It's a Little Paper Shop Chanukkah!

...Well maybe it has a little bit of PTI too.

When Little Paper Shop came out with the set Global, I fell in love. The idea of a blank snowglobe conjured up so many ideas for me. From NYCesque skyscrappers to every holiday under the sun, I could feel the flexibility. One particular thing I liked about it was the idea that I could put a Menorah in it, to make my own holiday verison.

I'll explain the Snowglobe by steps:

1. Stamp Globe from Global set and Menorah from PTI onto 90lb watercolor paper in Staz-on Black.
2. Use a tempting tuorquoise reinker to color in the 'globe'.
3. Use a Rose Red reinker to color in the bottom.
4. Place distress stickles in Antique Linen on the flames and Broken China under the Menorah.
5. Shade globe with Night of Navy sponge.
6. Shade bottom with Adirondack Acrylic paint.
7. Cut out!

I had a blast playing with all the colors and blending everything!

Hope you like it!
Happy Stamping,
Elyssa Blair

You're Better Than Ice Cream...

I made this particular card today for the MFT Guest Designer Challenge (MFGD12). The challenge asked participants to use watercoloring. This was actually quite the challenge for me since I am a not a super star when it comes to watercolors. But, I decided to play anyway using SU re-inkers. I believe I used Pumpkin Pie, Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive, Soft Sky, Always Artichoke, Taken with Teal and Violet.

To add some sparkle I utilized some Adirondack Acrylic paint for the carpet and the ice cream. If you have never played with them, you really must try them. I think they cost like 3$ per color and you get a whole lot of it.

I really had a lot of fun with this challenge!

Happy Stamping!
Elyssa

Tuscan Villa

Wow! Only a week and a half till the LSAT. I can’t believe it. So much of my time is consumed with studying that you really would think I was still in school.

But, don’t feel too bad for me, as I still have time to create a couple of cards a day. I worked on this one last night. Watercoloring is just so fun and soothing. Plus the Tuscany color scheme was so much fun to work with, I even added some Twinkling H20s (golden monarch) to the stamp. If you have never checked out Twinkling H20s and you like sparkle, you are missing your calling. I even have a tutorial (see my left hand column) on how to use them J

I have a full four hour practice LSAT tomorrow, so I am off to do some last minute studying, hope you enjoy.

Elyssa Blair

Ingredients

Stamps: P1-729 Tuscan Village by Stampers Anonymous, Rondel by Stamper’s Anonymous

Ink: More Mustard by Stampin’ Up, Real Rust by Stampin’ Up, Staz-on by Tsuinkeno

Paper: More Mustard by Stampin’ Up, Real Rust by Stampin’ Up, 140 lb Cold Press by Cannon

Ribbon: Offray

Watercolors: Derwent, Twinkling H20s

LPS Sneak Peak #4 and the Wii

My name is Elyssa and I have a problem. I am addicted to the Wii. Since my birthday is Friday and my sister's is Wednesday we got the Wii as a joint gift. I am in love! We have been playing Wii Tennis and Guitar Hero and on Friday I will be opening Wii Fit. Do you guys have it or like it?

This card is going to be for my Mom's Birthday on Saturday (my dad's birthday is Tuesday, weird, I know). It uses Little Paper Shop's set 'Still Hot'. I water colored the main image with my Derwent water-color pencils. It is a lot easier to watercolor an embossed image because the embossing stops the color!! The inside of the card uses a sentiment from the set which says 'Happy Birthday; You're still hot, it just comes in flashes'. How funny is Julia??? 'Mom' is written with the a-z alphabet from LPS. I love it's simple serif design.

I also wanted to remind y'all to enter in DAILY for blog candy!!

Ok, I'm off to game night with my friends.

Ely

Ingredients

Stamps: 'Polka Dots Backgrounder' by CHF, 'Simple Sayings' by SU, 'Still Hot' by LPS, 'A-Z' by LPS

Ink: Rose Red by SU!, Versamark, Black Onyx Versafine

Paper: Rose Red by SU!, Bazzil and Bazzil Bling

Accessories: Derwent Watercolors, Fine Black Embossing Powder, Bling from Ms

LPS Sneak Peak #3

So...what happened to me yesterday? I let you down. I said I would update and I didn't.

But, I had an excuse.

A good excuse.

An excuse I couldn't tell you yesterday.

I was busy planning and executing a SURPRISE party for my sister!!!!

She reads my blog (Hi Ilana!) so I couldn't even hint at it! It went really well and she was super surprised. I also found out that some of my friends read my blog, so 'Hi Hillary!!'

