More Zoo Animals...

A couple of more cards with Asela's Zoo Animal stamp set - aren't these animals so cute? The first card uses Copics to color this chubby little elephant along with SEI patterned paper which matches SU's Kiwi Kiss and Tempting Turquoise perfectly.

Next up is the adorable little lion...

I can't even tell you how many times Ashley giggled over the sentiment that goes with the lion... she is just starting to understand punny humor. I colored the lion with Koh-i-noor pencils, OMS, and blending stumps on Bazzil's Textured cardstock. The other papers are all from Stampin Up.

Gina has added two more stamping videos today - click here to check them out!

Jessica

Zoo Friends

Card Details: Zoo Animals, GinaK Pure Luxury Cardstock, Chocolate Kiss Cardstock; SEI patterned paper; SU Kiwi Kiss cardstock; Curvy Rectangle Nestabilities, SU ribbons & brad; Koh-i-noor pencils, OMS, blending stumps; Chipboard Hearts


I have a quick post today sharing a card showcasing Asela Hopkin's new Zoo Animals stamp set - all of the images are on this card!! The card itself is rather large - it's a full piece of paper folded in half to fit all of the animals on it.

Last night I signed up for Facebook - so if you're over there, let me know because I'd love to be your friend. The more the merrier, right?

Jessica

Anna-Mae's Valentine

How about some love this morning? Yes, it's a little off season because it looks like a valentine... but everyone needs a little love, don't they? heehee...

I used Emily's Rich and Shabby Digital paper along with Alicia's beautiful Ann-Mae's Valentine stamp set - can you believe she was 11 when she drew this?

I used the Curvy Rectangle Nestabilities for the main image and colored everything in with Copics after stamping in Memento Black ink on GinaK's Pure Luxury cardstock. I added some of Doodlebug's Clear Glitter to the stamped images for some bling.

On another note, my Copic Coloring Box A class has been cancelled for today and rescheduled for April 18 from 11-1. If you would like to sign up for the class, please call the store at 608 579-1026 to sign up or email me.

Jessica

StampTV Sketch Challenge

Happy Thursday! I'm the hostess this week for our Sketch challenge that it going on over on StampTV. I wanted to share my challenge card here and invite you to join us!

I used two GinaK stamp sets on my card today - Make a Wish and How Sweet it Is. The patterned papers and Saffron Grosgrain ribbon are from Stampin Up's Sale-a-bration collection. I used a couple of different Circle Nestability dies on the main image - both the large & small plain circles as well as the Large Petite Scallop circle die.

The main image was stamped in Memento ink and colored with Copic markers and then highlighted with Diamond Stickles and Doodlebug's Yellow Flock applied with a Quickie Glue pen.

The inside of the card uses the Make a Wish stamp set. I used Memento Markers to color the stamp image before I stamped it - Pear Tart, Dandelion, and Tangelo to be exact. The flower punch is a retired SU Spring flowers punch and the border punch is from Martha Stewart.

Here's the sketch and the details of the challenge can be found here.

I hope you can join us. You have an entire week to play along!

Thanks for stopping by.

Jessica

StampTV Challenges...

Have you jumped on the StampTV Challenge wagon yet? If not, come and join us! We have a different challenge posted each week day by someone from GinaK's Design Team. Here's the schedule of challenges for the week...

Monday - Color

Tuesday - Scrapbook

Wednesday - Technique

Thursday - Sketch

Friday - Potluck

The challenges run for an entire week and when the new challenge is posted the hostess/host of the previous week's challenge randomnly selects one project as the 'winner.' That person gets to pick a stamp set of their choice for free valued at $24.95 or less!! If you use GinaK's stamps in your challenge you get your name through in the basket twice with double the chance to win!

Monday night I had a chance to play along with two challenges going on right now over at StampTV. The first card actually qualifies for both challenges. Theresa's Color Challenge this week is Lavendar Lace and Old Olive and Gina's Technique Challenge is to use your Nestabilities on a card.

I love the colors that Theresa picked for this week. Purples and green scream Easter to me - so I pulled out Rupa's beautiful new Easter Blessings stamp set, my Stampin Up solid cardstocks and my Scallop Tag nestability dies to make this Easter card.

The background is embossed with Stampin Up's Sizzix Texture plates. I used cardstock weight Vellum (also SU) and layered it over this Lavendar Lace cardfront. It was then attached to the card with Silver Eyelets.

