It's snowing.....

  Grrrr!   Can you believe it, here we are on the very last day of February and on Leap Year too and we are having what might be the most snow we have had the entire season!   YUK!!    So far, it's very light and being that it's been so warm lately, the snow is melting as soon as it hits the ground.  We are also lucky to live on the coast, and the warmer ocean air, also will likely keep up from getting several inches, but even so, this is NOT fun and I would much rather have broken the record.

   I'm trying not to look outside and instead focus all my thoughts on Spring and Flower, jsut like yesterday.  I'm also here to share three more cards that were all created with flowers and Spring in mind!  I am not giving up on my Spring Fever, despite the weather outside.

   My first card today was created for the Mid-Week Throwdown over at the Operation Write Home's Stars and Stamps Blog.   Our theme this week is to use a digi image on our card and this week's challenge is also being sponsored by one of my favorite digi stores - Bugaboo Stamps.   I knew right away that I wanted to play along and it was simply a matter of printing out one of my favorite flower inspired images, which is called Tulip Watering Can, it's one of my favorites images from Bugaboo and believe me, I own several!!

  

    My next card also back in the flower theme is another quick and easy card that I created with another fun Stickeroo and it's also a card that will be adding to my next package for Operation Write Home.     A you can tell, I'm having a lot of fun using all the Stickeroos I found in my stash this week!!  I am submitted this card to this week's Anything Goes Challenge over at Party Time Tuesday!!

 
   I have one more to share and this card was created for today's new Sketch Challenge over at The Outlawz.  I have also included a copy of the sketch with the hopes of encouraging you to play along with us.

  The Outlawz Sketch

  My Card

   As you can see I flipped the sketch for my card and also used another of my newest Hero Arts pre-colored digital images.  I simply printed out the image and cut it out with a Nestie Die and layered it onto some purple cardstock and added a hint of white shimmery glitter to the flowers.  I then trimmed down the edges to create thin border about the image.   I cut a strip of yellow cardstock for the center of the card and  glued on some matching lavender ribbon.  My card was finished by adding three purple gems down the right side.  

   My next project today is to try out a brand new product that I won last week from LuminArte.  I won a surprise package after playing in a fun Scavenger Hunt over at the new Mixed Media Group at CMC.  Today, that package arrived and I received a wonderful set of three new Silks....which are absolutely Gorgeous.  Thanks to Marti for hosting the challenge and to Leslie of LuminArte for the fantastic prize.  The colors you choose for me are perfect, especially since one is Purple "Snap Dragon"  (my favorite color)!

   Oh, and speaking of this fun new group, I'd like to invite you all to come on over and join us.  The group is FREE and open to all and we are currently working on a fun challenge, that is again open to all.  You too, might be a lucky winner and win a gift certificate to Susana's Custom Art and Card Design.  If you would like more details, please go HERE!   We would love to have you and think this is going to be a fun and inspiring group!      Heading back to my desk to break open my new Silks and see what fun new thing I can create?  Have a super day and please send me some warm sunshine and hope the snow doesn't last too long!

Spring Fever.....!!!

....Whenever I start thinking about Spring, the first thought that always comes to mind is flowers.   I love that wonderful time of year when every thing starts to grow and bloom again.   The winter months are always so dull and without and pretty colors.   But, when Spring arrives, and the leaves start to bud back on the trees, we start to see all the lovely colors and flowers blooming all over!  

    Lately, I have been thinking Spring often and with the warm winter we have had, I've already had quite a few Spring fever days and today is another of those days.  The sun is shining, the skies are blue and it's actually quite mild.  The sad part is that our weather is going to totally changed and they say, we could ahve SNOW...(evil word) tomorrow.  Can you believe that?   We have made it through almost the entire winter and were headed toward a record breaking year of less than a foot of snow, and now we may get some and it could be the biggest storm of the year?   YUK!   I hope they are wrong and would much rather see more sun and even warmer temps, but this is New England and as they say, our weather can change with the link of an eye and it looks like that may be exactly what happens!   

    Instead of thinking of Winter, lately I'm all about Spring, flowers and all kinds of bright happy colors and that's pretty much showing in most of my recent cards.   The first two cards I have to share today, were actually card I worked on yesterday, but did not have time to post.  The first one is another of my new attempts at creating a Hybrid cards, which is really fun and easy.   I had bought this fabulous set of digi flowers from Two Peas and loved the bright colors.  I knew as soon as I bought them that they would be perfect for Spring and I also love the bright fun colors.  These images are from Hero Arts and can be found here!!

