Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge #27-Things With Wings!

It's the 3rd of the month and time for a new challenge over at Three Amigos Challenge Blog!  This time around the challenge is to create something using the theme Things With Wings!  Use your imagination!  Here's how I was inspired:

Well, of course my wings have an owl attached!  Are you new here??  This Owl from Unity...it's a Cuddlebug Owl.... there's a whole line of these adorable cuddlebug critters... and I love them all!!

I colored him with my Copics and fussy cut him out.

And the combo of that beautiful Hero Arts Woodgrain Cardstock along with the Simon Says Stamp Birch Tree Window!!  Perfect for a woodland feel for my fine feathered friend!  And those Cafe Au Lait sequins from Doodles Paper Playground... just the ticket!  Finally that sentiment from the Cuddlebug Owl set...just right!!

I'm playing along over at Unity's June Challenge in the Unity Show & Tell group on Facebook!  It's all about your Unity animals!  I'm also playing along with Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge which is Anything Goes this week!

That's me for today!  Be sure to head on over to Susan and Donna's blogs to see what they've made for you today and then head on over to the Three Amigos Blog to play along!

Paper Smooches Sweet Fairy Bear

So I'm taking a break from Tax Season and all of the other things I SHOULD be doing to play along over at Paper Smooches monthly challenge!  Did you know that Kim is back at it... creating up a storm of new products each month?  I wanted to use this month's beautiful floral set and set out to do so when I saw that beautiful Fairy Bear sitting on my table... I had colored her up during the last 30 Day Coloring Challenge and she's been waiting patiently each day to see if it was her time to shine on a card... and I knew I had to get her on something!  So I decided to create this using this month's Sketch.  I flipped the sketch because it worked better for me with my Fairy Bear's wings and I had to move my word a bit so as not to cover up those pretty flowers:

Isn't she just the sweetest??  She's from the So Fairy Cute stamp set released in February!  I'm thinking for this one she's been hard at work all day long spreading cuteness and good wishes and she's taking a break to just enjoy the moment.  I'm glad you can kinda see the glitter I added using some Stickles to her wings and skirt, star and crown.

And these mushrooms and tiny flowers!!!  SO sweet!  The Mushroom dies are also from the February release and those tiny flowers are from the Mini Flowers set.  I left all of my mini flowers attached and cut them all at once out of a few colors of paper to mix and match... less chance I'll lose those teeny tiny dies and I get a bunch cut at once... leftovers go in the package with the dies and they'll get used on some other project.  Same with the mushrooms although the stems are all neatly attached in one area so I did separate that bunch from the tops.  And those sweet little grass tufts are from Kat Scrappiness and they were perfect with the mushrooms and flowers.

I used the new Fab Frames dies and this Hi sentiment is included in the center!  LOVE that Kim filled the space with this sweet word die!  And for the first time in a long time I made sure to save the Dot for my "I" since it was that sweet heart!  Oh!  And that sky??  I used an MFT cloud stencil to create that with some Distress Oxides in Worn Lipstick.

Just a few sweet sequins and I was done!

I'm playing along with a few challenges today:

Of course, Paper Smooches Sketch Challenge (sketch is above)!

At Kat Scrappiness the challenge is to use Pastels... this is pretty Pastel-y for me!

Over at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge, they're challenging us to use No Designer Paper on our creations.. and I've done just that!

And at Cupcake Inspirations it's all about Woodland Creatures!  Does a bear sit in the woods?  She sure does!  (Do I hear groans out there??)

Let Me Sing You The Song Of My People!

So happy to see you today!  Today I'm sharing a card I made because I've been wanting this Waffle Flower Flora Cat Play stamp set for a loooong time, but kept denying myself because... I'm a dog person... not a cat person (although I love all creatures great and small).. and I don't need it... but it's so sweet!  And then I was at the stamp show in Mesa and there it was.. and what better reason to buy it than it found me!  And all of the dies were on sale so I bought this cool Moon & Stars Panel Die... I mean... the girls were very persuasive... they said "All dies are on sale."  And I said... I'll take it!  I mean... relentless, right?

I mean this sweet kitty cat!  With her sweet little mouse friend!  I don't know why I made myself wait so long!  I chose the music embossing folder for the backdrop because I felt this kitty looks like she might be humming something that makes her happy... and those stars dropping from the top of the frame... I chose some gold glitter paper because... well... I love it!

I cut this panel three times and layered them for a little dimension.  The bar of hanging stars is separate and I just tucked it in under the top edge.

And I won't tell you how long I wanted this Celebrate die from MFT!  Everytime I'd go to order it was sold out... because it is awesome!  It's a fantastic size and the font is beautiful!  I cut it once in gold glitter paper and a couple times from cardstock, layered them, and then attached it so it was laying on top of the bottom rectangle... speaking of gold, I'm playing along over at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge which is All That Glitters is Gold!  I'm also playing along with the Glitter Challenge over at Try Stampin' on Tuesday!

That's me for today!  Hope you enjoyed your stop and you'll come back soon!

Feeling the Autumn?

