The Inking spot of Crain Creations

Some new Makeup Artists...

I don't have anything pretty for you to look at today, I just wanted to put up a quick post to say that Katie has posted the 7 newest Makeup Artists on the PMS Blog, so head on over and welcome them. I am so very excited to work with these great ladies! The entire PMS team is just an amazing group that I am so proud to be part of. Now head on over there and say "hey".

  

Jam Packed pretty package

 

Have you visited the My Time Made Easy store?  I am totally in love with Lauren's templates and stamps (oh yeah and the digi papers are just wonderful!).  Lauren has quick shipping and amazing customer service... I ordered some stamps from MTME, but before they got to me they got damaged and returned to her from the Post Office, she sent me a brand new package and a super nice email explaining what happened.  I was just so grateful at the way she handled the whole thing.  No, I am NOT a paid spokesperson, so I'll quit gushing now, lol!  Anyway, this is the Jam Packed template, easy as pie to assemble!  However, let me just tell you this... if you use SVG files, be sure to set your SCAL settings to "inkscape" because if it is set to Photoshop things will come out a little different and you WILL get a headache (I speak from experience here).  Photoshop has a different ratio than inkscape does.  The quote on the front is my absolute favorite and it's from Paper Makeup Stamps.

 

The whole idea behind this top panel was that I wanted to play with the Puckered Up Patterns stamps I got.  I stamped the bigger pattern in VersaMark and then added the Cocoa smaller X's.  I have to admit I'm pretty impressed with myself that there is not any patterned paper on here at all!  I really liked the look and I didn't want to cover it up, so I went to work on decorating the rest of the box.  By the time I was done, I could figure out what I wanted to put on the top, so I left it.  I just love this little box and I can use it for so many things :)  Well that's all I've got for ya for now, hope to see ya back here soon.  Have a fabulously inky week.

Stamps: Sing Love Dance (Paper Makeup Stamps), Puckered Up Patterns (MTME)  Paper: Dark Chocolate cs (PTI), Blush Blossom (SU), Mellow Moss (SU)  Ink: VersaMark, Brown (Vivid), Tuxedo Black (Memento)  Accessories: Blush Blossom button (PTI), Roses (Prima), White ribbon (SU!), deckled rectangle nesties, Martha Stewart Quilted Edges punch  Challenges: Color Throwdown #98

  

Happy 4th!

 

Ok, I know it's not really the 4th yet, but I wanted to share this with you so you'd have time to make your own!  Make a couple of these and they are gorgeous center pieces.  We made these with my stamp group that comes over once a month.  So quick and easy and soooo fun!  You could make this a Christmas star and decorate accordingly too!  Well here's the directions to make this on Splitcoast, and here's the gallery for more ideas.  I think I may have to whip out a few more of these this week.  Here's our group pic just so you can see how fun a few together look.

 

I am working on a super fun template from My Time Made Easy, just have to decide on the top but make sure you pop back in tomorrow to check it out.  Thanks for stopping in, hope you have a wonderful week!

  

My Copic Storage...

I have been working on organizing and "making pretty" my stamp room for a few months now.  I have done LOTS of looking at pictures, TONS of analyzing, measuring, browsing and any other 'ing' you can think of!  I now have all of it figured out and most of it done :) I will try to once a week share with you the things I have come up with.  I would love to hear your thoughts on these, any input is also much appreciated.  In addition, please feel free to leave a link in your comment to your storage idea.

 

This was my first "brilliant" idea, and while it looks great and worked wonderfully, I soon out grew it.  This is a wine rack from Target.  

 

This is what I have now, and I absolutely LOVE it!  It was cheap, and infinitely expandable!  I will be adding a 5th column here after the holiday weekend.  The original idea is not mine, but I found it in the Mission Organization area on SCS, Michelle328 is the brain child here!  How did I make this?  Well first I sent hubby down to Home Depot to get some Drain Spout, it came in a white PVC material and was less than $10 for about a 12 foot length.  I measured my markers and decided that I wanted them to stick out a bit, so I had him cut the spout in to 5 1/2" pieces.  Then I used some contact cement to glue them together and some spray paint (cause white just is NOT my color, lol!).

 

Each piece holds 20 Sketch markers with wiggle room to still be able to pull them out with ease.  I store my markers by color family and as you can see some families take more than one cube (E's for example).  Here's a close up of one of the cubes.

