Which Season Is It, Exactly?

While it's still hot as ever here in SW Ohio, the school buses have started popping up in the neighborhood. So I guess we can officially start talking fall on the blog. 

I bought some leaf stamps and dies from Taylored Expressions months ago and finally decided to try them out. I never thought I'd be one of those people who have stamp sets they didn't ink up immediately, but I am. I think that means I have too many stamps, but let's not dwell on that part.

Here's the pile of leaves I have after stamping with Distress Oxides and die cutting. I have no idea what will become of these but there they are!

In keeping with the title of the post, I also have to show you a graduation card I made in the spring because I knew my great-niece was graduating from 8th grade, but I literally am just now sending it. I am the absolute worst at being on time with birthdays and other cards and gifts. I like to tell myself it helps the celebration last longer, so let me have my delusions, lol.

I used a 2 Cute Ink digi image, Prismacolor pencils and a die from Avery Elle. I like how the die cuts lines like rays into the paper. They have an oval one too.

And that's it for this fall/summer/spring post!

Happy Friday!

Chark

Cat Nap with 2 Cute Ink

I've had this digi cat stamp for awhile (I actually have a bunch of 2 Cute Ink Stamps) and I printed it out on kraft paper and of course, used my Prismacolor pencils to color them up. I added them to some paw paper from a 6x6 pad I found at Michael's on sale. The washi tape is from the same collection...I love a good sale!

Can you tell I used up half of my dark blue pencil? lol. Don't forget to stop by here and IG on Friday for the start of my Thanks and Giving giveaway! Four Fridays of crafty stuff just for you!

Happy Wednesday!
Chark

World Creativity & Innovation Day

Thank goodness for the interwebs, I learn so much, like today is World Creativity Day. Who even knew that was a thing? To celebrate, I made some cards. Okay, I was going to make cards anyway, but let's pretend I wasn't.

Here's another take with the Hero Arts Hydrangea stamp. You can also get the matching dies for this, but for this card, I just stamped on blue, heat embossed it in white and used a white prismacolor pencil to color it. Then I added some Diamond Stickles for some of the flower centers and some dots at the bottom of the card. You can't really see them, but I think the glitter adds a lot to the stamp. I know you're surprised that I prefer it with glitter:) 

I'm entering this guy in the A Blog Named Hero anything goes challenge here.

Here's another card, this one using a 2 Cute Ink digi stamp and some Dylusion sprays in green and blue on a card front die cut. 

The first World Creativity & Innovation Day took place in April 2002, and by 2005 it had extended to a week, starting on April 15, the birthday of Leonardo Da Vinci, and culminating in World Creativity and Innovation Day on April 21. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was a painter, architect, inventor, and student of all things scientific. His natural genius crossed so many disciplines that he epitomized the term “Renaissance man.” Today he remains best known for his art, including two paintings that remain among the world’s most famous and admired, Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Art, da Vinci believed, was indisputably connected with science and nature.

Leonardo wasn't formally educated and he was an accomplished lyre player. He wrote backwards and left-handed to disguise his writing so others couldn't get in his business. He developed a wooden rolling machine gun that a man could sit inside and control and I got to sit in a replica in a museum once.

He studied river erosion and realized the earth was older than the Bible suggested. His parachute design was made and used in 2000 by a skydiver. He studied cadavers and replaced the tendons with strings to study how they worked. He was experimenting with painting on stone when he painted The Last Supper, but the experiment failed and few of his original brushstrokes remain, as it has been restored.

And he was, without a doubt, both creative and innovative and a great inspiration.

Happy Friday!

Chark

More Prismacolor Coloring

Ok, I know it's all I've been doing lately, but I'm loving using my Prismacolor pencils to color digital stamps. I think I need to try a little Gamsol blending to see how I like it, but for now, I'm just blending with the colorless blender and the white pencil.

You can see on this free digi from Stamp Anniething (that I've colored before) that I used the white pencils to blend her skirt a bit. I also added white highlights in Uniball white pen.

For my 2 Cute Ink images below, I used the pencils and then black gel pen for shading. 

It worked okay on the dog, but I did smear the turtle's head a bit. Ah well, lesson learned!

Okay, promise to bring you something a little different on Wednesday. But I won't stop coloring :)

Happy Monday!
Chark

2 Cute Turtle

Today I have a digi turtle stamp from 2 Cute Ink featured on a card. I love 2 Cute Ink stamps for their cuteness (it's right there in the name) and ease of use. I'm in the club and you get 6 new images delivered to your email each month for $5...it's a great deal.