The sateen flowers were originally white but I shaded them with a couple of Copic markers and put a pearl (SU) in the center of each flower with a glue dot. I used CraftT's Holiday Rub-on Paste for the subtle Silver shine on the edges of the dies and Detail Silver Embossing powder for the images. The white cardstock is all GinaK's Pure Luxury paper.

Here's the inside view. I covered both sides of the inside because I wanted to hide the silver eyelets...

The lilies were shaded with Copics and Copic Spica pens. I didn't use Copics on the front of the card where I embossed with Silver embossing powder because the colored embossing powder reacts to Copics and smears it. So, I colored the tiny images in with the Spica pens.


Next up, is my card for Gina's Nestability Challenge...

The card itself is pretty simple - just lots of little touches to make it special. The stamps are from Gina's Best Fishes stamp set. This adorable Sea Horse was colored with Copics and stickles were added for lots of sparkle. The buttons are from Archivers (Foofala brand) and the border punch is from EK Success. The thick vellum and patterned paper is from Stampin Up along with the silver eyelets, Brocade Wide Grosgrain Ribbon, and Sizzix Texture Plate.

Here's the inside view...

I will be hostessing this week's Sketch Challenge, so I hope you'll be able to play along with me! I'll share my card and my sketch here on my blog tomorrow morning. See you then!

Jessica

More Magnolia Spring Cards...

Good morning!

Here's the last two Magnolia rubber stamp cards I promised that I'd share today. I just love the cute little images of these stamps and love to color them with my Copic markers! Once again, I paired the images with some of GinaK's sentiment stamps since they work so well together.

This first card uses my favorite nestability shape right now - the curvy rectangles. To me, they are the perfect size and shape for a large image or scene on my cardfront. Can you tell that I'm trying to use up some of my retired SU patterned paper? It's been out on my table and I've been using it a lot the past few weeks and I still have TONS left... lol! I don't mind though because I love the bright colors.

The inside of the card is pretty simplistic but I blinged it up a little with the sateen flowers layered together and colored/shaded with Copics...



Next up is one of my all time favorite cards that I've made recently because of all these cute little critters on it...

Isn't that just fun!? This cutie pie would be my daughter Ashley - she LOVE animals of all kind. We don't have any pets, but she has about a bazillion stuffed animals and wants to be a 'zoo keeper' when she grows up. So, she was definitely the inspiration behind this card.

All of the images are Magnolia rubber stamp images - even their animals are cute! The clouds are Scallop circle punches that I ran through the Cuttlebug swirl embossing folder to make them all 'windy.' The sky is shaded a light blue with Pebble's Pearlescent chalks.

Here's the inside - more birdies and a hungry cat (lol!)...

Thanks for popping in today! I've got some more cards to share tomorrow that I made Monday night for some of StampTV's challenges going on this week.

See you later!

Jessica

Rooster and Chickies

Good morning!

I have another Magnolia Easter card to share with you this morning. I paired it with GinaK's Basket of Happiness stamp set again - look at how perfectly her Easter egg basket and sentiment work with this scene?

I stamped everything in Black Versafine ink and clear embossed with detail embossing powder. As you probably have noticed, this is my favorite way to stamp these Magnolia stamps - which is true of any stamp images that I'll be cutting out to make a scene. I like the definition that the shiny black embossed ink lines add to the images. Everything was colored with Copic markers.

To save some time, I stamped the steps on SU's Going Gray cardstock. Everything else was stamped on GinaK's Pure Luxury cardstock. If you haven't used this cardstock yet with Copics, you've got to try it! They blend like a dream on the smooth surface and look so shiny when you're finished.

I don't get the same results from Stampin Up's Whisper White - I get more blotchiness with certain colors when I've tried to use it. I rarely get that with Gina's - and if I do, it's because I've overblended some of the rich, warm colors such as browns or reds.

As you can see, I had to add some more of those straw speckles from Judikins for the chicks to stand on. I use Mono Multi Adhesive to lay down a line of glue and then sprinkle the speckles over the glue, tap it down a little and shake the excess away.

Here's the inside view - I covered the top of the inside liner because I had to hide some brads...

Have a great day - and I'll be back tomorrow with another Magnolia card to share!

Jessica

Baskets of (Chickies) Happiness!