   

The best part about this is I chose the height and width, so it fit where I wanted it to go on my table top perfectly!  I'm still trying to think of a way to pretty it up a little, but the flexibility and inexpensiveness for this was just right up my alley!  Patter Cross uses these Copic Cubbies, which are great and very nice looking and VERY reasonably priced, but the shipping was not so pretty :(  Well I hope this helps you out some, like I said I'd love to hear your thoughts.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a fabulously inky weekend!

**ETA**  Several of you are asking about the back, my apologies for forgetting one of the most important things, lol!!  I have not yet covered the back because I am not sure if/how I want to "pretty it up".  HOWEVER, when I do cover it, I will use a piece of mat board (because it will be stronger than chipboard), trace the shape of my holder and then cut.  I will use the same glue to glue the back on as I used to glue the cubes together (it just holds better on PVC).  Hope this covers it, but if you have more questions I'd love to hear them.

Check out these 2 posts for my unmounted stamp storage ideas:

Small Binder storage

Large Binder storage

  

Happy, happy Birthday, Katie!

 

 Thanks for joining us on this SURPRISE Birthday Blog Hop for Katie!  You should have come here from Lisa K's blog, but if you didn't head on over to the PMS Blog and start this hop from the beginning (Katie is also having a Birthday sale at the store and all the deets are on the PMS Blog!).  Katie I hope you have an amazing day cause you are a truely amazing friend!  Huge big birthday hugs!!!! oh yeah, and... SURPRISE!  Your next stop on the hop is the fabulous Tina, who always has something amazing!

Stamps: Friends are Angels wordart, sentiment is from the Birthday Cheer set (Paper Makeup Stamps)

Time for a Fourth Friday challenge... Paper Garden style!

 

This month's Paper Garden Fourth Friday challenge is 'cool', and what's cooler than a little surfer dude?  I love his shades!!  Make sure you head on over to the PGP blog to get the deets on how you can win ya some goodies.  I just love this paper, and his shorts were just begging to be paper pieced :)  I also went over his shades with a Black Spica pen (bummer ya can't see it cause it looks really cool! lol).  Well that's all I've got for ya for now, Happy Friday & I hope you have a fabulously inky weekend!  Check out what the rest of the PGP DT came up with for this super fun challenge!

• Amber
• Cathy
• Erin
• Andrea
• Alyssa

Stamps: Surf's Up (Art Impression)  Paper: 365 Degrees (Pink Paislee), Red cs (Prism)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)  Accessories: Red Ribbon (Paper Garden)  Challenges: MTSC79

You are FABULOUS!

 

Whew!  I think I finally get to re-join the stamping world :)  Tomorrow night is my stamp group night, this time our theme is "Just a note".  Well, I just got 2 new sets from My Time Made Easy and I was just dieing to play with them, and this was the perfect opportunity.  So the frame there is from the Killer Curves: Fancy Frames set.  I stamped it in Pure Poppy Ink and then added some red teeny rhinestones to give it some dimension.  The sentiment is from the Sensational Sentiments set, I inked it with Tea Rose ink.  The inside of the frame still seemed like it had a little too much white space, so I took the small flower image from the Paper Pattern Pieces set.  I inked it up with Coffee Bean ink and added teeny pink rhinestones to the middle.  I used the labels 3 Nesties to punch out the frame.  I have to say, for not stamping in FOREVER, I am rather happy with this card.  One of my fellow DTers, Maria, showed us this link earlier today for an envelope idea for square cards (easier for envelopes and avoids extra postage for a square card).

First I took a regular, standard sized card envelope (for a 4.25" x 5.5" card) and punched 3 little hearts along the one side.

Then I placed my card on top of the envelope and over to one side.  I cut a strip of the red card stock at 1 1/4" wide.

Finally, insert the card stock strip on the side where the punched hearts are and insert your card next to it... Voila!  a cute envelope and regular postage (of course my cards are ALWAYS too thick and ALWAYS require extra postage, lol!).  I hope you like this and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the envelop idea.  Have a FABULOUSLY inky weekend!

