Cupcake Birthday

Morning from a very soggy and wet Northern CA.  Yesterday I finally took advantage of the Silhouette Library Sale, wow, I stocked up on images.  This is all Silhouette, some Copic markers and Bammm, done.

Gotta run, hugs

Winter Wonder

Morning exercise with PhotoShop Layers.  All of my Christmas card orders are completed and mailed out, this is my favorite time, when all the hard work of the last 3-4mos. is done and I am left to my own meanderings and creatings.  I am now working on my projects and researching and learning.  I think this is the last of my basic layerings.  I will now begin adding a little as I go.  Many, many years ago when I took my first PhotoShop course, my professor stated that if we worked in a different area every day for the rest of our lives with PhotoShop, we would still not know all of its wonders.  It is now, that I fully understand and agree with these words.

Dawn Inskip in collaboration with MLE Card has released a new kit "Christmas Memories", what a great kit this is, some really fun elements by two very talented designers.  The background on this card is from Emka's  "Secret Place" pattern papers at Scrapbook Graphics. I took Dawn's snowman and laid it in along with the word banner "Winter Wonderland".  I then took Emily's trees from the same kit to my Cameo mat and created 2 different sizes and cut them out.  Then I set my drop shadows in the Copic markers.  The photo corners are from EKSuccess, the corner punch was a gift from my friend Carole, PaperArts, and little did she know that she would have to look at these corners forever more on my cards, they are truly my favs.

Well, carry on, hope you are finding the very best in your week, hugs

Christmas Joy at the Beach

Morning Exercise with PhotoShop and Silhouette:  A little beachy Christmas this morning, I used "Rosey Posey" Island Christmas Kit.  I layered the bells, ornaments and shell feature onto the background paper in PS. I then cut the rest of the elements with the Silhouette.  I love that pail, I filled it with a sponge and shell and then placed on background with pop-dots, then added a single shell beside the pail and did some shadows with Copic markers.  The sweet tag of "Joy" with jute for a finishing touch.

Hope all is well in blog land, hugs

Bird of Blessing

My goodness are we really at the approach line for the first week in December?  I have so much still left to do.  I am setting up 2013 as a major learning year.  I will get my brain wrapped around PhotoShop.  The Silhouette and PhotoShop have the ability to be a match made in heaven.  I know I have not even scratched the surface yet.
This is my morning exercise in PhotoShop.  First I did the torn paper block, using Tim Holtz Distress Ink "Wild Honey", I then scanned it in and took it to PS, I layered the berry twig from "Scrapbook Graphics" - Cenerentola and the darling bird from "One Thousand Nigts". Added a block of yellow to match the Wild Honey and then attached it to a blue card blank.  Of course added one of my 3-d ribbon from Lori Whitlock.
Hope your week is productive and creative, hugs

Merry Christmas Tree

Scrapbook Graphics introduced some new kits and this was a freebie, isn't that tree sweet?  This is a chipboard card, I am loving these right now.  I cut the block a little smaller than usual and then did a piecing for the left side.  I distressed with Tim Holtz "Wild Honey" and added one of the Lori Whitlock 3-d bows.

And it is all ready to bring a bit of Christmas Sunshine.  Have a great Sunday, Hugs

Snowflake Kisses

More play with PhotoShop, why?  When I do finally get my Bamboo Create Tablet, I want to only have one learning curve to process.  My skills with PhotoShop are soooo rusty, so just boning up with 1 morning exercise, each day.   I am still working with layers, so this is from Dawn Inskip's kit "Baby It's Cold Outside", I used her background paper and added the tag, then the snowflake, then I added an overlay "the 25) and gave it a little opacity.  Then brought in the sentiment.  I distressed the edges printed it out and then added a little DecoArt "Ice Crystal" Glamour Dust to the snowflake and under the "25".  The 3-d bow is from the Silhouette Library "Lori Whitlock".  I then mounted the block to a chipboard card blank.  Hopefully by January I will be ready to move on to brushes.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. Hugs

