Ocean Wave Dancer

Happy Friday!Time for another fin-tastic Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge!!!

I've taken some liberties with this week's sketch... I made it square instead of rectangular to give it more depth so that Ocean Wave Dancer has plenty of room to dive! I'm so glad I finally got a chance to ink up one of these Sweet November cuties. I love them all!

The DP is from the Splash Dance collection by Imaginisce. Of course I had to shimmer up Ocean Wave Dancer's "scales" by adding some Stickles, so I mixed Baby Blue and Eucalyptus together. The "bubbles" are Rain Dots by Cloud 9 Design, and the shell embellishment is by K&Company.

Why not come along and play with us this week? I'd love to see what you come up with using this gorgeous sketch! Be sure to visit the rest of the Sketch Crew to see what they've come up with. It's sure to be a treat!

Alice Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland 

Jami Sibley: More is More

Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Rosie Hughes: Love My Craft Room

Sherrie Siemens: Card Creme

and of course Taylor herself: Taylored Expressions

Have a fin-tastic day my friends!

It's All About Nature!!!

Yay, it's time for a Theme Challenge at The Pink Elephant, and the theme is Nature! Anything goes as long as it has a nature theme or can be found in nature.

Our sponsor this week is All That Scraps, featuring the new Swiss Pixies Stamp Kit #1 Limited Edition, available only through April 30th! And it's on sale for 50% off!!! I'd say, run, don't walk, before you miss this fabulous deal and these ADORABLE stamps. I love mine!

With the theme being nature, the first thing that came to mind is Basic Grey's Origins DP. And I followed Friday Sketchers Sketch Challenge #96. I think the lace looks really rope-y... something a bit different.

I hope you'll join us at The Pink Elephant this week. Be sure to stop by and see the NATURE creations from the rest of the Design Team featuring images from Swiss Pixies... and meet our Guest Designer for April, Silvia Rodriquez!

Have a blessed day, my friends!

Spring Has Sprung!

Okay, even a die hard Winter Girl like me can't be too jaded when it comes to spring. There is something truly special about real spring weather...blue skies and white puffy clouds, coupled with an easy breeze, is definitely a pleasure, no doubt about it. I think we all still have more winter ahead, but spring is definitely coming. And that's the Theme Challenge this week at The Pink Elephant... SPRING!
Our sponsor is the wonderful All That Scraps, which is celebrating its fabulous March release, including this amazing set of images called Sugarplums Spring Kids... which are available as a set, individually, and in digi form!


My card features Sugarplums Cherry Emma and Stump. I love her, and that cute stump!!! When I saw the mushrooms, I immediately thought of the Earth Love DP by Cosmo Cricket.

I hope you'll join us this week at The Pink Elephant! Be sure to stop by and drink in all the loveliness created by the TPE Design Team. We can't wait to see what you come up with for SPRING!!!

Have a wonderful day, my friends!!

A Snowball for You!

Hello my blog surfing friends! I just had to post one more snow themed card before I post the Valentine cards I made last night (stay tuned for those). This is another digi download from CC Designs called Winter Sweatpea and Tiger. Unless you're handy with a program like Photoshop Elements and can combine the two images, you'll have to cut Tiger out and mount him next to Sweatpea like I did here. I just had to measure and resize the image to make it fit the way I wanted. The card needed a greeting... "heads up" would have been perfect, but I don't have that in my vast array of stamps, so I picked "For You," one of Hanna's stamps.

I did all the coloring with my Copic markers. The cardstock is Spring Rain (blue) by Papertrey Ink and Chocolate Chip by Stampin Up, as is the blue and white polka dot DSP and the brown felt ribbon.

We are continuing with our Winter Cleaning around here, which I must get back to. I've been loving being a stay-at-home mom during this winter break from work. It's going to be very hard to go back to work next week. But I won't think about that now.

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll be back soon with some Valentine cards!

Winter Fun

I've seen some amazing pictures on blogs of snow, snow, snow. The closest I see of snow is on the distant mountain tops, but it sure is pretty. It's been a while since I've played in the snow... I think it was a couple of years ago when I took three of my boys to the mountains for a few days and we lucked out with a fresh snow. But it was nothing like many of you experience every year.

Lack of snow here doesn't diminish my love of wintery things and snowmen, though! I had to try out CC Designs Digi Download Winter Bear
just to see how it works. These images are sooo cute! Sure enough, Copic markers work just fine with inkjet print. I ended up doing two different versions of this card. Which do you like better?

The cardstock is Papertrey Ink's Spring Rain and Smooth White, and Stampin Up's Riding Hood Red. That's also Stampin Up's Ski Slope DSP in the background, and Riding Hood Red stitched grosgrain ribbon on the top card, and Papertrey Ink's Spring Rain Topnotch Twill ribbon on the bottom card. Both were quick and easy... I basically used scraps that were laying on my crafting table.

We had a nice, low key Christmas, but now I've galvanized the troops and we are doing a thorough Winter Cleaning. My goal is to have my home in order at the start of the new year... a fresh start, if you know what I mean. They grouse about it, of course, but are actually getting into the spirit of things. With all six of us working together, it's not so bad. I never thought I'd see the day, but apparently all those guilt trips I've given them and pouting I've done are working! I better not celebrate too soon, though, lest I jinx it. We still have a long way to go before we're done.

Hope you are still enjoying the holidays. Thanks for stopping by!

