It's Spring, Baby...

...no, it's really not, but it sure feels like it outside! Since yesterday, our temperatures were in the +6 (C) area...sorry, I don't know what the faranheit conversion of that would be, but let's just say it's very warm! It continued like that today and I hear it'll feel like this for the next couple of days! It would be cruel of Mother Nature to tease me so and let me feel such nice balmy weather and then take it all back and give me snow...just cruel, I tell you...

I've been looking at my latests posts and can I tell you that I'm seeing a lot of PINK. WOW! Blame it all on Marti for giving me such DELICIOUS, YUMMALICIOUS Bo Bunny paper for my birthday! I hadn't actually ever used Bo Bunny until now, but it's so nice and I *LOVE* how they're double-sided! Double the options, double the fun!

I was recently on SCS the other day and you know how easily enabled I am. They were talking about cheaper alternatives to COPICs (so this would be at the time when I hadn't gone crazy and ordered them yet)...actually, on a COMPLETELY different track, I just realized that I was sitting here typing in complete DARKNESS. It wasn't dark when I started, but now I can barely see anything but this screen! *giggles*

Okay, where was I? Oh right, the enableness of me. They were talking about using watercolor pencils and from the tips and techniques they were sharing and from the examples they were showing, it was like a complete mind-takeover. I NEEDED them. I think I actually zipped on over to Michaels with my wrinkled 40% coupon right after work that same day.

So even though my COPICs are coming (hopefully tomorrow - keep your fingers crossed...and your toes too, for added luck!) I have found that I am loving using watercolours! It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's so much fun and having a paintbrush in hand definitely makes me feel more artsy fartsy. The card I did for today was coloured using watercolor pencils and my brush pen!

Please excuse the picture...I know my photography leaves something to be desired, but hopefully that will change soon - one money-consuming hobby at a time, my friends...

So I didn't upload a very large picture, but if you looked closely, you can kind of see the sparkly-ness of my little hedgy baby and her hammock. Again, being pre-COPIC-era, I also don't have Spica pens, so I used my Sakura glitter gel pens and they seemed to work pretty great too! They were a bit strong, but I took my aqua pen and blended them into the colouring and it turned out fabulous! A little extra shading and SHIMMER! I tried really hard not to go overboard on the shimmer...I stopped myself before I shimmered the baby itself.

MATERIALS
All products and materials are from Pez-a-Doodle Designs (hyperlinked) unless otherwise stated

Stamp: Penny Black (Scribe's Nook)
DP: Bo Bunny
Ink: Ranger Archival Ink
Embellishments/Tools: Reeves Watercolor Pencil set (Michaels), Aquapen (Michael), Sakura Glitter Gel Pen (Scribe's Nook), Scor-Pal, CM Oval Cutter (CM), pink flat-backed pearls (Dollarama), ribbon (Dollarama), Sticker (Dollarama), dimensional foam (Dollarama)
Techniques: Coloring with watercolor pencils, painting with Sakura glitter gel pen and aquapen

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Share the Love...

...The Mister and I aren't really Valentine's Day kind of people, (going out and spending money on fancy dinners when I'd rather be using it to buy COPICs, lighting candles and staring all googly-eyed at each other making romantic conversation always feels a bit awkward and forced to me - but hey, to each their own, right?), we're more of the rent a movie, pop lots of popcorn, snuggle under covers and be silly kind of folk. Plus, along with making my own cards, I kind of feel like NOT getting each other flowers, chocolates, etc., etc., is my own subtle dig at the corporate shenanigans that try to make us believe that people should only be doing these things for each other ONE day a year and not any time at all! HA! Take that Hallmark! I will not fall for your marketing scams! *breathes* Okay, moving on...

ANYWHO...despite the fact that I don't really get into Valentine's Day, I'm still that much of a girly-girl that I really like all things red, pink and white and frilly and pretty and cute! So when I got the news that Marti's next prize challenge is to get out those Studio G clear stamps that you've all been hoarding (oh, I know you are because I totally am and don't all great minds think alike?) and actually USE them - not just let them be all nicely organized in binders/packaging to never feel the juiciness of ink!

