The Morning After

CDAC is having another Progressive Challenge and this time, now don’t fall of your seats, I’m not getting mine done and in at the last second! I know, total shocker stopper isn’t it? And I think I might actually even be happy with what I did! Sorry…didn’t mean to shock you so much at once.

The image that we were given to play with this time is by Priscilla Styles and OMG…it is just the best! We had a choice of 3 styles of the same image….Halloween Cat, Lazy Cat or Christmas Cat. So since the big HOHOHO time is coming around quick…and I don’t do Halloween cards and frankly Lazy just might have given me some baaaad ideas…I picked Christmas!

The cs is from SU and the dp is from Forever In Time Scrapbook Collection. The small red flat blacked pearls are from my stash. I coloured it with my Staedtler pencil crayons and oms and my gold, red, blue and green gel pens. I added Digistamps4Joy’s Light String on the green cs behind my Christmas Cat image and I coloured the lights with my gold, green, red, pink and blue gel pens. I added stickles for the snow in the window and the falling snow and on the cat’s hat. I added red glitter glue onto my poinsettia’s. I used my SU ticket corner punch in the corners and added my Meridian Border from Memory Box.

 

The sentiment is my own…if you would like to use it, please just let me know.

 

Thanks for visiting ~ Charlene

 

Challenges Entered:

Digi Makeover: Challenge #55 - Anything Goes 
Eureka Stamps: Challenge #7 - Animals
Lollipop Crafts: Challenge #90 - Break out your punch (use 2 different die's or punches)
Love to Create: Challenge #34 - Anything Goes
Paper Playtime: Challenge #84 - Punches + Sentiment
Challenges 4 Everybody: Challenge #3 - Anything Goes
The Corrosive Challenge: Challenge #158 - Animal Companions (must have an animal)
No Matter Which Challenges: Challenge #2 - Die cuts and/or Punches
The Squirrel and the Fox: Challenge #27 - Celebrate the Occassion

CDAC Progressive Challenge

CDAC has started up their Progressive Challenges once again....YAY!! Unfortunately you cannot buy in anymore, but if you like the images you can go to the designers store and buy them. As usual I am coming in just under the wire with this one. My dd Kat and I have done a collaboration once again...I think she did better on her part of it than I did on mine. She coloured the images and then I added in the highlights and blended with the oms. We both went out and picked out the papers that we wanted to use, but when it came to the layout I am totally to blame *laughing*. I miss judged the size of my card in relation to the sizes that I made the images and so I didn't have the room to do all that I had wanted to do on this card, but, in the end I guess it makes a nice CAS card *smiling*.

 

So the image that we got to play with this time was some surfboards done by Tiffany Doodles and it really made you think of sun, sand and surf. We added some wonderful flowers to the board by Bearly Mine Designs. We also decided to add a Beach Babe to the mixture, so we used Toes in the Sand by Saturated Canary.

I'll have to come back to fill you in on the details...papers used, etc. as the family is getting impatient to go out.

Have a good day all...tfl  ~ Charlene

Challenges Entered:

CDAC Progressive Challenge

Hey all...well I managed to do it...get my second card done in time for the CDAC Progressive Challenge. This next little image is just too adorable...it's a book worm...so totally awesome for my dd. I figure I'll give it to her when she needs a little pick me up. This wonderful little image is from Jens Digi Stamps and you can find all her wonderful images here. I used the sketch from MMSC #121

And this is what I came up with.

Here's a close up of this adorable image...

If you'd like to join in on the fun at the CDAC, you can find all of the information here.

Challenges entered

CDAC Progressive Challenge
MMSC #121

For your new little one

CDAC is having a Progressive Challenge right now. Unfortunately it will be ending soon, but that just means that you get to enter in on the next one!! For all the details just follow my link here. We were all given 5 free images and this is the one that I picked to use.

