My card was Spotlighted at CDAC!

    What a lovely surprise to find out this afternoon that my one of my cards was chosen to be Spotlighted over at Crafter's Digital Arts Center.   WOOHOO!

   It was this card (below), that I posted about earlier and I owe my thanks again to Guylou's Inimitability  for donating the wonderful image to the group.  My card was created for this Week's Freebie Challenge I hope you'll all stop over and join in on the fun.

  
  Thank you to Priscilla and all the members of the Crafter's Digital Arts Center Group.  It's my pleasure to be part of the group and I totally enjoy taking part in all the wonderful challenges! 


   What a wonderful treat  -- you made my DAY!! 

Terrific Tuesday...

  ...Today is another wonderful day and I was off this morning, catching up with one of my very best friends, Kym, which was wonderful.  Now that her boys are back in school, she'll have more free time and we can get together more often to chat, craft or simply have coffee together.  She is taking this year off and will only be working part-time, so it'll be a blast to have more time to hang out again!!    We are planning to get together again on Thursday and it'll be fun.  She is starting to get into card-making and loves to come here and work in my craft room, so it'll be a nice day.

   I did not spend too much time in my craft room today, but I do have two cards to share.  One is a re-creation of my 'Little Rapunzel' Card that I made for the 'BLUE' coloring challenge over at the Color Me Creative Classroom.  I was NOT happy with how the hair was colored the first time, so I re-colored it today.  Here are both cards - Please tell me what you think --

First Version - Monday

My New Card - Today

   My next card is a new card created with a wonderful digi image that was donated to all the members over at CDAC.   As soon as I saw it, I knew it would make a really pretty Fall card and I it was really a nice image to color with my Copics.   My card is being submitted to this week's 'Freebie' Challenge, which is where I found this wonderful image.   I love baskets, sunflowers and apples, so this image is kind of my favorite fall things...love it and the best part is that it was donated by the member artists over at CDAC.   This fabulous image was donated by - Guylou's Inimitablity.  

     I have already colored it a second time, in slightly different color for another card.  To add some extra shine to the apples and flower center, I added a light coast of 3D Crystal Lacquer.  I really like the dimension and shine this product adds to this image.

   I'm off now to color more images and then will be off until sometime tomorrow afternoon.  I have some fun things coming up.....so stay tuned!   Bye bye!!

A wonderful day...

   I can hardly believe it's almost 5 PM and the first time I've hit my blog all day.  Not only did the weekend fly by, but even today (a Monday), is almost over!  WOW!!   

    Today, I have spent most of my day, keeping nice and color in my craft room.  I have done a lot of coloring and now I am beginning to put together some fun new challenge cards. 

   I am also enjoying the fabulous last days of August and can hardly believe the the month is almost over and the the kids start school here tomorrow! 

  The first card I am sharing with you today and is a sweet little card that I named 'Sweet Dreams'.  It was created for a variety of challenges and I think it's a would make a darling baby card or a sweet 'Get Well Card' for someone special.   My image is from Meljen Designs, and you can now find all of Melissa's images being sold HERE at Whimsy Stamps.

   Nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby -- or a cute little sleeping bear.  This card is being submitted to the following challenges --

• The Pink Elephant - Challenge 82 - Mostly White
• My Sheri Crafts - Challenge 20 - Baby Week
• Just Cute Bears - Challenge 32 - Embossing
• Wild Orchid Crafts - Challenge 4 - Make it Sparkle

   
    My next card was created for the 'Blues' coloring challenge over at the Color Me Creative Classroom.  My image is by Elisabeth Bell and it's one of her digital images and is called  'Little Rapunzel'.   If you would like to add her to your collection,  you can find her here!   

   
  I am also submitting 'Little Rapunzel' to this week's Little Girl Themed Challenge, over at the Alice In Wonderland blog. 

  And now I will be calling it a day...it's been very productive and fun!  :)

Summer is winding down....