So here's the dealy-o: Make ATC-sized (2.5 in x 3.5 in) valentine's using your Studio G's and anything else you feel like (and it may even kill multiple birds with one stone if you've got kids who will be handing out valentine's this year!) Post them up on your blogs or albums or galleries and leave Marti the link >> HERE <<! Easy peasy, I tell you! The winner gets three brilliance ink dew drops (oh the yumminess!) of their choice! And even if you don't feel like making valentines and just want some dew drops, just a reminder to all that everything, including these drops, is 15% - 25% off to make way for the new goodies coming in! Also, leave me a link of your valentines too! There's no prize for it, I'm just nosy and want to see what everyone makes! *LOL*

What a coinky-dink! Speaking of new goodies coming in...$1 STUDIO G CHALKS are COMING! Straight from CHA, Studio G is releasing CHALKS! They come in 6 sets of four different colours. So that's 24 different colours for $6! w00t! Oh the craft gods are happy with us!

All in all, it's been a *lovey dovey* crafty kind of weekend! Here's a couple of my valentine's so far!

Awww...don't you wish you could be my Valentine? *LOL*

And in the spirit of giving and receiving, I received this wonderful blog award from Marti yesterday!

A beautiful blog award for me! Which is so nice because as some people have already commented to me, my blog looks kind of plain and maybe I'd like to get it fancied out a bit. I kindly thanked them for the advice, but explained that my blog has to look as plain as possible so that I can look at it while I'm at work! *LOL* Notice I didn't say j/k...

The rules of the award says that I have to give it to five other bloggers, but this will require further thinking and researching as most of the bloggers that immediately come to mind have already received it! :) Thanks Marti for the fab award!

Materials
All products and materials are from Pez-a-Doodle Designs (hyperlinked) unless otherwise stated

DP: Bo Bunny
Stamps: Studio G of course!
Ink: Adirondack Dye Ink (Brown) and Ranger Distress Ink (Fired Brick), Studio G pigment ink (Pink)
Embellishments/Tools: Adirondack Dimensional Pearls, MS Doily Lacy edge punch (Michaels), pink flat-back pearls (LSS), ribbon (Dollarama), Flower Soft and foam hearts (Dollarama)
Techniques: For the paper hearts, I cut out two hearts using the age-old kindergarten method of folding paper together and cutting out half a heart. I taped them down on scrap paper and inked them up all over using my Studio G ink. I next used my Studio G stamps to stamp on my sentiments all over. The next technique was taking the heat gun to my lovely foam-y hearts and heating them until they were nice and soft and pressing my Studio G stamp into it until it cooled, leaving a nice impression.

CURRENT MOOD: IRRITATED CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: CHEWY BARKING AT ME

Hyper-copic-lating...

...before you pick up the phone and call 911 on my behalf, let me just make it clear that it is not a medical term and I am not in any kind of medical emergency! *LOL* Although it sure FEELS like it!

I have just completed my COPIC order!

I just could NOT pass this up - Oozak.com is having a MAJOR Copic sale! I pondered sharing this information with everyone because then maybe they'd be all sold out of the colours I had to leave behind when I'm ready to place my next order next week! HAHAHAHA...but you know I can't keep secrets from you, so there it is! Un-freaking-believable! I'm not even going to say it...but I am SO excited! Especially since my Copic Certification application was accepted and all set and ready to go in March. How cool is it that I'll get to bring my OWN COPICs? That is just awesome. Of course, now I'll have to sell myself...HAHAHA, okay, I'm just kidding, I won't take that sentence any further....just remembered that my mom subscribed to my blog last week...*giggles*

I can barely type my fingers are shaking! And I thought I was excited about the Nesties. This definitely takes the cake, tops the big one, puts the cherry on top, blah blah blah. It's AWESOME! Take it from me, I have been looking all over for these, searching every single website I could find, price comparing, putting them in my cart, taking them out of my cart...etc., etc., I would definitely be the worst kind of silly if I let these pass me by without at least getting some! I am hoping that I'll be able to place another order in the next week or so - heck, I'll just keep trying until the price change takes place in March!

So take it from me and my ranting/raving - Oozak isn't giving me anything extra to go on and on about them (although that would be a pretty good bonus...LOL) but I just can't wait to get my hot little hands on these!

