Another Anya and my Pixie

Hey there! I have another Anya to show you today. Are you all sick of them yet? I'm not, that's why I keep using them! I don't think I'll ever get tired of Anya, or the other stamps from The Greeting Farm, but I'll give you a break from the Anya's on my next post. So here she is, Alice Anya: I made this cute little card for Jen DelMuro's Sketch for You To Try. I haven't participated in this sketch in a long long time so it was fun. I colored Anya with my copics (of course) but this time I used 3 idfferent colors of brown in her hair just to try something different. I'm still not sure about the flower in her hair... what do you all think? All the papers are Stampin' Up!
Now, remember I mentioned sewing on my cards and wanting a little machine I saw at Wal-Mart before we moved? Well, I got it and here it is!

This is my little Pixie Sewing machine by Singer. My mom picked it up for me and mailed it to me, isn't she the best? She's been sending us all kinds of stuff; toys I couldn't pack, clothes I left, my workout mat, and more... but I digress. I've played with my Pixie a little bit, practiced threading it and tested out all the different stitches. I still have a lot of practice to do, but it's going to be fun! And just so you know how little this really is, here's a size comparison:

My pixie is next to a little 7.25 inches tall pad of paper (ignore the list on the paper, it's just a list of bands I want on my MP3 player). So this little machine really is tiny, but it's perfect for my little stamping room and my cards. Mom also bought me a sewing basket and loaded it with essential sewing goodies, so I'm good to go! There's some really neat two-toned threads that will look so great on some cards. As soon as I get confident enough, I'll be sewing on my cards and sharing them here with you. How many of you have sewing experience? Any tips? Do you sew on your cards as well as fabric? I'm nervous about ending the stitch on a card. How will I close the stitch? Will I always have threads coming off the ends of the card stock?

In addition to sewing on my cards, I want to make a little purse for Angel, and maybe a couple little blankets too. I saw some Basic Grey and Cosmo Cricket fabrics that are beautiful! Now I just need to find an online store that sells them. They look just like the designer papers; talk about combining my paper hobby with my new sewing adventure!

Well, that's my post for today. I promise the next post won't have an Anya on it (but I'm not promising that it won't be an image from the same company;).

Until next post, be blessed!

OH! P.S. If you've noticed a lot of little spelling or punctuation errors on my last few posts, I can't get the spell check to work. Sorry! I try to reread my posts and edit, but I probably still miss some things.

Alice Anya Cards

Hey there everyone. Sorry it's been a week since I last posted. Here I was giving you post after post, and then nothing for a week! Sorry about that. I've been hard at work on a big project/card and I'm almost done. I'm just waiting on a couple ordersto come in so I can put the right sentiment and "star of the show" onto the card, then I can share with you all. Hopefully the orders come in soon (one of them was ordered almost FOUR weeks ago!). Until then, here is the very first card I made with an Anya stamp (digi stamp actually): This is Alice Anya (as in Alice in Wonderland). I used Copic markers to color her and Imaginesce papers for the card. The flowers are from Gina K. Designs. Here's another Alice Anya card, only this Anya is brunnette:

I used paper from Nana's Nursery (DCWV I think), twine from Wal-mart, and buttons that I stole from my Mom's HUGE button collection (she said I could, so it wasn't really stealing;). The little tag is from Gina K. Designs and I used a permanent marker to write "hi" onto it. I colored Anya with my copics again and gave her a ground to stand on with a grey copic.

And here is a closeup of my coloring: I've had some people ask me about the digital images so I'll go ahead and talk about them today. Digital images aree really easy and fun to use. Several online stamp companies are selling them now. I purchased these images online from The Greeting Farm and as soon as I was done checking out, I received a link to download the images (instant gratification-YEA!). I saved the images into my pictures folder, and whenever I want to use one I just print it out! What's really cool is that you can change the size of the image, flip it to face the opposite direction, or print several at once if you want to. I usually print several of the same image onto plain white cardstock. Now, when you are printing out these images, you need to think about how you are going to color them. I use Copics the most (obviously) and the ink I have in my printer right now SMEARS with my copics (copics are alcohol-based inks, not water based). Since my printer only takes one kind of ink, I tried changing the paper. Instead of using my favorite card stock from Gina K. Designs, I recently used some Stampin' Up! card stock. I discovered that this card stock helps my image to not smear as much because the paper is not as smooth and when printing, the ink penetrates the paper more. When I lived with Mom in Hawaii, I was able to buy tons of Georgia Pacific white card stock at Wal-mart, and my images hardly smeared at all when I printed onto that card stock. But sadly, I am out of GP card stock, and there are no Wal-Marts around... Also, I've been told that if you have a laser printer the ink doesn't smear. I don't know for sure because I have an HP Officejet H470 which is an inkjet printer (I think). When I use my colored pencils instead of my copics, or my Stampin' Up! markers (which are water based) the images don't smear. Also, when I color, I NEVER go over the black lines. Some people will go over the lines when they are coloring; like coloring over the image's mouth, but I don't. That's just how I have always colored, and I think it makes a difference on the smearing matter. OK, well I think that's a lot more jibber jabber than some of you anticipated, so I'll sign off now. If you have any more questions that I didn't answer, just ask! I'll do the best I can to answer.

