J is still having 2 naps a day, so while he was down this afternoon I had a chance to make two cards with my new Sweet of You stamp set (yes, I admit it, eBay again!).

Recipe: SU Sweet of You, Curvy Verses stamp sets; Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Naturals Ivory CS; Basic Black, Mellow Moss, Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa, Barely Banana inks; Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon.

Recipe: SU Sweet of You stamp set; Ruby Red, Mellow Moss, Creamy Caramel, Naturals Ivory CS; Basic Black, Mellow Moss, Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa, Barely Banana, Bliss Blue inks.

I often stamp a whole bunch of images and color/cut them in advance of making cards to save time. Well if you do this you'll know that you end up with a big pile of stuff on your table. So this morning during J's nap (1 hour) I decided to see what I could do with some of these odds and ends. This is what I came up with. But first a little history.....

I really like the flower in the SU Be Happy set but realized that it was similar to the one in the Love Without End set minus the words. So I thought I'd make my own version by stamping the By Definition over the top of the flower. I cut out the flowers and stuck them to the tags using dimensionals for a 3D effect. I also used versamark with the repeat flower in Pocket Full of Posies to create a background on the tags.

I'm saving this one for my mum as green is her favorite color! This way I'll be prepared for British Mother's Day in March instead of missing it like I usually do :(

Love Without End Mother Day Card
Made with: Love Without End, Pocket Full of Posies, By Definition SU Stamps; Anna Griffin Happy stamps; Pretty in Pink, Mellow Moss, Whisper White SU CS; K&C PP; Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa SU Inks; Versamark; CTMH Sweet Clover eyelets; Pretty in Pink SU Buttons; SU Dimensionals.

Love Without End Friendship Card
Made with: Love Without End, By Definition, Curvy Verses SU Stamps; Close to Cocoa, Whisper White SU CS; K&C PP; Celery, Close to Cocoa SU Inks; Celery Grosgrain Ribbon; Mellow Moss Button; SU Dimensionals.

So yesterday was the long awaited Tuesdays with Tina Art Show. It was a great hit with easily 100 people attending. There were lots of compliments on my paintings and I actually sold an 8x10 print of my painting of Idabel Lake for $30! This is the first thing I've sold and I was so happy that someone actually liked my work as much as I do. Thanks go to Dee and Carol that organized everything and did almost all the work! Thanks gals!

This morning I attended my first life drawing class at Rotary Center for the Arts in Kelowna. The Livessence group is a group of artists that meet twice a week to draw/paint from a life model. This is the first time I've done anything like this and it has taken a few months for me to pluck up courage to attend. At first it was terrible, the poses changed way too frequently for me to get anything down on paper worth looking at, but by the time we got to the 10 minute poses I was much more loosened up and able to work in the charcoal quite well. This sketch is from one of the 20 minute poses (I think, I don't really remember) and was the only sketch from the day that I thought was good enough to show anyone.

J has discovered the keyboard and loves it! K and J hammer on it (one at either end) making a hell of a racket but having so much fun. Hopefully one or both of them will have some musical talent.

This is my second mixed media effort. This one is also on 22x30 300lb rough texture watercolor paper. If the scene looks unreal then check out one of the photos that I based this on. You can just see the lighthouse (I have another picture taken at a closer zoom). Obviously the colors have been exaggerated but not by much!This painting will be exhibited at the "Tuesdays with Tina" Art Show on Saturday 26th August 2006, 3-7pm at 1701 Highland in Spall/Glenmore area of Kelowna, British Columbia.

I could have called the title to this post "My first mixed media" or "My first really big painting", either would have been applicable. This painting was done on 22x30 300lb rough texture watercolor paper. After drawing a rough sketch in willow charcoal, the mixed media process was started with mixing up the watercolor paints. The colors chosen were based on those used for a series of paitings in 1999 by a BC watercolor artist that I admire (Linda Frimer). Then the watercolor paper was soaked with water (literally poured on). Once good and wet, the watercolor paints were brushed onto the paper and because it was already wet, they bled quite a bit. The painting had to dry and I clipped it to a sturdy board to keep the paper from buckling. Pastels were used over the top in similar colors to define the wood fence, the wheel (which was made completely with pastels), texturize the grasses and add the flowers. This painting will be one of those exhibited at the "Tuesdays With Tina" Art Show, to be held Saturday 26th August 2006, 3-7pm at 1701 Highland in Spall/Glenmore area of Kelowna, British Columbia.

Father Pandosy Mission

Well you could say that about the colors I picked for these cards. I don't know what came over me... I'm all pastel-ly.... Anyway, each image was stamped again with Versamark and then Startdust embossing powder for a sparkly look (which the scanner didn't capture well). Hope you like!

This is my first attempt at faux stitching using white signo gel pen. I'm gonna have to work on this some more, I think I need to pierce the paper.

SU Blooming With Happiness, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Certainly Celery CS and Inks. Celery grosgrain ribbon.
SU Blooming With Happiness, Bashful Blue, Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink CS and Inks. Pretty in Pink button, gold metallic thread.

SU Blooming With Happiness, Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink CS and Inks. Pink grosgrain ribbon.

