Belli Challenge #48 - Celebration

Well, today is also Belli Challenge day! And here is my card finally. The word of the day here was CRAZZZZZZZZY kids, LOL.

ETA: Looking at the picture here, it looks like the card is an odd size, but it's not, it's standard A2 sized! Just thought I'd mention that. :)

This week's Belli is "New Year" or other "Celebration" card (i.e. birthday) in honor of New Year's Eve! Obviously, I went with birthday. This image is from Wish RAK over on Splitcoast, it's a Happy Hoppers - isn't he CA-UUUTE? I colored him with Copics, die cut with my SU die, used a CB folder on the Bashful Blue layer and then painted over the whole background with December Sky Shimmerz Blingz. You can see the shimmer in the angle shot I took - also Blingz'd the cake and blue dots on the hat. The colors here are Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava and Bashful Blue.

Whew! Another two-post day! But check out the blogs of the other Belli Girls if you haven't already {links in my left sidebar} and used keyword CBC48 when you upload!

Pink Papery Wednesday - Patterned Paper

Happy New Year's Eve! I don't know about where you are, but this past year sure flew by around here. And here we are at the beginning of another snowy Wednesday in Wisconsin - perfect bubble bath weather {if you don't have two little kids running around, LOL}.

For this week's Pink Papery Studios designer challenge, Shelly challenged us to Mix It Up! and use up our scraps. Each project needed to have at least two different patterned paper scraps on it. LOVE Shelly right now for this one, because patterned paper is one of my favorite things to put on cards! Or, on anything really, heehee, but cards are the most practical. I used some of my precious Soft Sky prints paper from last year's SU catalog, and some velvet/flocked paper I got at the LSS {can't remember who makes this}.

I reached for my stash of GORGEOUS new images from Pink Papery Studios and chose these from the Simply Bath set. I colored her in with my Copics {gotta get my money's worth out of that new "D" color set I got at Gina K last week!} and added December Sky Shimmerz Blingz to the bathwater and bubbles for extra glitz.

I used SC207 from Splitcoast for the sketch here, it's from a couple of weeks ago but I hadn't had a chance to play around with it yet and I thought this was a great image to try it with! I think I covered all the high points - I'll back a little later this morning with this week's Belli Challenge card!

MTTSC3 - Snow Bunny Girl

Happy Tuesday! Time for another Twinkling Tuesday sketch challenge from the fabulous Madelynn. This is MTTSC3 {use that keyword when uploading to SCS or PCP}. You NEED to participate in this week's sketch challenge too, because Jessica and Madelynn will be having a random drawing for some very cool blog candy!!! All you need to do is participate in the challenge by making a card using Madelynn's sketch, and leave a comment on Jessica's blog post with a link to your creation!

Anyway, back to my sample. I really enjoyed this sketch, it's very versatile! Here's my card:

These images from Pink Papery Studios are so much fun. I am really loving the digital aspecct of them because it's easy to manipulate them and size them exactly where I want them {they are available as stamps too}. This is the Snow Bunny Girl from the Walking in the Winter Wonderland set. I colored her with my Copics and then flocked the hood and cuffs of her coat with white flock {probably can't see that part in the photo}. I added a bunch of two-way glue around her boots and dumped on some Art Institute "Faux Snow" that I got back in the fall but hadn't opened! I love it though, I'll be using it again. I found the DP in my stash and I colored some white grosgrain purple {again using Copics} to match up with her snowsuit. Some Filigree designer brads from SU finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure you visit the rest of the Twinkle Team {links on my left sidebar} for more inspiration and don't forget to GET STAMPING and link up your creation to Jessica's blog post {by leaving a comment} and you'll be entered to WIN her challenge candy! Jessica and Madelynn have put together an AMAZING prize package and you know you want it. Looking forward to seeing your creations!

Christmas is over, but...

The Christmas cards are still rolling in here, so I figured I've still got a few days to share the last of the various Christmas card designs I had made.

