Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge 61 The Great Outdoors


Here's my favorite bunny again.  (Click here if you would like to take her home too).  I know I just used her, on a card, but I am hooked.  She is just too cute to file away.  I colored her with my Copics sponged some clouds and used flower soft to create the grass.  I cut out the image with a Large Square Scallop and the Blue mat is cut with my MS border/corner punch set.  The pink background paper is an old piece of Anna Griffin.  I ran my Tim Holtz distressing tool around the edges to give it a vintage feel, but I didn't like the color of paper that came through so I used Crystal Sickles to edge it.  It is all adhered to SU Craft paper.  The flower is a Prima flower the sentiment is from Flower Soft.  I rolled it around the sickles bottle to give the cylinder shape. 

Not quite the vintage look I had in mind when I began the card, but I still like it.  I really don't have a lot of natural abilities to create vintage looks.  My friend Lisa Murphy is awesomely talented in that department.   Maybe she will see this posting and give me some pointers.  If not I plan on picking her brain Tuesday night at our Inky Digits meeting. If you have any comments to help me develop my skills, please leave me a comment.

At the time of this posting we are listening to devastating tornado reports from Alabama, Georgia.  It is then heading to the area where I grew up and have family, Virginia/Washington DC/Maryland.  My friend Shirley (Tangents from Taz Mania) in Mississippi is safe but without power.   My prayers go out to everyone in the paths of these storms.  Stay safe Cheryl too,  I hope it misses your Richmond area too.

Hugs to everyone!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Sassy Cheryl Challenge #60 - IT's a Sketch!


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Sassy Dawn has asked us to create a card from a sketch this week.  Well this is my take on it.  However I did not follow directions every well.  I used the oval, but turned it the wrong way and made my card a square instead of a rectangle.  Oh dear I didn't even embellish like she asked.  I hope this will still count and she will let me play.  My Mother always said I was stubborn and did everything my own way.  Guess she was right (Just this once).  Please forgive me Dawn my creative brain cells were in a rebellious mood today.

I loved the country feel to this image and I wanted to make a cheery card.  Flower, buttons, and lady bugs cheer me up so I had to have it.  I am sending this to a friend.  I hope it will brighten her day.  If you would like to have this for you collection, it is called String of Flowers.  Click here for a link to Sassy Cheryl's store.

Colored with Copics, trimmed with Bankers Twine in Navy/White.  The leaves punch and tab punch are from SU.  Yellow border punch is MS.  Flowers are from Recollections.  Cardstock is SU and the DP is from my stash.  Lady Bug is a Dress Me Up button.

Hope everyone had a blessed happy Easter and I'll see you next week for another Sassy Cheryl Challenge!  Hugs!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Show Me Thursday at Sassy Cheryl's

Hi Ya'll!  I have had the most unbelievable week.  I'm kinda behind in my blogging, but will have plenty of time to catch up next week.  So watch for me I will do my best to visit everyone and see the goodies I missed.  Here's my really special post for Sassy Cheryl this week.

This has been the very very very best week for me.  I have spent time with all of my family.   We celebrated Easter in Charleston with my daughter and son-in-law last Saturday.  I even got to meet "Lauren" who is the "apple of my grandson Chase's eye."  Gosh she is a pretty girl, kind of  looks like  Princess Kate and a brunette Brittany Spears.  Our two granddaughters from Ft. Mill spent the week with us, along with a few other "grandchildren". Our house has been very noisy, very messy and filled with love and hugs.  Even though I had to work all week, it has been divine.  I hate to see tomorrow come when I have to say good-bye.   But summer is coming and they will be back again.  (Advance notice to the washer and dryer, lol).

THEN I had two MARVELOUS, SPECTACULAR presents arrive.  My dear dear husband gave me a early Mother's Day present of Copic Markers.  Oh my goodness they felt so good to hold and stare at the colorful tops!  Gotta love that man, I sure do.  That presented another problem for me because they wouldn't fit in the plastic carrying case I had.  So I had to go shopping for another case.