The image is from Helen of Ellephantastic Digis. You can find this wonderful image and all of her other one's here. I have made this card as a back up for the next person we know that has a baby boy. Here's a close up of this adorable image

Supplies:

Uncolored image by Ellephantastics Digis

CS - Recollections

DP - Colorbok

Colored with SU markers and Prisma Scholar Pencil crayons and oms

Rhinestones - Recollections

Flowers from my stash

Copper flatbacked pearls - Recollections

Ribbon - Offray (Michaels)

Challenges Entered:

CDAC Progressive Challenge

CDAC's Progressive Challenge

Hey all, have I got some news for you! CDAC (Crafter's Digital Art Center) is having a Progressive Challenge! You heard right...CDAC is putting this one on and it is definitely something that you do not want to miss! All you have to do to join in, is be a member of CDAC and then join the CDAC Progressive Challenge blog. Now they do have a few rules, like you must make at least one card with at least one of the images provided, but for the first challenge you have an entire month to get it done! After that it's every 2 weeks.
For the first challenge 6 artists have donated 6 of the most wonderful images you have ever seen. I mean you really have to go over there and see what I mean. But just to give you a taste and wet your appetite, I’m going to show you one of the wonderful images and what I did with it.

Now you tell me, is she not the cutest thing you ever did see? I totally fell in love with her and that cute little dress that she’s wearing. And as soon as I saw her I knew what I was going to use her for. I had a bridal shower that I had been invited to a while back…and of course I forg0t about it. Thank heavens I got this image! Doesn’t she just look like a little bride with her flowers and pretty little dress? The image is by Whoopsie Daisy and you can get her for free, until August 29^th, just by entering the challenge. But if you miss the challenge or would like to see some of her other images, you can find them here. There’s also a fabulous prize to be had…but you’ll have to go to the challenge here to find out what it is.

Just had to give you a close up view of her. I colored her dress and the blue border with metallic water color paints. The sentiment is from DeeDee's Digis.

Supplies:

Uncolored Image by Whoopsie Daisy
Metallic Water colors
Prisma Scholar Pencil crayons and oms
Pink and Gold metallic Gelly Roll pens
Deco strips rhinestones
Recollections flat back white pearls
Spellbinders beaded ovals
SU Stampin Write pens in Glorious Green and Pretty in Pink
SU Small swirl from the Priceless set
Butterfly punch from Michaels
Metallic CS and DP from my stash

Challenges entered:

CDAC Progressive Freebie Challenge - #1
NettieG's Digital Gems - Fancy Folds
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
Creative Craft World - Anything but birthday

TLC's 1st Anniversary at CDAC and 300 Member Party

TLC on CDAC is celebrating it's 1st year Anniversary and having 300 members! So to celebrate Paulette, of Create with TLC has offered two different images that we got to choose from to make a card with for their combined celebration challenge. I chose this wonderful Vintage Image. I chose a layout from the current Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge on CDAC. You can find the challenge here. We had a choice of 2 different layouts....a fancy one or a CAS one...I chose the fancy one.

I chose the Fancy one and this is what I came up with.

The idea for TLC's challenge was to use one of the images and come up with your own sentiment. I had a heck of a time coming up with a sentiment (Sentiments are a stretch for me lol), but I did manage to come up with "One step...two step  Three step...Grown!". I colored the image with my Prisma Scholar pencil crayons and oms.

So I just had to show you a close up of this wonderful image. Isn't it just too adorable? Reminds me of when my dd was learning to walk...and now she's 19 years old lol. That's why I came up with the sentiment I did...seems like they take their first steps and the next thing you know, they're an adult! I added a birthday greeting from Nana Vic's on the bottom with some Rhinestones from Recollections. The small flowers are also from Recollections as is the dp and cs. I distressed the edges with SU's River Rock ink.  

Challenges entered:

TLC Anniversary Challenge - Make a sentiment

MMSC - Challenge #113

Guylou's Inimitability - Recipe Challenge

Pattie's Creations - Challenge 26 - Glitter or Bling

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Getting Cute

Countdown to Christmas

Yup, you heard right….Digistamps4Joy is having a Countdown to Christmas! And whenever I think of Christmas, I think of this wonderful song and show. Don't you just love Bing singing this?  It also reminds me of how many times I've said to myself "I really need to start doing up my Christmas cards early", and then I don't lol. Well if you're like me, here’s your chance to get a jumpstart on the season!

