Bitmap image

 A pixel-based image (.BMP) with one bit of color information per pixel, also known as a bitmapped image. The only colors displayed in a bitmapped image are black and white. Its quality decreases when the image is enlarged.

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Happy Valentines Day

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - A is for Anti Valentine

get it? sucks...vampires?...OK, so I watch True Blood way too much :)

Cricut Craftroom - Paisley cartridge p. 26 ( heart )
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Moxie Fab World - Happy for Hexagon challenge

Paper Smooches Sparks - Picture Perfect Challenge

 

also 

Paper Smooches - Fun & Cute Extra Challenge

Spritzed some spray onto a hexagon stencil, once dry I outlined in a controlled manner around the hexagon shapes. Stamped, colored and fussy cut out my bear image. Printed out my sentiment and glued a few bee stickers on. 

I love this bear image so much and bought the stamp set just to get him, lol You will be seeing a bear in my future very soon. I can't release the details yet...OK, so I might have told a few friends, but as soon as I can let you know the details, I will be shouting it from the rooftops....I can "bearly" wait ;)

Heidi Swapp - Color Shine spray

random and old hexagon stencil

Paper Smooches - Happy Camper stamp set

Hope you "bear" with me.....lol

Pretties

Using the plural noun pretties to refer to dainty things goes back at least to the 1700s.

Some early uses refer to toys and jewelry, but the word was also applied to women's lingerie.

By all rights it should be a lovely word, but because of its association with the Wicked Witch of the West ("I'll get you, my pretty!"), using it at a lingerie store today might sound a bit creepy.

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Fantabulous Cricut - #189 Beyond red and Green

Fab 'n' Funky -#196 A Touch of Frost

Challenges 4 Everybody - #34 Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations - Inspired by Christmas

This is a gift card holder, the gift card slides in and out of the top of his hat with the card opening up so that you can write your sentiment inside :)

I stacked 3 plastic snowflakes on each other ( love my Helmar's 450 for adhering pieces like that together! ) and then added a pearl on top. The whole piece is popped up with some Liquid Scrap Dots for some dimension.

Helmar- Liquid Scrap Dots, 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Cricut - Winter Woodland, p. 46

 ( taken to the CCR to create the card shape and to separate the hat from the scarf. )

Ranger - stickles

Reminisce - white pen

Crepehanger: noun

killjoy; someone who takes a pessimistic view of things

pronunciation

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wow...I am so far behind!! This was actually made for the Tim Holtz 2013 Tag for October and I just now am getting it posted!! YIKES! At this rate, I'll be celebrating Christmas on Valentines Day! lol

I enjoyed using my white pen and playing around with the lettering inside the tree branches, and I just love my drippy moon!

Nothing says fun like ink splatters!

Higgens - india ink

Deco Arts - Paper Effects, Branching Out tree stencil

Cricut Craft Room - free cut of the week

Ranger - stickles. distress stains, grunge paper

Gelli print background

Montana marker

entering this in:

Simon Monday Challenge - Got ink?

Jo's Scrap Shack - #25 Things with wings

May Arts - Halloween Challenge

I have to say that I was very excited to be in the top 20 that gets to compete in the Halloween Challenge over at May Arts. It's an honor to be chosen and I sincerely hope I hold my end up because there are some AWESOME ladies over there designing some amazing projects with ribbon. We got to choose 4 ribbons to work with, these were my choices:

http://www.mayarts.com/halloween-craft-challenge/

I made the center of my flower by knotting the black silk ribbon repeatedly until it formed the size I needed. I stamped 'hocus pocus' onto the wide orange ribbon accenting between the words with white pearls, I just love the tiny pom pom trim on it!!

The sheer spider web ribbon was looped into a big bow and then shredded for texture. The fuzzy black burlap string was wound around the box and knotted on the sides with orange pearls accenting the knots.

A big dangly spider hanging from the burlap string guards the treats within!

Cricut Craft Room - free cut -spider
BugBites - Magic Spells stamps
StazOn - ink
Tim Holtz - grunge paper
Helmar - 450 Quick Dry Adhesive, Craft & Hobby Glue, Gemstone Adhesive
Frosted Designs 2013 October Mixed Media Kit - 
( Deco Arts - Orange, black paint, Fancy Pants corrugate paper )

Entering my Halloween treat box in:
Anything but a Card - #28 Orange and Black
Craftin' Boutique - #12 Halloween

Guest Designing - An Inky Situation

Janis invited me to be a Guest Designer over at An Inky Situation 
and we are playing dress up today, how fun!!!!!!!!!!
Come on over and play along with us ♥

Linky Party #12
Begins: Thurs, Oct 10
Ends: Wed, Oct 16

I added a cute wizard hat to my owl and put him on a broom flying over the hills of North Carolina...

