Pink Gem Designs all the way

Hello!

Today's card uses something I've never used before - digital papers - and are they ever so lovely digital papers.  They're from Pink Gem Designs and are sugary sweet in the nicest way.  In fact, they remind me of the hard candies one buys during the Christmas holiday season in colorful tins, and I never remember the name brand, but they're ubiquitous to the holiday season.  Yummy, soft-centered, pastel and delicious.  And that describes these papers to a T.

The papers are from the Spring collection and are named appropriately "Springtime."  There are 24 designs to a pack, and I have used 5 here, including one on the inside and one for Summer Milly's dress, socks and bow.  And that is the other thing I've done here that I've never done before - digi paper piecing.  I love paper piecing anyway, but to do it with digital papers means you can alter the size of the pattern to accommodate small images, which I've done with her clothes.  The dress and socks are one size (smaller than the original), the bow is the same paper but reduced even further.  Talk about versatility!  And I'm all about versatility.

See what I mean?  The pattern is much larger in its original form.  I think I'm going to like working with digital papers...

I colored the rest of the image with Copics and gave her a bright, sunshiney background.

I've used a sheer ribbon for the larger bow with a baker's twine multi-loop bow on top of that and a button to finish things off.  I normally add more embellishments, something in corners and on sentiments, i.e. flowers, pearls, bling, or whatnot, but today I chose to keep Summer Milly simple and fresh, just like the sweet little girl she is.  Not to worry, I'll be back with pearls and bling on my next card.

Here's a peek at the striped paper on the inside layered under a white panel, though you can't see much of it.  Trust me, it's every bit as delicious as the papers on the outside.

Thank you so much for joining me.  DH kindly took the puppy on some errands yesterday, giving me some much needed crafting time, and this was the result.

Here's wishing you a lovely day full of crafty goodness.

Happy crafting!!

Supplies:

Stamps: Summer Milly (PGD); Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU)
Ink: printer; Wild Wasabi, Blushing Bride (SU)
Paper: Whisper White, Blushing Bride (SU); Spearmint (MFT); Spring Collection (PGD)
Extras:  Dies: Framelits Labels Collection (SU), Circle Stax (Dienamics); Word Window and Scallop Oval punches (SU), baker's twine, sheer ribbon, vintage button, Copics.

Challenges entered:

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Unused Stamps (image is brand new to me)
The Pink Elephant TPE188 - Anything Goes
Love to Create #54 - Wrap It Up (baker's twine)
Tammy's Scrappin' Corner #51 - Paper Piecing
Tuesday Throwdown #136 - You're On My Mind (thinking of you)
Crafty Ribbons #39 - Buttons
3 Girl JAM #12 - Anything Goes w/Ribbon
Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes
Pile It On #8 - Sunshine

SSS#199 - Sketch

Masculine card challenge - Digi Darla's

Hello!

It's challenge time over at Digi Darla's Challenges again, and this week's theme for Challenge #51 is "Make it Masculine."   One winner will receive 5 Digi Darla images, and any entries using a DD image get entered into a SECOND drawing for 3 images, so you could conceivably win 8, yes, eight Digi Darla images. How nice is THAT!  We would love to have you join us - please head on over to see what the rest of the lovely Design Team have come up with, then feel free to share your creative talents with us!

My card today is using DD Super Star Word Art, which you can find here.  I outlined the letters in glitter pen to make them stand out a bit more against the red circle and used CI Paints on the tiny stars.

The stars on the background paper were airbrushed with a dark gray Copics pen using die cut stars as the masks.  I used one of the same dies to cut some crafter's foil for the embellishment and also used some of the foil for the layer behind the red.

It was a little too silvery shiny for my taste, so I sponged on some Antique Silver and Onyx Creative Inspirations paints to tone things down a bit, then topped it with a leather knot.

I sprayed the whole thing with sheer silver shimmer paint afterwards and forgot to mask the red circle first, which was somewhat upsetting; however, I discovered lo and behold an art gum eraser erased the silver spray right off without disturbing anything else.  Hallelujah!

Thank you for joining me today, and I do hope you'll join us at Digi Darla's Challenges!

Happy crafting!

Supplies:

Stamps: DD Super Star Word Art
Ink: Printer
Paper: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Riding Hood Red (all SU)
Extras: Dies: Dienamics Circle and Star Stax; leather strip, CI paints, SB Premium Craft Foils; shimmer spray, Gelly Roll glitter pen.

Challenges entered:

Timeless Tuesday #208 - Use Red
Frosted Designs - Be Bold
Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes
Eclectic Ellapu - Masculine

Pretty Chloe - Challenge at AGOAC

Hello!