May there always be some gold in your storm clouds

I decided to do two posts today, cause after today it is back to the grind stone big time, I have so much still left to do.  One of the top things on my wish list is a Wacom Bamboo Create Tablet, but before that happens I decided I really needed to bone up on my PhotoShop skills.  I use it almost everyday, but just for fluff stuff, nothing that entails any real knowledge of the software.  I did take a 6mo. class but it has either evaporated from the gray matter or is filed so deeply, I have not been able to retrieve, lol.  So while I work away, during break time I have been playing with layers, brushes are next.
This little card was done with layers in Photoshop, I first created the background paper using the rgb index for color and then scanning the colored card stock in with a piece of batting, then printed it out and took it to photoshop.  There I added the Unicorn from Dawn Inskips "Ministry of Magic" and the gold nuggets are from "Grazioso" by Rosy Posy both from Scrapbook Graphics.  The tag is from the Silhouette Library and the 3d bow is by Lori Whitlock also Silhouette Library.  Photo corners are EKSuccess.
Hugs

May All Your Songs Be Sweet Today

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, this is a birthday card for a sweet sweet lady turning 83 in the next few weeks.  She is an avid music lover.  I used the piano, sheet music and tag from "Grazioso" by Rosy Posy at Scrapbook Graphics.  The background paper is mine and I also used the Lori Whitlock 3d bow, added a flower and some bling.  I also did a little white wash with gesso on the piano block and tag.

Have a great day, hugs

Howl

It is Wednesday, I am almost back on track, it is a beautiful day and I am feeling blessed.  I capture Tweet's feathers (my parakeet) as she discards them.  I had a few laying on my table and wanted to use them.  I also wanted to do a few exercises with word art.  I try to use all the Cameo skills the I have acquired, periodically so I do not lose them.  The word circle says, "Howl at the moon, sparkle with the rain, gather sun rays on the way. The jouney is yours to treasure."  The circle has been airbrushed with Copics, the background for the moon was created using alcohol inks and the howling wolf is from the Silhouette Library by Nathan Jenne.  The backround paper with stars is a scan of one of my favorite shirts, lol.  Have a fab Wednesday, hugs

BBTB2 - Turkey

Our Fab Brenda is hostess today for our Bitten By The Bug 2 Challenge, she chose a turkey for us today.  Please visit our Challenge site for some great inspiration and fun.  Remember your challenge must be a cut from one of the Cricut cartridges.  Our challenge rules are posted at the top of our site.  Come play and have fun this week as we explore Turkeys.

This is a 6X6 card, the background paper is one of my designs, the Turkey was cut from Cricut cart "Thanksgiving" and then colored with Copic markers.  The "Blessings" sign is from Dawn Inksip - Count Your Blessings" kit.  The border on the left edge is a jute bow border.  Here is how to create one,  you will need 9 1/2" of string, jute, ribbon etc, Start off with three pieces. Tie 2 of the pieces into a bow, then lay the bows side by side touching, through the two inside loops pull the other piece of string through and tie it into a bow, you now have your starter for the boarder, keep going as long as it takes to create the length you desire.

This is my last post as a Design Team Member for BBTB2, I would like to say what an honor it has been working with all these talented women.  I have become totally involved with my Silhouette Cameo and desperately need some extra time to get to know it better and explore its many features.  I am also running out of physical work space, so for now I will be storing my Cricuts to make all this possible.  I will still visit the BBTB Blogs and gather inspiration.  Good Luck to everyone on the team in all your adventures in the coming year, stay safe, stay creative and be happy, hugs

The Project Revealed

 Wow, what a wonderful adventure this has been.  The project is complete and will be shipped out on Tuesday.  There were at least 140 hours put into this over the last month.  That makes this the longest I have ever worked on one card.  Over all dimensions closed are 22"X30" and open it is 44"X30".  It is bittersweet that it is done, so many people have already blessed this project and I pray many more will also before it reaches Malala.  Thanks to everyone who have followed my progress, commented and cheered me on.

The card open with 200 pockets for blessing and wishes to Malala

The left out side quad of the card, books from Silhouette Libray by Hero Arts, hand colored with Copic markers, the Markhor (national animal of Pakistan) my design using the Cameo and colored with Copics, grapevine by Hero Arts.  The trim on the side is a series of kitchen string bows tied together to create one long strand and then adhered with Fabri-Tac to the ribbon binding.

