Let's Communicate who's the Blog Candy Winner!

Remember I had offered a digi stamp set of my challenge winner set, Let's Communicate, in honor of my Dad's birthday?

There were 17 comments on that blog post and Random.Org selected #14, which corresponds to Sammi!!!

Sammi, please contact me within a week and I will send you instructions on how to get your download from the Amber INK store!

Sammi  said...
Happy Belated birthday to your Dad! I just love the cards you've been making with this set! Well.. If I used this set I think I would make lots of birthday cards for friends.. and I think I would have to try CASEing your card where she looks just like Jess! LOL!
(hugs)
xxx

I hope Sammi does make lots of birthday cards and I would love to see them on her blog, Stuff by Sammi; I'll be watching to see what happens! Here are three cards I made with the set, for inspiration! Clicking on an image will take you to the original post:

    

Congratulations Sammi, I look forward to hearing from you!

Please VOTE for my "Let's Communicate" RAKs!

It's that time of the month again - time to vote for your favorite entry in the Amber INK INKredible 21-day Challenge! There are only three days to vote, so please hop over there now and pick your favorite. Of course I am hoping it will be one of my two entries, either my thank you card to stamping buddy Patie, or my tribute to Jess Diedrich who is the "Mad Hatter" of my beloved Oh, Alice! design team!

Here are my two entries:

RAK for stamping buddy Patie   OR   Tribute to Jess who Rocks RAK

Voting just takes a couple clicks - Click HERE to go to the Amber INK challenge blog and then click VOTE underneath whichever project is your favorite! Done!

I am probably an idiot to enter two items and split my own voting block, but this set is just so much FUN to play with! I had to stop myself from entering twelve instead of two, LOL!  You can enter as many items as you want but you can only win one prize, so that's fair.

I hope some of you will consider entering next month's challenge - it is a fairly new challenge blog, so odds will never be better as the field is still small. You only need to use one Amber INK product and some of the digis are as low as 50 cents and iPaper is only $1. The top three selected by YOUR voting win a prize. The top winner out of the three is selected by the design team and gets a stamp set custom designed by Amber!  That is how this Let's Communicate set came to be, and I love it so much. I have more stamp set ideas so I am trying to win again, so I can design another set with Amber! The other two winners get a gift certificate to Amber's store so that's pretty nice too!

Thanks in advance for taking the time to vote. Even if you don't vote for me, I really appreciate your participation in this new kind of challenge blog!!!

Happy Belated Birthday Card, Dear Da-ad, and Happy BLOG CANDY to YOU!

(New BLOG CANDY below, so stick with me!)  I did remember my Dad's birthday ON the correct day. I just didn't remember it ahead of time, like make-a-card-and-mail-it ahead of time! Our family has been scattered for a long time, so we always call each other and sing Happy Birthday on the phone. I know I never feel like it's really my birthday until I get that phone call. I do (finally) have his card ready and here it is!

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I am using my favorite new Let's Communicate set again that I designed with Amber of Amber INK! My idea and her fabulous drawing skills created this set, which was my prize for winning the Amber INK challenge a couple months ago! This time I colored the figure to look like me. She is wearing my ultimate favorite lime green and turquoise.  She has my red hair and hazel eyes. I cannot even tell you how fun this set is to color!  I went a little crazy on the purse with a mod polka dot pattern, and of course I love to color jeans.  There is no paper piecing, this was all done with Copic markers. I had printed the figure out with a black and white laser printer onto color laser printer paper, which works great for blending Copics.  After coloring, I adhered the figure to white card for stiffness and trimmed her out with scissors and a Fiskars fingertip craft knife for the interior cuts, very easy to do.  Then I added one lime green crystal for a fun earring!  I computer generated the sentiment and bubble, adding some musical symbols so you know she is singing.

I sponged around the edges of this 5 x 6.5 inch kraft card (Recollections) with Broken China Distress Ink. I adhered two strips of ribbon to the card front with Fast Grab Tacky Glue, then added my bow, tied with the Bow-Easy, with the same glue. This glue is thick enough that it does not saturate through the ribbon and is so much less expensive than ScorTape and glue dots; it really holds the slippery ribbon securely in place.

