Cool Cat

I have another Pile It On card for you today! Our theme this week is "Lots of Dots" and our sponsor is Timbo Hunter. The Design Team was generously supplied with a number of digi images to choose from and I picked this adorable one called Cool Cat:


I colored the entire image with Copics, just adding a bit of white Inkssentials pen for foam on the waves and a little Stardust glitter on the water and drink (which I didn't manage to capture in my picture).

Challenges:

• Pile It On - "Lots of Dots" (circles, spots, etc. - think ROUND) and combine with at least 1 other challenge - I used a polka dot paper for my background and the main image was cut into a circle.
• Stamp with Fun - "At the Sea"
• My Time to Craft - "Cheers Me Dear" (have a beverage of some kind)
• Stamp Something - "Animal Somethings"
• Allsorts - no stamped images or sentiments

I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Imaginisce (A Shore Thing collection); Barely Banana cardstock - Stampin' Up!; dark red cardstock - Bazzill; ribbon - Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts; charm - eBay.

La-La Land Crafts Peeks and Candy!

La-La Land Crafts will be releasing 11 new images for Halloween on September 10th! Here are some sneak peeks to tempt you:





To celebrate the release, Irina will be giving away one of the new stamps - winner's choice!

You'll find the details on how to enter on the La-La Land Crafts blog.

The winner will be drawn next Thursday, September 3rd, at around 10 pm PST. Good luck!

Birthday Cupcake with Sprinkles!

Today's card was made for the There She Goes Birthday Card Challenge:


I used the Cupcake Mix & Match set and a sketch from Get Sketchy.

I paper pieced the cupcake liner and top and then added some seed bead sprinkles. The scalloped circle was lightly airbrushed for just a bit of color. I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Basic Grey (Two Scoops paper pad); border punch - Martha Stewart; ribbon - May Arts.

Loving Birds

It's Thursday so I have a Softpencil card for you. We got to use this sweet image called Loving Birds and I wanted to show you the full image so you know what it looks like:

And here's my card:


I've wanted to use this piece of swirly chipboard for a while, but couldn't fit it on a card until I saw the Loving Birds image - I saw the swirly branch they were sitting on and immediately thought of this chipboard! I paper pieced both birds and sat them on the chipboard branch with foam tape. To mimic the image, I punched little flowers and added tiny half pearls to the centers.

To meet the Design Element "shining, glittering, shimmering," I applied Stickles to all the dots on the chipboard, used Stardust glitter pen on the bird outlines, wings, little flowers and the sentiment. I also stitched around the circle with a combination of white thread and iridescent tinsel that I bought for Christmas ages ago. You can't see it in the picture, but in real life it definitely shines, glitters and shimmers (please take my word for it)!

Challenges:

• Getting Creative with Ann - Bring on the Glitz
• Cupcake Craft Challenges - Shaped Card
• Double Dutch - Back in Time (pick your favorite of the previous challenges). I picked #9 - make a circle card
• Digital Tuesday Challenge - Hop To It! (creation using something that hops). I know people wouldn't normally think of birds right off the bat, but they definitely do hop!
• ABC Challenge - C is for Circles

I hope you like it and TFL! Don't forget to hop around to all the other DT and Guest DT members (links in the sidebar) to see what they've done with this fabulous image!

Other materials used: patterned paper and chipboard - Fancy Pants; sentiment - The Greeting Farm; circle and scalloped circle Nestabilties; Copic markers (used to shade the sentiment banner); ribbon - May Arts; flower punch - Fiskars; micro half pearls - eBay.

La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge #2

Yay! It's Wednesday so that means another La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge! This week Lisa chose our theme, which is stitching. It can be machine stitching, hand stitching or even faux stitching. I *love* stitching on my cards so this was a really great challenge for me!

Here's my card:


I used Sitting Lala (can't stop playing with the Lalas - LOVE them all!) and a sketch from Sketch Saturday:


I colored Lala with Copics, cut her out, and popped her up with foam tape. Here's a close shot of the adorable Miss Lala:


I did a bunch of straight and zig-zag stitching with some fun variegated pink thread that I had in my thread box. If you enlarge the first picture, you can see that I embossed the light yellow panel with the Flowers Impressabilities from Spellbinders. I also used some silk flowers I've had in my stash forever and a hanging charm (because I'm obsessed with charms right now!).

We'd love to have you play along with us! You will find all the details on how to participate on the La-La Land Crafts Blog. I hope you like my card and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Basic Grey (Lemonade paper pad); Around and About Sentiments set, Scarlet Jewel cardstock and ink - Papertrey Ink; border punch - Martha Stewart; white brads (that I colored pink with Copics) - Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts; bead caps and chain - Firemountain Gems; charm - eBay.