Feeling the Autumn finally!   Well... on the inside anyway...lol!  It's still in the 100's here in Southwest Arizona so... but I do remember what autumn felt like in NY... I do miss Autumn... but not enough to return to where it Winters...lol!

I'm playing along with a couple challenges today!  It's been so long since I've played along with the Make It Monday Challenge over at Papertrey Ink and #334 is about Glitter Inlays.  I decided to make my project Autumn themed because I LOVE the colors of Autumn AND because Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge is Fall/Autumn!

As Lexi did in her video over at PTI, I die cut my shape that I wanted to use for the glitter inlay which is that awesome Plaid Mix and Mat die that is so elusive and looks like it's available right now if you must have it!  Of course it sells out a lot... it's AWESOME!  Anyway... I adhered the die cut to an adhesive sheet so that the sticky showed through the front and then took some ultra fine glitter from the Art Glitter store here in Arizona and brushed it over the top so that the glitter would stick in the sticky parts.  Then I brushed all of my excess off... cool right?  Yeah... you could put glitter paper behind it if you hate using glitter.  But I for one don't mind glitter everywhere including in my hair!  And it's so inexpensive compared to glitter paper.  Love this technique!  If you need a visual ... the video up on the blog is excellent!

Then I pulled out my Cozy Christmas stamp set from PTI... Kathy Schweinfurth made me buy this one because she has made SO many beautiful projects using it.  It took me a while to ink it up because.. well... it's been summer!  But hot beverages from a thermos aren't just for Christmas!  So I stamped my pieces in some fall-ish colors and cut them out... (I didn't get the dies... yet...lol).  I also used for the first time some fantastic dies I bought the last time there was a sale and can I say.. I'm in LOVE!  These Grand Botanical dies are fantastic... I cut my leaves from some previously watercolored paper... I added an orangey brown to the center part of the leaf for contrast.  The tiny flowers, also from this set I cut from some coordinating design paper and the centers do cut out, but I just added some yellow Nuvo drops as centers.  AND those branches!!  They were perfect cut from kraft and I added just a few flowers that haven't fallen off yet.  So many more dies in this set.. large flowers and a larger leaf.  So glad I got it (this one is not in stock right now, but if you must have it, just click Notify Me).  That's how I got my Plaid Mix and Mat...lol!  I needed some small steam and I found the perfect little die in the Coffee and Tea set from Stamp Simply!

I love using sentiments that aren't necessarily coffee related on my coffee cards... believe it or not, not everyone I know is as crazy about coffee as I am.. but it's ok... I love them anyway and they are still my friends!  Maybe they prefer cocoa or tea... idk... or soup?  But between you and me... there's coffee in that there thermos!  This sentiment from the MFT Hug In A Mug set.

That's it for me today!  Thanks so much for stopping!  Be sure to come back on Monday for Three Amigos!

Stamplorations Sweet 16 Card

A co-worker asked me to create a card for her to give her Granddaughter for her 16th birthday.  I always ask for a couple details about the person so I can make it personal and she said simply... she loves horses!  I realized I didn't own any horse stamps and I was browsing Stamplorations website one evening right before bed and stumbled upon this awesome Live, Love, Ride Stamp Set and it was perfect!

I started this one by ink blending some Distress Oxides in Broken China and Mermaid Lagoon.  After I was done blending I splattered with some water droplets and when that was dry, I dotted some white Nuvo Drops (I've noticed these seem to soak up the color they are placed on) in a random pattern and then some Heidi Swapp Color Shine in white.  Once that was dry, I used some powder to avoid static and stamped the horse outline stamp with Versamark and embossed it with white powder in the bottom left corner.

Then I die cut a stitched oval in Copic friendly paper and scalloped oval in vellum using some dies from my stash.  I stamped the horse with flowers in it's mane onto the Copic friendly paper using some Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored it in with my Copics.

Once I was done with that I layered my scalloped oval first, then popped up my stitched oval with the horse image and proceeded to embellish with some paper flowers from my stash mimicking the colors of the flowers in the horse's mane.  I had that pretty Cute Cluster Wise Die from Paper Smooches sitting on my desk from another project and cut it in half and placed that beneath the flowers... tucking the cut end underneath the oval.  Then just a few Shimmer Sequins from CDD to finish it off!

Before I added any layers, I used some Kat Scrappiness number dies to cut 16 out of my distressed layer before adding it to a white piece of cardstock.  Then I cut 4 more of each number to stack them, placing the ink distressed layer at the top and then placing them back into the negative space that was die cut.  Once they were stacked and attached I added liquid glass to the top to help it stand out a bit more and once that was dry used a Sweet word die from my stash to complete the sentiment!

That's it for me today!  I'm playing along with the Outlawz Twisted Thursday Anything Goes challenge that has an optional twist of Country & Western this week.  I'm not sure that this meets the Country Western theme, but I'll let them decide (I'm good either way!)  But I know it at least fits the Anything Goes...lol!  I'm also playing along with the Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge to use a Die and/or Punch, and the Stamplorations Summer Theme & Sketch Challenge which is Anything Goes for the summer, and the Stamplorations Never Ending Anything Goes Challenge!  You should check all of these out!

