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 Challenge DT Card: 3 or More Patterned Papers - Blue Winter

Ok, so it's still Thursday so I'm not technically late to post my Paper-Crafting Journey Challenge DT card... technically. LOL

I was tired last night and so I thought go to bed early, get up early! Noooooo problem. Um, yeah. Total state of denial. Once upon a time I might have gone the way of my father, for whom the crack of dawn is an actual sound... but after nearly four decades, I am clearly my mother's daughter when it comes to sleeping patterns. At least one of my older brothers is the same way. 2 a.m. is prime time. Our brains are hopping, our energy is up and... the rest of the world is dead asleep. Sigh. My brother did the smart thing long ago and moved to NYC, the infamous city that never sleeps. I, however, live in a small town where they roll up the sidewalks at dark. These days supermarkets and Wal-Mart stay open 24 hours while they stock shelves, but it's not like those are really happening places to hang out. Thank goodness for the internet. So getting up in the morning makes no sense to my biological clock. None whatsoever. And I still haven't recovered from the time change when they stole my hour! Even having gone to bed early, I slept through all the early alarms. The last alarm finally managed to wake me and I had no time to spare. Made it to work on time though! LOL Anyway... on to the challenge...

First up, our challenge has moved! The new address is http://papercraftbliss.com/thejourney! Check out the fresh green color and the funky font Lisa has used on the new site. =) And don't forget to follow using either Linky Followers or RSS feed to your Google Reader or other feed manager!

This fortnight our challenge is any paper craft using 3 or more patterned papers! Our sponsor is Robyn's Fetish and they are generously offering our winner FIVE digital stamp images!

I worked on a few different projects, but none of them were really coming together the way I wanted. I was a bit frustrated until I realized what the problem was... I miss glittery snowflakes! There, I said it. We had a blah winter with no snow, no snowmen, no happy days stuck inside during a mini-blizzard drinking hot cocoa and snuggled down with friends and family or at least the fur-kids watching movies, safe and warm at home. And I miss the fun of pre-Christmas crafting with all those glittered snowflakes everywhere. So... here is my first winter/Christmas card for 2012! LOL

I kept it super simple. The papers are all DCWV Winter Stack.  I used a lovely die cut set from Clear Dollar Stamps and layered my snowflake with foam dots over it. The snowflakes are Martha Stewart punches, liberally coated with Stardust and Waterfall Stickles and the gems are Recollections.

Very simple, but very satisfying. And I love blue. It's the color of happy skies and cool waters.  

My other teamies were much more focused this week and they have some really colorful inspiration for you. I particularly love Lisa W's creation this week. Such a great scene made out of patterned papers! You can check them all out at the new site here. Then get busy crafting and show us what you've got! =)

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

James Bear in the Snow & Lili's Little Fairies candy

Hi! Blogging to you from a waiting room at the local hospital. Mom's having her other knee replaced... so that's one hip in April, one knee in October and one knee in December. Just call her Bionic Mom. LOL

She asked for another card to put in her room after the surgery, and I couldn't resist the urge to use one of my new never-inked stamps from LOTV, James Bear in the Snow. I also got to use my new, never used digital paper set from Nitwit Collections, Joyful Hearts.

I colored James with my Copics, and tried to get a furry/hairy look. I think for the next time I use this stamp, I'll go back to basic blending, then work up to getting furry techniques, but he turned out pretty cute. As I've said, it's hard to go wrong when you start with a great stamp image! =)

For James, I used the deckled-edge oval Nestie, Stardust & Waterfall Stickles and Liquid Pearls. Also making an appearance are the Martha Stewart Aspen PATP and some white pearls colored pink with an R85 Copics. Along with the snowflake and striped paper, I used a pink snowflake from the Nitwit set that I fussy cut to layer under my image and a plaid flake that I coated in Glossy Accents for something different than I've done before. I almost added some glamour dust, but waited too long to think of it and the surface was dry. I think I could become as addicted to that as I have to Stardust Stickles! hee hee 

I did a simple inside as I was running short on time, but my mom loved the snowflakes punched from the Nitwit papers. And I love textured cardstock... even a blank white space looks more interesting with all those nooks and crannies. =)                     

It was so much fun coloring James, even with the challenges of it being the first time. I have lots (and lots!) of new LOTV stamps for coloring in 2012... so one of my crafty goals this year is going to be to use at least one of my LOTV stamps every week. To help reach that goal, I'll be following the revamped LOTV challenge... Lili's Little Fairies.