The middle portion of lower card, open book by Ginny Nelson, colors by Copic markers, chickens by Cali Arroyo, flying page design by me with the Silhouette Design Software, Kabuli (a short necked lute) designed with SDS by me and colored with Copics.

Lower right quad, stacked books, again by Hero Arts a little small than the set on the left, map of Asia tag by 7 Gypsies, embellished with Malala's intials, embossed with a Vantaj folder on small metal discs, waxed linen thread embellishes the tag.

Middle of card with flying pages, designed by me with the SDS, words cut with a computer font and cut with the Silhouette Cameo



There are 3 other posts following the progression of this project, each has details of the techniques and items used.  I hope everyone is blessed today and that all is well in the world, hugs

Do Ugly Turkeys Live Longer?

LOL, One of my core beliefs is that "I am what I think".  I was mulling over what I am Thankful for on November 1st in preparation for Thanksgiving Day and the idea came to me that for the entire month, if I think something negative, then I must find a blessing in it also.  So I have been doing this, a very interesting exercise by the way.  This morning I was up and before I jumped into my to-dos for the day, I opened my Silhouette Design Studio and worked a while with the design tools, I was playing with this turkey and the thought crossed my mind that it was the ugliest turkey I had ever seen, ought OH, blessing time.  This made me laugh out loud, so thought I would share with you too, so gobble gobble on and have a great day, hugs

The Project-Next to Last Post

Pockets Secured inside right

Good Morning all.  This is the next to last post for The Project, the next one will be the completed card and getting it ready to ship to Los Angeles and then on to Britian. It is so hard to believe that I am going into week 3 of The Project, the card is now bound, the book binding tape did not work, all I had was 1/2" wide and I think 1" wide would have worked but it would have had to been ordered, so I went to plan B.  The pockets are all secured and at the bottom it says, "Blessings for Malala" cut from dictionary paper.  The project gets harder and harder to photograph and still give your some detail.

 I have used layered ribbon and red line tape (a very strong double sided tape) to bind the card all together. There will still be some finishing touches on the binding.

I decided to add some metal photocorners on the outside edges, it serves two purposes, it helps to protect them from tearing, this card is apt to get some handling.  Also I added a magnet to the corner and it gently snaps into place holding the card secure.  Remember each of those 200 pockets will be carrying a message or 2 tucked inside.  Now it is on to the part I love the most, all of the art for the card, so see you soon with the finished project.  Have a great week and take care, hugs

Snow House -Silhouette Forum Design Challenge

Wow, something other than "The Project", lol.  One of the things I do to decompress from a big project is to walk away and do a project that is just for me, the pure pleasure of doing it, whether it is trying a different medium or technique, it does not matter if it works or ends up in the garbage can.  One of the things that drew me to the Silhouette were the sketch features, so little by little I play with them, get familiar with the icons, etc.  I needed a break yesterday so I sat down and started playing with the "scribble" tool.  I ended up with this little sketch and decided to put the pen to it and liked how it penned out, so I took it to my table and played a little with the Copics, then added some dimensional snow and flicked some gesso at it.  I still have a long way to go but this was fun, got the kinks out of my neck and I realized as I was looking at it, I could enter this in the Silhouette Forum Design Challenge, which has nothing to do with the sketch tools but the large and small tree which I used the scale tool to make smaller.
So I hope you are having a great day and enjoing the end of your weekend.  Hugs

Project has base colors and elements begin to make sense

 As I near the second week The Project begins to come together, the inside color is done and this was a doozy, the color was done with the Tim Holtz applicator and Distress Ink "Wild Honey", I love it, now, but I was not loving it earlier, the applicator drags on the paper, so you have to get a groove going, my shoulder thinks I have been trying to wretch it from my body, lol.  It is soooo soft and muted, the right side will be filled with 200 envelopes, so you will only see the color peeking around the edges and in between the envelopes.  The left inside will be blank with just the swirling color, and may be signed by overflow if needed.

 Here are the 200 envelopes all adhered together with the doves attached to the left upper corner, you can barley see them (sorry), but they are there.

The elements are starting to come together and make sense, I finally got the flying pages to look like they were actually flying with the "Rotate to Center" tool on the Silhouette, I was starting to sweat that portion of the design out.  I created the pages also with the Silhouette Design. I love it when it all starts coming together.  Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.  Hugs