My Cards for the Card Crop Challenges

Whew! That was a fun week of challenges and a fun blog hop as well over at Card Swaps on the CardMakers Magazine site. If you have never participated in one...you should! The next one will be in August. There are challenges, games and prizes too! This time around there were 12 challenges in total. I was only able to find time to complete 5 of them. My first card (above), the challenge was to create a card with an ice cream image. My image is by Tina Wenke / Stampavie. I colored it with Prismacolor color pencils.

My second card is a joint effort of mine and my son's. The challenge was to use a frog image and some depth on your card. I only had one frog image that I wasn't too crazy about and almost didn't do the challenge. My son offered to come to the rescue and draw and cut out a frog for me. Isn't he cute? I went with an Asian theme and heat embossed Japanese handwriting on the background. Both the leaf and the frog are pop dotted for the depth part of the challenge.

This next card was for a challenge to create cards using images of something you would see at the beach. I chose to use this seagull image by PSX. I stamped it on Kraft color paper and colored only certain parts with white Prismacolor color pencil. It's a simple card but I think it is my favorite of the 5.

For this challenge we were to create a kite for our card. I drew and cut out the kite shape on a thin piece of cardboard then covered it with designer paper by Basic Grey. Pop dotted it and added a tail with tied ribbons and I had my kite!

Last but not least...the challenge was to create an outdoor scene using a tree. Well I didn't quite create a scene but I did use a tree! I discovered I own only this tree image except for a couple of Christmas tree images so I was pretty stuck on this too. I'm hoping I will be forgiven by the host of the challenge for not creating a scene and my tree is accepted! :) I colored the image with Prismacolor color pencils.

I have had some request to post a tutorial on how to use WORD text boxes which I hope to have posted very soon. Also coming up soon I will be posting my discoveries on making stick pins and just how I make mine. So stay tuned...

Thanks for stopping by!

Over The Rainbow Blog Hop / Sunny Days Card Crop

Welcome to the Sunny Days Card Crop "Over The Rainbow Blog Hop"! I hope you enjoy hopping through all the colors of the rainbow by visiting some very creative hostesses. You should have arrived here from Lora's blog. If not you should go back as you won't want to miss her fabulous card. She starts the hop with a card using all the colors of the rainbow with scraps from her scrap drawer! To start at the beginning with Lora go HERE.

So that means my color is the first color of the rainbow...RED! I was actually pretty excited about the color red as I like it very much and use it often in my Asian inspired cards. Then I found out we were also to make our card monochromatic. Really??? Seriously??? It was like someone slammed the brakes on when I read that. I am so not good at monochromatic. I always freak at this technique and have a tendency to run from it as you may have read in some of my past posts. Also I couldn't think of a thing for red using the monochromatic theme without it looking like Christmas or Valentines Day. So I searched my stamps and found nothing I could color that didn't involve me using other colors too. So that took yet another level of my comfort zone away as I usually love to stamp and color images for my cards. So I changed my line of thinking and decided to try using two new things that I have been playing around with lately but still try to keep a theme of sunny days. Here is what I came up with:

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I recently discovered how to use WORD text boxes to create my sentiments for my cards and have been having loads of fun with that. So using a quote from Lady Bird Johnson I created the sentiment. Also I recently discovered stick pins and making my own. They are soooo much fun and addictive. I will be posting another post about stick pins very soon. I decided it would be fun to create one for my card using beads I had on hand and a head pin. The head pins do not have a pointy end on them like corsage pins do. Since I was sticking the pin coming out from the flower I did not need the sharp point so the head pin worked perfect for my stick pin. My cardstock is by Bazzill and I snuck the one cream piece in for matting which we were allowed to do. The top piece of cardstock has an oval cut out using a Spellbinders die creating a frame allowing me to only have to use just the one piece of cream cardstock . The flowers are by Prima and originally were white till I colored them using alcohol inks. We were told that our card should scream our color and I do believe mine screams red. Hopefully the monochromatic police won't be knocking at my door!

We aren't doing prizes on the blog hop today but I do hope you will consider leaving me a comment and let me know if my card inspired you. There are prizes though over at the Sunny Days Card Crop. There will be challenges, games and prizes for the next four days. Also there will be a spot in the forum for you to post any creations you may have made that might have been inspired from the blog hop. To find the Sunny Days Card Crop go HERE. However don't leave the hop yet. The last stop on the hop will also include a link to the card crop.

Next up is the talented and creative Golda. She recently started her blog not too long ago and I am glad she did as she has a lot to share with everyone. So hop on over to her and don't forget to leave her some love!

In case you lose your way, here is a full list of blogs on the hop:

Lora

Susan H -- You are here

Golda - next stop

Jane

Ana

Meredith

Laura

Angelina

Ashley <-- she will lead you to the pot of gold...

treasures galore... challenges, games, fun, prizes... Please join us....guaranteed to be loads of FUN!

CardSwap Sketch Challenge

Hello everyone! I'm the host of this week's sketch challenge over at CardSwaps on the CardMakers site. I usually am attracted to sketches that have lots of layers and places to put all kinds of embellies. I like simple sketches but find that I rarely use them. I am also guilty of buying those larger image stamps and then rarely using the stamp because it takes up the whole card. Sound familiar?