Your Next Stamp 1st Design Team Call

I just came across a brand new stamp company called Your Next Stamp (how clever is that?!) and instantly fell in love with their images! They are SO my style (really cute and fun) and I love how they come in little sets with coordinating images and sentiments! I had to place an order right away, so I'll be sharing cards with these images soon!

Until then, I decided I had to try for the Design Team since I love the stamps so much already! They asked that we share 2 of our best cards that show off our coloring abilities. It was so hard to narrow it down to just 2, but it had to be done! [All pictures can be clicked to enlarge.]

My first is a little older one that is one of my all-time favorites and that actually got me chosen as the first ever featured artist on the Paper Blooms blog:


You can see my coloring skills a little better with these close shots. For this card, I dotted the colorless blender pen all over the fish to look like scales. I also added some glitter pen and lots of dimension.



If you'd like more details, here's the original blog post.

My second card isn't a card at all (hope that's ok!) and is much newer. In fact, I just made this fun little notepad last week (sorry to all my regular viewers who are seeing this again!):


Although the notebook is pretty simple in design, I really love how the coloring came out! I'm always trying to improve my coloring skills and this girl turned out exactly how I wanted!

Here's a close shot of just the image:


If you'd like more details, here's the original blog post.

Finally, to Karen and anybody else that may be looking over the DT submissions: I just wanted to mention that although Copics are my first choice for coloring, I also love using watercolors, and I recently learned how to color with colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits. Thank you very much for checking out my post and considering me for the design team!

Sweet Summer

I'm a little ashamed to admit that I've had the set Sweet Treats FOREVER and didn't even cut it apart until now. I decided to use it to make a card for several challenges, including the All That Scraps sketch challenge:


And here's my card (you can see that I flipped the sketch so that it would match my image better):


I watercolored the image using a combination of Stampin' Up! reinkers and Peerless Watercolors. The sentiment is from the Summertime Fun set. Here's a close shot of the image:


Other challenges:

• Getting Creative with Ann - Watercoloring
• Cupcake Craft Challenge - Something Sweet
• The Pink Elephant - Summer
• ABC Challenge - Buttons
• Charisma Cardz - Lemon, Green & Pink
• Cute Card Thursday - Lazy Dayz (summer inspired cards)
• Stamp Simply - Polka Dots

I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Basic Grey (Lemonade paper pad); Petite Oval and Petite Scalloped Oval Nestabilities; border punch - Martha Stewart; flower die - Cuttlebug; buttons - Papertrey Ink; Dew Drops.

Little House Treat Box

This week the Softpencil DT got to work with another cute set called the House Collection Set 2, which can be found in the Softpencil Etsy Shop. I wanted to do something really fun with the set so I came up with this special little treat box (all pictures can be clicked to enlarge):


I printed 2 of everything - house, tree, bunny and girl, and I also paper pieced the houses and tree tops. For the roofs, I punched 3/4" circles from patterned paper to go over the circular pattern of the images. I rounded each circle and popped them up with scrap cardstock for dimension.

Here's a straight-on shot of the front:


The back is exactly the same except the roof color is slightly different. You can see that I cut out the windows and glued plain cardstock behind them. I also used a 1/8" hole punch for the little pink flowers, and dotted each with a pink pen. Lastly, I sewed seed beeds over the little dots in the design for interest. The girl was colored with Copics, cut out and mounted with foam tape.

Here's what the sides look like:


Our Design Element this week was flowers, which was easy since there were flowers already in the design of the tree! I used a Fiskars hand punch for the little flowers and then sewed seed beads to the center of each flower and also over each dot in the design. The grass was cut from extra houses that I printed. The bunny was colored just a bit, cut out and popped up with little bits of cardstock.

I made up the box design based on the sizes of the house fronts and the trees. I hope you like it and TFL!

Don't forget to hop around to all the other DT members' blogs, including our fabulous Guest Designers (links on the sidebar) to see what everyone did with this great set!

First La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge!

Thanks for joining me for the first La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge! This week our theme was picked by our DT Coordinator, Jane, and it is Flower Power:

You must have at least one flower somewhere on the card. It can be Prima flowers (or similiar), pressed flowers, embossed flowers, stamped flowers, etc. The challenge is to use your flower(s) in a way where it stands out but the main focus should still be your stamped image.

To kick off our very first challenge, everyone that participates this week will be entered into a drawing for a FREE Window La-La stamp!

