With Cherries on Top

When I was a kid about a hundred years ago...okay, 40 years, we used to say "Pretty please with cherries on top?" It meant we reeeally needed a favor, like super needed it, and if you were me, your sister was balking at helping you out....so you needed to make it a really important please. And of course, the ultimate request was, "Pretty please with cherries and whipped cream on top?" And sometimes, it worked and my sister would actually turn the tv (no remotes at my house) or bring me a glass of kool-aid. Maybe.

Today I'm sharing a cherry card with a digi stamp from Power Poppy, the ultimate place for nature stamps imo. You can get the acrylic stamps too (and I have some) but the digitals are super nice when you need something to color right now. I colored this cherry stamp with Prismacolor pencils and fussy cut it and put it on a matching red background.

The checkerboard paper is Graphic 45 and I inked the edges with Candied Apple Distress Ink. I added teal and red sequins and a sentiment from My Favorite Things. I'm entering this in the Think Spring Challenge at Power Poppy and you can enter here too! The blossoms are coming on the flowering trees and it's a pretty sight. No cherries for awhile, but they are budding! I looovve seeing the plants green up and the buds on the trees. Winter can be long but the Spring is definitely all the more welcome because of it.

Happy Easter Weekend!

Chark

Watch It Wednesday

Thought I'd share a card I made with the technique shown in this Jennifer McGuire video. I'm late to the party, as I have never done a word die cut like this with a floral image. The Fall Rose is a digi stamp from LeighSBDesigns here. She has some fun Poe and goth images in her store too.

I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils, then used a Papertrey word die and an Elizabeth Craft Dotted Scallop frame cut. I colored the leaves in browns and golds to help the roses stand out and added clear adhesive drops.

Okay, I actually posted the wrong video below, so here's the correct video showing the eclipse letter card/popped dies technique. I left the other video too, because it's a good one.

Here's a video from Jennifer that uses three different ways to do inlaid die cutting. Honestly, this woman has a million ideas and videos and tips and she totally rocks!

Happy Wednesday!

Chark

It's a Chick Thing

Now, I've always liked cute things and my son has always loved birds, chickies especially. So when I saw this Easter set of stamps from a company new to me, C.C. Designs, I had to sign up to try to win them. And I did! Squee! 

So happy and they came over the weekend. I stamped them up and started coloring. This is my first little scene, it's not a card yet, but it will be. I used my favorite go-to Prismacolor pencils. Aren't those chickies the cutest? I think I need to pile them on top of each other in the next stamping round.

Next, I used this Hero Arts digital stamp set (exclusively at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies) called One-of-a-Kind and printed the chick here.

I used my Prismacolor pencils again and came up with this card. I added some extra swirls to his wings or feathers or whatever those are...lol. I like the whimsical feel to the bird stamps in this set.

Thought I better share this adorable chick cupcake idea too...I must make these for Easter this year!

Happy Monday!

Chark

Happy New Year to the Moon and Back

Hi, friends, Happy 2018! 

Like every new year, I'm always astounded at how fast the year went and how crazy it is that we're so far into the new century! I remember in high school (circa 1986) and thinking how old I would be in the year 2000...32 years old. And that seemed insanely old! :) Now we're here in 2018 and this April will be my big ol' 50th birthday...but we'll worry about that later, lol.

For now, here's the project I have up at a2z Scrapbooking for the monthly challenge. NEW TO ME, which can mean a lot of things. Maybe you got some new goodies for the holidays, maybe you're dying to try a new technique, maybe you want to try some new media that you haven't yet tried. If it's new to you, it counts! You can use ANY COMPANY'S PRODUCTS for our challenges now and will automatically be entered to win the monthly digital stamp. If you use some Hero Arts products and your name is drawn, you will also win $20 to spend at the a2z Scrapbooking store. You have all month, so I hope you'll join in!

For this project, I arranged the digital stamps in a layout with CorelDraw and then printed it with a laser b&w printer on coated paper (not glossy like photo paper, but not like regular cardstock that soaks in the ink..the paper I have is matte and smooth). Then I used Distress Oxides in Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean and Wilted Violet as watercolor paints. I then sprayed the paper and held it sideways, so it dripped an moved on the paper. After heat setting, I adhered it to black cardstock and added star rhinestone gems. You can see my supply list on the a2z blog.

Happy Monday and Happy 2018!