Parties are really fun for us stampers and believe me there were plenty of hand-stamped touches. I stamped a sign in board and added peace signs (from SU's Groovy set) to some banners. Isn't one of the best aspects of stamping the fact that with some good black staz-on ink you can customize EVERYTHING!


So, back to todays card. Based on the poll so far I am going to go back to an ingredients list and commentary, sort of the way I did it when I first started my blog. Let me know what you think!

I've been getting really into water color pencils. I love their light colored look and the free flow nature of their color. I invested in a 36 color set from Derwent. Part of me wishes I had gone for the 72 pack as I do feel that I am missing some colors (like a good pink). However, it was only 44.99 at Michaels and you can get it a little cheaper online.

I am a sucker for background stamps. But they get a little pricey. Enter in LPS's newest set Basic Shapes. It is basically a bunch of basic shapes. Oh yea, I can use my words to describe things with the words of the title. I am creative. I am original. I am tired. The joy of acrylic is the fact that you can position multiple shapes on one acrylic block to make a pattern. I used the three sizes of asterisks that are in the 'Basic Shape' set to make this design. I like it!! I love how it looks like glimmer of stained glass.

So, to the ingredient list. Please let me know what you think of this posting style and don't forget to enter for blog candy on yesterday's post. One post per day please!!

Ely

Ingredients

Stamps: 'Stained Glass' by See Dees, 'Small Sayings' by Stampin' Up, 'Basic Shapes by Little Paper Shop

Paper: All Paper by Bazzil

Ink: Versafine Black Onyx, Encore Silver

Accessories: Derwent Water-Color Pencils, Black Fine Embossing Powder, White Gold Embossing Powder by Judikins, Rhinestones from Michaels

Twinkling H20s Dragonfly Video Tutorial

Last week I ordered two 12 packs of Twinkling H20s, which just came yesterday. I played with them for a while and quickly realized that although their learning curve is not quite as high as copics but that they do take a little play time. This video tutorial goes over the basics as to what twinkling H20s are, shows some pieces I have colored and then goes into detail about how to paint the Dragonfly(by Magenta), that is shown above. Also, please click on the picture to see the shimmer, it doesn't show well unless its enlarged.

I am really looking for feedback as to whether or not you found the video helpful as well as your personal experiences with Twinkling H20s. I know they were really popular a couple of years ago. Do you want more videos or do you enjoy the copic ones more? It is not necessarily one or the other, but I was just wondering. I am going to put a poll up on the blog (right toolbar), so please vote!

Thank You

Yesterday I went to my sorority's philanthropy, then publix, then to library for hours. I have a new paper to write about The Legal Infrastructure of Sierra Leone and it's Impact on Women, focusing on the post-civil war era (post-2001). Whatdaya think? lol. It has to be 15 pages and it's due next week. So I guess I am off to the library after the gym for another delightful day of writing (get me ready for law school, I guess).

I love spring! Especially Gainesville's spring! The temperature is great, the flowers are great, everything is great. So in honor of this season (which we don't really get in Miami as we only get diferent seasons of warmness: Hot, Very Hot, Smoldering, Hot) I decided to post this card made with the Spring Solitude Bundle from Stampin up!

I had a hard time picking my hostess set from Stamp Club this month because truthfully none of them were really my taste. So I finally decided to go for Spring Solitude because it had the wheel and was very different, in its simplicity, then most of the stamp sets I own.

I had a lot of fun with this card. I used Tempting Turquoise and Cameo Coral with a touch of Old Olive, all stamped on Whisper White. I have no idea how I ended up with this color combo, but I really like it! I also wanted to add my little tip, whenever using wheels or solid images, I always stamp on Whisper White from SU! It just absorbs the ink so well.

I punched out the large circle with my Giga Marvy Uchida Circle Punch. I haven't taken the nestabilities plunge just yet! I punched out the sentiment with my SU Word Window Punch.

I used my smooshing ink pad technique to watercolor the card, *the tutorial can be found under Video Tutorials* The inside of the card was sponged with Tempting Turquoise and Cameo Coral.

ETA (6:25pm): I just got my Twinkling H20s! They are so fun! Please check back tomorrow for a video tutorial on their qualities :)

Home Sweet Home

Today’s trip took 10 hours, rather than 6 hours. But, don’t feel too bad for me because the delay was due to me and my friend’s stop at the Orlando Outlets!! YUMMM. We were on our way to Gainesville and we were both in need of a restroom and some food when we drove past the Prime International Outlets. Well, we didn’t have to be home till later so we decided to stop! I bought a cute exercise top (I’ve been going to the gym daily for about two months) and she bought some earrings.

When I finally got home around 7, I unpacked and went for a quick bite then back home for a study group. And you all say I have it easy???? This week should be busy as I have a test on Tuesday and a paper due the following Tuesday!