This one features that adorable stocking from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps that you've seen before. I really like this image, it's a great size, perfect for coloring, and of course SO cute. It also has the great sentiment that goes along with it. You can buy these stamps individually {mounted or unmounted}, or you can get the Fall & Holidays half sheet, which has these and many more {more is good!!}.

I used an old Sketch Challenge from Splitcoast for this one - SC142 - a real favorite of mine. The colors are Real Red, Certainly Celery and retired Christmas DP from Stampin' Up!, can't remember the name offhand. I colored the main image with SU markers and painted on some Shimmerz for extra bling.

Blog Candy Alerts!

Not mine this time, but a couple of great ones I wanted to link-up:

• Melissa's In Style blog candy. Have you seen those Divas? They're ROCKIN'!
• Melissa from Keepsakes by Melissa has some very cool New Year's candy!
• 500 hits candy from The Paper Freak.

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a fun-filled holiday! If you're traveling, be safe!

Did You See Mommy...

...kissing Santa Claus? Well, here she is! :) I am so in love with my new images from Pink Papery Studios. They are available as actual stamps or as digital images, which I am really enjoying working with. These are my first ones and it's so EASY and flexible for your project needs...very cool. Did I say, surprisingly easy to use too? These images are from the Simply Santa set.

So, it's Wednesday, which is the day that the Pink Papery Studios DT does their challenge! This week's challenge comes from the very talented Cassie. She went easy on us since it's Christmas Eve and asked only for a simple card {which is quite a challenge some days, isn't it, with all our fun tools and embellies and everything to play with??}. Since this is my first challenge as a PPS girl, it was a great way to ease into things. {not that it's about me, LOL!!} Thanks Cassie! Be sure to visit the other PPS designers to see their "simple" cards. {Links on my left side bar}.

And as you all remember from Wednesdays past , it's also Belli Challenge day! This week Chris asked us to pick a past Belli to showcase, and I chose #43 - Cord {CBC43 keyword}. The other Belli girls probably chose different challenges, so be prepared for lots of variety and WOW for the Belli today. Their links are on my left side bar too.

Merry Christmas Eve to you all!

Twinkling Tuesday #2

Happy Tuesday! Well, today is the OFFICIAL start of Madelynn's Twinkling Tuesday sketch challenge! How fun is this?? Madelynn is the 8 year old DD of my friend Jessica and she's got some great layout ideas! To learn more about the challenge, be sure to visit Jessica's blog. Here is the sketch {oh to be that talented at age 8, she's got some great ideas!}:

And here is my card. My image is from Pink Poison. Could that little Anya BE cuter?? Dawn stamped me a few images to play around with and sent 'em over, THANKS Dawn!! {I guess the shop is going to be called The Greeting Farm starting January 1st, just in case there was any confusion}.

Be sure to visit the rest of the Twinkle Team {links on my left sidebar} for more inspiring projects, and of course Jessica's blog to see all the creations in one spot. Don't forget to leave everyone some comment love! If you upload to Splitcoast or Papercraft Planet, use the keyword "MTTSC2" so we can see everything with one easy search!

I also took an angled shot since I added Shimmerz all over her and you can't see it in the first photo at ALL. The card was easy to make {once I stopped screwing up the measurements on cutting, LOL}, I colored my pre-stamped Anya with Copics and added the Shimmerz. The pink ribbon already matched and I colored the wider grosgrain with Copics too {it started out white}. The sentiment is from Stamping Bella.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope everyone is more ready for Christmas than we are! It really snuck up on me this year. :-)

And The Winner Is...

Sorry about the lateness of picking today's winner, we're having a real stir-crazy day here with the cold temps and both DH and I have had our hands full with the kids. I think things have finally settled down though, WHEW! Here's an easy sample using one of Jessica Lynn's $1 Stamps - can't beat that! More inspiration on how to stretch those stamping bucks!

