Cute & Cuddly Polly Craft Kittie

How's that for the title of my post today?  This is my entry for this weeks Polly Craft challenge and I also found a challenge at The Crazy Challenge that I couldn't get out of my mind - Cute & Cuddly, so I wrapped it up into one card.

This cute little digi stamp made it's way into my basket the last time I was browsing at the Polly Craft store, I thought she'd be perfect as the cute & cuddly part of my card.   The challenge for Polly Craft is actually a sketch challenge, I added Lynsey's sketch for you to see below: 

After I printed a sheet of kitties it occurred to me that if I re-sized this image I could use the daffodils as the embellishments where the flowers were on the sketch.  Did I ever tell you I really like making my own embellishments?

It was totally fun coloring this image, I had the larger one to try out colors on before I used them for real.  The Kittie is colored with Warm Gray 0, 3 & E 21, the daffodils Yellow 13, 15 & 19, leaves and flower stem YG 11, 13, &17, the terra cotta pot YR 14 & 18 the dirt inside E 29 and the cobblestone path C2 and my blender pen. 

I wanted the Kittie to have texture so I soaked  a scrap of an old wash cloth with blender solution and dabbed it onto the colored Kittie.  Next I cut out a mask to cover the Kittie and under the flower pot and used the air brush with a Blue 45 sketch marker for the background.  After peeling the mask off I colored around the flower pot and under the grass with the C2 marker, then went back and used the chisel tip of my blender pen to make the cobble stone path, next I added the grass and dotted some yellow on the dandelion.  I also colored the big daffodils and cut them out and applied Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects to them and set them aside to dry.

The Kittie image is cut out with a Spellbinders rectangle die and matted in SU Really Rust using the scalloped rectangle die.  I had a really difficult time getting the colors for the card to look right to me, sometimes the simplest looking sketch gives me the biggest challenge!  The green panel looked too plain so I used a Hero Arts swirl background stamp, the black panels have been embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and matted with SU Really Rust.  I used two SU Oval punches and the Papertrey Ink Mixed Messages set for the sentiment with two of those wonderful little black half pearls from my stash.  To finish it, I attached the almost dry big daffodils to the corners of my focal image.  I like it - hope you like it!

I've been having fun with the air brush since going to the Copic certification class last month.  I've been using air cans with an air adapter and air grip, (ABS 3) those little cans don't last very long!  Well today...  I ordered an air compressor so I don't have to buy anymore air cans.  It shipped today, I'll be stocking the UPS man soon...

Accordion Purse

I had to try the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long tutorial on how to make an Accordion Purse, it took about 45 minutes!  So quick and fun I made two.  This first one is for my already printed digi stamps that were piling up on my desk.  

...and the second one is for the rest of the digi stamps that didn't fit in the first one!  

Click on the link above and from there you can get to the tutorial by Maria Bell.  She did a fabulous job as usual!  This weeks challenge is to make a Christmas themed purse and card.  As you can see I'm not eligible for the challenge but I learned how to make the cute accordion purses!

Have a great day!

Oh my, I'm having a good day!

Boy, do I have a lot of stuff I'm excited to tell you about today!  Let's start with the card:

I made today's card using Operation Write Home's Sketch Challenge #16 and I wanted to enter the Pixie Dust Studio blog challenge to use Kraft card stock.  So here he is!  This image is a digi stamp from Pixie Dust Studio that I colored with Copic markers and added a little air brushing to the background and white half pearls.  I think I "need" an air compressor so I can keep practicing! 

Speaking of Operation Write Home, have you signed up for their Memorial Weekend blog hop yet?!  Click on their name and you're on your way!  I'm signed up and working on my projects,  I'm also offering BLOG CANDY that day!   Along with the blog hop I'll be celebrating my 3rd year of blogging, so I suppose you could say it's my Blogaversary.   I hope you'll participate in the blog hop it's going to be a lot of fun!

One more thing about OWH to tell you!  Sandy contacted me recently and asked if I'd like to help with the Midweek Throwdown and I accepted her offer!  I'm part of the Operation Write Home blog team now and I'm so excited!  I have a lot to learn, there's a bunch of work that goes on behind the scenes that we aren't even aware of... and I get to help!!

