Dilly Beans Skulls and Skellies

This week at the Dilly Beans Designers and Challenge Blog our challenge is Skulls and Skellies. WooHoo! Right up my alley! Although there are tons of fabulous skellies at the Shop, I chose one of Megan's newest Dia de los Muertos #384 Sugar Skull and Flowers. I really got a kick out of his hair and just couldn't resist the sentiment. He's colored with Copics with a bit of gel pen detail. The little cross is cut with the new Spellbinder's die out of mirror card stock. His frame is my new Labels Twenty Three out of K&Co Portabello Road DP rimmed with peel off vines.

I printed the image a number of times to get the dimension I was looking for. Had to pump up that pompadour! There's lots of eye candy from my DT sisters so be sure and check out the fab inspiration at the Challenge Blog and we can't wait to see what you come up with. Please note that I woke up today and Blogger decided to suspend my commenting abilities. I've never had this happen before but I know others who have. Any ideas on how to fix this? How FRUSTRATING!

I'm also entering this in:

For Your Inspiration (FYI) Photo challenge using the lush foliage colors and the white bridge makes me think of the teeth of the skellie. Weird, I know, but honestly, that's what hit me.

Southern Girls You Got Something You Wanna Say? Quote Challenge (figured you gals might know something about big hair!) LOL

Divas by Design Stamp Something

And Another!

Just couldn't couldn't contain myself and made another ATC for Wicked Wednesday Easter or Bunnies/Chicks Challenge using a fab FREEBIE form DT member Mary Kwok's new blog Cakewalk by KWOK. Isn't this sweet little Bunny Family the cutest? They're colored wth Copics and not much more was needed. The Easter eggs are Queen and Co brads, a tiny ribbon and Voila! If you haven't already seen my chicks ATC, please scroll down. Too bad I can only enter Wicked Wednesday twice because there's more unbelievable cute images available HERE. If you're like me and been sort of hard pressed to enter additional challenges lately, why not try Wicked Wednesday? Working on a canvas that's only 2 1/2 x 3 1/2" goes pretty darn fast and is so much FUN!

I'm also entering this in the following challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks Easter and Crazy Egg
Moving along with the Times Cute and Cuddly
Paper Play Challenges Easter
Ruby's Rainbow Easter

Wicked Wednesday ATC #1

I sure do love making ATC's and this one is especially special because it not only is for the Wicked Wednesday Easter or Bunnies/Chicks Challenge, but I've also used one of the FREE DIGI's from DT member Mary Kwok's new freebie digi blog Cakewalk by Kwok. Mary is a frequent participant in many of the challenge blogs, often with her own fabulous artwork as see on her blogs Happy Bunny and Le Beau Reve. Here's my first ATC done with her free image Chicka Dee which I've cropped, merged and flipped several times. I've tried to approximate feathers using Copics and added a cute dragonfly brad and ribbon bow. the sentiment is commputer generated. ATC's are so much fun and faster to make than other projects so I encourage you to visit Wicked Wednesday for great inspiration and the chance to win a prize each week. Try it, you'll like it, I PROMISE! I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge and 4 Crafty Chicks and Easter Crazy Egg Challenge.

BBTB2 Cindy Lou Flourish Challenge

Happy Monday! I think we're finally getting some sunshine today. Hasn't been too great a Spring here in CA, although we need rain badly. This week our sweet and talented DT sister Julie H, from across the pond, has chosen any flourish from Cindy Lou for our BBTB2 Challenge and WOW are there PLENTY! Of course, as always, you may use any flourish from any cartridge to join in, just make sure the chosen cut (flourish) is a Cricut cut. I decided to make another Easter card and chose Fourish 2 on page 30 because it made a great base for the shaped card I had in mind. I welded the shadow of the flourish to an Egg from Easter 2010 and a rounded rectangle from George.

It's a shaped front card and the egg on the front hides a large portion of the back so there's lots of room for a sentiment. The hopping bunny is also from Easter 2010. I cut him in light brown and flocked him, then added a pompom tail, beaded nose and eye and a sweet ribbon around his neck.

