PaperFections

Friends Card File

I made this card file for the Spellbinders website Gallery last month. Once you are in the Gallery, you can click on different sub-divisions over on the left side (scrapbook pages, home decor, cards, etc), to see all the projects the design team have created. This file is for my daughters to store the names, addresses & phone numbers of their friends. We usually have several scattered pieces of paper they try to hang on to and then find again when they want to call friends, so this will help keep us organized! I started with an unfinished wooden card file by Glue Art & Paper Studio that I got from Doodliedoo. Right now Doodliedoo is undergoing some site work and should be opened back up within about a week, so check back with them then. Until then, though, you might find a retailer for these fantastic wood alterables at a retailer listed here at Glue's site. I painted the file with Making Memories Strawberries & Cream acrylic paint and then covered parts of it with Fancy Pants Sweet Pea & Key Lime collection papers, using a glue stick. Next, I traced the 3" x 5" file cards (another Glue... Read more →

WSC45: May Calendar

For Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge today, I decided to do my monthly 6" x 6" calendar page. <== There is Beate's sketch . . . and here's my calendar: Our wedding anniversary is in May, so that made me think of this adorable Tart of Hearts stamp by Karen Lockhart. I stamped the hearts onto my computer-generated calendar (more on that below) which was printed on Cryogen White shimmer cardstock and colored them with Copic markers, accented with pink Copic Spica glitter pen: *Note: The greens here are softer and lighter in person -- my camera and lighting were giving me fits this morning! Copic colors used: R81, R85, YG01, YG25, Y21. The calendar measures 3.75" x 2.5", is matted with Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Rectangle cut from Prism Frosted Yellow cardstock, and is popped up on dimensionals. Pink ribbon is Stampin' Up's taffeta. The "May" alpha dot stickers were included in the 8x8 pack of Making Memories Garden Party paper I finally found at Target . . . I adored it when I first saw Michelle use it and was happy to finally find it! I machine stitched the dotted paper to a 6-inch base of Prism Baby Pink,... Read more →

Inchie ABC's - D & Matboard

I thought I would continue today with more of my Inchie ABC's. If you have missed these so far, you can click on the Inchie Category from the list on the right sidebar of my blog. D is for Dimension -- Pop up images and add layers to your Inchies: Stamp credit: Lockhart Clothesline. Stamp credits: 1-Lockhart Apples in Chintz, 2-Itty Bitty Dragonfly. Dragonfly is glued by its body to the Inchie base, but its wings are flying free! Notice where I Initialed my dragonfly Inchie? Under its wings! You'll also see in the photos above, how nice and thick this black matboard is and that even the core is black -- all the way thru. It makes for a very sturdy base for your Inchie art and is already cut into 1-inch squares for you! More on this matboard below . . . More dimension . . . below, I added a 1-inch page pebble over the fish bowl: The white matboard I used for this Inchie (and the black matboard above) is the highest museum preservation quality. The matboard is fade and bleed resistant & lignin-free. I stamped this Itty Bitty Fish image in Brilliance Graphite Black ink... Read more →

Seaside Sisters

I created this layout for the Spellbinders gallery last month. New items for March from all the designers can be viewed there. I took this photo on our Spring Break trip to California this March. After visiting the San Diego zoo that day, we drove back up the coast to Anaheim and stopped at this beach along the way, to stick our feet in the ocean! Without any prompting, my oldest daughter took her sister's hand and led her out to the water (everybody say AWWWWW!!). I was really glad I had my camera ready! They loved the rolling waves and leaving their footprints in the sand (bottom photo). The base for this layout is from Fancy Pants' Floral Chic collection -- I thought it looked like a sandy beach. The "Seaside" lettering was cut from cream cardstock with Spellbinders Whimsy alphabet and while the cardstock was still in the die, inked with Tsukineko Copper Encore metallic ink. Unfortunately, the lettering blended into the background paper a little too much for my liking, so I brushed a little vanilla acrylic paint underneath and then blended it into the background paper a little by sponging with Ranger Vintage Photo Distress ink:... Read more →

DDA Inspiration Challenge

I'm back with another challenge amongst fellow SplitcoastStampers Design Team current and alumni members (affectionately named the Dirty Dozen). This month's challenge was an inspiration challenge, using this photo as our inspiration. Beautiful, soothing room and colors, I thought! The rest of the inspiration guidelines were: Challenge Focus: Inspiration photo from BH&G 100 Decorating Ideas Under $100 magazine. Required Element: Make an Inspiration Journal for yourself or as a gift. It can be any size from tiny to huge. Restricted Element: No markers (SU, Copic, or any other brand), no watercolor crayons. . . . did you see that last restriction? NO COPIC MARKERS? That challenge leader, Ms. Jami, is out to get me, I tell ya! Last month I couldn't participate because we were on Spring Break, but the restriction was no die cuts and this month it's no Copics? But I survived, LOL! (Copic also makes glitter PENS)!! :D Here's the color palette I chose to work with: And here's my sketch journal I finally got around to covering for this challenge: Supplies: Stamps: Lockhart Butterflies, Cornish Heritage Farms Paisley backgrounder, Papertrey Ink Simple Alphabet Paper: Prism Sugar Cream, Suede Brown Medium, Nautical Blue Light Ink:... Read more →

