I Never Went to Kindergarten: Valentines

Showing posts with label Valentines. Show all posts

Thursday, February 16, 2012

PCJ DT Card: Make It Cute Challenge - Lily Valentine Ballerina

Hello again, my bloggy friends! It's Thursday morning and time again for another challenge over at Paper-Crafting Journey!

My mom had a bit of worry over me for the last challenge, as I pre-schedule my posts to release at the same time as the challenge. Our blog owner, Lisa, is in the UK while I'm here on the eastern coast of the US, so there's a 5-hour difference and I post at 3 a.m. to match her 8 a.m. post. My mom didn't know that and had a real bit of worry that I'd been up to the wee hours and would have a rough day at work. So... <whispering quietly> Mom, it's actually 9 on Wednesday night, shhhhhhh! =) Even as grownups we kids give our moms a rough time, eh? LOL

The card productivity has been light the past couple weeks as I'd been having some vision issues with painless migraines which made detailed crafty work a little difficult. I have, however, been practicing some techniques which will be showing up in the next month or so, and am now back to being able to get back to my regular crafty play. Yay! <insert moment of futterwacken>

So... on to the challenge...

This fortnightly challenge is Make It Cute! This challenge was a great fit for me as cute is my comfort zone and our sponsor is a fave of mine, Pink Cat Studios! Melissa has the cutest line of stamps which are available as digis on her site and in good old-fashioned rubbah at a number of retail locations worldwide (find a list here). For this challenge, the winner will pick up 5--yes, FIVE--of her images. =)

For my DT card I used Lily Valentine Ballerina to create this simple little valentine...

This was an interesting coloring experience... her face is darker than I intended as I have discovered the danger in having too many markers lying out at once on my desk. One of my blending passes was supposed to be E000 and ended up being E01. And I'm still having a maddening time getting consistent hair coloring, so half way through I ended up coloring it more or less solid. Hopefully I'll be able to log some practice time this weekend. =)

The red heart doily is a cheapie from my local grocery store. You never know where you might find a crafty item! Since it was a bit intricate, I stayed pretty simple in my paper choices, using only a red marbled paper from an old ProvoCraft slab and some textured black and cream cardstock from Colorbok and DCWV. I didn't want to cover up too much of the doily so my usual image treatment (fussy cut with a bit of a white edge, popped up on foam dots) was perfect. =)

I used a lot of Glossy Accents on this one - I punched out two sizes of hearts from the red marbled paper and coated them with Glossy Accents, fixing them to my card after they'd hardened. I used Stardust Stickles on her sleeves and dress hem and her heart wand. After it dried, I used Glossy Accents over the Stickles on her wand. I really like how it looks, so that

will definitely be showing up in future. =) The sentiment is a dollar Studio G stamp from either Michaels or Wal-Mart.

The three roses are from WOC and I tried to leave them plain, really I did. For all of an hour. Then the Stickles bottle was calling to me and my sparkle addiction kicked in and I just got all caught up in the glittery goodness. Sigh. I did, however, manage a tiny bit of restraint and it's just the merest hint along the very edges of the rose petals.

Hope you were inspired to craft yourself up a bit of cute and join us over at Paper-Crafting Journey and if you need more, come see the super cute creations from my fellow teamies! Good luck and happy crafting! =)

Christy

Saturday, January 14, 2012

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

Friday, January 13, 2012

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.