Look Ma, No Coloring...

...our own fearless DT leader Marti has definitely set us up with a challenge with our DT assignments this week (or TORTURE considering that I *just* got my COPIC markers...*LOL* however you choose to look at it) our mission: stamp but nooooo colouring! *gasp* I KNOW! How could she DO this to me? Hahahaha...

Actually, my poor neglected COPICs aside (which isn't that big a deal since I don't even know to really use them yet!), the challenge was AWESOME! I love how it got me to pull out all the other materials I've been hoarding but haven't really used to their full potential!

So today I am looking at Distress Embossing Powders!

These are the colours that I used for this project:

Dusty Concord	Peeled Paint	Dried Marigold

The difference between these embossing powders and the other powders that are normally used is that when heat is applied, these don't melt down into the shiny, raised look that most people associate with heat embossing and powder. These distress powders end up with a rough, gritty feeling and the weather-worn look when heat is applied - just like the packaging says! They also differ from other embossing powders in that they have to be shaken very well first get the "distress" crystals distributed before use. These crystals is what gives the embossing powder their name! Once sprinkled onto a project and heated, when the powder has cooled, you can rub your finger over the area you have just embossed and these crystals will give the project it's distressed look! I don't really emboss much or distress enough to really be able to say that the project gets an authentic distressed look, but I *LOVE* using these embossing powders as it definitely lends any projects a totally different look and feel that other regular ol' embossing powders just don't do!

Anywho, I used these on my no-colouring project and this is how it turned out:

Can I just say that I *heart* how this turned out!?! So to break it down, I first made sure that I had shaken all my jars of embossing powder that I would be using and had them open, lined up and waiting to be used. Then I stamped my image on the INSIDE of the card with Versamark. While Versamark was still wet, I took a pinch of one colour of powder and sprinkled it over certain areas of the wet stamp and did the same step for the other two colours. Once I had a nice sprinkling in different areas of the colours that I wanted, I held up the card and tapped my fingers underneath the card to make the powder "dance" around. This ensures that all the areas are covered in powder. Then I just dumped the excess powder in the trash...with the colours all mixed up, I knew I wasn't going to be using it again. But feel free to save it if you think you'd like to use some funky, mixed-up colours to emboss one day. So once I had everything powdered, I applied heat, let it cool and then rubbing the living daylights out of it to distress certain areas. To finish up the card, I pulled out my brand new Oval Nestabilities and punched out an oval at the front for my stamped image to show through.

I also used another no-colour technique for the front of the card...I wonder if that gets me any bonus points with the DT leader! LOL...but for the front of the card, I embellished my oval window with a flourish stamp that I inked using three matching Studio G ink pads. So basically, I attached my clear stamp to the block and went at it with the three different coloured ink pads starting from the lightest to the darkest. When I stamped, all three colours showed through making it nice and multicoloured without me having to bust out any colouring materials! Less the effort but maximum effect! I sure like that equation! I also did the same technique with the Studio G sentiment and finished it all off with coordinating FLOWER SOFT and paper piercing! *swoon*

That's it for me today, I'm supposed to be lookin' busy stuffing tax receipts! *giggles*

Thanks for dropping by and visiting!

MATERIALS
All hyperlinked products and materials are from Marti from Pez-a-Doodle Designs

Stamp(s): Butterflies a-Swirl by Pez-a-Doodle Designs, Studio G clear stamps
Ink: Versamark, Studio G ink pads
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder, Flower Soft, rhinestones
Tools: Paper piercer, Oval Nestabilities, Heat gun

CURRENT MOOD: OVERLY CAFFEINATED CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: STUDENT COMPLAINTS

Make a wish...

...and your fairy craftmother will grant it! Well...if your fairy craftmother is Marti from Pez-a-Doodle Designs! *LOL*

It was a GOOD mail day yesterday! I had not one, not two, but three packages waiting in my mail box when I got home from a hideous day - no, make that WEEK - of work! Nothing like pretty postage-wrapped presents (that I paid for *LOL* minus my DT goodies from my fair craftmother) for ME!