WSC44: Spring Fashion

Are you ready for another weekend sketch challenge from Beate? Here's this week's: Here's my sample that uses that pretty pink paisley piece I showed you last night: All colored cardstock is Stampin' Up and all ink is Ranger Adirondack dye ink. In addition to the Paisley backgrounder (Pink Sherbet ink on Pretty in Pink cardstock), I also used Scalloped Lace (Willow ink on Celery cardstock), Climbing Floral (Cloudy Blue ink on Bashful cardstock), Geometric Flowers 2 (Lemonade ink on Banana cardstock). If you are not familiar with background stamps, check out my tutorial below on how I use them. Karen Lockhart's Roses & Daisies La Fleur Couture is unmistakable Lockhart style -- everyone recognizes it when they see these crazy but elegant concoctions of flowers, leaves, fruit and vegetables turned into high fashion! This is the first one I fell in love with and purchased. It was stamped with Adirondack Pitch Black ink on Neenah Classic Solar White cardstock and colored with these Copic markers: No, your eyes aren't fooling you, there are two cards ... we'll get to the other one in a minute! The image was cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic & Scalloped Petite Ovals and then... Read more →

Background Stamps

Cornish Heritage Farms' Backgrounder Blitz begins tomorrow (Apr 18) and runs thru Apr 25, when they will release a whole new batch of backgrounder stamps! Check out that link above, where you can find the details on how to enter to win some free new backgrounders! In conjunction with the Backgrounder Blitz, as a reminder, Ellen Hutson's store will have their own special going on backgrounders Apr 18-25 ... you should have received your coupon code in her e-Newsletter that should have arrived in your inbox on the 15th. Let me know if you didn't get that newsletter and I can give you some instructions on how to get your code. If you've never heard of or used backgrounder stamps, I thought I'd show you a quick tutorial on how I use them. The thing I like most about backgrounders is that you can have patterned paper in any color scheme under the sun and never run out! I begin by just laying the background flat on my stamping surface. These CHF backgrounders come either wood-mounted or unmounted with Smart Cushion cling mount. I prefer the unmounted simply for the ease of storage & space. You can put the unmounted... Read more →

Flourished Topiary

Look Mom, no designer paper -- can you believe it?! I worked with a color challenge today, using guava, blush & dark gray, so it's a little difficult to find just the right paper that will match a combo like that! Here's the link to the SplitcoastStampers color challenge, if you'd like to try it out. All stamps are from Flourishes and were new releases just last week. Ribbon and all cardstock from Stampin' Up! The dark gray flourish on the guava (left) panel is from the Wedding Essentials set and the dark gray flourish background on the right panel (stamped on blush cardstock with dark gray ink) is Reverse Damask. The cute topiary and sentiment are from the Siberian Iris set I used last week. I stamped it in SU's Basic Gray dye ink on blush cardstock and then watercolored the image with guava and celery reinkers. Olive Copic Spica glitter pen was used to accent the topiary. I dry embossed the edges of this focal image with my Fiskers trimmer scoring blade and then matted it with a distressed piece of SU Basic Gray cardstock. It's popped up on dimensional foam tape. If you'd like to play along... Read more →

Baby Nicholas

This card uses CPS60 layout. Seems it's the season for babies and I can never have enough baby cards on hand. This sweet image is Karen Lockhart's rendition of her own grandson, Nicholas! Or if you click on the Nicholas link, you'll see him transformed into Nichole! I stamped him onto Curious Iridescent Cryogen White shimmer cardstock with Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black and colored him with Copic markers: The image is cut and matted with Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Circles. The Baby sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Mixed Messages and is stamped on a Cuttlebug tag with Adirondack Stonewashed ink and accented with blue Copic Spica glitter pen. All circles are popped up on dimensional foam tape. Papers and striped tag are BasicGrey Oh Baby Boy and are distressed with Tonic's Edge Distresser. Stampin' Up Celery ribbon. Read more →

This & That

A couple of notes: The manufacturers of Dew Drops have gone up on their prices (guess they know they have a hot item, eh?!!) but Ellen Hutson has her price still the same this week (until April 21) of $4.99 per bottle. After that, they'll be going up to $5.99, so get them this week at a 17% savings! This Friday, April 18, Cornish Heritage Farms is kicking off a week-long Backgrounder Blitz, leading up to the next release of new backgrounder stamps. Check out THIS announcement which tells you how you can enter to win some new background stamps! Did you know Ellen Hutson also carries CHF's backgrounder stamps? She is joining in the celebration with a savings off all her backgrounders, April 18-25. You can read all about it and get the coupon code in her In Touch email newsletter that should have appeared in your inbox last night. If it didn't, you can join the newsletter mailing list at the bottom of THIS page. I'll be back on Friday with a card sampler of CHF backgrounder stamps! I'm off to do some stamping and hope to have some projects for you later today and tomorrow! Read more →

