Crafters Digital Arts Center 5000 Member Celebration

Hey all...the CDAC (Crafter's Digital Art Center) is celebrating reaching 5000 members so they are throwing a party. Come on over and see what it's all about! But you have to hurry, you can only try for the prizes until tomorrow night (February 28) at 9 p.m. PST. There are 18 fantastic prizes to be won....and 3 different ways of winning them! You can find all the details here. Here's some of the prizes to be won:

And while you're there check out the fabulous artists that have groups there...there are digi stamps galore and lots of freebie's to try out. Are you thinking...digital images...I don't know how to use digital images. No problem...not only are there lots of tutorials to help you along, but everyone there is so friendly that all you have to do is ask, and someone will give you a helping hand. And if you like tutorials, well you have to check out all the fabulous tutorials they have. And they have free crafting classes too! You have nothing to loose but a bit of time to come and check, and lots to win if you are lucky enough to be picked. And if you do come over and join, please let me know as I get to put an extra entry in for myself when you join (hint, hint...lol). Hope to see you over there! Good luck!

Tea for Two...and Two for Tea!

Tea for two and two for tea...this image that I used on this birthday card just makes me think of that old song lol. As soon as I saw Nana Vic's Vickie Quickie for February 4th, I knew that I wanted to combine it with one of her other images that she had given away on another Vickie Quickie. The first image is of a beautiful china tea set. You have got to see this image to believe it...the detail on it is just incredible! You can find Vickie's Tea Set and other image I used here. I didn't see the sentiment there, but I'm sure that she will be adding that soon. So the image that I wanted to add this beautiful tea set to is called Timeless Bears. When you see this adorable image you will understand why I wanted to put the two images together. These bears are just too cute for words.

Now you tell me, aren't these two images just perfect for each other? The style of card is called a Surprise Pop Up card. You can find a fantastic tutorial for this style of card here. So I couldn't decide what dp to use with my image...just didn't seem to have anything that went with the colors that I had colored my image (guess I should have picked the papers first, then colored the image lol), so I decided to use the Timeless Bears image to make my own dp. I colored the tea pot, cup and saucer and plate with white pearlescent watercolor paints that my dear friend Kim sent to me. I used the blue pearlescent color for the middle part of the tray underneath (I made the tray more like a doilie lol). Unfortunately the picture gives the cs a bluish tinge near the bottom, but I've taken 4 pictures and I can't get one that shows the color right. There is no blue tinge, it is all red lol.

I added silver stickles to the flowers just to give them a little "pop". And I used a flower shaped eyelet for my pull tab and some thin red ribbon.

Sentiments on the pop up were stamped with SU Cherry Cobbler ink.

Supplies:

CS - SU Cherry Cobbler and Pacific Point

Colored with Prisma Scholar pencil crayons and oms

Tea Set colored with - Niji Pearlescent Water colors

Flowers are Recollections Mulberry Paper Mini Roses

Swirls by the flowers are from Say it with Pearls

Pearls on the sentiment are Recollections Pearl Stickers

Happy Birthday by All Night Media Calligraphy Stamps (found at Michaels)

If Friends were flowers stamp by Anita's (Sugarloaf Inc.)

Your Friendship stamp by Azadi Earls Inc.

Silver Stickles

Red ribbon from Michaels

SU Cherry Cobbler Ink

Challenges Entered:

Guylou's Inimitibility - Anything Goes challenge

MelJens - Challenge #46 Birthday

Digi Doodles Shops Best - Challenge #47 Anything Goes

Paper Crafting Journey - Challenge #4 Anything Goes

Dutch Dare Card Challenges - #100 Sparkle/Glitter/Bling

Paper Take Weekley - Putting on the Glitz

Shelly's Images - TTT Challenge 2/17/11 Show Us What You've Got

Card Makin Mamas - Challenge #15 Happy Birthday

If the Shoe Fits....Scrap It - FF #67 Happy Birthday

Stampin With the Dragon - Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays

Totally Papercraft - Challenge #54 Do It With Digi's

Incy Wincy Designs - Color Me Wonderful

Outlaws - Anything Goes/Western Theme PM 0217

Thank you so much for visiting my blog

Charlene

Who Let the Dogs Out...

Tell me it isn't true...it just can't be...my little baby boy turned 22 yesterday. How did he get so old? And if he's that old what does that make me....depressed? lol O.K....maybe not depressed, but certainly wondering where all the years have gone. I remember the day....o.k., sorry...we won't go on that trip down memory lane. Suffice it to say that it sure doesn't feel like 22 years have passed. When trying to come up with a card for him I looked everywhere...and then remembered when I first started with CDAC I found...and bought (yes, this was when we still had money lol)....the most incredible wolf image. My ds is nuts about wolves, so what could be better? So my first problem was what colors do I do? The image is done in black and white...sounds good to me. So I have my colors, but how to color this image? Well, I just went for it...and it turned out not too bad.

