Oh My Hearts!!

Happy Thursday to you all! Do you have any big plans for the weekend? We actually have nothing going on which is kinda nice. It will take me 1 full day to put away all 12 trees and clean up--I have it down to a science now and they come down much quicker than they go up, LOL! Hubby takes the lights off the trees and then takes the boxes down to our storage area in our basement--he gets the outside lights too cuz I'm NOT going out in the cold, hee hee! The house always looks so bare after I take the Christmas decorations down, kinda sad!

I have had so much fun reading your "sunny day plans" answers to the blog candy question (see here to enter)! You all definitely cheered me up and I PROMISE to finish reading "Pillars of Earth", lol! I am really enjoying the story, its just the violence that bothers me. This is why I don't watch thrillers/horrors/sad drama movies because after I've watched it the pictures/thoughts stay in my brain for weeks and months. I'm a scaredy cat by nature so everything scares me and I have had horrible nightmares since I was young. I wake up hubby at least 2-3 times a week sitting up in bed and screaming. LOL (chuckling) poor hubby--but after 15 years he has gotten used to them and now he just pats me on the shoulder and says "you're fine, you're fine"! Ha! What a comfort he is now hmmmm? LOL! I even can scare the dickens out of the dogs and cats that are in the room with us, hee hee. But seriously, not fun at all for me and very disruptive to my sleep. So that's why I try to keep my visual thoughts and pictures clean KWIM!!

NewsBitz:

-Only a couple more days to take part in the Holiday Special for the Color Me Creative Classroom! SALE on all the online Copic Classes thru Jan.8th!

-I will be in Nashville, TN at the Sassy Scrapper in Murfreesboro on Jan.22nd and 23rd! If you want to come and take a class with me I'd be happy to have you! You can find all the details and registration info on my site www.cmcroad.com (scroll down). Next class will be in LA at the Marriott Downtown on Jan.28th--I have a few spots left so if you want to come register quickly!!

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Oh My Hearts!

Okay I created a card with NO coloring--gasp--shocker I know! I got these beautiful new heart stamps from Lockhart Stamp Co. from my pal Susana at SCACD (see the whole new collection here)! This image is called "Lace Heart" and I love the fine details drawn into it--so very elegant! They were just calling out to be used so I based the card around the image! My sketch is based on the Verve Weekly Challenge HERE that I found on my friend Amy Scheffer's blog. She always has the best sketches posted and her work is beautiful so if you haven't been to see her you should go (run, go now)! I was feeling like I was in a rut so when I was blog hopping and saw this sketch I knew I needed to give it a go as it's different shaped than what I usually do. It's good to mix it up and challenge yourself now & again right? RIGHT? LOL!

All of my papers are from the Kaisercraft "After Five" paper pad--the patterns are beautiful and all done in shades of gray, black and off white. Some of the papers are foiled as well, nice & shiny! I used cs in dove gray, silver and black for my matting and then the borders were done with my MS border punches. The scrolls were done with my Marianne Designs dies and those pretty flowers come in a small paint can in the Michaels store wedding section. They are perfect for airbrushing, coloring or spritzing--you get like 200 in the tin. I stacked 3 together and punched a small hole in the center and put a pearl brad in the center--easy and pretty!

I inked up "Lace Heart" with Versamark ink and embossed it onto black cardstock. I used the Stewart Superior "Filigree" embossing powder in silver to emboss this stamp--it is the BEST ep to use when you have a fine detailed image like this as it keeps its shape and doesn't meld all over the place. After embossing it I cut it out and added small pearl accents with my Viva Decor Pearl Pen (ice white) and some stickles too! The mat cut behind her was done with my SB's nesties Labels 15 and then embossed with the CB folder "swiss dots".

So pretty and elegant and very different from what I usually create--I LIKE it, LOL! I think it would be perfect for weddings, anniversaries and Valentine's Day! So make sure to check out the NEW Lockhart Stamp Co stamps here at SCACD!

See you back here tomorrow with another FUN post!!