Back To School Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on The Stamping Boutique Back To School blog hop!  You should have arrived here from Donna's.  If not, you might like to start at the beginning here.  

All of the images I used are available at The Stamping Boutique store.  Here's the inside of this card:

I've used the October Afternoon Report Card paper pad for a couple of my cards.

 As you've probably noticed I'm pretty quiet today, it's because there's a lot more hopping to do!

Your next stop is the very talented Jennifer, enjoy!

Challenges:
The Secret Crafter - Hot Wheels
Speedy The Cat & Friends - Thank You 
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - CAS 
Paper Sundaes - Back to school

In Style Stamps Christmas In July Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the In Style Stamps Christmas In July Blog Hop!  If you've arrived here from The Scrappy Chick, you're on the right track, if not you might want to start at the beginning here.

Be sure to leave a comment on each of the design team blogs and vote at the end to be eligible to win four digital images from the In Style Stamps store!

My card today used Roddrick by In Style Stamps, I think he's my favorite Christmas image at the moment!

He's colored with Copic markers and I used a sketch from Stampin' Moments, the paper is from a pad by Memory Box called Mistletoe.  I added Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects to Roddrick's bells on his collar and the Christmas lights that are tangled up in his antlers, unfortunately they don't show up very well in my photo.

I'm going to be brief today, you've got some more hoppin' to do.  Your next stop is the fabulously talented Virginia at Paper Yumness, enjoy!

Challenges for Roddrick:
Christmas Cards All Year Round - Anything Goes
Operation Write Home - Christmas In July
Stamp Something - Christmas In July
Paper Play Challenge - Anything Goes
AI Factory - Christmas In July
Dutch Dare - Anything Goes

Oooohhhhh the DUST!

My card today is for the Michelle Perkett Studio's challenge to make a Joy Fold card.  I'd never made one before and I thought it was really fun!  I used her  cute Birthday Mermaid digital image, she's colored with Copic markers trying to match the Basic Grey Kioshi paper.  I used a new Papertrey Ink Jumbo ric rac die and added a little paper piercing, the envelope liner is also a Papertrey Ink die.  She has little rhinestones as flower centers too!

Would you like to see the progress going on in our living room?

I think this is where we left off the other day.

It's funny but in this process what bothers me the most is that fine baby powder like dust on everything.

Pulling out the old insulation wasn't pleasant either but that dust, ohhhh...

We've had a little excitement with this project too.  My husband Rick was tearing out the old dry wall and had a couple of lizards fly across the room.  They were living in the wall.  He was able to catch one and take it outside.  The other one was in the bathroom later that evening.  He said I owe him one as he took the second lizard outside.  The cats have enjoyed being on lizard patrol too!  We've had to take a few smaller geckos away from them and let them go outside.  

I've always had geckos in the house during the summer, maybe now that we've replaced the insulation, dry wall and all the holes in the stucco outside will be patched they'll live where they're supposed to. 

One can only hope! 

Challenges for my Mermaid:

Crafty Creations - Summer Lovin'

Digital Tuesday - Dazzle Me 
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - Punch or cut me - my ric rac

Challenge day at La La Land Crafts!!

Are you ready for this weeks challenge over at La La Land Crafts?!

Maureen has challenged us to make a shaker card!  

It's been a very long time since I'd made a shaker card.  

I've really enjoyed being a guest design team member for La La Land Crafts, the challenges each week have gotten me to think more and more outside the box and I like that.

I made a Christmas card for today.  It's pretty simple in design the patterned paper is called Mistletoe by Memory Box.  It's so pretty I didn't want to cover it up with lots of layers or embellishments.  I colored Angel La La with Copic markers trying to match my paper.  I'm really happy with her hair color, red hair runs in my family so I'm rather partial to it!  I didn't get it but my oldest son has my Mom's copper red hair as do all my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.  Here are the marker colors I used for her hair: R22, R37, R46, R59, E37, E44 & E59.

I built the shaker part of the card with Spellbinders Oval Nestabilities, that took a little thought!  Filled it with some different size and shape white beads and hoped for the best.  I had to take it apart twice...  you really don't need a whole bunch of beads I found out. 

