Tuesday Tip of the Day-Doodling

Doodling is one of the hottest things going on right now in our little stamp world. Everything-- paper, stamps, ribbon, is coming out with doodles! I just can't get enough of it. The one thing I haven't done much of is doodle on my own cards. I really don't know why either, as I am a self-confessed doodler in places where I find myself bored beyond tears. I have always doodled....in class, in church, in business meetings, while I'm talking on the phone. When I was young, I would doodle my future name....MRS. Stan Smith, or whomever poor fool I had a crush on at the time! Lately, I've found myself doodling doodles in my bible study lecture! Shhhhh. Don't tell! Did you know the dictionary definition for doodling is "scribbling absentmindedly". That is so true.

To help you get started with this hip, new craze, I've done a little research online to find sites that will help you get a feel for doodling. Don't be afraid. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? Just relax your hand and get to it! The next time you're talking on the phone, grab a paper and pen and doodle whatever is on your mind at the moment. I like to draw hearts, and I love to draw doodle flowers! Maybe you can find a little notebook, alter it, and make it your "little book of doodles"!!! Keep it on the smaller side so it will fit in your purse. That way, whenever the urge hits, you can doodle your heart away! Pretty soon, you'll be ready to practice all those doodles right on your cards.

Here are few sites to get you started:
http://scrapbooking.families.com/blog/doodle-on-your-layouts
http://reviews.ebay.com/Doodling-The-Hottest-New-Trend-In-Scrapbooking_W0QQugidZ10000000000955493?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:LISTINGS:1
http://drawsketch.about.com/cs/tipsandideas/a/doodle.htm

I figured since I was doing today's tip on doodling, I should be a good little blogger and share with you a card I made with doodling. Excuse me while I go whip something up right now.......

Ok, I'm back with TWO cards that are doodled, although one was a little more difficult than the other! This card proves doodling doesn't just have to be about flowers and swirls....it can be masculine too! It's a birthday card for my BIL who's birthday is tomorrow (Happy Birthday Ken!). See the doodling on the sides of the golfer image? I just made slanted slashes along each side of the image and that was it. It adds a little spice to the card, don't you think?


For my second card, I decided to go all out and doodle a FLOWER instead of just swirls! Of course, my inspiration for this doodle was my fantabulous Hero Arts flower stamp that I use all the time (the same one I enabled all of YOU to go buy:)). I first drew the flower in pencil and then I went over the pencil with a brown marker. This way makes it alot easier than randomly throwing doodles all over the page. It's a somewhat more controlled doodle, which I suppose takes away from the "absentmindedness" of doodling, but oh well. In each corner, I simply made 6 x's to "frame" in the doodled flower. I really love how it turned out! I'm so glad I decided to give this a try. It was really easy. Probably the best two tips I can give you for doodling is to 1. practice a little bit first 2. draw your doodled design in pencil first. I hope after today you give doodling a try too!


Have a great day everyone! I'm so excited for Idol tonight! Did I tell you that the guy who runs one of the local batting cages in town here is actually Brandon Rogers brother? For those of you who don't know who Brandon Rogers is, he is the first Idol in the Top 12 to get voted off last week. It was such a let down, because he's so good, and SO adorable! I had taken my son to the batting cages a few weeks ago, and was very impressed with the guy behind the desk who was apparently running the place. Very polite, very well educated, very adorable too. Then I was reading the local gossip column in Sunday's paper, and there's a big article about him being Brandon's brother. I can totally see the resemblance and the impeccable manners, which Brandon totally had. So sad to see him go! This week better be Sanjya, or I might have to start boycotting the show!

Tuesday Tip of the Day

I just found this great analogy/tip and I thought it would be worth sharing with you for Tuesday's Tip of the Day!

Today's tip comes from a website called RubberStampMadness. It's actually a rubber stamping magazine available for subscription (another magazine I'll have to consider adding to my collection:))! They tell us to do this when choosing colors:

"Consider the gallon-quart-pint theory of color when designing art. Choose three colors you want to use, perhaps consulting an artist’s color wheel for guidance. The “gallon” is the color that takes up the most space. Then use a “quart” of a contrasting color, and highlight the art with a “pint” of the third color."

