21st Century Pillow Book

Finally! I finally get to play along with my friend Jen’s Wild Flower Wednesday! This week you were to use handmade flowers and ribbon. Click HERE to see the whole story. I decided to use one of Beth’s lovely versions of Morgan for this card. I’ll be honest, I’m not loving how it came out. I love how Morgan looks… but the layout of the card is bothering me. I think I made the flower too big and it threw me off. But, I did make the flower! No punches, Sizzix, or any other tools. Just me and my fingers! And how pretty is this butterfly??? Here’s a close up of Morgan. She’s colored in with my Spectracolor pencils. I love the green I used in her dress. It’s just so cheery! And Nix picked out the purple for her sash and hemline. She is also supposed to be holdig a basket of eggs. I cut it off for this version. I wanted the butterflies to be more of a focus on this card. Here’s a peek at the inside: I’m tryin’ to be like Donna and fancy up the interior a bit! The senti is also one of...

It is time for the 2nd StampInsanity Challenge! This challenge is to make “something that holds something.” So, basically an altered piece. Cool! I have been itching to do some altered work! I was seriously inspired by my new friend Nicole Maki , who had posted this AMAZING tutorial… I had to try it! Click HERE to see it for yourself! So mine came out quite different. It’s really just an interpretation of what she did. But, that’s kinda the point of art right? To take what you see and make it your own? Wow! That thought totally fits with the one I used on my project!!! I plan on trying my hand at Nicole’s tut another time (doing it her way!), but for now, please take a peek with what I made for today! I used one of the sentiments from the Les Coquettes collection: Criticism is easy –the art is hard. So true!!! But, I had a blast making this, even if I am still combating this flu-ish nonsense! Wanna see what it looked like originally? Yup, I’ve made a project with this canister bef...

I think I have a touch of the flu. And considering I had both flu shots, that kinda stinks! Luckily, I had a project I was saving for an occasion when I didn’t have time to create something. Meet Pierette! How cool is she?!?! She is part of the newest release from StampInsanity , Les Coquettes collection. I loved her the moment I saw her. Her hair is sick, and her name and style made me instantly think of Pauly Perette from NICS (LOVE her!!!). So here is a little ode to Abby! I colored her in with watercolor markers from EK Success and my Spectracolor colored pencils. And I added a touch of glitter with my Sakura Stardust pen on her eyes and heart, plus American Crafts Glitter Pen on her fab dress. The color is s abit off on this pic… there ws a bit of a glare. But I wanted to use this photo so that you can see that I used that amazing mirror finish paper that I had used on a Greeting Farm card once before. See my reflection??? The sentiment is also from the Les Coquettes collection....

I’d like to start this post off by giving everyone who commented yesterday (here and on FB) a HUGE “Thank You!!!” March 21st will never be a good day for me. But, with friends like all of you (and some thoughtful relatives!), you have each made yesterday go a little bit better. I really felt the love, so THANK YOU!!! I don’t have a project to share with you today. I came down with an evil cold yesterday (to add insult to injury!). But i really wanted you all to see what a great time I had with my sister Pam and my BF Terry. Here we are at Walmart. Not a place I frequent by any stretch, but we just had to see what kind of merch they had! And I figured you all (esp. Erica!) would want to see what I wore… so here is an incredible jacket Pam gave me years ago. Click on any pic to see it bigger. Terry is not a fan of KS… can you tell??? We went to Borders next, where we picked up our flicks. There were not nearly as many people as there were for Twilight, which surp...

Dear Daddy, How has it been 9 years? How has the time actually moved when it often feels like standing still? So much has changed, yet so much remains the same. I think of you every hour of every day. It kills me that I will never see you hold my kids. It hurts so bad that my kids will never get to play with you, learn stuff from you…and you had so much you could have taught them. So badly I wanted you to hold them. I was so thrilled when I had Phoenix, you finally had the boy you always wanted. And you weren’t there. Wait, I know your spirit was there…is always here. But I really really wanted to see the look on your face when you held him for the first time. When you held Rhiannon and thought back to when I was a baby… It hurts so bad to not know what they would call you. Grampa-pa (as a male counterpart to Mom?)? Pop? Mr. Bowman? haha! God, I just wanna know what you would have been called… I wish I could talk to them about you without crying. It’s till too much for me. Even af...

