More Wonderland

I just cannot bring myself to get rid of the tidbits of wonderland paper I have leftover on my work area. I like to have pre-made pages made up for crops. I don't create very well away from home, so I like to take pages with me that are mostly done and add pictures and the finishing touches at weekend retreats and crops. Plus, then I don't feel so bad knowing I was gone for 2 days and did 8 pages.

This page was made with the leftover border strips and labels from a card project. I will add small pictures inside each of the labels.

The snowflakes are once again from the "snowflakes" set and cut with the AP cartridge.

I used Heavenly blue, Spring Iris, and Grey Flannel to stamp the snowflakes, then sponged the edges with twilight. They are so pretty!

Believe Workshop

January's workshop night we will be making these pages. I really like the Sky and Sweet Leaf color combination in these papers. This workshop we will be using The Believe Level 2 paper packet and Believe Stickease. I added 4 pieces of White Daisy Cardstock for photo mats and one page background. Two of the designs are the ones shown on the back of the Stickease and the 3rd is from the Levitate sketch in the Magic How To Book.

Only the 3rd page uses stamping for the accents. I used images from the October Stamp Of The Month set Holiday Magic. Even after finishing the 3 pages I still had a good amount of pattern paper left for more projects. I hope to get pictures printed this weekend so I can add them during the workshop.

Please keep my nephew in your prayers.

You may have seen my earlier post about my nephew Daniel being deployed to Afghanistan.  He should have arrived there today if everything went according to planned.   This is his second tour.  The first deployment he was in Iraq.  So, please keep him and the rest of the troops in your prayers.

Fortunately, he was able to come home for a few days for the holidays.  Ruby and Ivy were tickled pink to see him.  It was so sweet when Ivy said "I have been missing you, Uncle Daniel".

January Stamp of the Month and Studio J special...

If you are a Studio J member or have been thinking of trying Studio J then January is the Month for you. During the Month of January for every 9 layouts you purchase, you get 1 FREE!

The stamp of the month this month is a great set called "Little Reminder". I finished up the projects shown in the idea book for my good friend and upline Shannon last night. I am hoping to play with this one a bit more tomorrow. No time to craft today. Sadness.....

Don't forget that you can get the Rock The Block bundle for $15 with any $25 purchase from the Fall/Winter idea book. This can be combined with the SOTM special too. That is a savings of nearly $42 between the two!

Technique Tuesday - week #1

Drum Roll Please.......... As you know, one of my 2012 resolutions is to update the blog each and every day. I have decided to take it a step further and name Tuesday as Technique day. Every Tuesday I will try and show how to do something fun with your ink and paper.

Today is all about Masking. This is a very simple technique that is very effective. Masking is simply the process of covering either part of the stamp or part of the paper you are stamping on so only part of the image ends up on your artwork.

I am not very good at explaining, so hopefully the pictures help.

Step 1.
Stamp the image on a post it note, then trim around. I like to stamp it toward the top so I end up with post it adhesive on the image. Stick the trimmed image on your project where you want a "blank spot" the shape of the trimmed image.

Step 2.
Stamp the contrasting image over and around the trimmed image. Here I chose trees stamped in Gray Wool for a winter scene. Don't worry, it looks messy at this point.

Step 3.
Remove the "post it" note image.

Step 4.
Stamp the image you stamped on the post it note in the area that you masked off.

As you can see in yesterday's post, I chose to color the adorable little deer to really make him pop off the cardstock.

Here is a look at the complete Bundled Buddies set (C1472)

Brrr.... It's cold outside

Well it looks like Winter has arrived in Michigan. After hearing the wind and snow blow all night, I was very thankful I didn't have to get up and head out to work this morning.

Since winter is in the air, I thought another card with the Winter Wonderland papers was appropriate.

If you are not familiar with masking, it is a great technique to add dimension to your projects. I will show how to do this in tomorrow's post. Super easy and very effective!

The design was inspired form the Simple Expression sketch from Wishes.
Products used:
Wishes
Bundled Buddies stamp set
Wonderland level 2 paper
Black ink
Gray wool ink
Copics (Rose Mist, Pale Pink, Agate, Dk.Gray, Light Caramel, and Cashmere)
Blue buttons
and yarn from Big lots (only $1 for a skein)

A New Year!

Happy New Year! What are your resolutions for the new year? I thought up a couple. The first is to update my blog every single day in 2012. That means I have exactly 5 minutes to post this update or I have already failed. I am determined to keep this resolution. Here goes.........

A Winter Wonderland card using the Snowflakes set again. This card was inspired by one I ran across online, unfortunately I cannot find where I seen the original idea. If you happen to know who it is, please let me know so I can give proper credit.

One minute! I hope I made it!