The design team will be selecting their top 3 favorites for each challenge. The Top 3 will get to put this adorable button on their blog:

And for this week, the one with the most votes from the team will get 25% off at the La-La Land Crafts online store!

You will find all the rules on how to participate on the La-La Land Crafts Blog.

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And now my card for this week's challenge:


I used Birthday Lala and some Heidi Grace papers. Lala was colored with Copics, cut out and mounted with foam tape. If you look at the original Birthday Lala image, you'll notice that I gave her a little haircut! I just felt like giving her short hair for this card! I also colored and cut out an extra present with hands attached and mounted that with foam tape over the main image. For some extra pizazz I put some Stickles on her hair pins and shoes (done with a needle to get into the really tiny areas) and also on the flower button.

You can see the coloring and dimension a little better here (you can also click the picture above to enlarge):


For the flowers, I used 2 sizes of Prima hydrangeas, and a rose from Paper Wishes. I put some Stardust glitter pen on the hydrangeas and moved it around with a water brush.

Don't forget to check out the fabulous creations of all my fellow DT members (links on the sidebar). I hope you'll join us this week and TFL!

Back to School Notebook

I have a non-card project today! It's a little covered notebook that I've had in my things-to-alter box forever:


I wanted to play in the In Style Stamps Wednesday Challenge, but the theme is Back to School and I didn't have any suitable images from In Style. Then I thought maybe I could alter the Mellie image by covering up her birthday cake with some apples and it worked!

I stamped a bunch of apples from The Greeting Farm's Wishing Tree set, colored with Copics and cut them out. I colored Mellie with Copics and then glued all the apples over the cake. It's like she has an apple for each of her new teachers!

I finished off the front with a piece of paper taken from the book and punched with the notebook paper punch, a bit of patterned paper, ribbon and a couple buttons. BTW - the notebook is about 3.25" wide and 4.5" tall.

Other challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp challenge - Anything BUT a card.
• Copic Creations Challenge - Red, Pink & Hearts
• Three Clovers Thursday Challenge - Techie Time (use a downloaded image or make a background on the computer)

I hope you like it and TFL!

More Coffee with Friends

Flourishes is hosting a sketch challenge over at Rubber Stamp Chat this month and I liked the sketch so I decided to play:


I used the set Coffee with Friends and papers from the DCWV La Creme stack. I paper pieced the cup and saucer with 2 different papers and did some inking and distressing on most of the pieces.

This card was also made for the Timeless Tuesday challenge, which is scoring. I did 3 lines of scoring on my vanilla base to separate the dots and swirls embossing.

Lastly, the sentiment is from There She Goes. I hope you like it and TFL!

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #20

I love the Hope Stamps Eternal Cupcake Inspiration Challenges so I was *thrilled* when I was asked to be the very first Guest Sweetie!!

Our inspiration this week is this gorgeous cupcake:


I was inspired by the swirls (looks like the Cuttlebug folder was actually used on the cupcake top!), the pearly butterflies, the roses, and the colors.

Here's my card (you can click to enlarge):


Rachel was so generous to send me a little goodie package of stuff that I might want to use for the challenge! I started with these gorgeous patterned papers from the Wisteria 6x6 paper pad and this sketch from Charisma Cardz:


I cut out and embossed the butterfly with a Nestabilities die, then painted it with pearl paint for that sheen. Then I added a gorgeous little violet rose to the center. You can see it a little better in this close shot:


Finishing details: I embossed the plain circle with the D'Vine Swirls folder, distressed all the edges just a bit, did some machine stitching, and added rhinestones to all the corners. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Mega Mixed Messages set and the heart charm is from Blue Moon.

Lastly, this card is also for Flutter By Wednesday - create a card using a butterfly or fairy.

A big huge thanks to Rachel & Michelle for asking me to be a Guest Sweetie!! I hope you like it and TFL!

Sugar & Spice Lala

If you're looking for this week's Pile It On card, it's the post directly below this one. Thanks!

****************

I got my first package from La-La Land Crafts yesterday and couldn't wait to play with my new stamps!! Without further ado, here's my very first La-La Land card:


I used Window Lala and a fabulous Basic Grey rub-on that Irina sent in my DT package.

Lala was colored with Copics, cut out, and popped up on foam tape. I added a tiny little bow to her shirt to match the bows in her hair. Here's a close shot of Lala (isn't she just the cutest thing ever??):


I added a lot of embellishments to make it a really girly card. You can click to enlarge the first picture to see everything!

This card also qualifies for a couple challenges:

• Daring Cardmakers - Lace
• Stampin' B's - use 2 die cuts (I used the plain circle and scalloped circle Nesties)

I hope you like it and TFL!