Maureen used Princess La La for her card so she's on sale at La La Land Crafts for 20% off through Tuesday.  You can find Angel La La there too!
Challenges for Angel La La:
Tuesday Taggers - Christmas In July
Tuesday Throwdown - Christmas In July 
Operation Write Home - Christmas In July 
Little Red Wagon - Christmas In July

Operation Write Home Christmas In July Challenge

My cards today are for the Midweek Throwdown challenge at Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps blog, Christmas In July.

Each of these reindeer digital images are from Bug A Boo Stamps, I thought they were so cute!

I kept my color scheme the same in case I'd like to give these as a gift set later.  I also wondered if I'd like Kraft with the Red, White and Hunter Green.
Yes, I do!

I colored each of these images with Copic markers, the Merry & Bright sentiment is from a Papertrey Ink stamp set called Signature Christmas.  The ric rac die is also from Papertrey Ink.

My next card is featured on the Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps blog today.  I've been so busy (and having fun) doing behind the scenes stuff for the OWH Birthday party in September that I forgot to find someone and ask them to make a sample for our challenge.

I think this is my favorite out of the four images.  I used a couple of Cuttlebug embossing folders for this one, candy cane stripe and snowflakes.

This reindeer is ready to hang the string of stars, I used Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects on those stars to give them some shine.

The Holiday Joy sentiment has been sitting on my desk for months now, it's a scrap of rubber waiting to be put on cushion that I don't have.  I wasn't sure what it said until recently!  It was a freebie from CHA back in January.

My last card was also on the OWH Stars & Stamps blog today.  Isn't he cute with the Christmas ornament?!  I used the Cuttlebug Ornaments embossing folder again for the background on this card.  They layout is a Taylored Expressions Cupcake sketch.

Be sure to go check out the Christmas In July challenge over at Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps and have fun making some Christmas cards!

Challenges for my cards:

Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps - Christmas In July

Sentimental Sunday's - It's all fun and games

Stamptacular Sunday - Christmas In July

Aud's Sentiment's - Choose your own Christmas sentiment

2 Sister's Challenge - Christmas In July
Stamp Scrap & Doodle - Digi's
Creative Inspirations - Animals

I'd like to introduce you to KK!

I have another new digital image from The Stamping Boutique for you today, her name is KK, isn't she cute?!

KK is Tracey's daughter, if you're not sure who Tracey is, she's the artist and owner of The Stamping Boutique.  

I colored KK with Copic markers and used this weeks sketch from Incy Wincy for my layout.  The patterned paper is from a Basic Grey Urban Prairie pad and the Birthday Wishes is made by Verve Visual.  The envelope liner is a die from Papertrey Ink. 

Challenges for KK:

Incy Wincy - Sketch challenge

Ohh La La - Birthday

Victoria Case Blog Candy

Victoria Case Stamp Design's is offering blog candy, you don't just have one chance to win but three!  You can check it out here.

For my card today I used a Victoria Case digital image that I picked up as a freebie, isn't she cute?!  I used Taylored Expressions Cupcake Sketch #88 for my layout, she's colored with Copic markers and I used a few scraps of a new paper pad I picked up at WalMart Sunday afternoon.  

Oh... my secret's out, I bought two, they were on clearance I couldn't resist!

Don't forget to go check out that blog candy!

Challenges for my little fairy:

The Secret Crafter - Fairy Tales

Cowgirl's Sunday Challenge - Anything Goes

Rosie D's - All Things Great & Small

Kah Wink E Dink - In The Garden

Crafty Creations - Something Sweet or Happy

Stampavie & More - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz - Summertime
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Summer Days
My Time To Craft - Check It Out

Dude, You Rock!

I'd like to introduce you to Max today!  

He's a new digital image from The Stamping Boutique, he's on sale this week too!

I'm sure you recognize the Making Memories Just Chillin' paper I used.  I really did start out with a different sheet of paper from that pad, honest!  I printed my digital image larger than I should have so I had to cut back on the layers of patterned paper.  This sketch is one I found at a challenge blog over the 4th of July weekend, I'm sorry I didn't write down where it's from now.  I'll keep working on that.  