I realize I haven't posted any new projects in a few days either, I've been up to my ears in Christmas cards. Of the 48 I made in the last few days, you would think I'd have remembered to take a picture of ONE of them...but no such luck. I'm not sure where my brain went but it wasn't on stampin' once the cards were assembled! So I can't share this year's cards with you right now, but maybe someone will take a picture for me and I can post it then, LOL. I'll be back with a NEW project tomorrow.

Ok, enough babble from me, the winner of the $20 gift certificate to the Jessica Lynn Original online store is...

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers: 7
Timestamp: 2008-12-21 20:46:11 UTC

That comment belongs to the lovely and talented Christi! Christi, I will have Jessica Lynn contact you with the details of your winnings. Congratulations!

Oh Yes - I Said BLOG CANDY!

***This Blog Candy post will remain at the top until Sunday, December 21st. Until then, please scroll down for the new stuff. Thanks!!***

Happy Monday! What better way to start out the week than with BLOG CANDY?! {No better way, that's how!}. As you can see, I had to recycle some artwork to accompany my CANDY announcement - just ran out of time this weekend to make something new. That's ok, you understand.

What's this about blog candy though?

How would you like a $20 gift certificate to the Jessica Lynn Original online shop? I know!! Jessica Lynn is SO generous. I wish I could win. *wink* There is some really great new stuff planned for 2009, including lots of NEW stamps with a great new look - check out this new wedding set and these new wedding words for a double sneaky-peeky! Custom stamps are also available.

So...how do you enter? It's EASY! No tricks, no hoops...just leave me a comment on this post and your name goes in the drawing. If you help me spread the word about the candy goodness by posting about it on your blog, you get TWO entries {please comment twice, once for the "freebie" and once for spreading the word}. That's it! I will draw a winner Sunday morning, December 21st {sometime after 10 AM}. Make sure you check back then to see if it's Merry Christmas to YOU!

More Exciting News!

Well you might have noticed I finally got around to updating my sidebars and link lists! I've been meaning to do it for awhile but today I had a very good reason to make it a priority!

Last week I was asked to join the design team for Pink Papery Studios and of course I said yes! Have you SEEN the cute cute images and fun accessories that Amy carries? Not everything is up on the web store yet but there's plenty to get you started on your wish list! I am loving the images I have to play with here and will have some fun projects to share soon {now that Christmas cards are DONE DONE DONE!}. I have included a permanent link to the store on my left sidebar, as well as the blog links for all the other Design Team members. Stop by and say hi, they are all amazingly talented and I am SO lucky to be joining them!

The other announcement is for a FANTABULOUS new sketch challenge team! I've joined up with my good friend Jessica and several other "twinkling" divas to present...Madelynn's Twinkling Tuesdays! Do you remember the story from earlier in the week {click here to refresh your memory} of how Jess's 8 year old DD made up a sketch for her? Well the super sketcher, Miss Madelynn, got such a great response that she decided to make it a weekly challenge! Check back on TUESDAYS to see what Madelynn and her team have in store for you. Permanent blog links for the rest of the Design Team are on the left side of my blog.

That's it for me for tonight, but I'll be back tomorrow with the BLOG CANDY WINNER of the Jessica Lynn Original $20 gift certificate, you still have a little time to enter if you haven't yet. Until then...

A NEW Sketch Challenge!

Yesterday I hinted that I made a card using a sketch from a very special new sketch challenge. And here it is! Wow, two posts in one day for me, that must be a record {scroll down for the Belli}. The sketch was made by my friend Jessica's DD - and it's FABULOUS! Check out Jessica's blog post for the back story. Of course I had to play along - oh to have been that talented when I was 8 years old! Here's Madelynn's original sketch:

I also took a close up/different angle picture of the main image because I had added a bunch of glitter to the stocking (I know, you can hardly believe I would add glitter!) and it adds some good dimension, especially the white. It's really hard to see it in the first picture though, so here you go:

(As always, click the pictures for the enormous version.) The stocking stamp is from Prickley Pear rubber stamps and the sentiment is from Stampin' Up!. I colored the stocking and all the treats in with my Copic markers and then added the glitter. You can hardly tell from the angle of the picture, but I used the scallop border punch on the skinny red piece and then added some white ribbon. The velvet bow was put on at the end and has the silver cord and metal edge tag coming off of it.

