I've been Etsy-ized!

Yup, now selling cards & original drawings at my Etsy shop (which I've had since 2006, can you believe it? Probably the only reason I actually got "heathert" as my shop name!). I will be selling prints, too--both on photo paper, and on archival-quality art paper--in a couple of weeks. It just takes a while to get those printed.

Come check it out: Ooh la la, Artsy! Shop!

Two of my favorites Kingfisher, and Cityscape:

Silhouette: Peace & Bamboo

So remember when I said something about my first lesson learned with the Silhouette: don't cute insanely intricate shapes? This is all I salvaged from my original bamboo stamp at Art Neko:

The font is Dream Orphans, and that was cut on the Silhouette too. It -was- a rather thin cardstock, but still--ridiculous! *laugh* Oh well, live and learn. Oh, and the background is one of those paint swatches I picked up at the local Fred Meyer's (large grocery store or small department store, depending on how you look at it).

Card

Nobody faint now, here's an actual card, with actual stamping... *laugh*

Although the butterfly is from a kit of mine, printed onto sticker paper! (3PM, I think)

4 Cards

More with Copics--and yuzen washi. *bliss* These are all stamps of my design from Art Neko.

 

I guess I can mostly color inside the lines these days--but forget about keeping things straight! Good grief! ;)

More Copics

While in Portland this week, I dropped by The Paper Zone, which I don't recommend to anyone who doesn't want to hear an enthusiastic sucking sound as the cash flies out your pocket.

I there found out that Neenah's Classic Crest (I picked the whitest, which was Solar Crest) was one of the best Copic papers. 1 ream. Kaching! Then, I just had to get some Kromekote (by SmartPapers) to do all the alcohol ink techniques on glossy paper that I learned at my workshops last week. 1 ream. Kachingggg! Plus, some Tsukineko Memento dye ink--used it tonight with the Copics, and everybody is right, it's awesome and smearless--and a Martha Stewart (yeah, I know) Scoring Board so I could recreate some of the awesome folded cards I learned about. KACHING!

So tonight, I got out my cardstock, the Copics, and the Memento, and made this:

The one thing that did smear when I painted the whole thing with a crayon watercolor wash at the end was their hair. I'm not sure if it was because it was a larger area of Memento ink, or if it was the Copic black marker that I used to darken the hair. Ah well, live and learn... =) The card is kind of cool, as you're seeing a scan of the *inside*. The card opens up like a double door cupboard, and is kept closed with some gold cord looped around two buttons attached to the side panels. The stamp is one of mine from Art Neko.

A Card, For Once

 

Credits: My stamp from Art Neko with Versacraft, embossed with Ranger Clear embossing powder, on vellum. Reverse side colored with Ranger dye inks (Lettuce & Butterscotch). Front then colored in with Copics and white acrylic paint. (Legs and beak were painted in white, then colored with copics, as well as some shading on the bodies.) Fun!

Next 4 Copics Experiments

Stamp (retired) by Tapestry Rubber Stamps. Copics on the flowers, watercolor pencil & paintbrush with water in between. Cougar White paper. Versafine pigment ink with clear embossing powder--disappointed that there's still some smearing this way.

Copics direct-to-rubber, spritzed with alcohol (spritzed the cardstock lightly before impression as well. Watercolor pencil & water in background. Cougar White paper, Penny Black stamp.

Same deal as above, except on watercolor paper, and I also added a light watercolor wash to the background after the stamp was dry. I really like that you can do that without disturbing the stamp! This was actually a second impression from the card above--I didn't add any further ink, just alcohol.

Finally, Adirondack Pitch Black dye ink on Cougar White paper, and all Copic coloring, though I did use some straight isopropyl alcohol on the background. Art Neko stamp.

And now I iz sleepy--nightynight!

Published!

Ooh! Just found out that an oooooooooooooold card of mine was just published in Stampington's Take Ten Summer 2010 issue:

I'm sorry that I don't remember whose stamps those are, but there's a fleur-de-lis stamp on the striped vellum, and then that abstract gold pattern.

Cards! The Paper Kind!

In case you thought I'd dropped off the face of the rubber stamping world...

(Bamboo stamp by Fred B. Mullett; other stamps by About Art Accents)

 

(Penny Black Brush stamp with Ranger Puff Embossing Powder)

A Card

Watercolors, Micron, and a stamp by Art Neko...



My darn problem is that I can't GLUE straight. Back to Kindergarten for me!!!

Layouts & Cards, O My

Some catching up to do:

A Gallery Standout, I always feel so chuffed at those, "Freedom":



Everything mine (although I was very inspired by Lisa's use of Vinnie's template on her Day You Were Born layout!). Fonts: Teen & butterbrotpapier.

