Autumn Falls

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but here in upstate NY we've been having unseasonably cool weather for the past 2 weeks or more. We were doing yard work this past weekend, and I noticed that the leaves on the neighbor's maple tree are already starting to change colors. Oh, my! The colors stuck in my head, so when I got in the crafty mood, it was a no brainer to play with Sweet Pea Stamps Autumn Falls. Isn't she gorgeous?

Autumn Falls was colored with Copic markers, and highlighted with a white gel pen. I colored over her tail with a clear Spica pen, and added star dust Stickles to her outfit and the leaves for a bit of extra sparkle. The pretty dp is from the DCWV Pocket full of Posies matstack, and the rest of the paper is all SU. I picked up the leaf gems at the dollar store ages ago, and touched them up a bit with my copic markers to make the colors match my image.

Challenges I participated in with this card:

Stamping for the Weekend - anything goes
Stamp with fun - card for a girl (this is already on it's way to one of my girlfriends)
Paper Cutz - anything goes

Quick and Easy Christmas

I'm trying to get a  head start on my holiday cards this year, so I've decided to try to play along with the ABC Christmas Challenge to help get me motivated. I don't know about you, but I find it awfully hard to get to work on Christmas cards when the heat makes me want to spend some quality time in the pool! LOL.

This weeks challenge is Q for Quick and Easy, so I decided to pull out one of my favorite holiday sets, SU's Snowflakes. I must admit, I've gotten a bit out of practice with quick cards, since most of the images I've been using lately require quite a bit of coloring, so this was a nice change for me.

I wanted a bit of depth to my snowflake, so I started out by inking the whole flake with Bashful Blue ink, then rocked on some Brocade Blue ink, and finished off the edges by rocking on some Night of Navy ink. I added a bit of sparkle with Star Dust Stickles (I finally got a bottle, yeah!!!) and added a pearl to the center for my final touch. You can't really tell from the photo, but I also outlined the swirls on the paper with a clear spica pen, so this card sparkles like crazy in real life.

Thanks for stopping by!

Artwork for Anna...

I thought I'd share the artwork I made for my niece, Anna, for her 2nd birthday a while back. Little Anna is really into ballet (pronounced "bah-way" LOL) right now, so her mommy and I decided on some of the cute digital images by Mo's Digital Pencil.

First, we have Anna's name frame for over her bed:

Anna loves giving kisses, so the adorable "Kissy" was perfect for her name frame.

The image was colored with copic markers, and then carefully cut out to layer onto the background. I added a bit of star dust Stickles to her tutu and a gold Spica pen to her crown for a bit of sparkle. The background itself was made by cutting pieces of Nitwit's Buds n Blossoms digi paper into little squares and layering them quilt-like onto my base paper. I printed "Anna"onto PTI Sweet Blush paper, carefully cut out each letter and ran them through my Cuttlebug for some added texture.

My apologies on the horrid photos of the other 3 pieces in this set. I forgot to take photos of them before giving them to Anna, and so was stuck taking the photos in her not-so-well lit room after they were hung on the wall.

Thanks for stopping by!

male birthday cards...

See - I told you I had itchy fingers and would be posting projects more often! August is a busy card month for me, with 4 birthdays and 2 anniversaries to make cards for, so I thought I'd better get cracking!

I decided to start with my guy cards since they are always the hardest to come up with. I saved this great card by Michelle Short months ago with the intention of CASEing it at some point, and thought the simple but fun layout would be perfect for a guy card. In fact, I liked the first one so much that I made a second one (slightly different) out of my scraps.

For my first one, I used the cake from SU's Fun & Fast Notes set, with coordinating sentiment. The image was colored with copic markers, and has diamond Stickles added to the frosting and flames for a bit of sparkle.

For the second card, I dug out one of my favorite SU sets, Send a Celebration. This was one of the very first SU sets I ever purchased (Yes, purchased. My introduction to SU came right after SAB that year, and I had to find this baby on e-bay. The horror! LOL!) and it still remains a favorite.

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Presents in July...

Hello all! Did you miss me? Sorry for the long time between posts. I started a new job this month, and between wrapping up things for my old job, settling into the new job, and all of the usual crazy summer activities, I just haven't had much time for crafting until now. My fingers have been itching to do some coloring though, so expect more regular posts in the future!

That being said, I have a card to show you today. Lil Lotita Boutique Challenges is having a Christmas in July challenge this week, and ABC Christmas Challenges is up to P for Presents this week, so I decided to use the adorable Lylah from Tickled Pink Stamps to combine the two challenges. And just to make things interesting, I also used the sketch from the Tickled Pink Monthly Challenge.

Lylah was colored with copic markers, and has clear spica pen on the ribbon on the gift & in her hair for a little sparkle. (If you click on the image to enlarge it, you can see the sparkle better.) The cardstock and ribbon are all SU, and the dp is from the My Mind's Eye Be Merry Collection (my all time favorite holiday paper, which I'm almost out of, waa!).

I like to make holiday cards with a specific recipient in mind so I can personalize it a bit for them. This one is going to a friend who loves to sew, hence the buttons and "thread". The thread (SU silver cord) is actually one long piece that I've threaded through the buttons. I cut thing strips off of a glue dot and rolled them into super-thin lines to use to get the loops in the thread to stay put. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, and think she will get a kick out of it.

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Summer Somethings...

