Saturday, May 30, 2009

Costume Pieces!

Hi! I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I don't have any new cards to show you but since I am working frantically on costume pieces I thought I would show your my favorite piece that I made a few years ago. I really wish I had had enough fabric to make it in my size, but it was a tiny little discontinued upholstery sample so I was barely able to squeeze out a medium. I have cropped in tight on the bodice because the lady wearing it is the one who bought it and I don't know her to ask if it's o.k that I use her picture on my blog.

This is me in last years costume (the hat is made by one of my fabulous partners in our booth - The Wicked Pixie. Yes, I stole my name from our Ren-faire store!) I am so sad I let myself gain too much weight this year and I don't think I can fit into it again!

I'm off to sew again after this little break! I hope your weekend is great! And I will try to have new cards to show by the beginning of the week!

:-) Traci

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Goth Fairy

Hi Everyone! Is this week just flying by or what? Maybe it's just me! There is not enough time to get everything done that I need/want to get done!

Today I decided to make a little Goth Fairy. I know Flutter Anya is way too cute to really be believably Goth.....My nine year old daughter Ronnie has decided that the goth look is cool. It's not really a good fit for her - she never stops smiling and is often described by her teachers as "sweet" "enthusiastic" "bubbly" and "full of joy". Her favorite "goth" outfit is a t-shirt that used to be mine in my thinner days that is black with an Amy Brown fairy on it that she likes to pair with a skirt I made her that is purple with black tulle peeking out from the bottom. It's pretty adorable if I do say so myself! Ok, I know I'm a weirdo - how many moms would be proud that their nine year old wants to dress Goth?! Anyway, on to my card!


For this card I used the adorable Flutter Anya from The Greeting Farm. The Dp is Making Memories. I used Elegant Eggplant Stampin Up cardstock for the base and Perfect Plum stamped with the skull and crossbones from Matey (also from The Greeting Farm) for the background panel. After watching me repeatedly try to make a bow I was happy with out of the velvet my DH said "It needs some metal" so, wala - the ribbon buckle! As usual, I colored the image with Copics:

Skin:R00,E00,E11,R20,R22
Clothes, Hair: V01,V04,V06,V09,BV01,BV02,BV04,C0,C1,C3,C5,C7,C9

Thank you, and have a wonderful weekend!
:-) Traci

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Just a Little Elf Expression

Hi Everyone! How's your week going so far? Mine is so crazy busy. It's my own fault really. I mentioned several weeks ago how my friends and I have a booth at our local Renaissance Festival, which is the first two full weekends in June? Well, for my part, I sew costume pieces - bodices, peasant blouses, kilts - that sort of thing. Last year I was doing a different job where I was working more hours and I couldn't work up the enthusiasm to make a lot of inventory, so even though I sold most of what I made, I didn't make a lot of money. I swore when I started my new job with a lot fewer hours I was going to spend all year working on pieces and have lots of inventory. HA, HA! I think I made 2 "pirate" shirts, all year long! So I am now sewing as much as I can stand each day! It's not leaving a lot of time for stamping, which is what I really feel like doing.....I am going to try offering my cards for sale this year, but I tried that several years ago and I didn't sell very many. I do like the cards I make now a lot better that what I used to make, so maybe...but I won't count on it.


My card today is made using Alf and the large mushroom from Magnolia (bought from Magnolia-licious) . The sentiment is from the Fairy Tale Sentiments from Doodlefactory. The DP is Basic Grey - Granola. I never make cards this size but I decided to layer the smaller mushrooms in front of the large (the ones on the left were stamped and masked, the one on the right was stamped, cut out, and layered over the big mushroom) and I didn't realize that once I put Alf on the mushroom it was going to be too tall to fit, even on a 5.25 inch square card! I don't have any other envelope sizes besides standard card, 5.5 square, or letter envelopes, so I made it to fit in a letter envelope. I decorated the inside, too, and it was all colored with copics (except the background which was sponged with Bashful Blue and Bordering Blue):

Skin: R00,E00,E11,R20
Hair: E47
Mushroom and Clothes: B91,B93,B95, B97,E31,E53,E55,E57,E59
Grass:YG95,YG97,YG99

I hope you have a wonderful day!
:-) Traci

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Dahlia!

