Pork of July

(If you are looking for today's Repeat Impressions sketch challenge scroll down, or click here. )

 It isn't even July yet...and look at me, a Fourth of July card!  Woot! And two posts in one day...Double Woot!

This card represents one of the reasons I love Hambo Stamps!  Their sentiments just crack me up, and the one on this card is no different.

For this card, I used the Hambo image of "Uncle Ham" (3419) by stamping it with Marvy black dye ink onto X-Press It cardstock.  I colored the image multimedia style with Copic markers and Caran d'Ache color pencils.  I used the out-of-the-box technique to let the flag hang out from the image panel.  Polar White Flower Soft was used on Uncle Ham's beard, and some Crystal Stickles add some sparkles to the sparkler. The image was framed with black cardstock.

I used my Cricut George and Basic Shapes cartridge to cut the stars from black and white cardstock.  I adhered small bows of Maraschino Baker's Twine to these stars.

Patterned paper is from Bo Bunny and is framed with black cardstock. Small ric rac from white cardstock was cut with a Nestabilities die.  The layout is inspired by today's Sketch Challenge on Splitcoast, SC#391.

The Hambo sentiment "Pork of July" (3416) was stamped using Versafine Onyx Black Pigment ink.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog.  So hard to believe the Fourth of July is next week.  Yikes!  What has happened to my summer?  Wishing all of my fellow American readers a happy holiday.

Frogs in Underpants

Never did I dream that I would have a blog post titled "Frogs in Underpants", but I do!

It's Wednesday, which means it is time for a "What If? Wednesday Sketch".  You have two weeks to enter your card using the sketch posted on the Repeat Impressions blog...The House That Stamps Built.  All participants will have a chance to win a $25 Repeat Impressions gift certificate.  I hope you'll play along with us. 

The sketch this week looks like this:

I decided to flip the sketch, and omit the rhombus (yep, I'm up on my common core standards!).  I guess you can say I'm a rebel.  I stamped the Repeat Impressions image "Underpants Frogs" (7120-L) with Marvy black dye ink onto X-Press It cardstock.  I colored the frogs with Copic markers and cut around each frog with my Cutter-bee detail scissors.

Using my Nestabilities die, I made the two triangular shapes to the sketch.  I sponged on the following dye inks to create a green color gradient: Whispers Savoy Green, Whispers Whispers Sage, and Whispers Green Leaf.  I paper pierced around the triangles, faux stitched with a colored pencil, and framed with black cardstock.  I cut the circle with a Nestabilities die, and sponged it and paper pierced it as well.  It too was framed with black cardstock.

I paper pierced around a piece of Doodlebug Design patterned paper, faux stitched with a colored pencil, and framed with black and white cardstock.  I arranged all of my elements to adhere to the sketch, and then placed the frogs onto the card.

A bright pink polka dotted bow was added to the card for the finishing touches.

In some way, this card reminds me of my bedroom when I was a child.  I had this hideous (though I'm fond of the memory) wallpaper with pink and green frogs sitting on lily pads. 

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today.  Make sure you visit the other Rock Stars for some more sketch interpretations.

• Cheri Weston
• Dawn Bennett
• Joy Hadden
• Karen Hasheck
• Lynette Neus
• Makiko Jones
• Patti Gilliam

Cool Dog

I don't know about you, but I sure could go for a float on the water with beverage in hand, just like the dog in this new adorable image from Hambo Stamps called "Cool Dog" (4904).

I stamped "Cool Dog" (4904) with Marvy black dye ink onto X-Press It cardstock.  I colored the image with Copic markers and then cut around the image.  Then, with my Copics I colored three strips of X-Press It cardstock with various blues.  I used a circle punch and cut partial and random indentations along one side of each strip and edged with a black Copic marker to form the rocking waves.  (I saw this tip on Pinterest, and I absolutely love it because I don't have a wave die and I really like how the waves aren't as uniform as wave dies...more true to life).

I then place my waves, and Cool Dog floating on the waves, onto a piece of patterned paper from TPC Studio.  I framed my scene with white cardstock and another panel of patterned paper from TPC Studio.

The sentiment is from Hambo's digital set "Snorkel Boy" .  I drew a cloud-like shape around the sentiment with a Memento Tuxedo black marker and cut.  I place my cloud into my scene.  Baker's Twine was added along the bottom of the card for the finishing touches.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today.  I hope you have a happy day!

(On a personal note, thanks to all of you for your prayers and well wishes.  My husband was discharged on Thursday.  I am now catching up on my sleep, my stamping and of course, taking card of him as he recovers.  He is getting stronger every day.  Nurse Sloopy...a "Cool Dog" herself, has been wonderful.  Perhaps this card should be for her.)

