Doraline - Surprise!

I recently won a gift certificate to The Craft Barn from a challenge over at The Cuttlebug Spot and I knew that I wanted to get a Motivet stamp. I just recently came across this company and I immediately fell in love with their adorable images. I decided to get Doraline - Surprise! and I received her just in time to make a card for the Motivet sketch challenge.

Here's the sketch:


And here's my take on it:


I colored the entire image with Copics, then sponged the outer edges with yellow ink. The light pink layer was punched with the EK Success candles slim edger punch and the Surprise sentiment is from The Greeting Farm's Happy Chef set. I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Fancy Pants; flowers - Prima; ribbon - May Arts; pearls - MimiLolo Etsy store; metal bookplate - Stampin' Up!; long rectangle Nestabilities.

La-La Land Crafts...

is a new stamp company that will be going live on August 12. The owner, Irina, has already shown 3 sneak peeks of images on the La-La Land blog and has some candy to give away right now! Go to this post to see how you can win!

There's also a DT call right now, so check that out as well!

Welcome To My Home

This week all the Softpencil DT gals got the same image - this adorable one called Welcome To My Home:


I'm a big dog lover (we've got 3 of them) so I was really happy to be able to play with this image! The image actually only has 1 dog, but I wanted 2, so I printed out a larger version and a smaller version to get 2 different sized dogs. I colored everything with Copics, cut out all the different parts, and popped them up with foam tape.

You can see the dimension in this picture:


I popped up the little ladybug with a couple bits of cardstock, then the whole house with the bigger dog, and finally the little dog. You can also see that I added a tiny flower rhinestone to the girl dog.

This week's Design Element was distressing, so I ran my scissors over the edge of the plain circle, sanded the scalloped circle, and did some sponging on the plain circle and the card base.

I added some Stardust glitter pen moved around with a water brush to the flowers. You can see some of the effect here:


I used Sketch 16 from Unscripted Sketches:

And I also made this card for the Cupcake Craft Challenge 50 - use the colors green, pink, and brown, and animals and flowers. I decided to play because Softpencil is actually sponsoring this week's challenge, so definitely check it out if you'd like to win a $20 voucher to the Softpencil Etsy shop!

Other challenges:

• Stamp with Fun - pearls
• 365 Cards - sponging

I hope you like and TFL! And don't forget to check out the other DT members' blogs to see how they used this super cute image:

Shelley
Wendy
Kerry
Cathy
Anne-Katrine
Other materials used: circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities; alpha stickers - Making Memories; hydrangea flower - Prima; rose - Paper Wishes; pearl strands from stash.

Another Sweet Hello

Today's card uses the same Whiff of Joy image that I used before, Willow with Strawberry Basket. I know I need to use the other images from the Summer Stamp Kit, but this is hands down my fave and I couldn't resist using her again!

I used a sketch from Our Creative Corner:


And here's my card:


Not much to say except that she was colored with Copics, as was the plain silver strawberry charm. I experimented first on the back of a charm and was thrilled when it took the color so well!

Here's a close shot of the charm:


Other challenges:

• Daring Cardmakers - On The Edge (use border treatments)
• Stamp Simply - Fruit of the Vine
• Secret Crafter - use 3 buttons, 2 designer papers, and 1 ribbon

I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: sentiment - Whiff of Joy; patterned paper - DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Girl; Berry Sorbet buttons and ink - Papertrey Ink; Green Galore cardstock - Stampin' Up!; ribbon - local craft store, petite oval, petite scalloped oval, and long scalloped rectangle Nestabilities.

Gorjuss Little Star

Today's card was created for the Sugar Bowl Challenge 15. We were to use Gayle's Sketch and also ribbons and/or bows:


And here's my card:


I've had my Gorjuss Girls set 3 for a while now, and finally got around to inking them up. I decided to use Little Star first. She was colored with Copics, cut out and popped up with foam tape. I added a couple itty bitty star rhinestones over the stars in her hair and finished off the card with a beaded pin and charm. Hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Basic Grey (Lime Rickey collection); ribbon - local craft store; square Nestabilities - Spellbinders.

Pile It On Watercoloring

I have a project today instead of a card:


I've had this adorable little unused stamp from Dandelion Designs called Monkey for a while now, so I decided to use him for this little tag. This week's challenge at Pile It On is watercoloring so I stamped him on a scrap of watercolor paper and colored him with a waterbrush and Peerless watercolors. I added just a bit of Stickles to the flower centers, cut him out and stuck him into a Making Memories tag rim.