Dare to Get Dirty 08 Challenges - Vellum and Ribbon

Hello! I know it's been over a week since I last posted. Again, I have to blame a slower than expected recovery from my surgery. It's not that I feel terrible... it's just that I get very tired after a long day at work and don't have the energy to stamp in the evening. Plus, all my extra energy has been spent shipping out stamps that have sold on eBay. Thanks to all who have helped to make my sales so successful! I will have more goodies to put up for auction next weekend, so stay tuned.

On Friday, my friend Lisa and I went to the Long Beach Quilt Festival. That's only the second quilt show I've ever been to... the other being Road to California in Ontario, CA this past January. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven the first time, and the Long Beach show was no exception. All I can say is that it fired me up to get back to my quilting... especially now that I own two more kits to add to the pile of those I've already purchased! LOL So many crafting projects, so little time...

One of our very favorite vendors was Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods. Talk about eye candy! You just wouldn't believe the assortment of buttons, ribbons and beads. You will definitely be seeing some of the delicious ribbons I bought there in future cards!

Quilting was my inspiration for this card. Laurie Schmidlin is one of my top two favorite stampers. I not only love her artwork, but I love hearing about life on a ranch in Montana... about as far removed from my life here in So Cal as can be! Anyway, Laurie issued the first challenge last Monday for Dare to Get Dirty 08, to use vellum on a card. I honestly have not used vellum in a loooonnng time. Laurie does some beautiful things will vellum. I'm a little stymied.

I pulled out my Cuttlebug embossing folder and made a background paper that looks to me like embroidered linen. Then I used my new PTI Quilter's Sampler stamps to stamp quilt squares on Guidelines paper... I used black ink...then punched them out with my 3/4" square punch, then assembled them together on a scrap of cardstock, and mounted all of that over a larger square of Guidelines paper. I got the idea for that from Michelle Wooderson, my other favorite stamper. (I see she's now caught the quilting bug!) With the cardstock background, I think it really looks like a quilt!

I then added the sewing elements to finish the card. The thread spool was stamped first on the "quilt" and then stamped on white cardstock, cut out and mounted over the image stamped on the "quilt" so that you could see the thread portion of the image. I tried to put a greeting on the front, but couldn't get one to look right. I can't tell you how I struggled with this card. I think I must have been brain dead... it came together very slowly and evolved as I went along, but in the end, I think it turned out okay.

Recipe:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Quilter's Sampler

Paper: Papertrey Ink Plum Pudding cardstock, Guidelines 6 x 6 DP, Stampin Up vellum cardstock

Ink: SU Basic Black, PTI Plum Pudding

Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, PTI Plum Pudding satin ribbon, misc button and pin

This card is in response to the ribbon challenge issued by Jody. She challenged us to use ribbon as the starting inspiration for a card. I have lots of wonderful ribbon, and it didn't take me long to choose this one. I was inspired by the bright colors, and I was pretty sure I had cardstock that would match. Sure enough, I did!

I was anxious to ink up my new CC Designs stamps, and thought this little guy with his melting ice cream cone was perfect for the bright colors of the ribbon and papers. My sons Clay and Avery love sherbet, so that's what I was recreating in my ice cream images. All the coloring was done with Copics. I colored the bear with two different colors and then removed some of the color with my Colorless Blender. I'm sorry I forgot to write down the Copic colors for you. The sketch is patterned after one I saw on Taylor VanBruggen's blog. The bottom green cardstock piece was put through a Cuttlebug emossing folder, although it's a bit hard to see. Anyway, I just love the way this card turned out!

Stamps: CC Designs

Paper: SU Rose Romance and Green Galore cardstock, PTI Lavendar Moon and White cardstock

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Copic markers

Accessories: misc ribbon, Cuttlebug embossing folder, SU scallop circle punch and 1- 3/8" circle punch

I've got to go and get ready for church. I'll post three more cards this afternoon, so stay tuned!

SC #179 - A Special Birthday Card

Hello there! This is a record... three days in a row. I'm on a roll!

Today is my "5th son" Brendan's 20th birthday. Brendan and my second son Collin have been best friends since they were knee high to a grasshopper. I still remember when they met. They were on a soccer team together. They were the smallest on the team, which is probably what attracted them to each other! Brendan with his mop of red hair, and Collin with his big ears and eyeglasses. What a pair! I'll have to find a picture of them and post it. Here it is 15 years later and they are still the ones who understand each other better than anyone else.

Of course, I wanted to make Brendan a special card. Since I had neither dragon stamps nor one of a manatee (his favorite animal), I chose a monkey because Brendan is definitely playful (that's code for "goofy"). I know it's a little juvenile for a 20-year-old, but it fits Brendan! LOL

I made this card using the SCS Sketch Challenge #179. The white circle seemed a bit bright, so I sponged with Papertrey Ink Spring Moss and Stampin Up Creamy Caramel. The monkey and branch were colored with my Copic markers. I bent the acrylic greeting stamp to make it curve around the bottom of the circle. I kept thinking that I needed to add something more to the card, but the paper is so busy, I couldn't come up with a thing. Sometimes it's best to leave well enough alone.

Recipe:

Paper: Bazzil olive green cardstock, Basic Grey Mellow Designer Paper

Stamps: CC Designs Monkey Love, greeting is from a Papertrey Ink

Ink: Stampin Up Chocolate Chip, Copic Markers, Papertrey Ink Spring Moss, Stampin Up Creamy Caramel

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to have something else to share tomorrow, so be sure to check back.