Chark

Hero Arts Makes You Go Wild

Today I'm up over at the a2z Scrapbooking blog to duel with Leslie. Okay, we didn't bring swords, but we did use the same digi and came up with two very different cards. If you're looking for inspiration, you can check them both out here.

The digital Go Wild set is the prize for the random challenge winner this month at a2z...the challenge theme for October is watercolor and you can use ANY products. If you win the random draw plus use Hero Arts, you will win the digi and a $20 gift code to the store.

Here's my card. Head to a2z to see Leslie's.

And don't forget, my blog readers and close, personal friends get to use my discount code CHARK15 to get 15% off their $25+ cart. 

Ooooh, I have to tell you, too, that this coming weekend is World Cardmaking Day and a2z Scrapbooking is planning to join in the celebrating with some fun....hope you'll join us on October 7th (Saturday)!

Happy Monday!

Chark

Power Poppy CASE a Designer

I just love how beautiful and detailed Marcella Hawley's stamps are over at Power Poppy. I've been stalking the blog and store for awhile and finally purchased my first two digi stamps (they have real stamps too), followed not long after by more stamps.😉

I'm going to enter this card made with the Everything's Rosy digital set for the Power and Spark Challenge, where you CASE one of the DT members. I've taken the glittered flowers, polka dots and black accent idea from this post from Allison. Here's her card. Lovely, right? Visit her blog to see how she made this one.

Ally glittered her tie dye flowers, and I used my Wink of Stella clear glitter pen on my flowers and mug. You can see the sparkly bits here. I trimmed out the bottom blossom and pop dotted it up. Next time, I'm going to try making her gorgeous background look.

I used my Prismacolor pencils as per usual while watching a Hallmark mystery movie based on the Hannah Swensen books, like The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder I love the cookie recipes in the books and the Chocolate Chip one in this book is one I've actually made and love. They're crispy cuz you add crunched up cornflakes. Yum!

Thanks for the inspiration, Ally! Hope you'll join in over at the Power Poppy challenge here.

Happy Saturday!
Chark

Power Poppy Roses & Winners

So I love coloring flower stamps and I have a few actual stamps and some digis. Power Poppy sells both and I downloaded some beautiful rose stamps the other day. Last night, I picked up my prismacolor pencils, turned on Orphan Black and got to work. You can see in top corner I also doodled some words on the paper as I watched tv...this one is hello. ;)

I tried some striations in the petals that were a little more pronounced in this one. And switched to a more peachy theme.

I will definitely be turning these into cards and will be printing out these images on watercolor paper for some painting fun in the future. Aren't they just lovely images? I also have their lilac digital stamp. If you prefer the clear stamps, they have those too.

Okay, I also get to announce winners from the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!

First up is two Hero Arts stencils and those go to Vivian Foo!

Next, the Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle dies go to Shelly Kurth!

Congrats and please email me your addresses and I'll get them out to you asap. 

Also a HUGE thanks to everyone who commented on the blog. Feel free to stop by once and a while to say hi!

Happy Monday!
Chark

Loving the Coffee Hop

It's Day One of the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and I've got an Anne Taintor-inspired card with vintage digi stamp and sentiment typed out in a typewriter font. It's a little less snarky than my cards up on the a2z Scrapbooking blog today.

You can see the stars and glitter line stickers at the top and bottom of the coffee cup panel shining in this pic below.

I used the Hero Arts Digital Stamp set called Make Your Own Sewing Fashion ($11.99 for a ton of sewing images and sentiments) for the woman. 

I colored her red, white and blue and put her on cherry paper to make her summer-themed. Then I realized, one doesn't wear capes in summer. It might even be a wool cape. Ah well, she might be toasty in her outfit if she's outside, but if she's at the office, she might be all right, depending on how frigid the air conditioner is!

The coffee cup background is from the Hero Arts Caffeine Fix Digital Stamps. I'm not great with digis, and couldn't figure out how to lighten the cups, so I just used a piece of vellum to make the background less busy.

Special blog reader benefit--if you head to the a2z Scrapbooking store and put in $25 or more in your cart, you can use my super-secret buddy code to get 15% off! It's CHARK15 but you didn't hear it from me. You can almost always find a 10% off code in the store, but 15 is greater than 10...and even this English major knows that. lololol.

Giveaway: Leave a comment on any or all of my Coffee Hop posts this week here on my blog (you can leave one comment per post for more chances to win) and you'll be entered to win either two Hero Arts stencils (for overseas friends) or this Lawn Fawn Large Stitched Rectangle die set (for U.S. buds). 

