Last Minute for Ike's Art

Yeah, I know, I haven't been posting.  I seem to have lost the crafting mojo but today I rallied with this adorable polar bear family that was the Progressive Freebie image for December in the Ike's Art Fan FB group.  It also just happens to be part of the cool Inuit set of 6 digis, one of many in Ike's World Tour series.

I printed the family in a light gray and used Copic warm grays to shade the fur.  They're partially fussy cut and then I just extended the base to look like snow drifts.  I have bigger plans, but couldn't find my igloo die, so instead I chose to go CAS with a night sky DP from the DCWV Winter Magic stack.  The sentiment was computer generated, influenced by the look on mama bear's face.  I gotta say I kept singing "And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again," from "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", the whole time I was coloring.  LOL

I'm also entering this in the Ike's World Challenge #115 AG/Christmas Time, the DL.Art December Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends AG, the Outlawz Twisted Thursday AG.

Ike's World Challenge Christmas in July

Nothing like last minute!  Honestly, the Ike's World Christmas in July Challenge ends in just a few hours and although I've had this cute kitty from the Kitten Kristmas set of 6 at Ike's Art for more than a week, life got in the way (besides the fact I didn't know what I wanted to do with him).

Decided on a shaker just this morning using dies from Precious Marieke, Lawn Fawn, Spellbinders, and Gina Marie and packaging from a tape roll.

Here's a closeup.  He's colored with Copics with fur detail with Prismacolor pencils.  Sorry for the short post.  Hubby is waiting for me and I haven't even taken a shower yet.  Eiyiyi!

I'm also entering him the SUYP#32 challenge, Simon Says Wednesday AG,  Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #86 AG, Aud Sentiments Christmas in July+Sentiment, Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #244 AG, the Outlawz Saturday Paper ala Mode Animals Challenge, Crafty Gals Corner #170 Christmas in July.

Sweet Panda from Ike's Art

Next to the last day of the month and here I am trying to finish all I want to get done.  This adorable panda is the June Progressive Freebie on the Ike's Art Fan Page! on FB.  To be honest, I've had him colored for at least a week, but I couldn't decide what to do with him.  I wanted it to be special because I love this guy and took quite awhile coloring him with Copics and doing a little work with a Memento pen.

Here's a closeup.  Ike is so generous with her freebies, also offering one for each challenge on her Ike's World Challenges Blog and SYUP (cats only) Challenge Blog.  Many more fabulous digis in her Ike's Art Zibbet Shop, too.

So I was bummed that I did have a bamboo die or digi or stencil so I Googles panda habitat and there were many pics of just jungles.  Then I remembered my X-Cut Build-a-Scene forest dies and went to town.  There's the side view all popped up.  I also added some vines with my Weeping Willow branches die from Memory Box.  The DP mat is from the DCWV Safari Kids Stack.  The sentiments are Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers.



I'm also adding this to the Ike's World June Challenge #109 AG/optional Inspired by a Song  ("Panda" by Jefferson Airplane), the DL.Art June Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends # 84 AG,  The Outlawz Twisted Thursday AG, The Outlawz Festive Friday AG, The Outlawz Saturday Paper ala Mode Framed, Simon Says Wednesday AG (4/5), Jo's Scrap Shack FFC#240 AG 2/3, Crafty Gals Corner #168 AG, Scrapy Land Challenge #92 AG w/brands that SL sells,  TTRCD Week of June 26 AG, Morgan's Art World #06 AG, The World Wide Open Design Team Challenge #6, and Simply Papercraft #59 AG.

Hoppy Easter!

Yeah, I know I'm a little late for Easter, but there were some challenges I wanted to enter with this adorable bunny in a basket image from Ike's Art. It is one of the exclusive new images Ike offers as a freebie in the March/April online issue of TTRCD Magazine.  It's been awhile since I subscribed and when I found out Ike was the featured artist I renewed my subscription. I'm so glad I did.  All sorts of good stuff in there, for sure.

Here's a closeup.  I just LOVE him! I've colored with Copics.  The dies I've used are all Spellbinders with the exception of the little flowers I added to the branches.  They came from a Martha Stewart punch.

