Blue Garden Fairy

Challenge #9 for Pile it On is to use three or more flowers. I chose the colors based on Color Throwdown's challenge to use Bordering Blue, Rose Red, and Pirouette Pink. Hopefully my colors are close enough. I chose to use the sketch on Lili of the Valley. I cut the fairy out and mounted her on light blue paper that I put a thin layer of matte accents and blue eye shadow to create her background. I cut my pink and red blocks and inked the edges in dark red. I took Making Memories paper flowers, inked them with blue ink so they weren't white anymore and attached them. Then the three that have skinny petals got a big blob of Matte Accents in the middle (the biggest one isn't quite dry yet). I add teenie tiny dots of accents for the water drops falling from the watering cann (too bad I can't get a good photo of that).

Thanks for looking and enjoy the weekend,

Floatin' Angel & Calendar page

I'm using a Simply Sassy Design on this card. The strip in the middle was accordian folded and glued down on the ends only then I used pop dots to suspend the angel over the strip. I don't know what this would be like when it mails (extra postage? squished flat?) but I'll just have to wait to see whenever I mail it (if I ever do since some cards I keep because I like them too much and this might just be one of those keepers). However, it fits in with PaperPlay's challenge to do 3D cards.

Speaking of mailing, here's my monthly calendar page to my mom.

Until next time

Mousy in yellow

I used the current sketch at SplitCoastStampers Sketch # SC239, the ABC Challenge wanted us to use Yellow, and the Doodle Palace wanted Animals and Fibers. The mouse in the tea cup (a Simply Sassy Design) was colored with my Prismacolor markers, and I stitch the swirls with yellow embroidery floss and white embroidery floss.

Blushing Bride

I used DCWV spring glitter paper (the hibiscus print) , plain solid bright pink paper, some kind of velvet swirl paper that I got in a scrap pack, and pink printed paper (from the same scrap pack) that I inked the edges with dusty rose ink. The bride is a Simply Sassy Design. The pink pearl flowers came from Oriental Trading Company. I chose the bride for the Cardvarks challenge, florals for My Time to Craft Floral Frenzy, and the sketch came from Tuesday Morning Sketches #4.

Purple Princess

Following the sketch provided week of 7/27/09 using scraps of various shades of purple papers. I used Simply Sassy's Princess Aria and colored her with my PrismaColor Markers. I added purple prima flowers and brads to finish it off even thought they weren't in the sketch.

Red & Yellow Hello

I'm following the sketch at Dare U 2 Digi Stamp and using Fred She Said's free stamp. I colored it with my prisma markers and I'm quite proud of the pot's highlighting. :) The red/black paper came from Lindsay's Page Kit (it's the Black and White kit, but when printed on red paper you get red & black). I next chose a yellow scrap to use Paper Craft Planet's color challenge to use Red and Yellow. Then I hunted up a new sheet of plastic canvas since my youngest son cut up my scrap piece , to pierce the cardstock in a zig zag pattern. I took a red metalic gel pen and faux stitched the zig zags. The speckles at the top of the card is not suppose to be there. I need to clean the glitter off my scanner. I've seen the swiffer duster has been recommended as a good glitter catcher so I guess it will be my next "craft supply" purchase.

Happy B-day card

My first official Simply Sassy card and I hope you're not dissapointed. :)
I used SplitCoastStampers' SC238 sketch. I also went with my yahoo group, Create A Card's challenge to make a masculine card (hopefully the bees aren't too cute-sy). On Color Chef Challenge #16, I had to use Dark Blue, Light Blue, Gray and White. I'm using silver glitter for gray. 2 Red Bananas wanted me to "Spell it Out" - use stickers to make my sentiment. I used the way some of us abbreviate BIRTHDAY as a play on words.

EXCITING NEWS!!!

I joined a design team...a digi stamp team. Simply Sassy Design Studio. They just had a grand opening on SNR Card Universe Friday night/ Saturday and I had lots of fun doing their challenges.