And then... I had a really good day yesterday...  I entered a few challenges last week and discovered that I'd been chosen at Polly Craft as one of their top three favorites.  Wow!   I have a cute new badge for my blog now ;)   Then I went over to check out what was happening at the Tiddly Inks blog and found I'd won a prize from their blog hop, oh my I was having a good day!

I need to go now,  I have a Copic coloring class to prepare for and I'm still in my p.j.'s.  I hope your day is even better than mine was yesterday!  Talk with you soon~

Life's Lessons

It won't be long and my two youngest kids will be 4th and 5th graders, oh my.  Sometimes I wish I could freeze time for a little while.  This card is for my daughter's teacher.

Another super cute image by Tiddly Inks and it  is a digi stamp that I've resized and cut out after coloring with my Copic markers.  The colors are pictured below:

Supplies:  Paper - Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise, Plum Pudding, Neenah Red Linen & Neenah Solor White.  Stamps - Cornish Heritage Farms School Paper backgrounder, Spellbinder's Nesties Labels 4 & Want2Scrap black half pearls. 

Oh!  I made a light box a few days ago, the Catch The Bug Challenge blog will take you to the tutorial if you'd like to see it.  I think it works pretty well!

Thoughts on being a Mom...

 Digital stamp by Tiddly Inks

 A z fold, I got the idea from the In Style Stamps Method Monday's 4-5-10 blog post.

Copic marker colors used-

Happy Mother's Day!  I've been thinking about my Mom, being a Mom and Mother's Day for several days and thought I'd get a little more personal here than I usually do.

Mother's Day is something I've tried to avoid for the last ten years, I realized a few days ago I need to enjoy and embrace this day because it's about being a Mom and I am one.  

My Mom died ten years ago when I was six months pregnant with my daughter Jenny.  It was a difficult time to get through but I know God's timing is perfect.  If I would have had a new baby I wouldn't have been able to spend those last few weeks at the hospital with my Mom.  I didn't realize she would be gone from my life so quickly and I treasure those last days I had with her.

My daughter was born late in the afternoon on Mother's Day 2000.  I remember my brother thanking me for turning such a horrible day for him into a day to celebrate.  Again I think God's timing is perfect.  But I've allowed Mother's Day to be a reminder to me of how long my Mom has been gone and that she never got to meet the little granddaughter she wanted so much.  Let alone the extra little boy she had no idea about. 

Things need to change...  Jenny will be ten years old in a couple of days, Michael will be nine and Daryl, Mom's only grandchild that she got to know and loved so much will be twenty one soon.

I need to celebrate being a Mom,  I've been one for almost 21 years.  I've been a married Mom, I've been a single Mom, I've been a working Mom, I've been a stay at home Mom, I've been a good Mom, I've been a bad Mom,  most of all I've been a blessed Mom.

The unconditional love I receive from my children means the world to me.  I love being here when my two youngest get home from school and hearing about their day.  I don't love the struggle over homework after they arrive but I love getting the progress reports and going to the awards assemblies to celebrate their hard work and achievements.  I love listening to my daughter practice playing her flute as only a Mom can.

I thank God that He entrusted me with two more children when I was 40 and 41 years old to love and raise.  I feel like I've had a second chance to slow down and enjoy them and to enjoy doing the best  job I've ever had, being a Mom.  Hey, I'm a Mom!

Hey There, Sunshine!

I started to do my blog post and realized I hadn't taken a picture of the card yet, oh duh...  It's a beautiful morning here in Parker, Arizona currently 75 degrees with an expected high temperature of 96 degrees, the sun is shining brightly so I went outside to take my picture.  The theme of today's challenge is "Here comes the sun" challenge #42 by Pollycraft Monday challenge blog.  As I walked back in the house waiting for my eyes to adjust I thought, how appropriate I'm blinded by the sun for a moment! 

I made my card late yesterday afternoon.  The kids were home from school and would take a peek at my progress every once in awhile.  Their eyes got big when I brought out my air brush system for the blue part of my background but they weren't impressed enough to stick around.  Probably a good thing because they'd want to use it next and I'm working with air cans, very small air cans!

I've had this Polly Craft digi stamp for some time now and didn't know who it was created by.  I was browsing their store and spotted her, she's from the Cherry Kisses collection.  I have to admit I "added" a few more to my collection while browsing.

