Mythical Creatures Challenge at PCJ

My goodness, seems like forever and a day since my last post! Computer problems had me offline for quite a while and things have been a bit crazy the last two weeks trying to get caught up with hundreds of emails and more than 3000 Followed posts. I gave up on that last item. LOL Since I hadn't been able to print my digi stamps for my DT cards, I've spent my free time this past week getting some coloring done. Next week my schedule will open back up again and I'll be 'round to visit my crafty friends.

For today, it's a midchallenge post for Paper-Crafting Journey! One more week left in our Mythical Creatures challenge. Fairies, elves, unicorns, dragons... and the winner will receive 5 images from our challenge sponsor, Digi Stamps 4 Joy.

I used this lovely fairy image...

I colored my imge with Copics except for the wings which I did with a beautiful pearlized watercolor paint from Yasutomo.  Lovely sheen. The colors are a lot more intense in real life than this photo. (still more work to do with practicing camera settings! Sigh.).  I am still challenged by getting the flicking just right, but I enjoyed coloring her hair. =) I've been coming back to this very mermaid-y color combination of ocean blue, blue-green and purple for a lot of crafting this summer. Guess I needed to get it out of my system now that it's Fall and time for rich harvest colors. LOL My card layout is super-simple, focusing on the image. Since I spent this week getting back into the coloring groove, the cards themselves are mostly white on white with the color pop of the image. I used the Copics to perfectly color match the layers to my image and added some flat-backed pearls. Simple, simple!

My Teamies did some really gorgeous work... head on over and check them all out on the Paper-Crafting Journey blog! 

Will be round to visit soon and will see you all back here on Saturday! Til then, happy crafting!
Christy

PCJ-Papelitos Stamp Collab Challenge: Birthdays... and Purple Hair

Greetings, my bloggy and so-super-crafty friends!

The DT at Paper-Crafting Journey was worried that the uber-prolific crafters among you might get a little bored waiting around for our current Anything Goes challenge (running until September 12) to end, so our fearless leader Wendy arranged for a special two-week collaboration challenge with Papelitos Stamps' Challenge blog to keep you busy! OK, just kidding... well, about the DT being worried. The rest? Too true! Our theme for the special challenge is Birthday/Celebrations and you can read up on all the details here at Paper-Crafting Journey. As a twist due to the collaboration, you have to enter your card at both the PCJ and Papelitos Stamps Challenge blogs, but a double chance to win some great Papelitos images is worth a few extra moments to link up to both blogs, dontcha think? =)

For my card, I chose the image Lilian because as soon as I saw her, I saw her hair in all sorts of colors. I have been itching to try out funky hair colors and I actually think I did a better job with these purple Copics colors than I have with the more traditional blondes, brunettes and blacks. Here... judge for yourself:

I had a problem getting a good photo (migraine on Sunday left my vision a bit wacky) but I love the in-real-life colors... these BV and B Copics are some of the new Copics I picked up several weeks ago during a big sale ($4.49 and free shipping is definitely my kind of sale) and I am enjoying experimenting with new colors! =) I also added something else new... Viva Decor pen pearl dots around my image. I think I went a little overboard, but will be experimenting with those again, too! =)

I didn't quite get the effect I was going for on her face --- I should have studied Lisa's cards for nose shadows LOL --- but I think I got the feminine (if not traditional) look I wanted. I love these K&Co papers too. But why do they always make such great papers double-sided?! So hard to cut into them and "waste" one paper to use the other! LOL I added some Wild Orchid Crafts flowers in various colors I pulled from the K&Co papers. I accidentally glued down one of the smaller roses in the wrong place and couldn't get it off without ripping the papers, so I don't have the straighter vertical line I had in mind, but I love how the flowers pull all the colors together. I have been a little anti-sentiment lately, so I saved the "Happy Birthday" for the inside of my card. Which, now that I realize, I never photographed... so you'll have to imagine it. LOL

Some of my other teamies also joined in this special challenge with some fabulous birthday cards... be sure to check them out here!  Hope you can join us and Papelitos Stamps!

And.... don't forget our Anything Goes challenge is open until September 12th! Wendy upped the limit to 6 entries (from our usual 3) so there's plenty of time and plenty of opportunity to link up!

