So....I Let The Dog Out...and Cow Are You?

....and had to take pictures of the beautiful scenery Mother Nature provided!

First...it's 5 degrees outside, Bandit wants out and as I let him out I see the sun shining around the tree with the frost on the branches......QUICK!!...run and grab the camera!! But...WAIT!...I'm in my nightgown and slippers!! LOL... (good thing no one took a picture of me!)

I grabbed a shirt that was on the back of a dining room chair, threw on a pair of cowboy boots left by the front door by my son............waaaaaaaay too big......... and stepped out the door! Good thing we're in the country and our son lives next door! (hopefully Dianna was still asleep and didn't look out and wonder what her crazy mother-in-law was doing! I'll call her later!)

The sun is directly on the other side of this old Catalpa tree, I just didn't capture the beauty of it hitting the frost!

The icicles from the other day melted, these are new ones. Again, beautiful with the sun hitting them!
And this one, on the other side of the porch....formed like a long molar! Ahhh, the beauty of Winter!!

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Okay, as long as I'm doing a blog post, I might as well add the card I did today for the Inspiration Challenge on SCS. Our inspiration came from the Elum website, and this was what I took mine from.
The cow is by Judith, the corn and sentiment by Inky Antics. Colored with Copics, clouds are done with the old SU cloud template and Distress Broken China.

Hope you have a fabulous Saturday.........................GO CARDINALS!!

Thanks for stopping!

Singing Around The Piano

This is Betty from Art Impressions. Today's Ways To Use It on SCS is to use alcohol in some form...be it alcohol inks, markers, rubbing alcohol etc. From the look of Betty pounding out the song, I think maybe she's been nipping at the other alcohol! LOL

I colored with Copic markers, which are an alcohol marker, and I did Polished Stone using Ranger Alcohol inks and blending solution (that's the pretty, splotchy, glossy paper).

Once I was ready to put the card together, it still needed something....so I carefully airbrushed the top and bottom edges! Ahhh! That was it!

recipe
stamps: art impressions
ink: adirondack pitch black-ranger, alcohol inks-ranger
paper: georgia pacific white, prism intense kiwi, azalea
other: copic markers/abs, martha stewart border punches-ek success, marvy corner rounder, ribbon, foam dimensionals

Hope you're staying warm and safe....

Hey, thanks for stopping!

Just Some Snow!

Snow...beautiful snow!! I love it! We finally got a fair amount...they were calling for up to 12 inches, but I'm sure we didn't get that much. Now, in spots it's drifted and might be that deep!

One of the pines.


Don't think anyone will be using the tire swing!


The "porch" swing under the trees.


One of the Wren houses.

My faithful snow buddy, Dodge....but he was ready to go back in the house when we were done!


Lloyd on the tractor...see, not much snow!

Thanks for stopping!

Fully Recovered

Art Impressions....you gotta love them! This one is called "Recovered" and it was done for the Sketch Challenge on SCS. Once again I couldn't get the colors in the pic to show as deep as they really are...so use your imagination! The chair is much darker!

I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils and blended them with baby oil. Again to save on cardstock, the black "layers" are fauxed by using a ruler and Sharpie marker. The blue layer is actually a white piece of cs, I just used a Copic marker around the edges to get the color I wanted!

I used my Scor-Pal to get the correct size of the sketch layer then cut around it with scissors. The blue layer and main panel are popped up on thin foam dimensionals.

The "Recovered" image comes as one entire framed rectangle with the sentiment framed within it. I cut it all apart so I could use it separately if I wanted. *wink*

recipe:

stamps: art impressions
ink: adirondack pitch black-ranger
paper: georgia pacific white, my mind's eye, dcwv
other: prismacolor pencils, baby oil, blending stumps, score-pal, ruler, sharpie marker, copic marker, foam dimensionals

We're in a Winter Wonderland today! It's beautiful outside!! Maybe I'll get out later and get some pics to share!

Thanks for stopping!

Cloud Tutorial and Pleats

Kind of a strange title, I know. I'll start with the "pleats". Today's Technique challenge on SCS was using pleats on your card. Here is the card I did.

Another great set from Our Daily Bread designs.