I gave the paper around the moon cut out a good sanding to give it that wonderful spooky distressing!

I also had lots of fun playing around with creating a shadowing background to stage my photo in, I was trying to get a creepy shadow hand in the background but it didn't work out too well, but I had a lot of fun trying! lol

Cricut Craftroom - free cut ( owl )
Helmar Acid Free Glue
Helmar Liquid Scrapdots
BugBites - Magic Spells stamp
paper, stickers - from stash

entering this in:
Little Scrap Pieces - Fun Friday Linky Party
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Use a rubber or clear stamp
2 Creative Chicks - #7 Halloween Week 2
Craftin' Boutique Challenge - Halloween Challenge #11

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Did you know I am giving away a Frosted Designs Mixed Media Kit?
You didn't?
Did you know that you can get 30 percent off in the Frosted Designs store?
No one told you??
Well, you can go here and find out all the deets!

caveat: noun

 an explanation to prevent misinterpretation

pronunciation

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So you may, or may not have noticed my absence  from blogging for past week. Ever since I returned home from vacation my life has been a whirlwind of activity. 

My big announcement though is this:

I made the Helmar Design Team!!

I am so excited because I have wanted to be on this team for 3 years, that's trying out twice a year during that time, yep, 6 times. The reason that I share this tidbit of past failures with you my friends is to remind you to never give up, to persevere through and keep trying. I know first hand how hard hearing the word 'no' is, but never, ever give up on your dreams!

I got a commission for a card, delivering it today to the Art MoB.

entering it into:

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Fantabulous Cricut - Challenge #178 ABC's 123's

I added some outlining with a pen around the letters and shadowed a bit with the stain to hopefully get the letters to pop out a bit. Also embossed the edge to the circle for a little grunge effect.

Cricut - Animal Antics ( digital )

Helmar - Acid Free Glue

Faber Castell - PITT pen

Ranger - distress stain

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Current book review, the only caveat is, you might want some tissues while reading it.

The Fault in Our Stars

Frosted Designs - Chipboard challenge

Hi everyone, it's time for a little Frosted Designs Monday inspiration to get you motivated to enter our weekly challenge, which is CHIPBOARD!!  You can get some great inspiration to get you motivated, here, here, here, and of course here! No excuses now, go play!

I used my Cricut to cut out the heart and inserted the spider's thread into one of the openings and secured it with dry tape and then glued the heart onto the paper. The spider is lifted up just a notch just to bring it up to the same level height as the chipboard. I also added a smidgen of black gelato around the outside edge of the spider web for a little shadowy effect.

I used my paper trimmer to cut strips of chipboard for the border around the card. Painting it with black acrylic paint and then coating the border strips with crackle for a little more spooky interest.

Cricut Craft Room - Love Sweat Suit ( weekly free image )

Happy Hauntings - p. 54 ( spider )

Ranger - stickles, distress crackle paint

Helmar - Liquid Scrapdots, Gemstone Adhesive 

Faber Castell - gelato

Me & My Big Ideas - gems

also entering this into:
Craftin Desert Diva's Link Party - #13 Anything Goes

Bunkum: noun

 insincere or foolish talk; claptrap

pronunciation

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Busy day, busy post!

Will be helping out my gallery today with the new Hendersonville Arts District, whoop whoop. We are hoping this will be a big draw for us! So getting out my 1950's party supplies to take over there, might even share a picture or 2 tomorrow.

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And since I am feeling the love of my hometown, I made a shaped card which represents the town of Hendersonville in a lot of ways. We do a charity event called Bearfootin' which support many local community projects in our area with the money raised when they auction off the bears. The bears are huge too, 5' tall, and painted any way the sponsor wants!

I added a little dollop of LSD under the butterfly's wings so they wouldn't get crushed.

Our Daily Bread - 2 Step Butterfly, Butterfly 2 Die, God's Love

Rangers- Dylusions Sprays

Memories Mist

Cricut Craftroom - ( free cut last week ) Backpack Iron on

entering my artsy fartsy bear in:

Die Cuttin Divas - #126 Anything Goes

Fantabulous Cricut - #171 Shaped Cards

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Our Daily Bread Designs - ODBDSLC164 Stamped Fluttering or Flying

Chocolate, Coffee & Cards - #44 Animals

Inkspirational -  #31: Anything Goes!

Creative Inspirations - Inspired by Anything Goes

( whoa, that's a whole lot of entries, for me anyway!! )

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 I also have the winner of the Gelatos:

( sorry I'm a day late announcing it )

which is...

