Happy Birthday, USA - Part 2

Happy 4th of July, everyone!  I hope you've all had a fabulous day.  For my American friends, I hope you're being safe if you're partying or playing with fireworks.  I decided to create a couple of Independence Day cards in honor of today's holiday.  Here's the second:

The image is Toasting Properly, by Tiddly Inks. It was colored with Copics, then Diamond Stickles were added to the white shades.  The papers are from We R Memory Keepers.  The sentiment was printed on my computer.  The ribbon and gems are from my stash.  The circles with stars are from Bo Bunny.

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll see you again on Thursday!

Challenges:

Frosted Designs: Circles

Sunday Sketch and Stamp: Sketch

Tiddly Inks: Red, White and Blue

Celebrate the Occasion: 4th of July

Scrap-Creations: 4th of July

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenges: Red, White and Blue

Outlawz 2000 Members Party Twisted Thursday: Patriotic

Party Time Tuesdays: Patriotic

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

Friends are the Flowers of Life - Tiddly Inks Blog Hop

Hey y'all!  Tiddly Inks is doing something fun and new (or at least to me)...a blog hop where ANYONE can be part of the hop!  You can go here to see the details.

As soon as I heard about the challenge, I knew I wanted to participate.  Also, I already had an image printed that I felt really went with the Friendship/Flower theme.  So here it is!

Sorry the picture's a little dark.  It looked alright at 2 am when I was resizing it! LOL  I used the fabulous Flutterby, which is one of my favorite Tiddly Inks images and can be found here in the Tiddly Inks Basement.  I've always loved this image, but for some reason had never quite found the perfect card. I merged Flutterby with Daisy Days from Happileigh Scrappin'.  The image was colored with Copics, except for the flower petals, which were colored with Spica markers.  The papers are from DCWV, Stampin' Up, and the purple butterfly paper is from stash; unfortunately I've forgotten where I got it.  The little butterfly embellishments are from a punch a very nice woman loaned to me at my very first crop.  The larger butterfly embellishments are chipboard butterflies I won in an Archiver's gift bag.  They have been painted with Ranger Dobber ink and a permanent marker to make the body.  There is ribbon from Michael's under the chipboard butterflies. You can't see it in the picture, but because I bent up the wings of the butterflies for dimension you can see it in real life...I promise!  =D  Stickles have been added to the chipboard butterflies and the ones in the image, and the gems are from my stash.  I don't remember where the quote came from; I heard it once a long time ago and it has always stuck with me and I thought it was perfect for the image. It says "Friends are angels that give you wings when you forget how to fly".

As part of the creation of this card I used this week's fabulous sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

Thank you so much for stopping by!!  If you are part of the Tiddly Ink Blog hop - enjoy the rest of the hop and good luck!

Challenges:

Tiddly Inks: Blog Hop

Sweet Sketch Wednesday: Sketch

Another Batch of Cards

Well, it's just been a busy, busy weekend.  =D  I've got another batch of cards...I hope you enjoy them!

First up, we have an autumn fairy card.  The image is from Saturated Canary.  Isn't she fabulous?!?  She's one of the images I won as part of a blog hop candy from Tracy. Image colored with Copics. The papers are from Bo Bunny.  The leaves and sentiment are from my stash.

Challenges:

Saturated Canary: Autumn Colors

This next card is using the beautiful Louise and Wreath by Guylou's Inimitability.  The papers are from DCWV. Flowers and circle sentiments are from my stash. Image colored with Copics, Stickles added to wreath and outlining most of the papers.

Challenges:

Guylou's Inimitability: Christmas with a Wreath Twist

Papertake Weekly: Christmas Crackers

Crafty Ann's: Sketch

This one is my very first trifold card.  I was so excited how it turned out!  The image is a recent freebie from Tiddly Inks, colored with Copics and stickles added to fur.  The papers are from TPC Studio. The main sentiment is from Hero Arts.  The skates and sentiment are from Dear Lizzy and American Crafts.  The snowflakes and penguin are from my stash.  You can't really see it, but the strips of paper on the top and bottom center say "Let it Snow". 

****************Also, a small tip!*************

 I don't know if you're like me, but I have a TON of scrap paper.  I love it, and still want to be able to use it on cards.  To be able to find what I want quickly, I have three photo boxes that I use for scraps.  I have them separated into warm, cool and neutral colors.  Then I know exactly what box to go to depending on the color scheme of my project!  Eventually I will add boxes for different seasons (i.e. Christmas, Halloween) to be able to find the papers even faster.  =D

Challenges:

Tiddly Inks: Anything Goes

Do You Stack Up: A Splash of Blue

Crafty Sentiments: Metal (The snowflakes on the front of the closed card are metal.)