Here's the damage (or blessing, if you really think about it!):

SKETCH

1. B60 - Pale Blue Gray
2. B99 - Agate
3. BV00 - Iridescent Mauve
4. BV11 - Soft Violet
5. BV25 - Grayish Violet
6. BV29 - Slate
7. C0 - Cool Gray #0
8. C10 - Cool Gray #10
9. E00 - Skin White
10. E33 - Sand
11. E31 - Brick Beige
12. E47 - Dark Brown
13. E74 - Cocoa Brown
14. R02 - Flesh
15. R46 - Strong Red
16. Y11 - Pale Yellow
17. Y18 - Lightning Yellow
18. YR00 - Silk
19. 110 - Special Black
20. B28 - Royal Blue
21. B21 - Baby Blue

CIAO

1. 0 - Colorless Blender
2. B95 - Light Grayish Cobalt
3. B97 - Night Blue
4. E02 - Fruit Pink
5. E08 - Brown
6. E29 - Burnt Umber
7. C5 - Cool Gray #5
8. E49 - Dark Bark
9. G14 - Apple Green
10. G99 - Olive
11. R85 - Rose Red
12. R05 - Salmon Red
13. R11 - Pale Cherry Pink
14. RV13 - Tender Pink
15. RV95 - Baby Blossoms
16. RV29 - Crimson
17. Y06 - Yellow
18. V000 - Heath
19. V06 - Lavender
20. V95 - Light Grape
21. Y38 - Honey
22. B24 - Sky
23. E21 - Baby Skin Pink
24. E35 - Chamois
25. E50 - Egg Shell
26. R59 - Cardinal
27. W5 - Warm Gray #5
28. Y02 - Canary Yellow
29. YR61 - Yellowish Skin Pink
30. YR68 - Orange
31. C9 - Cool Gray #9

Woo-hoo!!! Don't ask me if I know if these colours will go together or whether or not I really know how to use them! Who cares! I'm getting them and WILL know how to use them eventually! Don't even ask me why I got Sketches and Ciaos...*LOL* I really like Sketch, but when I was placing my order, the numbers kept getting higher and I had to stop...until I remembered that Ciao's are slightly less in price and I thought I'd be able to pick up some of the colours I left behind in the Sketch category. Ah well, it doesn't matter, I'll soon be able to find out and tell the difference myself.

Happy COPIC day, everyone!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Wishy-washy...

...where, oh where are my wishes?! I've wished for SO many things since CHA (bad, enabling CHA!) and it has led to the accumulation of more things for me in the past week or so!

I thought it would be fun to look back at my earlier wish-lists when I first started papercrafting to see how far I've come...(or how broke I've gotten, whichever way you choose to look at it!)

My Wishlist #1
More cartridges - Paper Doll, Stretch, Alphalicious and Fabulous Finds and Doodle Charm being at the top - but really, I would say ALL of them
Nestabilities - Scalloped circles - both sizes, but again, I would say ALL of them
Cricut Expressions - I put this third on the list considering I haven't even gotten my Baby Bug yet...I thought I would give it a fair chance before I start lusting after the E...
More Stickles - when they come in lots of different colours, well...then I want them ALL!
More Cuttlebug embossing folders - because you just need them ALL!
ATG - haven't gotten the fever for this yet, but I know it's only a matter of time...
Design Studio - from what I've heard so far, it sounds a bit intimidating, but I shall CONQUER it...once I get it...
STAMPS! - Penny Black, Stampendous, House Mouse and basically ALL those cute little stamps everyone seems to have! But I could always use more!
Secret Sister - Lurking the secret brother/sister boards is like how people can't get enough of reality shows. I love looking through and looking at all the fabulous things everyone is getting. I haven't signed up yet because I want to make absolutely sure I'll be able to devote 100% to it, but everyone is just so great.
Random stuff - so I can be ready for a secret sister and also so I can start doing some RAKs!

Wishlist #2
More carts - Walk in my Garden (is that what it's called?)
Nestabilities - mostly the small and large scalloped circles
Cricut Design Studio
Cricut Expressions
Radiant Rain (or distress inks and perfect pearls to make my own) Unnecessary
Distress Inks
Perfect Pearls
Twinkling H20's
Mini Misters
MORE stamps (I think I've been able to acquire quite a few Studio G stamps and some House Mouse - but you can never have enough stamps!)
MORE paper (different textures - I think Bazzill is quite popular?)
More random things like stickers and embellies, etc. for RAKs (I must learn to not want to keep them all the time!)

*LOL* Well, it looks like I"m doing a pretty good job on getting things crossed off my checklist! Obviously there are things there that I didn't really have to scratch off, because, I mean...when do you REALLY have enough stamps? NEVER! Same goes for paper and fun little embellies! And now, especially after seeing the new releases at CHA, my list of course has gotten longer even though I've managed to cross a few things off! It's a bitter, never-ending cycle - only bitter because I have no money! HAHAHAHA...

But besides buying things and getting a little bit of crafting in, here's a little progress on my scraproom overhaul:

Ooooh!!! Doesn't it look so PRETTY!!! I feel just as contrary as Mary with all my Stickles all in a row!