Happy crafting!
Christy

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

PCJ DT: Pearls & Swirls - Saturated Canary

Greetings, my bloggy friends and an extra-special big hello to my new Followers! Thanks for joining me on my crafty travels and for spreading the news of my Christmas in July Cash Candy! =)   I will be 'round to visit you soon! I meant to do it this week, but the days have zoomed by much faster than expected... I started attending an aquarobics class last week and the trip every night is now eating up 2 or 2.5 hours of my evenings. I'm starting to fall into a routine, but it was a big adjustment at first.

I have been trying to get just a little bit of crafty time in each night and did a lot of coloring over the last week... Nothing more relaxing than getting into a coloring groove. =)  One of the images I really enjoyed coloring up was for this fortnight's challenge at Paper-Crafting Journey of Pearls and Swirls, sponsored by Saturated Canary! One randomly chosen winner will receive two Saturated Canary digital images! Krista generously offered an image to each of the DT members and I was drawn to Honey, who reminds me of my friend Nancy's granddaughter. There's just something about that girly tutu and heart t-shirt with those big boots together. And that bunny! Love! It was just the perfect image for a card for Nancy.

And a side view...

I'm very happy with how this one turned out... My coloring came out nearly exactly as I pictured it (especially considering I pictured it based on my own skills, not the fantastic examples that populate my Google Reader every day! LOL)... not perfect, but my coloring is getting better! I had problems with the dark grays/black bleeding around the boot and it took ages to keep adding blender to push the ink back where it belonged.  But imperfections aside, I had such a good time coloring her up! =) I wanted to add a bit of shadowing around her, but I was afraid of ruining my image after all that work, so I left it plain and colored in just a bit of ground beneath her. I definitely need to do some practice images to see what shadow colors look good with which image colors. Sigh. More practice. Always the answer. LOL 

I did add a bit of girly glitter with a little Stardust Stickles on the underlayers of the tutu and a metallic silver pen for her shoelaces and the pull at the back of her left boot.

For my card I started with an 8.5x11 pearlized black cardstock with the matte side folded in. I took a blank embossed and pearlized wedding invitation card - I've had a box of these for 8 or 9 years - which was a little too big. I cut a strip out of the middle and ended up cutting too much! I 'fixed' that by adding some light gray satin ribbon and creating an accent strip across the middle. I added a gray swirl digi paper from Pink Petticoat, trimmed to fit inside the invitation's inside border and a pink paper cut with the largest Romantic Rectangle die from Spellbinders was layered under my image with a bit of corner rounding and a lot of pink and white pearls to accent. I added a few more teeny tiny pearls on the bare strip of pearlized black cardstock... love those itsy bitsy pearls! No sentiment, as tends to happen with my 'just because' cards. I didn't photograph the inside, but I used the matching RSVP card on the inside with a few more teeny pearls. Kind of elegant. =) 

Here's a closeup of the top corner. I took it at the last minute, so the lighting isn't as white as on the other photos, sorry!

I thought about adding a bow or a swirl die cut, but in person the pearlized and embossed swirl pattern on the wedding card really stands out and my coworker is not really into bows and flowers and froufrou, so I kept it simple. It gives it a sort of white-on-white effect with the pop of pink of that girly tutu and pink lacey edge from the die! =)

 So if this doesn't get you in the mood for pearls and swirls, check out my teamies' creations over at Paper-Crafting Journey and catch all the details for the challenge!  And if you haven't entered my Christmas in July Cash candy going on HERE, make sure you come back and check it out -- $40 gift certificate for my existing Followers, $25 for new or existing Followers, and $15 for anyone, regardless of whether they Follow or not! =)

In the meantime, I'm entering my card in the following challenges and link-ups:

ATCs and Cards with Attitude - #18 Anything Goes

Dream Valley - #36 Anything but Square

Whoopsie Daisy - Use Up Your Stash  (used my 8-year-old invitation paper!)

Simon Says Stamp & Show - No Rules!

