Bikes + Bunnies = Happy Me!

Recently I was sitting here at my computer, minding my own business, when suddenly I was completely assaulted by some MASSIVE CUTENESS!! Ha! It was the latest release from Mama Elephant. They had a new set that not only had an awesome tandem bicycle, but it also had BUNNIES! If you don't know... I love bunnies. And bikes. So of course I had to have it. HAD TO!

This is the result of my first time playing with Tandem Ride. There are other adorable animals in the set, plus even more in the Tandem Extras set, and I of course now own BOTH sets, plus the matching dies (here & here!)... but I had to just stick with bunnies and put them on both seats. Plus carrots. Oh the cute little carrots!! I die.

For the colors, I played along with one of my longtime favorite color challenges - The Color Throwdown. I used to play this one all the time. You know, way back when I actually blogged regularly. Long, long ago...

I mentioned Alpe d'Huez in my previous post, and the stage did not disappoint! It was an awesome, exciting fight on the mountain. But instead of the details of today's stage, I want to share this cool land art I saw in my Twitter feed today. Another one of my favorite things about watching the Tour de France - all of the cool land art and tractor displays and whatnot that the farmers in the French countryside (or in this case, artists!) put together for the tv helicopters. So amazing!!

Meet the man behind this #TDF land art: http://t.co/sfuXWDZ6A4 pic.twitter.com/op8YGrVO8M

— Bicycling Magazine (@BicyclingMag) July 25, 2015

Thanks for stopping by,

The Alps.

I'm back for more of my Tour de France ramblings! This week the cyclists have been making their way through the Alps. Oh how I love the Alps!!! I love the hard-fought battles up the mountains, and the crazy, hold-my-breath-while-I-watch-on-tv descents back down. How these guys manage their nerves going so incredibly fast down these roads, with very little or no guardrails, and drop-offs that look ridiculously scary, I will never know. But I'm sure glad they are able to manage it, because I sure do love watching it!!

One of the battles of the Tour de France is for the King of the Mountains title, and the fabulous polka dot jersey! Which is the inspiration for today's card...

My red polka dots are glittery. I really don't understand why the guys in the Tour don't wear glitter and sequins. I mean seriously. Who doesn't need a little sparkle as they are climbing mountains? If I were in charge of le Tour, there'd be way more glitter. ;-) I used this fun little Hero Arts "this makes me happy" message, because obviously, this does make me happy!

I have had these double-sided circle stickers in my stash FOREVER. I thought it was about time I bust them out for something (I'm trying to destash my messy craft room!!). I dug out some polka dot patterned paper, and used it as a template on my light box to place the dots. Then I just added red glitter!

Today is the final mountain stage of this year's Tour, and it's my very favorite Alp - Alpe d'Huez. It's a total Tour de France icon. Yes, I have a favorite Alp. You don't?? I even follow my favorite Alp on Twitter. :-) But even though Alpe d'Huez is my favorite, this one sure made for STUNNING photos a couple days ago. WOW!

I love how the bikes look as they make their way along the switchbacks!

And before I go... sorry I've slacked off on my Tour de Craft posting the past few days! I've had some guest shuffling, and life in general has been getting in the way. It's been a busy, crazy, unusual summer in my house. My hubs has been out of work the past couple months, I'm heading back to work full-time after being away for about nine years, kids have crazy summer schedules... so yes, I just make cards and blog when I can. That's all blogging has ever been to me - fun when I can manage it! So now you, my wonderful blog readers, know where I've been. All three of you. ;-)

Thanks for stopping by,

Believe it.

Today I needed to revive my creative juices a little, and nothing is better at that for me than pulling out my art journal! I love playing with my paints. I never know what I'm going to end up with, I just go wherever it leads me. But I did have one thing in mind from the start - I was inspired by Steve Cummings' awesome win for Team MTN-Qhubeka on Stage 14 of the Tour de France!

