Dilly Beans Texture Challenge

 This week at Dilly Beans we were asked to use texture.  I made a tag using the smallest of my Nesties Grand Labels Four and cutting it out of glitter CS from Me&My Big Ideas.  The smaller mat behind is the largest of the regular Labels Four, embossed with the Tim Holtz sheet music folder.  The adorable Dilly Beans image is Amalia Ballerina.  Isn't she just precious?

She's colored with Copics, and then I challenged myself to see how many more textures I could come up with.  First I wanted to flock her hair.  I'd printed her several times in case I wanted to decoupage parts of her, so I fussy cut only her hair and ran it right side up through my Xyron, poured on the flock and glued it to the image.  Then I added the flowers with another fussy cut layer (so you could see the leaves) and finally the hand cut rolled felt flowers.  I messed around with several ideas for her tutu, including trying loopy stitches with embroidery floss, but finally decided tulle was the ticket.  A gingham bow hides the gathering.  A fluffy feather was the final touch.  tickle, tickle!  :D

The dance stamp is from an ancient set called Rubber Stamp Poet by All Night Media.  I bought it as a gift for someone way before I ever started paper crafting and picked up one for myself as well.  ust have had a premonition.  LOL  I think dance is the only word I've ever used from it though.  It's cut and backed by Nesties as well.  Lots of dimension going on here and isn't it all sweet and girly?    And lots and lots of PINK so I'm adding it to the Divas By Design and Stampavie and More Challenges who both ask for Monochromatic and the Charisma Cardz Pink and Black challenge because although there's not a ton, her hair couldn't get any blacker than that. (do ya think?) 

There's tons more inspiration from my Dilly Beans sisters at the Challenge and Designers blog so we'd love to see you and what you come up with for our touchy feely challenge.  And for once, I'm not last minute on any of the other challenges I'm entering so be sure to stop over and see them too.

Wretched Wednesday at HDH

OOps!  Macabre Monday came and went and I was still in the party mode, so Creepy Glo allowed me to share her Wretched Wednesday post and do my CASE (Copy and Steal EVERYTHING) a Minion Challenge for HDH today.  As the bar was set unbelievably high, I decided to play nice and do one of my CAS (Clean and Simple) card layouts that might be easier to copy in case you want to play along.  To be honest, I'm getting kind of fond of these.  My fab image is from our own Teri's Delicious Doodles called Eyeball Wormetti.  Perfect for a dinner invitation, no?  The image is cut and matted with Nesties Deckle Rectangles and the large mat behind embossed with a poison label from Tim Holtz for Sizzix.  The fork was cut with my Cricut using the From my Kitchen cart and the bone handle from Create a Critter.  I guess the wormetti wound around the tines looks a bit hairy and dark, but it was as close to my coloring as I could get.  Sentiment is computer generated and of course nothing is complete without MS Drippy Goo blood.  Easy peasy compared to my fabulous Minion Sisters, but we're bending the rules a bit to allow for inspiration rather than downright CASE- ing so be sure to take a look at the fab projects from the rest of the Minions and try giving it a go.

BBTB2 Ice Cream Cone Challenge

Happy Monday!  It's time for another BBTB2 challenge, chosen by our sweet and wonderful Penny.  She has chosen an ice cream cone from any cart.  My double dipper is from the Sweet Treats cartridge.  Ummm...yeah, I know this one's a bit different for me.  I rarely add a digi stamp to a Cricut card (especially for BBTB2) but I just couldn't help it.  I'll tell ya why later.  So it is a shaped card with a frame from Accent Essentials welded to the side to put my sassy little chickie on.  She's called Troublemaker by KennyK.  HeeHee! (one of my faves!)  The cone and the mint chip ice cream layer were embossed with my Cuttlebug using Diamond Plate and D'Vine Swirls and inked a bit.  I'd planned to heat emboss the chocolate topping with clear embossing powder but I was in a real hurry to prolong my birthday experience and take off for the Double Barrel Wine Bar for some music, tapas and wine.  (WooHoo!)

Ok, so here's where the inspiration came in.  I'd been listening to the radio this week and heard Light You Up by Shawn Mullins and when it came to this line I KNEW I HAD to use it!  (Bummer, I tried to embed the video but it embedded in a whole different post that I couldn't figure out to edit.  Still having some issues with this new format.  Is it just me?)  The top scoop opens to reveal the lyric and tucks behind the frame to keep it closed.

