A-SAILING WE SHALL GO!

Surprise, Surprise!  Here I am back only one day since my last entry.

Today I wanted to share some sailboat cards I've made in the last few weeks.  Friends of mine are sailing enthusiasts, so I'm always looking for new sailboat images.  Their yacht club
has a raffle to support their Youth Sailing Program so I always make extras to donate.

As soon as I saw this sailboat stamp, I knew I had to add it to my collection.  It is a new image from Lockhart Stamp Company.  One of the amazing things about Lockhart Stamps is that they always send sample cards along with their stamps to stores.  This first card design was taken directly from the store sample.  The only difference is that Karen Lockhart uses Prismacolor pencils to color her images, and I used Copics on all mine.

Other Materials Used:
"Oh, the places you'll go..." (also a Lockhart stamp)
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Stickles
Red, White & blue cardstock
Star dp (Frances Meyer, Inc)
foam tape

On the next 2 cards, I used "Water Waves" dp from The Paper Studio.  This 1st card was actually a mistake as I cut the dp the wrong way.  I had wanted my card to have the waves going across the 5-1/2" length of the card, so I had to redesign my layout.  With too much empty space, I turned to some adhesive rhinestones to mask the mistake.

This was my original design for the card.

 Other Materials Used:
"The cure for anything..." (My Favorite Things "The Sea Set")
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Stickles
White & blue cardstock
ribbon
foam tape

On this next card, I used one of my favorite layouts.

 Other Materials Used:
"Life is a beautiful ride" (Unity Stamp Company)
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Stickles
Light & medium blue cardstock
"Cool Morning Stripes" dp (Around The Block)
Stickko Dimensional stickers
foam tape

Here is my last card.

 Other Materials Used:
"Keep the wind in your sails" (My Favorite Things "Smooth Sailing Flopsey")
Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Color Box Royal Blue pigment ink
Stickles
White & royal blue cardstock
"Funky Blue Waves" dp (Paper Pizazz)
Spellbinders Deckled Rectangles & Ribbon Banners
foam tape

A NEW YEAR

I can't believe it was a month ago that I last posted anything.  My only excuse is Christmas.  I can finally say that all my decorations are now away, and my rooms have been put back to their pre-Christmas condition.

I did, however, sneak in some hours of stamping during that time, but never took any pictures of my cards until this morning.  So here is what I've been doing.

First of all, I know I bombarded you with my Memory Box "Catalina Wreath" cards.  Well, my girlfriend wanted to come over to learn how to make cards.  I've been sending her cards for years, and she recently asked if she could come over to watch the process.  I told her she couldn't watch...she had to get knee-deep into cardmaking.

I also told her that she had to keep my secret...that being, that cardmaking is relatively easy if you have the right materials.  She's HOOKED now and may never shop in Hallmark again!  LOL!

Here are the wreaths we made.  (She took the die home with her and created many more on her own.)
On this one, we used the technique I described on the previous post and Gina K's "Parisian Garden" dp.  The sentiment and die are from Taylored Expressions "It's a Banner Day 2."

On this one, we used Stampin' Up "Petal Patch" dp.

On her next visit, we made these cards with the wonderful Sizzix/Hero Arts Stamp & Emboss set "Floral Wreath Set" that I found at Bella Art in Johnston.  What a great set...the embossing folder pops the flowers.  I hope you can see that in these pictures.

On this first card, we stamped with SU "Real Red", embossed, added a bow and Stickles.  The  "Flowers of gratitude..." phrase is from the 2005 SU set called "Flowers of Gratitude."

On this card, we stamped with Memento "Rich Cocoa" and colored with Copics (RV14, RV 21, G21, G24).  After coloring, we used the ef, added a bow and Stickles.  "Grateful is from the SU set, "Small Script."

On this card, we stamped with Memento "Tuxedo Black" and colored with Copics (Y19, Y08, G03, G07).

On her third visit in less than 2 weeks (I told you she was hooked!...so nice to have someone to share your passion), we made some butterfly cards.

Here are the materials we used for this card:
Stamp: "We delight..." Gina K "Dreams" set by Tami Mayberry
Cardstock: Gray, Purple, Blue, & "Wisteria" dp by Basic Grey
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: MFT Die-namics "Butterflies", Spellbinders Ovals & Scalloped Ovals, Stickles, adhesive pearls (Recollections), ribbon, foam tape.

These last 3 cards vary only slightly.  They all used the "Time does not change us..." stamp from SU (sorry I could not find the name of the set...I do know that it is one of 4 stamps in the set and came out in 2005); blue cardstock; "Blue Silk Scarf" & Blue Downtown Dot" dps from Cosmo; Memento "Tuxedo Black" & "Rich Cocoa" ink and a ribbon.

This first card uses a butterfly from PSX Stamps and Twinkling H2o's.

These last 2 cards use two different butterflies from SU's "Wonderful Wings" set and a variety of blue Copics.

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.