Make It Monday - Link Up

Lexi's Creations - #69 For a Friend

Papertake Weekly  - All Things Girlie

Creative Craft Challenges 2 - Pink and Black

Wishcraft Waste Not Wednesdays - Wk 27 Neglected Stash (I think 8 years qualifies as neglected! LOL)

The Paper Shelter - #73 Anything Goes

Divas By Design - #44 Anything Goes
Moving Along with the Times - Pink, Pearly & Pretty

I will be back tomorrow with some CHRISTMAS CARDS! Woohoo! =)  Til then, happy crafting!

Christy

PCJ DT Card: Summer! - Daniel Summertime

Happy Saturday!

It is H.O.T. here and has been all week.... high 90s every day with strong sunshine (that's 36, 37-ish for you Celsius followers. LOL) It's too hot to think and I'm wondering if some of my brain has melted... I went to do my post for today's SAS4K cards and I realized I never did my PCJ DT post on Thursday!  I hope it cools off soon!

So... the challenge this fornight at Paper-Crafting Journey is SUMMER!!!!

That's whatever SUMMER means to you... weddings, beaches, vacations, colors, water... maybe even Christmas for you peeps south of the 'quator! =) Our challenge is sponsored by Fresh Brewed Designs and they have some great digital stamp images plus they'll be having a blog hop soon to celebrate the release of some new rubber stamps on July 14-16 with some special giveaways!  For our challenge, the randomly chosen winner will get to choose three of their digis!

Summer to me always reminds me of my childhood. We didn't go to the beach much, but there were lots of swimming pools and playing outside in the dirt.... and tans. Even though I used to get a lovely honey brown color every summer, I haven't gotten a tan since I was 18 years old. That summer I saw the face of an older relative who tanned all the time, even sometimes in tanning beds, and I decided I didn't want to look like that in 20 years. I haven't used an SPF under 30 in nearly a decade. I guess it worked, because when people found out that this past birthday was the big 4-0, responses were mostly "no way!" and "you're not 40!" I find this particularly ironic because in my midteens I was always mistaken for being older than I was. LOL It's also funny to see me next to a couple of my brothers who inherited their coloring from my mother's Native American ancestor as I'm so pale and they, well, my mother once misidentified her own son at a distance, thinking he was latino. hee hee

Anyway... So I chose this cute little boy, Daniel Summertime...

I colored him with Copics and chose darker skin tones than I have been using to get that tan look. It took a little more blending and layers of coloring, but it came out ok. I decided that Summer also meant bright, vibrant colors, so I took my color cues from these super digital papers from the Flipflopsicle kit by Summer Driggs. (Summertime Designs are FABULOUS papers and FREE!)The two center panels were taped together and popped up over a jute ribbon. I fussy cut Daniel and popped him up as well.

The sandcastle and bucket buttons are from a pack I picked up at Wal-Mart and the piece de resistance is my flip flop. It's one of those keychains you get from Oriental Trading Company or party stores to give to kids as favors. I stuck a little clear gem in the hole from the chain. Isn't it cute? A few last gems in the corners and done!

So there you have it... my idea of Summertime... what's yours?  Be sure to join us at Paper-Crafting Journey and post your Summer paper craft! =)  And don't forget -- 12 more days to submit for our Design Team Call here! 

Happy Crafting!
Christy

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!)

PCJ DT Card: Colour It Up - Mermaid Magic!

Hello, everyone!

So glad the week is winding to a halt and the weekend is just about here! I had the most marvelous time with Mom on Monday celebrating my birthday. I came to the conclusion that we should run away from home more often. hee hee! I was even a good girl - I didn't even think about looking at my work email, not even once! Which, many people will tell you, is a miracle in itself. It's not that I think I'm indispensable; I just don't like the idea of someone being stressed out because they needed information. Plus, I came back to more than 60 emails. For a single day off. Crazytown, right? And having to cram five days' worth of work into four is always... interesting. LOL

Annnnyway, I had a great time coloring up my image for the newest Paper-Crafting Journey Challenge: Colour It Up! Show us your hand-colored images. Pens, markers, pencils, chalk, distress ink, watercolor... just color it up! =)

Our prize sponsor this week is Inked Treasures who will offer the winner 4 digistamps of their choice! 