The whole card opens too, but I just couldn't manage to finish the inside after an afternoon of sun, wine and song.  (Don't look too closely at the coloring either.  LOL)  Lots of fab inspiration at BBTB2 and we're so excited to announce the newest members for our Design Team.

Birthday Pix

I'm a little bummed because I shouldn't be here today.  We had reservations at a new hotel, Inn at the Presidio in SF, for my birthday but they called to alert us about major construction in the area with loud noise, road closures, and expected snarled traffic so we opted out. 

 The birthday girl stylin' in the new dress.  Holds you in like firm young muscles.  LOL

Booty call?

Still had a fabulous dinner at Farallon, though.  Probably my fave of all of the Pat Kuleto designed restaurants.  Just came in off the windy street.  How come men never tell you your hair is screwed up before they take a pic?



OOOOh, a candle on my dessert (chocolate, of course!)

Had the five course tasting menu with the wine pairings.  (Not to mention a half bottle of Chassagne Montrechet to start)  For some reason they decided we needed a cheese course too, (not on the menu).  Guess the sommelier wanted us to taste a couple more Pinot's.

No wonder we're smiling!

Birthday wishes and hugs from the guy at the next table.  It was his birthday too.  Thanks to all for making my birthday memorable.  Loved hearing from you.  xxD



 



Dilly Beans Pastel Challenge and (it's my birthday! shhh...)

 It's Friday (yea!) AND my Birthday (double yea!!) so it's time for another Dilly Beans Challenge.  This week we're using pastels.  So soft and pretty, don'tcha think?  The DP's are Heidi Grace and I've used one of the new Amalia images, #398 Amalia's Daisy Crown.  The sentiment is a Basic Grey rub on.

I flipped the image and paper pieced her dress and some of the flowers so I'm entering it in this week's Delightful's Paper Piecing Challenge.  The rest is colored with Copics.   I think she's about the sweetest thing EVER!  (And BTW, she comes with wings too, if you'd prefer).  The mat is Nesties Labels 20 inked a bit with Spun Sugar Distress.

The fabulous sketch is the current Deconstructed Sketch #49.  LOVE how it allowed me to use all the different papers I wanted.  Thanks Jen for coming up with this just in time to use it on this card, or it still probably wouldn't be done.  LOL  Obviously I'll be adding this to the challenge there, as well and The Southern Girls Get Your Girly On Challenge, and Crafty Creations That's What Little Girls are Made of.

Be sure to check out the fabulous work by the rest of the DT and also the Dilly Beans Shop where Megan has a sale going on through April 30th.  Buy 3 and get one FREE!  Now it's time to go bask in Birthday glory so I'll see y'all later!

Wicked Wednesday You Are My Sunshine Challenge

I always pop over to Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge first thing to find out the challenge for the week.  I don't always get to play along, but ATC's are so much fun and can be quick because of their size, so I always hope I get a chance.  Well this week, I had to immediately jump right in with my idea, although I've a million other things I should be doing, because I couldn't stop giggling.  The challenge?  You are my Sunshine.  Ah well, I guess I'm still in my 70's mode.  LOL  I've been singing the John Denver hit all day and I couldn't help but use the Caterpillar on Mushroom and Sun from The Octopode Factory.

The digi's were fussy cut and colored with Copics.  Background DP is Imaginesce.  The grass is an MS punch outlined in black and the song lyrics are computer generated. Portions were popped and there ya go.  Don't worry, he never inhaled.

BBTB2 Bumblebee or Ladybug Challenge

This week at BBTB2 our sweet and lovely Krista has chosen either a bee or ladybug from any cartridge.  My first thought was to do an elegant card with one of the gorgeous bees available on Sentimentals or Art Nouveau but then something hit me.  Maybe it was the fact that I've recently been talking about my 40th (cough cough) high school reunion later this year, but I started thinking of punny "bee" sayings and...  Besides, although the 70's was a very important decade for me, but I'd never even used my Groovy Times cart.  I created the shaped card in DS, starting with the second shadow.  (I know, hard to imagine I skipped the opportunity to add a layer, but the card was getting too big for efficient use of paper.  Did I actually SAY that?  Must have been the Earth Day influence from yesterday.)  At first, because of the sentiment, I planned on using a hive cut, but I figured the peace sign was a lot more fun (and quite frankly, I was afraid some of you might not get it if I didn't reference the 70's in some way).

