Morning loves!
We're starting a new challenge today at Tuesday Throwdown!  With school starting up for everyone this month, we're challenging you to use your school colors!

My schooling started off with red and white colors...but then I switched schools and became a panther with green and white colors, much more fitting to me :)

I found this fun paper while out shopping this weekend and knew it would be perfect for this card!  Funny enough, it's actually Christmas paper!

Our fabulous sponsor this week is Meljen's Designs and they have provided us with some wonderful images to use on our projects.  I chose Professor Owl to use on my card and made it into a gift card holder.  The top flap ends right under the embossed panel, but is help in place by the cute sentiment from Create with TLC.

I added a few white dots around the owl and in the upper corner for just a little bit of a final touch...it just needed a little something more.

I hope you will play along with us this week!  Be sure to check out the rest of the design teams inspiration!  They did a fabulous job, as always!  <3

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    The Crazy Challenge #152-Animals
    Delicious Doodles #50-Birds of a Feather
    Fussy and Fancy #96-Back to School

Happy Monday!
I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!  Not a whole lot happened here...Matthew had to work Saturday so I spent the day alone.  We did some shopping yesterday and one of the art supply stores I frequent had ShinHan markers marked down to almost half off!  So I snagged a bunch of those for my collection :)  Now I need to practice using them!

Today we start a new challenge at Digi Makeover and it's a fun easy one for ya: Embossing!  I love to add embossing to my creations.  The dimension and fun detail it can add without needing to be on a patterned paper can be just perfect for a card.

For my card I used the lovely Mary the Bridal Fairy image from Paper Makeup.  She is just darling, and though I didn't add much color, she was still fun to use.  I added some liquid pearls to her veil, glitter to her wings, and I used a glitter pen on her dress and flowers which looks super elegant (though you can't see it in the pic).

I embossed the white background of the card with my D'vine Swirls folder and then heat embossed a clear coat over the swirls so they had a little shimmer to them.

The big blue flower was cut out with my Silhouette and glittered with some clear glitter.  I punched out a few little blossoms and then tucked a little pin down the middle of the arrangement.

The last item I added was the sweet Congratulations banner above the image.  It's from a super fun stamp set I won from Damask Love that arrived in the mail the other day and I couldn't wait to start using it!  So I inked it up and embossed it with some brown/bronze powder, cut it out and added it to the card! 

Please stop by and join us this week for our fun challenge!  You could win 3 Paper Makeup images of your choice (or 5 if you use one of our images!!).  So pull out our embossing folders and powder and start playing!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    A Gem of a Challenge #94-Anything with a B (bride, blue)
    Color Me Creative #75-Anything Goes
    Pattie's Creations #74-Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Saturday!
Wanted to stop in real quick and share a super cute card I made this week.  I decided to try something with one of my Memory Box frames...instead of using it as a frame, I tried using it as just the background accent.  I think it turned out pretty good :)

I made the card a little bigger, so it's an A4 (4 1/2 x 6 1/8) size instead of an A2.  That helped fit the frame a little bit better.

I colored up this awesome monster image from Pollycraft Designs called Beer Monster with my pencils.  His beer glass has been cut out a second time and popped up with some mounting tape so it sort of sticks out from the card.

I strung a little bit of twine through some of the bubbles and tied them up with a little button.  Then printed the sentiment from Create with TLC and made it into a tag to tuck under the button.

The outside of the frame has been lined with little white gel pen dots for added detailing.  I decorated the corners with some coordinating buttons.  They weren't planned, but after getting everything together, there was just too much empty space around the outside, so I figured the buttons would work out well.

The last thing I added was some white liquid pearls above the beer glass so they looked like bubbles, and under the sentiment.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    A Gem of a Challenge #94-Anything with a B (Beer, Buttons, Blue, Bow)
    Crafting with Dragonflies #9-Card for a Guy
    Digistamps4Joy #74-Anything Goes
    Inky Impressions #122-Masculine
    Little Miss Muffet #67-Monster Ball
    Pollycraft Designs #5-Buttons and Bows

Thanks for stopping by!!  Have a fabulous weekend!

