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

Freebie Friday, Friends

Today I have a unicorn digi stamp to share with you. I saw a mug that had a picture of a unicorn and this saying on it and since my daughter will often say, "she is beauty, she is grace" when she drops something or trips, I had to make a card for her with this saying.

I actually had to ask her to send me a phone pic of the card since I forgot to take my own. I wanted a unicorn dancing but couldn't find one, so I drew one. I think it turned out pretty well, so I have one here for you to download if you wanna use it for cards. Just right click on the image and download to your computer. 

And here's a Halloween image from a real digi artist for free...it's from Useless Trinkets, I love her stuff. So cute! She has a unicorn too, along with monsters with coffee cups. Check it out!

If you're more vintage-y than cute, here's a great site where you can get these printable images and the instructions on how to make the garland. Free!

Happy Friday!

Chark

Anniversary Celebration

Hard for me to believe it's been 28 years of wedded bliss with the best man I know. I can't believe I found Matt so early in life and that we were well-suited then and well-suited now, even though we've both changed and grown. This pic is from April, after I just turned 50 and he had turned 50 two months before. 

We were both in the musicals in high school and had mutual friends so we hung out together and then when we were sixteen, I got the idea that he liked me and I thought he was funny and dang hot, so we started dating. Thanks to our mutual friend, Vicki Smith, who encouraged me to date this somewhat intense young man. I figured we'd break up and I'd break his heart...but the joke was on me because we just stayed together!

I'm not sure how we got so lucky, but I'm not questioning it, I'm just thankful. He's a rock-solid, hard-working, dedicated family man who would do anything for me or the kids. He's understanding and he listens and he's kind to old people and children. He also has a zero-tolerance policy for people who are mean or stupid or generally make life harder and more dangerous for the rest of us (I'm talking to you, people who text and drive.) 

Here's the little cake we treated ourselves to for this anniversary and the card I made for him with Pretty Little Studio products.

And this guy is still funny. He says, "you can't spell scrapbooking without the word crap," but he also tells me I do important things for the family by scrapbooking and keeping our memories. So, Happy Anniversary to my honey. Am hoping you have the same kind of luck in love as I do!

And if you need a funny card to celebrate an anniversary, Valentine's Day or just Wednesday, you can click this link to get free cards to print.

Happy Monday!

Chark

Valentinepalooza

Hi, friends, Happy Valentine's Day...or as we call it, Matt's birthday. My hubby was born on Valentine's Day awhile ago (shhh! he's 50 this year!) and his mom used to say he was her favorite Valentine. Now he's my favorite Valentine! It's the only birthday I both give and get gifts. He never forgets to get me my favorite candy (Russell Stover...their chocolate buttercream candies rock!) and a present.

Today I've got a digi stamp Valentine card using the February prize for winning at a2z Scrapbooking's It's a Love Thing challenge. The prize is the Hero Arts Words of Love digis. I printed the word, colored and fussy cut the letters. Then I arranged them like the iconic Love Sculpture by Robert Indiana, but I turned the "o" the opposite way.

I wrote the word "you" with Arteza marker and trimmed it out. The sparkly dots are Your Next Stamp's Gumdrops. I super love them. They come in matte as well, and I love those too.

Here's a close-up of the letters.

Here's a little Valentine link so you can get some freebies today. Nothing says I love you like discounts! Check out the deals at Qdoba and TCBY here.

And here's a link to 15 free heart digis you can download and color, including this one, from Shery K Designs.

And here's a no-bake Valentine treat you can make...I'd substitute Valentine M&Ms though, for the heart candies as they are not my faves.

And if you want to work a little harder, you could make these heart meringues. I love meringue cookies--crisp on the outside and chewy inside. Nothing like pie meringue, which is not my favorite.

And that's all I have for today...hope you have a good Valentine's Day!

Happy Wednesday!

Chark

I Heart Gingerbread Boys

I have always loved the little gingerbread boy icon for holiday decorating and actually, just plain decorating (I have some in my kitchen year round) and this card came about because I had to buy the sticker set from Doodlebug with all the little gingerbread Santa Express stickers.

I added some of the gumdrops to the roof and gave the little guy a piece of candy. Now that's a scene I could get into. I love eating gingerbread too, though I prefer the cake version to the cookies. I'm all about the Betty Crocker Gingerbread mix, but here's an actual from-scratch recipe if you're thinking you need some gingerbread. I prefer whipped cream on mine but lemon glaze is good too.

I found these cutie earrings on Etsy and I might have to put them on my Christmas list...I can start that in September, right?

I saw this little guy on Pinterest (with no link to the original) but he looks pretty easy to sew up from felt, even for a novice seamstress like me.

When I saw this Santa Snacks stamp and cut set in the newest Hero Arts release, I had to get them. Now, what to make with them?! If you want your own set, head to the a2z Scrapbooking Supplies store and hit custom order. They're sold out already, but you can ask special order them at no extra cost. Also, you can head to the a2z blog here and enter the CASE a designer September challenge through the end of the month. Just pick a project you like on the blog and use that as inspiration with your Hero Arts products and you could win $25 to the store!

