DP2 Challenge #127 --- Bling It On!

Mo Manning's DP2 Challenge this week calls for one of my favorite things --- BLING! I can't pass the rhinestone swirls at Michaels and Hobby Lobby --- especially when they are on sale!For my card I used Mo's Strawberry Girl.  With the coming of spring my tastebuds begin craving strawberries so this image is so scrumptious!

I used dp from the DCWV Farmer's Market stack.  I hope I never run out of these rich papers! The image and frame are cut with Nesties, the doily is the Italian Flourish by Cherry Lynn Designs.  I think I will be using this doily quite a bit, but making sure I show more of it on the cards!  The flowers are from my stash, mostly Primas and the flourish is by Recollections.  The image is colored with Copics.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you are having a wonderful week.  Be sure to hop over to Mo's DP2 Challenge to see the fabulous projects by the design team.

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge #107 --- Think Spring!

Ahhhh! It is definitely spring around here! The red buds, dogwoods, Bradford pears and forsythia add their colors to the winter-drab landscape even before the trees start to show their tender green leaves.  I call this our fifth season because it has a beauty all its own from the other four.  

In celebration of spring Sassy Cheryl and her fantastic design team are showing their spring colors and challenge us to do the same.  Of course what would spring be without Easter, both in celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus and the playfulness of the Easter Bunny and egg hunts.  To make up for my absence the past few weeks I have THREE cards to post today.  

This is Cheryl's "Dancing Easter Bunny".  She is just the happiest thing!  The image is colored with Copics and the white panel is embossed with a Sizzix folder I just picked up at Hobby Lobby.  The flower is made from a silk daisy that I removed the center from, added this K & Co. brad and leaves cut with the Nesties die. The border is Martha Stewart.  The bling was an after thought to add sparkle.

This is the "Wanna Be Bunny Girl".  Gotta love those floppy ears.  She is colored with Copics and mounted on a Nesties scalloped rectangle die cut.  The papers are scraps from a stack, but I don't remember which one.  The little silk flowers have a variety of patterned brads to go along with the polka dot ribbon.  The sentiment is Stampin' Up.  I wanted lots of color on this and I think I accomplished that!

This is "Wanna Be Bunny Boy".  I like that Cheryl has the matching boy and girl images here.  These make great cards for my grandniece and grandnephews.  The background paper is also a scrap and I kept this simple with just a bit of the red gingham rickrack and buttons.  The sentiment is the same Stampin' Up.  And, of course, he is colored with Copics.

So, there you have three of my cards to celebrate spring.  Now, you really owe yourself the fun of hopping over to Sassy Cheryl's to see what the design team has come up with! 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a great week! 

Facebook Design D.I.V.A.S. Oldies But Goodies Blog Hop

 It's the third Wednesday of March already which means it's time for the Facebook chapter of the Design D.I.V.A.S. to have our Oldies But Goodies (OBD) Blog Hops. This is when we use neglected and forgotten items from our stashes.  The Design D.I.V.A.S. is a private Facebook group, which is a branch of the Original Design D.I.V.A.S. on the Splitcoaststampers website. The acronym for the D.I.V.A.S is, Divine, Inspirational, Virtuous, Artistic (or annointed) Sistahs. This is a very talented and supportive group, which I'm blessed to be a part of. Thank you for stopping by and we hope you enjoy the hop! If you came here from our awesome Sistah Sue at Sue's Sentiments then you are on the right track.  She kicked off this hop for us, and is always a tough act to follow, but I will give it a try!

I bought my Cricut way back when they first came on the market.  As much as I love it, the Cricut is probably the most neglected tool in my arsenal.  I think the last time I used it was to cut out letters for posters for my son's wedding back in July!  But since then I have acquired cartridges that I think will get much more use, especially for cards.  So, my Oldie But Goodie this month is my Cricut.

In a major diversion from my usual stamped-Copic-colored-embellishment-laden-multi-layered projects, I made these two notecard and tag sets using the Damask Decor cartridge which is full of beautiful designs perfect for cards like these.  They were so easy!

The cartridge includes patterns for envelopes for the cards, which measure 4" x 6", and the package says this can be used by all Cricuts.  However, my little ancient Cricut takes paper only 6" wide and I couldn't make the envelopes.  I think there might be an upgrade in my future!

Now it's time to hop on over to our lovely Sistah Heather's at Heather's Coffee Break for a cuppa and a whole lot of inspiration.  Thanks for stopping by today and enjoy the hop!

