Hambo Puppy Bailey & the newest SAS4K DT member!

Happy Saturday, my bloggy friends!  Considering patience is not a virtue high on my list of personal attributes--maybe it's something to do with my inner 4-year-old--I've done a good job of keeping some surprise news to myself. Karen Hasheck and the DT at Send a Smile 4 Kids have asked me to become their newest Design Team member! The focus at SAS4K is not just making cards for kids, but also collecting handmade cards for children in hospital, either for them to receive or to be able to give to their families and friends.  You can read more about it here.
I was excited and honored to be picked for the Paper Crafting Journey DT, but I never expected to be asked to be on one! Over Christmas I fell in love with making cards for kids - colorful, bright and FUN (and less challenging than vintage hahahaha), so I'm eager to get started!

This week's sponsor for the Anything Goes challenge over at SAS4K is Hambo Stamps. Their latest digital stamp is an adorable puppy based on their new furbaby, Bailey. My own Zoe is also a yellow Lab, so I couldn't resist.

Isn't their Bailey stamp sweet? I was rather pleased with my coloring and I love these papers from DCWV (The Pet Stack). The glittery hearts are cut out from one of the papers and I popped the little yellow heart and the image up with foam dots. I added just a few gems and these cute bones and puppy paw from the Jesse James line Dress It Up! line. The Puppy Love stamp is from a clear set, Simple Thoughts-Dog from Cloud 9 Design.

So, look forward to lots more kids cards from me for the bimonthly SAS4K challenges along with my DT cards for the great challenges coming up this year for Paper Crafting Journey! Can't wait to get started playing with my new DT crafting buddies! =)

Happy Crafting!
Christy

PCJ DT Card: Floral Challenge - An Experiment in Vintage

Greetings! My very first DT post for Paper-Crafting Journey Challenge Blog!  (Squee!)

Our first challenge for 2012 is a Floral Challenge – flowers, floral papers or floral embellies. Let’s see your flower power! =)  Up for grabs are a $15 (USD) gift certificate from Nicecrane Designs and 4 stamp sheets from the Sketching Stamper. Check out all the challenge details over at the Paper-Crafting Journey Challenge Blog!

For my card this week I used a sponsor image: one of the vintage Flower Children digital stamps available at Nicecrane Designs. Vintage is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay outside my comfort zone. These thank you cards last Christmas and this collage birthday card from September are my limited attempts at anything even remotely shabby chic, so I was facing a challenge of my own for this week’s DT card!  I finally came up with this experiment in blue:

It took me quite a while to get this card done. When Lisa sent me the sponsor images, I had NO idea what I was going to do. Actually, I freaked just the tiniest bit… my first card and I was going to fail! Yep, weak moment. LOL So I printed them out and avoided them while I worked on my cow Valentine card. Somehow some seed germinated in my brain and grew while I wasn’t looking. (Sometimes procrastination pays off. LOL) I spent a lot of time playing with techniques and colors and papers, testing and retesting until I came up with something that looked enough like the picture in my head and that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to post. ;)

I started with my background first, using papers from K&Company’s Julianne 12”x12”DP pack. I painted over it with a really thin coat of Distress crackle paint in clear rock candy. Once it dried into some really fine cracks, I rubbed picket fence Distress Stain over it and lightly toweled it off. I sponged the edges of both papers and the cream DCWV cardstock with antique linen and walnut Distress Inks.

Next I printed my digi image onto 24-lb printer paper and colored it with Copics. I used Distress Stain in old paper over the entire image with a little antique linen Stain lightly fingerpainted around the edges. I made my own postcard in Word (sadly I ended up covering that beautiful swirl), printing it on to plain white cardstock and giving it the same Stain treatment along with a sponging of antique linen and walnut DI on the edges.  Postal stamps/sentiment are part of a clear stamp set available at Lili of the Valley.

Flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and I took two of their gold metal corners, coated them in picket fence Distress crackle paint and then rubbed over them with the walnut and antique linen Distress Stains.  Lastly, I added three blue pearls that I colored over lightly with a T3 gray Copic marker.

So there you have it – now it’s your turn!  Join us over at Paper-Crafting Journey and check out the rest of the Design Team’s beautiful floral creations! Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

See you soon and happy crafting!
Christy

Udderly Amazing Valentine Cows

Hello!

Got so distracted I almost forgot the deadline to finish this card was tonight... the Bugaboo Stamps challenge blog Catch the Bug has started a new biweekly challenge: Stella's Sunday Sketch Challenge. I used the sketch, a Bugaboo digi and a computer-created sentiment to create another kid's Valentine's Day card!

Here is the original sketch:

This was fun as I am starting to get the hang of modifying sketches with size and shape to personalize them. When I first started entering challenges, I didn't realize that I didn't have to stick to the exact measurements and shapes of the sketches. Now, as you see, I am starting to explore changes in shapes, subtle shifts and size changes to suit my supplies and my creative muse of the moment. =)

My image was colored with Copics. The papers are an old Provocraft slab, Celebrations and there's a bit of red vellum I got from the Paper Temptress. The ribbon is a WalMart purchase from last February's clearance rack. I used my new Heart Squares Nesties again - this time using the smaller size as well and my Martha Stewart heart border punch that I haven't used in ages got dusted off. I buffed over the Nesties with Spun Sugar and Barn Door Distress Inks and added a bit of bling here and there with some G Studio crystals. I used foam dots to layer up the image, hearts and the sentiment for some dimension.

Just a few challenges for this one:

Stella's Sunday Sketch Challenge - Sketch 101

Send a Smile 4 Kids - Valentines for Kids

Digital Tuesday Challenge - #142 Punch It Out

So I'm off to post this to a few challenges, and then to wash my inky fingers and put on my PJs. Back soon with more fun!

Happy Crafting!

Christy

I'm on the PCJ Design Team! Woot! Woot!

Goooooooood morning, Bloggyland!  =) It's a snowy bright morning in the now-finally Frozen Northeast and the puppies, kitty and I are all snuggled inside keeping our toes and noses warm. Several battles for the right to lie on my feet have taken place, but everyone seems settled in now. Little do they realize that as soon as I am done with this post, it's upstairs to get crafty. Which means we repeat the process of everyone finding their comfy place all over again. LOL

So... why the excitement this morning? Besides being Saturday, this morning is about updating my blog to reveal this:

I have been thinking over the past few weeks about how to maintain my cardcrafting momentum from Christmas. No matter how much you love an activity, life has a way of interrupting, so I wanted to pick up some kind of responsibility to keep me going. Doing something like a craft fair or making cards for soldiers is still more or less a committment to myself. I thought maybe a design team would be the ticket, especially a biweekly challenge so I could feel more confident about my ability to contribute. So, one night I closed my eyes and clicked submit on the old Linky for the DT call at Paper Crafting Journey. And then it was a daily check to see who else had submitted and how many someone elses had submitted. LOL I know, I know... pathetic. Well, we all have our weaker moments. =) There are just sooooo many awesome crafters out there that it's hard not to compare and feel at least a little bit inadequate or unskilled. I just remind myself that this is for fun and I'm not going to be -or expected to be- the next Michelangelo or Picasso of the cardmaking world. =)

So you can imagine my excitement yesterday when I received my email from Lisa (PCJ owner/DT coordinator) welcoming me to the Team! I even woke my mom up calling her to tell her! haha  I'm looking forward to having fun with my new teamies and getting to work with our sponsors. Even better, I am looking forward to making many more cards and, more importantly, making more friends on this papercrafting adventure! 

