Happy Friday!!!  The weekend is here!!  Woot woot!!
Now if only the weather were nice enough for us to get outside and do something...oh well..snuggles on the couch will have to do :)

I'm popping in today to share a cute card I made for Sami Stamps.  This Lights Poodle image is from an older release, but I never got around to make a card for it back then, so decided I should do that now.

This card was so much fun to put together!  It took me a few tries to get the coloring on my poodle image right, but those attempts were so worth it!  I started with the background of the image, outlining the poodle with a really light grey, then going around that with a darker grey and blending the two together.  Then the final color around the outside was the black, which I blended in with the darker grey to get a really nice halo look around the pup.

I colored in the lights with some fun bright colors, and then used a colorless blender around the outside to again get a halo, which I added just a little bit of the bulbs color to so that the lights looked like they were glowing.  I kept the colors of the poodle very simple with just some really light greys.  Since the theme of the card was coloring my world, I figured the poodle staying white was a good choice (and my previous attempt at coloring it brown was awful!...)

To finish the card, I found some matching cardstock scraps and cut them out into stitched circles with my Silhouette, laying them out across the left side of the card base.  The sentiment is from Lawn Fawns Starry Backdrops set, which I heat embossed onto some purple cardstock.  I also stamped the centers of each circle with the Peppermint Zone stamp from Winnie & Walter.  A few clear sequins with a little dot of black in the middle, and some glitter brush on the lights, and it was all done!!!

Such a fun card, I just love it so much!!
Don't forget we have a sweet Anything Goes challenge running for one more day at Sami Stamps!  Don't miss out on your chance to win some of these adorable images!!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Crafting When We Can #88-Stitching
    Craft Your Passion #250-Anything Goes
    Simon Says Stamp-Anything Goes
    The Paper Shelter #192-Make it Digital

Thanks for stopping by! <3

Happy Thursday Everyone!
Time for a new challenge at Meljen's Designs!  This week we want to see spots!  Nice and easy :)
I always struggle to find the right image to use on my MD cards...mostly because there are so many I could choose from and I love them all! 

But for this card I decided to use the Toadstool Buggies image since the spots on the mushrooms helped pull in the challenge theme :)

I had a lot of fun coloring up this image!  It's so light and whimsical that really any color combo would have worked!  It's just so sweet!  And of course, all the flowers and the little bees are covered in glitter brush :)

The overall design is simple since I wanted the image to remain center stage.  I added a few scallop borders at the bottom and a thin white ribbon to tie it to the image.  Then just cut out a simple oval and stamped my sentiment!  I added a few white enamel dots to finish it all off.

Be sure to stop by Meljen's Designs to see the rest of the DT's amazing creations, and then join in the fun!!

Thanks for visiting! <3

Hey everyone!
We have a new challenge starting today at Tuesday Throwdown and it's an easy one - Anything Goes!  So let your mind take control and join in the fun!

Our awesome sponsor this week is Oak Pond, and they have provided amazing images for our team to use.  I chose to use the Butterfly image.

I have been in a galactic mood lately...there may be reasons for that, or it may just be because I love space and how beautiful it is.  So I decided to try and do some galaxy watercoloring on the butterfly.  It took me a few tries to get a look that I wanted, but I think it turned out so awesome!

I started by printing off my image in a very faint grey on some watercolor paper.  Then covered the whole thing in clean water, making sure to stay within the lines.  Once the whole thing was wet, I just dropped color around.  I tried to stay a little symmetrical since it is a butterfly, but also let the galaxy do its own thing.  Love it!!!

Once everything was dry, I did some white splatters to represent the stars.  I think the white just completes the whole thing.  It's kind of fun because if you look closely, you can still sort of see the details of the butterfly wings, even though they aren't defined in any way.

To finish the card off, I used an awesome sentiment from the Hero Arts Shoot for the Moon stamp set.  I white heat embossed it onto some vellum, flagged the ends and placed it over the center of the butterfly.  I did a little splattering of some black and dark blue on the background panel before adhering the butterfly with some foam tape.  I love the simplicity of it all with the very detailed butterfly, so pretty!!