Happy Friday!

Chark

Hugs N Kisses

Love the Doodlebug Design Cream and Sugar collection, as evidenced by my posts here and here, and this time, I used the 6x6 paper pad to trim the rectangle sentiment out for the focal point of my card. Behind it is a white notecard that I inked yellow, Bo Bunny dot paper, and more paper from the Cream and Sugar collection. 

Plus I repurposed a party hat (it's the yellow paper with glitter polka dots) that my daughter brought me for my birthday...did I mention she's an adult? Some kids are just like that. They want to bring the party to their mom and make her wear a pointy hat, lol.

The enamel dots are matte and not shiny and I love them...they look like candy dots. They're Doodlebug Design too. At the top is Recollections glitter washi tape in aqua to cover all my layers of paper. This one was fast (except drying time for the yellow ink) and I think perfect for a kid's birthday. Although my kids are old, my nephews are having kids (I'm a Great Aunt!) so this will still be useful to me. But I bet if I sent it to my daughter, she'd enjoy it too. She's a big kid and elementary school librarian, so she's always up for cute stuff, like her mom!

Happy Friday!
Chark

p.s. The a2z Scrapbooking EBAY store is having a huge clearance right now...here's the link. And with savings up to 40% off lots of items including Scor Pal, Hero Arts inks, stamps, dies, embellies and buttons, you're bound to find something you'll need for your stash! 

Flowers for Mom

Just thought I'd pop in with the Mother's Day card I made for my mom this year. I used the digital flower set from Hero Arts (available at a2z Scrapbooking for $2.99) and printed it out and colored with Tombow markers. I glittered it up with my trusty Stickles and added a doily and sequins. The leaves were just some random die cuts I had.

The photo is of my mom when she was 17 and taken at Lake Erie. We also have a pic of my husband's parents on this moon taken at Buckeye Lake. So, apparently the moon made the rounds in the 1950s.

I've cropped the photo above, but wanna see what's on my kitchen counter beside the card and pic? It's my Weeble from the Ranch Playset and a bowl made by my daughter filled with rocks from my kids. What mom doesn't get a rock collection from her kids? It's a very-mom-thing to have.

Here's the 70s Ranch in its full glory. I loved that thing, especially the Weeble Horse. My older sister, Julie, used to come by when I had this all set up and say, "tornado!" and wipe it all out. That was a very older-sister-thing to do. Luckily, William here (Bill for short) survived the onslaught and still lives with me.

Happy Thursday, friends!
Chark

Watercoloring Makes Me Happy

Since watercoloring has become so popular in cardmaking, I've been having a ball with it. I never liked oil paints and acrylic painting can be fun but watercolors are so forgiving and that makes it a fun medium for me. Plus, you never quite know what it's going to do. With acrylics, you put the paint on the page and it stays right there. Watercolor paints creep and blend and sometimes surprise you.

I also love that you can get watercolor looks with inks, paints, sprays and markers.

Here's an Adornit watercolor card I painted for my aunt's birthday. So easy and fun to do. I tried not to get too sparkly, but I did add some stickles to the cake.

Have your tried the Adornit watercolor panels? I think I need more!

Happy Friday!

Chark

Coloring Cutie Crayons

First, woo hoo! Got my new computer up and running and although it's a pain to set everything up, at least I'm back here. So, let's get right to the post!

I recently got these new Lawn Fawn crayon stamps and the coordinating die so I started stamping and coloring and cutting. Here's my first card. I used a Lawn Fawn 6x6 paper pack for my layers and matching crayons to color the front. Might not be the best idea design-wise, but it's kinda fun for a crayon card.

Happy Weekend, Friends, glad to be back in the 21st century! :)
Chark

Happy Graduation

You can see a graduation card I made for the a2z Scrapbooking Supplies blog today here. Here's a peek!

It's a little nontraditional for a grad card, but still appropriate for a girl...or a guy who likes butterflies :) I used these Hero Arts paper flowers and they are so cute—just $3.99 a pack for 24 flowers in each pack—and they come in greens, earth tones, yellows and pool colors as well. Fab!

You can hop over to the store here if you think you want these flowers for your projects...I'm already planning more and I'm thinking if you check back Friday, you'll see what I'm working on. 

Remember, if you order at a2z
1. you can use CHARK15 to get 15% off your $25+ order
2. you support charities for kids and adults with Behcet's Disease and Gluten Allergies. 
3. And you can request any Hero Arts product that isn't in the store and they will order it for you speedily. 

So...you can get great Hero Arts goodies, help people. and save money—this calls for a celebration! 

Happy Shopping!
Chark

It's All About The Pinkfresh

I used my Pinkfresh Studio supplies to make some cards to enter in their National Scrapbook Day Challenges with Winne & Walter Stamps. They have some cool ones (8) to try and you have until the 9th to enter, so I hope you'll join in.

Here's a card using the hot pink, gold and aqua...a fab color combo imo!

