Tame the Dragon

Let's go dragon hunting.  I chose this adorable dragon stamp and back ground  from Dustin Pike to make my card for the Cute Card Thursday challenge..Out of This World.   I already had it printed out and colored, but just hadn't had the right opportunity to use it...until now.

I have always loved dragons.  When I was into painting ceramics, I made a whole collection for my brother, who collects them.  I even had a small collection from the Franklin Mint that I ended up giving to my brother.  I don't view them as mystical or witch related.  To me they represent what could be.  The freedom of soaring through the air and making your own destiny.  Yeah, I'm a dreamer.  LOL.  I guess in part, they represent my life before motherhood.  That time in my life when I could just pick up and go and not have to worry about a babysitter, or making sure my child has everything she needs before I can spend the extra money on myself.  Wistful, I know.

I colored the images with my colored pencils and OMS.  I do alot of colored pencil work, but I feel comfortable with it.  I am trying to slowly learn how to use my Spectrum Noir pens and make the images turn out right, but it takes a while to master it.  I would love to be able to afford a set of Copics.  That would be my wish.  My dragon wish.  To be blessed to receive the whole set of Copics.  Yes, I wish big.  Some of the AC Moore stores have started carrying Copics, but they are $7.99 each.  I think that is just a little expensive.  Maybe with our tax refund I can invest in two or three from each color family.  Anyway, back to the card.

I used SU Crumb Cake for the card base which is an A2 size.  I matted the background on a piece of turquoise card stock from Recollections after inking the edges with DI Vintage Photo.  I fussy cut the dragon knight out and used pop dots to add him to the center.  The sentiment I searched and searched for on the internet.  I finally found a dragon quote that I liked by Noela Evans.  I have no idea who she is, but I liked her quote.  I printed it out in turquoise ink and matted it on a scrap of black card stock.  I used pop dots for the sentiment.  That's it.  Very minimal product on this card.  I think it qualifies for Out of this World..don't y'all?

Well, that's the last card for this set of cards.  I will have more, probably tomorrow or Monday.  Thanks for taking time out of your schedules to come visit me here on my blog.  God bless you and have a great day!

Just Married

Hello Friends.  I found another challenge site.  That puts me up to about 25 per week.  I'm addicted.  It's sad.  I think I really need some kind of 12 Step Program.  Maybe I will start one for us peep who are addicted to card making. I will call it the 12 Step Challenge. LOL.  I think it sounds pretty good.  Maybe our first challenge will be Step 1: Use 1 flower. HAHAHA!! What do you think? Sounds like a plan doesn't it?  Each challenge will be a new step.  Step 2: Use 2 patterned papers.  Step 3: Use 3 rhinestones.  ETC.  Yeah, I have completely lost my mind.  On to my next card. 

This one was really fast and easy.  I loved the sketch that we were challenged to use over on Seems a Little Sketchy.  It was pretty CAS, but I added to it.  You know I can't stop with one or two embellies.  I love all the "stuff."

The stamp I used was a little one from Studio G that I picked up in the dollar bin at Michael's.  I love those little dollar stamps.  Some of them are very cute. You can even combine alot of them together to make different focal images. I stamped the image and sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black.  I used my Spellbinders to cut out the image and emboss it, then used a Scalloped Circle for the backing.  The sentiment I cut out with my EK Success Label punch.   I used Whisper White from SU for the card base.  It's a little smaller than usual, only 4.5x4.5, but with such a small image, it fit better being smaller.  The black layer is 4x4 and is Basic Black from SU.  The red layer is 3.75x3.75 and is from Recollections.  The DP is DCWV and is cut to 3.5x3.5.  I used pop dots to adhere the sentiment and added three flat back pearls from Queen and Co on it.  There are three cream colored flat back pearls in the top right hand corner, but they look gray in the picture.  I figure I can use this card for my BIL and soon to be SIL in September for their wedding.  As soon as she decides what her colors are going to be, I am going to start on making a photo album for her.  I wish she would decide so that I can get started.

I sincerely thank you for stopping by today.  Let me know what you think about my 12 Step Challenge.  I want to see how many people need the program..hehe  Have a wonderful day and God bless you.

Butterfly Girl

Welcome back friends.  Hope you are all doing well.  I am enjoying our brief respite from snow this weekend.  It's pretty cold, but no snow.

Today's card is for the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge.  The challenge this week is a sketch.  This is also for the ABC Challenge Blog.  I chose to use a pretty little girl from Sweet Coloring Pages.  I colored her with my colored pencils and OMS.  The sentiment I printed out from Microsoft Word.

