Calendar 2010 - January -April

Every year I make several calendars for myself and friends and family. This year is no different. Everyone seems to enjoy them and look forward to when I finally get them finished and sent off. Unfortunately it is never before the next year starts. Maybe some day. So far all the images I have used are from the angel company and colored with prisma color pencils. I just have the first four months done so far but in the next couple of days I will add the rest of the pages and show you how I attached it all together. I am doing two different kinds but the the scenes are basically the same. I will show you the two different styles when I am done so you can have a couple of ideas on how to put a desk calendar together. This one is done with paper coasters as the covers. The back of the calendar is adhered to the picture of the next month, this makes for sturdy pages but not the thickness of using a coaster for every page.

 I used white fun flock for the mittens, pompoms and collars of the skaters. The ice has stickles applied to it. The dp is from basic grey. There are two different silver papers used for accents.

This little bear has stickles applied to her apron and diamond glaze to the hearts. The paper is from bo bunny. I used a lot of this paper for Christmas cards but thought it worked equally well for a Valentine's type paper. Isn't that just the cutest heart clip with the ribbon tied around it. I forgot I had those until I was searching for something to add to this. The bear is popped with foam tape.

The little lamb has white fun flock on the head, body and legs. The flowers are tiny flowers from "You Got Flowers" by prima manufacturing. The big "pearls" are baubles string of pearls from embellashments.

 My dd recently gave me a bunch of old jewelry she never wears so I cut the posts of these butterfly earrings and added them to the tree scene. The tree is popped with foam tape because I couldn't cut off enough of the stem of earrings.The tree is stamped with a rose colored versamagic chalk ink and then colored with pencils to give it some variation in color. Some fuchsia flower soft was added to the tree and some candy pink stickles. The butterflies on the other side were punched out of a dark purple bazzill cardstock and then painted with a purple Twinkling H2O.  Silver stickles was applied for the body.

See you soon with the next installment of "Calendars". 

Whimsy Snowman

This stamp is from the fall & winter whimsy set my tac.  It is colored with prisma color pencils with just a touch of copics for some shading.  The bird's had has fun flock on it and the snow is polar white from flower soft. the nose and star have diamond glaze on them. The snowflake is a die cut from sizzix and the overlay is a decoration on a package I received on a Christmas present. It feels good to be creating again.

Painting

Sorry, I am not posting right now. I am trying to finish painting my living room. Soon I will be done, I hope.

Little Helper

This little boy is from Susana's Store. He is called Little Helper and that is just what it looks like he is doing. He is colored with copics. The circle stamp is from the angel company as is "Happy Birthday".

More poinsettias

Can you tell I really like poinsettias? This one is from stubby stampers. All are embossed with Egyptian gold from Judikins. The borders around the poinsettias are a nestabilities labels. I used the center for some and the edge around for the other two. Two have gold stickles for the centers. The other two are pearls that I dyed with Rangers alcohol ink.  

nativity

I just fell in love with this image when I saw it.  It is from Penny Black and colored with copics. The lamb has fun flock applied. The heart has diamond glaze on it. The star has sulyn glitter and the rays have stickles. The snowflake is cut from a sizzix die and has stickles and a dew drop from Robin's nest. The dp is from bo bunny.

Class Cards

These are a couple of simple cards I made for my class of junior high students to make. It is probably the last class I will teach at my homeschool co-op as my last child is graduating this year.  It's hard to believe that I am almost done after homeschooling for 21 years.  I now have to decide what I want to do when I grow up.  Well back to the cards.  This first one is from stamps happen and is colored with pencils.  There is a bit of straw from JudiKins glued on with diamond glaze. The middle button has stamper's floss tied on and curled. The paper is from JoAnn's. The second card has a retired stamp from the angel company, again colored with pencils. The swirl is cut from a sizzix die. Paper from JoAnn's again. Both have a bit of sulyn glitter on the star.  It was fun seeing how the kids did the cards. Some colored differently than I did or put or arranged the layers differently. It is great to see what they come up with because sometimes there ideas are better than my own.  One of the great things about teaching is that you learn so much.

Celestial Angel

I got this image yesterday and so wanted to play with it but we decided to rip up the old carpeting so we can refinish the hardwood floors.  This image is made by Penny Black but I got it at here.  She is colored with copics. I got some more skin colors and am much happier with the results of her face.  The wings are painted with shimmerz.  Gold stickles are on her horn. The dress has crystal stickles. Red stickles outline the heart.  The swirls are done with a sizzix dye and then cut apart.  Little heart brads are around the swirls as are a couple of gold dew drops from Robin's nest. 