Originally, I'd chosen another rabbit (one with a shadow) but the flourish has so much movement, I thought the hopping bunny would be fun, especially after I decided to put him on on an Action Wobble. I ran into a teeny bit of technical difficulty though, because one layer of dimension with the adhesive foam wasn't enough to allow the bunny freedom of movement so I cut portions of the fourish away where the hind foot and tummy got caught and added another full flourish on top.

He's slightly off set from another bunny cut underneath him which shows when he wobbles. I chose the colors from the egg DP and looking at it now, it kind of has a 50's vibe.

So here's the dimension shot. Inside it'll say "Hoppy Easter" but of course I was running too late to have that done for you. LOL A flourish is such a great cut because there's no limit to the type of card you can make as you'll see by the fabulous examples from my BBTB2 teamies HERE. Can't wait to see what you come up with, but please follow the rules and we'd so appreciate it if you'd turn word verification OFF to make it easier for us to comment on your lovely creations.And don't forget you atill have a week to enter or Welcome Challenge and be entered in the drawing to win a class of your choice at My Creative Classroom.

I'm also entering this in the Getting Cricky Easter Blessings Challenge and Moving Along With the Times Easter Wishes.

Macabre Monday Grimm's Grimmest

We're back for another Macabre Monday at Haunted Design House and this week we're celebrating the Fairy Tales of the brothers Grimm. What, you say? Fairy tales? Seriously, these stories were not for wimps and we're here to remind you of the sinister characters and gruesome deaths more likely to keep you awake than lull you to sleep. I've chosen Little Red Riding Hood. I borrowed this pic by Marufoi at Deviant Art. She really looked "kick ass", however, notice the missing right arm? I added a fab digi of a snarling wolf (Wolf 4) by our own Minion Sister Ike who is sponsoring the challenge this week. More of her fab digi's can be seen at her SHOP. I merged him with the artwork and colored him with Copics. Looks like he's back for another bite, but Red has other ideas. The fab mat was done with the MS "cracked" punch around the page. Be sure to visit Haunted Design House for more inspiration and if you've ever fancied being a Minion, don't forget our DT call. Enter if you dare. The DEETS are HERE. And don't forget to return on Wednesday for our Gruesome Twosome and Creepy Glo's post.

There's a Party Going On at Dilly Beans

This week's theme at the Dilly Beans Challenge Blog is PARTY! I couldn't resist using the sweet #350 Amalia's Balloon Framed because what's a party without balloons, eh? I colored her with Copic to match the colorful DP from the 6x6 MME Lime Twist Life of the Party pad. Perfect!

My party girl has a little brad crown and I've embellished simply with some dotty ribbon and a #1 paper clip. If you're loving this sweet girl, be sure to check out the newest Amalia images just added to the Dilly Beans shop along with some funny little monsters and fabulous Dia de los Muertos skulls. Be sure to check out the fab inspiration HERE and we sure hope you join the party.

I'm also entering this in the the following challenges:
Simply B Stamps Celebrations Challenge
Crafty Ribbons Birthday Challenge
Crafty Creations Photo Inspiration Challenge

BBTB2 Welcome Challenge

We have a very exciting challenge for you at BBTB2 this week. Our fabulously talented Theresa is welcoming you all and inviting you to participate by using the word "Welcome" from any cartridge on your project. In case you aren't challenged enough, she'd love to see a Home Decor project, although that is NOT a requirement to enter the challenge. I have to admit I had a tough time this week. Lots of stuff going on (not the least of which is March Madness and my alma mater MSU is the #1 seed in the West Region this year, as well as the Big Ten champs! WooHoo!) I looked for a cartridge I'd never used and found "Welcome Spring" on Phrases. Seeing that tomorrow is the first day of Spring, I thought it was just perfect. I wanted to make a little door hanger and welded the shadow of that cut to the "snail" cut from Botanicals. Where's the snail? Well, he got sort of hidden with the welding, but I only really wanted the floral border anyway.

