ThePurplePlace

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Today's fun cards!!!!

Today, I have two new cards to share and both were really fun to color. Both cards also feature digi images that I bought from Tiddly Inks! If you love these fun whimsical images, you'll want to be sure to hop on over to the store now and take advantage of the SALE, but you'll have to hurry and go today, as this is the last day to take 25% off your entire order! Happy Shopping!!

My first card was created for our newest challenge over at the 'Color Me Creative Classroom' which you'll find HERE. Please remember that this challenge is open to ALL and that you do NOT need to be in Suzanne's classes to take part in the challenges. The main site and all of the challenges are open to ALL!!

I'd also like to a take a minute to send out "Happy Birthday" wishes to Suzanne, as she celebrates her Birthday today. If you are one of her followers, you'll know that she and her family just returned from a fantastic trip to Hawaii and had a wonderful time! She has shared lots of pictures on her blog and they all had a great time! I'm very happy that you finally had the opportunity to take this dream trip ! Happy Birthday and I hope you enjoy your day!

Our newest challenges is to use our Copics to create a projects based on this fun Inspiration Image, which you'll also find in the Challenge Group. I have copied it over to my blog to share and encourage you to play along.

The first thing I thought about was the 'Beach' and fun in the sun and I knew that I wanted to create a card that had something to do with the beach or Summer. I started looking through my stamps and that's when I decided to use this fun vintage 'bathing beauty' image, which is actually from the current sponsor - Tiddly Inks.

I colored her up in my favorites BV Copic colors and then put together my card. I have a lot of memories of spending lots of time at the beach each summer and also swimming in our local fresh-water granite quarries. It was also fun to find some old truck tires, take out the inner tubes and blow them up to take swimming. Seeing this image with her hold a tube made me think back to those days.

My Bathing Beauty card is being submitted to these fun challenges!! Please come on over and play along!

I think she is very cute and looks even more fabulous in her lovely purple and white striped swimwear. I had to admit that this style of swimsuit is way before my time, but it sure is a blast from the past!

My second card today was inspired from this week's Color Combo Challenge over at 'The Outlawz' and this week our color them was Orange, Brown (or Black) and White. I picked out a second digi from Tiddly Inks and this one is called 'Tiny Dancer' a very sweet and adorable little Ballerina, who is really fun to color.

She also was colored with my Copics and then to add more sparkle and bling, I coated her little tutu with Bright Orange Stickles. My sentiment is a digi sentiment that I punched and layered onto matching cardstock.

This sweet little card is being submitted to these challenges! You are all welcome to join the fun!

And now I'm off to go drop off my car at the Garage for service tomorrow. It has to be there at bright and early, so it's much easier to leave it now and that way I don't have to get up and rush out in the morning.

I plan to color up some more images tonight and will be looking for some more fun challenges to join! Have a nice night and Happy Crafting!!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Flowers for Mom!

Can you believe that Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday? Wow, it sure seems to be early this year and so close to Easter too. There is one gift that both me and my Mom always enjoy each year and it's a nice big pot of Hanging Flowers to put out in the yard! I have a double Shepherd's Hook and actually put two on mine and then I have another hook near one of my Garden's and will also add another pot there.

Here is a picture of one of my favorite hanging baskets from a few years ago. I don't remember the name of this plant and it's not one I've seen often, but it sure is pretty!! I tend to love the baskets where they combine a few different types of flowers in different colors. You can see one partly in the background of this picture. It had deep purple purple, pink and yellow petunias and was also gorgeous.

Most times, when I buy my annual flowers I will chose fun colors and often will pick pinks, purple and lavender. Typically I don't buy much in yellow, as my garden is full of Black Eyed Susan's by late August and that gives me plenty of yellow until frost. You can see just how many I have in this garden picture (Below). Right now if you looked at the garden, you'll mostly see dirt and some green starting to grow. The first things that will bloom with be my Iris's and they are now only about 5" tall. It's early here still and if I do get flowers for Mother's Day, I'll usually have to take them in at night for the first few weeks. We can still easily have a frost and that will kill the annuals, so I am very careful.

I just LOVE spring and summer and love seeing flowers out in the yard, leaves on the treats all everything looking alive. I love flowers year round and also like to color them a lot for my cards. And speaking of cards I have one new one to share now that was created for a few different challenges and it features a Daisy image I picked up yesterday, while shopping at the big sale at Bugaboo Stamps.

This card features a daisy which has always been one of my Mom's favorite flowers and this is going to be her Mother's Day card this year.