Poinsettia

Here is another card using the magenta poinsettia. You can tell I love this stamp. The image is colored with copics and then painted with a thin layer of angel wings shimmerez.  The image is outlined with prismacolor pencils.  Little beads are applied to the center with diamond glaze.  The branches are punchouts from mcgill.  The dewdrops are cherry chocolate dew drops from robin's nest colored with a copic marker to make them redder.  The little square glitters in the corner are from pezadoddle.

Rhiannon

This image is a stamp from faerie song called Rhiannon. It is in the goddess section.  She is colored with copic markers, highlighted with white pen. Stickles and Sulynn glitter glue are applied on the dress, flowers and around her hair. The eyes and lips of the girl and the bird's eye have diamond glaze on them. The leaves are a pine punch from marvy and the dew drops are from robin's nest. The dp is from the angel company.

Angel

The scalloped oval is by nestabilities and then stippled with aspen mist versamagic chalk ink.  The angel is colored with copics. The dress has crystal stickles applied all over it and gold stickles and the trumpet and ribbons of the dress. The wings are painted with angel wings shimmerz.  The poinsettias are from hero arts with a gold dew drop from robin's nest. The dp is bo bunny.  

Peace on Earth

The bird image and the snowflakes are from the birdy holiday stamp set by the angel company.  The image is colored with prisma color pencils. The bird and the punched snowflake are outlined with crystal stickles.  The vines are highlighted with stardust green gelly roll pen.  The snowflakes are stamped with Brilliance White on vellum.  The db is from bo bunny.

Nutcrackers

The first picture is of my oldest when she was about 1 1/2. She was so proud to hold the "big man's" hand. We bought her a little nutcracker in Kathe Wohlfart's store in Oberammergau. She kept it for many years until her dog got a hold of it and chewed it.  This has to be one of my favoriet pictures of Emily.  She is quite grown now. . I have bought several nutcracker stamps to make a scrapbook page of this picture and another one but have never gotten around "Tuit".  The card is in honor of this picture. It is colored with copics. The beard and hair are done with Liquid Applique and the gold sparkles are stickles. I kept it simple because I thought the image was so imposing that it should be the main focus without a lot of bling.

Red Poinsettia

This is card is almost like the last post but it is colored. The image is embossed with Egyptian gold and water colored with tombow markers and water. The cut out is the opposite of the card below. The little corner stamp is from deco designs by the angel company. The main image is from magenta. 

Gold Poinsettia

This card is totally inspired by Suzanne's post today. She did hers all in white though, but you really have to go visit her blog to see her gorgeous card Here . For my card I used magenta's poinsettia stamp and embossed it with Egyptian gold. The scalloped oval is by nestabilities. The decorative edge is a punch by fiskars.  The little pearls are all glued on separately because I couldn't find my sting of pearls. They are probably down in my craft room in the basement and I didn't feel like going done there and digging through all the stuff I have in that room. lol  The little holly leaves are from the fall sampler set by the angel company.   The little gold beads in the center are from Judikins.

Butterfly Quote

I think I found a quote I will use for the cards below. Thanks for the suggestions.

Love is like a butterfly:  It goes where it pleases and it pleases wherever it goes.  ~Author Unknown


I'll put the first part on the ribbon and the second part on the inside.

Rose

The challenge was to do a black and white card. This turned out okay but I guess I wasn't feeling black and white so I decided to redo it only with red. I like it much better now. The only problem is I want to add some words in the ribbon. I just think it needs it but I don't know what to use. Any suggestions?
The paper is a free download from the angel company.  The rose is a stamp set from the angel company as is the butterfly. The coloring is with copics. The butterfly is embossed with aegean silver by Judikins. The silver dew drops are from Robin's Nest. A little bit of crystal stickles was added to the edges of the rose petals.

Candle

Here is a picture of a candle I made tonight. I got the candle at Target, where else. I tried the dollar store but they didn't have any just now and I needed them for a class tomorrow. The words are from the stamp set faith, hope and love by the angel company. The holly is from the stamp set, Christmas seasons by the angel company. It was all stamped onto a piece of vellum with staz-on green then colored on the wrong side with prisma color pencils. After you are done cut the image out closely and then wrap it around the candle with wax paper and heat with your heat gun watching the edges disappear. While it is still warm gently pull the wax paper off and it looks like you stamped right on the candle. The put the poinsettia from Hero Arts on with a brad. Just push the brad through the flower and then into the candle.  Then add some red stickles and some hot chocolate from Sulyn. Great gift or present for yourself. You can even burn it. I'd watch out for the paper flower but the vellum just falls off as it burns down.

Angel

I got this image at Target. It is by Inkadinkadoo. It is stamped with encore gold metallic and embossed with a fine gold embossing powder. The poinsettias are taken off the poinsettia card from below. The swirls are cut apart from a sizzix die and put around the poinsettia. The dew drops are from robin's nest.

