Friends Forever

Good morning!  Hope you are having a great week.  Today I have a card to share that I made as a guest designer for Do it With Digis.  This is one of my favorite images from the Prairie Fairy called A Helping Hand and sentiment is from Sentiments 4 You.  The challenge this time at Do it With Digis is a really lovely sketch challenge.  The papers are Pink Pirouette and Close to Cocoa from Stampin' Up! and the pink/brown digital paper is from Summertime Designs - Happy Mother's Day kit (I darkened the brown pattern with my PhotoShop) and the green digital paper is from Barely Mine Designs Vintage set.  The newsprint from which I die cut the butterflies is Classified Ads from Whimsey Stamps and has become a favorite go to stamp for me.  Too bad the sweet little butterflies don't show up well against that busy DP background.  

I hope you will stop over to Do it With Digis to check out the beautiful work of the design team and maybe participate by using this beautiful sketch.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Challenges Entered:
Oh La La - For Someone Special
Digital Tuesday - Use a Die Cut
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - Use Three Patterned Papers

Love You Forever

It's time to play with the fairies at Fairy Fun Friday.  This fortnight our challenge to you is In The Fine Print.  We want to see some printing on your card that is not part of the sentiment.  I made this tag for several challenges besides the Fairy Fun Friday.  I used the Fairy Love image again from Prairie Fairy that I think is so darling.  And more of my enameled flowers, which I am working on a tutorial for - check back later in the weekend for that.  I also used UTEE on the heart and banner, but not with the melting pot - just Versamarked them and applied two coats of UTEE.  The designer paper is digital from Raspberry Road printed on white CS and cut with a Spellbinder die.  Kraft CS was used with Chocolate Chip ink, the text was clear embossed and then more Chocolate Chip ink was sponged around the edges.  I also used a Prima flourish and text stamp in the lower left corner, after stamping off twice because it wanted it to be faint.  The image was colored with Copics and the wings hit with a little Stickles.

That's it on the dets for this one.  Hop on over to Fairy Fun Friday and see what the rest of the team has made and maybe even swing by their personal blogs and leave them some love.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Love you all!


Challenges Entered:
CR84FN Color Challenge:  Light Pink, Bright Pink and Chocolate

The Kraft Journal - Love
The Shabby Tea Room - Sweet Hearts
Tag Tuesday - Tag on a Tag
Try it On Tuesday - Hearts and Flowers
Sentimental Sundays - Happy Valentine's Day
Stamptacular Sunday - Hearts Gone Wild
Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful - The Beauty of Love
Flutterby Wednesday - At Least 3 Hearts
Simon Says Stamp - Anything But a Card
Cute Card Thursday - Hearts and Flowers
The StampMan - Hearts

Vintage School Girl & Another Good Bye

Hello! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. It's time again for the fortnightly challenge at the Creative Card Crew. This will be my last challenge with this design team. I've been with them for almost a year and I'm stepping down to make more time in my schedule to play in the challenges that I want to play in. While I do love to be on a few design teams, I have decided that I need time to be able to make the cards and projects that I want to make and not be bound by a set of criteria for every single project. At the peak, I was on six teams and was turning out almost a card a day. It takes me 5-6 hours to make one card so I was spending too much time in my craft room and then rest of my free time at my computer making comments. Finally I decided enough was enough.

Our challenge theme at the Creative Card Crew this week is Back to School. I really puzzled over this one for a few days and then I found this vintage school girl in my vintage image files and the design began to come together. I found a sheet of designer paper in the Tim Holtz Lost & Found paper pad that had ABC flash cards on it, but as usual I covered most of it up. I also used one of Tim's new Texture Fades (embossing folders) called Note Paper. I cut a piece of SU Natural CS with the Top Note die and ran it through the Note Paper Texture Fade. I sponged it with Vintage Photo distress ink and also spritzed it with a mixture of Vintage Photo reinker, water and Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls. The flowers were cut using the Old School digital DP from Raspberry Roads Designs. (BTW, Raspberry Road is having a 50% off sale this week. The Old School pack was just $1.) The small flowers were made using Spellbinders Flower Creations 3 dies and the larger, red flower was made using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die. The tickets were stamped with the Autumn Leaves Ticketed set.

Thanks again for stopping by. Hope you will also stop over to the Creative Card Crew to see what the other designers have for your inspiration.