Journaling reads:

I love that you are growing up
willing and able to jump chasms
to leap, focused on some small asperity
I love that this rocky garden
is your back yard,
that your shouts of joy
tumble into the air
echoing these vast waves
I love that you know freedom so well

And today's, "Sticks At Six":



For the Clean & Simple Inspiration Challenge @ Pixel Canvas--inspired by Disiree (GavinsMum), "Random Gavinism 223".

Credits: Everything by Vinnie Pearce. Papers from Today, The Great Hunt, and Weathered Greens @ Pixel Canvas, and from Placid @ CatScrap. Stem from Old Things. Font: Minya Nouvelle Gaunt. Journaling reads: Sticks at 6: pencil * compass* cane* dam * all that and an imagination.

And you won't believe this, but since I was getting 40 free prints from Shutterfly because I opened a photo-sharing site with them, I decided to go ahead and get my holiday photos printed up (I'll attach them to folded cardstock):



(Everything mine)

And finally, just to REALLY knock you over, a couple of CARD cards:



Stamp by Enchanted Ink

and



My stamps at Art Neko

A couple of cards...

I was experimenting tonight with gold on black...



Stamp by Art Neko

I found that embossing in black on black cardstock was way cool, and the best gold coverage I could find was using a credit card to spread Golden Acrylics over the embossed image. When I used a lightly corrugated black-striped cardstock, I got this cool ripple effect...

The other card I really liked was this one:



Stamp by Non Sequitur

Here I mixed Pearl-Ex powders with a dab of Golden Matte Gel, and just painted it on. I really liked seeing it go a bit free form...

A Productive Day

A ton of layouts, and even (don't faint) a card!!

My favorite is this lift of Neat Freak (Lorraine)'s "Untitled". Mine's called "Celebrate Happiness":



Allen has recently discovered how much fun dandelion puffballs are, especially now that he can actually blow some air out instead of just making a hissing sound. *lol*

Credits: Everything Vinnie Pearce (Pixel Canvas). Page mask from Set 03. Little heart (recolored) from The Great Hunt. Word art from Moments of Special. Star spray from Paradiso. Flower from Preserve It (collab with Fei Fei's Stuff and Catherine Designs).

Then a page with all Sande Krieger stuff (I'm sorry I have to drop her CT!), Honey:



It's amazing how much more relaxed Eddie is with this new job. He still doesn't like me to take photos, though, so this is a surreptitious one of him while I was sitting next to him on a log on the beach. You know, you kind of angle your little point-and-shoot ever so casually up and wow what do you know, your finger slipped and took a photo. Whoops! ;)

Everything by Sande Krieger @ 2Peas. Buttons and labels from "Buttons, Buttons, Who's Got the Buttons" and Note To Self V.2. Little "spring" tab bottom right from All Seasons Tabs. Bottom border from Fanciful Edges. Background paper (including top border) from Party On Papers. Tiny little heart from Home Is Where The Heart Is. And the "Love you" word art is from Word Play.

This was a quick one about Allen's very successful birthday party, Bouncing Off The Walls (inspired by the April Inspiration Challenge at Get Digi With It):



Well, there was rain all day on Allen's birthday, but we'd planned for it! Eddie emptied and cleaned out the whole garage, and the kids really took advantage of being able to run around. The adults stayed far inside out of screech range (well, except for the "lucky" parents who took turns watching over everybody!).

Credits: Everything from my Rain kit (GDWI). Fonts: FD Buttercream and kevinandamanda.com. Journaling reads: "6th birthday + 6 kids + a whole lotta rain = 'bout what you'd expect"

And finally, a fun (if imperfect) snapshot from a new beach yesterday, Robbie:



We had a wonderful couple of hours yesterday at an unnamed beach north of Seal Rock where there's an exposed agate bed (i.e., you can find tiny bits -- the size of a pea, or a lump of butter if you're lucky -- of agates amongst the gravel). This is the Sheltie of the friend who showed me where the bed was. Such a sweet, old doggie!

Credits: Everything Designer Digitals (inspired by an IdeaBooks4U blog entry). Background by Katie Pertiet for a Color Challenge (021509). Letters filled by: "r" - Katie Pertiet, Botanical Fusion; "o" - Katie Pertiet, Buttoned Up Love; "b" - Anna Aspnes, Something Springy; "b" - Lynn Grieveson, Breezy Flowers; "i" - crochet flower by Patti Knox, Everyday Inspiration Challenge (030109); and "e" - Katie Pertiet, Digitally Pressed Flowers. Font: VTPortableRemingon. Journaling reads: ". agate hunting . a good friend . castenholz . how about this one . cracked bucket . shifting sands . tide’s coming in . wet pants . world’s smallest fossil . one foot territory . crow babies . weathered stumps . cracked rock . a day in the sun . good times . new beach . what speed limit . thank you . "

And also (wow, long post today!), I made a cool-even-if-i-say-so card for Vinnie, as it's her 28th birthday today:



Credits: Everything by me, most of it made today. The inside would read "How owld are you today again?"

