Kitty Post! We Have a New Ragdoll

Hey everyone! It’s time for a kitty-post today to present our new baby! We’re so in love with our first Ragdoll, Fluffy, that we couldn’t resist getting another one. Meet Pip Pip!

(Anyone know the Richard Scarry story "Pip Pip Goes to London?" That is where we got her name.)

Here she is, soon after we got her….

Resting with Caitlin — look at those little curled-up paws!

And look at her now, becoming a big girl! She’s losing that babyish look…

Hanging with big sister Fluffy.  It’s already hard to tell them apart – they look SO much alike.

Sweet, gorgeous Fluffy, nearly fully-grown now.

A Very Girly Card

Hey everybody!  I’m back to share a card I made recently, for a little girl (in case that wasn’t obvious from my title).  And no one draws little girls more beautifully than Elisabeth Bell – just look at how cute this one is!  This image is from an Elisabeth Bell stamp from Belles & Whistles.  And the coloring of the kitten is based on our beloved Ragdoll Fluffy.  Just paying her a little tribute.

I have been hoarding this Prima designer paper for a while, waiting for the right moment to use it.  The butterfly on the card is cut from the paper, and I glittered it up a bit with a Sakura Gelly Roll pen.  An easy card to make, overall!

Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Lovely Lilac; Prima designer paper

Stamp:  Belles and Whistles – Elisabeth Bell; Inkadinkado (sentiment)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black & Stampin’ Up! Lovely Lilac

Accessories:  Spellbinders Nestabilities curved rectangles die; EK Success deco corner punch; Stampin’ Up! ticket corner punch; Dew Drops; Sakura Gelly Roll pen in clear; dimensionals

Update: This Blog is Still Alive! Also, Some Bracelets…

Hey blog readers — ‘member me?  Life has been really busy lately and I’ve got a bunch of stuff happening behind the scenes.  Details will be forthcoming, I promise, but for now I’ll just leave it at that and show you a couple of bracelets I’ve made lately.

These two bracelets were done in nearly identical styles, with just a few changes here and there.  Maybe you’re looking at them now, saying, what’s the difference, now?  And I wouldn’t blame you, so I will explain!   There are a few details here and there that I changed, and since they were both gifts, the changes suited the recipients.  But they both share a charm – a winged heart made of pewter that I love.

This first bracelet was for my dear friend Beth’s birthday.  Some reading this may know Beth, of StampInsanity fame.  For those who do not, I can tell you that Beth simply rocks.  She is a true rocker girl in spirit, so no soft, pastel colors for her!  So I broke out the Swarovski crystals in fuchsia and jet black and went to town – see below for a close-up view…

And a full view of the bracelet.  Click the image if you wish to enlarge.

And here is another gift bracelet that has a little bit of a softer edge.  No jet black on this one, and the fuchsia was swapped with rose Swarovski crystal beads.   The main beads of the bracelet differ as well – Beth’s bracelet featured crystal and this one was made with white cats’ eye beads.  Just a little bit of a different look.

The close-up view…

And a view of the entire bracelet. Click to enlarge!

If I still have some readers out there, I truly appreciate your hanging in with me while I do my thing behind the scenes.  I will have some news about that stuff soon;  in the meantime, thank you SO much for visiting and reading!  I hope you are all having a lovely summer!

Sparkly Crystal Bracelet: Sex and the City-Style

Happy Friday, everyone!  And what a gorgeous day it is! 

The project that I have to share today was inspired by the gorgeous ladies of Sex and the City! 

I was just floored by the colors that they are wearing in this issue of Entertainment Weekly.  And I literally started designing this bracelet in my head as soon as I saw this photo of them.  I mean, just look at those colors!  Icy, silvery blues – GORGEOUS! 

