Up and Away...

My card today features an image from Plate 102 of the Elaine Cox collection. This plate includes four of the sweetest stamps around.

The papers are from a Martha Stewart stack, it was colored with copics and the balloons have a layer of microbeads on top of them. Thanks for stopping by!

Little Curls and You Tug at my Heartstrings

It was a great treat to have wonderful images from artist Elizabeth Bell! I have been such a big fan of her beautiful artwork. Here's one of the newest images at Sweet Pea called Little Curls. Isn't she a darling?This sweet image just makes me wanna hug someone! Be sure to check out the Elizabeth Bell images on the Sweet Pea website. They are all so adorable.


One more card this week, here's an awesome stamp from artist Terra Bidlespacher. I just love this artist's amazing works. This stamp is called Nadya (Plate #174). I colored her up in wonderful fall colors and gave her a great firey red hairdo. She's just a delight, I love her sassy look.I added some wonderful wire based ribbon with eyelets in it that I bought while visiting Turkey. To match I added some great matte style buttons and put a saying from Plate #102, "You tug at my heartstrings." I know this sweet image sure tugs at mine!

Have a great day everyone!


Holley

Multi coloured blocking

I've had so much fun playing with today's card. It's a technique I've never used before I think and I came up with it all on my own (although I had inspiration) I'm proud of it and thought I'd share it with you.

If you're not very happy with your colouring of the sweetpea images  - you don't have to be! There are so many ways to use your stamps and this is one of them.

I started by inking different stamps in different bold coloured inks on white paper and embossing them with clear embossing powder. After the powder has cooled off I inked the whole image with a contrasting colour with a direct-to-paper technique (which means you dab the inkpad directly on the paper) When I was happy with the result I wiped the images to remove any ink that was left on the raised embossed part. This will make the images pop. Finally I cut out different sized blocks and mounted them together. I added the little ribbon and bow to add some more interest to the card.

It's a super easy technique and I hope you'll give it a go. All you need is some embossable inks (I used small versacolor) and some clear embossing powder. Have fun!

Images used:
ching chou kuik: Seahorse plate 79
ching chou kuik: cheshire cat illusion plate 41
ching chou kuik: autumn harvest plate 57
Elaine Cox plate 102
Meredith Dillman: peacock fairy plate 76
Nikki Burnette: Tulsa
Sentiment: plate 30

My Heart Belongs to only you!

Here's a beautiful image from artist Nikki Burnette named Arden (click here). This stamp is sold individually and on Plate #82. I love the coy look on her face and the mask she carries to hide herself. I think that makes the saying "My heart belongs to only you!" go with this card so well, as this woman would hide herself from others and only look her lover in the eye.

That great saying comes from plate #102. I used some wonderful paper from WeR Memory as the background on this card along with some mesh to give background color. I used some Colorbox chalk to soften the edges and add depth to the whiteness of the papers. Then I added some color matching buttons and ribbon to round out the card with some simple highlights.

Have a day filled with mystery!

Cheers, Holley

Elaine Cox's Bear Collection

Stamps: Elaine Cox Teddy Bear Collection

Sheet #16 Plate 102

As soon soon as I saw these cuties, I was in love! As the Japanese would say, "KAWAII"!

And, coloring these little bears just makes you happy! For today's card I used some leftover cardboard cut into 3 pieces to create a trifold with my cropadile, some eyelets and some bits of dyed seam binding.

I love making this style of card, because it can be left standing up for display. Tip: Make sure you leave enough slack in the ties so that the card can fold up.

You tug at my heartstrings

Here is another card from me using one of the adorable bears from Elaine Cox's plate 102. I think these bears are so sweet and love how different they are from anything out there. Today I've been thinking a little bit outside the box - not doing things I usually do. To start with I inked the stamp with a brown ink pad that has 6 hues in one, going from light to dark. Then I used a different colouring technique using pastel colours and some sort of rubbing alcohol. Finally I used the same patterned paper for two panels of the card.

Teddy Bears

Artist Elaine Cox just created some wonderful images of teddy bears which I love! I had to get this sheet (Plate #102). There's four adorable sets of Teddy bears with some cute sayings to go with them. They are super cute. I colored my image using copic markers and mounted it on a dark red cardstock to make it pop off the card. I really wanted to use this adorable red star to match the paper, so I added a great saying from Plate #101 that says "I am like a falling star who has finally found her place next to another in a lovely constellation where we will sparkle in the heavens forever. Amy Tan" The I used some bling that would be like the line of light you would see from a falling star.

I can't wait to use the other Teddy Bear stamps and share cards of them with you! I currently have a blog candy contest running, it started on Feb 14th (CLICK HERE), be sure to sign up as the best prize is a wonderful set of beautiful stamps from Sweet Pea Stamps!! WOO HOO!!

Cheers all, Holley