Lovebird nails: tutorial and TotallyCoolNails contest entry

Emeral Green (284) by BarryM
LaffyTaffy Cherry
Apricot Punch (053) by Rimmel London
Clear by Natural Collection (Boots brand)
I'm Exquisite (350 Gold) by No7 (Boots brand)

I chose Lovebirds for my Love/Valentine's Day contest entry because I don't really like pink, or hearts really. My husband bought me a couple budgies several years ago, so sweet little parrots remind me of him. LOVE HIM!

This is my first Nail Art video; it's so much harder than it looks to make a nice video. Sorry for the interruptions from my son. PLEASE give constructive criticism. Thanks.

Willow with Umbrella

I used paper piecing to put Willow together; I used pink patterned paper for the umbrella, blue cardstock for the jean, and white cardstock for the rest of her. Then I used my markers to color the pieces before gluing down.

For those who don't know what paper piecing means: It's essentially cutting paper into shapes and putting them together to make an image. For stampers, it's a cool technique to add color to lined images with paper instead of ink. It's also a popular technique for quilters.

When my husband saw the finished card he said, "Looks nice. Very British with the umbrella." Am I the only one that thinks that response is humorous? It's like he thinks the UK is the only place that gets rain. LOL.

This card also manages to meet 3 challenges:
Papertake Weekly: 4 Seasons (I picked Spring: April Showers... and spring colors)
Simon Says Stamp: Ribbons and Buttons
Sugar Sweet Paper Treats: Splish Splash (anything with water)
*** If combining challenges isn't allowed, please let me know. I looked, but I didn't see anything against it. ***

Materials:
Whiff of Joy stamp: Willow with Umbrella
Papermania papers: Sweet Nothings
Whisper Markers
various buttons
white ribbon
green 5x7" cardblank

Whiff of Joy Video #1

Here's my card for Katharina's Whiff of Joy guest designer call. I gave this card 100% of my creativity this past week. I even made a short video of the how to make the best bits of this card. It measures ~ 6 1/4 x 8 3/4" and it's pink! I'm not usually a pink person, but I was lucky enough to win these lovely Papermania papers from docrafts.com monthly prize draw (May's draw).


Materials:
Whiff of Joy stamp: Melinda Helping Angel
Penny black stamp "Thinking of You" from clear Salutations set
Papermania "Touch of Pink" patterned paper
Plastic flower shapes bling
Prima flowers
White ribbon
Black eyelets
Fiskars circle cutter

Blue butterfly card - baby wipe technique

I used the baby wipe swipe technique to make this card. If you don't know what I mean, I found a youtube video that shows this technique. I don't have any re-inkers, so I just colored the baby wipes with my whisper markers.

I liked adding more and more 'waves' to this card. Ric-rac, decorative scissors, and a wavy stencil with a marker. This was a very quick card; very little thinking involved. :)

Materials:
Stampin' Up stamp
clear embossing powders
white and blue paper
blue card blank
decorative scissors
ric-rac
PaperCraft Inspirations magazine stencil
Sharpie markers