1st July Birthday

 This one was so much fun to do! I tried out a few techniques that I either have never tried or its been a long time. I really wanted to use that green paper and loved how the blue goes around the very edges. This is a 5 x 7 card and the paper is 6 x 6. It is pieced to give the border effect. I don't think its very noticeable even in person. The part that says Happy Birthday uses a lot of the same papers, but I didn't have any green left. That edge is a border punch. After I colored this image with my copics, it looked really odd and it took me a bit to realize that the "rug" I had put in was very crooked. I thought it was just the way I had it on the card stock and cut it out with a spellbinder die.

It still looked odd. I took a ruler and pencil, drew a straight line where it should have been and recolored. I didn't even need to erase that line and think it looks so much better. There is very little use of stickles, but it is there! Lots of papers on this one. I started out to make the card from that blue. When I folded the scored line, it cracked. I do not know what I do, but I hate that Bazill (or however you spell it) card stock. I decided to cut it pretty close to size and thereby salvage the mess I made. I ended up liking that white border around it better than it being plain. The butterflies are a punch. I do use that one a lot. The copics I used are: E00, E11, E49, E31, E33, E35, E37, E18, YG91, YG95, R46, R59, R20, B0000, BG72, C1, C3, W2. I have two more birthday cards to make this month. Both girls cards.
Have been working on my project life, a bit at a time when the mood hits me. Decided that was the best way for me. We are finally wrapping up our bathroom remodel. Just have to show you how neat it came out. This is most of the bathroom.

The walls are a very pale yellow green. You can see the difference as that towel is yellow. I am truly in love with my bathroom! Wish my entire house had as much light! So maybe now I might get some stuff done ! My mind hasn't been working too well lately!! Wonder why?
Good thing I have been Zentangling - it has been keeping me fairly calm! Hope you enjoyed today's post. Hugs to you all, Barb F

Not enough candles

 This one is for my "baby" son1 He is officially old at 40! I think it bothered me a whole lot more than him!. This is a new stamp for me and as you all know I just adore Edwin. Had to make him something to sit on though! Sometimes it is easier to cut out the image and prop it on the background than to draw something after you have stamped it. This came out only due to the coloring. It looked awful as a drawing. And its only a box. I wanted it cheerful since Edwin has such an odd look on his face (I know - hard to tell with him having no mouth and all). His hat is cut out and on dimensionals. It came from a stamp

that had other things on it that I cut away after I stamped and colored it. The balloons on the inside are paper pieced and those banners are stamps that I colored and cut. Loved those gems and they added just the right touch. I wanted the cake to be colored so I had to add it as a square. I know he liked it a lot! I really think I enjoy making anybody's card as long as I know they like bright colors so I get to let go!
I did want to add some scrapbooking stuff so I am not posting this just yet. All these things are colored with copics.

This zentangle is for an online group as a form of "payment" to play a game! How much fun is that?
 I have started my idea of project life. I did buy some of the special page protectors but am finding that I could just glue my things to a 12 x 12 scrapbook paper and put it in a regular protector (which I have lots of). Its also a good way for me to get rid of some paper so I have room to buy new and things I will use.
By the way, if you aren't too far into this hobby, don't buy those huge books of papers. You will find that you don't use them very much and before too long will have a storage situation. When you are new, you just want to have stash  so you have something to choose from. Well, you remove that fun element of going to a store (online or on land) and actually getting to pick out what you would really like to have for that project. You will have plenty left over and it will accumulate quickly enough but slow enough that you will be able to come up with ways to store it so you know what you have and where you put it.
Speaking of where you put it - I now have a notebook for all my stamps ( they are numbered according to whether they are wood block or any other kind) that I can leaf through and find what I want and where it is stored. Also did the same for my dies. I haven't numbered them yet, but am going to do that once I figure out how I am going to keep them. I have a system in play right now but have so many and so many different kinds that my system isn't any good. I still spend way too much time looking. I am also going to do my stencils by number and a book. The principle is this - instead of looking through the product, you look through a notebook which is divided by categories that make sense to you. For example, I separated my dies by the set up on my vagabond = sizzix big dies, spellbinder's or thin dies, and sizzix makes another type. I do need to sub-divide those sections into things like my stamp book (I am still working on what the dies should/could be categorized into).
I have lately done a couple of scrapbook pages. The one I chose to share here doesn't have any people photos. I took these on a grand trip to Hawaii a couple of years ago. While making the medallion, I decided to try hot glue (used to use low temp, but this was the hot). Burned myself and took a chunk out of my finger while I got the glue off it! So I had to use that thing I made!!!  I have been watching "Glitter Girl" you tubes put out by Twopeasinabucket.com.
I actually made you a real link this time! I print my own photos so I can make them whatever size I want. I just keep the proportions of the original. Also I found that I could fix them a little on Photoshop.  I am sure there are less expensive programs out there, but I have that one. So here is my page. Hope you enjoyed this post. It has been sitting awhile longer due to my "accident".

