pp; red cs (Bazzill); white cs (Neenah)
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)
• Accessories: Red slick writer & glitter buttons (American Crafts); Melon Spica & copic markers C3, C7, C9, C1, E000, E00, E11, YG11, YG13, YG17, R46 (Imagination International)