Hi there, I was blog hopping and came across Mojo Monday's sketch for the week. It seems these little sketches are sometimes all I need to get inspired, so I gave it a go and decided to see where it would lead. I'm happy I did, because these little cards came out of it, and because it was fun! Here's the sketch : Here are my cards: This one follows the sketch precisely, but instead of a ribbon and bow, I chose mulberry paper and a flower. I added a border, frame, and scalloped circle for the sentiment cut with my Cricut.  Just a peek at how I finished the inside. I used American Crafts cardstock. This was what I made after I got inspired. I used greens instead of blues, added a pleated ribbon, and tweaked the border die to give it an entirely different look.  I also used a Viva Pearl Pen in Silver chrome, some mesh from my stash, and the adorable image is  "monica with pacifier" from Stampabilities. (2004). I used watercolors and colore

I made this cute card using my Gypsy and Wild Card cartridge. The scallop edge frame was pesfect to display the stamped image, and I was able to use the hide-contour feature to cut the frame twice, using only the parts of the cut that I needed for this project. The stamp is also embossed, and layered to add dimension.  I also used Viva Pearls on the scalloped frame. They look like tiny little pearls. The inside of the card has a bigger mat using the same cut as the front- I love that feature of the Cricut! I finished it with a Martha Stewart scallop punch on the edge, and tied a satin ribbon to match.  TFL!

Hi there, I saw this challenge over at Pagemaps and decided to give it a try, since I love their great layout ideas, and this one comes with an added bonus: an opportunity to win something! That sounds like a good enough reason for me to catch up on some scrapbooking. Here's my take: I used a variety of papers and embellishments, and I'm overall pleased with the results! The "torn notebook" edge was created using my Gypsy and Cricut. I also used my Gypsy to create the music notes that tied in really well with the musical theme of the page. It came together nicely and was lots of fun to make. Thanks Pagemaps for the inspiration!

It reads: "Missing you in the good ol' USA" Please skip this post if you're easily offended at any image of someone's behind. If you're not, then you'll appreciate my humor. I took the liberty to create this all American gal as a commissioned piece for a soldier on behalf of his wife. It all really started as a joke, but my pen wouldn't stop once the idea was in my head. I painted her with watercolors, and what you see is a scanned image, so the colors don't translate very well, but trust me, she's vibrant in her very own way. I may start my own line of patriotic beauties, and hope to generate some interest for these real beauties, so let me know what you think, now that I have 100 followers, maybe someone should walk away with their very own beauty? Leave me a comment and let me know!  p.s. If you know any soldiers who have tattoos of their Mrs. and would like a rendition of their own, pass along my name would ya? (totally joking)

This here little card was so much fun to make! I used stamps from the $1.00 bin and created a playful scene with watercolors, some glimmer, doodling, sequins, a button, and colorful twine to resemble the froggy's twisted tongue. The lizard is "popped" off the page with dimensional adhesive, 'cuz he's literally leaping! oh yeah... I'm soo easily amused.    I used a strip of watercolor paper as the setting, and stamped the images at different heights to give it depth. Then I added sparkly watercolors to some of the images and added clouds as well. 

I loved this image so much, I used it twice. I used watercolors to color in the image and was able to get exactly the hues I wanted for the apples, bucket, etc. I kept this card very simple to keep it from becoming bulky, and because I didn't want to take away from the image one bit. The base card is a lovely apple green from Coredinations and although it's not visible from the pics, it gives the card a nice weight and pop of color. I hope you like it! He's tasting all of them, just to make sure they're o.k.

I have a confession to make...I always said I wasn't fond of stamped images and could easily just draw my own... well, it turns out I've converted to stampism. I'm coining the phrase ok? Stampism: the art of "borrowing" or purchasing someone else's image, coloring it in, or whatever, and using it as your own. There, I said it! My hang up has always been that I love to draw, and I love to make my own images, but let's face it, it's easier to let someone else do the work sometimes and just have fun with the coloring, so I might be seen wearing a paper bag over my head at local crops for a while, but I've seen getups that pass for eccentric that are far worse so.... I borrowed the little monster kid-he's cute, and the phrase... the gears are technique tuesday, and there you have it. p.s. The images used in these cards are NOT my own design, and I'm thankful to those who designed them for my benefit!

Hi there, I've been making lots of cards recently and here's a little Thank you card for a dear person that I made using mixed media, a.k.a., a bunch of stuff from my stash. The owl stamp is just beautiful, but it is so diminutive, that I was afraid it would get lost in the context of the card. To make him stand out, I stamped the image twice, cutting away the flower detail on the bottom, then adding it as a second layer to add dimension. I also stamped and added my own doodles to the background, and I made the flowers by layering stamped images that I also embossed. I hope you enjoy it! I also "popped" the eyes, leaves and flowers, giving the card lots of texture throughout. The centers of flowers got a touch of Viva pearls-LOVE that stuff!