Til next time - Hugs to you all, Barb F

My take on 'tangle

I have never figured this blogger thing out and when I put up all these "Zentangle" photos, I thought I should make use of this empty space since I have trouble moving the photos around. This zentangle stuff is making patterns, one stroke at a time. It breaks them down into easy strokes and even someone like me who can't draw, can make stunning things - at least I am pleased with them. The materials I used are ones that I had. I felt the tiles when I was at a show and they are similar to drink coasters - they are nice and thick. I have scads of Gina K white card stock since that is what I used to learn copic coloring on. I tried lots of things in the beginning. The ink sits on the top and doesn't blend super well, but it doesn't bleed either. I use it when I can't put something behind. It doesn't bleed thru either. I do a huge amount of blending now and when you get too much ink on the Gina K, it builds up and shines. Do not like that. But I did learn how the ink works very well. I went from that to Staples card stock which is fairly thin but if you are careful, blends great. I use the simply smooth (which I now think is made by Bazzil) or xpressit which is the

copic cardstock.
For these zentangles, since I didn't realize they would come out so good, I used the staples card stock as it is so cheap and I have lots of it for making card bases. I use it for about everything. I have found that my favorite pen to use is the new sharpie pen. I have lots of the Sakura pens left over from my quilting days and I like them but I like the Sharpies more. They are about half the price, too. Maybe even less. You can get online and find instructions for about all the patterns that are official. There are even some you tubes. I find its much better for me to start with someone else figuring out how best to make that pattern. As I copy it into my book (will tell you shortly), I have the chance to make notes and write better ways for me to make the pattern. Like direction I am drawing - maybe bottom up works better.
So any of you who follow me, know I keep notebooks for my supplies. I have a notebook for my stamps which is organized by type - flower, people, words, things, animals.

I have a notebook for my dies. That is organized by type and on the page I have where I keep that particular die. I am still not thrilled with my die storage as I need to keep everything moveable. So this notebook  for the zentangle patterns is just a blank one that I have drawn the patterns in. I could have used a notebook - looseleaf but I started with a little blank book that would be handy to travel with. Go to www.tanglepatterns.com and splurge a tiny bit and buy their electronic book of patterns. It works so nicely and takes all that looking online for patterns away. You click on a picture of the pattern you want, it takes you online to where it shows you step by step. I am only in the "c"'s! I do look ahead for patterns when I am filling shapes in though. This one is a very inexpensive art.The shading on all of these was done with pencil. I don't know why they photographed so oddly. I am going to post some of my cards for Operation Write Home. I made quite a few lately and need about 15 more to fill my box so I can send them. I am thinking of making Christmas cards next. I think that deadline is in

October sometime. I took photos of most of them. There are some very similar to others, so I didn't take photos. Hugs to you all, Barb F

Various Odds n Ends

 First is a graduation card for a guy. I used my copics to color Edwin and then cut him out. He is on dimensionals.  Most of this card is from a page kit that is a couple of years old. Since we have so many grandchildren - lots of ages, I pick these things up when they are super cheap and just hang onto them until I need them. Of course, you have to like most everything in that pack. I probably will never make a page from any of it, but it sure works well for cards. This is actually the second card I made with this kit and I do have quite a bit left - even the stickers. I glittered stuff up with stickles and that was about the size of it.

This one to the right is the inside of the card. I was really pleased with it and too late realized that it could just as well have been the outside! The background on the outside was actually fussy cut so that it actually had whole words even though Edwin is in front of part of them. After I put the gray banner sticker on, it looked so plain, so I put the grad's name on it using stickers that also came with the kit.

This one is the anniversary card I made for DH. Those little houses are made of wood and colored with copics that I chose to match the colors in the star paper. Finding that paper was a happy accident! It was among a bunch of sport papers that I have never found a use for - it is now missing all the stars!! I love that shape for some reason. That banner is from a spellbinders die and I actually cut two of them. One was white. I arranged my stamp greeting on the white one and cut out the entire front. I thought it would look so nice on the red, but it didn't. Then I colored it very lightly with Tim Holtz vintage photo and cut it out close to the letters. After I glued it on, I added

