copic coloring

Ugh, okay, I am back to practicing coloring with my copic markers.  After this one, however, I need to go over some water and night tutorials.  This was the best I could come up with based on the colors I had and my skill.  The image is from YamPuff on Deviant Art...she is amazing.  I saw this and thought, it's totally Isle Esme.  I will use it on a later project, but figured I would show my failures as well as my success...it is how we learn, after all.  Thanks for looking!  April 

Cullens SMASH

I started to make this for a digi challenge at TGF, but failed to get it done...obviously my idea was too big of a scope for the time I had.  I barely had them colored and cut before the deadline, let alone finished!  LOL  Oh, well, such is life.
So, all the characters are from The Greeting Farm's Wild Sprouts and are colored in copic.  The paper is from a 6x6 stack I got at Hobby Lobby but I can't swear on who it's from.  I distressed the edges then cut it on the diagonal.  The rampant lions and Cullen crest are from a sticker set I got from Toys R Us and made by NECA.  I found this iPod icon to use as the apple...my daughter cracked up and asked why I would use it, but really, why not?  The "Cullens" is made using Cricut's Nursery Rhymes font and a rub-on I got a Michaels.  I put it on a piece of Very Vanilla distressed with Tim Hotz distress inks and a sponge dauber.  Once it was done, I cut a 3.75" square of black and used the Martha Stewart punch around the page on it.  The rub-on was a bit sticky, so I decided to distress it and cover it a bit with Gold Glow smooch.  I also did the rest of the letters before mounting them.  The "Forever & Always" is from Creative Imaginations Mariah Johnson collection.  I was originally going to use a different quote, but it cluttered up the page too much.  It was supposed to say "Cullen: family is thicker than blood"  Oh well, the "forever & always" works just as well.  Thanks for looking!  April

TGF Chit Chat Night at SCS

This month's Chat and Challenge night at Splitcoast is Books!  Our fabulous farm friend, Rachel (aka raparys) is our host.  There will be three challenges you can enter: 1) favorite book - use keyword TGFCCN2, 2) favorite book turned movie - use keyword TGFCCN3, and 3) favorite children's book - use keyword TGFCCN4.  You will have the weekend to complete the challenges. 

Here is one of my entries.  I decided to make a favorite Twilight quotes page in my SMASH album.  I found all these great little icons online a long time ago, pics on Deviant Art, and quote stamps from Artful Inkables.  The quotes are stamped in Timber Staz-On.  The swirls, truck, and feathers are stamped in Versamark watermark ink.  I used the actual page from a worn copy for my favorite quote about Bella's truck.  The images of Bella & Edward are TGF's Camille & Edward coloring in copic.  I used scraps from my goodie pack I got from my heART Journalling (music scrap, tree scrap, map scrap) to make their background.  I found the Forks zipcode at CafePress.  The ticket is Tim Holtz.  The title is Close to My Heart's giggle lowercase and Inkadinkado's curly alphabet.  Thanks for looking!  April

Friday Spyday #12 - Beate

Beate's card

This week's Spyday comes from a very talented lady at SCS - Beate!  She has many tutorials and gorgeous projects that wow me every time. 

I decided to draw from the colors and the scallops.  I wanted to use more than one kind of border punch and had a lot of fun picking which ones.  I also drew from the triangle piece by making a multi-pocket card.  I started with a base of 5x12, scoring at 4 and 8.  I then cut a diagonal piece off from the 4" score to the 12" end.  I added an extra pocket behind the shortest piece.  At the top, I punched a Martha Stewart punch on Whisper White; folding it as I stitched to give it a gathered look.  I used the pinking hearts punch in black along the slant.  I used a scrap piece of pink heart printed paper to make a background for the middle pocket.  The black pocket has a white border using the lacy scallop border punch from SU.  The littlest slant flap is embossed using the snowflake Cuttlebug folder. 
I made the wrap with a pink band 1.5" wide x 10".  The image is WS Joyce digi, colored with copics and a Santa hat cut from Cricut's Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge in bubble gum pink.  The floor is made by coloring with several E group markers, then drawing lines and woodgrain with a multiliner.  She is mounted on a lacy circle nestabilities, accented with bling.  The sentiment is printed on cardstock, punched with a 1 1/4" circle, mounted on a 1 3/8" circle, and popped up on a dimensional.  Inside hides three gift cards.  
Now it's your turn!  Head over to the Farm Fresh Challenge blog to check out the rest of the Design Team samples and play along.  Thanks for looking!  April

Monday Funday #12

Here we are again!  Time to make those last minute Christmas cards!  This week's assignment: use Kraft, twine and buttons. 