...but in some ways especially our hot temperatures, you would never know it.  Today, is a fabulous day and I'm sure the beaches here are packed!  After having only a few days of rain ALL summer, it's been a perfect Summer for the beach lovers!  I LOVE Summer and it's my favorite season, and seeing it end is a bummer.  I do love Fall and Spring too -- but Winter, YUK...too darn cold for me!  I'm hoping winter is still very far away and quite happy to enjoy ever minute of Summer.  
   It's been such a lovely day and I have totally enjoyed being in my craft room, staying cool and working on cards.   I decided to create a card that reminded me in some of the end of Summer and this 'black-eyed Susan' seemed to be perfect, as this is almost exactly how mine are looking after a hot summer, and lack of rain.  I also distressed this card, to give it that older look and kind of worn out feeling that we all can have on the end of a hot Summer day.  
   My card was also created with several challenges in mind and I have already submitted it two a color challenge and a distressing challenge over at CDAC.

   This card creation will also be submitted the following challenges:

• Sundays with Chrissy - Favorite Time of year (Summer for me)
• Allsorts - From a Garden or Park
• Catch The Bug - Dog Day of Summer and Neutrals
• Lexi's Creations - Emboss it

   And it looks like that will be my last card for today.  It's now time to think about making something for dinner and I am hoping hubby will do put something yummy on the grill! 

   Goodbye for today.....

Happy Happy Sunday...

....and it's a HOT day here in Massachusetts, but it's not humid and the heat is so much easier to take when it's dry heat.  Today, like all Sundays is our major chore day, and thankfully we are all caught up and I'm ready to create! 
        Sunday is also the weekly 'Sketch Challenge' over at the Stars and Stamps blog and it's quickly become one of my favorites.  This week is Challenge 32, which you will find HERE!   Below is a copy of this week's sketch that I copied over from the blog.   

   For my first try I decided to Flip the sketch and this is my card, which I will be submitting to the chalelnge.  My adorable little image is from Baby Bud Designs and this is sweet little Owie.  If you would like to add him to your collection, please visit the Etsy Store and you'll find him HERE.   I have a few of these sweet little Baby Buds and look forward to growing my collection very soon. 

   I am also submitting Owie to a new challenge I found this morning, thanks to Karen's wonderful challenge list on her Feline Playful blog, which you can find here.  Thanks again Karen for your great list, it's very helpful and a great reference tool for all of us of who Challenges!  :)
   The new challenge is held over at the  The Paper Players and their challenge this week is 'Anything Goes' which is perfect for little Owie!! 

   Now, I am off to work on my other two cards and will be back later today, to share some more.  I hope you are crafting today, or maybe simply spending the day with family and friends, whatever you do I hope it's fun and something you love!   Happy Sunday and Happy Crafting.

Christmas in August???

   You bet!  At least in the craft world and I was very happy to find there were some fun challenges this week and all related to Christmas Cards.  I had started out early in the year with a goal of making at least least one Christmas Card each week...but, somewhere along the line, I went off track and have not kept up with that goal.   Finding these new challenges, has inspired me to get back on track and work on some more fun cards.  


   I started by picking out my image, which is a digi and it's from Bugaboo Stamps.   This adorable little reindeer is one of a few I actually bought ahead of time.   Like most of my cards, I love Fun and Whimsy and I tend to create my Christmas cards the same way.  I was inspired initially, by a craft friend, Reni, who is now part of the DT over at 'The Crazy Challenge' Congratulations!   I am very happy for you ! 

     The Crazy Challenge blog, was the first blog I found looking for Christmas cards, but I was very happy to find there were even more!

     My card is being submitted to the following challenges - thanks you all for the fun Challenge !

• The Crazy Challenge Blog - Never too Early for Christmas Cards
• Totally Gorjuss - Challenge 45 - Christmas in August
• The Secret Crafter - Make a Start on Christmas
• The Creative Challenge Blog - Challenge 21 - Christmas

 

A great day for challenges....