This was such a fun card to make.  I started by making her the size I wanted in my Publisher program and printing her.  I didn't have a clue what colors to use coloring her so I started with her skin and it all kind of came together for me.  Before I colored her jeans I made the block wall she's sitting on using my Copic C2 marker to scribble the color around her needed for the wall.  Then I went back and used the chisel tip of the Blender marker (0) to push the color out of the way to make the bricks.

Here's my inspiration for the block wall, it's in our yard.

After coloring her with Copic markers I cut her out with a Spellbinders Labels 1 die, the biggest one.  It's such a big die I decided on a 5 1/2" square card and cut a card body out of Carnival Navy card stock and a second 5 1/4" square out of Via Vellum Leaf Green.  I had a scrap of the navy so I cut it on the diagonal thinking it might add visual interest to my card.  I thought I had a sun stamp or die and found the Quickutz die in my sadly unused QK folder, I used  Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise card stock to cut that from.  The Hey there sunshine is a stamp made by Verve Visual stamped on a Spellbinders tag die with a little May Arts dotted organdy ribbon attached.  I air brushed again to "get the white out" of the tag using the die as a stencil.  I had all the pieces and arranged them and re arranged them until I was happy with my layout enough to glue it all down, double sided Scotch and foam tape to be exact.

Copic markers used:  C2, B21, B97, B99, R02, R24, R29, E30, E31, E50, E51, E33, Y13, Y15, Y18, Y32, Y38, YG11, YG13, YG17, oh I wish I would have taken a picture instead...  

Thanks for stopping by, I hope your day is filled with sunshine~

I really like this sketch layout that I used last Wednesday  from Scrappy at Catch The Bug challenge blog. After coloring this cute digi stamp from Pixie Dust Studio I had to try the sketch again, the only things I really changed are a few colors and shapes. I rounded some corners and made the focal point an oval instead of rectangle.

Supplies:  R02, E51, E50, Y13, Y15, Y18, YG11, YG13, YG17, V12, V15, V17, C0, Y35 & Y38, Spellbinder's Nesties Oval & Scalloped Oval die, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, Card stock - Neenah Solar White, Papertrey Ink Plum Pudding & Summer Sunrise, Via Vellum Leaf Green, Gingham digi paper, Want2Scrap half pearls, Papertrey Ink Signature Greetings stamp set.

Have a great day!

Operation Write Home Stars & Stripes Color Challenge

I was asked to come up with the Color Challenge for Operation Write Home Stars & Stripes blog for today, how fun!  Karen e mailed me about it Saturday and I jumped at the chance.  I really enjoy doing different challenges and sometimes freak out because I can't think of what to do right away, it usually comes to me though.

I used OWH Sketch #15 by Bev E.  I was stumped for a moment and then got busy sizing my digital stamp from Tidly Inks so it would fit on the side panel.  I thought I'd take advantage of the polka dots on her dress, hair bow and gift by using this digital paper I knew I had.  I'm sorry I looked  for who it's by but couldn't find a name.  That's also where I got the colors for today's challenge, Pink, Turquoise & Yellow-Green.  This little girl's name is Annie, I colored her using the Copic markers pictured below.

 Next I matted her on my turquoise then yellow-green card stock, I also matted my polka dot digi paper with the yellow-green because if you look very closely the pink dots have that yellow-green around them.

My card looked like it needed something.  There's pretty pink ribbon on her gift box so I went looking for some of my own.  The long strip of ribbon is attached to the card panel and tied in the middle with a piece of thread to gather it in.  I used my kids again as my "bow easy" and stuck the bow to the ribbon with foam tape.  Before I attached the panel with Annie on it I carefully stamped the happy birthday under her.  To finish my card I added tiny white half pearls to the buckles of her shoes.   The only stamp used on my card is the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Delightful Dahlia set.  I'm loving the digital stamps.

I hope you have time today to create something fun!

My Retreat - Raising The Bar

I've been visiting different challenge blogs for inspiration and came across the challenge for today's card at Raise The Bar challenge #16.  The challenge is to make a card inspired by a room in your home that you consider to be your retreat.  I spend most of my time in my studio, oh I mean at the kitchen table...  When I really thought about it, our entire house has the same color scheme except the hallway bathroom.  It's purple, I mean Wow, purple!  It's only paint.   The rest of the color scheme is the fall palette, I think it all started with forest green carpet.   Joni asked us to show an inspiration picture if possible, mine's below.