I think this is a great tip! Let's analyze my card today and see how I did with the Gallon-Quart-Pint theory of color choice....mmmm, it might be a little hard to do with this card. Do you think maybe I seem to have chosen the "Gallon-Gallon-Pint method for my card? Hee-hee. I would say definitely that purple was my Gallon choice. Orange seems to be a pretty predominant color as well, but maybe not quite as much? I think maybe I could catagorize orange as my Quart color, because it definitely contrasts with the purple. And, I would say the Very Vanilla is the Pint color because it brings highlight to the overall card. Gosh. I just might have achieved this Gallon-Quart-Pint theory and I didn't even make this card with the theory in mind (I choose today's Tip of the Day just this morning because I forgot all about today's feature, and I made the card this past weekend!)! This just might be a theory worth keeping in mind when I make my cards from now on! It seems really logical and just might make the process of selecting colors so much easier for all of us!

The Hero Arts flower stamp is making another showing today, just had to pull her out and use her again. The Basic Grey paper just screams FUN, and the flower stamp screams FUN too. They are perfect together. Couldn't resist the temptation, and my guess is, you guys won't mind:)!! I covered a piece of Lovely Lilac cardstock with the striped Basic Grey paper, and then put a coordinating piece of Basic Grey paper horizontally across the middle. Since the colors are so similar, the coordinating piece didn't stand out so well on it's own. To solve that problem, I used some of my new purple polka dot ribbon to frame out the coordinating paper to make it stand out more. The flower image is stamped Whisper White in Lovely Lilac ink and then matted with Pumpkin Pie cardstock. After I cut around the matt with my scallop scissors, I attached it to the front of the card with foam tape to make it pop. Couldn't resist the temptation to bling it up a little with a purple jeweled flower placed right in the center of the flower! Bright, colorful, and cheerful. Just the recipe for a cold, winter's day!

Have a great one!

Tuesday Tip of the Day

Color is the key to making your cards look amazing! For some people, it's not so easy picking out colors that "go together", so I hope to give you a few tips today that might make this process easier for you!

Typically, choosing a designer paper is the first thing I do when I'm ready to make a card. From there, I choose the matching cardstock and ink to bring the project together. The paper is typically my "inspiration piece". To successfully decorate a room in your home, it's often best to start off with an inspiration piece to get the ball rolling. When I did my kitchen a few years ago, I found this beautiful chip and dip hand painted bowl that I used to as the jumping off point to complete the kitchen. I painted fruit on the walls that matched the fruit on the inspiration piece. I bought placemats with that same fruit motif. You get it. One little bowl started the ball rolling. That's what designer paper does for my cards! Maybe for you it's some beautiful ribbon you recently bought!

Different colors are often synonomous with different events. For instance, pastel colors are great colors to use for your Easter cards and baby cards. White, silver and gold are colors you might use for anniversary cards, or major birthday milestones. Bright colors can be used for many events; birthdays, major celebrations, etc. Bright colors are the colors that often evoke happiness, fun and joy! Reds, purples, bright yellows, hot pink and orange can really make your cards speak to others! Finally, there are the trendy colors. By that I mean, whatever colors are hot in the marketplace around you--right now brown and aqua is trendy, as is celery green and pink. Trendy colors are perfect for party invites, birthdays, or thank yous. They might not be such a good idea for a sympathy card! For this card, I first chose my designer paper, then I looked for a coordinating cardstock (I looked at both Cool Caribbean and Tempting Turqouis but thought the TT looked better with the paper). Ink choice was next....I wanted the flower to stand out from the cardstock, so Pink Passion it was. The center of the flower is Certainly Celery and picks up the green in the designer paper as well! When it came to choosing the coordinating ribbon, I actually chose two; one was pink and white polka dot, the other was turquois and white polka dot. You are seeing the pink and white polka dot card because when I made one of these cards with the turquois ribbon, it didn't stand out at all because it was right next to the TT cardstock. Pink looked so much better!

Obviously, you can use any color you want on whatever kind of card your making. We can't box ourselves in too much with what's "right" or "wrong". Do what makes you feel good. But before you start crafting, try and find an inspiration piece that will help you pull everything together. Again, it can be the paper, it can be a ribbon, it can be a napkin you used at Aunt Sally's 65th birthday party! But use that one inspiration piece to help you pull together coordinating cardstock and ink that will make your finished card shine!