I went light on the aqua, which is weird for me, cuz it's one of my favorite colors. That stencil, though, isn't it so wonderful? Small but fun and it came out so crisp with Distress Inks in Picked Raspberry. I used my new Pistachio as the aqua...it leans a little green, but I like it with the raspberry. The paint swish die cut and the hugs and kisses card are also Pinkfresh. The gold paper is DCWV gold cardstock. I think I may need to add some round bling too, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for the inspiration, Pinkfresh, I know I'll use it again!
Happy Friday!
Chark

Happy Father's Day...Early

Yes, I know it's May, which means Mother's Day is coming, but that didn't stop me from making a Father's Day Card. I made it for a magazine call and it didn't make it in, but I still like the idea, so here it is!

This is a digi sentiment that they offered but is no longer available, but I typed the inside myself on the computer and guessed at the color. If you had a deer stamp of some sort you could recreate this. The thumbprints are each kid with their name and added anters, eyes and noses. The hearts are the adorable enamel stickers from Doodlebug Designs.

You could even do this as a Mother's Day Card...I might switch up the color scheme, but I don't see why deer can't be a mom thing too!

These digi deer (buck and doe) images appear to be free from imgkid.com. Or you could use Tim Holtz's deer die below and snip the antlers for a Mom card.

 

At any rate, I probably ought to focus on Mother's Day card next! Only 9 days away!!

Happy Friday!

Chark

Sparkling Lemonade Card

So, I just got some Judikins' Sparkling Embossing Powder and loved what Jennifer McGuire has done with it, and I had to try it out. I made sparkling lemonade by using Hero Arts Neon Yellow ink, vellum paper and the new powder. Here's how it looks. Yum!

I took a wooden hello from Studio Calico and colored it with a pink Tombow Marker and then added the Magenta Stickles on top. the daisies are a border punch. Distress inks give a little depth to the edges of paper I picked up. Maybe at Michael's...it's the kind you buy by the sheet.

That's it!

Happy Monday!
Chark

Happy Glitter

I recently got a new die and stamp set from Hero Arts and can't stop using it! Love the Happy die, and here it is in glitter paper. 

I also used a rub-on from my Pinkfresh Studio January kit that I won on the blog...it came with stamps, fabric tags, rub-ons, gold flair and more. Love!

The pink paper is made with vellum and Hero Arts ink daubers. You can get them at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies if you're interested. The color is bright and happy on the vellum. I used a strip of silver paper (though it looks black in the pic) that was embossed in white and leftover from another project. 

Happy Monday!
Chark

Need Caffeine

Today over at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies, I have a card for anyone who gets that feeling of Need. Caffeine. Now. Today was my day for that because I stayed up late for no good reason and 6am rolls around pretty early, turns out. Here's the outside.

Here's the inside. I used this great digi coffee set and this clear stamp set, along with Prismacolor pencils.

As an added bonus, I'm joining the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. Love Amy and Chaitali for making this a regular thing. Although I'm a tea drinker, I gotta have my cuppa at least twice a day. There's nothing like a warm cup of tea, even in the summer. If you like a great hop, this is one to join! Prizes galore and fun coffee/tea/cocoa themed projects. I was part of the Christmas Coffee Hop and it was a lot of fun—I added a lot of new blogs to my reading list.

I'm giving away some blog candy for the Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop. If you like Starbucks, I've gotcha covered. Sending a $10 gift card out to one random person who 

1. Follows my blog and

2. Leaves a comment on this post by March 8th at 11:59pm to let me know you joined or already follow.

3. Check back Monday March 9th to see if you're my winner

Happy Monday, 
Chark
p.s. Hope you'll pop over to the a2z blog to join our new challenge this month—the theme is coloring and Hero Arts. So, you have all month to plan and color and upload your projects—and hopefully win the $25 gift certificate to the store for your craft goodies. Yay!

Sew Glad It's The Weekend

See what I did there? My sewing card prompted the little play on words. I'm, like, sew clever (yes, I'll stop now). 

Ok, so it's not really the weekend, but the son has today off for teacher conferences, so it feels like it here. Plus the daughter is coming home from college for today and tomorrow, and the husband is off today too. It's like a big party here.

I made this card at my lss, The Paper Cottage, and thought it was sweet and clever, so I thought I'd show it off. The needle is just a stamped needle, but we put a slit in the eye and ran real string through it. Love it!

Here's the Book Cover of The Week this week. Love the girl-in-a-bottle look to this and the colors are gorgeous. No idea if I'm going to read it, but it does sound interesting. It's YA and I love reading young adult books. 

It's so funny that we had a handful of YA writers in the 80s (Lois Duncan, Paul Zindel, S.E. Hinton, Richard Peck and Paula Danzinger are the ones I really remember) and now YA is so diverse and good and engrossing that they are blockbuster movies and breaking records all over the place (Hunger Games, Divergent, The Fault In Our Stars). The crop of YA authors is fabulous right now and I am drawn to their books again and again. What about you? Ever read YA books?

Happy Friday,
Chark