This one is called "On Eagles' Wings". A quick card to put together really. I was in a hurry this morning as I had to take one grandson over to another grandson's house for his birthday, so I didn't have time to take step by step pictures to show you how to do clouds. The layers are "fauxed" using my handy-dandy ruler and Sharpie marker again...sure saves on cardstock! And my pleats for the challenge are under the verse.

recipe:
Stamps: on eagles' wings-our daily bread designs
Paper: gp white, collectionz paperz cat plaid by junkitz, rusty pickle spurs
Ink: pitch black, broken china, faded jeans
Accessories: scor-pal, copic markers, daubers, cloud template, ruler/sharpie marker, foam dimensionals

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Now for the tutorial!

As you can see I stamped the eagle on my cardstock cut with
Spellbinder's Labels One.
Next, I masked the eagle using a sticky note.

These are the three colors of distress inks I'll use and this my fancy-schmancy cloud template... a piece of thin cardboard cut with scalloped scissors.

Then I just hold the template and sponge
off the edge with Broken China.


Keep moving the template around at different angles.

Next I worked in some Milled Lavender.

And finally, Faded Jeans.

You can see I left some white areas...it always turns out different! Somtimes it's a storm brewing, sometimes a pleastant day!

And the finished piece.
No time to make it "into" something... that will come another day! *wink*


I hope you learned something today and hopefully you'll give it a try!


Thanks for stopping!

Lilacs and Butterflies

Today's Featured Stamper on SCS is an old, dear friend...one of the first ones I got acquainted with on SCS...Vicky. This is the card I did today...thanks Vicky!

I don't know if you have this problem taking pictures of some colors, but purples give me fits! I tried so many different areas and settings on my camera and still couldn't get the exact colors of the card! If you looked at my SCS upload, it's dark... then I took it in another window here... better........oh well!

I chose this card of Vicky's. I really didn't change a lot, colors slightly and stamp images from other companies. I stepped it up a bit with Nestabilities.

Flourishes Lilac Set and Gina K's Take Flight were colored with Copic markers. I fingerwalked over Spanish Script by Cornish Heritage Farms (ink up background image and have it face up, take your paper and carefully lay on top and lightly "walk" your fingers here and there). Distress inks were lightly sponged around the lilac and edges. I stamped the butterfly head and antennae on the piece with the lilac so when I cut out the colored butterfly I wouldn't have to worry about those thin pieces! The butterfly is attached at the body only with the wings slightly bent up.

recipe:

stamps: flourishes lilac set & siberian iris (tag sentiment), gina k designs take flight, cornish heritage farms spanish script, su itty bitty backgrounds

ink: adirondack pitch black, latte by ranger, scattered straw, shabby shutters by ranger

paper: georgia pacific white, pure luxury brilliant white, prism wizard lt/dk, herbal garden lt

other stuff: spellbinder's curved rectangles, cuttlebug embossing folders, copic markers, foam mounting squares, ribbon

Thanks for stopping!

Relax With Me...

Right now it's snowing, the temp is 21 with a windchill of 12! I love snow and feel if it's gonna be cold outside there SHOULD BE SNOW!! But let's face it....who wouldn't want to be relaxing in a scene like this!!

I did this card for the Inspiration Challenge on SCS, wonderful calendars to choose from! Oh my was it ever hard! But....as soon as I saw this one I knew what I wanted to do!

I stamped the chair from an old retired SU set called Along The Shore, masked the chair and stamped the Beach Grass from Paper Angel, colored it all with Copic markers and added the ocean and sky. White gel pen was added along the edge of the ocean for that last little bit of wave as it hits the sand....ahhhhhhhh, can you smell the salt air and hear the gulls?

The main panel is faux layered by using my handy dandy "faux layering" tools... ruler and sharpie marker! It's popped up on thin foam dimensionals and layered on Prism Kraft. The gulls were stamped several times along the bottom............and voila! A clean simple card! (you know, after looking at this...those aren't seagulls....maybe sandpipers?)

Enjoy your Saturday!

Thanks for stopping!

War Zone at Ouma's

Some of you know
late Tuesday night Caleb had to take Dianna
to the ER and dropped the kids (all 3) off here.
Here are a few shots of what the living room
looked like most of the day Wednesday!

