Miss Gabby's Ready for Spring

I've been playing in the monthly Progressive sketch challenge in the Createful Heart Digis and Design FB Group and this month we're using the adorable Miss Gabby's Ready for Spring.  She's colored with Copics and I've added a bit of white Posca Paint pen to the water.  The corner flowers were cut with a new geranium flower die from Elizabeth Craft, in white and colored with Copics to match her hat.  The centers are Nuvo drops.  The DP is from Julie Nutting and the center strip was embossed with a Darice border folder and sanded.

I'm also entering this in the DL.Art May Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #81 AG, 2 Crafty Critter Crazies May AG w/critter, the Outlawz Festive Fridays AG theme, Incy Wincy with Things that Fly and Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #233 AG.

OMG, I actually STAMPED!

Yes friends, I'm being polite when I say I suck at stamping.  I mean when the ink hits the rubber, (or acrylic) all bets are off when it's in my hands.  However, the Outlawz Twisted Thursday's optional theme of "something to wear" made me pull out a wood mounted Stampendous stamp I've had for YEARS and try my luck.  (and try, and try, and...you get the picture, don't you?)  This is the best I could do (without starting to throw things) and I figured the stamp is sort of "sketchy" anyway, so...

I've used my new Altenew lower case alphabet dies to cut the word "chic" right from the stamped image.  I've been watching videos on various ways to use the alpha dies and thought this one was cool.  Now that I see the pic here I see that even with the T square hubby bought me they still aren't straight (and neither is the stamp for that matter) but I'm gonna chalk that up to the fact I have multi focal lenses on because it's a bit too early for wine o'clock.  The concept is cool though.  Don'tcha think?

I'm also adding this to Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #81 AG, HLS May AG with Dies, ...

Peaceful Dove

Got yet another package of new dies yesterday (yes, it's an addiction) and thought I'd do some experimenting with a CAS Christmas card using Peaceful Dove by Poppystamps.  One of the themes for Festive Fridays on the Outlawz Forum is always Christmas and I love playing, there so I was eager to get this going.  Maybe a card that was easily mailed might actually get sent.  That remains to be seen, of course, as "postal phobia" has a tendency to rule my world.  

I centered the die within the mat and cut, then colored the outline with a silver metallic Sharpie.  I thought maybe I could do an inlay with the cut out white pieces but they sort of flew all over the place and many were teeny weenie so I decided to fill the void with ultra fine glitter instead.  

It took me awhile to figure out that I had to apply a large enough piece of transfer tape to cover the die cut to the actual card base and remove the backing and THEN apply tape to the edges of the mat and carefully, VERY CAREFULLY! put the mat in place to get this to work. That left the open area of the dove sticky so I could place the silver outline in the cut and then fill it with the glitter.  I suppose that should be intuitive, but at 4:30 am, not so much.

Here's a better pic of the sparkle.  The sentiment is from the Sizzix Tim Holtz Holiday Words set and I colored that with the Sharpie as well.  I used a Starform sticker outline and corners and then scattered a few of the leftover stars to fill the void and called it done.  Not too bad considering.  I'll be messing with this again.

I'm also entering this in the DL.Art May Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #81 AG, Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #232 AG, (3/3), the Holly and the Ivy #28 AG Christmas, Scrapy Land Challenge #89 AG w/dies SL sells, the HLS May Christmas Challenge AG with Optional Stars, Incy Wincy Things That Fly and CHNC #384 AG Christmas.

For You

I played today with some of my new dies by Altenew.  I found these to be very intriguing as each flower has multiple layers that can be cut with different colors of card stock, or, as I did in this case, cut them in white and colored with the medium of your choice.  I've used Copics and tried to get additional dimensional shading  of the layers and more detail to the leaves.  This particular die is the Fantasy Floral, but I've gone a bit overboard and also purchased the Peony Dreams and Rose Flurries Sets so stay tuned. (Still buying b-day 'prises, what can I say?)

I followed the Outlawz Wednesday Sketch and added a Spellbinders doily behind the flower and swirls from Taylored Expressions.  The sentiment is from Elizabeth Craft Designs.  I might have been done a few hours earlier, but got caught up with YouTube videos of various ways to use the sets.  Seriously I could have spent all day.

I'm also entering this in the DL.Art May Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #81 AG, Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #232 AG, Papercraft Challenges #11 Flowers, the Unicorn Challenge #32 Monochrome, Create and Inspire AG/optional use dies or stencils, TTRCD AG Week starting May 8, Cupcake Inspirations Challenge#445 and Creative Craft Cottage May #107 Dies or Punches.

Aurora Wings Mid-Challenge Inspiration

It's mid-challenge inspiration day for our Black and White with or without a Splash of Color Challenge at Aurora Wings.  I've chosen the gorgeous Angel of Sympathy available HERE on Aurora Wings.com and HERE on Etsy.  I've made an easel card using the Santa's Book die from Precious Marieke.

