It was a colorful weekend!

Well its late on Monday night, but late is better than never right :) I had a fun weekend, crafting with a friend on Friday,  teaching a Silhouette software class at a local store on Saturday morning and when I got home there was a VERY FUN box waiting for me! This box caused lots of jumping for joy, literally, and it also caused a few strange looks from my husband! He couldn't believe that a box could cause so much excitedness and he still didn't get it after I opened it either... This box pretty much consumed the rest of my weekend but it was rainy and cold and perfect for passing the time. Wondering what I got in this box yet??? Alright I'll quit teasing, hehe.

Box of pretty

 Can you say COPICS???? Not just Copics but a whole set of pretty, pretty Copics. Rainbows of color:) Now I'm not made of money so I have to add in the disclaimer that I got these from a friend who was no longer interested in using them for less than a dollar a marker. It was a deal that I couldn't pass up!!! After opening the box my next mission was to fill in my color chart because its easier for me to choose colors this way.

Color charting

So I fired up the portable heater in my room and set to work. First I put all my markers with their color families in piles and started filling my chart. I found this task very relaxing and therapeutic.  My next task was finding a storage solution to store my new beauties in. This is what I have come up with for now but it is still a work in progress.

Storage solution

All of my colors are in a 31 bag which I like because my colorless blenders and florescent colors fit in the side pocket. You can't see in this picture but all of my Atyou Spica glitter pens fit on the other side. Now as you can see though not all of my markers fit in this bag so I utilized what I had and  put all of my grey tones and flesh tones in the plastic bin that I had.  Ideally all of my markers would fit in one storage unit that travels so my hunt for the perfect solution is on...

Now who could look at all that happiness and not play with it. So I stamped off some images and got to practicing because after all I am Copic certified but can hardly say I'm any good at coloring yet. Practice, Practice, Practice... I only hope to be as good as some of the artist I see out there!

Practicing my skills

Now I can't leave you with a no card in my post. Granted it is not made with any Copics but it is made with another pile of color that makes me just as happy.

Embossing powders

Here is the card that came out of this stash of goodness.... Hope you enjoy!!

©Squirly Girl Creations- Precious Remembrance Stamps

Encouragement and Gratitude are a good thing

TGIalmostF! Today I'm back with some more Precious Remembrance Shop stamps. First a gratitude card, because who doesn't always need those on hand? My husband is always stealing them from my bin. I don't have a picture of the inside of this card but it has a pocket for a gift card.

© Squirly Girl Creations-Precious Remembrance Shop stamps

My second card is just a simple encouragement card to pass along to someone special. A little bit of paper from my scrap bin, some bling and sentiment stamp was all it took to put this pretty card together. I found my inspiration for it on pinterest. If you would like to follow my inspiration board you can find it {HERE}. I go to this often when my mojo is low or I need to make a quick card without much thought.

© Squirly Girl Creations - Precious Remembrance Shop Stamps

 Here is my inspiration card. I liked the side panel and the placement/look of the sequins and gems together.

Inspiration card

And last but not least I will leave you with a picture of the newest member of our family. Meet Mia. She is a 1 1/2 old black lab and she is a doll!

Mia

Attitude

Welcome back! Sorry I missed posting yesterday and today is going up super late, but hey life happens.... But no worries, I'm back with some more cuteness and the pink hippo that I'm so addicted to from the Sweet Stamp Shop. Maybe I'll try a new color for her like turquoise of or something as ridiculously as fun soon ;)

© Squirly Girl Creations- Sweet Stamp Shop Stamps

This was a quick card that I didn't put too much technique into. Sometimes I like to let all the paper do the work for me. Looking at the picture now the only thing I wish I would have added to this card is the fun party hat that comes with this set. Maybe a label maker sentiment that says "go ahead put on your party hat" would make it super cute too. LOL. The sentiment that I used on this card is actually from Avocado Arts (I believe) I like to mix and match my stamp sets to get the most bang for my $$.