I used Prismacolor pencils on this guy and then added white gel pen accents. The hello die is from Papertrey Ink and I cut it from silver paper. 

Saw these turtle cupcakes online and love them--so cute! I don't know if I could eat them :)

And here's a little turtle craft that recycles egg cartons...if my kids were still little, we'd be making these to go with the Finding Nemo movie.

Happy Friday!

Chark

Holiday Coloring

During the five-day Thanksgiving holiday, I spent some time coloring in front of the tv, watching This Is Us and Blindspot. 

Things I realize from this endeavor are that I need more light in my living room (although I did some purposeful coloring outside the lines if I planned to trim the image, I also have some not-quite-in-the-lines stuff I didn't intend), images can't be too small or I spend a lot of time trying to get it right and the point is having fun, not stressing and I love Tombow markers for their bright colors (which ok, I knew already but am loving the stained glass in these).

Here's an image from 2 Cute Ink digital stamps. The too-small version and the good-sized version. I don't have a brown Tombow, turns out so the cocoa is maybe white chocolate :) I used some of my Sparkle Noir pens to add a touch of color and sparkle...you can see it on the big cup handle a little. I get way more sparkle from these than the Wink of Stella.

This one is an image from Dawn Nicole that I shared on my blog last week. It's a full page here, so I think it's going in my art journal. It's done in Prismacolor pencils.

This is a free image I found here at 101 Coloring Pages and is perfect with the Tombow Brights.

This last one can be found on my blog too, linked to the original site. I love coloring flowers, but I think using Gamsol with the pencils would've made for better flower blending. This one I also printed a little small. Also, this is a lot of flowers to color...Live and Learn!

Did you do any crafty things over the weekend?

Happy Monday!

Chark

2 Cute Ink Cowboy Chick

I love being a part of the 2 Cute Ink Club, you get 6 new digital stamps every month for $10 and then a discount so that your digital stamp purchases in the etsy store are just $1 each...it's a great way to build your digital stamp collection.

They're always cute and fun to color...I'm thinking of making a little coloring book of the images for my niece, the stamps are nice and open and not too complicated to color.

Here's the recent little Cowboy Chick in glitter all ready for a party! I used Stickles, of course, because they are so much neater than actual glitter, though I do manage to find glitter here and there even when I'm using the glitter glue. I think it's just the nature of the beast...and the fact that I'm messy!

If you don't want to join the club, you can always buy the digis by themselves in the etsy store, like this adorable penguin and reindeer. I'm not affiliated in any way, just think they're the cutest.

Happy Monday!

Chark

Coffee Hugs

Another Coffee Lovers Blog Hop entry...I'm telling you this hop is addictive!

I'm using these hugging coffee cups from 2 Cute Ink for today's post. I love the images at 2 Cute Ink--you can get them singly in the Etsy store or you can join the club and get 6 images each month. The club images are exclusive for club members and that's where this adorable cup couple came from. You still have a couple of days left in the month to score this image.

One thing for sure is that your images are going to be cute! I went with Fall Ombre colors with my Prismacolor pencils for this one and thin silver sticker lines (Dazzles) for the edge. 

Happy Thursday!

Chark

Turtles Times Two

I just colored up my 2 Cute Ink August stamps, including these cute turtles. The first one is done with Tombow markers and watercolored. I didn't use good paper, so it warped, but I still like it better than the other one, which is done in Prismacolor pencils. I prefer to color in pencils, but I feel like the watercolor was perfect for the turtle.

I actually used a copic in light aqua to go over the pencil to smooth it out and that worked fine, though it's probably not great for the tip of the copic marker...but my copics are kind of my last choice for coloring for some weird reason. They're even drying out! So I'll have to refill and start using them more.

If you like cute, you gotta check out Heidi's digi stamps at 2 Cute Ink. 

Happy Friday!
Chark

Crabby BBQ Stamp

The July release of the six digi stamps in the 2 Cute Ink stamp club featured some fun crab images. I colored mine and then life got in the way and I just now made one of the images into a card.

He's printed on kraft paper and colored with Prismacolor pencils. The paper is Everyday Circus by Fancy Pants.

He reminds me of Mr. Krabs from Spongebob Squarepants...because he's grilling and it's probably a krabby patty :)

I popped the frame up with foam tape and added silver dots at the bottom of the card. The red dots are made with Nuvo Glitter Drops in Ruby Slipper! It's cool because the dots you make actually stay 3-D and don't go flat. They are fun to work with.

You can see the dimension in this close-up.

