Autumn Card

Hold the presses....Holly actually made a few autumn cards! Yes, I was home alone on Saturday and decided to put some of this beautiful Tim Coffey paper from K & Company to good use. I saw some of this paper on clearance at Joann's Tuesday and was tempted to buy more of it! Really, Holly, you already have three tablets of it....the old "more is better" thinking.

As I usually do, I used some of my favorite things to create this festive fall greeting. And being a new grandmother, I had to include a photo of our new little pumpkin as he is one of the many things for which I am thankful this year. Jason will groan when he sees the photo in the "bubble suit" and little cap! He hates when I play dress up with his little baby!

The photo above is the one I used to create the Kaleidoscope Creations previously posted.

The beautiful paper was my inspiration as well as the beautiful maple leaf stamp from Inkadinkado. I also had to try out the pumpkin flourish chain from EK Success. Rather than cutting a simple chain, I punched twice and then used the edges to create a border for an A2 card. This made it much easier to attach to the card. As well as adhesive (the two way glue from Zig works great for this), I added a couple of eyelets at the top notches of the border.

I always try to figure out how I can get the most cards out of my paper, so when the card front was a little short for an A2 card (the darker leaf paper was cut in pieces four inches tall, so I could get six from a 12 by 12 sheet), I used that border around the chain as well as a strip of satin ribbon to finish the edge. The satin ribbon along the edge gives a dressy look as you pull it out of the envelope.

I first tried the image with watercolor crayons but decided I liked all the detail I got using Inkadinkado pigment ink. I began with a cream card stock card, layered the leaf paper (5.5 by 4inches) over that card. I used a Spellbinders (Labels eleven) die to cut the opening for the image. Stamped the leaf through the die cut opening. Now I have all these wonderful leaf die cuts to use on something else (and the paper is two sided).

Inside, I used a stamp from Serendipity and another Inkadinkado image (pumpkin) on the envelope. And of course, I can't just write the addresses normally.....hmmm, wonder why I don't get cards made very often these days! With all that is going on in my life right now, I impressed myself that these are done! It was fun to do some creating just because I wanted to for a change!

Next destination, Callaway Gardens, where I hope to get some great fall shots to share!

Witch Shoes

I had this stamp of Witches Shoes I had picked up at Hobby Lobby (Stamps Happen) and wanted to do a card with it, but did not have a saying I wanted to use. Sooooooo, I just wrote one out. I pulled out my Zig markers and then scanned the design. I can print as many of them as I want for as many shoe cards as I want to make.
I colored the shoes with Copics and added a cool rhinestone (K & Company) on the hat illustration I added to my saying.
I figured shoe lovers are shoe lovers....even at Halloween!
I am getting good use out of my bargain paper from Archivers, huh?

More penwork

Here are more examples of penwork I did to show as examples when I teach SDU.
I have always loved the form of "G" I used on "georgia"....there might be a name, but if there is I don't know it.

Here is the writing paper I mentioned yesterday where I used the tip of the small marker calligraphy marker to make the guide line for the writing paper on "School Days"....it gives a nice, consistent dash.

Sorry this photo is a little out of focus. I had to revert back to using my digital Rebel that the robbers did not find and now I am afraid to go outside to do my photographs like I have always done before. I am thinking some of the teenagers or someone might have seen me on my front porch with that big camera and lens and decided to come get it. That is really no excuse for the photo being out of focus....just my shaky hand I guess.

Thanks for visiting! And if you are interested in taking a scrapbook class, check them out at your local Joann store.

Power of the Pen

This fall, I will be teaching Scrapbooking at my local Joann store. It is a class developed by EK Success called SDU (Scrapbooking Design and You). The third week of the four week series is called "Power of the Pen". We will look at using pens to make our titles and do our own journaling. I do think that handwriting is something very personal and that our families will appreciate the books or artwork we do that includes our handwriting.
So, I took a break from my coloring and finishing my colored images to do some work with the new Zig pens I got. I used a set of the Calligraphy markers (I am sure I have seen these at Hobby Lobby), a .05 Millennium Pen (which you can find at most any art or craft store...they are great...even quilters use them) and a water brush from EK Success. I prefer a real brush for watercolor painting, but this worked great for lettering.
Anyway, put a pen in my hand and I am entertained for hours! My husband had to make me go to bed last night as I didn't want to put my markers down!
These calligraphy pens are waterproof once they are dry, but that doesn't mean that you can't scribble some ink on a non porous surface and use that for shadows and coloring a watercolor look.

I also used the smaller calligraphy tip to create a line for the buzzing bees and the guide line on the school days title. It would make great faux stitching also. I like to use both a script and block lettering on most of my titles.

Then I can't resist throwing in a little illustration to go with the title.

I finished them off with mats and some Martha Stewart Crafts fine crystal glitter for the things I wanted to add some sparkle to. Don't worry, I have more....I just reached my four photo limit....stay tuned!
And thanks to everyone that commented on my robbery. I appreciate all the kind thoughts. Its the hours of time editing and personal things like my mother's wedding band that can't be replaced, but at least I wasn't hurt.

Coloring with Copics continued

I told you I liked to write with Copics...above are some examples and also a couple of Marianne's images that we practiced on when I took her workshop. You can see how the different tips would come in handy for writing.

Here is another example of using the Spellbinders butterfly and Copics....I will try to work up some step by step examples of coloring for those interested.