Hi Everyone! I hope your Memorial Weekend was fantastic (I bet lots of you still have tomorrow as part of your holiday, so YEAH!) I have been a bad blogger and bad blogger reader and have not been near my computer all weekend! I was able to stamp a little, though, and I finally let Dahlia (one of the Wild Sprouts from The Greeting Farm) see ink. This is one of my very favorite stamps from TGF. I don't know why when I really, really love a stamp I tend to let it sit there a bit when I get it (unless it's something from the Club Anya DT, then I HAVE to use it right away). I do the same thing with fabric - the more I love it the longer it sits in the closet waiting to be made into something.

For this card, I made my background by weaving different widths of black and white cardstock to make a checkered pattern. The DP is Basic Grey - Lime Rickey. She is colored with Copics:

Skin: R00,E00,E11,R20
Hair: R22,R24,R27,R29,R39
Clothes: YG00,YG03,YG25,YG17,BV01,BV04,C5,C7,C9
Flower: B21,B32,B34,Y00,Y02,Y08 (I may have gone over the blue parts with BV01 - I can't remember. I know I was thinking of doing that!)

Thanks so much for visiting me! Enjoy the rest of your holiday!
:-) Traci

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Sweet Pea Boy

Hi! Happy Thursday (and last day of school to the kids here!) We are having warmer and sunnier weather here than I think we had all last summer! I hope it lasts!

My daughter had the BEST teacher in 1st grade. This year that teacher became a PE treacher. I know it is what she loves doing, but I can't help being disappointed because I thought she was awesome in the classroom and we need more teachers like her in the classroom! Anyway, she is having her first child in June and so I made this card for her (and got her some baby clothes. I love to buy baby clothes. Why are they so darn cute!?).


I used an image from Pink Cat Studio's Sweet Pea Plate #2. They have the cutest baby stamps! The DP is Stampin Up and I colored the image with Copics:

Skin: R00,E00,E11,R20
Flower: Y21,Y23,Y35,Y38,YR16,E25,E27,E29
Wings & Diaper: B21,B32,B34
Lady Bug: R27,R29,R39

Thanks!
:-) Traci

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Hula Anya

Hi Everyone! Happy Wednesday! Today on the Club Anya blog I have posted my first ever video tutorial. It is on how I color black hair with Copics. This is the card I created with the image afterward:

I used DP and Real Red ribbon from Stampin Up and the white cardstock behind her is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. I ended up cutting her out and putting her on pop-up dots because when I was trimming down the square she was originally on I cut too close to the top of her head! She is colored with copics:

Skin: R00,E11,E13,R20
Flowers: R20,R22
Skirt: YG21,YG23,YG25
Top: R27,R29,R39
Hair:C3,C5,C7,C9

Thanks for visiting me today!
:) Traci

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

A Sweet Mothers Day Card From My Daughter

Hi Everyone! I am apologizing now because I don't think I am going to be able to post as much this week as I usually do. It is the last week of school here and there is just tons going on. I don't have a new card for you today but I wanted to show off a picture of the Mother's Day card I got from my daughter. She made this in school where she didn't have access to any of my stamps but because she knows I love Anya's and Ian's she drew them on her card for me. I just melted!

Stay tuned because tomorrow on the Club Anya blog I am doing my first ever video tutorial on how I color black hair with Copics! Wish me luck!

Have a wonderful day!
:) Traci

Monday, May 18, 2009

Fairy Sweet!

