Darque Obsession – Are You Obsessed Yet?

I am SO happy to post about my lovely and very dear friend Tonya‘s new stamp line called Darque Obsession!! How is THAT for a cool name?   Tonya has just released three beautiful images, that you can see below, with more to come!  Click the image below to visit Tonya’s store, the Stamp Happens Shop, to get your own Obsession on!

I am really excited for Tonya and her new venture, so I was so happy to be able to use this gorgeous image today.  The one I used is Darcy, and she’s so elegant and beautiful.  And here is my card —

I colored Darcy with Prismacolor pencils and added lots of glitter to the image, with Stickles (blue and silver) and with a Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pen.  I started out coloring her with Copics, but I ended up preferring the lighter touch that I could get from pencils.  I embossed the starry background on deep blue metallic cardstock and added a few blue rhinestones.   A “beautiful” sentiment, a Prima flower, and done!   I hope you like Darcy – I hope to feature the other Darque ladies sometime soon. 

Thanks so much for visiting today – and Happy Mother’s Day to all the lovely moms out there!!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock; The Paper Company blue metallic cardstock

Stamps:  Darcy from the Darque Obsession line from the Stamp Happens Shop; Autumn Leaves/Rhonna Farrer sentiment

Ink:  Brilliance in Sky Blue

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Fiskars stars texture plate; Prima flower; dimensionals; Prismacolor pencils; Stickles in Waterfall and Silver; Sakura Gelly Roll pen in Clear Star; blue rhinestones.

StampInsanity Stamps Sneak Peek!

Exciting happenings this week — StampInsanity Stamps is releasing three new sets this week! And wait until you see these — they are FANTASTIC!   Two of the sets, Morgan’s Spell and Halloween Henry, are Halloween-themed.  The third set, called Morgan’s Love, is a HUGE set that is perfect for all the bookworms out there!  It’s filled with sentiments related to losing yourself in good books and is sooo much fun.  I will be displaying a project using that set as soon as I can!

To give you a little hint on the contents of the new sets, here is a card that I made the set called Morgan’s Spell. Morgan is a regular character in the StampInsanity lines – you’ll see her in this badge (at the left) as well. 

StampInsanity Stamps are sold exclusively at the Stamp Happen Shop, beginning on Friday, September 25th.   Today, the members of the Senior Design Team of the Stamp Sistahs are unveiling sneak peeks from these three new sets, and the full Stamp Sistahs Design Team will be posting their projects on Friday.  Visit the Senior Design Team members today to see their awesome projects!

Beth (owner, StampInsanity Stamps)

Tonya (owner, Stamp Happens Shop)

Jen, Deconstructing Jen

And here is my card!  I used the new set called Morgan’s Spell and I could not WAIT to get this witchy little stamp inked up!  How adorable is she? 

Coloring this image was so much fun.  I stamped the image with black ink and colored it with Prismacolor markers, with a couple of glittery highlights done with my fave Jelly Roll pens.  Her earrings just HAD to sparkle!  I used Stickles in Frosted Lace on the moon, and penciled in a little extra “moonglow” around the moon with a really pale blue-grey Prismacolor pencil.  The stars in the background are also from the Morgan’s Spell set and were stamped in metallic silver.  I embossed the white background with a stars texture plate from Fiskars. 

The quote on the card is yet another stamp from this set, and it features the classic witchy quote from Macbeth: 

Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.

~ William Shakespeare

Lots of details for you!  I had a TON of fun making this one.  Be sure to hit the Stamp Happens Shop on Friday to grab these three new sets before they’re gone!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Ballet Blue cardstock; The Paper Company silver metallic cardstock; Bazzill Bling in Tiara

Stamps:  StampInsanity Stamps Morgan’s Spell set (girl image, quote, and stars) from the Stamp Happens Shop

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Ballet Blue and Night of Navy

Accessories:  Cuttlebug: Fiskars texture plate in stars; Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Three die and ribbon slide die; Dew Drops in metallic silver; EK Success deco corner punch; dimensionals; ribbon; Prismacolor markers and pencils; Sakura Jelly Roll pens in silver and clear; Stickles in Frosted Lace

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge 45 – Name Your Challenge!