It's time for this week's challenge over at A Gem of a Challenge, and the theme this week is "Add a Bow."  This challenge will run from 8:00 AM Feb.23 to 6:00 PM March 1, and the prize for the winner will be 2 individual digi images (NOT SETS) from Pink Gem Designs.  So do head on over and see what the rest of the lovely Design Team have created, then join us, won't you?  We'd love to see you!

My card today uses two very cute stamps, "Chloe with Daffodils" found here and the adorable new "Wall" digi stamp, found here.  Put together, they make a cute scene. 

I colored the images with Copics, and I airbrushed the sky, using cloud die cuts as masks and accented them with a very light gray.

Everything else is pretty self-explanatory.  Aren't the two little snails so cute?  Especially the one peeking around the corner of the wall.

Some stitching, pearls and seam binding complete my little card.  Thank you for taking the time to join me, and I wish you a lovely Saturday full of crafting goodness.  Make sure you include a stop over at our challenge so you, too, can play along!

Happy crafting!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Chloe with Daffodils, Wall (Pink Gem Designs); Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU)
Ink: printer; Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: X-Press It Blending Card; Sweet Fairy (Prima); Raspberry Ripple, Elegant Eggplant (SU)
Extras: seam binding (3 Girl JAM), circle punches, Dies: SB Labels One, Dienamics Faux Crochet Border, Memory Box Puffy Clouds, pearls, Copics, sewing machine, dimensionals, Gelly Roll glitter pens.

Challenges entered:

IBS February Blog Hop - Bows
Alota Rubber Stamps - Multiples of Three (designer papers [purple, rose, yellow], pearls)
Incy Wincy Designs - Pop It Up
Really Reasonable Ribbon #66 - Spring Colors + ribbon
Inky Impressions #98 - Favorite Color Combo (pink and purple)
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #195 - Recipe
3 Girl JAM - Anything Goes w/Ribbon
Frosted Designs - Be Bold
Delightful Challenges - Sketch

 

Requiem for a daffodil

Hello, friends.

Today is a sad day.  OK, put your mind at rest, it's not THAT sad.  Well, not for anyone but the daffodils blooming in my garden.

Let me start by saying that I'd love to have a card today, and I DID manage to make one that took two days to put together because of the little one that seems to take up so much of my time, but it's for an upcoming DT assignment and as such can't be posted yet.  And the one I make tomorrow will be for another assignment and not to be posted right away, either.  So I AM working and crafting, just not enough to have extras for the blog for now.  Therefore, I will share the flowercide that's going on in my garden.

As I was sitting in the garden yesterday in the crisp, cool air (watching the little one and trying to not let her bite my feet as puppies are wont to do), I noticed my daffodils are starting to bloom.  Hooray!  Spring is finally on its way!  (The pansies bloomed all through winter as long as the wild rabbits left them alone.)  So as my eyes wandered around the garden, what did they spy but disaster!!  

My one white daff with the orange trumpet, the earliest of the lot, was lying forlornly on the ground.  Actually, just the bloom itself was lying there, crushed and mangled, while the naked stalk was swaying in the breeze a few feet away.  I didn't have the heart to snap a pic of it, it was that pitiful.  (Forgive the overexposure of the pic, the sun was at its zenith.)

And who was the responsible party for this one-blossom devastation (with more to come, no doubt)?

And to think we named her Sweetie.  OK, it should be against the law to be this cute.  But that being said, I'm not holding out much hope for the remaining white, plus the yellow, daffs.  I suspect she just hasn't noticed them yet.

Thank you for joining me today.  I'll be in mourning tomorrow as I wait for more evidence of the blooms I'm NOT going to get to enjoy this year.  Thank goodness there's always next year...

Happy crafting!

Flower Power!

Hello and good morning!

Today's card is another floral one since yesterday's card put me in the mood to color flowers again, this time a hibiscus.  I've been wanting to color this image for the longest time, and the technique I used lends itself perfectly to stamps like this.  That technique is the Copics "flick" technique from each end of the petal in two different colors.  For this flower I used R24 (red) and YR04 (orange), plus greens for the leaves, which are separate stamps that I masked for this image.  I then colored the background with blue chalk.

How's THAT for in-your-face color?  I was inspired to go bold because these flowers typically come in bold colors.  I've met very few shy hibiscus..es?  Hibisci? 

The interior of the flower is green flocking, and the stamen is gold glitter.  The sparkle is gorgeous in real life.

The bee is a die cut from the SB Fanciful Flight set, and I applied gold Perfect Pearls to him for some metallic shine.  The sentiment is heat embossed.