The Spellbinders Mega Ovals with their elongated shape are the perfect backdrop for figures like this. The scalloped oval was not the right color of green, so I colored it lime green all around the edges where it showed to match the figure, and edged it with a turquoise marker to make it stand out better from the kraft background. The turquoise layer (SU Cool Caribbean) was sponged with Broken China Distress Ink while it was still in the die to highlight the embossed edge. Each layer is adhered to the front with dimensional foam mounting tape, so by the time I got to the figure it was three layers of foam tape high. Since one foot was hanging out in space, I layered three pieces of foam tape to stick behind the leg to secure it at the right level. It looks great from the front but a bit odd from the side, as you can see below.  If I had considered it earlier, I would have used a tan Copic marker to color the sides of the foam tape to match the card base, so it would have blended in better.

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Whenever I complain about my birthdays (how old I am getting) my Dad always says that the alternative to birthdays is grim!  I sure would rather continue to have birthdays than not, LOL!  So when I found this sentiment in a Hero Arts clear set, I had to buy it. It had a turtle on the same stamp but I carefully trimmed it so I could use the sentiment on it's own!  It says "Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live."  Isn't that perfect?  I stamped it with Peeled Paint Distress Ink onto the turquiose card stock and sponged around the edges of the punched shape (SU - Curly Label Punch) with Broken China Distress Ink. I used foam tape to mount it over a piece of loosely folded, notched ribbon, then added a twine-threaded button just for fun.

Happy belated birthday card to you, Da-ad, Happy birthday to you!

Blog Candy!

In honor of my Dad's birthday, I am going to give away a Let's Communicate digital stamp set to one lucky commenter. Just tell me what kinds of cards YOU would like to make with this set, and if you will enter the Amber INK challenges!   You do not need a blog to enter, but if you use anonymous be sure to list your name in the comment!  I'll draw the evening of Nov. 12th.  Check back on Saturday, Nov. 13th to see if you've won!

Leave a comment here to enter for the Let's Communicate digi stamp set before you go!

Hey Jess - You ROCK!

Jess Diedrich of The Whimsical Butterfly is the creator and coordinator of the Oh, Alice! challenge blog, where I am on the design team. She is also the Creative Coordinator for The Greeting Farm, which includes being editor of The Greeting Farm Newsletter and coordinator of their three (or four?) design teams. She's an Ippity Chick and a Unity DT gal. But most importantly, Jess is the mother of four children!  Jess rocks!

When I received my digital copy of the More to Love - Let's Communicate set, I thought I saw a resemblence!  I told Jess if I put glasses on her and put a pink streak in her hair, nobody would be able to tell the difference. So. . . whatcha think?

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Yup, that's what I thought too! It looks just like Jess! Now you might think it is funny to have Jess saying that Jess rocks, but what is actually happening here is that Jess is listening to the phone and my voice is coming out of the phone saying that she rocks!

I thought I would make her a card, which is my second entry to the Amber INK INKredible 21 day challenge, where the theme this month is RAKs!  You need to use at least one Amber INK product to enter. Just think - you could download this AMAZING digi set, which includes the figure (without glasses and pink streak), two speech bubbles and TEN sentiments, for only $7, and then you could have fun coloring her too! And if you prefer clear stamps, that's an option too! Just think, if you win the challenge, you too could design a stamp set with Amber!!!

Let's take a look at the whole card:

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Doesn't Jess look hot in her great jeans and those super cool leather boots! Gosh, I sure love boots and Amber drew my favorite style!  And I totally LOVE to color jeans - look at all the great details Amber drew , she even gave me a watch pocket, gotta love that!  Instead of smooth leather like the last card, I gave Jess a trendier bag, gathered into soft folds. I'm thinkin' this leather came from a psychadelic ostrich, know what I mean?  Last time I colored in a quick and easy flower pattern on her jacket. Today I went for plaid, which is so easy to draw and pretty forgiving - just curve the stripes a little, don't even try to make the plaid perfect and straight. (See another drawn plaid example on this card.) This is also an awesome set for paper piecing!