Nope, didn't even have to go shopping because the next day the postman rang again and what did he bring?  A handmade, beautiful Copic Case from a Very Special Blogging Friend of mine in Mississippi - Shirley, Tazmania Devil, Swoope.  UNBELIEVABLE SURPRISE!  Ya'll look at this creation.  She designed and sewed the case, then cut out all those little separator boxes, glued them together and fit them into this wooden case.  Isn't this the most wonderful creation.  I still cannot grasp how much time and love went into this special gift from her heart.  Shirley, I love you and the talents you shared.  Still planning how to reciprocate, watch out GF I can be very sneaky.  Ha Ha

Now, Tah Dah:






Ok, I know that you are all sitting there with your mouths wide open, you can close them now. LOL
                                                  Have a Happy Blessed Easter!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sneaky Bear Cupcake Birthday


Outside Picture



Inside Picture

Surprise, surprise these pictures are of the same card.  I took the larger one inside and the colors are not accurate.  The blue is actually a beautiful shade of teal so I thought I would step outside and take a picture to see if I could capture more accurate color.  Actually all the colors, except for the teal are more accurate in the larger card.  I can't believe the difference in these two pictures.  I guess I need to take a photography class.

The stamp is a Sassy Cheryl creation called "Sneaky Bear Birthday Cupcake".  He also comes in a Sneaky Mouse version too.  Turtles and bears are my favorite animals so I had to have the bear version.  I colored him with my Copics and used a little Stardust Stickles on the candle flames. Every paper is from my scrap drawers so I don't know the names. I do know I used Taken With Teal SU cardstock.  I used by Cricut "Stretch Your Imagination" cartridge to cut the balloons.  The ivory gooey border was made with my MS border punch.  The Happy Birthday stamp was from Artful Legacy and I tied some bakers twine along the bottom for a little accent. 

I am going to enter it in Sassy Cheryl's Color Me Challenge this week.  Come on and join me.  The cupcake digis are $2.00 through Monday and then there is a special sale on all of her digis going on right now.  Click here and check it out.  You might even win a free digi for your "fun" I mean hard work.  .)

Friday, April 15, 2011

Thinking Spring over at Sassy Cheryl's

Well here she is:  Cheryl Alger's new digi called Spring Bunny With Flowers.  I know, I know.  Everyone is going Awwww, she is so cute I have to have her.  Well go ahead click here and it will pop you to the place you need to be.  She is only $3.00, but I won her last week on the Color Me Challenge.  $3.00 is good, but FREE is better!

I made this card with someone special in mind.  I wanted to do a soft effect so I didn't put a whole lot of color on the image itself.  She has that homespun country feeling that I tried to capture.  I think I kind of blew it with the bright gingham bow, but I couldn't resist it.  You see the blank blue area on the right side of the blue base?  Well I have a sentiment I will be popping there.  The recipient of this card sees my blog (especially when it pops up on Facebook) so I left it off for this picture. You gotta have some surprises, you know!

I used my own version of a circle easel card.  The base layer actually has 4 layers of paper.  I graduated the circles on the top portion for effect.  The digi is cut out with the large scalloped circle Nestability.  The flowers are all from Recollections.  The ribbon was 1/2 price at Michaels and was really nice to work with.  Colored with copics and wallah.

Now it is your turn.  Pop on over to Sassy Cheryls, pick you out a cutie to color and enter your creation here.  That simple, and your name will be in the drawing for a $5.00 gift certificate from the store.  Hurry now, the challenge ends on Monday at 5:00.

Just found another Spring challenge over at Totally Papercrafts I am going to enter this in too.  If you would like to check if out, click here.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Sassy Cheryl's Show Me Thursday


OK, My Nosey Little Sassettes, here is what Momma is working on today.  I went kinda crazy this week over Cheryl's new stamps and had to have 3 of them.  Of course I wanted to color them all immediately, but this darn day job is really interfering in my night life.  Ha Ha.  I do have one already colored and have picked out the papers and flowers and ribbon.  I even know what my card is going to look like.  If I could just get the time to put it together I will be happy.  Have 2 more digis to color and I haven't even begun to select the color scheme yet.  I took my Copics to work to color at lunch and but didn't even get a lunch hour.  Now that is dedication , isn't it?  Check back later this week and see how much I actually get done before I am invaded by all my grans Friday coming for Spring Break.  Don't have high expectations of getting any crafting time after they arrive.  Ha Ha  (But you know I love every minute of their noisy "exuberance".  After all, they give the best hugs and have the biggest smiles.  My poor ole' heart doesn't stand a chance.  Yep Nana does love her babies!

