Popsicle Toes

I'm entering this in the DL.Art November Linky Challenge, Simon Says Wednesday AG, Jo's Scrap Shack #258 AG, the World Wide Design Team Open (Oct 15-Nov 12) AG, Die Cut Divas Nov, AG, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #93 AG, Papercraft Challenges #23 Inspired by a Song (Let it Snow), TTRCD Week of October 30 AG, the Outlawz PAM Cold Weather, the Classic Design Team Open Nov #11 AG, 613 Avenue Create #215 AG/opt.Christmas/Winter, and A Perfect Time to Craft November #11 AG,

Monday, April 2, 2018

The Party Continues on the AWCB

Well I'm winging my way home from Florida and our nephew's beautiful wedding, probably as you read this, but managed to work ahead for this Mid- Inspiration Post for our special 4th Anniversary Party/Sprite Delight V Challenge. I hope you've all collected your "party favor" as she is still available until the challenge close on April 14th and look forward to you joining us with ANY of Mitzi's adorable Sprites.

Okay, I'm sure those of you have been experiencing Winter weather far longer than normal are not thrilled to see a snowy card, but I'm fond of doing Christmas year 'round and to be honest, I had a major Copic catastrophe with my original image and plan and this cutie was started for some other challenges. Pretty sure Hot Cocoa Sprite, available HERE on AuroraWings .com and HERE on Etsy could melt even the coldest heart though, don'tcha think?

Here's a closeup of Hot Cocoa Sprite. He's colored with Copics and fussy cut after gluing him on some light turquoise card stock. I then glued him to a snowflake ornament and clipped him to a double stitched tag from Gina Marie. The gorgeous hand dyed crinkle ribbon is from DL.Art.

I thought this turned out so cute that it would be fun to make him removable from the card to hang on your tree, so here he is doing just that. WooHoo!

If you're more in the mood for Springtime, be sure to visit the Challenge Blog and see the gorgeous makes by my Stella team sisters and don't forget to grab you "party favor" while you're there. Hope to see you join in our Sprite Delight V/4th Anniversary Celebration. Double prizes this time. WooHoo!

Here's how to keep up with all that's happening at Aurora Wings.

Aurora Wings Challenge Blog (current challenge runs through April 14th)

I'm entering this in the DL.Art April Linky Challenge, Simon Says Wednesday AG, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #79 AG, Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #227 AG, 613 Avenue Create AG/optional Use Vellum, the Classic Design Team Open #24 AG, the Colour Crazy Craft Challenge Wk 13 AG, A Perfect Time to Craft Open #4 AG, QKR Stampede #289 AG, the World Wide Open DT Challenge #03 AG, Simon Says Monday A Trio of Something (wooden tiles), the Outlawz Twisted Thursday AG, the Outlawz Festive Fridays Card with a Bow and Christmas, Creative Fingers #144 AG, Creatalicious #136 AG/opt friendship, Christmas at Sweet Stampin' AG Christmas,

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Winter Friends Tag

I went shopping yesterday on Digi Choosday at Polkadoodles and did some major damage. I love the sweet images and fabulous kits and just couldn't resist the Winnie White Christmas Big Kahuna Download kit. Not only did it have all of the adorable black and white digis I'd been eyeing, to color at my leisure, but also GOBS of papers, elements, precolored images...the list goes on and on!

I didn't have a whole lot of time, but I wanted to try out my new goodies and join in the Outlawz Festive Friday challenge using the theme Winter Friends so I opened my Printmaster Platinum program and started playing. I digitally assembled this tag using the tag itself plus the precolored trees, and cute snowman and friends. Thought that little bird would look cute on a branch, layered some snowflakes and printed it out. WOW! I was so impressed with the quality I can't wait to do more.

I cut the tag out, punched a hole at the top and added a punched reinforcement in a coordinating print that was just laying on my table. Strung some twine from DL.Art and added some Nuvo Drops to the snowflakee centers and Nuvo glitter glue to the snow (which doesn't seem to want to show up) and called it done. LOVE it!

I'm also adding this to the Digi Choosday Craft Challenge #9 AG, the Friday Wk #8 AG Challenge at Polkadoodles, the DL.Art February Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #76 AG, Simon Says Wednesday AG,...

Monday, February 19, 2018

Lets Play BINGO at Aurora Wings

Today begins a new challenge at Aurora Wings and we're playing BINGO. This is always a fun challenge with lots of opportunities to get creative. We're pretty lenient on how you interpret the board. Yes, you do need to follow a row,

but you can choose any combination within, be it just the colors, just the elements, a combination, or both. WooHoo!