I punched a big scalloped border on the black card stock and wrapped a ribbon around it that I colored with Copics to match the pink streak in Jess' hair, adding a little triple loop bow, made on the Bow-Easy and adhered with Fast Grab Tacky Glue. I used the same pink marker to edge the polka dot paper. The twine-threaded buttons were attached with glue dots. Then I had to add the bling, because it is made up of "rocks" and hey, Jess ROCKS, right? We all agree that Jess ROCKS! These were sparkly clear crystals until I colored them with Copic markers to match the jacket. I had to cut one of the flourishes, so I used the leftover crystals for an earring and jacket buttons! The figure was cut out and adhered with thick foam tape so it has a lot of dimension, as does the speech bubble!

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Lousy angle but you see how high she is popped up, which looks pretty cool when you see it head on. I thought I'd show this view as the flash destroys the shadows in  the normal views. 

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Answering some questions about my last post:

While I had the camera out for today's card, I took a "dimensional view" of my previous card to try to explain about the ribbon treatment. I took an inch wide strip of scrap card stock and ran adhesive down both long edges. This adhesive was just used to position the ribbon, which I pinched up every so often as I stuck it down. I used my Sew Mini to stitch right down the middle, where there was NOT any adhesive, so as not to gunk up my machine.  You usually have to use a heavy duty super high-tack tape like ScorTape to get ribbon to stick securely to paper. The stitching is actually what is holding the ribbon to the strip of card stock - I don't need to worry that it will come off. In fact the ribbon has already lifted up from the adhesive at the edges, which gives it even more dimension. This allows me to use my normal (super inexpensive) Scotch ATG adhesive to stick the beribboned strip of card stock to the card front, because now I am making a paper-to-paper bond.  Hope this helps!

Someone else was astute enough to suck up comment on how incredible I am with my super jeans coloring skills and all, so I guess I'll reveal that I use B91-B95-B99 coz I like my jeans all comfy and broken in and faded. How about you?

So, are you loving my challenge winning stamp set as much as I am?  I hope it will be a huge hit for Amber INK! You can read more about it on my last blog post! :-)   I can't wait until Jess sees this - watch for her to comment, LOL! The hard part actually getting it in the mail as I'm out of stamps! I already owe two other RAKs that are just waiting for me to get to the post office before they close, as I live in a small town with really short Post Office hours! Please leave me a comment about the stamp set, my amazing jeans coloring skills, or how much Jess ROCKS, hahaha!

Say Hello to My New Stamp Set: More to Love - Let's Communicate!!!!

As you may remember, I WON the September Amber INK INKredible 21 Day Challenge and the grand prize was Amber designed my dream stamp set! So without further ado, welcome More to Love - Let's Communicate!!!

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Isn't she fabuous!  I told Amber I wanted a full-figured, hip, sassy, fashionable Amber woman (NOT a skinny Amber Girl!) talking on the phone, with all kinds of sentiments for any occasion, and I wanted to call it "Let's Communicate!"  Well Amber did such a fantastic job and she liked the idea of more full-figured sets, so she is calling the series "More to Love!"  I wanted jeans, and just LOOK at that fantastic jeans detailing!! I wanted simple shapes on the purse and clothes so they would be perfect for coloring and paper piecing and LOOK at how great it turned out! I wanted chunky heeled boots because they are a lot of fun to color and so much easier to cut out than the original stiletto open toed pumps (and now with one curved line on each foot I can still have pumps, but that's our secret!) and look at those GREAT boots!  I am SO HAPPY!  The digi set is only $7 and includes this fabulous lady and  a great batch of sentiments and two sizes of empty speech bubbles, so you could easily add your own words!!!