Max is colored with Copic markers, I had fun applying Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects to his guitar, the circle and star are Spellbinders dies and the "Dude, you rock" is from the Signature Greetings stamp set by Papertrey Ink.  

Challenges for Max:

The Crazy Challenge - Boys will be boys

Papertake Weekly - Cutie Patootie 
Stamp Something - Something Digital
Miami Doodles - Anything Goes
The Stamp Man - Anything Goes

Challenge day at La La Land Crafts!!

It's challenge day at La La Land Crafts, are you ready?!

The challenge:  Upcycle It!

The challenge is to take something that you would normally throw away and "upcycle" it into something fabulous to use on your card. It might be a bottlecap, or a colorful tag off of a new pair of pants, or a strip of old lace from that blouse that needs to go into the dustbin, or maybe even an earring that long ago lost it's partner. The idea is to look at everything we throw away in a new light!

I have two photos for you today, the first is of my finished card, "what it is", then I'm going to show you "what it was"!  

We get these magazines every Sunday at church and not only do I enjoy reading them cover to cover I find the artwork in them very inspiring.  I've been hanging on to a stack of them because I've wanted to use them for some of my cards.  Cheryl's challenge at La La Land Crafts this week was a perfect chance to get these out and play!   

I knew exactly the stamp I wanted to use for this project and pretty much had the layout in my head, I just needed to take the time and get it out of there...  

The stamp is La La In The Window from La La Land Crafts.  I used the colors in the magazine pages to determine my colors for La La's top and hair, she's colored with Copic markers.  The frame around her is made from two square Spellbinders dies.  I did use cardstock under the magazine page for stability.  I next covered a piece of white cardstock with the magazine page and started layering scalloped borders I'd cut from the magazine over each other and added a strip of magazine page at the top.  I popped the frame over La La using foam tape and attached the frame to my card.  I then added six Want2Scrap black half pearls to balance it and add just a little more visual interest.  The scalloped border die is made by Papertrey Ink.

I feel a weird need to keep cutting up the magazines and make something else, oh no...  

Now that you've heard my story you need to go visit La La Land Crafts challenge blog and see all of the awesome creations the rest of the design team came up with.  Then go find something in the trash to make something out of for the challenge, you know you want to?!

Did you notice the La La Land Crafts banner at the top of my page?  There's going to be a birthday party going on soon, I hope you'll join us!

One more thing... don't forget to check out Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps today for a new Midweek Throwdown Challenge.  If you like free digi images you're gonna love it!   We even have a prize sponsor this week...

Challenges for La La:
The Pink Elephant - Color Challenge Brown
Crafty Creations - Happy or Sweet 
The Creative Cottage - Touchy Feely Texture 
Fab N Funky Challenge - Reuse Recycle

Under Construction

Hello, I'm a little late posting today!  

We're under construction again and I've been working away on design team assignments so I stay caught up with all that's going on.

I have a card and some photos of the progress of putting new windows in.  This house was built in the 1970's and we've been working on replacing the old windows one by one to more efficient double pane windows.  My husband is moving the front window over so it's centered on the wall.    There are masking tape "windows" on the wall behind him so we could imagine what they'd look like.  It won't be long and we'll know for sure what they look like, I'm excited!  

It's getting a little gritty and dusty but I can live with it for awhile...

...and it's going to get dustier!  

The reason the drywall is missing is because I asked him to redo all of it in the living room.  

He does a much nicer job with dry wall texture  than I did years ago.

My card today is a cute image from The Stamping Boutique, I thought he'd be perfect for a kids card for the challenge going on at Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps till this Wednesday. Also The Crazy Challenge has a "Boys will be boys" challenge going on.

He's colored with Copic markers, the checked panel is an old Stampin' Up! background stamp and the patterned paper is from a Making Memories pad called Just Chillin'. 