glossy accents over the letters and really liked the way it came out. That car is from a Sizzix movers and shapers die. It can be cut if you have just the tray which I bought early on so I could use those cute little shapes. Before I cut though, I embossed a piece of card stock with a new Tim Holtz embossing folder. It looks like the diamond tread that is used on trucks where people might walk so they don't slip. I colored it with the pewter TH paint that just finally became available and let it dry. Then I cut the car out. It looked ok but I added a small piece of red card stock behind the windows and stickled them. Then I really liked it. The "road" is just a piece of wavy cut card stock. You can draw the shape on the back so you know it will have gentle curves. The line is done with a unibol white gel pen. It is the whitest white and flows so very nice. The inside heart is cut from a spellbinders heart die and then I cut out the love which is a mover and shaper die. If I had to do this again, I would cut the word out first and then place the heart die where it needed to be.  I got very lucky and it actually came out for me. I added some white colored with vintage photo behind the words so it would match the front lettering. And it looked plain so I added the dots of stickles. The bottom houses is from a sizzix on the edge die. I absolutely love that die and have probably used it more than almost any other I have. You can set it several inches above the edge of your paper if you wish or right on the edge or anywhere in-between. I have cut this out of chipboard and painted it for embellishments but this one is cut from the star paper and glued to a red piece of paper. The dice are from a cheap flat sticker that I stuck to card stock, cut out and put on dimensionals, also stickled the dots. The winner is a purchased sticker.

This is a new page in one of my art journals that I thought I would share with you. Lets start with the background. I used a spellbinders die as a stencil. It cuts out dresses. It is a new die for me and I also bought the stamp set that goes with it and haven't had a chance to use it at all. So I thought why not? I colored the background with distress inks and if you look closely you will see 3 different dresses. The leaf stamp at the top is from a Dyan Reavely set (as is the turquoise dress and hat). The other leaves are from a Heartfelt Creations set. The purple flowers are stamps and dies (Asters) also from Heartfelt Creations. I stamped that hat and dress directly onto the page and also on card stock that I colored with copics. Cut them out and glued them where I stamped them on the page. The reason to stamp on the page is that it will not only tell you where to glue your image but also if you cut any of the black edge off, it won't look like it.  And then added stickles. That dark blue at the top is something bled from the back of the page. See that cool line by the spiral binding- it is from the same set as the leaves at the top.
I have been learning zentangles lately and it is about the most relaxing thing you could ever imagine. Very similar to doodling only it is making patterns one line at a time. At least that is my take on it. I bought an online book of pdf's that is the neatest thing - it takes you directly online to where each pattern is laid out (how to create it). you will find it at Tanglepatterns.com. They ask for a really small amount of money for this book so they can continue to support this art form. I can't believe how very pretty most all of my things are. And it is so relaxing - I said that didn't I? There are lots of youtubes out there if you are interested. Maybe next time I will post some. Until then, lots of hugs! Barb F

Almost missed May!

Have been really busy - will tell you about it after I post these two cards.

 Believe it or not, that says on your first birthday - I love this image which if memory serves me is either Elisabeth Bell or Victoria Case. I am not sure which as I fell in love with both designers at the same time!  The inside of this is a cake with paper pieced candle! I colored the flame with copics but the rest is paper pieced. I love having that option!

I used all of the outer side papers on the inside also. I thought the inside was almost as cute as the outside. What do you think?

This one is of course for a guy. I love this image and paired it up with those cute fish - The fish came with a Popcorn the bear set but I can't remember where the fisherman came from.

Thought I would add another fish to the inside. I did use the same papers on the inside as on the outside. I had kept track of the copics I used for coloring, but since it has been awhile, I lost the little color card I made.
So did any of you get to go to the Mega Meet in Novi, MI? It was ultra fabulous!! I got to meet and talk to Tim Holtz and Mario!! How cool is that?! I took my first card making class at a show and it will be done lots differently if I do that again. Next time, I will just sit there, take some notes and take my entire kit home intact. It was just too stressful to me to try to make 3 cards in one hour not knowing what I was making. I ended up not being able to use any of the cards I made. I do NOT do glitter at all - I am in love with stickles, but I do not use regular glitter. It is a mess and gives the recipient of the card also a mess. All of these had glitter. Of well. I bought so much and of course had to spend lots of time putting stuff away when I got home. All of my organizing lets me play with new stuff right away!
OK - so I went to a scrapping show and spent a few days with my close girlfriend card making with all the new stuff we bought at the show. Also Tuesday Morning had a whole bunch of Tim Holtz stuff including all 3 sizes of his cargo cases. Tim did tell us at the show that all 3 had been discontinued which explains why Tuesday morning had so many.
The week before I went to Mega Meet, I attended the Great Lakes Region of Embroiderer's Guild of America seminar. I took a two day class and had a wonderful time! It was in Indianapolis, IN this year. I love all kinds of needlework but especially the finer stuff - lace making.
Wanted to tell you about something new - at least it was to me. Ranger Industries Wendy Vecchi embossing paste. Wow is it ever worth the purchase price! It is a white or black paste that is just a tiny bit thicker than gel medium. I used the regular and heavy gel mediums to see what the comparison would be. The paste dries within a couple of minutes and is opaque even without adding coloring. The gel mediums take hours to dry and your paper crinkles until it is completely dry. The embossing paste doesn't crinkle the paper at all. Wendy colored it using almost a nothing drop of distress reindeer. You just take the dropper out and don't depress the bulb part - just a tiny bit of liquid from the outside of the dropper will color a huge amount of paste! I love having another use for my stencil collection! You could also color what ever you make with copics, etc.  It has a slightly rough feel as opposed to the slick feel of the gels.
Recently bought a digital camcorder or whatever its called now. Realized I could upload a video to my blog so I will do one on my organization as I did promise a post on that again. Having some work done around the house so I may or may not get that video done soon. The birthdays keep coming so I still need to keep making cards! Hugs to you all. Thanks for hanging in there! Barb F