Hi Everyone! It is Sunday night as I am typing this and I am actually barely able to keep my eyes open right now, so I am going to make this a very quick post. The card I made today uses an image from the Enchanted Lily set from Pink Cat Studio. I love fairies and she is just so cute!


I stamped the image twice and cut Lily out and popped her up. The brads at the top of her antennae are Doodlebug Sugar Coated brads. The DP on the card is from K&Co and she is colored with Copics:

Skin :R00,E00,E11,RV02
Hair: E53,E55,E57,E59
Mushroom & Clothes: G000, G00,G02, RV02,RV04,RV06,RV09, Y11,Y15,Y17, C5,C7, and T0 (used over the pinks because they were just a bit too bright and this helped tone them down some.)

I hope tomorrow is the start of a wonderful week for you!
:) Traci

Friday, May 15, 2009

Here Aaaarrrrr Some More Pirates For You!

Happy Friday to you! I hope you were able to join the Virtual Stamping Luau last night (and if you did, you've already seen these cards!) We had such a fun time! These are the two cards I made for the two challenges we had! They both use my favorite new set from The Greeting Farm - Matey!

The first was a monochromatic challenge. I thoroughly admit I cheated! Mine is not-so-monochromatic! But I wasn't up for any prizes and I REALLY wanted red, too! If you read my blog very often, you may have seen my post about our local Ren-fair and the cards I made in honor of the Red, Green, and Blue courts. Well, we also have the Pirates Guild that puts on a Naughty, Bawdy Pirate show at the tavern and they are my favorite! They tend to dress in red, black, and white, so these are in honor of them! The DP on the pirate Ian card is from DCWV, and he is colored with Copics: (this is my first time coloring on ivory paper - Gina K - instead of white and it definitely took the color differently. It also seemed to feather a lot more, but I do like the end result.)

Skin: R00,E00,E11,R20
Shirt: E40,E43
Vest & Headband: R24,R27,R29,R39
Hair & Other Clothes: C3,C5,C7,C9


I used Stampin Up DP for my "Pirate Wench". The sentiment is from the set Best Mates from The Greeting Farm. She is colored with Copic:

Skin: R00,E11,E13,R20
Hair: E21,E25,E27,E29
Clothes: R24,R27,R29,R39, C5,C7,C9, 110
Shadow: C1,C3

Thanks so much for coming to see me today! I hope your weekend is Fabulous!
:) Traci

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Ahoy Matey!

Hi there! It's the final day of the new release sneak peaks for The Greeting Farm! I am thrilled to show you Pirate Anya and Pirate Ian from the new set Matey! Aren't they FANTASTIC!?! I loved these guys so much I had to make a card using each one, and I am in the middle of working on another one right now (well, until I stopped to post to my blog!) Hopefully I'll have it finished in time to show you at tonight's Virtual Stamping Luau at the Club Anya PCP page (8 PM CST). For more details, you can check out the Club Anya blog.


My first card, made with Pirate Anya uses DP from Creative Imaginations. I cut the treasure chest using my Cricut machine and the Paper Doll cartridge. It is colored with Copics and a gold leafing pen and layered on a piece of cardstock that is covered with different jewel colored seed beads and gold stickles. She is colored with Copics:

Skin:R00,E11,E13,R20,R22
Clothes:YR21,YR14,YR16,E21,E25,E27,E29,BG11,BG13,BG15
Hair:E02,E08,E09,E18

My second card, using Pirate Ian (isn't he just the cutest!?) also has DP from Creative Imaginations. The skull and crossbones for the Jolly Roger are cut with my Cricut and the Indie Art cartridge. Ian is colored with Copics:

Skin: R00,E00,E11,R20
Hat and Boots: E21,E25,E27,E29
Vest and Bandana: R24,R27,R29
Hair: E53,E55,E57
Pants:C5,C7,C9
Shirt: C1,C3

These cuties (along with the other new releases - Rain, Snow, Shine ; Hula Anya; and Surfer Ian) will be available after midnight tonight at The Greeting Farm!