Top Tip Tuesday: More than One Fold

Ladybug Crafts Ink: Winter Blues

Charisma Cardz: Snowflakes

This ATC was actually created for the Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge. Unfortunately, silly me didn't pay attention to the TIME of the due date and missed it by a couple of hours.  LOL  Just shows...make sure to PAY ATTENTION to the deadlines!  =D  I thought I would still show it off, though, since I spent so much time on it.  The image and sentiment are stamps by Penny Black.  I just love the Penny Black girls...though Mimi is definitely my favorite.  I won this stamp set as part of the Scrapfest  swag from Archiver's.  I colored it with Copics and glaze pens (for the outside  of the flower wrapper and the flower petals).  The paper is from DCWV, and I colored the flowers using Spica markers.  I then added Stickles to the center of the flowers.  You know me...can't create anything without Stickles! LOL  The ribbon and butterfly punches were from my stash.  I don't really do Thanksgiving cards, but I'm entering this into The Stamping Boutique's Thanksgiving/Give Thanks challenge.  I figure it is still a give thanks project.  If you do not agree, please feel free to remove me from the challenge entries.  =D

Wow, like I said...busy weekend!  Plus there were a few more I finished that you just don't get to see yet...they're part of my DT posts.  Bet you can't wait, huh? LOL  I hope you all have a fabulous week.  Thank you so much for stopping by!

A Very Tiddly Christmas

Hey y'all!  I've got a few new cards to share with you.  =D

This I created using the adorable BahHuggaBuggs from the Tiddly Inks basement. Image colored with Copics, papers from Stampin' Up, snowflake punch from Stampin' Up.

Challenges:

Tiddly Inks: Anything Goes

Sweet Stamps: Non-Traditional Christmas Colors

Fab 'n' Funky: Baby it's Cold Outside

Paper Shelter: Snowflakes

Crafty Catz: Snowflakes

Sweet Sketch Wednesday: #128

This next card is with a brand new stamp (to me anyway)....Irish Christmas Fae by Crafts and Me.  Oooh, I just love this image!

Isn't she just gorgeous?!?  You know how I love everything Irish.  =D Image colored with Copics, and a Spica marker for the wings.  The papers are from DCWV.  The snowflake border is a border punch by Martha Stewart.

Challenges:

Crafts and Me: Simples

Mami Doodles: Fairy Tales are Real

Priscilla Styles:  Midnight Madness Sketch 130

One last card for this post...not Christmas, though.  As some of you know, the newest installment of the Twilight Saga movies was released in the US a couple of days ago.  I do love the books and movies...but I always seem to be a fan of the bad guys.  What can I say?  Gotta love James and Victoria.  =D  Therefore, I chose to use Pixie Dust Studio's Victoria for their newest challenge: Twilight Inspired Red, Black and White/Silver....add Sparkle!

Victoria was colored with Copics and a silver marker.  Skin was covered with Stickles.  (Vampires glitter, you know.  LOL) The papers are from DCWV's Immortal Love paper collection.  Love Bites sticker is from Marah Johnson's Breathless collection, which was inspired by the Twilight movies.  Bats, ribbon and gems are from my stash.

Whew!  Hope you enjoyed my cards today!  I should have a couple more coming up shortly.  =D

New ATC Challenges!

**For the Blog Hop and Fairy Challenge please scroll down**

Hey y'all!  I am here to share some exciting news.  If you haven't heard yet, the amazingly sweet and talented Jenn from Stampin' Angel Jenn has started a new challenge blog!  It's called Wicked Wednesday Weekly ATC Challenges.  How awesome is that?  A challenge blog for just ATCs!  I don't know about y'all, but I am just thrilled. Now, this blog actually started about a month ago...but I've been a little bit MIA for a while, so I missed it until now.  Well, I fully intend to start making up for that now!  =D

This week's challenge is to create an angel ATC.  A little while ago I purchased the Sugar 'n' Spice images from Tiddly Inks.  I just love these images, and had printed them and colored them...but not yet created anything.  So, what better way to use one than for my first ATC entry?  The image was almost too big for the ATC, but I think I got it to fit alright...