And FINALLY, a little card I made today for the Asian Card Exchange over at OSA:



Just a simple card... Stamp is by Stone House Stamps, over a spritzed background (Ranger Adirondack Color Sprays and Moonglow mist) edged with gold Krylon, and mounted on yuzen washi over textured cardstock. Just took some gold embroidery thread and wrapped it around the card front.

Phew. Have a great weekend--hope you can be productive too!

A Card, Some Layouts

Fancy that, a card! And not just any card--a card with actual sewing *everybody go "ooooh"* =)

Seriously, it took me almost an hour to sew all those beads to a piece of felt. I'm pathetic. *lol* But it came out ok... The reason I did this is because I made this cool piece of background paper (matte coated white paper with butterscotch Ranger alcohol ink) and couldn't find a single retro stamp to go with it. The brown paper is stamped, though, with a retired Tapestry Stamps piece.



And some layouts. You get to see what I do everyday just by following these in succession (I'll start with the oldest first):

We went to the dentist.



We went, we sat, we objected... we left. But we didn't scream. Score!!

Credits: Everything by Erica Hernandez at 2Peas. Base is her Letter Template 18 (modified to fit a 12x12). All papers are from the Haphazard mini-kit, except for the green (Martha Stewart freebie). Owl from the retroACTIVE kit. Fonts: Switzerland Condensed Bold and Oregon LDO. Journaling reads: "Still no cleaning, but at least we got 1/4 of an X-ray."

We went to the beach.



Got a Gallery Standout on this one... Credits: Everything 2Peas. Kate Teague for the background (a blend of one of her Dirty Stocks and a The Basics - Beige). Sande Krieger for the rest: frames from the French Laundry Photo Cards, borders along the edge from Borderlines 6, and brads from The Basics - Brads 2. Fonts: Soul Mission and Last Words; journaling reads: "Yachats: always the same, always different, always beautiful."

We went on a shopping-social tour of Yachats, with Daddy, who occasionally comes home on weekends.



New slicker, new sunglasses (in the shape of a crab, with pincers that flip up). What a kid. =)

Everything from Sande Krieger at 2Peas, except for the word art (mine). Masks in the middle are from the French Laundry Photo Edges v. 5. Bright papers are from the Sidewalk Chalk Papers, and the background paper from Sidewalk Chalk Pastels. The edges on the purple paper are from the Borderlines 5 kit.

We went to the beach.



Everything by Vinnie Pearce, Pixel Canvas. Template from the "Give Me Simple - 2 Pagers - Set 01" (gray paper comes with the template). Buttons from "School Days." Stitching from the "Us" freebie. Fonts: Soul Mission and Last Words. Title distressed with Vinnie's Distress Brushes Set 01.

We wore comfy pyjamas.



Credits: Everything by Vinnie Pearce, Pixel Canvas. I See + block, and "YOU" from her Big Word Mask Set 01. Paper clipped to the 1st mask from He's Royalty (as well as the moon and star). Paper clipped to the 2nd mask from Birthday Papers. Love and little heart medallion from Love SoftiStickers. Font: Pooh. Journaling reads: "I see you, ready for the night's ride with your best friend, ready to settle down and read stories with Daddy, and cuddle."

I made a grunge kit.



How can time go so quickly, and so slowly, all at once? And did I tell you that he's starting 2nd grade on Wednesday?

Credits: Everything by me (Heather T., Get Digi With It). Papers, word art, frame, clock back, fence border, and arrows from the Industrious kit. Teddy bear from the GDWI March Collaboration kit. Slight color splash bottom right from the Innocent Surprise kit. Robot from the How It Works kit. Butterfly from the Luxuriant kit. Font: 1550. Journaling reads: "Wait up! This growing up business is happening way too fast."

And now, once again, it's 2am. It's the end of the month--all my websites had to be updated tonight. And I have my last set of articles to write for Scrapbook News & Review this week... plus some other stuff that I'm really excited about--nothing big!--but I can't tell you yet. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and week!

Couple of Cards for the New Year

The first is for a Zen challenge on OSA -- Nature is truly what gets me feeling the most spiritual, and the closest I can come to the cessation of busy brain.



The second features the 3 traditional winter plants of Japan: Pine, Bamboo, and Plum.