Simply Sassy has some really cute images, from teddy bears to babies, from fairies to princesses, from frogs to bees, and from summer images to birthday images. Check them out!

I'm really lovin' digi's. I can make them different sizes. I don't get ink on my fingers or outlines of the edges of the stamp around my image. It's a lot easier to store than drawers full of mounted or acrylic rubber stamps because they are in a file on my computer. And when I'm done "stamping" I don't even have to put them away, just delete them off my word document or close the file. And buying them is better than rubber stamps too. I get them immediatly via download rather than waiting for them in the mail. They also are cheaper than rubber stamps.

And while I prepare my first official card as their team member, be sure to check out my fellow design team mates.

• Angie
• April
• Boni
• Carlie
• Diane D.
• Judy
• Micki
• Regina
• Robyn
• Shana
• Susan
• Terri

My created sketch

I was asked to be a guest designer a couple of months ago but I haven't seen my sketch show up so I'm going to go ahead and show my sketch and the card I made.

Final Sheep Cards

This is using the new white flock that had just arrived Friday and the last of the Pink Petticoat sheep images. One thing I didn't like about this digital stamp was that I HAD to print the whole sheet of sheep instead of just the ones I like (I don't have much use for graduation cards). Speaking of the graduation card it has an embossed background that just doesn't show up on black but it does look elegant.


Good news about my brother. He went home Thursday night. Everything seems to be fine with his heart. Not entirely sure what's caused the episodes...has low blood pressure and since he had been fasting for a blood test and the stress of a divorce and moving households, and new job may have just been too much at once. When he fainted, it would cause his heart to beat in an abnormal rhythm but it would correct itself after a while. Apparently, that is normal for the heart to do. Thanks for the prayers and concerned comments.

Simply Sassy Grand Opening Challenges

Well, my weekend plans got canceled so I'm home after all. I'll show you what I've been up to instead. I've been working at the Simply Sassy Grand Opening Challenges at SNR Card Universe. Here's the cards I made for the challenges.

Midnight - Sketch Challenge1:00 am - Color Challenge Pick one of nine cropped photos to be inspired by and create something with it. I chose lemons on the tree so Yellow, Green, & White were the dominate colors.

2:00 am - Ad Challenge Pick from the ads posted and be inspired by it. I chose this one.I combined it with the sticker challenge below.

3:00 am - Image Challenge - Get a Simply Sassy Digital Stamp Freebie!
4:00 am - ABC Challenge - play a fun game
I did G and K
5:00 am - Scraplift Challenge Pick something you like of someone else's and copy it. I combined it with the sticker challenge below.
6:00 am - Theme Challenge choice of themes to make a card and the first one was a Birthday Card. I combined it with the Stickers Challenge below.
7:00 am - What's Black, White and Red all over Challenge8:00 am - Photo Album Challenge
third album, third photo, post, and tell about it
9:00 am - Vintage Photos Challenge
upload a vintage photo and tell why you were inspired
10:00 am - Textures Challenge
11.00 am - Sticker Challenge
12.00 pm - Speed Challenge Have one hour to complete the challenge using the things they call out to use. Items to use were base paper, border, ribbon, bow, sentiment, glitter, punch, and butterfly/bug.

Pattern blocks

DH is still home but I'm at my mom's for the weekend with the kids, so I thought I'd share some coloring I did during summer school since I can't hunt up challenges to do. These were all colored with colored pencils. I hope you enjoy. :)

Digi Shack Alien

I just discovered Manic Monday at the DigiShack. They have this alien as their freebie so be sure to grab it if you like it.
I used the sketch over at PaperCraftPlanet but since I want this to be for a boy (perhaps my nephew's birthday in December) I didn't use the bow. Since I'm not sure if I'll use it for Birthday, I don't want to have the sentiment on there yet.