The base is cherry with layers of kraft.  I used a corner rounder to trim the layers.  The image is TGF's Wild Sprout Edward and Camille...of course, they are for Twilight's Edward and Bella...and are colored with copic markers.  I added a little heart ornament for Bella to hold.  The border punch is Martha Stewart.  I stamped the sentiment from SU's Loads of Love in Whisper White on the corner before adding the assembled layers.  I wrapped some jute twine around the border piece, adding a couple of little tags with holiday words tied with baker's twine and clipped with a mini clothes pin.  I also added a button near the sentiment, tied with a piece of baker's twine and set with a glue dot. 

Inside, the sentiment and truck are from SU's Loads of Love.  The truck is pieced and mounted on dimensionals. 

inside of card

Head over to the TGF Farm Fresh Challenge blog and play along!  Thanks for looking!  April

Friday Spyday #7 with Mercy

 It's my turn to host Friday Spyday over at TGF's Farm Fresh Challenge blog.  I wanted to stick with our fun Twilight inspired theme, so I hit the Wild Sprouts section of the gallery and spied....Mercy!  I love her colors and card style and her little WS Odette is to die for! 

Mercy's card

My card is Chocolate Chip with layers of bubble gum pink and SEI Valentine themed paper.  It is double sided so I used both sides in the design.  The image is WS Dressy Joyce digi and is colored with copics and has little pearl earrings added.  She is mounted on a class oval nestabilities.  The blocks are stitched before  assembly and some brown polka dot ribbon added.  The felt heart is Heidi Swapp.  I punched the paper hearts from scraps.  The sentiment is from Artful Inkables Fictionally Inspired stamp set and is stamped in Timber Staz-On, then mounted with dimensionals. 
Inside, I have a special surprise for my friend.  The Bella bracelet is made with a heart crystal and the pewter wolf charm is inked in Timber Staz-On, then heat set.  I simply used a perferator, then folded the flap in, punching a couple of holes using my crop-a-dile.  To seal the flap, I used two mini silver brads. 
So, head over to the Farm Fresh Challenge blog and play along with us!  Thanks for looking!  April

Pixie Dust Studio "Breaking Dawn" Hop

Our friends at Pixie Dust Studio Challenge decided to celebrate the newest Twilight Saga movie by having a blog hop!  Our task:  create a project using PDS Twilight images and use red, black, white or silver and add some sparkle.  You should be arriving from Cheryl's blog.

Fire & Ice, Wolf Jacob, tent & True Love digis

I have had this paint can sitting around, so I used some Jet Black Staz-On to ink it up.  All images are colored in copic markers.  The lid has the "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb" quote printed in Twilight font and combined with the lion and lamb (True Love) digi.  The side of the can is the Eclipse camp site scene.  Edward and Jacob (Fire and Ice) are fighting for Bella's (Eclipse Bella) attention in front of the tent, while Seth (Wolf Jacob image shrunk and flipped) sits at Edward's side and Victoria (not shown) is off to the side biding her time.  I used some snow paint to add some dimension and ground the characters to the scene.  The other images are Edward and Bella (Marry Me...Bella) and the meadow (Love Sparkles).
Edward's skin is sparkling with Spica pen, but I couldn't get it to show in the photos.  I also have quotes that go with the scenes.  I used bits of the challenge color ribbon and a "twilight" icon keychain to finish the piece. 

Marry Me...Bella

Love Sparkles

To get your own fab Pixie Dust characters, hop on over to Pixie Dust Studio.  All images used are available in the Twilight Mega Pixie Pack.