  I am amazed to find some many fun and wonderful challenges to take part in today.  There are more than ever, it seems and it will keep me very busy for the next couple of days.

   My first card today was created for several challenges, with two being hosted over at the Crafter's Digital Arts Center.    My card was created with a wonderful digi image that was donated by one of the artist members at CDAC and that is Linda Tieu from Tortagialla.    

  And this cute little 'Kitty Witch' Halloween card is being submitted to the following challenges:

• Crafter's Digital Arts Center - Freebie Image Challenge
• Crafter's Digital Arts Center - Other Challenge - Distressing
• BeeCrafty - Challenge 37 - Anything Goes
• Crafty Emma's Store - Challenge 1 - Anything Goes

      My next card was a card that I created based on a Thank you card that I received this week from my Secret Sister over at Simply Scrapping Crafts.  She had created me a lovely lavender card, and included some die cuts, so that I could use them to create my own version.  This is the card that I created with the Nestie Cuts that she sent.  I added punched butterflies and decorative corners to create my Friendship/Thinking of You card for two more challenges.  I loved Debbi's card and it was really fun to make my own version.  Thanks Deb for a great idea. 

  This sweet card is being submitted to these fun challenges -

• Darling Cardmakers - A Little Bit of Giving - Thinking of You Card
• Mark's Finest Papers - Challenge 18 - Friendship

    I hope these cards will inspire you to join in on some of these fun challenges.  I am off now to work on another card and this one is for Suzanne Dean's new Copic Coloring challenge, which you can find HERE!   It's open to all and once you sign in to the site, go into the Challenge group for the latest challenge.  Have fun and Happy Coloring!!

Another Gorgeous Day.....

....The weather is gorgeous here -- nice and sunny, no humidity and those lovely blue skies.  My favorite kind of day.  I have already finished up my chores and now I am ready to start on some new challenges.
     I do have one card to share that I finished up last night and this one is a cute little Halloween card that I created for this week's challenge over at 'Cute Card Thursday'.  I have been working on Halloween images an thought this would be perfect for a CUTE Halloween card.  The challenge this week was to create a card without using ANY punches or die-cuts.    We need to simply use our Trimmer, which actually sounds easier than you think.   I realized very quickly how often I go to grab a punch or a nestie and none could be used for this card.

   This sweet little witch is from All That Scraps and you can find her in the store HERE!   I colored her with my Copics and then distressed the background with some 'Black Soot' Distressed ink.  I also used my Copics to color clear bling to have it match my card.  My background papers are various scraps and some leftovers from last year, including Basic Grey - Eerie and some Glitter cardstock from DCWV. 

  

One more for the road...

...I finally took the time to go through the pile of challenges I had stacked up on my craft table to see what else I had to work on today.   When I find a challenge and I like I print out a copy and put it on my desk to have it handy.  Then when I have completed a card, I pull out that sheet and put it with the card, so I can then take my pics and submit my project to any of the challenges that it fits.  Most times, it's simply one challenge, but every now and then, I find that I can make one card work for a few challenges and that is exactly what I did with this card!  I also admire those crafters who can create one fabulous card and have it work for several challenges -  That's fabulous, I dont' know how you all do it, but I am totally impressed! 

    This card worked out to fit three, which for me, is very good.  It will be submitted to these challenges --

•  CDAC - Embellishment Challenge  - Unique Corners
• Alphabet Challenge - The Letter 'R' - R is for Roses
• Stampin' for the Weekend - Challenge 45 - Anything Goes

    I also want to note that the wonderful rose image I used for my card was donated by Laura Wilson, of the  Doodle Pantry who is sponsoring the Embellishment Challenge over at CDAC.  My thanks to Laura for this really pretty image.