I matted the focal image and the sentiment both on Sparkly Gold card stock from DCWV.  The card base is Gina K's heavy base weight white.  The butterfly is from Special Moments which I have only found at the Dollar Tree.  Sometimes you can find some nice things there.  If you are lucky, they will have Miss Elizabeth products and her lines are beautiful. 

I hope you enjoyed yourself here today and stay tuned for a few more cards over the next few days.  God bless you and have a wonderful Sunday.

Gypsy Girl

Hello friends.  Thanks for stopping in today.  I have a card to showcase today that uses a really cute stamp from Cuttlebug Cuties.  I made this card for two challenges this week.  First up is Love to Create #49.  The challenge is to use your three favorite colors.  I have way more than three, but to narrow it down, I picked Lime Green, Deep Purple and Black.  I am also entering this card in the Crafter's Cafe challenge which is an Anything Goes this week.

I colored this beautiful gypsy with colored pencils and OMS. I inked the edges in Versamark Purple Hydrangea ink. She is matted on Lime Green by Colorbok. I added a Deep Purple grosgrain ribbon tied on the left side.  I used pop dots to adhere the image.  The Deep Purple card stock is from Colorbok.  The card base is Basic Black from SU.  I added some light green gems (even though they don't look green in the picture, they are) from Queen and Co.  I added a little bit of sparkle to the image using glitter gel pens.

I sure hope you like this gypsy card.  Thanks for taking a gander today and I wish you a blessed weekend.

Berry Sweet

Boy, I can't wait for summer.  Not for the heat or the swimming or even laying out in the sun.  I want strawberries.  Nice, big, juicy, pick 'em yourself strawberries.  Every year my daughter and my MIL spend the day together picking strawberries at a local farm.  I think Kierstynne eats just as many as she puts in the basket.  I always send extra money for my MIL to put in the donation jar to cover what Kierstynne eats.  There is nothing better than straight off the vine, fresh strawberries.  My MIL makes jam from them, I freeze some for Strawberry Shortcake later on in the year, and of course, we eat some of them that day.  Nothing can beat it.

When I saw the inspirational challenge over on The Pink Elephant, I knew just what kind of card to make.  Yep, you guessed it.  A card featuring strawberries.

I used a cute stamp set from Fiskar's called Fresh Fruit.  It has quite a few fruit images as well as cute sentiments.  I used the strawberry image and stamped it out on GP White card stock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I also stamped the images on the back of a piece of White Mulberry Paper and a piece of Chocolate Mulberry paper.  I colored in the strawberries with my BIC markers.  I fussy cut all the images out.  Using a glue dot I adhered the mulberry "chocolate" to the strawberries and used a white gel pen and a brown BIC marker to draw drizzles on the chocolate.   I stamped the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black and matted it on a piece of pink card stock and notched out the ends to form a banner.

The background patterned paper is from DCWV and had all the colors I was looking for in it.  I pulled out a scrap of brown script paper and a piece of dark red plaid paper that looked like a basket pattern.  I cut them down to size and adhered them to the center.  Using pop dots, I added the strawberries and the sentiment.

Those "chocolate covered strawberries" look good enough to eat.  I can taste them now.  I hope strawberry pickin' time gets here soon.

Thanks again for stoppin' in.  Have a truly blessed day.

Have a Very Mice Day

OK.  I have to admit that I am addicted.  I have it bad.  What am I addicted to?  House Mouse Stamps.   I just love them.  They are so dang cute. I have right around 10 of them and cannot wait to collect more.  I think I need a 12 step program.

This week over on Feeling Sketchy they have a very clean lined sketch for us.  There wasn't much interpreting to be done with this one.  I used one of my House Mouse stamps for this one. 

I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black and used colored pencils as my medium.  I am still learning to color with the alcohol pens so I usually rely on my good old trusty pencils.  I trimmed down the image to 3.5x5", matted it on a light pink and then a dark green, all by Colorbok.  I used a strip of pink and green striped DP from DCWV to go across the image and pop the sentiment.  I stamped the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black and matted it the same way.  The back ground DP is also from DCWV.  I used a piece of Bubblegum Pink from Colorbok as the card base.  I wanted this one to be fairly straight forward, so I didn't add embellishments.  I probably could have added some pearls to the corners, but I didn't.

I am also entering this card in the Created with Love anything goes challenge and the Outlawz CAS challenge for this week, and the Through the Craftroom Door challenge.

I hope you are enjoying my projects.  I am so thankful that I can once again craft.  Thank you so much for stopping in and the comments that you guys leave.  You have no idea how much I enjoy reading them.  God bless y'all.