Click here to see what everyone else in Sassy Cheryl land is doing.  It's so much fun to peek in all the windows.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Magnolia's


One of our favorite customers passed away so I wanted to make a special card for her dear husband.  Steve and Sherry are always coming into the bank spreading laughter and friendship.  We will miss her dearly.

I got this image from the first release of Help For Katie.  It is a Jak Heath design for Inklined.  I colored the magnolia with my E81 Copic and about 6 different shades of green Copics.  I added some dew drops to the magnolias with SU Glassy Glaze Enamel embossing powder.  That is something I used to use all the time and then forgot about.  I like the little bit of sparkle and texture it gave the card.    The ribbon came from Papertrey Ink, the sentiment is a rubber stamp from Artful Legacy.  The orange polka dot paper is from DCWV Nana's Kids.  Finished it off with MS border punch. 

I don't know of a challenge to enter this in, but I wanted to post it anyway.

Love to everyone, Linda

Sunday, April 10, 2011

April Showers

We had thunderstorms the whole time I was making this card.  That is one of the advantages of crafting, you can become lost and absorbed in whatever world you want to be in.  I chose sunny and happy over thunder and lightning. 

This week Sassy Cheryl's Challenge is Bold and Bright.  Nothing bolder than red and nothing brighter than yellow so here is my take on the challenge.  My diligent, sassy, little gardener is called "April Showers" and you can get her here.  I love springtime.  Watching the flowers pop up out of those brown weeds in my pots surprises me every year. I just bought this yummy ribbon and was dying to use it and I am so pleased with how "happy" the card turned out to be. I popped another ladybug and my favorite daisy on the top of the card just because I love daisies and wanted to use it.  Whatcha think?  Too much? 

I colored this with my Copics and laughed when I counted how many I used for this little bit of coloring. (25)  I used some Stickles on the polka dots and paper glaze on the water and the water droplets.  The Celebrate ladybug ribbon is from Michaels and the Pure Color red and black polka dot ribbon was from AC Moore.  The border punch was a Martha Stewart and then I used my Scalloped Circle Nestibilities.  The red cardstock is Stampin Up and the Yellow Checked paper is from the Stella and Rose collection at My Mind Eye.  Grab a digi and join in the fun.  What better thing is there to do than to spend a rainy day coloring?  (OK, besides napping )

Have a blessed week full of sunshine and flowers!

Happy Mother's Day

This sweet little boy has a special Mother's Day present this year. He gave her his most treasured possessions, snails, spiders, frogs, but that just wasn't enough for his fantastic Mom.  No sirree, so he gave her his big ole' heart.  Isn't he the sweetest little darling?  He is Sassy Cheryls' Mother's Day Heart Boy Stamp and you can get him for just $2.00 right here for the next two days.  After that he will only be $3.00 and if you would like a little girl version, Cheryl drew one too.

I used the easel card so I could type my verse on the front.  I made it an extension to the picture by doing it that way.  The sentiment is something I made up for the little boy who will be giving this card to his Mom.  It fits him and is definitely not a tribute to my poetry skills.  In fact my kids and grans love getting my homemade cards with my attempts at poetry.  They always groan audibly, BUT they always get a good laugh.  A card should always make you feel good, right? 

I colored this with my Copics and will be entering it in the Sassy Cheryl Color Me Challenge #18.  I will also be entering it in Sentimental Sunday's Challenge which the theme this week is memories.  This little guy definitely brings back memories of a very special little guy in my life.  So go ahead treat yourself to a digi over at Sassy Cheryl's store and color up some memories of your own. 