I used Dew Drops on the red and green papers, and I already had light green ones on hand but only bright pink as well, so I colored them with Copics R89, and voila, red Dew Drops!  Gotta love alcohol ink.

Here's a peek at the inside where I've used some of the scraps left from the front designs. 

That does it for this simple card.  It's pretty straightforward (can you believe no ribbon, bows or extra flowers??), but of course it took all day yesterday as, once again, I had to fit the crafting in when the baby slept.  (The new puppy for those just coming on board.)  Thankfully she took several small nap-lets.

Thank you so much for taking the time to join me.  Here's wishing you a lovely day full of crafting and anything else that makes you happy.  As for me, I think I'll try a shaped card next.  Hope she takes longer naps!

Happy crafting!

Supplies:

Stamps: Hibiscus (There She Goes Stamps); Make a Wish Quotes (Fiskars)
Ink: Versamark; Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: X-Press It Blending Card; Basic Black (SU); Sugar Rush (Basic Grey)
Extras: Dies: Fanciful Flight, Labels Eighteen (SB); Circle Stax 1 and 2 (Dienamics); black ep, Perfect Pearls, Copics, glitter (Art Institute), flocking, chalks, Dew Drops, dimensionals.

Challenges entered:

Alota Rubberstamps #101 - Multiples of 3 (dew drops, 3 patterns designer paper)
Incy Wincy Designs - Pop It Up
Love To Create #53 - All That Glitters
Crafty Cardmakers #85 - Blooming Images
Timeless Tuesday #208 - Use Red
Creative Card Crew #30 - Birthday
City Crafter #147 - All That Glitters
Frosted Designs - Be Bold
Allsorts #194 - Things With Wings


SSS 198 - Sketch with Spin (Birds and/or Bees)

Pink Roses

Hello and good morning!

Today's card was inspired by the challenge going on over at Crafty Cardmaker's this week, #50, Blooming Images.  The challenge is to use a flower image to be the main focus of the card.  Not people, not landscapes, but FLOWERS.  (Or a single flower.)  It's been a long time since I did a floral image as the main focus, and I was intrigued, so here is my card.

I've used this week's Mojo Monday sketch as the jumping off point, and from there I was off to the races.

 

 
I colored the image with Copics and inked all edges of all papers with Tea Dye Distress Ink.   The music layer is from an exercise book from my youth a zillion years ago.  I sponged a bit more Distress Ink around the edges to enhance the already yellowish tone of the paper.

My favorite part, as usual, is the ribbon embellishment.  I used crochet ribbon for the gathered rosette, a couple of pieces of two tone ribbon behind that, a vintage button and some baker's twine, and I finished the "bouquet" off with one of my custom stick pins, a small one.  

You can barely see the scalloped, lacy MS border punch underneath.  Call it an underpinning of sorts.  A little stitching and some pearls, plus popping the main image up on dimensionals, finish everything off.

And that, dear readers, is my card for today.  I haven't stamped any particular greeting or sentiment as this card could be used for any number of occasions, so I'll wait until I need it to stamp the inside.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to join me, and I wish you a lovely day of crafting.  It's good to finally get back into the craft room as I've been going through "new mother syndrome" with the puppy and am finally getting into a routine.  Exhaustion is a big factor, but things are starting to fall into place.  Now if only she'd learn to "ask" to go outside, but that battle is still being fought.  *sigh*

Happy crafting!

Supplies:

Stamp: A Year in Flowers 2 (Flourishes)
Ink: Versafine Smoky Gray, TH Distress Ink Tea Dye
Paper: X-Press It Blending Card; Subtles Stack and Whisper White scrap (SU); Sweet Fairy (Prima); personal music;
Extras: Dies: Designer Label STAX 1 (Dienamics); ribbon and crochet ribbon (3 Girl JAM); baker's twine, MS punch, vintage button, pearls, Copics, dimensionals.

Challenges entered:

IBS February Blog Hop - Bows
IBSIC #46 - Lt. Pink, Lt. Green, Brown
MOJO Monday Sketch
Alota Rubber Stamps #101 - Multiples of Three (Die cuts, pearls)
Incy Wincy Designs - Pop It Up
Crafty Cardmakers #85 - Blooming Images
RRR #66 - Spring Colors + Ribbon
Delightful Challenges - Frilly (Scallops & Lace)
Inky Impressions #97 - Ribbon or twine
Crafty Ribbons #39 - Buttons
3 Girl JAM - Anything Goes w/Ribbon
Pile It On #7 - Clips and/or Pins