Life's Rough

My daughter pointed out to me the other day one of our twin cats, Mittens, was sleeping on her back snuggled up to my daughters pillow on the couch.

Isn't life just rough? I sure wish life was so simple where I could just sleep for 18 hours a day and my only concerns were when is mom going to give me treats, scratch my face because it "itches", give me more love than the blasted dog that likes to hog up her lap, when are those kids going to clean out the litter box, and when is dinner.

Isn't she cute though?

Heavy Metal Rock Band

Second Post. For my Wednesday Stamp Club post, please scroll down.

Hello again. I've been working on this project off and on for about two weeks. When I first started coloring the digital images, then cutting them out, the overall layout of the card just wouldn't come together the way I had it envisioned in my head and I just kept getting frustrated with it. Ever have that problem? So I would have to work on it a bit, then put everything aside, and work on it some more. Perhaps some of my problem is all of the stress going on at work with the hospital moving in a week to the brand new facility and having to a hospital while still treating patients is quite the chore.



Since I had decided my lead singer of the band would be the cute girlie robot, I colored her in pink and purple then put a mini microphone in her left hand. Now I created the left arm by printing off two of the robot couple and then just cut-n-paste the arms/hands together as needed (since I would need to do the same with another robot). Each of the remaining "guy" 'bots were colored slightly differently and then highlighted with a silver prismacolor marker.



I pulled out my Stephanie Fizer set The Poppies to create the musical instruments, stamped them in memento tuxedo black, colored with the prismacolor markers, cut out and then set aside. As I figured out which robot I wanted where, I began matching up instruments with the 'bots, popped up robots and drew in matching cords from the guitars to the amps as needed.

Since I had decided the name for my "rock band" would be Heavy Metal, I needed to have some sort of banner hanging above them for their concert. I dug through my stash and found some Making Memories silver brad alphabets and pulled out just the capital initials for the band. Since the base drum center needed to match, I also found some Making Memories eyelet alphabets in the stash and set that using my crop-a-dile after I dusted it off first. ;) There still seemed to be something missing, so I added two silver glittered primas with silver baby brad centers and that seemed to be the perfect embellishment and gave kind of a "disco" ball feeling to the corners of the card.

Overall I'm really happy with how it turned out considering how long it's taken me to put it together.



Stamps: Stephanie Fizer Digital Robots
Cardstock: Stampin Up! Ballet Blue, Going Grey scrap, White, Star Designer Paper
Accessories: Computer, Printer, Prismacolor Markers, Black Stampin Up! Marker, Primas, Glue Dots, Silver Brads, Dimensionals, Making Memories Alphabets, Crop-A-Dile

Earth Day Trees

Welcome. I'm squeaking this week's MFT Wednesday Stamp Club challenge just under the wire thanks to a crazy work schedule, more headaches, and packing up the department I work in for the hospital to move this next weekend. Oh my aching head!

I stamped both trees in memento tuxedo black and then colored them in prismacolor markers before lightly stippling Stampin Up! green galore to fill in the apple tree. Once that was done, I stippled bashful blue for the sky and sponged brilliant blue and celery around the edges of the card.


Stamps: MFT Stephanie Fizer Grow Love Plant A Tree
Cardstock: MFT Perfect Panels, Stampin Up Garden Green, Certainly Celery
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Brillant Blue, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Garden Green
Accessories: Prima Flowers, Mini Glue Dots, Prismacolor Markers, Sponges, Stipple Brushes, Stampendous Class-A-Peels, MFT Spring Baby Braddies

Praying For You

Happy Sunday everyone. I have a card to share today from the archives. I had considered sending it in for publication at one time, but just never did.

The card uses the Papertrey Ink set Wishing You along with Damask Designs. I had wanted a clean and simple card that could be used for sympathy or for someone that was having a hard time and just needed to know somebody else cared.

The tulip flower is stamped twice in PTI pure poppy ink on white cardstock so the flower can be popped up for added dimension with the leaves and "stalk" in PTI new leaf ink. The Damask backgrounds are also stamped in the same colors on their coordinating cardstocks. Two butterflies were added above the saying with bling bodies for a touch of whimsy before adding black mini brads for a touch of elegance.