Bridget, who wrote

What a neat project! I love this idea and am going to give it a try. Thanks

(I am a member of your blog)

Bridget, send me your address and I'll get your prize right out to you!

sandeesetliff@yahoo.com

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and I had a Flicker encounter which you can read about here, if your into birding :)

( side note )

While you have to register to be able to leave a comment, you don't have to register to leave me a "like". ♥ I love the likes ♥

:)

Marshmallow: noun

pronunciation

A confection with an exotic past.
The marshmallow gets its name from the mallow plant that grows in marshes.
In ancient times, sap from the root of that plant was used to make medicinal syrup and ointment. Eventually, that same sap became a source of candy.
Today's supermarket marshmallow is untouched by root sap. It's made from corn syrup, gelatin, egg whites, and sugar.
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All that Stickles - Firefly Linky Party!

Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything Goes

 I added firefly and yellow to their tails, with glossy accents on the wings.

Cricut Craft Room - Stretch Your Imagination, p. 36 ( to remove the jar )
Ranger - stickles
Hero Arts - butterfly trail stamp
Traveling Typewriter - font
Faber Castell - PITT pen

gymkhana: noun

 a meet featuring sports contests or athletic skills: as 

 competitive games on horseback

 a festival featuring gymnastics and athletic showmanship and often including pageantry

 a timed contest for automobiles featuring a series of events designed to test driving skill



pronunciation

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Have you ever made a card just because you couldn't resist the image, only to find yourself with no place to add a sentiment? Well, that happened to me but I'll bag it up and see if it sells, lol It was a free Cricut Craft Room cut ages ago and I've been holding onto it, trying to figure out what to do with the darn thing. I'm tired of thinking about it though, so off it goes!

Card Makin' Mama's - On the Farm
Sister Act Card Challenge- #11

I love her glittery nose ring. I applied the stickles on her before adding the muzzle layer, that way I didn't have to worry about getting stickles on her face.

EDIT: Uhm, evidently I don't know my cow "parts" very well, I inadvertently referred to it as a "he" when it is a "she", thanks Francesca for pointing that out. Made me laugh when I opened my comments up this morning, you are udderly correct!

Word Trend Watch

Knaidel

Knaidel means "dumpling," defined as "a small mass of leavened dough cooked by boiling or steaming." It is a German-derived Yiddish word.

When:  Lookups spiked on May 30, 2013

Why: After finishing in third place two years in a row – eliminated both times by words of German origin – 13-year-old Arvind Mahankali spelled knaidel correctly to win the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

now for the controversy:

New York: The national spelling bee spelled it wrong.

Or so say mavens of Yiddish about the winning word, knaidel, in the widely televised Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night. Knaidel is the matzo ball or dumpling that Jewish cooks put in chicken soup.

But somebody may have farblondjet, or gone astray, the Yiddish experts say.

 

To read more, go here.

 

Until then don't get your knaidel in a twist ;)

 

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PageMaps - shape it up card challenge with Marla Kress + Bo Bunny prize
 

also entering this in:

 

Die Cuttin Divas - #117 Shaped Card

Pixies Crafty Snippets Playground - Week 75

 

Since the cupcake was a rub on, I knew I could not do it over the banner and it not be smooth so I rubbed on the cupcake to the white background and then used my craft knife to cut alongside the cupcake and slid the banner underneath it. I added stickles to the sticker and popped it up to make it into a balloon.

 

Cricut Craft Room - Basics

Ranger - stickles, Glossy Accents

Really Reasonable Ribbon - twine

all paper is miscellaneous, from my scrap pile, the cup cake rub is so old I lost the packaging to it

garnish: verb

decorate, embellish 

 to add decorative or savory touches to (food or drink)

 to equip with accessories : furnish

 to take (as a debtor's wages) by legal authority : garnishee

pronunciation
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PanPastel Challenge Blog - #21 Bling it

All That Stickles - Turquoise Linky Party

So, here I was playing with my gelli plate intending to make a mermaid print and I did too, but what I made here, was created from the stencils I was using to mask with. ( In other words instead of using the pieces that I had cut from the Cricut as a mask, the pieces themselves became part of the art. Each layer was cut from the Cricut, laid onto the Gelli plate and then lifted off after painting. Then each piece was layered on top of each other to make the wall hanging. Each piece was cut out of a trasparency sheet. )
This is my unintentional mermaid. :)
 I say unintentional because I didn't plan on using the Cricut cuts as part of the design, I thought I would be throwing these cuts away.

For each transparency layer there is a coat of gel medium over it so I am assured that the paint won't flake off the plastic transparency. So that's a whole lot of layering, coating with medium and then adding another layer.

 I just LOVE how bright and vibrant the colors came out and since I was using transparencies, any color below shows through the top layer. Each time I peeled up the mask piece I squealed! seriously There are numerous layers here and each one is delicious!

The color themselves are not neon, but laid against this black background and they just zoom off!

I used the turquoise stickles to outline the turquoise seaweed and left the others alone, I did add stickles to the starfishes. 