Here's a close shot:


Unfortunately the watercoloring doesn't show up very well on such a small image, so you'll just have to trust that I really did watercolor it!

Challenges:

• Pile It On - watercoloring and combine with at least one other challenge
• Project Tuesday - sour cream container
• Pink Elephant - animals
• Belli Challenge - metal tags
• Charisma Cardz - tag it

I hope you like it and TFL!

Fred's Freebie Challenge

While blog surfing, I came across the Fred, She Said blog and the Freebie Challenge she has going on right now. There is a beautiful digi image provided for free that you must use in your project. I loved the image so I had to play and here's what I came up with:


I printed the pot area twice on blue patterned paper, then shaded with a Copic and layered using scrap cardstock to pop it up. The rest was colored with Copics and I added some Stardust glitter pen to the open flowers. I did a LOT of paper tole to give the image tons of dimension using a combination of cardstock punches and foam tape to pop up the parts.

Because I wanted to keep the focus on the image, I kept the card base really simple. I added a scalloped mat and a bit of patterned paper punched with a Martha Stewart border punch and embellished with half pearls. I also free handed the little border (it looks totally hand drawn, but I think it's fun!) and stamped a tiny sentiment.

Here's a close shot to show some of the sparkle:

Unfortunately, because of all the shaping, it was impossible to get a really good shot of all the glitter!

And here you can see all the layers and shaping of the pieces for realism:



Copic colors used:

• flower centers - Y11, Y13
• flower petals - RV000, R81, R83, R85
• leaves - YG11, YG13, YG17
• pot shading - B41

And I also used the colorless blender all over to highlight and soften edges.

This card is also for the Copic Creations Challenge #8 - Botanicals.

I had so much fun playing with this image - a big thanks to Tracey for this fab freebie!

I hope you like my card and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Fancy Pants (Key Lime collection); sentiment (Mega Mixed Messages set) - Papertrey Ink; Nestabilities; half pearls - MimiLolo Etsy store.

Gretel

When All That Scraps had their last sale I finally got the Swiss Pixie stamps that I've been wanting since they came out, and I had to play with them right away! I chose Gretel for this card:


The sketch was for a square card, but since I've been making a lot of square cards lately, I decided to stretch it to make an A2.

Gretel was colored entirely with Copics and I did my Stardust/waterbrush technique on her wing. Then I cut her out and popped her up on foam tape. I added tiny half pearls for her ponytail holder and the button on her dress.

Here's a close shot with flash to show off her Stardusted sparkly wing:


Challenges:

• Stamp Something - sketch
• Color Throwdown - Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, and Perfect Plum
• All That Scraps - no designer paper
• Flutter By Wednesday - little or no designer/patterned paper plus a butterfly or fairy (I hope a pixie can count as a fairy!)

I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: sentiment (Mega Mixed Messages set), kraft cardstock and Fresh Snow ink- Papertrey Ink; Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, and Perfect Plum cardstock - Stampin' Up!; flowers - Prima; heart charm - Blue Moon Beads; ribbon - May Arts; Copic markers; tiny pearls - MimiLolo Etsy store; brad - Pink Hedgehog Papercrafts; Labels One Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Perfect Paisley and Swiss Dot embossing folders - Provo Craft.

It's A Rainy Day

This week all the Softpencil designers got to work with this cute image called It's A Rainy Day. Our Design Element challenge was paper piecing, which I love to do, so I tried to piece as much of the design as possible:


I paper pieced the umbrella with 2 different patterns, her little hair bow, her shirt, her pants, and I even printed the entire image on patterned paper to give it a cool blue swirly background. I colored the raindrops, puddle, her hair and skin with Copics, then went over all the water with a Stardust glitter pen for sparkle.

I cut out and popped up the umbrella top, the entire girl and an extra hair bow for dimension. I also added micro half pearls to the umbrella and her hair bow.

Here's a close shot with flash so you can see the piecing a little better and the sparkle:


And here's a close angled shot so you can see the dimension and how I color the base image so you don't see white (or blue in this case) under the popped up pieces:


Challenges:

• Our Creative Corner - Triple Play: use at least 3 embellishments from their list. I used ribbon, a button, thread, and bling (although I'm not sure my micro half pearls and Stardust glitter count as bling, so I made sure I had 3 other 'bellies!)
• Secret Crafter - Spots and Stripes. I used striped paper and spotted ribbon.

BTW - I used the sentiment "Enjoy the moment" because I thought it looked like she was splashing in the puddle for fun! I hope you like it and TFL!