Next stop on the hop: Taylor

Thanks for looking!  April

Breaking Dawn Bookmark

Happy Breaking Dawn!!!!  In celebration of the new movie, I decided to make bookmarks for my daughter and her friends.  These are stamped with stamps from Artful Inkables Into the Moonlight and Fictionally Inspired.  I backed them with Chocolate Chip cardstock and Tattered Time photo mats from DCWV.  The top of the bookmark is a decorative label punch folded in half, then set with a jumbo eyelet and threaded with ribbon.  Super fast and cute!  Be sure to come back and see more Twilight-inspired projects this week!  Thanks for looking!  April

Friday Spyday #6

It's another Friday Spyday at the Farm Fresh Challenge blog!  This week is a lovely card by theredhairedgirl. 



theredhairedgirl's card



I am sticking to the Twilight theme.  This card features Whisper White, Basic Black and DP from Hobby Lobby.  The red satin ribbon is from Michael's.  The images are TGF's Wild Sprouts Logan and Wild Sprout Jade and are colored in copic.  Jade is from the Roll Call Kit.  I stamped Logan's hoodie on black cardstock in Whisper White, masking the bottom portion, then using a gel pen to finish the "robe".  It took a little work to set the robe over Jade and I had to cut her pigtails, sigh.  If you haven't figured it out - they are Jane and Alec Volturi.  Yea, Alec should have had brown hair, but I didn't think of it until I had already colored...oh well.  The characters are mounted on Nestabilities scalloped circle and oval cuts.  The background behind the characters is from New Moon and features Jane and Alec ("They send you out for one and you come back with two...and a half....Well done.")!  The finishing touch is three mini silver brads on the opposite corners.  Be sure to head over to the TGF Farm Fresh Challenge blog and play along.  Thanks for looking!  April

November Retro-Fresh Challenge

 It's time for another Farm Fresh Retro-Fresh challenge!  This month, not only do we use a TGF stamp that is at least six months old, but use turquoise and berry pink colors.  I am sticking with using Twilight-inspired Wild Sprouts Ebony and Hugh. 
The base is Tempting Turquoise with layers of Rich Razzleberry, bubble gum pink, and DP from my local scrap store.  The border punch is card suit from EK Success.  The image is colored in copic markers, then cut out with nestabilities.  I used some mini brads from SU and a bit of ribbon.  The sentiment is printed in Twilight font, punched with 1 3/8", 1 1/2" and scalloped circle punches, then mounted with dimensionals.  The card is called a "Joy Fold" card (tutorial on SCS).

card opened

Reminder from Jess:

Don't forget that the DECEMBER Guest Designer contest ends 11/10, so make sure to get your entries in to Jess before the big reveal of Phase 1 on our Facebook page on Friday, 11/11!

What's more? Please join us at 7pm CST on Friday, November 11th in our SCS Forum for our First-EVER TGF "Customer Challenge and Chit-Chat" night! Our first night will be a MOVIE THEME event so pop some popcorn, grab your favorite candy, and join us for LIVE chatter, trivia, and a challenge with our first Customer Hostess to be revealed shortly! :)

If you're not able to join us for the live chat no worries- we will be doing these at different times of day to include our overseas friends when we can. Challenge will be open ALL weekend, too, so there will be time for EVERYONE to play! We'll wrap up about 10pm CST or whenever we conk out- but for now, get ready to join us for a night at the movies!

See you soon!

Thanks for looking!  April

Friday Spyday with Repary

It's another Friday Spy-day at TGF's Farm Fresh Challenge blog.  Today's challenge is with rapary.  You can use her design or take inspiration from elements of her card. 

rapary's card

My base is Very Vanilla with layers of Chocolate Chip and vintage paper from Graphic 45.  The punch is Stampin' Up's lacy scallop border wrapped with chocolate polka dot grosgrain from Michael's.  The image is TGF's Wild Spout Edward and Camille.  I used a masking technique then colored with warm gray copics.  Once colored, I used the classic square nestabilities to cut and emboss, then inked with Chestnut Roan cat's eye chalk.  I heat set the ink before inking with Versamark and using the deep impression embossing powder.  After the embossing cooled, I used the cracking technique before rubbing with ink along the cracks.  The last touch, adding Bella's rusted truck (SU's Loads of Love in Really Rust) and two black brads to the top right corner of the image.  Thanks for looking!  April

October's Retro Fresh Challenge at TGF!