Stamps: PTI Damask Designs, Wishing You
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, New Leaf, White
Ink: PTI Pure Poppy, New Leaf, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Bling, Mini Glue Dots, Black Mini Brads

Swinging By

Hello and happy Thursday. The week is almost over!

Today I have a card I made for my secret sister using an Elzybells stamp image I received from a friend last year. Ironically, I colored the image with Rose Art colored pencils while I had a major migraine (again) and had only one small light on across the room. Once the coloring was done, I stippled bashful blue ink around the image before layering and then adding Making Memories watercolor flower brads to it, some silk flowers from my stash with bling centers.

The card turned out pretty good for a nasty migraine.


Stamps: Elzybells
Cardstock: Brilliant Blue, Yoyo Yellow, Green Galore, White
Ink: Brilliant Blue, Bashful Blue, Black
Accessories: Rose Art Colored Pencils, Silk Flowers, Bling, Making Memories Watercolor Flower Brads, Stipple Brush, Mini Glue Dots

Butterflies, Daisies, and The Master

Morning Peeps!! Happy Monday...I think. For me, at least after I get some more caffeine.

Today I have a card to share I made on Saturday night using some digital paper from My Time Made Easy called Flutters and Flowers. I really like this digital paper because it prints out black and the butterflies are open and can be colored any way I want them to be. It also matches the All A Flutter stamp set perfectly. Since I had printed out and colored the digital paper a couple of weeks ago before getting my awful migraines, I figured it was about time to finally do something with it.

Stamping my butterfly from the All A Flutter set twice onto white cardstock with memento tuxedo black ink, I colored it to match the digital paper before digging through my stash of flowers to find one that wouldn't clash with the rest of the card. After carefully cutting out my two butterflies and adhering one of them to the silk flowers directly, I used some mini glue dots to adhere the second one and pinched up the wings for added dimension then added some gold gem stickers to match the gold brads around the sentiment.

Not sure about digital papers? Give it a try and you'll be hooked.


Stamps: All A Flutter, All A Flutter Sentiments
Cardstock: Stampin Up! Lovely Lilac, Pale Plum, Lavender Lace, White, My Time Made Easy Digital Flutters And Flowers
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Lovely Lilac, Mauve Mist
Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Silk Flowers, Gold Gem Stickers, Gold Brads, Glue Dots, Sponges

April Showers Bring.......

.......May flowers. I so remember that saying from growing up and I try repeating it every time it has rained this month to remind myself of the beauty that is supposed to follow the headaches rain causes me.


This week's Wednesday Stamp Club challenge was to stamp something rainy, so I pulled out my Stephanie Fizer Rainy Day Friends set and got to work.


I started out by stamping my images in memento tuxedo black on MFT Perfect Panels twice and then colored with prismacolor markers, setting one set of images aside for cutting out later. While layering, I colored the edges of each layer with a Stampin Up! not quite navy marker to make sure the colors didn't blend in together too much and to match the punched border strip I found in my stash of punch scraps.

After adding some MFT baby braddies and dimensionals to the main panel over my punched strip, I got to work adding my cut out girl, frog, and umbrella using different sized dimensionals, pop dots and mini pop dots. Nursery rhyme and vintage colored prima flowers with MFT baby braddies in the center finish my card off.

Now doesn't she look cute?

Stamps: MFT Stephanie Fizer Rainy Day Friends

Cardstock: MFT Perfect Panels, Stampin Up! Sage Shadow, Bashful Blue, Baja Breeze, My Minds Eye Designer Paper, Punched Scrap Cardstock

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Bashful Blue, Sage Shadow

Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Primas, Glue Dots, Stampin Up! Not Quite Navy Marker, Dimensionals, Pop Dots, Mini Pop Dots, MFT Baby Brads, Sponges

Curious Camping

Hello Tea potters!! Here is my take on this week's teapot challenge - a tribute to Markie's Mom!! Faith has a cat called Speedy, who sounds an awful like one of mine, Midnight, who gets into EVERYTHING!! So this week's challenge was to figure something out to keep Speedy busy while the tea potters invaded Faith's house for tea, and her hubby & son took off to get away from us!