Here's how my page came together:

• white gesso base
• painter's tape stripes, painted with black gesso
• Hero Arts Old Letter Writing in black Archival ink
• Hero Arts Texture and Shape "stain stamps" in Unicorn White ink
• yellow acrylic paint splotched on with a paintbrush
• teal acrylic paint splotched on with bubble wrap
• quote spelled out using various letter stickers
• a Tim Holtz bicycle stamp added with black Archival ink
• fleur-de-lis added with red acrylic paint, to balance out the red a little

I am so thrilled that Team MTN-Qhubeka won today. This is their first Tour de France - and they are the first African-based team to ever ride in the Tour. I mentioned them at the start of the Tour - they support bringing bikes to villages in Africa, which is so wonderful. The team wears black and white striped jerseys, so that's where I started with my background.

Not only did they win today - but they won on Mandela Day!! How absolutely perfect is that? I wanted to use a Nelson Mandela quote on my page, so I did a quick Google search and found this one. It just seemed all-around perfect - for Mandela Day, for MTN-Qhubeka winning the stage on Mandela Day, and for the Tour de France in general.

. #MandelaDay victory for @TeamMTNQhubeka at @letour! *We cant believe it! ;)* Report: http://t.co/EH4ubhtTA4 pic.twitter.com/bNTv2yjD6z

— Team MTN-Qhubeka (@TeamMTNQhubeka) July 18, 2015

I loved today at the Tour.

The cheering fans...

Today I made a little card featuring the happy fans as the cyclists make their way through the Pyrenees mountains. Or at least in my world - the fans are bunnies. :-)

I used one of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE stamp sets from the Hero Arts Summer release - Baby Animals. The intent is for this to be a set for making baby cards. But these little critters are super cute for all kinds of cards - including silly cards about a bike race in France. HA! I used the pennants in the set to cut out individual little flags for the bunnies to hold. And each bunny is wearing a shirt to support their favorite kind of rider - the GC guy (yellow), the climber (polka dot) and the sprinter (green). (Those sprinters is seriously hurting in the Pyrenees!) The King of the Mountains-inspired polka dot background is the Hero Arts Polka Dot Bold Prints by Lia. I love that this stamp has two different sizes of dots!

I played along with this week's Mojo Monday for the sketch.

So... I was going to share my thoughts on yesterday's Stage 10, but I typed it and then deleted it all. Let's just say there are many things about the day's race (and cycling in general) that completely bum me out. But I don't want to focus on that - I'm going to focus on the things I *love* about watching the Tour de France - and the thing I love MOST OF ALL is the beautiful scenery as the peloton (or the fractured remains of it!) makes their way through the spectacular French mountains.

This week they are in the Pyrenees along the border with Spain. In Stage 11 (which has already happened as this posts, but I don't know the results yet) they will be climbing - and of course descending - one of the most "famous" peaks in the Tour - the Col du Tourmalet! It's daunting. Check out this video to get a little feel for what it is like speeding down this thing on a bike. YIKES!! (Give it a second to load if you don't see a video show up right away!)

Tourmalet descent hyperlapse
Have you ever wondered what the descent of the Col du Tourmalet looks like? Here's a quick hyperlapse of what the pros will face tomorrow.
Posted by Global Cycling Network on Tuesday, July 14, 2015

I don't know what the drop-offs are really like, but to me it seems like one bad crash off the side and you fall foreverrrrrr! Eeeek!

But what I wouldn't give to one day be one of the many fans lining the route on a mountain stage!!

Vive le Tour...!

Way to go!

Sorry I was absent yesterday. It was a rest day at the Tour, so I also took a small rest. ;-) But today I'm back with some cows holding up a fancy, golden bike. Or are they pigs? It's really quite hard to tell.

I dug out an old Close to my Heart set from my stash for this one. They are pigs, but I colored them as cows. I'll tell you why below. And you guys!!! This is my first ever shaker card!!! I am so excited. I filled it with a beautiful sequin mix from sweet Lucy Abram's shop. That sentiment is from Hero Arts' Enjoy Today set - one of my favorite message sets!