As a bonus in the digi set, the sentiments come both solo and combined with the bubble. >>

I even got to decide on what sentiments include, so I came up with a list sure to work for almost any occasion:

• Coffee?
• Howdy!
• You rock!
• Shopping?
• You need anything?
• I'll be there!
• Happy Birthday!
• Let's get together
• Thanks, you're the best!
• I've been thinkin' about you!

Now I mentioned paper piecing, and that is not so much fun with digi sets. Not all of Amber INK stamps are available in clear stamps but guess what? YES! More to Love - Let's Communicate is also available in a CLEAR SET for $14!!!!  Yippeeeee!!!

So please go buy this set in either digi or clear right now! I want this set to be a HUGE success for Amber INK, because it is my concept (brought to life by Amber's amazing talent!), and also because I have a plan! I have more ideas for some GREAT stamp sets, so I am going to try to win another challenge so I can do this again!

Let's take a closer look:

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I colored the girl and the speech bubble with Copic markers and cut them out. It does not show in the photo, but they are popped up high on dimensional foam tape. Kraft card base sponged with Distress Ink in Marmalade around the edges, a piece of dictionary page rimmed with light brown Copic markers, and a bright orange and white striped grosgrain ribbon that I colored with yellow and pink Copics to better match my project. I stitched the ribbon to a strip of card stock and adhered it to the base - it is a LOT easier to adhere the card stock securely than to get the ribbon to stick with normal adhesives. Buttons were colored with Copics to match her jeans, threaded with twine, and stuck on with glue dots! 

You should enter the new challenge also, it is so much fun! I did not win the grand prize for the October Challenge, but my Creeptacular Witch won a prize for the Top Three, so I received a $15 gift certificate to the Amber INK store, how fab is that?

This month's challenge is to make a RAK for someone you don't know (random act of kindness) OR an AK for someone you DO know (act of kindness), use at least one Amber INK product, and tell about who the RAK or AK is for or why you are sending it!  FUN!

So this card is my first AK entry. You can enter more than once, but you can't win more than one prize. It is an Act of Kindness for a friend who has been having a rough time with her health - shingles topped by bursitis, OUCH, and yet she remains unfailingly cheerful and generous with her time and resources. I appreciate the effort she goes to in having get togethers for our little stamping group!

I have entered this card in the following challenges:

• Amber INK INKredible 21 Day Challenge: #3 - AK or RAK with A.INK
• Crafty Cardmakers: #32 - Use a Freebie or something you got for free; I won the whole set as a prize!
• Pear Tree Designs Weekly Challenge Blog: #22 - Free for All
• Tuesday Throwdown: #22 - Anything Goes

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think about my new set and/or my card! Would you like to see more sets in a "More to Love" line by Amber? Let me know!

Please VOTE for my Creeptacular Witch!!!

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Edited to add: This month, you get one vote when you vote for your top pick, not three! Thanks!
I am entering the Amber INK INKredible Challenge, squeaking in just under the deadline! The theme this month is Trick or Treaty, Amber Inky, and my Creeptacular Witch is ready for the big day!  And YOU can help! Please go to the Amber INK challenge blog and VOTE for your favorite, and of course I am hoping that my witch will your top pick! Voting opens tomorrow, Tuesday October 12 and ends on October 14. The winners will be announced on the 20th!

I was totally inspired by this super cool Polka Dot Spider iPaper from Amber INK. Aren't those spiders fun? It was a black and white print until I sponged it with purple, green and orange. I loved the idea that I could make this paper any color I wanted! After sponging, I dotted the shine in their eyes with a white gel pen. I created my own large version of the spider with a ¾ inch circle punch and some twine I colored black. I drew in the eyes with a white gel pen and then added a clear dome of dimensional glue.  In retrospect this would have been a good time to whip out the googly eyes, but you know I don't use them very often and I'd have to find them first, LOL!!!