Jonah 2:2

Hello my friends.  I found this cool site during my searching for some new challenge blogs.  Shop Our Stash blog challenges you to use up your hoarded materials.  It's a great way to pull out things you haven't used in a while or have been hoarding for one reason or another. I participated in the challenge last week too.   This week's challenge was to use some of your oldest ribbon.

I made this one a get well card.  It seems I have needing alot of those lately.  This dang flu has everyone down and out.  I found this cute little Nurse Mouse online during one of my many searches for free digis.  I used my colored pencils and OMS to color the image.  I trimmed it down, rounded the edges and inked them in Bahama Blue by Memento.  I matted it onto a piece of stormy blue card stock by Colorbok.  The sentiment is from Dee's Bugaboo Boutique.  She has tons of Scripture Verses and Quotes on her site.  I found this one and thought it was very fitting for a get well card.  I did the same techniques to the sentiment as I did the focal image.  I used two pieces of scrap DP for the background.  They are both from DCWV.  I used a 6x6 card base made from Cornflower Blue from Colorbok.  The piece of blue glitter ribbon was hiding way down in the bottom of my blue ribbon bucket.  I thought the corners needed something extra so I added some cream colored flat back pearls to finish off this card.

I sure hope you liked this card.  Thanks so much for stopping in today and I pray blessings upon each and every one of you.  God bless you.

Faith

Welcome back.  I am on a roll.  I've been cranking out cards left and right this week.  It feels so good to get back to crafting.  I so missed it.  Today's card is for the Sentimental Sundays challenge.  The theme of the challenge was to use the negative space of a die cut and a text.

I used a piece of dark teal card stock that had a scalloped oval cut out of it.  I used the die cut for another card.  I then cut out a piece of neutral tan (The Paper Company) using the Classic Ovals Large from Spellbinders.  I adhered them together.  I used a stamp from the Faithful Florals stamp set by Tami Mayberry for the focal image and stamped it on Very Vanilla from SU.  I stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa.  The patterned paper is from American Crafts.

The card base is Early Espresso from SU.  I didn't want a whole lot of embellishments for this one because I wanted the sentiment to be the focus. I found this pretty blue flower in my flower stash and thought it worked wonderfully because it has three different blues in it.  I think it would probably qualify for a CAS.  Well, maybe my idea of CAS.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful day and may the Lord God bless you.

Round Card

I'm back.  Just like a bad penny, I keep showing up..hehe.  I found another challenge site this week.  I am so very addicted to these challenges.  If I could just get as excited about scrapbooking the thousands of pics I have as I do about my card making, I wouldn't be so far behind.  Such is life I guess.

This card is for Robin's Fetish Challenge blog.  I have hear her name before, but never checked out her site.  It's pretty cool.  Challenge 143 was to create a round card.  I chose to use my Spellbinders Classic Petite Scallops and Classic Circles to make this card. It's small, but will work perfectly for the tag on a gift bag or just a little pick me up card.

To make this card, I used the largest scalloped die in the set and cut two from Old Olive card stock from SU.  I then used the next size down and cut out two Early Espresso pieces.  I used the third largest Classic Circle for the greeting. To get the strip of patterned paper (AC) I cut the strip to 1.25" and centered the same die that I used for the brown card stock and ran it through the Cuttlebug.  It cut the scallops that I needed to line up the card but left the sides straight.  I then matted everything together.  The sentiment is from a Tami Mayberry set called Faithful Florals that I ordered from Gina K Designs while they were having their 40% off sale in December.  I really like the sentiments in that set.  I used Memento Rich Cocoa for the sentiment and Anna Griffins Rose for the flower.  I used my score board to put a crease at the top of the second set of circles so that when the recipient opens the card it will open without bending the back.

I sure hope you guys are having a good week so far.  Only two more days left..ain't that grand?  Thanks for stopping in today and God bless y'all.

Mojo Monday #277

I have come to the conclusion that I just love the Mojo Monday site.  They have some very talented ladies over there who come up with these wonderful sketches.  If you haven't already checked them out, I suggest that you do.  You won't regret it!

Today's card is a very CAS card that follows Sketch 277 on the Mojo blog.  I wasn't sure what I was doing to do when I saw the sketch.  CAS isn't one of my strong suits, but I have been trying to get them right.  I think I did OK with this one.