Hey, hey hey - almost ready for May!

Things sure have been mounting up - I have been busy, that's for sure. I just finished up 4 cards , 3 of which are for May birthdays (have about 3 more left) and one that was for April. We have so many kids, grandkids, etc that we have multiple birthdays every month except none in August.  I have really enjoyed making cards without coloring them, but somehow they seem a little more special to me when I color them.  The cards are for a 1 yr old girl, a seven yr old girl, a 5 yr old boy and a man. These were lots of fun to  make and I was amazed that I colored them as quickly as I did after not coloring for so many weeks. Have a fun thing to pass along just in case you haven't heard of it - Zentangles. I thought  - Oh, just doodling with a black pen. Not so - it is making patterns starting with one line of the pattern at a time. Very very relaxing and you end up with some really neat things that you could showcase on a card. You could also use them on scrapbook pages or journals or art journals. Do a search and you will see that there are lots of you tubes as well as blogs having instruction for free. Of course you could pay also!
So here is the first card - the one I made for April.

 Its a bit unusual for me to cut an image out this way, but it worked! The dp on this one is shiny - didn't realize that when I bought it and was amazed that I didn't have any problems with it. I have been wanting to stamp clouds for a long time and they just seemed to work here. Sometimes you can fussy cut paper to illustrate a point. I was lucky to get the five in my background paper and how neat that the five on the jersey was just perfect!

I paper pieced a couple of the balloons and added some more clouds to the inside. Thought a clear envelope with a little cash would qualify for a little happy! It took a little fussy stamping to do this, but I think it was so worth it. Copics I used are;
B12, B14, Y21, Y28, YR23, R27, R29, G82, E47, E00, E11, R20.

This little gal is one of my most favorite ones. She is very hard to cut out but I did another odd cut and I think it worked out ok. You can see the L shape I cut. I also just watched a youtube from Sparkletart. She colored white mulberry flowers with colics. I did match the colics I chose for these papers and even though the flowers came out darker, they are still the same color family and look spectacular. This was a very odd layout but it was fun to work out.

Using the same dp on the inside as the outside makes it go together. I recently bought the Sizzix flourish die and just had to use it. Lots of stickles on this one. The copics I used here are: E00, E11, R20, Y11, Y15, C2, C3, R81, R85, RV29, BG34, E31, E35, E37, E47, Y21, Y28, YR23.
I will try to keep posting and making as I need to get a little ahead. I recently bought some new Lawn Fawn stamps that have dies to match. The dies were not in yet, so I am waiting for them. I can hardly wait to get them as I thought they were just so cute! I have a real passion for making scrapbook pages. Since I have soooo  many old photos, I can usually come up with a theme and find photos from different years that fall in to that theme. It lets me scrap old with newer ones so I don't feel so overwhelmed by the sheer quantity! I recently bought a new video recorder. Once I learn how to use it, I will see if I can upload videos to this site. It would be so much nicer to actually show you how something looks. You know, a picture is worth a 1000 words.  Hope you enjoyed these two cards. The inside gives you a chance to try other ways of using the same papers. It also uses a bit more so if you are lucky, you won't have a whole lot left! I am dying to buy new paper but promised myself that I needed to use up a whole lot before I can. I don't have room to store any more!! I did manage to get some more 12 x 12 for my scrapbooking as I have been using it like its free!! I did make a dent and bought some more. Hugs to you all, will try to get the other two cards posted real soon. Barb F

Pattern play day1

This is actually the second card I made from the same materials. I am posting the first below. I didn't really like the color band I had next to the orange band so I covered it with another paper. It looks better, but I think the orange band takes over the card. This was learning how to use BIG patterns. I love this paper - what I have left but I think I am not as fond of it for cards. I like this top one better for some reason. If you have this paper, I am sure you recognize it. It is from a 12 x 12 stack. These were scraps, so now I have 2 cards from them. Think I will try day one again as soon as I have a chance. Hugs, Barb F