My first set of Nestabilities from Terri came today! I got the Ovals set and WOW are they awesome! I LOVE them all. After all the waiting and anticipation and wondering if they were worth it...YES, they totally are! *waves* THANK YOU, Terri! Look for my payment for my next set ASAP!

My last order from Oozak.com for my COPIC markers came as well! I'm not sure if it'll be my last but March 1st is just looming around the corner, so if you're still wondering whether COPICs are for you, I'd stop wondering and get a-clickin' before you miss out! I can't WAIT for my COPIC certification class next month, I'm definitely excited and nervous about that - probably because my coloring is absolutely horrendous!

And last, but certainly not least, my wonderful package of DT goodies from my fairy craftmother, Marti! It's making me *LOL* everytime I say that because I'm wondering what Marti's thinking of me referring to her as that...HAHAHAHA!

Anywho, the package was jam-packed with wonderful things, I would throw them up and roll around in them if the jars of Flower Soft wouldn't conk me in the head on the way down - plus, the jars would make for some uncomfortable rolly-ness, I would think...so YES! My first set of Flower Soft came (I talk like I have more coming, but I will definitely be ordering more of the other sets as well!) and there were pretty pictures and vases and wire and glue and ribbon...lions and tigers and bears, OH MY! There was some FABULOUS stamped images for me to PLAY with because my fairy craftmother knows how much I wanna get my COPIC groove on! And a bunch of other stuff that little ol' me just NEEDS.

So what do you do when so many things come in the mail...?

USE.THEM.AAAAAALL!

*swoons* Don't you just LOVE ME - er...I mean, her??? Marti sent me some stamped images of pretty mermaid Anya and I knew that it was my call...no, my DUTY to shimmer and bling.her.up! Oh you can't see it now, but you do not understand how Anya is working the shimmer. I shimmered pretty much every inch of her using my Sakura Glitter Gel pens after I coloured her in with my COPICs. Next I added my ever-so-handy Diamond Glaze and gussied up her sea-shelled ladies and the beads in her hair. After she was all nice and dry I trimmed her out and microbeaded her tail in green and blue microbeads! I am LOVING the effect of the beads as scales on her tail, but those little things were a pain in my left AND right cheeks! Which I probably have microbeads on...and in my bra...and in my hair...probably even in my ears, they got EVERYWHERE! Note to self and to all of you...maybe get a dryer sheet and wipe all over your hands with as well as the paper. Those little suckers static cling to EVERYTHING!

Moooving on - stop picturing microbeads in my special places!

For my under the sea scene, I took a piece of carstock and watercolored the living daylights out of it using a light and dark blue watercolor pencil and my aqua pen. Once I was satisfied with the blue-y-ness of it all, I took my mini mister, Stonewashed dye re-inker and my blue Perfect Pearls and shook me up some shimmerlicious mist and misted THAT over the whole underwater piece of cardstock. Swirled the shimmeryness with my aquapen and misted some more...you can NEVER mist enough, I would say! Once it was dry - it didn't take too long actually...probably because I assaulted it with my heatgun!

I used my Ranger Distress embossing powder to make my sand - oh THANK YOU, fairy craftmother for the awesome idea on that - and I used Flower Soft to make some algae/seaweed looking things. Then badda-boom, badda-bing, slap everything together and you've got my underwater "make a wish" scene!

Here's Miss Thang up close:

Soooo pretty! (*coughs* I mean, if I do say so myself...) I wish you could see the actual shimmeryness of her - her hair, her bathingsuit/tail...the water...EVERYTHING! Ah well, to actually see it, you'll just have to play with some shimmery-goodness, won't you? Go on and get your shimmer on!

I've got so much I want to share and show, but I'm trying to keep myself in check and pace myself...it looks like the days leading up to my blogaversary is going to be filled with lots of fun things - hang out with me, won't you?

Thanks for stopping by!

