Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Blue Butterfly Birthday


Blue Butterfly Birthday
Originally uploaded by Buckeye
I found myself needing a birthday card for a co-worker. Her favorite color is blue and she loves butterflies, so this is what I came up with. The butterfly stamp is an oldie, but goodie from Hero Arts. I used patterned paper from Provocraft for the background, and ran part of the card through my Cuttlebug. Colored the butterfly with Copic markers (imagine that) on regular cardstock. Tried to do some blending and shading.

I hope she likes it. I kinda do.

Monday, May 28, 2007

11 Flower Pot Girl ATCs


11 Flower Pot Girl ATCs
Originally uploaded by Buckeye
I recently joined a swap off of Lu-La's Corner. The task was to make ATCs, though there wasn't a theme or anything.

So, here you see what I came up with. I decided to ink a stamp by Maryse Carrier that I bought at Stampotique earlier this year in Arizona and color with Copic markers on regular cardstock. (Have a mentioned that my visit to Stampotique was the highlight of that trip...sigh!) I thought this image would be the perfect opportunity to practice my coloring and blending using the markers only, no shading with my Prismacolor pencils. Fun and relaxing to do, though the only struggle was the image seemed rather big for me to do anything but layout the ATC the way I did. Living up to the self-proclaimed title of "Layout Challenged Queen". Yesiree.Flower Pot Girl ATC

Spring Time Blogger's Swap

A few months ago, I signed up to participate in Sarah's Spring Time Blogger's Swap over on Splitcoast Stampers. You may recall, I made a card with a Rabbit on it.

Anyway, believe you me when I say that I was overwhelmed with the beauties that were in the return envelope for me. Just gorgeous creations.

I sit and look at them often. I just love having actual cards in my hand. So much better than seeing just a photo in a gallery and a blog.

Thank you ladies for creating such amazing pieces of work! Though I wish my readers could see them in person like me...lucky me...I will show you what I received:

Starting with our hostess, Sarah. Just look at the this uplifting card where the sentiment reads "spread your wings". Sarah bleached the Just Johanna bird image and then watercolored it. Thanks Sarah!
Sarah's Card

Next, we have this beautiful card from Connie. The photo here does not do this justice, so I urge you to go to her blog to get further details and see a much better picture of this. I absolutely love the layout of this card. It opens where you see the white in the middle of the card. So creative and different. And, the sentiment rings so true. More and more, I'm loving purple, green and yellow together, and I believe that Connie's card is the reason for that. Thanks Connie!
Connie's Card

This next card, is just delightful. It is by Anne Marie. The purple and the pink just sparkle in real life. This card makes me want more punches, that's for sure to have windows such as this one. The simplicity of the card is quite elegant. Anne Marie was even kind enough to provide some extra images that were related to the card as well as an envelope ready to send off. Thanks Anne Marie! Anne Marie's Card

Terri's card just screams spring with these beautiful pastel colors. Terri is a patterned paper genious in terms of layout and the little details that pull a card together like her great ribbon work, and how she turned silver brads into white brads using white embossing powder. The glittered sentiment is made with Dazzing Diamonds glitter. Thanks Terri!Terri's Card

And last, but not least, I was lucky to receive a card made by Nancy. This is not patterned paper you are looking at. Nancy stamped the flower image expertly onto the colored cardstock and used a white gel pen for the accents. She then cut and assembled. What a beautiful card! Thanks Nancy! Nancy's Card

So there you have it! Creations from some of rubberstamping's finest. I was thrilled and honored to be a part of such a talented group. Please, visit their blogs for inspiration. I know I have been doing so lately.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

More VSN Fun


Monochromatic Green
Originally uploaded by Buckeye.
Have a couple more of my creations to share for SCS's VSN.

The lily of the valley card is a large background stamp from Northwoods. Can you believe I picked it up last summer on clearance for a ridiculously low price, like around $4, at a stamp store in Ft. Wayne?

Anyway, I thought this image would be a perfect one for the challenge to create a monochromatic card. The image is stamped with Versamark Watermark and heat embossed using clear fine detail powder. Then, of all things, I rubbed Brillance Pearlescent Lime Pigment ink all over the card. I used Brilliance Moonlight White reinker to "paint" the flowers and add highlighting to the leaves.