Challenges Entered:

Pile it On - Farewell to Summer

Die Cut Dreams - Soft Shades of Vintage

Incy Wincy Designs - Back to School

The Shabby Tea Room - Old Meets New (old - SU CS, vintage image, seam binding, new Tim Holtz products)

Artful Inkables - Distressed Out

All That Scraps - Crinkled Ribbon

Little Red Wagon - Back to School

Pixie Cottage - Sketch and/or Back to School

Fussy & Fancy - Back to School

Stamp Something - Back to School

Sew Sorry

Today kicks off the last challenge for Isabella's Sketchbook. It's being suspended indefinitely as the lovely Isabella deals with a cross-country move and some family health issues. I am so sorry to see this design team end. I have really enjoyed getting to know some fantastic women who are also skilled paper artisans. Even though the challenges are suspended, Isabella's Sketchbook Digital Boutique will remain open - yay!! We'll still have the opportunity to purchase her beautiful digis.

Our challenge this week is to make your own flowers - something that I totally love to do. For my last card, I chose express my regret with Isabella's cute sewing basket digi. I used the sketch from this week's Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge. The papers are a digital download from Raspberry Road and the image was colored with Copics. I made the flower following the Dimensional Flower tutorial on SplitcoastStampers. The sentiment was printed on my computer.

Products Used:
Stamps: Digital Image by Isabella's Sketchbook, sentiment computer generated
Paper: Flourishes CS for image, Bravo Burgundy, Raspberry Road DP
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Copics
Accessories: Spellbinders Circle and Scallop Dies, Tim Holtz Tattered Foral Die, Creative Memories Cutting System for large shape, Martha Stewart border punch, floral trim, ribbon, button

I want to thank Isabella for choosing me for her first design team. It's been awesome working with her fantastic images. I wish her many blessings as she goes through the next few months.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hugs and blessings to you too!

Challenges Entered:

Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge

Sweet Little "Miss"

Welcome to Wednesday! It's Isabella Sketchbook time again and this week we are challenging you to make a card that hides something. I chose a pocket card since I have never made a design like this before. I used the Isabella's Sketchbook Waiting image which I think is among the sweetest in her digi boutique. I colored her with Copics and did some paper piecing to create wall paper and the window shade. I printed the sentiment and the digital designer paper on my printer and I finally found a perfect use for my SU crocheted flower.



Products Used:
Samps: Waiting by Isabella's Sketchbook
Paper: SU Cardstock - Wild Wasabi and Whisper White, DP is from the Oh So Shabby Paper Packs 1 & 2 from Raspberry Road Designs
Ink: Copics, Creamy Caramel and Vintage Photo, Printer Ink
Accessories: SU Border Punch, Spellbinders Fancy Tag Die, lace and ribbon from Jo-Ann's, crocheted flower from Stampin' Up! The pink cord came as a freebie with something I ordered. I wish I remember where because I would like to order more - LOL!!

Now it's time to hustle on over to Isabella's Sketchbook challenge to see what the other designers have been up to this week. I'm sure it's something special because we have a truly talented design team!

♥Annika♥Cec♥Diana♥Jackie♥Linda♥Lisa♥Peggy♥Peri♥Randi♥Sharon♥Sue♥Viv♥

Challenges Entered:

The Shabby Tea Room - Delicate Cottage Rose (see inspiration photo on blog)

Order of the Opus Gluei - You Gotta Move It (out of your stash)

Stamptacular Sunday - Buttons and Bows

Sentimental Sundays - Ribbon or Lace

Alphabet Challenge - P is for Punches

Frosted Designs - Recipe Challenge: Use 5 or more of: Punch, Felt, Ribbon, Colors pink, blue or purple, flowers, banner, bird, buttons, butterfly, glitter

Allsorts Challenge - Paper Piercing/Paper Piecing

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - What Are Little Girls Made Of?

Elegant Buttons & Bows

Top of the morning to you! I hope your day has started out fabulously! Thanks so much for stopping by for my second post of the morning. This one is for our weekly challenge at Isabella's Sketchbook challenge. Our challenge this week is "Buttons & Bows", always a fun challenge in my opinion! I decided to use the Festive Bird digital image from Isabella's Sketchbook boutique. I filled in the black with my photo editing program and printed it out on Flourishes card stock. So the only coloring I did was with Copics on the green ribbon. I used only black, white and green to qualify for the color challenge this week at the Play Date Cafe which I now see that I MISSED :(. I love doing black and white so this was no hardship at all. I was shooting for sort of a vintage elegance so I added a bit of Vintage Photo DI, but didn't scissor distress the edges this time. The flower was handmade using cardstock that I photocopied a newspaper onto the front and the back of.