Happy Tuesday! Tonya‘s given us a fun challenge theme for this week’s Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge — we pick our own theme this time! Get all the details, as well as some news about our Design Team, here. Also, today marks the return of the lovely Margie to the Design Team after a brief time off, and it’s great to have her back!

I’m getting a  little nostalgic today for this challenge!  I thought that this was a good time to show you my very first Twilight Tuesday project!  This is from October 2008, and was never posted here as I had yet to start blogging at that point.  This challenge was TTIC3 – yes, 42 challenges ago! – and the theme was The Meadow.  Days before this, I had learned about the challenges when I came across some TTIC projects in the Splitcoast gallery, and that is how I met Tonya and the other members of the then-smaller Design Team. 

And speaking of our Design Team – visit them today to see the lovely projects that they’ve come up with for this challenge!

Alison ~ Dani ~ Donna ~ Eve ~ Erica

Jacquie ~ Jen ~ Margie ~ Rebecca ~ Tonya

So, back to the project.  Because I love to keep things Edward-centric, I had to turn to Midnight Sun to get his perspective on being in the meadow with Bella, so I pulled out the following quote and used it on the card:

"Bella was with me there. She stared at me, rainbows dancing across her face, her eyes fathomless…"

I found a photo online that really represented the meadow to me; this is very close to how I pictured it while reading, although it’s actually a location in England!  I love this photo and ended up using it on another TTIC project (about the Twilight villains) that related to the meadow.  (You might have to look hard to find the meadow, though – click to enlarge.)

What I Used:

Paper:  Bazzill cardstock

Stamps:  none; quote from Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer; computer-generated using the font Edwardian

Ink:  Versacolor Bisque

Accessories:  Cuttlebug with Fiskars texture leaves texture plate; Stampin’ Up! ticket corner punch; ribbon; dimensionals; Kaiser pearls

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge 40 – Blue

Happy Tuesday!  Here is a different type of theme for today’s Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge – today is about the color blue.  Design Team member Jen issued our challenge today – read on…

Edward loves Bella in blue.

So this week the challenge is simple… create anything you want focusing on the color blue. Twilight related? Well that’s up to you.
Comment challenge… What’s your favorite color to wear and why?

Visit Twilight Tuesday for all the challenge details, and play along with us!  Margie will be sitting out from the challenges for the next few weeks, but we have Erica filling in for her!  So visit the blogs of the Design Team to see what they have created.  (Only those listed are participating; some are sitting out this week.) 

Dani  ~ Eve ~ Jen ~  Rebecca

And Our Guest Designers:

Alison ~ Donna ~  Erica ~ Jacquie

I was happy to work with blue, my favorite color, for this week.  I just found this stamp that I LOVE (the one with the trees and the moon) and I designed the card around that, going with a lunar theme.  At least, I’m hoping that the lunar thing comes across – because otherwise, my having that offset silver circle behind the white circle will look really odd.  I did that to give an impression of the phases of the moon, and the four silver Dew Drops on the side – also for the four phases of the moon.   So, I might be the only person who would take note of these things – but, hey, I enjoyed it.

