PCJ DT Card: Anything Goes - Shawna

[Edited to add:  Lesson for today: Make sure you use the right date when pre-scheduling a blog post!]

Greetings, my bloggy friends...

Sorry to have been quiet this week, but I've been a bit of a mess the past few days. I've had to put my cat Spencer to sleep. It was unexpected and a bit of a shock and, well, I don't apologize for being in love with that little bundle of fur. He was 9 and an indoor-outdoor cat, so I know he enjoyed his 9 lives to the fullest, but it doesn't make the selfish I-wanted-more-time feelings go away. Sigh.

I am glad the weekend is coming... I will probably spend lots of quality time with the puppies and lots of quality time with some Copics, papers, scissors and glue this weekend. Thank goodness for crafting!

So... on to my card today... Paper-Crafting Journey is running a SIX-week challenge this time 'round. I think it was supposed to be a bit of vacation for the DT, but we'll be running a special additional challenge in a couple weeks, so stay tuned. LOL  In the meantime, you have six lovely weeks to join us for an easy-peasy ANYTHING GOES! Paper crafts of all types, colors, and purposes... and we will have two winners! We are sponsored by the quirky and fun Mayzy Art Digital Stamp Designs who is generously offering three digis of the winner's choice to TWO of our participants for this challenge.

Mayzy also provided the DT with some images and I fell in love with Shawna with Latte... and before you say it, yes, I know... another Christmas/winter holiday card with snowflakes. What can I say - I love winter and Christmas cards! LOL

I love that blowing in the wind hair and scarf and I knew exactly what layout I wanted as soon as I saw her. These delicious papers are from a paper pad I won from Delphine last year and have been hoarding for just the right images and the colors in real life are a bit darker than this photo. I enlarged the digi (this card is 5x7) and cut the image just below that great belt before coloring her up with some newly acquired Copics colors that go so well with the muted blue-greens and warm grey-browns of this paper. I added a little gold metallic pen over the belt's hardware and the scarf tips and used liquid pearls on the flower adorning her beret. I had a few difficulties with her hair (still hair-challenged! LOL) and had to darken it up to fix a coloring boo-boo. I didn't bin her, but I came awfully close. I definitely will color her up again sometime, and she'll make a terrific practice image. (ooooh, the P word!)

I distressed the edges of the dp with scissors and paired it with kraft cardstock that I inked with Walnut DI and spritzed with the tiniest bit of water mixed with Perfect Pearls for a hint of glimmer. The top kraft panel is distressed... I kept the edges of my card base sharp but inked both. I popped the panel up on foam dots over a ribbon colored with Copics to match her beret and then popped Shawna up as well to get lots of the dimension I am addicted to (perhaps I should buy stock in a foam dot company! haha). I added some kraft cardstock snowflakes using a couple of Martha Stewart punches and inked those as well. They were inspired recently by this card from Katarina, whose cardmaking style I adore, and so many of Pop's cards as she uses kraft often for her base and punched/die cut embellishments. The pearl centers were a little bright, so I sponged over them with the Walnut Ink and wiped it off so they have just a bit of an aged color that ties in better.

A few little pearls in a couple of corners and done! I debated adding more embellishments,  but although I love some of the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink, layer-upon-layer cards that are a smorgasbord for the eyes, I seem to stick more successfully to a relatively CAS style.

My teamies have done some crafty masterpieces of their own, so be sure to check them out over at Paper-Crafting Journey and join in the fun! This one is too easy NOT to join in!

So that's it from me until Saturday, when I will be back with two cards for Send A Smile 4 Kids! Til then...

Happy Crafting!
Christy

Oops, almost forgot.... just a few Challenges and Link-ups...

Bearly Mine - #46 Anything Goes
The Stamping Boutique - #44 Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps - #35 Christmas in July
Lexi's Creations - #70 Christmas in July
Paper Playtime - #80 Anything Goes
Make It Monday - Week 100
Wishcraft's Waste Not Wednesdays - Week #28
4 Crafty Chicks - Distressing
Cute Card Thursday - #228 Clean and Simple

SAS4K DT Cards: Christmas in July!