I don't think I"ll have a first thing in the morning post for you tomorrow, I don't have anything ready yet.  There is a challenge that I enjoy doing at Michelle Perkett Studios challenge blog so maybe I'll have a card later in the day for that. 

Talk with you again soon!

Happy Birthday Virginia!

Good morning and welcome to Virginia's In Style Stamps birthday blog hop!
You should have arrived here from the letter "B", if not you can start at the beginning here.

This is Lilah from In Style Stamps, isn't she cute?!

This hop is about traveling with Virginia for her birthday and showing her a good time!
If she were to arrive in my town, here's the scenario:  

Welcome to Parker, Arizona Virginia!  

We'd better get you inside,
it's supposed to be 120 degrees here today
and I know it feels like you stepped out of your air conditioned car info a blast furnace.  

We are going to have so much fun while you are here!  

Rest up and cool off for a little while and then get your swim suit on we're going out on the river for the day!  Tomorrow we can go to Lake Havasu and visit the home of the London Bridge and walk around all the shops, rent a paddle boat, feed the ducks and fish even go for a ride to Havasu Landing on the big paddle boat and when we get back home we can have a quick dinner and go to the concert at the Casino!   Unless you'd like to have dinner there instead... I know I would!

Since this is a Birthday Blog Hop, we can't leave you without a chance at a party prize! So here are the rules.
1. Start at the beginning of the blog hop with the letter H.
2. Comment on each Design Team's blog because they need a little love and increase your chances at the party prize.
3. Go to Virginia's blog  and wish her a Happy Birthday.

The deadline to win a digital image is Sunday, July 18th at 8:00pm Pacific Time.

That's all you need to do! The prize???? Not one, but two! You might win either one by commenting on a blog. Good luck and hope you have fun all along the way!

 

For your next stop in the hop please visit the very talented letter "R"!!

Happy Birthday Virginia!

Make A Wish

What a busy week this has been at our house!  Our kids are away at church camp up in the mountains and I kind of envy them.  It's warm warm warm here, with an expected high temp of 120 degrees today. 

There is one good thing to be said for all of our Arizona sunshine though, we are in our first phase of going solar at our house.  The installers are here today doing the solar hot water heater.  I wouldn't want to be the guys on the roof today installing the solar panels, it's hot up there!   

In the midst of all that's going on I'm still crafting away.  I had the opportunity to play and do something just for fun today.  My card is for the Michelle Perkett Studios challenge, below is the sketch and color challenge.  You were free to do either one or both so I went all the way!

I know I say this all the time but what a fun card to make!

This cute little girl was fun to color with Copic markers.  Since the challenge called for Cream I printed her on cream card stock, after I colored her I realized what I wanted to do with the clouds wouldn't work with cream card stock so I re printed my image on white and paper pieced them so I could flick some color onto the bottoms with Copic markers to make them more realistic.

The scalloped frame is two Spellbinders dies and I used Cuttlebug embossing folders to add more polka dots and swirls.  I wasn't sure what to do for the three objects in the top left corner but thought flowers...  I added a touched up Dew Drop to the center of each and two more touched up brown Dew Drops on the panel at the bottom.  The dotted organdy ribbon is to cover a little tiny boo boo and last of all I stamped "make a wish" from one of my Papertrey Ink stamp sets. 

Too much fun!  Thanks Michelle Perkett Studios for such a fun challenge!

Edited to add:
Do you remember the Operation Write Home blog hop for 4th of July weekend?  Sandy was offering as blog candy to make digital images out of our pets if we won.

Hey, I won!

She and I were visiting last night on Skype and she'd finished my cat Inky's digi and was working on coloring her.  Here's a couple photos of Inky:

Go check out Sandy's blog, she made a card using one of the new digi images and you can pick them both up there for free!  Sandy's blog is "it's a colourful world". 

More challenges she's entered into:
Your Next Stamp - Flower Power
Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes Birthday
Aud Sentiments - Any sentimen
Craftalicious Challenges - Birthday's
Stamp Something - Something Digital

Meet Mr. Ludwig from In Style Stamps

Hello and welcome to my last post for today and for the July In Style Stamps sneak peaks on my blog.  