The base is made with white metallic paper from my local craft store Bartell's. The black and white cs as well as the ribbon are from Michaels. I wanted to have the circle in the background to make you think of a moon behind the wolves. I colored the wolves in shades of browns, greys and white. The rocks and tree stumps are also colored in a different shade of grey from the wolves.

Supplies:
CS - Michaels
DP - White metallic
Ribbon - Modern Home from Michaels
Flat backed pearls - Recollections
Colored with Prisma Scholar and oms

Challenges entered:
Challenge Up Your Life - Challenge #37 Monochrome
Outlaws - Prisma and Other Mediums Challenge - 0210 - Stripes and spots
I Did It Creations - Bling It Up

Ain't it Nifty....Someone's Turning 50!!!

Yup...someone's turning 50...and it's not me lol! Nope...my good friend Theresa is turning 50 in March, and wonderful person that she is...she's giving us a gift....a chance to win some blog candy!! Silly girl ...hasn't anyone told her that she's supposed to get the gift on her Birthday? Now what exactly is in this candy your asking yourself...well take a look....

And being the generous person that she is....here's a list of what's she's offering:

3 Bunches of flowers

Assortment of Flatback Pearls ( my fav )

Assortment of Gems

Pearl Stems

Buckles

Brads

Crystal Headpins

Glitter x 2

Craft Wire

Miniature stars

"Happy Birthday" Embossing board

Background Posy Stamp

Large buckle

Flower Soft

Wow...how wonderful is she? And since it's her big 50, she's not going to have just one winner....she's going to have 5!!! Yup...you heard right...FIVE WINNERS!!

So how do you go about winning this wonderful birthday blog candy you ask yourself. Well it's so easy you just wouldn't believe it.

1) Become a member of her blog...you can find her here
2 ) While there, grab her birthday candy pic and add it to your side bar with a link back to her blog post and do a write up of the candy.
3) Leave her some love before you go...cause she loves reading them!

Now isn't that easy? So what are you waiting for? That's it...head on over and check it out!!!

Oh...and for those of you wondering how the winners will be picked....

A random.org draw will be done, checked if all rules were followed , and then the winner will be posted on her blog on the morning of the 16th March 2011 , you will have 7 days to respond, if not, then another winner will be drawn !!

Good luck all....now go!!

Kiss Me, I Love You

Happy Valentine's Day...a day late lol. Hope you all had a wonderful day and were able to spend it with the one(s) you love....whether that's your dh, boyfriend or family...or a combination there of lol. So I was having a difficult time trying to decide what I wanted to do for a card for the dh this year. Do I go with a serious card...a funny card...something in-between? And then the CDAC started their new challenges...and low and behold I found the perfect image for his card. I found it in the color challenge. The Color Challenge is being hosted by Sew Many Cards. You can find this image and so many other fantastic images here. So the Color Challenge challenged you to use this image and the colors pink, green and yellow. And this is what I came up with.

So the Color Challenge challenged you to use this image and the colors pink, green and yellow. And this is what I came up with.

Now isn't he just the cutest little image? I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him. So then it was...o.k...what to do with him? So I found this wonderful heart border by Nana Vic's Digitals...at least I think it is. You see I went back to make a link to her store and it wasn't in there...so if it's not hers I will be trying to find out who's it is. But I digress...I found this wonderful heart frame and figured it would be perfect for my frog. I sponged the inside to look like a pond with the sunset happening behind the image. I then made a lily pad for my cute little frog to sit on. I surrounded the heart with small pink pearls by Recollections.

I used Happi Scrappin' Doodles Stitched Hearts for my sentiment. You can find this cute little image and many other fabulous ones here (the stitched heart is in the freebies section). I wrote the I Love You on the hearts.

Supplies:
Card base - Green metallic paper
Pink cs - Michael's
Small pink pearls - Recollections
Medium green pearls - Recollections
Green dp - my stash
Sponged ink - SU Summer Sun, More Mustard, Brocade Blue and Brilliant Blue
Colored with Prisma Scholar pencil crayons and oms, Pink Gelly Roll Metallic Pen, Gold Gelly Roll Pen and Green Gelly Roll Metallic Pen. Lettering done with black Zig Memory System Writer.

Challenges Entered:
CDAC Color Challenge

With Sympathy

Probably the worst kind of card you'll ever have to make is a sympathy card. It means that a loved one is no longer with the recipient(s). This week I, unfortunately have to make two sympathy cards. So where to start. And then I remembered a new Iris image that I got from Heartsong Designs. It is such a beautiful "calming" type of flower. And the wonderful purple color of an iris was something that I couldn't resist.