Happy Summer

Today is the first day of summer.  The only reason I even know the date is that when I drove through Sonic's drive thru for my daily vice...a vanilla Diet Coke, there were signs posted everywhere that Wednesday, June 20 is the first day of summer and Sonic would be celebrating with half price milkshakes all day.  Perhaps, I'll have the chance to partake in one.  I can only hope summer will be better than my late spring.

But I digress.  This is a post for Repeat Impressions.  Rock Star Cheryl Weston challenged us to create something to celebrate summer.  Easy peasy with all of the great summer images from Repeat Impressions. 

For my card, I used the Repeat Impressions image "Beach Time" (4503-K).  I stamped it with Marvy black dye ink onto X-Press It cardstock.  I colored the image with Copic markers and cut with Cutter-bee scissors.  On a circle of X-Press It, I used Copic markers to create a beach scene.  A white uni-ball signo pen created the white caps, and Polar White Flower Soft was used for the ocean's foam.  A Memento Tuxedo Black marker was used to draw the birds.  I paper pierced around the circle, and adhered it and the adorable girl to a piece of patterned paper from TPC Studio that was cut using a Nestabilities die.

The large panel of the card is made of patterned paper from Stella and Rose.  I paper pierced around this panel, and it was frame with the TPC Studio paper.

I stamped the Repeat Impressions sentiment "Happy Summer" (9003-E) with Versafine Onyx Black onto a sentiment panel of the patterned paper from TPC Studio.  (This happens to be the Stamp of the Week, which makes it half price.  Woot!)

Finishing touching on this card include the use of Baker's Twine and a clear yellow button with a Baker's Twine Bow. 

Join us in this Designer's Choice Challenge on the Repeat Impressions blog, The House That Stamps Built.  Read the details and show us your creations...you may just win a little something.

Also be sure to visit the other Rock Stars for some more inspiration:

• Cheri Weston
• Dawn Bennett
• Joy Hadden
• Karen Hasheck
• Lynette Neus
• Makiko Jones
• Patti Gilliam

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today! And thank you so much for your prayers for my husband.  He had his surgery on the 15th, and he his getting stronger everyday.  We are hoping for a discharge later this week.

Beach 'Brellas

A couple of weeks ago, one of my husband's nurses told me that I should rest whenever my husband rests...basically suggesting to take advantage of any rest I can get, whenever it be.  So, I've decided to heed that same advice for posting to this blog...post when I can.  And today just happens to be a two-post-kind-of-day!  Woot!

If you are looking for the Repeat Impressions "What If Wednesdays" sketch challenge, scroll down or click here.

I wanted to share a card I started last night and finished this morning.  I stamped the Hambo image of "Beach 'Brellas" (3408) with Marvy black dye ink onto X-Press It cardstock.  I colored this awesome image with Copic markers and carefully cut with my Cutter-bee scissors.  I then drew a beach scene with Copic markers onto a rectangle panel of X-Press It cardstock.   The ocean white caps were drawn with a Uni-ball Signo white pen.  The birds were drawn with a Memento Tuxedo black marker.  Polar White Flower Soft was used to create the ocean's foam where it meets the sand. 

I then framed my ocean scene with a piece of white cardstock.  I placed it onto a piece of patterned paper from Bella Blvd, which was also framed with white cardstock.  I placed the umbrellas slightly below the scene using Pop-Dots.  Two pink flip-flop brads where used, along with Pink Sorbet Baker's Twine from The Twinery, for the finishing touches on this card.

I was inspired by Sketch Challenge #389 on Splitcoast. 

TAKE ME THERE!  I sure wish I could go to the beach! 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today!  I will continue to create and post when I can. 

Aim For The Clouds

 

It's Wednesday, which means it is time for a "What If? Wednesday Sketch".  You have two weeks to enter your card using the sketch posted on the Repeat Impressions blog...The House That Stamps Built.  All participants will have a chance to win a $25 Repeat Impressions gift certificate.  I hope you'll play along with us. 

The sketch this week looks like this:

For my card, I stamped the Repeat Impressions image "Bi-plane Silhouette" (9111-I) from last month's  "Big Boys Toys" release with Versafine Onyx Black pigment ink onto X-Press It cardstock.  I cut around the image with my Cutter-bee scissors.  I stamped the Repeat Impressions sentiment "Aim for the Clouds" (9101-G), also from the "Big Boys Toys" release with Onyx Black pigment ink onto X-Press It cardstock.  I attached these two elements with some Charcoal Baker's Twine from The Twinery. 