I used a piece of paper from Studio G's Valentine's line that they had out last year.  Yep, still trying to use up all my old stuff.  I cut it down to 2"x2.5"  I made sure to get the butterfly on the piece.  The stamp set is a little Valentine's/Love stamp from Studio G that I got at AC Moore last year.  I stamped in Classic Red by TCP.  I matted the image on a piece of dark red card stock from Recollections.  The mat is 2.25"x2.75".  I adhered them to the middle of the white card base which is from SU.  For embellishments, I added two red buttons and a pink one with glue dots.  I found this flower in the bottom of my stash pile of flowers and loved the way it looked.

I hope you enjoyed your visit today.  Stay tuned for some new challenge blogs and new cards.  Thank you and God bless you.

I Forgot

Hello again my friends.  I'm back with another card for a new challenge blog that I found.  Crafty Card Makers has some great challenges.  This week's challenge was to make a Belated Birthday Card.  I'm always in need of one of those because my poor brain is the size of a peanut and I don't always remember birthdays.

I chose this cute little elephant from a TCP Stamp called Circus Time.  I used my BIC Markers to color him in.  I used my glitter gel pens for the stand and ball.  I even added some Sakura Glitter pen to the curlie Q's on his hat.  I punched out the ball with a 5/8" circle punch.  I tried to use bright and colorful patterned paper and card stock for a cheery card.  The card base is from Colorbok, the DP is from DCWV, The yellow and pink card stocks are from Recollections.  I cut the image down to 3.5" square, inked the edges with SU Coral, matted it on the same blue as the base, then a yellow.  All mats are 1/8th larger in size.  I printed out the sentiment and inked the edges with the same Coral.  I used pop dots on the sentiment and the ball.  Adding four red rhinestones finished off this cute belated birthday card.

Thanks for stopping in today.  I hope you guys are staying warm.  It's bitter cold here in NE PA and my feet feel like blocks of ice.  Take care and God bless!

Hoppy Birthday

Hello there.  How are ya today?  I am sitting here at 8pm watching it snow.  Now, I am sure you are asking me how I am watching it snow when it's dark outside.  Well, we have a big flood light on the corner of our house and it's very sensitive.  We just let the dog out, he triggered the light and I can see the snow falling.  We were only supposed to get a dusting.  Yeah, think they were wrong.

On to crafting.  The card today is for a 5 year old named Mikey whose family attends out church.  His mother, Megan, and I are friends and they just a had a new baby in Jun of last year.  Mike, the dad and husband, does wonderful photography.  Look him up on FB under Class A Photography.  You will be amazed, especially when you see the Christmas card that he made for this past year.

So, Mikey is 5 and a typical boy.  Like to wrestle with my husband on Sundays after church, likes to play outside and tries to catch every bug possible.  So, I thought this image would be just right for him.  It's from Dearie Dolls and this card is going to be entered into the Melonheadz Friends challenge which is Use a Digi.  It's their first challenge ever.  Let's make some noise for Melonheadz.  They have really cute images and some are free.  

I used two papers from American Crafts for the background.  I cut out the image using my cutter, then matted it on a piece of Olive Green and then a piece of Kraft.  I printed out the sentiment on the computer and cut it into little strips, inking them in Spanish Olive before adhering them to the right hand side of the focal image. I matted the focal image after inking it, onto two pieces of DP from American Crafts.   I colored the image with my colored pencils and OMS.  After adhering the image, I added three little frogs from the Recollections 3/D sticker collection.  

For the inside, I use the same DP as on the front and a piece of GP White for the journaling spot.  I hand wrote the sentiment and the thought bubbles.  The little fat frog is a Cricut die cut and I used my BIC markers and White Gel Pen for enhancement. 

I always forget to take the pictures before I write the sentiments.  I don't know I just do.  I hope you all liked this one.  I love little frogs and definitely love this card.  Have a wonderful day and God bless.

So Thankful

Welcome back.  I hope everyone's day is going great.  I am doing much better now.  I am able to craft for longer periods and finding myself creating more lately.  I am so thankful for good doctors who really care about their patients. Some doctor's don't give a rip whether you get better or not.  They are in it for the money and they should find another line of work that doesn't involve dealing with people and their health.

Today's card is a thank you card that I am going to send to my surgeon and his PAs.  Dr. Campos has taken such good care of me and I am doing so well that I felt impressed upon to send this to his office.

The focal image is a cute little stamp that I picked up in the dollar bin at Jo-Ann's from Studio G.  I think it 's so soft and delicate.  I paired it with some dark teal, olive green and chocolate brown which can all be found in the DP I used for the background.  This is another sheet from that wonderful pack I picked up right before Christmas.  I used my Spellbinders Ovals and Scalloped Ovals to cut out the image and the mats for it.  I used pop dots to adhere it to the card after I added a chocolate brown satin ribbon to the middle and tied a knot on the left hand side.  The rhinestones are all from Queen and Co.