P.S. I also wanted to let you know that starting on Wednesday, August 19th, we will be having weekly challenges on the La-La Land Crafts blog called La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge. Please stop by and check it out!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Basic Grey (Eva collection); ribbon - May Arts; bigger pearls - Kaiser Craft; tiny pearls and little bow - MimiLolo Etsy store; chain - Firemountain Gems; charm - eBay; lace from stash.

Out of this world!

This week's theme for Pile It On is "Oh Boy!" - make a masculine card, use the word boy, etc. I just got the Dress Up Billy set from Pink Cat Studio so I had to use it for today's card:


I already bought the Lily & Billy Accessories set a while back on sale so I used the astronaut suit and sentiment with Billy. He was colored with Copics, cut out and popped up with foam tape. The big star is a Nestie that I embossed with the Swiss Dots folder to match the patterned paper, which is some REALLY old stuff from American Crafts. I added Stardust glitter pen to the planet, some grosgrain ribbon, a charm and zig-zag stitching to finish it all off.

Challenges (only 3 this time!):

• Pile It On - Oh Boy!
• Stamps & Smiles - sketch:
• 365 Cards - Shape Up (make a star the dominant shape)

I hope you like it and TFL!

Timmy

For this week's Softpencil card, I have a new character to introduce you to - say hello to Timmy! If you hop around to the other DT members' blogs, you should be able to find Tommy too!

My card uses the image called Timmy and their toys:


We also got to use these great Softpencil digital papers. I just sized down the papers a little and printed them both on the same sheet of cardstock as my Timmy image. I colored Timmy and the toys with Copics, and then inked and distressed all my pieces. Since this is a boy card, I used twine and star eyelets instead of my usual ribbon and flowers! I also added a star charm to keep with the star theme.

I used a sketch from the Digital Tuesday Challenge:



I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: sentiment - The Greeting Farm; blue cardstock - Bazzill; Old Olive cardstock - Stampin' Up!; twine - Papertrey Ink; charm - eBay; eyelets from stash.

Clean & Simple Butterfly

As soon as I saw this post on the Hope Stamps Eternal blog, I was instantly inspired!! An idea popped into my head and I was able to make this card in less than 10 minutes - the fastest card I've ever made!

What inspired me was how Rachel combined the SCS CAS Challenge 27 (bling) with the Fall To Layout #54 on the Clean & Simple Stamping blog. I loved the FTL and the idea of using some bling to jazz it up!

Here's my card:


I love the look of CAS cards, but I never seem to do them, so a big thanks to Rachel for the inspiration!

Materials used: sentiment (Simple Little Things Limited Edition set), kraft cardstock, Fresh Snow ink - Papertrey Ink; butterfly diecut - Spellbinders; bling - Prima; white Inkssentials pen.

La-La Land Grand Opening News!

Tomorrow is the Grand Opening of La-La Land Crafts!! The website will go live at 11 pm PST and you can get a 10% discount storewide for the first 24 hours!!

And just to remind you, the celebration will start with the reveal of the stamps at Cranberry Hill Mercantile in Sunnyvale, CA. The party is scheduled from 6 pm to 9 pm (see details here).

As a special treat for those of you going to Cranberry Hill, Jane Matsumoto, our Design Team coordinator, will be doing a make-and-take at the store.

We hope to you see you all tomorrow at Cranberry Hill or in the online store - happy shopping!!

Belles 'N Whistles Blog Candy Supreme!

You need to check out the fab blog candy that Elisabeth Bell is giving away right now - the 6 premiere stamps from Belles 'N Whistles! PLUS a T-shirt of the winner's choosing from Elisabeth's line - how cool is that?!

This candy closes on midnight, Sunday, August 23rd Arizona time. Good luck!

Mellie

I have another multiple challenge card for you today. I started with this sketch from the Sketch Saturday Challenge blog:


And here's the card I made:


You can see I changed up the sketch just a bit - putting my big sentiment in place of the three strips and then replacing the sentiment area with a ribbon and bow.

I used the digi stamp image Mellie from In Style Stamps (LOVE their anime images!) to qualify for their Wednesday Challenge - use buttons and an ISS image. I flipped her so she's facing right instead of left to fit the sketch - one of the great things about digi images!

Other challenges:

• Stamp Something - use a charm
• Stamp with Fun - birthday
• Copic Creations - coloring eyes
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge - buttons and bows

I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned papers - Fancy Pants (Celebrate collection); rub ons - Making Memories; flowers - Prima; buttons - Papertrey Ink; ribbon - May Arts; scalloped scallops border punch - EK Success; charm - eBay.