Stamps: Killer Curves: Fancy Frames, Sensational Sentiments & Paper Pattern Pieces (all by My Time Made Easy)  Paper: Bella Rose (SU), Dark Chocolate & White (PTI), Lipstick Red (Gina K)  Ink: Pure Poppy (PTI), Tea Rose & Coffee Bean (Vivid)  Accessories: heart punch (SU), Red & pale Pink Taylors Tiny Twinkles (Taylored Expressions), misc Pearls, White ribbon (SU)  Challenges: TECC30  

Chillax Chickie, it's another TE Blast from the past!

  

Hehehehe, hey welcome to the 2nd ever Blast from the Past Blog Hop for Taylored Expressions!  What an amazing group of talent there is participating in this hop... I am just in awe!!  anyway, I have loved this set ever since Taylor first release it!  The sentiments are fun and the images are just awesome!  I haven't been able to stamp in way too many days, so playing with this set was especially fun cause there are so many "fun" things you can do with it.  I wasn't able to use Dazzling Diamonds type glitter to the rim of the glass, so I tried some Shimmerz... loved it!  I thought of using Crystal Effects for the glass and pitcher, but didn't have time to let it dry so I just used some clear glitter pen on the liquid parts.  These bright colors are a little hard for me to work with, but once I got the idea in my head with this patterned paper, there was no turning back, lol.  I love the lime/lemon image and certainly wanted to  use it so I stamped it a few times on my yellow cardstock... love the look!  Honestly, the hardest thing about this set was that I couldn't decide which images I wanted to use cause they are all too cute! Oh yes, and because Taylor's Sketches are some of my absolute favs, I used TESC116.  Well grab your latte, sit back and enjoy the hop...there is some amazing eye candy out there!

Stamps: Chillax (Taylored Expressions)  Paper: Citronella Pinwheels (K & Co), yellow & green cs (Bazzill), white (PTI)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)  Accessories: Green Glitter Candy Dots (Pebbles Inc), Taylors Tiny Twinks green, Angle Wings Shimmerz, Clear & Melon Glitter pens (Spica), New Leaf Twill ribbon (PTI)  Copics: C0, 07,G05, 14, R27, 37, YG13, 23, YR20, 0 Colorless blender  Challenges: TESC116

Paper Garden Summer Blog Hop...

Though I will not have some eye candy for this hop, in case you didn't see it on the Paper Garden Blog my clue word is CAMP. I promise to have some summer fun goodies for you to see soon.  Make sure you head over to the Paper Garden Blog to get the deets on winning this little cutie...

 

Let's go digi!

 

This week's JUGs Challenge was to "go digital"... digital papers, digital images.  Well if you follow my blog at all you'll see that I have totally been MIA this week... between all the end of the school year stuff, the parties and my baby "promoting" out of Elementary School this morning, being sick (oh yeah, and TONS of work), I just have not had any time to stamp.  BUT I knew I just HAD to do this challenge, because getting a little more adept at digi's is one of my goals.  I am in LOVE with the Digi papers at My Time Made Easy; Gina K and MFT have had some super fun ones too.  The patterned paper on this is from the Free Download from My Time Made Easy (you can get the link from the JUGS Challenge post).  Lauren was very generous with her freebies and offered a free digi image too, which was too cute... but I wasn't bright enough to get it printed the right size and was running out the door (I had to print it at the office on the big printer because my printer at home can't do PTI cs that I use to color on).  Anyway, super easy to print out the paper.  I highly recommend getting some of Lauren's digi papers (very inexpensive and her 'digi papers designers' are fabulous!!).  Ok, back to Miss Lucy here... I love this little image, she is just too cute.  I've colored her in gray tones before and LOVED it, but I wanted to give her some color today so I tried some browns, not sure that I care for the exact browns I chose but she is cute in brown.  Thanks for popping in, I'll be back with the supplies in a bit.

Stamps: Lucy Mouse (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper: Tasty Sampler digi (My Time Made Easy), Island Mist (Prism), Dark Chocolate (PTI)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)  Accessories: Scalloped Doily punch (Martha Stewart), Champagne Pearls (KaiserCraft), white gel pen (Signo), black glaze pen (Sakura), Lemon & Turquoise glitter pens (Spica), Vanilla Tafetta ribbon (SU)  Copics:  BG72, 75, C00, 0, E42, 44, 47, R21, Y19, 21, 0 Colorless Blender  Challenges: JUGS37

What a 'tweet review...

Today Paper Makeup Stamps is reviewing the Tweet Things set.  I have 2 cards to share with you today.