See you soon with some crafty fun!
Christy

Bugaboo Valentine Puppy

Good morning! Up early, so I’m posting my card from last night. I intended to do some crafting the night before, but my body’s desire for sleep and my brain’s desire to craft were not compatible and I ended up going to bed early. I’m a night owl, so anytime I voluntarily go to bed early is a clear sign that the world is off-kilter. LOL

So… inspired by the oh-so-cuteness of this Bugaboo digi which I recently won, the color combo challenge from Enfys at Going Buggy, the sketch at CPS, and the Valentines for Kids at Send a Smile 4  Kids challenge, I came up with this:

I was practicing coloring “black” on Sunday… this was my 3rd try. I now understand why you have to use dark grays and not actual black. It’s still a bit dark on the paws, but you can still see the digi stamp lines, so I’m calling it a win. =)

The two heart papers and the plaid are digi papers from Stamp Fairy and the image can be found here at Bugaboo Stamps. There’s a little series of him and totally cute! After I colored with Copics, I used Glossy Accents to fill in his nose and his heart balloon. I sprinkled some Glamour Dust on the heart for just a hint of sparkle. My die cuts are the Nestabilities Square Hearts and a heart Sizzlit. I added some grosgrain ribbon layered up, inked the edges with Soot and Barn Door DIs and scattered about a little bling here and there for the finishing touches.

Challenges I’m entering:

Catch the Bug – January Anything Goes

Send A Smile 4 Kids - Valentines for Kids

Going Buggy – Grey or Black, White and Red

CPS – Sketch #250

Digital Tuesday – #142 Punch It Out

Papertake Weekly – Die Cute Special

7 Kids College Fund – #38 Try Something New (coloring black with alcohol markers)

Cupcake Crafts - #174 New (new Digi, new Copics coloring choice)

Lollipop Crafts – #62 Anything New Goes

Crafty Cardmakers – #59 No floral embellishments

That’s it for now. I’ll be back soon… and maaaaaybe with some exciting news! Stay tuned! ;)

Happy Crafting!

Christy

Lili's Little Fairies Challenge #1 - New Beginnings

Hi! Just making a quick pitstop to post while I’m at lunch. I finished up a card late last night for the first reconfigured Lili’s Little Fairies challenge and didn’t want to miss getting it in before the deadline! My goal this year is to do nearly all of them so it would probably be good for me to get in the first one, especially since my card is made! LOL

Click here for link to site

This week’s challenge is New Beginnings… so I’ve made a baby card. The pics are, as my bloggy friends in the UK would say, rubbish as it was half past dark and one of the bulbs in my light died. Sigh. The blending on my Copics coloring looks better in real life. I hate fiddling about with autocorrect on Picture Manager. I think I will ask the Birthday Fairy for PhotoShop this year. LOL

Here are the quick details – Stamp is LOTV, colored with Copics. Cardstocks are all DCWV edged with Dusty Concord and Peeled Paint Distress Inks. Flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts and pearls are My Big Idea, colored with Copics to match. And I used another new Nestie, these lovely heart squares. I had a hard time choosing between the circles and the squares… I’m glad I got the squares. =)

I kept the floral accents really simple as I didn’t like any of my other stash colors and I wanted to keep gender neutral. Why is it that no matter how much stash you have, you’re so often still missing the “perfect color”? hahaha

So that’s it, gotta get back to work. I’ll be finishing up my Bugaboo card tonight, so I’ll be back soon!

Happy Crafting!

Christy

Happy Newt Year!

Hello, hello! =) Every January my work gives us the chance to sell off some of our vacation time. I usually cash in so I can pay off Christmas bills and the like. This year I decided to invest in some anti-stress medication:

Prettiest meds I've ever seen  =)

I had a chance in July and then in September due to an out-of-stock raincheck to pick up some Copics at low prices (well, as low as Copic could get). I like ProMarkers, but I'm finding it easier to learn to color with the Copics, especially when it comes to choosing good colors to blend. Once I get more experienced, I know I'll be able to pick ProMarker colors better, too. And pencil colors, for that matter. But for now... I'll practice with Copics. The company ran another sale in December and now these beauties join my collection and are all organized and tucked away in a nice little rainbow on my desk. =) Don't hate. LOL  I spent the weekend coloring, blending, recoloring... and binning. LOL Most of my work ended in the bin, but that was ok. Mistakes = learning, right?