If you haven't already had a chance to see what the other DT members have made with this set, you should head over to their blogs to have a look! They never fail to amaze me with their talent and creativity!
Jessica Diedrich, Club Anya VP and DT Coordinator
Michelle Oatman-Guest Designer

As always, I am thrilled you stopped by to see what I have done! I hope to see you at the Luau tonight! (How often do you get to say that!?)
:-) Traci

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Awesome, Dude!

Isn't he adorable!? He is the new Surfer Ian (release date - May 15) from The Greeting Farm! I am so glad that my daughter has several friends that are boys because I LOVE the Ian stamps as much as the Anya's and that gives me a good reason to use Ian (Reasons? We don't need no stinking reasons! HA HA!) Ok, Sorry, I will try to control myself! This was just so much fun and I am a bit giddy!

I made my card a stair step card (Markie's Mom does a great tutorial). I thought it would be neat to have layers of waves and to have Ian riding them! The larger waves are punched with a Fiskars punch and glued to the front of the middle fold, then covered with a piece of embossed card stock, and the smaller waves are the pieces that were left behind after taking the big wave! The DP is from Paper Trunk and the sentiment is from the set Wardrobe #1 also from The Greeting Farm. Ian's surfboard has some Crystal Effects to make it nice and shiny and I popped him up on foam dots for dimension. Everything is colored with Copics:


Skin: Roo, E11, E13, R20, R22 ( My go-to color for skin is usually E00 with E11 for the shadow- the R00 is under everything - but for all of these summery cards I am really liking E11 with E13. It seems to give a good tanned look.)
Hair: E50,Y21,Y26,Y28
Clothes: YR21,YR14, G00,BG000,BG02
Board: R24,R27,R29,R39,C1,C3

Be sure to go see what all of my awesome team mates have done with this cutie (If you haven't already!)
Jessica Diedrich, Club Anya VP and DT Coordinator
And I hope to see you here tomorrow and then at the Virtual Stamp Luau tomorrow night!
:-) Traci

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Aloha!



Hi Everyone! Are you ready to see some sneak peaks of the new Anya's (and Ian's, too, starting tomorrow!)? I love, love, love all of the new stamps The Greeting Farm is releasing on the 15th! I was so excited when I saw this one in particular! My daughter is in love with the idea of Hawaii! She's never been (yet! We were trying to plan a trip for last Christmas and things just didn't work out!) Her favorite music is by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole and she talks about going to Hawaii all of the time! She fell in love with this stamp as soon as I showed it to her. In fact, at school last week all of her class made Mother's Day cards for their mom's and on hers she drew her version of this stamp (and tomorrow's sneak peak!) because she didn't have the stamps there to stamp with!

This new stamp is called Hula Anya! Isn't she adorable!? I used my Cricut to cut out a Palm tree and some coconuts (it's from the Paper Doll cartridge. That one has a lot more than is shown on the box!) The DP is K&Company and I used Pink Passion SU card stock. Anya has Prima's over the stamped flowers for extra texture. I colored everything with Copics:

Skin: R00,E11,E13, R81
Hair: C3,C5,C7,C9
Tree (and Skirt): YG23,YG25,YG17,E25,E27,E29
Flowers and Top: R81,R83,R85,YR21,YR14,YR16,Y04,Y08,BG02,BG05

All of the Club Anya DT will be having sneak peaks of these cute new stamps through Thursday and then on Thursday night (before they are released!) we are having a Virtual Stamp night! (You can get all of the details at THIS Club Anya post!)

Jessica Diedrich, Club Anya VP and DT Coordinator


Thanks so much for all of you who come to visit my blog. It really means a lot to me and you have no idea how much the lovely comments sometimes make my day!

:-) Traci

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Shine On!