All the new releases go on sale tomorrow at the In Style Stamps store and there is also a release party going on at Paper Craft Planet Friday evening, come join the fun, it starts at 7 PM EST!

This snowman is called Mr. Ludwig.  I colored him with Copic markers and cut him out with the Spellbinders Labels 10 die and then matted him on an Oval Scalloped die.  The dots around Mr. Ludwig are from a stamp set made by Waltzing Mouse as is the Christmas Wishes sentiment.  I think this might be the first time I've used the Spellbinders Fancy Tags die too.  I've had them awhile but it hasn't been "quite right" for what I've been working on so far.  The small snowflakes are a punch that I've had forever and it's getting dull, almost time to get out the aluminum foil and waxed paper for it.  The white panel on the front was cut diagonally and each piece put through the Cuttlebug with the Snowflakes and Swiss Dots embossing folders.

Be sure to stop by the In Style Stamps blog today for more inspiration from our design team and other new releases you can't see here! 

Challenges for my card:

Speedy The Cat's Friends - Punch It!
Shelly's Images - Lots of Layers
Christmas Cards all year long - Anything Goes

Sneak Peak of Roddrick for In Style Stamps

Hello and welcome to my second post today!

I get to share a sneak peak of Roddrick by In Style Stamps with you, he'll be available for purchase at the In Style Stamps store tomorrow, July 16th!  

I wanted to try the sketch I used yesterday with Roddrick and like the way it turned out.  He's colored with Copic markers and Copic Spica gltter markers.  Cut out with Spellbinders Nestabilites Labels 10 dies.  The Kraft matting was run through the Cuttlebug with a circles embossing folder, I'm sorry I haven't kept up with the names of all of them.  I do know the black panel's Cuttlebug embossing folder name is Candy Cane...  The red polka dotted paper is a scrap of the October Afternoon Report Card paper pad.   "Tis The Season" is from the Papertrey Ink Signature Christmas stamp set and I added two Want2Stamp black half pearls to finish my card.  Be sure to check in at the In Style Stamps blog today for more sneak peaks of the upcoming  new releases and the awesome design team inspiration!

I have one more post to do today, Mr. Ludwig is previewing at 5:00 PM today, see you then!

Challenges for my card:

Crazy 4 Challenges - Red, White & Black

Ann's Creative Nook - Anything Goes 

Oh La La Creations - Christmas In July 

The Shabby Tea Room - Christmas In July
Gingersnap Creations - Spicy Supply Challenge - Markers
Cute Card Thursday - Head Start on Christmas
Christmas Stamping All Year Long - Anything Goes

Operation Write Home Midweek Shipper's Choice Challenge

Good morning, I'd like to share my OWH Stars & Stamps Midweek Throwdown challenge cards with you!  The challenge is to make cards for our troops to send home to their kids.

Both of my cards use Whimsie Doodles images.

I used a sketch  from last weeks CCEE stampers challenge.  The patterned paper is made by October Afternoon and it's from a paper pad called Report Card.  Both images were colored with Copic markers.

I'll be doing another blog post today.  

It's day four of sneak peaks for In Style Stamps so I'll see you again about noontime!

In Style Stamps Inspriation Wednesday

It's Inspiration Wednesday at In Style Stamps today!

Our theme is Halloween and my card uses the In Style Stamps Fence O Lanterns digital image that will be available for sale Friday, July 16th.  I believe it was part of the sneak peaks going on at the In Style Stamps Blog yesterday.  

This was another fun image to play with.  I wanted to use it to make a scene so I sized it to fit my A2 card with just enough room to put a black mat under the focal image, after all, it's a digital image and that's the beauty of digital images - making them any size we'd like! 

After printing the image I reprinted it on Eclipse masking paper.  I cut out the pumpkins from the masking paper and put the mask on, next I used a brayer to add the moon and night time sky.  The ink pads I used were Palette Lemon Tart, Palette Seascape and Stampn' Up! Night Of Navy.  After peeling the mask off I colored the pumpkins with Copic markers and the cold gray concrete under them.  The Happy Halloween stamp is by Hero Arts and that spider in the moon is a long ago retired stamp from my Stampin' Up! set Best Fiends.  I can't wait to try this again with a daytime scene!  