Hello! Over at Smeared and Smudged , we do swaps every month. One for images, and one for ATC’s. Last month’s image swap was mermaids, and I used the following image (from Queen Kat Designs) in this card. I opened my little envelope filled with fantastic images and this one was right on top! I fell in love with her! She is so pretty and yet so sly looking. I think Alex stamped her… anyway, I immediately started to color her in (lucky the mail comes right when I put the babies down for their naps!!!). I was instantly inspired by her. Don’t ya love when that happens? Coincidentally, Alex just put up a post about how things sometimes just fall into place. Am I rambling? Sorry! So StampItCrazy is having a Gothic Green Challenge this week, in which I am going to enter my mermaid card. So… wanna see it? She’s so sassy! I colored her with my trust Spectracolor colored pencils. I made her green to represent deep, kinda murky water. Her hair is bright orange like some forms of coral. She i...

Hello!!! I am so damn excited! I am going to be sharing my first Stamp Insanity Challenge with you today! I already LOVE being a GroovyGurl!!! We are starting off with a sketch challenge that needed to include an image(s) from Beth’s brand spankin’ new Les Coquettes collection. First, here’s the sketch: So…I changed it up a bit, which is something I don’t normally do with sketch challenges. I usually just rotate it or something, but here… yeah. It’s different. But it looks so cool!!! Meet Nicholette. Ain’t she totally rad??? I love her! And she was so much fun to color! But about the challenge… To start off, I’m not really a scallop person. They’re ok… but I’m not really a fan. So instead, I decided to run my purple oval through my crimper to give it that fab wave. Then, I really thought that I needed to center her and add the gems on both sides (I have 3 on each side. There’s a teeny square purple one in the center of a square on either side.). Click on any photo to see it bigger...

Truth be told, I have not wanted to ignore my blog lately. And I honestly haven’t. I have been re-doing my sidebar a bit, just not putting up too many posts. I have been busy working on projects that I can’t post yet (one will be tomorrow though!!!). So, I figured I’d show you a layout I made for a custom album that I did a couple of months ago. Sorry it’s kind of a crummy photo. Here, the kids took pictures in each others bed! Apparently, they loved this! I used several fonts for the title (all American Crafts Stickers), but added a shadow in black marker to give them all a touch of similarity and to ground them. Did the sae with these rad arrows from Daisy D’s. And, I used some fun papers that look kinda wacky together, but I think absolutely work on this layout. Ok… gotta run! The kids are itching to go outside and play! Have an inspiring day!!!

So I haven’t really visited Blog Land too much this week. But that’s not to say I haven’t been busy creating. I have some fantastic new images that have kept my hands (and pencils!) quite busy. And I can’t wait to share them with you! But…not yet! Not even a sneak peek! I know, I’m terrible. I will tell you this though. They are from Stamp Insanity’s newest line that will be released very, very soon! You will love them! But on to today’s project. I had started this version of Sweet Pea Stamp’s Winter Watcher some time ago and never finished her. Well, today was her day! She and her lovely cat are done and mounted on a card! I am so done with Winter that I couldn’t bear to make it look Wintry. I needed it to feel more like Spring! So I added some happy little buttons and a few bits of ribbon. I think the colors are joyful! Please click on any of the pics to see them bigger! I used Twinkle H2O’s and colored pencils to color this pretty lady and her feline in. The paper is...