Saturday, April 9, 2011

Show Me Thursday Time at Sassy Cheryl's

Another mess for you nosey little Sassettes.  I went shopping at lunch came home and dumped all my goodies on the table so I could take a few minutes to touch and stare and have visions of beauty float through my brain.  Ha Ha.  But alas, no crafting that night.  It was my sons' birthday and we had a birthday dinner to prepare, American Idol decision night AND a new episode of VAMPIRE DIARIES  (Let me tell you Damon got sexier over their hiatus).  It was an exhausting night trying to eat, sing Happy Birthday and make my son feel he really is more important that Damon.  Then they had the nerve to put Idol on at the same time as my Vampires, so we watched the vampires and on commercials flipped to Idol.  Just let me say one thing, "HOW DARE THEY SEND PIA HOME AND THEN HIRE SOME OVERAGED FLABBY HALF-NAKED SCREAMER ON THE SHOW AS A PROFESSIONAL.  Something if very wrong with American voters.  (But my Scotty did marvelous, muwah!)

Ok enough ranting here's my goodies.  I downloaded these two images for this week's challenges over at Sassy Cheryl's.  Can't wait to color them.  Ribbon was on sale for 50% off so I splurged a bit.  Used my coupon to get my Paws border I have been eyeing for a couple of months.  Look at the flowers I got too.  Aren't they beautiful.  Oops, you can see my purse in the background that I dumped on the table.  There's my card (right) I made at Inky Digits Tuesday night.  Teddy Bear address book is out because I was looking up some information for  Cheryl (She Stamps).

Hope you enjoy my snoopy little friends.  I am off to do some major snooping of my own.  Til next week, Hugs!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Too Dog Gone Cute

Meet Kiki.  Isn't she the cutest thing?  She is a freebie over at Tiddlyinks. It tried to color this like my Bonnie, but she has so much white in her I didn't succeed.  Think I will get some new Copic colors and I will try it again.  I am going to enter this in the Copic Creations challenge this week.  We are supposed to chose our favorite technique.  I used the flick or feathering technique.  I am trying to learn how to color fur and this is my first attempt.  It was quite fun.  My DH and son liked it so I guess it is ok.  I can't say I am totally pleased, but I guess it is ok for the first attempt. 

My sentiment was from TLC and the sentiment I used on the back of the Easel is from TLC too.  It says, "When someone is having a bad day... Be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently."  I know that ALWAYS works with my Bonnie.  Dogs are truly God's gift for humans.  Paulette has some of the very best sentiments out there and she offers so many freebies.  This was a set of 6 sentiments that I bought for only $2.50.

The third challenge I am entering this one in is Sentimental Sundays.  They ask you to create a card around a sentiment and this week use water in your card.  If you look real close you will see my "water".  I used Crackle Accents to achieve the wet puddle look.

Just found a new challenge I am entering this in, Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenge.  I was looking at a beautiful card by the very talented Sue Drees and found this appropriately titled challenge.  Treat yourself and check out Sue's Blog.  Her work is fantastic.

Recipe:
DP was Paws and Claws Dog from TPC Studio
Brads are from Recollections
Ribbon and Cardstock from Stampin Up
Copics: C1 YR23 Y21 Y26 Y00 E00 E23 E31 E33 E35 E81

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Sassy Cheryl Show Me Time Again!

Well here it is.  My crafty space during one of my most favorite times of the day.  It is about 6:30 AM on Saturday morning when I actually took this picture.  My family is still asleep and I have some quiet time to play.  Quite a variety of goodies there today. The kitten in the bra is a card I colored at work and wanted to bling it up a little so I added lace and ribbons to it this morning.  I am letting it dry before I make the card.  The white notebook on the left is one of my new tools I am making.  I have never really used a lot of sketches for my cards before, but have learned to appreciate their value.  I am printing photos of sketches and then keeping them in a loose leaf notebook for reference, little tip I picked up from best bud Jeni.  There is my empty coffee cup, but this morning I was in the mood for tea which will probably make coffee hater Marlene happy.  The sewing stuff is something I still haven't put away from last week (Shame Shame).  I fixed some loose beads and added a hook to a prom dress for one of my granddaughters.  Uh Oh, my beagle just came downstairs so I bet the rest of the family will not be far behind.  Better end this post so I can put on the coffee and start the bacon.  Come on, show us what you are working on and join in the fun at Sassy Cheryl's.  There is the chance you will win a free digi for your efforts.  Hugs Snoopy people, see ya next week.

P.S.  The Beagle, Snickers, just saw a squirrel in the backyard.  Now the whole neighborhood will be awake!  Ooops.