New Class this week day 2

This is from day 2 - it uses only ink. I added some gems. The paper I used is patterned and has those cute little flowers at the bottom. I cut off some of the edge designs. I cut out some Hero arts butterflies (reallly thin computer paper) and put them temporarily down. Then I stamped that zigzag pattern in different colors of ink. I started to remove a butterfly and realized it was just an unstamped place - you really didn't see a shape. So I actually stamped the butterflies. I would do it the other way around if I was doing it again - stamp the butterfly on the card and cover it with the cut mask and then stamp the zigzag. It still looked not quite right to me so I covered the butterflies again and used some distress ink just where they were. I chose a light one. Stamped the greeting and added the gems. It covers the entire card front.
I need to post these so I can post them to my class. If you are interested, it is going on this week. Onlinecardclasses.com
Hugs to you all, Barb F

2 March Men

For the Maggie Lover's, today's post is right up your alley! Before I get into the post though, I have been making Operation Write Home cards and I am closing in on 100!! I only have 6 more to finish (yep - they are started). I am so excited to be able to send so many! I found that the amazon boxes (from all the amazon stuff we order online) are perfect. At least the last couple of things gave me 7" deep boxes. We are also trying to remodel our bath as well as our dishwasher has been giving us fits. Way too much for me!
So this first card is for one of my sons. Somehow I thought of him when I got this cute Edwin image of the pilot. He doesn't fly - Edwin does!

The plane is a Tim Holtz stamp and I did the background with a matching distress ink. That dp has been here for a long time. I loved this and wanted to be sure some of it showed. I had to mix my copics to match the colors. I don't do that very often as they are usually close enough but this one wasn't so I mixed them. You do that by coloring with the lighter one first and coloring right away over it with the more predominant color but the lighter shade. The two together will be darker than you think. Use a scrap of the same paper you are stamping on to test out your colors. Let them completely dry before you make up your mind. I match up to actual colors - take your test directly to the paper you are matching and look under really good light. Another thing you may not know, I always color underneath where I use Stickles. Depending on what color of stickles you put on top will give you different looks because there is color underneath. This card is kraft and I liked the way it came out.  Here is the inside:

I pieced a dp from the front on another piece from this collection - if I knew which one it was, I would have ordered another one as I liked it a lot. I used a star stamp for the stars and stickler whatever has stickles using silver. The two messages are done on die cuts that I did on my Vagabond. And here are the copics I used: E53, W3, E37,E31, E33, E57, E59, E00, E11, R20, BG93, BG72, C3.
That plane is probably one of my most favorite stamps. It really doesn't need anything once you stamp it. All the Magnolia stamps are my favorites! Guess I have a lot of favorites!!

This card is for a very athletic grandson. I found those darling letter beads somewhere - got a whole lot of them and thought that I could add his name on the banner. It is that lovely soft twine.  The only stickles are in the grass. Just had a good time laying this one out. I didn't have enough width on the papers that look as though they go behind the image, so I cut them and put a piece to each side. It works pretty well as they are only shy of about 1 1/2" and that gap is behind so it doesn't show. Here are the copics I used on this one: E00, E11, R20, R14, R17, YG95, Y21, Y26, E47, E49, E43, G99, G94, G85, YG67.
I do have two female birthday's coming up this month and will post again before too long. Sorry I have been so lax about posting - Will try a bit harder. Thanks to all of you for hanging in there! Hugs to you all, Barb F

Some odds n ends

Well, its pretty snowy here today and a good day for me to add another post. One of the classes, Inky Doodles (creativepassionclasses.com) is over and I was sure sad to know there aren't going to be any more. I am still doing the journalling one but that will last all year (Got Glue, Celebrations). The third class I have been taking is a do it at your own pace called Learn Digital Scrapbooking class- Photoshop Elements 6-10 (digitalscrapper.com). I have to tell you, I thought the last one a bit pricey but then again I didn't know how utterly comprehensive it was!! As most of you know, I recently bought a Mac and am learning how to use it. I have learned so many things in this class that just pertain to about anything I would do on my computer. Also have been struggling with the Photoshop and now its going so quickly and is lots of fun, actually!! If I hadn't been such a tightwad about this last class, I would be racing along by now - I am doing pretty good and have so many lessons ahead of me. I also found that there are classes for different versions of photoshop. Guess they changed the way the screen looks, so this gal also had classes using your screen version. I know that if I ever want to really know how to do something, I will check their site for a class before I do anything else!
I have a couple of photos of journal pages that I made from my last class of Inky Doodles.

I loved how this one came out - The page is in a pink smash book and I added some colored doodling to what was already there and some stickles (of course) to the rainbow. The little girls are paper pieced completely except for the arms and legs. I would never in a million years have thought of this or how to do it. So cute and so much fun!!