Be sure to stop by the In Style Stamps blog today to see the other fabulous creations by our design team, I'm headed there soon...

One more thing!  Stop by the Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps blog today too for the Midweek Throwdown challenge - Shipper's Choice, cards for our soldiers kids!

Challenges for my card: 
Stampavie & More - Anything Goes

Challenge day at La La Land Crafts

Are you ready for today's challenge over at La La Land Crafts?  

Lori has challenged us to make a card using black and white with a pop of color.  The pop of color from my understanding is to be one color and/or shades of one color, I hope I did this right!  

Right or not I had a really good time making my card!  

I thought La La with the rose would be perfect for this project, I imagined her rose to be the pop of color and I'm really liking BG11, 13 & 18 with black.  My La La is a digital image so I made her just the size I wanted  to fit into the Spellbinders Labels 10 die I wanted to use.  After coloring her, I used the Waltzing Mouse Vintage Labels 10 stamp set to stamp the dots around her then cut her out with the die.  I'm living dangerously, I know...  I should know better, I'm really disappointed when I mess one of those up too.  

After all that I looked through my pads of designer papers and found the perfect match to her rose, I just had to find some black or black and white pattered paper from my stash.  I used a sketch I'd saved from a Stamping Bella challenge in June and really like the way it all came together.  The black panel is embossed with a Papertrey Ink floral embossing plate and I made an insert for the envelope out of the leftover patterned paper using the Papertrey Ink die for that.  I love the look of an envelope with a liner, very fancy!

Lori used Bubble La La for her challenge card this week so she's 20% off this week at La La Land Crafts!

Challenges my card is entered into:
Crafty Hos' - Black White & ______
Penny's Paper Crafting Challenge - 7 of Something
Danni's Dreams - Layers

Day 2 In Style Stamps Sneak Peaks

Welcome to day two of the In Style Stamps Sneak Peaks!  

My card today features the In Style Stamps Witches Brew digital image, you'll be able to buy her this Friday, July 16th at the In Style Stamps store.  She's under the "A Day In The Life" category.  I've never colored one of these images before and it was slightly intimidating but after I got started I loved it, I'd highly recommend trying them!  

She's colored with Copic markers and I used a sketch I saw at Pixie Dust Studio last Thursday that I thought she'd be perfect for.  The sketch is for their challenge but it's calling for a Christmas Theme.  I also used Spellbinders dies and the Halloween Tip #72 sentiment is from Eat Cake Graphics.  

Don't forget to go over to the In Style Stamps blog to see the other sneak peak images today, you're going to love them!

I hope you'll join me again tomorrow around noontime for another In Style Stamps Sneak Peak as well as the In Style Stamps Inspiration Wednesday Challenge. 

Cards for Bella

Good morning, I wanted to share my card I made for Bella today, there's a blog hop going on for Bella and we were asked by our design team coordinator Christy to make a card to send Bella and she would post them in the blog hop at her stop. 

Today's blog hop starts with Denise Lynn, click on her name and you'll be at the beginning!
I also have links for the entire hop for you.

 

Marianne...http://mariannescraftroom.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth Pujalka... http://digitalstamps.blogspot.com

 

Julie Glasgow... http://stampincabin.blogspot.com

 

Tanya Rudd... http://www.trudd.blogspot.com/

 

Adrina Smulder... http://www.adrinasfun.blogspot.com/

 

Chris Olsen... http://twinklesglow-glowbug.blogspot.com/

 

Christy Dillman...http://christyszaneycreations.blogspot.com/
Sarah Ketchum...http://sarahscrazycreations.blogspot.com/
Katharina Frei... http://katharina1704.blogspot.com/

 

Rachel Vaughn...http://www.onmybackporch.blogspot.com
Pat Sergeant... http://www.just4fun2-pat.blogspot.com

 

Erin Bailey... http://www.scrapstampandbemerry.blogspot.com/

 

You can read about Bella's story here. Her address where you can send your cards is:
The Bella Tucker Fund
P.O. Box 199
Londonderry NH
03053 USA
...and a  wonderful prize package here for making cards for Bella that everyone can enter.
The winner of the prize package will be announced July 20th!