   I started by printing out Laura's image onto Cryogen White Cardstock, my favorite for coloring with Copics, and that is what I use to color this image.    Next, I picked out some cardstock to match my 'Purple Roses"', and YES, there truly are purple roses, it's too bad that my camera, decided to make these look more blue, because in person, they do look much more purple?    You don't see them very often, but they are stunning and I LOVE them.  Of course, I LOVE anything and everything purple!   I then used a brand new Spellbinder die set (Beaded Ovals) to cut and emboss my colored roses.  And, then used two different Tim Holtz - Distress inks, (Spun Sugar and Milled Lavender) to edge the image and to add a subtle light pink background.   I then cut a larger scalloped oval for my frame and adhered the image to my card base.  I used a Making Memories Corner Chomper to actually cut off the corners of my card and created new corners with a EK Success Fancy Corners Punch, which completed my card. 

  And now I am off to see what other challenges I can print out to work on this weekend.  I know there are two more I want to do over at Crafter's Digital Arts Center and if hope to find a few more. 

Two new cards today!!

....My mojo is still kind of MIA, but I'm working on getting it back and also on being a very good student and working harder on my Copic Coloring homework.  Last night I spent two hours in class and this morning I spend another hour.  I'm working on coloring 'black' which is one of the hardest colors to get down.

   Here is a picture of my practice sheet from last night and this morning....as you can tell, I'm still NOT there...but, now that I am back in the classes, I feel good and I'll get there.  If I were to look back at my very first Copic images, I know I'm come a long way and I simply LOVE to color.  I'll always enjoy coloring, because it's so relaxing almost therapeutic to me.

This next image was a combination of back and blue

and this is one of my favorite digis.

   That adorable little digi is called 'Daddy's Girl' and I first saw this sweet image, when my friend Lisa  colored her for a challenge last Winter.  I feel in LOVE with the image and wanted to buy it right away, but sadly Lisa could NOT remember where she had bought it.  At that time, we were all starting our digi collections, so it was not unusual to forget where we bought them.  Imagine my surprise when I went shopping at Tiddly Inks, looking for Halloween images and found her!  I was so happy and bought her right away and this is one of the first times I have colored her.....she is sooo cute and a perfect image to use for practice and adorable cards --  she makes you smile.


   And now I have two cards to share with you.   The first is for a new challenge over at CDAC, and this challenge is a Sketch Challenge, sponsored by Bev of BeeCee Artistic Digital Images, and you can find the challenge HERE!   Bev has also provided us with this week's sketch, along with a freebie image and sentiments -- all ready to make a card for her challenge.

Challenge Sketch

My Card

     My next card was created for this week's Color Combo Challenge over at Simply Scrapping Crafts and you can find that challenge along with the colors HERE!!    This is the card that I created and my cute little digi image is from Bugaboo Stamps!

 

      The colors from the challenge that I used in my card are -- Red, White, Yellow, Turquoise and Green, which was an optional color.  To make my little kitty appear white, I outlined him in a pale blue/gray color and then added 'Sparkling Ice' ultra-fine white glitter to make him sparkle.  It was a fun card to create and color challenges are always a favorite for me 

   Hope you all are having a fabulous Friday and hope everyone has a great weekend too!  I'm off to color some more and work on some more of the new challenges over at CDAC!
   


   
   

Happy Friday!!