Hello Everyone! How was your weekend!? Mine was really good but went by way too fast. My daughter's whole school did a musical performance that pretty much took up all of Saturday between the dropping off for the rehearsal, pick-up for dinner, then back for the show....It was a very cool program, though. Each grade had a different song about things like being responsible for your own actions and how the choices they make build who they are. For several months, while they were working on this program, the kids have been able to earn pins from their teachers and other school staff for different positive behaviors. We also filled the cracks in our driveway this weekend and went to see Star Trek (WOO HOO!) But, on to my card....

My card today was made using Shine from the upcoming Rain, Snow, Shine from The Greeting Farm (due out on the 15th). The DP is from Imaginisce and the cardstock is SU. I colored her with Copics:

Skin: R00,E11,E13,RV21,RV13
Hair: E50,Y21,Y26,Y28
Clothes: RV21,RV13,RV14,R85,E25,E27,E29
Outline: C1,C3


And I decorated the inside!

Each day this week I (and the other Fabulous Club Anya DT members) will be showing you some sneak peaks of the new sets. They are so great - I can't wait for you to see them! Then on Thursday at 8PM CST we will be having our first Virtual Stamping Night! You can get all of the deatails HERE.

Thanks for coming to see me! I hope to see you again tomorrow with the first of some really cute sneaks!
:-) Traci

Friday, May 8, 2009

Happy Halloween?

Hi! How are you? It's Friday! WooHoo! And I am apparently living in the wrong month! I just couldn't wait until September or October to make this when the idea hit me! I love Halloween! I want to play dress up every day!


My card today uses Wild Things from The Greeting Farm. I made a few minor changes - I changed the ears on the bear to cat ears by tracing the shape of the top part of the head (including the bear ears) with pencil on a separate piece of card stock (at this point I had already stamped the image, colored it and cut it out with the bear ears). I then drew triangular cat ears over the top of the traced bear ears. When I liked the shape and size I went over it with a Copic Multiliner pen and colored it with the Copics to match the rest of the costume. At that point I trimmed off the bear ears, cut out the cat ears and about 1/2 inch below the ears and then glued them to the back of the head so the new ears stuck up in the same place that the bear ears used to be. I also added whiskers to the "cat" and a string on the beak of the bird so it would look like a Halloween mask. I also gave them little trick-or-treat bags using just a small square of DP that I drew jack-o-lantern faces on.

The papers are My Minds Eye (orange dot) and DCWV. I used my new EK Success punch for the top of the sky and colored everything with Copics:

Lion:
Skin: R00,E31,E33,R20
Costume: E53,E55,E43,E47,E49
Hair: C3,C5,C7,C9
Kitty:
Skin: R00,E00,E11,R20
Hair: YR00,YR04,YR07,YR09
Costume: C1,C3,C5,C7,C9
Bird:
Skin: R00,E57,E59,R22
Hair:C5,C7,C9
Costume: B01,B02,B04, YR00,YR04,YR07


Thanks for visiting me today! I hope you have a great weekend - I know i have a pretty busy one planned so I will be back on Monday. Next week kicks off with some sneak peaks of the new Anya's and Ian's that are coming out on the 15th, and some fun activities with Club Anya!

:-) Traci

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Celebrate!

Hi! First off, I have to apologize for the quality of my photo's today. I was making this card for a friends birthday yesterday (nothing like last minute, huh!?). I rushed to take the pictures, ran off for the birthday lunch, then she was on her way to Arizona on vacation. I come home, download the pictures, and am all "What?!" I have no idea what went wrong! One is blurry, one has little dots all over it! Those dots really weren't there on the real card! I can't even re-do them (and I hate re-do's!) because the card is gone!

