The Inking spot of Crain Creations

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

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

Stamp Group Birthday

 

 This weekend a group of friends is coming over for our monthly stamp time.  This month's theme is "Birthday's".  Not sure if you can tell but the paper pieced balloons are popped up on dimensionals.  These balloons are just as great for piecing as they are to color!!  I used Mercy's Sketch and colors are from last week's Color Throwdown.  I think I'm going to make a more girlie version and a masculine version of this and give a set to my Mom.  Sorry for the quick post but, I was up until 3 am last night working and I am exhausted!

Stamps: Party Time (Verve)  Paper: Playful Posies (My Minds Eye), Enchanted Evening & White (PTI), Papaya Puree Med (Prism)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)  Accessories: Brads (SU), Enchanted Evening (PTI), dimensionals  Challenges: CTD94, MTSC76 

Kraftin' with a Mercy sketch

 

 I have been going through withdrawls cause I haven't done one of Mercy's Tuesday sketches in far too long!  Today I wanted to play with one of my new Kraftin' Kimmie stamps that I got from Paper Garden Projects.  When I looked at this past week's sketch from Mercy, it was perfect for this image...well kinda, I mean I DID have to turn the sketch, oh yeah and blow it up some... close enough, right?  I really like the colors of the patterned paper, but when I colored her dress everything seemed WAY too pastel-y for me (I really struggle with all like cards) so I added some black to her boots and cs for matting... much better!  Hope you all had a wonderful loooong weekend, it still seemed way too short to me :).  Thanks for popping in, hope to see you again soon.  Sneak peeks for PMS' June release start on Friday.

Stamps: Yvette (Kraftin Kimmie)  Paper: So Sophie Clever (My Minds Eye), Black, Hawaiian Shores & white cs (PTI)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Onyx Black (Versafine)  Accessories:  Rose Pearls (Kaisercraft), scalloped oval punch (SU), oval punch (SU)  Copics: BG000, 02, 05, 07, BV13, C7, 9, E000, 00, 04, 13, 15, 17, R11, 20, 21, 22, Y00, 15, 19, 0 Colorless Blender  Challenge: MTSC75

Makeup 4 the Weekend #27

 

Happy Friday!  Today's Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge is brought to you by Miss Danni, and she challenges us to use "at least 3 flowers".  I am totally in love with the Wisteria line of paper from Basic Gray!  That purple is just FABULOUS!  So how is it that I have absolutely NO ribbon in that color?  Holy snickerdoodles!  If you know of some yummy ribbon in those purples, let the enabler in you shine and leave me a linkie/comment, pretty please :)  The sketch is, of course one of Mercy's.    Well I hope that this inspires you at least a teensy bit to get inky!  
 

Stamps: We can complain... (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper: Wisteria (Basic Gray), Horizon & Black Orchid cs (Bazzill), White (PTI)  Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine), Antique Linen Distress (Ranger)  Accessories: Roses (Prima), Plum button (PTI), Grape brads (Queen & Co), Deckled Oval nesties, twine, Vanilla Ribbon (SU)  Challenges: MTSC73, M4TW27

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you back here tomorrow for the Paper Garden Grads, Dads & Lads Blog hop!  

It's overcast and raining outside...

... but inside it's Spring and Butterflies!

 

  Have you checked out Mercy's sketch for this week?  I just love it (I know, I say that every time, lol).  Well this is Danni and I didn't get to play with her during peeks, so it was high time I get her inky!  I love this SEI paper, the "darker" flowers on the paper is foiled and the brown strips are shimmery (I know, sorry for the bad picture).  I cut out the top butterfly and using a pop-dot placed it on the flower.  I also went over all 3 butterflies with some Smooch Pearlized Top Coat.

Stamps: Danni & "Hello" (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper: Claire (SEI), Suede Brown Medium (Prism), Vanilla cs (SU), Stampers Select White (PTI)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Onyx Black (Versafine), Copics  Accessories: Summer Sunrise Satin ribbon & Button (PTI), Twine, Flower (SEI), Pearlized Top Coat (Smooch)  Challenges: Mercy's Tuesday Sketch #71

Just for fun...

 

It was quite the busy weekend around here, but I really needed a few minutes of coloring time!!   So I grabbed one of my Anya's and whipped this out pretty quick before I had to get back to house stuff and work.  A little stamp time is WAY better than NO stamp time, lol.  Sorry for the quick post, but it is past nighty-night time for me.  See ya soon... hope you have a wonderful week!