  Today is another gorgeous day and a perfect day to get outside, so that is where I've been all morning.  I dug out all the dead flowers in my window boxes and replaced them with Fall Flowers, now they look much better.  It's amazing to see how much the grass is greening up again, but kind of sad to sad some of the leaves already falling too!  I LOVE Summer and enjoy Fall too, but I don't like WINTER, and it's coming a bit to fast for me!  YUK!!!
   I am finishing filling up my goodie bottle for a 'Bottle Swap' that I am taking part in over at the Scrapaholics Group.  I had never heard of this, but as soon as I saw the YouTube Video I thought it would be a lot of fun and it really was.   In our group, we had a sign up and everyone was assigned a partner and we could then ask our partner, what type of goodies she likes to make the bottle special for her.  My partner is Jackie and she is so much fun, because we both have a lot of the same interest and both love PURPLE.  If you think you even might want to try this, here is a video, so that you can check it out and maybe someday get together a few crafts friends and do your own little swap.   I ended up putting my bottle in a padded envelope, to be on the safe side, but any of the gals have mailed them off in the bottle, and it is okay with the USPS, as long as there is no liquid in the bottle.  I also think it would be cute for favors or small gifts for a Kid's Birthday.   Here is a second video! to watch.  

   I also want to take a moment to THANK Stef Hughes of Glitterbabe's Art, who hosted the color challenge over at Crater's Digital Art Center, last month.  Come to find out, I was very surprised to learn I WON, and I won two images from her online store - Glitterbabe's Art , which you can find here.   If anyone loves challenges, like me and also loves digi images, you will love the CDAC group and the new challenges were posted yesterday.  There are some awesome Fall and Halloween images that have been donated by various digi artist and you can find them all in the challenge section.  Hope to see you there!
   Now, I am off to work on some cards, and also to get back to my online classes.  I have been 'slacking' on all Summer and I'm ready to go back to school.  I am determined to get back to practicing and to spend at least one hour a day in one of my classes.  I have not been as happy with my coloring lately, and I know it's because I have NOT been practicing, as much as I should...bad girl!!   I want to work harder and continue to  improve my Copic Coloring and the best way to do that is get back to Suzanne Dean's wonderful Videos over at her Color-Me Creative Classroom.  I am now enrolled in Level III and Level IV and there is always more to learn!  I highly recommend her classes, if you are new to Copics or simply want to improve your coloring skills.  Suzanne is fantastic and I love the input Suzanne provide to every student.  She ROCKS!!

Sunshine.....!

...It's a gorgeous day here and now things can start drying out.  We ended up getting close to 5" of rain in a matter of a few hours, mostly all yesterday, but boy did we NEED it.  Everything was so dry and we were at a high risk for fires and under a water ban, so I'm very happy we had the rain.   I really hope it helped and would love to see our lawn back to green !


  Today, I'm still feeling pretty tired..but I am happily crafting again and seem to be doing better.  Yippee!!  I have a few cards to share and these were all for different challenges over at Simply Scrapping Crafts (SSC).


  My first two cards, are both done using a "Spotlight Technique" and this was the challenge that I had been really stumped with yesterday.  I worked on four different cards and in the end, totally changed my stamp and chose a digi stamp from Bugaboo, which I think, worked out MUCH better.

   For my second card, I used the same technique and even the same image and this card was created for a Copic Challenge.  Our challenge this week was to use our Copics in some way to color an embellishment to match our projects.  I did that in both cards and colored 'clear' dewdrops to match the colors in my butterfly.  This is something I do quite often with my Copics, when I don't have the right colors to go with cards.  You can also color ribbon, white flowers, brads and all kinds of things.  

 

  My next card was created for this week's card challenge over at SSC and for this challenge we were provide with this sketch, created by Maureen, one of the DT Gals.  

  And this is my Halloween themed take on Mo's wonderful Sketch.  I have started making my Halloween cards now, so that I'll have the all done early this year and can then focus on my Christmas Cards next!  They are my favorite cards to create.

   I am working on one more card today and it's for the Paper Scraps Challenge at SSC.  Sadly, that challenge will be closing after this week and I know I'll miss it.  I do hope something new is planned that will be just as fun!

  See you all a bit later and best wishes for a wonderful day!!




 

It's still raining...

...and today it is pouring buckets!!  I sure am glad I do not have to go out and I hope we do not have any flooding problems in our cellar.  After being in a drought for weeks, we are now under a flash flood watch  -- from one extreme to another.  Luckily, the rain will end later tonight and then it looks like Summer will be right back...we may even go up to 90 again by Sunday!