Happy Friday! Are you ready for the latest Stamp Something challenge? This week, we are being sponsored by La-la Land Crafts, and our theme is "Summer Somethings".

La-la Land Crafts was kind enough to provide the dt images to work with, and I got to play with Summer Bill and Maya. Aren't they fun? They remind me of summers at the beach with my parents, so I will be sending this card to them... shhh...

Bill and Maya were colored with copic markers, and cut out with a Nestabilities label 1 die. I gave Bill an interesting swimsuit by paperpiecing in a scrap of one of the dp's I used on the card. I added a red rhinestone to Maya's hat and a bit of crystal effects to the tube for a finishing touch.

The polka dot dp is by Bo Bunny, and the stripe is a no-namer from my scrap pile (sorry!). The flowers are primas, and were originally yellow before I used my handy dandy airbrush system on them (love that thing!). The leaves are a McGill fern punch, and were also airbrushed for a bit more dimension. I still haven't had a chance to replace my much beloved, and very empty, bottle of Stardust Stickles, so I used Stickles in Xmas Red and Orange Peel, and Studio G glitter glue in a lime shade on my flowers and ferns. (Gasp!)

Copic markers used:

Happy Somethings...

Happy Friday! Are you ready for the latest Stamp Something challenge? This week, we are being sponsored by Karen's Doodles, and our theme is "Happy Somethings".

Karen very generously allowed the dt to chose an image to work with this week, and I couldn't resist the adorable Princess Pony. Does she look happy, or what?

Princess Pony was colored with copic markers, and has diamond Stickles on her hat, skirt ruffle, and bridle. I decided she needed a little more sparkle, so I added iridescent Smooch to her skirt and shoes. I added a mini rhinestone to her hat and the pony's bridle for a finishing touch.

Copic markers used:

Thanks for stopping by!

Meow!

I was lucky enough to win the adorable Evie by Tickled Pink Stamps, and have been itching to ink her up. (Thank you, Kellie!) Isn't she purrfect? LOL!

Evie was colored with copic markers, and has diamond Stickles applied to her outfit for a bit of glitz. (Yes, you read that right. I used diamond Stickles for once. My bottle of stardust Stickles is empty, and I haven't ordered a new one yet. Waaa!!!) Evie was carefully cut out for layering, and glued to an oval that I embossed with a Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. Before I attached her to the oval layer, I curled her tail, ears and paw over the edge of my finger to give the piece a little more dimension.

The paper is all retired SU, and the pretty ribbon and lace were a Hobby Lobby find. (Drool...) I airbrushed the roses to match the image, and applied more diamond Stickles to the flowers and ferns for even more sparkle.

Copics used:

Challenges I participated in with this card:
Tickled Pink Stamps - Girly Girly
Tickled Pink Stamps Monthly Challenges - sketch #1
Colour Create - baby pink and pastel blue
Crazy 4 Challenges - crazy for pleats
PaperPlay - flowers and sparkle

Crafty Sentiments - punch challenge

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone is having a great weekend! We lost power yesterday evening due to a transformer blowing nearby, so I'm afraid I am a little bit late with my blog post today. Since we've had nothing better to do with the power out, the hubby and I spent yesterday evening and most of today setting up a pool. Woo! I've been wanting a pool for ages, and was so excited about finally having one, that I actually got in when it was only half full and paddled around for a while until the ice cold water turned my toes numb.

On to today's Crafty Sentiments challenge. This week we are being sponsored by Debbie of The Crafty Pad Designs, and are challenging you to use punches on your card in some shape or form. Easy, right?

Today is my last day as a guest dt member, and I want to send a big Thank You!!! to Suzette for giving me the opportunity to work with her team for the past two months. It's been a lot of fun!

I've been in a summery mood lately, so for my project, I decided to use Amy from the April release. Isn't she adorable in her shorts outfit?

Amy was colored with copic markers, and has white dots added to her outfit with a Sakura Glaze pen in white.  For my punches, I used a corner rounder, horizontal slot punch, 1" circle punch, and a scalloped circle punch (to make the flower).

Copic markers used:

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamp Something - Recipe Challenge + candy winner!

Happy Friday! Are you ready for the latest Stamp Something challenge? This week, we are being sponsored by Paper Jewels, and have a recipe challenge for you. To play along, you will need to make something with designer paper, ribbon, a bow and a tag.

For my project, I decided to ink up Purple Comfort by Sweet Pea Stamps. Isn't she gorgeous?

Purple Comfort was colored with copic markers, and has stardust stickles on the lace of her gown as well as on the cat's wings. My designer paper is some SU from my stash, and my ribbon is a Big Lots find that perfectly matches SU Certainly Celery. I doubled over some of the ribbon on both sides of the center panel for a "bow" and also have bows in Purple Comfort's hair. My tag was cut by hand, and was outlined with a Sakura stardust pen for some shimmer. All of the pearls on the card were originally white, and were colored with a B34 copic to match the rest of the project.

Copic markers used:

Challenges I participated in with this card:

Stamp Something - recipe
Stamptacular Sunday - pearls and swirls
Everybody Art Challenge - fairytale
Charisma Cardz - going round in circles

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I hope everyone enjoyed our birthday blog hop this week! The lucky winner of my mini candy is...

#3 - Sylvia from Minnesota!

Congrats, Sylvia! Please email me with your mailing address to claim your prize!