This one was done over a background that I used Dylusions sprays over stencils. I have learned that you can make anything into a stencil! I drew her from step by step instructions and colored her with colored pencils (fairly new to me). I stickled under her feet a little and the butterfly (sprayed on). This was a true amazement that I could draw something so cute!

Jennifer McGuire showed this on her blog. You find one of your stamps that has a fairly large stamping surface and stamp each of your inks onto card stock. I cut mine into 3 x 3 pieces mainly to accommodate the size of the stamp I chose to use.  The color is first with the brand in script underneath and all the way to the right is the type of ink. I made a little box and the red is ribbon I used to contain the cards in case I drop the box! I didn't want to mess with a lid as I am hoping to get more use out of some of my inks. I liked this idea a lot and found myself with time to do it. I didn't know I had such a cool stamp either!! It is just an ink blob and is clear. I haven't got any idea how long I have had it but I know I never used it before. I wasn't very fussy about how good the image came out. I did find out that a couple of my ink pads are close to either throwing out or buying a reinker. Just above the ink color, I stamped a little heart if I own the reinker for his particular ink. Of course I would take a photo of one that I do not have the reinker for.  I arranged my cards by color after I stamped them all. Didn't realize how very many I had. I do own lots of Tim Holtz' s distress inks and also didn't realize on some of them what a solid color would look like. I usually just use the foam inking tool to apply them. Some of those colors are phenomenal when used with a solid stamp! Jennifer punched a hole in each card and put them on a ring. I like the little box idea better for me. I have found that I don't tend to look through things on a ring.
Stick around, I have lots of March birthdays coming up. I also need to take some time and get going on Operation Write Home cards. I think this time, I will make several alike at the same time so I end up with more cards to send. Hugs to you all, I hope you enjoyed today's post. Barb F

What's new to me

Ok, so I haven't been posting. I am taking a few, that's right!, a few online classes! I am finally learning how to use Photoshop Elements as far as scrapbooking and at the same time learning much more about my Mac. I am doing a journalling class that will last the rest of this year and also a doodling class that is cute. I have always wished that I could be a real artist. I am proficient in some kinds of things, but I classify a real artist as someone who can paint or draw without looking at anything to figure out how - like a photo or another drawing or painting.
I love to color and feel that I do pretty well with the copics. There is always room to improve, however.  So today I am going to share a few of my "class" projects and a card that I made to thank a couple who are going to present our library with a gardening program.  Since I know more of my followers do cards, I will show it first.

I love, love love, this image. It is a wood block rubber stamp. Not sure whose it is. I stamped it and then masked it while I colored the background with Distress Inks. I used tumbled glass, festive berries, scattered straw and peeled paint. Those colors closely matched the dp I used. The inside, which I am not showing, is just a pocket of the brown backed dp to hold a gift card. I used a Hero Arts die to cut out the little flower shape that I white heat embossed the greeting on. I covered it with glossy accents after I put a tiny gem on it. It is on dimensionals. There are stickles on the little blue berries. Believe me, it was hard not to stickle the whole thing! But I liked the way the coloring came out. Here are the copics I used: Y11, Y15, Y17, YG03, YG95, BG72, R22, R27, R29. I did the shadows with the BG72 also.

The class that these next photos are for is from Creativecardclasses.com and called Inky Doodles.  These will end up mostly as journalling pages. We did several different background techniques - these are mostly my takes on the backgrounds. The videos are great showing how to use lots of artist supplies as well as I used lots of ink!! And then she taught us how to draw different "doodle" figures as well as designs and different ways to apply them besides drawing directly. I have learned lots and had so much fun. There is one class left and I will really miss it. I am going to only comment if something I did doesn't show up = stickles or sparkly things usually.

 This guy has crackle accents on his shell. It is made of bits of papers glued down.

There is gold acrylic paint lightly dry-brushed over the feathers giving them a shiny look.

This one has flower shaped glitter in the gel medium and bigger flakes of glitter over the top.

The lady bugs are shiny because they are made of foil.

The scales on the snake are orange stickles and the stripes on the tail are yellow stickles!







Hope you enjoyed my blog today. Please leave me a comment. And make my day! Hugs to you all, Barb F

Happy 21 Girl

The beautiful gal this one is for loves to bake. This card is made from two different digital images. When people tell you that the Adobe Photoshop Elements isn't much, don't believe them! In the past when I have done digital things, the only way I knew how to size was to use Microsoft word. And the only way I could make a composite was to use the free program GIMP. GIMP is kind of similar to Photoshop with a huge difference in price. I didn't have any knowledge of what to do in Photoshop E when I put this together in probably a whole minute!! And it is exactly the size I wanted it to be. I love that little fairy with the cupcakes all around her.  If you want to look back through my blog, you will see I have used both the shop and the fairy before. This one takes a while to color. I did it in two settings so I wouldn't get crazy. Background first and then the Fairy and cupcakes and the stuff on the shelves. I used a lot of colics but here they are: E11. E00, E31, E33, E35, E37, E18, E21, E25, E29, R20, R27, YG67, Y08, RV10, RV21, RV23, RV29, B91, B60, B95, B97, B99, B93, B32, B34, C1, C2, C3.