To celebrate the "new" launch, they are having a fabulous candy draw to kick things off before the first challenge in January.  You can read all about it here!

Challenges for James...

Christmas Cards All Year Round - December - My #5 card! woohoo!

Digital Tuesday - #141 Winter Wonderland (Nitwit Collections digital paper)

The ABC Christmas Challenge - F is for Frosty

2 Sisters - #71 Snowflakes

Sweet Stampin' - Sparkle & Bling

Hiding in My Craft Room - Use It or Lose It

Just heard mom's out of the surgery and in post-op... great timing! =)  I expect to be back later this week with one or two last projects of the year, but if something comes up, just want to send you all my best crafty wishes for a very happy New Year!

See you soon!

Christy

Embossing, embossing, embossing...

Greetings! Here's a card I've been working on the last couple nights... mostly waiting. Waiting for glue to dry. Waiting for ink to dry. Waiting for Stickles to dry. Next time, I'm pulling out the heat gun. LOL

The main inspiration for this wintry holiday card was all the gorgeous embossing I've seen this season on the blogs and challenges I've been following combined with a glue-embossing Fiskars project I'd seen last Spring.

To start, I sprinkled a lot of Glamour Dust in Crystal over a Sizzix embossing Texture plate and brushed most of it into the snowflakes.Then I poured a liberal amount of Elmer's basic white School Glue over the lot and set it aside to dry. It took two days for it to dry completely so I could peel it off the embossing plate. Then I cut it down to a square and adhered it to a really pretty royal blue cardstock. My lousy winter nighttime photos are not doing it justice. Sigh.

Anyway, I embossed a square of white plain white cardstock and some plain cardstock cut with a Labels 18 Nestie, running a silver metallic gel pen over the edges of the Label diecut. You can see those details best in some of the angle photos. (Warning, this post will be photo-full as I kept trying to capture the really pretty in-real-life sparkle of the embossed glue panel!)  I lightly sponged some Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink over several Martha Stewart snowflakes cut from textured white cardstock, added Stickles to the largest and one smaller flake I left white.

I added some bling, popped up both the middle snowflake and the Label diecut with foam dots, and put it all together over a square of pearlescent silver paper. It's pretty simple, but there's lots of texture and sparkle, so hopefully it's not too boring. LOL

Here are some more angle photos...

 

A close up of the lovely sparkles =)





These two I tried to play with the lighting, so the color's awfully yellow, but I think you can see the Glamour Dust better...

Or not... lol =)

Challenges for this project...

1 Simply Create Too - #2 Embossing

2 Christmas All Year Round - Card #4 for December

3 ABC Challenge - F is for Frosty

4 Papertake Weekly - Last Christmas Card of the Year

5 Creative Inspirations - #143 Anything Goes

6 Colour Create - #86 Blue, Silver & White

7 Paper Play Challenge - #50 Christmas

8 Glitter Geeks - #28 Anything Goes

9 Hiding In My Craft Room - #25 Embossing

10 One Stop Crafting - #162 Christmas Sparkle

So, that's it for tonight... have a few more works of art underway, but I probably won't post them until tomorrow or perhaps Saturday... crazy busy with only a couple more sleeps left! =)

Happy Crafting!

Christy

Warm Winter Wishes - Pearl Shimmer & Sparkle

Hello!  Just finished up this beauty... I am loving this digital image from Pure Innocence this year. I think it might be the only image I've used twice so far. I don't think my first attempt at white on white did the image justice, so I thought I'd put her in pretty pink this week. I've done several blue and white cards, and although I love that combination, I also am loving the pink-white-silver I have seen on other crafters' cards  over the past month. Plus I wanted something soft and feminine for the friend for whom this is intended. =)

