Introducing the new Spring Release!
Purrtastic releases so far!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Spring Microscope Slide Magnets for the Blockheads' Emboss Resist Technique Challenge!

Howzit Everyone!
It's Technique Challenge time again over at Blockheads Paper Arts!!  This one is called Emboss Resist and Colleen D (sniff...bye Colleen) created a wonderful tutorial for you all to check out!  So give the technique a whirl and then come and join us on the Blockheads Blog or on our Facebook page for a chance to win some fabulous prizes!

Here's my take on the Emboss Resist Technique to get your crafty brains buzzing ;0)
Spring inspired Microscope Slide Magnets 
- oh yes, Spring is here!


Blockheads exclusive stamps:  Flowers, Feeling Regal, Grunge It Up, Backgrounds for all Occasions and Household Notions collections

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Tiny Steampunk Bird House for Mother's Day! - Lost Coast Designs

Howzit Everyone!
Do you need some inspiration for Mom's Day projects?  I created the cutest tiny bird house in the Steampunk style!  Check it out - even the little birdie has a monocle ;0)

 

I used the small bird from the Vintage Bird Illustrations set and the Happy Mother's Day sentiment which can be found on the Daisies set.  Both are Blockheads exclusives and the Measuring Tape border stamp by Lost Coast Designs is also available at Blockheads Paper Arts!

Vintage Bird Illustrations

Daisies

Thursday, April 19, 2012

"Measure" Steampunk card featuring Lost Coast Designs - A Blockheads DT project!

Steampunk is definitely one of my favourite stamping themes and I had a blast getting my Steampunk action on with this card ;0)  Here's another project for Blockheads' upcoming newsletter feature on creating with Border Stamps featuring Borders by Lost Coast Designs!


Last Friday I shared a project that featured a loose stamped weave pattern created with just the border stamps themselves instead of weaving paper strips and now I'm going to show you how to do a tight basket weave pattern too.  I've  been playing around and created a few basket weave backgrounds.  Here's a sneak peak at a weave (left) that I'll be using in my next project created with just the Measuring Tape border and also a peek at the sewing themed background I created from a weave that went wrong...so don't throw away your 'mistakes' coz you can still make fun backgrounds with them ;0)


On this project I used the following Lost Coast Designs rubber stamps
Steampunk Typewriter Girl, Measuring Tape border, Bingo border and Numbers border.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I'm a Winner at Smudgy Antics, Woohoo!

Hello Everyone!


Today is a sad day because its the 3rd anniversary of when we scattered my precious Daddy's ashes and I was in need of a little cheer me up and I just found out I won the $5 gift voucher to spend at Smeared Ink...Woohoo, dance of joy :0)

I entered my "Codex Atlanticus" fantasy card in Smudgy Antics Anything Goes Challenge!  Thanks Smudgy Antics for making my day :0)

Happy Stamping!
 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN
I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * About Art Accents

Friday, April 13, 2012

"A View From A Window" Fantasy Art Card featuring Lost Coast Designs Border Stamps!

Happy Friday 13th!

 Not quite the view from a window you were expecting to see is it ;0)  It's raining buckets outside today so I changed my plans and decided to stay indoors to continue with my Atlantian fantasy story....


LSBD Log:  Day 42 - We are still finding so many wonderful treasures down here but today I discovered the best treasure of all!  I found a chamber with a phenomenal view overlooking the sunken city of Atlantis...


The Blockheads Design Team is playing with ideas for using border stamps and I've been having a ball with the borders by Lost Coast Designs!   My first project 'Portal To Atlantis' features the Iris Fold technique, my second project 'Codex Atlanticus' demonstrates using the border strips to make a basket weave and a border background collage and my third...wait for it...using the border stamps themselves to create a basket weave.  Alas, due to some time constraints I didn't get my 'tight basket weave' project completed in time for today but I was able to get this one with a loose weave design ready instead!

I used the following Lost Coast Designs border stamps on my fantasy art card:
Tear Drops (top right), Spiral (bottom left) and Wave (bottom right) to create the loose weave... looks like the ruins of the city of Atlantis don't you think!  Blockheads' Fish image from the Seascape - Fishes set and Inky sentiment from my favourite full sheet of Verses completed my card!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

"Codex Atlanticus - Artifact #42" Art Card featuring Paper Weaved Border stamps by Lost Coast Designs

Howzit Everyone!

My fantasy scifi story continues from yesterday's project 'Portal To Atlantis' and I've got more fun uses for border stamps to share with you!

LSBD Log:  Day 31 - We have been exploring the strange ruins but its slow going with a lot of the chambers submerged under water but we are making some surprising discoveries.  Today's exciting find has made it all worth it - ref. catalogued artifact #42 the 'Codex Atlanticus'.  We have managed to translate a few sentences on the tablet depicting the Codex and believe it to be some kind of a cipher device but the meaning of the numbers and text on the right panel are still unknown .  The wealth of technology we are finding down here is astronomical...


I used the following Lost Coast Designs stamps on my fantasy art card:
Borders:  Tear Drops, Spiral, Wave, Antique Text, Tape Measure, Numbers and Bingo and the wonderful Steampunk Typewriter Girl image as the focal point of my card.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

"Portal to Atlantis" Iris Fold Art Card featuring Lost Coast Designs Border Stamps at Blockheads Paper Arts

Howzit Bloggers!

I'm a huge fan of fantasy and Scifi and the stories about Atlantis and the Bermuda Triangle have been firm favourites of mine since I was about 13years old!  So when it came to designing some projects to give you ideas for what you can do with border stamps by Lost Coast Designs I was immediately inspired by the borders that seemed to have the feeling of water and my art card story developed from there.   So come with me on my Creative Adventure and delve into the mystery...