The top shelf is my little mason jars full of embellies from the dollar store. Second and third rows are all my glitter-anythings...Stickles, Martha's, Studio G's...so PRETTY! The other rows are my acrylic dabbers, distress inks and powders, crackle paints, and Studio G ink pads - all from Marti over at Pez-a-Doodle Designs!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Spring flowers...

...am I ever ready to see them! I am so tired of this SNOW!

Maybe that's why I keep turning to my Flower Soft. It makes it feel just a little bit closer to Spring and warm weather! According to the weather forecast, it's supposed to go up to plus six (in Celsius) this Friday! I can't WAIT, so to celebrate the warm weather coming, here's a little Spring-y looking baby card:

I'm sorry this post is a little on the short side! I've got a little puppy who keeps jumping up on me, insisting that I pay attention to him or else he'll chew up my shoes again!

Materials:
(All products and materials are from Pez-a-Doodle Designs unless otherwise stated)
Stamp: Victorian Flower Carriage by Uptown Rubber Stamps (Scribe's Nook)
Ink: Adirondack black ink
DP: Bo Bunny (Pezzy's Picks)
Accessories/Embellishments: Flower Soft, chipboard tag (Dollarama), ribbon (Michaels)
Techniques: Coloring with (Reeves) watercolor pencils, water and generic paint brush

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

I Heart You...

...there is nothing like a card full of prettiness to turn a frown upside down.

It's just one of those days, lemme tell ya! But here's a card that pretty much made itself last night! I was really happy with how it all came together as I was pretty much working off the top of my head.

I think working in a clean scraproom is definitely an asset - which is too bad, since after last night's creation station, it's not as clean as it was right before I started! Oops! A friend of mine had come over the other night to help with the scraproom overhaul and she made me promise to employ the 'make-and-clean' strategy since I'm more of a 'make-and-leave-it' kind of creator. We'll just keep her out of the scraproom until I get that stuff cleaned up, I guess! *LOL*

Anywho, on to the prettiness:

I can't get over how much I love how this turned out! After all the fussiness of cutting out the stamped images, it was pretty much stick and go from there! Thanks for looking!

Materials:
All materials from Pez-a-Doodle Designs unless otherwise stated.
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment), Autumn Leaves (Wal-Mart), Inkadinkadoo
Ink: Memento Ink
DP: Bo Bunny (Pezzy's Picks line)
Accessories/Embellishments: Martha Stewart Lace Punch (Michaels), chipboard ribbon slider (Dollarama), Inkssentials white gel pen, Stickles

CURRENT MOOD: IRRITATED CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: MINDLESS DRIVEL FROM AN INSIPID, MINDLESS DRIVEL-ER

Oh, wherefore art thou...

...MONEY? But shopping, oh how I've MISSED YOU! It's been too long...but I can see that I have made up for it in only a couple of days! Ay-yay-yay...

CHA is such an enabler...but here we go:

*SQUEALS* Do you SEE THOSE?! Those, my dear friends, are NESTABILITIES! Do you know how long I've been wanting these? And now, I'm finally getting them!

After seeing the Spellbinders booth and seeing the demos, I knew they were a must-have-now. I've been holding off on them for so long thinking that I could do what they can do myself, but it's just not the same. I've seen how great they can make any project look. So nice and cleanly embossed lines or pretty little scallops. What took me so long? (Well, I know why it took me so long...but Terri aka terrikrafts from The Board is making it SO easy. I wish I had met her sooner. She is such a doll to deal with and she actually took the trouble to weigh my entire order and then each one separately to see which would be the most economical in shipping! Plus, you just can't beat her prices! I've got her contact information if you're looking for it - don't hesitate to ask, I don't bite! So that's my first order from her and she's getting the new ones in as well, and oh my-my-my, do I need to get a few more jobs! *LOL*

Okay...and then there's:

Oh, I want to go home now and play! But there it is: flock assortment FOR ME! Fuzzy hearts, duckies and flowers, here I COME! I can't WAIT to try this out...it's a miracle I haven't opened the package already, but I'm right in the middle of a complete scraproom overhaul that I would totally lose them if I even tried to take them out of their package now. But like I'd like to believe, all the best things are worth the wait, and it'll definitely be worth it to wait until my scraproom is spic and span and beautiful to start making MORE fun things in it (and probably more mess, but who am I kidding, we all know that...)

So fun new goodies just WAITING to be used and turned into prettiful creations, but for now, I leave you with my scraproom "before" pictures *winces*:

But ask me to find something for you and I'll have it *snaps* just like that! *LOL*

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Confession #11...