Since I've been a bit behind in crafting since our trip and have caught a nasty cold, I wanted to try and cover a few bases for the Outlawz Challenges.  This is my second one for Twisted Thursday which was AG/AG, Saturday Paper ala Mode is Bunnies and Chicks, and I used the new sketch from yesterday's Sketch challenge so WooHoo!

I'm also entering this in the Ike's World April Challenge #107 AG/Photo Inspiration.  Guess I should have put this one first, eh?  Please forgive.

Also, the DL.Art April Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #79 AG, TTRCD April 3-10, 2 Crafty Critter Crazies April AG w/critter, Creatalicious #136 AG with opt. friendship, Inspiration Destination #147 AG, the Crafty Addicts #47 AG/optional April Showers, CCC Digi Creations Include an Animal and Pause Dream Enjoy #14 Color It.

It's a Dog's Life!

Just trying to sneak in a few challenges since after today I won't be crafting for a few.  This cutie is the first Progressive Freebie over in the Ike's Art FB Group and is still available until the end of the month if you want to join in.  Fortunately he was easy to color (with Copics) and I found the paper and the sentiment in my stash from the old DCWV pet stack.  WooHoo!  It also worked for the Outlawz Monday Greetings Animal theme this week, so there ya go.

I'm also entering this in the Ike's World Movie Challenge inspired by "Marley & Me", Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #226 AG, Simon Says Wednesday AG and Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #78 AG.

I'm not Fat, I'm Fluffy!

Gotta say I broke out in a HOOT when I saw the hilarious Freebie from Ike's Art on the January Challenge post at SUYP (Show Us Your Pussies, ahem...CAT'S ONLY) Challenge Blog.  "I'm not fat, I'm FLUFFY!" immediately came to mind (Jezzie tells me that all the time, and how the heck would I know since as soon as my hand goes from her head to her body, she bolts.)  The theme this month is Furrything Goes/Meuw Year and me thinks someone is contemplating a Meuw Year's Resolution...Nah!  I had a riot cutting and pasting various strips of DP and adding a few stickers to the bottom of the card from the Meow pack from Echo Park  and did I ever have fun coloring "Fat Cat" up!

Here's a closeup.  I've been doing a lot of fur practice with my Copics and really, really, REALLY wanted to fluff her out, so I lightened the digi to a fairly light gray in my Printmaster Platinum program and went to town.  LITTLE ball of fur?  Hardly, but she's purrr-fect just the way she is.  Just ask Jezebel.  

I'm also entering this in the January Ike's World AG/New Beginnings challenge, the DL.Art January Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #73 AG, the Outlawz Monday Greetings The Time After Christmas, the Outlawz Twisted Thursday New Beginnings, Your Scrapbook Place January AG, Simon Says Wednesday Use Patterned Paper and Crafty Animals #10 AG.

Congrats on a Sporting Achievement for Sunday CAS

I'm Guest Designing again this week for the Outlawz CAS challenge and our theme is Congrats on a Sporting Achievement.  Although I think this may be a bit of a difficult theme, I was thrilled because I had the perfect stamp from Ike's Art called Winner, originally drawn for one of the Outlawz Designers, Holley (Tondre) Barnhardt.  I've colored her with Copics and added a number on her shirt in my Printmaster Program as if she's just won the marathon.  The sentiment is also computer generated.

I'm entering this in the Ike's World Challenge #64 AG (no twist this time), the DL.Art August Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #63 AG, Jo's Scrap Shack #201 AG and the C.R.A.F.T AG challenge #428.

Cross Stitched Roses

One of the themes for the Outlawz Festive Fridays is roses and while checking my images I came across this digi from Ike's Art called Rose Stitch.  I used to do loads of cross stitch back in the 80's and this image brought back happy memories, so I played with it in my Printmaster Platinum program, cropping each section, recoloring and reassembling them into a colored version and here's the result.  I sized the image to fit in the Cuttlebug Grace's Frame embossing folder to fit in with the "optional twist" for the current Ike's World Challenge and matted it with a vintage rose print.  

I'm also entering this in the DL.Art Thankful Thursday Challenge, and Lil Patch of Crafty Friends#63 AG.

Hey, Mew!