I colored the image with my Copics and then Sparkling White ultra find glitter for my daisy and instead of a yellow center, I used a pink Pearl. I then cut out the colored image and layered it onto various die cut shapes. My card based was actually created with one of the Grand Nestie dies in my new Grand Calibur. It's one of the things I love most and I have been finding great deals on the die sets. Most recently I added a brand new Labels Set from Flowers to Flourishes, my favorite Daily Deal site. I completed the card by adding some ribbon, a few matching flowers and a button. I created a few styles of Sentiments for this card and in the end, I decided I will ad a large Sentiment to the inside. I want something special for Mother's Day and love the lovely sentiments created by Ann of Rainbow Echo Designs.

This fun new card is being submitted to each of these new challenges and everyone is welcome to play along:

I'm off to keep on coloring! There are so many fun new challenges this week and I totally enjoy playing along!

A winning day....

Happy Monday and Happy May! I am off to a very nice start this week and have had some wonderful and very fun news, all in the past 24 hours.

First, I was so happy to hear that our Military finally tracked down and Osama Bin Laden and that he can no longer EVER terrorize our country ever again. I am very proud of those who serve in our Military and was thrilled to hear this wonderful news when I woke up this morning. It's also bittersweet, I'm sure for all the people who have lost family and friends on 911 and also for all those who lost their lives to defend our Country!

May God Bless America and our Troops!

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On top of that wonderful news, I have been on a bit of a lucky streak again and it started last night, when I found out that I won two prizes from the Scavenger Hunt held last month over at the 'Through the Craftroom Door' magazine site. Marti and Suzanne had put together a week of fun challenges and daily Scavenger Hunts to celebrate the one year Anniversary of the Publication. It was really fun and I played along every day for the week. I am thrilled to find out I was one of the lucky winners -- WooHoo! I won a full-year subscription to the magazine, which I was very happy to gift to a dear friend! On top of that I later found out I was also the very lucky winner of a $25 Gift Certificate to '7 Kids for College' and wonderful craft store, I know well. I can see some shopping in my future!! Yippee!!

On top of that fun news, I was over at StampFairy's Challenge Blog this morning and found out that the card I submitted to last week's challenge made Top 3!! I know have this cute little Badge to share and it has been added to my Challenge Win/Awards Page, which you find under that Tab on the top of this page!!

And of course, that is on top of the prize I won yesterday over at DigiStamp Boutique for the April Customer Challenge. I won a Gift certificate to the store along with this adorable new 'Olivia' image! Yippee!!

I want to thank all the groups and blogs for the wonderful prizes! I LOVE to create and take part in challenges and for me, it's my way to relax and also to practice my coloring and card-making skills. When I submit cards, I really never think much about winning or the prizes -- but it sure is wonderful to win and I am very thankful and happy! What a wonderful way to stay my week!!

And now I am off to create and I am starting with a card for my Mom for Mother's Day! I already know of two challenges it will be perfect for and I'm sure they will be many more!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Bugaboo's New Store & SALE too!!

If you are like me, then I know you probably know and love shopping for digi images at Bugaboo Stamps and in case you have now stopped by in a few days, now is the time to hop on over and check out the fabulous NEW Store!!

Here is some information about the store that I copied over from the 'Catch the Bug' Challenge blog to share.

Bugaboo Has a New Look and A new Store !!!

Jodie has worked so hard to get the new store up and running. She has worked many late nights to get this done and She Did it!!! We now present the new and improved new Bugaboo Store! Before you run to check it out we have some important info to share with you!

The link to the new store link is http://bugaboostamps.3dcartstores.com/ -- Please note: This will change back to the Bugaboo address in a few days we will alert you when this happens and remind you to change your links. We apologize for this minor inconvenience but trust me with the new store it is worth it!

First off for the month of May everything is 50% off! So now is a great time to stock up. With the grand re-opening of the store we are offering up some wonderful prize packages for our loyal followers! You could be the winner of a $10 Gift Certificate, a $20 Gift Certificate, or you could be the lucky winner who gets 7 free images every month for the rest of 2011! That means you could be one of the lucky 8 winners!
To add to the excitement Jodie had just told me that every order placed in May will have their name placed in the pot for a chance to win one of five $20 gift certificates that she will be giving away at the end of the month!

How can you win you ask?? Simply make sure you are a follower, create a post with the Bugaboo info above and then add your name to the InLinkz below. You can grab the code from in linkz and your followers can also add their name from your blog but tell them to follow the rules check out the blog! This will stay up until May 7th at 7am!

You can add our Inlinkz to your blog so that anyone can sign up and help us spread the word, please click on link below and they will give you the code you need to add to your post. Very easy! get the InLinkz code Don't forget, add a post and sign up below it is that easy!!!

Help us spread the word that Bugaboo has a new store and a new look. After posting the news on your blog please add your name for a chance to win come great prizes!

Happy Shopping!!

NOTE: I bought some wonderful new images today and will be working on cards this week that will feature some of my newest Bugaboo images! I love the look of the new store and found it really easy to get around. I also found some new images I had not seen before and had a BLAST shopping! You know me and the word SALE is one of my favorites!!