Stamps: Frapper Anya (The Greeting Farm), Party Time (Verve)  Paper: Key Ingredients kit (Taylored Expressions), Prism cs, Dark Chocolate cs (PTI)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Coffee Bean (Vivid), Copics  Accessories: Black Glaze pen (Sakura), Black Glitter pen (Spica), Stardust pen (Sakura), Chocolate Chip ribbon (SU)  Challenges: MTSC70

Happy Hop day!!

 

Welcome to the Paper Makeup Stamps April release Hop!!  I am so excited about this release.  Well, you should have come here from Christi Snow's blog, but if you didn't you're going to want to start at the PMS Blog (where you can find out how to save on this month's release or even how to get it for free!!).  This is Duncan (yup, as in Duncan Hines, lol) and he is just baking up a storm!  The best part about Duncan's cookies is that they are calorie-free!!!  When I was little I remember making goodies with my Gramma... this could be a fun card for her!  I probably "resembled" Duncan at some point in my childhood (though I cannot imagine someone calling me a monster!) hahaha!  Before I send you along your Merry, latte-sipping way... let me remind you about the Release Party tonight in the PMS Forum.  Party starts at 8pm central (which is also when the release goes live).  Last one there is a milk-dud!

Now hop yourself on over to Miss Katie's blog, but not before you take with you this morsel...

 

Stamps: Duncan & sentiment (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper: Home in Blue pp (MME), Not Quite Navy cs (SU), White (PTI)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Copics  Accessories: Green Candy drops (Pebbles Inc), Clear Glaze pen (Sakura), Nesties

Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge #21

 

Yes, I know I'm a few days late... but better late than never, right?? Lol  Last Friday's Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge was "be inspired by the SUN".  While ice cream is certainly yummy year round, I think Lily just screams "HERE COMES SUMMER!"  This card kinda reminds me of a 50-50 Ice Cream bar, or remember those Orange shakes from Naugles?  Yumm-O!  This past weekend we had some nice and toasty temps, but they didn't last... I think we're supposed to get some rain over the next couple of days.  Hope you are having a wonderful week.

Stamps: Lily (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper: Linnie Bell pp (Pebbles Inc), Ruby Red cs (SU), Sweet Corn cs (Gina K), Papaya Puree Medium (Prism), Stampers Select (PTI)  Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento), Copics, Cocoa (Memento)  Accessories: Hibiscus Burst buttons (PTI), Yellow Candy Dots  (Pebbles Inc), misc flowers (Prima), Brad (SEI), Rhinestone (Zva), Twine

This is me when I go too many days without stamping, lol...

 

I hate when I have several days off from stamping :(.  Every time it happens I cannot make a decent card to save my life!  Grrrr!  This is kinda how I feel about my stamping today, but aside from that, this image just cracks me up!  This is Sourpuss from Paper Makeup Stamps, I think every one of us on the DT started rolling on the floor laughing when we saw him!  Would this image not make the BEST pick me up cards??  I am hoping to cut the work hours closer to normal, my stamp room is close enough to done that I can spend more time stamping :) and hubby has some serious traveling coming up... so I am really hoping to get back into the stampin' swing of things!  Hope you have a wonderful week!  Oh  yeah, this fabulous sketch (that I certainly did NOT do justice to) is from the wonderful Mercy Kerin.

Stamping just for the love of it

 

Today, after getting some cards that I needed to do and working on more organization and cleaning of the studio, I got to stamp just for the fun of it!  Lisa Johnson (Poppy Paperie) has started her own challenges and I LOVE the concept of them.   

This is her second challenge and I had so much fun with it I'm going to go back and do the first one!  I started with this challenge, but as I started putting it together I realized Mercy's Sketch would be great with this, then I started to choose my papers and realized that the JUGS and Crazy 4 Challenges for this past week fit perfectly too!  Lisa Kind came up with the challenge for Jugs this past week (she comes up with the best Inspiration challenges, though this one is a color challenge she includes an inspiration photo).  I can rarely combine 2 challenges, let alone more than that, lol!  

 

 Here's a little better picture of those yummy buttons!  I threw that purple one in there "just cause" it was sparkly and pretty, lol.  I used brown floss on the buttons, so they'd stand out a little and not blend in... I like the look.  My tag/sentiment seemed to get lost in the busyness, so I took the edge of my black copic and went around the edge of it.  Just a little hint to make it stand out a little.  Well, I hope you like my interpretation of Lisa's challenge, I'd love to hear your input so leave a comment if you have an extra minute.  Thanks for popping in, hope to see you again soon!  Have a wonderful day!