I colored this image using Prisma Scholar coloring pencils. I used 2 different shades of purple...a light lavender and a darker purple. I then added blue to the areas that I thought should be a little darker. I then blended it with oms. I have no idea why it looks like there is a shiney area on it because I added nothing to make it shine. Unfortunately, I had no time to take another picture before I had to leave to bring it to her. In the top left and bottom right corners I added a die that I cut using my cuttlebug, with a white pearl in the middle of each flower. In the top right and bottom left I added 3 small purple pearls.

Supplies:
Base CS and Blue scalloped oval cs - SU
White cs - Michaels
DP - Dollar Giant
Small and large pearls are from Michaels
Lavendar ribbon - Michaels
Colored with Prisma Scholar pencil crayons and oms

Doctor's Without Borders

Hey All, Guylou's Inimitibility is having a fundraiser for a very special organization, Doctor's Without Borders. Now how do you help with this fundraiser you ask? Well it is so easy you would't believe it! All you have to do is go to her web site Digistamps for Charity Fundraising Event: Doctors Without Borders - February 1-28. From there you will find a link that will direct you to her store where she has the cutest little Digi Stamp you have ever seen called Dr. Chuck. Dr. Chuck will be on sale till the end of February for the low price of $2. For the price of a cup of coffee you can help a fabulous organization to continue helping those in need. And guess what....all profits from the sale of this stamp will be going to Doctor's Without Borders! Now how great is that? What is Doctor's Without Border's you say?

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières is an international independent medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, natural disasters, and exclusion from health care in more than 60 countries.

Médecins Sans Frontières was created in 1971 by a small group of French doctors and journalists in the aftermath of the Biafra secession, who believed that all people have the right to medical care regardless of race, religion, creed or political affiliation, and that the needs of these people outweigh respect for national borders.

On any one day, more than 27,000 individuals representing dozens of nationalities can be found providing assistance to people caught in crises around the world. They are doctors, nurses, logistics experts, administrators, epidemiologists, laboratory technicians, mental-health professionals, and others who work together in accordance with Médecins Sans Frontières’ guiding principles of humanitarian action and medical ethics.

The organization received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.
You can find out more about their wonderful work at the Doctors Without Boards website.

Everyone who buy's Dr. Chuck will also get this wonderful badge to proudly display on their blog!

Isn't it just the best? And that's Dr. Chuck you're seeing there, all colored up and looking great. Now of course the one you buy will not be colored...we leave that fun for you! There's even a Wall of Honor to put your name on after you buy this adorable image!

Now if you're a crafty type of person there's even something special for you just for doing this! If you make a card or project using Dr. Chuck and post him on your CDAC member page no later than Feb. 28th, and link it back to the charity site above, you have the chance to win 3 Guylou's Inimitibility stamps! How great is that?
Now you're probably thinking to yourself...how do I get to this site? Well I've made it really easy for you...all you do is click here and it will bring you directly there. There will be a direct link on this site to Guylou's Store where you can find this image and many other fabulous images.
So what are you waiting for? That's it...head on over and check it out! And make sure to tell your friends...they'll want to get in on this too!

My Sister, My Friend

CDAC is having it's Group Challenges and the host of the Holiday/Special Occassion Challenge this time is Nicecrane Designs. Now if you haven't been to Nicecrane before you really should go and take a look! Igancio has the most fabulous vintage images. He has things like the original Alice In Wonderland and Peter Pan....not to mention Vintage Advertising, Peter Rabbit and a whole long list of other wonderful images that you can find in his store. And he also has some fantastic freebies, so what are you waiting for...go take a look....oh wait...first I would like you to see the card I made. Ignacio was kind enough to give us the cutest little image to use for this challenge. It is called Incredible Friends DS2 and the challenge is to make a vintage card...in other words one that looks like it was made a 100 years ago. So the colors will not be bright but more to the earth tones. The challenge was to make a card that one friend could give to another, but I hope they'll forgive me an allow my card as I made it for one of my sisters who is also one of my dearest friends. Now before you start going "Wow...hope her other sisters (I have 3) don't see this"...I have already made beautiful cards for the other 2 also. But I do digress and am getting off topic. So here is my card that I made with Incredible Friends DS2. The fruit on the tree was supposed to be apples, but I just thought that peaches would look so wonderful with these colors.

The base of the card is made with SU Crumb Cake. The dark dp is from The Sherlocks' Home and it is part of their Golden Holiday collection. The light bg pp is also part of the Golden Holiday collection. The frame also comes from Sherlocks Home and it is part of the Everything Nice collection. The Image is colored with Prisma Scholar Coloring pencils and oms. The leaves on the tree are done in a green metallic gel pen from Michaels. The sentiment is from TLC and you can find it and more here, and you can find the store here.

