Birthday #2

Well, as y'all may have seen in my previous post, the 16th was my mom's birthday.  Not only was it my mom's birthday, it was also my hubby's birthday, our friend's birthday and our niece's birthday.  Plus, next Monday is my MIL's birthday, and the 28th is another niece and our nephew's birthdays.  Whoo!  Looks like y'all will be seeing quite a few birthday cards from me the next week or so. LOL

Here's the second one I created: the one for my hubby.  His favorite color is purple, which makes me giggle, so I always try to use that color in his birthday cards.

I used this fabulous image I just got from Kenny K called Bodacious Bev.  I merged her with a keg of beer I found on public domain.  The image was colored with Copics.  The background paper is from my new kaisercraft paper.  The gems, ribbon and cross came from my stash.  The sentiment I printed out on word.  It has always made me laugh, and my hubby is a beer connoisseur, so it was perfect.

Because of the colors, it's hard to see the bow on the front of the card. I tried to lighten up the picture a bit more and did a closeup so you could see the bow better.  It's still a bit hard to see...but it's the best I could do.  Sorry!  =D

Well, thanks for stopping by!

Here's the challenges I am entering:

Kenny K Krafty Girlz: Bow-Dacious

Card Crafter's Circle: Happy Birthday

Charisma Cardz: Happy Birthday

Crafty Cardmakers: No Floral Embellishments

Cute Card Thursday: You're Having a Laugh

Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT: Bows

Birthday #1

Hey y'all!  Here's my first birthday card post.

Mom, if you're reading this....STOP RIGHT NOW! 

lol  I wanted to give this to you, but you wouldn't answer the phone.  Hopefully I can get it to you before you log in.  =D

For everyone else, I created this card for my mom's birthday.  It's a little late, but I wanted to make sure to put some work into it.  She's the best, and she deserves the best.

My papers are all from DCWV.  The image on the front is from Tiddly Inks, and the image on the inside is from Happileigh Scrappin'.   The sentiment I found on Split Coast Stampers, and it cracks me up. "The secret of an enjoyable birthday can be found in achieving balance.....forkful of cake, spoonful of ice cream, forkful of cake, spoonful of ice cream." Tee hee!

The sketch I used is from I (heart) 2 Stamp, the January Sketch for You to Try.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Charisma Cardz: Happy Birthday

Cute Card Thursday: You're Having a Laugh

Card Crafter's Circle: Happy Birthday

i(heart)2stamp: January SFYTT

Christmas Cards, Boxes and Tags

**WARNING - Picture Heavy Post**

Hey y'all!  I'm writing a quick post to show off my last few Christmas cards and presents! I swear they were handed out on time, just posted late. LOL

This adorable image is Little Dancer 2 from A Day for Daisies. She was colored with Copics, and Stickles were added to the red trim.  Papers are scrap pieces from DCWV, brads are from my stash. Oval shape is from my Nestabilities, and the strips were punched on each end with a circle to give it the flag look.

Challenges:

A Day for Daisies: Anything Goes

PaperPlay: Christmas

Pollycraft: Punch It

Sketch 'n' Stash: Sketch

The Play Date Cafe: Photo Inspiration

For this card I used Old World Santa from Bugaboo.  Isn't he adorable?!?  He was colored with Copics. Papers are from DCWV, large snowflakes are punches from Martha Stewart; ribbon, gems and little snowflakes from my stash.  Sentiment from Hero Arts.

Challenges:

Cute Card Thursday: Sketch

These boxes were created with my Martha Stewart Scoreboard.  Papers are from Stampin' Up.  Ribbon from Michaels.  The adorable snowman and mouse image is from Spyder's Corner. (Thanks, Diane!!)  I colored the image with Copics. (Also, I forgot to take a picture before signing the boxes!  Whoops!)

Challenges:

My Time to Craft: Winter Pals

These boxes were also created using my Martha Stewart Scoreboard.  Papers from DCWV.  Images from Simply B Stamps, colored with Copics.  Ribbon from my stash.  (I learned from my earlier mistake and took the pictures FIRST.)  The second box was created for a Dude Time Doodles challenge...but I spent to much time relaxing instead of posting and am getting it posted one day past the deadline.  Whoops!

Challenges:

Crafty Catz: Santa's Hat (girl box)

Penny's Paper-Crafty: Holiday Gifts

This tag went on a bottle of wine for my Aunt.  The image and sentiment are from Wendy Made.  The holly on the top I drew myself.  Colored with Copics and Stickles.

Challenges:

CES Challenges: Party, Party, Party

Creatalicious: Purple, Green, Pink and White

Paper Sundaes: Celebrate

Pile it On!: Bling It Up!

Sweet Stampin: Sparkle and Bling

Totally Gorjuss: For Someone Special

This tag was for my Uncle, and went on a bottle of Captain Morgan's.  The sentiment is from one of my favorite Christmas songs by Jimmy Buffet.  The image was colored with Copics and distressed Stickles for the sand.  Paper, holly and ribbon from my stash.