Rushed to finish this for the Outlawz Paper ala Mode CAS challenge using an adorable kitty stamp called High 4 from Ike's Art.  This cutie was a freebie from last month's SUYP (cat's only) challenge and if your really hurry, you may still find it HERE.  Ike is so generous with her fabulous images and provides a freebie for both her Ike's World challenges AND SUYP.  I already had this image printed on a very old freebie background from Tiddly Inks to enter in SUYP, but hadn't managed to color him up yet.  I quickly colored him with my Copics, hoping to get a reasonable amount of fur texture and then went hunting for a sentiment stamp since the card was already cut to size.  No luck so I resorted to hand lettering...shudder!  Not great, but not too bad and that made it one layer. Yay, me!  

Oh, and BTW. Just thought I'd mention that Ike's Art is having a 50% off sale for the whole month of July, so you might want to check out her newly revamped store, that now offers instant downloads.  WooHoo!  No waiting.

I'll be adding this to the SYUP (cats only) July Furrything Goes Challenge, the Ike's World AG challenge w/optional twist Relax, Your Scrapbook Place July AG using sponsor image, the DL.Art July Linky Challenge, Crafty Animals July #4 AG, 2 Crafty Critter Crazies #4 AG, Craft Rocket #39 AG, Animal Friends #52 One Layer and Tuesday Throwdown #351 One Layer.

Happy St.Cat-rick's Day

Really, really, REALLY busy day today.  This is my THIRD post.  (Yea, ME!) Please scroll down for the others.

You know I love playing in the (SUYP Cat's Only challenge) and the March theme is AG (with cats, of course) or St.Cat-rick's Day.  Of course I couldn't resist the latter, especially since Ike provided us with this fabulous fur-eebie, complete with sentiments.  WooHoo!  Kind of a simple design with shamrock digi paper from AMBillustrations and a striped piece that was laying on my desk. I added one of Ike's sentiments and some glitter shamrocks because he looks like he's feline lucky.  LOL

Here's a closeup of this handsome guy.  I've been practicing fur and tried to add texture with only my Copics this time.  (Okay, there's a teeny bit of pencil here and there, but the majority of him is marker's only.)  I have a bad habit of putting multiple images on my page before printing and when I went to cut him out with a die, there wasn't room.  GGGrrr!!!  Of course I could fussy cut, but I wasn't up for tackling the whiskers so I decided to color a rug under him.  At first I only had the 3 colors of green and it looked really sucky, but after pulling out the pencils and drawing in what is supposed to be a rag rug design, I thought it wasn't half bad.

Thanks to Ike for her generous gifts of fabulous freebies (you can find more on her Ike's World Challenge, and also on the Ike's Art Fan Page.)  Love, love, LOVE them, especially her KITTIES!

I'm also entering this in the Ike's World AG /optional Over the Rainbow challenge, the Outlawz Festive Fridays St. Patrick's Day theme (close enough, LOL), Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #53 AG, Glitter and Sparkle Use Some Green and Simon Says Wednesday A Bit O'Green. 

Rainy Day and Mondays Always Get Me Down

I don't get to play in Ike's World Challenges nearly as much as I'd like, but when I saw the theme, Rainy Days, and the fabulous Freebie, Tatty, Wetty Kitty, that Ike so generously supplied for this challenge I KNEW I'd be coloring him up.  

I laughed out loud when I saw him because he reminded me of my Goliath and his reaction to rainy days.  We've managed a few late rains in our drought stricken CA, and the kitties have been less than amused.  Goliath tears out the back door and stops dead in his tracks when he realizes what's going on.  Then he begs to come in and runs to the front door.  You see, he figures that the weather out there is somehow different.  UUUhhh...NOT!  He peers out and looks at me like, "WTF?" and in he comes again.  One more door to try.  He's sure it's not raining out the garage.  Out he runs, but I leave the garage door open a tad, and the door out to the garage slightly ajar, because I'm tired of this game. Sure enough, in minutes he's back in looking totally annoyed and confused.  So you can see why I go such a kick out of this poor bedraggled cat with his umbrella head gear.  Wonder where I can get one, by Friday, in fact.

I made the card CAS because the image deserved top billing. The digi paper is from AMBillustrations. 