MATERIALS
All hyperlinked products and materials are from Pez-a-Doodle Designs

Stamp: Mermaid Anya from The Greeting Farm
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stonewashed re-inker
Other Mediums: COPIC markers, watercolor pencils, shimmer mist
Tools: Mini mister, Perfect Pearls, Glossy Accents, aquapen, Sakura Glitter Gel pen, dimensional foam
Embellishments: Distress embossing powder, Flower Soft, sea shells

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Ready to Paaar-tay!

...well at least Pezzy is anyway! She's on her way to masquerade at Mardi Gras, I would say!

*LOVE* this little girl - both the stamp and the actual bundle of cuteness that inspired the stamp! I love how I feel like I'm watching Pezzy grow up with Marti's stamp sets! When her first Pez-a-Doodle stamp sets came out, Pezzy was this cute chubbly little baby climbing over cakes and stuff! Now she's all grown up going to Mardi Gras! Some beaded fluourises just for fun in the background...and there's perfect pearls there again! It's kind of like...once you start with them, you WANT to keep using them again! Over and over! Missy also has some sparkly, bedazzled dancing shoes there as well. She is SO ready to party!

Please excuse the craptasticness of this picture! I just can NOT seem to get the focus on my camera going...I'm hoping it's not because I dropped it the other day. *OOPSIES* Anywho...the general idea of this was to get a closer look at Miss Mardi Gras Pezzy here all decked out with her Mardi Gras beads! I've never been to one, but word on the street is, if you're going all Mardi Gras then you'd better have the beads! I strung her up a little one so she can twirl it around in the air when the party really gets going! *LOL* I also wanted to TRY to get a little bit of practice in with my Doodlebug flock, so I flocked the diamonds on her pants with a little bit of purple flock. It's not a LOT and I doubt anyone would have noticed had I not pointed it out, but it was a little sample for me to try...next, I'll flock a bigger area! But see how classy Pezzy is? Velvet pants!

I used a Pez-a-Doodle stamp today because I've got some Pez-a-Doodle ANNOUNCING to do! I would like to...*drumroll here*...welcome TAYLOR USRY of Musings of an Addict as the newest Pez-a-Doodle Designs DT member! I am so excited that our team is GROWING and well...another addict...how can we not get along!? She just understands me! *LOL* If you've got an hour or two, mosey on over and say hello and welcome! I said an hour because for those who'll only plan to stay for a minute or two...you'll end up being there for hoooours! Taylor does FABULOUS work!

Don't forget to visit my favourite PDP girls: Marti, Christine and Robin. They've always got something fun and fabulous going on!

That's it for me today! I don't have anywhere fun and fancy to go like Pezzy does up there, but I'm definitely very glad it's Friday! Have a good weekend everyone!

MATERIALS
All hyperlinked products and materials are from Pez-a-Doodle Designs

Stamp: Pez-a-Doodle Exclusive Stamps
Ink: Archival Ink
Paper: Random bits and pieces from the floor of my scraproom...I kid you not...
Embellishments/Tools: Doodlebug flock, watercolor pencils, aquapen, Perfect Pearls, Dimensional Pearls, seed beads

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Go to GIVEAWAY!

...well, if you're not sick of giveaways yet (*gasp* how could sick and giveaways ever be in the same sentence? you ask!) and didn't get a chance to win Marti's fabulous Polka-Dot-Pie stamp line, my DT sister Christine is giving away another TWO sets on her blog! *squeals* Apparently I can't win this one either (*LOL*) but who am I to begrudge another fabulous lady from her chance to win!?

All you need to do is leave a comment >> HERE << by midnight tonight (EST) and you're in the draw! Good luck everyone and happy Friday. I'm taking today off (as much as I can keep myself away) as The Mister has informed me that he has planned to take me hostage the whole day today since we haven't seen each other or spent more than five minutes alone together since even before I left! He's taking me to the movies - to see Confessions of a Shopaholic, no less! And I asked if we could stop by our LSS and he said YES! Such a good man...