  

This first card uses the Birdcage image.  This time I tried using some Flower-Soft (which just so happened to arrive in my mailbox just in time for this card).  It really gave the image some depth... clearly I need some more practice with it, but this stuff is FUN to play with :)  I also took aGold Spica Glitter pen and went over the cage lines... just enough sparkle!  I used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch for this card.   

 

 My second card uses the peacock, I honestly did NOT do this cute little guy justice, but I can't wait to ink him up when I don't have a migrain and am not so tired I could sleep standing up!  What you cannot see on him is that I used some smooch on part of his feathers (I will try to retake a picture tomorrow).  I also used some Black Glaze pen to make his eye pop out  a little.  I used the Mojo  Monday sketch for this card.  Between meetings running late today, hubby catching an earlier flight home (I picked him up from the airport), a head splitting headache, and way too many late nights lately... it was NOT a good night to try to be creative, lol!  Make sure you check out these posts (Tweet Things Peek & Tweet Things Review) on the PMS Blog for some more inspiration with this set. Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Birdcage card

Stamps: Tweet Things (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper: Wisteria pp (Basic Gray), Buttercream and Majestic Purple Dark (Prism), Vintage Ivory (PTI)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)  Accessories: Vanilla Tafetta ribbon (SU), Lavendar Flower-Soft, Gold Glitter pen (Spica), Spring Rain Button (PTI)  Copics: B12, BV0000, E35, G94, Y21, YR21  Challenges: MTSC77

Peacock card

Stamps: Tweet Things (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper: Wisteria pp (Basic Gray), Island Mist Medium & Dark (Prism), White (PTI)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)  Accessories: White brads (Queen & Co), Ocean Tides ribbon (PTI), Pool Smooch, Oval & scalloped oval punches (SU), ticket punch (SU), Black Glaze pen (Sakura)  Copics: B29, BG72, 75, G94, YG13, 0 colorless blender  Challenge: Mojo142

Surf's up, Dude!

 

I LOVED Lisa Kind's sketch over on Just Us Girls last week!  I knew as soon as I saw that I wanted to play, but between track meets, end of the year parties and hubby away on business, this week just got away from me!  Holy Snickerdoodles how did Thursday get here??  Anyway, these cute little penguins came from Paper Garden Projects (the set is from Art Impressions).  Anyway, they are super easy and quick to color.  While I wanted the card kept kinda simple (cause it's for a boy) I felt it needed a little something so I added some twine here and there.  Sorry for the quick post, but thanks for stopping by.  Hope to see you again soon.  Everything on this card can be found at Paper Garden Projects!

Stamps: Surf's Up (art Impressions)  Paper: 365 Degrees (Pink Paislee), Cardstock (Prism)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Onyx Black (Verafine)  Accessories: Patriot Buttons (Buttons Galore & More), ribbon, twine  Copics:  B34, 37, C0, 00, R14, 17, 27, Y15, YR04, 07, 12 Colorless Blender 0  Challenges: JUGS36

 

Happy June Release Hop day!

 

Just a small handful of hours until the release goes live!! Woot woot!  Welcome to the June Release Blog Hop.  You should have come here from the rockin' Christi Snow, but if you didn't just head on over to the PMS Blog and start from there.  Katie will have all the deets on how you can get some rubbah for less $$...gotta love that!  Well this little peekie is from the "Freckled Lemonade" set we are releasing tonight (8 pm central), this is such a fun set!  The limes on the side are actually a full circle slice so I just cut it into a wedge to fit my space.  I also went over the "drink" part with a clear Spica pen just so it wasn't so flat looking.  Well I hope my card gets your creative juices flowin' cause this really is a super fun set... so many things to do with it and I love the sentiments!  So grab some Cherry Limeade, sit back and enjoy the hop!  See you tonight at the release party on the PMS Forum @ 8 pm central. TTFN, but before you head over to visit Miss Amber take this parting "gift" with ya...

 

Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again soon.

Stamps: Freckled Lemonade set (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper: Cherry Limeade (K&Co), Red & Green cs (Bazzill), Black & White cs (PTI)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)  Accessories: Red Brads (Queen & Co), circle and Pinking circle nesties, Black ribbon (SU), Clear Glitter pen (Spica)  Copics: C0, 1, G0000, 14, R0000, 00, 02, 24, 27, YG00, 13, 23

 

Hey 'Tweet Thing!