Because there is not a lot of detail on the Botanicals silhouettes, I used a Copic to add some shadowing to the leaves and after much head shaking, embossed them with Swiss Dots as well for a little texture. I moved the cut down on the screen in DS and cut it again in white so I could fussy cut the blossoms and pop them on top. I had the hardest time with colors and actually cut the shadow of the phrase 4 times (don't you HATE that?) before deciding on the plaid from Nana's Nursery. Ditto with the words and bird. To give a little more pop to the phrase I ended up gluing 2 of them slightly offset and highlighting them with adhesive beads. My DT sisters had much more success with this challenge than I did, so please pop by BBTB2 and go have a look and find out about our exciting SPONSOR for this week's challenge. As always, our challenge runs for 2 weeks, but this time our winner of the prize will be chosen by Random Org and the POW will be chosen by our hostess Theresa, as usual. You still have time to enter our Bunny/chick challenge as well, so hop to it and don't miss out.

I'm also entering this in the
Sparkles Forum Mother's Day or Spring challenge
Getting Cricky Green, White and One Other Color Challenge

Macabre Monday "Can I Quote You on That"

It's another Macabre Monday at Haunted Design House and our challenge is create a dark, Gothic, or Halloween based art piece using or inspired by a quote. Just so happened while making my Cruella card set last week I came upon another quote by Coco Chanel that fit the bill. My stamp is Christine from the Glam Vamps set by Smeared Ink, colored with Copics, fussy cut and popped on an embossed Bricked background from Sizzix. Thought it gave an urban vibe. Wouldn't really like to meet up with her in a dark alley anytime soon.

The quote reads "A woman has the age she deserves." Lucky vamp! She looks none the worse for wear and will stay that say FOREVER... the blood spatters are from the Inky Dreams (retired) rubber set, also from Smeared Ink. So what say you, or whoever?

The Altered Alice Chapter 13 The Best Butter Week 3

Happy Sunday! It's the 3rd week of our monthly Challenge at The Altered Alice .


"The Hatter was the first to break the silence. `What day of the month is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.
Alice considered a little, and then said `The fourth.'
`Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. `I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!' he added looking angrily at the March Hare.
`It was the BEST butter,' the March Hare meekly replied.
`Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter grumbled: `you shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife.'
The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, `It was the BEST butter, you know.'"
--Chapter 7; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

For the month of March, how could we resist a challenge honoring the March Hare? We are challenging you to use "the best butter," as in butter yellow!

Our sponsor, Red Eowyn, is offering a one sheet of Alice in Wonderland stamps to the randomly selected winner of this month's challenge! The March Hare is the owner and illustrator's favorite Alice character, so of course we had to do her challenge in March. Red Eowyn has beautifully cleaned up the original Tenniel illustrations to make truly clear images that are a delight to stamp. The unmounted sheets include a variety of fun Alice sentiments, so be sure to check them out. In addition to Alice stamps, Red Eowyn also has wonderfully realistic animal stamps and some amazing dragons in the Fantasy category! Free U.S. shipping is included.

You have until Friday, March 23 to show us your best butter! Entries that feature Wonderland will be given two chances at the random drawing instead of one. Multiple entries are allowed but each must be on a separate post.

I made a Tent Card using instructions from SplitcoastStampers. I've tweaked the proportions to make it large enough to use my Nesties Labels Seventeen for the window cut-out. The long piece is 12 x 5 , folded in half to make the standing part and I've widened the added base accordingly. Here's a side view to show the dimension both in and out.

The pocket watch was cut with my Cricut using the Disney Classics cartridge and mounted on acetate to add structure and allow me to attach Tim Holtz Game Spinners for hands. The clockworks inside were cut from chipboard in my Cuttlebug using a Tim Holtz Die, painted with acrylics, and the "best butter" is a Viva Pearl Pen.

The fabulous March Hare stamp is from our sponsor Red Eowyn. It's so perfectly detailed that I didn't find the need to color, but I've added a miniature butter knife to his hand, as Alice looks on in horror. I fussy cut the image and popped it on a double shot of Nesties Labels Thirteen. The large butter knife behind was cut twice (once flipped) from mirror card stock using my Cricut From My Kitchen cartridge and glued together to be double sided. The handle was embossed with a Cuttlebug border. Lots of that "best butter" still on the knife.