For this ATC I used the adorable Angel Spice.  Isn't she awesome?  I love her hair.  She actually came with two flying hearts, but I ran out of room so had to leave the second one off.  I colored Angel with Copics, except for her lips and eyes, which are colored with Spica Markers.  The base of the ATC is a Bicycle Joker playing card, which I covered with my background paper.  The dp I think is from BoBunny.  I outlined the clouds with Stickles to make them stand out a little more.  The ticket is a stamp from Stampin' Up that I stamped, outline with a teal Le Pen and wrote my sentiment in the middle.  Then the ticket was also outlined with Stickles.

I was pretty happy with how this one turned out...especially her hair!  =D  I usually have such a hard time with ATCs....I always feel mine are too plain, but if I embellish them too much I feel like they're too heavy and overdone.  Then again, I have the same problem with my cards.  LOL 

I am entering this ATC in the following challenges:

Wicked Wednesday: Getting Angelic

Tiddly Inks: Anything Goes Continued

Digital Tuesday: Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope to see you again soon! =D  By the way....if y'all haven't gone through my blog hop or challenge yet, you have until Saturday at midnight.  Lots of prizes, including gift certificates to some of my favorite companies (including Tiddly Inks).  Hope you check it out!

Whoops!!!

So, I got on the computer tonight all ready to post for the Tiddly Inks challenge that's due in about a day.  I was so excited to have finished!  Work has been crazy busy, and I haven't been able to create anything in the past week or so.  I opened up the challenge page so I could link to it...and realized I had done the wrong challenge!! That's right, I lost a week. Darn it! =(  So here's the card I created for last week's (now closed) Reading Fun challenge! LOL

I used one of my favorite stories: The Princess Bride.  I just LOVE that book, and the movie.  I think this would make a great anniversary card...or maybe that's just me.

Ah well.  I'm of to bed.  Hopefully some sleep will clear my mind.  I'll be trying to create a project for the current challenge by the due time tomorrow...wish me luck!  =D

Candy, Candy, Candy!!

Guess what!  It's time for more candy!!  Yay!!  =D  I do love me some candy, and this is the best kind...the kind with NO calories.  Whew!  Take a look at the fabulous new candy being offered over at Tiddly Inks:

Looks yummy, right?  Go HERE to enter.  PLUS....if enough people enter, Christy will put a FREEBIE in the shop...possibly even TWO!!  (150+ people enter = freebie, 300+ people enter = another freebie) 

This only goes until September 15th, so you better hurry up and enter!  =D

Back to School!

Gosh! Sorry I haven't been on much...life has just been so crazy busy!  I guess it's just summertime.  Friday I went all day to our state fair with my mom and a couple of her friends....

Then today Wy and I spent all day at Vallyfair, a local amusement park:

Not a lot of time for crafting...but I did fit in a little bit! Wanna see....?  =D

It's that time of year again...all the kiddies are headed back to school.  In honor of that occurrence, Tiddly Inks challenged us to create a bookmark.  Now, I've never created a bookmark before, so I was kind of excited.  I've been seeing a lot of corner bookmarks around Blogland in the past few months, and I've always wanted to try making one.  So, I decided to find a fun tutorial and try it out.  (The tutorial I found is here on Split Coast Stampers.)

And here's a close-up of just the bookmark:

I used the adorable Schoolgirl and Extras, colored with Copics, Spica markers and STICKLES!  =D  The sentiment on the side of the book says "Never judge a book by its cover."  I think that's good advice for everyone, but especially the kids.  Sometimes at a young age it's too easy to go along with the group and make snap judgments about other people...I thought this would be a nice little reminder to give everyone a chance.  =D

Well, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.  (Trust me, the skirt looks much better IRL. LOL)  I'm really excited that I tried this, and I can't wait to make another one.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by!  We'll see you soon!

Fangtabulous

Hello, hello, hello!  It's time for another Tiddly Inks challenge, and I"m really excited about this one.  Christy just released a few vampire images, and they are AWESOME! I just had to get at least one.  Now, the new challenge is to Inch My Way Along. 

To be perfectly honest, I stole was inspired by Larissa's treat box.  It was just so darling, I had to try.  I had never created a box with my Martha Steward Score Board before, so I was excited to do something new.