Until next post (which should be soon, not in a week!) be blessed!

Brotherly Love...

Hey there everyone! This is my THIRD post this week, can you believe it? I can't promise that I'll keep this up, but I'd like to try. That way I can keep you all updated on what's going on in our lives and with my stamping, but I can't make any promises. I know life is going to be getting busier as we get more established here. Yesterday I signed up to participate in the parent co-op program on base. It's a great program run by volunteers who spend about 3.5 hours a week providing child care, and in turn get 4 days of childcare for their own children. I'm looking forward to participating, having a place for Angel to meet and play with other kids, and meet other moms too. I'll have some free time to take care of errands, appointments, or just relax (by stamping of course!). Anywho, onto my card for today. It's another TGF image! When I saw these sumo wrestlers, I immediately thought of my boys! ROFL!!! They have been at eachother constantly lately. So I thought of them to whole time I made this card. I used some papers that I got at Office Max (or was it Office Depot?) in a pack of Christmas papers. I love repurposing papers for other things besides what they were intended. Also, the sentiment and "Pow!" and "Bam!!" were handwritten by me. I didn't have the appropriate stamp, so I wrote it myself. Here's a closeup of my coloring on the main image:

I used my copics to color the guys, and the stars are from Just Jawing by SU! are stamped in gray ink. Oh, BTW, this card was done for The Case of the Curious Card Challenge over on The Greeting Farm blog! I CASED the layout of the chosen card, and just turned it sideways. Well, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed my post.

Until next post, be blessed!

My Stamping Room & a Finished Card

Well hello blog readers! I know some of you have been patiently waiting to see some pics of my home, well, here's a teaser for you... Pics of my stamping room! Disclaimer: it's NOT done! I have some wall decor to put up and more shelving to purchase. And the room is only about 6.5x7.5 feet big! But it's working for now so... Here is a picture from the hallway: That is the box for our TV (which we have to keep because DH said so, and it won't fit in the attic! One of these days it will be OUT of my room, heeheehee). In the meantime, the box is the temporary home to my Big Shot, my embellishments, and some designer papers. To the right you see my bookcase. Here's a shot of that:

The bookcase is a little crowded right now, but all the papers that are on the bottom will be moved whenever I get more shelves. There are also magazines and some scrapbooks down there. The second-to-bottom shelf holds all my stamps from companies other than Stampin' Up. I think they are too crowded also... Next up is the shelf with all my SU! stamps, then above that are all my inks, and a box full of dies for the Big Shot. The top shelf holds some cherished momentos... And the top of the bookcase holds a few more momentos and a plastic box full of finished cards (from swaps, friends, and some I made too). This next picture is the corner behind my stamping desk:

That neat little rack is a garbage find! It barely fit into our little rental car at the time, but I HAD to have it! I think it held snacks at a gas station, but now it's perfect for my 8.5x11 papers! Well, until I get more papers anyway. Here's the pic of my desk:

You can't tell, but the desk is AWESOME! We got it at IKEA (Yes, there's one just 1.5 hours from here, well worth the drive! It was the first IKEA I'd ever been in, and I loved it!) and the right side of it is 5 drawers. I love my desk! I picked the black top, with white drawers for the right side and 2 white legs for the left side. It works perfect in that spot of my little room. You can see on my desk that things are a little disorderly, well... I had to take a break from stamping but didn't feel like cleaning up. Things are much cleaner now that I'm done for the night. On the wall above my desk are a few things that help inspire me. The center picture is a shadowbox type of picture I found at the BX of a Lily (nuff said!) then there are two black floating shelves on either side. The cards on the shelves are ones that I made (and match my black/white room decor) and two pretty bottles of mini prima flowers. And see that card in the far corner of my desk? Well...

