I'm a Happy Camper....

...and enjoying every day in "Summer Card Camp II", which has already been awesome.  I had totally enjoyed every day and I'm learning all kinds of fun new ideas, hints and tips from all the designers.  And to think we are still only on week one and have two more full weeks to go!   Woohoo!!!

   I did not find time to write a post yesterday, but today, I'm covering the past two days in class as well as sharing another few new cards, starting with this one, which was also created for the current challenge at Die Cut Diva's, where the theme for this month is "Summer Flowers".   It's also a challenge being hosted by Bugaboo Stamps, which is one of my all time favorite places to shop for my digi images.   I knew that I wanted to use one of my Bugaboo Stamps for my card and I chose this sweet little flower image, which is from this adorable set.   adorable one, which has a very clean and simple style and design!  It also somewhat reminds me of a orange Day Lily, and my garden is currently fun of them this time of year.  I thought the little butterfly was a sweet touch and colored up my image with my Copics and then added a touch of sparkle with my Wink of Stella Pens (not showing up well in the photo).  My next step was to cut out my image and a border, which I did with this set of dies from Sizzix.   My card was created from some Hero Arts "Carnation" layering paper and the black zig zag is a Spellbinders border die!    My "Just a note" sentiment is from Paper Smooches and works out perfect for this fun little card.

    My next card is another one that was inspired and created with the sketch and colors from Summer Card Camp and it's one that that I'm entering to the new challenge at "Crafting By Design".   For this card I wanted to try something different, on my banner, so I decided that I would add a stamped image and knew I wanted to use one of my brand new stamps that just arrived from  Whipper Snapper Designs, who happen to create some of my favorite whimsical style of stamps.

    Please join me and hop on over to "Crafting By Designs"  where the theme this week, is "Anything Goes" with a Twist of  "Thank You".   This challenge has always been one I love to join, but, like so many others, I have missed out on several over the past couple of months, pretty much since I adopted little Skye.  Now, I'm very happy to be back and hope to continue to play more often!   Now, I just need to remind myself to go over and check out the challenges!   This was was really fun and worked out perfectly with Summer Camp.  

   

  Following that card, I knew it was time for me to trying something new and so I went digging through more of my digi images and found the perfect image to use for this card, which is also based on another fabulous sketch we had from class.   I just LOVE the bright colors in this cute little birdie and knew I had the perfect sentiment (again from Paper Smooches) to use with this image.  Hope you like it and if you help me remember the artist or store when I bought this sweet little bird, I would be thrilled, so that I can give credit to them for the fun and happy designs!  

  And that brings me up to Day 4 in Summer Camp, which has turned out to be one of my favorite days!   I absolutely LOVED the cards that Kristina and the guest designers created and still hope to work on more cards with their fabulous ideas.   If you are a member of the class, you'll know that Kristina also challenged to us to try and create a card in (10 minutes)...YUP....only ten minutes, which is a huge challenge.  I have seen her do it a few times in her YouTube Videos and while I have made a few quick cards, I have never timed myself, so I had to put in a lot of thought before I even started on this one.   

    We did not have to use the weekly sketches for the challenge, but we were asked to continue to use the colors we've been working with all week.   I started by trying to plan out a design and came up with the idea of doing something with some type of shapes.  That's when I remembered I had that brand new die set called "Chevron Bits" from "Avery Elle" and that gave me the ideas of making a large "arrow" type design for my card.  I also thought I had a stamp that say's "What's Up", but for the life of me can not seem to find it, so I had to create this one with my computer, which is always a great way to add a sentiment, if you don't seem to have the right one in your stash.  I printed it directly only white paper, then punched it out and layered it onto a black scalloped circle.   I hand cut my large black arrow and cut all the other shapes my the die set.   I then colored each section in the different colors from our combo!    In the end, I think it came out kind of cute and I think it's a card I'll end up sending out to my son in Cali!   

   I am heading back to my desk now and want to try and create a 'Star Shaped' card, something similar to one of the two the Kristina shared with us in her amazing videos.   It's hard to believe that she can create something so amazing in ten minutes.   Oh, and Yes, I did manage to finish my card in the 10 minute time frame, but that does not include the time to photograph it !    I also loved the cards that our guest designers shared and I think it's very cool how they all used some type of die-cuts on their cards.   I am a HUGE fan of die cuts and own several sets, plus a Vagabond, a Cuttlebug and my wonderful Silhouette Cameo, making it so easy to create almost any shape!   I also LOVE the die cuts that Kristina has created for Simon Says Stamp and some of my favorites are actually the words she has handwritten...I just LOVE her style and WISH I could write like she does!

    If you love challenges where time if of the essence, then you'll LOVE being part of the 90 Minute Scrambles that are hosted bi-weekly over at the Hero Arts Flick Group.  I totally enjoy them and can often complete two cards in that time frame, which is awesome.   We actually have a scramble coming up this Saturday and it's at 3PM Eastern Daylight time.   If you would like to take part, all you have to do is be a member of the group and head on over to the site to read up on the rules.  Basically, you can create whatever you want as long as you include a least one Hero Arts Stamp and follow the theme that is given by the hostess!   Our challenge this weekend is being hosted by Jayne, who has some already put together some great prizes.  

   Heading back to camp....to check out all the amazing cards in the Gallery and see what's going on in the Forums today!  Oh how I love Summer Camp....it's so much better than the camp I went to when I was little.