Then on to dressing my bee from Give a Hoot.  First I wanted his mouth to be bigger so I hid the contours of his face on one bee and then hid all of the contours BUT the mouth and moved it into place to cut. I popped the body layer and added some hand drawn teeth underneath. I had the perfect brad glasses and added beads for his eyes.  His hair and jacket came from PDDU.  I'd Googled Austin Powers and realized his groovy jacket was velvet so I flocked the vest from (? not sure which character) and added the lapels from the magician's jacket.  I really wanted to use that one, but the sleeves just weren't looking right with his multiple legs. Bummer!  I again referenced the 70's by embossing his wings with the Paisley Cuttlebug folder.  I'm particularly fond of the trim of his shirt.  He's mounted on an action wobble so he can Bugaloo the night away.  HeeHee!

The fun bright DP is from an old DCWV stack and the ladybug brad is Basic Grey.  The sentiment is computer generated and printed on a word bubble from Paper Pups.  I'm telling you, I had a ball making this card and it looks like the rest of the team enjoyed this challenge as much as I did so be sure to check out BBTB2.  Can't wait to see what you come up with!  

Thanks to all of you who answered our BBTB2 DT call.  Your response was fabulous and a bit overwhelming, making the decision a very tough one.  Carole and I will be notifying our choices by email this week and the new additions to the team will make their debut during the May 8th challenge.

I'm also entering this in the Scrap it With a Song 59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy) challenge.   (WOW!  Takes me back!)   I'm thinkin' you can't get much more "GROOVY" than this!  LOL

Macabre Monday Eye Can See You Challenge

I'm gonna apologize in advance for this one.  My Altered Alice project from yesterday and the BBTB2 project that posts later today did me in this week so I had to rely on my meager digi skills for this week's Eye Can See You challenge at Haunted Design House.  I found both the "scary eye" pic and the fab "free flying devil" wallpaper images on the net and with a little cropping and pasting, this is what I came up with.  The sentiment is obviously computer generated too.  I'm particularly fond of the burning eyelashes so I added some adhesive gems to enhance them further and called it done.  Be sure to check out the rest of the Minions' fabulous work and Creepy Glo's post on Wednesday (and possibly the Mistress herself will be playing along again this week).  And we sure want to see some dark, Gothic or Halloween themed project from YOU as well, so see you there.

Week 4 Chapter 14 The Altered Alice Splendidly Dressed Challenge

"After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came, `Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! Oh! won't she be savage if I've kept her waiting!'"-- Chapter 2; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Welcome to week 4 of The Altered Alice Spendidly Dressed Challenge.  April has arrived, which (in the northern hemisphere) brings thoughts of wearing your Sunday springtime best and perhaps donning an Easter bonnet! So we at The Altered Alice want to you to show us your Sunday best; ruffles, ribbons, lace, frills; however you want to interpret the challenge. My Week 2 Project was Easter oriented, but this week I was heavily influenced by our quote and decided to make a fan like the White Rabbit may have carried. I've used my Cricut and the Sentimentals cartridge to cut the pieces for the fan. The cut is actually a hand mirror, but I've stretched it using DS to elongate the shape, embossed the cream pieces with my Cuttlebug 5x7 Sentimentals Cricut Companion folder and fastened them together at the base with a pretty pearl brad.

The design team is so excited about showing off the brand new Wonderland Perfectly Clear™ Stamps from our sponsor, Stampendous (Website / Blog). This Alice is all dressed up from her shining shoes to the top of her hat, not to mention her frilly parasol! We will have THREE winners this month, and they will each receive the same Wonderland stamp set the design team is using! You can read more about this amazing company HERE.

All of the characters are from the fabulous Stampendous set.  They were stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa and Alice was colored minimally with Copics.  Each figure was fussy cut and popped near the base.

Inside each oval I've popped a medallion from the new Nesties Floral Ovals set.  The heart was stamped with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.  I masked the "Sorry, I'm late" sentiment with tape in order to stamp it in two lines rather than one.