A sweet lady from Atlanta emailed me this technique, and this was my first attempt. I like the result, though I think it could be perfected a bit more.

Black-Eyed Susan ArtistThe second card I'm sharing is my creation from the challenge to use the colors from a black eyed susan. Well, as you can imagine, I had to use Google Images to even know what one looked like, as I'm not the flower person at all. The challenge shared that when they run the Preakness in Maryland, black eyed susans are not yet in bloom, though I'm taking that they are the race's official flower. Anyway, they have to dye daisies. Wow! Little bit of trivia I didn't know, and was certainly the springboard for this card.

Main image is from Stampotique. Easel is from Close to My Heart. Daisy "painting" is from Hero Arts. As is my trend lately, I stamped images with Marvy Black Dye, colored with Copic Markers and shaded with Prismacolor pencils.

Don't know if I have enough time to get any more challenges in for VSN, but I've appreciated the opportunity to get the creative juices flowing. I hope I get to keep creating into the week.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Dream In Color


Wizard of Oz Dream
Originally uploaded by Buckeye.
So, I find myself in the middle of a relaxing weekend, with very little that I have to do. Feels great. I mean, I could be doing some cleaning and laundry, but those are things that can be put off, right?

I am taking some time to participate in VSN over at SCS. Yeah! I had so much fun participating in February, and I was so bummed I was out of town during the March VSN, so I am happy to have a weekend of no committments.

Here you can see my creation as a result of using The Wizard of Oz as my inspiration. When I think of the Wizard of Oz movie, I have vivid memories of how the movie goes from black and white to color. I tried to that transition from the black and white storm in Kansas to the colorful world of Oz on this card. Don't know if that really comes through, but I did have fun trying.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Let The Good Times Roll


Good Times Roll Closed
Originally uploaded by Buckeye.
So, I signed up for a swap over on SCS a couple of months ago. I was so excited to join because it is a swap where you have to create a card using a Whipper Snapper stamp. Well, with my impending coloring lesson in Milwaukee, I knew I wanted to wait to create until after my lesson.

I've created 8 of these cards, that I'm calling "Let the Good Times Roll", with a stamp I purchased in Milwaukee. Believe me, the song by the Cars has been in my head ever since I started this...

Let the good times roll
Oo let the good times roll
Oo let the good times roll

What can I say, I'm an 80s gal.

Good Times Roll OpenAnyway, I can't believe I actually used toilet paper to create this card. The first image you see is when the card is closed. The second image you see is when the toilet paper is open.

Image by Whipper Snapper. Colored with Copic markers and shaded with Prismacolor pencils on regular cardstock. Karen Foster SnapStamps for the sentiment.

And in case you are interested, Angel Soft toilet paper.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Spay Day


For Sloopy
Originally uploaded by Buckeye.
Sloopy is at the vet right now as I type this entry. She is getting spayed today. My thoughts are with her and I hope she is doing okay.

Since she's heavy on my mind, I thought a cute little doggie card was in order, since Sloopy herself is a cute dog. Actually she's the cutest dog, but I'm biased.

Anyway, here's a card that shows a Whipper Snapper image that I picked up last week in Milwaukee. Colored with Copic Markers and shaded with Prismacolor pencils on regular cardstock. You don't even want to know how long I spent playing with this layout. You'd shake your head and think, "doesn't she have anything better to do?"

Edited on May 15: Thanks for all the well wishes for Sloopy Dog. She got through the procedure fine. Was a little groggy the first day or two, but she's now back to her ole' couch jumping self, so I guess that's a good thing. She gets her stitches out this Thursday. And, miraculously, she hasn't really bothered them.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

A Gift For Me (Taking Time to Create)

I'm back!

How nice it is to have a Saturday that isn't full of travel, or recovering from travel. I basically did nothing today and enjoyed it immensly.

I haven't been posting many cards as of late because when I have had some time to create, I've just been coloring. I thought I'd better turn one of the images into a card, so I did just that.

This is an image from Whipper Snapper. I stamped it on regular cardstock and colored with Copic Markers and shaded with Prismacolor pencils. As you can see, I'm still rather layout challenged, but ever since my coloring lesson in Milwaukee last week, I'm determined to practice until perfect with my coloring.