I have decorated it with small off white pearls and mini mulberry paper mache roses.

The inside of the card has a sentiment that I found at Split Coast Stampers. It reads:

I guess it's true what they say

About not being able to appreciate

Some of life's greatest gifts until we get older.

When I was younger,

I thought of you as just my sister,

But now I realize that you're not just my sister,

 But a very special friend.

Happy Birthday to my Sister...My Friend!

Supplies:
CS- SU Crumb Cake
DP - The Sherlocks' Home
Prestuck mini pearls -
Mulberry Mini Paper Roses - Recollections Boutique Fleur
Colored with Prisma Scholar pencil crayons and oms

Other Challenges entered:
Outlaws Thursday Prisma color challenge 0203

April Showers

April showers bring May flowers...and the 2 most adorable images for those rainy day blues! Now there is a reason that I called this card April Showers. I had to figure out a card for my dad whose birthday is in April...and then I remembered Vickie's (from Nana Vic's) wonderful freebie that she gave to her members a couple of weeks ago. His name is Mr. Jones and he is the faithful companion of Nana Vic...they have so much fun doing things together...in fact, I think it was Nana Vic that took the picture of Mr. Jones that Vickie made into such a fun loving image. Now when you see the picture, you tell me, doesn't Mr. Jones look like he's having the time of his life? But I do ramble on, so without further adue...here is my April Showers.

Now because this is for my dad, it had to be something special...so the image was perfect for it...and I found the most fantastic type of fold for this special card. It's called a Fancy Fold card and you can find the instructions here. The video is pretty easy to follow, but you may want to have a pencil and paper handy to write the instructions down as you go along. You can find Mr. Jones at Nana Vic's store as well as all of her other wonderful images here.

Now there is a small pocket that you make to tuck the top fold into behind Mr. Jones and this is what it looks like when you open the first fold.

The sentiment is my own. Now the next fold will reveal another one of Nana Vic's wonderful images that I have been just dying to use. This next image is one that she designed to raise funds to help the people affected by the flooding in her beloved Australia. So I am really hoping that you will all find your way over to Nana Vic's store and pick up this next little image...it's only $1 and all profits go to the Australian Flood Appeal.

Now Vickie came up with the most wonderful story to go with this card and I'm going to try to get it right. Mr. Jones was out playing in the rain one day...because we all know what a big kid at heart he is. Well he was having the most marvelous time, but when he went in and left his boots and umbrella outside to hopefully dry off when the rain stopped, two cute little duckies decided to take shelter under it. Aren't they just adorable?

Supplies used:

DP: BoBunny
CS: green is from my stash, white is from Michaels
Pearl strip: Basics by KaiserCraft from Michaels
Small green pearls: gift from my dear friend Tee.
Images were colored with Prisma Scholar pencil crayons and OMS and SU water color pencils.

Other challenges entered:

MelJens Fancy Fold Challenge

Love you so much

Hey all...Guylou's Inimitability is having a wonderful new challenge called the I (Heart) You Challenge. The rules are so simple with this one. All you have to do is make a card and have a heart on it somewhere....easy peasy. You can use any stamp for this challenge but if you use a Guylou's stamp it gives you more chances. Here's how it works: a) You can enter any project and it will count for one entry b) If your project includes a Guylou's Inimitability digistamp, it will count for two entries. c) If your project includes the challenge feature digistamp, it will count for three entries. All entries must be new projects. You can find all the details for this challenge on her challenge blog here. So I made a card with her wonderful Cupid that can be found here along with all her other fabulous images.

So the base of the card is done in SU Tempting Turquoise, the dp (hearts)

 is by Doodle Pantry and the Sentiment is from Nana Vic's Patchwork Heart Word Art. It was a freebie for the CDAC Group Heart Hop, but will be coming out in her store soon. The style of card is a Tent card and you can find the tutorial here.

The cupid image is colored with Gold glitter pen, Red metallic glitter pen, Prisma Scholar pencil crayons and SU water color pencils.

The sentiment is colored in 2 different red Glitter gel pens.  Dp behind hanging heart paperclip is by Jak Heath. You can find it here.

The Challenge is open until 10 p.m. EST on February 17th....so what are you waiting for? Go on over and check it out! You have nothing to loose and you could win your choice of a digital image and an ivitation to be a  Guest Designer for a future challenge with Guylou's...which will include another of her fabulous images to make a project with her Design Team! So what are you waiting for? Go on over and check things out!

While you're there, why don't you check out her wonderful fundraiser for Doctor's Without Boarders? You can find all the details and the cutest little image of Chuck on her blog here