Fun Sunday

Posted on | August 29, 2010 | 9 Comments |

At least I hope it’ll be. The girls and I are planning on going to IKEA and a beach nearby it. Then on the way back we’re going to drive through the town where the summer 2012 Olympics will be. I dunno, just curious I guess. So, hopefully the weather will be decent and we can all have a nice shopping + outdoorsy time.

Here’s my day two of WPlus9’s Sept. release countdown project: A fun card AND I colored!!!! I used water pencil, Prismacolor, for the coloring and SU’s blending pen. I dunno about you pro colorers but I think it looks pretty dang good. If not, amuse me on this one and just tell me I did awesome, ha!

The background of the card was texturized using Tim Holtz’ embossing folder. I have four now since two comes in a package and love how crisp the textures are. Then I added some digital paper, both by Zoe Pearns at Sweet Shoppe Designs. See how vibrant the paper colors are? My cheap laser did it. LOVE that little thing!!! For the tag… well I found it. I have no idea where it came from but oh so perfect for my rose! Then I added some Martha Stewart’s double sided satin ribbon (I always try to go double sided if at all possible, just prettier), twine, button which was threaded with pink baker’s twine, and a little petal. Stamped the rose, colored, and added a sentiment. Oh, don’t forget the little extra petal on the bottom right. See? Oh, see some sewing too? Likey my sewing machine better now!

So that’s it. Wish us girls luck and if we don’t go, Ill tell you why. Do visit the other chick’s blogs if you haven’t done so. Lots of goodies to look at!!

Have a great one!!!

Cute as a Bee

Posted on | August 28, 2010 | 10 Comments |

It’s a weekend again, YEA!!!!!! We’re not sure what we’ll be doing but for sure I have a little card created using this week’s new sketch from Waltzingmouse aka the Mischief Makers, sketch #12. It’s a bit busy BUT, wouldn’t a little four-yr-old love this little number?

Here’s a close-up of the card:

I used Tim Holtz embossing folder again. I really LOVE!! Then I tied two seam bindings together into a pretty bow. These seam binding were normal ones that I scrunched up. My camcorder is in the mail somewhere. After I get it I’ll share with you how I scrunch up my seam bindings.

I pretty much just layered a bunch of different pieces. Trimmed out the butterfly and bees, added some ink splattering, and little fun pieces here and there. I colored too with Copic markers… I know, it’s not impressive being able to color little bits of yellow on some bees with $6/ea markers. I should just use Crayola markers with my coloring talent, huh? {::SMILES}.

Do check out to see what the other DTs made, so so awesome this week… better than last (if that’s even possible).

Materials:

Carstock: Clear and Simple
Designer Paper: digital paper from Sweet Shoppe Designs by Zoe Pearns: Note to Self
Stamps: Waltzingmouse L’il Buddies and Very Vintage Labels #10
Accessories: Seam binding from Etsy, button from a Scarlet Lime kit, American Craft chipboard and alpha, K&Co rhinestone, and pom-poms from a craft shop
Tools: Nestabilities tag die #10, Sizzix, large corner rounder, border punch

Category: Stamping
Tags: mischief maker > waltzingmouse

Little Black Dress

Posted on | August 28, 2010 | 8 Comments |

I use to have this little black dress which I could dress up or down. I could wear it to something a bit formal or I could wear it to go to the clubs. Yeah, I was young once (those were the days, ha!). A good stamp set should be like that little black dress. Versatile.

It’s been such a pleasure being in the WPlus9’s team because its stamps are just that – a little black dress – which works out really well for me because I like experimenting with different styles.

Today I want to share with you a CAS – clean and simple – card that I made using WPlus9’s latest set. A very fun, gorgeous, and like most of WPlus9’s stamps: very versatile, set. It’s got a bit of everything for everybody I think. Solids for people like me who can’t color well and outlines for those who has killer coloring skills. Tomorrow I want to show you a different style of card using this set. This way you can see what I’m talking about.

Do see what the other DTs are doing with this new set. VERY eye candy!!

Until next time!

Category: Stamping
Tags: Wplus9

I Am Printing

Posted on | August 27, 2010 | 6 Comments |

Again. After all the problems with my printers – my laser b/w died and the ink situation with the Canon Pixma – I went ahead and ordered a color… or colour… laser printer from Amazon. For more less £145 I got a Samsung CLP-315W (wireless, the none wireless is £10 less) and it’s nice. I don’t know how many prints the cartridge that comes with the package goes up to but a new one can print 1000 color prints (b/w at 1500) it said (£115 for new toners). I’ve always had a laser printer but this is my first color one. I can’t do a full review on this thing but for the price and size (the most compact laser in the market) it prints beautifully, setup was a breeze on my Mac (haven’t tried wireless, I was in a hurry), and whenever I need ink the cost might be 2x the price of ink jets toners but the toner will go 10x… or more. It is a bit slower to warm up and print compare to an HP (4ppm vs 16ppm) but really, I only print 1-2 pages at a time and I rarely wait on it. If I live on a printer than I’d get an HP. I’ve always had great luck with them and they’re fast.

