Archive for the ‘Pure Innocence’ Category

April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land,
mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.
                 T.S. Eliot

 

Back in Indiana we used to say "April showers bring May flowers." Here in Texas, the flowers aren't waiting for May – the landscape is already painted with Lady Bird Johnson's legacy of wildflowers. The last two weeks the hillsides have been just gorgeous. Hint, hint to all you Hoosier friends and family – April is a great time to visit Texas.

 

I fell in love with the color combination in this week's colorQ Challenge (cQc #26), including "Lovely Lilac" and "Lavender Lace." I hope I did it justice because the inspiration photo is adorable.

 

I just discovered a fun new site for sketches, 2 Sketches 4 You, by Kazan Clark and Laura Davis – so much great inspiration there. I kind of twisted  and turned Kazan's Sketch #49.

 

My stamp is a digital stamp from Heather Ellis's Pure Innocence line. You can usually find at her images at her Etsy site, here but she's on vacation now until April 12. Just FYI, Ms. Ellis limits the distribution of her images. Even though they're digital images, they do run out of stock at her Etsy store. So, if you see an image you really like, don't delay. My Favorite Things also sells Pure Innocence clear stamps, here.

Sharon Harnist at PaperFections just posted a great tutorial this week for using Copic Markers to color a Pure Innocence image similar to this one, here. I used the Sharon's suggestions for hair. Here are the Copic markers I used and the rest of the recipe.

• Embellishments – Stampin' Up! Button Bouquet
• Fibers – Stampin' Up! 5/8" satis ribbon and orchard ric rak trim; DMC floss (colored with BG49 Copic marker)
• Ink – Copic Markers (see above), Spica Clear and Lemon pens
• Paper – Neenah, Stampin' Up! Lovely Lilac, Whisper White, Bermuda Bay card stock. Stampin' Up! Certainly Celery and Lavender Lace designer series paper
• Stamp: Heather Ellis Pure Innocence
• Tools: Stampin' up!/EK Success circle cutter, Nestabilities, Bazzill In Stitch 8×8 circle template

Welcome Spring!

 

Happy Spring! It's kind of a gray, wet day in Central Texas, but Spring is busting out all over Craft Critique. I'm honored to be a part of this fun, fun event (check out the fifth blog listed).

Craft Critique featured a card I posted a little while ago.

 

You can find all the details of my card here.  There are amazing, amazing projects listed over at Craft Critique's carnival – enjoy!

 

"Hey, Chickie Lady!" That's one of my pet greetings for some of my sweet girl-peeps. One of those weird McClain-isms I guess. (We may have to come up with a whole McClain/English dictionary. ) Check out the inside – Yes! I decorated the inside for once.

Even as I was making this very Spring-like card, it was snowing outside. In Austin/Round Rock, that's a big freakin' deal.

We got 2 to 3 inches, enough to actually stick on the ground. It was gorgeous and crazy fun. Check out this photostream from our local News station, KXAN - it's hilarious how nuts we Texans get about a little white stuff. One of my co-workers broke out a Christmas carol! There are a lot of sorry looking snowman out there today, though. Temperatures were back up to the 60s and snowmen were wilting faster than the Wicked Witch of the West. 

I had lots of fun making this card, so, get comfy – lots to tell you about it.

Isn't that crocheted flower luscious? I wish I could say I made it (and even more, I wish Grandma Black were around to show me how). The flower is from the Melody Ross artsy urban collection -

This weeks Card Positioning System sketch, #155, gave me a good starting point.

 

This darling image is a digital stamp from Heather Ellis's Pure Innocence Digi Stamp Characters.

I used the Copic air system to add the Baby Blue sky with the Nestabilities rectangle die still on to create a white frame. I used the glorious Buttermilk and Baby Blue Spica pens to color in the flowers in her hair. These pens are amazing. The glitter in the Spica pen is actual micro bits of glass – the effect is subtle but stunning. (Sharon Harnist has a great review of them, here.)

Alas, I didn't have a red Spica pen. So, necessity being the mother of all inventions . . . I colored two of the flowers with the red Copic Marker (R27), used my two-way glue pen to add Stampin' Up! Dazzling Diamonds glitter, and then recolored the flower again in red, effectively coloring the glitter, too. It's not quite as pretty as the Spica pen, but a darn close match.

For giggles and grins, I used the two-way glue pen to add some Doodlebug Design crushed velvet flock. And, of course, I paper pieced the dress from the Melody Ross Artsty Urban Collection paper (Petit Floral).

Here are the rest of the Copic markers.

 

And, here's the rest of the recipe:

• Embellishments – Melody Ross Crochet Flowers, Stampin Up buttons
• Fibers – Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue Striped Grosgrain. Stampin Up Jersey Ribbon Originals. Hemp Thread.
• Ink – Copic Markers (see above).
• Paper – Neenah Solar White Ultrasmooth Classic Crest 80 pound cardstock. Melody Ross Petit Floral from the Artsy Urban Collection, Bo Bunny's Sunflower Double Dot. Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue cardstock.
• Stamps – Heather Ellis Pure Innocence Digital Stamp 025
• Tools – Nestabilities Classic Scallop Rectangle Large and Class Rectangle Large.
• Miscellaneous: Stampin' Up! Dazzling Diamonds glitter. Doodlebug Deesign Crushed Velvet Flock.

 

Hugs to all of you Chickie Ladies out there!