Copic cozy

Okay, it's not really a cozy, I just like to call it that !

This is how I store my Copics on my desk.

  

I have several of these containers taped together. 

I used Sookwang tape but they were coming apart during transport so I clear taped the outside. It's not very attractive right now but it works for me.

 I started out with black containers but the store ran out and so I added some clear to the mix. I am in the process of replacing the black ones.

 Anyways, I wanted to find a way to transport my markers without having to take them out of the containers so I made this tote.

 I did not use a pattern. I measured the sides of the containers and the length and added a 3/8" seam allowance. I followed general instructions for making a tote bag. This tote is reversible and I used several different Amy Butler fabrics. 

To keep the bottom stable, I cut out a piece of foam core board that fits inside the tote. The flap is just a long piece of fabric. It sits underneath the foam core board.

I hope that you are having a nice weekend. :-) I went to a copic class yesterday and got to take my cozy for a test drive. 

Barbara

Stampsmith

Do you remember Stampsmith? These beautiful photo stamps come in so many wonderful images and were (are?) sold by the sheet. 

I came across a folder this morning that had these lovely ladies stamped in many different colours. Years ago I had stamped a whole bunch of them on glossy paper using a brayer because that is the best way to get a good impression with such finely detailed stamps. I came across the folder while sorting through some magazines.

The paper is Amy Butler and the sentiment is by Hero Arts. I used my fancy dancy Bow-dabra to make the bow and a Martha Stewart lattice punch for the scallop.




Have a great weekend! 
:-) Barbara

Bronte will do anything for a treat !

                                         (click on the picture for a larger view)
 
Bronte is learning some new tricks and Bella wants to shout it from the rooftops!

I  love these images by Mo Manning. I used 2 different stamps to create my scene. You might recognize Bronte from yesterdays card. I used the same stamp, Girl and dog . Bella comes from this stamp Did you hear .

My daughter's alarm clock went off at 5:00 am yesterday so I decided to get up and stamp again.

This card really makes me happy! I just love Bronte so much!

The clouds are dies by PTI and the patterned paper is by Amy Butler.

I hope that you are having a wonderful Monday. It is warming up here and the snow is slowly melting. I love this time of year!

:-) Barbara

Flying Bronte

Oh poor Bronte! He doesn't look very happy! 

I made this card for Bronte and Bella's challenge #76 (buttons and bows) but I just realized that I didn't use any bows. I glanced at the post and read buttons and ribbon and so that's what I made.

Bronte comes from this digital stamp. I cut him out of the image and then put him in a ribbon sling/basket. 

The tree and balloon are both cut with a Silhouette. 

Bronte, the tree and the balloon are adhered with foam tape for dimension.

I had so many other things that I should have been doing this morning but the kids slept in late and I just felt like playing! 

Have a great weekend !

:-) Barbara

I made a card !

I am not stamping much these days because we are spending lots of time emptying out our basement in order to finish it.We have been here for 12 years and we have decided that it would be nice to have the extra room that a finished basement offers.

To the card, my sister's birthday is coming up next week and although I had already made a card for her, I really wanted an excuse to use some new Papertrey stamps so I made another one. 

This card uses stamps from Friendship Jar, Spring Fillers, Button Boutique,  Enjoy the Ride (sentiment) and Background Basics Newsprint. I cannot wait to play with these stamps a bit more! I am especially in love with Button Boutique! 

 I only order from Papertrey a few times a year because the shipping to Canada is expensive for small orders but when I saw Button Boutique I knew that I needed it .Unfortunately I waited a few days after the February release and it was sold out so I had to wait until March. 

I hope that it is starting to feel like Spring where you are. I am loving the above freezing weather that we are having!

:-) Barbara

 

Fossil Inspiration Challenge

I have to admit that this card started off as a joke. I wanted to use this Stampin' Up set to make a card and I found particular humour in the sentiment that came with it. I pictured this wholesome looking stamper running around town with her glue gun and glitter, spreading graffiti where ever she went. Funny, right? Then I saw the Fossil inspiration challenge on SCS and decided to incorporate this bird. 

I spent entirely too much time creating this little purse. Since I didn't have a bird stamp that was small enough, I actually had to trace this one.  (click on the picture for a close-up view)

As you can see, I was only very loosely inspired by the purse. Well, except for the purse itself !

Have a great Saturday! I'm stamping tonight! 

:-) Barbara

An under the pillow card

These are quite possibly my favourite cards to make.

Barbara

This is what's making me happy today

Good morning,
Yesterday I was looking through some CHA pictures and I came across a bulletin board that was quite vintage looking. I'm sorry, I don't remember which booth or even where I saw the pictures because I immediately went down to the basement to find the old frame that I had been saving. I already had a corkboard that was exactly the right size so this took about 10 minutes to put together.

It felt SO good to do something creative because it has been such a long time.

I can't wait to fill it up with inspiration! So far I have a picture of my kids when they were young, some patterned paper and some digital paper, and a bow that I made with my new Bowdabra.