So this is my story:

While our hostess with the mostess comments gets everything ready for tea, Speedy is being shipped off to California for a week-long trip with his California cousins he's never met. One of his cousins, Midnight, gets into as much trouble as he does, and her sister Mittens is right behind her. You know, kitty see, kitty do, kind of stuff.

So my son and hubby are just glutton for punishment because they are being shipped off for the camping trip with Speedy and his cousins to the mountains and beautiful Yosemite Valley where the cats can meow and create a scene as much as they want and the tea potters back in Florida won't be able to hear them at all.

Now, using Kittie747's watercolor landscape tutorial on SCS, I took several inks and stamp sets including one of hers from Rubbernecker stamps to create my camping scene, background, and inside of the card.

The watercolor landscape technique is not as hard as it looks as I've used it more than once on cards, as the results are just fantastic!! You should give it a try!

Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers Speedy The Cats Friends, Stampin Up Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories, Loads of Fun, Rubbernecker Cause A Scene Master Set, Stampscapes Crooked Branches

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, London Fog, Java, PTI Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate, Landscape, Stampin Up! Kiwi Kiss, Certainly Celery, Garden Green

Cardstock: White, Stampin Up! Garden Green, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Pop Dots, Vintage Brads, Glue Dots, Craft Knife

Daffodil And Hummingbird Birthday

Hello and Happy Friday!!! Here is another card by Mark's Finest Papers called Daffodil and Anise.

I totally love this set, not only because of the beautiful sayings in it, but because of the flowers themselves. Whenever I see daffodil's, I think of the American Cancer Society's annual Daffodil days fundraiser. It's near and dear to my heart having lost my own mother to breast cancer, my grandmother to a recurrence of breast & thyroid cancers, and my grandfather (who was my rock I could always turn to) to esophageal cancer.

I stamped my daffodil's twice on Mark's Finest Papers vanilla smooth paper in memento tuxedo black ink and then colored with prismacolor markers before cutting one out to pop up on dimensionals later. The hummingbird was also stamped on the same paper, colored and cut out as well. Taking the "Happy Birthday" stamp, I stamped my own background using Stampin Up! pacific pointe ink making sure to stamp at an angle across the whole card.


Once my layering was done, I decided to doodle around the daffodil before adding the brads and popped up image using a Stampin Up! black marker. Once my popped up images were added, some diamond ice stickles were added to highlight the daffodil a bit as though the morning dew was still on the flower. Unfortunately, you can't see the ice stickles well in the photo no matter how hard I tried to get them to show. A couple of SEI buttons that have been in my stash for years finished the card off just right.


Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers Daffodils and Anise
Cardstock: Mark's Finest Papers Bang Up Blue, Vanilla Smooth
Ink: Stampin Up! Pacific Pointe, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Dimensionals, Prismacolor Markers, Diamond Ice Stickles, SEI Buttons, Thread, Glue Dots, Stampin Up! Black Marker, Making Memories Baby Brads

Berry Hello's

Happy Thursday! Today I have another card to showcase from Mark's Finest Papers. While I was still dealing with a migraine this last weekend, I made several clean and simple cards and I'm quite happy with the way they all turned out. Today's card is one of them.

I stamped the background berries from Blackberries, Sunflower & Bees in Stampin Up! old olive before stamping the same berries in memento tuxedo black onto white cardstock twice and then coloring with prismacolor markers. After stamping the swirl image to create a frame, and cutting the second set of berries out, I then popped it up with dimensionals. Digging through my stash of ribbon, I found a grape organdy ribbon to tie around the edge of the card.

Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers Berries, Sunflowers & Bees
Cardstock: Old Olive, White, Elegant Eggplant
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Old Olive
Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Ribbon, Brads, Dimensionals, Oval Punches, Eggplant Marker

Mix And Match

Happy Wednesday folks!! The week is almost over! Today I have another Kincade for you. This one is called A Perfect Summer's Day vignette.

I stamped the image in pallet noir black and then colored with prismacolor pencils and a blender pencil before stippling Tim Holtz tea stain ink around the edges of the colored image to age it a bit and then walnut stain around the edges of the card itself. Once I was done aging my image and card, I ready for the layering and to add the necessary brads to finish it off. Easy peasy.