Now for the fun stuff! This simple card is great for sympathy and get well cards. I love how Blush Blossom shines in it’s pleasantry. This set is also so versitle and gorgeous. I stamped off to create to color balance and also used watercolors to lighten the dark and bright outlines. Me Likey J

Enjoy!

My Thoughts Are With You

Stamps: Oh So Lovely {SU!}, My Thoughts Are With You {Stampabilities}
Paper: White {Georgia Pacific}, Blush Blossom {SU!}
Ink: Eggplant Envy, Brillant Blue, Lavender Lace, Apricot Appeal, Green Galore {SU!} [Stamped off and watercolored]
Technique: Watercoloring
Ribbon: Wal-Mart

Happy Birthday Wishes

You gotta love grandparents! My Grandma (I call her Bubbie) and I spent the day together. We went shopping and I got some bronzer from Prescriptives and 1 1/2 outfits from Nike for the gym. We also ate the food court to have lunch. I was exhausted but she wanted to keep going! Wow!

This is another card from the set for my other set of grandparents. I love the simplicity of this card. I'm sure you can tell from all the cards I've posted but they all have the same ribbon and colors. This card is really easy to make, all you need is your ink! This is another card utilizing the squashing ink technique (the video tutorial can be found under the tab to the left). I also love using my word window punch by SU! for the sentiment. The sentiment is actually stuck to the inside of the card, but I also punched the window so you can see through to it!

I am having such a ball selling my cards! I'm up to almost 100$ worth and I really need to refill my basket. I am selling them 3 for $10 or $4 each. I have found that everyone buys them by the threes :)

Well, as usual, Enjoy the card!

Elyssa

Happy Birthday Wishes
Stamps: Fun and Fast Notes {SU!}
Ink: Summer Sun {SU!}, Old Olive {SU!}, Real Red {SU!}, Taken with Teal {SU!}
Ribbon: Organdy Gold {May Arts}
Paper: Random Bazzil
Punch: Giga Punch Circle {Marvy}, Window Word {SU!}

TGIF!

Happy Fridayyyy!! Today was a day full of errands, I went to get pictures developed, to lunch with my dad (yum for Chipotle!), to Utrecht to get FIVE more COPICS, to Pearls for a 1-3/8 punch and a refill for my ATG! Ok, so they were fun errands, but nevertheless, I am tired!!! Tonight, I hope to watch some re-runs of ‘In Treatment’ on HBO! I love this show! For those of you who have not seen this show it is 5 days a week and showcases a different patient each day. It has been going on for a couple of weeks and I am only on week one! Do you watch it??

Ok, so back to my card, I have been on this water coloring with SU ink pads kick (you can see my tutorial below). It’s such a tried and true, fun and easy technique! Simple and Fun! I love it!I love this little 4x4 card! I did it for a Color Combination Challenge on SCS. The colors were Certainly Celery, Taken with Teal and Real Red. I had a real hard time deciding the amounts of each color to put on the card. I think ANY color combo can look fantastic with depending on the quantity of each color. Even yellow, turquoise and puke green can look YUMMY! I promise, I will even prove it to you in a couple weeks!

Today I learned how to upload cards to SCS! It was very easy peasyy!!! I only have two cards, but I am going to work on uploading cards in the next couple of weeks. Also, I got tagged by one of my SCS sistahs! I will post my answers later :)

As always, Enjoy!

Bienvenido a Miami! and a Watercoloring Tutorial

Bienvenido a Miami! Today, I went to my favorite deli with my mom and my great-aunt and then I went home to play with my stamps. I have been making SO many cards in the past 24 hours, it even amazes me.

Last night, I tapped a Video Tutorial about water coloring with ink pads. It is a fun and easy technique and it really opens up the possibilities of what you can do with the ink pads (dye-based ONLY) that you already own.

I also threw together this simple card for my cousin’s 25th birthday (Happy Birthday Stephen!). It uses Bordering Blue and Real Red CS. I used the Viola set from SU! As well as a dollar stamp from Michaels. Furthermore, I used the SU! Window punch and also a giga circle punch from Marvy.

As always, Enjoy!

SPRING BREAK :)

Spring Break is here! I am home with my family and my stamps, what more could I ask for? Today’s card is watercolored with SU! ink pads. I think I am going to do a video tutorial on the watercoloring process later in the week. I used Certainly Celery, Bordering Blue, Real Rust, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa and Creamy Caramel. The card base is Bordering Blue and the DP is from KI memories. The ribbon is from Wal-mart (Offray) and it matches a lot better in real life. The stamp sets are from Wordsworth and SU! Enjoy!