The lacy border atop each segment is also cut with the Nesties Floral Ovals set.

Here's the dimensional shot.  Although originally the fan folded up, once I began adding the figures I thought it better to adhere them together in the open position.  Because April is a 5 week month, there are 4 whole weeks of inspiration posts on The Altered Alice and we've been lucky enough to also display gorgeous work from the Stampendous Design Team as well, so I'm sure you don't want to miss a thing.  And remember, there will be 3 WINNERS of this fabulous Stampendous stamps so get your project in by April 27th to be eligible for the prize.  

Wicked Wednesday Earth Day challenge

This week at the Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge they're celebrating Earth Day.  It just so happened that I had my Give a Hoot Cricut cartridge out which had lots of cuts that were perfect for the challenge.  Love the Earth in the shape of a heart, layered on DP from the DCWV Green Stack.  Red ribbon bow.  Enough said.  Help celebrate Earth Day tomorrow by joining the challenge.  There is fabulous eye candy from the team both HERE and HERE.  Enjoy your weekend!

Spring is in the Air

This week at the Dilly Beans Designers and Challenge Blog our challenge was to create a Spring card.  Well I must say it's warmed up considerably here and the flowers are coming out in full force.  My garden background is #345 Daisy Border, stretched a bit in my Printmaster program, colored with Copics and added some faux stitching.  The Spring border punch is MS.  The added butterflies are also MS.

The adorable hedgies are #362 Crinkles Daisy Framed and #364 Crinkles hearts Framed, mounted and popped on Nesties Scalloped Squares. The sentiment is from Megan's #374 flowers and love.  There's loads of inspiration from the rest of the DT so be sure to visit the Challenge Blog and have a look.  We so enjoy seeing your take on the challenges as well. 

I'm also entering this in the following challenges:
 Crafter's Cafe Spring with Pastel Colors Challenge
iCopic Spring Colors Challenge #78
Lollipop Crafts Spring Fling Challenge
Papertake Weekly A Stitch in Time Challenge

BBTB2 Birthday Balloon Challenge

Did you miss us last week? Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter break, and I certainly hope you had a chance to stop by BBTB2 and get all the deets for our current DT call. There's still time, so if you missed it check it out HERE. But this week it's time for a new challenge. Our fabulously talented DT sister Jeri chose a birthday challenge with BALLOONS! What's a party without balloons, eh? And these may be from any Cricut cart so we hope you have a ball with this one. I'm afraid I interpreted this a bit differently than my teamies, but I've always had a thing for hot air balloons and the fact that I don't think I've ever used my Summer in Paris cart sealed the deal. When I started designing this in DS I had full intention of using the intricate swirly top cut for the balloons and was afraid to go too small so this ended up being really too big for a card (sorry Jeri!) so I made it into a birthday door hanger. None of the cuts (except "It's your day" from Celebrations) had shadows which would be a problem for the design I had in mind, so I made my own. The clouds from Create a Critter worked ok with a little fussing with an 1/8" smaller cut. The balloon shadows, however, were built with welded shapes from George. These were all welded in DS and then the fun began.
After cutting the swirly layers I decided the whole thing looked just too busy with the 3 balloons so I went back to the drawing board and decided embossing was the ticket. I trimmed the ropes from the colored cuts and also a section so I could emboss and pop the baskets separately. Each basket is done with a Stampin'Up folder. The deep orange is embossed with the Daisy Pattern European edition Cuttlebug folder, the tangerine with the Sizzix Bow Strings, and the bright yellow with Happy Birthday from ??? (hmm, have to look that one up, I'm having a senior moment). The cloud embossing was already in the Dotted Swiss paper by Bazzill.

Embellies included Prima flowers, a banner cut from the Carousel Cart and a liberal sprinkling of adhesive pearls.

I have to say, the layering took on a mind of it's own. I really wanted to create real depth and since it isn't a card...well...I guess I got sort of carried away. (I kinda have to say I love it, though. LOL) The rest of the DT has fabulously inspiring projects so pop on over to BBTB2 and have a look see. We're excited to see what you some up with as well, just be sure to follow the rules, stated at the top of the blog and have fun!

I'm also entering this in the My Craft Spot Make it Pop Challenge, and Simon Says Stamp and Show Anything Goes.