Sneak Peek for some new Digis from Whimsie Doodles

Good Sunday Morning!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend and a nice start to your Sunday!

Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you one of the new digi images that will be released on by

Whimsie Doodles on May 5th

for their One Year Anniversary Party and New Release Celebration!

The whole DT has been busy making cards to share with you to let you know what is in store for you come Wednesday the 5th!  (aka Cinco de Mayo!)  LOL!

When I saw the image of this Geisha Girl I knew I wanted to work with her.  Having spent some time in Japan while my first husband was in the Navy, I became fond of oriental and Japanese things!!

So here is a preview of just one of the digis being released this week!

Isn't she adorable?  I love her coy expression which lends her to be used for a multitude of occasions on your cards and projects!  I colored the Geisha Girl in with Copic Markers and used the DP from on of Debbie Mum's lines from Creative Imaginations.  That cherry blossom and twig embellishment is from K & Co. and I added an oriental coin to the orange ribbon I used.  That border punch is one of Martha Stewart's.

So are you ready to see what OTHER digis will be released on 

Wednesday May 5th from Whimise Doodles?

Then just head on over to the Whimsie Doodles blog

where you will get to see some snippets of some more!

CLICK HERE!

Click on the DT members names and you will be taken to their blogs to see the whole sample!

Enjoy your day and I will be sure to keep you posted on the upcoming Celebration and New Releases!

Cherry Blossom Birthday

I still haven't had the kind of quality time I long for in my scrap room over the past few days, but I did manage to get one card finished and another one started. I am working on some cards to enter into the Fall DT contest at SCS in the Clean and Simple Forum. Jen (MissBoo) has put together three seperate challenges for us to follow.

Her first challenge is to create a card using the sketch seen in THIS card.

I decided to go a Oriental. I hadn't had a chance to ink up my cute little Hero Arts Japanese dolls that I bought a while back so now was the time!

Here is what I made...




The doll is paper pieced using some BG DP from the Lemonade collection. The cherry blossom branches are from SU. I colored them in using a mix of Copics. The sentiment is from Custer's Last Stamp which I stamped in SU ink (Sage Shadow). I added a light gray outline around the doll and gave her a shadow underneath her and then I sponged the background to give a little more color. To finish it off I added the strip of paper up top that I used a MS Border Punch on and then added the trim and the oriental coin to complete the piece!

To see the rest of the submissions, you can visit the gallery HERE!

Thanks for taking a look! I am hoping for a nice Monday. Sunday wasn't so nice with four deliveries at work! Today I have to find some time to get my son some back-to-school clothes. He starts back tomorrow and has grown like a weed over the summer!

Have a wonderful day and may your bucket overflow with blossoms of happiness!

A Quick Card Post!

I survived my last day on call and am enjoying the first of five days that I have off from work. Since I do my full time job on call plus half of another person's call days each month, it is rare for me to get a stretch of time off like this. I soooo need it and am excited to have some uninterupted time in my stamp room to play and get caught up on some cards and projects I need to finish!

The card I am going to show you today was made on Monday between attending deliveries, but I couldn't get it posted until today. It is a challenge card from the SCS Clean and Simple Forum.

The challenge was to use the Rock and Roll technique on your card which is something that I hadn't ever tried before and I kind of liked it. The stamp I chose may have been a little too narrow to make it work the best, but I still like the varied coloration that the technique provided for the bamboo stamp that I used.

Here is the Clean and Simple card that I made...

The stamp is from Unity and is one of the silhouettes in the Gratitude = Joy stamp set. The sentiment is and oriental Happy Birthday stamp from Custer's Last Stamp. The DP is Basic Grey from one of their older lines called Perhaps (Fierbird). The colors of the paper matched really closely to the SU ink colors I used So Saffron and Creamy Caramel. The green ink was also SU, Certainly Celery and Old Olive. The band of Asian paper is a DP by Zsiage called Confucious Say What? (Dream Borders).

Here is a little better view of how the Rock and Roll Technique came out. See how the edges are darker? I think it offers a more realistic look . Colors in nature aren't solid, they have depth and dimension.

To stamp this image it took a lot of masking and overstamping, but all in all I like how it turned out. I think it could be either masculine or feminine because of the the touch of black and the simplicity of it!

Thanks for looking and I hope to be back more with some projects I get done today and tomorrow!

Have a wonderful day and may your bucket overflow with time to spend in your stamp room creating to heart's desire!

A Special Birthday Card for a Special Daughter!

On March 29th my oldest daughter Michelle will be turning 24! I can't even believe that so much time has passed since I first held her in my arms! My how time really does fly!

I wanted to get her card done a little early so I could mail it out to her because she will be out of town on her actual birthday. To give you a little history on why I chose to make this card for Michelle, you would have to realize that our family spent about 2 1/2 years in Japan while her father was serving in the Navy. I took Michelle to Japan when she was just three months old and her sister Leah was born over there.

We have always been fond of Japan and things oriental since then and we feel a small connection with that other side of the world. When Michelle was little she was given a doll from one of our neighbors named Makinosan (pronounced Mah-kee-no-san). We have been saving that doll every since and the Geisha lady on the front of the card reminds me of the face of the doll that Michelle was given. Our neighbor nicknamed Michelle "Michan" (pronounced Mee-chan). We have really neat memories of some of the culture over there and I know it will always be special for my daughters to recall that they lived in Japan!

So here is the card I made for my oldest daughter Michelle...

The Fine Print: DP: Red Asian Paper (Far and Away), Black ornamental (MM Fifth Ave); CS: Bazzill; Specialty Paper: Starburst Trans. (The Paper Co.); Stamps: Geisha girl unknown (rec'd in a swap), Sentiment: Custer's Last Stamp; Silver Corner Sticker: Flowersoft; Ink: Amuse and Copics; Pearls: Darice (?); White Satin ribbon and Red Flowers: unknown. Red Fun Fur: Lion's Brand from Joann's.

The sketch for this card is using another one of Julee's Mojo Monday Sketches! They really are great sketches to use and if you haven't tried it, then please do, you won't be disappointed.

The color combination that works so well with the Asian Theme is from a new Challenge Blog that I just started following called ResQ Challenge. A great group of ladies, some of whom I have met through Stamp TV are hosting this blog to help others find their crafting mojo when it goes dry.

This week's challenge was the first one and the theme was "celebrations." I chose to use the Birthday theme and then we also had to go scavenging depending on what month our birthdays fall into another person's gallery looking for inspiration of a certain type. You can find the details on the blog under the description for the challenge.

I chose to find my inspiration from eliotstamps and used this picture's color combination for my card! I love red, black and white together! It is so classic and in my case, so oriental!

Thanks for looking today... I am hoping to get some more cards made today that need to get out in the mail soon. So until next time have a great day!

May your bucket overflow with fond memories of the travels you have made in your life!