Materials used: sentiment (Mixed Messages set) and button - Papertrey Ink (Mixed Messages set); patterned paper - Daisy Bucket; turquoise cardstock - Bazzill; Rose Red ink - Stampin' Up!; ribbon - May Arts; rectangle and scalloped rectangle Nestabilities - Spellbinders.

Thanks So Much

I had time to do another card for the KS Crew Challenge #15:


I'm a big swirl lover, so this image from the Thanks With Style set is one of my faves from Kitchen Sink Stamps.

[You can see the sketch in the post right before this one.]

I turned the sketch on its side and enlarged the focal panel a lot to accomodate this large image. I added some micro half pearls and did a bunch of distressing to all the edges. Hmmm... looking a bit more closely at the sketch, I can see that I kind of messed it up a bit! If I have more time before the deadline, I'll have to try another entry! Anyway, I hope you like it and TFL!

Make A Wish Cupcake

This card was made for only 1 challenge - the KS Crew Challenge #15. We were given this sketch:

And here's my take on it:


I used the Happy Birthday Cupcake set from Kitchen Sink Stamps for both the cupcake and sentiment. The papers are all Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday and the little heart pearls are from an Etsy seller. I hope you like it and TFL!

Pile It On Narwhal Hi

This week at Pile It On, the theme is Mostly Orange and our sponsor is Whimsy Stamps, who was so generous to send us images to work with. I got the cute Narwhal Whale. At first I wasn't sure how to incorporate a whale into the orange color scheme, but then I thought the company name is Whimsy... so I decided to do an orange paper pieced whale!


I had a really old pad of patterned paper from Stampin' Up! with a bunch of different patterns in this really pretty soft orange color so I used a few different sheets for this card.

I stamped the whale onto the swirly PP and also onto white cardstock for the eye and horn. The whale is popped up with foam tape and I also did a little shading with Copic markers and highlighting with an Inkssentials gel pen.

Challenges:

• Pile It On - Mostly Orange and combine with at least one other challenge.
• Stamp n' Scrap Hawaii - sketch (it's their very first challenge so be sure to go check them out!) Another requirement of the challenge is to answer their trivia question which is "What is the Area Code for Hawaii?" I'm going to take a wild guess here (lol!) and say 808.
• 365 Cards - Try a Technique (paper piercing).
• Paper Blooms - Animal Fun (this is my second entry).

I hope you like my orange whale and TFL!

Other materials used: scallop border punch - Stampin' Up!; flower - Prima; button - Papertrey Ink; Labels One Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Heidi rub on alphas - Making Memories; crochet thread; sewing thread.

Gingersnap Birthday

Today's card was made for the Hope Stamps Eternal Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #15:


I just got the Gingersnaps Celebrate set that I've been wanting for a while and couldn't wait to play with the cupcake image! I paper pieced the cupcake with this perfect piece of double-sided patterned paper from Fancy Pants to look like the inspiration cupcake and used the same paper for the rest of the card.

I did a LOT of cutting and popping up for dimension:


Unfortunately some of the dimension doesn't show up as well because I shaped the pieces to be more rounded and realistic so a lot of the edges are actually sitting kind of flat. Just so you know what to look for, I popped up: the girl with an extra hand, extra front leg, and extra pants cuff; the whole cupcake with an extra heart and extra cherry. I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: border punch - Martha Stewart; Copic markers; curved rectangles Mega Nestabilities - Spellbinders; ribbon - May Arts; charm from stash.

Hello Goldfish

ETA: This card got me picked as the very first featured artist at Paper Blooms!! Woohoo! Check it out!

Today I have another multiple challenge card using The Greeting Farm's Down By The Pond set:


I stamped and colored the goldfish 3 times and then cut out and popped up the pieces with foam tape. You don't need to color all the layers, but sometimes I do anyway so there won't be white parts showing underneath the layer edges. After coloring, I dotted the fish with my colorless blender to make spots that look like scales. I didn't do the face though because I thought it might look creepy.

Here's a shot with flash so you can see the Stardust glitter pen I added:


And here's another close shot so you can see some of the dimension of the fish:


Challenges:

• The Next Level - sketch with 3D image
• Paper Blooms - animal fun
• Dutch Dare - using cutting dies and/or punches
• 365 Cards - Imagine This: Bubbles

I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: sentiment - The Greeting Farm (Wonderland set); patterned papers - My Mind's Eye; flowers - Prima; clear Dew Drops - Robin's Nest; orange Bella's Baubles - Stamping Bella; plain and scalloped circles Nestabilities - Spellbinders; Cuttlebug tag die - Provo Craft; brads and ribbon - Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts; rhinestones - eBay seller.