The sentiment is a mix of computer generation (cut and mounted with Nesties Petite Ovals) and the Cuttlebug Monogram Seals Emboss Plus folder. I used a metallic gel pen to enhanced the embossed letters and mounted each on a punched circle. Please remember that our Altered Alice Challenges run nearly the entire month with weekly inspiration so be sure to scroll down to see the fabulous inspiration from week 1 and 2 as well. The winner and honorable mentions will be posted on Sunday, March 25th, so be sure and bring out you "best butter" yellow and play along by Friday, March 23rd.

Dilly Beans Stars Challenge

This week at Dilly Beans we're seeing stars. Do you wish upon a star? I certainly do and so does little #274 Heart Monster. You have to believe in your heart for wishes to come true, though, so be sure to close your eyes and WISH HARD!

I flipped him in my Printmaster Platinum program, printed him twice, colored him with Copics and popped him on a starry night easel card made with the smallest of my Nesties Grand Circles. Then I added gold mirror mats using the next size up. The midnight blue card stock has a pretty shimmer and the stars in the sky were embossed with the limited edition Cuttlebug Christmas Stars folder and then inked lightly with Platinum. I colored some tiny adhesive stars gold with my Gold Leafing Pen and added him to his eyes. The wishing star is cut with a Nestie and scored and folded. I have a tutorial HERE if you're interested.

A larger Nestie Star is popped on the base to hold the easel up and the sentiment is computer generated. At the Dilly Beans Designers and Challenge Blog, were bidding a sa but fond farewell to Debra this week, but are so excited to welcome Abby to our litle family. Please be sure to visit and be inspired. Megan has added some fabulous new stamps this week to the Dilly Beans Shop and not only can you win some for participating in our Stars challenge, but Dilly Beans is also sponsoring Abby's Dilo en Espanol challenge so there's another chance to WIN! WooHoo!

BBTB2 Bunny or Chick

Happy Monday, or maybe not so happy. How're ya all doin' with the time change? I can certainly see why they start it on a Sunday, but if you were out late on Saturday night, like we were, EIYIYI! Well, March is flying by and our gorgeous and multi talented BBTB2 sister Julia's thoughts have turned to Easter, with a challenge involving bunnies or chicks (or both! you choose). There are so many adorable cuts on a bazillion different carts but I finally settled upon these cuties from Simply Charmed. Couldn't decide which I liked best so I used BOTH! Welded the shadows together in DS and then started layering.

Because I wanted them to look like they were really peeking out from bunny suits, I clicked weld on each individual cut to hide the placement "tick marks" and then placed the solid face shape in the appropriate spot so it would cut out, instead of having to layer the face on top. I also thought the bunnies should be fuzzy. My flocking colors were a bit brighter than I wanted, so I chose a slightly brighter pastel for each bunny and flocked them in white to soften the colors...perfect! The bunnies were flocked using my Xyron (BTW, they're cut at 5 1/2") run face down. The secret to getting good coverage with no "strings" is to first really rub the back of your cut to get good adhesion, then use a stylus around EVERY cut edge before peeling off the backing. Since things don't stick to flocking all that well I adhered the inside of the ears and paw pads before flocking. Then, I really rubbed the cuts into the flock and brushed off the excess several times to get good coverage.

When I cut the solid faces again, I enlarged them slightly so you wouldn't see the edges if you looked from the side after popping and layering. I have a few Peachy Keen face sets, but none were big enough, (nor were they animals) so I ended up drawing my own using PK for inspiration. They don't exactly look like bunnies. Maybe bears?..in bunny suits?

It is a shaped card, of sorts, but doesn't open conventionally. The bunnies were angled somewhat in DS and it's really difficult to line up the cuts for a full shaped card when you do that and I wasn't feeling a shaped front. Instead, I used the Tim Holtz easel die and ran it though my Big Shot and trimmed it to fit so it would stand up. I'd planned to use my Fancy Frames but I couldn't find it on DS (am I missing an update?) so I just went with that.