Don't you fret though, I will be back and rarin' to go. Before you know it you'll be so sick of me! (*gasp* How could sick and me ever be in the same sentence?!?!) Marti's keeping me on my toes with so many fun new things going on!

If you haven't seen yet, for those of you who have been wanting to try Flower Soft, Marti's giving away a starter box on her blog, so you might want to have a little peek-a-boo over there to see what's what!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Romantic Words Valentine

Just a warning now before I start posting, this post will be PICTURE-heavy! I haven't had a lot of time to really play around or try a bunch of different techniques with so many things going on, but tonight I sat down in my chair with a certain idea in my head and holy moly, it turned out just as, if not BETTER than the idea I had! YES! (Don't you loooove those moments???)

So in celebration of the upcoming CHA and the release and display of the Polka-Dot-Pie line there, here is my "romantic words" valentine, although I'm not really sure who I love enough to actually give this to them...HAHAHAHA! (I'm just joking....kind of...)

So without further ado...

Techniques and Materials (all products and materials are from http://www.pezadoodle.com unless otherwise stated)

I first started with my mix and match background (Polka-Dot-Pie background stamp from Pezadoodle). I first inked with Versamark watermark pad and then pressed the background stamp into Adirondack ink. This allowed for me to pour a clear embossing powder over everything and emboss to have nice raised outlines for my background with a nice, intense brown color!

Next, my never-fail turn-to technique...STICKLES. I went eeextra glittery today and pretty much STICKLED everything in the background. I used Start Dust and Baby Pink Stickles as well as Ruby Red Distress Stickles for the little candy top. I'm a bit impatient so I heat gunned everything to dry faster.

For my heart, I cut it with my Cricut and Studio G inked the living daylights out of it. I versamarked and inked my "romantic words" background stamp and embossed. What happened here was that the Studio G ink was also still wet when I poured embossing power, so the ENTIRE heart ended up getting embossed which turned out pretty great...after that, MORE STICKLES. I put the nozzle straight down and swirled it all over while squeezing, so it's got a nice swirly sparkly pattern if you look closely...I used Tim Holtz paper distresser to distress my heart!

For added extraness, I took a 'silk' flower and pressed it into my still wet "romantic words" background ink and heat embossed. Because of the fabric, it didn't turn out too clear, but I ended up liking this look better.

Pop-dotted all of that and used my Sugar Pops for the flower middle.

Last but certainly not least, I hand-stitched (I am COMPLETELY hopeless with an actual sewing machine) so I measured out and pierced my holes and then stitched! Sorry for all the chitter chatter, I'm just SO loving this latest work of mine!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Good enough to EAT!

...ooooh my goodness, ladies and gentlemen!!!

Yesterday I said I didn't know what today, today I'm completely speechless.

I will just have to let the FABULOUSNESS of Marti's new line of stamps speak for themselves!

*SCREECHES* Don't you JUST want to EAT IT??? *laughs* I'm watching Top Chef right now on the Food Network and Padma just told the chef's that they have to make the ultimate sweet treat and I am SO ahead of them because how ULTIMATE are those treats?!

I stamped two of the MANY stamps that comes with the set and I colored them in, again using the MCP technique and colorless, odorless mineral oil and turned to my FAVORITE embellishment ever - STICKLES! I used both regular Stickles and Glitz Stickles! For my little candies on top and for my CHOOOOCOLATE dipped strawberry, I turned to my new favorite add-on, Diamond Glaze! I couldn't stay away from it, all these yummy goodies, I just wanted them to POP!

To up the sweetness factor, I used more paper from my DCWV sweet stack. All the pleasure without the guilt!

Get some SWEETNESS over at http://www.pezadoodle.com/!

Supplies used and can be picked up at Pezadoodle.com:
Versamark watermark ink pad
Studio G stamps - Valentine's set
Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder
Adirondack Ink
Bead Pops
Diamond Glaze
Stickles

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Polka-Dot-Pie = oh so SWEET!

