Friday, February 5, 2010

Can you believe it...

I stamped for fun! I inked up stamps today that haven't seen ink in a long time. I love stamping and my design team commitments keep me very busy so I seldom get a chance to ink up those stamps that I love but aren't for one of my teams. Today when I was checking out blogs I came across a super cool challenge on Nichole Heady's blog. Her challenge is to use the Emboss resisit technique. To be honest, it has been years since I have done this technique. Honestly, I never ever use my heat gun for anything except fixing errors when I color with my Copics. I don't know the last time I pulled out the Versamark, LOL.

Anyway...I tried it and I was really pleased with the result! The picture as usual, doesn't do the card justice but this is the best I could do taking a photo at night, in a room where all of the light bulbs are burnt out. Luckily Tom bought me a photo tent for Christmas and I'm just amazed that I can take an ok looking photo in a pitch dark room, LOL.
I used one of my favorite card layouts for this card. I actually have 2 more cards to share in the next few weeks where I used this same layout. I think it works perfect when using a larger sentiment on the front of a card.
Does anyone else wish Spellbinders would make the labels nestibilities sets in a small and large so we could layer? I sponged the edge to give it a little bit of a layered look but man oh man I wish there were 2 sizes of the labels!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a terrific weekend! Check back on Sunday for a super fun Little Paper Shop event!

Little Paper Shop Featured Stamp Set

Please stop by the Little Paper Shop blog today to see some awesome cards made with the stamp set, {Garden Gate}, that is being featuring this week. We could all use a little extra inspiration and eye candy, right?

I've shown this card before, but since {Garden Gate} is the featured set this week I thought I'd post it again. I actually have this card published in the current issue of Just Cards! magazine, too!
I hope you all have a terrific weekend! Thanks for stopping by today!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge and Blog Hop!

It's Wednesday! That means it is time for another fun Wednesday Prettie Challenge and blog hop! This week our challenge comes from the incredibly talented Prettie Girl Frances! Frances always comes up with some incredible sketch challenges!

This week the design team will be using either the set Sealed with a Kiss or the set Time For Cake. Both stamp sets featured this week will be on sale for 20% off all week. Also be sure to check out the new digi stamp section of the boutique, Christie is adding new digis all the time!

Here is this week's sketch:

For my card, I used the set Time For Cake. This is a huge set full of wonderful wedding and anniversary sentiments as well as a bunch of fun build your own wedding cake stamps. I just love this set!
Supplies used: Time For Cake set from Paper Pretties, SU cardstock, Copic markers, DCWV glitter cardstock, Basic Grey Sugar Rush designer paper, Recollections self adhesive pearls, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, Offray ribbon, foam dimensionals, SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

If you are just starting at my blog, head on over to Christie's blog to start from the beginning. You definitely won't want to miss any of the stops! If you are following the hop, the next stop after my blog is the blog of Prettie Girl Wendy Bond!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a terrific day!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Jacksonbelle Tuesday Challenge

It is time for another fun Jacksonbelle Tuesday challenge! This week Lynda gave us the fun challenge of using Buttons, Bows and Brads. You don't have to use all of them...but you can....any combination...use only 1 or use all 3! We'd love for you to play along with us! If you do, be sure to leave a link to your project in the comments section of the challenge post on the Jacksonbelle blog.

For my card I used another one of the fabulous Sugar Nellie stamps that Delia gave me for Christmas. I just can't even begin to thank her enough for these adorable stamps. I am totally loving them! I paired up this little cutie with some gorgeous Basic Grey Wisteria designer paper and matching Basic Grey Wisteria brads from Jacksonbelle. I also used my all-time favorite Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.


For more inspriation, be sure to check out the blogs of all of the Jacksonbelle Rockstars!

Dawn Lusk

Julie Lacey

Heather Pulvirenti

Windy Robinson

Stephanie Severin

Amy Tsuruta

Pam Varnell

Lynda Benden

Tobi Crawford

Jill Dunn

Carly Robertson

Shemaine Smith

Lindsey Botkin

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a great day! Be sure to check back tomorrow for this week's Paper Pretties challenge and blog hop!


Monday, February 1, 2010

Little Paper Shop Monday Challenge

Welcome back! I hope you all had a terrific weekend. It's Monday, that means it is time for another fun Little Paper Shop Challenge! This week Allison has a fabulous sketch challenge for all of us! We'd love for you to play along with us! If you do, be sure to leave a link to your card in the comments section of the LPS blog challenge post. One lucky random participant this week will win the set {Angelic Jenna}.

Here is the sketch:

For my card I used the newly released set {Lily and Lucy Messages}. This new set is filled with adorable images and coordinating sentiments!