In trying to get the look of a moonlit sky, I used many glittery elements on this card.  The card base is silver metallic cardstock; there is a layer of Bazzill Bling white cardstock; and the front panel is a metallic dark blue.  I stamped the moon and trees image in Stampin’ Up! Night of Navy ink, and then glittered it up, with Shimmerz in Angel Wings,  and a couple Sakura Jelly Roll pens.  Here’s a better look —

Thanks so much for visiting!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock; The Paper Company metallic silver and blue steel cardstock; Bazzill Bling cardstock in Diamond

Stamps:  Anna Griffin (sentiment); Inkadinkado from the Utopiary set

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Night of Navy

Accessories:  Cuttlebug: Fiskars texture plate in dots, Spellbinders Nestabilities petite circle and ribbon slide dies; Robin’s Nest Dew Drops – metallic silver; dimensionals; ribbon; Shimmerz – Angel Wings; Sakura Jelly Roll glitter pens

Guy Cards

Really original post title, right?  Since I did a post called “Kid Cards” the other day, I thought I’d keep my titles consistent while I showed you a couple of masculine-styled cards I’ve made lately.  That, and the fact that I could not think of a more clever title…

These two cards both have very simple layouts, which I think suits masculine cards – you don’t really want to get too fussy with these.  I had designer paper for both cards that I loved, so much so that the paper became the center of both layouts.

Basic Grey is the focal point of the birthday card below.  They have a line of papers called Boxer that is really cool for guy cards.  It’s not actually visible in this card, but the base of this card is Papertrey Ink’s new Rustic Cream cardstock.  This cardstock has fibers and flecks in the paper and really suits a masculine card.

For the next card, for a college graduate, I got to use some of my fave paper, from the K & Company Blue Awning collection.  Love this collection – it’s gorgeous like K & Company always is.

Card components:

Birthday card:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream and Vintage Cream cardstock; Bazzill Burgundy cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Always Artichoke cardstock; Basic Grey Boxer designer paper

Stamp:  Anna Griffin for All Night Media

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Always Artichoke

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Fiskars texture plate-lines; Spellbinders Nestabilities curved rectangle dies

Congratulations card:

Paper:  Stampin’ Up! Kraft & Night of Navy cardstock; Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream cardstock; K & Company Blue Awning designer paper

Stamp:  Anna Griffin for All Night Media

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Night of Navy; Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Script Texture embossing folder, Spellbinders Nestabilities long ovals dies; Stampin’ Up! ticket corner punch; Making Memories brads; dimensionals

JustRite Monogrammed Notecard Set

Here is a set of cards that I made for my sister’s  birthday.  This set needed to be really special, so I had to break out the really good paper for this one!  The designer paper that I used for this set is from K & Company’s new Madeline line, which is just gorgeous and coordinates really well with Papertrey Ink’s Plum Pudding cardstock and ink. 

First up – the notecards (see the photo on the left) featuring that Madeline paper.   The monogram for the cards was stamped with the JustRite Stamper Damask Border kit and mounted (with dimensionals) on circles die cut with Nestabilities.   The lace border was done with a Martha Stewart border punch.  The Madeline paper and a panel embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder make up the background, which is popped up with dimensionals. 

Next came the box for the cards (see the photo on the right), done with the help of my Scor-Pal and made with the same materials as the notecards.  (The top of the box is basically another card front.)

And finally, the actual birthday card!  I kept this consistent with the set by using the same materials, but in a different layout.  I really wanted this Madeline paper to be prominent on this card, so I went with a square card (5 1/4”x5 1/4”), which gave me a little more room to fit that square panel.  The background, in Papertrey Ink’s Vintage Cream, was  embossed with a Fiskars Texture Plate (leaves) and I used an EK Success Deco corner punch.  The sentiment is from Anna Griffin and stamped and mounted on Nestabilities circles.  Pink Dew Drops are in all four corners of the card.  I really hope that my sister enjoys this set!

