Fun and Mental Changes

HOW does someone leave her blog for so long and actually accumulate more followers???  You guys are WONDERFUL!  Thank you for all the kind words and emails I've received over the past few months!!!   I have not fallen off the earth.  I really am thinking of all of you... I promise!!!   Today I want to share probably one of the COOLEST alteration projects I've ever done, but first I want to share where I've been and what I've been up to because it plays a HUGE role in this project I'm sharing coming to fruition!!!  In a nutshell, we are buying a new home. Welp... after months of working to sell the home we were in, moving into an apartment (that is screaming to get us on an episode of Hoarders), we are finally getting ready to call the newly built house our home.  Yes, I will have TONS of pics to share as soon as we close and get settled... God-willing we'll be leaving this apartment in three weeks!!!  All the female decorator cells I have in my ...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?  I get a freaking virus RIGHT before I'm to leave for Vegas?!?  Ok, so before I go on my rant, I just want to say that I was able to restore my system quickly and easily, but (as is ALWAYS the case when a virus "surprises" us) I was freaked out for a good 10 minutes this morning.  And I will add that with my HUGE to-do list.... yep, I did it up last night.... I was more than a little irked to have to add "Remove Virus Scam" to it.  But there is a little lesson here to add to my last post... Allow flexibility in your scheduling - hard and fast rules for your daily schedule should just not exist.  There are some appointments or tasks that need to be completed timely and on-time, but allow a bit of wriggle room in your schedule.  That, too, lends itself to relieving a little bit of stress. Now, with that out of the way... UGH!  I DID NOT NEED THIS RIGHT NOW!!!!  THE DANG THING LOCKS YOUR COMPUTER!!!  But luckily I onl...

Check out what I featured for my Spectrum Noir design team post today!!!  I figured, what could be better than a tutorial on coloring the creases and folds in a witch's hat???  After all, it IS the day before Halloween!!!  So once I had her colored, I KNEW exactly what I was going to do with her!!!  A coffin treat box of course!!! Isn't that coffin treat box CU-UTE???  I'll go ahead and list the Spectrum Noir colors I used to color this gorgeous little Saturated Canary witch from the Witchkeys digi (click HERE to get the digi) and then I'll post the tutorial pics for creating hat creases.   Witch's Hat, Dress and Shoes:  IG9, IG4, IG1 Accessories:  PL1, PL4, OR1, TN3 Skin:  EB1, EB2, IG3 Hair and Book of Spells:  TN7, TN3, TN1 "Best Witches" outlined with CG1 Ok, here's the tutorial: Ok, that does it!  Be sure to check the Spectrum Noir blog for MORE projects, tips and tricks from th...

I am GIDDY with excitement this year and am ALL OVER Halloween party design ideas!!!  So for my feature today on Spectrum Noir's blog, I featured THIS little guy: ISN'T HE GREAT!?!  He's actually an old image I bought from The Octopode Factory , but for some reason never used (silly me).  He is PERFECT for this treat bag place holder!!!  Here's a little tip for those who might want to give this one a try for an upcoming Halloween party.... color the image, scan it and then print multiple copies.  It is a WHOLE lot easier than coloring a ton of them for each and every guest.  Well, of course, unless you really love your guests and want to give each of them something you personalized for them.  But depending on your guest list, that might be A LOT of coloring!!! hehehehe! Here is a list of all the Spectrum Noir markers I used: Rabbit, Trousers and Shoes:  GG1, GG2, GG3, GG4, GG5, GG7 Ears and Nose:  BP6, BP1 and PP2 Hat and Shirt:...

Ok you guys.... here is my latest and greatest Spectrum Noir project and this time I'm featuring the cuter than cute Jude At The Movies from Simply Betty Stamps along with Make It Crafty 's theater background digi.  I saw it done HERE and just knew it would be the perfect thing for my SMASH Book movie page.  On the opposite page will be a collage of all my favorite movies.  This page is just the attention getter...hahahahaha! You see that film strip at the top of the page?  Well I'm going to go over how I made that so that you can do it too!!!  But first.... You need to start with an image.  Here's the image that was colored using Spectrum Noir pens FS1,TN2 and TN3 for the skin TN2, EB3 and EB8 for hair DR7, DR6, CR10, BGR2, BGR5, IG1 and IG3 for the theater CG2, CG4, DG3, CT1, CT2, OR1, OR2, BT3, BT7, BT8, DR6, DR7 and CR10 for the antennae, drinks and popcorn IG1, IG3, IG7, and IG10 for shirt, shoes and cup lids BT7, BT9 and TB1 for ...