Hop on over to TGF's Farm Fresh Challenge blog to play along with this month's Retro Fresh challenge.  This is the chance to give some older TGF stamps some extra TLC and rise to this month's challenge...animals!  No TGF animal stamps, no problem!  Dig out your paper, embellishments, etc. and go crazy! 
The card base is Chocolate Chip with layers of hand-stamped designer paper and bone paper from Paper Studio.  The border punch is EK Success paw print, wrapped with jute twine.  The image behind the stamped images is a Wolf Pack sticker from NECA.  The wolves are from Artful Inkables Into the Moonlight and the image is TGF's Wild Sprout Michael digi.  Images are colored in copic markers.  Michael is mounted on dimensionals.  Inside the easel card, the sentiment is printed in Almagro font (Jacob's handwriting) and punched with a wide oval and mounted on a punched decorative label.  The final touch is a Tim Holtz mini paperclip with a scrap piece of twine tied on.  Be sure to head to the Farm Fresh Challenge blog to get all the details of playing along.  Thanks for looking!  April

4U

This card is from Anyone for Anya's Interactive card and TGF's Farm Fresh Friday's Double Duty challenges. 

I took the idea for this card from Dawn Griffiths at Dawn's Stamping Studio.  Card base is Real Red with layers of printed paper from Paper Studio and Whisper White.  The base is cut at 5.25x12, scoring at 4 and 8".  Do you want to know the secret of the slider?  A plastic grocery bag!  I know...way to recycle and you know we all have a plastic bag somewhere!  So I cut the slide cards to fit and attached following Dawn's video instructions.  Images are Flirty Edward and Camille from TGF and the retired Things I Love set from SU.  I used rub-ons for the "YOU" and chipboard letters I sponged for the sentiment on the card front.  I punched a tab from my rounded tab punch and used the Tim Holtz tony attacher to staple in place. Just tug the tab and the other card slides out the other end.  A little black satin ribbon finishes the card.  Yea, there are things I would change, but I do like the effect.   Thanks for looking!  April



card right

card front

card left

And they lived happily ever after...

This is for TGF's week 4 royalty challenge.  This week we needed to be as creative as possible, but include at least one of the following: castle, crown, carriage or carats.  I managed three of the four, so I am pretty happy with myself.

The carriage is from Cricut's Happily Ever After cartridge and is Cinderella's carriage cut at 5 1/4".  It is backed with chipboard and I cut a chipboard easel for displaying.  It is decorated with Sukura Clear Stardust pen and pearl accents.  The images are TGF's Dressy Edward and Dressy Camille digis and are colored with watercolor pencils.  I added the ribbon sash to Edward and cut the crown, dipping it in silver glitter, then making a cut in her hair to slide it in.  I also added pearl earrings and bracelet, as well as adding some extra bling to her dress.  They are mounted with a thick foam dimensional.  The sentiment is printed in Twilight font and cut out with the decorative label punch.  I love the TGF Twilight inspired characters and thought they were fitting because the story is so much like a modern fairytale.  I just couldn't resist using them!  Thanks for looking!  April

view to show dimension

carriage assembled before characters

Twilight birthday card

My soul sis, Amy, is celebrating her birthday this month! Since we both love Twilight, I decided to make her a Edward card. Paper is retired Creamy Caramel and Very Vanilla. The base is cut at 12x5 1/2, then I measured the size of the single stamp and made a pocket inside. I made a little over a quarter inch score inside to leave room. The sheet music is stamped in CTMH Brown Bag on Very Vanilla, then crumpled and inked with Chestnut Roan cat's eye chalk, after distressing the edges. The Edward is from Greeting Farm and colored in watercolor pencils. I used the half pears on the edges of Edward, and photo brad, and some ribbon. The border is the SU/EK Success pinking hearts. The sentiment inside is from one of the Sale-a-bration set. I used the word window punch to make the slot for her present. Thanks for looking! April