Happy Birthday Cake

OK lets see how many challenges I can find for this card...
1. Chris's cutting Files (cut and used one of her Sure Cuts a Lot files) I chose the cake
2. Use a sketch from Sketch Girl SG1
3. Girly from Funky Fairies papers - the scallops and the other background paper
4. Polkadots from Creative Card Crew - top half of card background
5. pink, black, white, yellow, green, grey or lilac from Paper Take Weekly -I think I got them all except grey

A little birdy

I'm following the sketch at Stamper's Quest and the color challenge at SPCC. I did my best to approximate Summer Sun, Old Olive, and Bermuda Bay Blue. I turned the card sketch sideways, and made it into a center opening card. I also added a bow even though the sketch didn't have one. The bird is one of Lindsay's digi stamps.

Ready... Steady...

Here is what I had to do for Ready Steady Stamp (the blog has French and English so I might be able to brush up on my High School French)
And here's my card. Definately out of my "box". I've never worked with newspaper, I had to google how to do a Faux-Batik (luckily I had clear embossing powder) and normally, I don't use different brads but I made them be different shapes and different colors (gold round, antique brass flower, & black square). For the black and gold, I embossed on black and used gold ink to make the clear embossing "pop" but it didn't pop as much as I hoped *it did better on the border cardstock than on the CM striped paper. I put all this on a cream colored cardstock that I rubbed gold ink on the edges and stamped a swirl with gold paint as a border for a gold on gold technique.

If you are the pryaing kind, pray for my brother. Seems something might be wrong with his heart and he's only 35. I just got a call from my Mom. I don't know much yet.

Three Times a Lady or Uptown Girl

I crammed a lot of challenges in to this card. First, I'm using a song title: either the one that was provied on Stampin' for the Weekend, "Three Times a Lady" by The Commodores (I know it better by Kenny Rogers but if I remember my history right, Kenny used to be with them or some group with a similar name) or if I have to create my own 70's song title, I'll call it "Uptown Girl". I think I have to use one of their titles but just in case, I gave it a second title. Second, I got the sketch from Cute Daisy May, (3) the color scheme with a bounus if you use vintage from Color Creations (the vintage bounus is the old fashion girl), (4) use a hat at Rainbow Lady's, (5) the Spots and Stripes challenge came from Secret Crafter, (6) the Buttons 'n' Bows came from Kaboodle, and from Flourishs Newsletter the (7) challenge to use shimmers (in my case blue eyeshadow since I don't own any shimmers). Here's a close up of the shimmer on the card:
The image came from Penny Duncan Designs, and I printed it out on green because I'm playing around with color right now - experimenting with my Prismacolors to see what happens. The blue paper with the fourishes on it came from Lindsay's card kit (a.k.a. the frugal crafter).
I used paper circles for most of the circles in the sketch because I was afraid that it would be too bulky and heavy to mail (It could still be too bulky with just one button because I've seen swap cards come in with a small hole in the envelope right where the brad or button was on the card). The button I did use is actually the second button because the first one had the floss untie and I couldn't get it re-tied with my currently long fingernails (they'll get trimmed here in the next couple of days but I'm keeping my DH happy because he likes me scratching his scalp or backside with them) so I got a button without the floss and went to my floss drawer and cut off a piece that was long enough for me and my fingernails to use. I put a dot of glue to hold the knot in place so it will never come undone again. I had to leave the small rectangle above the image off because there just wasn't any room. As it was, I played with the image's placement putting it lower than the sketched asked for it.

Traveling card

This is a quick card for Crafty Creations Travel theme. You can send this card while you are on vacation. I used Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #12 of Celery, Raspberry, Dark Red and Cream. My pink brad in the middle of the flower doesn't quite match the cardstock, but it was the best I had. The sketch I got today from my Create a Card yahoo group. I stamped "Hello" in white on the pink 'circle' but it didn't show up so I did it again in other colors in other spots. The ribbon flower is my travel element (here's a close up)

Orange Thank Ewe

I've been working on my blog side bar, updating links and organizing them differently so that's why I was able to get three challenges into this card.

First I saw Pile it On's challenge to use orange colors then I saw that the Pink Elephant wanted animals (which if you've been following my blog for the past couple of months, you know exactly what animal I'm doing) for their 24th challenge. And last, but not least, I used the sketch from Delightful Sketches. Even though square isn't my normal card size/shape because I don't have an envelope, I just couldn't see this sketch changed to a rectangle.
The Curly Ewe stamp is from Bella stamps as is the phrase. The cardstock base is light orange 12x12 that I cut 10 x 5 to make a square card. Then I used a Tangarine color cat eye ink pad to stamp the image and ink the edges. I used a yellow/orange printed paper from a card magazine to make my squares. I matted everything in solid orange because I doubted that any designs would show up. I topped it off with a pre-fabricated Martha Stewart ribbon from Walmart.

Elegant Wedding

You can't see it in the photo but I embossed the black base with doves using my cuttlebug machine and a sizzix template. I'm following sketch #19 by PaperTakeWeekly. I just discovered yesterday Pink Petticoat digistamps so I haven't had a chance to color one of the images yet. I used for the sketch a coloring page image off google images to go with my wedding card. I used pink as my accent color because I had seen another (older) challenge to use pink and black. The ribbon is Creative Memories, the first (inner) mat is a digital paper download and the outer mat is a freebie from a card making magazine.

Corrosive flower basket

I could not get my camera to upload this (I had a hard time getting a shot I even liked) for some reason so it's back to the scanner for this one.
I'm following the sketch for Corrosive Creations. I found the coordinating scraps first, but since they weren't long pieces, I made a smaller, squarer card than I usually do. I inked up the cream cardstock with green and blue inks to make my background. Then I ran the rectangles thru my Xyron (the X shaped one so that gives you a reference as to the size). Then I took the flower basket image that I had colored with colored pencils and cut into an oval, inked the edges with the same blue ink and stuck it down. I added the dots of glue and sprinkled ice blue glitter and got a little too vigerous tapping the excess off because half the dots fell off. I had to redo the dots. I have some clingy glitter to finish brushing off but it's otherwise ready for the sentiment when I need it.

Lamb Priscilla Styles sketch challenge

Another new-to-me challenge blog Priscella Styles and I jump in at their 10th challenge. I made an error with the dots in the upper corner but once it was on, I couldn't take it back off so I made another to be more like the sketch. I used scrap double sided paper for the rectangles behind the image. I inked the edges with 3 shades of blue/green Martha Stewart ink I found in the clearance section at Walmart. The Lamb image was colored with pencils and I glittered the shadow under him with a color mixture.

Cool Sheep Charisma Card Challenge

I'm submitting this card for Charisma Card Challenge following their sketch. Since the image already had a saying on it, I didn't add one where the sketch wanted it. I colored the sheep with pencils, and used a brush and ink pad to make sky. The papers were all scraps and the little bow came from Walmart - Martha Stewart. I used a dab of glue and aqua blue glitter to make the three dots.

DigiDay: Squigglefly Challenge #3

Challeng #2 isn't a card making challenge so I'll not put it here but challenge #3 is to follow their sketch.

This card is taller than my standard 5 1/4 by 4 1/4. The only thing I don't have on here is the sentiment because I like to wait to see what I need (this is good enough for Birthday, Thank You's, or just a Hello). I colored the Squigglefly image of a girl with my prismacolor markers with a couple of metalic markers (gold earring, watch and bracelet, and the clasp on her purse and metalic blue for her purse and shoes). I used for the circular sketch elements, a Making Memories paper flower that I had gotten from Michael's a couple of months ago from the dollar bin. I used a scrap of the DCWV glitter paper for the skinny rectangle - it doesn't like stickin' down :(

DigiDay: Squigglefly Challenge #1

First of all I followed the Tuesday Morning Sketch #2 (I made 4 rectangles instead of 3) and the color challenge at SNR Card Universe DigiDay:Squigglefly to used summer colors of yellow, orange and pink. The image is a Squigglefly image called Windy Prairie Girl (or something like that). I colored her with my Prismacolor markers. The flowers are from Oriental Trading Company and the dot in the middle of them are glitter craft paint. The dots are still wet. When they dry, they'll be more clear and more glittery to match the pink glittery DCWV paper.

