16 Candles

Happy Birthday Nick! Sixteen years ago today at this precise time of the day my son was born. He came into the world a little early but that was just fine with me.  What a joyous day that was and every day since!  This is the birthday card I made for his celebration of 16 years today.

This adorable image is from High Hopes Stamps.  I've had it forever and can't quite remember what the name of it is.  It was colored with Copics and Prismacolor pencils.  The papers are "Life of the Party" from My Mind's Eye.  My Nick is definitely the life of the party and the light of my life.  He's a swimmer, baseball player, a leader, good student and an all-around great kid.  Happy Birthday son!

Thanks for stopping by!

Gordon - High Hopes Challenge #81

This is one of my favorite High Hopes stamps. The little critter's name is Gordon.  Doesn't he just crack you up?!  I had decided to use Gordon on the Dad's Day card I made for my son to give to my hubby since their bellies look about the same!!!!  This also meets the High Hopes Challenge #81 which is "anything goes". 

I started by coloring my friend Gordon with my Copic markers and he is a fun one to color (most of the High Hopes stamps are).  I used my Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 6 dies to cut out the image and sponged the edges with Tim Holtz' "Old Paper" distress ink. 

The Terracotta layer (Papertrey Ink cardstock) was also created using the Nesties Label 6 dies and then distressed using Papertrey Ink's impression plate "linen and canvas".  The sentiments are from Amuse stamps.  I used Stamping Up's Bordering Blue paper for the back panel, embossed the texture from a Cuttlebug "diamond plate" embossing folder and sponged the edges with the same color ink. The card base is SU River Rock cardstock.

You just can't help but smile at Gordon and his teeth and belly.  Hope you like this stamp and card as much as I do.  Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Backwoods Birthday

Well to start off I've been surfing lots of blogs lately, looking at card photos and layout styles in an effort to improve the interest of the photos I take for my blog.  There is a fabulous tutorial of sorts on photo taking at Becky Oehlers blog that I ran across and learned a few things there.  At least it got me thinking about spicing up my card photos - not sure my new photos here are the best example but at least it's a wholehearted try!  One thing she mentioned was that she touched up every photo she used for her blog.  So that's what I tried with this card photo - not just composition but retouching to max the quality of the image.  Let me know what you think.

Now about the card... This is a High Hopes Stamps image that I colored using my copic markers.  I used the Cosmo Cricket DP "Want S'More?" again.  I thought it was perfect for this back-woodsy image.  I used Stampin' Up paper in Soft Suede, Ruby Red and Mustard which match pretty perfectly with the DP.  A bit of distressing on all the edges and the addition of a few buttons (buttons perk up everything) seems to make the card work for me -- and I hope my coworker who is going to get this for his birthday!  He's sort of the outdoorsy type and should like it just fine.

I'd also like to call your attention to my new photo watermark design.  I ordered this online for $2 at Karen Giron's beautiful blogsite (The Sweetest Thing...).  She has a great selection -- different designs and colors available.  She creates them and emails them to you and I have to tell you she is very quick at processing your order and getting them off.  They are really cute designs and easy to order off her site through Paypal.  She even provides great step-by-step instruction on how to import the image with your photo imaging software.  It was easy peasy to do and I love my new design.  I'll tell you it's a lot faster than typing it in every time - that's my favorite part of it!  You can access the Watermark post on her site by clicking here.  I also have a link in my right side bar to that post. 

Thanks so much for visiting me today.  Please take a few minutes to check out the links to my other creations and to the other blog links where those talented women will inspire you as much as they do me.

Celebrating Jenny

So, last night I practically pulled an all-nighter working on updating my blog look. I found this wonderful background and template from Leelou Blogs - I just love it. It comes with the post separators, header, layout and design and was very easy to install.

So while I was on a blog-roll, I thought I'd upload several cards that never made it out of my camera. And this card is one of them.

I made this card for my sweet niece Jenny and it reminds me of her. There is a picture of her sitting like this with "Grandpa" when she was younger. She was just the cutest darn thing. So when I saw this stamp from High Hopes, I thought it was perfect for the occasion.

I colored the image with my Copic markers, cut it out, along with the other High Hopes images used here, then popped them with dimensionals.

Jenny really appreciates the cards I make and I don't think this one disappointed her. Love you Jenny!

Bedelia Butterfly

Just a quick post tonight with a card I made last week. This features Bedelia Butterfly from High Hopes Stamps.

I personally love High Hopes images - they're whimsical and fun to color with Copic markers.

In fact, I love them so much that my friend Heide and I are in mourning that they will no longer be selling to average, everyday stampers like us (instead going wholesale only). We do however have "high hopes" that a store in SE Michigan will carry their stamps. Of course with our last order, we could open a a store of our own - if you know what I mean!!!!

This card was quick and easy. I colored Bedelia with my Copics and cut her out. I used SU Tea Party DP and bent over the corner to show a bit more yellow to coordinate with how I colored Bedelia's dress. The rest of the embellishments are Prima flowers and a bit 'o ribbon. Oh, and I stitched around the card with my new Janome Sew Mini machine that I had ordered from Hancock Fabrics online.

Hope you like it. Let me know your thoughts!

Recipe:

Stamps - High Hopes "Bedelia Butterfly"
Paper - SU Almost amethyst, Saffron, SU Tea Party DP
Ink - Saffron, Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for image
Accessories - Prima flowers, brads, ribbon, rhinestone brad

Posies for Ewe - High Hopes Challenge #39

Here's my card for the High Hopes blog Challenge #39. You have to incorporate daisies as part of the card in your choice of various ways. Here I have daisies in the DP and on the image itself.


This is my first time playing the High Hopes challenge so I'm excited that I already had this card made today, ready for posting here that seems to fit the challenge just fine! Who could resist this darling lamb?


The image is High Hopes "Posies for Ewe" (which I love) and has been colored using a variety of Copic markers.

This little lady was cut out using Nesties oval and scallop oval dies.


This won't be my last High Hopes challenge - I love their stamps!


Thanks for looking!





Recipe:
Stamps - High Hopes "Posies for Ewe" and "Ewe's So Sweet"
Paper - Paper Studio "Small Multi Flowers" and "Purple Gingham; SU Lovely Lilac, Pink Passion cardstock
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Lovely Lilac, Copic markers for the image
Accessories - Rhinestones, SU scalloped edge punch, scallop circle punch, corner punch, Nesties oval and scallop oval dies

Perfect Picnic!

Today is a beautiful, sunny day in SE Michigan. A perfect day for a picnic and that thought brought me to this card!

I found this DP at Hobby Lobby a couple months ago and knew it would be perfect with this image from High Hopes.

The card measures 6x6" when closed. For the short front flap I scored the cardstock at 5".

This stamp just cracks me up!

I stamped it using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored it using a variety of Copic markers. The image was cut out using Nesties Deckled Edge rectangle dies.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Recipe:

Stamps - High Hopes (main image), Inkadinkado 95540 (ants on yellow gingham paper)

Paper - Papertrey Ink New Leaf and Hibiscus Burst; Stampin Up Gable Green; The Paper Studio Fruits & Flowers, Yellow Gingham

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics(Y11, Y15, Y17, YG00, YG41, YG11, YG63, YG67, E21, E31, E33, E37, E53, E08, R22, R32, R35, C3, C7)

Accessories - Nesties Deckle Edge Rectangle dies, Papertrey Hibiscus Burst grosgrain ribbon