My card uses an adorable image from the CC Designs set Gingersnaps Celebrate that I got at All That Scraps. A lot of their stamps are available as either regular EZ mounted rubber or as Digi versions. I used to think I would never want the digi versions when rubber was available, but it is now my first choice. I am just running out of room to store stamps (even with converting all of my retired SU stamps to EZ-Mount.) Plus, there's that whole instant gratification thing! On this card I used DP from Imaginisce. The ribbon for the bow (which took forever and I am still not happy with) is SU. The incredibly talented , and extremely nice Janna sent my a few links to bow tutorials after I complained about this to her, so maybe my next bows will be better! This is also my first time participating in the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge. I've been printing the sketches off for a bit and saving them (for a rainy day, I guess!)

This is a (blurry!) picture of the inside of the card. The little cupcakes and cakes at the bottom are cut from one of the pieces of DP. The images on the front are colored with Copics:

Skin: R00,E00,E11,R83
Hair:E21,E25,E27,E29
Clothes and Balloons: BVooo, BV01,BV02, R81,R83,R85, YG21,YG23,YG25, BG72

Thanks for visiting me today!
:-) Traci

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Club Anya Couture

Hi Everyone! Just in case you missed the announcement yesterday, Club Anya is having another fun contest! This one is a fashion show called Club Anya Couture: Spring Fashion 2009! You can get all of the details HERE. Be sure to check it out because you can win the new, fantastic Rain, Snow, Shine set!! I had the idea for this card with Princess Anya and her little forest friends, and although I know it is not "high fashion", I think it is my first sample for the contest. After all, it is a "one of a kind" outfit she is wearing!


First, I drew on Anya's dress to try to make it coordinate with the DP I wanted to use (My Mind's Eye). I also drew her a new hat, colored it, cut it out and placed it over the crown. I drew the veil for her hat on vellum and colored it with Copics. The deer and the squirrels are from Forest Friends and the little bird is from Pretty Hat. (All of the stamps are from The Greeting Farm.) Everything is colored with Copics:

Princess:
Skin: R00,E00,E11,RV11,RV13
Dress: Y21,Y17,RV11,RV13,RV14,BG13
Deer and Squirrels: E21,E25,E27,E00,E11,RV11,RV13
Bird: BG11,BG13,BG15,BG49

Thanks for coming to see my creation! I hope you have a lot of fun making yours!
:-) Traci

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Ethan's Birthday Card


Hi Everyone! This is going to be a very quick post today. This is a very simple card that I made for a little boy who is a good friend of my daughters. They both love to play video and computer games so when I saw this stamp from In Style Stamps, I had to have it. At some point I am going to make it a girl and do one for her, too. The DP is Basic Grey and there is piercing around the image panel. That's pretty much it except for the Copics shown below.


Thanks for coming to see me today! I hope your day is wonderful!
:-) Traci

Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Lovely Miss Reeta!


Hi Everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! I didn't get nearly as much stamping done as I thought I would, but I did get to finally play with one of my new Wild Sprouts from The Greeting Farm. I also used some of the brand new Sunny Glenn DP from The Greeting Farm! This paper is so pretty and has a very nice feel to it! The sentiment is from the Sentiments set, also from The Greeting Farm. I colored Reeta and her kitty with Copics:

Skin: R00, E00,E11
Hair and part of the skirt: E71,E74,E77,E79
Clothes:E17,E18,R85,R89,BG49,BG75,BGF78,Y11,Y06
Kitty:Y15,Y17

Thanks for stopping by!
:-) Traci

Friday, May 1, 2009

Digi Dino

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a chance to enter the contest yesterday at Club Anya and The Greeting Farm to win the new Miss Anya set! Congratulations to whoever wins (I am typing this on Thursday night so a winner hasn't been drawn yet!) I know you are going to love it!


My card today uses the digital set Eric and Chrissy Go Prehistoric from CC Designs at All That Scraps. The paper is DCWV (the Green Stack). I took a photo of the Copic colors I used. For those of you that are interested in the colors I use, just let me know if you like it this way with the photo or prefer to have the colors typed out.


Thanks for visiting me, and all of the kind comments you leave. I hope your weekend is Fabulous!
:-) Traci