I also managed to make a card ! That made me very happy !

 All stamps by Hero Arts.  :-)

It is so cold here today that all I want to do is stay inside. So far I have no reason to go out but lots to do at home!

Barbara

Super Mario Magnet Board

Yesterday was my son's birthday so 3 days ago I decided to make him a card. He loves Rubik's cubes so I thought that I would make him a Rubik's cube card. My online searching brought me to this really cool and completely functional paper cube. That is so much cooler than a card I thought! So I set about printing and cutting the 3000 (lol) pieces. At some point (about 1/2 way through) I decided to take a break and stumbled upon this Super Mario magnet board. WOW, I thought. That looks super cool ! It's a magnetic board with movable magnets!  My girls confirmed that indeed it was super cool and so I set to work.

The boxes are made of printed cardstock and each one has a magnet. Behind the background is metal so that the magnets will stick.

This is another shot just to show that the magnetic boxes move. Each magnet box is about 1 1/2" square.

 

This was a labour of love. From start to finish, it took 2 solid days of cutting and folding ! My daughter Katherine even helped with some of the assembly (thank you Katherine!) .

He did seem to like it though.  :-)

Barbara 

Yes, it's been a long time

I haven't blogged in a very long time. I have had some things come up that have required all of my focus. I still won't be blogging regularly.

My son will be turning 17 on Tuesday and he requested a birthday cake that looks like food. I decided to make these Chinese Food cupcakes from the What's New Cupcake book. I am putting the pictures here instead of Facebook because I don't want him to see them until this evening when we go out to dinner.

I used jumbo cupcakes and placed them on top of a cardstock base that I cut to fit the inside of the take-out boxes. This is the 3rd recipe that we've made from this book. The ingredients are readily available and the recipes are easy to follow.

If you are my friend on Facebook, you will probably be seeing these again tomorrow.   :-)

Barbara


 Thank you Kathy!
the vegies are as follows :
broccoli -green fruit chew split almost in half with green icing and sprinkles
carrots, pork, and egg bits- fruit chews (Starburst)
peas- runts
green onions- green licorice

Penny Black thank you

Good morning!
I had the best time ever at Stamp Club on Saturday night !  :-)  Rebecca is such a wonderful hostess ! There were 10 of us there including 2 new members .Joining us were Anita from the Hero Arts Flickr group and Lauren who taught math to 2 of my children. I felt instantly at home with both women and I can't wait to get together again!
Rebecca demoed the cutest snowman card made with the SU top note die and had kits made up so that we could all make our own card . Fun! I stayed up way past my 9:00 bedtime (lol) so you know that I had a great time!

This is the card that I sent to Rebecca to say thank you . While it is not modelled after any one card in particular, it reminds me of something that Emily Leiphart would make. I just love her clean style and use of Kraft cardstock!

The image is called Warm and Merry and is by Penny Black. I stamped the image twice on white cardstock and cut out just the smallest mouse and coloured it with Copics. Since only 1 arm was visible, I cut the second arm from the second stamped image. I then stamped the whole image on a Kraft card using ArtPrint Brown Memories and distressed the edges of the card with Tea Dye Distress ink. The sentiment is by Hero Arts.

I am really looking forward to our next stamp club! This is such a fabulous group of ladies!

Barbara

Vintage Penny Black

Sometimes I go so long between blog posts that I almost forget how. I have had a busy few weeks and not much time for crafting. I did have sometime yesterday though and I made a bunch of cards for our local Humane Society who is having a craft sale. In between making doggie Christmas cards, I spotted this wonderful Penny Black stamp sitting on my shelf and decided to make a quick holiday card. I'm pretty sure that I bought this stamp 10 years ago and I still love it.

The image is gold embossed on some Webster's Pages paper, matted to some blue polka dotted paper (digital) and then sewn onto a pink card. I sponged all of the panels with Distress inks before assembling the card. To make the bow I tied a single bow, used the ends to tie a second bow and then looped the ends under to make a third bow. I then stitched it in the middle to hold everything in place. Clear as mud? LOL!

I am looking forward to a wonderful weekend including shopping for winter clothes with my daughter tomorrow afternoon and then STAMP CLUB at my friend Rebecca's house tomorrow night. YES, I'm shouting! LOL! I am so excited!

Have a great weekend. :-)

Barbara

Penny Black enjoy your day

Good afternoon,
It's been so long that I'm probably just talking to myself ! LOL! To the 2 people that are reading this , hello !

I have been so busy that I haven't had much time for cardmaking. I got the sweetest surprise in the mail yesterday though and that made me want to sit down and create.  :-)   Virginia was the winner of my blog candy a few weeks ago and she sent me a beautiful thank you card and some Cuttlebug embossing folders. What a lovely thing to do! Thank you again Virginia!

The pink strip was embossed with one of the folders. :-)

I coloured Betsy Bluebell with Copics and adhered her to the card with pop dots. The label Nestabilities were a present from my husband when he was away on his last trip. He is so wonderful to go to Hobby Lobby for me when he travels!

Not much else to say .

