Whirlpool of Imagination

Sleepover Invites

Back from vacation and back to reality!

The beginning of my August was taken up with working on invites for Meg's birthday party. This year she is going with the sleepover. I looked high and low trying to decide on what to do and yes, I went with the harder and more time intensive project!

After considering all our options, the final design was a 3-D sleeping girl layout.

First I needed to design the sleeping bag/bed. I looked all over the internet for matchbook templates. Once I found a bunch, it was then trial and error to see which sizes would fit where. The bed is a large template while the pillow is a small template.

(I used all Stampin' Up patterned paper for these designs.)

Once the templates were decided upon, I needed to find a girl image that would fit just right. I ended up taking an image from The Greeting Farm. She's a full length stamp but I only stamped the top of her. She's colored with copic markers and I cut away her braid so I could put that outside the "covers".

The last logistics problem was how to get the info. I attached a small cardstock square to the girl that you don't see until the box is opened which has the basic "It's a Sleepover" title on in. I then printed out details on a piece of paper which I folded up and put inside the box.

And now I can gladly say the invites are done and delivered. Now we just have to get through the party!

Have a great day!

Spooky Ian

Halloween is one of my favorite holiday's. There are so many opportunities for crafty fun that I can't get enough of it! As soon as this little digi stamp came out from The Greeting Farm, I knew I had to have him. Ian is one of my favorite stampy guys to create with.

Ian was printed off and colored with copic and prismacolor markers. The spiderweb was dry brushed with metallic silver paint, making it seem so much more alive. The sentiment is a regular rubber stamp also from The Greeting Farm.

A version of these with a slight change went out for Conor's Halloween invitations. Yes, each kids is getting a [small] Halloween party. I was really strict on numbers though. If I have to do two of these in a two week period, I am keeping the numbers small!

After the parties, I'll post pictures and details on the lollipop blog if you have any interest. I'll keep you posted on that.

I am in the midst of a special order so this week I'm catching you up on my Halloween creations - see you tomorrow with more ghosts and goblins!

Toby Bear in Pink and Blue

Remember how last week I was participating in The Greeting Farm digi relay? Well, TGF underestimated the number of people who would be interested in playing and  the site crashed numerous times. As a result, the relay did not run the full week as originally planned but I do still have a few images that I worked with to show you.

Today, we highlight Toby the bear.

 

Tony is a digi stamp who was colored with copic and prismacolor markers.

Copic: R29, E31, E33, E29, R00, B0000        prismacolor: buff, cool grey 10%

The embossing folder is not from cuttlebug but I noticed that in the upcoming release, it looks like CB does have a folder similar to this one. (And between the new CB folders and new Tim Holtz folders, I want WAY TOO much!).

Girl cub Toby is colored exactly the same except for the diaper. Here I used V0000 instead of B0000.

These turned out super cute - now I need someone to have a baby so I can send one! Still sniffling away for myself here although I think (think) I might be getting a little better. I'm hoping to kick it by this weekend. Hope you are feeling well and have a good night!

The Relay Is On

Are you playing along with The Greeting Farm this week? While they are away at CHA, they are holding a digi relay. On Sunday we received our first digi. If you made a card and uploaded by the following day, you were eligible for the next free digi, and so on and so forth for the entire week. So far I'm two for two.

Day One: Mermaid Ian

Ian was printed off on a hp Laserjet and colored with copic and prismacolor markers.

Copic: E31, E33, E00, E29, R20, R14        prismacolor: black

I finished a bit off with a melon (06) spica pen. The patterned paper is from Basic Grey (Two Scoops - Mint Chocolate Chip - yum, my favorite type of ice cream).

Day Two: Wild Sprout Charlotte

I kept her pretty simple because I'm using her for my CAS challenge card this week over at Splitcoast (challenge was to use patterned paper).

Charlotte was printed off and colored with copic and prismacolor markers.

Copic: E00, E33, R46     prismacolor: jet black

It's almost impossible to see here but the ring of her belt buckle has a little sparkle using a spica pen (pitch black - 23).

The sentiment is from Papertrey and stamped with Papertrey pure poppy ink. The patterned paper is from Bobunny (Strawberry Double Dot).

I've gotten the stamp for tomorrow but haven't done much with it yet, although I do have a few ideas. Let's see if I can keep this relay up all week. Have you been relaying too? If so, let me know - I'd love to see what you are making too.

Have a great night!

Happy 2010

2010 - Can you believe it?? I'm still wondering not only where last year went but where the last decade has gone! But I am really excited to start a new year and see what it has in store for all of us.

I'm excited to open my Shop Handmade store and see where that leads me.

I'm excited to have finally found the CAS style I am comfortable with and keep creating from there. 

I'm excited with this new digital explosion of options and want to learn to play with the digi's.

I'm excited that the paper crafting world offers so many options for so many people and can't wait to try new techniques with new product.

And I'm excited to keep blogging and opening up this small window of my crafting world to others. I hope to get back to visiting and commenting on your blogs too. I've been neglectful of that lately but I learn so much from all of you and I want you to know it.

This sweet little digital stamp was offered free from The Greeting Farm so I snapped it up when I had the chance. He is colored with copic and prismacolor markers.

Copic: B02, YR00, R32, E33, E35    Prismacolor: cold stone, cool grey 20%, 50%, 80%

I added some tiny glitter with copic spica pens (sky blue #9 and sand #19). The patterned paper is from Scenic Route (Metropolis - carter drive) and he was looking a little empty so I finally added the flower and brad.

Here's hoping for a great year!