DP2 Challenge #125 --- Something New

Mo's challenge this week is to use something new or a new technique.  I had just finished making a wedding card for a friend I met through blogging, so I am going to use that.  But first, I have to wax nostalgic for a minute.  

I have found our blogging community to be a very friendly place.  How about you?  Comments lead to emails and on to phone calls and even meeting in person.  I have had the privilege of meeting several blogging buddies and building life-long friendships.  One of those is my friend Nancy.  Our in-person meeting resulted from a "dare".  Silly me, I facebooked about new ziplines going up here in Branson and she said how much she loved ziplining.  I'm more of a 'fraidy-cat but when she suggested that she and her daughter Shelbie stop by on their road trip and we can take a zip-ride I just couldn't say no.  So, that's how we met and we had so much fun they stayed with us for a couple of days!  We have since hosted Shelbie and her fiance, Ryan, too, and absolutely love them all.  This Saturday is their wedding and it is for them I made this card.

The card base is ivory card stock covered with scrapbook paper I've had for ages.  It is a field of white roses.  Keeping with a touch of vintage elegance, I used this gorgeous swirl of rhinestones and antique-colored pearls along with pearl-like flowers and brads.  So what is new about this card?  The swirl was new and the Nesties label the image is mounted on is new.  Not to mention that we are congratulating newlyweds as they start a new phase of their life together.

The image is Mo's "Bride and Groom", one of my favorites and so perfect for wedding cards.  It is colored with Copics, keeping with the pearl theme.

Here is a close-up of the swirl and the rose paper.  

Nancy, Shelbie, and Ryan --- we love you and look forward to meeting Tyler someday!  Shelbie and Ryan, best wishes for a happy life together!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit DP2 challenge for more inspiration from the design team.

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge #105 --- Sketch Time

"My Easter basket is THIS big!

This week Jackie of Sassy Cheryl's design team gave us this great sketch to play with. 

So I grabbed this adorable digi called "I Love You This Much", changed the sentiment to fit in with Easter, and had fun with the lively color scheme. 

The red and teal color combo is one I have seen used by many creative folks out there, but never worked it myself.  I'm glad I did!  These are two "high octane" colors and I think I will be using them more.  As it turned out I had dp from the DCWV Farmer's Market stack that worked well with the image, which I had already colored.  Now, there is one little piece that is not your typical cardstock.  The sentiment is mounted on a PAINT CHIP!  It wouldn't take the ink from the printer so I used it as a background.  See, we NEVER throw anything away!

Gotta get me a hat like this!!  The image is colored with Copics, laid on pretty thick, especially the red.

I really enjoyed using this sketch and have four more Sassy images colored and ready to go.  They will look great on this sketch, so check back later........... there will be more!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to hop over to Sassy Cheryl's Challenge #105 for the sketch and more inspiration from the uber-talented design team.

DP2 Challenge #124 --- Anything Goes!

This week Mo's amazing design team gave us a super simple challenge --- anything goes!  Actually, I was very relieved because I didn't get the entry in for last week's challenge, which was to include lace, so I can now post it.  I'm focusing on Easter cards right now so I used Mo's new image Easter Carly.

The dp is coordinated sheets from the Watercolor Bouquet stack by K & Co.  The dark purple is Bazzill card stock and the flowers are a combination of silk stems and Prima ivory roses.  The leaves are Spellbinders Shapeabilities and the lace is from my stash.  The sentiment is a rubber stamp.

Lovely Carly is colored with Copics.  I tried for a taffeta-like sheen on the dress and I think I came pretty close.  What do you think?

I just want to say that my heart goes out to all the areas devastated by tornadoes and severe weather this past week.  Here in Branson clean up efforts are moving along quickly due in large part to private citizens jumping in and helping their neighbors; even folks from Joplin who sustained unimaginable damage last May, jumped in their cars and came down to help.  This same scenario can be seen throughout the midwest and south.  If only we could recover those who were lost, but we can keep the prayers going Heavenward for healing and hope in the wake of these terrible storms.

Thanks for stopping by.  Keep safe, keep your eyes to the sky, and keep the faith.

Murray and Her Easter Chick

Easter is just 38 days away, but Murray by the Saturated Canary, is already on the hunt for eggs and chicks.  It's no secret that I am ready for spring and this card nearly shouts it!    

The card stock is DCWV Lemon Flower mat stack. The image and the frame are cut with the Nestibilities Labels Eighteen.  The flowers are Prisma and the leaves are Spellbinders Shapeabilities Foliage dies.  The lower border is a combination of three Martha Stewart border punches: flowers, picket fence and tulips. 