...*SCREECH*

HAHAHA, now that I've got your attention, can I PLEASE introduce the brand-spankin' new Polka-Dot-Pie stamp line from Marti over at Pezadoodle!

I can't even think of what to type right now, my brain is going into creative overdrive! I opened up my package and as soon as those stamps came out, it felt like Christmas ALL OVER AGAIN! You have GOT to try out this new line!

Without further ado:

How CUTE is she? I love our almost grown-up little Pezzy! Here she is all ready for Valentine's day! I used the super versatile stamp set and turned the separate pieces to make it look like Pezzy was swinging on a little heart swing. I didn't even use all the stamps that came with this set!

I LOVED making her! I stamped Pezzy twice and cut her out apart from her "swing". After I colored her (using the MCP technique with Prismas and colorless, odorless mineral oil), I glazed her shoes to make it look like little patent Mary Janes and I also glazed her heart and her heart swing!

I pulled out my brand new Valentine's Studio G stamp sets and stamped BE MINE and the lines to make it look like the hearts were "swinging" from the heart border.

Just a closer look at all the prettiness! The paper is from my DCWV "Sweet" Stack!

Check back again tomorrow for some EXTRA yumminess to reveal! I am so excited...and hungry!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Fun Friend...

...it looks like I've found a little bit of my crafty mojo!

After going to the gym, cooking dinner (using the most DISGUSTING ravioli EVER - oh my gosh, I got it frozen from the grocery store and cooked it, popped one in my mouth and almost vomited inside of my mouth. It was SO gross, I think it was dog food. I really do, except judging from the commercials I've seen of dog food, I think this ravioli was even WORSE than dog food. Chewy didn't even want to eat it!) But I digress, I cooked dinner, bathed the cutest puppy in the WHOLE WIDE world, blew him dry and then I got into scraproom and made THIS:

It sucks in the way that I actually sat down to make something Valentine-y, and this is what I came up with, but I LOVE it because NOT from the Valentine aspect, it's a very pretty card. It looks more Spring/Summery, but I'm battling some after Christmas winter blues, so this made me happy!

Materials (all products are from Pezadoodle.com, unless otherwise stated):
Glossy cardstock
Inkadinkadoo stamp and Studio G acrylic block
Versamark and super fine embossing powder
Birthday Big & Juicy multicolored stamp pad
Me and My Big Ideas Flower (stash)
Ribbon (stash)
Carstock (stash)
Bubble stickers (stash)

For those who've never tried it before, I embossed my flowers using Versamark and embossing powder (oh yes, I used my embossing buddy as well...never emboss without your embossing buddy!) Once everything was dry, I inked the glossy cardstock aaaall over, blending my chosen two colors together and then rubbing off the rest of the color off of the shiny embossed image so that it shows through nice and white against the background colors.

Some AWESOME things are on the roll over at Marti's blog (http://pezadoodle.blogspot.com) so as I'm a little bit behind in getting some super cute sneak peaks up, make sure that you check things out over there! You will NOT be sorry! After all, who can resist SUPER cute Valentine's Studio G's, oh so pretty Valentine's inks and SOOOO GLITTERY glitter and NEW STAMP RELEASES!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

New Year, New Book...

...so a new year for me means trying something NEW!

When I try something new, it's always on the good advice of Marti from Pezadoodle.com and what's more new and scary for me than something from Tim's line??? GRUUUUNGEBOARD book!

So I've only just started dabbling into grungeboard...tackling a whole book made with it is still a bit confusing for me...I'm not even sure I'm using it right! But here is the cover and the first couple of pages...I'm starting easy and I'm hoping to really bust out the grunge techniques and distress inks and stickles and EVERYTHING!

I'll be leaving the pictures out though, because it's a present for my mom who's also just starting to get into stamping and fun things like that!

So far I am loving it though! I stopped to take a couple of pictures, but already I want to get back into my scraproom to get back to work, so short and sweet, here it is so far!

Thanks for looking! I'm off to PLAY!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Can I have your attention PUH-LEAZE...!