**For my Paper-Crafting Journey Challenge Design Team Post, click here.**

Ho Ho Ho!  While in reality my outer adult has been sweating and melting my way through this past week in the sweltering heat, my inner child has been playing in the snow, singing Christmas carols and glittering everything in sight. Time for the men in white coats? Nope... it's Christmas in July here at I Never Went to Kindergarten-land, the Send A Smile 4 Kids Challenge blog and at Bugaboo Stamps!  (Although I confess the men in white coats have been after me for years LOL)

Our current challenge at SAS4K is Christmas in July and we hope it will help you get a head start on your Christmas holiday card crafting! Donations of your cards isn't required for the challenge, but it's always welcome... just follow the guidelines here. 

We have two fabulous sponsors for this challenge: Bugaboo Stamps, donating 7 digis for a random winner, and Crafty Sentiment Designs, donating 3 digis for a second random winner. Plus you may be chosen as a Top Three!  Both sponsors also generously provided the DT with some really great images to play with and I had a ball doing my favorite kind of cards - Christmas Holiday! Bring on the snow and glitter! LOL 

I couldn't decide which image to use for my first card so I chose to use all THREE images we were given from Crafty Sentiment Designs (you can find them in their Christmas Digi shop):

 

Here is an image of it somewhat flat and folded up. It doesn't stay completely flat, but I'm sure some time in an envelope will change that. =)

I spent a lot of time coloring and glittering on this one, but I love it! I did some 1" folds at the bottom to be able to get the depth and dimension between the images that I wanted. Then a print of a digital Snowflakes paper from Summertime Designs' Winter Gifts kit by Summer Driggs (cool free kits!) gave me my color cues for the snowmen's outfits and accessories. I colored all the images with Copics and ProMarkers and added a well-restrained dose of Stardust and Waterfall Stickles on my snowmen and the little star swag on the tree and a bit of Christmas Red and Lime Green Stickles here and here. I used a metallic silver gel pen on the silver bell.

I fussy cut my images and adhered them to the various folds and then added a couple layers of cardstock on each fold to cover the bottom of my images. Here's a side view:

On the front I added a little red and white bakers twine and layered a computer-generated sentiment and a snowflake made from two Martha Stewart punches. The snowflake was colored with Copics to match the colors on my snowmen and glittered up. I even added Stardust Stickles to the clear gem in the center... it doesn't photograph well, but IRL it gives it a frosted look with lots of sparkle.

So cute and Christmas-y! =)

I'm entering this card in several challenges and link-ups...
2 Sisters Challenge Blog - #99 Christmas in July
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - #80 Snowmen
Chocolate, Coffee and Cards - #16 Anything Goes
Fussy and Fancy - #66 Fancy Folds (hoping my folds are fancy enough LOL
Whimsy Stamps - #46 Anything Goes
Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - CHRISTMAS Acrostics:  I used Coal buttons/nose, Carrot nose, winter Hat, Happy Snowmen, Red Ribbon, Red Twine, Red Christmas balls, winter Scarves, Sparkling Snow and Snowflakes, Twinkling Stars, Christmas Trees, Sparkling ear Muffs and Silver bell.  Whew!
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes 
Hooked on Crafts - #22 Christmas in July
Lollipop Crafts - #84 Christmas in July

I made a second card for our challenge post using this sweet gingerbread girl from Bugaboo Stamps:

I really focused on coloring on this one (using Copics) and am quite pleased with most of my blending, especially on my candy cane. The photo loses some of the detail, but there is a real 'roundness' to the cane in person. I used red liquid pearls to fill in the heart on her sweet ginger butt.

 Then I carefully applied white enamel in the icing sections and held my breath as I dumped Glamour Dust over it while it was wet. I waited until it had dried to dust it off and see what stuck. Turns out, quite a bit! Lovely sparkle.

(Oh, how I LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEE Christmas holiday cards! hee hee ho ho hee!) 

I kept the layout very simple and made a smaller card than usual (4.5x5.5") so that the image was large and in charge. The papers are from a DCWV Christmas and Winter 180-page pack and I used some kraft cardstock. All my edges are well inked with either Burlap or Walnut Distress Inks (or both!). Very country, I think. I know my followers will be oh-so-shocked to hear I popped my image up on foam dots. Ha! I tied on a bit of Christmas red and white twine and a button and added three itsy bitsy pearls to finish it off. Yummy!