Products Used:
Paper/CS: Card shell and border punch - Very Vanilla, die cut leaves - white Bazzill, dove and panel - Flourishes white, SU Basic Black, polka dot DP - digital from Pink Petticoat, white print - digital is from the Black Tie Affair paper packfrom Designer Digitals.
Ink: Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink, Copics
Accessories: Leaves cut with Branch with Leaves die from Szzix, Spellbinders Labels 5 die, Spellbinders Flower Creations 3 used for handmade flower, black sheer ribbon hit with heat tool to make it crinkle, SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter

That's the scoop. Now it's your turn to show us your buttons and bows! Just be sure you use an Isabella's Sketchbook image to be eligible for the prize of two digital images of your choice. If you don't have an IS image, stop by the boutique and pick up the freebie there.

And in case you feel compelled to leave some love for the rest of the DT, here are the links to their blogs:

♥Annika♥Cec♥Diana♥Jackie♥Linda♥Lisa♥Peggy♥Peri♥Randi♥Sharon♥Sue♥Viv♥

Thanks again for stopping by and for any comment you care to leave. Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges Entered:

TuesdayTaggers - Lots of Lovely Black

ABC Challenge - N is for Nature

Rosie D's - All Creatures Great and Small

Craftalucious Challenge - Make your own flowers

Isabella's Sketchbook Color Challenge

Good morning and welcome to my weekly Wednesday post for the Isabella's Sketchbook Challenge. This week we are encouraging you to stay cool in the heat of the summer by using the cool colors of blue and green. To enter, all you need to do is use an Isabella's Sketchbook image and blue and green as the main colors on your card. I used the adorable image called Feeding the Earth available in Isabella's Sketchbook Boutique.

Card Details: Digital image from Isabella's Sketchbook as noted above, all DP is digital: the floral is from the Flower Delights paper pack from Bearly Mine, the gingham is from Pink Petticoat and I'm not remembering where the leafy flourishes is from (but if you must know, leave me a question on it and I'll cruise through my digi paper files and figure it out). I also used Garden Green and Brocade Blue CS from SU. The main image and the flower were cut with Spellbinders dies and the leafy branch was cut with a Sizzix die. The image was colored with Copics and sponged with Brocade Blue ink. All other edges were sponged with Creamy Caramel. I used a bit of Stickles on the water sprinkling out of the can and the jumbo rick rack is from Jo-Ann's.

That about wraps up my post for Isabella's Sketchbook Challenge this week. Hope you will grab an Isabella's image and play along. Hope you will take time to say hi to the rest of the team this week too.

♥Annika♥Cec♥Diana♥Jackie♥Linda♥Lisa♥Peggy♥Peri♥Randi♥Sharon♥Sue♥Viv♥

Thanks for dropping by today. Thank you for your encouraging comments. I love to hear from you!

UPDATE: A reader asked if I lightened the line color in the digital image. Yes, I have been experimenting recently with changing the line color or decreasing the opacity with my PhotoShop Elements. I'm not sure if I like the effect, but it's interesting to play around with it. I think it works well with some images and not so great with others.

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges Entered:

Crafty Catz - Summertime

Stamp Something - Something Flowery

Allsorts Challenge - Baby or Child

Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays - Use a digital image

A Delicious Color Challenge

Thanks so much for dropping by today! It's time for another challenge at Our Creative Corner. This week we have a delicioius color challenge for you. Summertime makes our hostess, Jennifer Meyer, think of watermelons and inspired her challenge colors - green, red, black and white. I was a bit stumped so I surfed the challenge blogs and decided on the Mojo Mondays #148 sketch which really did jumpstart my mojo! This is the result and honestly I had so much fun developing my sample for this challenge. There was something very satisfying in working with these colors. Maybe because I love watermelon and agree with Jennifer that it can't really be summer until you have had your first watermelon - LOL!

Let's get on to the details:
Sentiment: Raindrop Echo Designs (not sure if this one is available, I picked it up as a freebie on the Sentimental Sundays blog a few weeks ago)
Paper: Designer Digitals - Jessie's New Day Paper Pack and the red print is from Designer Digitals Krafty Elegance but I changed the cream and black to two shades of red with my PhotoShop Elements, Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White
Spellbinder Dies: Classic Circle and Fleur De Lis Pendants
Other: Martha Stewart border punch, KaiserCraft half pearls, Versamark & clear embossing powder, Creamy Caramel and Frayed Burlap ink for distressing, sewing machine.

