Update: Hi Everyone!

Hi Everyone!

It's been a long time since I posted last (December, I think)!  I just wanted to post a quick update.  I have not been creating cards.  I think I just kind of got burnt out plus I've been doing other creative things instead.   I've finally started scrapbooking more again and just don't seem to have time for both card making and scrapbooking with 3 kiddos and all the family stuff.  While making cards is something I enjoy, in all honesty, my scrapbooks mean a lot more to me and it's something I'm enjoying working on right now.  I am one of those people who is overprotective and I don't feel comfortable posting photos of my kids online for the world to see so that means I don't have anything creative to share. 

We are all doing well just busy with life.  I do have some news.  We will have a new little one come September.  Completely unplanned and a bit of a shock, but we're excited none the less.  The kids are really excited, too!  I've been trying to catch up on some scrapbooking before the big day since things will be even busier! :)

I've also been purging, selling, and donating lots of things.  I have a small space and way too much stuff!  I am keeping my favorite stamps still even though I haven't been making cards.  I do use some of the sentiment stamps in my scrapbooks and I don't think I am done with card making (just taking a bit of a long break).  If you think you might be interested in anything (stamps, papers, embellishments, dies, etc), you can find my sales page here and just drop me an email.  I do also sell stuff through a group on facebook.  I've discounted lots of things since the last time I posted here about my sales page.  As an added discount, I will take an additional 10% off any spools of twine and Waltzingmouse stamps.

Anyway, I'm off to give my kiddos there spelling tests before we have to leave for my daughter's softball game.  Hope you are all doing well!
Niki :)

MarkerPop and Tina Wenke Designs Blog Hop

A while back, I was contacted by Tina Wenke asking if I’d like to try some of her new Christmas patterned papers.  When I was designing for Stampavie, Tina’s designs were some of my absolute favorite stamps (They still are!) so I was excited to get to try some of her patterned papers, too. 


Today MarkerPop is teaming up with artist and designer Tina Wenke to bring you a fabulous day of Tina Wenke inspired Christmas projects.

If you haven't heard of Tina Wenke, here is a little info about her. Tina is an artist and designer who enjoys crafting, too. Her artwork and designs can be found on many different products like greeting cards, stationery, gifts, and of course stamps and paper crafting!  Tina's work is beautiful & MarkerPop is so happy to be carrying her stamp designs (by Stampavie) & Tina also has a gorgeous line of patterned papers available at her online store.

We are so lucky to be hopping with Tina's products today. Each designer will share beautiful inspiration using Tina Wenke stamps & papers.  Make sure to hop along the designer list & see what everyone created today.



I used Tina’s adorable Santa with Children image.  I absolutely love this image!  (MarkerPop does not have this particular stamp in stock, but you can find lots of Tina’s other stamps here.)  Of course, I also used some of Tina’s new patterned papers that you can purchase from her store here.  I love the different patterns and the papers are printed on thick, quality paper.



I stamped the image on copic x-press it cardstock with tuxedo black memento ink and colored it with copic markers.  I sketched in the base board to separate the wall and floor in the image so I could color them.



I used a sentiment from Catslife Press.  I love seal sentiments and those from Catslife Press are among my favorites.

Now, let's talk prizes!

Tina Wenke has generously donated a prize of 2 stamps (1 of her Winter designs and 1 Spring design) plus a pack of her Winter Papers & MarkerPop is giving away a $15 gift certificate. One lucky winner will win it all!

How can you have a chance to win? Simple, just follow these simple steps:
1. Head over to the Tina Wenke Blog & sign up to be a follower while you are there.
2. Head over to the MarkerPop Blog and sign up for an email subscription OR like us on Facebook (will have links).
3. Hop around to our designers & leave a comment on one or more of our Tina Wenke projects. For every comment you leave, you will receive an additional entry into our giveaway!

Thanks so much for dropping by and Happy Hopping!
Niki

Merry Little Christmas: Whimsy Stamps November Release Showcase Day 7

Welcome to Day 7 of the November release from Whimsy Stamps!  On Wednesday, November 21, Whimsy Stamps released this month's new rubber designs, Shapeology dies, Whimsy Designer Paper packs, Shape EZ templates and *new* Whimsy Prints pre-colored toppers. From then until November 27th,  the Whimsy Stamps DT and Special Guests are showcasing these fabulous new goodies with a daily mini blog hop and I am part of today’s hop! Each mini blog hop has a new release prize hidden somewhere along the way and you have
24hrs to enter each prize draw.

For my card today, I used the adorable Xmas Hamster image from Sylvia Zet.  Is this image so cute?! lol  I used some patterned papers from Tina Wenke and colored the image with copic markers (listed below).    I masked the image and sprayed the background with a BG01 copic marker and my air compressor.  Then, I went over the little bubbles/snow with my colorless blender to away some of the blue.

I added a sentiment from Catslife Press and some crocheted lace, buttons, and baker’s twine.  The crocheted lace is a self adhesive tape that makes it really easy to use on cards.  You can find it in the Whimsy Store here.

I added some Glossy Accents to the little bubbles/snow in the image and some white fun flock to the fluffy parts of the little hamster’s vest. 
To be entered into today's mini blog hop prize draw, be sure to leave a comment on ALL of the DT's posts listed below by 12.00PM EST tomorrow. All winners will be announced on the Whimsy blog on November 28th.
To take a peek at today's fabulous new release creations, please click on the links below...

Erin Bailey
Heidy Blom
Iris Wiechmann
Niki Estes (you’re here)
Simonne Clay
Bev Rochester - Special Guest
Deb Routledge - Special Guest
Jacque Beddingfield - Special Guest
Pops Morfitt - Special Guest

Remember that the entire new release is available to buy right now from the Whimsy Stamps store along with all your Whimsy favorites.