I won’t be able to share any new creations with you today. The kids and I are having way too much fun outside! But, I wanted to remind you about the super new blog that Tonya has started! Have a great day everyone!!! The Friends Having Fun challenge blog is almost ready to start having fun! (Grab the badge!) We have four teams and each team will host a weekly challenge. Let’s meet our team leaders: Alison – Color Challenge (week 1): That’s me! Dani – Sketch Challenge (week 2) Sarabeth – Recipe Challenge (week 3) Erica – Pop Culture Challenge (week 4) Each team is looking for 3-4 friends (design team members) who would like to have fun! Deets: 3 Month Term Post 1 time a month Can apply for as many teams as you’d like but can only be accepted to 2 max at a time. Please indicate your preference order. At the end of term, you can apply for another team! Bring your fun! We’re looking for topic ideas to post about during the week. Fo...

It’s the beginning of a new week and I have to say, I’m feeling quite refreshed! The weather is absolutely gorgeous and I just want to run outside and garden! I’ll still have to wait a couple of weeks before I start that, but in the meantime, I have some wonderful things to keep me busy! Namely, I am now an official Groovy Gurl! I am a part of my friend Beth’s (from Stamp Insanity ) brand new Design Team! I am SO excited about this!!! Her images are totally awesome (My Springtime Morgan card from the other day is one of her images), and I really can’t wait to share some rad new creations featuring her line! But, back to Spring! Sweet Pea Stamps is having a Customer Challenge and you need to make a card that screams Spring! Get all the deets on their blog. But here is my super bright submission: I don’t usually make square cards, but I’ve seen a lot of people over at Sweet Pea do it, and it seems to really work for the size of these images. This is one of ching-chou kuik’s amazing fair...

I am so pining for spring! Here on LI, it’s actually around 50 degrees, so I am thrilled and itching to go outside and play in the sunshine! So, it’s the perfect day to share my latest card for you! It features Springtime Morgan, from my fang-tastic friend Beth’s stamp collection: Stamp Insanity ! You can purchase all of her amazing images over at Tonya’s shop: Stamp Happens . She’s so cheery! I went a little nutty with the flowers… something I don’t usually use, but I think they all work harmoniously here. I keep looking at the card, wondering if it needs anything else… but I’m trying to channel my inner Tim Gunn and know when to stop (I know there’s an appropriate quote that works here…but damned if I remember it right now!). Here’s a closeup of my coloring. I used my beloved Spectracolor Pencils. I went with a different approach to Morgan here. Originally I was going to make her hair brown, but I really wanted her to pop! So I decided to try her as a red head. I used a lot of diff...

Welcome to the very first Smeared and Smudged Blog Hop! We have some amazing talent throughout this entire hop, so please try to take a peek at everyone’s rad creations! My wonderful friend Donna sent me a couple stamped images from the Kraftin’ Kimmie collection that she knows I covet. I know! It was so sweet of her! This is Drucilla. I had the best time coloring this crazy chic in! Take a looksy! I so love her! Her voodoo doll reminded me of Lilo’s doll Smudge from Lilo and Stitch. So I had to color this doll using similar colors. I colored the rest of the image after I used the doll as a jumping off point. Here’s a close-up.: I colored the whole image using colored pencils and then I chalked the edges. Lotsa “smudging” goin’ on here! Ain’t she crazy and cute? Please click on the pics to see them bigger. I tried to add a lot of dimension with the colors I chose. Look at her eyes! I used some blue in them to make them rounder and look whiter! Here’s the inside. Nothing crazy. The...

I have a couple of things to tell you about today. First, I am cordially inviting you to the very first Smeared and Smudged Blog Hop. It’s tomorrow!!!  We have lots of amazing talent over there and we’d love to show it off a bit! Won’t you please join us? You can start the hop from any point, be it here at my blog, the S&S blog, or any of the other members. We will all have a full hop list posted on our blogs. It’s going to be awesome!!!   The next thing I’m excited to share with you is a new Challenge Blog called Friends Having Fun . It was started by my awesome friend Tonya (the mastermind behind Twilight Tuesday). I’m really excited because it’s going to be a great blog. But, I’ll let Tonya fill you in on the deets. Here’s what she wrote: The Friends Having Fun challenge blog is almost ready to start having fun! (Grab the badge!) We have four teams and each team will host a weekly challenge. Let’s meet our team leaders : Alison – Color Challenge (week...