For the Girls @ SAS4K: A Sassy Cheryl Sweet Birthday

Happy Saturday, my bloggy friends!

Thank you for the sweet words about Spencer. I'm getting adjusted to him being gone, although every so often I think I hear him meowing to come in before I realize it can't possibly be. My older dog 'Liss has taken Spencer's old space in the craft room... lying over one of my feet. A 12-pound cat was one thing; the 70-pound dog is another. LOL For the most part, I'm just imagining that if there's a kitty afterlife, he is busy enjoying stalking through the grass after the most delicious bunnies ever in between afternoon snoozes spent curled up in a warm patch of sunshine, and there is probably a loving caretaker there somewhere to give him a good cuddle, a belly rub and scratch around the ears when he wants it. 

So it's time again for another challenge at Send A Smile 4 Kids... this time it's FOR THE GIRLS! and sponsored by  Mayzy Art (8 digis of the winner's choice... wow, 8!), Sassy Cheryl ($5 gift certificate) and SCACD (gift certificate).  Time to get all girly... whether that means pink and frilly or princess goth or sporty tomboy to you... any child- or teen-friendly card for a girl!

One of the delightful images the DT received to play with was this cutie from Sassy Cheryl, Sassy Sally's Big Cupcake and I took the most obvious route of a Sweet Birthday card  =)

I wanted to go colorful, and I knew exactly what set of papers I wanted to use - Summertime Designs Sweet Cakes kit by Summer Driggs.

Sooooooo yummy! I've used this set to make a number of birthday and party banners as it's so colorful and fun - it looks like a sweet celebration!

I colored my image with Copics, giving her an extra rosy cheek. I mean, hey, a cupcake that size? She's obviously flushed with utter excitement... or the anticipation of the biggest sugar rush EVER! LOL I added a nice coating of Frosted Lace Stickles with a touch of Distress Stickles in Tumbled Glass over the blue shadows in the cupcake icing and topped it with a frosted cherry red gem. I used Copics to make the perfect shades of cardstock layers and ran a pink Copic along the edge of my sentiment, which was printed up from Word. With so much color and pattern, I just added a few red holographic glitter dots to the corners for a little extra sparkle.

I worked with a Mayzy image too, but my camera and I are having a serious disagreement over what my card should look like in a photo, so I'll be posting that later once I convince my camera that if it wants to stay in one piece, it will see things my way. >=[

My teamies have crafted some of the sweetest girly cards and you can see them on today's challenge post at Send A Smile 4 Kids. Hope you can join us with some creations of your own! =)

I'm off to have one more good romp outside with the dogs before the light goes. Will be back soon with some more crafty creations and a bit of crafty news! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and...

happy crafting!

Christy

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: 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

A Girly Pastel Birthday Card... with a cherry on top!

I had a very crafty weekend (and I think, as a result, I had a good workday even on a MONDAY!)

One of the cards I got done was a birthday card for one of my nieces. Her birthday is coming up in July and she's a fan of pink and purple and fun girly bright pastels. So, after checking out some challenges, inspiration hit and this is what I made...

My first card with an interesting fold! Card Pattern Sketch #119 and the accordion fold challenge at Scrapalicious combined in my head and I knew exactly what I wanted to do!  The card actually looks better than I expected for my first try at lining up everything so it works both closed and open.  Cardstock is Colorbok textured pastels, sprinkles papers in pink and white are digis from Summertime Designs, and the solids and striped/swirled dps are all from a ProvoCraft Slab. [As a side note, I'd wondered how long I'd had this paper so I did some googling, and it looks like 2004 or 2005 at the absolute latest. Scary how much time can go by without you really noticing!]  Nesties, a Heather Ellis digi stamp - such a cutie! - a little gloss on the cherry, some Sizzix'ed letters and a few little epoxy sticker dots and ta-da!

Cute girly sweetness, even without flowers and frou frou. =) 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Sweet Stampin - Food Glorious Food

Card Patterns Weekly Sketch Blog - Sketch 119

Stamp Something - Something Punched

Scrapalicious Challenge #6 - Accordion folds

This weekend was so much fun!  My carpet's rather hairy, there's dust on every shelf, but my soul is bright and cheery today, so it was definitely worth it. And I get to actually show these projects to my mom tonight in person! =)  

So, see you all soon... til then, Happy Crafting! =) 

Father's Day 2011

My dad is not a tie-wearing kind of guy, but I wanted to join in the fun at Hambo Stamps with their Hambo Hoedown. This week's image is one of three ties, combined for this challenge with a sketch:

Since my dad is also not big into cards and definitely not into a bunch of frills and doodads (much like my mom, see the relative 'plainness' of my Mother's Day card that she absolutely loved here), I feel a little less guilty about focusing on challenge requirements than my dad's tastes. Just a little. Hmmmm. A big bag of coffee nips or peanut butter blossoms to go with it, and I doubt he'll even remember I gave him a card. LOL

(Ok, Blogger, I give up. I've tried a half dozen times and it keeps rotating my card image from vertical to horizontal and I can't find any instructions on how to make it flip back, so... please don't get a crick in your neck turning your head to see my card! LOL)

Anyway, so I played with the color scheme from this week's Color Throwdown challenge... the colors match the Baja Breeze-So Saffron-Pear Pizzazz color combination better IRL than in my photos. The bit of argyle pattern, the green dots paper pieced into the tie and the green background dp are all from Summer Driggs' at Summertime Designs, color-altered in Word. I really love her stuff, and it color-alters so beautifully in Word. The "Dad" is a Word Art. A little textured cardstock, some oval Spellbinder Nesties and a few runs through the Big Kick and voila!  Simple, but bright and cheery.

So I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Hambo Hoedown - Let's Tie One On!

Color Throwdown - #145: Baja Breeze, So Saffron & Pear Pizzazz

Creative Inspirations - #115 Card for Dad

Crafting For All Seasons - #2 Father's Day

Stamp, Scrap and Doodle - Father's Day

My last couple of cards have used a lot of (or mostly!) solid-color cardstock, but I have lots of dps and digital papers to work with in my stash, so now that Father's Day is over and challenges start focusing on more girly or kid themes again, I'm hoping to get into more interesting backgrounds and combining patterns. I'm amazed sometimes what combinations some of these crafty queens - and kings! - come up with... papers I never would have thought to put together, but their final cards are stunning. And flowers - ooooh, the things I see on Wild Orchid Crafts challenges...  ok, deep breath. Beginners have to start somewhere... LOL

So, I have a couple of birthday cards to work on this week... will be back with those... wish me luck! And Happy Crafting, everyone! =)