So... I saw this terrific New Year Newt over at Hambo stamps. I got done too late last night to enter the challenge with him, but I had fun anyway in this colorful, kind of masculine Newt Year card:

He's a digi, so I printed him and colored eveerything but his shirt in Copics. I really like how his head came out.with the dots. Kind of froggy-like. =) I planned to paper piece his shirt, but the tie-dye glitter cardstock was too thick, so I ended up doing something I don't want to do again for a very long time... I cut out the white space inside the lines to glue it over the cardstock. I had to use my black Copics to darken up all the lines on his shirt and I put buttons back on with some black enamel.

I have a stash from many years ago of holographic film samples. My inner crafty child's shiny quotient needed addressing. ;) I love how holographic materials give off that rainbow as they flash in the light. Hopefully I captured some of that for you in my pics. Turn it one way and get blues and pinks, turn it another and get greens and reds... It keeps me occupied for hours. hahahahaha 

I also couldn't wait to use another playtoy... the Star Circle Nestabilities!

I used a precious metals Recollections cardstock I picked up at Michaels, but it was too much white over the dark blue textured Wausau paper, so I used a circle Nestie to made it a ring of stars. I used the little star punchouts with some gems and a bit of silver metallic pen, a star Nestie cut out of some of the tie-dye paper and a sentiment done in Word in a matching orange-yellow hue. Ta-da! Very suitaable for a boy, I think.

Since I missed the Hambo challenge this week, I'm entering him in these...

Dutch Dare Challenge - New Beginnings (New Year!)

Inky Impressions - Anything Goes

Paper Play - Week 1 Happy New Year (New Year, new stash!)

Crafty Catz - #114  A New Beginning (New Year)

Fairy Tales - #32 Something New  (New digi, new Nestie, new Copics, New Year!)

Paper Cutz - #120 Brand New Year

Crazy4Challenges - C4C118 Do Something New (New digi, new dotty skin coloring, new Nesties!)

7 Kids College Fund - #38 Try Something New (New papers, new digi, new technique (dotty green skin), new Nesties)

That's it for now... I might be back tonight with a Bugaboo creation if I can get it done before bedtime, otherwise, I will see you tomorrow! Til then, happy crafting!
Christy

Tie-Dye and Sparkles

Hi! Popping in to post a birthday card I made for a coworker. She's in to the late 60s early 70s hippie tie-dye Grateful Dead era and not much into froufrou flowers and such, so when I saw a sheet of glittered tie-dye paper at Michaels I knew I had to have it.

I used a slightly oval card that started as a snowman's head that I found in the Christmas clearance at Michaels as the base and covered it up with the tie-dye paper, using the center of the paper where the spiral was nice and tight and I could get all the colors. =) Sooooooo pretty!

I didn't want to cover too much of it up, so for my lovely Hero Arts sentiment, stamped with VersaMark on a bit of Spellbinders acetate packaging and used Winter Wonderland embossing powder from Stamp-N Stuff, an opaque white with silver glitter in it. I did warp the plastic a bit... okay a lot, but I let it cool down under an acrylic block which helped get it flattened out enough. Yet another lesson learned! =) I used a Heather Ellis Pure Innocence image and colored her with Copics and popped her up over a strip of tie-dye ribbon I picked up at WalMart a couple months ago.