Marvy Giga Scalloped Oval Match To Spellbinders Classic Oval

A reader had this question, so I thought someone else might be interested, too. She wanted to know what Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Oval die would best fit Marvy's Giga Scalloped Oval punch. Since everyone has their own preference of how much scalloped mat shows, here's a comparison photo: My SMALL set of Classic Ovals is on the left (2nd largest oval shown) and my LARGE set is on the right (middle oval of the set is shown). These were the closest fits I found. I hope that helps someone out! I had forgotten I still have all these Marvy punches and would like to sell them. I'd like to sell my entire collection as a whole and as soon as I get them photographed and listed, I'll let you all know. If you happen to have an interest before then, you can email me at the link shown under my photograph at the top left of my blog. ETA: These punches are now listed on my FOR SALE page <= click on that link or the link over on my left top sidebar, under PAGES. Thanks! Thanks and have a wonderful weekend! Read more →

WSC43: Patterned Pears

. Happy Friday! I'll keep it short and sweet today. . This is the sketch Beate created for us to work with today/this weekend. . . And here's my sample: I just received this beautiful Lockhart Pear stamp that I had coveted for quite some time -- they were a joy to color! Card size is 5.25" square. Stamps: Lockhart Pears & Millinery Embellishment Vine, Cornish Heritage Farms Pretty Pattern backgrounder. Paper: Neenah Classic Cream, Stampin' Up! Saffron & Black. Ink: Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black & Caramel, Copic Sketch markers. Accessories: Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Rectangles, Sunflower Dew Drops, dimensional foam tape. Copic markers used: Check out samples made of this sketch by these rockin' blogger gals: Beate, Cambria Turnbow, Charmaine Ikach, Jenn Balcer, Laurie Schmidlin, Lori Craig and MaryJo Albright and I hope you try this sketch and enjoy your weekend! Read more →

Flourished Sabby Iris

Today's softer, shabbier iris card is a little more "me", I think! Flourishes' beautiful Siberian Iris is stamped with Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black dye ink on Neenah Classic Cream cardstock and colored with my beloved Copic markers: I tried a little different shading around the iris, to try and "shab" it up a bit. This was done with the three Earth colors in the top right of the photo above: The edges of the image were distressed with Tonic's Edge Distresser and then machine stitched to Stampin' Up's Cocoa mat. The background is Flourishes' Reverse Damask stamped with ColorBox Chestnut Roan fluid chalk ink on SU's Pretty in Pink cardstock. The "Just Because" sentiment is included in the set, which makes it very versatile and not just for Mother's Day. It is stamped in the same Chestnut Roan ink on cream cardstock, cut with Spellbinders Petite Scalloped Oval Nestabilities. Pink brads and ribbon are Stampin' Up! Note: I've added a Word document of the Copic Color Chart to this post. Hopefully that might help some of you who couldn't download the Excel file. Check back in tomorrow for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge! Read more →

Flourished Iris

Wow, this card turned out very bright! But I was inspired by the colors in this new Sultry paper by BasicGrey. It also turned out large -- 6" square by the time I got everything on it I wanted! But this card will be for my Mom for Mother's Day, so that's okay. I'm honored to be working with Flourishes during April & May and looking forward to using their gorgeous stamps I've had my eye on for quite some time. This new Siberian Iris set is available starting today. I used my Spellbinders Out-of-the-Box technique (detailed here) to cut down the iris image a little, leaving a flower petal sticking out of the box on the right side. The floral image was stamped in Ranger's Adirondack Pitch Black dye ink, stamped on shimmer white cardstock and cut and matted with Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic & Scalloped Rectangles. Then I colored it with these Copic markers, to match the paper: None of the Siberian Iris I Googled were these colors, but I had fun coloring it to match my paper! The beautiful bright pink satin ribbon is by May Arts and really does match the pinks in the paper, but it's... Read more →

Award

Sweet Sue nominated me for the award that you see here, and I'm very honored! Here are the five rules that go with this award: 1) You must pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogging community, no matter what language. 2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog. Click on the name to visit the blog. 3) Each award winner has to show the award that she has been given, by the one aforementioned. 4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award (I'm not sure what language the site is written in, though, so best of luck reading it!). 5) To show these rules. It's always hard for me to do this, because I don't want anyone to feel slighted and because it's hard to choose someone that hasn't already been chosen 50 times! But I'll give it a shot and perhaps these are some blogs you haven't seen (or lately!) and you'll... Read more →