Here's a closeup of the fab image.  He's colored with Copics with fur detail from Prismacolor pencils.  I hope I captured the "tatty, wetty" look.  LOL  The sentiment was purrfect and comes with the image.  Ike's SUYP (cat's only) challenge this month is Furrything Goes, so of course I'm entering there, as well.  Ike is so generous with her freebies and offers one for each challenge so if you've not visited them, you surely must.  You can check out more of Ike's fabulous designs HERE.

I'm also entering this in the Outlawz Monday Greetings Cards Furry and Funny Challenge, Incy Wincy Designs Inspired by a Book, Song, Movie (the song Rainy Days and Mondays), Creative Moments ATG/Make it Funny, The Mod Squad Water, Water Everywhere, the DL.Art Thankful Thursday Water Challenge, TTRCD April 19th-25th ATG, Quirky Crafts It's Raining Cats and Dogs and the DL.Art April Linky Challenge.

Going in Circles at Ike'sworld Challenges

The current challenge at Ike'sworld is "Going in Circles" and I couldn't resist playing along.  Did you know that Ike actually provides a FREEBIE each time there's a new challenge?  AND, not only was there a fabulous Merry Go Round freebie on the Challenge Blog this time, but also, on the Ike's Art FB Fan page, this adorable puppy chasing his tail.  If you know me, you know kitties are my thing, but this adorable pooch is so sweet, I just had to use him for the challenge.  (Besides, I thought of a cute sentiment for him.)

Before printing him, I added a sentiment in my Printmaster Platinum program. In case you can't read it, it says "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get"  Not sure where I originally heard it, but it does make me giggle.  He's colored with Copics with some Prismacolor pencil work to bring out the fur detail. A window was cut in the top mat and popped atop the blue card base.  Then I cut my image with a smaller oval and popped them both with foam.  I added a paw print strip embellished with Cappuccino seam binding from DL.Art Supplies and some vintage buttons up top. I wanted it be appropriate for a male card so I didn't do a foofy bow.  I think it makes a cute belated birthday card with an inside sentiment like "Sorry I missed your birthday.  Hope it was Happy".

I'm also adding this to the Outlawz Saturday Paper a la Mode Make Us Laugh Challenge, Crafting by Designs Button Up, Little Red Wagon Furry Friends, the DL.Art February Linky Challenge, the Paper Shelter Animal Magic, Simon Says Wednesday ATG, Wags 'n Whiskers Furry Friends, the Mod Squad Animal Fun, Fan-Tastic Tuesday ATG/Include an Animal, Inspiration Destination ATG and the Ribbon Girl Use Any Image Challenge.

Macabre Monday Children of the Night Week 2

OOOps!  The Minions have fallen on some hard times in the dungeon at HDH and are playing catch up with Week 2 of Children of the Night.  Our fabulous sponsor is our own Imp of Insanity Ike who is offering up 3 images of choice from her fabulous SHOP, to EACH of the Gruesome Twosome, SO GET YOUR BUTTS BUSY, guys!  This isn't rocket science!  I've gone the vampire route and recycled a hair product bag (go, ME!) using Night Stranger and Bite Me from her new release.

I've colored the images with Copics, (yeah, her hair is red AGAIN, what can I say?), fussy cut and mounted them on Spellbinder's Labels 2 die cuts.  Of course I've added some blood drips courtesy of my trusty MS Drippy Goo punch.  I really love how versatile these images are.  The blood drips and bite marks on the images are my additions.  They could easily be just a hunky guy and a chick with major 'tude, if vamps don't float your boat.  The sentiment is computer generated and dates way back.  It alludes to a drunken riotous spree, during which much blood is spilled.  Works for me!  Now scurry off in the darkness and show me night night creatures, ok?  There's plenty of inspiration from the Minions and a fab prize to be had.

I'm entering this in the Ike's World Movie Madness Challenge (Inspiration from The Thirst)  and the Left of Center Die Cut Challenge.