So be sure to stop by Tuesday Throwdown to check out the rest of the DT's creations, and then join in the fun!!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Addicted to Stamps #132-Make Your Mark
    Less is More #212-Wings
    The Corrosive Challenge #218-Things with Wings
    Word Art Wednesday #171-Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting! <3

Happy Sunday everyone!!
Ok this card isn't really all that scary...not visually.  But making it!  Yikes!  I was scared :)  Let me explain.

One of my all time favorite companies-Newton's Nook Designs has a new challenge running right now to make a one layer card.  One Layer!  Usually for me this means making my card on a separate card panel and then just attaching it to the card base so it resembles one layer...a little bit of a cheat but it helps give me some wiggle room in case I mess up.  Well...one layer is a challenge right?  So I decided to take it for it's true meaning and go for a serious one layer card.  This meant I couldn't mess up or I'd have to start over...I couldn't goof because there was no way to cover it up...scary!!!

But I did it!  And I love it so much!  I went for a bit of a wild card...I was trying to keep the rainbowish colors a little softer, but you know...that didn't happen and they got a little bright :)  Enjoy!

This sweet kitty (from Newton's Antics) is just so darn cute!  I love it so much because we have 3 cats, and ever single one of them loves to play in boxes.  Storm isn't the biggest fan, but he'll mess around a little.  But Ezio and Cloud will fight over every box that comes into the house.  It's hilarious!  So I colored this cutie up like Cloud, using my Spectrum Noir pencils for easy blending that wouldn't bleed through the paper.

To get the colors around Cloud, I masked her off with a post it note.  I had originally just done orange around her, but decided after I got her all colored up that she needed just a touch of some red to add some depth behind her.  So I reapplied the mask to get the red applied.

The arrows...I wasn't sure if the arrows were going to work.  It was more of a trial/play card to see what I thought, and I ended up loving it so much that I finished it all off.  I kept my colors in rainbow order still.  I didn't want a ton of purple on there but just enough to complete the rainbow.  And I love the combo of the large arrows with the little ones :)  That stencil is from Winnie & Walter and I love it!

I stamped a simple sentiment and covered it with some clear sparkly embossing powder.  Then went back over all the large arrows with some shimmer brush so that they sparkle.  You can just see the shimmer on the arrows towards the top of the card...always hard to catch those in photos :)

Such a fun card, and definitely a nail-bitter challenge, but I love how it turned out so much!  I might have to keep pushing myself on this one layer style to see what I can really do with it :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    AAA Cards #33-Orange You Glad UR CAS

    Inky Paws Challenge #18-Just One Layer
    Lawnscaping Challenge #100-Birthday
   
Thanks for stopping by today!! <3

Happy Friday!
I know it has been incredibly quiet around here...it's been a little hard to pull myself back together from holiday vacations and family loss...but I'm working on that!  Just bare with me as I work to get my mojo flowing again :)

But today we have a fun new release from Sami Stamps!  Remember those adorable poodles from a few weeks ago?  We have more!!!  And they are even cuter!, if that's possible...

I chose to use the Sweet Begging Poodle image for my card.  She was just so sweet, and begging to be used :)  I kept her coloring really simple with some light grey shades.  As I was browsing through my challenge timelines, I saw the photo from Cure for the Monday Blues and absolutely loved the fun bright colors in it...so decided I wanted to try and pull those together on a card.

Sifting through my much to large pile of scraps, I found a pink, yellow, and blue that coordinated pretty well together.  Created a fun swirl file in my Silhouette and cut them all out!  Then came the fun part of piecing them together...for the most part, they all fit.  But there were a few little spots where the lines didn't match.  But overall, the swirls turned out fabulous!

