I just wanted to pop in and say hi!  I realize things have been really quiet here on the blog in the last number of weeks.  I just wanted to reasure you all that everything is okay, we haven’t suddenly decided to stop blogging LOL!  In fact we actually have been super busy creatively coming up with some AWESOME projects which I’m really excited about.

Of course the past few weeks hasn’t been without it’s challenges and that’s why we haven’t posted.  Remember a few weeks back when I updated you on our internet challenges?  Well, I thought they were over, but apparently not.  For some reason, for the last few weeks, we keep losing internet connection and our ISP can’t figure out what on earth is going on. They’ve figured out that it has something to do with our static IP address, which suddenly stops “working”. 

The problem is that everytime it stops and they re-assign us a new IP address – all of our equipment has to be re-configured.  Somehow, as a result all of this my exchange server was affected, and I wasn’t able to receive or send email for almost a week!   Because I was using an actual exchange server and not online email (I’ve since switched to Gmail for organizations) I could not get at my mail.  So if any of you have emailed and have not received responses, please accept my apologies and please email me again.  We have no idea if we “lost” any emails.  Thankfully, things seem to be ok (knock on wood).

Soph and I are preparing to head to Chicago on Sunday morning for CHA (Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show and Conference).  I have no idea what our schedule is going to look like other than crazy busy. We’ll do our best to post pictures!

Now that I have a new way of adding color to my solid image stamps, I have to say that I love using them.  These turtles are no exeption.  I stamped them out in varying green inks, then colored over them with color pencils.  The background was created with watercolor pencils and a variety of techniques.  I love the loose look of the ground, shrubbery and clouds.  This whole card was pretty simple to make, but alas, not fast lol.  The tip for making the ground can be found in my Snail Mail post on the Paper Crafters World blog!

Supplies:

• Stamps:  Fox and Friends
• Ink:  Kiwi Kiss, Pear Pizzazz, Wild Wasabi, Early Espresso, Basic Black
• Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Cajun Craze, Retired DP, Color Pencil paper
• Coloring medium:  Prismacolor pencils, Caran D’Ache Supracolor watercolor pencils
• Other:  Old Olive 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones, mini glue dots, Sakura Stardust pen, Gold Leaf Krylon marker, retired white rub-on greetings

What can I say except that I had a “Blast” making this lol (bad pun intended).  I get all Fired up with an idea, and then Fly with it (hee, hee). If I can think of any more, I will be sure to add them in lol.  This is what you get from spending lots of time with ones kids   So anyways, back to my card, I wanted something fun and spacey.  Just wait till you see my next spacy project.  I wanted lots of color, lots of bling, and definitely the pooled watercolor for the fire.  The flames use the same technique which is featured in the “A Note From” card, and the tutorial for this technique will be up in PCL this week.    The actual card design was pretty easy.  Cut two circles of the same size for each planet in complementing colors, punch one with holes, trace your holes on the bottom piece, glitter the holes up, then stick your holey layer to the bottom glittered layer with dimensionals.  On top of that, the planets are then attached with dimensionals.  There is a lot of pop going on with this card.  The Pun Fun Rocket was stamped in basic Grey Classic ink, with some generous sponging applied.  The twinkling stars are greated with dots of crystal effects and Dazzling Diamonds glitter, as well as dotted with a Sakura Stardust pen.  I used re-inkers to create my pooled background for the flames, then free-hand cut them.  Easy as 1, 2, 3  Blast Off!

Supplies:

Paper:  Night of Navy, Taken with Teal (retired), Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Grey, Cool Caribbean (retired) CS

Stamps:  Pun Fun

Ink:  Night of Navy, Dusty Durango, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Wild Wasabi Classic ink

Other:  Dimensionals, Crystal Effects, Multi-purpose adhesive, Stampin’Sponges, 2 way glue pen, Coluzzle circle cutting system, 1/4″ circle punch, 3/4″ circle punch, 1 3/4″ punch, watercolor paper, re-inkers, Sakura Stardust pen, Silver Gel pen, watercolor brushes

Today’s Card was totally inspired, and cased from This One by Jessica Witty.  I love the whole concept of mixing colors right on the card, in big wet pools (something I like to play with anyway lol).  It is such a simple and lovely technique, that I decided to feature the technique in Paper Crafters Library.  The key to success is simple.  A good brush that holds plenty of water, and being very generous with the water.  The other thing which you want to ensure, is that you paint does not dry out when adding one color beside the next, or you will end up with water blooms.  So make sure you work quickly!  For the greeting, I just could not find the right one among all my stamps.  With such a bold abstract design, you need something that does not get lost.  So I turned to my trusty Silhouette to cut me a greeting which would work perfectly.  Hope you Enjoy,

Supplies:

• Paper:  Basic Black CS, Watercolor paper, white copy paper (1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ for paper airplane)
• Color:Watercolor Paints (I don’t like using re-inkers since the colors are not quite as true, and don’t always blend properly)
• Die Cut:  A Note from… (Silhouette)
• Other:  Round brushes, 3-D glue, glitter, Basic Rhinestones, Stampin’ Sponges
• Ink:  Tempting Turquoise