Viva Blog Hop!

Happy Friday everyone, and welcome to the Viva Blog Hop, hosted by SCACD and Quixotic Paperie.  

Quixotic Paperie (if you are in Europe you can purchase Viva Pens and rubber stamps at Quixotic Paperie) owned by the Fabulous Elaine, and SCACD, owned by our Susana, have been partnering behind the scenes so much that they now consider each other International Sister Stores. 

This new partnership/sisterhood has resulted in both stores combining efforts on certain mutual adventures starting with this awesome Viva Blog Hop (which of course involves Yummy Candy).

Make sure you stop at BOTH store Blogs: HERE for SCACD and HERE for Quixotic Paperie. You will have a chance to win a set of 3 Pens - (Ice White Pearl pen, Holographic Glitter pen and the Clear Gloss gel pen). Each Store Blog will offer up one chance to win the set. How Yummy is that?!!  The candy will run thru the 31st.

All you have to do is answer a question at each store blog - 1 entry at each STORE blog per person please!  

Continue with the blog hop by visiting Kim Costello's blog to see some more exciting uses of Viva Decor Products.   

Viva Decor products are just amazing, and today the blog hop is all about using these fantastic products on our projects.

Here is a card I designed with the Viva Decor Pens:

From 2010-07-22

Everything but the leaves is colored using the Viva Decor Pens! The image was stamped with black ink, then I colored the vase in with the Hologram Glitter Liner.  Then I colored the leaves with Copics (YG 91, 93, 97 and 99).  

The yellow flowers were dotted with the "Sunny Yellow" Gloss Gel Pen, the blue flowers with the "Cobalt Blue" Gloss Gel Pen, the little bits of orange flowers colored with the "Amber" Glitter Liner and then I used the "Hematite (black)" Glitter Liner for a few of the dark stems.

To finish off the card I used the "Ice White" Pearl Pen to make the double pearl border.

If you haven't yet tried the Viva Decor products I highly recommend that you take the plunge and order a few colors/types of the pens.   Every time I take the pens out I find a new use for them, and every card I make using these pens elicits a "wow" from my fellow workers (I put a new card on my desk each week). 


Stay tuned because there is going to be MORE blog candy next week!  Yes, another hop, this time you will be meeting an old friend (can't say more then that) and some more goodies!  

That is it for now,  have a great weekend! 

SCACD Blog Hop: Victoria Case "Hearts and Hugs Summer Collection" and some blog candy

Welcome to Susana's Custom Art and Card Design Blog Hop!  Today's blog hop features an amazing collection of designs from Victoria Case, "Hearts and Hugs Summer Collection."  Each and every one of these designs is adorable, they are fun to color, and they can be used to make beautiful cards and just about any paper craft project you can think of! And they are all in deeply etched rubber which makes it oh so easy to get a GREAT stamped impression!

You will be able to order the stamps today (Friday), here is the link where they will be available, and if you order the set you will get two bonus images (the bonus images cannot be purchased separately)

After you are finished checking out my project make sure to head over to Marti's blog for another image from the "Hearts and Hugs Summer Collection."   The blog hop starts on Kim's blog, make sure you hop to all the blogs because you are going to love these images!  And keep reading all the way down to see how you can win some blog candy I am giving away.

Here is the card I made with the "Lazy Days" stamp:

Isn't she adorable?  I colored her with distress inks on water color paper, the image is stamped in Black Versa Mark and then I used clear embossing powder to set the ink.  I used the Viva Decor Hologram Glitter Liner to add some bling to "friends," the flourishes, the leaves and some of the flowers.  The band across the card was created using a Martha Stewart edge punch, and I also added a few pearls (top left corner) using the Ice White Viva Decor Pearl Pen.

Here is a close up of the image:

Isn't she adorable?  I also used my nesties to get the oval shape and the scalloped oval behind the image, and then used a bit of my glitter pen to outline the oval.

Here is a close up of the flowers (all of them were white and I used the distress ink to color them).  I put the swag together by layering the flowers and twisting the wires together, then the flowers were glued down as one piece.

One more thing:  I still haven't heard back from the person who won the blog candy I offered last time:  Lauretta See.  Lauretta PLEASE email me so I can get your blog candy shipped off to you (Jacquie at afterhoursstamper.com).  

And yes, what is a blog hop without some blog candy?  Leave a comment by next Saturday, June 4th and I will be sending some Viva Decor Pearl or Glitter Pens your way.

New tutorial today, and a link or two

Before I get into the stamping stuff today I wanted to say thank you to everyone for being such loyal supporters of my blog.  I can't tell you how much it means to me when you leave a comment or send me an email, especially right now : )  Without going into detail this is a trying time for my family, especially for one member, and sometimes it is all I can do to get through the day.

Anyhow, enough of that, and onto some stamping : )  How about we start with a few cards I made this week?

Here they are, first a Tilda card (and I have discovered that there is no middle ground with Magnolia stamps, either people love them or hate them, and I am in the love group):

From 2010-05-16

Yes, it is a very "purple" card, just felt "purple" I guess.  Tilda is colored with Distress Ink, and the flowers are all embellished with Pearl Pens (absolutely LOVE that product!) and Glamor Dust Glitter.

