Congratulations to Lisa, Colleen and Sharon!!!

  Today I want to take the time to say CONGRATULATIONS to three of my very best craft friends -  Sharon Scheydt-Rittler, Colleen Holmes and Lisa Keifer.   All three have been chosen to members of a Design Team and I wish them ALL great success in each of their new ventures.   WOOHOO!! 
   Colleen and Lisa will now be designing over at Colorful Creations, which is a new challenge group on the NING Network.  I know they will both do a fabulous job and I'm looking forward to creating and joining them both in their new groups.  Colleen will inspiring us with her wonderful Copic Skills, and  Lisa with be taking the over the Card Group and posting weekly challenge.  I am very happy for them both and plan to support them in their new roles!  Congratulations to you both!!

      And Sharon, has now joined the Design Team over at  Simply Scrapping Crafts, one of my favorite challenge groups, also over on the NING network.

  Sharon is a very accomplished designer and I've had the opportunity to work with her in the past and know she will be a huge asset to this group.  She is one of the very first crafters I  met and we have have developed a wonderful friendship.  She has always y been my greatest supporter and a mentor.  I have learned so much for her and she is truly a sweet and caring friend. 

   I hope you will ALL stop by both these groups and support all of these wonderfully talented ladies.   They are all very close friends and are very special to me!    I wish them all much success and I'll do my best to support them ALL in their new roles and to wish them lots of success...and lots of FUN crafting.

   

♥♥

Fantastic Friday!!!

 Another absolutely wonderful day!  I love this kind of weather....lots of sunshine, blue skies and nice warm temps.  I'm also feeling so much better, and after such a lousy few weeks....this is truly a wonderful feeling.

  I've had such a great time working on challenges and this is my first card for today.  It was created for this week's Color Combo Challenge over at SSC, which you can find HERE!  And the colors for this challenge were provided from this inspiration image --!

  As soon as I saw the colors I was pretty sure I had some patterned paper that would work out well and my next decision what choosing a them or image and I decided to use this adorable digi image from Meljen Designs, It's an adorable little 'sock monkey' image!  I knew I had to buy him, as soon as I saw him Isn't he adorable!  If you love him as much as I do, then you  can buy your own directly at the store - HERE!   

 I am also going to submit him to the Featured Stamper contest that Melissa, (the creator of Meljen), has each week on her blog. If you LOVE to use her digi images in your designs, be sure to enter your cards for a chance to have them featured and a chance to win more images.  You can find the contest HERE!!

  And now I am off to start on a new Copic Class, with Suzanne Dean at Color Me Creative Classroom.  You can find the links to any of the classes on my side-bar and I'll be happy to refer you, if you would like any more details!    I am very excited too because I now have my ABS1 Air Brush system, and can't wait to stay playing and painting with my Copics!  Yippee!

   Hope you ALL have a fantastic FRIDAY!!  WOOHOO!!

Seeing Spots!!

  My last card today was created for the "Seeing Spots" Challenge over at the Meljen Designs Design Team blog, which you can find HERE!  The challenge this week is to create a card or project using spotted doggies, spotted paper, spotted ribbon - anything spotted!   
   I created my card using a new digi -- Darling Dalmatian --  which is from Melissa's newest release called - 'A Dog's Day'- !  The entire set or individual stamps are both now available in the Meljen's Design Store, which you can find HERE,.  I first colored my little Dalmatian with my Copic markers.  I used a Scalloped edge die to cut him out in my Cuttlebug and chalked the edges in red to match.    I found some 'spotted' paper in my scraps and then simply put everything together on a 5X5 card base.  I really love these images and think they are all really fun and always make a cute card.

     There are lots of other adorable images and these are a few more of my latest favorites - Bulldogs Bear,  Country Time Water Can, and for you butterfly lovers, there is Daisy Butterflies.   
  And now...I'm pretty exhausted but I did get a lot done today and still otherwise feel pretty good.  I hope to work on more cards tomorrow and then relax on Saturday.  Sunday I'll be heading to the ANNUAL Indoor/Outdoor Craft Yard-Sale that is held has my LSS - Absolutely Everything.  It's an awesome sale and all kinds of other vendors and crafters come and sell their goodies too.  There are some fabulous deals and I'm looking forward to it.  It's very much like their Black Friday sale, but with more products and more vendors.  I can't wait and HOPE it's a good day and that I stay feeling good too!
    Right now...my eyes are so tired, that I'm seeing spots!! I think that means it's time to get off the computer!!