As for the cow-pig-whatever-you-want-to-call-it... I was inspired to make this card after Sunday's team time trial. Team BMC rode to victory, and also retained their lead in the team classification. When they had their presentation on the podium, the hostesses gave them stuffed... somethings. I assumed they were cows, but my friend Leslie thought perhaps they could be pigs. I apologize for this poor quality photo, it's a phone pic of my tv, so, yah, not so good... but can you tell what they are??

So I made my card, and was getting ready to post it, when by some kind of miraculous coincidence, this tweet appeared in my Twitter timeline!!

our new Addition to the family from the tour. I will call him Moo. @ReinvanRensburg pic.twitter.com/vEFXVckPCi

— Leilani (@Leilanitjie) July 14, 2015

They named him Moo. The Great TDF Mystery has been solved. Case closed! I know you all were worried.

Time for a TTT!

Today is Stage 9 in the Tour de France - the TTT!! TTT = Team Time Trial. During the individual time trial, it's each cyclist alone against the clock. This time, each team starts together. In the TTT, individual performances aren't the key - you're only as good as you're fifth teammate across the line!

I pulled out more older Hero Arts from my collection. These are from the Hero Arts + Studio Calico collaboration. I love the Ferris Bueller quote - just like a group of cyclists on their bikes, life moves pretty fast.

I made my bikes red on this card, because today I'm cheering for Team BMC, who races in red & black. My favorite American cyclist in this year's Tour, Tejay van Garderen, rides for BMC. (I told you about Tejay last weekend!) If they do well, he could be wearing yellow tomorrow. Will it happen? Fingers crossed!

Tour de Craft Guest Designer - Leslie Hanna!

Today my friend Leslie Hanna is joining me as a Tour de Craft guest! Leslie is one of my best Twitter buddies. She's not really a Tour de France fan, but she kindly puts up with my obsessive tweets every July. And, she loves bikes! I told her today's Stage 8 is described as "hilly", and here's what the stage inspired...

I used to bike, like 30-45 miles at a pop, but I didn't do hills. So this whole "let's bike up some mean mountains" mentality is just more than my brain can handle.

I realized the card I had designed in my head was a large part of  the very cool video Libby posts each year to educate those of us who are largely TdF-ignorant, and it's totally worth the watch. I assure you it was pure accident that my card is so similar. Also, that's me at about 2:18 in the video.

Thank you, Libby, for inviting me to participate again this year. It's always fun to blow the dust off my bike stampy supplies and use them!

Thank you Leslie!! I love that her card is inspired by my favorite TDF video, subconsciously or not - her colorful little bikes taking on the hills are adorable! Be sure to visit Leslie's post today for more info about her card.

Thanks for stopping by,

Tour de Craft Guest Designer - George Panayiotou!

Today's guest designer comes to my blog by way of Cyprus! George Panayiotou is one of my favorite stampers. His designs are always so crisp and perfect. I'm thrilled to share his gorgeous cards on my blog today!

Hi Everyone! I am really happy and honored to be joining Libby’s celebration for the Tour de France! Today is Stage 6 for the Tour de France, and I am sharing two ‘Hello’ cards I made for the Tour. The cards are similar, just different color combinations and different bicycles!

I started by die cutting the large stitched rectangle from Wplus9 Love Mom Layers Die out of some smooth white cardstock. Then I die cut the Hero Arts + Sizzix bikes out of some masking paper and adhered it on the white stitched panel.

Using my favorite combinations of Distress Inks and a mini blending tool, I created a soft background around the bike. The trick here is to start on the mask and blend the color out so you end up with a soft background. (for the blue card I used Peacock Feathers and Mowed Lawn, and for the orange card I used Picked Raspberry, Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade). Then I used the Distress Inks along with some water and flicked it on the paper to create a splatted effect.