I colored the image with Copics and this time I did color it to match the papers! 

Here is a close up of the three border punches. 

So, for two days in a row I have posted twice!  I'm having so much fun!  I hope you are, too, as the weekend nears.  Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Sugar Nellie's Simply Adorable Rebecca

I just can't resist the Simply Adorable girls by Sugar Nellie.  The fact that they are digital from Funky Kits is another plus.  This is Rebecca.  She is so pretty!

I didn't have a particular sketch or occasion in mind when I created this card.  It will be another one going into the new shop and I like to leave my cards blank on the inside for the buyers to personalize them. For this card I used the gorgeous Tradewinds matstack by DCWV.  The large flower is by Prima, as are the smaller flowers alongside.  The leaves are Spellbinders Shapeabilities "Foliage".  The rhinestones are Michael's Recollections and the little butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch. 

These images are so easy to color.  I used Copics, but with a light touch so I didn't cover the lovely shading in the sketch.  

Thanks for stopping by again today.  The weekend is nearly here already and I hope you all have a great one.

Twin Gardeners

How about this?  This is my second post today!  That's because I have been making lots of cards this week.  I have a new outlet for selling my cards and since my stock was getting really low I've been really busy! 

During my downtime I did quite a bit of reorganizing and found some images that I had colored quite some time ago.  I can't waste a good image and, in this case, I have two Sarah Kay images that I had planned to use together.  They didn't fit on one project so I did two using the same "Chloe's Closet" (Making Memories) coordinating papers and embellishments.  

I am so into anything SPRING!  Can you tell?  Gardening is not something I am any good at, in fact it's a waste of good seed, dirt and water for me to even attempt to grow any kind of plant!  But I totally love and respect gardeners, otherwise I would probably starve!  These little cuties are all set to sow the seeds and nurture some yummy veggies!

This was colored with Copics well over a year ago.  I can see some things I would do differently now, but still not bad.

And here is the other half of the twin set.  I have so much of the "Chloe's Closet" set that I don't know if I will ever get it all used up!  But I had fun with this one, scattering pieces and trying to come up with random balance.  

Once again, Copic coloring.  As I recall, the inspiration for the color combo was a picture of a frilly bedspread in blue and yellow calico prints.  

I didn't have a particular sketch or challenge in mind with these, but I'm glad you stopped by for a look!

Sassy Cheryl Challenge #103 --- No Embossing!

Sassy Cheryl has put together quite a challenge this week --- no embossing!  What?!  No embossing??  But... but... well, ok.  It is a challenge after all!

Now if this card doesn't bring on day dreams of spring I don't know what will!  This is Cheryl's new digi "Sally Sits In Wonder".   With a couple of lady bugs for company she certainly looks content!  I used matching double-sided scrapbook sheets from my stash for all the dp pieces.  The little flowers are punched from scraps of the same paper.  The green lattice is a Martha Stewart large border punch.  I followed the rules and skipped the embossing; there's not even a scored line to be found.  But for texture I did distress the edges of some of the pieces.

I colored the whole scene with Copics, using the colorless blender to push the blue ink in the sky for clouds.

I think most of us are definitely ready for spring to arrive, even though winter has been pretty mild in most of  the northern climes of the U.S.  Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to hop over to Sassy Cheryl's to get more inspiration from her very talented design team.    

Queen of Hearts

The characters from "Alice in Wonderland" are funny, crazy and colorful.  They make great subjects for artistic interpretations and Krista at The Saturated Canary has created a Queen of Hearts who is beautiful, sassy and a blast to color! 

I stretched my usual card size to fit a #10 envelope.  After all, variety is the spice of life, right? The card base is black card stock with a cream card stock behind the red dp from a valentine collection.  I accented the black swirl with a few red rhinestones.  The little swirls on the right side of the image were taken from the larger piece, but would have been hidden under the image.  It's a shame to hide a pretty swirl and they added just the right touch to balance the layout.

The image is colored with Copics.  I didn't write down all the colors (I forgot again) but I did remember to make a note of the colors I used for her hair:  B12, B18, C9 and 100.  I love coloring with reds --- such a rich color!

Thank you for stopping by today!  I hope you are having a happy and creative week!

Mo's DP2 Challenge -- Sentiments

It's been so long since I entered Mo's DP2 Challenge, but I have several new images so I'm ready to go!  The challenge this week is "My Sentiments Exactly" which is, basically, anything goes as long as there is a sentiment.  Since I often don't put sentiments on a card until I know who I'm sending it to, this was a bit of a challenge .... well, not really once I got the card made.

