Birthdays, Birthdays!

This is a week for birthdays for us. Tomorrow my sweet little, adorable and a little goofy granddaughter turns 4.  These last 4 years have gone by so quickly...scary how the time flies!
I made her this little card with a Penny Black stamp set called "Mimi in Paris".  Taylor loves animals so I thought she'd like this little one with a puppy on it.

I stamped the images on white cardstock and then masked them so that I could use some distress inks to make the background. I also punched some clouds out with masking tape and used those on my sky.

I used mostly my new Chameleon pens to color with a little Copic coloring thrown in.  I find the Copics challenging to get nice blending like the pros but the Chameleons which are supposed to be much easier to use were not for me! LOL! I need lots of practice.  But I don't think Taylor will notice my less than perfect coloring.
And then I used some liquid applique for the puffy stuff on the little poodle.  I finished off with some clear Wink of Stella to add a little fun and glittery sheen.

Happy Birthday, Taylor!
And Happy Crafting!

Oh, and I entered this in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge which you can read about HERE.

A New Love Affair!

I have had a very open love affair with Hero Arts for many years now.  It began when I went to a CKU (Creating Keepsakes University) Convention many years ago...like 10? I had signed up for a class taught by Jennifer McGuire...had no idea who she was...and she used Hero Arts stamps and we learned kiss stamping.  It was so much fun and I began a wild affair with HA!

It's been a great 10 plus years and although I have an new love...I will remain loyal to HA, as well.  There is plenty of room in my heart for HA and my new love.

What or who is my new love?  Mama Elephant!  Oh my gosh...how I love those stamps and dies!  So darned cute and it is taking great restraint to NOT buy out the whole store! 
Check out a card I made with Mama Elephant's Tiny Heroes Set:

Is this not the cutest little card?  I just love that tiny super hero...and the super hero doggie!
Here is the stamp set:

and the coordinating dies:

and lastly, a set of some miscellaneous dies called Sew Fancy that can be used for matting or borders, etc.:

The little x's on the card base above are actually little debossed x's from the die.  Too cute!

I am away from home right now so my supplies here are limited...I used Salty Ocean Distress Ink to make my background and ink up a messy sky and clouds.  I colored the little girl and the dog in with my Copics. I had no foam tape on hand so I used a couple of stacked glue dots.  They didn't work great but did add a tad of dimension.

I'm in love...I think Mama Elephant has a winner on her hands!

Happy Crafting!

Lists! Lists! Lists!

We all have our ways of keeping up with our ever growing supplies. It wasn't difficult when my papercrafting supplies all fit into a small box but now...?  Well, let's just say there have been too many times I've bought something I already had! My friend, Cyndi, and I are always giving things to each other that we've bought only to realize we already had!

I have previously mentioned how I use Evernote to keep up with some of my supplies...obviously I don't keep lists of paper or "consumables"...but inks, dies, stamp sets...well, I'd prefer not to buy those again and again!  I thought I had blogged here somewhere how I had mine set up but I cannot find a post so I probably did not! I did see where some bloggers were using Evernote so if you're interested you can Google it.  I believe I had read this post first...which got me interested.  You can see it HERE.

I won't go into my whole set up on Evernote but here is a screenshot from my phone of my Stamps Notebook. I can search by manufacturer and also by tagged words such as "thank you", "happy birthday", etc. It does take a while to set up but is very helpful once you get started.

 

If you click on an individual stamp set you would see something like this:

 I also have a notebook for dies:

I have Evernote set up and linked on my laptop too which makes the entry of new items very easy.  And then it all syncs up nicely.

Like I said...it is time consuming at first...but now when I add to my collection I just include the new item and it's easy peasy and pretty fast.

Anyway...yesterday I wanted to take advantage of the Michaels Buy One get One Half Off on their Copic pens.  I have the Copic color charts and lists but dang...I still occasionally buy one I already have.  So, I was looking in the app store (I have an iPhone) for a Copic app and sure enough or as we say in the south "Sho'nuff!" there was one.  After downloading it I was able to easily input the markers I have.
Here are a few screenshots of the app:

Since I collect Sketch pens I have that checked so that I don't pull up the other pen types.
After you click "Done" above it will take you to this screen which shows all of the color families:

You can see the total number of pens in that color family (far right) and how many pens you own.  As you can see I like Blue and have 11 blue pens.
Then if you touch one of the color families it will take you to this:

You simply tap on the color you have and it pops up and gets "colorized".
Or you can click on "Stock" and it shows only those you have like here:

Slick, huh?

And lastly if you click on Browse you can look at the colors...although I'm not sure how true the colors are.

I'll have to check that out...

There is also a store locator to find Copics.

This app is free for iPhone users...just go to your app store and search for Copic if you're interested.
For those with Droids there is good news as the app is available for you, too HERE.

And the good news?  Yesterday I only bought one Copic I already had! Cyndi...do you need B00? ;)

Happy Crafting!