Saturday, April 30, 2011

Happy Birthday CLP!!!






We're having a big Blog Hop celebration this week!

Not only are we heading into our second year, we've also expanded our team to bring more inspirations on the Sketches.

Celebrate with us by visiting our blogs and see what we have made with May's Sketch.

Hop along, meet the team members and make sure to leave your comments.

One lucky commenter will win the Grand Prize of a $30 gift voucher from Gurlee Girl Craft Store.

This Grand Prize is hidden somewhere along the hop. For your best chance at winning,

make sure to leave a comment on all the designer's blog and the final comment here on this post.

The winner will be chosen at random and will be announced on April 7th.

The hop starts today and ends on April 6th. at midnight.














7. Hege


10. Lori





11. Bonnie






Your first stop is at Maria's blog so if you have just happened upon my blog and would like to take part in the hop, please head over to Maria's blog


And if you've been hopping along, then you should have arrived from the mega-talented Hege's Blog



For my bloghop creation, I have used this darling image from Belles n Whistles stamps called Eden With Teddy along with K & Co. papers and goodies from my stash!!


Thanks for stopping by our blogs and for taking part in the hop!
Now scurry on over to see what the stunning Dunja has whipped up for your viewing pleasure!!

Don't forget to join the current sketch challenge for your chance to win a Belles 'n Whistles stamp.


Thursday, April 28, 2011

Happy Mail!!!

Have you ever had an idea come together in your head, and once you get to playing with your papers, it looks even better than you thought it would??? Well, usually, for me, it looks a little worse than I thought it would, but I must confess, this Design Team Medley of stamps has me Whimsically Tickled Pink!!!

I've used the adorable Cherrie With Mail from Tickled Pink Stamps
And the Whimsy Stamps deliciousness, well, there's the new Postcard background and the recently released Postage Stamp accessories by the amazing Ann Vento, as well as the Double Scallop Border Punch from Whimsy's SHAPEOLOGY collection. Unfortunately, you can't see much of it, due to the slathering of flowers.


I've used K & Co. papers and an assortment of flowers that include Prima, Wild Orchid Crafts and stamen from Wilton.
I'll pop this in at Colour Create where the colours are brown, pink and blue, I hope my tealy blue will work?
Thanks so much for popping in today. I've been a little caught up with yard work and homework lately, so not a whole lot of blogging or crafting going on in my world right now. What about you? Getting that Spring Cleaning taken care of????

Thanks again for popping in!!
hugs, stephaaaaannnnnnnneeeee

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Easter Treat Boxes

Hello friends,
how was your weekend??
I set out to make some altered boxes for Easter treats
to enter into the
Magnolia-Licious Easter-Spring Eggstravaganza Contest
and sadly, it has taken me about 3 weeks
to finally get these boxes together!!
You know what though, I am just grateful to have gotten
ANYTHING extra done with life being as hectic as it is lately.


So, they started out as little one dollar picture boxes from Michaels. I painted them with Distress Crackle Paint in Picket Fence, and measured and Modge Podged in some Crafty Secrets plaid paper. I removed the picture panels so that the glass is now a Peep-hole, but will send these with the picture panel so that the recipient may place a photo in there after the candy is gone.


Here are the tops, decorated with some Magnolia images and various floral bits and bobs.


And here are the sides, I used Tacky Glue to adhere various ribbons to my boxes.


And here are the insides, after the modge podge treatment. This picture was taken a few days ago. I wanted to make sure the podge had plenty of time to dry before sticking candy for my loved ones in there!!


This one has little Hoppy from last years Hoppy Easter release, along with a blue bird, and what's in there, I hear you asking? Cadbury Mini Eggs!!


And here we have the little accesory Blue Birds that I am SOOOOOO thrilled to have, and inside? Robin Eggs, of course!!

Sooooooo, I will go ahead and pop this in over at Magnolia Down Unda as they are having an Easter Challenge, and I, I uhhh, guess that's it? Yeah, that's it!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!
hugs, stephanne

Friday, April 15, 2011

Fuzzy Wuzzy Reminder

Hi there friends,
welp, another weekend is upon us,
any fun plans???
Our mid-month reminder post just went up at
The Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenges,
which is a Photo Inspiration Challenge,
sponsored by Tickled Pink Stamps, woohoo!!!
Please do head over to check out what the
Design Team lovingly created!!


I couldn't resist the sweetness of this Penny Johnson (by Stampavie) image any longer, so I inked it up!! Coloured with distress inks, the paper is by Crafty Secrets. The dimensions of these cards I've been making are 4.5 x 4.5 and 4 x 5, good little notecard style size, and it really sets the images off well!!