    This is my newest hybrid card and it was quite easy to create.  I simply printed the flower image twice, onto white cardstock), and then cut the center of the second flower to pop on top.  I used a variety of scraps to frame the image and picked out a bright blue shimmery cardstock to use for my base.  It only took me about 10 minutes to put this together once I had the idea!   How easy and FUN is that!   

   My next card was inspired by the newest Greeting Card Challenge over at The Outlawz and our theme for this week was to use Lace and Pearls on our card.   I was not really sure what to do for this card at first, and then I remembered I had some gorgeous peach colored, beaded lace in my Stash.  I had bought it along with some other awesome goodies, from this fabulous store, called Created by Martha, which you'll find over at Zibbet.    I had marginally met, Martha, the store owner in an online craft group and she had invited us to visit her store, I loved it from the first day and have shopped there several times.   I highly recommend her store and think you'll be very pleased with her service. 

   Once I had the lace out, I then printed out a digi image, (from Rainbow Echo Designs) onto cream colored cardstock.  I then used a circle shape nestie to cut out the sentiment and then framed it on a green scalloped die cut, also cut with a Nestie die.  I then picked out some patterned papers, (these are scraps) and put together this fun card.

    Note:    My bow was created with a wonderful new bow-maker that I had found from watching this Video on You-Tube.  I contacted (Sarah) and ordered one and absolutely LOVE it.  This is the easiest and best bow-maker I have ever used and it's also super easy and works perfectly every time.   If you are like me and have struggled with tying your own bows, I highly recommend you contact Sarah and order one for yourself.   The new version of her bow-maker, which I bought, also now includes a second area of smaller holes and two additional mini wooden pegs, so that you can tie even smaller bows!   Awesome and for $7, (plus shipping), this can't be beat!

      I have one more card to share and this one was created today for the new Color Combo Challenge over at The Outlawz.   The challenge today was inspired by this image (sharing from the site) and the theme is Black, White and one more color (your favorite).

 

     I'm sure you can ALL guess right away what color I chose, and if you said Purple...you know me well.   I started with this wonderful digi image from The Wax Fruit Company, printed it directly to my favorite Cryogen White Cardstock and then colored with my Copics.  I used a variety of 5 different BV (Blue Violet) shades.  Next, I cut it out and popped it up some deep purple glossy cardstock.  I then added that onto a white layer and created a black card base.   I finished it off with a little bling and this is the card I now have.  Hope you like it!!

 
   In addition to the color challenge, I am also submitting this card to the current Copic Coloring Challenge over at the Color Me Creative Classroom.   If you love to color with Copics, we would love to have you join us.  This group is totally FREE and open to all!!     

    I'm off now and it will probably best for the rest of the days.   I had the CRAZY idea this morning to try and do some organizing in the huge closet that is in my craft room.   We live in a Cape style home and this closet is one of those very long and deep closets that goes under the eaves of the house.  It's great for store, but is definitely not walk in and once you 'get in' you pretty much have to take everything out to get anything near the back.   I was in there looking for something (can't even remember now), and ended up tearing it half apart.  The good news is that I found all kind of craft goodies that I had packed away, and it was like a little shopping spree.  I also tossed a bunch of boxes that I have saved from things (my Grand Calibur, and old  Cuttlebug box, my photo tent box, plus a ton more from other things I've bought in the past couple of years).    I tend to keep boxes for awhile, just in case something breaks, but I've had all these things a long time, so it's time to recycle.  Needless to say, my closet is now much more organized and I even have lots of extra space, but I also have a big pile of 'junk' to purge and a ton of boxes that need to be taken to our recycle center.

    Update:  I ended up making one more card for a CAS Challenge over at Crafting by Designs.  Our theme was to create a CAS style card using a Stamp and Die Cuts.  I used one of my Hero Arts/Sizzix Die/Stamp Sets - Playful Flowers and Butterflies to create this cute little flower.  I stamped it the flower twice and colored both with my Copics.  I then layered one on top of the other with pop dots and then added on top of the circular frames I had cut with Nesties in my Cuttlebug.  I also embossed the white layer for some more texture and dimension.  To finish the card, I created a cute little bow, with my wonderful new new bow-maker.  This was another fun, yet easy card to create!!  

    I guess I really do have Spring on my mind, to be into my early stages of Spring cleaning.   If I continue to do a little at a time, I might have it all done before the nice Spring weather arrives.  That way once Spring is here, I can spend lots of time outdoors enjoying the sunshine and blooming flowers!

Colorful and Creative....