Isn't this a fun Easter card? I recently purchased some Magnolia rubber stamps from my favorite Magnolia 'store' - Roses on Paper. Summer's store is in Hawaii but because she ships Priority - I always get my order within a couple of days! If you're looking for Magnolia rubber stamps, definitely check her out! I put my order in last Friday afternoon and had them by Wednesday the following week!

My kids have been sick, so I haven't been working as much this week at Gina's store. The only good thing about all of that is that I had some time to do some stamping Thursday afternoon and Friday this past week. I pulled out my new Magnolia stamps and made up some cards! I'll be sharing them on my blog with you throughout this week.

I stamped all the images in Black Versafine ink, embossed with Detail clear embossing powder onto GinaK's Pure Luxury white cardstock and then colored with Copic markers. Ashley suggested that I put the two little pearls in her hair, so that it looked like she had piggytails. She also helped my sprinkle my straw speckles all over the card for the chicks. I love that stuff! lol!

I used Stampin Up's Baja Breeze textured cardstock and ribbon for the base and used a Sizzix large scallop die cut. This scallop circle is huge - I don't think the Nestability scallop circles are quite this big. The sentiment is from GinaK's Baskets of Happiness stamp set.

The inside of the card has some more Sizzix scallop circles along with some coordinating scraps of cardstock to finish it off.

Have a great rest of your day!

Jessica

Layering Flower Punches

Have you been swept up into the flower punch craze like me with Gina's StampTV Floral Frenzy kit? When I saw the stamp sets for the kit months ago, I began collecting the Marvy flower punches because as most of you know - I'm crazy about punches! I hadn't bought any of these flower punches because I didn't see the need for them.

Then, Gina had to make a stamp set that coordinates with them! I tell her almost everyday that I work with her how much I love her creativity and ideas and at the same time hate her because she's always coming up with more things that I have to buy! lol! I'm sure many of you feel the same way! lol!

See what I mean?




How can I not need ALL of the flower punches when I can make a beautiful flower like this with them!? heehee... I actually made this card a few weeks back for StampTV's first color challenge hosted by Cindy Lawrence. The colors are Apricot, Pumpkin, and Artichoke - all Stampin Up colors. I used the Bold Flowers stamp set in the Floral Frenzy kit and stamped the 'happy' circle and the largest flower in Pumpkin ink.

The largest flower punch that goes with the kit is the Blue Marvy punch - it's the Super Jumbo size. Then, I punched out the Pink flower punch (Mega) from Pumpkin cardstock and the Purple flower punch (Giga) from Apricot cardstock. The flourishes are a Sizzix Die that I bought recently from Stampin Up.

To add some shading I used the crackle background stamp in the Bold Flowers stamp set and stamped over the punched out plain flowers as well as the background papers. As you can see, I used Apricot ink and Pumpkin ink for that stamp depending upon what papers I was stamping on. Tone on tone is great for this kind of a stamp.

Here's the inside of the card...


Isn't that fun?

Next up is a super quick and easy card - with practically no stamping...

I used the four largest flower punches on this card - Giga, Mega, Super Jumbo, and Extra Jumbo. That's purple, pink, blue, and yellow for those of you who like me know their sizes by colors and not names. Aren't their names confusing? lol!

Because I really wanted the cuttlebug embossing to show, I layered the flower punches by skipping a size. So, the front uses the Purple Giga and the Blue Super Jumbo. The inside flowers use the Pink Mega and the Yellow Extra Jumbo. I put a giant Kaiser Kraft rhinestone in the centers of each flower.

I used Melanie's Say it with Flowers' stamp set for the sentiments on this quick and easy card...

If you need some quick and easy cards to add to your stash, pull out those paper punches!

Jessica

Buzzy Easter Blessings

Are you ready for spring as much as we are here in Wisconsin?! Although we haven't had as bad as a winter this year as we did last year, it's been long enough! The past several days have been heavenly with temperatures in the 60's and even 70's a day ago... ahhh...

My daughter is ready for Easter and is already making plans for coloring Easter eggs. I don't really enjoy coloring real Easter Eggs, but give me a stamp with them on them and I'm all over that! lol! Over this past weekend, I pulled out my favorite GinaK Easter set, Basket of Happiness, Tammy's Saturday's Sketch challenge over on PaperCraftPlanet, some copics & Basic Grey papers and colored away! Here's a closeup of the main image...