One of my all time favorite things to color is people.  I love the color variations in skin and hair and then add to that the depth of light and shadow.... I LOVE IT!!!  So it was no surprise that people were the first images I colored when I first received my new Spectrum Noir Markers (Click HERE for my first project post).  Since then I've done a couple of hair and skin charts, but I thought it would be nice to do just a BASIC skin chart to feature on Spectrum Noir's blog today.  So here it is, I get to share it with all of you!!! Please don't judge me on my coloring skills for this... I typically ALWAYS color the skin first so that when I color outside the lines, the hair/clothing/etc. will hide the fact that I can't stay in the lines.  hahahahahahahaha!  The top row is light skin and the bottom row is medium to dark skin.  Hope this gets everyone's wheels turnin!!!  More INCREDIBLE color charts are soon to be available on the Spectrum Noi...

I know.... super corny title!!!  But this little guy needs some attention: Isn't this one fun???  Today I get to feature "Texture" over on the Spectrum Noir Blog .  Not only did I FLOOD this card with texture, I also added a bit of texture to the Puppy Stampendous image to make him look furry.  The technique is so very simple.... once you've colored the image, simply take your blender pen and stipple.  Be sure not to over-stipple; remember that with the blender pen, the effect needs time to develop.  But within seconds you get insta-fur!!!  The Spectrum Noir colors I used were: Dog:  TN1, TN3, TN5, TN9 and EB8 Letter:  IG1, IG2 and IG4 ***eyes and nose were accented using sharpie and white gel pens Other texture elements were in the different print papers I chose, the different fibers and the FUN stuff like..... I embossed a Vintaj charm in my Big Shot!  I also "smooshed" a bottle cap in my Big Shot and made a fun metal embellis...

Welp.... the Spectrum Noir blog is runnin full steam and that means that I get another turn to play!!!  Today I'm sharing a tag that I made using my Spectrum Noir Pens using a dual-tone stamp technique to draw the eye to the subject.  For my post over at Spectrum Noir, I called it:  Dueling Mementos !  LOL! Here’s how it's done.  Stamp your subject in a complementary color to the rest of your image.  In my tag, I stamped everything but the cabbage in Memento Rich Cocoa and then stamped JUST THE CABBAGE in Memento Bamboo Leaves because I knew I was going to color the cabbage green.  Had I colored the cabbage purple, I would have used Memento’s Lilac Posies to stamp the cabbage and then stamped the rest of the image in the Memento Bamboo Leaves instead of Rich Cocoa as purple and green are complimentary colors.  The use of a color wheel will help when using this technique as complimentary colors are found on the opposite side of the col...

Well.... The Spectrum Noir Design team is off and running with the newly active Spectrum Noir blog going strong!!!  Today is my day to feature and after a few glitches.... namely that I fell asleep last night and missed some pretty important emails, I'm finally up and running this morning!  Whew!  Don't you just love new beginnings??? hahahahahaha!  I'm super excited to share yet ANOTHER hair highlight.  So see my original Hair Tutorial Click HERE .  I just love coloring hair and those perfectly placed streaks that gives my colored images a bit of realism. Today I want to spend a little time reviewing exactly what gives you the ‘perfect’ hair.  We'll just call this a follow up to my original tutorial (instead of overkill).  I promise, it will be worth it! This image was a FUN one to color simply because its pretty much ALL hair!!!  The Spectrum Noir colors I used on the hair were TN2, TN5, TN9, EB3 and EB8.  I start...

Whew.... have I been inspired this week!!!  These new Spectrum Noir markers are a BLAST to color with.  But this particular image inspired me quite some time ago when my blog buddy Melanie of Paper Blessings by Melanie colored this gorgeous Chrissy Armstrong image.  The minute I saw this beauty the quote from Twilight popped in my head:  "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb."  I just KNEW I had to color this one.  But I didn't;  I've been sitting on this one for awhile and finally pulled it out for none other than my fellow Spectrum Noir teamies!  We've been in a discussion this week about how the Spectrum Noir markers work for hair.... because Spectrum Noir markers don't have brush nibs.  Well.... hair is sort of my thing and these markers make hair a snap!!!  Really, could there BE a more perfect image to show how these wonderful markers perform?  Check it out!!! I began this gem by coloring in the entire lion using ...