For my card this week, I used this sweet Mermaid from Pink Cat Studio:

I got a new camera but haven't had time to work it all out yet, so my pics are mostly from my old camera and not very good. I had a hard time getting the shots and I don't have much in the way of software to make a silk purse out of these particular sow's ears. LOL The colors are not nearly as rich as on the original card which makes me sad as I really love how the jeweltone purples and blues and greens came out on this card.  (And I'm sure my brother Ken will be cringing as he is a professional photographer. Sigh. Just look away, Ken... look away!)

My color inspiration came from the gorgeous poly ribbon which has a beautiful blue-green-purple swirl and is metallic and shiny and has a gorgeous textured impression. I love it! I hated covering up as much of it as I did in the end... will have to find another CAS project to showcase it! LOL The colors are beautiful and remind me of a peacock's feathers.

I used Copics and ProMarkers to color my image and added Stickles to her scales and bikini top and headband. A rich purple satin ribbon and a strip of lilac pearlized paper cut with a Martha Stewart art deco shell design border punch and dotted with teeny tiny pearls was added along with two rows of pale blue pearl paper cut into waves using an EK Success punch.

I added lots of texture using a Bubbles Cuttlebug embossing folder on a light blue sheet of glitter paper and a ribbon that reminds me of fishnet and seasponges, which I cut unevenly along its length to give it some interest. I had far too much fun adding little gems of various colors and sizes... stopping was very difficult! LOL I also added something that still makes me smile with a glee that only a fellow papercrafter could understand - my newest purchase, a Magnolia Doohickey swirl die. Although the poly ribbon was a little difficult to work with, I managed a beautiful swirl. (Yes, I am in love with this ribbon. LOL)

Last I added a sentiment stamp from Lili of the Valley and dotted with teeny tiny gems. a couple more pearls in the corners and voila! One shimmery glittered magic Mermaid! 

The colors are off - poor dead camera, sigh - but you can see the shimmer and glitter and dimension better tin these shots...

Ok... challenges for this cutie from the sea:

Bunny Zoe Crafts - Anything Goes

Top Tip Tuesday - Sparkles Galore

Tammy's Scrapin' Corner - For the Girls

Stampavie and More - For A Girl

Crafting for All Seasons - Many Layers

Hooked on Craft Challenges - All That Glitters

Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Bling Bling

Cutie Pie Challenge - Die Cuts & Punches

Cute Card Thursdays - Water

Crafter's Companion - Time to Embellish

Shelly's Images - Blingage

Sassy Studio Designs - Add a Splash (used Stickles)

Allsorts Challenge - Beside the Seaside

Crafty Boots Challenge - Anything Goes with bonus for bows (no bows for me however)

I'm off to ooh and aah over my new camera and figure out how to use it. =) Don't forget to head on over to Paper-Crafting Journey and check out the DT cards... and read the sad news that we are waving farewell to our girlies Suzie, Jessie, Hilde, and Laura. Sniff. Some other changes are also coming as Wendy takes over the blog from our founder Lisa... you can read all about it here. Hope you are inspired to Colour Something Up today!

Happy Crafting!
Christy

PCJ DT Card: Black Plus One - Chinese Red Dragon

Hey! Don't know where this year is going, but it's certainly going at lightspeed! I'm a little late with my post today... last night I was thinking that today would be Wednesday. Short term senior moment, I guess... so it's Thursday and it's time for another challenge post!

We have a great challenge at Paper-Crafting Journey... Black plus one... as in one other color. Although I found it a bit more challenging than I originally thought as I kept wanting to add a touch of gold or a touch of white, I stayed the course and kept strictly to formula. My first idea was hot pink but I don't have any hot pink ink or paint to use with the floral stamp I had in mind, so my next thought was red. And red makes me think red and gold which always makes me think Chinese. I love Chinese New Year and various elements of Chinese culture, like the animals of their zodiac. So I dropped the gold element and created this:

I have had these stamps for a while. The chinese dragon is Rubber Stampede and the chinese poetry background is All Night Media. I stamped both in Versamark and embossed them with black and Red Dragon powders from StampN Stuff and then used a Nestie to cut out my dragon. I popped the background panel up on foam dots and then layered on three ribbons - a black sheer, a red satin-edge sheer and a black satin, all from Berwick Offray. I popped the dragon up on foam dots and then as my only embellishment, I addedd three black enamel dots.