For more inspiration be sure to check out the blogs of the rest of the fabulous Little Paper Shop design team!
Thanks for stopping by today. If you didn't get a chance to check out my review of the new Prismacolor Illustration markers yet, scroll down to yesterday's post. You definitely should check them out! I hope you all have a terrific Monday!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Product Review: Prismacolor Premier Illustration Markers

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Today I wanted to tell you about a product that I recently got to try out. As most of you all know, long before I ever owned a Copic marker I was (and still am) a huge fan of Prismacolor markers. My Prismacolor colored pencils and markers are a permanent staple on my craft table. A few months ago, I was asked if I would like to try out some new Prismacolor Premier Illustration markers. You know me, I'm always game for trying out something new! I have been using them for the past few months but with vacation and Christmas and illness, I haven't had a chance to post about them here. Today I wanted to share a little bit about these markers with you.

I had a chance to play around with the fine tip, brush tip and chisel tip versions of these markers. Here are some details about each style of marker:
  • The Premier Fine Tip Illustration marker is ideal for creating crisp lines and detail work, such as quick sketching, outlining and adding texture. Five point sizes (005, 01, 03, 05, 08) allow for versatility and translate to precise, controlled application when detailing or making fine marks.
  • The Premier Brush Tip Illustration marker gives artists the control, flexibility and signature detail of a paint brush with the unique qualities of Prismacolor’s vibrant ink to create thick, thin or varied lines in one stroke.
  • The Premier Chisel Tip Illustration marker features a tip style that allows for varying line and stroke widths – from smooth lettering to easy outlining to the ability to cover large areas with broad strokes.


The retail price for these ranges from $3 for a single marker to around $20 for a package of 8. You can find these at Michael's (use their weekly coupon and these are a total steal!!), Hobby Lobby, A.C. Moore, Dick Blick and lots of other fine retailers. For a complete list of retailers, click HERE.

The first thing you will notice about these markers is that they are the size of a regular pen or pencil. They are not the big thick marker like the regular Prismacolor Premier markers. This makes them really easy to use.

Here are my opinions/observations of each of the 3 styles of marker:

The Chisel Tip: The chisel tip markers are really nice quality but for the work I do, I really didn't have a huge use for them.

The Brush Tip: I really liked the brush tip markers. These aren't markers to use for blending and coloring large areas but they are absolutely AWESOME to color in small detailed areas. Because the brush tip is a bit firmer and much smaller than a Copic brush tip, the color is much easier to control in tiny detailed areas. The number of colors is very limited but these are definitely worth picking up!

The Fine Tip: These are an absolute MUST HAVE! I LOVE these markers. They sit on my stamp table where I have access to them at all times. I have used these over and over again!
The fine tip black set comes with 7 markers...5 different size fine tips along with a brush tip and a chisel tip. The fine tip markers are truly invaluable. I mainly used the fine tip markers to fix stamping imperfections or add background scenery to my image.

Here are some of the ways I used them:

With this adorable Cooper image from Paper Pretties, I wanted to use a layout that had a circular main image panel. This image is more of a rectangular image and when cut out in a circle looked strange because the falling snow was just falling down the center of the circle and not along the sides.

Not a problem...I used one of the fine tip Prismacolor Illustration markers and added the extra snow flakes to fill the circle. You honestly can't tell that the drawn snow isn't part of the original image. I use Momento Black ink and the markers are an exact match.For my next example I had a sentiment that didn't fully stamp. The letter A in "Always" misstamped.
Once again I just grabbed one of the fine tip markers and viola...you would have never known.


I have used these fine tip markers to fix several images. Because I mainly only use premium quality white cardstock nowadays, I hate to throw even a 1/4 sheet away because of a misstamped image. For this next image you can see that the right edge of the umbrella and her right arm didn't stamp fully.
Once again, the fine tip markers did the trick! I can't tell you how much I LOVE these! The great thing is, is once the image is fixed you can go ahead and color with your regular Prismacolor markers or Copics and the black ink where you fixed the image will not smear.

Here is the fixed/colored image.

Here is another example where I fixed an image that didn't stamp correctly. Look at her shoe.


Here I colored the small flowers using one of the brush tip markers. Fine detail and small areas are ideal for these markers.
For my next example, I used the fine tip markers to extend the ground line to the edges of my die cut piece of paper. These super fine tip markers make it easy to add your own ground or grass and make it look like it was part of the original image.
I haven't had a chance to scrapbook in quite some time but these would also be perfect for journaling on your photos and scrapbook pages!

Overall, I highly recommend these. The fine tip set is a must have for any papercrafter, the brush tip are perfect for coloring small detailed areas and the chisel tip are high quality markers for those of you who use a chisel tip.
These markers were designed for Illustrators but they are also a perfect fit for any stamper or scrapper.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you are all having a terrific weekend! Be sure to check back tomorrow for the Little Paper Shop Monday Challenge!