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Components:

Paper: Papertrey Ink Plum Pudding and Vintage Cream cardstock; K & Company Madeline designer paper in Wild Roses

Stamps:  JustRite Stamper – Damask Border set; Anna Griffin (sentiment)

Ink: Papertrey Ink hybrid ink in Plum Pudding

Accessories: Cuttlebug: Swiss Dots embossing folder. Nestabilities circle and scalloped circle dies, Fiskars texture plate in leaves; dimensionals; ribbon; Dew Drops; EK Success Deco corner punch; ribbon; Scor-Pal; Martha Stewart lace border punch

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge 21 — Bella’s Mother & My Project

I am sorry to have been late with my challenge submission this week — my apologies to my  fellow design team members!  This week Margie issued a really interesting challenge, based on Bella’s mother, Renee.  Visit Twilight Tuesday to get all the challenge details.  And as always, our lovely and talented design team have created their own projects for this challenge; check them out!

Beth ~ Dani ~ Eve ~ Jen~ Margie ~ Rebecca ~ Tonya 

I interpreted this project pretty loosely and decided to make a Cullen-style Mother’s Day card.  Admittedly, this is a little odd — Mother’s Day being two months away — but I am just going with it. 

So…this is what I would imagine a Mother’s Day card would look like in the Cullens’ world.  Due to the Cullens’ sparkly nature, I like to use lots of blingy elements for any Cullen cards that I do, and with this one was no exception.  The whole card is blingy, really.  I used two different colors of Bazzill Bling paper, a silver metallic paper, and here’s something fun – my new metallic Dew Drops, in red and silver.  And a little rhinestone heart, Edward-style, to complete the look. (And, what do you know?  I did it again– I worked Edward into a challenge about mothers.  Yay!)

Card components:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock; Bazzill Bling paper in Diamond (white) and Red Carpet; The Paper Company silver metallic cardstock; Making Memories Red Glitter Love Notes designer paper

Stamps: Inkadinkado: Happy Days set (sentiment) and Bohemian Flourishes (swirls)

Ink: Stampin’ Up Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Cuttlebug: Fiskars texture plate in dots; Spellbinders Nestabilities long rectangles and curved rectangles dies; Dew Drops in metallic red and silver; dimensionals; ribbon

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge #18 — Twilight Valentines!

Happy Tuesday — here’s an early wish for a Happy Valentine’s Day too!  This week it was my turn to choose the theme for the Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge and it was a really easy decision this time…it’s Twilight Valentines!  All of the details on the challenge can be found at our home base for the challenges, Twilight Tuesday.com.  As always, we welcome you to play along with us!  And, please visit the blogs of the design team members to see what they’ve created!

Beth ~ Dani ~ Eve ~  Jen ~ Margie ~ Rebecca ~ Tonya

The creative portion of the challenge is to make a card that could be given from character to another in the Twilight world.  Because I am totally predictable when it comes to choosing a Twilight character to focus on…yeah, I chose Edward.  I made a card that Edward would give to Bella.  In the Twilight world of my imagination.  (Just go with it — it’s more fun that way.)  More on the card in a bit.

The comment portion of the challenge is to talk a bit about the couples in the Twilight  world. Which couple’s story you might relate to or admire, which couple might not work for you (hey, imprinting on a baby theme – I’m looking at you!). Anything you like. I would bet that a lot of us love the stories because of the romantic elements — just elaborate on that a bit, and tell us what parts of that appealed to you. 

Hmmm…my favorite relationship would have to be that of Renee and Phil…yeah, just kidding — you all know what I’m going to say!  It’s all about Edward and Bella. {Or really, it’s all about Edward.  Has there EVER been a fictional character that has inspired this much adoration?  Seriously?!}

And for my least favorite relationship(s) in the story — I hinted at that one above.  The imprinting on an infant does not work for me, nor will it ever work for me.  So Renesmee and Jacob, Quil and Claire  = not my faves. 

My card for this challenge is not very black and red and Twilighty-looking.  I really just wanted to do a somewhat straightforward Valentine card, something that Edward might like for Bella.  (Again, in my imaginary world.)  There are just a few Twilight hints here.  Aside from adding Bella and Edward’s names to the heart shape on the card, the "forever" sentiment reminded me of the last scene of Twilight (both the book and the movie).  