This image is from Dilly Beans, and was created for the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog...but I missed the deadline.  Like I said...too much vacation.  (Or not enough?)  The image was colored with Copics, papers from DCWV, ribbon and gems from my stash and sentiment from Hero Arts.  Here's the sketch that inspired me: 

Challenges:

Charisma Cardz: Anything Goes

Digital Tuesday: Winter Wonderland

Do You Stack Up: Stripes

Scrapbook Sisters: Anything Goes

Paper Playtime: Anything Goes and Include a Sentiment

Bearly Mine: Anything Goes

Phew!  Thanks for sticking around...I'll have more cards to post shortly, and then stick around for something **really** fun! You won't want to miss it!

12 Days of Scary Christmas - Day 7

Hey y'all!  It's time for Day 7 over at Simply B's 12 Days of Scary Christmas.  This theme is...the shape of Christmas.  What does that mean?  A star?  A tree?  Are you kidding??  Of course not!  The team at Simply B want to see.....COFFINS!  That's right, coffins all decked out for Christmas!  (Well, I guess vampires have to celebrate the holidays, too....right?)  Betty even included a link to a fabulous treat box tutorial over at MarthaStewart.com.

Let me tell you...the tutorial was AWESOME!  It worked great, even my very first time!  I will definitely be making more of these....possibly for EVERY holiday. LOL  I usually give treat boxes to my coworkers for the holidays, and this one will be perfect!

I used the fabulous Vampiress Tilly.  I just love her sassy attitude!  I merged her with a great frame I found over at GraphicsFairy.com. The image was colored with Copics and Spica Markers.  Flowers and ribbon are from my stash.  Flowers started out white, then I colored them with my Copic.  the leaves are from a Sizzix die.  Papers from DCWV.

Well, I hope you like it!  If you have a chance, check out the tutorial and come play along!  The prize is a digi from a surprise, not yet released line.  I don't know what it's going to be.....but knowing Betty, I know it's going to be fabulous!  =D

Thanks so much for stopping by.  See you soon!

Challenges:

Simply B Stamps: 12 Days of Scary Christmas - Day 7: Coffins

Cute Card Thursday: Stripes

Top Tip Tuesday: Gift

Fairytale Challenge Blog: Gift/Gift Box

Wags 'n Whiskers: Fancy Folds

The Crazy Challenge: More Than One Fold

A Couple More Cards

Hi again!!  Be warned...this is kind of a long post.  Have patience!  =D

My first project was primarily made for the Simply Betty Stamps 12 Days of Scary Christmas.  These challenges  happen so quick...I ended up missing Day 5.  BUT, today is another day, and I'm ready to play along with Day 6 which is............................Scary Bells!  Now, if you didn't see my Day 4 post from a couple of days ago, you might not know that Betty has been rewriting some classic Christmas carols, turning them into Christmas scarols for inspiration!!  They are hilarious!  At least I think they are, so I'm going to share the words to Scary Bells with you.  Everyone sing along.......

"Crashing through the night,

With a horrid mangling sound,

Clang each heart with fright,

To terrorize the town.

Bells from belfries ring,

Making spirits rise,

The freaky tones like voices moan throughout the midnight skies!

Oh!

Scary bells, scary bells,

Ring your ghostly call,

Oh what fun it is to scream and terrorize us all. Ah!

Scary bells, scary bells,

With your manic sound,

When you toll the spirits roll from six feet underground!

A day or two ago,

I thought I'd take a ride,

To see the mansion sights,

To see what was inside.

My horse began to rear,

The scary bells did clang,

I fell into an open grave to cheer myself I sang...

Scary bells, scary bells,

Ring your ghostly call,

Oh what fun it is to scream and terrorize us all. Ah!

Scary bells, scary bells,

With your manic sound,

When you toll the spirits roll from six feet underground!"

So what do you think?  Inspiring, yes?  Here's my card:

As you can see, I was inspired by quite a few things in the song.  =D  For images I've used Devina Digi from Simply Betty Stamps, Christmas Bells from Bits N Bobs (including the one I superimposed on the brougham), Brougham is from Arthur's Clip Art, and the graveyard scene is from Andy Bauer at The Digi Street.  I wish you could see the bottoms of Devina and the Brougham...I did a TON of fussy cutting, not realizing no one would ever see it. LOL Oh well!  Good practice I suppose.  The images were all colored with Copics.  You can't tell from the picture, but Devina and the graveyard are popped up with pop dots for added dimension.

Papers are from DCWV (trees) and Stampin' Up (red...thanks Jenn!).  The sentiment was created by me, and edged with Momento Ink in London Fog.  (I guess I was in a East Coast frame of mind.  I tried thinking of a sentiment, and all that kept running through my head was "wicked cool".  So....I figured I'd go with it. LOL)  Ghosties are from my stash, part of a blog candy I won ages ago.

