Polka Dots

Here's a card that I submitted for this week's Stamping Bella challenge. The challenge was to use polka dots. I used the van image and colored it with Polychromos pencils and Gamsol. The paper background is a quarter of a WeRMemories 12 x 12 sheet of paper.


Here's the full sheet of the paper that I used for the background. I spotted this paper when I was in Salt Lake at Roberts' Crafts last time. It's really cool, because each sheet has four different smaller design sections on the front, which had perfect scales for cards. Nothing so big it overwhelms a stamped image! This collection was funky and retro, but I also bought some sheets from another collection that has soft flowers on it. I haven't cut into those yet.

Have a great weekend everyone and happy stamping!

Kathleen

Joanne B's Birthday Blogaversary continued

Ciao, everyone! Hope you're having a good week. I sure am glad that today is "hump" day...we're in to the downside of the week. Yeah!

Joanne B's Blogaversary challenge is continuing this week. She put out another great challenge - to use kraft paper and sewing. My sample uses a Stamping Bella image. It's colored with my Polychromos pencils and Gamsol, with some black gloss pen to make the eyes and nose "pop". The stitching is faux stitching using an old Hero Art stamp that I have to confess, I have had for years and may have never used before. The paper is from Cosmo Cricket's S'mores line.

Here's a close up of the coloring of the lion. He was fun to color.

Can't wait to see what challenge Joanne puts out for this week. It's the third and final week, but you can still play! Here's a link to her blog: ...Just a little something...

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Kathleen

Shades of Green Challenge

Hello everyone! If you live in the mid-Atlantic area, I hope you're enjoying the snow. I'm having a ball. I absolutely love being snowed in, snuggling in comfy clothes and stamping, reading, catching up on movies. Basically just vegging. I even lucked out and a couple enterprising young men stopped by this afternoon to see if I wanted my car shoveled out. I took them up on the offer and think I got a deal, since there's over two feet of snow that's fallen since yesterday evening!

Anyway, on to my card. This is my first time participating in one of Impression Obsession's challenges. I have LOTS of their stamps, since they were one of the stamp companies I bought from in my early days of stamping, which was about 14 years ago. The challenge is "Shades of Green," so I picked this stamp which I've had for a while but never inked up. I colored it with my Polychromos pencils and Gamsol, then highlighted the image with Stickles and Glossy Accents on the bubbles. I cut out extra fish and fins and layered them on top to add dimension. The paper layered underneath is from Memory Box.

Here's a close up where you can hopefully see the dimension of the raised fish.

Have a great weekend! I'm off to stamp some more.
Kathleen

Stamping Bella

I made this card for this week's Stamping Bella challenge. If you've never visited their Website, I highly recommend it. Emily has a wonderfully talented design team, and there is a challenge each week with absolutely gorgeous submissions. Here's a link to the blog.

This is my card for this week's challenge. I used "Imogene the Fairy" and colored her with my Polychromos pencils and Gamsol. Her wings are highlighted with Stickles. The paper and flower rhinestone brads are from Making Memories Chloe's Closet collection. I bought the paper and some embellies on clearance ages ago at Michael's but hadn't used any of it yet. It's a fun spring collection.



I'm busy watching for snow this evening. It's only supposed to snow a couple of inches. We're expecting a storm on Saturday though, so I'm already dreaming of a day snowed in and stamping and coloring all day! Oh, joy!

Happy stamping!
Kathleen

Here's another Halloween card. I just love this little cat in a pumpkin from Stampendous. He reminds me of my cat - cute and a little silly - except I colored this one black for Halloween. He's colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. He's cut and layered with Nestabilities. Dew Drops are on the side. I took a black pen and doodled around the edge of the card.

Here's a close up to show the coloring. I got some Polychromos pencils recently, so I'll be coloring with them, along with my Prismacolors, while on Kentucky trip. I'll let you know how I think the two brands compare. Most people rave about both. I know I love my Prismacolors. Worth every penny.

Here's a picture of my own cute, silly cat. This is the way he throws himself on the floor every day when I come home from work. Just waiting to get all that long hair brushed out. (Thank heavens he likes getting brushed out! He's got LOTS of long hair.)

Hope you're getting in lots of time for stamping!
Kathleen

Halloween's Getting Close!

Halloween will be here before we know it. I can't believe that summer is almost over! I hardly seems like it's possible because, until a week or so ago, we've had a very cool, rainy summer. I hate the heat, so I've been happy! :-)

Here's an image from Impression Obsession, colored with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol. I sponged some ink around the image to give it some depth. The edges are cut with Fiskars deckle scissors (the only decorative edge scissors that I ever seem to use). The sentiment is from Printworks, one of the first companies I discovered when I began stamping many years ago. They're still a favorite.

Hope you're having a great week!
Kathleen

Dragon Monday

Well, it's Monday again. I'm not complaining though, because I'm only working today and then I'm off the rest of the week. Off to Kentucky with my boyfriend to visit some of his family. I should be able to get lots of coloring done on the eight hour ride there tomorrow.

Here's a cute dragon that I colored up with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. I don't know who makes the dragon. Even though he's wood mounted, there's no company stamp on the wood, and I bought it ages ago in a $1 bargain bin somewhere. Anyone know who made him? He's cut out with an old Spellbinder Shapability that I broke apart to use like Nestabilities. The set was original concentric shapes that were attached, so you ended up with several thin border shapes.