The saying is Psalm 23:2 from the Thomas Kincade line of stamps at Cornish Heritage Farms.

Working with the Thomas Kincade stamps seems hard and intimidating, but they are really easy and lots of fun. Give it a try!


Stamps: CHF Thomas Kincade A Perfect Summer's Day, Still Waters
Cardstock: White, Garden Green, Night of Navy, Old Olive
Ink: Pallet Noir Black, Tim Holtz Tea Stain & Walnut Stain
Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, Blender Pencils, Brads, Stipple Brush

Everyday Brings New Life

"Everyday brings new life". This phrase is one of the stamps in the Mark's Finest Papers Ferns and Chickadee set. According to the Mark's Finest Paper's blog, the phrase is also something Faith's grandfather told her the night before he passed away. Ironically, it's also something my own grandfather would have said and speaks to my own heart.

When making the card this last weekend, I wanted to go with clean and simple so the phrase could just speak for itself, plus I was still dealing with a migraine.

For my second card, I stayed with the clean and simple technique and showcased the bird's nest sitting on a layer of ferns. I double layered the nest for a little added dimension before adding a sheer white organdy ribbon.

Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers Ferns and Chickadee

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Pacific Pointe

Cardstock: Mark's Finest Papers Vanilla, Bang Up Blue Cardstock

Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Primas, Gems, Pop Up Glue Dots, White Organdy Ribbon, Gold Brads, Glue Dots

Sunflower Friend

Second post today. If you're looking for my MFT sketch challenge, please scroll down.



Sunflowers....don't they just make you smile? They make me smile. For some reason, sunflowers just remind me of sunshine and after the last few days of rain some sun is just what I needed.



This stamp is from Blackberries, Sunflowers & Bees set at Mark's Finest Papers. I stamped it in memento tuxedo black and colored with prismacolor markers before layering, then popped up the bees on mini pop dots before adding vintage brads. For a little extra something, I added a velvet ribbon knotted on the side with a "mini" sunflower made with primas on the bottom corner.




Stamps: Blackberries, Sunflowers & Bees
Ink: Stampin Up! Summer Sun, Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock: White, Stampin Up! Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Brads, Prismacolor Markers, Primas, Glue Dots, Pop Dots, Ribbon

Vintage Traveling Sketch

Hello again. Sorry it's taken so long to post, but I've been dealing with another migraine thanks to some wonderful over-powerful perfume someone had on Thursday. However, even though I was in a darkened room and hurting, I was able to put together my take on this week's MFT Wednesday Stamp Club sketch challenge. I did mess up some coloring by going outside the lines a bit, but took care of that little issue by layering and lots of it. ;) Gotta love those pop dots!

I've had this MFT Miss You Much Jolinne stamp for awhile and it's just been begging to see some ink, and with a migraine, well I figured going with vintage colors would definitely help my headache.

So I pulled out some vintage postcard designer paper from Gartner designs I've had in my stash and inked up the edges with PTI vintage touch (chamomile & chai) inks to age the paper a bit then stamped my image twice on MFT's cream perfect panels before punching one image out using Marvy's giga scalloped punch then coloring both sets of images with prismacolor markers.

Once the coloring was done, I stained the edges of the scalloped circles the same as the card before I began my layering. It was then I realized I had gone outside the lines coloring my Jolinne's hair and had the brown bled into her face, so I had to stamp one more image, color, cut and layer. The third layer actually added a bit more to the overall feel of the card, so it worked out nicely.

As the A-Team used to say "I love it when a plan comes together." LOL

Stamps: MFT Miss You Much Jolinne

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Vintage Touch

Cardstock: Stampin Up! So Saffron, Close To Cocoa, MFT Cream Perfect Panels, Gartner Vintage Postcard Designer Paper

Accessories: Making Memories Button, Ribbon, Glue Dots, Pop Dots, Dimensionals, Prismacolor Markers, Giga & Jumbo Giga Scallop Punches

Coffee My Way

Hi there. I thought I had uploaded these already, but I guess not. These mugs were stamped for a Christmas present for my brother and sister-in-law before they gave up caffeine, so my hubby and I get to keep them.