I just had to use this little cutie "Winter Fairy Halla" before spring officially arrives.  The sentiment I came up with was "Sending you winter kisses" --- easy peasy!  The dp is from my stash of single sheets.  The background looks like snow falling and the middle one looks like frost on a window.  Both had a touch of lavender in them, so that became my choice for the accent color.  The lavender glitter paper coordinates with the glitter ribbon and the Stickles in the image.  I love this net flower, soft and delicate like a snowflake.

The image is colored with Copics and accented with Stickles.  Oh, this image is so cute!

Thanks for stopping by today!  I appreciate the time you spend here.  Be sure to take a few more minutes and hop over to Mo's DP2 challenge to see the fantastic projects by the design team. 

A Card for My Grand-niece

My adorable grand-niece Sienna turned 5 years old --- nearly 3 weeks ago!  Yep, I'm a bit late with her card and gift.  I don't think she will mind, though.  A present is a present!

This is one of Saturated Canary's newest digis and she is just precious. Those big blue eyes and flowing blonde hair (of course, my choices in coloring) remind me of Sienna. The card is pretty simple, just using two designer papers from the Watercolor Bouquet stack by K & Co. layered on Bazzill cardstock.  The flower is a combination of stray silk flowers held together with a pearl brad.  The border is a MS punch.

She is colored with Copics and it is so much fun to color these images. 

Well, this is the second posting day in a row, after being off for awhile.  I would say I'm on a roll!  It made me so happy to see so many visitors yesterday.  Many thanks for your visits and comments.  Your encouragement is so appreciated.

Design D.I.V.A.S. Oldies But Goodies Blog Hop Is Back for 2012!

It's the third Wednesday of February already which means it's time for the Facebook chapter of the Design D.I.V.A.S. to have our Oldies But Goodies (OBD) Blog Hop.

 This is when we use neglected and forgotten items from our stashes.  The Design D.I.V.A.S. is a private Facebook group, which is a branch of the Original Design D.I.V.A.S. on the Splitcoaststampers website. The acronym for the D.I.V.A.S is, Divine, Inspirational, Virtuous, Artistic (or annointed) Sistahs. This is a very talented and supportive group, which I'm blessed to be a part of . Thank you for stopping by and we hope you enjoy the hop!  

If you arrived here from our talented Maria's blog Maria Matters then you are on the right track. To start at the beginning jump back to Cindy's Antics where you are sure to love her project! 

Now, on to my project.  This is the first project I've done since before Christmas!  I really needed a break for awhile, but I haven't exactly been laying around eating bon bons!  My studio has been under a new austerity program and many unused and neglected tools and materials will be on the auction block.  But I did keep enough to meet the criteria of 6 months of collecting dust.  Today I used a an image that I had colored months ago.  This is Joy by Sugar Nellie.  Also, the DP is from the DCWV At Home stack which I haven't used since last spring, about the same time I used the Martha Stewart Butterfly border punch along the bottom.  

I didn't get this done in time to take a photo with natural light so I'm not very happy with the color density.  But, I think you get the general idea.

Here is a close up, and the colors are more like real life.  The image is colored with Copics.  I love these images with the shading detail.  Coloring is minimal, which isn't easy for me to do sometimes.  But the lighter touch with the Copic is all that is needed for this adorable image.  There is a new element in this project.  I used the Nestabilities Labels 18 for the image and background.

The butterfly is made from the large and small MS punches.  Rhinestones swirls add a bit of bling.

Aaahhh!  It really did feel good to work on cards again!  I have a new outlet to sell my cards so I'd better keep at it!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you are enjoying the hop!  Now, off you go to see what out talented Sue has for you at Sue's Sentiments.  

The Good News Is.....

The good news is that I have been doing some coloring today, a good sign that my mojo is returning.

The bad news is that I "twanged" (my term for not quite a sprain, but more than a twinge) my hip when my bad knee gave out while I was putting my pants on.  Despite recommendations to the contrary, I continue to put my pants on one leg at a time --- while standing up.  Doesn't everyone?

The result is that I can't sit or stand for long periods of time, let alone finish reorganizing my craft studio.

Many thanks to all my pals who have sent me words of encouragement while I've been taking a break from crafting.  It seems I am not alone, either.  But, daily scanning through Google Reader is working to light the ol' creative spark again.

Hope to be posting again soon!

