BACK TO POSTING

Although I have been MIA here and on the SplitCoast Stampers website, I have not been idle with my cardmaking.  After making some of my Christmas cards with the Memory Box dies...and loving the results), I decided to buy more of the MB dies.  I just love the way they cut...even the most intricate dies!

The "Catalina Wreath" die had been on my wish list for the longest time.  I must admit, I CASED (more like copied!) these designs from some pretty talented designers.  Here are the results.  I will post all the materials when I upload these to my SCS gallery in the next few days where my screen name is carleneanne.  You can probably also find them there if you search for Catalina Wreath or Memory Box.

Sorry about the shadow in the bottom left corner of these photos.  Because I had a Christmas display where I usually take my pictures, I had to find a new spot.  I didn't realize they all had the shadow until I just uploaded them.

On the Memory Box website, look for the "Outside The Box" blog entry for 09/06/2011 where Sue T. did a wonderful tutorial on the technique below.  She colored with Distress inks; I've never tried that, so I colored these with my Copics.

I found the inspiration for these 3 cards from "Susie B" on the SCS gallery from 10/30/2011.  This design could be used for any occasion.

 
This inspiration came from "misha" on SCS from 09/15/2011.  She added a die-cut bird to hers, but I left mine plain...only because I don't have a bird die!

These last 2 are just a variation of Susie B's cards above.

Can you tell I'm crazy about this die?  It has to be one of the most versatile dies in my stash.  My only problem is deciding if I like the second layer of flowers to cover the bottom flower totally or to be slightly askew as in the card above.  Decisions, decisions, decisions!  LOL!

Have a wonderful day,
Carlene

MISSING IN ACTION

WOW!  I just looked at the date of my last post...it's been more than 6 weeks.  And to top it off, I haven't even had time to check out and comment on all the creativity going on at the SplitCoast Stampers site.  I'll never be able to catch up!

While checking out SCS yesterday, I realized that I had uploaded some cards there that I hadn't put on this site.

I had uploaded lots of this MFT "Pure Innocence - Box of Love" image colored entirely with Copics, but "Coffestamper" reminded me how much fun it is to paper-piece the little girl's dress.  So I took the stamp out of its drawer and inked it up again.  Here are the 2 cards I made.

One of the gifts I love giving to family and friends at Christmas is a box of my cards.  I always put a note in the box that suggests that they "put whatever money they would have spent to buy each card into a container and to buy something for themselves (when all the cards are gone) with their 'saved' money."  I don't know if they do it, but they all tell me they love having a "stash" of cards for every occasion.

One thing I do know is that with 8 Great nieces and nephews under the age of 11, there are lots and lots of children's birthday parties to go to, so I always make sure those families have extra "kid" cards.  And, as the kids get older, they seem to be on more and more sports teams.  When I found this basketball paper, I knew I had to make some cards for those winter sports fans.

Thank you for looking,
Carlene

CHOCOLATE LOVER

Okay!  I admit it...I'm a chocoholic.  Given the choice of a Filet Mignon or a pecan pixie from Sweenor's chocolates, I'd choose the candy any day.

I've been looking for designer paper with chocolate on it forever.  When I finally found some, I went right to work.  Here are some of the cards I made.  I will list all the materials in the next few days on the SplitCoast Gallery where my screen name is carleneanne.

These first 3 cards have Denami's "Mimi with Chocolates."

These next 3 cards have Stampin' Up's "Wisecracks."

These last cards all use My Favorite Things' "Pure Innocence - A Box of Love."

COPIC FUN WITH TEXTURES

As I've said before, I have "played" with Copics for a few years, but only recently took the Standard and Intermediate Certification classes.  Cindy Lawrence was our teacher, and she was wonderful.  The day before the certification classes, Cindy did an extra workshop she called "Copic Fun With Textures."

In essence, we colored items with our Copics, and then spritzed colorless blender onto various cloths and pressed them down onto our colored areas.  The difference was amazing.  We didn't actually finish any of our projects during the class because Cindy wanted us to have time to experiment just with the texturing concept.

This past week, I decided to finish the coloring and make cards out of the images.  Here are the results.  I will uploaded them to the SplitCoast Gallery soon and will list all the materials there.  You may find them under my screenname carleneanne.

On this one, we made bricks on the wall using the nib end of our colorless blender.  After coloring the pajamas on a separate piece of cardstock, we spritzed a piece of terry-cloth towel with colorless blender and covered the pjs with it.  The pjs were cut out and paper-pieced...made them look like polartec!  The polka dots on the blanket were created by repeatedly touching the point of the colorless blender into the green.

On this card, we used the "pointilism" (sp?)  technique to show texture on the sweater.  I think I put too much "snow" on the scene for you to actually see it in this picture, but it shows up on the card.  Then we used Copics Opaque White paint to add texture to the penguin's fur and to create the snow storm.

This adorable pair of angels was perfect for using 2 different textures.  On the blue coat, we spritzed twill fabric with colorless blender and pressed it onto the image.  On the green coat, we made polka dots with the brush tip of the colorless blender marker.

I was so in love with this angel image that I bought the stamp to create additional cards.  On this blue coat, I used twill cloth; on the green coat, I used waffle fabric.

 I didn't add any texture to this green coat, but used the brush tip of the colorless blender marker on the pink coat.

 I didn't add any texture to this green coat, but spritzed colorless blender on terry cloth for the blue coat.

Blue coat was terry cloth; green coat was waffle fabric.

Blue coat was terry cloth.

Thank you for visiting.

TOTALLY STAMPALICIOUS CHALLENGE

This week's challenge at Totally Stampalicious is to create a Christmas card or project.  My cards today might be considered "Winter" cards more than Christmas because I am planning on using them for all the winter birthdays coming up.

If you looked at past posts, you know I love Stella because she is irreverent at times and always speaks her mind.  "Let it Snow Stella" comes with one image and 6 phrases.  Here are the cards I made with her.  I will list all the materials on the SplitCoast Gallery where you can find them under Totally Stampalicious, Stella or my screen name, carleneanne.

Inside these first 2 cards is the phrase, "SOMEWHERE ELSE!"

Inside this card is the phrase, "Now there's an OXYMORON!"

Inside these 2 cards is the phrase, "Winter is Nature's way of saying 'Up Yours!'" The fur on this outfit was created with Liquid Applique.

 On this card the fur was done with Copics.

THANKSGIVING & A QUICK CHRISTMAS CARD

A friend, who isn't a "stamper" is coming by to make some cards, so I thought we could do some with little stamping.  This first card uses a Martha Stewart punch and a stamp from Lockhart stamps.

This Christmas card couldn't be any simpler.  Cuttlebug's "Christmas Stitches" was embossed on Core'dinations "Core Essentials" cardstock and sanded to show the lighter color.

Shortly, I will post all the materials on Splitcoast Stampers' Gallery where my screen name is carleneanne.

Have a great day.

SECOND POST TODAY

What a dummy I am!  I forgot to put my other Deer cards on the post below.  These were done with the same die cut as below, but what a different look they have.

See all my supplies on the SplitCoast Gallery under carleneanne.

It's a little difficult to see the sky in this photo, but it really does show up on the card itself.  Obviously, the deer die cut just cuts the paper, and my nature-loving husband did not approve of featureless deer.  So I sponged some color on and gave them eyes and noses.  (He didn't mind all-white deer in the cards below!)  I also cut the deer apart (The die cuts them together.) so I could stagger them in the field.

This time, a vertical orientation and gray clouds.

All my best,
Carlene