Thursday, October 6, 2011

Simply Betty Stamps Blog Hop and Auction


Welcome to the Xander Zone!!  You are in for quite a trip through todays Blog Hop and Auction.  Our dear friend Betty Roberts, owner of Simply Betty Stamps has just found out this week that her 17 year old son Christian has Stage 1 Throat Cancer.  He will be having surgery next week and many months of Therapy to follow.  (To read more from  Betty on what’s going on please go HERE)


Betty’s DT and the Crafty Sprouts DT along with a few friends have come together today for the From the Xander Zone Blog Hop and Auction!  If you are stumbling into this hop please head to Crafty Sprouts to catch the beginning of the hop!


If you hopped here from Raven then you are right on track!


As you hop along today you will see cards created with Xander, the first in a new series to be released called “From the Xander Zone”.  He is available with a donation to Betty’s family.  Christian will be undergoing Surgery next week to remove his tonsils and then the thrice weekly Therapy will begin on the tumor.  His therapy could last for many months.




                                                                




There is also  a contest running through October 16th and Christian will pick a random winner who will receive the whole collection!  The details on the contest are at the SBS blog.


As you hop today you will also see many cards and projects up for Auction.  In order to make a bid on an item leave a comment on that person’s blog with your offer AND your name and email address.  Please remember that it might not be you who gets the winning bid, so check back if you really want it! 


At the end of the Hop (Tuesday night October 11th at 9pm EST the auction will come to a close.  Winners will be sent a paypal invoice and the Winners will be announced on the Simply Betty Stamps blog.  Please note that we are asking for timely payment, with 48 hours of the announcement on Tuesday morning or the runner up will be chosen.  This is for the simple fact that Betty’s family needs this money as quickly as possible for all of these unexpected and out-of-pocket needs.




Here's the card I created for the hop using "Bella the Vampire."  I think she's gorgeous and spooky looking all rolled into one and was so pleased to use her in my card for Christian.  Of course I stamped her on Neenah and colored her with my Copics (E50, E51, E53, R02, YR14, YR16, YR18, E08, G21, G24, G28, BG000).  I cut her out using a Spellbinders Nestie and distressed her with Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Antique Linen all over and Rusty Hinge around the edge.  I layered her on Bazzill and Cosmo Cricket papers.  I typed my own sentiment and printed it out on Neenah, distressed it and layered it as well.  I had a few off-white flowers in my stash that I also distressed, added the bling in the middle and attached to the layered sentiment.  The card itself was so simple to create, however, I think she's as lovely as her name!  I hope you like her too. 





From here please hop over to Lelia at http://greengoddescreations.blogspot.com/

If you get lost along the way, here’s the hop order!


 Zeni 
   Raven 
  Lea  
  Sandra 
  Elsa 
  Cheri  
Carley  


I can't even begin to tell you how honored I am to be included in this hop to raise money for Christian.  It means a great deal to me and I would like to thank Betty and her Design Team at Simply Betty Stamps for allowing me to participate.  It has truly been a pleasure!



Tuesday, September 27, 2011

My Favorite Chef


What's cookin' in your stamp room?  I cooked this one up with My Favorite Things!  She's colored with my Copics, of course, on Neenah.  The other papers used are My Mind's Eye, Bo Bunny, Basic Grey and Bazzill.  Boy that's a lot of B's!  The buttons are from my stash and the twine is My Mind's Eye.  I did use a Martha Stewart punch to edge the piece of Bo Bunny.  I do love how my little chef turned out!  Now, it's time to cook up something new!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Limited Copic Marker Challenge

Marianne changed the challenge to color with only 3 Copics, so being the smartie britches that I am, I colored her with only 2.  Yep, that's right.  2 Copics, no blender!  What a fun challenge and whether I win or not, I had a great time playing along!

School Girl Challenge

This is an image by Marianne Walker that she posted for a challenge.  The challenge was to color the image with a limited number of Copics.  The limit was set at 6, I used 4 and my blender.  I think she's pretty darn cute. 

Hello Cupcake!


Here's a little sweetie I did from My Favorite Things Pure Innocence line called Hello Cupcake!  Of course she's colored with Copics.  The paper is Bazzill and My Mind's Eye.  I used a MFT die to create my flower too!  I used a petite scallops nestie to layer her with. Added a little ribbon and "Voila!"  Isn't she cute?

For the inside I stamped my sentiment and using the MFT jumbo ric rac die I added a piece of the cupcake paper.  I love how it turned out.  Thanks for looking!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Somebunny Loves You!


Here's a cutie I created to play along with the My Favorite Things Weekly Sketch Challenge 35 and I think I'll enter it in the Charisma Cardz Challenge for Anything Goes too!   http://charismacardz.blogspot.com/ What a great sketch!  I colored the main image with my Copics (E21, E30, R02, RV11, RV32, E23, E25, E27, Y11, Y13, Y15, C0) and sponged some Tim Holtz Distress Ink around the image.  I did round the corners at the top of image and added a small strip of the same paper as the background paper I had punched out with an EK Success punch.  I cut a piece of Basic Grey and two strips of pink polka dot paper of unknown origin!  The houndstooth paper is My Mind's Eye.  The card base itself is Neenah.  I put a strip of green ribbon in the mix as well.  I stamped my sentiment, rounded the corners and sponged it with the same Distress Ink.  Layered it all up and added the cute flower I created with a Spellbinder's rose die and colored with my RV11 Copic, added the brad and voila!.  I loved creating this card and it all came together very nicely!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Cheers! to My Favorite Things Stamps


I so love a glass of bubbly!  Isn't she just adorable?  I have fallen in love with stamps from My Favorite Things!  Right now, they are definitely one of MY favorite things.  I love their sketches too as they are fresh and fun.  I also used a SU heart stamp as well to create a background paper but we'll get to that in a moment.  I stamped my main image on Neenah Classic Crest with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I colored her with my Copics (E30, E21, R02, E23, E25, E27, BG02, BG05, BG07, Y23 and C0).  I cut her out and added a little shading around her with some Tim Holtz Distress Ink around the edges and added my Stampendous ultra fine multi glitter to her dress with a Quickie glue pen, a little touch of Stickles to her ears and Glossy Accents on her glass of bubbly.  I set her aside and moved on to the Lasting Impressions paper piece.  I took a heart stamp and colored on it with my Copics (BG02, BG05, BG07, B05, G02 and G05).  I spritzed the stamp with some Copic blender solution and stamped my heart on the paper.  I took my Colorless Blender "0" and using the tip-to-tip method I added some stripes of color to the stamped image.  I stamped several of these hearts and repeated the same process on each one.  I punched out my tab with the same Lasting Impressions paper, folded it over, stamped Cheers! and attached it to the bigger piece with the hearts.  I cut my strip of Bo Bunny paper that had the hearts on it that inspired my stamped hearts, cut my Bo Bunny dots paper to fit and then layered the whole card on Bazzill.  I added some cute little blue-green rhinestones from Queen & Co. to finish the card off with that extra little bit of pizzazz.  I'm so please with how it all came together.  I planned to enter the MFTWSC from last week but alas, I missed the deadline!  That's okay, there are a couple of others I'm going to enter my adorable young lady in, Pile It On! PIO #35 - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Charisma Cardz Challenges #35 - Anything Goes at  http://charismacardz.blogspot.com/.  Why not join me?  You just might win!  Here's a close-up of her sparkly dress.  It reminds me of the 50's dresses that were so sparkly!
I love sparkles, don't you?