Apparently I don't learn from my mistakes... if you remember, on my WOW card, I dropped on Liquid Pearls for the snow and then found out that running it through the embosser with a Nestie resulted in flat snow dots. This week, just as I was finishing up my Copics coloring, a drop of gray got onto her sleeve that colorless blender just wouldn't remove. I couldn't figure out a way to cover it up or get rid of it, except to add snow over her to match her background, so I got out my never used bottle of white enamel and dotted it up. To my delight, it worked, at least well enough for me. To my horror, I realized... d'oh! I'd done it AGAIN. So after smacking myself upside the head, I realized that since I wanted to use some embossing, I could cut out a frame and emboss it and lay it OVER my image! Eureka! =)

I used a shimmery pearlescent white and a pearlescent silver/gray, both from Colorbok, and a pink scrap left over from my niece's birthday card. Can't remember what paper pack that came from. I used a Sizzix Textures snowflake embossing plate and shimmed it to get a really good, deep impression. I colored a Martha Stewart snowflake with the same pink Copics I used for my image and added some Stardust MyLifeWouldBeDullWithoutYou Stickles and layered it with a smaller MS snowflake punch and a white pearl colored with pink Copics. I used a white single-faced satin ribbon with a pearlized twine from a name badge holder from a recent conference. The computerized sentiment was done in a darker pink to match the background paper and the darkest pink Copics I used.

So, one more checked off the list. =) Challenges are being very easy on crafters this month due to the holiday, so here's the list for my shimmery, snowy warm winter wishes card:

Christmas Cards All Year Round: December (this one's #3... 2 more to go!)
Crafty Calendar: Cold and Frosty
Joanna Sheen: #1 It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Cupcake Crafts: #172 Don't Look at the Light

Lollipop Crafts: #61 Happy Holidays

Digital Tuesday: #141 Winter Wonderland

Tuesday Throwdown: #78 For Someone Special

Papertake Weekly: I'm Dreaming of a favorite-color Christmas

ABC Christmas: Y is for Yippee - Christmas Is Almost Here!

The ABC Challenge: E is for Embossing

Paper Crafting Journey: Christmas Challenge

Chocolate, Coffee & Cards: #1 Celebrate  (my final entry - I managed 3 different types of celebrations!)

2 Sisters: #69 Christmas
and finally... Sunday Stamptacular: #142 Christmas Glitz

Whew! Well, soon it will be back to non-Christmas stuff and from what I've seen from scrolling through older challenges at these sites, I'll have a much harder time combining challenges. But this has been fun while it lasts!  I'll just have to make lots more cards in 2012! =)

Thanks and Happy Crafting, everyone!

Christy

Toby's Sparkly Snowball

Card number two from spending the day in the craft room is this holiday card for another of my nieces. Sorry, the photo's a bit wonky, but it's sparkly, isn't it? =)

This image is Toby from the StampFairy - and Gerda happens to be having a 50% off sale right now! I used Copics again - love the Sketch brush tip! - and used a white paint pen to add a bit of accent to the ends of Toby's scarf. Smooch spritz on a white textured cardstock created the base. The snowy background is from Nitwits new Woodland Wishes with some torn white cardstock glittered up with Stickles for the snow-covered ground. Again I've used Martha Stewart punches for the snowflakes dotted here and there. I made my own sentiment on the computer, cut it out with a deckled oval Nestie before glittering the edge. Toby is up on foam dots and his snowball is glittered to death! LOL I also added a few Liquid Pearl dots to accent the Aspen punched border and the larger snowflake. A bit of Offray rickrack in baby blue hid the border seam nicely. 

 
 This one was taken without flash so it's a little blurry, but it shows off all that sparkly snow! =)

And here's a close-up of Toby...

So, off this goes into the box to be mailed out on Monday... and best of all, this snowball won't melt on the way to Arizona. =)

Challenges for this card...
Christmas Cards All Year Round - December
Crafty Calendar - Cold and Frosty
Joanna Sheen - It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
Craft Your Passions - Anything Goes with Glitter
Kaboodle Doodles - #96 Colors of Christmas
Tuesday Throwdown - Celebrate the Season
ABC Christmas - Y is for Yippee! Christmas Is Almost Here!
Creative Inspirations - #141 Snow Much Fun
Moving Along with the Times - #127 Last Minute Christmas
Paper Craft Journey - Christmas Challenge
Winter Wonderland - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
Send a Smile 4 Kids - Winter Fun for Kids
2 Sisters - #69 Christmas