Featured Stamper, Inspiration, and More Birthday Cards!

Karen B Barber is the featured stamper today on SCS. Her gallery is chock full of GORGEOUS floral creations, and she uses the black magic technique a lot. If you're not familiar with this technique, you stamp a solid image in white craft ink onto black cardstock and then color the image with watercolor pencils. I used a white gel pen for the outline, dotting, and faux stitching.

I made this card for the Inspiration Challenge on SCS yesterday. I colored the Rubbernecker candle images with Twinkling H20s (except for the candle flame which was colored with Copic markers).




And, now for the birthday RAKS I received.

Michelle, aka plaid pony, sent this sweet cupcake card. I don't know Michelle, but I'm assuming she got my name from the Birthday Wish RAK list on SCS. Isn't it sweet when someone you don't even know takes time to send you a birthday card?



Aren't these roses gorgeous? Anne, aka jdmommy, created this lovely card. I love the crystal gems she added to the beautiful roses.



My friend Hilda and fellow Michigander, aka Broom, sent this beautiful creation. There are dazzling diamonds on the embossed flower petals and isn't this bow exquisite?



This cutie comes from fun-loving Anne, aka ardodd. Aren't these dancing cows a hoot?



Thank you, my friends for these wonderful cards and your wishes!

A Wonderful Birthday

I had such a wonderful birthday celebration yesterday! I received many beautiful birthday cards from co-workers, family and friends. Thank you, to those of you who e-mailed me, pm'd me, sent me a card, sent a package, and/or called! I am so blessed with wonderful friends. I'd like to share the birthday cards I received from my stamping friends.

Each one of these cards is so exquisitely detailed and beautiful!


This one is from Emily, aka Stamp Muse. My photo does not do her beautiful floral card justice. She used the cracked glass technique on the vase and it is truly magnificent!! It looks and feels like a vase! I just love the flourished diecut corners, too.

This delightfully bright and happy card was sent to me by Karen, aka redbugdriver. Her coloring is spectacular on those candle flames, and I love the bright birthday colors she used! This card just demands that you BE HAPPY!!!

Patricia Rose, aka kokirose, never disappoints with her beautiful creations. This is real sewing machine stitching on this beauty and her sponging is gorgeous! Heck, every detail is gorgeous!!

This next one is from Judi, aka jovialjudi, and I gotta tell you, this girl has got it goin' on. I wish you could see all the magnificent detail work on her image. From the liquid applique to the bling to the coloring and to the sparklies....each detail is so fun and perfect! It's fun, fabulous, and beautiful!


Aaaaah, who doesn't recognize the stunningly beautiful work of Joanne, aka JoJot, or who I lovingly refer to as SnoSnot. I think Mothermark coined that name for her, but that's a storyfor another day.....Isn't this matted border punch breathtaking? And her piercing is spot on perfect in alignment. She used my beloved color purple, too! Exquisite!

Sweet, sweet Anne, aka itsapassion, sure can work black and white. I wish I had better photography skills to show you how spectacularly striking this beauty is. Check out that sweet silver charm, and I adore the pretty papers and polkadotted ribbon!

This beauty came to me all the way from New Zealand! Kim likes to call herself crazykim, but there is nothing crazy about this beautiful card! I just love the embossed butterfly with its body of bling and the pretty colors she used in this floral garden. Breathtaking and beautiful!

Another internationally well-known stamper, Sabrina, aka Cook22, sent this stunning beauty all the way from Ireland! If I remember correctly, this bird is a photograph that Sabrina shot herself. Not only can Sabrina stamp, but she's quite the accomplished photographer, cook, and seamstress. I'm sure she has many more talents that I don't even know about, but she just blows me away with her attention to detail in everything she does.

Julia, aka artystamper, is one of my Doubledog Dare challenge buddies. Isn't this image adorable? I'm not sure what Julia used to color the image, but it's done so beautifully, and her hair has a shimmery shine to it. Doesn't this card scream SWEET?!?!?



Thank you, thank you, my dear, talented, thoughtful friends from the very bottom of my heart!!! I treasure each card, as well as the gifts. Man, am I blessed!!!

Good Neighbors

Cindy Haffner has another fun sketch challenge for us this week on the CCEE Stampers blog. Check it out here and come play along with us!



I just love the cute images in this Good Neighbors Sale-a-Bration set from Stampin' Up! After I colored my images using my Copic markers, I softly sponged bashful blue for the sky, graduating to a little barely banana at the base of the skyline, and then certainly celery for the ground.

My designer paper is some of the SU Bella Rose I've been hoarding. It was perfect for this sketch layout! See the button embellishment in the corner? That's a Sizzlit die----so dadburn cute and fun to play with using designer paper!

Penguin Diva

I received this [early] birthday card from one of my co-workers last week. This penguin diva is so me!!! I've decided this is what Bertie would look like in real life. Is she a fashion icon or what?!?!?

Breakfast at Tiffanys

We're off to New York City today for our weekly Teapot Tuesday adventure!! We're starting the day off with Breakfast at Tiffany's, and you know what that means: this is gonna be one classy party! da Muddermark says we are to bring what we enjoy, what makes us relax, what makes us feel pampered, happy and or just oozing pure class! You can see the inspiration teapot and get the full details here.

Bertie loves hats and shoes, so she's bringing a bag full of them to share with the tea partiers. We're talking Audrey Hepburn style shoes and hats, too, so you know this will be classy stuff! What better than the pull out my Rubbernecker Fashion Icon stamp set for my creation today.

The shoes are star-studded with red glitter as is the hat with its sparkly flower. Oh, and I'm also bringing rubies for the gals as evidenced by the rubies that are adorning this classy, black quilted (scored) shopping bag (courtesy of my Cricut Plantin Schoolbook cartridge). The sentiment reads: "saw it, loved it, bought it"!!!

So, have you guessed what Bertie will be flingin' at the party today? To find out, come on over to the Teapot Tuesday forum at Splitcoaststampers. Maybe you'll even decide to join the party and play along with us, and you can see all the other cool creations my tea partying loving friends have made!

I hope to see you there!

Congratulations, Anne!

This card is in honor of my sweet and sassy friend known as jdmommy on SCS (aka Anne). Anne is the featured stamper today! I chose to case her Octagon Butterflies card. We are required to change two or more things when casing the featured stamper; it's obvious that I changed several.

My hands have been itching to color this stained glass sailboat by Rubbernecker, which I colored with Copic markers, but I think it would be fun to try other coloring mediums as well:



I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday!

CCEE1002 Chipboard Clipboard Birthday

Cindy Haffner has provided the CCEE stampers with another great sketch challenge this week! Wanna play along with us? Check out the details here. We'd love to see what you make!

I just got the new Well Scripted set (sentiment) from Stampin Up and I love it! I used an oval Nestie to softly sponge cool caribbean over the sentiment.

The flower is from Verve's Petals and Stems set, which is paper toled. And didn't the spiral punch come in perfectly for this clipboard made of chipboard?




There are some Verve challenges going on in the forums on Splitcoaststampers giving anyone who plays an opportunity to win some of their stamps! My card here their color challenge to use turquoise, gray, and black, as well as another one to use chipboard.