My kids have another 3 day weekend so I likely won't be posting until next week sometime. I hope that your week is going well !

Barbara

Silhouette and Lil Lolita 60's Ivy

Good morning !

This card started off as me playing with my Silhouette and lots of glitter.

I first cut the background (beautiful lace by Lori Whitlock) out of white cardstock and adhered it to the sticky side of a full sheet of label paper. I then applied pink glitter to the entire background and burnished it with my finger. Not in the plan was spilling the jar of glitter everywhere! Oops! After cleaning up I cut around the outside edge of the background with my x-acto knife.
I had the 60's Ivy digi stamp already coloured so I adhered the top half of the image to the card. The bow is made out of seam binding ribbon and the gems were coloured with Copics.

Have a great day!

:-) Barbara

Penny Black Brush Poinsettia

Hello ! How is your Monday going so far ? The weather is beautiful here which makes me almost like fall. It generally isn't my favourite season ! Did you do any stamping on World Cardmaking Day? None here unfortunately but I did some yesterday.

This is a holiday type card that I finished yesterday while taking breaks from cleaning out the garden for winter. The embossing folder is new - Marc brought it home from his latest travel. What a sweetie !

The poinsettia is a brush stamp from Penny Black. I have always loved this series ! I heat embossed the image twice - once using pink embossing powder and once using green. I then cut out both images and added some stickles for sparkle.

The swirl design was done freehand with a paper pricker. I felt that the edges needed a little somethin' .


I am finishing up some birthday cards today and hoping to enjoy some of the nice weather. Winter will come soon enough here !

Have a great day !
:-) Barbara

Penny Black Joy

Good morning ,

The colours were difficult to capture as was the sparkle.

Yesterday I had a few minutes to stamp and I made 3 cards using supplies that were on my desk. I already had the pink sparkly panel and the cut out holly image , so all that I did to complete this was to adhere both to a Pool card and stamp the sentiment. Since I only own 1 Penny Black holiday sentiment stamp like to get as much versatility from my stamps as possible, I just inked up the word "Joy" from this stamp.

To create the pink sparkly panel I used Sookwang Tape and some Art Institute ultra fine glitter. IRL I am tickled pink with the colour combination of red, pink, green and Pool !  :-)

Today I have some birthday and thank you cards to make before my kids get home from school . Since today is early dismissal , I'd better get started !

Barbara

I wish I had time to stamp !

Good afternoon ,
The theme for this week has been *rushing* ! I have been running around a lot  and haven't had much time for cardmaking. I did stamp yesterday but it was disasterous and I didn't actually make anything.

I just finished this card but really, it was already made. I had everything except the stamped image sitting on my desk as it was an extra card kit that was left over from stamp club. I printed off and coloured the Lil Lolita digi image a few days ago and when I was cleaning my desk, I moved her on top of the card kit. Really all I did was glue everything together.

The snowflake stamps are (retired) Hero Arts and the sentiment is Clear Design Happy Day Animals. The digi stamp is a Lil Lolita which I love. The label die is by Accu Cut and the notecard is Pool (Hero Arts).

I have some birthday cards that I would love to make today before my children arrive home from school so wish me luck !

Disk empty Feb 2006

Good afternoon,
I was looking through some of my old pictures and decided to look into "Disk empty Feb. 2006" . I file my picture like that. Nice, huh? It's no wonder I can never find anything ! LOL !

I came across this plate that I had made oh so long ago and thought I would share it. The plate is white ceramic and the image was stamped onto Lazertran ( a water slide decal paper). I *think* that the sentiments were stamped using Staz On but I can't remember for sure.

The main image is a Dolly Mama stamp by Stamps Happen and all of the sentiments are by Hero Arts.

It was coloured with coloured pencils on cardstock and then photocopied onto the Lazertran.

I should get out my Lazertran again as I bet it would be fantastic with Copic markers ! Since they are alcohol based , they wouldn't run when placed into water .

Have a great afternoon,
:-) Barbara

Blog Candy Winner !!!!!!

First of all , thank you to Penny Black for the wonderful blog candy! These stamps are fabulous! Also, thank you to everyone that entered !


These have to be about the worst pictures ever! Sorry ! I had my son do the draw before leaving for school and it was still dark out. We literally took the pictures 5 minutes before racing off to the bus!

The lucky winner is :

Virginia Lu !!!!!

I was so excited to see Virginia's name as she has been a wonderful supporter since the beginning of my blog. Congratulations Virginia! Please email me with your address and I will get these off to you right away!

Have a great day everyone!
:-) Barbara

Penny Black inclinations

Good afternoon,
While I had the stamp sitting on my desk, I decided to make one more card .

It was difficult to capture the sparkly pink ep on the main image and the intensity of the deep red ribbon.

This one isn't a Christmas card although it does have red and green on it.

 It is beautifully sunny out this afternoon and I am hoping that we have a nice weekend ! I hope that you have a nice weekend as well ! Remember , you still have 2 days left to sign up for my blog candy !

:-) Barbara