Diecut Fun (INACTIVE)

Changing AGAIN!

2010-09-10T05:03:00.000-04:00

Would you believe I have started ANOTHER blog! Good thing these things are free!!! (I guess???). The new one is all about the classes I am now teaching. It is set up to tell you everything you need to know about my classes, scheduling and templates used in the classes that are available for purchase. If you get a chance stop by and give suggestions, I can always use those!

http://www.nancybabb-classes.blogspot.com/

Thanks, hope to see you there!

Fit for a Princess

2010-08-03T20:33:00.000-04:00

I decided to play along with Pollycraft's Monday Challenge this week. The challenge this week was "Fit for a Princess...and if there's one thing I have, it's a Princess (or 2 or 12!)

Here are a few... all from http://www.digitaldesigndivas.com/

and

I Thought it was "The Princess and the P...E...A

I Am Moving ... to a new blog.

2010-06-24T05:23:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been a CRAZY few weeks!!! Started a new company, a new group, and now a new blog!
http://www.digitaldesigndivas.blogspot.com/. I'm thinking that this one will probably be layed to rest because 2 is hard, 3....well...I really don't have that much to say!

If you haven't joined me yet on Crafter's Digital Art Center...PLEASE DO!!! It is a brand new group, run a little differently from other (from what they tell me...not sure of the differences...but that's what they tell me). My group is Digital Design Divas.... please come on!!! I NEED HELP!!!

Take care and I hope to see you soon...at the new location!
Nancy

We Are Now A Group!

2010-06-18T03:53:00.003-04:00

OH MY GOODNESS!!! Talk about your "suddenlies" I am living on a roller coaster these days... not the up and down part...but the FAST part!!! Got the site up and running, now its time to find the people. One of you sweet ladies (Tracy) told me about a new group that was just started June 2 called "Crafters Digital Art Center"....(see the link in the left column) and now we are a "Group" there!!! I started the process earlier tonight thinking it would take a few days... NOT!!!! The lady that started the group (Presilla) hand held me through the whole set up and I already have THREE members!!! That happened almost immediately, in the middle of the night! So now I actually have to do something with it! OMG!!!

I love that CDAC is a new group because it isn't so overwhelming and it is easier to find my way around than Paper Craft Planet is.

And get this, I have already learned how to do something with digital stamps that I didn't know could be done just 30 minutes ago...because of a great tutorial. I don't know why I never thought of it...but hey, I've had other things, ya know? ANYWAY, she showed how to change the dark outline to a light 20% so that it prints just a light/light line on the paper... then you can color it to look like an original colored piece of art instead of a stamp that has been colored in. VERY VERY COOL! I'll be doing some of that soon...if I find the time that is.

ANYWAY, come join my group!!! I NEED people! Just click on the link to the left then Join Digital Design Divas group. It'll be fun!

Whew! 4am again... where does the time go?!

Oh! and THANKS AGAIN Tracy!

nite

2010-06-18T01:17:00.009-04:00

Some of their most active camps are:

- Trout Creek Pass, Colorado (over 100 acres)

- Red House Virginia (over 120 Acres)

- Mecca Circle, Wayne County, GA

- Islamber, NY (considered their headquarters)

- Holy Islamville, SC (another huge compound and extremely active)

- Baladullah, CA (Huge and also extremely active)

- A new one PA (Wayne County)

- Fairfax, VA

- York, SC

- Hancock, NY

- Deposit, NY

- Springfield, MA

- Philadelphia, PA

- Hyattsville, MD

- Bethany, WV

- Meherrin, VA

- Dover, TN

- Commerce, GA

- Jessup, GA

- Marion, AL

- Talhina, OK

- Houston, TX

- Coldwater, MI

- Buena Vista, CO

- Oak Hill, CA

- Onalska, WA

- ETC ETC ETC

Just Call Me Ms. TOMATO HEAD!!!

2010-06-16T22:09:00.001-04:00

OK, so Andrea was in charge of drawing caricatures of us....

Hers makes her look 20 years old!!!

Mine makes me look like a tomato with eyes and hair!
(No, this isn't the original...but I still look like a tomato)

She kept saying.... it's suppose to be a CARICATURE!!! Your features are SUPPOSE to be exaggerated!!! THANKS, BUT NO THANKS!!! Since I have the final say because I turn them into digital ... some of those chins bit the dust! GONE! (oh that it were that easy, right?) But THREE!!! COME ON!!! No one wants to see that, right? One and a half is plenty to see!

I came up with a link picture...you can see it on the left. If you decide you want to help us out...PLEASE DO! You can post it to your blog as a link to http://www.digitaldesigndivas.com/

OK, I'm tired again...take care and GOOD NIGHT!

WE ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS AGAIN

2010-06-16T12:18:00.000-04:00

For real this time! Sorry to all of you that may have gone to the shop yesterday and this morning and found it down. WE ARE BACK!!!

The main issue was that when the lawyer wanted to change the Angel Policy EVERY THING had to change!!!

The good news was that there are no pesky names and signatures ON the picture... that will need to be added to any final cards or products ... on the back, or the hang tag, or web page... but it isn't ON THE IMAGE!!!

I had to take it off of almost 90 pictures that were already done... then recreate all the .ZIP files that you will download and modify the file that tells all that how to work!

WHEWWW!!! The things I've learned in the last week.... I went from ZERO knowledge of how to create a web store, to up and done in one week! even with having to do everything 2 or 3 times! ARRRRGH

If ever you want to do that, just ask, its not nearly as horrible as I feared...but VERY VERY VERY detailed! There are about 30 steps (never counted but there has to be AT LEAST that many) to actually getting a single digi loaded ready for sale!

But, we are there with 70+ images, for today anyway... I have more to load... and changes to the home page to make... that's another day... today I have errands to run.

Have a great one!