Stamp Something's March Digi Challenge

So here is my contribution to Stamp Something's challenge. I made this anniversary card for one of my BFFs. She loves Twilight as much as I do, so I made this one with the Greeting Farm's Dressy Edward and Dressy Camille digis. They are colored in watercolor pencils, then blended with SU's blending pen. I used Zig's two way glue pen to add glitter to Edward's tie and Bella's bow and shoes. The card base is 6 inches, with the layers cut at 5.5 and 5. The base color is retired SU Bordering Blue, then Basic Grey, and Whisper White. I stamped the swirls from Artful Inkables twilight set in Staz-On Dove Grey. I then spritzed with Sea Breeze Smooch and, once dry, added the bling. The sentiments are from Stampin Up's Congrats and Whimsical Words. The front sentiment is mounted on a wide oval and rounded punch. The ribbon is SU's Night of Navy. Inside, I used SU's scalloped border punch, a couple of gem brads and the wedding rings are from Hobby Lobby and are mounted with glue dots. Thanks for looking! April

New Moon Midnight Release

Here is the LO from my daughter going to New Moon for the opening night. We had so much fun meeting with friends and the girls sat all on their own, fully decked out in Twilight gear.

The LO is inspired from pagemaps...they are just awesome! The base paper is hand-stamped with the Twilight rubber stamp set from Barnes & Noble. (I made several different papers when I bummed them from a friend.) The B&T papers are Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby and were scraps that I kept. The red cardstock is open stock from Michael's and is punched with the EK Success border punch. The digis are from the Greeting Farm and colored in watercolor pencils. Edward is then covered in a very light coat of Zig two-way glue pen and dusted with micro-glitter. Font is Cricut's Stone Script and cut at 1.75 and 1.25 inch. Across the pictures is a scrap of white cardstock and layered with Tim Holtz acrylic film strip. I used Jet Black Staz-On and studio g mini block alphabet to stamp directly on the film to give it the look of part of the film. I also used a zig-zag stitch along the papers that are stacked. Thanks for looking! April

Mural update

Here is the continuation of the blog hop project. I finally got the saying up, but we are still moving and fixing other things in the room. The saying is from Michael's vinyl collection and cost $14.99 (without the coupon).

Can I say what a pain in the butt the gold lettering is?! The metallic finish stuck to the transfer tape and rubbed off onto it. We had to use a straight edge to pick it off a bit at a time and it had a terrible time sticking to the wall. The black sticks just fine. We had minor problems with the tree due to the detail, but the letters did have more trouble releasing from the transfer.

Thought I would share the pics and I am still debating on Edward and Bella. I can't blow them up too much but I think they are too small and lost in the midst of the rest of the mural. Oh well...we shall see. Thanks for looking! April

Happy Birthday Greeting Farm Blog Hop!

Happy birthday to the Greeting Farm! Here is my contribution to the hop. We are currently redecorating my daughter's room into Twilight. We put this tree from SU up and added a little apple from Cricut's Doodlecharms. Next is the dry run of the Edward and Bella-inspired stamps from the Greeting Farm. Flirty Edward is from the digi, but is available in rubber. I like the digi, because I can enlarge them or stretch their heights. Bella is called Camille and is in rubber from their Wild Sprouts collection. I started with them on paper and watercolor but I am thinking I will to blow them up on a copier or overhead, then trace them to paint in. (Her room used to have Lizzie McGuire that I had painted on her wall with acrylic, but it is uber hard to sand and prime over so I am thinking about alternatives to using acrylic.) I am waiting until we have her quote "Real Love stories have no endings." but it's on backorder from Michael's...pooh! Oh well. Thanks for looking and be sure to hop back to the Greeting Farm for you next stop on the hop!

i wanna be Edward Cullen LO

Here is my son hamming it up for the camera Halloween 2009. He did a great job portraying Edward Cullen from Twilight. Isn't he just too cute?
The LO design is from Close to My Heart's Cherish book. Papers are Bazzill black and dark red. The apple B&T paper is from Hobby Lobby. The Team Edward B&T is hand stamped from the Barnes & Noble Twilight Stamp set in Dove Grey Staz-On. The red Bazzill is inked with Blazing Red Staz-On. I also used the Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch on the photo mats. I roughed up the edges on some of the pieces. The title is printed in be safe (Edward's signature) and twilight fonts on vellum. The Cullen crest accent is also from the Twilight stamp set from Barnes & Noble. The Edward embellishment is Flirty Edward from the Greeting Farm. They have it in Digi or as part of a rubber set. No worries, they have all the Cullens in some form! Yes, I made him so he sparkles! It's hard to see but I assure you, he does sparkle. I also added some ribbon, brads and spiral clips.

Thanks for looking! April