My Sweet Bear

Today's card was made for the Sugar Bowl challenge 16 - Marlene's Sketch:


And here's my card:


I've been making a lot of big (for me anyway) square cards lately (5.5") so I wanted to do something a little smaller (4.25"). I thought the little bear from the Gorjuss girl stamp Bear Hug would be perfect for a smaller card and he was! He was colored with Copics, cut out and popped up with foam tape.

Besides using the sketch, we were also asked to doodle on our projects - ugh! I'm not big on doodling (except for the couple hand drawn frames I've done recently), but I figured if I had to do it, I might as well do a bunch! So I put little heart shapes with a Copic on the focal panel's scallops, and then drew over them with a black liner pen. I also drew little swirls on the side scallops, some funky little corners, and lines and dots on the top strip. I have to say I'm not thrilled with the end product, but at least I tried!

I finished the whole thing off with a lot of machine stitching, some May Arts ribbon and a beaded pin. BTW, I got the idea to put that silver basket bead cap on the pearl pin from one of my new favorite blogs, Tabby Craft Designs. I just happened to have the baskets on order for another project (which you will see here later!) when I saw this idea on Tab's blog - genius!!

I hope you like the card and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Basic Grey (Porcelain 6x6 paper pad); sentiment - Whiff of Joy; Dark Chocolate ink - Papertrey Ink; circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities; pearls and silver basket - Firemountain gems; pearl pin - local craft store.

Super Exciting News!

I got picked to be on the La-La Land Crafts Design Team!! Yippeeeeeee!!!

I fell in love with the stamps as soon as I saw the sneak peeks and I'm just thrilled that I'll be able to share these great new images with you!

A couple things before I go: Irina is generously giving away more blog candy where you can win THREE stamps of your choice from La-La Land Crafts, plus a lot of other great stuff! Check out this post for a chance to win!

And finally - don't forget about the Grand Opening of La-La Land Crafts, all of the details can be found at this post.

Owl be there

Today's card was made for a few challenges starting with this Mojo Monday sketch:


The other challenges for this card were the Roses on Paper Challenge 17 - use hearts (and also one of the specified stamp companies) and the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #18, from which I was inspired to use an owl, the colors blue and green, hearts and flowers.

And here's my card:


I used The Greeting Farm's Forest Friends set because it is one of the specified companies for Roses on Paper and also because the owl is super cute! I colored the owl with Copics and then cut it and the attached branch out completely. Here's a little tip - if your cutting isn't perfect (and mine never is!) and you have some slivers of white showing, instead of trying to cut them off and risk cutting too much (which always happens to me), I just color over the white with a matching Copic. In this case I used a dark brown on the owl and a dark green on the branch because my black tends to bleed too much.

For the rest of the card, I did a bunch of Stardust glitter pen on the top flower and also all over the dots on the patterned paper. The little rhinestones on the corners of the white square are hearts and I also used a hanging heart charm. The sentiment is from the same set and I inked the edges of each piece so they wouldn't be so stark white. I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - DCWV Latte stack; ribbon - May Arts; flowers - Prima; Ripe Avocado ink - Papertrey Ink; brads - Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts; circle and petite scalloped circle Nestabilities; tiny rhinestones - eBay; bead cap and chain - Firemountain Gems; charm from stash.

Taking Care of Flowers

This week's Softpencil card uses the adorable image called Taking Care of Flowers:


I did multiple layers of the little fairy and the flower and added a bunch of Stickles glitter glue for sparkle. Our Design Element was buttons and bows so I made sure to add those in! I also sponged the edges of the main panel with light yellow ink.

I also added a hanging charm and a flattened bead cap to the flowers as I've seen on some other cards that I really love. You can see the whole thing better here:


I used the sketch from the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge:
Other challenges:

• Allsorts - 3, 2, 1 Challenge (use 3 flowers, 2 papers and 1 ribbon)
• Bee Crafty - Adding Colour to Images (I used my favorite coloring medium - Copics)
• Timeless Tuesday - Hardware (use any kind of metal). I used a few different sorts for my flowers with charm.
• A Spoon Full of Sugar - Floral Fantasy
• Tuesday Taggers - Flowers
• Digital Tuesday Challenge - Bling
• Papertake Weekly - Four Seasons. My card represents Spring.

I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - Basic Grey (Urban Prairie collection); Barely Banana ink - Stampin' Up!; flowers - Prima; buttons - Papertrey Ink; ribbon - May Arts; petite ovals and petite scalloped ovals Nestabilities; half pearls - MimiLolo Etsy store; chain and bead cap - Firemountain Gems; charm - eBay.