I was extremely excited by Mitzi's newest image Ice Flower, available HERE on AW.com and HERE on Etsy and had to use her IMMEDIATELY. She speaks to my childhood, and also to the current Winter Olympic Games, so I've followed that theme using the middle row down of yellow, pink, blue as well as glitter, die cuts and layers.

Here's a closeup of Ice Flower prior to fussy cutting. She's colored with Copics with Stardust Stickles adorning her costume for extra sparkle. Her gorgeous layback position certainly captures the beauty and drama of the sport.

My original plan was to do the Olympic Rings in the original colors and do a Bingo color "blackout". But the primary brights left 4 more colors to address, with purple and pink for her costume. All together it just didn't fly so plans changed and I opted for just the middle row down instead.

I then made the Olympic Rings using Spellbinders Circle dies out of pale yellow glitter paper which was a bit too pale against the soft blue background DP so I backed each with matte gold metallic to make them stand out a bit more. Then I positioned Ice Flower to look like she is not only embracing the Olympic Games, but reaching for gold. The Amy Design Wintertide die hanging from the corner is another nod to the Winter Games, but also could be a hair ornament or crown for these exquisite athletes.

I added an icy swirl (also from the Wintertide collection) in blue to suggest speed and movement on the ice and carry that color through a bit more. How convenient that I found DP with a white glitter bottom to suggest the ice gradually turning to pale blue with glitter snowflakes for the background of my piece. Finally, I'd planned to use the sentiment "Dream" but found "Believe" on my desk, already cut in pink. Even better! If you don't believe in yourself, how can you ever hope to achieve your dreams?

Now, on a personal note... Ice skating is dear to my heart because I took lessons from the time I was 5 until age 12. It was a special Daddy and daughter time. Here's a picture at an outdoor rink when I was just starting to skate (circa 1959 or early 1960). I still have the sweater he's wearing and it actually fits me now. LOL (He was kind of a little guy) My Dad was a fabulous skater, an ice dancer actually, and I always felt so special skating with him. He even built a rink in our backyard for me to practice on for years when the weather permitted. Very fond memories but I better stop now. Getting kind of teary eyed. Once a Daddy's Girl, ALWAYS a Daddy's Girl. xxx

Please be sure stop by the AW Challenge Blog to welcome my new teamies and enjoy the fabulous inspiration there. We hope you have a chance to join in, as well, since our challenges are now monthly with a mid-challenge inspiration coming up on March 5th.

Here's how to keep up with all that's happening at Aurora Wings.

Aurora Wings Challenge Blog (current challenge runs through March 17th)

Aurora Wings Challenge Blog

I'm entering this in the DL.Art February Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #76 AG, Simon Says Wednesday Add a Die Cut, the ModSquad Challenge Winter Theme, the Corrosive Challenge #2 AG, the Outlawz Monday Greetings Winter, Jo's Scrap Shack FFC#221 AG, QKR Stampede #283 AG, Crafting from the Heart #195, the Classic Design Team Open Feb 1st Challenge #222 ...

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Another Cutie for the New Aurora Wings Showcase!

Wow! The first new release AW Showcase of 2018 brings you not one, not two, but THREE adorable new Sprites. This time I've used the sweet little Snowdrops Sprite and made a wall hanging depicting Winter's last days and the promise of Spring. I've cut and popped several layers using Spellbinders Grand Labels Four and the Cuttlebug Emboss Plus Fanciful Labels for the computer generated sentiment.

I love using the png version of Mitzi's Sprites, especially, because you can add them directly onto digital paper or even into a photograph, as I've done here, without the fussy cutting and layering and then color away.

Here's a closeup of Snowdrops Sprite. She's colored with Copics as the flowers appear in nature, but don't let that stop you from using non-traditional colors as some of the Showcase team has HERE. They are, after all, magical fantasy creatures, so let your creativity run wild. My greens pretty much run the gamut from dark to light for the flowers and stems (YG67, 63, 61, 13 and 01 and G82,40 and 20) and I decided to do her hair as if her pigtails sprang from the earth, using E41-44.

Here's are all of the links to Snowdrops Sprite on both AW.com and AW Etsy so you can choose your preference.

On AW.com jpg HERE png HERE

On AW Etsy jpg HERE png HERE

Finally, the frosty layer is vellum embossed with the Frosty Ice Folder from Sheena Douglas and fussy cut around the embossing (very carefully) with my craft knife to leave the center free so Snowdrops Sprite could peek out. There's also a bit of Frantage and some clear mica flakes added to the frame for a bit of texture and a little bow from textured ribbon that also reminds me of frost. The sentiment is computer generated. Snowdrops to me always signal the promise of Spring and a new beginning. I know a few of my friends who just can't wait.