So where does it open? The carrot, of course! Even though I'd layered the feet and paws on that sucker, it wouldn't really stay closed so I tied a ribbon around it. The sentiment is computer generated and that's why this post is late. I was too tired to do the inside last night. I hope you didn't fall asleep at the keyboard with this long post, but surely you'll want to stop by BBTB2 and see all the cute critters hooping around. Can't wait to see your too, but remember the rules, please.

Macabre Monday Evil Empire

This week at Haunted Design House we're being inspired by infamous Disney Villains. while poking around the net, I came across the incredible artist Nicolette Davenport and fell in love with her fabulous sketches of Cruella Deville. I stuck with the fab red, white and black color scheme and added an embossed mat. This first quote is my own.


I loved Nic's work so much that I decided to use two others and make a little girly set of notecards. The fashionista poses just seemed to beg for quotes by Coco Chanel. Heck, if you're going to be evil, you might as well look great doing it, eh? My Minion sisters are rocking this challenge so be sure to visit them HERE. We've got a few suggestions if you're drawing a blank. Creepy Glo will be back on Wednesday with last week's winners and a post of her own and the fab new Cruella digi by our Teri at Delicious Doodles will be available for purchase then too. WooHoo!

Dilly Beans Glitter Challenge

OOOh we've got a fun one for the girly girls over at the Dilly Beans Designers and Challenge Blog this week. Glitter! It's been awhile since I've glitzed things up so this was especially fun. I used the gorgeous #223 Ladybug Fairy and tried something new. After coloring her with Copics, I used a Zig Embossing pen and Stampin' Up heat and stick powder to fill in the areas I wanted to glitter and heated them up and sprinkled it on. You have to do it one color at a time and be careful not to heat the already glittered areas as you progress or you'll melt it and lose some of the sparkle.On the wings, I used a fine point pen to try to draw in the details that were covered over by the gold glitter and the ladybug's antennae which worked ok. But in general, I'm really pleased how this turned out and you don't have to sait for it to dry like you do with Stickles. (I'm the really impatient type.) The green circle mat was cut with my Nesties out of Glitter paper and the flowers are Prima. I cut the glitter leaves out of a much larger home decor glitter leaf from Michaels. The DP is K &Co which has a bit of foil detail so I matted the entire card in green foil card stock for some contrast to all the glitter. In the end I did have to wait for some Glossy Accents to dry on the bug, lips and eyes but by then the card was done. WooHoo! Be sure to stop over to The Dilly Beans Challenge Blog for more fab inspiration, and also to the Dilly Beans Shop for a super deal on retiring images.

Other Challenges:
Whimsicle Wednesdays Going Green

Art Impressions Sparkle & Bling

DYSU Go Green
Shelly's Images Green and Gold

Crafts and Me Things with Wings

BBTB2 Shamrock Challenge

We're celebrating St Patrick's Day (or at least the luck o' the Irish) this week at BBTB2, with our lovely Lori choosing a shamrock from any cartridge. There are plenty to choose from, which Lori has listed in her post on BBTB2. I chose the one from Give a Hoot, with the Lucky Girl silhouette from A Child's Year to make a shaped card. The sentiment is from Once Upon a Princess. I welded the shadows of both the girl and the shamrock and copied, flipped and turned them 180 in DS to make the card base. The regular cuts were embossed with my Cuttlebug using the old standbys: Swiss Dots and D'Vine Swirls. The glitter shamrocks are actually foam from an old pack from Michaels.

In some cases I used them behind my sentiment as dimensionals. Because the sentiment was a bit delicate, I cut it several times and glued it together to give it a bit more strength before popping it and added some gold gems for some bling. We have a fabulously inspirational turnout at BBTB2 this week to get you started so please follow the rules and link up to Mr. Linky. We love to see your creations. There's still some time left in our Monogram Challenge as well. I'm also entering this in the Fantabulous Cricut Luck of the Irish Challenge, the Paper Sundaes Green or Good Luck Challenge, the Card Caravan Lucky Green Challenge, and the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge.

Macabre Monday Terrible Twos

We have a fun challenge and a super sponsor at Haunted Design House this week. Our challenge is Terrible Twos; use the same image twice on your project and our fabulous sponsor is Dilly Beans. WooHoo! Megan has tons of new images in the Dilly Beans Shop and there's something for everyone, both creepy and cute. The winner of this challenge will receive 3 Dilly Beans images of their choice. This is #261 Monster Boy who's going a little batty with those Winged Monsters (#278) flying around in his head.