Im going to enter some challenges:
Crafty Catz is hosting a Furry Friends challenge,
Stampin' for the Weekend, Easter
Totally PaperCrafts Spring Time!!
The PlayDate Cafe Challenge 77, moss, white and browny brown


I hope you have a glorious weekend!!
Getting ready for Easter, anyone??

hugs, stephanne

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Whimsy April Release Blog Hop





Hello and welcome to the Whimsy Stamps April new rubber release BLOG HOP!


We have 13 fabulous new Whimsy Stamps plus 2 new wonderful dies to show you today! These new goodies are available to buy right now from the Whimsy Stamps store along with all your Whimsy favourites. We also have our wonderful special guests joining us for this hop - Beate Johns, Deb Routledge, Jacque Beddingfield, Mindy Baxter and Minna Paajanen.

The Whimsy Stamps DT have been sneak peeking these fabulous stamps for the past 5 days, so if you missed them be sure to hop on over to the Whimsy Inspirations Blog for some more inspiration!

Here is a full list of the wonderful new rubber stamps and dies being released today:


3 stamps from Crissy Armstrong
Big Comfy Cake ~ Come Fly With Me ~ Cupcake Bliss

3 stamps from Meljen's Designs
Curious Little Fairy ~ Fairy Toadstools ~ Little Fairy Friend

4 stamps from Kenny K
Biker Babe ~ Cheers Dude ~ Madison Attitude ~ Soho

3 stamps/sets from Raindrop Echo Designs
Everyday Mini Postage Stamps ~ Party Mini Letter Seals ~ Postcard Background

2 dies/sets from Raindrop Echo Designs
Mini Postage Die ~ Double Scallop Tag Die


If you would like to participate in the hop and you didn't arrive here from Vicki Parson's blog, please CLICK HERE to return to the beginning of the hop at Annika’s blog.

The hop starts today (Wednesday April 13th at noon EST) and ends on Wednesday April 20th at noon EST.

For this hop we have 6 different prize draws! We have not one but TWO grand prize draws, so two lucky hoppers will win a large selection of new release stamps. Grand Prize 1 will be for those who help us advertise the hop, and Grand Prize 2 will be for those who hop along with us. We also have 4 mini candy stops throughout the hop where you can enter to win a new release stamp! I'm not going to tell you where they are, so if you haven't found them you'll just have go back to the beginning and start hopping! *wink*

For my blog hop creation I used the new Big Comfy Cake image by Crissy Armstrong, along with some super cute Mini Party Seals by Raindrop Echo Designs!! I also used the recently released double scallop border punch from our last release.


I've coloured with distress inks, the papers are Prima and the other goodies are from my stash. I used the sketch from Sketch Saturday and I also want to pop this in at ASFOS where the challenge is All Creatures Great and Small, PaperPlay is hosting a Critters Galore challenge



So now it's time for you to continue the hop by hopping on over to Erin Bailey's blog.

Finally, here is a complete blog hop list in hopping order:



Thank you so much for hopping with us today and I hope you enjoy the new release!

Hugs, stephanne

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Whimsy Stamps Sneak Peeks DAY 5!!



Happy Tuesday Everyone!! Over the last few days, the Whimsy team, have been sharing lots of inspiration or sneak peaks using the new rubber images for our April release!!  This release includes images or sentiments by the uber talented Crissy Armstrong, Melissa Jenkins (Meljens), Kenny K and Ann Vento of Raindrop Echo Designs!

 This is our final day of sneak peaks before the Release tomorrow at 12 p.m. EST!!!!  Today our Whimsy Designers will be sharing sneak peeks of some of the new April release stamps from all our designers!!!




I've used a soon to be released Kenny K image called Madison Attitude, find them HERE at Whimsy Stamps, along with a soon to be released Double Scallop Tag by Raindrop Echo Design, find them HERE in our Shapeology section, and a sentiment from the, again, soon to be released Party Mini Letter Seals by Raindrop Echo Designs.


And here's a little close up of that tag, in this case, it's definitely a boutique price tag, right? Hehehe!!

Welp, the release blog hop is tomorrow so I hope you will save the date and take part in the fun!!
Hugs, stephanne

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Lil Pinkettes Blog Hop....

GooD MorNing and welcome to the Tickled Pinks Stamps Lil Pinkettes blog hop release, you should have come from Louise's blog but if not, you may want to head over to Amy's blog to start at the beginning.


For my hop creation, I have used Lil Pinkette Faith, coloured in distress inks and paper is October Afternoon. These new cuties are a delight to create with, such sweet little smirks, just love 'em!!! They'll be in stores shortly, so please do pop over to TPS!!


Thanks for stopping by, now have fun over at the fabulous
Alberto's blog!!

hugs, stephanne

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Meet Lil Pinkette Pippa!!

Howdy Y'all,
That is me trying to fulfill the stereotype....
Welcome to my blog.
I got a moment to craft and right in time to join in with the release previews for Tickled Pink Stamps latest release, Lil Pinkettes by our newest addition to the PINK family, Stephanie, please pop by TPS Store Blog to see the gorgeous samples from the Design Team and Special Guests!!!


