Sweet Puppy Hugs

I love this image from Sara Kay and I decided to use it for two challenges. OCC's challenge this week is "Add a Doodle", so I added doodles around the image and around the scallop of the circle. Magnolia vs. Stampavie had a sketch for this week's challenge so I put this together for their sketch challenge as well. I colored this sweet little girl with my Copic markers and punched out the "lace border" with my new MS punch. The yellow scallop paper is from PTI and so is the yellow ribbon. The flower is from a gorgeous tin of Caboodles Prima Flowers. I put my sentiment together with my Just-Rite Stampers letters. I'm happy with how this turned out, although it took me awhile to work out the circle and the doodles. Thanks so much for stopping by. I've got some exciting news to share with you soon. Have a wonderful Friday.

Timeless Tuesday Sketch Challenge

This is my post for Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday Challenge for this week. The sketch was fairly simple, and I decided to debut an image from the set they gave us for attending the Stamper's Dream Week-end. I used Basic Grey's "Offbeat" again for the DP and the rest is pretty self-explanatory. Flourishes is releasing their March sets on Friday, so be sure you catch their sneak peaks over at their blog. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Thursday.

HM Masculine Card

This week's HM challenge was to do a masculine card, so I was so thankful that I had Muzzie in his running shoes and this sentiment that I also purchased from House-Mouse. My husband has done a good bit of running in his lifetime, and my boys all ran cross country and track, and they still like to run local events when they can. I decided to try to simulate a track event, because this is actually a card I would give to any one of them if they were to compete in a running event. I stamped Muzzie once and then part of him again. I drew my own track (I know you're thinking "DUH") and I sponged in some "grass and sky". The CS is Baja Breeze and the DP is from Basic Grey's "Offbeat." I punched out 3 stars and attached half-pearls onto them. (Do I do any cards without those half-pearls?......I don't think so.) Hope this passes for a masculine card. It's hard to combine these cute little mousies, or even the Hoppers and Gruffies, with masculine, so this was another great challenge. Thanks for looking and see you again soon.

Toddler Birthday Card

Good Monday morning to all of you! I wanted to share this card that I made for our neighbor's little one. Hardly seems like a year has gone by already. I saw a different version of this card a few weeks ago by Linda Duke and since my grandbabies will be 1 in May and June, my daughter and I fell in love with this set she used from Crafty Secrets and decided we had to have it. There are many possibilities with this set and it's perfect for a little one. My DP is from "Flowers for You" from SU and I colored her with my Copic markers. The sentiment in the corner is from SU's "Wow Flowers" and I added a half pearl to it. I popped up my little balloons on dimensionals. The background is "airbrushed" using SU's ""Color "Spritzer Tool." It's not as smooth as using the airbrushing system from Copic, but it worked for this card. Thanks for taking a look and I hope you all have a wonderful Monday. Today is HM's new challenge for this week, so I'm on my way over there to see what's in store for us. Hugs,

Week-end Sketch Challenge and tutorial

The WSC, hosted by Sharon Harnist, (Paperfections) is a simple layout, so I decided to use it with the medallion from SU's "True Friend" that I made prompted by Leslie Miller's (Running with Scissors) tutorial from this week. I love how it turned out and it seems to go quite well with this layout Sharon gave us. I used my Textile EF on the black CS, and the rose-colored paper is from SU's "Holiday Harmony" from '07. Be sure to check out Leslie's blog for the tutorial. It's a great technique. Thanks for looking and thank's to Sharon for hosting the challenge.

OCC Sketch Challenge

Since this is the week of challenges for me, I completed another card for the OCC Sketch Challenge. I was hoping the Spica pens I ordered would come in time to color in the rest of the eggs, but alas, they haven't come yet. (I'm thinking I can still go over those areas with the pens when the do arrive.) I like sketch challenges and this one is similar to the HM card that I did for last week, because I borrowed the same idea, minus the button. I'm still loving these bright papers from Basic Grey's Urban Prairie. The image is from Flourishes "Signs of Spring" and I added the chicks to the bottom of the basket. It's colored with my Copic markers and I used Flower Soft for the grass that the little chicks are sitting on. The "button" was done with my MS punch and the "threads" colored on. The butterfly is also a MS punch. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful week-end.