Welcome to Day 3 of PMS' June Sneak Peeks!  These images are from the new set "Tweet Things" illustrated by Lindsay Spencer (LOVE her stuff!!), and wow is this an awesome set!  I love the sentiments, I love the word art and I LOVE the images!  So, so fun.  You can go to the PMS Blog to see snippets of the rest of this set.  Today I have 2 peeks to show you (I told you I LOVE this set!).

 

Sorry, for the lousy picture but I hope you can still see the awesomeness of the image and the sentiment.  This would be a fun image to make a monochrome card with, oh yea, and if you have some Flower-Soft... perfect on the cage!! (My FS is on it's way, thank you very much! lol).  If you click on the image and look closer, you can see that there are little flowers along the gray/black stripes, and there is a thin leafy vine along the bottom and top of the cage.  I went over my flowers with a black glaze pen, it really gives the cage a dimensional look.  I used Green Spica glitter pen on the vines... because I used such dark colors for the cage coloring I needed something more that just normal color on the vines and flowers.

 

Here is another image and sentiment from the "Tweet Things" set.  I love how these images can either take on an elegant or a whimsical look... so many possibilities!  The sketch for this card is for one of our Release Party Challenges, go to this post to get more details on the challenges.  Thanks so much for stopping in, I'll see you tomorrow for the June Release Blog Hop, which starts at the PMS Blog, and then tomorrow evening for the Release Party in the PMS Forum (@ 8pm central)... there will be lots of fun chit chat, winners announced and some giveaways!

Bird cage card

Stamps: Tweet Things set (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper: Windsor pp (SEI), Black cs (PTI), White (PTI)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Onyx Black (Versafine)  Accessories: Fancy Tags (Spellbinders), Taylors Tiny Twinkles (Taylored Expressions), Black Satin ribbon (PTI), Black Glaze pen (Sakura), Green glitter pen (Spica), Corner Rounder, Labels 8 (Spellbinders)  Copics: C5, 7, E37, Y26

Love birds card

Stamps: Tweet Things set (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper: Luster Candy Box Hearts (Cloud 9), Crabapple Dark (Prism), White (PTI)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Tumbled Glass Distress (Ranger)  Accessories: Pinking Hearts border punch (SU), 3 Hearts punch (SU), White brads (Queen & Co), Deckled Rectangle nesties, corner rounder, Red & Pink Glitter pen (Spica)  Copics: E29, 99, R85, 89, Y21  Challenges: PMSRPC0610

Woot Woot! Let the peeks begin!

 

Happy June and welcome to the very first day of peeks for the Paper Makeup Stamps June release!  This is such a fun release, you're gonna love it!  Today the PMS dt are peeking this months "single images" (not part of a set).  Head on over to the PMS Blog to the rest of today's peeks.  Have I said before how excited I am that Lindsay Spencer is illustrating for us??  I just LOVE her stuff!!!!  This is called the Whimsy Tree, and while I simply did NOT do it justice today... it is wonderful!  I wanted to cut out some leaves and have them popped up on here, but there were already so many layers to the card.  You could add a little birdie in the tree, or "carve" your initials in the trunk.  Wouldn't some FlowerSoft be fabulous on those flower buds in there (yes I will be ordering some tomorrow, lol!!).  Anyway, it is a great tree that looks fabulous all decked out or colored simply.  Well that's all I have for you today, and I won't be peeking anything for you tomorrow, but you can go to the PMS Blog to see some eye candy.  Don't forget about the release party on Monday, June 7th CST.  This is also when the new stamps will go live on the site.  Thanks for stopping in, hope to see you again soon.  Have a fabulously inky day.

Stamps: Whimsy Tree & "Hello" (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper:  PP is from the Celestial Posibilities kit (Paper Makeup Stamps), Bermuda Bay & Black cs (SU), White cs (PTI)  Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento), Onyx Black (Versafine), Tumbled Glass Distress (Ranger)  Accessories: Black Brads (Queen & Co), Ribbon (Celestial Possibilities kit by Paper Makeup Stamps), Optic Dot Edge Punch (Martha Stewart), Purple Glitter pen (Spica)  Copics: E31, 33, 43, 57, G05, 14, YG17, 23