Calendar

Here is a simple calendar I did last night for my class of kids to make today. I had the hardest time with it. I think picking the image was the hardest part. The boot is colored with water color pencils and the flowers with souffle pens. It was bound with a bind-it-all,

Poinsettia

I'm really trying to figure out what Christmas cards to make this year and just haven't hit upon the right one to mass produce. I really like this one but it would be too time consuming. Also I am trying to figure out if I like the extra poinsettias in the corner. Maybe it should be swirls instead let me know what you think. This stamp is from stubby stampers. I do love poinsettias. This one is colored with copics with a little stickles added. The center has little clear beads applied. The dp is from bo bunny.

Winter Longs - Stamps Happen

Here is the second in the series of cards using the Stamps Happen stamps. These are just gorgeous. This is colored with prisma colored pencils. The snow is painted with Snow-Tex and then glitter is applied. The paper snowflakes are cut using a sizzix die and then edged with brilliance pearlescent white. Snowflake rhinestones from JoAnn's dollar section were added. The little squares in the top left hand corner are from pezadoodles.com. They come in all sorts of colors. The dp is from figgy pudding by basic grey.

Leather Ornament 2

Here is another leather ornament I made. This time using a stamp from the stamp set, Christmas Seasons by the angel company. It is colored using bic mark-it markers because I am using it for a sample for my class of 5th - 8th graders. Somehow I don't want them using my expensive copics. Bad I know. In the center are little gold beads and stickles around the outside on the dots of the stamp. It is edged with red versamagic chalk ink. The holes were punched with the crop-a-dile. On the backside is gold wrapping paper.

When Autumn Comes

Isn't this just a fabulous stamp from Stamps Happen? It is called When Autumn Comes #80251. I have all four seasons of this set and have a big project in mind but thought I should play with each one before I start it so I can get an idea of how to color and work with them. First I colored this with prisma color pencils then added the autumn flower soft. The swirls are a die cut from sizzix. The dp is from basic grey. The little beads are from Robin's Nest. The card is an 8" x 8" scalloped cardstock from DCWV that is folded in half. It fits nicely into a legal size envelope.

Star Gazers

This couple is just too cute. They are from Stubby Stampers. The lovers were masked and then the star, also from Stubby Stampers was added and then the trees which are from the angel company stamp set mountain scenery. It was colored with water color pencils and a dove blender pen. The snow on the bottom is polar white flower soft. The white on the trees is a white pen. Stickles were added on the star which was stamped with a yellow Marvy ink pad. The vellum snowflakes were a sizzix die cut that were edged with sky blue brilliance ink. The rhinestone snowflakes are from JoAnns - a dollar for 40, can't beat that.

Thanksgiving Tilda

The challenge for today was to make a window card so of course I used a window stamp by Art Impressions. The window is colored with prisma color pencils. I wanted to play with my my Tilda again only this time I used colors more in line with Thanksgiving. She is colored with copics. The pumpkins are from the angel company - Fall Sampler and Give Thanks stamp sets - and colored with copics. The bird is from the angel company also only from the deco design stamp set. The bread is colored with copics and is just one part of a stamp from an old fashioned oven from PSX. (I have heard of some PSX stamps going for over $100 on e-bay.) Glitter is added all the flowers, windows, Tilda's jacket and bread pan. I love the Art Impression has this double sided window, makes for great insides as well as outsides of cards. I used a cutter that you put your index finger in by Fiskars. I really like those better than a regular X-acto knife. It is easier to control. The little Thanksgiving stamp is from Azadi Earles.

Christmas Magnolia

I didn't starat out with the idea of making a Christmas card with this little Magnolia cutie. I was thinking of the loden coats that they wear in Germany that are usually green and decided to add a bit of red and voila Christmas. She is colored with copics. The fence is from Art Impressions and prisma colored pencils The wreath is from Holiday Wreaths by The Angel Company and is stamped with Brilliance Pearlescent Ivy and then colored over with prisma color pencils. The little red berries are Christmas red stickles as are the little flowers on the coat. The snow is polar white flower soft. The dp is from basic grey. The little squares are from pez-a-doodle designs.

Leather Ornament

This is a leather round that is colored with copics. The stamp is from Stamps Happen. You can see more the instructions at http://rubberroadadventures.ning.com/ and other great ornament ideas.

My Honey Paper Bag Card

This card is made from a lunch bag. I tried to upload my instructions but the blog didn't like my file. I'm too tired tonight to make new instructions but if you are interested let me know and I will do it at another time. The moose is from the my honey set by the angel company.

