Summer is probably my least favorite season just because of the heat. And with the high temperatures we have been having it makes me crave Fall even more! They are saying we will hit 110 degrees tomorrow. That is just crazy!!!
Not venturing outside gives a person more time to play in the art room. :-)
I am not sharing much today because most of what I did was trying out new dies and such that came this week....almost like Christmas lol
I did actually toss together a few cards.
Like I said above, I am ready for fall!
I am still playing around with my Tim Holtz 'crazy' stamps while I wait for the dogs to arrive. My order is supposed to be here sometime in September. :-D
The embossing folder is from Cuttlebug. It is part of a set of folders (but I only have this one I bought in a clearance bin at the local craft store). I think the set might have been Happy Haunting.
The images were colored with Copic markers.
This adorable little kitty is from Close To My Heart. It is from the August stamp of the month set S1608 Purr-fect Halloween. The cat body has no eyes or adornments but lots of stamps to create a costume with 4 sets of eyes, a couple hats, the bat (which I used as a bowtie), a pennant banner and some phrases. I also added the jack o'lantern from Tim Holtz's mini Bird Crazy stamp set. All images were colored with Copic markers.
I have a friend whose birthday is on Halloween so she gets 2 cards from me every year. :-)
I used the Acorn Scatter embossing folder from Anna Griffin's summer/fall folder set. The leaves and feather are from her summer/fall die set. The sentiment was written by my Cricut Explore and I am 99% sure it is from an Anna Griffin cartridge.
Close To My Heart released a brand new Cricut cartridge on August 1st. (and retired several of their older cartridges)
The new cart is called Flower Market and has tons of flowers - both 3D and 2D. I thought these 2D ranunculus were very pretty. Lots of cool containers to display your flowers like the jar with lace band I used. They also have fun icons and 2 fonts. It is a gorgeous set of images.
You can get one from my friend Debbie on her CTMH site.
I used Darice's Fall Leaf Background folder and ran it through my Cuttlebug.
I told you I was trying out new toys this week. Not only did I get a cartridge and stamps, I also got some new cutting dies. This lacy oval is one of Crafters Companion's Downton Abbey dies. You can cut the lace to be a free standing oval or cut it like I did so that it is in the paper (no outside edge). It then comes with several smaller oval dies that fit in the center. I also got the circle, square and rectangle sets.....What? I had a coupon and they were grouping 2 sets together in each package. Trust me it was a good deal lol
And now I have officially made my first Christmas card of 2016.
But I am not quite done.
Sometimes I just get in the mood to play with supplies I haven't pulled out in a while.
That would be my embossing diffusers from Tim Holtz. This is the circle one.
I used Anna Griffin's Fluted Damask folder. I then stamped the cupcake (CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut bundle D1497) in 2 colors (CTMH Hollyhock and Cocoa)
I felt it still needed something so I cut some 3D flowers on the Explore and glued them around the lower left edge of the circle.
I think it turned out cute and now I have another card on hand for....whatever. :-)
So that covers most of what I did this past week.
I hope you are all staying cool wherever you may be.
Happy Crafting!
I know, I have not posted in a while. My excuse....um, sorry, don't have one. lol
So, I thought I would pop in and share a little of what I have been doing lately.
In my last post I shared some of my favorite cards from the first 30 days of the Index Card a Day challenge over at Daisy Yellow.
I am proud to say that I completed the 61 day challenge. I did not skip a day and I ended on time. Now, I won't say that every card I created was a work of art. Some of them are pretty bad lol But I created a card EVERY day and that is the challenge. I also stayed on prompt for every card. Yep, I am very proud of myself....and feeling a bit lost without the daily challenge.
So here are some of my favorites from July.
The prompts from left to right:
Top Row: Queen of Hearts, Chess, Face, Flag
Middle Row: Definition, Parachute
Bottom Row: Bridge or Gin Rummy, Raindrops, Weather
I found myself drawing more in those 2 months then I had in years....and loving it! I also had strange and unexpected side effect. I became hooked on Chibis. Yes, those cute little childlike Japanese anime characters.
Someone in the group posted a card one day stating she had bought her daughter a learn to draw chibis book and decided to try it herself. Her little people were adorable and made me want to try it too.
I ordered a couple books from Amazon (How To Draw Manga Chibis & Cute Critters by Samantha Whitten and Jeannie Lee and Manga For the Beginner, Chibis by Christopher Hart)
I am having so much fun! My kitten from the Raindrops card was my first attempt at an animal chibi. I love how he turned out.
I am finding that I am better at drawing the faces than I am at bodies and clothing....but I am loving the learning process so I draw at bit a few days a week. I think I am getting better....not sure how hubby feels since I keep bugging him with 'how does this look?' haha
So, here she is, my very first chibi. Her face is cute and done fairly well. Her body and clothes...well there are issues lol I drew her on July 17.
Red Riding Hood. Again, I really like the face but the hands, legs and feet are too teeny/scrawny. Drawn on July 19.
Now we jump ahead a couple weeks. I was stuck in bed with severe back spasms so I had hubby bring me my sketch pad, pencils and markers. I decided to concentrate on faces and hair for the day. I wanted to create expressive faces and cute hair. July 31
Moving forward to today, August 7. I have been wanting, since day 1, to create the cast of the Wizard of Oz. I may have jumped the gun but I am having a good time and learning as I go.
Here is the pen drawing.
I have started adding color. I am using Copic markers. Now if you have read my blog over the past few years then you are probably shocked. I swore I would never jump on the Copic bandwagon! Who in their right mind spends $6+ on a single marker? Well, obviously, now I do. I found that for the first time in my life I could not get the look I wanted with pencils (and I am really good with pencils - if I do say so myself lol)
So each payday I head to the local craft store and pick up a couple. Not a huge hit to my budget and I slowly increase my stash. Tomorrow I need to pick up a couple for this piece as all I currently have are flesh and hair colors. Dorothy said she does NOT want a peach or brown colored dress!
But fear not, I have not totally abandoned my Explore lol
My nephew's birthday is next week so I created this fun box card for him from the Summer Box Cards set at SVGCuts.com
I used my Minc to create the gold foil stars. I love how the Minc can give any project a little extra 'pop'.
Well that's all for now.
Stay cool in this summer heat and if you are on the west coast of the USA, try to stay smoke free. The fires are really bad this year and the air quality is becoming very hazardous.
Until next time. Happy Crafting!