Then I turned to my favorite Amber INK set of digi stamps: Rainy Day! She is so much fun to color! I drew in some lines to turn her umbrella into a huge spider web, with one creepy spider dangling from the edge, whick I positioned so that they are looking at each other! I also drew in a witch's hat, and arched "Hope your Halloween is" text over the top of the umbrella.  Then I tucked the Happy Pumpkin in at her feet. Is this pumpkin cute or what? I got it while it was a freebie on the Amber INKlings blog, and it will be available for sale Oct. 20th, 2010. You can see her without all these additions on this card.

Next I cut out the "Creeptacular" word I had printed. I colored the strip eggshell with parchment edges and rolled the ends tightly, trying to make it like a little scroll that might have had a spell written on it! I cut out the witch with a fingertip craft knife - love the control this gives - and mounted it with dimensional foam tape on some mega-oval nestabilities. I adhered a strip of insanely bright orange ribbon around the card front - the ends meet under the witch panel.  The ribbon really IS that bright!!!  I tied a little piece of fine twine around the ribbon, knotting it where I intended to stick the center of the bow, pinching the ribbon as it would be if it was actually tied into a bow. Then I made the bow and stuck it on with glue dots. I mounted the witch panel, scroll, and creepy spider with dimensional foam tape and it was done!

So remember to vote! I know I probably won't be lucky enough to win the grand prize again, but if I do, I have plans!!! The winner gets a digi stamp set they design with Amber! I won last month and it is SO MUCH FUN! You can see the process on my posts here and here, and also on the developments page on the challenge blog! My new set, called Let's Communicate, will be unveiled on Oct. 20th and I can't wait for you to see it!  The second and third place winners also get goodies - I think they win a gift certificate to Amber's shop. That would be fab too because I've gotta tell you, I have this LIST!

Please think about entering next month's challenge, which starts Oct. 20th. You have to use at least one Amber INK item, but as long as you have that, you CAN use other stamps.  iPaper would be a GREAT way to start, it is only $1 and there are so many great designs! I love all the fall plaids and the cute gingham released last month.

In addition to the Amber INK challenge, I have also entered this in

• Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturdays: Halloween.
• By the Cute and Girly: Spooky
• Copic Creations: #36 - Orange
• Mad for Markers: #M4M Color a digi stamp
  

Please VOTE for for your top pick on the Amber INK INKredible Challenge Blog during the voting period, Oct. 12-14. Thanks for your support!!!  And please leave me a comment to let me know how you like my witch, or that you voted!  THANKS!

Amber INK - Happy Pumpkin Freebie and Progress on my Stamp Set!!!

Whoo hoo! Amber has released a darling Happy Pumpkin digi that is free for 24 hours, so you had better grab this cutie NOW!  Go to her blog, Amber Inklings, to read all about it right now! Tick tock, tick tock, that pumpkin won't be free for long!

Then, once you have this Happy Pumpkin, you can use it to enter the Amber INK INKredible 21 Day Challenge!  The theme this month is "Trick or Treaty Amber Inky" and you have until Oct. 11th to get your project submitted! Remember, I won the last challenge and the grand prize was a stamp set designed to my specifications, and the other two of the top three winners get a prize too!

Speaking of MY STAMP SET (I just LOVE being able to say that, LOL!) Amber has made great progress! If you go back to my original post about this, you will see that Amber gave me three "proof of concept" drawings of my full-figured girl in a set I wanted to call "Let's Communicate!"

Although I had originally thought I wanted her texting, the drawing I just fell in love with was the girl talking on the phone! Changes from the first drawing include more jeans/khakis detailng, details on her FAB purse, and great chunky heeled boots! The original set had her in some snazzy open-toed high heels but I asked for boots and Amber delivered! She comes with a large and a small speech bubble, and I have a list of FUN sentiments that will fit in the bubbles!!!

Original concept sketch ( left) and tweaked sketch (right).

       

Go to Amber's developments page to see them full sized!  The set will be available Oct. 20th and I hope that you will love her as much as I do!!!

I'm Singing for Joy - My Very Own Amber INK Set!!!!