Please keep Bella and her family in your prayers. 

In Style Stamps Sneak Peaks!!

Hello and welcome to the first day of sneak peaks for In Style Stamps! 

Today's sneak peak here on my blog is Harvest Vegies, this digital image will be for sale at the In Style Stamps store July 16th.  

I've used the Harvest Vegies once before this month and the more I use it the more I'm liking it!  It goes beautifully with my Basic Grey Ambrosia paper pack, which unfortunately is almost gone.  

I'm going to be brief today, there are going to be so many In Style Stamps new releases to look at you really should head over to their blog and see today's new release digi stamps!

Don't forget to stop back tomorrow for more!!

Challenges for this card:

Aud Sentiments - No Sentiment

Some Odd Girl - Shapes All Over 
Paper Sundaes - Lots of Layers 
Pollycraft - Bold & Bright

In Style Stamps July Color Challenge

Happy Saturday, it's time for the In Style Stamps color challenge!  

Here's our inspiration photo:

It's a sheet of Christmas wrapping paper.

The focal image on my card is Chloe from In Style Stamps, She will be available for purchase July 16th.  I used Papertrey Ink card stock, Ripe Avocado, Sweet Blush, Lemon Tart & Basic Black along with my usual Neenah Solar White.  Chloe is colored with Copic markers, cut out with a Spellbinders Oval die and matted with the Scalloped Oval die.  The "joy" stamp is also from the Papertrey Ink Signature Christmas set and on the left edge of the Sweet Blush panel I used the Cuttlebug Christmas ornaments embossing folder.  

Be sure to check out the In Style Stamps blog today for lots of color challenge inspiration from our design team, there will be lots of new images being previewed today!  You might even want to join in on the challenge fun, there are prizes involved!!

Challenges she's entered in:
Fussy & Fancy - Christmas in July II 
Stamp Simply - Christmas In July 
Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps - Pink It Up!
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - Christmas 
Simple Doodles - Holiday Fun 
The Corrosive Challenge - Christmas Time 
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Free Challenge 
Christmas Cards All Year Long - Anything Goes

Are you ready to see some In Style Stamps sneak peaks in the week ahead?!  In Style Stamps and our design team will be doing sneak peaks for new releases everyday in the week to come, so stay tuned for some fun!  All the new images will be released and available for sale at the In Style Stamps store on July 16th!

In My Prayers

Last week when we did the "Tasty" challenge at Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps Tammy guided me to the free digi's tab in the side bar of that blog.  That's where I found this adorable little boy saying his prayers.  The site is called Sliekje's Digi Stamps and you just aren't going to believe this... all of her digital images are FREE, she's quite an artist too!  

I thought he was so cute, he's colored with Copic markers, I decided he should have blond hair the first time I colored him.  He looks a little like my youngest son.  That's how his sweater ended up orange, Michael's favorite color is orange.   The "in my prayers" is a stamp from There She Goes and I used my wonderful friend Susan's Stampin Up! Top Note die to cut him out and for a shadow as well.  The patterned paper is Basic Grey Ambrosia.  I've had that paper pad for a couple of years now and it's finally starting to look used!   I made a total of 3 cards using him, they basically the same (Basic Grey Ambrosia paper) but his hair color changes each time.  Have a good day - happy stamping! 

Life's A Beach!

I have another white on white card for you today, that makes two in one week, wow...  

As you know, this kind of card scares me.  I'm used to matting all my layers and making them pop!  I still matted my layers with white for this one.  

The cute little girl on my card was a freebie from Michelle Perkett Studios at Paper Craft Planet and to enter into Michelle's challenges you need to use her images, so...  I love her images!!  