Here it is! I finally finished my rose card. I added a simple sentiment in Gray ink and a ribbon. I had to color the ribbon with my Rose Red SU! marker to get it the color I wanted it. I punched two holes on either side of the stems, then ran the ribbon through the card and tied a pretty bow. I also added some glaze to the flowers in areas that would have been wet with dew if I'd just picked these out of a garden. How do you like the end result? And my stamping room? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I still have a long way to go on the stamping room, so any and all advice will be taken and appreciated!

Until next post, be blessed.

TGF Sketch Challenge

Happy Monday Everyone! Can you believe it is the last week of the month already? It's going to be March before we know it. I'm glad that spring is just around the corner though. There is a lot more "green" in the fields and the plants are starting to flower. I can't wait to see this place in full bloom! I'll be sure to take some pictures and post them here on the blog.
Well, last night I spent some time in my stamp room! I love my little stamp room. It still isn't finished, needs a couple more shelves, organization, and a bigscreen tv box removed, but my desk is all set up and I can craft there, so that's what counts.
I don't know if you all have noticed from some recent blog posts, but... I have fallen in love with a new stamp company and the line of stamps that they sell there. I've mentioned them before, but I've never gushed about how much I love the images! The company is called The Greeting Farm (TGF), and one of their STAR images is named Anya (she has her own fan club, check it out at the Club Anya blog). You have to pop over to the website and check out all they have to offer. There are also some other images such as a Unicorn, hedgehogs, farm animals, Ian, and lots more. AND, she also sells digi images from The House of Mental. I love the sumo wrestlers! Ok, so go check out the site HERE but come back and look at my cards too! This first card was inspired by a sketch challenge that TGF's owner, Marie, issued us:

This is one of the digital Anya/Ian images you can purchase. I think it's called 50's sweethearts, and since my rubber stamps still haven't made it to me all the way over here on another continent (don't even get me started on how incredibly SLOW things in Italy are!) I've been using this image a lot lately. This is the FIRST card I made, from start to finish, in my stamping room. I used SEI patterned paper, SU! solid papers, PL cardstock from GKD, and the ribbon is from Walmart. The "for you" sentiment is from my SU! Fresh Cuts stamp set and the long, scalloped rectangle was part of the blog candy I got from Diana Gibbs. I love how this card turned out, and it's on display in my stamp room! (It just happens to match the color scheme I'm going for in the room, heehee). Next up is a card a made about a week ago with an image I colored a LONG time ago. This is the adorable little unicorn (and butterfly friend) that is another digital image from TGF.:
This guy is colored with my copic markers. I used some new Prima flowers in the corner of the card, and the sentiment is from SU!'s old Hostess Set, Best Yet. My mojo was missing the day I made this card, so I'm not entirely happy with it, but I knew I needed to put this image on a card and working through my "stamping block" is the only way I know to get my mojo back!
I hope you all enjoyed today's blog post; leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by, ok?
Until next post, be blessed!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Hey there Blog Readers! Today's the day, our 8 year anniversary and the day you all find out who won my yummy blog candy. But first, here's the card I made for my hubby. I used the digital image from The Greeting Farm again, only this time it's a lot bigger! I colored me and my husband (well, at least they are us on this card ;) with my copics again, only this time I took more time on the details. Notice the curly hair and the makeup on "me"? And I outlined the lips with my zig pen to make lips more defined. Also, the sentiment is from Stampin' Up!. So, I know you all want to know who won my blog candy.
Well, I put all the names in a hat and randomly choose... Pamela! Congratulations Pamela! I'll be emailing you to get your mailing address. I hope you all have a great week, and until next post, be blessed!

Happy Valentines Day!

Hey there everyone! How are you all this sunny V-Day? I hope you are feeling the love, lol! I just wanted to post a quick post here to show you all what I made for the guys in my life. For my hubby, I made him a Valentines Day card a couple months ago. Remember THIS card? It was the first card I ever sewed on. I also made him this milk carton holder for some of his favorite candies: Here's a pic of the yummy Peanut M&M's on the inside. If you are curious as to how to make one of these milk cartons, you can go to Splitcoaststampers.com and search for the milk carton tutorial. That's what I did and the directions were easy peasy.
Next up are a couple cards I made for my two boys. I used the first Sketch Challenge from Club Anya and this adorable digi image:
Both cards are the same, simple design, just used different shapes in the background.
And on the inside:
The boys loved the chocolate best of all. I knew they wouldn't care for all the details and embellishments on the cards, as long as they got their chocolate! Well, I hope you all have a wonderful day with your loved ones, and don't forget to enter into my blog candy on the previous post!
Until next post, be blessed!