    That's how I would describe the feelings I am having today.   I have already created quite a few new cards and almost all have been in very bright and colorful shades.

     The first card I have to share was created specifically for today's new CAS Challenge over at The Outlawz and our challenge this week is create a very clean and simply color that contains a 'Splash of Red'.  I thought it sounded like fun and this is very first card I created for the day, based on that challenge.

   It was a super easy and fun card to create and I started by punching out this cute like Inchie design form an ART Chix Studio collage sheet I have had in my stash for ages.   I think I bought it about 2 or 3 years ago, when Inches were a lot more popular.  It's a full sheet of awesome images in a variety of bright colors and each fit is one inch square.  Love them!! 

   My second card was was inspired by that same them and again created with very bright, happy and fun colors and from a different collage sheet, that's also been sitting our for ages.  I'm so happy I 'found' them today, as I think they will also work out very well for my SmashBook.

,

     My next card was one I had started last night and it's for this week's Paper a La Mode Challenge, also being hosted at The Outlawz.   Our theme this week is FLOWERS and I think all of use are very much looking forward to Spring and seeing flowers growing again!!   My card was another very simply and easy card and this one started with a Penny Black Stickeroo.   Yes, it's true that lovely flower image is one of the gorgeous Stickeroos,  I have had in my stash for ages.   I love them and whenever I'm in a pinch for a very quick card or need a card in a big hurry, they work perfectly!!!

   I also am happy to be sharing today's new Challenge Card based on the Sunday Sketch over at the Star's and Stamps Blog.  This week we are working on Sketch #110 and I have copied it over to share with you on my blog.   We'd LOVE to have you join the fun and to also think about creating and donating cards that you create to Operation Write Home!!   That is where ALL today's cards will go next and I am always so happy when I can sent out a new package to my Shipper!!

 Sketch # 101

My Card

 
  Isn't this little Robot adorable?  I sure think so and he is one of the very first digital images I ever bought.  He is from Pink Cat Studio and you can find that a wonderful selection of adorable images in the PCS store HERE.

   Next, I have another new card and this one was created all with Digital Images and background from Hero Arts.   This is one of my first times using pre-colored digi images along with matching backgrounds and I have to say, it's fun and very easy!   I guess the only downside is that you would use more printer ink and that I happen to be one who loves to color.  Even so, this is a fun way to make cards and I was really impressed iwth how vivid the colors of the flowers are!

   Oh and I have one last card that is one that I actually had made some time back, but felt like it still needed something and had put it aside.  Today, I decided to work on it again and ended up simply adding some Ranger Crackle Accents to the tulips to give them more texture and shine.  I like the change!!

    I am off now to finish up a second card I have started and it's going to be another Hybrid card created with a different digital image from Hero Arts.  Oh and speaking of Hero Arts and digital goodies, they now have released several new paper sets over at Two Peas.   You can find all the papers HERE and I already have added most of them to my collection!!  I'm finding I love having digi papers to work with, especially for Paper-Piecing projects.
 
   Wishing everyone a wonderful day and hoping you are enjoy the last of your weekend.  I have had a nice weekend and totally enjoyed spending lots of time in my craft room!!

Sunny Sensational Saturday...

   What a lovely day...another blue sky sunny day and a great day for crafting.  I am feeling so much better and that's such a joy!  I'm also super excited about the Girl's Getaway Weekend and all the fun events that are now falling into place.   Special thanks again to Colleen Holmes and The Outlawz Group for putting together this fun weekend.  If you would like to join us, please head on over to the group for all the details.

     Although I did not post yesterday, I sure did have a great time in my craft room and have lots of fun new projects to share!  My first fun little news is that I was one of the very lucky winners of the Scavenger Hunt that we played in our brand new Mixed-Media Group over the Color Me Creative Classroom.   Marti, our teacher, came up with some fun questions from the stores that were sponsoring the hunt.   One of the questions had us over at the LuminArte (Dreaming in color) web-store and I was drooling at all the wonderful products they sell.  I  was immediately drawn to these cool new 'Silk Acyrlic Glazes' and will be ordering some for my stash next week.  Imagine my surprise to fined out that I was one of the Scavenger Hunt Winners and my prize is a Goodie Bag from this awesome store!!!  WOOHOO!!   I'll be sure to post some pictures once my goodies arrive, so please stay turned!   My thanks to Leslie at LuminArte for the prize and to Marti for putting together our fun little hunt.  I also want to say Congratulations to the other winners in our group (Jennifer and Joy)!