Stamps:  Everyday Button Bits (PTI)  Paper: Home mat Blue & Pink (My Minds Eye), Spring Willow Dark cs (Prism), Ocean Tides cs (PTI), White (Gina K)  Ink: Spanish Moss (Versafine), Onyx Black (Versafine), Black Copic  Accessories: Ocean Tides, Plum Pudding & Spring Moss Buttons (PTI), Brown floss, Ribbon Tags (Spellbinders), Ocean Tides Twill ribbon (PTI)

Spring means butterflies...

Today was such a gorgeous day!  I am ready to see some "flutterby's"... bring on Spring!! 

 

This week Mercy had an awesome sketch (I always love her sketches), so I just had to take a break from "re-organizing" my stamp room and ink up some rubber.  I stamped the butterfly and colored it in, then I found some paper and started putting the card together.  Somewhere along the line, my butterfly went in one direction and the rest of the card went in another, hahaha.  So I re-did the butterfly.  I stamped it in some Cocoa ink (Memento) and then used some yellow/orange Copics.  I didn't really care if the Cocoa "bled" or smeared some when I colored because I kind of wanted to pull a little of the brown into the yellows.  I really like the look.  Both the butterfly and the sentiment are from Gina K's set, Take Flight.  I was trying to figure out what color for the base of this card... white was too "white" and vanilla was too "yellow".  While I was flipping through my Prism swatchbook I stumbled across 3 colors that I NEVER think about Butter Cream, Vanilla Cream and Sugar Cream. I chose Sugar Cream here.  I LOVE these colors and can't believe I haven't used them before!  I also love the texture of the Prism... I can leave some card stock showing without it looking "flat" to me.  The "pretty papers" here are from the Origins pack by Basic Gray.  I just love this paper pack!  I got some of the 12x12 papers for a project I am working on, fell in love with them, got a small pack and then got some more of them from a friend! lol.  By the way, Cathy at Paper Garden has both the paper pack and Prism cs singles on sale right now, pop on over there and tell her I said "hey".

Paper Garden Projects 4th Friday Challenge... Fairwell to Winter!

 

Welcome to the Paper Garden Fourth Friday Challenge!  This month's challenge is "Fairwell to Winter".  As I made this card I was listening to the news, and they kept talking about this big, wet storm coming this weekend... how fun to be coloring flowers & butterflies when the real world is getting dumped on with rain & snow.  Cathy is giving away a super fun package to one lucky winner from the challenge, so make sure you go here to get all the details!  The sketch for this card is this week's Sketch from Mercy Kerin.  The super cute image is Rae with a Book by Mo Manning, the pattern paper is Sugar Rush by Basic Gray, all cardstock is Prism, Girly Buttons from Buttons Galore and Sage Green Velvet Ric Rac ribbon.  Hope you will play along... happy stamping!

Pink and Sparkly!

First, we have a winner!!!!  From the comments on my "Happy Birthday PMS" post random.org chose comment #35 (I apologize I do not know how to show the result on here, lol) to win a free PMS stamp of their choice!  Tracey, please email me so I can tell you how to get your free PMS stamp.

Tracey said...This set is incredible!! I love it!!

** I am giving away a free Paper Makeup Stamps stamp of your choice!  All you have to do is comment on this post by Thursday at midnight!  I'll draw a winner by Random.org and announce it on Friday**

 This week's Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge hostess was Danni.  Her orders... Pink and sparkly!  So I dug out my favorite pink & gray paper, Juliette by SEI and this fun Moody for Love image from Paper Makeup Stamps.  The sketch is, of course, from the rockin' Mercy Kerin, MTSC59.  I added some rhinestones to her and made her Diamond necklace.  I also colored some of the hearts with some pink and clear Spica Glitter pens.

Stamps: Moody for Love & Love is in the Air sentiment (Paper Makeup Stamps)   Paper: Juliette (SEI), Crabapple Medium (Prism), Going Gray (SU)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Copics  Accessories: Ribbon (SEI), Button (PTI), Pink & Clear glitter pens (Spica), rhinestones

Paper Garden's Frosted Winter paper kit...

 

Have you seen the super yummy Frosted Winter paper kit over at Paper Garden Projects?  I love the colors in this kit!!!  Everything on this card, except for the image is from the paper kit.  The image is from the Snow Much Fun set from Eat Cake Graphics (also at PGP).  I just love these images!!  This card is also for Mercy's Tuesday Sketch (of course!).  You can't see it in the picture but the blue cs is Prism, the texture is just perfect!

Stamps: Snow Much Fun set (Eat Cake Graphics, available at PGP), sentiment from Oliver (Kraftin' Kimmie available at PGP)  Paper: Frosted Winter paper kit (Paper Garden Projects), Neenah White for the image piece (PGP)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)  Accessories: brads and ribbon from the Frosted Winter paper kit, Circle nesties, scalloped circle nesties