Dianna had surgery yesterday to remove
a perforated appendix!
Today I think the kids are going
to their other Grandma's house!! *grin*

Gabriel with his "rattlesnake" that he kept "scaring" me with! He chose to stay in his pj bottoms ALL day until it was time to go see mom. Hey, at Ouma's you can get away things....(some things! *wink*)

Toby, the granddog....destroying yet another doggie toy! I think he killed it dead!!

One shot of the warzone! Note the stuffing from the doggie toy strewn ALL over!

This is my quiet, well behaved Bandit....wondering what the heck is going on!! (lol, he always has that look on his face!) He loves it when Toby comes to play!! It's NON-STOP running, growling, wrestling!

As with any war, there are casualties....these guys have had it!

Thanks for stopping!

Let's Go Bananas!

High Hopes Rubber Stamps is a real favorite of mine, so that's what I chose for today's Sketch Challenge on SCS. It's also for this week's High Hopes blog challenge, to make a "guy" card. I think monkeys fit for that category! LOL!!

I started by stamping and masking the big monkey then airbrushed the background and stamped the trees. It's all colored with Copic markers, even the black layer... fauxed with black Copic (I'm running out of black cardstock!)

Now, if you look at the sketch, you'll see a verticle strip, normally I'm a stickler for following the sketch to a "T"!...but this time I just thought this monkey on the vine would look so cute...it's verticle and thin like the strip...................worked for me *wink*!

Then there was the #4 layer...what to put there? The leaves and bananas worked perfectly! Lots of layers and cutting, but I think it turned out really cute so it was worth the extra effort.

Recipe:

Stamps: High Hopes
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black by Ranger
Paper: Georgia Pacific white, Prism Spring Willow dk
Other stuff: Copic markers, Copic ABS, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Cuttlebug/embossing folder, foam dimensionals, scissors, craft knife

Thanks for stopping!

To A Cat...

this would be the ultimate Valentine's Day card!! *grin*

The 20th of each month, the Dirty Dozen Alumni host a challenge. Last month I was just too overwhelmed with my first month being on the team! This month however I've got it under control.........easy peasy *wink* Here are the guidelines for this month.

• Challenge Focus: A Valentine's Day/Love-y Dove-y card



• Required Element: Texture!! Anything you can *feel* (ie: Fun Flock, Crystal Effects, Embossing/Debossing, velvet ribbon...



• Restricted Element: No RED!! Pink is ok...but no red...let's see what other colors we can use for Valentine's Day!
  

Guess it's my silly sense of humor, but I picked the cute cat so proud of his present, from Whipper Snapper. It's colored with Copic markers, masked and airbrushed. I tried a trick on the cat I learned from BC Sherrie on her blog using blending solution.

The card is a "Z" fold...basically, fold the card like normal then fold back the front. I used a small circle punch for the corners. I think there is plenty of texture going on here don't you?!! The black layer is "fauxed" by taking my black Copic marker around the edges of white cardstock.

supplies:
stamps: Just For You Cat by Whipper Snapper
ink: Black Soot Distress by Ranger
paper: Georgia Pacific white, Prism Island Mist med, Sunflowers lt
other schtuff: Copic markers, Copic ABS, Blending solution, circle punch, Cuttlebug/embossing folder, Spellbinders Large/Small Labels, twine, foam dimensionals

Thanks for stopping!

Singing For Joy and Icicles

Just some fun stuff today!

First, I love Our Daily Bread designs...I need to order more sets as I only have 2....>unhappy<

This is the first challenge of the new year, a sketch and here is the card I did.
I just love this bird and flowers! I used my Staedtler watercolor pencils and waterbrush to color it, then with the Labels One nestie in place and masking the image, I airbrushed it with my Copic ABS. I did the same with the verse.

The stamp set is called Sing Unto The Lord-paper is Georgia Pacific white, Prism Rose dk, Razzleberry lt, Island Mist-Spellbinders Large Labels, Labels One-Cuttlebug embossing folder-Staedtler Watercolor pencils/waterbrush-Copic ABS-Dimensionals-Ribbon-ink is Black Soot Distress by Ranger

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You know I love winter time...snow...which we don't get enough of! Right now it's a chilly 3!! I snapped these pics this morning from my dining room window...yes, I opened the window!! Brrrrr!!!

Now, are you ready for some hot tea or cocoa!?!!

Enjoy your day...................and Thanks for stopping!!