**Click HERE for Halloween Give Away** I was chatting with one of my design teamies the other day about blog pics and she asked me how I make them looks so nice for my blog.  I told her my secret was Photoshop Elements 9.  She said that she had it but it seemed so hard to use so she would get frustrated and close it.  Well, she's sort of right in that when you open up Photoshop there is just SO MUCH TO IT that it was a bit overwhelming for me when I first started.  I ended up getting a book to learn how to use it.  Now, while I STILL don't really know everything there is to know about PSE9, I did learn a couple of simple tricks to make my pictures look SOOOOO much better!!!  So here's the video tutorial on what I do to enhance my pictures for my blog.  I hope it helps someone out in blogland! :)

Well, over at Paper Vineyard today I posted a tutorial about creating a leather look on your cardstock.  I featured a card that I made quite some time ago and I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to revisit this one.  It features a chalk colored Stampin Up stamp from the Provencal stamp set (retired, sorry) and yes, I colored it with chalks.  Believe it or not, there ARE other mediums besides Copic markers although if you've kept up with my blog for the past year, you wouldn't think so.... me being addicted to Copics and all... hahahahahaha!  But I ADORE this stamp set, so if there is a way you can get your hands on this one, you will thank me!!!   Anyway, the spotlight today is on creating that super fun leather-like background. Ok, so the background of this card started out as just a plain piece of off-white cardstock. I then dabbed a few drops of three different colors of Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Inks in warm colors mixed with a few drops o...

So this is for paintedbluestars! She just got herself a new Cricut and sent me an awesome email asking for cartridge recommendations. Wow.... that's kind of a brilliant thing to do and I suddenly wish I would have done the same thing back when I first started out, so, I thought I'd post my response to her. Thanks paintedbluestars for sparking a blog post! :) CONGRATULATIONS!!! I'm so sorry for the delay with this response. I've been sick since before Christmas (can you believe my incredible timing?!?) and JUST NOW got to see a doctor! YIKES... Merry Christmas to me. Luckily for me though, I get to recuperate while watching the Twilight Zone marathon on Sci-Fi this weekend! YAY, just in time for New Years!!! Anywho.... which cartridges you should get is really based on what you are looking to do with your new found gem. If you are just a card maker, I would have totally different suggestions than if you are using your Cricut for scrapbooking layouts or crafting. But sin...

Whew! Paper Vineyard challenged us with an All That Glitters Christmas project, and the design team "brought it"!!! Here is my All That Glitters project featuring the store's Shimmers glitter paints and Stickles... God bless the maker of Stickles!!! Anyway, I thought it would be nice to share how I made my Christmas Snowman Goodie Box. You will need: Super Sticky Tape (red tape) Two 3" x 3" paper (I used patterned and solid papers) Acetate measuring 3.5" x 8.25" scored every 2 and 7/8" (leaving a small section that will be secured with sticky tape) Hole punch Ribbon Ultra fine tip marker First, score both 3" x 3" papers 1/2" in on all side of BOTH. On parallel sides, cut on score lines JUST TO the intersecting score line creating a tab. Fold up all sides and secure tabs to box sides using sticky tape. Do this for both and you now have a bottom and a lid to your goodie box. Place a strip of sticky tape along the OUTSIDE...

Ok.... as promised (and a little pic heavy).... here is the tutorial for the fabric flowers! If you can sew a button, you can make these adorable flowers. What you will need is lightweight cotton fabric, a button, needle and thread, die cutter with circle die. If you have any questions, be sure to post them in the comments and I will be sure to check in and answer them. Here we go! Have fun with this one! Step One : Cut enough fabric to die cut 5 circles. I am using my Spellbinders 3" Nestability die with my Cuttlebug die cutter. Be sure to trim your fabric down so that it fits through your die cutter. The bigger the circles used, the bigger the flower. I cut three circles that needed to be trimmed with scissors until I discovered using a thin chipboard shim (pictured below) made the final two cuts CLEAN! Be sure that you try it without the shim first if you are using the same die cutting materials as I'm using. Because every Cuttlebug is different, yours might work WITHOUT th...