It seems I'm on a roll this week of trying new things.  A little strange..and even though these new things aren't overly impressive, they've still been pretty fun.

Today's card falls right in line with that.  I love taking on a challenge that is out of the ordinary and...well..challenging.  So when I saw the theme at Crafting When We Can, I decided to tackle it...with a little help from the hubby.  He suggested one thing that got my gears going and the rest sort of fell into place.

 It's a very simple card overall.  But very rarely do I ever not include stuff all over my cards, so to leave the entire front empty was very strange.  Cutting out the swirls was interesting too.  They cut out beautifully with my Silhouette...but then wouldn't you know, they aren't actually attached together so you have to figure out how they lined up again all by yourself once you pull them off the sticky mat.  That was interesting...but it turned out pretty flippin sweet!

Normally Mr. Bond is at the end of that gun barrel but I wanted to get a little more unique with it.  So I used the fabulous Martini Pinup 2 image from Sassy Studio.  She has appeared on a lot of my cards lately (and is overall my all time favorite)...maybe I'll share a few next week :)  But she seemed just sassy enough to be on a Bond card.  So I printed her off small enough to fit in the swirl opening and colored her in with my colored pencils.  I also added a few liquid pearls to give her some bling.

Since the front is empty, I wanted to be able to include some sort of sentiment, so I cut out a tag to stick behind the image.

It seemed quite appropriate for this card :)
While it was a little bit of a challenge, it was still super fun and has helped keep my drive going to try new things.  I most definitely will be making more cards like this :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Crafting When We Can #51-007 Spy
    Inky Impressions #122-Masculine
    Sassy Studio-Guest DT Call

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thursday!
I was a little bummed this morning when I realized that it was only Thursday and not Friday...funny how my mind can always play tricks on me after Wednesday...

I am glad to get a little relief from the heat though.  We've had such a fabulous summer that when the humidity and heat set in for a few days, it's feels completely miserable.  But the rain is helping and things will cool off by tomorrow, so I'm happy :)

Today's card came together rather quickly.  Once I found the sentiment I wanted to use, I knew exactly what to pair it with and it all worked out perfectly.

Having 3 cats, this card rings pretty true for my entire day.  Our sweet little fur balls sleep and act all well behaved, but then something distracts them or they get tired of sleeping and all hell breaks loose.  Then it's like trying to calm down an elephant...or 3 :)

I used the sweet image Kitten Fun from Sami Stamps.  It's so sweet, probably because it's a cat and I have a weak spot in my heart for those little munchkins.  I did my best to color the sweet kitty up in a calico type pattern with my pencils.  I think it turned out pretty darn good!  I didn't want to do an all brown or all black cat since I felt that wouldn't match with the green and yellow color scheme I had chosen.

The papers weren't exactly what I wanted to use, but it's what I had available, so I made it work :)
The sentiment is from Create with TLC.  All the edges of the card layers have been distressed with my scissors and then lined with some olive green glitter to add lots of sparkle!

I made up a bow and added a sweet button and twine to the middle to finish off the whole card.  Just perfect :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Color Me Creative #75-Anything Goes
    The Crazy Challenge #152-Animals
    Fussy and Fancy #95-Bingo Board (Green, Free, Ribbon)
    Let's Craft and Create #77-Animal Antics
    Nutcrafters #50-Spots and/or Stripes
    Sami Stamps #4-Anything Goes DT Call
    There She Goes #221-Fur Friends

Thanks for stopping by!!

Happy Wednesday!
So I tried something new with my cards this week.  A few things that I've never done/hardly do.  And I must say, I really love how it all looks!

Today's card was supposed to just be my practice card, but it turned out so cute that I finished it all up and decided to share it :)

First off...this is my first time ever sewing on a card!  Yeah, I need some practice...those lines are not very straight...but over all it's so darn cute!  Plus I hardly ever do single layer cards.  So when this idea popped into my head, and it actually looked good once completed, I got super excited :)

I used kind of a jumble of images on here.  The sweet butterfly is from 2 Cute Ink.  I just love these sweet little images!