For my card I used a cute digital stamp by MelJen's and the sketch is #59 from Eat, Sleep, Stamp blog.  I colored the image with Copic markers pictured below, I also air brushed the hearts with R39 to match.

and I had help with all of this today...

Have a great day, I hope you have some stamping time~

In Style

I've been practicing coloring hair again, this little gal is a rubber stamp from In Style Stamps.  My oldest son has copper red hair so I had to try with my Copic markers.  It's a little more orange than his but that's okay it's only paper. 

This is such a large stamp that my card size is an A6.  I cut out the colored image with Spellbinders circle dies and thought the SU Top Note die might be fun with them.  The patterned paper I won while from a great lady during the last Operation Write Home blog hop.  I also tried a new technique I learned in the Copic certification class on her shirt.  I used blender solution on a scrap of terry cloth fabric and dabbed it onto her shirt after I colored it adding texture to make it look more like a sweater.  I also added sparkle to her eyes with a Copic Spica clear glitter marker.  She has a brother I haven't colored yet. 

I hope you have some time to do something you love, see you soon.

Pixie Dust Studio Challenge #20

Pixie Dust Studio challenge blog has an inspiration challenge going on!  The picture spoke to my girlie side with the pink gingham, greens, yellows and neutrals.  I love design and wanted to be an interior designer when I grew up.  That didn't happen (the interior design part) and I'm a lot older, raising kids and enjoying art in a different way.  I'm happy with that ;)

Back to the card...  did I say how fun this was to color and put together?  Challenging too!  Fitting the pink gingham in there was the challenging part. 

I printed this free April digi image from Pixie Dust Studio on my new laser printer and colored it with Copic markers.  Here are the colors I used:  C2, R2, E50, E51, E30, E33, E37, E29, E34, E31 & E29.  I told you in another post that one day I'd get brave and put some grass with my cobble stone path, I think it turned out pretty good!  Next I cut out my colored image with the Spellbinders Nesties Labels 4 die and set it aside. 

Now the hard part, figuring out how to incorporate the pink gingham...   I'd printed the pink gingham digital paper before I started coloring and wanted to use it on my card.  I also noticed an interesting scrap of green ribbon that I'd won as blog candy and thought that it might be a nice match to my paper and markers.  I put it all together several times before I decided it needed a pink card body.  The pink is actually Stampin' Up! Pale Plum.  I still needed to tie the pink, yellow and green together and thought about coloring some silk flowers then remembered my mini flower punch.  Perfect, I can get an exact match with the flowers punched from my card stock.  When I put the card together I used foam tape to pop my image panel and the mini flowers then added a couple of self adhesive half pears to the centers. 

That was fun!  Have a great weekend~

Missing You

My card today is for Operation Write Home Stars & Stripes sketch challenge #14 and Copic Creations Challenge #26 Black Hair.  We used this stamp from The Greetings Farm in the Copic certification class and I fell in love with it.  I like the "big hair" to practice coloring and she's just cute. 

I chose the card stock colors to coordinate with the Copic markers I used.  The markers are:  C0, C4, C6, C8, B99, E0000, E00, D02, YG 11, YG13 & YG17, card stock:  Stampin' Up! Blush Blossom & Cameo Coral, Via Vellum's Leaf Green and of course Neenah Solar white. 

Operation Write Home is having a Memorial Day weekend blog hop, I've already signed up!  If you'd like to be part of it click on the link above, the information is in the side bar on Sandy's blog.

Have a great day, I'm going to go color and work on some cards!  

April Showers Bring May Flowers

This time I got it right!  I made my April Showers theme Scrappy sketch challenge card again for the Catch The Bug challenge blog.  This cute turtle is one of the first free digital images I collected from the Bug A Boo stamps online store. 

I've been practicing my coloring with Copic markers, the colors I used are:  B23, E21, E25, C2, BV00, BV08, Y13, Y15, Y19, YG01, YG03, YG05 & YG17.  I'm working on doing more with my background scenes so I used the C2 marker and chisel tip of the blender pen to make another cobble stone path.  One day I'll get brave and make some grass and flowers, maybe...  The card stock colors are Papertrey Ink True Black, Summer Sunrise, Via Vellum Leaf Green, Stampin' Up! Lovely Lilac & Neenah Solar White.  I applied SU Crystal Effects to the rain drop and puddle for some shine, used two different Cuttlebug embossing folders for more nice texture and a long neglected Quickutz flower die with half pearls added to the centers.  The stamped "Spring Greetings" is from the Papertrey Ink Take Three Spring stamp set. 