The Bees are from TAC's adorable stamp set called "A Wittle Bug" - the butterflies I used on my St. Patrick's Day card are from this set too. I colored everything in with Copics after stamping in Black Memento ink on GinaK's 80lb. Pure Luxury white cardstock. To add some sparkle to the bees wings and the Easter basket, I used the Quickie Glue pen along with Doodlebug's Clear glitter. Then, I dotted the centers of the flowers, the bees eyes and antennae with Sakura's Black Glaze Pen.

The tag is a large Nestability tag shape. The patterned papers are from Basic Grey's Urban Prairie line - I think it's my absolute favorite line of theirs because I love the bright springy colors and patterns!

Here's a picture of all the Copics I used to color the images. As, you can see, I have a variety of Copic marker styles. I've collected them from everywhere - lol!

And, finally here's the inside view of the card - more bees! I paper pierced their buzzy flight pattern after drawing a very light pencil line on the paper first. It helps to do that first and then pierce - trust me on that tip! lol!

Have a wonderful rest of you day! Hope you aren't to 'buzzy' to get some stamping in today! heehee... (sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Jessica

Watercolored Irises

Good morning!

This morning I thought I'd share two cards that I made recently with the Elegant Flowers stamp set that is included in the Floral Frenzy Kit which Gina has been featuring in her StampTV videos for several weeks now. I've seen the cards for a couple of the upcoming episodes and you are going to LOVE them!!

My first card is one that I made for Donna's Sketch challenge that is going on over at StampTV this week. I love the versatility of this sketch and was pleased to see how well the Labels 1 Nestability dies worked with her sketch. The papers are Emily's Rich and Shabby Digital papers - aren't they gorgeous? Since the papers are red, I decided to color the irises red too. Honestly, I'm a complete dummy when it comes to what flowers are supposed to look like - so, I usually make them up as they go, using the colors of my papers as my guide! lol!

I used Glossy cardstock to cut out the labels dies and stamped with Stazon ink so I didn't need to worry about smearing. For the main image, I watercolored with my Niji waterbrush and SU reinkers. Watercoloring on glossy paper is a really neat look - very shiny.

Next up, is another watercolored Iris card, but this time I used watercolor paper, SU markers, and my waterbrush. After I finished with the image, I applied several layers of UTEE and did the cracked glass technique...

I'm really not sure that I like the outcome. The original watercoloring was really vibrant with the deep burgandy and yellows together. It got a little muddy with the second and third layers of Embossing powders because I think the inks smeared a little. But, by that time it was too late to turn back - so I continued with a couple more layers of UTEE. After throwing it in the freezer for a few minutes, I pulled it out and gently bent the paper to get the cracks.

If you decide to do this technique and want to have it be a shape like this labels 1 cut out, do it before you apply all the layers of UTEE. You'll never get a good cut out if you try to go through the lacquered paper. I also sponged some yellow ink onto it before I started added versamark and embossing powders. I like the softness this added to the image.

Here's the full card... It seems a little busy to me, but I really wanted to add the tag and the Tim Holtz embellishments... lol!


Thanks for popping in to check on me today. Be sure to head over to StampTV to see Gina's new video she's sharing today!
Jessica

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Good morning!

Although there isn't any Irish blood running through my veins, I had a chance this weekend to play with the super adorable Spring Holiday's stamp set from GinaK Designs and decided to make an all green card for St. Patrick's Day today! My son LOVES the color green, so he'll be decked out in his favorite color for sure today at school. When I made this card, I told him it was just for him because it was covered in green!

Here's a close up view of the main image...


I stamped the clovers from the flower pot along the bottom of this Nestability scallop tag die in Black memento ink and colored with Copic markers. Then, after coloring the full image and cutting it out I popped it up over the bed of clovers. To add some sparkle, I used my Quickie Glue pen with Doodlebug's green glitter over each of the clovers.

Here's a photo of all the copic markers that I used to color the images on this card ...

The little butterflies are from a TAC (The Angel Company) stamp set that I bought recently - aren't they cute? I added some green glitter to the flowers on their wings. The large pearl brads were actually ivory so I used the medium green copic marker to color them green to match the paper.

The patterned papers are all from Basic Grey's Urban Prairie line and the ribbon is a retired SU fiber. The border punch is a Martha Stewart one.

Happy St. Patrick's Day - hope nobody gets a pinch for not wearing green today! lol!

Jessica

Red Watercolored Rose

Good evening!