From 2010-05-16

This is a Swiss Pixie stamp, colored with Copic markers, the flowers are also colored with distress ink and with Glitter Pens.

And here is my new tutorial for Paper Craft Planet,  I hope you like it and try this method for customizing your flowers (speaking of flowers I ordered from Wild Orchid and got my order on Saturday, wow!  Quick, inexpensive and GREAT flowers!):

How to Create Custom Flowers for Any Project (2)

And yes, a few links, here you go:

Vintage Paper Flower Posies:  Very cute idea on a flower you can make without much trouble.

Nestie Storage:  A very good way to store your nesties, if I had room I think I would try this method.

Stickles Storage:  Great ideas on storing your bottles of Stickles.

101 Ways to use Stickles:  From the same blog that had the storage for Stickles is this long list of what you can do with your Sticles when you are not storing them ; )

Ok, that is all for this week, have a FANTASTIC week, and thank you so much again for all of your support.

Warning: This post includes enabling material, read at your own risk

So, how was your weekend?  I hope you had a good two days, we spent Saturday at my husband's brothers house, celebrated two birthdays and visited with my hubby's Dad, "Pops," who is almost 92 years young.  It was a very nice time, lots of family, food and of course cake : )

And the WEATHER!  Oh my!  It is simply amazing lately, as I am sitting here at almost 8 pm all of our windows are still open and there is still light outside.  I love summer, the warm nights, the bright days, the energy that seems to come with summer.  Of course we are still in spring, and according to the weather report we are expecting rain again this next week, but oh well, at least it is during the work week and not on the weekend.

Given that you didn't come to the blog to hear my ramblings, time to get on with some stamping stuff, and boy do I have some stamping stuff for you this week, and a surprise for next week!

Susana of Susana's Custom Art and Card Design has invited me to participate in a blog hop very soon.  Susana will be rolling out new Elizabeth Bell stamps (you can see all of the previous collections here) and I am so excited to be part of this blog hop!  Stay tuned, and I might be able to also come up with some blog candy for that day, so make sure to checking this blog for more details.

This weekend I did manage to get one other card made, and well, this is where the warning part of the post comes in, so watch out : )  Last week I received my spring kit from Magnolia, Sweden (which was, sadly, messed up, I have two of one of the stamps and am missing one I am supposed to have, sigh), and let me tell you this new collection from Magnolia, FairyTale, is adorable!

Here is a card I made with two of the stamps, the butterfly and the Tilda:

From 2010-04-18

Close ups:

From 2010-04-18

From 2010-04-18

For the glitter I used the Viva Decor Glitter Liner, Hologram, which I like much better then Stickles.  For one thing it is much easier to work with, it has more "bling" and you can use the glitter various ways.  On my card I used a paint brush to spread the glitter in Tilda's dress, and for the headband I used the glitter liner as a dimensional paint.  You can also make some cool looking "pearls" with the glitter liner, and I am working on a few other ways to use the glitter liner as well, stay tuned.

Tilda and the butterflies were colored with distress inks (yes, I am still loving the distress inks).

I also used the Viva Decor Paper Pen, Opal, to add some bling to my flowers.  The white flowers are colored with the Paper Pen, which gives the flowers added depth and blig.  When the pen drives it gives the flowers a nice sheen and it also makes the flowers a bit stiffer, which means they are easier to work with.

Not long ago I bought some prima flowers that had a coating very similar to the Viva Decor Pen, and yes, soon you will see me doing some DYI flowers using the Decor products.  It is amazing what you can make yourself if you have the right tools and products.

Now, about that Fairy Tale collection, everything is pre-order right now, and I have pre-ordered far too many stamps from this collection (even though I have some of the stamps from the kit).  Diana Crick is the owner of  Magnolia-lious, and she has absolutely the best customer service around. Wait until you see the stamps in this new collection, some of the cutest stamps I have seen from Magnolia.  I have ordered this one, and this one, and this one,  and others too.  Once you see this collection you are going to have a hard time resisting buying, so be warned!

And now some more links for your week:

Glossary of Stamping Terms:  This is a great link that has definitions for almost every stamp related thing you can imagine!

Watercoloring how to:  Very nice tutorial on how to watercolor your stamped images.

Make a card that you can plant:  Wait till you see this!  You grind up paper, add some flower seeds, let it dry, stamp on it, cut it out and then the person who gets the card can remove your stamped image, plant it and get a gift of flowers!

Tim Holtz Grunge Paper:  I am still trying to get my hands on this product, Grunge Board is great, and I can only imagine that the paper is soooo cool too!  Given that everyone seems to be out of stock, let me know if you happen to find a store that has some in stock.

Check out this YouTube Channel, over 38 videos on using Nestibilities, Impressabilities, all sorts of stuff!  Here is one of the videos on the channel:




That is all for this week, make sure to mark your calendars for the Susana's Art and Card Design Elizabeth Bell Blog Hop!

And the winner is........