Aaaaand a shot from the front so you can get the full glitter effect.  =D

I think the image is about 2" high, so about 1 1/2" wide.  It was colored with Copics.  I printed the sentiment on my computer with a fabulous font called Demons and Darlings.  (I just LOVE this font!) As soon as I saw Larissa's treat box, this sentiment popped into my head...and I just had to use the vampire image.  =D  The paper with the dripping blood is from Marah Johnson's Breathless collection.  (I completely love this paper...probably my favorite of the collection.)  The bats are from my stash. I know they came from Archiver's, but I don't remember what companies.  When I was done with the box, it still needed just a little something...so I added red Stickles all around the edges.  (When in doubt...add glitter! lol)  I really love how it turned out.  I wish you could see it IRL....soooo sparkly.  =D

Ok, well thanks for stopping by!  We'll see you soon for another post!  =D

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

One Extraordinary Woman

I am just having such a blast with the new Tiddly Inks steampunk images!  I had to create another card today.  For this card I decided to use Priscilla, a frame from the Steampunk Papers - Extra Goodies set and a sentiment from the Steampunk Sentiments Mega Pack.  (These packs are so amazing...you get a huge amount of images or sentiments for a low price.  It's awesome!  You can check out the whole Steampunk line right here.)

The sentiment, which I printed really tiny, says "One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary [wo]men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary [wo]man."  It is attributed to Elbert Hubbard, a writer from the late 1800's.   The merged images I colored with Copics.  The dp with the writing and butterfly is actually a stamp from Hero Arts.  I decided to use it because of the butterflies in the image's frame.  After stamping onto grey paper I edged it using Pumice Stone Distress Ink.  I decided it was a little too bland, so colored the butterfly with Copics.  The butterfly on the top left is a Shapeability by Spellbinders.  It's actually two butterflies.  I cut the dies, adhered one to the card, edged the top one, drew lines on the wings with a Spica marker, curved the wings and attached just the middle to the bottom butterfly. The flowers on the bottom right are not actual flowers.  They are rub-ons, and I added pearls to the centers.

Of course I am entering this into the Tiddly Inks Samples Show Off.  You really should check it out...it's a fabulous way to possibly win some awesome images.  It's a lot of fun, and since there are no set styles, colors or rules, it's a great way to just let your creativity fly!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  We'll be seeing you!

More Show Off

Here's another card I created for the Tiddly Inks Samples Show Off.  

I used Tanker Fairy Sits and a background from the Steampunk Papers-Extra Goodies set.  The grey gear paper is from DCWV's Tattered Time matstack.  The word background paper is from a Tim Holtz paper pack.  The clock is a Tim Holtz stamp.  The gears, arrows and Courage medal are embellishments from Tim Holtz.  The black jewel on the bottom right is from my neglected jewelry-making stash.  Flowers are from Michaels, as is the line of gears stamp on the right side.  I colored the image using Copics (including the background).  Stickles were added to Tanker's wings, and the gears in the image were colored using a Spica marker.  All papers were edged using Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.

Thank you so much for stopping by to take a look.  I hope you are having a fabulous weekend, and we'll see you soon!

More Movies...

It's the second week in Tiddly Ink's month of movie challenges!  This week, the theme is Nature Movie.  Well, when I heard the theme, the first thing that popped into my head was Ferngully.  I just LOVE that movie.  I usually end up watching it whenever it's on TV.  I think the writing was hilarious...if a bit preachy.  That's ok, though...it's still fabulous!  If you've never seen the movie I would highly advise watching it.  It's animated and written for children, but it has some humor that the adults would enjoy, as well.  (Robin Williams voicing Batty...priceless!)

I used Fairy Fae, colored with Copics and Spica markers.  The trees were pre-colored freebies from the Tiddly Inks blog ages ago.  I layered them in Paint.net to create a little mini forest.  The sky background is from Bearly Mine Designs.  Butterfly, gems and papers are from Michael's.  The sentiment is a quote from Ferngully.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  We'll be seeing you soon!

Simplify

If you're a regular reader of my posts, you know that I just love Tiddly Inks, and you also know that Tiddly Inks and Make It Crafty recently released a line of steampunk images.  Well, I just couldn't wait to try them all out.  You'll probably be seeing quite a few cards using these images in the next week or so, especially since Tiddly Inks is having a Samples Show Off challenge.  Check out the details here.

Here is my first card made specifically for the Sample Show Off.  I've used three of Tiddly Inks new images: Precious, a frame and a background paper from the Extra Goodies 3 Papers and Gear set.  These images are just so easy to mix and match!