After letting it dry, I used my stamp positioner and stamped the bikes (after removing the masks) with Versafine Onyx Ink, and heat embossed with clear superfine embossing powder. (Give some time for the Distress Inks to dry before you do the heat embossing otherwise you will end up with clear embossing powder all over the panel – ask me how I know!).

Next, I sliced off a thin strip from the bike panel and replaced it with colored cardstock on which I heat embossed the bike, so when everything is adhered on the card, it gives a continuous image. Or, use a plain cardstock without the heat embossing – that works great too!).

I finished the cards by adhering the bike panels on to a light gray card base and then added the Altenew Label Love greeting, which I stamped with Versafine Onyx Ink and heat embossed in clear embossing powder. I cut the greeting and adhered on the card!!!

Thanks again for sharing these fabulous cards, George! There are so many little details that I didn't even notice when I first looked. The embossing on the little strip of paper to match up with the bike? WOW! George is just amazing with his attention to detail. :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Le chat français

At long last, today the Tour de France both started and ended in France! Yay! This is a day to celebrate...

And how better to celebrate than with a French kitty?? :) I don't even know who made this stamp, I bought it used because it was a cat in a beret and I absolutely cannot resist such things! (If you know who made it, let me know - I think perhaps Stampendous?). I combined it with a completely ancient stamp set from Hero Arts called C'est Chouette. You know I cannot ever let go of a stamp set described as "all things French"! I used the fleur-de-lis from this set, and also used it as inspiration for the sentiment, which I ended up spelling out with my Hero Arts Printer's Type alphabet.

I was inspired by the Mojo Monday sketch for this card, although in the end I strayed a little, oops.

Making this card, I couldn't help but keep saying to myself "le mew, le meow, le purrrrr"... anyone know what that is? It's Penelope cat, of course. I think Pepe Le Pew was my first "French" experience growing up - it set me on the course of loving all things French. HA!

And let me just mention yesterday's Stage 4 at the Tour. Because it was AwEsOmE!! After a rotten day of horrible crashing the stage before, it was so nice to have this stage end on such an incredibly happy note, with Tony Martin from Team Etixx-Quickstep finally - FINALLY - wearing yellow for the first time in his career. And in such dramatic fashion, too! The route took them over cobblestones - fyi, not an easy thing to ride a road bike over. Tony ended up having a mechanical, which can quickly take you out of contention in a race - but he quickly traded bikes with his teammate (who rides a different sized bike!) and ended up pulling away from everyone and winning the stage. Just look at this smile!

(Photo source - stage summary on cyclingnews)

Tomorrow I'm back with another mega-talented guest designer, see you then!

Tour de Craft Guest Designer - Els Brigé!

Today I have my first guest for this year's Tour de Craft - Els Brigé. Els crafts from her home in Belgium - so naturally I had to ask her to join me while the Tour is traveling through her country!

Hi, it’s Els Brigé here today. I’m so honored to be a guest here on Libby’s blog on this beautiful Tuesday. The Tour de France is riding for a big part through Belgium today – too bad I’m on the other side of the country. So you’ll find me snug in front of the TV this afternoon. I do have a bicycle card for you today however.

A week or two ago a new bike shop opened next door to us, the perfect occasion to make a fun bicycle card for my new neighbors. I just loved that sticker from Crate Paper’s Poolside stickersheet. Items like that make it very easy to make a beautiful card with minimal efforts.

Thank you very much, Libby, for inviting me to your blog for this year’s Tour de Craft!! Enjoy the rest of the Tour! - Els.

And thank you for joining me today, Els! And be sure to stop by Els' blog, Be Stamped!

Gorilla in Green

Today's post is my little ode to Andre Greipel, the big German cyclists also known as The Gorilla. He's one of the top sprinters at the Tour de France, and was the winner of Stage 2 yesterday. At the Tour, the leader of the points competition (aka sprint competition!) gets to wear the green jersey. While Greipel has won plenty of sprints over the years, yesterday was the first time The Gorilla has ever put on TDF green!