I used a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder on the orange card to give it a bumpy, dragon skin-like texture. I wanted some embellies on the left (no idea who makes the designer paper) but didn't want girlie flowers. I ended up using my neglected clear adhesive pebbles. Underneath, I used a small circle punch on plain white paper, inked it with orange ink, then stamped on the letters in green. It's mounted on a disc that's made to fit typewriter font circles.

Here's a close up.

Have a great week! I have a couple other posts scheduled to go while I'm traveling.
Kathleen

Changito Birthday Card

Hope everyone's Saturday is going spectacular. Today I have a card to share that I made for my niece's birthday. She LOVES monkeys. This image is Changito from Stampendous. He's colored with my Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. I added the fuzzy, clear flocking from Denami Designs on his body. The paper is Basic Grey.

Here's a closeup on Changito where you can really see the flocking. It doesn't cover the coloring too much and makes his body nice and furry.

I hope you're all having a stampendous Saturday!

Kathtleen

One Last American Art Stamp

Okay, here's one last Karen Stolper image from American Art Stamps. Can you tell I was coloring these over the weekend? I promise to move on to something different with my next post. This one was done the same as the last two, except I used the scalloped rectangle die today. I originally planned more embellishments on this one but decided to leave it clean and simple. The DP is busy enough. What do you think?

Have a great Thursday!
Kathleen

Another American Art Stamp

Here's another American Art Stamp. I just love these funky, skinny ladies. I colored this one with colored pencils and Gamsol. This one's cut out with Spellbinders Curved Rectangle dies. (I can hardly contain my excitement waiting for the new Spellbinder dies that are being released at CHA this week! Love the Nestabilities!) I sponged this one with chalk ink while the paper was still in the die. Then I decided it needed something else, so I drew a line around the inside of the die, using a thin green gel pen. The paper on this one is from a huge box of K & Co paper from Joann's that only cost about $10 with a coupon. Great deal! There's around 200 pieces of paper in the box and there are very few that I didn't like or that had too large of patterns for cards. The flowers are from Prima.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!
Kathleen

Love Karen Stolper's Images

I'm trying to break out of my rut of making A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") sized cards. Today's is 5" square. I love these American Art Stamp images. I fell in love with them a few years ago when I got the chance to go to the Carson convention. The image is stamped in Versafine black and colored with pencils and Gamsol (odorless mineral spirits). After cutting the image out with a Spellbinders Blossom die, I sponged on Chalk ink before removing the die. The main piece is attached with foam tape on two layers cut with Spellbinders Classic Scallops dies. I don't remember who makes the paper, but I think it was from Joann's.

Hope you're having a great weekend! Kathleen

I did this card over the weekend too. I already had the pieces cut out from playing with the Nesabilities Label dies when I first got them. The birds are a Maryse Carrier stamp put out by Stampotique Originals (I still miss visiting the store they used to have in Phoenix, but I would only get there a couple times a year while in Phoenix on business.) I very quickly colored the birds and flowers with colored pencils and then softened the coloring with Gamsol. I though the quick scribbly look with the color fit the style of the stamp. The border on the card is from Judikins.

Variations on a Theme

I wanted to use some of the pretty papers I've been hoarding and the teacup stamp from Stampington that I've had forever and never used. I couldn't decide which paper to use, so I made three versions. The image is stamped in Versafine black and colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. Quick and easy!

Cats!

I started out with a pile of these kittens colored. I usually have a stack of images, stamped in black, sitting in the TV room so I can color whenever I'm hanging out with my boyfriend. Sometimes the colored images pile up before I get a chance to spend time in my stamp room actually assembling the cards. I joke that rubber stamping is an excuse for adults to color. I tend to color with pencils and Gamsol or with Copics. These were done with pencils. I had them colored in two different color combinations (pink/tan and blue/grey). I finally got to the stamp room, so I made two different cards.

For this one, the card was cut slighly smaller than an A2, so that I could attach the square at the top, and the card still fits in an A2 envelope.


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Outlines Turtle

I had a stash of this turtle from Outlines colored and finally had time to make it into cards. I decided to do one suitable for boys and one for girls. On the first one, I stamped a sentiment, but I decided to leave some like the second one. The tags are cut using my Wizard and Spellbinders die. The tag is there and ready to stamp, but I left off a sentiment. Some day when I need a card in a hurry, I can just add an appropriate sentiment onto the tag. The turtles are colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol. The embossed line of circles on the bottom of the card is a Cuttlebug folder.,




This one's a little different. Colored exactly the same, but a different card layout. The background is embossed with a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (done in my Wizard), with a few of the circles colored in the middle with Ranger's Stickles. The patterned stripe on the left side is a piece of ribbon.

Time to take down the Christmas cards

Okay. Since it's nearly Easter, I thought it was time to take the Christmas cards from this year off my cork board. They're a little out of season, but since I didn't have the blog in December, I thought I'd post them anyway.

I love this Penny Black stamp. I used colored pencils on it and the patterned paper on the "ornament" is from Memory Box.


I watercolored this image with Twinkling H2Os. The plaid stripe on the card, underneath the verse, is flannel ribbon. I bought a huge roll of it after Christmas one year for only 25 cents.

I LOVE this Alesa Baker stamp. It's watercolored with H2Os also. On the enlarged image, you can also see some spots that I highlighted with Ranger's Stickles.