The flower border is from Doodle Pantry.  It's a part of the Spring Song Birdies collection, but worked so perfect as a border for this card.

And finally the sentiment is from Create with TLC.

I pretty much left off all embellishments except for the twine and bow at the top and a few small liquid pearl dots under the sentiment to pull a little shimmer into the card.  The background has been lightly chalked and I did my best to "ground" the flowers with some added grass and dirt.

So tell me, do you sew on your cards?  Any tips for a beginner like me? :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Craft Your Passion #176-Summer Flowers
    Crafty Cardmakers #98-Fun in the Sun
    Divas by Design-Use Some Twine
    Doodle Pantry #37
    Incy Wincy Designs-One Layer Cards
    Stampin for the Weekend-Butterflies
    That Craft Place-Stitching
    Whimsy Stamps #62-Clean and Simple

Thanks for stopping by!!

I have a confession...I'm terrible at making vintage styled cards...
It's a beautiful style, and I see so many other people completely rock it.  But I just can't ever seem to wrap my head around how the style works and what goes with it..

So with this weeks Digi Makeover theme being Vintage...I knew I was going to struggle.  But I gave it my best shot and I do like the card I've created...though it may not completely fit the vintage style.

I pulled out a few 6x6 paper pads that I've had for awhile that I felt had a vintage feel to them.  These are the only small paper pads that I have...I can't quite get into purchasing those yet.  I love using 12x12 papers for my cards.  I can get multiple cards from 1 sheet and there's just a bit more variety to me...but at the same time the patterns on most 12x12 papers are so large that they look terrible on cards.  Can't decide which way to go.

Anyhow!  I used a few lighter colored papers from one of the pads that gave a vintage vibe.  I inked the edges in green..which may not even fit with vintage..but I liked it.  I pulled out a stripe of my Grandma Veldink's lace (which is definitely vintage by itself :) ) and wrapped that around the card on top of a scallop cut border.

Using my Silhouette, I cut out the cross from the square paper and outlined it with liquid pearls.

The sentiment is from the Be Still set from Paper Makeup Stamps.  I printed it off and inked up the edges.  Then lined it up with the lower corner of the cross.

That's it!  Pretty simple!  I do love this card though, even if it isn't the traditional vintage...whatever that may be :)

So come on!  I know there are tons of you out there that can rock the vintage style!  Make something up using a digi and link it up at Digi Makeover!  We can't wait to see what you create!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Artistic Inspirations #55-Clean and Simple
    Retro Sketches #77
    Ruby's Rainbow #60-Vintage
    Word Art Wednesday #93-Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!! <3

Wanted to share a little card I made this weekend really quick with you before I call it a night on the internet.

I have a lot of Sassy Studio images.  I love them.  But I hardly ever seem to use them...which doesn't make any sense to me.  They are all so sweet and can be used in so many ways...and yet they just sit in my folders where I look at them every day.  So I decided to change that for once and use one of them this week.  Maybe it can be the first of many cards with a Sassy Studio image.

You can never go wrong with ice cream :)  Even in the dead of winter, I still crave the stuff.  It's a weakness...right up there with chocolate.  So this image seemed like the perfect one to use for this sweet card.  I colored it all in with my pencils and gave it a scallop cut frame.

The sentiment is printed and then cut out with one of my Spellbinders templates.  I added some liquid pearls around the outside of the sentiment frame and in the lower corner, along with a simple little ribbon and bow with a purple button and twine in the upper corner. 

I'm really happy with this card.  It's so sweet and perfect for anything.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Charisma Cardz #32-Ice Cream
    Chocolate, Coffee, Cards #46-Sweet Treats
    Craft Your Passion #175-Don't Get Your Twine in a Tangle
    Fab n Funky #181-Anything that Looks Like Summer
    Ladybug Crafts-Color/Photo Inspiration
    Loves Rubberstamps #65-Hair of a Different Color
    Pollycraft #5-Buttons and Bows
    Sweet Sketch #219

Thanks for stopping by!! <3

Hello!!
A few weeks ago I made Top 3 at the Quirky Crafts challenge blog, and I'm so excited that this week I am one of their guest designers!!