If you would like to join Whimsy Stamps as their Guest Designer for the January 2013 release, please CLICK HERE for all the details. Entries close at 12.00pm on 28 November.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!
Niki
Merry Little Christmas card supplies:
Stamps: Xmas Hamster (Whimsy Stamps), sentiment (Catslife Press)
Cardstock: X-Press It (Copic), kraftPatterned Paper: Tina Wenke Designs
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Embellishments: crocheted lace, buttons, green twine
Dies: oval nestability dies (Spellbinders)
Copic Markers
ornament:
R22, R27, R46, R89, T7
YG61, YG63, YG67m T7
C1, C3, C5
Y13, T15, Y17, YR12, C3, C5
hamster:
W2, W4, W6, W8, R11
hamster’s vet and ribbon:
R22, R27, R46, R89, T7
YG61, YG63, YG67, T7
sky:
BG01

Huge Purging Sale

Hi Everyone,

I've been purging tons of stamps from my collection along with some dies and other things I'm not using.  My space is small so I try to get rid of things that I don't use every few months.  I decided to go through lots of my stamps (Papertrey, LOTV, Stampavie, Waltzingmouse, High Hopes, and more) recently and have spent my spare time over the last week or so adding them to my sales page.  You can find everything here: My Sales Page.  The Spellbinders dies are like new, but won't come in their original packaging.  Some I never even used.  Drop me an email if there is something you're interested in and I can get you a shipping quote.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Niki

Happy Holidays to you and yours

I’ve been spending all my spare time the last week going back through the blog files and moving all the photos over here to Blogger from Typepad and fixing formatting issues.  Geez, it takes a long time to go through almost 4 years worth of blog posts!  (And that was even after I deleted a LOT of posts over on Typepad when I was getting ready to move!)  Remind me of that if I ever get a crazy idea to move again! lol  Seriously, though, I am so happy I moved and won’t have to pay for my blog anymore.  I loved Typepad, but  I needed to move my blog to a free service.  I’ve used Live Writer in the past to type my posts on other Blogger blogs for companies I’ve worked for so I’m using that to type my posts up.  (Another great free service.) 

Anyway, I actually have a card to share!  I created this card last month, but never got it posted on my old blog.  (Hence, the watermark, but I didn’t have another copy of the photos.)

This adorable image, called Holly, released from Whimsy Stamps during the October release.  That was the month my son got hurt so I didn’t get this card finished during the release.  It sat on my desk for a couple weeks before I had the chance to take some photos of it.  I just love Sylvia’s Zet’s illustration style so her images are always some of my favorites.

I stamped the image on copic x-press it cardstock with tuxedo black memento ink and colored it with copic markers (colors listed below).  I die cut the image with a circle nestability die.  Then, I masked the image and sprayed it with a copic marker using my air compressor while the image was still in the die (to create the white border).  I added some stickles to the snow and let it dry before assembling my card.

I used an assortment of patterned papers (which I didn’t write down – Sorry!).  I added some white paint to the edges of my cardstocks and patterned papers before stitching them together.  Then, I added a white doily, an assortment of flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, some baker’s twine, a button, and snowflake charm.  The sentiment is from the Holiday Mini Postage Stamps set.

I decorated the inside of the card with more of the same patterned papers and cardstocks.  The sentiment is from the Christmas Sayings stamp set.

I’ve decided that I want to do a few small blog candies instead of one large blog candy to celebrate moving my blog.  I figure that way more people will have a chance to win.  Stay tuned for the first blog candy soon!

Have a great weekend!

Niki

happy holiday card supplies:
Stamps: Holly, Holiday Mini Postage Stamps, Christmas Sayings (Whimsy Stamps)
Cardstock: X-Press It (Copic), kraft, blue
Patterned Paper: assortment
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Embellishments: flowers (Wild Orchid Crafts), baker’s twine, button, snowflake charm, doilies
Dies: circle nestability (Spellbinders, mini postage stamp die (Whimsy Stamps)
Copic Markers
wings: R00, R20, R21, R22, R24
other pinks: R11, R12, R32, R35
socks: W00, W1, W2, W3, R27, R46, R89
pants: B91, B93, B95, B97, B99
shirt: BG10, BG11, BG13
bells: C0, C1, C3, C5
skin: E000, E00, E11, E13, R00, R20
branch/leaves: E33, E35, E37, YG61, YG63, YG67
scarf: R11, R12, R32, R35, YG61, YG63, YG67
hair: E07, E08, E09, E18
berries: R27, R46, R89

question for google reader subscribers

Can you see this post?  I'm posting from my Blogger blog and might have figured out how to move my subscribers from my Typepad blog to my Blogger blog without you having to resubscribe in Google Reader.  I changed the blog feed in Feedburner and it might have automatically moved my Google Reader subscribers.  (I didn't know I could do that!)

So, Google Reader subscribers can you see this? :)

Niki

Best Witches

I made this card a while back for Whimsy Stamps, but never got around to posting it here on my blog.  I figure I better post it today since it
is Halloween! :)

This adorable little witch is called Hazel.  I think this has to be one of the cutest Halloween images ever.  I just love Sylzia's Zet illustration style!  I used some patterned papers from Cosmo Cricket's Matilda paper pad.  The ribbon is actually cheesecloth that I dyed with a black spray ink.

I stamped the image on copic x-press it cardstock with tuxedo black memento ink and colored it with copic markers.  (I don't remember the colors because I made this card over a month ago.  Sorry!)  I masked the image and sprayed the sky.   Then, I added some shading to the clouds with gray copic markers.

The sentiment is from Catslife Press.  I love their seal sentiments!

Hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween!

Niki