So that's two of the three new Sprites premiering on the Showcase Blog today. You can see my first inspiration post using another of the newbies HERE. And shall I show you the third? Sorry, nope! I ran out of time, but you be sure to visit the Showcase Blog to see what the team has done with ALL THREE.

And don't miss the Coupon available through the weekend. Woohoo! Have fun!

I'm entering this in the DL.Art February Linky Challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #74 AG, A Snowflakes Promise #47 AG, Simon Says Wednesday AG, the Outlawz Monday Greetings AG, Polkadoodles Crafting (wk 4 Jan 26) AG, Crafty Creations #359 AG, Crafty Gals Corner #158 AG, Creative Moments #135 AG, Scrapy Land Challenge #82 AG w/die that Scrapy Land sells, Sisterhood of Crafters Dashing Through the Snow, W2CB New Beginnings (brand new stamp and the promise of Spring), 613 Avenue Create New Beginnings (new Stamp, promise of Spring), Deep Ocean Challenge #173 Let it Snow, Digi Choosday Wk 5 AG, Ike's World New Beginnings, TTRCD Week of Jan 30th AG, and Whoopsi Daisy Winter Scene.

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Fun in the Snow with Bloobel

Here's another for the Outlawz Festive Friday Challenge, this one for the theme "Fun in the Snow". The adorable stamp is from Bloobel called "Kitty Snowman". How could I resist? I've had a heck of a time making decisions about colors and papers lately and finally found this ancient piece from the Sassafrass Lass Life is Beautiful collection in my stash that suited the cute a quirky image perfectly. My Tim Holtz On the Edge Snowflake die with it's funky snowflakes rounded out the design.

Here's a closeup of Kitty Snowman. I've colored with Copics with colors from the DP and even tried to do a bit of subtle crosshatching over the blue in the sky using a very light touch with my E42 in the background, like that on the DP. The snowflakes are done with a white Posca Paint pen. The sentiment is computer generated.

I'm also entering this in the DL.Art January Linky Challenge, the DL.Art Thankful Thursday Winter challenge, the SUYP Jan (cat's only, hoping that a "Kitty Snowman" still fills the bill) Furrything Goes/Meuw Year challenge, Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #73 AG, Simon Says Winter Blues, Simon Says Use Patterned Paper, Star Stampz Winter, the Colour Crazy Challenge Week 1 and TTRCD Week of Jan 9th AG.

Monday, December 5, 2016

Winter Wonderland for Aurora Wings

It's time for a new challenge at Aurora Wings with the lovely theme of Winter Wonderland. Gotta say, this time of year I really miss (the idea of, ha!) snow and the very first thing that came to mind was the quote "Snowflakes are winter's butterflies" so I ran with it. Or should I say crawled with it? I knew I would be using the adorable Butterfly Sprite, but as for the design, well...?? It finally came together (yesterday!) as a card, but I toyed with the idea of a canvas, shadowbox, and even an ornament (which I still might do) but lack of time, and/or supplies forced me to take the easy route and allowed me to use my new Frosty Ice Border embossing folder by Shena Douglass that arrived just in the nick of time and saved the day. WooHoo! I LOVE how it looks with vellum, don't you?

I adore this little Butterfly Sprite. This one has simple wings, but she also comes with fancy wings HERE. I printed her several times so I could layer her up. The simple coloring was done with Copics and the wings were then covered with Be Creative Tape and frosted with transparent microfine art glitter. The main snowflakes surrounding her were cut with Impression Obsession dies and layered with JoLee's beaded centers. The little glittered ones with gem centers are also JoLee's. The sentiment is a sticker.

Here's a little closer look at the layering of Butterfly Sprite. I used Nuvo Crystal drops to the eyes on her head and dropped tiny diamonds on them while they were still wet. Instead of fussy cutting the antennae, I used silver wire to which I glued little plastic snowflakes I cut from a mini garland and again added little diamonds. A small layered snowflake was tucked under her chin, and finally she was adhered to a glittered acetate snowflake (from MAMBI) and then to a Spellbinders Grand Butterfly die that I ran through my Xyron and dusted with another type of fine glitter

And here's the dimensional shot. Gonna have to make a special box for this one. Doesn't anyone have any tricks for adhering vellum to cardstock? I thought I had some vellum tape, but it seemed to have yellowed and dried up. Yuck! I finally used some 1/8th " red line tape which did show through, but I remedied that by using a white sticker border to cover it.

The Stella Team has outdone themselves with fabulous projects, so I hope you go check out the Aurora Wings Challenge Blog and leave them some love. Also, this is our last challenge of the year and both teams will be taking a bit of a break to enjoy the holidays, so this challenge will run through January 14th 2017. I hope that gives everyone plenty of time to enjoy the holidays yourselves and still come play along.

Here's how to keep up with all that's happening at Aurora Wings.