I’ve always loved a laser because I buy it once and I never have to buy a new toner. The printer would die on me first before I get a toner (my b/w I’ve had for 4 years. It’d still be alive if I didn’t fry it). Plus it’s waterproof. Granted I don’t color much I can’t print on an inkjet and color. It’ll smear. There are special ink but I think they’re pretty spendy. So yes I spend a little bit more up front but laser printers, for me at least, go a looooooong way. Keep in mind that laser printers are not photo printers. People complain about how terrible their photos look after printing. Print photos on a photo printer and on photo paper – that’s what they’re for. For hybrid projects though, laser printers are dreamy, ha! Very excited about doing lotsa more hybrid!!

Card details…

For this card I used the colors and challenge from Embellish Mag: Purple, green, black and I added a touch of white and cream. The challenge is to use a square. I went with a square 5×5 card and a pattern paper that has little purple squares. The pattern paper, bird, heart and nest came from this GORGEOUS kit by Krystal Hartley and mle Card at Sweet Shoppe Design. The kit is called Hope Springs Eternal. If you like vintagy kind of projects or you want a beautiful kit for a digiscrap this one is a must have!! I can’t wait to do a few pages with this baby!!

Here are some details… I used PTI satin vintage cream ribbon. Then I tied another bow around the PTI bow using some already scrunched up seam binding that I got from Etsy. For the center I added a Making Memories brad which I gently wrapped around the knot. The card looked fine without the seam binding but I think the extra bow makes this look a bit more feminine and fun. Oh, almost forgot, I sewed!! I think I figured out my sewing machine. But we’ll see. Maybe I just got lucky!

Then I layered stuff in the middle. If you follow my blog you know I’m not a fan of purple. Purple is just an eviil color I think but I know a lot of you LOVE purple and can use it well. So, even though I used purple cardstock for the base I covered as much of it as I could and added a touch of it here and there for balance. It’s just a little something I learned when I was in graphic design class ages ago. The bird, hearts and nest I trimmed out. The doily I inked up with green galore from SU. It’s a super astro bright green but when I ink with a sponge I like using colors that are brighter so that I won’t have to ink so much/so hard. Then I went outside with my caligraphy ink + brush and splatter some ink. I just then layered everything. The sentiment is PTI’s, from Dawn McVey’s shower set, and the flower is Making Memories. Of course I had to stick a button somewhere and use more of the many yards of baker’s twine that I got from Etsy.

That’s that. I hope you all have a great one and last I want to show you the whole kit and how I laid the different pieces on my 8.5×11 piece of cardstock paper (normal cardstock that I got from WalMart).

The piece on the bottom right, I’ll be using for a layout.

Bye!

Category: Hybrid

Set for Germany!

Posted on | August 26, 2010 | 6 Comments |

I think I have everything set for our trip to Germany and I’ve finally recuperated from this weekend!!

This past weekend we all went to the market and we all did go to London (yea, Savitri drove there and back, did the tube, and had a fabby time). We didn’t make it to the museum though. The girls and I didn’t wake up until 9 a.m. and by the time we were all ready to go it was 10:15 BUT we had so much fun window shopping and M thought Hamleys was wonderful. She did get to pick one item up — well threee, it was a 3-in-1 deal. How was Hamleys? It was big, four stories big, but I don’t think it’s as nice as FAO Schwarz (and probably as big too). I was surprised, even though we only went to the ground and third (girl) floor (fifth too if you count the toilet stop), I didn’t see any Le Toy Van’s stuff. It’s my favorite toy brand and a UK company. One thing is for sure, Hamleys is probably THE oldest toy store at 250-years-old!!

Then, between the market and London, Saturday night I participated in a virtual crop with some best blog female friends, bbff: Ashley Cannon Newells, Ayana Posada, Claudia Shadler, Laurel Beard, Naomi Chokr, and Sarah Martina Parker. There were also others who popped in just for a tad bit, Courtney Baker, Kelly Marie, Tiffany Johnson, Tina Fussell, and Paulina Nakamura (Kelly and Paulina I actually didn’t get to meet) and it was so much fun!! The above page was I made that night. I just got one thing done the six hours I was up with them (it was 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. for me) because we all were chit-chatting the first few hours. But hey, that’s normal for a crop, right?

As for the trip… I’ve decided to go with the B&B closest to everything and feel best about, Chardon Room, with a slight change of plan. We’ll only stay a night and then we will stay another night in the town of Bouillon, Belgium. I want to pass by, see what’s there, and plan another trip sometimes in the near future to see more of this place. There are TONS of awesome places in this region and one night doesn’t do justice. Now, here’s a tip for you… DO book your hotel early IF you have a family traveling to a touristy place on a weekend. I think I booked the last hotel in Bouillon. There are openings but they’re singles or small doubles. I got tired of emailing B&Bs and getting the “we’re full” replies so I just got us a room at this place called Hotel Cozy. Granted we can be lucky like we were in Germany and got probably THE last B&B to have a decent size bed I don’t want to chance it with Jovie.

I’ll tell you more about what I learned the past few researching for places to stay in Belgium for now, let’s just see the details of the page…

It’s a VERY simple page. I just added a few big stuff to make this layout interesting. The design came from Pencil Lines, sketch 200, but I didn’t follow their colors because I didn’t have anything complimenting that’d fit the photo.

For the corner there I just layered some My Little Shoebox chipboard. I almost used the whole package. The paper were scraps. I think it’s a bit of KI, My Mind’s Eyes, Prima, and Making Memories. The alphas were Cosmo Cricket and Prima.