...that time has finally come! I now know how it feels to be the only child and then have to welcome a little baby brother or sister...except this situation is totally different, but still kind of the same thing...HAHAHAHA, ANYWHO!!!

As the former sole DT member of Pez-a-Doodle.com, I would OOOOFFICIALLY loooove to welcome CHRISTINE RILEY to the family!!! I'm so excited for a new design member, because first off, the MORE THE MERRIER and second, it's because Marti's got bigger and better things coming YOUR way! How so, you ask...weeeeell, you'll just have to wait and see, but I can assure you, FUN announcements and surprise on the way!

To start off the fun and exciting, and to welcome our newest DT member, I've got a link you are NOT going to want to miss! ESPECIALLY if (like my mom) you're just starting out in stamping and inking and all things Distressingly Tim or if you've been into it and just want to build up your stash, Marti's having an amaaaazing SALE exclusive to individuals we deem worthy enough to share the link with!!! (And of course that would be YOU my oh, so fabulous readers!). So here it is:

http://www.pezadoodle.com/HiddenSale.html

Hel-lo?!?! I've posted the link, what are you waiting for? These sales won't last forever you know, so DROP THAT TURKEY LEG and get a-clickin'! The sale page comes down on December 4th and at that time, prices are back to normal and you just can't get as much stuff with the same amount of money!!!

After you've clicked to your heart's content and rest easy knowing that your FABULOUSLY fun goodies will be on their way to you, mosey on over and visit Christine and wish her a congrats and best wishes!!!

I'm so excited - how's that for being THANKFUL this Thanksgiving!? (Well...for American Thanksgiving, anyway!)

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Let it Snow...

...I can't believe I'm making cards that encourage solid precipitation. Apparently, I'm behind since everyone and their neighbor's gardener seem to have TONS of Christmas cards made already.

Anyway, I won't get too into anything since I'm back-dating these entries anyway, but I really wanted to make a card using Marti's sent stamp goodies! Originally, I had Marti's goodies there without the word 'stamp' but it didn't really sound that good and I don't need people to wonder why Marti's sending me her goodies...I seem to get sidetracked really easily these days!

I fell in love with this stamp as soon as I saw it at Pez-a-Doodle. Leave it to Fabulous Marti to make sure I end up with it! *squeals* As soon as I saw it in my box, I knew that some way, I was going to be using Stickles with this. I got a little bit anxious and am not really known for patience so instead of just leaving it alone to let dry, I took my heatgun to it and it bubbled up and got all bumpy. (Note to self and to you people: DON'T take a heatgun to your Stickles!)

So anywho...! I stamped the image twice on plain cardstock. One for my base and one to cut out and pop-dot to make all fancy-looking! I swear, you can pop-dot garbage onto your card and it would look special just because it adds dimension. LOVE IT!

Can I tell you how long it took me to make this card? I know I made it a while ago, but I can still remember that I had TROUBLE - with everything! Where to put the image, how to mat it, yada-yada...*sighs* So anyway, I stamped with Archiver's ink and used Encore metallic ink in Teal to ink the edges of of my angel! I used the same metallic ink to ink up my snowflake embossing folder and ran my background image through the Cuttlebug. I stamped a round Inkadinkadoo sentiment from the Doodle Christmas line and stamped it on a Cricut-cut circle at who-knows what size! Ribbon always seems to finish a card off nicely!

Thanks for looking!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: BODY BUMPIN' - PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

I-tee, UTEE, we all tee!

...look at me with all the creating!

It's been a pretty good evening for it. For date night, The Mister and I went and bottled our wine that we had made (Kiwi Melon Zinfandel - YUMMY!) and even though I don't really drink wine, it's always so much fun to bottle! If you're interested in making and bottling your own wine, I highly recommend Vintner's Wine Cellar - if you have one in your area. Very good prices - we've been coming back since we made our ice wine favors for our wedding and I've also referred a bunch of people, so now, whenever we make wine, we get a lot of good discounts and referral discounts! It's always good to have them as last minute gifts, just-because gifts and of course, to drink! Can't say enough good things about making wine...I always make our own wine labels and I gave a bottle to the owner of the particular cellar where we make and I've had a few request to make labels for other people. I don't know why I put that last part in there, irrelevant really...but for all you creative folks out there, if you're getting a bit tired of decorating flat paper, you could always take your creativity to some wine bottles!

