Happy 4th of July!

I saw this American Flag card by Michelle Zindorf and was blown away. Later we had a craft day for our Girl Scout troop and I wanted to make cards for the troops with this idea. The girls made the flags on the front of the card (with some help of course!). It was funny how some felt compelled to count out the 50 stars and other's would be happy with just a few. I had printed off a sentiment on cardstock for the inside layers and had the girls all sign their names. Later at home, I assembled all the pieces into these cards and mailed them off to the troops just in time for today!

Couple of pointers if you'd like to do these with your kids: I tried to use cheap ink pads. This was a bad idea because they fell apart with all the dragging. Go ahead and let them use the good ones. Have the card base and inside pre-assembled so it doesn't take you months to get that part finished (like it did me!).

The "how to" is also included in the link to my inspiration card above.




Enjoy the 4th!
Michelle B.
"Queen of the Scene"

Bella in the Garden

Another card I made last week but had no time to get posted...Ug. I started with the Bellarific Friday Sketch. I was inspired by Emily and Sue to use some DP for the "grass" of my scene (I'm DP challenged you know!).

This girl has been sitting on my stamp table all colored and ready to go for a while.....but with blue jeans. Because I had colored only with Copics, I was able to go right over the blues with browns and make her fit perfectly into the color scheme of this card. Now that's fun!

Stamps: Stamping Bella Gardenia Greenthumb, Stamping Bella “Have a Sunshiney Day” Sentiment
Paper: GP 110, Chocolate Chip, SU Old Olive DP, Bashful Blue
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Copics, Ribbon from Mikes, Word Window Punch, glue pen, dazzling diamonds, Nesties

Enjoy!

Michelle B.

"Queen of the Scene"

Dawn L Saves the Day

So I got up this morning and looked at the sketch and said .... man, I can't do that. I couldn't think of anything to do in 9 panels with nothing larger than 1 piece of the panel. Ug. So I went back to bed. Then I was laying there thinking how I should get up and do a card for last Sunday's Featured Stamper, Dawn L. She's always so kind to me in the gallery and I hadn't had a chance to honor her yet! Then it hit me....I remembered a wonderful ocean card she had in her gallery. AND IT WOULD WORK FOR TODAY'S SKETCH! I changed the sketch, the stamps (but kept the ocean/fish theme) and the color scheme.

Thanks Dawn for saving the day and congrats on being the featured stamper!!!

Stamps: Stampendous Sushi Bowl, Stampendous Loads of Sushi, Stampendous Many Happy Messages, High Hopes Shell 2, High Hopes Sea Weed, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Paper: Whisper White, Green Galore, Night of Navy, GP 110
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, River Rock, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point,
Accessories: Copics, blender pen (to cover those tiny areas I couldn't cut out)

Enjoy!

Michelle B.

"Queen of the Scene"

Look, Its Me!

I've always loved this image because it reminds me of myself when I was big into painting. I do own a little bit of designer paper and I've been trying to incorporate it into my scenes lately. I kid myself that it will be a faster way to cover a large area but I forget to add the "struggle time" I waste trying to make it work. For me, it would be easier to do the full blown scene! The sketch is from Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge TECC73. I actually made this card last week for the challenge but never had time to post it.....heavy sigh......

Colored this image my usual way. I made a mask using Eclipse tape and then sponged the Old Olive grass across the bottom. Next I sponged the clouds using Mother Mark's cloud tutorial (I am really loving this technique for some quick clouds!). I cut out the teddy bear painting using my Nesties (loving them!....again, saves me time in cutting) and then cut out the main image with my paper cutter. When I was laying the main images on the dp, they seemed to bright so I aged them a bit with some Creamy Caramel sponging around the edges. I stamped some sentiments in the blank area of pink at the top, assembled they card, and I was done!

Stamps: Sarah Kay Paint Me a Picture, Various sentiments from H&M Stamps
Paper: GP 110, Pixie Pink, Basic Gray DP
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Olive, Soft Sky, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Copics, Prismacolor pencils and Goo Gone, Nesties

PS: And how's this full time work thing going for me? I did really well up until today when I sat at my desk all morning fighting the tears. I don't know what triggered it but I was really missing my kids this morning. I've got some days off coming up soon so I'm looking forward to that.

Enjoy!
Michelle B.

“Queen of the Scene”

IC186 Beachy Inspired

My kids are both having sleepovers so I needed something to keep me awake while I waited for them to fall asleep. Luckily, the inspiration challenge was posted. When I looked thru the inspiration gallery, I saw a couple of common themes: girls, polkadots words over everything (eek, even the pretty girls face!). I choose this pic as my inspiration.

I airbrushed the background (you could sponge or brayer) using paper as masks. Then I stamped the sentiment in black. Next came some "waves" with the white gel pen. I stamped a few dots (prolly too many but that's ok). I drew in a few sand dunes for Bella to stand on. I colored Bella my usual way, cut her out, and glued her onto the piece. She needed a little sparkle, so I added some sparkle with a glitter pen. Yep, I chickened out and couldn't put any words over Bella's face!

Stamps: Stamping Bella Betty Bombshell, Stamping Bella Sentiment, Treehouse Stamps Butterfly Kisses (for those little dots)
Paper: GP 110, Tangerine Tango
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, Green Galore, Pixie Pink
Accessories: Copics, Prismacolor pencils and Goo Gone, Copic Air Brush System, Fine black marker, White gel pen, Glitter pen

Enjoy!

Michelle B.

"Queen of the Scene"

Tips n Tricks Tuesday #16 - Photo Help # 2

I've already explained how I edit my photos most of the time (you can find that post here). Every once in a while that just isn't quite enough. So the other tool I use in GIMP is under the menu choices Color--->Curves.




Now the use of this tool is an ART, not a science, so I cannot tell you exactly what to do. Just get in there and play! Normally, I just grab that little handle near the lower arrow and move that around until I get what I like. Once in a great while, I might actually only adjust one color by changing the choice near the top arrow. For example, if the red is just too strong, I might go in here, choose red, and tone it down a bit. Here's a card before (you sick of this card yet?):


And after:

Those clouds are just a little more vivid.

Enjoy!
Michelle B.
"Queen of the Scene"

Happy Father's Day 2009

This was the result of deciding not to decide....I just couldn't decide what kind of scene to make DH for father's day. Then I saw the Bella sketch challenge and had a light bulb moment...Why not do a series of mini scenes! Each of these scenes represents something my husband does with our children. I think it turned out really fun!

I think it would take me 3 hours to write up all the steps I did here so please forgive me for cheating this time!

Stamps: H and M Dad’s Outdoors, H and M ATV, Hanna Stamps Pool Party, Pink Cat Studio Dress Up Billy, Pink Cat Studio Lily & Billy Accessories
Paper: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, GP 110
Ink: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Basic Black, Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copics, Prismacolor pencils and Goo Gone, Nesties, Word Window Punch, 1 ½” square punch, Embossing Folder Spots and Dots, Copic Air Brush System

Enjoy!

Michelle B.

"Queen of the Scene"