Questions? If you have any questions on products or techniques, leave me a question in the Comments section and check back later for my updated post to include that information.

Now it's time to hop on over to Our Creative Corner and check out the rest of the beautiful green, red, black and white creations. And while you are surfing, stop by the blogs of the rest of the OCC design team and leave them an encouraging word.

♥Wendy Jensen♥Dana Grothaus♥Diane Gilbert♥Jennifer Meyer♥Julie LeBlanc♥Sarah Gough♥Lori Rider♥

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges Entered:

Mojo Monday #148 - Sketch

Creative Cottage Challenge - Touchy Feely

A Symbiotic Relationship

Another week is winding down and that brings us around to Fairy Fun Friday again. I'm so happy you took the time to stop by today to see what I have made for our weekly challenge. This week's challenge is called Lace it Up, which I interpreted by adding lace to my sample. I decided to use the wonderful muted colors from the Play Date Cafe's challenge this week.

Card Details:
Image: In the Garden by The Prairie Fairy
Sentiment: Raindrop Echo Designs (I'm not sure if this is available. I picked it up as a freebie from Sentimental Sundays a few weeks ago.)
Paper: The background paper is from Designer Digitals La Cremerie Citrouilles paper pack but I altered the color in my PSE to match one of the color chips given in the Play Date Cafe challenge. The paper used to mat the main image is an antique botanical drawing from the Vintage Moth. Flourishes card stock was used to print the digital image on which works wonderful with Copics. Stampin' Up Basic Black and Whisper White
Ink: Copics, Creamy Caramel and Frayed Burlap DI
Other: Crocheted lace and buttons

Questions? If you have any questions on my work, supplies or techniques, please leave them in the Comments section and then check back later for an updated post including that information.

The rest of the design team has some lacy beauties to share with you so be sure to stop by Fairy Fun Friday and check them out. Hope to see you playing along with this week's challenge.

♥Margreet - Margreet's Scrapcards ♥Suzi - Sugar n Spice♥Viv - Crafting Haven♥ Hege-Annie - Hege-Annie's Paper {He}Art++ ♥Ann - Raindrop Echo Designs ♥Carla - Carla's Corner ♥Corry - Fancy Free 4Ever ♥Lori - Just Ducky ♥Kelly - Kelly's Kreative Korner♥Trisha - T-Bear's Touch ♥Sue - Arty's♥

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I sincerely appreciate any comments you care to leave.

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges Entered:
Play Date Cafe - Photo Inspiration Color Challenge
One Stitch at a Time - Use a digital image
The Pink Elephant - Color Challenge: Brown
Paper Playtime - Flower Power
Pixie Cottage - Sketch and/or Double Up (use two stamps, one of which can be a sentiment)
Just Inspirational - Use a digital image
Stamp Something - Something Flowery

It's a Beach Thing!

Hello and happy weekend to you! Any beach plans in your weekend agenda? That's the challenge theme this week at Our Creative Corner. Isn't this an idyllic scene? Even though I live in Miami, I am not a beachgoer. My kids are and I am glad that they do take advantage of our wonderful beaches in the area. I'm more of a pool person myself and do intend to log some pool hours this weekend if the weather cooperates.

Here's my take on the beach challenge. I really love the bright tropical colors in the DP I found to use (Lost at Sea by Designer Digitals). The stamp used is from the By the Sea set by JustRite Stampers and was colored with Copics. The sentiment was computer generated. All edges were sponged with Creamy Caramel and the stitching was done by hand again (since my sewing machine is in the repair shop!). The CS is Tempting Turquoise and Barely Banana from SU and the shells were cut with a Cuttlebug Die. Spellbinders Ovals and the Labels Four dies were also used.

I hope you will stop by Our Creative Corner and also the blogs of the rest of the team. Lots of yummy eye candy to see this week!

♥Wendy Jensen♥Dana Grothaus♥Diane Gilbert♥Jennifer Meyer

♥Julie LeBlanc♥Sarah Gough♥Lori Rider♥

Thanks so much for dropping by today. I wish you a wonderful weekend!

Challenges Entered:

Bizzy Bec's Creatalicious - Show Some 3-D

Paper Romance - Stitch it Up

Twisted Thursdays - Water, Waves, Wetness

If the Shoe Fits - Take a Vacay

Just Add Ink - Just Add...Embossing

Allsorts - Summer Days

Lexi's Creations - Stitching

Lots to Do - Stitches

Secret Crafter - Summer Holidays

Wee Memories - Summer Fun