I thought about adding some floss tassels or other bits, but I really liked the sparkle in the Red Dragon embossing powder and the glossy shine of the black characters. I didn't want to just stick bits on for the sake of sticking bits on. I like the simplicity of this one.

My teamies have whipped up some fantastic creations... I love what Hilde and Jessie were able to do with plain ol' black and white! Click on over and check them all out here!

Then pick a color,any color, create your own work of art and link it up before May 23rd at Paper-Crafting Journey for a chance to be picked as the random winner of your choice of 3 digi stamps from our generous sponsor, Digital Delights by Louby Loo.

Have fun and Happy Crafting!

Christy

PCJ DT Card: Vintage - A (Shabby Chic) Tasty Read

Good morning!

Another (even more) super-quick DT post for me... I have been so distracted by everything going on the last week or so I even spelled "busy" wrong in my last post. (My mother noticed. LOL) I think I meant to type "crazy busy" and just made it one word. LOL  Anyway, it's time again for a new challenge at Paper-Crafting Journey.

The DT had a choice of two great Elizabeth Bell images... I picked A Tasty Read. And then our fearless leader Lisa S. chose VINTAGE as the theme for this challenge. If you remember my very first PCJ DT card, you might also remember that vintage is not really my cup of tea... so I rolled my eyes once (ok, maybe twice) to get it out of my system and got to crafting. My finished card is more in the realm of shabby chic I think...

Again, my original plan got lost in the moment, but the soft green and pink are pretty IRL. And I love that lace ribbon, not to mention a chance to get back to using flowers on my card. =)

Be sure to check out all the challenge details and my teamies' fabulous Vintage/Shabby Chic creations at Paper-Crafting Journey and I will be back soon! And be prepared... after all these short posts, I have lots of chatter all bottled up! LOL

Happy Crafting!
Christy

PCJ DT Card: Jellypark - Photo Inspiration

Greetings, crafters!  Yes, time is flying and it's already time for another challenge at Paper-Crafting Journey!

This week's challenge is a photo inspiration

Photo Source

and our sponsor is Jellypark, home of some really cute digital images!

Before I get to my card for this challenge, I want to mention Jellypark's special stamp collection. 100% of the proceeds from the 2012 sales of their special collection of Fundraising Stamps go to support Little Havens Children's Hospice in the UK. More details about this charitable project and Little Havens can be found at Jellypark here and you can visit the Litte Havens site here. Check them out - super cute stamps and a really great charity! =)

So... my card for this week. Jellypark provided a few images for the design team, but I thought they were so cute I went to check out their site and I fell in love with two of their images and was inspired to create this:

From the photo inspiration, I took the idea of cake (yum!) and originally the colors pink and blue as my main card colors. As my card developed, I ended up replacing the pink dp with a warm yellow, but I've got lots of pink touches, from the cupcake srapper to the pink pearls and the pink in the printed cardstock. All the printed cardstock is from the DCWV stack Sweet and I used a textured white cardstock as the 6"x6" card base.

I immediately saw this sweet little guy as baby brother to this darling little girl with her cupcake. He is part of the set Let's Fly Away that also includes a kite and a balloon. I flipped him in Word and sized him to stand next to his big sister. =) I also bought the Happy Birthday tag. The bunting is from this set.

I colored all my images with Copics. I wanted some texture to my cupcake icing, so I tried Adirondack acrylic paint dabber in Snow Cap. While it was wet I sprinkled a tiny bit of Doodleburg glitter in Bumblebee over it and I added Distress Stickles in Spun Sugar to what looks like a little gumdrop on top of the cupcake.

After I colored and fussy cut all my images, I tucked the birthday tag under the little boy's arm and tied a little bow on the tag with some twine. I did a little embossing, rubbing a large-balled stylus around the back to give a bit of a curve and dimension to the kids and popped them up on foam squares. Then I went a bit crazy with the pearls. I just got a bunch of Hero Arts pearls and I couldn't resist them! Last but not least I added a little silver "M" for Melissa, whose birthday was this week.