Here's a closeup of the merged images:

I named this card Simplify.  I was really trying to keep it simple, so originally I just had the merged image, the embossed background and the gear die cut card.  However, it was just TOO simple, you know?  So I added the metal tag.  Still not enough, so I added some flowers.  Just needed a little bit more....and the bling was added.  Still fairly simple...but not as boring. LOL  The gear die cut is from Sizzix (the Tim Holtz Alterations line), the flowers and bling are from Michael's, the metal tag and the embossing folder are more items from the Tim Holtz line.  Precious was colored with Copics, and the background was shaded with Distress Ink in Milled Lavender.  The embossed paper was shaded with chalk ink in Wisteria from the Color Box.

Well, thanks for stopping by to take a look.  Make sure to pop by later in the week to see more of these fabulous steampunk images.  Hugs for now!

Love Gently

I got this Simply Betty digi stamp a while ago and printed it out immediately.  Then...it went into a pile of images I've been meaning to color.  When I heard the new Simply Betty Stamps challenge was to use any Simply Betty Stamp with any sketch challenge...I knew it was finally time to bring her out.

Meet Sting You Lola.  Isn't she adorable?  I just love that sly look on her face.  Cupid better watch out...Lola's looking to take his place!  I love the cute little heart tattoos under her eye, and her adorable outfit!  =D  The sentiment is from Tiddly Inks.  I was originally going to use a different sentiment, but as I was cutting it out, I noticed this one printed right above it.  I decided this was the better match.  The flowers were created with a Sizzix die I bought a few weeks ago...yet another new toy to play with.  =D  The papers are from Stampin' Up, part of a now discontinued line.  The black lace (that you can barely see) is from JoAnn Fabrics.  Let me tell you...if you could see it, you would be so jealous. lol  Do you know how long it took me to find black lace that was straight instead of curved!?!  The pink ribbon (that you also can't really see) is from Michael's.

The sketch I used is from Digital Tuesday.

Awesome, no?  I love the wavy bottom of the middle layer.

Well, that's it for tonight...  Thanks for stopping by!

Challenges:

Simply Betty Stamps: Any Betty Stamp, Any Sketch Challenge

Digital Tuesday: Sketch

AiFactory Challenge: Layers

Reel Me In!

Tiddly Inks is having a theme month for their challenges, and it is movies.  I'm so excited...I LOVE movies!!  The first challenge for the month is a Summer or Scary Movie.  Well, after seeing the new steampunk release by Tiddly Inks and Make it Crafty, I found the PERFECT image for one of my favorite scary movies.  

This card was inspired by From Hell, a movie about Jack the Ripper starring Johnny Depp and Heather Graham.  The image, Maria, was colored using Copics.  The moon and cloud stamp is from Stampscapes.  The Jack the Ripper image I found online.  The red rose was originally white, but I colored it with my Copics.

Thanks for stopping by!  We'll see you again soon.

It's So Exciting!!!

Well, I have some awesome news for you!  If you know me, you'll know how much I adore the fabulous images at Tiddly Inks. Well, I have just found out that Tiddly Inks is colaborating with a fantastic company called Make It Crafty to release a new collection of victorian and steampunk images!  Y'all, I'm so excited I can hardly breathe!  It's coming soon....July 14th!  Click on the badge below to get a few more details, a couple of sneak peeks...and a chance to win 5 Tiddly Inks images!!



Birthday Boy!!

Next week is my cousin's 15th birthday, and we're having a party for him on Sunday.  I decided to suck it up and try to make a boy card.  Luckily, Tiddly Inks has this fabulous image named Geekatude, and it's just perfect for a teenage boy.  It's brand new to me...I just bought it a couple of days ago.  I was VERY excited to try it out!

I decided to use a sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday (number 105):

As I said, the image is from Tiddly Inks, and it was colored using Copics and Glaze Pens.  (The #15, laptop and MP3 player face are actually black...they just have a silver shine because of the camera flash.) The papers are from DCWV's Rockstar stack and Making Memories Just Chillin' stack (the boy version).  The ribbon is from Michael's.  The sentiment I printed out with this cool new font I found (it's called SF Comic Strip Shaded), colored with a blue Glaze pen, and then shaded the paper with chalk ink in Chestnut Roan (the same color used to edge all of the papers).

I don't really know my cousin very well (my mom married his uncle after I moved away to college) so I'm really hoping he'll like this.  Cross your fingers!  =)

Thanks for stopping by, and we'll "see" you tomorrow!

Challenges:

Charisma Cards: How Old

Do You Stack Up: Birthday

AiFactory: New Challenge

Crafts and Me: Stamp Something

Amber's Crafts and Stuff: Special Man

There's Magic in the Air: Masculine

Sweet Sketch Wednesday: 105