I tried something a little new with the background.  I really wanted some clear sparkly dots on the background, but didn't want to just emboss them on there.  So I took my dot stencil and applied some glossy accents.  While that was still wet, I covered it with sparkly embossing powder and then let it dry.  It didn't turn out quite the way I wanted...even after letting it dry for awhile, when I heat set it the glossy accents bubbled and burned a little.  And it warped the paper so much more than I wanted.  So I think I'll just stick with clear embossing for now, and maybe some day get my hands on some translucent embossing paste :)

To finish the card off, I added a mix of fun sequins from the Winnie & Walter 1st Birthday Bash Pretty Pink Posh mix.  So many delicious colors in there!  And this is my first batch of PPP sequins and let me tell you...they are amazing!!!  Can't wait to get my hands on more of them!!

So, be sure to stop by Sami Stamps and see the rest of these adorable little poodles, and check out the DT's creations!!  And you still have time to join in our Anything Goes Challenge!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Cure for the Monday Blues #43-Photo
    Inky Impressions #197-Cute & Cuddly
    Penny's Paper Crafty #215-Spots and Stripes
    Sassy Studio #269-Circles
    The Paper Shelter #191-Animal Magic

Thanks for visiting!! <3

Hey everyone,
Time to start a new challenge at Tuesday Throwdown!  This week it's all about love.
We have the wonderful Sami Stamps as our sponsor this week, and she has provided some adorable images for our team to use.

I chose to use With You.  I had this really cool idea of having a watercolor rainy background and the sweet couple cuddled under the umbrella together...and it just didn't work out.  I tried several times to get the look I wanted before finally settling on this version...I love doing washy watercolor but when it comes to actually getting good detail for an image and making it pop...I can't seem to figure it out.  Guess I just need to keep practicing.

Since I was so frustrated already with the watercoloring, I decided to keep the rest of the card really simple because it was late and I just wanted to be done.  So I stamped a little sentiment tag and added it behind a button and twine.

The card is still really cute, just not what I had originally planned in my mind.

I will be absent for the rest of this week...we are headed back to MI for some sad family matters.  Asking for your thoughts and prayers for my husbands family please.

Thanks for being awesome!! <3

Happy Friday!!  Woot woot!
Are you ready for an awesome new release from Sami Stamps?
This one is full of feathery fun - since it's Valentine Feathers!!

I chose to work with the image named just that :)  Valentine Feathers!

This card sort of morphed on its own.  I knew I wanted to follow the Retro Sketch for the card and do some sort of tag...but the rest was just made up on the fly.  I really love this bright and bold valentine striped paper, but it was a little too loud for my card.  So I covered it with a piece of vellum and then sewed them together with some gold thread.  I recently purchased the Enchanted Gold embossing powder from Ranger and absolutely love it!  So of course, I had to use it on this card.

I did sort of a "dipped" tag style that I saw Debbie Hughes do a couple times.  It's really fun and I love that it's just a little bit different from the normal style tag.

I printed off my image, and before I could even really think about how I wanted to color this cutie up, his belly was already colored red...wasn't completely sure I wanted that, but I rolled with it and it worked out so perfect!  The thread piled behind him is what was left over when I cut the extras off the back.  Didn't want that gorgeous gold thread to go to waste!!

Some read twine was wrapped around the card and tied into a bow at the top of the tag.  I also stuck a sweet little heart swirl die cut from the Lawn Fawn Bugs & Kisses set behind that bow.  Finished everything off with some red enamel dots and a cute sentiment!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    2 Cute Ink #122-Valentine/Love
    Chocolate Coffee Cards #84-Love is in the Air
    Crafts 4 Eternity #212-With Love
    Creative Inspirations #299-Love is in the Air
    Fussy and Fancy #132-All About Love
    Retro Sketches #151
    Simon Says Stamp-All Things Bright and Beautiful
    The Crazy Challenge #190-Love
    The Paper Shelter #189-Be My Valentine

Be sure to stop by Sami Stamps to see this cute release and to check out the rest of the DT's awesome creations!!

And don't forget we are starting a new challenge today - Anything Goes!!!

Thanks for visiting!  <3