Our challenge for you is quite fun!  It's Christmas in August...with a twist!  One of the lovely ladies there, Lyn, created a super fun wheel full of options for you to choose from!  Just pick 3 of them to include on your card!

Here is what I came up with:

This was a bit difficult for me.  I'm not sure why...still trying to get my mind wrapped around making Christmas cards...and then to try and do it in non-traditional colors really threw me off :)
Here is the wheel full of options:

Lots of fun stuff in there!  The sponsor this week at Quirky Crafts is Bugaboo, and they have loads of great Christmas images!  I used Stella Christmas-Christmas Cost and colored her in with my pencils.  I also added a little bit of glitter from my Wink of Stella pen to her had and shoes.

Stop by Quirky Crafts and join in the fun!!
I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    ABC Christmas-P is for...(Purple, Pearls, Polka Dots)
    Delicious Doodles #49-Christmas in August
    Divas by Design-Christmas in August

We're starting a new challenge today over at Tuesday Throwdown!  Oh, and we're having a DT Call!  Don't miss out on that if you want to join a fabulously fun team!

Our challenge is to use pastel colors!   My card is super simple...I was in a bit of a rush to finish it last week because Matthew's mom was coming in for the weekend to visit and I didn't want to have to do any work while she was here.  And I realized that pastel colors aren't very popular in my paper stash...

There She Goes is our sponsor this week, I was so excited when they said yes!!  And they were so generous to provide each of us with a mini stamp set to use on our cards!  I got Larry, stamped him out and colored him in with my pencils.  I tried my best to match him with the background papers.

All of the edges are distressed to add a little bit more detail to this simple card.  I made up a few buttons to match and added those to the corner, and that was it!!  See, simple :)

I hope you will join us!  Pull out those pastels and get to craftin! 

I can't believe I have started making Christmas cards already!!  It's so odd but at the same time, part of me has been longing to pull that holiday stuff out and start playing.  So I finally caved...this is my second holiday card.  A little different from the normal Christmas card :)

This cute little image cracks me up every time I look at it!  Those peas are just so adorable!  The image is Peas on Earth from Whimsie Doodles...so so cute!  I colored it up with my pencils and paper pieced all the letters.  After mounting it onto my scallop cut frame, it just needed a little something else, so I outlined it with a pink copic marker.

To add some more fun-ness to the card, I cut out some circles and spun little bits of twine around them so they looked like peppermint candies.  I covered them with glossy accents and sprinkled some clear glitter on top so they have a slight sparkle to them.

Added a few pearls on the bottom and it was all done!  Super quick card, but so cute!  I think this image will be a popular one for me this holiday season!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    ABC Christmas-P is for...(peas, pink, peppermint candy, pearls, paper piecing)
    The Crazy Challenge #151-Anything Goes
    Deep Ocean #57-Christmas in July
    DigiStamp4Joy #73-Make Your Own Embellishments
    Sketch Saturday #270
    Totally Gorjuss #195-Anything Goes with Pearls
    V's Sweet Ideas #14-Something Twine
    Whoopsi Daisy-Paper Piecing

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Happy Monday!
I just have to say, I am loving this summer weather!  It's actually more like fall, but it's fabulous!  I love seeing the sun shine without the blazing heat :)

So I had to go with a sun on my card for this weeks challenge at Digi Makeover.  The challenge is Sunny Days, which can be really anything summer.

I'm really happy with how this card turned out.  Even though it is simple layers, it still looks so nice and clean.  I used the awesome images from Jen's Sunshine and colored them all in with my pencils.  The papers are from the Little Darlings Summer Sorbet paper pack and were perfect for this card. 

I hope you will join us this week!  You could win some very sweet Paper Makeup images!  Also, be sure to stop by and say hello to our newest team member, Hermien!!  We're so glad to have her with us!

Have a fabulous day!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Deconstructed Sketch #112
    Pollycraft Challenges #4-Fun in the Sun
    V's Sweet Idea #14-Something Twine