SO! Onward we go, our project for this week on Pezadoodle.com is focusing on Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) and get ready for some messy, FUN (I have embossing powder stuck to my feet as we speak! LOL) Go ahead and check out Marti's blog for the tutorial and examples, I will just be posting my creations here. As always, most of the materials used can be found at her online website, everything else will be otherwise noted.

Up first is my card:

I have no idea why my cards have been quite dark lately (I've been LOVING all over black cardstock lately...) Anywho, just a pretty simple card, as the focal point of the card required quite some effort.

The "Remember when..." is actually some decorative chipboard I got at Dollarama and all I did was smooshed (don't you LOVE that word, say it with me now, "SMOOSH") the chipboard into an embossing inkpad (or versamark, whichever you prefer) and then covered all over with the UTEE. Shake off the excess and heat and then repeat the whole process until you've got a nice, thick coat. Disclaimer: Be careful! Everything can get REALLY hot and it doesn't feel nice to have hot, melted embossing powder all over your fingers! So, as soon as you're satisfied with your coatings, let it set and then toss it in the freezer for a good ten minutes. Once it's nice and cold, CAREFULLY bend in some areas to create the cracked glass look. I say carefully very LOUDLY as if you bend too excessively the hardened UTEE could POSSIBLY flick right off your item and POSSIBLY hit you in the face...I'll leave it to you to decide whether or not I'm speaking from personal experience. LOL...

Alright, getting away with myself, I said I wasn't going to tutorialize the whole thing since Marti's already broke it down so well!

The rest of the ingredients are generic ribbon (Dollarama), Sakura glitter pen, Fiskar's border punch (of which is now completely dessimated - thank goodness it fell apart [LITERALLY] after the LAST punch was made), green paper from K&Co.

Next up is a neat little project I came across on Cambria's blog - I'll have to let you Google that on your own as I am too lazy to Google it myself to get the address from you. It's a nice little bag/pouch or whatever you'd like to call it. The tutorial is on her website, once I've gotten over my laziness, I'll post a link.

Anywho, keeping in line with the UTEE project, if you look at the tag, I guess you could say that I UTEE'd the crap out it. The tag was from a cool punched out set from my LSS (I bought a paper grab bag for only $5 and this was one of the things in it!), I stamped my sentiment in Adirondack Espresso Dye Ink and again, SMOOSHED it into my embossing pad. Pour UTEE, heat and REPEAT!
If you look at the tag carefully, you'll see that there's a piece missing...that MAY have been the little bugger that totally flew off the tag when I went to crack it, and it MAY be the missing piece that totally got up close and personal with my face. You may want to consider wearing safety goggles when embarking upon this project - otherwise, Marti and I can NOT be held liable. Consider yourself warned...LOL!

...and for one last bit of gratuitous picture posting, here are a few more things to look at - please try not to gasp too loudly at what you see next:

...but I DID find this EXCELLENT find at Wal-Mart this evening, it was on clearance sale for $13.00! Woohoo!

CURRENT MOOD: SATISFIED CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: NOTHING MUCH

All that shimmers...

...is so PRETTY! So, I am writing this entry from a completely different computer at a completely different desk other than mine (here at work) because my video card is apparently busted (I have no idea how since I've been on vacation since Friday and haven't even been using it!). What makes it worse is this is all the internet time I'll be getting until tomorrow or Thursday because my wonder Mister was using my laptop and opened that UPS virus that was going around. HE OPENED IT!!! AAAARGH!!! So I was laptop less over the weekend because my lazy bum couldn't get it in to get fixed until yesterday.