I will keep you safe

For today's Softpencil card, I used the most adorable image called "I will keep you safe Michu." There are different versions of this stamp (hop around to the other DT blogs and you'll see them!), but I got the Michu version because I'm such a huge fan!


This week our Design Element challenge was to add stitching (hand, machine, or faux) to our project, so I did a zigzag and straight stitch on the outside, and a little more straight stitching on the inside.

I colored the image with Copics and popped up pieces for dimension - Michu and an extra Michu head, the flower face, all the leaves and the little ladybug, which I colored to look like a snail because red didn't go with my color scheme. I also added Stardust glitter pen to the flower petals, leaves, and snail shell and a couple punched butterflies to fill the big white space.

Here's a close shot so you can see the dimension:


And here's the inside:


I found this stamp in Papertrey's Out On A Limb set and thought it was absolutely perfect with this image. It says, "To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world. Josephine Billings".

I got the idea for the three-pearl flower center from my fellow Pile It On DT member Alecia. Thanks Alecia - I really love the way it looks!!

Challenges:

• The Cuttlebug Spot - The inside counts
• A Spoonfull of Sugar - sketch
• Cupcake Craft Challenges - Blossoms & Butterflies

I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Basic Grey (Wisteria); flowers - Prima; Dew Drops - Robin's Nest; ribbon - May Arts; rectangle and scalloped rectangle Nestabilities and Labels 4 - Spellbinders; border punch - Martha Stewart; buttefly hand punch - Fiskars; Cuttlebug embossing border (Frills) - Provo Craft; little half pearls - MimiLolo etsy store.

Day Dreamer Hello

Today's card was made for only one challenge (can you believe it? lol!) - the Copic Colour Challenge. I wasn't aware of this blog so I'm really glad I stumbled onto it because I love my Copics!

This week's challenge was to use the colors YG03, B45, and Y28. I used the Leanne Ellis image Day Dreamer and some papers from the DCWV Latte 8x8 stack:


I hope you like it and TFL!

All Copic colors used: skin - E00, RV10; hair - E53, E33,E35, E37; shirt, birds, flower - B41, B45, YG03; window frame - Y28.

Other materials used: sentiment (Mega Mixed Messages) - Papertrey Ink; tag - Quickutz; border punch - EK Success; ribbon - May Arts; beads - Dress It Up; pearl pin - local craft store; micro half pearls - eBay.

Pile It On Flutter Birthday

Today's card was made for several challenges, including Pile It On's Challenge #6, which is a super fun sketch created by Dalis:


And here's my take on it:


For the sentiment, I followed this tutorial by Debbie Olson. I stamped the letters at different heights to mimic the look of those cute little letter stickers that everyone's using but I'm too cheap to buy! I colored Flutter Anya with Copics and glittered her wings with my usual Stardust/water brush method, then cut her out and popped her up on foam tape. She's got tiny heart rhinestones on her wings, and a little Prima flower with a homemade flocked brad in her hair. I also glittered the little flower.

Here's a closer shot of her:


And now for the challenges:

• Pile It On - Challenge #6 Sketch #1.
• 365 Cards - Challenge #132 Picture This. I was inspired to make a birthday card and I think the sentiment looks like candles on a cake.
• Belli Challenge - Challenge #69 Texture. I used a piece of velvet ric rac and I also flocked the brad in her hair.
• Stamp Simply - Challenge #95 Let the Sparks Fly. I glittered the flower and her wings.

Only 4 challenges today, but that's fine with me! I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: white cardstock - Georgia Pacific; patterned paper - Basic Grey (Urban Prairie 6x6 paper pad); alphabet stamps - CTMH; Spring Moss ink - Papertrey Ink; velvet ric rac - May Arts; D'Vine Swirls embossing folder - Provo Craft; Petite Oval Nestabilities.

Penguin Cupcake

Today's card is based on the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #14 at the Hope Stamps Eternal blog. I went very literal again as I HAD to use the Imaginisce penguins that I'm sure the cupcakes were based on:


It's also for Paper Bloom's Shape Up Challenge, which is to make a shaped card.

In case you can't tell, the top of the cupcake is supposed to be a little island and the bottom is the ocean. Yes, that's real sand on the top! I cut the cupcake and the tree with my Cricut using the Doodlecharms cartridge.

I was going to use the penguin stamps, but they were a little too big for my cupcake so I cut these out of a sheet of patterned paper and they're just the right size! I added some Stardust sparkle to the "ocean" and little rhinestones for the coconuts and on the flower.