I'm entering this card in the Just Some Lines challenge - Clean and Simple.

Now... this month is going to be full of fun...

SAS4K is joining Bugaboo for their Christmas in July celebration over at Catch the Bug from July 14-21. Plenty of fun and prizes to be had and lots and lots of SPARKLE! =) LOL And they will be doing a card drive for SAS4K as part of their celebration. Click on the image below to get all the details!

And if you've hung in all the way to the end of this monster post... here's a bit of a reward:
On Monday I'll be having my first ever BLOG CANDY here at I Never Went to Kindergarten, with a special bonus for my current followers. It will be a super sweet Christmas in July!

So see you Monday and until then...

Happy Crafting!
Christy
Christmas Elf

PCJ DT Card: Feelin' Krafty - Fairy Daisy

Hello, my bloggy friends and followers! Happy blankity-blank FRIDAY! 

I am soooooooooooooooooooo glad and maybe surprised that I finally made it to the weekend. I'm already a day late and a dollar short for the current Paper-Crafting Journey Challenge, but I'm feeling krafty now, so we're all good. LOL

PCJ is looking for new Design Team members! Having lost some of our crafty ladies (sigh), we're looking for some new happy crafters to join our team. Wendy is holding a DT call for the month of July and you can read all about it and link up if you're interested here. PLUS we've moved back to our original site here! What? It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind. Often. And for no reason. =P As the new blog owner Wendy has given the site a fresh coat of paint and a new look, so check it out!

On to this fortnightly challenge...  FEELIN' KRAFTY! We want to see you use kraft cardstock somewhere on your paper craft! Don't forget that PCJ is not just a card challenge - it's open to all sorts of crafting---as long as it's made with paper! Up for grabs this challenge is a $10 gift certificate from our digi-delightful sponsor DIGI DOODLE SHOP. Although they were kind enough to provide some images for the DT, I had fallen in love with this fairy while shopping around for (ahem) my other DT and I had to buy her! She's just been sitting in my harddrive, waiting for me to print her out. =)

My new camera and I have not yet come to an understanding. What is supposed to be automatic and easy is persistently frustrating right now. The camera is so automatic that some of the settings I used on my old camera are missing. Or hiding. Or something. So adjusting my lighting after the fact is not quite working. I will persevere! I would have read the manual, but apparently paper is just so un-2012. They aren't cool enough that they sent it on a memory stick, but they did send it on a CD... so I guess I will have to load up and do some reading this weekend.

Sorry... back to business...  here is my krafty little creation for this challenge:

This image made me wonder... she's smiling, not pouting, so she's not in a fairy time out. Maybe she's just sitting, eyes closed, breathing in the morning air and enjoying the moment. Sounds so refreshing and relaxing. Hmmmm, wonder if I can find a daisy big enough for me? LOL Anyway, I colored her up with Copics.  I glittered her wings with Stardust Stickles and a bit of lavender Liquid Pearls. I also added a touch of yellow Stickles on the daisy center.

I embossed a piece of white cardstock and layered that over a lovely lemony yellow. I cut the yellow cardstock a little longer so that I could use this oh-so-cute daisy ribbon trim that I've had for a few years. The centers were already yellow, but I used a bit more of the yellow Stickles on them to tie in to the daisy image. Then I added my image, popping my little fairy up on foam dots because, well, as you know, I am obsessed with popping things up with foam dots. I am sure I have mentioned this at least once. Per post.  LOL

So... there's my fairy. It's simple, but a pretty little card IRL... not very photogenic, but she's sparkly and sweet and I think I know just the person who needs a little lift. I think her butterfly wings will be just the trick.

Though the ranks are a bit empty at the moment, my remaining teamies have krafted up (har har) some great cards for you that you can find over at Paper-Crafting Journey! Hope you are inspired to get a little krafty with us! 

Have a fantastic weekend wherever you are and happy crafting!
Christy

(Psssst... Before I go... just a quick tease that July will be an exciting month around I Never Went to Kindergarten-land...  be sure to stop by in a few weeks when Santa's Elves stop by with some yummy Christmas-in-July candy! See you soon!)