My card today also qualifies for Creative Card Crew's Challenge #49 April Showers Bring May Flowers.

Spring and April showers are kind of difficult for me to wrap my mind around living in Arizona, the high temperature today is supposed to be 96 degrees.  I suppose that's spring in Arizona!  I hope you're having a fabulous day where ever you are.

Did You Hear?! I Won - Twice...

I checked my e mail last night and had some exciting news, I won the Copic marker wallet at Sharon Harnist's blog Paper Fections!!   How cool is that?!  I have several blogs I visit on my home page and thought I'd see what's new at Colleen Schann's blog Distinctive Touches and saw that I'd won the Copic marker wallet on her blog too!  I never win anything, now I've won the same thing on two blogs!   What are the odds of that?

I hope you had a good weekend, I've been coloring and stamping with my kids and their friends.  My daughter asked if I'd put the pictures of their cards on my blog too and I said, yes!

We spent a few hours Friday after school and Saturday working on cards for their stash.  They didn't seem to mind me trying out my Copic marker teaching skills on them.   We colored digital stamps with Copic markers, I think their cards came out really nice!

This is the card I made yesterday afternoon, it was for a challenge at Bug A Boo stamps which was a sketch challenge with the theme of April showers.  Well... I got the April showers part right just not the sketch.  I used Scrappy's sketch from last Sunday instead of this Sunday.  Hey... I like it!  If  I have time this week I'll try it again with the right sketch, I need the practice coloring with my Copic markers.  Did you notice I made a cobblestone path for the bear to stand on?  I learned how to do that at the Copic certification class last Monday.  I also used Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects on the rain drops and puddle so they look wet.

Serindepity Stamps, Copic Certification, Etc.

This week has flown by, I can't believe it's Friday!  I went to the Copic certification in Phoenix Monday, it was really fun and informative and overwhelming and...  you know how you feel when you've spent the day with a bunch of other stampers talking excitedly, a bit creatively overloaded?!  I was even able to go to Hobby Lobby with one of the gals from class on my way home, I'd NEVER been to one before.  We had fun!  Traveling home was pretty peaceful thinking about everything I'd taken in during the class, I needed that two and a half hours to process it all.  I arrived home just in time to tuck my kids in bed and spend an hour with my husband before it was time to call it a day.

Tuesday I needed to do the prep work for a class, Wednesday was the class.  Thursday was a treat to spend mostly by myself coloring and practicing some of the things I learned Monday.  I've been coloring my images backwards, dark, medium, light instead of using the lightest color first, medium color second and darkest color last then going back to blend with the lightest color.  That took some practice to turn around for me, I think I've got it! 

I used the same Copic markers on both cards but changed the card stock to see how it would look.  I'm not  thrilled with either card but I had fun coloring the images, one of the first rubber stamps I bought back in 2004 from Serindepity stamps, a nice size to practice blending colors.   Copic marker colors  used:  R32, R35, R37, BG11, BG13, BF18, YR00, YR61, YR65, W0, E31, E33.

I almost forgot!   I met Marianne Walker at the Copic ceritification, she was assisting Jennie Black with the class.  Both Jennie and Marianne were a lot of fun - I'm so glad I went!

Hey... what are those yellow boxes for?!!

Stampin' Sister's In Christ Challenge #35

Blogger is working for me today on auto post while I'm in Phoenix for a Copic certification class.  I thought these cards would be perfect for the Stampin' Sister's In Christ challenge #35, the challenge was to use flowers.    The cute digital image is from last Friday's freebie at Bug A Boo stamps.  I used Copic markers to color this image and made a simple card base to put it on.  I'm enjoying the Stampin' Up! Taken With Teal and Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise together.

My second card is also a Bug A Boo digital stamp that's part of a new flower set.   The card layout is an Operation Write Home sketch challenge from a few weeks ago that I really liked.

...and I had to try that sketch just one more time!

Okay, here I am writing a blog post from my hotel room in Phoenix the night before going to a Copic Certification class with Jennie Black and Marianne Walker, I'm excited!  Keep me in your prayers for the 2 1/2 hour drive home and I'll talk with you soon!  