I really wanted a cool gorilla image to use for this card, but alas, I own exactly zero gorilla stamps. I did a little internet search and found this super cool image by Ant Creations. I didn't want a cutesy gorilla, I needed a FIERCE gorilla for Greipel! So I emailed Nathan over at Ant Creations, and he kindly let me use his image for this card. (Go give them lots of Facebook likes for being so nice!!) I printed out the gorilla and colored him in with my Copics. The little Hero Arts bicycle was a necessary addition to his shirt. And the "life is good" message is an old A Muse woodblock stamp from my stash.

Doesn't the actual Gorilla look awesome in green?

So just before the Tour I learned something...um.. interesting... about Andre Greipel. He likes to rap. “Pain is the weakness leaving the body. Pain in the legs is something you don’t know, because you’re just setting up the big show." I swear, these cyclists - never a dull moment...

I don't know what's happened yet in today's stage, I'm watching it on delay. Is Greipel still in green? I'll find out soon enough. Either way I know he'll continue to add excitement to this year's Tour.

And Sonya, this post is for you. :-)

Take care,

Thinking of Tulips

After coloring my little Dutch girl yesterday, I couldn't resist pulling out this gorgeous tulip stamp. Oh how I wish the tulips were blooming in The Netherlands right now! Some of my favorite images from the Tour de France include the peloton making it's way past sunflowers or lavender. Riding through fields of colorful tulips would be stunning! But alas, tulips bloom in the spring, not July. But I love them any time of year!

The stamp is from Texana Designs, and I stamped it in light Antique Linen distress ink then painted it with my Koi water colors. The message is also Texana Design, stamped on vellum. I like that vellum is showing up on cards a lot lately, I've always loved it. Yay for still having a huge stash of it from years ago!

My friend Jimmye Sue, owner of Texana Designs, went on vacation to The Netherlands this past spring, and the photos she shared of the tulips were absolutely incredible. One day I *will* see them in person! I will I will I will!!!

Today the Tour has left The Netherlands and it riding through another one of my dream vacation destinations - Belgium. Another country that loves bikes! And lucky me, I have one of my favorite Belgian designers joining me on my blog tomorrow - stay tuned!

Biking in The Netherlands

Hello! Or hallo as they say in Dutch. This year the Tour de France has started the long journey in The Netherlands. And I am loving it! I've heard there are about four times as many bicycles as there are people in Holland. I don't know if it's true, but I really do believe it! They certainly love their bikes! And I think I've figured out my own bike obsession - genetics! I'm Dutch on my mom's side, and it's the heritage I most identify with for sure. So today I had to stamp a sweet little Dutch girl.

I've had this stamp in my stash for a while now, but I've never used it. What a crime!! She's called Anika from Holland, and she's from Your Next Stamp. It looks like she's been retired, but if you'd like to make her your next stamp, she seems to be half-off on their site, nice! I had to color her in a blue dress and hat, because one of the many things I love about Holland is Delft blue. My grandma collects Delft pottery, and I own a couple small pieces myself. I love it. I added a little Wink of Stella shimmer to this blue outfit, because this girl may be traditional, but she still loves a bit of bling. :)

I played along with my friend Leslie's The Crooked Stamper sketch challenge. I went through the trouble of drawing diagonal lines in pencil on the bottom of the card to follow the sketch and try to line my stamping all up nicely, and added bikes and words in those stripes, but then, because one of my biggest stamping flaws is that I can never leave well enough alone, I felt the need to go in and add yellow hearts at random and botch is all up. Hope this still counts, Leslie!

I don't have any Dutch sentiment stamps, so this little Dutch girl is speaking French today. She's saying both Bonjour and Bon Voyage as the cyclists make their way through her beautiful country!

Yesterday's stage got off to an exciting start with the individual time trial. Rohan Dennis from Team BMC won the day. Just look at this happy smile - I'm not necessarily a Rohan Dennis fan but his massive smile sure made me smile. And he completely kicked butt in the TT!

Thanks for stopping by,