Today's Challenge cards!!

  Feeling so much better has really inspired to create and this morning I have already completed two new cards for some of my favorite challenges.

   This first card was created for two challenges.  One is the Paper Scraps Challenge over at SSC, whcih you can find HERE, and the second is the  to the 'Try it Out Tuesday'  challenge over at on the 'Follow Your Heart' Challenge blog, which you can find here!  This week's TIOT challenge is to create a card based on this sketch by Suzanne Dean, using an image sold at SCACD!  

   I had originally made another card, but then realized that used the wrong image...OOPS, but started a new card this morning, using this lovely "Susan" stamp by Elisabeth Bell. 

 
   This wonderful stamp is part of the Exclusive line that Elisabeth Bell  designs for Susan's Custom Art and Card Design, one of my favorite stores.   If you LOVE this image,  then you can find her HERE,  in Susana's store.  Many of the elements I used in my card can also be found at the store and I always highly recommend you shop with Susana.  She's a wonderful person and always so sweet and kind.  She ships super fast and never over charges for shipping.  I'm sure you be very pleased when you shop at her store.  And if you like to color with Copics, be sure to check out some of the bundles that she offers. These Copic bundles were inspired by Suzanne Dean and are awesome, I used the Blue Jeans set for my card, along with some of these wonderful Prima roses.

~~~~~~~~

   My second card is for another challenge over at SSC, and this is for the Weekly Card Challenge and this were we were asked to create a card using the picuture as our inspiration --

   I started by finding some pretty patterned paper that reminded me of the rainbow in pastels.  I then took a while doily and used Colorbox inks to edge it in all the matching colors.    It's my own version of the this image in a pastel hue.

  I'm off now to head over to Color Me Creative Classroom and work on my Copic Classes.  If you have not heard, Susanne has now added a LEVEL 4 class, which I am now enrolled in.  I LOVE it already and I had a lot more to learn. 
   I'm also very excited because I was able to buy the ABS1 Air Brush System for my Copics this week.  I found it at Jo's and was able to use a Promo code and buy it for half price.  If you want the same deal,  hurry on over and add the ABS system to your card, then add PROMO code HPF142 and it will take half off the (original) price, which will make it ONLY $35.49, which is by far the BEST price I have ever seen.  I also added in an extra can of Air, which is currently on sale for $10.49, another great deal.  I ordered on Tuesday and my order has already shipped!  Yippee! If anyone is looking for it, now is the time and you can use your Mr. Rebates at JoAnn's too.  Here is the link to the ABS1!  If you want to take advantage of this price and promo, please don't wait, as the promo code expires on Saturday 5/22/10!!

   As always,  Happy Shopping and Happy Creating!!

My latest creations...

Happy Thursday --

   And it's an absolutely wonderful day here!  The sun is shining, the skies are a beautiful bright blue, my garden is blooming, the birds are singing and I actually feel pretty darn good.  To me, this is a start of a fabulous day and after a month of feeling so lousy, this is heavenly!   It's feels so good to actually had a good health day!  Totally awesome!
    Yesterday, on the other hand, was a crappy lousy day, but a good day for creating, and I did make two new cards for challenges over at SSC.  This first card is for the weekly Copic Coloring challenge and the challenge was "brunette" hair, I used one of my brand new stamps, which is Fairy Dust Tilda.  

   My second card was created for this week's Stamp and Scrap challenge and this week we had a little recipe to use, based on our favorites.  For all the details and if you would like to join in - Please hop on over to SSC and go HERE!  And this is my card that I created for the challenge --

   I chose this brand new stamp 'Chloe & Kitten' from Pink Gem Designs.  I really LOVE all the stamps that Janet (the owner), creates and this new Chloe line has quickly become one of my favorites.  If you want to buy her or any of her adorable stamps, please hop on over to Pink Gem Designs.  Its' a wonderful store and you can also find lots of other fun craft goodies.  Janet also carries Pro Markers a line a alcohol-based markers that can be used with (or without) Copics.  I have bought a few sets now and love them.  The price is much less than Copics and a nice alternative for those who feel Copics are too expensive.  ENJOY!!

   I'm off to create more card and hoping YOU all have a fabulous day!   ENJOY whatever you do and HAPPY CRAFTING!!

♥