Challenges:

Simply Betty Stamps: Day 6 - Scary Bells

Cute Card Thursday: Anything Goes

Here's my second card:

This is my first (and unfortunately only) card for the 8th round of the Progressive Challenge over at Crafters Digital Art Center (CDAC).  The theme is....Animals Hold Our Hearts!  They really do hold mine.  Except birds.  I really can't stand birds, but this image by....BAH!  Ok, the image is by Sugar Creek Hollow, and what I was going to say is that birds just creep my out, they always have, but this image was too cute not to use.  As I was going to CDAC to verify the artist, I realized that this is actually an image from the *7th* round.  Whoops!  Guess this card actually ***isn't*** for the CDAC challenge.  That will be coming tomorrow night, after work. LOL  Well, anyway.  I colored the image with Copics.  Papers are from DCWV.  The tag is from Dana's Inspirations.  Ribbon is from my stash, and the stars are from Stampin' Up.

Challenges:

Paper Pretties: Use Ribbon

Craft Your Passion: Tag You're It

Tuesday Throwdown: For Someone Special (my hubby)

Cardmadfairy's Digi Days: Tags

Bee Crafty: Christmas

Ok, that's it for now!  Sorry for the long post...thanks for sticking with me, and thanks for stopping by!  We'll see you tomorrow.  =D

Go Team!

The Critter Sketch Challenge Blog has a fun sketch this week...

Cute, right?  Well, as soon as I saw it, I thought "cheerleader".  Something about pennants/flags always reminds me of cheerleading.  But, you know me...no cutsie preppy pink cheerleaders for me.  I remembered I had the perfect stamp from Simply Betty Stamps, and this is what I came up with:

Woo hoo!  Go Pirates!!  =D  I had a lot of fun with this.  I even tried to make little pom-poms!  The image was colored with Copics.  For the flags, I printed out the letters (using my Skull and Bones font) on blue cardstock, then punched the flags out using my Marvy Uchida punch.  I lined each flag with black marker, and then again with black Stickles.  The ribbon is from Michael's, the grey paper is from K & Company Elegance stack, and the blue polka dot paper is from We R Memory Keepers Spookville stack.

Well, thanks for stopping by!  I hope you liked it.  We'll see you again soon.

Critter Sketch Challenge Blog: Sketch #80

Simply Betty Challenges: Getting Sketchy With It

Cute Card Thursday: A Pinch & A Punch

Sparkles Forum Challenges: Punch It

A DT Call

There is a DT Call going on over at the Critter Sketch Challenge blog!  

Woo hoo! You know how much I love sketches!  =D  When I saw the DT Call, I just knew I had to apply.  On top of the DT Call, the Critters are having a wedding challenge, so I thought I would combine them.  I hope that's ok!!

I used a sketch provided by the Critters.  (I'd show you...but I think to see it you need to apply to the DT call!)  The image is from one of my favorite digi stores...you guessed it!  Tiddly Inks!  I just love this little couple.  It reminds me a lot of the Precious Moments statuettes everyone used to collect when I was a kid.  I colored the couple using Copics, then covered the veil with crystal Stickles.  I used a Spellbinders die for the background, edged with chalk ink in chestnut roan, and hand stitched to the background.  (I'm having so much fun with my stitching tools!!)  The background I embossed with a Stampin' Up folder...I just love this vintage wallpaper look.  The paper was actually a little bit bigger than the folder, so I had to emboss it twice.  Luckily I was able to line up the embossing on the sides.  The ribbon in the corners and the pearls are from Michael's Craft Stores, and the flowers are from a blog candy I won a few months back.

Well, thanks so much for stopping by!!  I'll be working on a number of things this weekend, so I'll be seeing you soon!  =D

Challenges:

Critter Sketch DT Call

Critter Sketch: Wedding

The Pink Elephant 112: Stitching

Cute Card Thursday: Weddings

Fab 'n' Funky: Stitch in Time

There's Magic in the Air: Pink, White and Brown

Papertake Weekly: Bingo I used Free, Pearls and Blooms...or Pearls, Ribbon and Free  LOL

If You Can Read This...

...Thank a teacher.  I always loved those bumper stickers.  One, because I really like to read, and two, because I always really liked my teachers and tried to let them know how I appreciated them.  (Ok, ok...I didn't like ALL my teachers.  Calculus is just no fun.)  

So, this week's challenge at Tiddly Inks is to Thank a Teacher.

When I saw this quote by William Ward, it reminded me so much of some of my favorite teachers.  I knew it would be perfect with Tiddly Inks' Schoolgirl.  I combined her with Books and typed the quote around her.  Schoolgirl is colored with Copics.  The books were colored with Copics, Spica markers and Glaze pens.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  See you soon!!

Challenges:

Tiddly Inks - Thank You Teacher

Amber's Crafts and Stuff - Back to School

Cute Card Thursday - Clean and Simple