Now this, my friends, is Lil' Pinkette Pippa, she's coloured in distress inks and popped up on delicious Prima Paper with foam dots!!



I'm gonna pop this in at ASFOF for their Tons Of Texture Challenge
Dutch Dare is hosting a Spring Has Sprung Challenge
PaperPlay Challenges is Anything Goes with an extra, something new, well how about a new stamp from a new designer and a new stack a Prima papers, does that get me in to The Cool People Club?

Welp, I better get on. I have no reasonable excuses for why I've been a no-show lately, I am just busy I guess. But to my loyal visitors, I will have a little candy up soon to try and make it up to you, lol, but uhhhh, regulars only, you know the drill, hehehe.
Anyhoo, yardwork's a-callin'
Take Care, stephanne

Sunday, April 3, 2011

A foxy Distress Ink how-to

Hi there Pink Fans,
Stephanne here, and I am going to show you something furry and fun today!!
I've gotten quite a few inquiries about the colours I use to colour our latest and greatest additions to the Tickled Pink family,
Sir Rupert and Emilio, so me and my best cousin for life Kristen have prepared a small photo tutorial
so you can see how I am layering the colours onto my image!! And hopefully, what I show you will help you feel confident that you too, can get a little foxy, hehehe!!



I have gathered my supplies: Lil Allsorts Emilio, stamped with Black Archival Ink, onto Gina K heavyweight paper, I have my Tea Dye Reinker and distressing pads, a fine and broad paintbrush, and a few Prismacolour pencils that I've found blend quite well with my red fox fuzziness, Dark Brown, Sienna Brown and Burnt Ochre.



To start, I add a couple of drops of reinker into the lid of my tea dye pad


Next, I pick up a small amount of water into my broad brush, enough to moisten the bristles but not sopping wet amounts, and apply it to the area in which I will paint. I am using a E67 Filbert brush for this.


Next, with my moistened (but not wet) brush, I pick up ink from my reinker puddle and apply it to a crease in the image. You'll want to begin application in the areas that you want to emphasize shadowing, and brush the colour outward.


I slowly brush the colour outward in small circular motions


As you move the ink throughout the image, the colour will slowly fade out. This is, indeed, the goal.


At this point, I have added more ink to my brush and am applying it, again, to an area that I want to emphasize with shadowing, and will brush the colour outward in small circular strokes (like writing in cursive) until I complete the shading process.


More spreading and blending....

At this point, I have added just a teeny bit of water to my brush to encourage blending as I daub and brush the colour around the image.


Here is my first layering of colour, which is still wet in some areas, so I allow several minutes to pass before I move onto additional shading.


Now, I will start some additional shading, so I have switched over to my E85 round brush and wet it, pick up reinker and lots of it, and apply, once again, to the areas you wish to draw emphasis to with shadowing.


After applying the ink to my image, I daub it outward, and sort of glide it around until the lines of demarcation appear to be blended.



I allow my image to dry at this point. A few minutes will suffice.


I pick up my dark brown pencil and apply it to the corners of my image, again, where the shadow is to be concentrated.


After I add a bit of Dark Brown, I add Sienna Brown and blend the darker colour into the lighter.


I also use my Sienna Brown to add a little bit of additional shadowing here and there, like behind the ears and in the side bushy cheekness.


Like so......


Now, I know it's sloppy, and I haven't finished colouring his ears and eyes, but I hope that this will give you a general idea of techniques and products I use when colouring with distress inks!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today,
happy stamping and thInk pInk!!!
stephanne

Friday, April 1, 2011

CLP Sketch for April and TFWC Inspirational Challenge

Hello my friends,
are you ready for the weekend!!!
I know I will be glad to, lol, who am I fooling,
weekends are just as much work as my paying job lol!!

So it's the 1st day of the month AND the first Friday of the month and that means that we have a new sketch for you to play with at CLP, who is sponsored by Gurlee Girl Crafts this month, and is also holding a DT CALL, please click HERE for all the details.

And at The Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenges, that once a month challenge blog centered around critters and animals of all sorts, we are having a Photo Inspiration Challenge and we are sponsored by the fabulous Tickled Pink Stamps!! Woohoohoo!!!

So here is my creation using the sketch and the photo inspiration:



My photos turned out oddly, I may have to try again, but I used some new release Maggies here, coloured them up with distress inks, the papers are a mix of Websters Pages and October Afternoon. The sentiment is from the recently released Spring Letter Seals by Ann Vento for Whimsy Stamps



Cute Card Thursday Couples, Tilda and Magnolia!!
Dutch Dare Distressing
Just Magnolia Anything Goes

Thanks so much for popping in today!!
Have a wonderful weekend!!
Hugs, stephanne