I'm singing for joy as the winner of Amber INK's very first 21 Day Challenge!  Amber promised the prize would be amazing! Stupendous! Of incredible super-duper prizelike proportions! So what did I win? Are you ready?

MY VERY OWN STAMP SET DESIGNED BY AMBER!!!!!!  I get to design a stamp set and Amber will draw it, and I hope scores of you will decide that you, too, must have it! Maybe it will become your favorite go-to set, as I am sure it will become mine!

So, what did I ask for, is that what you are wondering?  Well, my favorite Amber INK stamps are the Amber Girls! I love them; they're hip, they're sassy, they've got style, they have great hair, and they are so much fun to color. But you know what? They are too darned skinny (and I am too darned plus sized, are you with me?) Lookee:

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This is my favorite Amber INK set - Rainy Day - she is so much fun to color and/or paper piece! My other favorite Amber Girls can be seen  here (my prize winning entry!) and here.

So when Amber told me I got to design my own set, I already knew what I wanted - an Amber WOMAN set! Full-figured and fashionable! More to love! With great hair! And communicating - I wanted the set to be called Let's Communicate!  I sent my ideas in to Amber and she approved!

I got to see the first rough sketches today, and you can too! They are amazing!  Click any one to go to Amber's "Workroom" where you can see the full size sketches and watch the set as it develops!

       

So, what do you think? Do you like my idea for a digi stamp set?  Do any of you out there like the idea of a fun, fashionable and full-figured stamp line?  Also, what sentiments do you think should be included for the bubbles?  PLEASE comment - I really REALLY want to know what you think! 

Is this the most amazing challenge blog ever or what?  I think you need to enter - the challenge this month is Halloween and with 21 days to enter (followed by three days of voting) you've got time!  Trick or Treaty Amber Inky! The three runner-ups get goodies too, so get crackin' - and check out all of Amber's adorable Halloween iPaper and digi stamps!  After all, the grand prize will be really and truly extremely INKredible!

Passing the Amber INK Torch!

I have had SUCH FUN during my month as a torch bearer for Amber INK's Blue Team! You can see all my Amber INK projects here. I have more creations planned, and I love Love LOVE the new INKredible 21 Day Challenge Blog, so you will continue to see projects from me in the future although my time as part of the Amber INK Th(INK) Tank has passed. Thanks again to Amber and Pam for such a fun month!

I am SO PROUD to tell you that the torch for Amber INK's Blue Team has been passed from me to the fabulous Charmaine, a.k.a. CharmWarm, of Oodabug Alley!!!  Amber INK fans will recognize Charmaine from the Grand Opening Blog Frolic as well as being one of the competitors in the very first Amber INK INKredible 21 Day Challenge, and I hope you will continue to follow the Blue Team during Charmaine's lap with the torch! Go Blue!  You can see all of Charmaine's Amber INK projects here, and the whole new Th(INK) Tank line up here.

I would also like to thank Suzi McKenzie, from The Manic World of Mrs. Weyremaster, for passing the torch to me. Suzi was the very first person to carry the torch for the Blue Team and she set a high standard! She did the most amazing underwater scene using the spotlighting technique, which you can see here, and all of her Amber INK projects can be seen here. Thanks again Suzi for the torch and the inspiration!

I will have some more exciting Amber INK news tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Amber INK: You're Still Lookin' Good!

First, I want to thank everyone who voted for my cards in Amber INK's very first challenge; YOU helped me get into the top three! Now the incoming September design team will select a winner from the top three, which will be announced on the 20th when the new release comes out! I would LOVE to win the very first challenge at Amber INK's INKredible 21 Day Challenge Blog!

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One of my favorite images in this release is this little mermaid with her tongue sticking out in concentration! She comes with a whole set of different images; for this one I used the rocks, two fish, the mirror,bubbles, and the baby mermaid.