I used SU Very Vanilla for the card base.  I hope you all enjoyed this card and I hope to see you all back soon.  I am entering this card in the One Stop Craft Challenge for this week.  The theme is Thank You.    God bless you.

Birthday Wishes

Hello Guys.  How is everyone today?  I guess if you are reading this, your eyes are still intact and working properly after the previous post.  HE HE   This one will not be as long.  Only one card to showcase today.

This one is for two different challenges.  The monthly challenge over on Beccy's Place.  You still have 10 days to enter this challenge.  You must use one of her images, but she does have quite a few for free.   And the second challenge is Sketch Saturday.  

I used my colored pencils and OMS for this image from Beccy Muir.  Isn't she cute?  She reminds me of a little Southern Belle out for a Summer stroll.  That little pinafore dress is adorable.   The sentiment is from Dessert Diva.  I used Memento Dandelion to ink all the edges of the focal image and the sentiment.  I matted them on  Cornflower Blue by Colorbok.  The DP is from my stash and I wish I knew who made it and how to get some more.  I just love that cloud design.  I used pop dots on the sentiment.  The die cut strip I received in a swap and don't know if was made from a die, a punch or a die cut machine, but I like it and thought it fit perfectly here.  The two sunflowers I found in my stash.   The card base is Navy Blue from SU.

I sure hope you all enjoyed this card as much as I enjoyed making it.  I sure hope you all are having a great week and I will you blessings.

Some New Challenge Blogs

Hello there.  I have been searching for some new challenges to do.  I have found quite a few and thought I would try my hand and some.  So this is going to be a long post.  Be prepared to read for a while.  I am going to showcase some cards I made for the new challenges.

Cute Card Thursdays

This site can be found HERE.  The challenge for this week is Diamonds are Forever.  I decided to create a birthday card using an image from  Beary Wishes and the sentiment is from Dessert Diva.  I used my colored pencils in shades of pink and gray to color in the image.  I rounded the corners and inked the edges in DI Vintage Photo.  I matted the image on a piece of gray CS from SU and rounded those corners too.  The DP is from my stash and once again all corners are rounded.  I used the same gray from SU for the card base.  Because the theme is Diamonds are Forever, I used lots of bling to simulate diamonds all over.

I think it turned out pretty well, I just don't understand the shadow in the middle of the image.  Freaky.  Oh well, thanks for stopping in today and I hope I don't burn out your eyes as you keep reading.  


Card Making Mamas

I am loving all the DT examples on this site which can be found HERE.  The whole blog is beautifully designed.    This weeks challenge was to create and CAS card.  I chose to make mine a Valentine's Day card.    I used a stamp set from Studio G for the image.  I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black and Lady Bug Red.  I cut the image to 2.5" x 2" and matted it on a piece of red and a piece of black.  I adhered it to the bottom right and added two red hearts and a black on floating up toward the left had corner.

It is definitely CAS with lots of white space.  I am not a big fan of lots of white space.  I like to add embellishments.  The more I add, the more I like it.  But, for a creative break, these CAS cards are a nice  way to go.  Take a hop on over to Card Making Mamas and check them out.


Just Us Girls (JUGS); My Time to Craft

These two sites are just packed full of interesting ideas and challenges.  The JUGS blog can be found HERE and the weekly challenge is a color challenge.  Lime Green, Gray and White.  My Time to Craft has a sketch challenge for this week.  I combined these two as well as using it for the monthly challenge over at Beccy's Place.  

I fell in love with this wishing well when I saw it as a freebie.  I just love old fashioned wells.  We had one on my grandpa's farm when I was a child and I was facinated by it.  I knew I had to use this one for a card, but I didn't have the chance until now.  Using the gray and green combo worked very well with the way I had colored this image.  I love the sketch that we were challenged to use too.  

I used my colored pencils to color the image.  Everything was cut on my paper trimmer so this was a very easy card to put together.  I matted the image on SU Gray as well as used it for the card base.  The lime green and white are from my stash.  The DP is from a set that I bought right before Christmas from AC Moore.  It is by American Crafts and was in a cute pink binder system.  There are over 400 pieces of paper in the pack and I paid $19.99 for it.  Regular price was $59.99.  I thought it was a pretty good deal so I snagged it.  I used a Fiskar's Corner punch for the accents on the corners.  The sentiment is from a set of stamps that I got free but have no idea who designed them.

Thanks so much guys for stopping in today.  I hope you enjoyed the cards that I showcased and I hope your eyes aren't bleeding from such a long post.  I have three more cards but will put them in another post.  God bless you all.