So I challenged myself to design a very simple sketch that would showcase a larger image. Below is the sketch. For the card I used Bazzill cardstock. The image is by Hero Arts and is colored with Prismacolor color pencils.

You can find the sketch challenge HERE. Hope you consider joining us this week for the challenge. All are welcome! While your checking out the challenge be sure to check out the info on the upcoming card crop also at CardSwaps on the CardMakers site. There will be four days of challenges, games, prizes and a blog hop! Yours truly will be one of the stops on the blog hop. I'm planning a fun card to hopefully help get your mojo juices flowing. Be sure to join in on the fun! I have a blinkie on the top right to help remind you of the dates when your visiting me. It's next week so clear your calendars!




Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Easter

I'm sliding in at last minute here with a card for the current House Mouse and Friends Challenge Blog. The challenge is Easter and you can find it HERE. I chose to make a joy fold card for this cute image. If you have never made a joy fold card you should try it. It adds a fun spin to the traditional top or side fold card. You can find the directions HERE courtesy of Splitcoast Stampers. Below are some additional pictures to show you how the card opens.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Designer Paper: We R Memory Keepers
Tools: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, SU slot punch
Ink: Colorbox Pigment Ink and Memories Black Ink
Techniques: Image colored with Prismacolor Color Pencils. Jellybeans also have a clear glaze added to them with the Sakura Glaze Pens for added extra shine.

Wishing you all a Happy and Blessed Easter!

Summer Tilda and a Childhood Memory

Hello my crafty blogging friends! I am entering this card into the Paper Sundae Challenge Blog which this week the challenge is "childhood memories". My image is actually two Magnolia stamps that I masked together to create the scene. The background is Magnolia's "fence and summer background" from the Summer and Sea collection. Tilda who is perched on the fence is "Jam Tilda" from the Yummy for Your Tummy collection. I decided to make an easel card but chose to keep it pretty simple with no designer papers and very few embellsihments. I wanted to keep the image as the main focus. Cardstock is by Bazzill and the border punch is by Martha Stewart. I colored the image with Prismacolor color pencils. I also used my Spellbinders Nestabilities for cutting the ovals and fancy tag shape.

You can find the Paper Sundae Challenge HERE. My mother was born and raised on a farm In Kentucky and my father was from Southeast Missouri. I grew up in a suburb of Chicago but I spent many a summer in Kentucky and Missouri visiting my relatives who had farms. One of my favorite memories was visiting my great grandmother who had a farm in Lutesville Missouri. I often would sit on the fence and watch the baby pigs. One summer I got a bit daring and actually climbed over the fence to try and go pet the baby pigs. I found out real fast that mama pig was not going to have any part of that. She chased me all the way back to the fence where luckily my older brother appeared in time to pull me over the fence before mama pig got a hold of me! I learned pretty fast that the fence was there for a reason.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone is having a great week!

Bugs and Kisses

Hello my crafty blogging friends! It has been a month since I last posted and almost a month since I have made a card. One of my brothers passed away the beginning of March since I last posted. The last month has been an emotional roller coaster since his death. His death was unexpected and quite a shock. He was also the care giver for another brother of mine who is very ill with MS. My crafting time came to a halt with all that has been going on the past month with taking care of my brother's final arrangements and caring for the other brother who is very sick. Slowly things are starting to fall back into place though and I hope to find time to start crafting again and make the rounds of visiting you all and seeing what you have been crafting since I last visited with everyone.

This card was made for a swap that I hosted on the Card Swap forum of the CardMaker site. The theme was "Black and White With a Splash of One Color". 18 very talented ladies signed up for my swap! The swap due date was the same week my brother passed away so I am just now getting around to sharing with you the card I made for the swap. I love the color red with black and white and what better to use for red than a ladybug! I had fun with this swap and really enjoyed seeing all the cards everyone made.

Hoping to be back this week with another card as I really need some "me" time to do some crafting. Hope all of you are doing well. Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to tell those you care for that you love them. Life is very short.....I will miss my brother very much.

Tag Your It and a Favorite Thing

Over at Inspire Swap Chat there is a game going on called Tag Your It. Someone posts a tag they have made and the first person to post after them will receive the tag as well as they now offer a tag to the next person that posts. I have jumped in 4 times to play. Here are three of the tags I have made. The first is a Happy Hopper girly tag. The tag below was made using the ornament punch from SU. Cutting off the tip makes it look like a vase!

This last tag was made using a brass stencil from Dreamweavers and then embossed with copper embossing paste.

Then as promised I am posting a picture of another one of my favorite things. It's the clear Stardust Gel Pen. I LOVE this pen for when I like to add a bit of sparkle or glitter. I used it on the bubbles of the first tag. I also used it on the balloons of the Happy Hopper birthday card I made 2 or 3 posts ago. I keep this pen close by as I often use it to add just that bit of sparkle. It also comes in many colors but I like the clear one as I usually use it over colors on images that I have colored. If you haven't tried one of these pens...you should! I promise you will love it!

Thanks for stopping by!