And my nod to Edward — the presence of the rhinestones on the card, especially the rhinestone heart.  Was that not one of the loveliest of scenes, when Edward gives Bella the  diamond heart for her bracelet?  Edward seemed so thrilled to be giving it to her…so lovely.  So let’s take a moment with this; allow me to quote from one of my very favorite moments of the whole series:

On the opposite side of the chain from the wolf, there now hung a brilliant heart-shaped crystal.  It was cut in a million facets, so that even in the subdued light shining from the lamp, it sparkled.  I inhaled in a low gasp.

"It was my mother’s," he shrugged deprecatingly.  "I inherited quite a few baubles like this.  I’ve given some to Esme and Alice both.  So, clearly, this is not a big deal in any way."

I smiled ruefully at his assurance.

"But I thought it was a good representation," he continued. "It’s hard and cold."  He laughed.  "And it throws rainbows in the sunlight."

"You forgot the most important similarity," I murmured.  "It’s beautiful."

"My heart is just as silent," he mused. "And it, too, is yours."

I twisted my wrist so the heart would glimmer.  "Thank you. For both."

Eclipse, pages 438-439

Card components:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink vintage cream cardstock; SU! Riding Hood Red; 7 Gypsies Savannah flock paper – floral

Stamp: Inkadinkado from Love Letters set, Bella and Edward names computer-generated

Ink:  SU! Riding Hood Red

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Fiskars texture plate in dots; Nestabilities long rectangle and heart dies; SU! ticket corner punch; Martha Stewart floral lace border punch; rhinestone accents; ribbon; dimensionals

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge #17 — Jacob Black

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  Today’s Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge theme comes from Beth, a dedicated member of Team Jacob.  She asks us this week to explore the character of Jacob Black, in particular, his relationship to Bella.  This was an interesting theme for us Team Edward people, but getting out of your comfort zone is one of the fun things about doing a challenge, right? 

Get all the details on the challenge at our home base, Twilight Tuesday.com.  And please visit the blogs of our design team members to see what they’ve created:

Beth ~ Dani ~ Eve ~  Jen ~ Margie ~ Rebecca ~ Tonya

So even though everyone is already using this lovely quote today, I have to repeat it here since my card for the craft portion of the challenge is based on this idea of Jacob as a sunny personality:

Jacob was simply a perpetually happy person, and he carried that happiness with him like an aura, sharing it with whoever was near him. Like an earthbound sun, whenever someone was within his gravitational pull, Jacob warmed them. It was natural, a part of who he was. No wonder I was so eager to see him.

~Bella, New Moon

I am still in music mode from last week’s music-themed challenge and I used a song quote on my card.  The phrase is from a song I love called "Brighter than Sunshine," by Aqualung.  (If you aren’t familiar with Aqualung, it’s basically one British man called Matt Hales who makes great music — check the song out below.) 

For this card, I used a bunch of earthy elements, in the hopes of bringing out the feeling of Jacob’s warmth – I  hope it worked out.   I just wish I had more Jacob photos to choose from!  I have this thing with wanting to use photos of the actors in character, and there just isn’t much out there now.  But I know that will change as soon as New Moon gets rolling.  The phrase from the song is done in the font Pablo, which is used as Bella’s handwriting in the books; I wanted to give the impression of that being Bella’s opinion of Jacob.

I used kraft, russet-colored, and cream-colored cardstock for the card.  I was so psyched to see that I had that russet color on hand; I had to use that color since I really associate it with Jacob.  (Bella uses the word often to describe Jacob’s skin color.)  I also used some hemp cord around Jacob’s photo, and found a Quileute symbol online to include near his name.  (I would love to be able to say that the symbol is a wolf, but I think it looks more like a bird of some sort.)   Jacob’s name was computer-generated with a font called Evanescent.  I used a deckle edge on the layers — I just wanted the card to look a little rougher than what I usually do.  I embossed the cream-colored layer with a woodgrain texture plate by Fiskars.