I stayed simple with my embellies, using a couple WOC Summer Blooms. The largest pearl I had looked a little too small once I had it on, so I filled in the gap around it with some Stickles that I brushed up along the flower petals. I am so addicted to glitter and sparkle now (I can't count the number of times I catch my inner crafty child thinking, "oooooooooooh, shiny!" LOL

I filled in the hearts in the sentiment with Ruby Red Liquid Pearls so I could hide the foam dots and decided to try to make some matching little heart embellies. I squeezed them out onto a craft sheet and let them dry, then Glossy Accented them to the card. After the first couple I got the hang of using just enough to keep a recognizable heart shape even after they oozed around and flattened out. (Euw, that sounds so gross! LOL) I did a really simple couple of circles on the inside and accented those with some Crystal Stickles and a few more hearts.

It's nice and colorful and girly but not too frou-frou, so I'm hoping it fits the bill =) 

Only one challenge for my card tonight--I'm posting it over at Hiding in My Craft Room where this week's challenge was "Freestyle". Nice and easy. =) haha

Hope you all have a really great weekend!  See you soon!

Happy Crafting,

Christy

  

Magical Winter Wishes in Pink & Brown

Happy New Year!  Woot! Woot!

I hope all of you had an absolutely lovely holiday. Mine was quiet after a week spent with Mom, who is recovering quite nicely, thanks to all of you who sent well wishes! =)  As my grandfather always told my mom, be careful what you do on the 1st as you'll be doing it all year, so I was extra super careful to spend time doing all the things I want to do this year. I listened to music, read a little, cleaned (a very little), balanced my checkbook and was oh-so-financially responsible, crafted a bit, watched a movie, talked to my Mom, checked in on Facebook, read blogs, did some tidying up and redesigning bits and planning my blog, wrote a letter, ate healthy foods, and exercised a bit. A very full day indeed. But I rather enjoyed myself. I missed a few activities, but we can't have everything. LOL

So... one of the crafty bits I worked on was the first Christmas card for 2012. Christmas All Year Round is on Non-traditional Christmas colors this month and I thought perhaps a bit of a stretch might be good for me, so my card is in pink and brown - a color combo I've never used before (...and only ever worn once!) - and follows this week's sketch challenge at Card Patterns...

 

I used one of the images and a sentiment from my brand new Wonderful Winter Wishes clear stamp set designed by Torico for There She Goes. The whole set is totally sweet!

I used another new item in my arsenal, picot edge nestie circle, to layer my image. (Forgive my photos, but my card is a little wonky as the Stickles dried a little tight.A few months in an envelope or in a stack of cards and it should be fine. I hope!) My image is colored with Copics - I tried for a sort of suede or fleecy texture to the girl's bear poncho. Got a little too inky - still not patiently waiting for my Copics layers to dry, but I'll keep practicing! =)

I used white enamel for snow falling and Stardust Stickles for the snowy ground. I used liquid applique for her ruff and pom-poms. That was the first time I'd used the product ... and I'm here to say, enamel, glossy accents, stickles, applique... this stuff is addictingly FUN! =) I originally intended to work with some digital papers, but my printer suggested I buy a new color ink cartridge, so on to Plan B. I embossed textured white cardstock, then used Spun Sugar and Walnut Distress Inks to match up with a pink sheet I'd had from an earlier project. The brown bit is from Recollections' The Ballet pad. I punched a Martha Stewart snowflake and sparkled it up with Cinnamon Stickles and added a button I've had from back in the needlepointing days of old and some DMC pink floss. A few brown and pink pearls around the corners and twas done.

So, for the Challenges...

Craft Your Days Away - #35 Snowmen (Even though he's only a wee one! ha!)

Glitter Geek - #30 Brand Spanking New (Nestie and Stamp)

Card Patterns - Sketch #146

One Stop Crafting - #163 Winter Wishes

Hiding In My Craft Room - #27 Freestyle

Christmas Cards All Year Round - January Non Traditional Colors (Card #1)

Paper Sundaes - #101 Something Old & Something New  (Old = Button  Floss, New = Stamp, Nestie)

That's it for tonight... I look forward to a great year of crafting with all my blogland friends. =) See you soon!

Christy