Little bits of everything

It is sooooooooooooo hot here right now, and expected to get hotter as the week goes on...sigh. I put the AC up to 78 (don't tell my hubby) to try to keep our utility bill from going through the roof, and I also have about seven fans running as well.

Now, on to stamping : ) Where to start? How about the GREAT deal I got at Costco the other day? Six packages of double sided adhesive....for 13.99! Each one costs about 2.33, and they have 3 m (meters?) more then the other adhesive I have been buying for 3.99 (12 vs 15 m)! Get over to Costco and pick up a few of these packages:



And a HUGE thank you to Megan Peacock who writes a blog called "Peacock Paperie." She saw the tutorial I posted the other day, bought some Bic markers and proceeded to color all weekend, doing amazing things like this (her examples are much better then mine):



If you had any doubt about using the Bic markers before, I hope you don't anymore : ) Thanks Megan for showing a much better example then I had : )

And yes, I do actually make cards, here are a couple I have done over the past week or so, one is for the SCS challenge today, and I have to upload it over there later (and one is from a challenge a week ago):



The one above is using the double chalk method. I applied chalk to the background, then stamped my image in Versamark, then chalked that in, and did the backgound all in chalk as well. Love using chalk, it is just so soft yet colorful.



This is for the SCS Try a new technique challenge, and the circle in the card spins : )



I just did this card as a sort of quick one, stamped the image, colored it with H20's, then highlighted some of the card with both glitter pen and white gel pen. I don't always have a whole lot of time to make cards, so I try to do simple but interesting cards if I can.

Ok, how about a few links tonight? I thought you might like to view some really cool tutorials I found, so get ready to click away!

• Tissue Dyed Background: This is so neat, and while it make take a little time, the results are worth the work.

• Envelopes: They have a how to and a recipe for making envelope glue, and then click here to see their measurements for all sorts of envelopes (make sure to print out this page and keep it for a reference.)

• Faux Cloinsonne Tutorial: Ink, embossing powder, and magazine pages! Really cool technique by Michael Strong, and this tutorial takes you step by step directions. There is a video of this too, have to find the link, will post it later when I find it.

• Doodle Stamps Technique: This tutorial will show you how to use a doodle stamp to make all sorts of interesting and unique images! One stamp, used over and over in different ways to make new images, really cool, and now I have to add these stamps to my "must have" list.

Oh, and I bought four packages of the cutest embellishments at the dollar store today, will take photos to show you tomorrow! Michaels didn't have much on sale, and as I am pretty much broke that was a good thing ; )

Have a wonderful night all, and remember that Tuesday is one day closer to Friday.

Card Sketches: Links to help you design your cards

I thought you might like to see a picture of Roxy and Mishgie, our two wonderful kitties. Both, sound asleep, and Roxy just casually resting her leg on Mishgie. You would not believe that when we brought Mishgie home Roxy hissed and hissed at her and we figured the two would be life long enemies, wow, were we wrong!

A few short months later, the two of them are best buddies. And, as they are indoor cats, they keep each other very busy all day, until they fall into their many naps for the day.

Ok, enough of the cats, onto the stamping!

Tonight I thought it would be fun to follow up the color theory with some links to card sketches. I already have some links to sketch sites on the "Best" list, but wanted to give you a few more. Can one ever have enough designs to use?

Before I list the sites, how about some other places you can get sketch ideas from? Don't forget to save cards people give you, even store bought ones will give you ideas on placement, layers and combining shapes and images. Another great way to come up with a card design is to cut out some shapes in various sizes and widths and lay them down on a blank card, move the elements around sort of like when you want to move your furniture around, only this is a bit easier. Keep your pieces in an envelope so you can pull it out when ever you get "stumped" or are just bored with the sketches you have been using.

Ok, here are the links for tonight:

• Two Peas In A Bucket: This is a link to all of their 2006 sketches, click one of the links, then click the link that comes up in the post. Lots and lots of sketches here for you to view and don't forget to save the ones you like the best!

• Scrapadoo: Has ten very nice sketches to check out, there may be more on the site, click around a bit to see if I missed any.

• Sketches by tamara: How about 51 sketches to add to your resources? Tamara has some very nice ones here, for both cards and scrap book pages. Make sure to check back often as she is always adding new sketches.

• AMRSC (A Monthly Rubber Stamp Club): This link will provide you with a few sketches and some ideas on how to spruce up some of the sketches you already use.

And of course, I have a few links on the side that are great, especially the SheetLoad of Cards, which should be publishing their July issue any day now, PageMaps, Our Creative Corner, and of course SCS Weekly Sketch Challenge on Wednesdays.

If you have any good sites for sketches, please email me or just leave a comment, we all would love to have more resources for our card making.

Last, but not least, I want to thank everyone who has signed via FeedBurner for updates, today we hit 100 subscribers! Wow! If you do subscribe, please note that I will be taking a vote soon on how often you want updates, right now you get them daily and I want to make sure that is ok with everyone. FeedBurner should allow me to change the frequency of the updates, not sure how, but will figure it out. (Except for when I go on vacation, I intend to post at least once each day).

Have a great evening, and may tomorrow give you a good laugh or two.

UPDATE: Wow, you are all so great! Here are a few more links from the comments, and make sure to check Laurie's Blog for some really great sketches!

• Laurie's Stampin and Scrappin Place: Almost 80 sketeches here, updated frequently by Laurie, you really have to to check out her blog.

• My Sketch World: Wait till you see these great sketches, link is to the flick page, her blog is here.
  

• So Sketchey: Link is to the sketch posts, make sure to click on the banner and go to her full blog.

• 2Sketches4You: Neat card sketches here, and also some links to some wonderful cards.

• Triple the Sketch: Another good resource, make sure to bookmark it so you can visit frequently when you need inspiration.