Happy 2012!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I am taking a bit of a sabbatical while I sort out where my true passions lie.  I have been trying to do too many things because my creative side went into overdrive then it over heated, and evenutally overwhelmed me to the point where I just froze up.

Hopefully, I'll be back in line and on line in a couple of weeks.  Encouraging words and advice are most definitely welcome!

Love and hugs to you all! 

A Christmas Prayer for All My Friends Who Visit Here

I pray your heart is merry

I pray your joy is bright

Throughout this special season

Of peace and hope and light!

--- Jennifer Byerly

My son and new daughter-in-law will be arriving in a couple of days. We will be enjoying treasured Christmas traditions as well as making new ones.  I hope that you all will have family close and that your celebrations will be warm and joyful. 

Thank you for all your visits and lovely comments and support this year.  I'm blessed to have met so many wonderful and talented friends here in our blogging community.  Until 2012...........

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Seasons Greetings and to a prosperous and blessed New Year! 

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge #93 --- It's Santa!

Just 16 days before the Big Buy starts his annual trek around the world, jumping down chimneys, chomping on cookies and stuffing stockings!  Paying tribute to this bearer of glad tidings is Sassy Cheryl's Design Team with the challenge theme "It's Santa!".

I think I have finally caught on to the clean and simple style of cardmaking, but now my challenge is FLAT cardmaking.  I have lots of cards to mail so I really need to keep them within the one-stamp per envelope range. I do so love layers and embellies, but those will just have to be saved for those cards hand-delivered or attached to packages. With the card for this challenge I managed to keep it flat and with a minimum of embellies that could get into the hands (or noses) of little ones.

I used Jen del Muro's December sketch for this card.  Her sketch is below and I will enter this in her challenge, too.  It's a great sketch and I turned it on its side to accommodate the shape of the image.  All of the papers are from the Jolly and Bright mat stack by Recollections at Michael's.  The shapes are all cut with Nesties dies --- what would we do without them?

Santa is colored with Copics and I used Stickles for the dots on his coat and the swirls.

Now, what would Santa do without his elves?  Since I was making all these clean and simple FLAT cards I thought I might as well show them off here, too.  It's not often I have so many new cards made in such a short time! 

Gotta love Cheryl's new character Polly and she is all decked out to help Santa.  I just can't bring myself to color her pigtails anything but red/orange!  The papers are from the same Jolly and Bright mat stack.

She is also colored with Copics.

Noah is a helpful little elf, handing out the ornaments for the tree.  This card is really simple with the circle die cuts creating an ornament-type layout.

Again with the Copics and dp from the Jolly and Bright mat stack.

Now, this one was really simple!  The Christmas Tree Elves, looking very much like the Marx Brothers, are taking more ornaments to the tree.  The background dp is from the Jolly and Bright mat stack. (I don't know why this is so dark, but the paper is really bright and pretty.)

I embossed the Nesties die for the border around the group.  They are all colored with Copics and I used Stickles to add the sparkle to the ornaments.  I really love this image and just might make a couple more cards like this.  It is so simple and festive.

All of these images, and so many more, are available at Cheryl's store here.  

In case anyone was counting, this is my third post today.  Whew!  I do have more cards to make yet, but will probably have a bit of a break from posting for a couple of days....... maybe ;-)

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to pay a visit to Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog to see some very fun Santa cards by the design team.  

Sketch and Stash Challenge 76 --- Chrissie's Sketch

[Yes, indeedy, this is my second post of the day!  Scroll down for first ever Sugar Creek Hollow entry.]

It's been awhile since I entered the Sketch and Stash Challenge, but when I saw my lovely friend Chrissie's sketch, I just had to take part.  I love the sketch and had just the right new image to use on it.

The rich deep reds and greens come under my favorites for Christmas colors, especially when I am wanting a vintage look.  The Christmas Cheer stack by K & Co. has been my go-to selection for a couple of years, but I am down to just a few sheets of it now.    All the dp on this card is from that stack.  The ribbon is velveteen and the flower is from Prima.  

A new-to-me site is Waltzing Mouse Stamps and this image called "Harriet" is a freebie from the digital products section.  They have a super selection of stamps from which I already have quite a long wish list!  I colored Harriet with Copics and layered it on Nesties die cuts.  

Here is Chrissie's sketch.  The next new challenge will be on December 19, so you still have time to jump in with your project.  Be sure to check out the design team's projects, too! 

Thanks for stopping by again today!  I hope you are having a wonderfully creative week!