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I had fun creating this scene. I positioned the mirror to reflect a fish - he looks quite startled at his reflection! I printed it with a black and white laser printer on color laser printer paper, then I colored it with Copic markers. I shaded the tail with colors of hot pink, orange, and gold, which is a little hard to see after I gave it a coating of gold glitter glue. The tail had the same treatment but was coated with rust glitter glue, as was her top. The seaweed has green and the fish have gold glitter glue. I guess you can see the trend here?  In addition the mermaid's eyes, the mirror, the fish's eyes and the bubbles have a coating of glossy effects! I'm telling you, this thing is a wonder to behold in person! You can see it in the glare of this flash shot:

To frame the colored image, I cut a fancy edge on some hot pink card using a seashell border punch, then sponged the edges with orange. I zig-zagged some ribbon onto the bottom, ruching it partway and laying it smooth the rest of the way, then cutting a notch into each end.

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I computer generated the sentiments, sponged them with orange and adhered them to the pink panel, making the notch cut into the bottom sentiment nestle into the notch in the ribbon. The top one was anchored on the left with a button tied with black twine, adhered with a glue dot. I edged the colored image with a copper leafing pen, glued it to a piece of white card to stiffen it, then adhered it to the pink panel with thick foam mounting tape. Then the whole thing was mounted to a mustard colored card base with edges sponged in orange.

This is my farewell post as a Torch Bearer. I'll be handing my torch over to someone really special, I hand picked her as my successor and I know you will love her style! Check back on the 17th to see who I picked, and we'll see who the challenge winner is on the 20th! I may die of suspense between now and then, LOL! Plus we'll see all the fabby new stamps from Amber INK!

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think about my little mermaid card, the challenge, torch bearers or anything at all!

Stamps: Amber INK - "Baby Mermaids - Friendship"
Paper: Stampin' Up! - More Mustard, black and pink card stock; HP - Color laser printer paper; Georgia Pacific - white card stock.
Ink: Copic - Sketch markers; Ranger Distress Ink - Marmalade; Krylon - metallic Copper Leafing Pen.
Miscellaneous: Ribbon, Ranger - Glossy Accents, Frosted Lace Stickles; Hampton Arts - Gold, green,and rust glitter glue.
Tools: Martha Stewart Crafts - Shell & Sand Dollar border and corner punches; Janome Sew Mini sewing machine; Ranger Inksentials - Ink blending tool and foam pad.
 

Less than 12 hours to VOTE in Amber INK Challenge!

NOTE: I have two posts today - please scroll down for my Oh, Alice! entry.

Please hop on over to Amber INK's INKredible 21-day challenge and vote for your top three favorites!  Of course I would be THRILLED if you would vote for any of the three projects I entered:

Original Post: A book is a present you open again and again

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Original Post: Book plates and Owls book card

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Original Post: School kiddo about to learn how to read!

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Thanks so much for your support, and I sure hope you will play along with us next month! It is such a fun challenge. You do have to use at least one Amber INK product, but some of the images cost as little as 50 cents so you can do this! And check out the iPaper - Amber has some FABULOUS designs! So go vote at http://amberinkchallenges.blogspot.com/
  

Hind Sight is 20/20

When I first saw this turned around little guy in the August release from Amber INK, the first phrase that popped into my head was "Hind sight is 20/20." We always see so clearly when we look back on things from the perspective of experience. Who had not done things that, upon reflection, they wish undone?  So I decided to use this little turned around dude to make a fun "I'm sorry" card.

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I created my own little eye chart to make a visual representation of my computer generated sentiment. I angled it a bit to match the angle the desk is at. My only sorrow is I did not keep to that same angle when I colored the floor. I wanted to add a faux "stitched" outline after the combined image was printed, so I drew it in by hand using a ruler and a Mulitliner pen. All coloring was done with Copic markers. The background paper is one of Amber INK's digi iPaper offerings, love those dots!

And my BIG NEWS:

Most of you know I LOVE to color with any medium: Prismacolor pencils, watercolors, pastels, etc., but my true love is coloring with Copic markers!  I was recently certified as a consumer instructor by Copic!!! I hope to start offering coloring classes in the Middle Georgia area on the weekends. Please contact me if you would be interested in learning coloring techniques from me. I have a fine arts and graphic design background and would love to share not only blending techinques but also how to do shading, shadows, lighting and texture. I have not gotten all the details worked out yet so your opinions would be of great interest to me!

