Thanks For My Freedom

Today is a special day in the U.S., it is Memorial Day.  A day in which we remember all those who have served and serve in the Military forces and especially pay tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives to give us our freedom.

When I saw this digital image by Mo Manning, called Patriotic Remembrance, it really touched me, especially with the boots and flags standing next to the young boy holding the flag and I felt it was very appropriate for today's holiday.

Front View

I did this card in Prisma Colored Pencils and Gamsol for a water color effect and then double matted it all the while staying with the red, white, and blue theme.  I distressed all the edges of the image and mats with my Tim Holtz distresser and used Java Brown chalk ink from my stash.  I used a white ink uniball pen on the blue mat to give it a stitched look.

Side View

I gave you a side view so you could really see the effect of distressing the edges of the mat and also how realistic the white ink uniball pen looks as stitching.  I love that pen!!

Close-up View

I wanted to give you a close-up view too so you could see some of the smaller details in this stamp and get a good look at the boots with the flag.  I apologize the pictures aren't as sharp as normal as I was using a different camera.  The sentiment on the front of the card says "Thank you for my Freedom."

I hope you all honored those who served and serve in the military who protect our freedom and give so much of themselves.  They change their lives forever so we can continue to live our lives the same way.

Craft on and see you tomorrow!

We Know Way Too Much.....

Today's post is a 4x6 card front that was inserted into a hanging frame, that held several other images, that I gave to my bff as a birthday gift.  The image and sentiment are from the AI Girlfriends line called Hot Tub Friends.  It reminded me so much of the two of us I just couldn't resist.

Front View

I masked off the other two girls that were in the tub, so it just left the two of us, giggling and laughing, and drinking- I know.... Us, drinking?  Unheard of!

I colored the images using Copics, and went a little crazy with the glaze pen to highlight the wine glass, bottle, shoes, lips, and blonde hair.  I used a bit of cocoa smooch to pearlize the brunette hair and golden smooch to accent the earrings on the blonde girl.  I distressed the edges using a blue chalk ink from my stash and inked the sentiment that I stamped in bahama blue memento ink with a marigold chalk ink from my stash.  I used a small piece of polka dot pool blue ribbon I had in my stash just for accent.  I had to keep the embellishments rather flat as it was going inside a flat 4x6 acrylic covered collage frame.  So I went for texture and shading as embellishment instead of layers.  I think it turned out nice given the limitations I had to work with.  I hope you enjoy it too!  I'll post a few more from this project so you can see the diversity of stamps I used, all to convey the message of how much her friendship means to me.  As the sentiment says "We'll always be friends.... we know WAY too much about each other."  Oh how true!  Thanks Cindy for always being my bff!!  

Craft on and see you on Monday with a special Patriotic post.

May's Awareness Month

May is an awareness Month for many things.  One cause near and dear to my heart is Bipolar Awareness, so I made a special card for Bipolar Awareness and Stopping the Stigma associated with it and all mental illnesses.

Front View

Here's the full front view.  The image is an old freebie digi stamp and unfortunately I don't remember what blog I received it from. I found the blog I received it from- A Day of Daisies.  The sentiment was typed freehand using Creating Keepsake's Peeking Posies font and another CK font I had in my stash. The image was colored using Copic Markers.  I embellished the coloring using yellow Stickles in the center of each flower, Mystic Green Stickles for the short stem portion near the top of the flowers on some flowers, and Tim Holtz's Distress Stickles in Vintage Photo for the Flower vines.  The Green Ribbon was embellished using the clear Glaze Pen to allow the shading of the Copics to show through.  

Close-up View

Here's a closer view of the card so you can see more of the details.
The DP (Designer Paper) for matting is from one of my new favorite lines- MME (My Mind's Eye) Collectable- "Noteable" series.  The solid cardstock is, as always, Bazzill, with the actual card being made from Suede Brown Dark.  I almost always use Coconut Swirl when I print out my digis from my printer.  I corner rounded each corner using my We R Memories Corner Chomper-Deco Style and then inked the edges of each piece with Java Brown chalk ink from my stash.  I then used some domed gems in light green in two different sizes from my stash on each corner of the images.  I put together the flowers using prima flowers from my stash- they came in the purple bitty flowers bag that I purchased from apassionforscrappinretreats.com and secured them using brads from the MME Find Your Wings and Fly- "Up & Away" and "Sky's the Limit" Designer Brads packages.  The colors just went so well together. 

One hint for you, if you fall in love with a line and you buy the paper and embellishments, don't keep them exclusively together.  By filing them by color you'll get much more use out of them as you'll find that the embellishments will go with so many more things, as well as the paper going with other embellishments.  It will help you think out of the box.

Finally, speaking of Thinking out of the Box, help understand Bipolar Disorder and help stop the Stigma.......

Until Thursday.................  Craft on and give someone a hug!

SPRING HAS FINALLY SPRUNG

Well what a surprise.  I've been a bit more productive at the crop retreat than I expected so I get to post my next card earlier than planned.  This sweet little fairy is called Spring Blossom and is by on of my favorite artists, Sylvia Zet.  You can check out all of Sylvia's action by visiting her blog at sylviazet.blogspot.com

I used my Copics to color this sweety and embellished her using Stickles and Smooch from my own stash.  She's got a lot of sparkle and shimmer going on in her world.  The matting paper is from MME "Up & Away" series, the Find Your Wings And Fly Collection, 6x6 paper pad.  The small bingo bloom card is taken from the Simple Stories 6x6 pad of the Vintage Bliss line.  The butterfly brads are from my own stash and I just love the way they lend some playfulness and motion to the card.  Again if you'd like the recipe I used for coloring the card please leave me a comment and I'll get it posted right away for you.

I hope you like her and I hope you leave me some comments on what you've read and seen on my blog so far.  I want to make sure I'm making it fun and interesting for you to enjoy and hopefully be inspired to get out there and create.  If there are any techniques you'd like to learn let me know and I'll be happy to pass them on to you.

I wish you all a great Sunday and I'll be back on tomorrow.  Craft on!

Grand Opening

Finally, the first official post.  I apologize for the delay, but a lot of life hit at the same time and several things had to be juggled about, but I finally got the card I wanted for this first post finished for my blog.  I hope you like her.

Full Front View

This little girl is a digi by Mo Manning called Girl with a Sign.  I love the versatility of this stamp as it can be used for any occasion by simply changing the sentiment inside the sign.  I love the way this shot came out as you can see the stickles I used, (Stardust on the lace, and Glam Pink on the hem) on her.  Plus you get a nice shot of the Ranger crackle I used on the sign to give it a more worn look.  She was colored using Copic Markers and the card was made from my stock of Bazzill cardstock.  I embellished just a bit using some ribbon and a bow I had in my stash.  I also accented her hair and shoes using a clear glaze pen.  It shows in her hair, but not as well in her shoes.  I guess it's the angle of the shot.  You can see some of the Spica pens I used on her dress and socks, but not so much in the grass, again I think it was the angle I used to take the shot.  I wasn't sure if I should post the recipe of colors I used in Copics to obtain this look or not, so on this first post I'll leave it up to you.  If you'd like me to include the colors I use, please leave it in the comments and I'll post them and I'll include them in the posts going forward.

Close-up Side Shot

Here you go, I found another shot I took where you can see the bottom portion a bit better with the Spica pens in the grass and the glaze on her shoes.

I hope you enjoyed my first card and I have my second card set to be posted on Monday the 20th as I will be at a Crop Retreat this weekend.  So everyone have a great weekend and I can't wait to see your comments!  Thanks!