WE ARE OPEN!!!

2010-06-14T14:53:00.004-04:00

WE NOW HAVE A Rubber Stamp STORE WEBSITE!!!!

At least I hope so anyway! I haven't tested it out 100% yet, but if you see something you want, give it a try and if there are problems PLEASE just let me know!

I still have TONS of stamps to add...and we are going to change the header...and who knows what else! BUT, I wanted to get this thing up!

Some cool thing you can do:

Create a wishlist...for yourself, or for friends to buy for you!
Sign a Guestbook (please do!)
Buy gift certificates
And of course, download immediately!

WHOOHOO!!!!

http://www.DigitalDesignDivas.com/

Heeeehheeeee!

The Me I See

2010-06-11T17:04:00.006-04:00

We are getting closer and closer! I'm thinking sometime this weekend we will have lift off!!! There are 60 stamps loaded already...more ready to follow later, I just have to get them ready for automatic download. WHOOHOO!!!

One more sneek peek....

"The Me I See"

I think something happens when you cross the magic 50 year mark. (It may happen sometime later, or maybe even sooner for some but, it will happen) Suddenly, what other people think of us means very little and we begin seeing who we really are... We are all QUEENS of our domain! Hence..."The Me I See"

No matter how the outside looks...we know who we are on the inside....Beautiful Women All...created by the Most High God!

Almost There!

2010-06-10T07:58:00.000-04:00

I was up all night figuring out how to do the website! Feeling quiet clever now because I've about got this sucker figure out! It is actually "there"... just not "loaded". I only have about 10 stamps loaded...as samples to see how things would look. OH MY GOSH! What a lot of work!!! Forget all the work to create the site... the "maintenance" is going to be WILD! I have a new appreciation for all Christy has to do to just put one picture in!!! Believe me! she's earning her $$$. I honestly don't know how one person does it all!

Anyway, I am REALLY tired and sleepy so I had to stop before the last step of adding the software that lets you download automatically...no emails required from me. Too much thinking and focus required for that!

I just wanted to let you know that we are closer than you think!!! And, if you are reading my blogs you will be the first to know!

Take care all, I'm OFF!!!

I'm Back!

2010-06-09T00:01:00.001-04:00

Well...made it back to town and haven't stopped working since! Andrea had TONS of new drawings that I have to convert. She draws them by hand and I have to scan and convert them.

And, I think I'm going to try to build the website myself so I had to start that whole process! Not so sure how smart that is! But, its another opportunity to learn ... and save money ... it just may take a while! You have to pay then wait for them to set something up...then pay for something else and wait.... LOTS of waiting!

In the meantime, here is one of the funny ones: The frog is saying...

"NO! NO! That's OK!"

Made me laugh anyway!

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!!!

2010-06-04T10:50:00.004-04:00

Hi All,

I am still out of town so I feel like I'm handicapped without my CorelDraw and ways to add pictures to what I say...but I wanted to write anyway...

I just looked at my list of visitors this morning and I am, once again, amazed by the internet! It just boggles my mind that I have had visitors from so many countries in the last 3 months that I have been up and running. CRAZY!!! The list is at the bottom ...

I know that some were just quick stop overs on the way to some other blog, but still! I just wanted to thank all you guys...and most especially you that continue to come back and even comment! I love hearing from all of you. I don't always respond because I'm not exactly sure I know how....

........question.......

if I comment to you after your comment, do you know it??? Does an email come to you??? I feel like I'm replying and no one ever sees it. If you do or don't (and I'd really like to know) please know that I do read every one (now that i know how to get an email sent to me) and appreciate all you have to say!

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY ALL!!!

This is the list...I think it must be sorted by who came by first... I didn't sort it, the software that tracks it did.

United States (tons of cities)

United Kingdom

Canada

Netherlands

Australia

Malaysia

Norway

Russia

Panama

Puerto Rico

Germany

Bulgaria

Romania

Singapore

Brazil

Spain

New Zealand

Shhhhh...I have a secret! .... But I can't tell ....

2010-05-31T00:47:00.005-04:00

Well... OK, I can tell, but I can't show....

I just wanted to give you guys a little update on Andrea's stamps. I CAN NOT WAIT to be able to show you what we have so far!!! Right this minute I have 34, ready to sell, stamps! WHOOHOO!!! But I can't! She has lived with some of these characters since the 70s and they are her babies!!! Everyone has a name ( most that I can't pronounce!) They go from just plain weird (I think those are from her drugs in the 70s!!!) to some absolutely precious/beautiful fairies! And, of course, there had to be a girl with tatoos.

Some are hilarious! She showed me a couple that she came up with last night that I couldn't stop laughing over. There has got to be something that you like in all that she has so far...the varity is amazing. All are totally unique characters.

But back to them being her babies... she wants to talk to her lawyer first to make sure her "terms of use" page is written correctly... AND then there's the whole issue of how the heck to sell them! I know there's a website required but we want to do that right too...so I hate to tell you.... but this was just a teaser.

Well...ok, maybe just a touch of a few...

I would start making cards with some to give you a look but I'm going out of town for a week! SORRY! I want to start playing! But, a "suddenly" came up sooooo, I'm off.

Take care all, and I'll see you in about a week.

Just Two Easy Steps!

2010-05-27T17:51:00.007-04:00

Sorry I haven't had much to "show and tell" the last several posts .... I have been focused in a different direction lately! I needed to try and say something on my other blog because it had been a while, finally got that done today. Whew...that feels better....

And, I have taken a couple Webinar training classes on Corel (free, so couldn't not take them!) this week.

The guy that taught today's class was trying to teach everything he knows in an hour so I learned A LOT...but, can I repeat any of it??? Not so much. It took me 1.5 hours to repeat a 2 step process to do the following because I couldn't remember what the 2nd step was! But I FINALLY figured it out!

I learned to go from here:

To here...

in TWO easy steps :-) HA!

So...what to do with THAT bit of knowledge????

T h i n k i n g.....

T h i n k i n g .....

I don't know...maybe make a card...or a poster even!

A Live Maxine in Person!

2010-05-25T19:23:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I posted some sayings that I had come up with about princess kissing frogs to go with some of Christy Croll's new stamps. That was before I had seen them so my mental visual was entirely different from actual reality... NOT A MATCH! I absolutely LOVE what she did, PRECIOUS! PRECIOUS! But my words would probably go better with Maxine's daughter! You know, the old lady cartoon character Maxine that has something sarcastic to say about everything. (click on her name if you don't know who I'm talking about)

Well, after going out and buying $50 worth of books to learn how to draw...because I want to get what is in my brain out on paper!!! an artist friend of mine called. We haven't talked in about a year so this was kinda "out of nowhere". (like there is such a thing when God is involved with every detail of my life?!) She is an INCREDIBLE artist! Her job, all her life, has been set design, and creation, for plays and amazing wall murals. VERY HARD WORK! She is now in her 60s (70s???) and doesn't need to be climbing scaffolding and on her knees painting anymore.....soooooo, I think I finally convinced her she needs to give digital stamp making a go! I gave her my list of words from yesterday and hopefully I'll see some output soon! We may have a new digital source soon ladies!!! She is totally clueless about the PC world so it looks like I might be doing that end of it for her, at least to get her started.

The really fun part is that she is the living, breathing, true life form of Maxine! There is NO TELLING what we might see! Talk about ATTITUDE!

Yes! I AM THE QUEEN!

2010-05-22T17:05:00.004-04:00

YEA!!!! I won a $20 gift certificate from Olivia and Company.com!!! YES I am the QUEEN! I didn't even know I was registered to win so its a good day :-) http://www.oliviaandco.com/ go buy something!

God is so good. I love it when He surprises me with these little happys. I also got a free chick fil a sandwich today ... When you pray for provision it may not come in the form you think but it works just the same!

Places for FREEBIES!!!

2010-05-14T08:06:00.004-04:00

Thought I'd share a couple websites that have TOTALLY FREE digital stuff...

The first is:

Digital Scrapbook Experts:
http://www.digitalscrapbookexperts.com/collectAKitLanding2.php

Every day you get an email with a link to that day's FREEBIE. I was a little bit afraid to sign up at first because I didn't want to suddenly find I was suppose to pay for something! But, I have been signed up two months now and haven't paid a penny! They have a different theme pack every month and you get a part of that pack every day. One day it might be part of the alphabet, the next a label, then back to more of the alphabet. Definitely worth signing up if you want to play with digis.

Example: this is two different things, background paper pack that was an "extra" and the numbers are from one of the daily downloads

The next one is:

http://www.freeprintablesclub.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3757

You can get all kinds of free digi stuff there! This is the Freebie link for Daisie Company, a great site for printable boxes, can wraps, candy wraps and such... but, there is no purchase required for the free stuff!

I got the two yellow "papers" on yesterday's Oatmeal and OJ card from here ... they were in a pack of 44 background papers! FREE!

Example of freebie: this is a whole set of matching can and candy wraps

If you know of any more PLEASE SHARE!

Make Mine Oatmeal Raisin and OJ!

2010-05-12T23:22:00.011-04:00

At least long enough for the Tiddly Inks current challenge!

Turquoise, orange and yellow...

Or maybe even chocolate milk!

I learned something new that has CHANGED MY LIFE!

Did you know that if you

- press "print"

- then go to "preferences" before you press go (print), there is a place to

- choose "BORDERLESS PRINTING"?

NO MORE UNPRINTED EDGES!!!

Seriously, changed my life to find that! Now, I can print to the very edge of the paper... That is a wonderful thing because now I can print a pattern onto plain colored cardstock and create patterned paper for two regular sized cards instead of having to trim them down !!! YES!!! See the above orange cardstock? I printed orange on orange to give that tone on tone look I used to do with the clear stamp pad (can't remember what it was called, sorry)

NO MORE PLAIN COLORED CARDSTOCK!!! WHOOHOO!!

And the new stamp is...... "Cookie Bugg"!

2010-05-11T18:46:00.014-04:00

I had asked Christy Croll (Tiddly Ink) to create a cookie bugg because I had just gotten this cookie box die and thought I needed a cute stamp to go with. PERFECT!!! Isn't she the cutest?! She also had the background paper (what the top is cut out of) and a glass of milk and a few other things. VERY, VERY CUTE!!!

I am going to list both of the following on the MAKE A GIFT challenge as well...because they both are!

Well today's little mess up... see the bug on the top photo? She's dressed in brown...not a very good brown...at least, not good enough for the topper below. It was too reddish... seee...UGH!!! But ya know... I had already printed her and cut her out...BY HAND!!! So that baby got glued down!

WELL, I have a bit of a perfectionist in me that could NOT stand that it really didn't match...So, I got to thinking that I needed to take advantage of the digital functionality I get so excited about... I would just take a digital version of her and digitally "paste" it onto the picture above. I did that and it looked awful! I couldn't get it to fit exactly right over the one already there..???... so then I had a brain storm, don't replace the girl, replace the dress/hat and shoes...(DUH!) So I did.... here ya go, my hybrid...

Yes, I know, that works for showing you...but the real one still has the ugly brown dress. NO MATTER! I'm not giving it to anyone anyway.... the cookie mix was about a year old...and terrible! No one will be getting these cookies!

It was a good lesson learned ... know what the end is going to look like before printing! HoHumm....

OH! one more thing... if you look very closely you'll see that the glass is "transparent"... I know, I've pointed that out with the wings before but I JUST LOVE THAT!!! But, silly me, after going to all that trouble, I glued the bugg down over most of it! The one little twist to it was that I had to actually print it so that you could see the cookies behind it...And, because I did that I had to take an xacto knife and cut slits on either side of the milk to run the ribbon behind the milk....it isn't really layered the way it appears.

Actually, I'll just show you this way...

ONE MORE THING! (again) I know you think I am misspelling bugg, but that's how Christy spells it, and it's her bugg! (All the other misspelled words are my bad!...we need SPELL CHECKER!!! HELLOOOO)

Rubber Stamp SALE!!!

2010-05-10T00:17:00.002-04:00

Today I start to clean out the piles and piles of stamps I have collected over the years! I was a StampinUp! demonstrator for several years and I thought I had to have them all! Well! Most never even got put together! The ones that were mounted rarely, if ever, got used! Its like everything else, I like the "getting", not so much the "using".

So, now, if I ever hope to move I have got to start finding the floor again!!! I could fill up a walk-in closet of just stamps, if I were that organized!

ANYWAY, if you click HERE,

it will take you to the beginnings of my list. I only have 22 sets available right now...it is a LOT of work to just get them into my computer room and scanned!!

I am so sorry for the archaic way I'm having to do it... I don't have Web developer software anymore so I'm amazed I got anything out there!!! I feel like I'm working with two left feet! I have done all I can think of to actually display a picture on the list page but it will not do it!!! I'm sorry but you'll have to click on the name to actually see the stamps.

I promise to keep adding to the list as quickly as possible, (if I see that people are even looking at the list!).

Please understand, some things may not get taken off the list immediately when someone orders it...so if two of you order the same set before I can make updates, the first one will get it. I will email that info to you.

WELCOME to the Tiddly Ink BLOG HOP!!!

2010-05-07T15:57:00.036-04:00

Welcome to the first ever Tiddly Ink Blog Hop!!! (5/8-5/9)

If you are joining us in the middle, please go back to HERE to read about it...

you don't want miss the 16 wonderful cards before mine!

Cristy Croll has some of the CUTEST little buggs ever! I love them all but I have probably done more with "Happy Bugg" than any other so far.

I try to do as much as possible digitally so that if I'm in a crunch I can print and run with it. A good example of that happened with this very Blog Hop! I did Annie instead of a Bugg! But, because I had a colored "Happy Bugg" saved on my PC it was a quick fix!

This card is actually a total fake...

it is 100% digital....

The card parts:

The parts of Happy:

I have also included a few versions of "Happy Bugg" to show variations in colors, sizes and backgrounds.

All but the bottom right are a single file....each color is a seperate layer so if I want to change the icing color, I can do that without changing anything else...same with cap, dress, skin, hair...etc. I just make a copy of that layer then change the "hue/saturation/lightness" for a whole new color! I always have any version of it available.

OH! and notice the bottom left (plaid hat)...see how her wing is transparent! Kinda cool huh? GOTTA LOVE DIGITAL!!!

You can see how I taught myself the software (Corel PhotoPaint X5 ... click HERE to download a FREE 30 Day Trial ) by looking back at my old posts... I literally learned one step/day at a time! .... over the last two months.... I hope if you come back in a month I'll be so good you won't be able to tell if its real or not! Though, odds are pretty good it'll be fake! :-)

I hope you have enjoyed my little space, PLEASE COME BACK!!

Have a great weekend!

Don't forget to leave a comment so you have a chance in the drawing!

Now, jump on over to Jodi's site to see how precious her little BUGG is...

OH HECK!!! I messed up!

2010-05-05T14:05:00.002-04:00

This coming Saturday Tiddly Inks is having a blog hop and they want everyone to make a card using one of her Buggs. Well! I got this ready for it:

Today, I went out to get lunch and suddenly it popped in my mind that I didn't do a BUGG I did one of her little girls! SHOOOOOT! That isn't a bugg btw...

But, thankfully I had already colored one of her buggs, ohhhh, about a dozen times!!! So, EASY FIX! Import one of the buggs, turn the girl layer off...DONE!!! WHOOHOO!!!

And if that's not enough to convince you that digital is a WONDERFUL THING ... do you see the embossed dotted "paper" oval behind her? All I did was find a picture, on the internet, of an embossed page (it was orange) pulled it into Corel, changed the color and lightness of it, cropped it into an oval shape and TADA!!!!

I would feel guilty but since I actually have this particular embossing plate, I don't...I paid for it.

I'll have to repost this for Saturday so you can just ignore it that day.

Do You Know Who(se) You Are?

2010-05-05T01:23:00.003-04:00

And in Spanish....

Playing with a LOT OF STUFF!

2010-05-01T20:17:00.010-04:00

First, I need to apologize to Mattie...I keep stealing her pictures from facebook and using them :-) SORRY!!! That's what you get for being so gorgeous! And Facebook is my only source! BTW, she just got baptized last week!!! WHOOT WHOOT WHOOT!

I bought several DigiKits from Two Peas In A Bucket yesterday so I wanted to start using them! The papers on this one are from "Placid" by Vinnie Pierce and the heart and black "pearls" are from her "Pieces of Me III" . I got kinda carried away because I LOVE the scrunggy look and I kept trying to get rid of all the sharp lines

There are actually two different "papers...the left and right side... I made the right side a little bit transparent so you can see the left side paper through it... I then feathered the sharp line between the two so you don't see it.

Actually I'll show you the way they come...

Combined without Mattie... You can see the sharp edge I wanted to get rid of:

Doing It the EASY WAY!

2010-05-01T00:23:00.010-04:00

OK! Feeling pretty darn dumb today! I spent HOURS yesterday making that card look somewhat real, and layered. Today, in about 15 minutes I figured out how to do it the RIGHT WAY! OH MY GOODNESS!!!

The thing I'm learning, slowly but surely, is that if there is something you want to do, there is probably a button that does it. I seem to be working on one or two buttons a day so I'm learning the VERY HARD WAY!

The main thing I learned today is how to add a "glow around the outside edge of any element...making it "3-D" I did that manually yesterday, and I didn't do a very good job of it!

Another thing you may not be able to tell immediately is that you can turn object around so it looks like you are seeing it from a different angle... the bottom flower on each side was the result of duplicating the main flower and twisting it...and making it smaller.

Other new things are the stitches and brads. I bought those babies from http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/:

DigiKit - Element-ary Stitches No. 1 - By Carina Gardner
DigiKit - Brads - By Vinnie Pearce (you get 200 brads for $2.00) beats the heck out of making them myself !!! Actually, you can make even more than that by changing the hue... these were actually bright pink, I changed them to coral.

OH! and one more thing I did to help it look 3D... The picture looks like I printed it and actually made a card from it... NOT!!! I found a picture of a card and layered my faux card over the front and changed the perspective. HA! Gotta love that!

OK, I'm REALLY sick of this coral and brown now! Time for something different!

A Card That Really Isn't...

2010-04-29T15:49:00.011-04:00

Today's thang is to make a card that really isn't. I wanted to to draw everything from scratch...

stamp
paper
trim
whatever

Here ya go....

A card that really isn't:

see...

same thing, only different:

Boone, my inspiration:

The REAL Me ....

2010-04-29T09:08:00.004-04:00

I have added something new on my sidebar. It is a Youtube song that I put on my other blog because I absolutely LOVE IT...it brings out the core of me and I want to play it constantly. I was having to go over to my other blog to listen to it so I decided to add it here so I can always have access to it while I'm here.

Problem is...I'm having a hard time keeping my hands on the keyboard and not up in the air!

Unfortunately, you can only see a sliver of the video because of the limitations of the blog template but you are welcome to go visit my other blog "Life Lessons" http://www.myfathershands-nb.blogspot.com/ and see it there. That blog is who I really am...this one is just about the outside, surface, me.

And, today I have a REALLY AMAZING YouTube you need to see!

Faux Japanese Masking Tape

2010-04-25T19:05:00.018-04:00

Yesterday I woke up to an email from my sweet niece, Mattie, introducing me to Japanese Masking Tape. OMG!!! I fell in love instantly so I spent the next two hours shopping the internet for different colors and things to do with it. I "spent" almost $200 and didn't have all I wanted....and thankfully, I never pushed the final "pay" button!!! That's a LOT of masking tape... and I was having a hard time thinking about what *I* would do with it. There were some cute things but... $200!!!

This time...one of the RARE times, I waited a while before actually buying anything. Later in the day I thought that printing on clear label paper may work. It is sticky on one side and I can do ANY color almost instantly. There are pros and cons but... $200!!!

So, here you go...here are some pictures of actual tape and some of the patterns I came up with...I didn't try to match but they are in the same color families so I'm showing them together...

Here is an example of one of the problems with the clear label sheet...(sorry for the HORRIBLE picture!) Below you can see by the bottom grid, it is see thru...so white isn't white unless you put it on white. So, I put it onto white tape for the top version... fixes the problem, but adds a step. I kinda like the two together.

One cool thing about the way I laid it out on the paper is that I can cut a strip across the "grain" and get multiple patterns or up and down to get a single pattern. Examples of both below:

What I did with it: (again, sorry for the bad picture, it's getting dark here)

This is a VERY EASY way to match my envelopes and cards without having to print directly to the envelope! I probably couldn't do that as easily with tape because the colors wouldn't be exact. BUT, I will be buying some that I "just HAVE TO HAVE"! :-)

OH! and FYI, I had to eat vegetable soup for lunch so I would have a can to make the pencil holder! ... the sacrifices we make for our art...

Thanks for the inspiration Mattie! I LOVE YOU!

Thank You for Loving Mom

2010-04-23T12:19:00.007-04:00

The Spotted Chick (http://thespottedchick.blogspot.com/) now has a "That's Krafty Thursday" challenge...This week (the first) you just had to use Kraft paper somewhere on the card... any stamp. That was great because it forced me to think about how the heck to use a "stamp" I just came up with. I thought when I did it that it would make a good Mother's Day or Father's Day card... soooo

Kraft paper = Dad's day, in my mind ...

One of the things I use to do when I used real stamps was sponge the outside edges...now that I'm trying to do as much as possible BEFORE I print my digital stamps I digitally colored these then "sponged" the edges... I NEED PRACTICE!! One has too much, then next doesn't have enough...gotta practice!

I decided to include this picture so you can see why I LOVE coloring on the PC! I can print this page and be ready with 6 cards, with one page print!

You can also see in this photo that I saved a version with the "sponging" done in a circle in case I decide to cut it in a circle.

If you look closely at the little boy's shirt... and the dress and hat on the card below, you will see that I used background paper, that I scanned and have saved. If I had known I was going to use the plaid on the card I would have used that for the boy's shirt... Oh well...next time.

Actually.... I am adding this part a few days later... all I had to do the change the boys shirt was open the photo file and change the shirt! EASY ENOUGH! Matches better :-)

Another thing I just discovered on my Corel software was a tool that lets you darken color...I used it in several places but you can best see the shadow on the left side of the dress.

Thanks for the challenge Jeanie!

No Black and White Here!

2010-04-17T14:42:00.007-04:00

If you know me at all you know that I am most comfortable with black and white... this blog is helping me get out of my rut!

This week I took advantage of the 40% sales at Michael's and got 4.5" x 6.5" pads of color coordinated cardstock. I knew that if I had them I could do something with color!

Yesterday I was thinking that this might be a good way to start a collection of Copic pens... just buy pens that go with my paper...a few at a time. But I have to tell you, there is just something about spending $3.50(on sale) - $6.50 for a single marker that goes against everything in me!!! The problem is, to do a beautiful job of blending (their selling point) you have to have 3 or 4 pens to blend! and that might be for just one thing on a stamped image! OUCH! So... no buying Copic pens for me! I just spent $200 to upgrade my CorelSuite package so I AM GOING TO USE IT!!!

One of the problems with printing what you color is that it may, or may not, be the same color once it is printed. After having the Copic debate with myself I decided to get serious about choosing the correct PC colors. To do that,

1. I printed out a Pantone chart so I would know how MY printer printed each color.

2. I then looked for all the unique colors in my paper pad (the one I will be showing is Cafe Mediterranean...comparing them to my chart to get exact matches.

3. I was then able to go back to Corel PhotoPaint and created a color palette of only the colors I identified in step 2. So, now I can color with the right colors!! WHOOHOO!!!

4. I also printed out the color chart with the pantone RGB formulas on it and glued it to the front of the pad of paper (not sure why? but I'm certain there's a reason!)

DONE!

Now I am "paying" for my CorelSuite upgrade by not buying pens! Not to mention, I only had to color the flowers once and can now print it out to any size, any time, as many times as I want to!

Here are two different things using the same palette:

More Items for the Resilient Conference

2010-04-14T10:19:00.003-04:00

There is going to be a "Pastor's Wives" Dinner one night so I made 39 small gifts for each lady...

there is a tiny tag that says:

To: My Church
From: Father God

the package alone wasn't enough, I had to add a bag with a card on it so that the gift would make more sense.

The card says:

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights (James 1:17a)

This is one of my precious gifts to the church.... I LOVE YOU, Father God"

When they open the box they will see a reflexion of themselves in the mirror stuck to the bottom of the box.

There are 18 punching bags all over the church... I put the words they wanted on each one... Anger, Fear, Loneliness, Debt, Doubt, etc.... The attendees will be able to punch their enemy.

LOOK what I made!!!...Stamp On Steroids!

2010-04-10T19:07:00.003-04:00

I was given a new challenge this week! I just never know what is around the corner!

Four years ago a friend that I used to work with went to work as an Events Planner at a church here in Atlanta. We haven't seen each other but one time since then. This week she had a "problem" come up and remembered me...thinking I might be able to help her out.

Their church is having a conference next weekend and the pastor's wife wanted a 5 foot lady on the front of a punching bag. LOOK what I came up with!!! I'm excited because its another thing I have never done. The coloring (dark skin, blonde hair) was her choice, I would have done something different...but YEA!!!

If you look back at my post on April 2nd you will see that I came up with the face/hair that day. GOD IS SO COOL!!! I had NO CLUE why I have been learning and drawing the things I have been this month... now we know :-)

Kamryn learning Spanish

2010-04-05T21:35:00.003-04:00

Needs to be cleaned up but still cute....

Every Good and Perfect Gift

2010-04-04T13:54:00.005-04:00

Made this last night...

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)

Got the drawing, now no clue how to use it!

I Found My Eyes Today

2010-04-02T20:29:00.011-04:00

n my mind, the hardest thing to decide is what your "signature eyes" will be. I found mine today... older female eyes anyway... Love them ... AND, I got a good mouth too! Both out of my head...no copying! YES!

There is an attempt to have a bloghop of 1000 blogs by the end of the year...I'm #243. Add your blog link!

From Mayo to Gift in 30 quick minutes!

2010-03-28T15:37:00.005-04:00

I wondered last night if regular handmade cards would fit in a mayo jar... they do indeed! Stamp used is "Annie" from Tiddly Inks.

From Photo to Embroidery...the manual way.

2010-03-26T15:38:00.002-04:00

Been gone for a few days... had "real life" things to do.

Today I started a new challenge...

Someone wants a gift for her cousin who is opening her own cake shop. So here you go...skills building on skills... From photo to embroidery in two quick steps (YEA RIGHT!!!)

Original photo from her website:

A line drawing ... kind of a "real-meets-cartoon" look... This drawing can now be printed on cards, or whatever... I'll probably make a vinyl cut of it as well.

And the stitch-out... always have to make a trial stitch out so that there are no surprises! It's a tad bit different but that happens...close enough...

Now this can be stitched on an apron, or whatever! Tons of possibilities now! I'll show the final results when I have them.

Made some modifications...she wanted color...

Digital Stamps, How many ways???

2010-03-14T22:40:00.005-04:00

Or, "Party On-The-Fly"

I bought several precious digital stamps from Christy Croll (link to the right) week before last and have been wanting to see how many things I could do with them since... But, it has been a busy couple of weeks and I needed to go ahead and take the pictures of what I have done so far because there are things I made that won't last much longer! There are real cupcakes and faux marshmallow ones that are going to start attracting ants if I don't get them out of here soon! So, there are only a few things here, but you get the idea.

In the photo:

flower pot w/ vinyl version of the stamp
small gift cards (boxed in the striped boxes, from one of my dies... for party favors
the BLACK envelopes are closed with a round label using the stamp. The envelopes were also a die... VERY exciting because I LOVE Black and White and couldn't find black paper to make envelopes until last week! WHOOHOO!!!
ceramic tile w/ stamp

In the pot:

I printed the flowers from a font (?) I have and stuck a Hershey kiss to the center.
The little cupcakes in the pot are made of marshmallows dipped in the melting chocolates you find at Michaels.... then wrapped them with printed paper strips.... actually, I cut the marshmallow in half, cut a little bit of the side off of one piece to make it smaller, then stuck the marshmallow back together so the top is now bigger than the bottom
The squiggles are 1/4" tubes of fabric with a large pipe cleaner inside then twisted around my finger.