My mermaid is outlined and a few drop of liquid pearls are added to her, and that's all the garnishment that she needed.

Rangers- stickles, turquoise, yellow, glam pink

Pebeo - outliner

Higgins - white ink ( for eyes )

American Crafts - Mary marker ( lips )

Plaid - acrylic paints

Gelli Plate

Cricut Craft Room - Pirates and Mermaids ( digital cart )
Rock Princess, p. 54 ( banner )

convalesce: verb

 to recover health and strength gradually after sickness or weakness

pronunciation

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Spring has sprung Challenge

 something that moves on your card/project!

 

I love a little movement on a card, especially for children's card since they like to have interactive toys...errr....cards.

I used the Cricut cartridge, Doodlecharms to create the shapes. I cut the house apart so that the Gift Card can be slid into it.

 

Here is a close up shot of the Action Wobble:

( I did have to trim the wobble a bit to fit the shape of his head! )

And here you can see that the gift card holder is all on the front of the card. The card itself opens up so that you can write your greetings inside it.

I can't wait to see what you come up with for this challenge, I am always looking for new ways to create movement, I know some people make those slider cards, which look so darn cute! Or maybe a butterfly whose wings have movement? So many possibilities, I hope you hop over to the Try it on Tuesday blog to get inspired by what the DT has come up with and play along with us!

Big Shot

Fiskars - wood embossing plate

Ranger - Distress Ink, Distress Stain

border stamp, ribbon - misc.

Faber Castell PITT pen

American Crafts - Slick Writer

 

 Sponsor

$25 Gift certificate  ( WOW, right? )

 

Love her wooden shapes, be on the look out for a huge project of mine starting May 10th which will feature the wooden bird shape!!

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Some things are simpatico, aren't they? I was commissioned to do a rooster get well card and then Brenshevia showed this awesome tutorial on making sunbursts. I mean..roosters = sunrise...right? Or am I right? lol So after cutting my rooster out in the Cricut Craft Room, Animal Antics; I set about making my sunrise. Go HERE for the tutorial over at Frosted Designs :)

entering this card in:

Sister Act card Challenge - #1 Anything Goes

 

I hand stitched along the sun and glued down the same floss along the creases of the sun rays. Now when you add a die cut on top of that texture you may have a tiny problem. If your die cut is glued flat, it will crease or bend if you pop dot up the die cut then you have issues with those tiny parts like the tail father and feet where the pop dots would show.....

you have Helmar's Liquid Scrapdots...to dah...problem fixed. So not only can you elevate your die cut to match the height of the thread but you protect all those tiny areas and it cannot be seen!! I truly do believe it's why my cards and signs sell so well, no visible pop dots!! And to think I use to pop dot everything...now it's all about the LSD, man! lol ( Drug pun not entirely intended )

Faber Castell - PITT pen

 

Oh, an another reason to love making sunbursts...great usage of those scraps of paper.

No 12x12 sheet was harmed in the making of this card! ♥

 

redbrick: adjective

built of red brick

or

  of, relating to, or being the British universities founded in the 19th or early 20th century

pronunciation

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Fab 'n' Funky - Challenge #165 April Showers

( Currently it's raining and I sure could use some galoshes/wellies to get out and about today. I thought I'd carry the theme of showers even farther along by using a Rainy Day sentiment. )

Card Makin' Mamas - No Pattern Paper
( second entry )

Inkspirational - Challenge #14 Color Inkspiration -  pink, banana, and slate

( Was not sure if slate was grey or blue, but it seems the DT projects used blue, at least that's what if looked like on my computer screen. I didn't have a slate blue ink so I used Broken China. )

Technique Time Tuesday - Water Stamping

( OK, so my stamping techniques really stink, hence why I try to learn new things. This one really bombed for me, lol Here is a picture of the rain boot after stamping with my Hero Arts background stamp following the steps...I just need to practice more. But I HAD to try it, I mean water stamping and a Rainy Day card just went hand in hand. )

 

 

Since you could not make out the flowers from the stamps; I glued some on where they were suppose to be and added a pink rhinestone to the center of each.

I altered the Prima rose by removing the rose core and added a matching rhinestone to it.

 

Cricut - Paisley cartridge, p. 49 ( taken to the CCR to stretch the boot to fit the envelope )

Prima - large flower, leaf

My Mind's Eye - rhinestones

Faber Castell - PITT pen

Sharpie - ( 'cause I wasn't going to waste my PITT pen coloring in the sole of the boot!! )

Ranger - Distress Ink

Hero Arts - stamp

Helmar - Gemstone Adhesive

Petunia Bounce, Honey Script - fonts

 

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Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Happy Birthday

 

 

Cricut - Doodlecharms, p. 109

Really Reasonable Ribbon

CARDZTV - stamp

Faber Castell - PITT pen

Y&C Calligraphy marker