LSBD Log:  Day 11 - A strange portal has finally been unearthed revealing a spiral staircase, with intricately detailed mosaic steps, leading down into mysterious watery depths.  Could this be it?  Have we finally found the lost civilization of Atlantis, here in this remote location of the Bermuda Triangle?  What will we find down there?  The expedition will head down the staircase at 5am...

Friday, April 6, 2012

Fabergรฉ Eggs to get you in the mood for the Egg Hunt ;0)

Happy Easter Everyone!

How about an eggs-tra special project to get you in the mood for the Easter Bunny this weekend ;0)  I've been eggs-tra busy and I'm super egg-cited to show you my Fabergรฉ eggs!


Have you seen the really cool Digi stamps designed specifically for use with Spellbinders dies over at Blockheads Paper Arts?  They are super fun and I had an egg-tastic time using the Spellbinders Labels 18 Floral and Elegant digi frames on my Fabergรฉ eggs.  You can also get the Digi stamps free if you buy the Spellbinders dies so go check out the ones that are available!  They are really easy to use, once you've downloaded them you can alter the size, add your own sentiments digitally or stamp them and the dotted outline guide makes it easy to line up the die and cut them out.


The frame in the photo above is the Elegant digi stamp and I adjusted the size to fit the second to smallest Spellbinders Label 18 die in Photoshop to 2" wide.  I added the Easter Greetings sentiment in Photoshop too and printed out the design on Neenah Solar White cardstock.  Die cut the image with the Labels 18 die and then emboss it with the Spellbinders tan embossing mat.  I went for a yellow monochromatic colour scheme for this label and used the following Copic markers:  Y11, 15, 17 and 38.  I also coloured the inside border black with a Copic Multiliner and added some details and edged the frame with a metallic gold Marvy Le Plume pigment pen.


The frame in the photos above and below is the Floral digi stamp and both were adjusted to the same size as the yellow frame and I added the Easter sentiments to both in Photoshop too.  I used the following Copics to colour the blue label:  Y15 and 17, G21, BG02 and BG07 and edged the label in metallic gold Marvy Le Plume.


For the this label I decided to go with a pink monochromatic colour scheme and used RV10 and 13 and edged the label in metallic gold.  The inspiration for this one was the result of my printer acting up.  The cyan cartridge had come unseated for some reason and the first time I printed everything came out pink and I thought it looked really pretty!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Projects Featuring Perfect Pearls Powders & Mists!

Howzit Everyone!
Blockheads Paper Arts is doing a feature on Perfect Pearls Powders and Mists in their upcoming newsletter.  So I've compiled a list of some of my projects where I used them so you can see just how much fun they are to play with!  If you haven't signed up for Blockheads' newsletter then do so quickly so you can also see what my design team mates have been doing with Perfect Pearls too!

Click on the project headings to go directly to the featured tutorial and the photos to enlarge them.

I'm going to start off by giving you a sneak peek at a project I'm currently working on...the theme is Atlantis and that's all I'm saying for now so stay tuned to see what I'm up to ;0)

Home Made Perfect Pearls Mists
For my secret project I made my own faux marble background paper with home made Perfect Pearls mists and Distress Inks re-inkers.  I concocted a Perfect Pearls powder, Distress Ink re-inker and water potion in a Mini Mister spritzer bottle.  You can see in the right hand photo how glorious the shimmer is!

Perfect Pearls Peacock Butterfly Box and matching Gift Card
The majority of this project features Patina Perfect Pearls.  I stamped most of the images with Perfect Pearls medium and then dusted the images with pewter and gold Patina PP.  I added water to the blue and green Patina PP to make creamy paints which I used to paint the peacock feathers and butterfly.

Magic Metals - Faux Embossed Metal Square Domino Pendant
For this project I added blue and green Perfect Pearls to the molten silver embossing powder to create this stunning altered Square Domino Pendant.

Magic Metals - Faux Embossed Metal Peacock Feather Card
I used the Perfect Pearls blue and green Patina in the same way as the Square Domino Pendant but this time the embellishment is made with Grungeboard and used on a card.

"Proud of You" Art Deco Accordion Card
 I used pewter Patina Perfect Pearls and PP medium to decorate the black mat on the front of this fancy fold accordion card.

Numerology DominoART Card
I used pewter Patina Perfect Pearls in conjunction with a Crafter's Workshop Template to create the really cool Numbers collage on the left hand side of this card.

Painted Butterflies DominoART Card
 Now on this particular card I used interference Pearl Ex powders but you will get the exact same effect with Perfect Pearls Interference powders too!
 
"Dream" Steampunk Mini Book
I used gold Patina Perfect Pearls to give the Word Stamps on the pages of my mini book a bit of bling.

Thank you for visiting with me today, I hope you've enjoyed checking out all my Perfect Pearls projects!  I'm dashing off now to continue working on an Easter themed project which I hope to get finished in time to share with you tomorrow ;0)

Happy Stamping!
 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN
I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * About Art Accents

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Perfect Pearls Peacock Butterfly Box and Gift Card

Howzit Everyone!

I've been having fun lately playing with Patina Perfect Pearls and today I'm sharing a Butterfly Box and matching Gift Card project designed for Blockheads Paper Arts!


I used the large butterfly and butterfly postage stamp from the Painted Butterflies set and the large peacock feather background, small peacock feather and 'I'm Proud of You' sentiment from the Proud As A Peacock set.  All the stamps and linked products are available at Blockheads Paper Arts!