Happy Almost Weekend, everybody!

Chark

Memorial Day Means Play Day

We had a little get-together with family on Saturday, spent Sunday cleaning up and hanging out and today I get to make stuff! It's a day off, and nothing on the schedule, so I hauled out the Big Shot, the markers and the sequins and my new audio book and am already making a mess!

Here's a peek at the work area on the kitchen table...looks like we're eating in the living room today! I really wish I were neater sometimes, but the muse can't stop for clean up time! :)

And here's a close-up of two versions of the cutest little eagle digi from 2 Cute Ink.

Happy Monday!

Chark

Get Caught Reading Month

I'm behind on my reading, though I am caught up on birthday cards (because I crafted instead of read my library books) but I'm getting ready to start Tsarina. I love a good historical fiction, so hoping this is a good one.

I keep doodling quotes for fun while watching tv and this is the latest one that I also colored. I went for a fun ombre look for the house. It's one of my favorite quotes even though it's everywhere now, and it's book-related too. 

And though it's got nothing to do with getting caught reading, I wanted to share a link to some freebie digi stamps from 2 Cute Ink Stamps and Papercraft Magazines on Facebook. I got mine and they are cute! I already had a couple from joining the group, but since I always post my coloring with them, thought you might want your own to color.

Happy Wednesday!
Chark

Graduation Gift Idea for Cash

So, we wanted to give our daughter money for graduation and the husband said, just write a check. However, I wanted to do something a little more clever. After searching the internet, I saw money wrapped around Hershey chocolate nuggets that said Nuggets of Wisdom...I ran with that. Here's the original.

Here's my version, with a quote from her favorite musical on the container.

1. Write a nugget of wisdom, we used real advice, quotes from books and famous people and then some funny ones.

2. Wrap it in a bill, we used a variety of denominations.

3. I used low-tack washi tape to keep it wrapped.

4. Put them in a clear container for fun viewing and then the grad can use the container to keep the advice strips or whatever they like. You can't see it well, but I wrapped it in school-themed paper since she is an Education major.

That's it, the hardest part was coming up with good ideas for 19 pieces of candy/money.

And here's a little graduating pencil that I got from 2 Cute Ink digi stamps. I seriously love these little guys.

Happy Monday!
Chark

It's Graduation Time

Blatant Mommy Brag...have to share pics my oldest, Colleen, in her cap and gown and take a moment to say Congratulations! She just graduated from University of Kentucky with two degrees (Psychology and Elementary Ed) in four years, while holding down at least two jobs at a time (sometimes more), being editor of the satire newspaper on campus, peer mentoring her fellow Honors Program students and holding a 4.0 average. 

She is a one-of-a-kind woman who will make the best teacher because of her enthusiasm, energy, and drive to pass on her love of learning, plus her willingness to work her arse off (which she learned from her dad). 

I'm telling you, she's a wonder...or as her brother and I say to each other, a freak of nature. Honestly, though, it's humbling to see how much effort and energy she puts into everything she does. This is one determined woman. She will make a difference, she already has. Oh, and did I mention she's kind and funny and won a couple of awards (for writing and for service) while achieving this amazing goal?

I'm glad she's my daughter and I'm glad she is working toward what she wants and leaving rainbow colored sparkles in her wake. To know her is to be charmed by her. Colleen is an original and we couldn't be more proud of her accomplishments. And she didn't even plan these similar pictures, this is just her normal self :)

Okay, now that I'm finished with the Mommy Brag, here's a little apple grad card I made with the 2 Cute Ink digi stamps for May. 

I love this little guy. I printed him large so I could make a card from him, colored him roughly with cross-hatching and trimmed him and then cut a piece of cardstock to match, scored it at the base of the hat and then glued the top part of the hat. I made a tassel with some embroidery floss and added white pen highlights and a silver button sticker to the hat.

Wishing you a Happy Friday!
Chark

Cutie Koalas

Took my digital koala stamps from 2 Cute Ink and printed it smaller and bigger and then watercolored them and trimmed them out. I drew on the little one's paws so I didn't have to try to trim those tiny things.

I used a Lawn Fawn green woodgrain card and an old Hero Arts beige woodgrain card together, added my bears and the happy sticker with pop dots. Then I stamped Mother's Day inside to make a card for that upcoming holiday.

Easy Peasy and fun to color! Entered it in the 2 Cute Ink Koala contest for club members and am hoping to win the chance to help design a digi!

If you're looking for a pretty image to color for your mom, you can use this free flower digi I found from Only Coloring Pages.

Happy Friday!
Chark