...wow, it's been a while since I've done one of these! But I was sorely reminded of it when I went to do a little blog-hopping this morning at work before start time.

I'm really sorry for those of you this applies to, I don't mean anything by it and it just might help with your traffic...but I SERIOUSLY have a hard time with blogs that have music. ANY kind of music, but with the loud, fast kind of music. I mean, even if I like the song, I still don't like blogs with music. Especially if I want to have peeks at blogs here at work and on my break, it practically makes me jump out of my seat when music starts blaring out of my usually quiet speakers.

But it's not even when I'm not work...when I look at blogs at home, too. I don't know, I think I just find it a little bit distracting and takes attention away from what I'm coming to see, which is crafty ideas and creations, etc. Plus, as much as I enjoy the music that I listen to, I don't normally choose to force it upon anyone else either. And sometimes the blogs who have playlists, it takes me forever to find the little dashboard so I can press stop! While I do stay and complete my visit at blogs with music, it does shorten the length of time that I choose to stay - especially when there's no option for me to stop the music. *shrugs* Just my own little confession/preference...maybe others feel the same and maybe not. Just a thought though if you have it and want to keep it...make it easier for me to find the stop button! :)

CURRENT MOOD: CONTENT CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: PEOPLE CHIT-CHATTING

Valentine Words...

...there's nothing like finishing off a Monday than by getting your mojo going! And what better way than to participate in Mojo Monday's first Monday of the month contest!

This is pretty much my first time participating in anything, so I am very excited to just have something to contribute! *LoL*

Here we go:

The Mojo Monday sketch for today!

And my take on the sketch, a la Valentine's Day...

Well...I'm sure I could have done more with it, but I still LOVE how it turned out! I had started it last night without even thinking about the challenge and luckily, it worked out with just a little bit of tweaking. Sooo, here's the 411 on the card du jour!

All products and materials from Pez-a-Doodle Designs unless otherwise stated
Stamps: Studio G (Holiday Series)
Paper: Bo Bunny DP from Pezzy's Picks line at PaDD
Embellishments: Foam hearts from Dollarama
Other: Flower Soft (dyed to match using Alcohol Inks from PaDD) and Martha Stewart edge punch (Michaels)

Thanks for looking!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Pretty in Purple...

...bonjour mon cheries!

I thought I would try out a little bit of the romantic language as we move into the most romantic month of the year!

I've been digging around in the scraproom shoving things around to make little bits of desk room for me and can I just say how much of a disaster it is in there?! I think it's definitely time to get onto another scraproom overhaul - and this one will be HUGE! There's so much more things to make room for - especially when my Nesties come in! *squeals* Oh Terri, I just can't wait!

I also went trolling around a bit at a couple of my LSS! Coming back from CHA has not only inspired my imagination and creativity (I HOPE) but also my wallet! It was just too torturous to be around all those fun goodies and NOT be able to buy them ASAP! How could they do that to a girl, I ask you?

So far, despite all my awesome other goodies, I've been having so much fun with my Scor-Pal and Flower Soft! I think I really want to get a handle of it and all that I can do with it before I move on to something else (*whispers* I've finally got my hands on the Doodlebug fun flock sample pack and I can not WAIT to try it out!)

So anywho...here is my card for today! Because of the awesome things I can do while playing around with my Scor-Pal, I kept it pretty minimalistic.

I know it's more purple flower soft, I swear that I do have more colours, but for some reason, I always feel like I gravitate to the colour! It's my FAVOURITE, what can I say? Currently, I'm not even sure what occasion this card can be used for, but I think I will leave it pretty generic. I've been putting together a big treasure box full of different cards for my mom since last Mother's Day, and this will go in there to be used however she would like! I think a bridal shower card, or a fancy birthday card!

I used just plain ol' cardstock and prettied it up with diagonal scores from my Scor-Pal and stamped my image (it's a pretty flowery dress stamp from Stamping Bella) in archival ink. I dotted each flower with glue and outlined the flared part of the dress and sprinkled my lavender Flower Soft all over. Once the flower soft was off the dress, I used my lavender Martha Stewart glitter for some more added prettiness of course and lined the 'buttons' with Diamond Stickles! I pop-dotted it onto my scored card and put a little square crystal at each place the scores interlaced...and voila! Finished product!

All materials and products are available from Marti over at Pez-a-Doodle Designs. You can check those out and other way cool projects and products any time you're looking for fun new things to try out or become more familiar with!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: