Puppy with Present

~ sproatmeyer ~ 1 Comment

The cool blues next to the vibrant reds reminds of cold winter days and frosty windows. I made this card using Puppy with Present from The Stamping Bazaar designed by Marina Neira.


Challenge: The Corrosive Challenges #96 (Bling)
Challenge: Creative Belli Blog – Challenge #107 (Christmas)
Main Stamp: Puppy with Present (TSB)
Patterned Paper: In Winter Wonderland (Martha Stewart)
Metal Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Large Scalloped Circle
Copic Colors:
-puppy: E40, E41, E42, E43, E44, E47, E49
-other: B000, B01, B32, B34, B37, C1, C3, R22, R24, R29, R59

Did you know? Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century. Czech is similar to and mutually intelligible with Slovak and, to a lesser extent, to Polish and Sorbian.
[Czech Language, Wikipedia.org]

Update: I was the winner for this challenge at the Creative Belli Blog!

Christmas Greyhound

~ sproatmeyer ~ 5 Comments

I made this card using Christmas Greyhound and thought it would be a great one to show for Christmas Day. This cute dog was illustrated by Marina Neira from The Stamping Bazaar of course! So here’s to you wishing you a very Merry Christmas today!


Challenge: Creative Cowgirls – Challenge #3 (Christmas or Winter)
Challenge: For Fun Challenges – Merry Christmas
Main Stamp: Christmas Greyhound (TSB)
Patterned Paper: Mitten Weather (CC)
Metal Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels One
Copic Colors:
-dog: E51, E55, E57, E59, G82, G99
-other: R20, R22, R24, R29, R89, C3, C5, G82, G94, G99, BG000, BG01

Did you know? The International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) is a year-long celebration of biological diversity and its value for life on Earth, taking place around the world in 2010. Coinciding with the date of the 2010 Biodiversity Target, the year was declared by the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2006. The 2010 Biodiversity Target is an overall conservation target aiming to halt the decline of biodiversity by the end of the year 2010. The International Year of Biodiversity is meant to help raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity through activities and events in many countries.
[International Year of Biodiversity, Wikipedia.org]

Jude and his Shenanigan Crew

~ sproatmeyer ~ 14 Comments

It’s the 12th and final challenge in the 12 Days of Christmas at Simply Betty Stamps and this one is all about Christmas Eve. The prize, like a beautifully wrapped present, is both divine and tantalizing and includes being a guest designer for January! So just like my kids, I’m huddled around the Christmas tree eagerly waiting for tomorrow. 😀


I made another fancy folded card but I don’t know what this was is called – it’s sort of like a step card on one side and a vertical card on the other half. Anyway it was fun to make and allowed for more images to surround the tree… including Mickey in the back hauling off the largest present before anyone else can!


This is my second attempt with Prismacolor Pencils and this time I used Linseed Oil to blend with. Linseed has a strong smell of something very old like a bookstore… nothing headache-inducing but noticeable. It blended easier than a paper stump but it was messy and the oil took overnight to dry out. However, I did notice that it smeared the image in some areas. I printed the digital stamps with a laser printer and usually don’t have problems but once I applied the Linseed Oil it would grab some of the toner and smear it around so some areas look dirty.

Challenge: Simply Betty Stamps – 12 Days of Christmas
Challenge: Paper Sundaes – Challenge #49 (Cut it out)
Challenge: Anything Goes – Challenge #30 (C is for Christmas)
Main Stamp: Jude and his Shenanigan Crew Elf Nelly, Chloe’s Cookies & Mickey’s Prezzie (SBS) and Christmas Tree (WoJ)
Patterned Paper: Signature Christmas (MME)
Prismacolor Pencils:
1018, 927, 944, 1019, 945, 926, 923, 1003, 977, 1033, 911, 988, 968, 941, 1025

Did you know? The Lost Boys of Sudan are more than 27,000 boys of the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups who were displaced and/or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War. In 2001, about 3800 Lost Boys arrived in the United States, where they are now scattered in about 38 cities. Most of the boys were orphaned or separated from their families when government troops systematically attacked villages in southern Sudan killing many of the inhabitants, most of whom were civilians. The younger boys survived in large numbers because they were away tending herds or were able to escape into the nearby jungles. Orphaned and with no support, they would make epic journeys lasting years across the borders to international relief camps in Ethiopia and Kenya evading thirst, starvation, wild animals, insects, disease, and one of the most bloody wars of the 20th century.
[Lost Boys of Sudan, Wikipedia.org]
On the 12th Day of Christmas my Ghoul Love gave to me… presents galore!

Young Love

~ sproatmeyer ~ 10 Comments

There is still time to hop along the Make it Crafty blog hop and a chance to win over $200 worth of products including the newly released Secret Garden collection which has been released in digital and rubber! The hop finished Friday 24th and winners will be announced on Christmas! Click HERE to start! I made this card using Young Love from Mo Manning and backed it up with Lovers Pavilion from Make It Crafty.


Make it Crafty is opening up a new challenge blog called Make it Colourful and Zoe has put together an awesome team! I’m excited to work along side some very talented ladies and hopefully learn all their fabulous techniques! 😀 I am very excited so say… I’m a colour addict!


This is the Lover’s Pavilion from the Secrete Garden collection and a fun image to color! I used four different green combinations for the plants to give it more depth and I chose to make the pavilion resemble white stone.


Challenge: Papertake Weekly Challenge – Anything Goes
Challenge: Paper Sundaes – Challenge #49 (Cut it out)
Challenge: Crafts and Me – Challenge #20 (Anything Goes)
Main Stamp: Young Love (MMS) and Lover’s Pavilion (MiC)
Patterned Paper: Kioshi (BG)
Copic Colors:
-pavilion: E40, E41, E42, E43, E44, G20, G21, G24, G28, G40, G82, G94, G99, YG93, YG95, YG99, R21, R24, R29, V12, V15, V17, Y32, Y35, Y38, YR12, YR16, YR18, C1, C3, B000, B0000, B02, E18, E19, E17, E15, E43, E44, E47, E49, T0, T2, T4
-couple: E3, E44, E47, E49, C00, C1, C3, C5, W8, W6, E000, E00, E11, E13, T2, T4, T6, E41, E42, E43, E44, E47, E49, B91, B93, B95, V91, V95, V99, G20, G21, G24, B02, B11, B12

Did you know? The December 2010 lunar eclipse occurred from 5:27 to 11:06 UTC on December 21, coinciding with the date of the December solstice. It was visible in its entirety as a total lunar eclipse in North and South America, Iceland and northern Scandinavia.
[December 2010 Lunar Eclipse, Wikipedia.org]

Tips, Tricks & Techniques 0x01E

~ sproatmeyer ~ 2 Comments

I’m giving it a go experimenting with Prismacolor Pencils and have colored an image from Summer Fairies by Pergamano. The one on the left shows the coloring using the pencils only and the one on the right shows the result after blending.


I blended the dress and flower with a paperstump pressing really hard. The rest of the image with blended with a Prismacolor Blending Pencil which you can see clearly in the hair and bird. I didn’t find too much of a difference between the two blending results, although, I had to press down slightly harder with the paperstump.

Main Stamp: Summer Fairies (P)
Prismacolor Pencils:
901, 902, 908, 911, 913, 915, 917, 918, 931, 932, 934, 941, 942, 945, 946, 956, 961, 962, 991, 995, 997, PC921, PC1022, PC1021 and Light Flesh

Party Animals

~ sproatmeyer ~ 12 Comments

The challenge this week at Lollipop Crafts is Fancy Folds. Your challenge to create a card or project with a different fold-type… such as gate fold, triangular fold, easel card, etc. I chose to make a step stair card which are always fun to display, however, where the card part comes in, I’ve never been able to figure out.


I made this project using images from Whiff of Joy‘s Party Animal collection and Make it Crafty‘s new Secrete Garden Collection plus the Big Tree. On the back panel is Lou Celebrating Monkey hanging on the Big Tree; the center panel has Gerda Celebrating Goat with Petals and Palings; and the front panel features Mouse Under Hat and Daffodil Dell.


Here’s the side view which shows the fancy fold plus the easel support in the back. Each animal is attached with foam pop-up dots and each background was cut out without leaving a white border so help define each element. I went all out with embellishments that were scattered around the room… including (store bought) hand-made clay lily flowers around the base of the tree and near the title. A closer picture of the Happy Birthday title is shown below.


DT Challenge: Lollipop Crafts – Challenge #21
Challenge: Card Makin Mamas – Challenge #11 (Anything Goes)
Challenge: The Crafty Pad – Challenge #102 (Anything Goes)
Main Stamp: Lou Celebrating Monkey, Gerda Celebrating Goat and Mouse Under Hat (WoJ) and Big Tree, Petals and Palings and Daffodil Dell (MiC)
Patterned Paper: School Spirit Collection (Crate Paper)
Copic Colors:
-tree: E35, E37, E59, G40, G82, G94, G99
-monkey: E40, E41, E42, E43, E44, E47, E49, E04
-present: YR12, YR14, YR18, C3, E08, E09, E19
-goat: E50, E51, E53, E55
-goat’s stuff: BG72, BG75, BG78, YR12, YR14, YR18, W3, W5, W7, E08, E09, E19, R05
-mouse: W2, W3, W5, W7
-hat: YR12, YR14, YR18, BG72, BG75, BG78, E08, E09, E19, R05
-flora/ground: E41, E42, E43, E44, E47, E49, YR12, YR14, YR18, E08, E09, E19, R05, G40, G82, G94, G99, YR20, YR21, YR23, C1, C3, C5, G20, G21, G24, G28, BG93, BG96, BG99


Did you know? Ladle Rat Rotten Hut is the story of Little Red Riding Hood written using English words, but never the correct ones, in the genre called homophonic transformation.Howard L. Chace, a professor of French, wrote it in 1940 to demonstrate that the intonation of spoken English is almost as important to the meaning as the words themselves. It was first published in Gene Sherman’s “Cityside” column in the Los Angeles Times in 1953.
[Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, Wikipedia.org]