I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: blue cardstock - Core'dinations; green and brown cardstock - Bazzill; twine and sentiment (Mixed Messages set) - Papertrey Ink; Brilliant Blue ink - Stampin' Up!; tag - Cuttlebug.

Two Tulips

This week I got to work with a gorgeous tulip image from Softpencil - Digital Stamps. I was a little intimidated when I first saw it because I'm not a great colorer. However once I actually sat down and tried, it was pretty easy to follow the stippling to know where to put the darker colors. I had so much fun with the first one that I had to do a second! For both cards, I really wanted the focus to be on the image, so I kept them pretty simple.

Here's my first one colored with Copics:


I can't remember exactly, but I believe I used about 4-5 yellow/orange tones, and 3-4 green tones. I'm working on my coloring techniques so this was a great image to practice on! After I colored the image, I cut it out and popped it up with foam tape, leaving just a little extra white space at the bottom without foam tape to fit under the ribbon. The bow is just a loop with a little extra bit taped around the middle and glued on to the piece of flat ribbon. The diamond pattern was created on the Scor-Pal.

I'm a little obsessed with charms right now so you'll be seeing more on my cards as I acquire them!

And then my second one colored with Peerless watercolors:


This week the DT was given a Decorative Element challenge which was to use a specific color theme - yellow/orange, so that's why I colored them both with the same colors.

My regular watercolor paper was too thick to go through my printer, so I ran a Fabriano notecard through and it went just fine. After I watercolored, I cut it out just like the first one, but I didn't use any foam tape this time. However I did leave parts free from glue so the image would still be dimensional.

Well, that's all for now. I hope I did ok with my coloring and that you like the cards. TFL!

Other materials used: Summer Sunrise cardstock and ink, Simple Little Things Limited Edition stamp set - Papertrey Ink; black cardstock, scallop border punch, and green ribbon - Stampin' Up!; patterned paper - Creative Imaginations; white ribbon - May Arts; Swiss Dots embossing folder; tiny rhinestones from ebay seller; charm from stash.

Sweet Hello

I'm so happy I *finally* made a card using the Whiff of Joy Summer Stamp Kit that I've had forever! I used the Willow with Strawberry Basket image:


Quick notes: She was colored with Copics, cut out and popped up with foam tape. For the panel she's on, since there is no exact matting size in that style of Nestie, I cut the white panel on the embossed line to make it just a smidge smaller and then matted it with the dotted panel cut with the same Nestie (hope that makes sense!).

For her hair I used E53, E33, E35 and E37 (I use E53 instead of E31 because I think it's a better match to the other colors).

Challenges:

• Pile It On - use three different embellishments (and of course combine with at least one other current challenge)


• Sketch Saturday - sketch


• Charisma Cardz - use buttons


• Copic Creations - brunette hair


• A Spoon Full of Sugar - hearts


• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - cut it out and pop it up


• Whiff of Joy - 3 patterned papers, 3 flowers and 1 ribbon

Whew! 7 challenges! I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: Sweet Hello sentiment - Whiff of Joy; patterned paper - DCWV Nana's Nursery - Baby Girl; Berry Sorbet ink and Spring Moss buttons - Papertrey Ink; Prima flowers; May Arts ribbon; heart rhinestone - Queen & Co.; Nestabilities.

Finished size is 5.5" square.

More exciting news!

I got picked for the Pile It On Design Team!!

In case you're not familiar with PIO, here's what it's all about (from the blog):

Each Sunday we will give you a challenge. We would like you to incorporate our challenge with at least one other CURRENT challenge (at the time of posting) to "qualify" to be one of our Three Top Scoops or should there be a prize offered that week.

The PIO blog has tons of challenge sites listed so it's not hard at all to find challenges to combine with the PIO challenge! I think it's lots of fun and I hope to see you all playing along with us!

Butterfly Thanks

Today's card was made for the Hope Stamps Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #13. I was inspired by the colors and by the spotted butterflies:


The layout was CASE'd from a card in the latest Doodlebug ad with just a few minor changes. I hope you like it and TFL!

Materials used: patterned paper - Fancy Pants; butterfly and thanks diecuts - Quickutz; border punch - EK Success; circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities; brads - Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts.

More Michu

This week we had our choice of Softpencil images and even though I'm usually more of a dog person, I just can't resist Michu!! I chose this super cute image called Michu is Flying a Kite:


I colored Michu, the ground, and the kite tail with Copics, and paper pieced the main part of the kite, which was also popped up with foam tape.

I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Fancy Pants; border punches - Martha Stewart; rub on sentiment - Stampin' Up!; buttons - Making Memories; ribbon - May Arts.