Also!  Speaking of Stamplorations... this is happening on Friday:

Don't miss it!

Get Your Happy On - Going Green with Cas-ual Fridays!

I LOVE it when I have a little time to do whatever I want in my craft room!  I decided to see what the challenge was over at Cas-ual Fridays and it was all about the green.  Then I checked out Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and it was a Floral Frenzy and this week the twist over at Outlawz is Seasons!  So this is what I came up with!  A pretty green flowery springy creation.

I started by using an old CC Designs panel die (no longer available) for the circle background.  I attached it to another piece of white cardstock and did some ink blending with distress inks and then squirted a little bit of Ken Oliver colorburst on it and sprayed with water.  Let dry.  (I HATE drying time)... but while that was drying I cut out my other pieces!

I pulled out the Friendly Flowers Fri-Dies again  and cut a whole bunch of sets all in white (I just left these flower dies attached and when I cut them I cut a whole bunch at once-if I have leftovers, I just store them for use on a later project... very little goes to waste!  I love all of the different combinations I can use to put my layered flowers together.  Then I took out my Casual Trees Fri-Dies to use as the leaves... cut little tiny leaves from some paper I'd watercolored quite some time ago for another project.  I LOVE these branches .. I cut them apart and placed them in a few spots.  Love how they look... kind of clover like.  

And since I'm in need of some birthday cards, I used this sentiment from the Whole Shebang sentiment set.

So there it is!  Three challenges in the books!  You should check them all out for sure!

Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge #12 - Out Of This World!

This month over at Three Amigos the challenge is "Out Of This World!"  Use your imagination and create any kind of project with a whimsical theme... sure.. outer space... or anything else fantastical that you just know exists but you've never seen it!  For my project today, I decided to use the adorable CTMH Make Waves paper pack and here's how I was inspired:

I needed a quick project.. you know... tax season blah blah... so I LOVE how I could just go to this paper pack and have most of what I needed to create this card!  That AWESOME sentiment is in the PML card design paper and I cut that adorable mermaid from one of the sheets covered with these beauties.

I know who I'm going to send this to... I just love this sentiment... I wish it was a stamp!!  Although there is an adorable set with an equally awesome sentiment and a mermaid that is in my shopping cart right now and you can see it here if you want!

Isn't she sweet??  It only took a minute to cut her out of the paper and don't you love that Wave Border Die from W Plus 9!?!  I cut it out of some blue metallic paper... speaking of which... I'm playing along with the Outlawz Twisted Thursday Anything Goes Challenge with a Twist of Metallic!  I'm also playing along with the Anything Goes Wednesday Challenge at Simon Says Stamp!

And these adorable die cuts from Craftin Desert Divas Island Dies and some very old CTMH glass embellishments were the perfect touch to finish it off.

So thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out what Donna and Susan have created for you this month!  And then hop on over to the Three Amigos Blog to see who won last month... maybe it was you!  And be sure to play along!  I can't wait to see what your crafty brain comes up with!

Simon Says Stamp and Stamp Junkies

Thanks for stopping by today!  If you're not familiar with the Stamp Junkies Facebook group you should be!  If you love stamping and sharing and/or seeing what everyone is up to in the creative stamping world, you should be a part of this group!  Love and respect abound!  And there are challenges!  This month Simon Says Stamp is sponsoring a challenge and the prize is a $50 gift certificate to their store.. LOVE!

So last month I had a workshop and for it I cut quite a few Happy and Heart diecuts using the CTMH dies and I found when doing so I had a couple cute overlays leftover from the negative space.  I knew I'd use them so I saved them and I used one of them here over a piece of watecolored cardstock with some pretty pinks and gold.

The challenge is to use a Simon Says Stamp image or products that you bought from SSS and honestly I hadn't shopped at Simon Says Stamp yet.  During Stamptember I saw an awesome die that I wanted, but not knowing about Stamptember I didn't get there soon enough... a special item and it was gone... but I started looking around and this is a pretty cool store!  Lots of SSS brand items and so much more.  You should really check it out here!

So also in my usual fashion, I did want to make this a shaker and I forgot to add the clear cardstock before I put my adhesive pop ups all over the back of my overlay... so I decided to make it a faux shaker... There are times when I forget and I'm able to pull it back off and add the clear cardstock, but I had stuck it on there pretty good and I don't have an issue with faux when it comes to creating!

So back to Simon Says Stamp... I placed an order... but it was so close to the due date for the challenge I didn't know if it would come in time and then I remembered!  SSS was an awesome sponsor of Copic Bootcamp when I went last Spring and they gave everyone one of these adorable elephant Birthday Celebration sets!  OMG... isn't she the cutest?  The Elephant, the sentiments, and the starts are all from the stamp set.

I've been loving using vellum for my sentiments so as not to cover up too much of my design... especially when I don't have a lot of room left for the sentiment!  What's your secret adhesive to use for this?  I try to hide mine behind the sentiment and sometimes it works and others not so much... what do you do?

Thanks for stopping today... there is one more day to play along with this challenge... it's over Saturday November 19th and a winner will be drawn on Sunday.  And if you haven't shopped with Simon Says Stamp then maybe you should go check it out!