Then, using a Nestabilities die, I cut the white triangular scalloped shapes from X-Press It cardstock.  I lightly sponged the edges with Distress Ink Tumbled Glass dye ink.  I used a whole punch to punch holes at the two of the corners of each triangle and hung these triangular scalloped shapes like pennants with some more Charcoal Baker's Twine onto a piece of patterned paper from Pebbles Inc.  I framed this panel with black cardstock.  Blue metallic star brads were added to the pennants for the finishing touches.

Can't believe I made a card with no coloring!  (gulp!)  But, I'm thinking this could be a masculine-like graduation card?  Perhaps?

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today.  Make sure you visit the other Rock Stars for some more sketch interpretations.

• Cheri Weston
• Dawn Bennett
• Joy Hadden
• Karen Hasheck
• Lynette Neus
• Makiko Jones
• Patti Gilliam

Calla Lily on Kraft

A couple of days before Chris had his heart attack, I had the honor of posting on the Rubbernecker Stampin Sisterhood blog.  I haven't had the chance to share that post with you until now.  Thanks for sticking with me everyone.

Confession time:  I still haven't cleared my crafting area since I made my card for the Garden Hop. So, I made the decision to see if I could make a different card using the same two stamps I used for my hop card.  One thing I know for sure is Rubbernecker stamps are so versatile, so I was confident I could pull off my little self mini-challenge.    (And here's the sad thing as of June 11:  my area is STILL a mess!)

For my card, I stamped the Rubbernecker image of "Calla Lilies" (SKU: 506-01) with Marvy black dye onto Kraft.  I colored the image with Coloursoft Pencils and sprayed with a workable fixative.  I then framed this piece of kraft with black cardstock.    I stamped the Rubbernecker sentiment of "thinking of YOU" (SKU: 565-10) with Versafine Black Onyx and then framed this sentiment panel with black cardstock.  I then arranged the sentiment onto the kraft.  I placed this image/sentiment combination onto a piece of white cardstock that I also framed with black cardstock. 

For finishing touches, I adhered a black and white striped bow (that I found on the floor of my husband's car (?)...he has no idea where it came from!). 

From the Heart

I've been pretty inactive for the past two weeks on this blog. I wanted to share the reason behind my absence. Two weeks ago yesterday, my 41 year old husband suffered from a heart attack and for the past fourteen days he has been in the hospital. He was just discharged yesterday evening. We are looking at triple bypass surgery at the tail end of next week.

Earlier in the week, I had my Prismacolor pencils at the hospital, along with this wonderful heart image from Terry Medaris Art Stamps that I had stamped onto Bristol Smooth paper with Stazon Jet Black ink. It was so therapeutic to just color. This particular image of Terry Medaris has been on my mind since the first chest pains occurred. I wanted to make the image bright and cheerful, just like my husband's future. Once I had the image colored, I sprayed it with workable fixative. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things.  I doodled a bit under it with a Memento Tuxedo Black marker.  The patterned paper from My Mind's Eye was framed with black cardstock.  Baker's Twine was used for the finishing touches for this card.

 

I cannot thank Hambo Stamps, Repeat Impressions, and Rubbernecker Stamps enough for their understanding for my absence from their design team activities. The cards and messages for my husband, and their outpouring of their prayers have truly been uplifting. It is absolutely amazing and heartwarming that internet acquaintances I have made in this stamping community have given me such comfort and hope. Thank you so much. I will stamp and create when I can. Thanks for your continued prayers.

Bacon Bit Debut

Last week, it was announced on the Hambo Stamps blog, Talk to the Ham, that I am now an official Bacon Bit. I am beyond thrilled to be joining this talented design team. Hambo Stamps are so adorable and humorous. They totally crack me up. I look forward to laughing all the way through my term.

For my first project, I am joining this week's Hoedown Challenge.  Check it out!  I hope you can play along too!  You just may become Queen of the Hoedown, or win Best of the Show.  Check out the Hoedown Challenge blog for all of the details.

For my card, I printed the Hambo digital image of "Snorkel Boy" onto X-Press It cardstock. I used a Nestabilities circle die to cut the main image panel, using the out-of-the-box technique. I colored the image with Copic markers and paper pierced around the circle. I applied some Diamond Glaze onto the mask to give it some shine. I colored the cod with Copic markers and cut around the image with my Cutterbee scissors. The hilarious sentiment is also from Hambo Stamps. The large panel of this card is from Best Creation Inc patterned paper. I paper pierced this panel as well. A sheer blue ribbon complete this card, along with a few drops of Stickles.

 Make sure you check out the projects from the other Bacon Bits!

• Carolina Little
• Deborah Anton
• Jan Hunnicutt
• Kris Chirhart
• Meredith Winston

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today!