Another lovely piece of news is that I have a birthday coming up this week and my Dad is giving me an airbrush compressor to use with my Copic markers!  I am so excited - after being trained on using the airbrush in the certificaton training, I will soon have one of my own!  Thanks in advance, dearest Dad!

Once I have all the kinks worked out, I hope to start traveling further afield to offer classes on the weekends. I used to teach all kinds of classes at the local scrapping and stamping store, and I have missed it so much since the owner closed it down due to illness. We all miss Anne very much!

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I am entering this card in the following challenges:

• Amber INK's INKredible 21-Day Challenge: #1 - Books (I think my little dude is going to be learning to READ shortly!!!)
• Allsorts Challenge Blog: New Beginnings in honor of back to school week (Although my sentiment is not about a new beginning, I am using a "First day of School Kiddo" stamp from Amber INK)
• Crazy 4 Challenges: Book Related
• Creative Card Crew: Back to school
• Moving Along with the Times: #62 - Stitches, Real or Faux (I added my faux black stitched outline with a pen)
• Stampavie and More: #107 - School

Please leave a comment - I would really like your opinion on my Amber INK card. Do you love this little dude as much as I do? Also let me know what you think about my dream of teaching!

Amber INK: From the Library of....

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This set of bookplates is one of my favorite items in the August release from Amber INK. There are two bookplates featuring the cutest owls that were so much fun to color!  The round design says "From the Library of" and there is room on the book the owl is carrying to put a name. The larger rectangular design says "Ex Libris" which is Latin meaning "of the books" or in more modern terms, from the library of! There is a dotted line on which you can put your name. I thought it would be a good idea to have my name and email address.  Also, since I love reading fantasy and science fiction, I saw no reason why I needed to stick with reality when coloring these book loving owls! I was a girl in the 70's and part of me has retained that love of hot pink, orange, lime green and bright turquoise blue, colors that were so popular back in the day!

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I really adore the owls on the branch and I wanted the versatility to use it for more than a book plate. I was working with the digital version of this set (it is also available in clear stamps) so I saved a copy of the file and ever so carefully erased the Ex Libris words and the dotted line. The only tricky part was where the loop of the B crossed the branch, and I just zoomed in close and went slow. This gave me a version I could add my own words to, such as the top image above where I put "A book is a present you can open again and again." I plan to use this version on a gift card holder for a bookstore gift card; how much more perfect can you get?  On the card below, I used the version I saved with no words at all - love that too!

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On the "For You!" card, I used my wonderful new pink ATG gun to adhere the page from an old dictionary to my card front. I then sponged around the very edges with Distress Ink in Worn Lipstick (pink) ink and in a bit more with Scattered Straw (pale gold). I then mounted my bright image, colored with Copic markers, to a piece of black card that I had decorated with a Martha Stewart border punch of loops. I cut three lengths of double-faced satin ribbon, and edged the orange with hot pink and the green with a deeper lime color. I love doing this with my Copic markers!

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I had such fun coloring these whimsical owls! My favorite detail is the eyes of the middle owl, who is actually a much more vibrant hot pink and orange than it appears here! I wrote my sentiment on white card with a Multiliner pen, then colored the paper gold with a Copic marker before punching it out. I layered it on a black punch out and adhered it to the card with dimensional foam mounting tape.  This card makes me smile every time I look at it!

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Here is a closeup of the rectangular bookplate. This is the image as you receive it from Amber INK. I just added my name above the dottted line and my email below it.

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Here is the round bookplate with the flying owl.

I hope you enjoyed my various  bookplate projects! Of course I am going to enter it in the new Amber Ink 21-day INKredible challenge, as the theme for this month's challenge is BOOKS!

Please leave me a comment, I love hearing from you!