21st Century Pillow Book

It’s time for another new collection from Simply Betty Stamps ! This week The Burtonesque Dolls as well as the Simply Betty Team are sharing new projects featuring the Merkids line. Sweet little mermaids that are sure to brighten up your day! Today, we are sharing Frosty and Summer. I have a project featuring Summer. Isn’t she cute? My pal and fellow SBS and TBD’er called my card “zesty,” and I think she picked the right word for this card! I colored Summer in using a combo of colored pencils and watercolor markers. I kept my layout simple, as I thought that the patterns on my paper, plus sweet little Summer did enough for the card. I had the chipboard senti just laying around, and I added a thin line of Diamond Stickles around the edge of the card just for a little shimmer. Please be sure to visit The Burtonesque Dolls Blog to see more fabulous Merkids creations, and to get the whole scoop on this new release! Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!

Greetings! ‘Tis Friday yet again (hooray!), which means it’s Smeared Ink day for me. I have announcement in regards to my Fridays… This will be my last post as a part of the Smeared Ink Design Team. My Co-Captain Kelli and I have decided to step down from our positions. We will not be returning to Smeared Ink for the next term. It was a very difficult decision for both of us, but we think it’s for the best. However, we will miss our fellow DT members dearly. They are all very special and important to us. But on to my card… I decided to use one of my favorite Smeared Ink sets for this post…”Quoth the Raven.” I stamped the hearts in the background with a deep blood red. Then I added the “Nevermore” on top. And I inked and embossed the edges. On a separate piece of cardstock I stamped the collage image included in the set and embossed that as well. I used a color from Color Box called Lava Black. It’s a beautiful black with a reddish tinge to it. I tore the edges around the ...

It’s the last Wednesday in July (how the hell did that happen?!), which means it’s time for Bombshell Stamps’ Hump Day Hop! I changed things up a bit this month and gave us a Color Challenge. I love color challenges, and I thought this would allow us to be totally free in what images we use, and the theme. Here’s the inspiration pic I provided: I got this lovely image from Design Seeds. They have the most beautiful color palettes. I challenged the Bombshell fans to use at least 3 colors from above. I managed to use all 5! Here’s my creation. I used 2 images from the Hula Girl set. Aren’t they pretty? I colored them with my watercolor markers. I also used a bunch of different patterned papers. As well as this month’s Bombshell sketch. Here’s the sketch itself. And here is a close up of the central image, which I adore. It’s just so pretty! I love the swallow. And I love the combination of flowers.  I stayed away from embellishments, because I didn’t want ...

It’s time for another Burtonesque Dolls Challenge! This one is so much fun! I hope you will play along! Here’s the challenge. Musical interlude… create a card inspired by any Nightmare Before Christmas song! Make sure to put a part of the lyric as your sentiment. I chose to use the Finale/Reprise as my inspiration. Though it was a tough choice! I fell in love with these lines: My dearest friend, if you don’t mind I’d like to join you by your side Where we can gaze into the stars. Isn’t that beautiful? I immediately thought of the Tiddly Inks image “ You and Me ” (hey! Alison the Witch is now available for purchase!!! You know you want her! Don’t know what I’m talking about? Click HERE !). I hadn’t used it yet, and I have been itching to. I thought it worked perfectly for these lyrics. I gave the sweet characters a look very similar to Jack and Sally (if Jack had hair!) without being too crazy about being exact. A loose representation, really. I added the patches to my ...

*To see the newest Simply Betty Stamps Challenge, and the last of the Sweet Gotick Kids Christmas preview, please scroll down to the next post. Thank you! A few weeks ago, I was uber lucky to win a custom drawn did by Christy Croll from Tiddly Inks ! It took me a while to figure out what I wanted (thank goodness for Christy’s patience!) but we finally worked it out to be a witch (no big surprise, right?) with a crow as her familiar. I chose a crow for a whole lot of reasons, and I thought he would make the perfect companion for my little witch. I must tell you, that I ADORE the way she came out! And I love that it was a collaboration of sorts. It was truly wonderful, and I am honored to introduce you now to “Witch Alison!” Seriously, isn’t she awesome?!? Don’t you want her for yourself??? Fingers crossed (and perhaps a kind email or two) that Christy will release her in the Fall! This first version (of many, many more to come!) was done entirely with markers. All watercolors sans ...