Snowmen

It is a little early for snow but I just received some new snowmen stamps that I had to try out. This first one is from Stubby Stampers. First the snowcouple is stamped and then masked and the star shower was stamped. The image is colored with copics. The snow on the bottom is flower soft polar white. The star shower has gold stickles in the stars and ice stickles in the shower. The heart is from http://www.susanascustomartandcarddesign.com/. The pearls are bella baubles from the same company. Susana gives excellent service.

This stamp is from the fall & winter whimsey set by the angel company. He is colored with copics also and has the flower soft polar white near the bottom. The heart and birdie are popped up with foam tape. The birdie's hat has white fun flock on it. The card is a scalloped 8 x 8 DCWV folded in half. The dp is from the angel company.

TP Casting

This is paper casting with a twist. You use toilet paper and spray starch. Using about 8 layers of tp spray them with spray starch making sure the inner layers are well sprayed also. Put the rubber stamp so the stamp is facing up and lay the tp over the stamp and then use a brayer and go over several times. Use a paper towel press down on the tp and stamp and get the excess spray starch up and make sure the tp is well pressed into the stamp. Carefully take the tp off and lay on a piece of wax paper to dry. It takes several hours to dry. I waited until it was try to cut off the excess tp but you could gently rip the excess off while it is still damp. I colored this with copic markers but you could use chalk or colored pencils. Don't use a real detailed stamp. This stamp is an old one from Imaginations! The dp is from basic grey. The flowers are prima flowers with bella baubles in the center.

Sulyn Glitter

This image is from the limited edition fall & winter whimsy by the angel company. Doesn't this scarecrow have the sweetest face? He is colored all in copics. I am just loving the copic markers. They give such a great look and I think they are easy to use. There are a couple of different glitters used here. I bought some sulyn glitter to try because I heard it was cheaper and nicer than stickles. I haven't decided exactly what I think. I couldn't find a plain glitter glue only the colored swirl glitters so I am not sure I have a fair comparison. The flowers have hot chocolate sulyn glitter glue on them with a gold dew drop in the center. The rest of the glitter on the pumpkins, bee wings, buttons and hat ribbon are all the ice stickles. The dp is basic grey.

Now the difference between the two glitter shows up a bit more. This image is from Stamps in Motion. It is old because I see the copyright is from 1996. Hard to believe that is old. Must mean I have been stamping for over 10 years. Wow! The image was stamped with versamark and then had chalk applied over the stamped image. The ice stickles were then put over the stars. There isn't that much glitter showing up. The celebrate stamp is from little cupcakes by the angel company.

This card is done the same way as the one before but I used the sulyn swirl glitters - whimsey blues, pink party, and grape slushy. There is a lot more color and sparkle but it seemed to warp the paper more than the stickles. Although the sulyn is cheaper than the stickles I thought you used more because the holes are bigger so whether it lasts longer or not I don't know. So there you have my indecisive opinion on the two glitters. I hope to find a clearer color of the sulyn to try it. If I do I will report back on my opinions. And my opinions they are.

Faerie Song

This image is a faerie song art stamp. I thought she was so cute. She is colored in prisma color pencils. The stars on the dress have honey amber twinkling H2O's on them. The center of the flowers are done with diamond glaze and banana art institute glitter. The petals have a bit of cotton candy stickles applied. The wings hare icicle stickles. The flower in her hair is popped up. The wooden medallion is something my dd gave me. It was on a package that she got. She saved it for me because she new I would put it to good use. My kids all save me special things that they find. The little pearls are bella baubles. The dp is from basic grey. The layout is from a challenge on createacardclub@yahoogroups.com.

Whimsy Fall

Aren't these kids just the cutest pair. It is from the limited edition whimsy fall from the angel company. The kids are colored with copics. There is a little stickles added to the pumpkins and the girl's hair bows and jackets. The dp was created by me. The paper is some sandable paper I got a JoAnn's so the first step was to sand it and then I used some retired gwp's from tac plus a pencil eraser and stamped all over it. The tag was punched as were the corners. The corners are two different punches. The ribbon is from Target's dollar bin. The dew drops are from robin's nest.

Julia

The challenge was to do a girly girly card and Julia from Rubber Romance came to mind immediately. She just exudes femininity to me. And when she is in glittery pink how much more girly can you get. She is colored in copics with stickles and cotton candy stickles added. Some ribbon and flowers with stickles and dew drop from robin's nest and you are getting even more girly. The pink dew drops are supposedly red but I think they look pink. The background paper is from basic grey.

Pick of the Patch Again

I've been using this stamp set, pick of the patch, from the angel company a lot this fall. This little guy is painted with Twinkling H2O's with some stickles over top. The punch outs from the side were moved over to the other side to look like falling flowers. Gold stickles are in the middle of the flowers on both sides.