Tuesday Tip of the Day

Did you know that your SU Sanding Blocks are not just for sanding/distressing? The sanding blocks work amazingly well on those pesky little smudges that mysteriously appear on your paper while you're creating your masterpieces!! Now, granted, it probably isn't going to work on really big, dark smudges (if that's the case, just give it a toss into the ol' trash can!). But, if you've got a little smudge, give the sanding block a try. Just lightly rub the sanding block over the smudge until it disappears. My friend Lue and I use this technique all the time. In fact, Lue has contacted SU about creating a pencil type sanding block eraser just for this purpose! Great idea!



This bright and cheerful card is one I made this past weekend. Boy, are my color choices changing as we inch closer to spring....I'm totally into the brights now! No more darks for me if I can help it! I actually found this paper on clearance at Archivers recently. It's a very glossy, shiny paper that I have not used very much. It's double sided, so the polka dot strip you see on the card was the back side of the paper! The flower is a new stamp I bought with my 40% off coupon at Michael's this past weekend. The design lends itself to watercoloring, which is what I did on my flower. I used my aqua painter with Old Olive, Rose Red, and Pretty In Pink ink. I used my Itty Bitty Background stamp around the edges of the paper. I haven't used Itty Bitty Background in forever--it used to be a must-have on every card I made! The sentiment is from Hero Arts, their new line. It comes in a set of 6, and I've got to tell you, I love this set of stamps! You know what they're perfect for? Sentiments stamped into circle tags! They fit perfectly in the 1 1/4 inch circle punch size! I finished the card off by adding a little bling to the center of the flower. The main cardstock used was Cool Caribbean...love this paper! I'll have to stock up before SU discontinues it. Do you REALLY think they'll discontinue this wildly popular paper? They would be crazy if they did!

Today I'm going stamp shopping with my girlfriend! Woo-hoo! What do I possibly need though? The one thing I DO need is Easter stamps. I don't have any Easter stamps (well, maybe one or two). So, that's what I'll look for today. I'll check in with you tomorrow to give you a rundown of what little goodies I was able to find!

Tuesday Tip of the Day

Did you know there are many places to gain inspiration for your cards? As wonderful as SCS is for getting ideas, there really is a plethora of other places that can spur your creative imagination! This past weekend, I visited Crate & Barrel for a little retail therapy.

On the way out the door, BINGO, I spotted their new spring catalog. I'm so excited for spring to get here because let me tell you, the colors for this season are amazing! One look through the catalog and I had a whole crop of ideas for color combos! See the 4 pillows in on the left side of the catalog page? Green, Cream, Blue, and Brown. Perfect. This was my inspiration for the day! From this ad, I was able to make this card.... (sorry about the color...it was hard to photograph correctly, the Certainly Celery looks more like a minty green)....
On my own, I don't think I would have combined all these colors. But when the retail world says it's ok to combine these colors, I'm there, sistah!! This catalog was chock-full of beautiful color combinations. You don't need the Crate & Barrel catalog to inspire you....what about Pier 1? Pottery Barn? Macy's? You get the idea! Everywhere you look, there are color combinations ripe for picking. Look beyond the obvious for creative inspiration--you will never lack for ideas if you do!



Have a great inspiring day!



p.s. How about another neat tip? Did you know that when you are viewing the gallery at SCS, you can view 90 thumbnails at a time? Here's how...on the SCS home page, go to "Today's Additions", in the center of the page, 1/4 of the way down. Click on it. That will bring you to the gallery. Once you are here, click on the "per page" box, which is located on the right side of the page. When you click on it, it will bring up your options for how many photos you want to view on the page. Click 12. Once it gives you 12, look at the address in the :http box at the top of the page. You'll see this big long address. Find the number 12 in the address box....it will appear something like this "12&cat=all&ppuser"....once you find it, in place of the 12, type 90 and hit enter. You should now have 90 gallery photos on your page! If you have any trouble with this, please email me. It's the best way to view the gallery!!

Tuesday Tips

Tuesdays at Heartfelt Greetings will be the day when I share with you a tip or two related to stamping! These tips will be useful, helpful, and most importantly, simple! My hope is that by sharing information between us, we'll all become better, more efficient stampers!

If you have a special tip or two you'd like to share with me here at Heartfelt Greetings, leave a comment or email me (link under my photo)--I just might share YOUR tip too!

Today's tip is a simple one, and unfortunately, one that I often overlook! After you're done making your special card, take it one step further and make a matching envelope too! It literally takes a minute to stamp on the outside of the envelope with the same stamps you used on the front of your card. The end result? A card that says you cared enough to send the very best:)!!!!

Have a great day!