I also did a very simple inside using the bunting again and a small image of the Cake Shop. I did a quick coloring for the inside, not trying to be too careful or detailed, almost like an imcomplete watercolor. 

So, there's my Jellypark birthday card... I still love those two kids... so cute! I will definitely be visiting the Jellypark shop and creating some Jellypark magic again. =) 

In the meantime, why don't you head on over to Paper-Crafting Journey and see the other DT cards - they are FABULOUS! 

Have a great couple of days 'til the weekend and I'll see you soon!

Happy Crafting!

Christy  

I'm Late! PCJ DT Card: Kenny K - Pastels

I feel like Alice's white rabbit today... running around like a crazed neurotic exclaiming, "I'm late, I'm late, I'm terribly late" to myself every 5 minutes!

First, may I say that I do not condone violence generally. That said, when it comes to whoever made the decision to enact Daylight Savings Time, I will make a HUGE exception. Every year they disrupt my biorhythms to steal an hour from our lives. An hour doesn't seem like much... so why is it that it takes me more than a week to recover from the loss? Last year was better... I got up 15 minutes early every couple weeks between New Years until I was getting up an hour early and the time change didn't affect me so much... but this year? OMW. Lying in bed, cursing my brain for refusing to be tired and then watching as the clock ticked away until it was even after my normal bedtime from last week. Sigh. Let's just say my thought processes this week were challenged after only a few hours' sleep Monday and Tuesday nights.

To make things worse, Wednesday ... ah, Wednesday.  It was my mom's birthday (Hi, Mom! XO) and I headed over to her house after work and planned to come home and do my post for PCJ. Leaving her house though, I fell as the stones on the steeper part of their driveway rolled out from under my feet. Thank goodness Dad wasn't watching me leave or I'd never hear the end of it. LOL  So I came home, took some Advil and decided to lie down for few minutes to let it start working before sitting at the desk to do my post. Next thing I know, the emergency always-set alarm was going off and it was time for work! Lights on all over the house, the TV blaring in the other room... and the dogs. Loose in the house. All night. Bored. The kitchen trash was now kitchen, hallway, living room and dining room trash. Fun times.

I was late getting out of work Thursday, and when I got home I needed to clean up the doggie "party decorations" from the night before, get dinner and give the dogs some outdoor time before getting to my post. By the time I was done, I was so exhausted I could hardly keep my eyes open. So I figured I'd be ok to set my alarm early and get up Friday morning to do my posts. And yes, you know what happened. I slept through all FOUR alarms. I have yet to understand why I can wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning when I want to be sleeping, but can't manage to wake up enough to realize I'm turning off alarm clocks.

Anyway... here I finally am, and I'm not sure the wait (or reading through all that rambling) was worth it, but...
 WELCOME TO THIS FORTNIGHT'S CHALLENGE - PRETTY PASTELS! - AT PAPER-CRAFTING JOURNEY! Woohoo! =)

Our sponsor for this challenge is Kenny K who has a very recognizable style. As my coloring skills improve and I finally learn to color hair properly, I hope to be using more of his stamps! I got to try out a blonde combination on this beauty, Uptown Angel

I'm not altogether happy with my final card; it's more simple than I originally intended, but I do like how my Kenny K girl came out. I paper pieced and then used just a touch of Copics on her shirt and pants, using background digital papers from Bearly Mine, adding a little gold metallic gel pen on her cuffs and earring. I fussy cut her out and popped her up on foam dots. The papers are DCWV - Nana's Nursery Baby Girl, and I used the Spellbinder diamond dies. The flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts and the gems are Hero Arts. The flower is not quite as orange in person as in the photos, but a pinky orange that is somewhere between the orange flowers and pink diamonds on the bg paper. The hello stamp was a $1 Michaels find, using green chalk ink.

You can see the fantabulous pastel creations of my fellow teamies over at the Paper-Crafting Journey challenge blog. I hope you head on over and are inspired to create a pretty pastel pick of your own!

Happy Crafting! =)
Christy