Commenting closes July 1 at 11:59 pm EST.

Happy Friday!

Chark

Free Bunnies To A Good Home

Saturday is International Rabbit Day and since I like bunnies, I've collected some free digi images for you to print and color to celebrate. 

This adorable girl bunny is from Free Dearie Dolls Digi Stamps You can find all sorts of great stamps for crafting here, including some holiday ones if you're already working on that. Thanks to Mary Ellen Smith for making these adorable stamps available.

Here's a Mother's Day Bunny stamp that is stinkin' cute from Free Dearie Dolls too.

And, of course, the White Rabbit classic illustration is available as a freebie too.

And, while these bunnies aren't free, I super love them. You can check them out here.

Happy International Rabbit Day (a day early)!
Chark

Hop On Over Here, My Friend!

Hi, I'm Chark and welcome to my stop on the Hero Arts and a2z Scrapbooking Digital Blog Hop! You should be arriving from the talented Miss Chitra's blog. You can find the hop order below. 

Although I'm not an exclusive digi creator, mostly because I super enjoy playing with the supplies, I do love having the option of sizing stamps and layering them. And digital stamps are perfect for big projects, like making party favors, classroom treats or a lot of cards. 

Today I've used the Hero Arts Digital stamp sets called Astral and Spooky Labels to make Halloween favors. 

For the treat bags, I got the little bags from Michael's and I printed the starry sky from Astral Digital Stamps on my black and white printer. My sky is now a little spookier (although the blue is very pretty when I use my color printer). I combined two of the digi stamps from Spooky Labels to make the labels and added Diamond Stickles to my bats and randomly to the sky. 

For the glamorous favors, I used the Spooky Labels, black lace seam binding, purple sequin ribbon from Jo Ann Fabrics, diamond gems from Hero Arts, black grosgrain and white eyelash ribbons, and skull washi from Stampin' Up and dotted washi from Recollections.

The spider tops are from dollar store spider rings, with the HA diamond gems added with Glue Dots to their backs. I used Glue Dots to secure the lace as well. The font I used to put names on the spider labels is called Black Adder. I filled them with silver Hershey Kisses so they still looked elegant, but any candy will work.

Didja know—a2z Scrapbooking Supplies is offering a $50 Gift Certificate to the a2z Store?! The prize winner will be randomly selected from ALL comments received on the participating designers' blogs. The more comments you leave along the way, the better your odds of winning, so be sure to leave a little love at each blog, starting with this one! You have until Sunday, August 31, 2014 11:59 EST to comment on each blog. Winner will be announced on September 3rd. Good Luck!

Here's the hop order if you get lost.

Hero Arts

Tami Hartley

Kelly Latevola

Kymona Tracey

Lisa Spangler

Michelle Liimatainen

Kathy Wade

Lucy Abrams

Chitra Nair

Char K  *you are here*

Ruth Bosner

Jocelyn Olson

Zoey Scarpelli

Stephanie B

Kelly Rasmussen

a2z Scrapbooking

Off you go to see what the super talented Ruth Bonser has in store for you...hope you're having fun hopping!
Chark

p.s. Additional Giveaway Alert—I'm giving away a free Hero Arts stencil or Hero Arts digi stamp set (your choice from the a2z shop) to a random follower of my blog. So, if you're interested, just follow the blog and leave me a comment letting me know what name you're following with—I'll close the giveaway the same time as the hop giveaway (Sunday, August 31 at 11:59pm EST) and announce a winner on Monday, Sept. 1. Check out the the a2z Scrapbooking Supplies shop to decide what you'd like if you win! International followers are also eligible for this prize!

Paper And Pencils And Notebooks, Oh My!

It's that time of year around here, school has started and the buses are lurching through the neighborhood. There's something pretty cool about starting school—fun supplies, fresh starts, new outfits. But for me, the worst part is and was always the waking up at the crack of dawn. Yikes! I'm not good at it, no matter when I go to bed.

To celebrate, this is the Book Cover of the Week.

It's the back cover that I like best. David is a character that David Shannon made based on one of his childhood drawings his mom had tucked away. And David gets into a lot of trouble. The first book is called No, David! You can imagine what David is like.

And here are a couple of free digi images for you that are school-related. I love this vintage one for a teacher card.

Here's a cute little image for coloring. Check out Whimsie Doodles for this.

Happy Back-to-School Days!
Chark