The mugs are from Starbucks and are altered using white cardstock stamped with MFT's Hot Stuff & Coffee? Tea? stamp sets in memento tuxedo black ink then colored using prismacolor markers. The tin from MFT holds chocolate peppermint coffee from Target's $1 spot.

Stamps: MFT Hot Stuff, Coffee? Tea?
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Close to Cocoa
Cardstock: White
Accessories: Starbucks cups, MFT tin, prismacolor markers, stipple brush, coffee

Just Buzzin By

I pulled out some of my dusty Stampin Up! sets the other day and just played around with them. I ended up making this card for a secret sister and was pretty pleased with the way it came out.

After stamping the main background on the card using a retired chicken wire background to simulate the inside of a beehive, I stamped the "main" beehive, bees, and flowers were all stamped in memento ink twice and colored with prismacolor markers. Once the bees and hive were done being colored and cut out, I began popping them up on dimensionals and various size pop dots for different levels of dimension after stippling soft sky and celery inks for the background.

Once my card was assembled, all I had to add was just the saying and then send it off.

Sometimes going through the dusty shelves of a neglected stamp closet is a great thing.



Stamps: Stampin Up! Just Buzzin By
Ink: Stampin Up! Summer Sun, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock: Summer Sun, White, Black
Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Dimensionals, Pop Dots, Stipple Brushes

He Is Risen Indeed!!!

This stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms Sunrise, is one of Thomas Kincade's paintings from The Cross of Christ.

As we go about our daily parties, egg hunts, picnics, BBQ's, let us not forget the real reason we celebrate this day, Christ's rising from the dead.

He Is Risen!!!

Stamps: CHF Thomas Kincade Sunrise

Cardstock: White, Stampin Up! Close to Cocoa, Summer Sunrise, Garden Green, Going Grey

Accessories: Stampin Up! Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Brads, Aquapainter

Ink: Pallet Noir

Digital Birthdays

I had the need recently for a couple of quick birthday cards and these images from Pink Cat Studio are perfect. I was able to print out several images on one sheet of cardstock and color them quickly for easy assembly.

Since I was going to need to assemble the cards in a hurry, I kept with the same color scheme so once I pulled out my cardstock, I could just cut and go.

I paired these digital images with a retired Stampin Up! birthday wishes background stamp. I then added Making Memories baby brads, sponging, primas and ice stickles as embellishments.

So, what do you think? If you haven't tried digital images yourself, you really should. They are really not as hard to use as some people think they are.

Stamps: Pink Cat Studio Digital Stamps, Stampin Up! Retired Birthday Wishes Background

Cardstock: White, Stampin Up! Lavender Lace, Pretty In Pink, Bashful Blue

Ink: Lavender Lace

Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Computer, Printer, Primas, Glue Dots, Making Memories Baby Brads, Sponge, Ice Stickles, Stampendous Class-A-Peels Stickers

Having A BBQ

It's that time of year again when Dad starts pulling out the BBQ and throwing a few steaks or burgers on the grill for dinner instead of heating up the kitchen. Of course, here in California, you can pretty much BBQ year 'round with the mild temperatures we have and with a good patio cover, it could be raining like crazy and you could still pull out the grill.


This image is from a MFT set called Who's That Grillin Guy and is stamped in memento tuxedo black on MFT perfect panels twice then colored with prismacolor markers with one set of images set aside for popping up later. I added some red ice stickles randomly on the popped up grill to make it look like "red hot" coals were underneath the steaks. Of course, our cook just has to have a huge plate of steaks ready to take inside while trying to pile more on top.

Here's a close up of the main image. I found some buttons to add from my stash, threaded them, and then added some ribbon over the Basic Grey June Bug paper that just reminded me of a picnic blanket.

Stamps: MFT Who's That Grillin Guy

Cardstock: MFT Perfect Panels, Stampin Up! Real Red,

Basic Black, Basic Grey June Bug DP

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Making Memories Baby Brads, Ribbon, Dimensionals, Mini Pop Dots, Glue Dots, Buttons, Thread