Ike's World Anything Goes

Here's a little something for the Ike's World Anything Goes Challenge.  As soon as I saw this hilarious Ike's Art Kat Phish image (keep scrolling, you'll find it) I knew exactly what I was gonna do with it.  You all know I love me some kitties (and Ike does fab ones, both cute and sort of creepy) but I also consider pizza a separate food group and could probably eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner, 7 days a week.  My fave is Deep Dish Chicago Style with pepperoni and sausage, but if I ate it as often as I like, I'd weigh 1000 lbs.  Generally, I order thin crust veggie or some other travesty and then just drool over my husband's thick, juicy meat lover's pie. I just want a taste, or bite of that rich, thick crust, or perhaps one slice, if I'm feeling particulary decadent.  But NOOOO!!!!  Hubby doesn't want to share.  When he brings it home, he immediately opens a tin of anchovies and not only lays them all over every slice, but even pours the 'chovy adulterated olive oil ALL OVER THE WHOLE thing so that no morsel escapes that foul fishy taste.  BLAH!!!!!  So there ya go, my inspiration.  The sentiment is computer generated and I've colored the kitty with Copics to look like my Goliath.  I dare say even HE thinks Daddy goes overboard with the anchovies.  (BTW, the pizza slice was a free coloring digi I found on the net.)  And speaking of Freebies, Ike offers a Freebie image to use for each challenge so there's no excuse not to play along.  And it just happens to be a (really cute) kitty this time, but you have to hurry, 'cause the challenge ends early tomorrow.

I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Monday A is for... (anchovy) Challenge and the Simons Says Wednesday Let's Have a Laugh Challenge.

The 10th Day of Creepmas (Warning, Adult Content)

Yikes!  We're gettin' down to the wire now, aren't we?  Damn good thing I had the majority of these projects done before we even started.  By now you know the whole Creepmas hop thingy and that the Jolly Blogger list resides on the sidebar.  Hasn't this been fun?  Gotta tell ya, I've been having a ball.  Today I've got a little something for my man.  You know, a little door hanger to let him know when I'm feelin' "frisky".  LOL  Yeah guys, you KNEW this kinda thing was coming one of these days, didn't ya? ( I sooo enjoy the nasty comments and hate mail I receive!)

I've used the fab Long Tall Latex Sally from Ike's Art, the precolored version in fact, because why mess with perfection?  I've added some festive jingle bells and a Santa's hat (from Smeared Ink's Watchful Eye AGAIN!  Obviously a MUST HAVE!) and actually broke down and bought a whole policeman's outfit, with accoutrements, from JoLee's JUST to get my hands on those handcuffs.  Cool, eh?  I considered moving the mistletoe to a more provocative place but... ahem...

The fab chain is an EKSuccess punch, the mistletoe a Sizzix die.  Sentiment is computer generated and although I did not color the image myself, I did fussy cut, pop her for dimension and coated her head to toe with Glossy Accents.
As you might guess, I'll be entering her in the current Ike's World Christmas is cumming (I mean Coming) Challenge.  Fa la la la la!  Now off to see Violent Kittie.  MEOW!

Smeared and Smudged 12 Days of Creepmas Day 3 and Ike's World It Feels Like Winter Challenge

What a difference a day makes.  Two days ago we were still in the high 60's and today...BBBRRR...  Welcome to Day 3 of the 12 Days of Creepmas sponsored by the Smeared and Smudged forum.  I had another project planned for today, but the change in the weather and the fact that I've been wanting to play in my HDH DT sister Ike's World Challenge made me switch gears.  The current challenge is there is It Feels Like Winter (Yup, it sure does!) and the fact that Ike has some FABULOUS images that work well with the whole Creepmas theme resulted in this card. (BTW, she does beautiful traditional images of all sorts as well.  Follow that Fabulous images link).

This gorgeous gal is Sinful Beauty.  She's colored with Copics, fussy cut and popped within a fab Memory Box die cut snowflake concoction.  Obviously she packs her own heat.

I've made a tent card with all sorts of frosty elements including glittered icicles from an MS punch, another Memory Box hanging snowflake die with bow, some acrylic glittered snowflakes and a computer generated sentiment (Warm Winter Wishes) on a Spellbinders fancy label.  Have to say I'm feeling warmer already.  Now off you go to Violent Kittie but if you get lost, please check the sidebar for the full Blog Roll.

I'm also entering this in the Left of Center Challenge using the LOC theme and SweetPea Stampers "It's Cold Outside".