The cool part is that the only thing I had to buy besides the digital stamp was the cupcakes! (I don't do cooking)... Well, that and the black paper, but I would have gotten that anyway! TOO EXCITED about the black paper!

Just so you know, I didn't actually have a party, I made it all for the photo, and my personal challenge.

Silhouettes? OF COURSE I CAN!

2010-03-11T13:42:00.012-05:00

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Night before last I was given a new challenge. I won't say who challenged me because its for a gift and you just never know who might read this stuff! My reply was "Sure I can!" With that ever present " I can do ALL THINGS through Christ..." attitude. HA!

Of course, being the age I am (50+) my first thought was to use Corel Paint, black out the important parts, erase everything else, print and cut.... with tiny scissors. That is, after all, how you do it right?! So, that's what I do... I print black on black, perfect!, easy enough to see and cut. No, I didn't cut it, I was going to let her do that. :-)

She had told me that there were lots of shops on Etsy that sold them so I went there to check it out. They are using vinyl!!! DER!!! OK, feeling really stupid now. Do I have a vinyl cutter right in front of my face?! YES! So, I did what I do to cut vinyl and TA DA! ... Silhouettes from photos...

Be watching for my new shop in your Etsy neighborhood! :-)

Steps...

Copy/Paste a picture from a facebook album
Crop to the head
Change to b/w and putz with that until you are happy
Cut!

Sorry, I can't figure out how to turn the flash off! BAD GLARE!!! And it's all bent up because I was trying to "weed" it on the machine...not easy!

Lessons learned:

A PERFECT profile picture is best, otherwise the hair becomes part of the nose, making it look HUGE.
The more dpi the better. This one was 72 dpi so it was very pixelly, I had to convert it to 300 and mess with it UGH!
The Lighting is important ... too dark is hard.
Need a good contrasting background
The best picture would probably be one made just for the silhouette, not for the picture...no extra "stuff"

Now OFF! I have to do SOMETHING to make some $$$!

PS. Thanks for the challenge! ;-)

The "Studio"

2010-03-09T13:41:00.014-05:00

OK, so I'm doing my daily blog check and see that today Sassy Cheryl has posted a picture of her studio. It was a PERFECT example of what I said in my last post! Why she is a master at what she does.... and why I'm not. Let me demonstrate....

I like to call this the:

"Me doing my part to make all husbands of the world appreciate their wives tour"

... Show them! They just THOUGHT you were bad!

This is a picture of my computer keyboard/mouse area... SEE I TOLD YOU I have no mouse space! If you look closely you can see Cheryl's studio on the screen.

And, this is just the side of the room I was willing to show you!

Now, let's move on, to the die cut room....I'm doing my best not to show the floor in any room!

the other direction... some of my dies

from the back side (paper)

Now, to the "Can't-find-anywhere-else-to-put-it-sunroom."

Paper cutter, spiral binder, embroidery hooper thingy and ribbon, lots of ribbon,

jewelry and button making stuff ...

OH! and we can't leave out the Embroidery section of the room!

Turn around and you can see my dining room... ever ready for the improptu card making gathering.

OK, OK...maybe not EVER ready...I took the month of January to FINALLY get it this clean, after years of it looking like this:

Just so you know, this is what I was willing to show you! No way you are seeing behind the closed doors where everything else is!!!
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My last post should make so much more sense now.

MAYBE one day I'll know what I really want to be when I grow up!

.... Mattie, are you ready for a road trip yet? :-)
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But I want to know more!

2010-03-07T13:05:00.024-05:00

I heard someone say the other day that to become really good at something it is better to do 12 things 4000 times than to do 4000 things 12 times. Well, I hate to admit it but I'm the person that does the 4000 things! As soon as I show myself, I can do something I'm ready to move on to the next something...so I never get REALLY good at anything...sure, I can do it, but not like a master. I would love to be like a master but there's just too many other things "out there" to learn!!
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Which brings us to today's thing....last week I wanted to learn how to color other people's stuff ... this week I want to draw my own!

I am just so jealous of folks that can draw from their heads. I so admire those people! And I would love to be able to do that! But, as described above, I can "do it" I'm just not good at it! I look at other people selling their art and say "I want to do that!" But I don't have that "it"...

So, begins the search for lessons on how to draw using a pc. I found a few out on the web so you get to see my first attempt at drawing (WITH A MOUSE!!!) Now, you have to understand that the ONLY reason I'm even showing you this is that I don't really believe that YOU are looking! (I'm just writing an online diary for myself)

First off, I plan to use my mouse as my scapegoat! What a MISERABLE tool for drawing! You think you are doing ok when suddenly the thing takes out across the page leaving a black tail in it's path! Now how did that happen?! I didn't tell it to lock in the "on" position! So, you guessed it, now I'm in the market for a drawing pad w/ pen! Some day....

Today my niece Mattie is my model. Gorgeous, beautiful Mattie... isn't she though?! I like to think of her as a Mini-Me.... Me "back then". OK! OK! I was never that beautiful, or that skinny, and she has a way with words that I can't touch! She writes in a way that makes you anxious to read more. BUT! She has the same passion I do for the Lord, and she loves to create with her hands... Like I said...Mini-Me :-)

So, I know this isn't exactly her...BUT I WAS USING A MOUSE!!! And it was my first time! AND I have no clue how to really use the software! So view with mercy!

OK, I didn't do her hair exactly right, and there's no real shadowing, but not horrible ... kinda like that company that gets you to "Draw this picture and then we'll teach you how to draw" ... I don't know if you would say "That's Mattie!" if you knew her. HEY, I WAS USING A MOUSE!!! OH! and did I mention that I have just enough room on my desk for the mouse to sit?! ZERO moving space! (another reason why the runaway mouse is so perplexing!)

Anyway, drawing lines was all I was trying to learn this time. WAY harder than I hoped it would be. ANY TIPS are MORE THAN WELCOME!!!