   Today, I am spending time working on cards, but it's NOT going as well as I would like.  After having a couple of good days, I'm kind of sore today and also very tired.  I think the weather is starting to make me hurt!  Bleck!!  I'll be happy when the sun is out again and it's not so damp.  I'm also struggling with some challenges, but I did finish a few cards -- but, three were a total bust, so I have only one to share and is my card for this week's Midweek Throwdown Challenge over at the Stars and Stamps blog.


   This week were had to create a Recipe Card and the recipe is to use a Die Cut or Punch, Ribbon and some Embossing, which could be dry or heat embossing.  I started with a new little birthday image that was the Friday Freebie last week, over at Bugaboo Stamps!

  My die cut was created using a Spellbinder Die to create a frame for the little Froggy and I embossed my card base with a Cuttlebug Embossing folder.  I added red and white polka dotted ribbon and also added Glossy Accents to the Balloon and Polka dots on the Party Hat to give them extra dimension and shine!!   


  Now, I am off to see what other challenge I can work on.  My mojo is missing today, but I am not giving up...I'm going back to my desk and try again to work on a card for a challenge over at SSC!

Did you KNOW???

  ...One thing I think you already know is that I LOVE Lori Boyd's wonderful images....but --

 Did You Know...

Did you know that By LORi Designs has a Facebook Group!?!?!?

Sure does!!

Wanna See it?

Look HERE!!

Wanna win some Lollipop Digis?!!?!?? 

All you have to do is leave your link with Mr. Linky below AND share this Giveaway on your 
own FB Profile and/or Blog!!  You are welcome to join the group if you like!!!

On September 15th (the same day as our next Lollipop and Sugar Stick Digi Release at DCRU

I will announce the 3 winners randomly picked to winner 5 Digis of their very own!!!

I attached a banner....feel free to paste it EVERYWHERE!!!! LOL!!! 

Wonder how many more fans we can get?!?!!? Woo hoo!!!
Thanks for all your support!!

Hugs - LORi BOYD

Please hope on over to Lori's BLOG Here and take some
time to sit back and enjoy the MUSIC!!

 _______________________

And here is one of Lori's adorable digis

This is Avery, who 

is a wonderful little Ballerina...

and there is one more....this is Ethan...

and he LOVES his skateboard!!

A dreary rainy Monday!

....But, it will be another great day for crafting and we need the rain, so I have no complaints.  I am already done with my morning chores and now getting ready to work on some new cards.

    Yesterday, ended up being a wonderful crafting day and I hope today is the same.  I have two more cards to share and they were both created for challenges.

    My first card is for the 'Pink and Brown' Challenge over and Just Cute Bears.  This is a new challenge for me and I found it over at 'The Daily Dare' site, which is one of the sites I visit daily in search of challenges to enter! 
    I have always been a fan of cute little Bear images, so I think this will be a fun challenge for me to take part in often.   Here is my card --

    This adorable little guy is part of a set I bought a long time ago from 'All that Scraps'.   This just happens to be one of the first sit very first digi sets I bought!  If you LOVE him, you can find him HERE!!  I also had extra paper from this card, so I made a matching envelope with the the wonderful envelope liner die from Paper Trey Ink.  

   My next card was created using the wonderful new Sketch from the Stars & Stamps Blog, which you can find here!  I also created it with another one of my newest digi images from Digistamps4Joy and this cutie is another of the little Freckled Face collection -- I  Love them!!

   Before I sign off and start creating, I wanted to share two more wonderful sites with you.  These re sites I visit daily in search of new challenges.   he first, is one created by my friend, Jan Hunnicutt, who is a fabulous designer and also a member of OWH.  Jan, has a wonderful blog and has a link off her blog, to some of her favorites challenges, which you will find HERE!   And the second link I am sharing is a blog created by Karen, (another OWH Gal), and you can find here challenge blog HERE!!   Thank you both for all the hard work you do in posting this great challenge links!!