This is the inside. since I didn't use any patterned paper on the front, I had to choose some that went with the colics I used. I decided to cut some hearts out - I used my spellbinder's dies. I wasn't happy with how this looked but the colors do match the inside. I found my Happy birthday stickers and used them and while I had the stickers in hand, I noticed the flowers. That is what is along one of the edges. I put the heart on dimensionals and then it looked better.  The 21 on the front are from an alphabet sticker set that is pretty chunky and glittery. It looked like it didn't belong so I stickled all around them. It was a bit tricky but I didn't want to get the darker blue stickles on my white numbers.. There are a couple of little gems on both the front and inside. I used stickles very sparingly on the skirt of her costume. This one could have been done entirely in stickles and I would have loved it more!!!

This is the front of a retirement card. I found the image I wanted on the internet and printed it the size I needed it to be. I did have to cut a little off the width so it would fit on the frame I made. For those of you who wanted to know a little more about those card creator dies.  First ones and probably all of them were invented by the gal who owns stampingscrapping.com They are designed to cut layers for standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 cards. The first two sets give you increments of 1/16 borders (I think they are that close). Then she came out with the fancier ones. She has a bunch of new ones released at CHA this year. This card was a real snap to make because all I did was cut and use a tape runner. The center is on dimensionals. I printed the image on photo paper as it was so faded out that it didn't look good on my regular card stock. I have to say that if you are selling stuff, you would have to probably get permission. I am not sure that I didn't need permission but can't even tell you where I got the photo from.
I have been taking a doodling class from creativepassionclasses.com. The gal who is doing the class is giving fabulous techniques for the backgrounds as well as step by step instructions on drawing the doodles for the pages you are making. She has turned some into cards. I am just having a ball getting all inky!! I will post some of mine soon. Hugs to you all, Barb F

Guy Birthday

This is the outside of my card. I found the image free on the internet and printed it adding the words "SHH". The man I made this for is a hunter and both DH and I thought of Elmer Fudd as a really cute image. It's amazing how much out there is free. Of course I resized it and also you have to realize that I haven't sold anything ever! Thought it looked a bit plain so I edged everything with vintage photo. For those of you (I can't imagine) who don't know - that is a Tim Holtz distress ink. The butterfly is cut and stamped with Hero Arts die/stamp set. And then there is the ever present but hardly used at my house, twine. It still looked too plain so I sticked his hat and the barrel of his gun. He is on dimensionals.

This is the inside os the card. It is a pop-n-cut (a sizzix die that folds in the center and actually pops out. The leaves are sizzix  and I used vintage photo on them. If you look really close, you will see the vein is not as dark as the rest of the leaves. I tried for a guy type olive green. I was working on colored patterned paper though. The deer is from a sizzix steel rule die. I really don't like that the nose on the deer comes out pointed, so I recut that part by hand. I also gave him a little eye. I used the postage edge die on the edges of the inside of the card. Added another butterfly and of course some stickles. I couldn't find exactly the wording that I wanted for the inside, so I used stickers!  This paper is from a fishing paper kit that I bought when I first started. I have made lots of fishing cards since most all of the guys I make cards for fish.  Hope you like this one, hope he does also. I decided not to post this on any of my groups as I don't think it fits into any of their criteria. Hugs to you all, Barb F

More Paper Storage

Thought I would finish up my paper storage. You saw the 8 1/2 x 11 and the 12 x 12. Now its time to show you the rest. They are all separated by size into their own plastic bin/case. There are 4 x 6 (or something like that), 8" square, and 6 x 6. I keep all three of these in my closet on the same shelf.  I am on a self imposed temporary "do not buy any paper no matter what size or why" campaign!! If you are just starting out, I would highly recommend - do not buy paper for a stash!! It poses the huge problem of how to store it so you can find it again and use it!! Unless I happen to remember a specific paper pad and what size it is, I have to pretty much look through it all. Not grand because it would be so much more fun to go buy just what I need and then only have scraps to deal with. I can see plain card stock of different colors. If I had that to do over, I would just buy 12 x 12 and use it for everything - leaving some scraps. That's my 2 cents worth. Until I get way more paper used, I just can't see buying any no matter how wonderful. There is just no place left to keep it.