Thanks for visiting today!

Belli Challenge #46

It's Wednesday! That means Belli Challenge day! The Belli Challenge was created by Chris (Chrissyd723) to inspire us to use the *stuff* lying around our stamping spaces...those long forgotten goodies that we once had to have!! Anyone can play, so get out your scraps, stamps, and embellies!! This week is Belli Challenge #46 - Wrapping Paper! If you upload to SCS, use the keyword "CBC46" -- and be sure to link back to Chris's original post for a chance to win this week's challenge!

ETA: My card is up now as you can see! Thanks for your patience! It is a very simple one because the wrapping paper print was so detailed. I cut a panel to size and then stamped the sentiment on a tag I had in my stash, added ribbon across the top and put the tag on with some linen thread. An actual easy card - yay!

Be sure to visit the rest of the FABULOUS Belli Challenge Design Team and see their creations! Leave them a comment if you have time!

Holly Brown
Joan Ervin
Ceal Pritchett
Courtney Fowler
Lorie Ames
Danita Hollander
Sarah Anderson
Shelly Koskinen
Chris Dickenson
Christi Thorsen

Butterflies & Bling

Let's take an entsy break from Christmas cards this evening, shall we? Today's share features some nice spring-ish colors in honor of the 6" of snow currently falling on the midwest. *wink* This card has been sitting and patiently waiting its turn on the blog for a couple of months now (don't know how that happened!), so I thought tonight would be fitting. The layout is from Verve's OSW challenge from the fall. All stamp images from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by! Lots of good stuff coming up - tomorrow is Belli Challenge day AND I have a VERY special card to share with you from a brand-new sketch challenge artist - more on that in the morning.

More Radient Rain - Make Good Use of Your Mask

Here's another card that came about from my Radient Rain playtime last month. If you remember the other cards (or scoll down), I used different masks in various ways and then sprayed or daubered over them with the Radient Rains. I was teaching myself, so I just tried everything I could think of. I worked for hours and then left everything to dry and went to bed. This flower is one of the things I was using as a mask, I used it a bunch of times and it was SOAKED and kinda crumpled up too. Imagine my surprise when I came down the next morning and it was PRETTY!! Great colors and lots of shimmer too.

So I decided to make it the focal point of this card! Not only did I get tons of use of the flower as a mask but now I can use it as an embellishment too! {Note that this is a silk flower, NOT a paper one}. I stamped on it using the flower words background stamp from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps, did some stamping on a sheet of Radient Rain'd background paper (then Cuttlebugged it), added the hardware piece and it was done. Once you have the flower and background piece done up with the Radient Rains, this is a 10 minute card (almost unheard of around here!). You can buy the Radient Rain sprays and daubers from the Prickley Pear web store!

CBC45 - Christmas!

You know what they say...Wednesday again! heehee. Well that means it's time for the Belli Challenge! If you're not familiar with the challenge, belli is short for embellishment - each week our challenge founder, Chris, chooses an embellishment or theme for us to showcase. This week is #45 and the challenge is CHRISTMAS (keyword CBC45 on Splitcoast). You can visit Chris's blog for more details and to link up your creations for a chance to win a prize and have your project spotlighted on Chris's blog! The rest of the Belli DT has inspiration for you too, and their blog links are in my left sidebar.

For my card - I knew I had to get out my new stamp from Impression Obsession. I've wanted to order from them for a long time and I finally treated myself to a couple of images, which just arrived on Monday. I stamped this Holiday Margarita in Real Red and colored it with my Copics. I added some Celery Shimmerz over the top of the drink and some Opal Shimmerz over the top of the floating gifts. I stamped the image again in black, colored and cut out the tree and added it with dimensionals. Had to put on some little rhinestones of course, and a glittery star brad. Also have some red pearls as the holly berry garnish on the right. Chunky salt glitter on the rim and viola! You can see the full-size picture with more detail by clicking on it, above. {Yeah, it's blurry once again, sorry. We haven't seen sun in several days so I don't have my perfect photo spot - gotta make do with overcast skies and incandescent lighting. I will try to retake it today if the sun comes out!}