Did you see the Academy Awards last night?  I thought it was one of the best shows they have done, and while I haven't seen many of the pictures that won awards, the show peeked my curiosity so we now have five movies on our must see list.  

Other then watching the awards our weekend was pretty basic, my accomplishment of note being that I managed to get all the laundry done and also finished a card (yes, only one).  Weekends seem to go by so fast, and lately during the week I haven't had time to sit down and stamp as much as I like.  Hopefully this week I can find some stamping time, especially as I get pretty grumpy when I can't find the time to stamp.


Here is the card I made yesterday, a plain card, but it was fun to color with copics:

From 2010-03-08

Isn't that the cutest boy stamp?  The stamp came from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design, I absolutely love her shop!  And if I get some time I will make some more cards this week with the other stamps I have from her shop.

It takes me forever to figure out what I want to do with a card, but eventually it comes together : )  Anyhow, how about some stamping stuff?

The Pearl Pens I ordered from Susana arrived early last week, and let me tell you they are everything you have ever dreamed of in a dimensional pen.  I have only had time to sample the product, but I can't wait to use them on a card!  And Susana now has the white pen in stock!  Not only are the pens great, but Susana has the absolutely BEST service, I placed my order and three days later I had the pens in my hot little hands!

Color Wheel:  This is a great reference to help you pick out colors for your projects.  Lots of information on color, all of which is easy to understand and follow.

Iridescent card stock:  I have read that this card stock is great for card making, haven't tried it yet, however it is on my list of things to order and try. 

GREAT flower tutorial:  Wow!  This tutorial is wonderful, it shows you how to make Anemones, and let me tell you they look amazing! 

The "Cinch" by Memory Keepers:  This looks like a great tool for those who make books and albums.  I especially liked how it seems to be very easy to use (ease of use is something I look for in tools). 

And here is a Mica Gloss video.  I bought a few colors of the Mica Gloss last year and have been looking for a video ever since.  If you haven't tried these yet I can tell you they are GREAT!  Amazing ability to blend, and the colors are wonderful.  I especially like the shimmer these inks give your project:



Ok, that is it for today, I have to get ready for work and out the door in 15 minutes (luckily the laundry is done so I might be able to find something to wear).

Have a GREAT day everyone, see you next Monday.

My heartfelt thank you and an "enabler" alert (new products)

My dear friends and fellow stampers, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your support of my little blog.  Sometimes in life we are faced with extreme challenges, and it is the support of those who are part of your life, in one way or another, that help us get through trying times. 

Without going into details, one of my dear loved ones is struggling right now, your prayers and positive thoughts are much appreciated.  In life we can do anything if we see the possibilities before us, and sometimes we need to let the light into our lives to be able to see the wonder that we call "life." 

So many of you have sent me emails over the almost two years I have been writing this blog, and your comments, suggestions and kind words mean a great deal to me.  Thank you, again, for visiting the blog and for continuing to come back to read my ramblings and postings.

Having said how much I appreciate you, don't get mad if you find yourself "enabled" with some of the links I have for you today.  Personally, I will put the blame on Suzanne Dean (who I stalk on a regular basis, and I say stalk because her blog is one of my top ten to visit on a daily basis). 

So, what exactly am I talking about?  How about some fabulous Viva Decor Pearl Pens that allow you to make your own pearls (and other things)!  These new products look AMAZING, and yes, after reading Susann's blog post, and viewing her video of course I ordered (and thank GOD my husband does NOT read my blog.)

Here is a video of these great new pens:



And where can you order these pens?  I ordered from  Susana's Custom Art and Card Design, and of course I didn't just order the pens, I had to order two stamps as well.  As for the Viva Decor Pearl Pens I ordered a Chrome, Dark Brown, and for the Viva Decor Pen I ordered a Graphite and an Opal, and of course somehow the glitter pen managed to find a place on the order as well (Susana is currently out of the "Ice White" but is expecting a shipment this week)  I can't WAIT to use these new pens! 

When I make cards many times I can't seem to find the right embellishment, and these pens are just what any good card maker/scrapbooker needs to give that special added element to a project.  And isn't it great that these pens allow you to make your own pearls?  And how about adding some great dimension to flourishes?  Flowers?  The list is endless (and exciting.) 

NOTE:  If  you happen to find that you can't resist these great new products please make sure to give Suzanne Dean the full credit for the enabling : )

And here are a few more products you might find interesting:

Derwent "Inktense" Pencils:  WOW!  These look so interesting, and I love the review on Craft Critique.  These are similar to water color pencils, except you get an ink instead of a water color, and yes, these will go on my "wish" list for a must try.

Hot Glue Helpers:  I LOVED these tools (which Craft Critique had a post on)  and can't wait to find a place to purchase them, and yes, I do have the scars to prove how much hot glue I have used over the years.  And now that I am using more and more flowers on my cards, the hot glue gun is looking like it needs to get used more, but I have an adversion to being burned, so these new "Hot Glue Helpers" are going to find a way into my house for sure.

Here is a cool video of what these tools can do:



Ok, that is it for now, again thank you for your continued support and comments.  Have a great week!