    If would would like to join the FREE group, you are welcome - simply hop on over to the Color Me Creative Classroom sign up for a Free Membership and then join the Mix-it up - Mixed Media Group.  We are currently working on a new challenge which runs through March 4th and is open to ALL!!   You'll want to create any type of Mixed Media project, with the requirement of using some type of Book Print.  The Challenge will be be chose by random drawing and will receive a $20 gift certificate to Susana's Custom Art and Card Design!
 
   I decided to make a tag and started by pulling out some book pages I had brought at a craft fair, last Summer.  I bought a package of assorted vintage pages, maps and illustrations and pulled out one of these cool looking 'Sonnet' papers for my tag.  I added a bit more Distress Ink (Vintage Photo) and adhered it to my tag with Glossy Accents, after tearing it into a few diffident pieces.  I then added on some black mini pom pom trim, and stamped on a vintage heart in red pigment ink.  I found a distressed flower and added that with an old button and finished it off with a grommet and ribbon and some Stickles.   This is my first try, so I hope I'm going in the right direction, since this is all new to me!!

    I have to admit that I'm really enjoying playing with inks and trying out all kinds of fun techniques that I have learned in a variety of classes.   I made quite a few cards in the past couple of days and many of them include a variety of inks, distressing, embossing and even some different techniques in the way I used the inks.
   These first few cards were inspired from the class I had taken on Tuesday.  The first card was also created for two new challenges.  The first was this week's Twisted Thursday Challenge at The Outlawz and the second is this week's Heat Embossing Challenge over at Crafting By Designs.  

 
  This technique is one that I really LOVE and it's actually very easy, yet it makes a great design.  You simply start with a piece of Watercolor Paper (or white cardstock, but watercolor is best) and you'll then want to take a large background stamp along with Versamark and stamp it onto the paper.  Next, cover it with embossing powder, and heat emboss it.  I used white for this card, but other colors also work.  Once it cools, you then want to pick a variety of colors of Distress Inks and stamp the inks onto your craft mat.  Then you simply use your finger tips, (or a mini dauber) and paint the colors on the embossed image, in any design you choose.  It makes a fabulous background for any card and can be done in any colors and with any stamps.  In this case I used one of the new Hero Arts (Italy) background stamps and a choose colors that went with a green card base.  I then added the matching twine and a flower which is actual fabric trim, that my store sell.  You simply cut off the bottom lace part and it makes a super easy and fun flower.  

    My next few cards were all created with Spring Fever on my mind and also incorporate a 'Stamp Kissing' technique, which I originally learned from Jennifer McGuire.   The first card was also created specifically for the new Kissing Challenge being hosted this week at Lily Pad.  I also used many of the goodies in my newest (March Card Kit) which was created by Kristina Werner for Simon Says Stamp.   (Love these kits)!! 

    Once I had that card done, I made second one, which I am also going to submit to the Lily Pad Challenge as well as the new CAS Challenge being hosted at Crafting By Designs.

   And here is one more card done in totally different colors, but again created with the Kissing Technique along with some of my favorite Hero Arts Background Stamps.

   And then we have this card which goes back to the idea of using multiple ink colors and for this one, I stamped a variety of Distress Inks, directly to another background stamp.  Once the colors were all on, I sprayed it very lightly with Perfect Pearls Mist and then stamped it directly onto my card base.  When it was dry it cut it down 1/8" on all sides and adhered it onto a matching card base and added a strip of contrasting cardstock and a ribbon and flower.

    I have one last card to share and it was one I also created based on a recipe from Tuesday's class.  What's unique and fun about this card is that we actually cut about 1" of the open side of the actual card base and then added a strip of Patterned Paper for a new edge.  The inside of the card was done with a contrasting paper and it was also added to the front of the card to match the colored image.   The background of this card is another another Hero Arts stamp and was stamped with one of the new Mid-tone Inks to give it a tone on tone look.  Although I'm not a big fan of the floral papers, we used, I do love the idea and the polka dot paper with the Kraft card base.   I do love the idea and I'm sure it's something I use again. 

    And now I am off to work on another fun project for today's new Paper a la Mode Challenge over at The Outlawz Group.   Our challenge this week is called Flower Power and all you need to do is create any type of NEW paper craft projects that has any type of flower on your project!!  Perfect and the theme goes along so well with everything I've been creating lately.  Seems like we ALL shave SPRING on our minds!!

Snoozing......

   I'm having one of those wiped out kind of days and instead of fighting the fatigue, I think I'm going to five in an even take a nice little nap this afternoon.   I'm also going to take a few days off from my blog to give my neck a rest and also so that I can catch up on some projects I've been excited to work on. 