Welcome to the last day of the Simply Betty Stamps Sweet Gothic Kids Christmas Preview. Today is officially release day! You now have the opportunity to snag these sweeties in clear stamp form, or for ONE WEEK ONLY, in digi form! We have one more Kid to introduce you to. Here’s Tree Top Wednesday! “Not a card?” you’re probably thinking… That’s because there’s a new SBS challenge with the Scrap Team! That’s right! And your challenge is to make a Christmas tag using the following colors: Cranberry Red, Hot Cocoa Brown, Snow White, and Teal. Such yummy colors! Isn’t she sassy? I colored her with a combination of watercolor markers and pencils. I stuck to the colors required, and didn’t add any additional colors except for her skin, and the green of the light wire. And how cute is that background stamp??? It’s from Inkadinkado. And I chose to color in only some of the lights (with marker). Then, I went around the whole thing with X-Mas red Stickles, and I adhered that rad bu...

It’s a big day! A fang-tastic new StampInsanity challenge is up, and I have another Simply Betty Stamps preview to share with you! This week’s StampInsanity challenge is Goin’ Goth! What could be better?!?! For this challenge, I used one of my favorite SI images, Lilith. I kept it looking kind of unfinished on purpose. Goth is creepy, gets you thinking… I wanted it to look like the story may or may not be finished here. I colored Lilith with my watercolor markers. I think she came out pretty rad. If you click on any of my pics, you can get a bigger, better view. I obviously didn’t want to go with all black for this card. Too obvious for me. I wanted those pops of color to be unexpected and surprising. I love this paper I have on the left side. It’s so soft and fibrous. It tears beautifully. I “stitched” on top of it with black Stickles. I am really happy with the end result. On to something…cuter. ;) It’s time to meet Reindeer Tilly. Who I think may be my favor...

Are we getting you in the Christmas spirit? The Simply Betty gals and I have been working really hard on bringing you some Holiday Cheer in July! We are previewing the latest SBS collection, Sweet Gothic Kids Christmas. Today, we are introducing you to Santa Scott. I used some really crazy paper for my background, so I kept the layout and embellishments simple. I colored Scott in with my watercolor markers. Doesn’t he look thrilled to have all of those cookies? :) I am really happy with his hair. I love the high and low lights I achieved on this one. Sometimes ya just get it right, right? ;) My paper is from DCWV, and my rub-on senti is from American Traditional Designs. All of these new images will be available for sale starting this Friday. The will be in clear stamp form, and for ONE WEEK ONLY you will be able to purchase them in digi form. They will of course be in the Simply Betty Stamps Shop . Please be sure to visit the rest of the SBS gals by hopping over to the...

Greetings! It’s time for another installment of the latest Simply Betty Stamps release…the Sweet Gothic Kids Christmas line. These are all so cute! Today, we get to hang with Alex…who is busy wrapping presents. For me. ;) He’s got an armload of paper and bows, and he’s ready to get started! I was inspired by this week’s Mojo Monday Challenge. Here’s the sketch: I used some really pretty paper on this card. I hope you can see them all. You can click on any of my photos to see them bigger. I colored Alex in with my markers. Look at all of the teeny details on the wrapping paper! I love Betty’s images! My sentiment is from JustRite Stampers. Gotta love ‘em! I had totally forgotten I had their Christmas set until yesterday. And then I knew I had to use them with this release! I hope you will join me again tomorrow for yet another fabulous preview from SBS! Be sure to visit the SBS Blog to see the rest of the DT’s offerings. You will be able to purchase these cuties for your...

It’s Day 2 of Christmas in July with Simply Betty Stamps ! The SBS gals are previewing Sally today. She is super cute! I opted to go without the customary colors for Christmas. And my purples actually look purple in my photos this time around! Huzzah! Isn’t Sally cool? I love her little outfit. I colored Sally with my colored pencils. She was super easy to color, and a lot of fun too! If you are one of those intimidated by coloring, I highly recommend picking up Sally for yourself. There aren’t any confusing angles or what have you. She’s standing nice and straight, so it’s easy to do the high and low lights. I cut out a circle with my Coluzzle (I know…it’s old school- but I love it!), and wrote “You spin me round and round” twice. I also added some Liquid Pearls in Platinum for a bit of dimension. Al of the brand new Sweet Gothic Kids Christmas line will be available starting on Friday. They are available in clear…and guess what?! For ONE WEEK ONLY, you can buy them i...