Thinking of you

Happy Saturday - I'm out of sync on blog posting this week, my Mon., Wed., Fri. went out the window!  I have a couple of cards for you that I made yesterday afternoon.  I checked in with Bug A Boo stamps blog to see Jodie's freebies and couldn't wait to acquire them so I could color them. 

I've also been getting ready to go to Phoenix for the Copic Certification class, I've been organizing and cataloging my Copic markers so if I have the opportunity to shop for any I won't  come home with duplicates.  Do you ever like something so much you buy it twice?  

I used Y38, Y35, Y32, C8, C3, C0,YG17, YG13 & YG11 to color this image because the yellows go beautifully with Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise and Stampin' Up! Barely Banana card stock.  I also used a Cuttlebug embossing folder, Papertrey Ink ric rak die, sentiment from PTI Spring Take Three and some black half pearls.  The sketch is SC249 from Splitcoaststampers. 

My second card is also SC249 and the only Copic markers I changed were BG11, BG13 & BG18 for the flower.  I used the Papertrey Ink medium scalloped border for this one and I think it's too big for the card but it's attached so there is no going back.  I also used one of their embossing plates for the SU Taken With Teal panel.  I combined Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist and Stampin' Up! Taken With Teal card stock for this sample, I like the combination but in the future I'll use the ric rak die for the border! 

I'm not sure if I'll have a blog post for you Monday, I do plan to take my laptop with me.  It all depends on if I have time to make something fun to show you!

Stampin' Sisters In Christ Challenge #34

Oh my it's April 15th...  So glad that's all behind me - check's in the mail!  When my Mom was alive she was a partner in a major tax preparation franchise and always did my taxes.  She's been gone ten years now and I still don't understand why I can't just hand my stuff over and presto it's ready, no charge.  I would imagine the answer to that is:  Time to grow up my dear! 

Today's card is for the Stampin' Sisters In Christ Challenge #34, the challenge is to make a card reflecting  prayer or peace.  I used this cute little angel from Karen's Doodles and colored it with Copic markers V12, V15, V91, B41, C0, E00, E02, E04, E25, E29, & E31.  Before I colored it I cut a mask and sponged Palette Seascape ink around it so my clouds would look more white and fluffy.  To frame the image I cut a 3 3/4" square,  rounded the corners and cut the center out with a Spellbinders circle die.  I embossed it too but you can't see that. 

I wanted some Scripture on my card so I found the chapter in Psalms I needed and starting typing in my Publisher program and printed it on Papertrey Ink Lavender Moon and layered that panel on Papertrey Ink Plum Pudding. 

I added white half pearls to the corners of my frame and felt like it still needed something.  My youngest son walked in the door from school about then so I asked him if he'd mind being my "bow easy".  He said, "sure" and didn't even ask what I was going to have him do, I love that!  Two of my stamping friends were over last night and one brought the Bow Easy for us to play with, it's a great idea that gave me a great idea. 

Oh, I almost forgot, I added some sparkle with the Copic Spica clear glitter pen to the clouds, the underside of the angel wings and the blue in her (?) eye.  Unfortunately you can only see it at my kitchen table under the bright lights or outside if you hold it just right.  Enjoy your day, I'll see you soon!

COPIC BLOG CANDY ALERT!!!

ABC Toys & Crafts has BLOG CANDY!!  Check this out -

Ciao markers feature a Super Brush nib on one end and a Medium Broad nib on the other. The alcohol based inks are permanent, non-toxic, low odor and acid-free. They will not damage paper when blending and layering colors and can be used on many surfaces such as paper, leather, wood, plastics and more. Ciao markers have a 3-year shelf life and are guaranteed for color consistency. They are not compatible with the Copic Airbrush system.

Colors include:YG06, G17, BG09, B29, E29, 100, BV08, V09, RV04, R29, YR07, and Y06.

If you are interested in winning this set of markers that includes a case all you have to do is advertise this Blog candy on your Blog with a link back to this Blog.

I know I'd like to win this blog candy, how about you!  Good luck~

Operation Write Home Stars & Stripes Sketch #12

My card today is for the Operation Write Home Stars & Stripes sketch challenge #12.  Jodie at Bug A Boo stamps gave a free digi image last Friday that I just had to color.

When I printed and colored the first digi stamp (below) it was 4 1/2 inches tall, I had a hard time fitting it onto a quarter fold card so I had to go back to my computer and re-size a little! 

