Baby It's Cold Outside

Hi all!  Man, it's sure been awhile and I just want to say a huge sorry for the absence.  As some of you know I sell my cards and, suffice it to say, the holidays are very busy for me :)  While the extra income is awesome this time of year I also struggle with how to do it all- work full time, do cards almost full time and still try to have a life!  But I just delivered an order of 21 Christmas cards this weekend so that's helped lighten the load a little and, while I didn't have time to blog the cards while I was doing them, I still managed to take pictures of them all so I could blog them later- so I shouldn't be doing any more massive disappearing acts.

The first card I'd like to share is a personal favorite from the batch- it features an adorable Saturated Canary image called Hot Cocoa that I had an absolute blast coloring up with my Copics!  These stamps are some of my favorites for practicing shading in facial features like noses.  And this little gals hair brought about a new favorite color combo too- dontcha just love it when that happens?  Anyways, I paired it with some My Minds Eye paper from the Merry Little Christmas collection which has a great combo of blues, reds and pinks and even some green thrown in the mix which is perfect for those nontraditional color pallets.  I couldn't resist adding a few of my favorite embellishments like a bling flourish (gotta have some bling somewhere!), a Tim Holtz snowflake charm and some flowers.  Now these cards all had to get mailed so there's not a lot of dimension I could do but I sure tried to work with as much as I thought I could get away with!  I hope you enjoy and I also hope to be spending a lot more time in blog land with you now :)

Copics:
Skin- E000, E00, E11, R21, R30
Hair- E50, E51, E97, E99
Clothes- B91, B93, B95, B97, R24, R29, R59, R43, R30, YG61, YG63, YG67, E40, E41, E42, E43, E44, BG0000, BG11, BG13
Mug- E74, E77, W1, BG72, BG75, BG78

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
iCopic- Holidays
Cupcake Craft- 'Don't Look at the Light'- make sure it sparkles and shines
The Pink Elephant- Snowflake & Sparkle
There She Goes Challenges- Color Challenge- Blue, Pink and Red
Paper Sundaes- Anything Christmas

Supplies: Cardstock- American Crafts and Bazzil; DP- My Minds Eye Merry Little Christmas; Snowflake Charm- Tim Holtz; Bling & Flowers- Recollections; Red Glitter Embroidery Floss- my stash

Grateful

Hi All!  Well, holy crap...have ya missed me?!?  Probably not as much as I've missed you :)  What can I say sometimes life just gets in the way of everything I actually want to do...oh well, I'm back now and don't plan on going anywhere any time soon so unfortunately for you- you're stuck with me!

I'm sure you'll be shocked to see that I've again used a Saturated Canary image but I just can't resist these cuties.  This is Cornelia and I thought she'd be perfect for a special Thanksgiving card.  I've colored her with my beloved Copics and felt a little more comfortable with shading in her facial features this time, like her nose.  I'm going to continue to practice though!  I used the sketch over at Stamptacular Sunday Challenge and also wanted to play over at Saturated Canary Challenge which is 1 image, 2 papers, and 3 embellishments- I used pearls, a tag and flowers.  I can tell how much my style continues to change because, for the first time, I actually had a hard time sticking to just 3 embellishments :)  But I do love how the image stands out with this more simple layout.  I hope you enjoy and I promise to be back soon with some Christmas cards!

Copics:
Skin- E00, E11, E13, E15, R22
Eyes- E49, N3, N5, N7
Hair- N1, N5, N7, N9
Clothes- E30, E31, E33, E35, E37, E49, R37, R59
Basket- E43, E44, E47, E49, B93, B95

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
iCopic- Thanksgiving
Saturated Canary Challenge- Recipe (1, 2, 3)
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge- Sketch

Supplies: Cardstock- Bazzil, American Crafts; DP- BasicGrey Pyrus; Tag- Little Yellow Bicycle Autumn Bliss; Flowers- Recollections; Pearls- Recollections, Zva Creative

Flowers for the Birthday Girl

Hi All!  Wow, it seems like it's been forever since I've had a second to sit down and blog!  It must be all the working I've been doing- between my actual job and doing cards sometimes it feels like the only time I'm not working is when I'm sleeping :)  Which is probably why I've had this lovely digi stamp from Tickled Pink Stamps named Lil Pinkette Pippa printed and waiting for some color for some time.  Well, I just couldn't wait any longer so I carved out some time this weekend to do some coloring and then couldn't wait to get her on a card.  For the first time I'm using the sketch over at Crafting Life's Pieces and it was so much fun to work with- I'll definitely be using them more often...and it just so happens that Tickled Pink is sponsoring the CLP sketch challenge this month so it's almost like it was meant to be!  I used a new 6x6 paper pad from My Minds Eye, it's Lime Twist and this is the Happy Go Lucky set- I just love the colors in it.  There was so much potential in the sketch and the gorgeous stamp that I just hope I did them both justice!

Copics:
Face/Skin: E000, E00, E11, E20, RV34
Hair: E53, E57, E59
Overalls/Shoes: E50, E51, E53, E55, E57, E59
Shirt/Headband: RV32, RV34, RV66
Flowers: RV34, RV66, Y15, BG15, BG18, YG93, YG97
Ground/Background: W0, W1, W3

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Crafting Life's Pieces Sketch Challenge- Sketch
Tickled Pink Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes
iCopic: Brown Hair
Stamp Something- June Digi Day
Diva's By Design- Florals
Fab 'n' Funky- What'eva

Supplies: Cardstock- Bazzil; DP- My Minds Eye Lime Twist Happy Go Lucky; Flowers- Prima and Recollections; Bling- Recollections; RubOn Sentiment- my stash

A Tickled Pink Birthday

Hi All!  It is soooo past my bedtime but I desperately wanted to enter iCopic's challenge for coloring blonde hair.  You see, when I first started using Copics blonde hair was the one thing I thought I'd never get- the lovely and helpful ladies at my local scrapbooking store can attest to this as I was always asking for tips on what colors to use.  And I can still remember the first time I got done coloring and wasn't embarrassed by how the blonde hair had turned out.  Now I can honestly say it's one of my favorite hair colors to do!  I have my standby colors that I turn to repeatedly- E50, 51, 53 & 55 because they make a pretty blonde without being too yellow.  I'm sure as more time goes by I'll find other color combinations that I like as well but for now I'm just glad that I don't have to feel a panic attack coming on when I see a stamped image that just screams at me to be blonde :)

Here's a close up of my image-'30's Lylah from Tickled Pink Stamps and my Copic List:
Face: E000, E00, E11, R20, R14, R17, V17, V20, V25, BV25
Hair: E50, E51, E53, E55
Clothes: BG10, BG72, BG78, T1, T3, T5

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
C.R.A.F.T.- Happy Birthday
iCopic- Blonde Hair
Sketch Saturday- sketch
Tickled Pink- Distressing

Supplies: Cardstock- Bazzil; DP- My Minds Eye; Flowers- Prima; Charm- Michaels; Pearls and Sentiment- my stash