Mojo Monday meets Color Me Monday.

I received this cute little Hedgehog Stamp set called "Happy Forever" a couple of weeks ago and couldn't wait to have a free day to ink him up. I have wanted this set since it was first introduced, as the July Stamp of the Month, in the Summer catalog. I had to wait until I had a full size order in July to get him for free. And, he was worth the wait!!!

For my card I used this weeks Mojo Monday Sketch combined with Jeanette Lynton's Color Me Monday. The colors are Cocoa, Bamboo, Juniper and Sorbet. They kind of remind me of neopolitan ice cream. I stamped the little hedgehog onto Bamboo cardstock and sponged his body in Bamboo and fur in Cocoa. I learned a trick from another consultant on how to stamp two different colors. First of all you stamp the image twice. On the second image, cut out the body and place it over the body of the first image. Then sponge the fur lightly in cocoa. Next, remove the cut out body and put the second fur piece over the first and sponge the body lightly in bamboo. When I was done with the sponging, I cut out the little guy and attached him to another stamped image on Colonial White. For the balloons, I stamped them on Sorbet and Juniper cardstock. I cut them out and attached them to the colonial white piece. You don't need to cut out the balloon strings, because they are already stamped on the colonial white piece.

The B&T paper is from the "Unforettable" paper pack and the cardstock used is Cocoa, Juniper, Sorbet and Bamboo.

Inky Fingers

I have very inky fingers today, because I have been practicing making these brayer cards. Not only am I colorful, but I have a cut on my finger from my very sharp little scissors. And, to make matters worse, I couldn't find a band-aid, not even a Hello Kitty one, just an empty box. Lexi has an addiction to band-aids and puts one on for every little ouwie that she gets.

I am teaching a class on how to make these cards next Tuesday. It's been a while since I have made a brayer card and it takes a lot of practice and patience to get the technique down. After many attemps, these are examples of the cards we will be making. Even though you need a lot of practice with the brayer, I find that the more I try to perfect a card the more mistakes I make and frustration sets in. So, I am done for the day. These two cards use the CTMH stamp set Childhood Portrait. I love the silhouette of the children against the sunset. The ink pads that I used are Sunflower, Taffy and Hollyhock. I used Sunflower ink a quarter of the way up on the bottom, Taffy three-fourths of the way down from the top, and Hollyhock, one half the way down from the top. The image is stamped in black. To make the blades of grass, I swiped the bottom of the card using the side of my black ink pad several times. I then added little bits of a white gel pen to the blades of grass and to the sides of the children facing the sun to give the look of the sun shining on them.

Teacher Appreciation Cards

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, and these are the cards that Lexi made for her teachers. I didn't have much time to come up with ideas for the cards, and had to do some quick thinking. It so happened that I was looking at the Cherry-O card worshop brochure by CTMH when my daughter told me that Lexi needed to make three cards that night. Fortunately, the cards were so easy to make. I asked Lexi what her teachers liked and it so happened that I had the stamps that she needed. Since she is in the "Dragonfly" class, she made the middle card for her main teacher. One teacher likes dogs and the other lady bugs. I bet her teachers loved them.

Mojo Monday #135

The one nice thing, that I can think of, regarding Monday's is the "Mojo Monday" Sketch Challenge. It is so hard going back to work after a relaxing weekend, but when I get home, I enjoy checking out the sketch. Even though I haven't done the challenges in a while, I still enjoy looking at them and the cards that people make. Today, I needed to make a card for a friend, and this was the motivation that I needed to get me started. For my card, I used a stamp from the "Pure Innocence" line of "My Favorite Things." The paper is "Green at Heart" by Basic Grey. I hope you survived your Monday and are at home snuggled up with a good book or doing something you love doing.

Warm Memories Brayered Card

I have had fun practicing the brayering technique that I learned in Michelle Zindorf's class. For this card I used "Warm Memories" from CTMH. The color of inks used are: Twighlight, Outdoor Denim and Grey wool. Many of you have asked me to share how to make a brayered card. The best way will be for me to direct you to Michelle's blog. But, first I will tell you the order of the colors that I used. First of all I loaded up my brayer with Grey wool and brayered it down to almost the middle of the card. As I brayered down the color got lighter, giving that variation in color. Next I brayered on Twighlight and had it stop before I covered the grey completely . Next I brayered on the Outdoor Denim. I only put on about an inch of this color onto the brayer, because it is so dark and if you filled the brayer and went all of the way down it would cover up everything. The bottom of the card was rubbed on with a sponge using Grey Wool. As you brayer on each color, you can continue to load up your brayer and add more color. This gives the best effect. To get the line that defines the horizon, you will attach a "yellow sticky note" right below the sky and covering the snow. The sticky note should be torn across the top to give a jagged line. You don't want it to be straight. Load up your sponge with Grey Wool and rub it on the yellow sticky allowing a small amount to touch the sky. When you are done, you should have a crisp line. And, lastly to get the look of snow on the branches, fill in the white spots with a white gel pen. Hope my directions are some what clearn. Now go to Michelle's blog and she will teach you how to brayer on the ink and check out her tutorials for more inspiration. http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/frequently-asked-questions/

Take a look at these cards!!!

Yesterday I was one of the fortunate ones to attend a Brayer Class by Michelle Zindorf. I have a link to her blog under Tutorials on the bottom right hand side. I was reading her blog last week and found out that she was going to be teaching a class in my area. Fortunately for me, she had one space left. I could never have imagined that I could create cards so beautiful. Bill wants me to make our Christmas cards like these. Talk about pressure.