It was a lot of fun to color the digi stamp that was so big, good practice blending colors too. I also had time to think about what I wanted my finished image to look like.  That lady bug is in a jar and I wanted my jar to look real! 

After coloring the lady bug in a jar a second time and carefully cutting it out I applied Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects to the jar area.  As I picked it up to make sure it was smooth and even I dropped it.  You guessed it - it landed wrong side up.  After picking it up I waited for it to dry and applied a little more Crystal Effects to smooth out the damage. 

Supplies used:  Copic markers R59, R29, R24, E27, E31, YG11, YG13, YG17, C8, C3, C2, C0 & B00.  Card stock:   Kraft, Nut Brown, Leaf Green, Red Linen and Neenah Solar White.  Cuttlebug leaf embossing folder, Papertrey Ink ric rak die (the parts you usually throw away) and black half pearls. 

Here's one more picture to try to show the shine on the jar. 

I almost forgot I have fun news to share with you!  I'll be leaving Sunday and traveling to Phoenix to go to a Copic Certification class Monday morning.  I've been signed up and had hotel reservations for about six weeks now.  Since it was so far off I've just kind of put it out of my mind,  I need to bring it back out and get excited!! 

Happy Monday, I hope you all had a nice weekend.  It's getting warm in Arizona, I've  had to turn the air conditioning on in the afternoon for a few days now.   I'm not looking forward to having the house all closed up for the next six months.  On a happier note - I still have stamps, markers a computer and lots of fun paper crafting stuff to play with!

My project today is a four drawer box I made over the weekend.  I made a similar one for the Waltzing Mouse blog hop on St. Patrick's Day here and I also gave a link to where I found the tutorial in that post.  Kirsten did a fabulous job on it!

This  four drawer box is a little different than my first one.  I used my Quickutz Silhouette machine to make the drawers.  They are a match box pattern that I bought at the on line store, downloaded and enlarged using the Silhouette software.  

The designer paper is from My Time Made Easy, it's called Fresh Fabric and Fresh Flowers and goes really well with the Cranberry card stock I have.  I almost forgot to mention it's digital, I printed it!  I used the Waltzing Mouse Labels 4 stamp set, Fourishes Tag Lines stamp set and Spellbinders Labels 4 dies along with a Quickutz butterfly die and the new Papertrey Ink medium scalloped border die.  Oh, and how about those drawer pulls?  They are a Tim Holtz product.  To attach the pulls to the drawers you punch an 1/8th inch hole, slip the back through the hole and the knob goes onto the front, they are threaded so they screw together for a nice tight fit. 

Thanks for stopping by!

My New Purse

How do you like my new purse?!    I hope you can tell it's made out of paper, I bought the pattern from Becky Roberts over at Inking Idaho and had some time today to make it.  You should see the mess I need to put away now...  

I printed my own designer paper from the Fresh Fabric paper pack you can find at Lauren Meader's store, this color goes really well with Stampin' Up! Groovy Guava card stock.  I'm fortunate to have one last package! 

This was a totally fun project to make and I plan on making a few more in different colors.  Did I tell you that it's just the right size to put cards in for a gift?  Cool!  ;)  

Have a great day!

Look what Ami and I made!

My friend Ami and I got together last week and made some little projects for our kids for Easter.  We used my Quickutz Silhouette machine to cut out the little bags and decorated them with die cuts we made, filled them with candy eggs and hid them from the kids!

The paper for this bag is from Lauren Meader's store, it's a digital paper pack called Fresh Flowers.  It goes well with a ream of Cranberry card stock I have so I think you'll be seeing a lot more of it!

The paper for this one is also from Lauren's store and it's called Fresh Fabric, I just love being able to print my own designer papers!

Did you say BROWN & BLUE?

Did you say brown and blue??  I just happen to have the perfect card for the color challenge at Stars & Stripes blog today!

This is my last card in a set using three different pups from BugABoo stamps.  I colored this cute pup with Copic markers E27, E31, E33 & E04 and matted it on basic black.  My card stock colors are SU Creamy Carmel, PTI Dark Chocolate, PTI Spring Rain and Neenah Solar White.  It's a pretty simple sketch so I dressed up the center panel with a PTI embossing template.  I added three Dew Drops from the Cowboy collection after I touched them up a little bit with my E27 Copic marker.  