And for the comment portion of  the challenge — Beth asks us to talk a bit about Jacob – who he is as a character, what our views are on his relationships to the other characters in the books, and what might appeal to you or make you dislike him. 

I have so many feelings about Jacob, and they are all over the map.  I love Jacob in Twilight and New Moon. Love him.  I am re-reading New Moon right now, and I actually feel genuine gratitude to this fictional character — I am so happy that Bella has him at that point in the story.  Everybody should have such a friend. 

Okay…then Eclipse and Breaking Dawn come around and I do a 180 on Jacob; I have some issues there.  (All of that can be addressed at another time – I want to focus on early Jacob now.) 

And I need to bring Taylor Lautner into this — I adore that kid.  I am the biggest proponent you could imagine for you-know-who, both the character and the actor…and yet, when Taylor popped up on the screen for the first time in the Twilight movie, I damn near clapped my hands with glee like a child.  The boy just makes me smile — I think that he totally nailed the easygoing sweetness of Jacob in that movie.  Totally adorable.  I can’t wait to see how Taylor brings out the other aspects of Jacob — his wildness and strength — in New Moon.  Having seen how Taylor is transforming himself, I am really confident about it.  So, how long until that movie comes out?  Checking my counter…290 days.  Sigh. 

And  now I can really exhale!  I managed to do an entire Twilight-related post without mentioning the names Edward Cullen or Rob Pattinson.  (Or including a gratuitous photo of Rob.) 

But I just mentioned them now, didn’t I?  So much for that.

Card components:

Paper:  SU! Kraft cardstock; Papertrey Ink vintage cream cardstock; Bazzill russet cardstock; The Paper Company vellum

Stamp:  none – sentiments were computer-generated with fonts Pablo and Evanescent

Ink:  Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, with Spellbinders Nestabilities rectangles and tag die, Fiskars texture plate in woodgrain; hemp cord; Basic Grey brad; dimensionals

And for the comment portion of  the challenge — Beth asks us to talk a bit about Jacob – who he is as a character, what our views are on his relationships to the other characters in the books, and what might appeal to you or make you dislike him. 

I have so many feelings about Jacob, and they are all over the map.  I love Jacob in Twilight and New Moon. Love him.  I am re-reading New Moon right now, and I actually feel genuine gratitude to this fictional character — I am so happy that Bella has him at that point in the story.  Everybody should have such a friend. 

Okay…then Eclipse and Breaking Dawn come around and I do a 180 on Jacob; I have some issues there.  (All of that can be addressed at another time – I want to focus on early Jacob now.) 

And I need to bring Taylor Lautner into this — I adore that kid.  I am the biggest proponent you could imagine for you-know-who, both the character and the actor…and yet, when Taylor popped up on the screen for the first time in the Twilight movie, I damn near clapped my hands with glee like a child.  The boy just makes me smile — I think that he totally nailed the easygoing sweetness of Jacob in that movie.  Totally adorable.  I can’t wait to see how Taylor brings out the other aspects of Jacob — his wildness and strength — in New Moon.  Having seen how Taylor is transforming himself, I am really confident about it.  So, how long until that movie comes out?  Checking my counter…290 days.  Sigh. 

And  now I can really exhale!  I managed to do an entire Twilight-related post without mentioning the names Edward Cullen or Rob Pattinson.  (Or including a gratuitous photo of Rob.) 

But I just mentioned them now, didn’t I?  So much for that.

Card components:

Paper:  SU! Kraft cardstock; Papertrey Ink vintage cream cardstock; Bazzill russet cardstock; The Paper Company vellum

Stamp:  none – sentiments were computer-generated with fonts Pablo and Evanescent

Ink:  Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, with Spellbinders Nestabilities rectangles and tag die, Fiskars texture plate in woodgrain; hemp cord; Basic Grey brad; dimensionals