Here's a closeup of Angel of Sympathy.  I've colored her with Copics using nearly the entire range of Neutral Grays.  The "splash" of blue on her sash is B91,93 and 95.  Although I've made a sympathy card she also works well with all sorts of prayers, Bible verses and words of encouragement.  I've also seen her used as a Guardian Angel door hanger for a new baby with a bedtime prayer.  Isn't she beautiful?

As you can see, she's fussy cut and popped atop the book pages.  The white layer is attached at the center and outer edges to give it a bit more dimension.  I had a bit of trouble deciding on a background.  I couldn't find DP or a stamp that looked appropriate.  I was thinking perhaps just some illegible script and even tried an embossed script background, but the scale was off.  She took up a bit more space than I'd imagined and my placement of her made a sentiment sort of awkward, as well.  I finally found my "Rays" embossing folder from Tim Holtz, which looked to me like heavenly light, so I added a punched dove and die cut swirl from Taylored Expressions.

The sentiment is one I've used before and is one of my favorites.  Have to say it does leave me a bit teary eyed, though.  I added two more doves and a row of blue flat backed pearls to hold the easel.  Although I would say this is not my favorite type of card to make, I don't think there's a more beautiful image available anywhere.

Be sure to visit the Aurora Wings Challenge Blog to see the gorgeous inspiration from the Stella team and come play along.  You'd be surprised to see the many ways we've chosen to add a "splash of color" or not.  Coloring in grayscale is loads of fun and fabulous practice for learning to shadow since you don't have to make so many color choices.  Hope to see you there.

Here's how to keep up with all that's happening at Aurora Wings.

Aurora Wings Challenge Blog (current challenge runs through May 19th)

Aurora Wings Showcase Blog

Aurora Wings Etsy Shop

Aurora Wings Digi Shop 

Aurora Wings FB Group 

Aurora Wings FB Fan Page

I'm entering this in the DL.Art May Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #81 AG, A Gem of a Challenge #218 Get Well OR Sympathy, the Outlawz Tuesday Color Challenge Shades of Gray with a Pop of Color, Crafty Calendar May Things with Wings, Creative Fingers #146 AG, Simply Papercraft #57 AG, Pause Dream Enjoy #18 Lots of Layers, Word Art Wednesday Weeks #332 and 333, Scrapy Land Challenge #89 AG w/Die Brands SL sells, A Perfect Time to Craft May AG, Dies R Us #96 Flowers, the World Wide Open DT Challenge (April 15-May 12), Your Scrapbook Place May AG, Digi Choosday Wk 18 AG, TTRCD AG Wk starting May 1, 613 Avenue Create May AG, the Corrosive Challenge #5 May AG, Creates and Makes #21 AG, Create and Inspire AG/optional dies or stencils, Jo's Scrap Shack #232 AG, Crafts Galore Encore May AG, Creative Craft Cottage May #107 Dies or punches, Incy Wincy May Things that Fly, Do-Al(l) Creatives May #17 not square/rectangle and the May Classic Design Team Open #25 AG.

Always be Yourself

When I saw the Outlawz Festive Fridays theme of Ice Cream Treats I knew I would be using some of the hilarious images from Bloobel Stamps and I found these guys in my "unfinished coloring" stack and thought they would be perfect.  I think my problem had been I couldn't decide on flavors, which is often my problem in real life when faced with ice cream choices, so there ya go.  It is, however, with a heavy heart I'm writing this post because I've just found out that Bloobel Stamps is closing it's doors at the end of this month.  Lisa is one of my favorite digi artists and I'll miss her quirky style tremendously.  Here I've used Ice Cream Unicorn and Ice Cream Bleurk.  I've merged the two images in my Printmaster Platinum program and added a computer generated sentiment.  The DP is from the DCWV Sweet Stack.

I'm also adding this to the DL.Art May Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #80 AG, the Fairy and the Unicorn April AG w/magical creatures, 2 Crafty Critter Crazies May AG w/Critter, Simon Says Wednesday Animal Magic, Creatalicious AG/opt add a sentiment, Tuesday Throwdown Critter Crazy and TTRCD starting May 1.

For Mom

May is here and the flowers are blooming.  Hopefully the majority of you are finally experiencing some Springlike weather.  I've been having fun with some new dies again and made a "pretty in pink" Mother's Day or birthday card using the Outlawz Wednesday Sketch as inspiration.

It's a bit of a more loose interpretation this time but I think it's still recognizable.  Obviously I turned it on it's side and moved the sentiment but I was determined to use my Romantic Bouquet from Elizabeth Crafts.  I actually ran it the pink layer through first, using only the embossing plate and rubber mat and 110# Recollections card stock so it wouldn't cut through and then carefully cut around the edge to give more dimension to the flowers when layered with the cut topper.  The large letters are from the Altenew Bold Alphabet.  The patterned DP is from Authentique and the gorgeous crinkle ribbon is from DL.Art.