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I DID IT!!! Its a few hours later. I was thinking about what I wanted to do and it suddenly came to me how!!! OMG and Thank You Daddy GOD!

This is what I'm going for and I DID IT! I have my first "MY VERY OWN" drawing! HA! HAPPY DANCE!

Still Learning!

2010-03-04T19:10:00.008-05:00

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Everyday I learn a little bit more about how to format this thing...So, if you are following and see changes that's the reason! I know I still need a good header but that's kinda low on my to-do list. But I'll get there. I'm also having a hard time finding a good layout... You have to use one of theirs and they don't have any good choices! Thanks for being patient! And come back often because I seem to be on a roll here! Talking A LOT!

I just added some of my favorite sites (that I can think of right this minute anyway... Please, check them out, they are good people.

I also opened up another blog that I started late last year...it is really more of a diary of my love for the Lord... I have a REALLY hard time not giving Him glory for everything on this blog, because HE DESERVES IT! But, I'll try to keep that to a minimum here and if you are at all interested in REALLY knowing my heart go there...

http://www.myfathershands-nb.blogspot.com/

I haven't been regular with that one but I'm going to get better... (she said with hope in her voice)
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This Too Shall Pass

2010-03-04T13:45:00.015-05:00

One of my great-nieces, Tori, just started a 3 year nursing school program with LSU in New Orleans ... that's after already doing 4 years at LSU in Baton Rouge. I don't know, but I think life just got much harder than she ever imagined. The only reason I can guess this is that all of her facebook entries are about wishing she had wanted to be a pre-school teacher, or about studying and tests and wanting it to be Friday!

Tori is my inspiration today. A girl looking at the calendar longing for the future to get here QUICK!

I got a new die this week (4 actually). A 6x6 album with tabs. LOVE IT!!! So, I decided to use it for my "Counting the Days" stamp.

I am such a LAZY stamper! ... I don't ... hardly ever anyway. Everything about the photo album was either printed from Corel or pre-printed design paper.... glued!

You really can't see the 3-D of it from this photo. (Sorry, taking pictures is something else I need to learn!) The girl is actually looking throught a scolloped window and an acetate page. The calendar is on a third page...the one with stripes. The torn calendar pages are popped off the front and there's a ribbon flower on her hat. Here's another, maybe it will help a little:

The cover without anything behind it:

And the 3rd page:

Thanks for the inspiration Tori! Not to worry, this too shall pass! (all too fast!) Love you!

Got it! A digitally painted digital stamp....

2010-03-03T03:38:00.013-05:00

Yesterday I wanted to share something I had played with but I couldn't. That's OK though, because God ALWAYS has a better plan! I went in search of a user-friendly digital stamp and found the SWEETEST, most precious artist! She is now one of my new favorite people! And I LOVE her stamps! Her Etsy shop is www.etsy.com/shop/tiddlyinks?page=2. You can find other links for her there. She gives full permission to digitally color her designs so I am a HAPPY CAMPER!

THANK YOU Christy Croll!

So, back to yesterday's task... reminder... I wanted to try and use Corel Paint to color a digital stamp... it was my first go at it...this is now my second so I'm "really" good at it now (she said under her breath).

I started with a black and white line drawing ....

And ended with this....

Is that too cute, or what?! It's called "New Day Bugg-Special day or Birthday" on Etsy but when she sent it to me she called it "Counting the Days"... The really clever thing about the "stamp" is that she left the months and days off so that you can add any month and special day that you want! Cool way to make a special birthday card, or invitation or whatever!

Last week I read somewhere that you can modify colors just by changing the hue or saturation ... simple slide bars in Corel Paint... So I tried that. I took the colored picture above and played with the hue and saturation. Thankfully, I knew when I was creating the first that I was going to be playing with the color so I put each and every piece on a separate layer... That way I can make the hat a different color without affecting the hair or the dress. Because of the extra time spent up front I was able to make the changes in maybe 2 minutes. Slide a couple bars, add some dots and DONE! Check out the results!

And, I did it again to get this...

notice I changed the month on the calendar this time....

Another cool thing about having to find another stamp was that when I had to start from scratch I accidentally discovered a way to import a .jpg and fill the calendar border with it! God is SO GOOD! I didn't do all that shading and swirl work on the border, it was just a background .jpg! Gotta love it!

OK! It is now 5:21 AM so I'm thinking its time to go take a nap! I'll come up with a way to use the pictures when I wake up....and post that soon.

2010-03-02T09:15:00.000-05:00

OK! First Blog Post!

I have created this blog in order to share some of the experiments I have done with CorelPaint.... and whatever else I might play around with in the future. I also sell diecuts (hence, the name) so I will most definitely be using those in future posts. But today its about

digital coloring...

I have used CorelDraw since version one...but never really used CorelPaint much...mostly just to resize and crop. ...so I decided I would expand my horizons and try "coloring" with CP. I have a house full of rubber stamps but never use them because you are limited to the size they are. And too, when I create something I want to be able to make dozens of them and don't usually have time for the "one-at-time" plan. I want to be able to print out dozens at a time...and use the results on cards, or stickers, or shirts, or, or.... you get the point.... If you know me at all I'm all about making LOTS of something at one time... like the 300 valentines cards we made for the orphanages this year. Nope, coloring one at a time just doesn't work for my needs!

I have to say, this first post was far more interesting when I first wrote it because I included pictures of something I "colored" last night.. VERY VERY CUTE... but, I checked with the artist before actually putting this "out there" and found out that I had broken her copyright rule of not using software to color. HECK!!! VERY disappointing!

Sooooo... Rule #1. READ THE COPYRIGHT RULES! Everyone has their own and they can be different.

There are tons of sites out on the web that sells line art so ... let the shopping begin! I will be back when I find something I can actually share with you.