That would have been SO COOL...

I really wanted to design for Spellbinders this year but I didn't get selected to go on to the second round... I begged and pleaded with God but perhaps I wanted it for the wrong reasons. Seriously whats wrong with wanting to go to Arizona for a 5 days and get a bunch of free stuff and have people think your art was cool for a year!

I bought a cutsie stamp...

I'm not sure what the reason however, for me, buying a cutsie stamp just doesn't happen. I'm very glad I broke down and bought this Heidi Grace collection called Valentine's Day. I haven't been to Archiver's for ages and it was like a kid in the candy store! My DH said I could have a mini spree if I wanted, why didn't I take advantage of his generosity! Oh well next time...

Simple beauty...

Life has been so busy, between going to school, catering to my children and trying to create I don't know what is what anymore...

last minute change...

So, at the last minute I decided to whip up another card to submit rather the the Life Delights card from the previous post... So last night I sent everything off and to my horror I realized I sent the wrong image! I resent my submission along with a humble apology and the receiver graciously said no problem, whew!

And here they are...

After many long sleepless nights I have my submissions to send to Spellbinders to for the design team I am happy with the results but confound it I have no idea how to change the dpi setting!

Thank You Juli...

Yesterday was an amazingly intense day and I am so glad it's over all except the part of receiving an adorably crafted cupcake from Juli aka The Stamp Teacher. Check out her post you'll see my awesome prize and then drool over her newly designed chocolate covered strawberry!

My new favorite technique...

I guess it's actually two techniques & I'll start with the easier to explain: the usage of lots for black, black stamping and black matting it really makes colors pop big time! The other is a technique I recently saw on SCS I believe it was smash inking or something to that effect. You start with 2 sheets of shiny cs the same size, (I used cheap photo paper not suitable for pictures but perfect for stamping and inking) picking 3 or more colors of reinkers drop a few drops of each color on one sheet of cs then spray each side with a water bottle a few times and press uninked side onto inked side (working quickly) and press down all over. I suggest you work on some scraps and possibly wear gloves if staining bothers you, excess ink and water will seep out! Peel apart the two sheets take clean sheets of copy paper place on top of each piece of cs to absorb extra water and ink. Allow the cs to dry completely before stamping any images or they will bleed! The rest is up to you... BR-T

There are never enough thank you's in the world...

I'm going to try to say these two words at least once a day!

For those who share....

Thank you to those who share your techniques and ideas! Tiff, I remember many moons ago you posted a brilliant card with Alcohol Inks on vellum her is my attempt in the form of a Valentine card.

A Hip Tip...

I came by a happy accident today while playing around with the Cuttlebug. I unknowingly ran through a die with a scrap of paper in the mix and to my dismay the shape of the scrap was impressed into my intended frame. My dismay quickly turned to excitement, I cut out several heart shapes stacked them up ran this black frame through with the nestled hearts under it and a rubber mat over them and this heart impression remained. In this instance it's pretty subtle but I plan on doing some more experimentation in the future...

I still love to color!

Today I decided to color in images with a water brush as long as you stamp your images in a archival base you should be able to avoid smearing...

The next holiday...

Soon love will be in the air, which means time to crank out the cards. Maybe not so much but I can truly say these are a labor of Love!

Happy New Year!

OK,I have absolutely no idea how 2008 escaped so quickly...time flies when your having fun! And fun has been a big part of my life lately, I recvd the ever popular Cuttlebug and three sets of Nestabilities which rock my world! If you are able, these are a must have or if you are like me ask for you birthday or whatever off-the-cuff holiday you can dream up that may entitle you to something special!

Snow is good...

Though I dread these intensely cold days, I really love snow...we all do in this family. This lo isn't hot off the press however it best describes our daily activities during winter break and all! Just a quick note the snowflakes on these pages are actually trees cut several times from Cricuts Christmas Cheer.Have a Merry Christmas!BR-T

Brrytoes!

At the moment it is a balmy -7 ugh... how do I cope a bright and cheery card of course! I have seen others use the circle to make amazing trees and flowers so I thought today was the day. This card was easy peasy to make: using a longer and shorter flourish I created the base of a flower and extra foliage. I used my circle punches to cut out three different sized circles stamped and distressed then layered them and quartered another circle for petals. Lastly I added a brad and used foam squares for added height.