Radient Martini

Shaken, of course! Here is another card I made with the Radient Rain sprays. I used a piece of roundish mesh over the top of my cardstock and sprayed through - you can see the white parts where the mesh was. Once that was dry I stamped this cool Martini image from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps and colored it in with Glaze gel pens. Fun! After I finish making Christmas cards, I will definitely be playing with the Radient Rain products again. You can buy them from Prickley Pear by clicking here.

A Naked Christmas Card-inal

I bet that got your attention! I can't believe I haven't posted in 3 days! I have plenty of cards to share too - sheesh. My DS #1 got an educational computer game as an early Christmas present and he asks *constantly* to play it - so we've been either avoiding the study completely or playing the game these last few days.

But I remembered today! Here's a card I made for a previous Limited Supply Challenge over on Splitcoast. This was LSC188 - No Embellishments! I know, right?! I can hear you screaming from here. That was me too, so I was determined to participate. You could only use paper-related items (punches, cutters, etc.) and ink/markers. Nothing else. Not even GLITTER.

Here's my offering. The main image is from Cornish Heritage Farms. The sentiment is from Jessica Lynn Original. The colors are Old Olive, Red and White. I used SU Markers to color. That's about it - talk about Limited, LOL! It was a challenging challenge but I am glad I played.

Day 1 - Limelight's 12 Days of Christmas

Plus, Mojo63! Whew! Love it when I can combine challenges. I like doing them because they often stretch my "box" or safety zone or whatever you want to call it. And, they're fun! I always enjoy seeing what all the challenge participants come up with.

I used Julee's latest Mojo Monday sketch for this card - Mojo63. She always has the best sketches! I decied to combine it with the bird & tree theme that Lisa had challenged everyone to as part of the 12 Days of Christmas party at Limelight Papercrafts. I LOVED her challenge so I had to play along. The tree stamp is from Unity, the bird is from Inkadinkadoo and the sentiment is from Stampin' Up!. I colored the tree with colored pencils and gamsol and randomly added some colored microbeads, just for fun (you can see them better if you click on the picture for the "large" view). Stamped and cut out the bird and then went over him with December Sky Shimmerz Blingz.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Radient Rain, Anyone?

Remember the weekend before last when I posted about how I was going to be demo'ing the use of the Radient Rain products in the Prickley Pear booth at a stamp convention here in town? Well, here is one of the samples I made for the booth! Sorry for the lack of photo perfection, we had a cloudy day when I took these, and I left all my samples with Nicole for future use so I can't retake unless I recreate!

I think it turned out neat! I was pretty relieved too because I had NEVER used this product before, and a couple of days before the show I sat down in my {brand new! pictures coming soon!} stamping area and played around with them. This product comes in either a spray format or a dauber, it is a colored liquid along with matching colored mica that you shake up and then use to spray {or dauber}. I am the first to admit I was a little leery but it's COOL. It's EASY and FAST, dries pretty quickly too and there's a lot you can do with them! I'm also convinced those bottles are a lifetime supply, heehee.

Anyway, for this card, the top layer is the piece I did the Radient Rain work on. I took a large silk flower, layed it down over the top of some plain white cardstock and started spraying! I used Jaspere Red with Gold for this one. You can let your colors dry in between, or not. It depends on what kind of look you're going for. Here, I didn't. Also, you can see how it's the negative of the flower image that is left on the paper after I pulled it off - except in the middle? I got the middle extra, extra wet {by accident} when I was playing, and the liquid wicked out toward the petals a little since the flower was fabric. Then when I pulled it off, this is what was left. I liked it a lot so I made it the focus of the card.

The sentiment is stamped on vellum and added to a stamped frame I cut out and added on. I also stamped on some Brushed Gold cardstock for the bottom layer. All stamps from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you all have a wonderful evening!