    I'll be back in a few days and hopefully will have some new things to share.   In the meantime, my current projects are to work on my March Card Kit that arrived earlier this week from Simon Says Stamp!!  And, I also want to get started on my     I'm also working on my very first Mixed Media Challenge over at CMC!  I am super excited to play with my new Tim Holtz® Distress™ Markers which arrived in today's mail.    If you have any of the new markers are are looking for a color swatch sheet, I found one a downloadable PDF file over at Ranger's site - HERE!!

   Hope you all are having a great week, and as always.....

Happy Crafting!!!

     

Cards, Classes, Kits and more...

   Oh what FUN I have had since my last post!!    Yesterday, I headed out to my LSS for the monthly Card Club, which is a wonderful card-making class, hosted at the store.   This month's class was perfect for me as we focused on creating cards using a lot of the newest Hero Arts products, which are some of my faves right now.

   I did not finish all my cards in class, but was happy to come home with lots of fabulous new inspiration as well as some fun new cards for my stash.  Here are some of my favorite from the class, and as I finish up more, I'll continue to add them to my blog.

   This first card features the new Stamp/Die Cut Combo Sets that came out a bit earlier this year.  I actually own  few of these sets and love them.   The set we used in class is not one I own, but is very pretty, especially for those of you who love butterflies.  This set is called Antique Flowers and Butterflies and we used both the flowers and the butterflies on our card. 

  As can see not only did we stamp the flower, color it and die cut it, but we also used the matching die to create a window in our case topper.  The card base itself is from the Blush Collection and is one of the sets that were released as brand new digital papers this week at Two Peas.  I was super excited to read that news yesterday and have already bought a few of my favorite colors and have the others on my Wish List.

   The next card is my favorite and although I changed mine a bit, I do love the look of the tone on tone, and know this is something I'll re-create, especially since I already own this background stamp and the Mid-Tone inks we used.

   And this is another card that I really loved creating and it's also quite easy and fun to make.  I really love the look of this one and we made two cards of this style, but both were in totally different colors   This one would make a nice set with the card above.

    My next card is one I created today for  the latest Color Combo Challenge being hosted over at The Outlawz.  This challenge is all bout White and that's the ONE color we had to create with for our card.  The twist for this week's challenge was to add a flourish and I did that with one of my newest Memory Box dies.   I have to admit, this is not my favorite card, and this was actually the third all white card I tired today.  In the end, this one is the best, but not at all the idea I had in mind??    I have made some white on white cards in the past, that I really loved, but for some reason, this is not one of them.  I like this one better than my other two attempts this morning, but the idea I had, did not seem to go as planned.

   NOTE:   The flourish is hard to see but it's actually on top of the doily and glued on at an angle with the butterfly on top.  The butterfly is also much MORE white in person, with hints of shimmer and sparkle.  In this photo is appears more of a cream, but that's simply my camera!

   And my last card today is my FUN card of the day and the only one I colored with my Copics.  It was created for the brand new Color Challenge over at By Lori Designs.  This cute little digi (Emma) is one of my newest and it's one that I picked out with the gift certificate I won, from BLD# 23.  YIPPEE!!!

    I have quite a few more cards that I'll be sharing over the next couple of days, not to mention some new goodies I have added and will be adding to my stash.    I bought a couple more Memory Box Dies yesterday and also picked out four Distress Markers that I think will be my favorite colors.   Oh and a new set of Dylusions Stamps and two new stencils that I will be using very soon!   I am also thrilled to find out that my set of Tim Holtz Distress Markers  that I had pre-ordered from Simon Says Stamp have shipped and I should have them tomorrow!!

   I'm especially excited about using them with the new Aqua Brushes and also can't wait to get more into Mixed Media.    I can't wait for my trip to take a live Mixed Media Class with Marti Wills, when we all head down to Baltimore for The Outlawz Rodeo.    I'm also now a member of the brand new Free Mixed Media Group that Marti is hosting over at the Color Me Creative Classroom.   I'll like to once again invite you all to come on over and join our fun!     

 

   I'm also excited to be taking part in the very first challenge and in the Scavenger Hunt that is currently running as part of of the group kick-off!  If you want to join the FUN, please hop on over to the Color Me Creative Classroom, sign up for membership (also free) and join the new:

Mix It Up--Mixed Media/Altered Art Group!

 

    That's it for now, I have to get back to work on my Scavenger Hunt and to need to be sure to have it all finished and emailed off to Marti, before the deadline.   If you start now, you'll still have time to join the fun!!