   I am off to CREATE!!   What are YOU doing today?

Super Sunday...

    Today, is starting off wonderful and I think it's going to be a great day for me.  I slept in, while Hubby took care of all the laundry and chores, and I have the whole day to do whatever I want.  Woohoo!!  My Fibro is not bad today and I feel well-rested, so I plan to craft and color all day and work on a lot of fun cards. 

     My first card is a fun Fall card and I was inspired to make this one for a fun challenge over at Suzanne Dean's - Color Me Creative Classroom for the new Bi-Monthly challenge..  The current challenge is very easy--all you need to do is include grass and also color with Copic Markers.  This challenge is open TO all and all you need to do, is hop on over to the Classroom and  Join the CMC Copic Challenge Group.    If you love Copics, are interested in taking a class, then I also highly recommend you sign up for one of Suzanne's.  I LOVE her classes and have been thrilled with all of them.   It's been a lot of fun to be in the classes and I've been so lucky to have met some wonderful new friends.  Everyone is really sweet and it's a FUN group!!  

   
   My second card was created for this week's Sketch Challenge over at the  OWH Stars &Stamps blog.  This is a brand new adorable digi image i bought last night from a new digi store, that I found over at CDAC.   The store is called DigiStamps4Joy and I fell in LOVE with some of the adorable images.  My favorites are the Freckled-Faced Cuties, which you can find HERE!   Here is little 'Freckle Face Fairy' in the card I created for the challenges.  

  I am also submitting this card to a brand new challenge blog I found this week, called 'Craft Yours Days Away' and their on Challenge #2 - With Wings.

  Isn't she a cutie?  I just love here and have already colored her twice for two different cards.  Of course, I think she looks fabulous in purple and I was very happy to put together this cute card based on this week's Sketch, which is #31 -- 

   I decided to make a second card, also based off the sketch and this one is going to be submitted to two challenges.  The first is the Color Challenge over at iCopic's Challenge Blog, and the second is the 'Get Dotty Challenge' over at Aly's Sunday Challenge Blog.

  This cute little digi image is from The Greeting Farm and this is Audrey.  

  And now I am off to continue working on more cards.  I have several images that I colored this weekend and I'm having a wonderful day creating cards.   We finally have some much needed rain here, and it's expected to rain into tomorrow, perfect weather for spending time in my craft room and I'm loving every minute!!  Yippee!!

Some fun new cards to share!!!

   Today, has been very peaceful and relaxing and a perfect day to color and create some new cards.  All of my cards this afternoon were created with images designed my Michelle Perkett and they all really fun and colorful.  

   This first card is my favorite, because it makes me smile and is such a pretty and happy card.  This is one of my newest images and this is the first card I have made it with it, but I know already, it's one that I really like and will use often.  The images is called 'Flying Birthday Girl', and you find it HERE at Michelle'' Etsy store.  

  
   My next card is another every day fun kind of card and one that will be sent off to Operation Write Home and also submitted to their challenge, which you can find over on the Stars & Stamps Blog HERE!  This cute is called Mary-Margaret - The Teacher's Pet, and you can find her HERE in Michelle's store.

  And my last card today is also a sweet little girl image, and this one is called - Goldilocks and you can find her over in the store - HERE!  I really think they are all adorable images and can be used for all kinds of cards.  Birthday, Friendship, Thinking of you, Sending hugs...and so much more. 

   Michelle has so many wonderful images, that I had a really hard time deciding which I wanted to buy, but I did buy a few the other day and have more on my wish list.   These are some of my wish-list favorites - Bloom, Grow, Live - Eva the Glam Mermaid, and Oh Happy Spring.....just to name a few!   In time, I will add those to many digi collection and I also want to try her logo image, which is Princess Oceana.   I think she would be fabulous to color with Copics, don't you?