Turtle Bud

This is for another belated challenge, this time it was a 1 Hour Challenge at SNR Card Universe. (didn't participate because I was having fun reading aloud "One for the Money" to my husband while he worked on his radio). The background paper is a free digital download, the rest of the papers are Creative Memories. The turtle is from WhimsyDoodles and she was colored with colored pencils (I rouged up her cheeks so that's why she a girl turtle).

I'm going to join SNR's Digital day again. I joined in on the 4th with the DigiShack's images and this time it is with Squigglefly's images. I only have one, put I've planned on getting more. Guess I had better get shopping. That's one of the great things about digital prints - Instant Gratification! You have them as soon as you pay for them.

Thinking of You Sympathy

I ran my black card stock thru my Cuttlebug with the Manhattan Rose folder. Then I used silver ink, because it's one of the few that show up on black (I was disappointed in my White last time I used it), to stamp "Thinking of You" (couldn't find my Sympathy stamp) and to rub over the raised image. Now to write something inside and to mail it to my aunt and uncle.

Pink Butterfly Card

This is my card following the Sketch Saturday challenge #59. The sketch looked like it was for a square card, but since I don't like being square (pun intended LOL), I made the elements more rectangular. I also didn't put my sentiment in yet because I want to know what I might need it for. I just had a cousin die so I guess I ought to send a condolence card to my aunt and uncle. This card however seems a little too 'pretty' for a sympathy card. I colored the butterfly with colored pencils and then used blue sparkly eye shadow (a freebie from a make up purchase that I won't wear on my eyes) that I used like a chalk to color the stark white-ness of the paper. The ribbon on the left is a small piece of raffia that came around something else.

Thanks to everyone that's given me their opionion on Photo vs. Scan of my cards. I guess I just don't have a good camera because I just don't like how the photos turn out. I create in a windowless basement room so there's no natural sunlight to help my pictures. I have every light in the room on (except the sewing machine light). I have the camera soomed at tight as it will go, and I still get closer to make the card fill the screen the best I can. I have the card toward the bottom of the viewfinder, and I still get the card showing up close to the top (some of the raffia is cut off the edge of the card photo but not in real life). Unless I find a cheap little easel like I've seen other cards displayed on, or can aford a better camera (I've been wanting a different one anyway), I may give up trying to use the camera for my cards. The scanner may wash the colors a little bit but it takes good pictures. Here's a different way I could take a photo of my cards. It's right next to a lamp on my magnetic board. Of course, I have some flash glare.

Lamb Card CPS124

I used pink and purple colors for this card. I used an image that I printed from google images and colored it with prismacolor markers. I mounted it with purple DCWV texture cardstock. I inked the edges of both rectangles and put a thin wash of diluted glue on both flowers and printed paper to have a little glitter.

Pretty in Pink PaperCraftPlanet Challenge SK070409

I'm late for this one but I like it anyway. :)

CardPatterns Sketch#23

I followed the sketch at CardPatterns and made yet another lamb card for MIL. The lamb is painted with craft paint and as the paint dried I pounced with my finger to make a texture. I colored everything with my Prismsacolor markers (they came Saturday so I have to practice a little). I mounted the image on purple DCWV cardstock (very very thin border around the image). I cut the lt. purple with pink roses paper and then trimmed the bottom edge with decorative sissors (I don't have one of those border punches so I had to improvise). I put a dab of glue along the left side and sprinkled pink glitter. I punched out two circles with flower stamps that I had gotten on from a swap so I dont know where they came from. I added a dab of Matte accents to the center of the purple flower on the top and a dab of glitter glue to the pink flower on the bottom.

Then I made another card for the bonus sketch (scroll down their post for second sketch).
Their main element looked to be a Nestablity die shape which I have a total of ZERO Nesties. I did the best I could with my Creative Memories circle cutter. The green on the side is also CM. The yellow border around my image is paper from a English Card Making magazine that I got at Barns & Noble Bookstore. The image is from Sweet & Sassy digital stamps and I colored it with Prisma markers.