Happy May Day!!

I am behind a day and can hardly believe another month has flown by, but I am very happy that April is over and love that each day is closer to closer to Summer and fabulous warm weather.

Yesterday, I never did not mange to get a post done, but I do have lots of new things to share today! I'm starting with a fun new technique I learned yesterday from Sandy at Operation Write Home. She had a LIVE Class yesterday on OWH TV and taught us all how to create Ruffle cards, which are really fun. If you have never tried them and would like to learn, please hop on over to the OWH Stars and Stamps blog and you'll find a link to the video HERE! You can also take a peek at the cards the other gals have already created, this is a copy of Sandy's card - which I fantastic --

Ruffle Card by Sandy Allnock

Operation Write Home

I have to admit, that I already tossed one of my cards and I'm still NOT loving this one, especially after looking at Sandy's. But, this is how you learn - trial and error. I do also own the wonderful Heart Border punch by MS, that Sandy used on her card and the next time I make one, I'm using that one. I really think it does make a BIG difference, in your punch and your papers. I have a new one started today with a scallop punch and a variety of papers and it's looking much better! As you can see on my card, using all of the same color patterned paper, does not show as well and it's hard to even notice to the 'ruffle' effect. I can't wait to see how many other ideas the girls come up with. This is my first attempt...!

And quickly moving on....! My next card features another new technique to me, and it's called 'Faux Silk' and I found my tutorial or at StampNation, where is was posted my a member, Maureen, who also has it posted on her Blog Here. 'Mo' is an amazing crafter and is also a Designer for 'The Outlawz', as well as a Stampin' Up Demonstrator. If you are looking for a wonderful person to shop with for Stampin' up products, I can highly recommend here. Her car is gorgeous and although I love the technique and found it easy to follow, this is another card that I'm just not loving. When I try this again, I will choose another stamp, simply more the like the image Mo used for her card!

My friendship card is being submitted to these challenges:

And speaking of 'The Outlawz', my next card was actually created for today's new CAS challenge, which you can find HERE! The week we have a color themed challenge and this is a copy of the color swatch Amy designed for this week.

My card features a brand new digi image I won from 'By Lori Designs' and it's absolutely adorable, making this one of my favorite cards this week. I think it's hard to go wrong, when you have such a cute image to start with. Introducing Sweet Pea Levi, one of Lori's 'Puddle Jumpers'. Levi also has a little Baby Sister Addy, who I know I will be adding to my BLD collection very soon!

This card is being submitted to these fun challenges:

   Isn't he adorable....a little shining star!!   Being a the Mom to two boys, I tend to love little boy images, even though my boys are now adults, I still tend to make them cards with cute little boy images to remind me of the days when they were little!

    I have one more card to share and this one was inspired and created for two new challenges. It's a cute little digi image from 'DigiStamp Boutique' and I bought this image this week to make a fun card for my FIL for his Birthday, which is coming up later this week. He's a big golfer and I thought it would make a fun card for him.   I am also very excited to learn that I was one of the Winners of the April Customer Competition at DSB -- WooHOO! I found out, while in the middle of this post and you can find my card and post HERE!

    Today's card was colored with Copics and I also used my Copic ABS to create my sky and part of the ground. I really LOVE having the ABS and find it very easy to use. If you have been considering it, but have not bought one, I think you'll be very pleased!   I also suggest you shop around for your compressor, if you decide to add one. I bought mine at Harbor Freight and the price was fantastic.   Here is a link to the one many crafters has recommended to me and I just LOVE it!! Oh and as it turns out, it's ON SALE for only $59.99 - making it an even better deal!!

This card is being submitted to each of these challenges and everyone is invited to join:

I also created it to submit to a brand new challenge that started today over at 'Through the Craftroom Door'. TTRCD will now be hosting a brand new challenge every other week and introduced their brand new Design Team yesterday. This is a little bit of the post that introduced the new team. NOTE: This is is NOW open to ALL, you do not have to subscribe to the Magazine to enter the site, take part in the challenges or to submit for Publication. If you would like to subscribe, you'll also have more access on the site. For details, on subscription and pricing - go Here!

Congratulations to the new Design Team!!

DT LEAD: Ashley N. Newell

These are all very talented crafters and I hope to see you all hop on over to join the group! You can find the very first Challenge HERE along with all the details! There is also a fantastic prize, but I'm not telling, if you want to find out, hurry on over and join the FUN!!

I'm off now to work on some more challenges cards and the next one will be for this week's Sketch Challenge over at the OWH Stars & Stamps Blog. You can find it here and I am also including a copy of the new sketch!

I hope everyone has a great day and my best wishes to you all for a wonderful month of May!!

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