Since I truly adore this company I'd love it if you went over and joined their May release party. There are perks for members of this party. Think special members only discounts and seeing the new release a day before the general public. These are good perks since many of their new releases sell out in the first few days of the release. All you have to do is click on the picture below to go to the group and click on the "join" button. The have some cute sneak peeks before the release too :)

Sweet Stamp Shop May Release

Now aren't those images adorable? I can see some cute boy/man cards made from these. What are you waiting for? Go join!!! See you all back here tomorrow :)

Ink it up 3 different ways

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had an amazing weekend filled with family, friends and people you care about. I know that I had a great weekend with my in-laws. My boys had so much fun with their cousins that they were asleep 5 minutes into our 2 hour drive home.

Today I had have three different cards that I had similar ideas that I played around with. I like the look of three different stripes of color with a solid image over the top so I pulled out my ink pads and watercolor paints and went to town.

In this first card I used the backside of an acrylic stamp and placed it on my ink pad and "stamped" it on my cardstock. I used a Peachy Keen stamp because I like the smoothness and sturdiness of their stamps, but you could use any acrylic stamp to achieve this look. I used my Momento ink pads for this card.

Squirly Girl Creations-It's a Boy

On this second card I used my watercolor paints to achieve a similar but softer look I think and then glitzed up this already pretty Hero Arts stamp with some Stickles.

Squirly Girl Creations-With Sympathy

And finally this last is not the tricolor effect but I thought it was pretty enough to share. On this card I decided to stamp my image first on watercolor paper and then highlight the background with extremely diluted paints. I used my Niji pearlescent paints to color my flowers for a bit of glitz.

Squirly Girl Creations-Adore

Now I'm off for a very busy and FUN day. We are adding to our family today and bringing home a very pretty 1 1/2 year old black lab named Mia. I'm leaving shortly to go pick her up and bring her home to an empty house in hopes that she can get acquainted a bit before the boys come home from school. Check in tomorrow for some pics of our new lady :)

A thankful weekend

Its the weekend, YAY! Happy Saturday everyone and welcome back. I'm going to keep it short and sweet today because I'm with my inlaws this weekend and I want to enjoy all the craziness going on here.

I made today's card with Precious Remebrance Shops stamps again today using the Thanks stamp set. You can never have enough thank you cards or stamp sets if you ask me. I know my husband is always cleaning out my stash of these. Here is the entire set packed full of thankfulness.

Make it a great one everyone! And Early HAPPY EASTER!

TGIF brought to you with some Sweet

Flowers, sequins, watercolors and some of my favorite stamps OH MY :)  Is that cactus just not so freakin' cute it makes you squeal just a little? (or is that just me?) Well can you guess who made it? Yep your right, Sweet Stamp Shop. I hope your not sick of me using their adorable stamps yet...

I also had fun playing with more watercoloring techniques. This time I used my distress ink pads on my craft mat. I watered them down and smooshed my paper into them for this fun free flowing look. I then double stamped my cactus, one on the watercolor paper and one on copic express paper. I then used my alcohol markers to color her and fussy cut her out (minus her spikes). I love how she looks so clean and perfect this way.

In case you didn't know Sweet Stamp Shop has a design team call up for their next 3 month term. Check out the details on their blog {HERE}. Well I hope this was enough to brighten your day today. TGIF and Happy Good Friday. 

Happiness is..

Today is a cloudy gloomy day here in Wisconsin which calls for a couple cups of coffee. I have to tell you that I am very thankful that I don't live in the northern part of Wisconsin like I did about 7 years ago. They were blasted with 17 inches of snow yesterday (C'mon Mother Nature it's April already!!!) Needing a couple cups of coffee is what inspired me to post this card today.

Coffee with friends- Precious Remembrance Stamps

I used my Precious Remembrance stamps again today (gush/love).  I used the Coffee Love stamp set to paper piece the coffee cup and was completely inspired by my friend Amy T. to finally stamp with felt. I don't do it nearly the justice that she does, but its a start ;)  I also used the Positive Thoughts stamp set to make those little 'coffee stains'. I had trouble photographing this card to show the embossing on the bottom matting layer but it adds so much texture to this card. The embossing folder that I used is one of the new releases from Elizabeth Craft Design.