 

My card of the week!

   I wanted to share a card I created this week for a challenge over at Simply Scrapping Crafts.  It was for the 'Creative Corner' challenge.  This was the challenge we had for us this week. 

Create a card, layout, or other paper-based design
 any project using cardboard as your main embellishment!!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   I decided that I would use my cardboard to create a handmade flower to use as my embellishment and the main focal point of my card.  I started by taking a Spellbinder Die and tracing the shape onto my cardboard.  I then cut out that shape, distressed the edges and ran it through my Cuttlebug with a dotted embossing folder.  This is how it look at this point.

  This was going to be the first layer and base of my flower.  Next, I cut out several different shaped flowers from various scraps of paper and cardstock.  Once I had my flower put together, I used a combination of Purple 'Glimmer Mist' and 'Vanilla Shimmer' Smooch to spray my flower and add lots of sparkle and shine.  Once it dried, I put everything together and added a brad to the center and this is what my flower looked like.  

  I loved it!  The purple and shimmer came out even better than I had expected.  I wish now I had made several, but now that I have made one, it will be easy to create more.  I had planned to use the SU Designer paper you see in the background, and had includes layers in my flower.  All I had left to do was create my card and pick match the colors.  I created my card base in a contrasting color and put it all together to make this card.  

   And this is the card I submitted to SSC and I LOVE IT!!  It ended up being my favorite card this week and one that I will keep and use as inspiration for other cards.  I have made flowers before but never thought of using cardboard and it worked out well and makes the flower very strong.  I also would love to try at some point to create a card based on Theresa's card and will be sure to keep some corrugated box material the next time I receive a package. 

   

  

Woohoo! It's Friday!!!

   I have always loved Fridays and I'm sure that will never change.  Everyone seems happier on Fridays and most people are looking forward to the weekend.   I am looking forward to crafting today and then heading out for a nice dinner with some of my best friends, this evening.

    My special thanks to Suzanne Dean for the super fun Prize Party she hosted last night over in her Color Me- Creative Classroom.  It was a LIVE CHAT party and we all had a blast.  She gave away some fabulous prizes and I actually won one myself -- Yippee!  I won my choice of (5) Copic Markers...how cool is that!!   Thanks Suzanne for a the awesome prize and thanks to all the girls who played along we  had a lot of fun. 

   I am such a huge fan of Suzanne and her classes and I hope now that she is taking her Classroom on the road, that she will be coming to a place near me.  If you are hoping to find one of her classes near your home, please hop on over to her new site here, where all the classes are scheduled.

  And speaking of Copics, my cards today were all created and colored with my Copic Markers and I colored them ALL for the new challenges over at the iCopic Challenge Blog, which you can find HERE!  It's a color challenge and the colors are Red, Yellow and Blue and based on this Mario image.

   I started by picked out a few different digi images that I though would look good with these colors.  I colored three different images, and still could not decide which one to use, so I made three cards.  I'm not sure if I can submit three, so I will have to pick one?   Here are the three different cards I made, tell me which ONE you like best, and tomorrow I'll let you know which one I submitted to the challenge.

   This is the first card and this was created with this sweet little digi image from Pure Innocence, which you can find here.   I am not loving here 'blond' hair and it did find it hard to color, with ONLY yellow, but that was part of the challenge. 

   Card number two is a really cute digi image by Lori Boyd, and this is Dylan, one of her wonderful Lollipop kids - you can find him and his Lollipop siblings over at  DCRU! 

   And my last card is another fun and bright card that I created with a digi image from Bugaboo Stamps.  

   All of the cards were really fun and they are all very vibrant and cheery!   I'll be curious to hear which on you like best!   I'm off now to try and work on one more card for a challenge another challenge at SSC and then I'm taking the rest of the day to rest and relax!


    Have a Fabulous Friday!!