And to make it all more timely, this week’s challenge at Friends Having Fun is all about Sex and the City!  And of course, the movie has just opened, too — all sorts of SATC-related excitement happening now.  (And yes, I have heard that the movie reviews are not good, and I do not care at all.  The first SATC movie is one of my fave movies ever.  So, I’m still in.)

So here is my bracelet, inspired by those icy blue and silvery shades.  Here’s a look at the entire bracelet – click to enlarge!

And a closer look at the front of the bracelet – again, click to see this larger.  Lots of Swarovski crystals went into this one – white Swarovski pearls, a crystal in a color called Silver Shade, and also Aquamarine crystals.  The colors reminded me SO much of the dresses that the women wore on the EW cover.

Here is a closer look at the dangle piece of the bracelet that hangs from a little charm loop on the side.  I love the way this swings!  The “love” charm just felt totally appropriate for Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha.  After all, that is what it’s all about!

Oops – almost forgot!  For a laugh, I took the “Which Sex and the City Character Are You” quiz that was linked on Friends Having Fun.  Here’s my result – sounds about right, I think. 

I hope that everyone has a great long weekend!  Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!

A Day that Sparkles

Hello – happy Thursday!  I have a quick card to share today – a birthday card for my beloved little girl!  I just got this brand-new Elisabeth Bell Aladin set and I could not wait to use this image for my daughter.

This was a pretty interesting image to color – the veil stumped me a little bit!   I added a bit of the lavender color to hair to accommodate the veil.  I hope it worked out.  I have yet to get into the habit of taking note of the Copics that I used to color, but if anyone is interested, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will figure it out for you. 

Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock, Stampin’ Up! Orchid Opulence and Lovely Lilac cardstock

Stamps:  Whiff of Joy/Elisabeth Bell Aladin set (girl image and sentiment), Inkadinkado Dot Flourishes set (swirls)

Ink: Stampin’ Up! Lovely Lilac

Accessories:  Cuttlebug – Spellbinders Nestabilities Label die, Textile Texture embossing folder; EK Success border punch;  Kaiser rhinestones; ribbon; dimensionals; Copic markers.

Apollo Gold and Blue Crystal Bracelet

Hey everyone!  I’ve been absent from my blog for a bit.  Life’s been so busy lately and a certain little girl had a big birthday.  By “big” I mean that we celebrated the occasion four times.   LOL – she’ll only be young once! 

I’ve still been making lots of stuff and have a bracelet to share today.  I LOVE the name of the beads I used on this bracelet so much – Apollo Gold!  How cool and mythological does that sound?  I’ve been reading Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series lately, with its mentions of Apollo, his sister Artemis, and the Apollites (did I lose anyone yet? lol), so using these beads felt like really good timing.  Maybe even a little divine intervention at work!

I designed this stretch bracelet around this blue and gold-ish glass heart bead that I had.  The only problem is that I had only one of them!   And that IS a problem for me – I have a little hoarding thing going on with my supplies.  I feel so uneasy if I don’t have access to more than one of an item, especially when I’m using the last one I have.  Is anyone else like this with their supplies?  C’mon, I can’t be the only one!

And here’s a shocker – I actually got my act together enough to list this bracelet on Etsy today!  I’ve shocked myself!  So for the low, low price of….oh, who I am kidding – I am so not a natural salesperson.  I’ll just say in a quiet voice…click here to see the item in my Etsy store. 

Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!

Love Warms Every Nest – FHF Sketch Challenge

Hello, everyone!  This week I played along with the latest Friends Having Fun sketch challenge.  As always, the lovely Dani came up with a great sketch to work with.

Want to see what I came up with?  This card gave me the chance to finally break out a stamp set I’ve had for a while and had been dying to use – an Elisabeth Bell set from Whiff of Joy.  Elisabeth Bell is AMAZINGLY talented – I just love her artwork so much.   It is so graceful and elegant.

I had to change up the sketch a bit to make it all fit on my card, including adding that heart-shaped sentiment piece.   Coloring this sweet girl’s image was so much fun, as was using the cheerful orange shades.  I used designer paper from K&Co. (my fave line) and Papertrey Ink’s melon berry cardstock (also a fave of mine). 

Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink White and Melon Berry cardstock; K&Co. designer paper

Stamps:  Elisabeth Bell for Whiff of Joy Stamps; Crafty Secrets (sentiment)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Papertrey Ink Melon Berry

Accessories:  Cuttlebug: Sizzix embossing folder, Spellbinders Nestabilities Label die and heart die; Kaiser pearls, Papertrey Ink Melon Berry ribbon; dimensionals; Prismacolor pencils w/gamsol; Sakura Gelly Roll in Clear Star; corner rounder

Showing Off Some Presents Today…

Hello and Happy Monday! 

I posted a few days ago about things I’ve made lately that I’ve kept for myself – today is about the things that I’ve made for and given to others – always a lot of fun.  So let’s check ‘em out!

Here is a bookmark that I made for Tonya – made with her fave colors!  The full view of the bookmark is below and a super-close-up of the dangling section of beads on the bookmark is above.  I loooovvvvvvvee the way the beads look all clumped together like that – they look just like candy to me!

And…here is a bracelet that I made as a birthday gift.  (Close-up first, then the full view of the bracelet follows.)  Making this bracelet marked one of the first times I’ve ever actually put a clasp on a bracelet, which is  a momentous occasion for a new jewelry-maker like me!  One more milestone down – whoohoo! 

I’ll be back again soon with more to share – thanks so much for visiting and reading!

Darque Obsession – Are You Obsessed Yet?

I am SO happy to post about my lovely and very dear friend Tonya‘s new stamp line called Darque Obsession!! How is THAT for a cool name?   Tonya has just released three beautiful images, that you can see below, with more to come!  Click the image below to visit Tonya’s store, the Stamp Happens Shop, to get your own Obsession on!

I am really excited for Tonya and her new venture, so I was so happy to be able to use this gorgeous image today.  The one I used is Darcy, and she’s so elegant and beautiful.  And here is my card —

I colored Darcy with Prismacolor pencils and added lots of glitter to the image, with Stickles (blue and silver) and with a Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pen.  I started out coloring her with Copics, but I ended up preferring the lighter touch that I could get from pencils.  I embossed the starry background on deep blue metallic cardstock and added a few blue rhinestones.   A “beautiful” sentiment, a Prima flower, and done!   I hope you like Darcy – I hope to feature the other Darque ladies sometime soon. 

Thanks so much for visiting today – and Happy Mother’s Day to all the lovely moms out there!!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock; The Paper Company blue metallic cardstock

Stamps:  Darcy from the Darque Obsession line from the Stamp Happens Shop; Autumn Leaves/Rhonna Farrer sentiment

Ink:  Brilliance in Sky Blue

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Fiskars stars texture plate; Prima flower; dimensionals; Prismacolor pencils; Stickles in Waterfall and Silver; Sakura Gelly Roll pen in Clear Star; blue rhinestones.

Some Jewelry I Just Have to Keep for Myself…

…like these two bracelets I’m posting today. 

Since I’ve started making jewelry, I’ve been giving lots of stuff to my family and friends, but these two I made just for me.  Want to see?

This one is a stretch bracelet – really easy to put on and take off, which I seem to do several times a day.  And I added the fleur de lis charm since that is one my favorite shapes.

This next bracelet has a clasp, and the sterling silver tube beads on this make it nice and light to wear.  Since it has fewer beads, it weighs so little! 

I have been making a LOT of stuff lately, so I expect to be posting a lot in the coming days.  I am planning to get more jewelry listed my Etsy store really soon too (there are a just few bracelets in the store right now).  I’ve been feeling really fussy about learning, and practicing, and practicing, and practicing some more before I start to sell the stuff – that is just my way – but soon, I will start putting some things up for sale.  Should be pretty fun!

Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!