Alright, enough of my ramblings for today. If you are traveling this weekend for the holiday please be safe and enjoy your company.

Wishing for warmer Wednesdays.

Warmer days- Sweet Stamp Shop Stamps

Today I'd pretty much be anywhere warmer. Wisconsin has been teasing us with spring for about two weeks now. One week it is 60 some degrees, which happily melted all of our snow, and the next week we are back to snow (Boo, Hiss!). Hence the reason I'm craving some warm sandy beaches and SUNSHINE. I'd like to imagine myself as this fun little Sweet Stamp Shop hippo.

I've had fun playing with my watercolor paints again and for some reason my favorite color to make this hippo is not the traditional grey but a fun tone of pink or purple. Make sure you check out the Sweet Blog for lots more inspiration. And if you didn't read earlier this week they just released some more adorable little critters. All I can say is EEEEK, they are so stinkin' cute and did I mention affordable at $7.95 a set.

What inspires you?

Welcome back and Happy Tuesday. Did any of you see the amazing eclipse lastnight? The pretty reds and oranges may have had a hand in inspiring me to post this card today.

Today I'm playing with some Precious Remembrance Shop stamps, some of my newest favorites. I adore the fonts that are in these sets and I love the quality too. I'm a huge fan of the acrylic stamps and sometimes they can lack in quality. Too soft and squishy is not a good thing when it comes to these types of stamps. I love the impression that you get from a good rubber stamp and these meet that expectation. I would compare them to Technique Tuesday or Peachy Keen stamps in the quality department.

Challenges- Precious Remembrance Stamps

I am also a a big fan of using what you have. This particular card uses things that I have had in my stash for a very long time. The fun and sparkly leaves, flowers and fun cork element are cut out from a Accut die and punch literally over 2 years ago. I keep them all organized in little clear pouches so that they will inspire me. That made this card so easy peasy to put together, literally about 7 minutes to make this card. I also like to use a single collection of paper to make everything tie together. In this case a 6x6 stack of My Mind's Eye paper.

That's all you get from me today... I hope you all have an awesome day. See you again tomorrow :)

It's a Sweet Monday

Today I had fun with some Sweet Stamp Shop Stamps. As you all know if you have followed me for any amount of time, I love their illustrations! They always spark my creativity, I think I have been a fan from day one of her opening up shop. Her as in, Nicole-owner of Sweet Stamp Shop- who embraces and embodies the word 'sweet' because she is so super nice. I don't know many companies with an owner as involved with their customers as she is.With out further ado here is today's creation:

Amazing- Sweet Stamp Shop Stamps

To color this fun card I shopped my stash and busted out my watercolor paints to fill in the balloons from the Admit One set that is on clearance right now in the Sweet Shop. This is a huge trend that is making a comeback in the industry. Can I tell you how happy this makes me? I have a gigantic stash of Twinkling H2O's and various other watercolor supplies that I can use again. Here is a picture of my stash.

 

Did you know that the Sweet Stamp shop is also having a bit of a release party today also? This may be one of my favorite releases that they have done in a while. (Don't get me wrong, I love them all. But I think I NEED all of the new releases this time.) You can join the Facebook party {HERE} for a special discount code good for today only and get 10% off the ENTIRE shop. Check out all the new releases {HERE}. All I can say is porcupines, octopuses and owls, oh my! Now go check them out and have a great day!

Happy Monday

I don't know about all of you but I had a pretty fabulous weekend. No complaints from me,  a night out with some friends and a holiday family gathering with good food and an easter egg hunt. Now if Jack Frost would only take a hike; April 14th and its snowing. So in the spirit of good ole rebelion  I thought I would share a bright, fun and summer-time-ish (is that a word?) card with you.

Hope your day is a whopper--Darcie Stamps

Not only am I completely in love with this Bo-Bunny paper I think this stamp set is just so freakin' cute with its matching flair. That adorable fish was the seller of this particular stamps set for me. Every time I look at this card I just smile. It's bright, its sparkly, its full of pattern and fun elements, what more could a person ask for?

Make it an amazing Monday! And stay tuned I have a pretty good line up of blog posts for you over the next few weeks.