Here's the second watercolored flower card that I mentioned in last night's post. This time I used Emily's Rich and Shabby Digital papers for the patterned paper. I think this is my favorite piece of paper in her line

Once again, I stamped the rose from a Year of Flowers in Red Brilliance ink onto watercolor paper and clear embossed. Then, using SU's Real Red, Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink markers I added little dots of ink over the flower and then blended the colors with Niji's waterbrush. The leaves were stamped in Brilliance Olive Green ink clear embossed and shaded with SU's Certainly Celery and Old Olive markers. Here's a close up view...

The border punch is a Martha Stewart one and I used SU's black textured cardstock for the border because GinaK's and SU's regular black cardstocks are both too thick for the detail in this punch. Trust me on that one! lol!

The inside view is similar to the front with another rose and more embossing...

I think this would be a very nice Anniversary/Love card to someone special... and I think I know the perfect Someone! lol!

Have a great rest of your evening!

Jessica

Lovely Daisies...

Good evening!

I have a card to share with you tonight that I made earlier today with Gina's new Free Peachy Keen digital papers that you can find here. I pulled out Melanie's A Year of Flowers and Say it with Flowers stamp sets, some watercolor paper & my Stampin Up Markers and decided to watercolor these beautiful daisies.

To start, I stamped the daisies and the leaves in Black Versafine ink and clear embossed on watercolor paper. Then, I took two shades of SU markers and lightly traced around the edges of the stamp lines with the darkest color and filled the inside areas with the lighter shade. Then, with my Niji Waterbrush filled with water, I blended the lines to soften the colors.


Here's the shades I used: Blush Blossom/Bravo Burgandy; Mellow Moss/Always Artichoke; Apricot Appeal/Summer Sun; and Chocolate Chip for the middle. The embossed lines help the color to stay put and the waterbrush can act as an eraser if you have too much color. Just brush where it's a little too dark and wipe off the excess color on a piece of scratch paper - continue until it's just the way you want it.

For the tag, I cut a scallop tag nestability out of Gina's Pure Luxury white cardstock and using Ranger's Foam Blending sponge and Brilliance Red Copper ink, I sponged the entire tag to this soft copper color. It's really pretty and shimmery in person. Then, I stamped the sentiment in Black Versafine ink and clear embossed it to make it pop.

For the inside, I did the same thing to this larger tag, but before I stamped the sentiment, I stamped a few daisies in the same Red Copper ink and heat set it to dry. The larger daisy was stamped in a dark green Brilliance ink and clear embossed on a piece of Mellow Moss cardstock for a tone on tone look just like the tag...


I have one more watercolor card to share tomorrow here on my blog, but if you'd like to see it now - hop over to my StampTV gallery! It's in it already - along with many of my March Release Cards!
Jessica

Easter Bunnies

Good morning!

If you have some time to do some stamping, 'hop' over to StampTV this weekend to see all the various stamping challenges we have going on over there this week! And, because there was a release this past week, there are a couple more challenges going on over on Splitcoast too! The best thing about GinaK's challenges? The winners of her challenges always get a stamp set prize! How awesome is that?

The first card I shared above uses Donna's sketch challenge for this week over on StampTV. I love this sketch and decided to use a brand new TAC (The Angel Company) Easter bunny stamp set I just bought a few weeks ago. Isn't it cute? I used the same stamp set on the card below....

All the images were colored with Copics with glitter and stickles added for some sparkle. To shade the background, I used Pebbles Pearlescent chalks - it's my favorite way to get a subtle background and I can go right over the copic coloring without it changing the colors. Plus, the pearlescent chalks have a shimmer to them, so the colors really sparkle.

PaperCraft Planet's Design Team theme this month is spring - so I've added both of my cards to their album. Be sure to see what the other DT gals have done this month too. The talent there is amazing! I love all the 3D projects they have in the album!

Here's the inside of the card... (I forgot to take a photo of the inside of the first card, but it's pretty similar to this one.)


Have a great weekend and I hope you can get some stamping time in!
Jessica

*Edited to add a few more details for answers to a couple questions I've received...

The TAC stamp set is called "I love Easter" and is in their current catalog. The fence punch is a Martha Stewart white border punch that I bought at our local Michaels. I used a glossy cardstock strip for the fence and then tied some SU gingham ribbon around it because I thought it looked a little like a sidewalk! lol! And then for the grass, I tore a strip of SU celery cardstock and glued it behind the fence.

Thanks for all the questions, everyone!