I've colored with Copics and laid the mats a bit wonky to add to his confused expression. Each of the Winged Monsters was printed twice with two of them flipped so I could layer them.

Here's a better view of their dimension. I punched through the back layer and attached the wire between the winged layer and body with a pop dot and then looped and threaded the wire through holes in Monster Boy's head so they could fly around. No wonder he looks like that. Oww! The Minions had a blast with Megan's cute images, so pop by HDH and take a look. And don't forget Wretched Wednesday when Creepy Glo posts the winners and Gruesome Twosome and shares her project (if she feel like it. LOL).

Dilly Beans Green and Black

Love, love, love, love, LOVE Megan's new images over at Dilly Beans! And since I'm always a last minute kind of gal, I was able to choose some of my new FAVES to do this week's color challenge at the Designer's and Challenge Blog: Green and Black. Normally this color scheme would throw me for a loop, but the fab Madly in Love Stack from DCWV was just the ticket. I've used #376 Martin (flipped) and #378 Cordillia. Aren't they just MFEO? I decided to stay really monochromatic and color them with Copics in shades of green only. The layout is loosely based on Deconstructed Sketch #41 and I'm hoping it's close enough to enter there.
The sentiment is from the new #375 Cute and Dark quote set. I've popped every other word for emphasis as well as Martin and Cordillia. Too funny that I just had a conversation about this with my Sweetie and I've come to the conclusion that if a guy ain't lookin' at other women, he's dead. LOL (So I guess you have to take this sentiment with a grain of salt) There's loads of inspiration at the Dilly Beans Challenge Blog so be sure to hop over there and take a look. We're so thrilled when you play along. I'm also sneaking this in to the I Break For Love Challenge, the Dare to be Sassy Thursday Seeing Green Challenge at Sassy Studio Designs, the Everybody-Art-Monochrome Challenge and the Shopping Our Stash Sentiments Required Challenge.

Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge

I was really excited about this week's Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge, Celebrate Art, because Megan at Dilly Beans has just released some fabby quotes (this from the #365 Artist's Quotes)and also recently released a number of new digis Frida Kahlo digis (this one is #338 Say of the Dead Frida) whom I love dearly. I messed with the image a bit in order to have it fit properly on my ATC and colored it with Copics according to the Craft Us Crazy Color Inspiration Challenge below.

It's been one of those weeks. Tuesday I had a hair appt. "Huh?" you say. Didn't you have one LAST Tues? Uhh, well...I thought I did, but my wallet is as messy and disorganized as my craft room and the appt. card I pulled out last week was for (would you believe this?) LAST YEAR! I sat there for 15 minutes, the receptionist called and left a message for my stylist and I continued to sit there thinking that maybe she thought it was for 9:45 since last month it was. Finally I started digging through my wallet and found the right card. February 28th. Eiyiyi!

This week however I thought all was well until I sat in the chair after shampooing my color out and my roots were NEON red! Seriously! Apparantly she tried a new red color booster in my usual touch up color and it reacted with my light roots. REALLY REACTED! At first we thought it would calm down with a little blow drying but NOOOOO!!!!! So she put additional dark color on, I waited AGAIN for processing, but she didn't want to shampoo again so she just used a vinegar rinse. Well, the color was fine, but my scalp, OMG! Let's just say my part looked like I should have a hatchet sticking out of my head. So what's the point of all this rambling? Well, I'd started last week's Wicked Wednesday ATC before I left and intended to finish and post it when I returned home. However, I was so traumatized by my hair experience that I was forced to do some serious retail therapy (first purchase, a hat!) and by the time I got home the collection was closed. EEEEKKK!!!!! Well, I finished it anyway and here it is.

The little cat was a freebie from Dover publications. The grass is an MS punch. A bit of embossing with the Cuttlebug and a bit of bling. The sentiment is a Studio G dollar stamp. It just so happens that the Inky Impressions Challenge is Wish Me Luck so I'm entering it there. WooHoo!