BBTB Blog Hop Winner and Going Dotty!

Finally what you've all been waiting for. I am pleased to announce that the BBTB Blog Hop winner is #77 (chosen by my DH using the old "pick a number between 1 and 129" method because I just can't figure out the random org thing.) CONGRATULATIONS MARGIE! and thank you to all who participated in the hop.

This card was created for the Cricut Message Board MCPT (magic colored pencil technique using Pisma pencils and Gamsol or odorless mineral spirits to blend) challenge for the month of April. Yeah, I know it's June but better late than never don't you think? Dear Aprile (ChirpinIsFun) on the mb was so sweet to send me the images so I could participate in the challenges even though I've been so busy I hadn't sent her an envie to send them in for months! I got the biggest kick out of these Changito monkeys that I HAD to do this one first. Then I went on the nut! I'm so thrilled to finally have found a local supplier of raindots that I used nearly an entire package on this card.

I forced myself to finish the inside because I find when I don't the card just lays around until I've used up or misplaced coordinating paper so it never gets sent. Besides, it gave me the opportunity to use MORE raindots! Between the polka dot paper, the Nestie and punched circles and the raindots I've officially gone DOTTY. This card weighs a ton but it was loads of fun to do.

Paper Blooms Sketch Challenge #1

My dear friend Sandi knew I as unhappy with my card and made some suggestions. Above is the new improved card. I stamped the little flower that was hidden behind the lovely crocheted one twice and fussy cut them out. Yea! SUCH an improvement! THANKS SANDI!

Okay, don't faint or anything. Two posts in one day!?! Well I would have saved this for another day but I wanted to get it in for the very first Challenge over at Paper Blooms. It was a sketch challenge and you know me and sketches. LOL I think my problem is I have a really hard time deviating in ANY way from the sketch which I don't think is exactly the point (yeah I was one of those kids who always obeyed the rules in school). In fact it bugs the heck out of me that the lovely hand crocheted bloom on this card should actually be at the top left corner of the image but it looked stupid there with the stamped flower already on the side of the basket. So there you go. This was also a color challenge using lavender, green and white or cream. Check! The sweet bunny is a Stampin'Up stamp colored with my Prisma pencils using the MCPT and the sentiment circle is a downloadable printable stamp from The Cutting Cafe as is the inside sentiment. I happened to luck out this time and only had to stamp my bunny once (instead of 5 or 6 times) to get a clean image, but with Regina's printable stamps it's always a sure thing. Yea! I'm dying to use more of Leah's gorgeous flowers so I can't wait to see what tomorrow's challenge at Paper Blooms will be. And if you still have some Easter cards to make you can't go wrong with the fun stuff Regina has over at The Cutting Cafe. There's still time!

Dec MCPT Challenge and Day #7

I've been feeling terrible about not doing the Dec MCPT challenge on the Cricut message board that Aprile so graciously hosts each month. Today seemed like a good day to tackle those little mice since I really wasn't feeling up to par, I'm still in the Christmas spirit and DH was in my craft room (well, actually we share the room because of the computer) trying to do some organization in anticipation of our new desktop that will be coming any day. WOOHOO! He PROMISED he'd only mess with HIS stuff that didn't need to be in there so I took my pencils downstairs and tried not to think about what was going on up there. LOL Little did I know that when he was removing HIS stuff, MY stuff got totally rearranged and when I came back up to try to finish the card I couldn't find a thing. To make a long story short, how I managed to finish this today I'll never know but here it is. I'm not thrilled with the pic because my coloring looks all washed out but I'm too tired to try to take another and I wanted to post this as card #7 for Jen's card a day challenge. Check out her fabulous creations HERE.

Give Thanks MCPT card

Thought I'd really better get my rear in gear if I was going to send out any Thanksgiving cards. I don't have much experience stamping but have recently bought a huge number of stamps including this beautiful one by Inkadinkado so I decided today would be a great day to practice my MCPT. I stamped the image on cream cardstock using brown Stazon and colored with my prismas and used mineral spirits to blend. I matted it with paper from K&Company designer mat pad and gold metallic paper from Best Occasions. The fibers I framed it with are Adornaments, the gold peel off leaves and acorns are Stampendous. The sentiments are rub ons from me & my Big Ideas. The "give thanks" circle is popped for dimension. The inside mat is also from K&Co. adorned with the scraps from the front and more peel offs.

Thinking of You MCPT

This is my second attempt at MCPT (Magic Colored Pencil Technique). I love my new stamp because it has such a fall feel. The card went together quickly from cardstock from the DCWV Fall Glitterstack. I added a few skittles and some fine hemp and it was done.

My First MCPT

The Cricut message board is great for enabling. I see more stuff on there that I never knew I needed and my pocketbook has suffered greatly since becoming a member. I purchased a set of the Prisma colored pencils after marvelling over All of SusieB's gorgeous creations (check out her Heartprints gallery if you really want to be inspired). I didn't try them though until I joined the Aprile's MCPT challenge on the board. (For those of you unfamiliar with MCPT it stands for Magic Colored Pencil Technique and uses gamsol or mineral spirits to blend the colored pencils. Susie has a great tutorial for this technique which I watched many times before taking the plunge.) Here's my first try and I was pretty pleased with the results. I used the spring card fold again and framed the image with some scalloped circles cut from Accent Essentials. The cute flowers on the base are Favorite Findings buttons that I clipped the back loop off of.