I used a new Cuttlebug 5 x 7 embossing folder for the largest panel and the Swirls embossing folder for the other.  The Spellbinders regular Oval die is popped with foam tape onto the scalloped oval.  I colored the little girl with Copic makers, printed a mask to cover her and sponged Palette Seascape ink around her.  It looks like my sponge wasn't as clean as I thought.  There are a couple of clouds in there too.  Next I used my Zig two way glue pen applying the glue to where I wanted the sand.  I wrote about the sand in yesterday's blog post.  I put some of the left over in a little zipper bag for future use.  I added Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects to the star fish and decided I'd like to add a couple of real shells with it as well.  I just had to attach a shell to her beach shovel.  

Challenges for my card:

Michelle Perkett Studios - White on White 
2 Sisters Challenge - Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon - Use Nestabilites
KL Stampin N Scrap - Summer & Beach Theme
Cute Card Thursday - School's Out For Summer 
The Play Date Cafe - Color Theme

Stair Step Challenge @ La La Land Crafts

It's challenge day over at La La Land Crafts and the challenge is Stair Step cards!  This is my third challenge with them as a design team member and I must say I have been challenged!  I've never made a stair step card before so I went to Splitcoaststampers to see if I could find a tutorial and they had a good one by Beate Johns that I followed.  Folding and scoring the card was pretty easy, then I had to decide what next...  oh ya, that took me a couple of days. 

I had La La and Rosie all colored and ready to set in there but it looked so...  empty!  My friend Ami was over for bible study last Thursday evening and saw my attempt on the table and said, "ah, what's that?!", lol.  So I told her about the dilemma I was having.  As we sat there and talked about other stuff it just kind of all came together.  There was this old bottle of sand and tiny sea shells behind Ami's head on a shelf that caught my eye and the rest is history.  Ami had to leave before I really got going but she said she wants to see the end result when she's over again.  

La La and Rosie are colored with Copic markers and cut out.  Rosie's dress and headband are paper pieced.  I had the waves in place when Ami was here.  They are made from a scallop border die made by Papertrey Ink, I used the part you usually throw away and put the pieces through the Cuttlebug Swirls  embossing folder.  To get the sand and sea shells to stick I used rows of Scor Tape.  When I tipped the bottle I got shells and sand all at once and really liked the accidental arrangement.  Next they needed a sky line so I cut a scrap of white cardstock to 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 and sponged Palette Seascape ink around a Cuttlebug cloud I'd cut from a die and kept moving around.  I thought it needed my little sunshine made with a Quickkutz die and yellow cardstock to finish the scene.  I'm happy with it, or at least I will be until I see what the other design team gals made!  

I'm happy to have it all made up, photographed and blogged about.  Would you believe Inky the cat had the audacity to step right in the middle of it?!  lol, have a good day!

More Fun Challenges:
Stampin' Bee's - Summer Vacation
All Sorts - Create A Scene
Secret Crafter - Water (would you look at those waves!)
Speedy The Cat's Friends - Use A Die Cut  
Ann's Crafty Nook - The Feeling Of Independence Day (we live "at the river")
By The Cute & Girly - Warm Summer Days 
Ohh la la Creations - Simply Summer 
Drunken Stampers - Summer / Vacation
Kaboodle Doodles - Celebrate Summer
 

Geisha by Whimsie Doodles

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!  It's really quieted down in our little town, most of the tourists left yesterday afternoon and it's safe for the locals to go to the grocery store and gas station again.   We can come out of hiding now...  can you tell I've lived in "resort towns" most of my life?

My card today is just for fun!  I saw this digi image in my travels around blog land and had to get a closer look.  I got so close she now lives in my computer with my other digi images in the Whimsie Doodles folder.  I colored her with Copic markers to match the Basic Grey Kioshi paper pad I wanted to use, then stamped around her with a new stamp set I bought from Waltzing Mouse and cut her out with a new Spellbinders die Labels 10, I also used a new Asian inspired Cuttlebug embossing folder that came in a set.  I wish I could remember what it is called!  To finish off my card I used four black Want2Stamp half pearls.  

Enjoy your day!

Challenges she's entered into:
Creative Card Crew - To Die For 
Totally Papercrafts Challenge - One For The Girlies