Love this case - as you can see, it holds my 6 x 6 paper pads. This one is really easy to move in and out of the closet and see what I have inside.

I have everything labeled. Don't know what I would do without a label maker! The rest of my paper is in these 12 x 12 plastic cases. One of them has my name on it. That is my traveling one. It always has a project or the makings of a project in it. That way I always have something ready to work on if I am not under the gun to do something and don't feel like looking through all my paper to get inspired (this doesn't work well for me - to look through my paper!). See that aqua carry case? It goes along on a trip and carries things like small tape runner, pop dots.  I do have three new cards to show you but they haven't gone to their homes yet. Next week should be able to post them for you. A retirement card, a female birthday and a male pop n cut birthday card! Hope to hear from you! Hugs to you all, Barb F

Promise & a Birthday Card

First of all I will show you the new birthday card so those of you who aren't interested in my organizing skills can just move onto another blog. This card is for a teacher. I always seem to keep that in the back of my mind when I am choosing a stamp to color - what makes me think of this person in particular. It makes coloring it and putting the card together much easier. I can lean on colors I know they like or images that remind me of them, or both. Sometimes it is even the pattern on a paper. I knew before I had chosen an image that I was going to use a word stencil for the background behind. I picked up some inks from Tsukenetko (probably spelled that one wrong) and finger dabbers at the last scrapbook meet I went to and used a crafter's workshop stencil that is very detailed. It worked well with the dabbers but you aren't going to believe how I did this. Here is the card so you can kind of follow along.

First I stamped my image on a larger piece of card stock than I ended up with. I used a frisket mask - found that you have to be careful or it will tear your card stock when you remove it. I do not recommend it as a mask for cards or scrapbook pages, but I use it if I am at the beginning of something so its not a big deal if I have to start again.  - Like don't bother coloring your image first because it could and probably would tear when you tried to remove the frisket.
Next I colored my background with Tim Holtz distress inks - used mustard seed and broken china, and worn lipstick. Then I laid my stencil down and held it with one hand while I inked up the finger dabber on the pink ink in my multicolored pad. I went over the stencil with the pink - of course it changed the colors in the background and really livened them up. I used the broken china for the edges on the pink paper behind her as well. The aqua  paper is cut from one of the card creator dies - ribbon edge or something like that. I ran the pink ribbon through the slits and tied it. The yellow paper is cut from the basic card creator set and the card itself is aqua. I used clear stickles on her barrette and the flower on her cup. Silver stickles went into each little hole and at the tips. Copics I used : E00, E11, R20, E31, E33, E35, E37, E18, R32, BG10, BG13, C2, C3, Y26.

This is the inside of the card. The lace is from Hero Arts - I poo pooed it until I used it. Wonderful! It is already glued on the back and went on like a dream! The aqua is paper cut with a Martha Stewart punch. I liked the front so much the way it was that I didn't want to wreck it with words!

Here is the first installment about my "organization" skills! I decided to start with my large papers since there isn't much you can make with out them. This is how I have all of my 8 1/2 x 11 and 12" paper and card stock. In the beginning I didn't know about card stock except as a base so I had quite a bit of paper. Now I mostly use  my paper to make odd sized envelopes. If I have to mail them, I add a blank sticker on the front for the address. I have part of a wall that I ordered some little inexpensive cabinets from
Staples. Will show you those later, but it has one cube with shelves - that holds 12 x 12 PAPER. I came across someone using clippies (my word for alligator clips) on something and I went out and bought millions!! I use them for everything. They hold the paper together by color or collection and have a label on them so I know what that clip holds. The clear shelves are from Display Dynamics. One is for 8 1/2 x 11 and one is for 12 x 12 . 8 1/2 x 11 are all solid colors and also all the different coloring (white) papers are clipped by what kind they are. I keep a plastic shoebox next to it for my immediate scraps. When that is full, they go into a 12 x 12 holding box that I give away - not the box, just the papers! I have several recipients as its usually got quite a lot in it. If I didn't do that, I would never be able to buy any more paper. My solid 12 x 12 are in the rolly case. The other 12 x 12 are on the clear shelves. To the very front inside the rolly case are specialty papers - like lace cuts, frisket, sticky canvas well, you get the idea. Papers I don't know what to do with!! On the rare occasion that I need to use the case, the papers stack easily on the floor!! Remember they are clipped. They stay together neatly and it makes it so much easier to remove and put back on the shelves. I can tell you that I couldn't live without my little Brother label maker. It's old as the hills and my DH gave it to me since he has more than one. So here are some photos. I am sure you can guess which is which. As for those shelves. I bought them direct from the maker online and they shipped them rather quickly in huge boxes. If I had more room, I would buy another set of 12 x 12 and get the papers out of my rolly bag. But so far I haven't figured out how to do that.