Crisp, clean and white...

...with spashes of black, red and green! You like her? This is Penny Black's Christmas Usher and she was a SNAP to colour up! Did you notice? I didn't even add any shadows under her feet! OMG! I just noticed myself and may have to go rectify that pronto...but maybe not...because I kinda like the very clean look just the way it is.

I stamped her with Tuxedo Black memento ink on papertrey white paper. I used papertrey because I often use that cardstock for the base of my cards due to its sturdiness and I wanted the whites to match.

She was quickly coloured with the following copic markers, and I say quickly because I really didn't blend at all, just swiftly went from colour to colour and let it blend naturally. NO pencils were used on this card!

E000, 00, 11 (flesh) 33, 35, 27 (hair)

R22, 24, 59 (dress)

G82, 24, 94, 99 (tree)

Y11, YR23 (glow around star?)

YR23, Y 26, 28 (tray below tree)

The sentiment is also Penny Black and I added a teeny tiny gold bow on the cake plate, some black glitter to her dress, and stickles around the glow of the star (?) above the tree! Done, done and DONE! A really quickie card and I made 6 of them for my stash! All stamps were purchases in Chatham at Paper Pickle.

Tomorrow, more Mo Manning in Rubbah goodness!

sometimes you just gotta do it!

That is...make a MANLY card! I know, I'm sure many of you are just squirming at the thought of it. Your thinking...like what?...I can't color flowers, or a whimsy little bella? I've got to color an image and use something other than my pink, yellow and orange markers? Please say it isn't so!

The truth is, those guys like getting cards too so whenever I find something that will work for one of the many mid to late teen guys in my family I scoop it. Such was the case when I spotted this Penny Black dude a couple years ago at the Scrapfest in Kitchener. I knew I'd have use for him eventually. I've also got a couple Mo's teen guys in my arsenal just waiting to get inky! I'll be getting to those pretty soon too since I have a couple guys of my own who will be turning the big 2-0 next month. They always expect some witty card from their Mom and I would hate to disappoint them!

This dude was stamped on Bella's bestest paper and coloured with copic markers. The brass embellishment I think is Karen Foster that I've had in my stash forever and I cut out 'dude' with my quickutz Rollerskate alphabet. Gotta LOVE them quickutz!

For you copic marker fans, here are the colors I used:
B41, 34, 95, 97 (but I also used some indigo blue pencil to add some extra depth and texture to the jeans)
E50, 51, 53, R20 (i prefer these shades of neutrals for 'male' flesh tones)
W00, 0, 1 (yup, i did MOST of the shading around the image with copics this time adding a bit of french grey to finish it off, then used just pencils for the 'grounding' under his feet)
E40, 41, 43, 44 (jacket, also shaded with sepia pencil)
E30, 31, 33, 35 (hair...my fav go-to colors for hair!)

Well, that's it! Now don't forget....tomorrow is the big release day over at Stamping Bella and I have one last sneak peek for ya so get up early! Now, I'm off to creep the bella babe's blogs some more to see what else they may have in store.

The Day Job

It's funny how the last two weeks when I wasn't at work I was able to stay up until midnight, or maybe 1am and sit and colour and putz and enjoy the quiet evenings. Well all that has changed! Back to the day job today and I tell ya, I am TOTALLY FREAKING MENTALLY EXHAUSTED! All I want to do is go to bed, but I'm gonna have a cup of tea, THEN, I'll go to bed.

I just came home from walking the pooch and testing out my new GPS on pedestrian mode. I admit, I'm a gadget freak, you name it, if it is handheld, I've got it. I continually tell the hubs if the iPhone was affordable in Canada I would have one. Now, do I need one? NOOOOOO...I have cell which is rarely used (except when I took a pic of the side by side Ferraris when I was in Houston to send to my son!)...I have an iPod, which has been shelved for my Touch (which I LOVE!) The only thing I would want the iPhone for is to have email without a wireless connection (I like access to my email at all times)...I could have that with a blackberry I guess...but it isn't an apple...and i LOVE my Touch!


Okay, enough blabbering about my passion for handheld gadgets. This is a card I made during my last two weeks of no-day-job bliss! It is a Penny Black brushstroke image and I coloured it with my SU markers, spritzed with water and stamped. Then took my pencils to it to add a bit more depth. I've been on a card making marathon the past few days trying to get ahead of my mom's requests. At the moment, I think I have about three months under my belt so that is good because when Dave starts touring in April, I'll quickly get behind!

Coming up in the next few posts, class cards for Pickle and a couple more 'manly' cards!

Stay tuned!

I DID IT!

Yes, I finally broke down, hauled out the Bernina from storage, dusted it off and sewed on a card.

WHY HAVEN'T I DONE THIS EARLIER? 1) Well, the bernina is over 10 years old, and it's all metal, before they went to plastic casing SO IT'S HEAVY...and it does not have a permanent perch so I have to lug it out of the closet, and 2) somehow in my head it seems blasphemous to me to use my beloved bernina to sew paper!

You'll also notice another little gem on there...my kajinker jem that I ordered from Stamping Bella. I'll admit...i loaded it incorrectly the first time, then thought it best to read the directions! It took me a few attempts to get the feel of it, but I've got it down pat and I do really like it! Em knows a jem when she spots one!

Well, it's raining here in Chatham and supposed to rain all day, better build the ark! I do have to venture out for groceries this afternoon but gonna wait till Mark gets back from the office so he can come with me, drop me off at the door, bag the groceries, then pick me up at the door! He's very good at doing that! Then I'm gonna sit around listen to my new Dave Live Trax 2008 that I downloaded from iTunes and make soup! I kinda like rainy days like this.

Penny Black Beaded Ornaments

Hi everyone!

Today I've got a real simple but visually impressive card to share. Sometimes you just need to do something quick with no time consuming colouring involved.

I used Penny Black's Hanging ornaments which is a simple little image but spruced it up by coloring the ornaments solid with my tombow markers, then adding some ranger glossy accents and sprinkled on Suze Weinberg's Beadazzles in Waltz and Disco Ball on top. With a toothpick, I carefully moved everything inside the outline of the ball to not cover the silver embossing. I mounted with silver mirrored paper and inside I added a couple strips of Peel Off's just to spruce it up.

It's not coloured, but it is VERY pretty and I think I be making several more of these for my Christmas stash!

Penny Black Brush Stroke

My mom called and needed a sympathy card. I have a couple preferences when I make sympathy cards...i like them to be soft, serene and simple, I don't know why, but I like to use pink or soft grey and it must always have a bit of embossing in silver or platinum. And, I tend to use Penny Black brushstroke images. Don't ask me why I do this, but I do.

So this morning out came Penny Black Allegro, my beloved PSX Platinum embossing powder. As you must know PSX is not around anymore, but their embossing powders were my favorite so I use what I have left sparingly. I used my stampin up markers to color the image on the stamp, spritzed it with water and stamped, then I added just a teeny bit of Hero Arts glitter (thanks Paula...i LOVE this stuff).

On a final note, which sadly, is somewhat related to sympathy...have you all seen the post on Cammie's blog today! She has enlisted all her stamping friends and stamp companies to contribute to a GINORMOUS blog candy giveaway to support Alzheimer's. I'm fortunate to not have had to deal with this in my own family, but I have several friends who have been caregivers to various friends or family members and it is extremely difficult and emotional for them. So, although I rarely participate in blog candy giveaways, I may just join in this one to honour those caregivers.