Paper-Pieced Tilda

Paper Piecing is the theme for this month's challenge over at KLSNS on PCP. The thought of dressing up Tilda in a variety of adorable "paper clothes" really appealed to me so I set out to dress my newest Tilda. Her entire outfit except for her underskirt is paper-pieced from SU's "Bella Birds". Even her hairbows are from that DP. Her sleeves are out of a yellow paper from that collection, but because of the grey tones in the dress they look more ivory than yellow. I colored her hair, skin and underskirt with my Copic markers. The red and checked DP's are from SU's "Sweet Slumber" which has some fabulous papers, and... they are textured! The buttons are punched with my Martha Stewart button punch. The sentiment is from Flourishes "Open to Love." The little hearts were punched with a heart punch I've had for a long time. I'm guessing it's a Marvy punch. I've got to get some furniture stamps for Tilda to sit on....I think she would prefer that to sitting poised in mid-air. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Flourishes Spellbinder Challenge

This week's Timeless Tuesday challenge at Flourishes is to use Spellbinders, and this card is Spellbinders to the max. I just received my Spellbinders "Cameo and Brooch" and was anxious to use it, so it was a given that I would use it for this challenge. I cut it out in black, sponged it with white ink and then touched it up further with my Inkessentials pen. I popped it all up on dimensionals. I also used the Labels 1 die in two sizes for the background of the brooch and a Label die for the "Timeless" sentiment. The background is stamped in Flourishes "Damask" and I tied the black ribbon where the papers meet. I made the "Timeless" sentiment with my Just Rite letters and added a black half-pearl to each side. Thanks for looking and be sure to check out the great creations for this challenge.

House Mouse Chipboard Challenge

This week's HM challenge was to use chipboard. I NEVER use chipboard, so this was good for me because now I'm not so inclined to bump it out of my repetoire for elements to use. The only chipboard I even had was from my very first order from SU almost 2 years ago, which included this flower-shaped piece. I'm not a fan of sponging it, so I traced around it on CS and cut it out and mounted it, then sponged it with two shades of yellow and then Tangerine Tango. I saw it taking shape for this image as the sun, so I kept going with that idea. I colored my flower with my Copic markers and then cut it out. I also stamped the whole image again on CS and colored it. Last week I received the rainbow and sentiment ("Rain and Sunshine") in my order from There She Goes, and it went perfectly with this idea. I adhered my flower to the chipboard, using dimensionals at the base of the flower. I used Crystal Effects on my raindrops and I ended up liking this a lot. My DP is from Basic Grey's LilyKate and it is all mounted on top of Apricot Appeal. The "clouds" at the top are cut out of a piece of DP from LilyKate also.
I have added some icons to my blog of challenges I'm going to attempt to participate in regularly.
HM Monday Challenges are the only ones thus far that I have done faithfully, so I hope to branch out a bit. Be sure to check out other clever ideas using chipboard at the HM Challenge site, and jump in on the challenge if you can. Today is Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday challenge which calls for using Spellbinder's, so I'm on it! :) Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

House Mouse Mother's Day Card

Eeek, I'm "squeaking in" under the wire, but I finally did my card for the HM "Mother's Day" card challenge. I borrowed the OCC Sketch Challenge for my layout, (I intend to do another, similar card but with another image for that challenge) and I used the Urban Prairie DP's along with Baja Breeze CS for the card itself. I colored with Copic Markers and I will give this to my dear friend for Mother's Day. Thanks for stopping by, especially so late. Hope you have a wonderful Monday tomorrow.

Vellum Challenge at Flourishes

This week's Timeless Tuesday Challenge at Flourishes was to do a project with vellum. That's definitely something I don't use much of, so this was a good challenge for me. I used my Labels 2 Nestability for my vellum paper and my image paper. My cake is an image from Flourishes "Birthday Celebrations" and I circle-masked it and stamped my basket-weave stamp that we were given at the Flourishes SD Week-end. On the top of the vellum I stamped the sentiment. The DP is from Basic Grey's Two Scoops and the edges are punched with my MS punch. It all sits on top of black CS. My ribbon is from PTI and the corners have half-pearls in graduated sizes. I'm really liking this set and I know I'll be using it a lot. Thanks for stopping by. Yesterday I was in bed all day with the flu so I'm so thankful that was short-lived. I still haven't done my HM post and I've been honored with more awards that I want to post and share, so I'll be back as soon as I can with more. Have a lovely Friday. It's Friday....Yay!