Plus, Tiana's birthday party was on Sunday, so we were über busy with the little munchkin! She was soooo cute - she was so excited for her birthday party, all she was talking about was SWIMMING and CAKE! Then when she saw the presents, she whispered to her Dad: "Look, Dada...presents!" And her eyes got all big and round!

Anywho...I played some yesterday with all my wonderful DT stuff and got a little bit done...mojo still ain't running like she used to, but whatevs, I'm still chugging along.

The first card is one done up just like Marti's on her blog - using alcohol inks and glossy paper!

I know it's not too exciting, but I didn't want to do too much more to cover up the nice background. I know it doesn't look like too much, but there was a lot of things done to this card. Lemme see, lemme see - all material, unless otherwise stated can be found at Marti's Pezadoodle store.

So first off, I took some glossy cardstock (to reiterate if I haven't already done so, this isn't the same as PHOTO paper - glossy cardstock (in white AND black) can be found at Marti's site, already pre-cut to size).

I used my wonderful, new foam ink tool and my alcohol inks (Denim and Slate) and just dabbed all the ink over the whole piece of cardstock. Then I took my WONDERFUL shimmery Tsukineko inkpad (I don't have it with me so I don't remember the colour) and I dabbed it over the cardstock after I Cuttlebugged it with the snowflake folder. After that, I decided it needed some lighter aspects so I took my Adirondack pigment inkpad and WHITE and laid the cardstock over the raised pad and just tapped the cardstock with my finger on certain spots to give it a frosty, white colour on some of the raise, snow flake areas. Once that was all dry, I stickled some of the snowflakes using Crystal and I also covered my white snowflake with the same stickles. I just used some clear mini "Skittles" for the arms of the flakes and generic ribbon from my stash, and VOILA! Wintery flakiness!

This one I actually started a while ago, but I got side-tracked with the other events that were going on - so I finished it up last night. Let's see...I used my Chinese garden stamp set from Stamp King and I stamped with Perfect Medium so instead of leaving a colour, it left a nice wet area for me to dust over with Perfect Pearls! I used Perfect Pearls in gold, eggplant, and green (I'm not sure what the name of the colour is) and dusted with a dry, fluffy paint brush - all on black cardstock!

So that's that...I've got more pictures to post, but it'll have to wait until I'm up and running again!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Holy Moly, I'm BACK!

...it is SO hard to get back into the swing of things!

My body succumbing to sickness every couple of weeks doesn't help either, but I guess that's my way of telling myself that I need to REST.

I spent the better part of today in a NeoCitran induced sleep, but after waking up a few hours earlier, I was feeling MUCH better. Taking a peek at Marti's blog and seeing how MUCH I've MISSED and WHAM! The creativeness was itching to come out!

...Not that the creativeness manifested into anything ACTUALLY creative, but I made a card and got back on my DT horse!

After I saw what I was missing, how could I NOT get my greedy, craft-starved hands on DIMENSIONAL pearls. Not only are they all 3D and yummy, but after I SMOOSHED them (which was the recent tutorial) when you look reeeal closely, you can see that they are all SHIMMERY and SHINY. Now if there's one thing all girls love, it's SHIMMER and SHINY GOODNESS!

So without much more chit-chat (that'll come later, I promise - the non-sick me is feeling veeeery CHATTY!) here are some PICTURES:

...Okie dokie! While my nit-picky side doesn't really think it's the BEST I could have come up with, the other sides of me are shrugging and saying, "Hey, it's the ONLY thing you came up with," so we're going to ignore nit-picky me for a while until I can get 100% back into the game.

So let's see, ingredients, ingredients!

Cardstock - Walmart
Shimmery Paper - Dollarama
Dimensional Pearl SMOOSH: dimensional pearls in Eggplant and Bottle, Pezadoodle.com
Glossy Paper - Pezadoodle.com
Brayer - Pezadoodle.com
Ink: Adirondack pigment ink in Pitch Black - Pezadoodle.com
Stickles - Pezadoodle.com
Stamps: Bellastamps.com and Studio G

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: