Oh I feel special

WOW! - I've been nominated by Kerry Three Clover Designs to receive this special blog award.  How cool is that!  Thank You so much Kerry for thinking of me.  It's always nice to know that your art work is appreciated by others.

In order to receive this award I have to follow some rules: 

The rules for this award are as follows: 1) The winner can post the logo on her blog. 2) Link the person you received your award from. 3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs. 4) Put links of those blogs on yours. 5) Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated. So the 7 I am going to nominate are:



1.Elena The Red Haired Girl (I just recently started visiting her blog and we have been emailing each other as well.  She is a wonderful person and I am looking forward to getting to know her better and she has some great art work on her blog and interesting stories as well.  Check it out for yourself.

2. Laura Scrapnextras Another new blog that I've come to enjoy. She's so creative and her cards just inspire me.

3. Kendra The Dog Ate My Stamps - She has such a bubbly personality (even though I've never met her) but it just comes out when your read her blog entrys and she has a nice fresh and clean stamping style that I enjoy.

4. Karrie Burnin' Rubber...rubber stamps that is... - What a FUN style of stamping.  She's always very creative and I just love seeing what she comes up with.

5. Kathie Just an Inkling She's is one of the fellow (Blogger's Challenge) members that I belong to and her work is, "To Die For" wonderful. 

6. Tammy Stamp Happy - Talk about talented, this lady most certainly is!  Her cards always inspire me.

7. Andrea Sunny Stampin' - A blog I just discovered this week.  She focus on Stampin'Up! and has some really great cards/projects on her blog.



So there you have it...I could have list way more as there are so many talented stampers out there but I hope you'll visit these blogs and see why they were top picks of mine.

"Whiff of Joy" Sketch Entry

I heard about this Guest Designer contest over on Whiff of Joy through another blog, KraftinKimmiesKorner here: http://kraftinkimmieskorner.blogspot.com/2008/07/exciting-news-to-share.html and while I generally don't enter Design Team calls (I'm not always very confident that my work is good enough to do this) I decided to give this one a try.  These stamps are just SO CUTE who wouldn't want the chance to work with them!

I thought it was rather funny this morning when I realized that I had used a Skunk image for an entry to "Whiff of Joy" as we all know skunk smell is anything but a whiff of joy!

The sketch was fun and easy to work with.  So here are the details on my card:

Stamps:  Cute Critters (© Clear Dollar Stamps) Aida Cloth Background (Stampin'Up!).

Card Stock: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango (these are new "in-colors" for SU upcoming catalog year),

Brushed Silver, Shimmery White

Designer Paper from (We R Memory Keepers) Precious Metal Collection

Inks: Palette Noir Black, Copic Markers

Other: Spellbinders Nestabilities Dies (Circles and Rectangles),  Lace Punch (Martha Stewart Line)Grosgrain Ribbon (SU - Retired color),

Old Olive Brads, Felt Flower (Queen and Company), Yellow Spica Glitter Pen (used on flower for some shimmer), Crafter's Tool Kit for distressing edges of card and Foam Mounting Tape.

BC Wk 57 - Christmas Trio

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - NOT!

Good Grief it's 90+ degrees here still so Christmas is so not on my mind right now. None the less our Blogger's Challenge this week was, Christmas in July!

I started trying to create a card last night but wasn't getting very far plus I wanted to watch the results show for (So You Think You Can Dance)...Anyone else watch that? I love watcing the dancing even though I personally have 2 left feet. But enough about dancing let's get back to the card.

This morning I got out all kinds of Christmas Stamps, Papers, Stickers etc...trying to find something that inspired me and nothing was jumping out at me. Instead my desk was beginning to look a lot like (a "Tornado" had hit it) rather then Christmas. I posted that I was going to give it a rest and see what happened. One of my fellow blog challenge members, (Barb Hardeman) e-mailed me some encouraging words, Hi Ida,
I know you can do it. You've got all you need, and your work is always so wonderful. Just pick one stamp and let it happen! I know that whatever you come up with will be delightful. I'm counting on you now, so don't let me down......Barb

So I took her advice (Thanks, Bard) and here are the card details: Stamps: Penguin, Bear, Snowman (Hampton Art Stamps), Sentiment by Lizzie Anne Designs.

Ink: Palette Noir Black , Copic Markers (various colors)

Snowflake Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Rectangle Spellbinder Nestabilities, Oval Punches, Photo Corner Punch, Dew Drops, Lavender Ribbon (JoAnn Essentials) White Craft Pad, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter and Foam Mounting Tape.

It's not exactly the fanciest card I've ever done but it's cute (IMHO) and meets the challenge. Maybe close to Christmas I'll actually be a little more inspired then I was this week. - Be sure to check out all the other great projects and be inspired to create your own Christmas in July card.

Cattitude Monday - Thinking of You

Good Morning! -Welcome to Monday and the start of another work week.  For your viewing pleasure today I actually have a card to share with you! - I love it when I'm able to stamp using some of my "cat" stamps.  I don't have a lot and need to build up my collection but I am trying to utilize the ones that I do own.

My card uses 2 of the upcoming "In-Colors" from Stampin'Up! - Kiwi Kiss and Tangerine Tango.

I stamped my cat image (Hero Arts) with Palette Noir Black ink on Watercolor Paper and then watercolored the image with an Aqua Painter and Reinkers.  I have to say that I am still "water-color" challenged.  For some unexplained reason I have the most difficult time using an Aqua Painter.  I always seem to get either to much water or not enough instead of just the right amount.  I so wish that I could get Anna Wight to come give me lesson on watercoloring.  She is my watercoloring idol!

I added hightlights on my "Mums" with an Orange Spica Glitter pen.  The image was cut out using Nestabilities and mounted on an Tangerine Tango Scallop Circle and pierced. I punched small holes with my Crop-a-dile and threaded through some ribbon (May Arts).

I used some Designer Paper ((We R Memory Keepers - Pewter Press - Noche).  The Orange side was mounted on the Tangerine card stock and then the floral pattern was mounted on Kiwi Kiss. I stamped the sentiment with Kiwi Kiss ink and mounted it on the Tangerine Tango card stock and added 3 More Mustard Brads.  The focal image and sentiment were then mounted using foam mounting tape to complete my card.



Also on today's Cattitude menu is this adorable picture of our newest kitten,  Harley. Let's hope at the end of the day you are able to "Crash" like he did! - Have a great week.

BC Wk. 56 - Color "Challenged!"

Happy Friday! - It's time for another Challenge from the Blogger's Challenge Group. - This week we were assigned a "Color" challenge and I must say it most certainly was a CHALLENGE!

The colors we were given were: Sahara Sand, Mellow Moss, Regal Rose, Blue Bayou and Really Rust. Mind you I rarely (if ever) use that many colors for a card. I started out trying to figure out first what stamp set to use and then some kind of a layout that I liked and how to fit all those colors in as well. This was not an easy task but I'm happy with the outcome of my card.

My card base is: Sahara Sand which I stamped the En Francais BG stamp in Really Rust ink (that was the color I was having a hard time with for this challenge.)

Then I added a piece of Mellow Moss that I ran through the Cuttlebug with the (Birds and Swirls) embossing Folder. I distressed the emboss piece by lightly running it over my Mellow Moss ink pad. Then I ran a small strip of Regal Rose card stock down the side to offset the 2 pieces of card stock.

My focal image is from the SU set (Always) which I just love. I stamped the bird with Blue Bayou ink on Sahara Sand and then stamped one of the small flowers with the Regal Rose on White card stock and punched out just the center with a 1/4" circle punch. I highlighted it with a Spica Clear Glitter Pen. I stamped the sentiment with Really Rust ink. This was cut out using Nestabilities Rectangle Dies. I mounted the piece on Blue Bayou and also embossed it with a Nestabilities Scalloped Rectangle Die.

I stamped the flower with Regal Rose ink on Whisper White card stock and punched it out with the 1 1/4" Circle Punch, colored it with the Spica Clear Glitter Pen and then mounted it on Mellow Moss punched with the 1 3/8" Circle Punch. Then I added a Mellow Moss Eyelet. The focal image and flower were mounted on the card using foam mounting tape.

So there you have it. - Now don't forget to check out all the other members projects by clicking on the Blogger's Challenge Icon on my side bar.

The Blessing of a Friend

Oh how I enjoy these Mystery Image swaps.  In case you aren't familiar with what I am talking about a group that I belong too: Stamp Girls Gone Wild (SGGW) host what is called a, Mystery Image swap.  The Hostess of the swap picks out an image and then stamps several copies of it to send to each participant.  We are each assigned a partner and mail our card to that person.  The object of this type of a swap is to show how unique and diverse it can be seeing the same image stamped by different people.

This time around our hostess was, Rose Kerry and she chose to send out this adorable little Elzybell image.

These can also be purchased in the US at various places. -  They are just the sweetest images and make me smile whenever I see them.

The inspiration for my color scheme came from a piece of Polished Stone background paper that I had laying around in my UFO (Un-finished Objects) piles.  -  I wasn't the first to claim the UFO phrase but for the life of me I don't recall where I heard it first but I liked it so I've adopted the phrase myself.  I'm sure most of us have UFO piles in our stamp rooms just waiting to be used on a project when the right inspiration hits.

For my Polished Stone piece I believe that I used Orchid Opulence, Pretty in Pink and Bliss Blue (retired now) plus a Metallic Gold reinker (Tsukineko).

I colored my little ElzyBell girls with Copic Markers.  I am still getting the hang of using them but I like how they turned out on this card.  The colors I used are: YR24 (Pale Sepia)

E00 (Skin White), Y15 (Cadmium Yellow), YG00 (Mimosa Yellow), BG45 (Nile Blue), RV17 (Deep Magenta), BV000 (Iridescent Mauve), and V17 (Amethyst). I also used an SU Certainly Celery Marker on the flower stem as I didn't have the shade of green I wanted in my Copic set.  - I colored my image and then cut out the dress on the girl in turquoise and stamped the dots from (Itty Bitty Backgrounds) and added a few more with a Basic Black marker.  The purple dress was also cut out and then colored with a purple Spica Glitter pen.  I also colored both flowers with Spica Glitter Pens and the pink punched flower as well.

My card base is: Orchid Opulence layered with Tempting Turquoise and my Polished Stone piece.  Then I added a strip on TT and a piece of Pretty in Pink that I ran through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dot Embossing Folder.  I cut my image out using a circle Nestabilites Die and layered it onto a scalloped circle. The sentiment was punched with a circle punch (McGill) and layered onto the Nestabilites scalloped cirle.

I used the 3 For You flower punch and punched out a Pretty In Pink flower and 3 Tempting Turquoise flowers.  I added mini brads (Queen and Company) to the centers.  My image and sentiment were mounted using foam mounting tape.

PS - How do you lik my NEW WATERMARK! - Yep, I figured it out thanks to help from Beth and Kim Howard, who recommended the GIMP program to insert my watermark with.  Thanks both of you ladies for all your help.

Cattitude Monday - Cats in Art

Happy Monday - What's your "Cattitude" today? I thought I'd share a few pieces of Art work that I discovered today on this website http://www.art.com/asp/default-asp/_/posters.htm?%20&ui=F1BB96771E1B4C6FB140D61240A0FFD3

This first piece is so different (in my opinion). I love all the different colors and the various cats pictured. It has a real modern feel to it. This piece was done by, Stephen Teeter.

This next piece is titled: Kitties II and is by Jenny Newland. I just love this piece. It's so adorable, who can resist a cute and cuddly little kitten? I know I can't!

Lastly I am sharing this piece, Ocean Breeze by Lee Mothes. - I find this to be a very serene and calming picture. The ocean has always held a special place in my heart even though I don't get to go very often. I feel so much closer to God when I'm at the ocean. Seeing this piece reminded me of just how very spiritual nature can be and how God

gives each of us something special like the feelings I have being at the ocean and petting a cat to cause us to feel closer to Him.

I hope you've enjoyed this little journey of cats in the Art world. I may from time to time share more of these great pieces of art on Cattitude Mondays.

Have a great week.

New Blog Banner

Here it is!!! - So what do you think? - Beth, http://freckledandfun.blogspot.com/ did a fantastic job. I really love how she took my ideas and then created something that is just exactly what I was looking for. It's nice to have your own "personal" touch on your blog rather then something that is Generic.

I have a watermark coming soon too but am having issues trying to figure out how to add it to my photo's so that may be awhile yet.

Leave a comment here and let me know what you think. - Hugs, Ida

BC Wk. 55 - Going BUGGY!

This week the Blogger's Challenge group has, "Gone Buggy" with their challenge.  Our assignment was to use (Bugs or Insects) on our project.  This week I actually had time to make TWO cards for this challenge.

The inspiration for my first card came from two sources.  The layout (or sketch) is from Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch http://poeticartistry.blogspot.com/2008/07/mojo-monday-week-45-mojo-madness.html



The other part of my inspiration came from a scrap piece of Vellum that I've been saving for some time now.  I'm not even sure who makes/or made this particular printed piece of vellum.  It was printed in white and I brayered on the color using my Caribbean Sea Kaleidacolor Rainbow pad.

I layered the Vellum onto a piece of Gable Green card stock that I had embossed using my new Eyelet Lace Embossing Punch (Fiskars).  I added a strip of Green Galore to the top and pierced it using my Crafter's Tool kit.  Then I embossed the sentiment (Hero Arts) using my VersaMark pad and Bold Black EP. This was layered onto some textured Green Galore card stock and my card base of Basic Black.

 I stamped the Dragonfly (Close To My Heart) twice with the Kaleidacolor pad on Whisper White card stock and highlighted it with a Clear Spica Glitter Pen for some subtle shimmer.  I cut out all of the 2nd dragonfly except the antennae and glued it down over the first image.  The wings were raised slightly by using a small piece of foam mounting tape tucked under the wings. Green rickrack (JoAnn Essentials) was added to the corners and 3 green brads (Queen and Company)to complete the card.

Card #2 features absolutely NO stamping at all! - I found this adorable bug dimensional sticker (Debbie Mumm for JoAnn) and fell in love with them and just had to make a card using one of the stickers.  I chose the Grasshopper and paired it with some patterned paper (also Debbie Mumm) that already had shimmery highlights in the stripes. 

My card base is Only Orange layered with Green Galore and the Designer Paper.  I added a strip of Only Orange that I cut using some zigzag scissor (SU-retired).  Then I added some piercing and a strip of Brilliant Blue with a row of brads (Queen and Company).  The sentiment was computer generated using (SU Journaling Font 1 - PittyPat).  I also added a Prima flower with a center of Green Galore and a small orange brad.  This just makes me feel good and I hope it does you as well.



Don't forget to go a little "buggy" yourself and check out all the other projects by clicking on the Bloggers Challenge icon on my side bar.

Polka Dots and Stars Cake Inspiration

Isn't this a COOL looking cake! -  This was given out as an Inspiration Challenge on a group that I belong to. We were to create a card using this cake as our Inspiration Point.  I was immediately drawn to the Polka Dots and Stars on this particular cake along with the dramatic color scheme (Black, Turquoise and White) although some felt that the dark color also resembled Chocolate Chip so they went with that color instead of black.

I had a lot of fun coming up with my card and hope my partner likes it.

Here is my version of this cake in card form:

My card base is, Whisper White layered with Basic Black and then a layer of Tempting Turquoise that I stamped with the bubbles from, (Simply Circles -Retired SU) *I first stamped the sentiment with a VersaMark pad and Embossed with Bold Black EP before stamping the bubbles with the VersaMark pad.  Then I added 3 punched stars with Turquoise Brads.

I cut a strip of Basic Black card stock and then punched out 3/4" circles of Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise and Whisper white and glued them in a random pattern on the piece of black card stock cutting off the ones that overlapped the edge.  Then I added some white rickrack (source unknown) as it reminded me of the white piping on the cake.

I punched out circles of White, Turquoise and pierced the edge of the white circle. Then I punched out a small star on some black card stock lined up the larger star punch over my small punched star and punched that out.  Then I colored the star with a Black Spica Glitter Pen.

So what do you think? There were some really great cards in this challenge and it was fun to see how everyone was inspired from this cake and came up with some fabulous and different cards.  Give it a try yourself and if you do leave a post with a "link" here on my blog so we can all see your creativity in action.

Cattitude Monday - A Tale of 3 Cats

For this

weeks Cattitude Monday entry I am sharing another Hallmark Card with you.  I've had this one in my collection for some time.  I'm calling it, Homespun Kitty because it just has that homespun country feel about it.  The card is also embossed which gives it a nice, rich feel and look.

I'm also sharing a tale of 3 cats with you today.  It all started late Friday night about 7:00 pm when our newest little kitten, Harley suddendly decided to get sick. My hubby and I were sitting in our living room and I had just gotten up to take some paper plates into the kitchen when Harley started to gag and make that sound cats do when they are about to hurl. Yes, I know this is gross but I managed to hold the paper plate under his mouth while he proceed to up chuck his cat food thus avoiding a nasty stain on our brand new carpeting.  At first we thought he just ate to quickly but then he started getting sick again so we took him into our bedroom and put him in the bathroom with the door closed.  He was one sick little kitty for about an hour as he threw up about 5-6 times.  We finally discovered the problem was due to his ingesting of all things a large 1/2" size rubberband!  By the time we got home from the fireworks display he was feeling much better and romping through the house like he always does.  This is a picture of Harley and Callie-Jo sleeping together that I took last week.  Aren't they sweet looking?

The other saga took place today when I got back from the grocery store and found Greta and my mom outside searching for our cat, Snickers.  It seems that Coleen had accidentally left the door partially open and Dottie & Snickers got out.  Greta found Dottie in my flower beds and got her inside but Snickers was no where to be found.  We were all out combing the neighborhood trying to find her as we knew she would be scared to death.  She's an "indoor" cat and strange noises frighten her so we didn't think she would go very far and in the end she hadn't as my hubby found her in some weeds a house away when he heard a faint mewing sound.  She was scared to death and when he went to grab her she bolted from the weeds and high tailed it down our driveway and Greta let her inside.  It took her quite awhile to calm down and then she had to endure the indignity of getting a bath as well because she'd gotten into some greasy stuff where she was hiding.  Poor thing.  This is a picture of her when she's looking her very best.

That's my "tail" and I'm sticking to it!

BC Wk 54 America is my Home!

Happy Birthday America!!!



For our Blogger's Challenge this week we were assigned, Color Blocking.  I like this technique as it gives you a chance to use several colors and patterned papers to create a fun pop of color on your projects.



I chose a (Red, White and Blue) color scheme since today is the 4th of July and I wanted to show my appreciation for those who serve in the military to help protect my homeland and those abroad as well.



The stamp set I chose to use is an "oldie" but a goodie in my book.  It's called, (Americana).  I love this set, its very Nostalgic.

Card Base:  Brilliant Blue, layered with Whisper White.

Color Blocked Pieces:  Confetti - Kaleidoscope Collection - My Mind's Eye, Red and White Stars (source unknown) and Brilliant Blue

I stamped the Rooster Image with Basic Black ink and colored it with a combination of Copic Markers (R27 Cadmium Red, Y15 Cadmium Yellow), Ultramarine Blue Prismacolor Pencil, Spica Glitter Pens in Red and Clear (they don't show up all that well in the scan but are very shimmery in real life. I then cut it out using my rectangle Nestabilities Die and layered it on another rectangle die of Real Red.  I stamped the sentiment in Real Red on Whisper White and cut it out with a Circle Nestabilites Die and layered that onto Brilliant Blue.  Then I stamped the heart in Brilliant Blue and colored it with a Blue Spica Glitter Pen.  I mounted my images with foam mounting tape and added Real Red Photo corners pierced and also mounted with foam mounting tape to complete my card.



So help celebrate America's birthday by visiting the other Blogger's Challenge members blogs to see what they came up with for this challenge.

New Look Coming Soon

Oh I am so excited about this that I just had to share: I will have a NEW LOOK to my blog soon. I've decided to get a Blog Banner and it's being designed right now. I can't wait to show it off to everyone. Just wanted to give you a heads up.