Fabulously Fun Flourishes Week-end

What a fun and fabulous week-end we had with Flourishes at their first ever Stamper's Dream "retreat". I would encourage any of you who can attend the next one to do so. We had the privilege of being taught by Becca Feeken (Amazing Paper Grace), Faith Hofrichter (Stampin' with Markie's Mom) and Jan Marie Caruso....#1 Flourish herself. We also did projects put together by Julie Koerber (Out to Impress), Latisha Yoast (A Busy Little Craftee Bee), Laura Fredricksen (Snapnextras) and Linda Duke (Linda's Works of Heart). The final session was a mini workshop by Marianne Walker (I Like Markers) who was here to teach the Copic Certification Class on Monday that most of us attended. Thank you all, ladies. What gorgeous projects you created for us to do! We were fed sumptuously and spoiled with goodies from the Flourishes store. We got to meet Latisha Yoast and Lauren Pope, the designer of the new Birthday Celebrations set. The card designed for the class by Linda Duke and Jan Marie was similar to this one I did, although it of course featured one of Flourishes stamps. We were all given a 6 x 6 pad of Basic Grey's Urban Prairie and I LOVE this paper, so I used it and the basic design to do my granddaughter's first birthday card. I meant to do the bow with the technique that Becca taught us, but I forgot an obvious step. Oh well, it's in the mail so it will just have to be fine for this card. I did use the Happy Birthday sentiment from Flourishes new Birthday Celebrations set inside the card. The raised, cut-out scallop was a technique Jan Marie showed us. I love this style of card with the lace border. I'll have more to share with you from our fab week-end. I'm thankful I was able to attend and now I need to put to use what I learned. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're all having a wonderful week.

Shopping Lily and Cupcake Celebration

These are the cards I told you about in the previous post. You'll have to reference that post for the story. The Cupcakes she took....Lily she left. The funny thing is that it was Lily that gave me the idea of doing the cards for the store because the clothes she sells are bright, happy, unusual little outfits that are just adorable, and somehow Lily seemed to fit the theme. Anyway, no harm done and I've got some cards on hand now. I need to mention that Lily is a Rachelle Anne Miller design, and the mouse with cupcake is from Whiff of Joy. Hope you're having a wonderful week-end.

A Simple Card plus a "long" Story

This card was a very quick and easy card for some friends, and I'm pleased with how it came out for being a simple one. I used the "frame" for the Top Note Sizzix die, Upsy Daisy for the stamp, some light sponging and Martha Stewart flowers for the corners. Stamp a sentiment and voila, you're done! Oh, I did add a few Kaiser pearls to the flowers on the stamped image. The DP is SU's Flowers for You.
This week has been busy. I was asked by a local children's clothing store to make 5 cards of 2 designs that I brought them. I'm not sure how I feel about mass producing when I have to color in the main design. They turned out pretty cute, actually, and I took them in to the store. Because I raised my "asking" from $2 to $3, she turned down the big card suggesting they wouldn't sell, but she did take the little gift cards....all 5 of them. I'll post pics of these in my next post. I didn't want to lower my price because coloring in all those images just isn't worth letting them go for $2. I missed making cards to post and commenting on all of your cards, so I have to think about this "venture." I'm still happy she took the 5 gift cards, and she liked my work. She just didn't think she could sell them by the time she added her mark-up. Now I've spared you all that reading with my next post. Have a wonderful Saturday. Thanks for stopping by.

HM Sketch Challenge

This week's HM challenge is a sketch offered by this week's featured vendor, 2 red bananas. The sketch was fun to do and you can see it at the HM Challenge blog. I used my new Basic Grey papers, "Offbeat", along with Baja Breeze and Ivory CS. The name of the stamp featuring a Gruffie this time is "Wool Sew for Friends." I colored it with my Copic markers and I paper-pieced the lamb's little scarf. The sentiment is from PTI's Quilt Sampler. The image was cut out with my circle Nestie and sponged lightly with Baja Breeze. I used my Chocolate half-pearls along the edge. Be sure you take a look at the adorable cards the DT did. This week features the newest DT members plus renditions from the girls from 2 red bananas. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely Tuesday.