I thought this set of cards might be fun for an Operation Write Home get together with my stamping friends.  OWH is a community of card makers that make hand made greeting cards for our military troops to send home to their loved ones.  If you'd like to know more about it I have a link for you HERE, check it out!

To Bug You...

This is my card for the Stars & Stripes Sketch challenge #11, whew -  that was difficult for me!  I was trying to use a couple of different patterned papers I'd printed and they just weren't "it".  I had to go back and pull the colors out of the image to get it right.   I'm very happy with my finished card and happy I kept trying too.

I used another cute digital stamp from BugABoo stamps, colored it with Copic markers R29, Y13, C8, G14 & W1 while looking at the colored image on their website.  I really like the combination of red and black together.  Next I layered it on Neenah Red Linen then Basic Black, the card body is Neenah Red Linen with a panel of Astro Brights Solar Yellow Cuttlebugged with the Spots & Dots embossing folder and a strip of ric rak from my new Papertrey Ink die.   I added three extra large black half pearls and stamped "To bug you..." from the Clear Dollar Stamps set Sometimes You're The Bug (?).  I'm guessing because I have four CDS sets in the storage box. 

You might have noticed all the digital stamps I've been using lately.  I really like being able to make my "stamped image" any size.  The sketch I used today had a really big blank space in it and needed the perfect image.  By resizing and printing this flower image to the exact size it became the perfect image for the sketch.  Have a great day!

Who could resist that face?

There's that sketch again, I told you I really like it!  I hope you had a wonderful Easter with your family and are refreshed.

This is another BugABoo digital image along with a few additions from my Stampin' Up! collection.   I colored this pup with the same Copic markers that I used on Friday's pup, I just mixed them a little differently.  These are the colors I used:  C8, E27, E3 &  E33.  The papers are PTI Spring Rain & Dark Chocolate with SU Creamy Carmel, Black and  Neenah Solar White.  The Dark Chocolate panel was done with a Papertrey Ink embossing plate and of course I used my Nesties circles and ovals.

I know all put together my card looks very straight forward but I had to let it sit on my desk overnight before it was finished.  I had to change the card base from Aqua to Spring Rain and I had to stamp something on that SU Creamy Carmel square & I didn't have the bone yet.  Do you ever need to walk away and come back for another look before you put it all together?   Funny how the next day it simply falls into place.

I think this card would be a nice one for Operation Write Home,  missing you would be perfect for the inside!

More Challenges... the fun kind!

I've been finding sketch challenges lately that really intrigue me!  This card is a sketch challenge from Tuesday Morning Sketches #39!  It also qualifies for the Midweek Throwdown at Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps blog, the challenge is to do one of our favorite challenges.  I really like sketch challenges but I missed doing their 4 Legged Friends theme challenge and this pup is too cute not to use.  

This cute pup is a digital image from Bug A Boo Designs, I colored it with Copic markers.  The papers I used are PTI Spring Rain & Dark Chocolate, SU Creamy Carmel, Basic Black and Neenah Solar White.  The Dark Chocolate Panel has been run through a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I added a strip of Dark Chocolate Ric Rac to the Creamy Carmel panel, it's a new die from Papertrey Ink.  Wishing You The Best is from the SU Riveting set and the dog paw print is from SU Canine Capers - a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!  I added 3 Cowboy colored Dew Drops after touching them up slightly with my Copic E27 marker.

...and here's what the inside looks like.  I couldn't resist this pup either!  One more little strip of ric rak and the birthday stamp and it was finished! 

Digital Tuesday Challenge #52

Happy April Fools Day!

I'd like to share the card I made for the Digital Tuesday Challenge #52.  The challenge was to go through your scraps and find something to make a card from.  I just cleaned out my scrap drawer a few days ago and got reorganized so I knew I had something.

 In my cleaning I'd come across this patterned paper that I'd printed from Fred She Said Designs and a couple of already printed images from my FSS pre colored Cherry Blossoms set, perfect!

I cut out the image with Nestie's circles dies, used Via Vellum Purple card stock for the body of the card and the 3" medallion in the center as well as the 1/4" strips and matted them with black.  The birthday wishes is a Papertrey Ink stamp from the Mixed Messages set on a Nesties Oval die.  I found the sketch for this card on Mo's Challenge Blog, it's 3-25-10's sketch challenge #24.  I really like this sketch!