We are Dynamite.........

This fall Meg cheered for the town's youth football league. She was coached by the head cheerleading coaches from one of the high schools in town and yesterday was her last game. (She actually cheered at the cross town rivalry game for the big football players - she had a blast!) Meg wanted to write thank you notes for her two coaches so I made up some quick cards for her to write in.

Our little peppy Anya is from The Greeting Farm and stamped with memento tuxedo black ink and colroed with prismacolor and copic markers.

Copic: E00, E39         Prismacolor: crimson red

The rest of the card came together pretty quick. She is cut out with a nestie and layered onto cardstock that has been embossed with the cuttlebug swiss dots folder.

And now I have the "We Are Dynamite" cheer in my head - that darn catchy tune!

Hope you had a great weekend. I have super cute (well, in my opinion) snowmen for you tomorrow.

Digi Treat Witch

Ah, this is the week of witches and ghosts and goblins. The spooky excitement is building.....

This is the first of the Pink Cat Studio digi stamps that I have tried (although I have bought more than one!). The image was printed on a hp laserjet 4200 printed and colored with copic and prismacolor markers.

Copic: YR68, E00, E37, B02, E35, E31, G07, E29

Prismacolor: black

The sentiment is from The Greeting Farm and stamped with memento tuxedo black ink. Around the image I sponged dusty durango (stampin' up) ink.

The patterned paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle (Frightful - Midnight Dot). 

I will have the apples posted tomorrow (Lisa!)- hope your day is a wee bit less soggy than mine!

Batter Up

Happy August 1st! The sun is shining today - what a glorious way to start a new month. I'm not even going to complain if it is hot - sooooo much better than all the rain! I have a quick and easy card today - very simple, in fact.

 

The Ian image is from The Greeting Farm. I originally bought it as a digi image but it looks like they no longer sell it as a digi but they do sell it in rubber. Since this is digi and resized to my specifications, I don't know how big the physical stamp is although Ian's and Anya's are pretty substantial stamps in general.

I printed him off on a HP Laserjet 4200 printer and colored him with copic and prismacolor markers. He was colored at the same time I colored the baby girl from a couple of days ago and I didn't write down the numbers. It's a basic red, cool grey, probably 20% and a basic brown.

The sentiment is from Papertrey and stamped in Tuxedo black ink. Because these stamps are acrylic, I actually manipulated the "birthday" part of the sentiment to shape it along the oval cut-out.

Other than that, easy peasy on this one. The kids are sleeping over their grandparents so Mo and I are trying to decide where to go out to eat. I'm off to brainstorm - have a great night!

Surfs Up Dude!

My dentist is the best dentist in the world. Friday I noticed I had swollen gums and this really weird bump by my back teeth. I thought nothing of it until 3am in the middle of the night when my teeth started throbbing. Yesterday morning I called the dentist (they don't work Saturdays so I left a message on their "emergency line"). Within, no lie, 3 minutes, the dentist was calling me back. He heard my symptoms and told me to meet him in the office in an hour. After x rays, I can luckily say I did not have an abcessed tooth or need a root canal. Something had gotten caught in my gums and they regrew over it. He was able to do whatever dentists do when that happens and this morning I feel fabulous. Now I still have to eat only on my left side and care for it in certain ways, but I am well on the way to totally healthy gums thanks to my fabulous dentist!! 

That little trip threw my whole day out of whack. Betwee lacrosse jamborees and my mom's birthday dinner, we were busy and I totally forgot to blog. I am not 100% happy with this card, and I will tell you why, but I know what I want to fix so I'm showing it anyway.

This great stamp is from The Greeting Farm. I am a big fan of Anya and Ian so I picked him up not that long ago. Ian is stamped with palette noir ink and colored with copic markers. His hair is colored with prismacolor pencils and blended with baby oil.

Copic Markers: E00, YR68, Y18, B28, B24

PC Pencils: lemon yellow, canary yellow

What I'm not happy with is the "ocean" he is surfing on. I don't like the blending on this one and will experiment with some more markers (I did not list the markers I used for the water above).

I used a cuttlebug embossing folder for the strip of blue and the patterned paper reminded me of pool tile which I know is mixing water mediums but I liked it anyway. The paper is from Colorbok (azure tiles).

Today I'm headed up to a stamp convention - well, convention may be too "big" a word to describe this but I'm certainly excited. I love being able to see items in person and in use. I'm sure I will have new items to show you tomorrow!! Have a great day!

The Girl with the Purple Headband

Happy Friday everyone. Wow - having Monday off made this week streak by! Today I was playing around with some new images and finally hit upon something I decided was a keeper.

First off, let me say that I adore the color purple. I have since I was in kindergarten and created a book of all purple things. So my little girl today is all shades of purple.

This little stamp from the Greeting Farm is a pretty new stamp. It's either Hope or Grace, I'm not sure which one is which (the set is just called Hope and Grace). She is stamped with palette noir ink and colored with copic markers with a bit of sparkle on her handband using a spica pen.

Copic Markers: BV00, E00, V12, V17
Spica pen: lavender (#01)

The paper I used was from Daisy Bucket Designs - Whimsical Ladies/Empress Catherine.

As usual, the card design is pretty straightforward.

I think I'd like to try sewing on my cards. I while back I bought a Janome Sew Mini and it has sat in its box since I got it. Today, I took it out of the box. I will buy some thread and then maybe give it a whirl. I did see that Gina K has some tutorials so I'm going to read them very carefully. If you have any other tips or helpful links, let me know.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!