All stamps by Art Neko. The Dream card was a little experimental: I cut a piece of manila folder, wet it down, scrunched it up in a ball, then laid it out and sprayed walnut ink on it and let it dry. I couldn't stamp on it as it was too uneven, so I took some white tissue paper and stamped on that w/Stazon, then glued it to the manila with Golden Matte Gel Medium. I then brushed over it with various Pearl Ex colors, and added a brad.

The 2nd card was stamped in black and embossed in clear on watercolor paper, then colored with a paintbrush and a crayon watercolor solution.

Card, and Layout Catch-Up (no fries, though)

Ha, ha ha ha.

Ok, here's the card. I made the background for this at the same time as I was making one for my art journal, and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out:



Supplies: Paints: Gesso, Fresco reinkers, Torn Asian-language newspaper, Mizuhiki Stamps: Art Neko (ginkgo branch), Hanko (single sakura blossom), Asian Image (umbrella), Hampton Art Stamps (women's faces) & Stone House Stamps (calligraphy). Inks: Versacraft black, Colorbox Fluid Chalk green, lavendar, orange, Brilliance coral and purple. Embossing powders: Ranger clear. 2nd layer: red & yellow acrylic paints. Cardstock: shimmering lavender.

And now, the layouts:

Today's:



Credits: Shell: Katie Pertiet (Designer Digitals, Shell PNG's). Button: Vinnie Pearce (Pixel Canvas, My Pet Elephant Kit). Pebble: Vinnie Pearce (Glass Pebbles). Sea star charm: Vinnie Pearce (Paradiso Kit). Tag: Katie Pertiet (Lil Bit Tags). Font: Hobbes. Journaling reads: "Here, you don't see the dog who has just used her awesome and terrible hunting powers to shoo a mass of seagulls into flight. Here, you don't see a small boy forever drawn by whatever insignificant empty shell or puddle running in the most circuitous fashion as far from the return path as possible. Here, you don't see the mother whose soul has spread itself wide open to the sky and salty wind, while her heavy body traipses ageingly across the beach and her camera catches memories in its digital skeins. Here, all you see is simply a moment endlessly repeated striding across time, briefly frozen."

Yesterday's: I was inspired by a color palette of Kris's, at Kris's Color Stripes.



Credits: All Designer Digitals. Background paper by Kellie Mize (Winter Surf Kit), with overlays by Anna Aspnes (top: Hipster Plumes Korners N Edges No. 2, bottom: Floral ART No. 2). Frame by Katie Pertiet (In A Strip) with papers by Lynn Grieveson (Chat Freebie 09-13-08) and Mindy Terasawa (Sunday Morning Papers). Gold accent paper by Anna Aspnes (Ad Challenge 07-27-08). Tree and buttons by Katie Pertiet (Love Grows No. 1, and Once Upon A Time Kit). Font: 1550. Journaling reads: "Nothing better than a Grandma cuddle on a windy day."

Oh wow, I just realized I have *lots* of layouts I haven't posted, so ok, just a couple more...

On this day, I was glad I'd brought my camera along when we went to change our oil, because we ended up sitting there for almost 20 minutes. So I amused myself by taking surreptitious pictures of the back seat in the rearview mirror, until he caught me out =).



Credits: Almost everything from Vinnie Pearce's Engines kit (Pixel Canvas). Alpha for "back there?" is by Rob and Bob (Designer Digitals, Sanctuary Alpha). Fonts: Splurge and tweed. . I had fun with the perspective tool... ;)

And finally, a scraplift of Denise at Designer Digitals, for the Saturday Scraplift a while ago. We don't do Halloween--after all, Allen doesn't like candy, and he doesn't like costumes. But we did drop by Daddy's office, only to find a couple of gruesome witches, and a Hulk (which he'd never heard of before--we don't have TV). But he could handle the cowgirl, and even consented to model her hat!



Credits: Stuff by me. Fonts: Digs My Hart and 3rd Man.

I guess I'd better get to the Friday Illustration before the next one comes, too--I've had a punnish idea for it, as usual...

Published!

Finally! I was asked, about 2 years ago, to collaborate--along with some really great card and scrapbook artists--on a book on Asian scrapbooking. The funny thing is that I wasn't really scrapbooking then (I hadn't heard of digital scrapping yet). But Kristy Harris, the owner of Far Flung Craft, was also wanting cards--and Asian cards, I can do! So I made a bunch of cards, and Kristy wrote her book, and it's finally in production! Powell's Books doesn't list it as available yet, but it does seem like it's finally becoming a reality. Whee! I can't wait to see it!



That calla lily card on the front is mine, similar to this one:

Some Cards

More cards with my new stamp sheet--I'm really liking this one!


Stamp from Art Neko, colored with acrylics and inks on watercolor paper & acrylics.


Stamp from Art Neko, colored with watercolor crayons.


Stamps from Art Neko