A couple of quickies using the mellow moss, ruby red and chocolate chip theme.

First up, a quick thank you to Pat and Ray for dinner!
SU Toile Blossoms, Noteworthy. Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss, Natural Ivory CS. Basic Black ink. SU Chalks. Chocolate grosgrain ribbn.

Then a birthday card for my stash!
SU Nice & Easy, It's Your Birthday. Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Natural Ivory CS. Basic Black, Close to Cocoa ink. SU Chalks. Chocolate grosgrain ribbn.

Here are the remaining 4 cards (Picasa & Blogger only upload 4 at a time).

I absolutely love this set by Lisa (lzappa) at SCS http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ga...p?photo=322166. It was my inspiration for these 8 cards that I made. To create a faux recollections paper I stamped 1 sheet natural ivory with Linen BG in Mellow Moss, then stamped Best Blossoms in Mellow Moss and Ruby Red. Then each Blooming With Happiness image was stamped in Mellow Moss, Ruby Red and Barely Banana. Distressing done with Ruby Red.

I just love Toile Blossoms! I think they are so classy. Impossible to make an ugly card. Here is a CASE from the 2005 SU IB&C originally done with a different stamp but I think works well with Toile.

Recipe: Toile Blossoms and Its Your Birthday stamp sets; Ruby Red, Chocolate chip, Natural Ivory cardstock; Chocolate ribbon; Basic Black, Ruby Red, Mellow Moss inks.

Totally off topic, but if you haven't seen the Evolution of Dance video on YouTube, then get over there and watch it! Totally funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg&eurl

I really, really love this card! The design is CASED from the inside cover of the new SU 2006 IB&C. The original uses the Artfully Asian stamp set, but I saw another CASED card where Artfull Asian had been replaced with Toile Blossoms, so I thought I'd give it a go. I deliberately used the image upside down as I wanted more flower showing than would have been otherwise.

Recipe: Linen, Curvy Verses, Toile Blossoms stamp sets; Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss, Natural Ivory Cardstock; Ruby Red, Basic Black, Mellow Moss inks; Chocolate grosgrain ribbon.

In responding to a thread about not stamping as much as we'd like, I posted the following tips which I thought I'd share here.

- Don't leave stamp sets unmounted. I mount everything as soon as it arrives. Its much easier to pull out a mounted set when you are in the middle of a project than to pull out an unmounted one and then have to mount it. You know you won't do it, you'll just reach for an alternative set instead.

- You don't need hours to make a card. And you don't have to make whole cards each time. I have small kids and usually only get 1 hour breaks (when they take their naps). The trick is getting prepared.

On your first break, go and cut some cardstock in 1/2 and score down the middle (i.e. make the cards). On your second break, go pick a stamp set and a neutral piece of cardstock and stamp all over it. Then cut out these stamped images in the required sizes (often I am casing so this is decided for me). If you have time, color them. Now when you get to your third break, start assembling the designs to the card fronts, play with mats and accessories.

If only I could apply this logic to scrapbooking! I seem to have a much harder time working on layouts than cards as layouts (for me) seem to take much longer.

I have been playing with my new Toile Blossoms stamp set. This set is retired but I picked up one of ebay for a reasonable price. This is a beautiful set and it's almost impossible to make an ugly card with. It is also one of the sets from the Definitely Decorative series which means it is designed to be used for decorating (stamping on walls etc). I have seen some beautiful photos with this stamp set used in a monotone way on walls.

Anyway, I had admired a lavender toile card posted at SCS so I thought I'd follow suit for my first projects.

Toile Blossoms, Its Your Birthday stamp sets; Lovely Lavender, Whisper White CS; Basic Black, Lovely Lavender, Mellow Moss Inks; Michaels grosgrain ribbon.
Toile Blossoms, Its Your Birthday stamp sets; Lovely Lavender, Whisper White CS; Basic Black, Lovely Lavender, Mellow Moss Inks; Michaels grosgrain ribbon.

Toile Blossoms, Its Your Birthday stamp sets; Lovely Lavender, Whisper White CS; Basic Black, Lovely Lavender, Mellow Moss Inks; brads.

Ok, I'd be lying if I said I did ALL these today :)

The top two I did at the last crop night at the LSS. I hadn't quite finished the title on the top one (which I did do today) but that was a minor adjustment.
This one I actually did do today during J's afternoon nap. Lucky for me it was a 2 hour nap!

This one was also done today but it was super-quick, really just involved gluing... just the way I like it...

This is what I was up to last night / this morning. C is out of town so I got the kids off to bed early (well 8.30pm) and managed to pull a few quick layouts together last night and this morning (after K went to daycare).

This one is of K at the park. She just loves the slides but poor J has to sit and wait in the stroller :(

This is of K at swimming lessons. She loves swimming (as does J).

And now for something a bit different. Earlier this year K was having an obsession with turning the light switches on and off. I think it was because she could finally reach them! Anyway, you would be constantly plunged into darkness during the evenings.

And lastly this one, just some pics I thought were cute of K with her comfy fleece hat (a steal for $4 at the Gap).