I'm entering this in the DL.Art May Linky Challenge, the DL.Art Thankful Thursday #227 Mother's Day challenge,  Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #80 AG, the Double "D" May Flowers,  Craft-Dee Bowz May AG w/handmade bow, the Feminine/Mother's Day theme Challenge at Rubber Buggy, and the Papercraft Business Challenge #6 using optional theme Mother's Day.

Feeling Blue Without You

It's the final day of the Feeling Blue Challenge in the Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans FB Group and now I'm in a pinch after several days of partying for my birthday.  This beautiful image is #2073 Puzzled Heart.  Colored with Copics and I fussy cut the center puzzle piece out and popped it aside.  Really love how it turned out.  New die from Joy Crafts, too.  WooHoo!

I'm entering this in the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #80 AG, the Outlawz Twisted Thursday AG,  Simon Says Wednesday AG (5/5) and Jo's Scrap Shack #231 AG.

Use Your Wings

Gosh, I can't believe April is almost over!  I feel like I totally missed it and still need to finish some stuff before May Day.  Only today and tomorrow.  YIKES!  Well, here is "Cute Fairy", from Ike's Art, that is the April Progressive Challenge image for her FB Fan Group.  She's colored with Copics, fussy cut and I've added Stardust Stickles to her wings.  My original plan was to make a little scene some new dies I just got but they proved to be a bit more difficult to deal with than I imagined.  Instead I found this scrap on my desk that had a little vine for her to stand on and some subtle glitter flowers in the background.  WooHoo!  I added a large flower, a "fairy wand" for her to carry (also on the desk, no I don't ever put stuff away) and a sentiment sticker from Tim Holtz's Small Talk pad.

I'm also adding this to the DL.Art April Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #80 AG, Simon Says Wednesday AG (4/5), the Fairy and the Unicorn April, the Southern Girls Triple F challenge (fairies, fantasy and/or flowers), SOS #351 Mythical and Magical and QKR Stampede #293 AG.

Sick and Tired

Here's another for the Feeling Blue Challenge over in the Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans FB Group that I should have finished a few days ago, but I lost the sentiment on my desk somewhere and kept thinking I would find it.  Didn't have time the last two days to reprint so... Ummm...  Don'tcha just HATE it when that happens?  Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good now and it's my birthday and I had a few minutes before I have to get "boofy" before going out so I managed to finish this up.  The stamp is called #2108 Dang Flu Soup (obviously by Sandra Caldwell) and I never in a million years thought it would pertain to me when I bought it.  She's colored with Copics and I've ripped a paper towel for the "Kleenex".  Glad this chapter is over.

I'm also adding this to  the DL.Art April Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #80 AG, Simon Says Wednesday AG, the Outlawz Twisted Thursday AG/AG, and Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #231 AG.

New Puppy

One of the four themes this week for Festive Fridays on the Outlawz Forum is new puppy. Couldn't resist this cutie from Sandra Caldwell called #1440 Naughty Puppy.  He's colored with Copics and the DP is from the old DCWV Pet Mat Stack.  In a bit of a hurry today.  Making up for lost time and having lunch with a girlfriend.  WooHoo!

I'm also adding this to  the DL.Art April Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #80 AG, the CCC Digi Creations Challenge #91 Include an Animal, Inspiration Destination #149 AG, Simon Says Wednesday AG and the Crafty Animals Challenge #13.

Handmade Flowers

Well today I'll be re-entering the land of the living and getting some much needed work done on me at the hair salon.  It can only make me feel better, right?  I did manage a card for a couple of Outlawz Challenges that involved embossing,dies and a punch that I think turned out pretty neat, though.

You can enter up to 2 times for Twisted Thursday and the twist is "handmade flowers" which I mentioned before is a rarity for me. This time I pulled out my several year old (but never used) Sue Wilson 2 part flower die.  I rarely work with vellum either, but I was really impressed by designer Andrea Norris's heat embossed (yeah, I WISH I could do that) vellum flowers that I cut the bottom of the petals from vellum and layered over with blue card stock.  The flower centers are prills and I've added leaves cut from a Sizzix Dogwood die set also from vellum.  I layered them over a Butterfly Frame from Die-namites and added a Martha Stewart punched butterfly and tiny pearls.  The mat was embossed with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and I added a bow of crinkle ribbon from DL.Art.  I backed the aperture cut with a Spellbinders Oval with vellum and added a silver sticker sentiment.

This also works for the Outlawz Tuesday Color challenge Tic Tac Toe board as I used the middle row across of Emboss, Add Lace or Ribbon and Use Punch or Die Cut.  My row doesn't have a color but I picked blue from the board.  It would have worked for the left row down, as well, but I wanted to keep the card monochromatic so I cut the leaves in vellum instead of green.

I'm also entering this in the 613 Avenue Create April Challenge using the optional twist, vellum (woohoo!), the DL.Art April Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #80 AG, Dies R Us #65 Springtime, Scrapy Land Challenge #88 AG w/dies Scrapy land sells and Simon Says Wednesday AG.