I was lucky enough to get the cutest image to work with. It’s called Giraffe – Christmas hat and you can find it here. The challenge is to make a Christmas card or project and have lots of snow and ice.

Now I’m not sure what the name of the fold of this card is, but I found the instructions for it here at my wonderful friend Karen's blog. She came up with this fold herself and I am so grateful that she did cause it was perfect for what I wanted to do. 

This is what it looks like from the front. To make this card I used a piece each of Red and Blue spot embossed paper by Bazzil. I colored my image and the sky behind it using Prisma Scholar pencil crayons and oms. I stamped and embossed two trees from SU and cut them out. I also embossed my Merry Christmas sentiment and the snow in behind my giraffe image. The embossing powder that I used for everything is called Christmas Tinsel and not only is it white, but it has glitter in it so that when the light hits it, it flashes a bunch of different colors....just like when the sun hits snow.

I punched the snowflakes out of glitter paper from my stash. The icicles I got from Public Domain Clip Art and can be found here. The snowflake "ribbon" is from my stash.

The rules for the challenge are simple, make a card or project with a Christmas theme to it. Be sure to have lots of ice and snow. There will be a random winner and then a DT choice. You don't have to use a Digistamps4Joy image to win the random win, but you must use one to win the DT choice. For full contest rules and to join in, just click here. And while you're checking out the rules and fab prizes, check out the incredible creations that my fellow DT members have made!

This is such a fun challenge and I hope to see you all there!

Supplies used:

Embossed cs - Red and Blue by Bazzil

Uncolored image by Digistamps4Joy

Icicle image - Public Domain Clip Art

Trees and Sentiment from SU

Embossing Powder - Christmas Tinsel

Glitter paper used for snowflakes - from my stash

Snowflake "ribbon" - from my stash

Image colored with Prisma Scholar pencil crayons and oms

Challenges Entered:

Digital Tuesday - #119 - Spellbinders or other die's
All Sorts - #111 - Free and Easy July
GL - #22 - Make it Sparkle
Stampin with the Dragon - Xmas in July
The Crafty Pad - #129 - Lots of Texture
Kaboodle Doodles - #75 - Use those scissors
Shelly's Images - TTT Celebrate - 3 in any combo - Punches, bling, ribbon, embossing, digital images, homemade embellies

Sweet Summertime

Summertime is finally here

That old ballpark, man, is back in gear
Out on 49
Man I can see the lights

School's out and the nights roll in
Man, just like a long lost friend
You ain't seen in a while
And can't help but smile

And it's two bare feet on the dashboard
Young love and an old Ford
Cheap shades and a tattoo
And a Yoo-Hoo bottle on the floorboard

Perfect song on the radio
Sing along 'cause it's one we know
It's a smile, it's a kiss
It's a sip of wine, it's summertime
Sweet summertime

Yup, it's summertime once again folks, although you would never know it here lol. Our days the last week have been cloudy and cold. But Guylou's Inimitibility has something that should warm you up. Her newest challenge is all about the sweet summertime! All you have to do is make up a card that has the word sweet somewhere on the front...sorry the sentiment with the word sweet must be on the front of the card where we can see it. Otherwise, the choice is up to you on what you want to do. Now when I think of summer and sweet things, I think of a long time friend of mine who was just out to visit me and long summer days spent just enjoying each other's company.

Isn't this image just the best? It's called Leah drinking a cup of coffee and is part of Guylou's Inimitibilities new releases. You can find her here. It just makes me think of settling in for a cup of coffee and a chat when I look at it. I really wanted to do something special with her so I decided to make a Octagonal Easle card. You can find the template for one (as well as others) here.  

The sentiment is from my good friend Tracy, who is part of the DT at Guylou's.

So now onto the all the details on the challenge.

Our host for this challenge is Gina. Her challenge is

1. The word "sweet" visible!!! Not inside the card, but on the face of the card.

2. The theme of the card should be something to do with summer and/or warm weather. Examples: the beach, sun, sand, picnic, summery foods like ice cream or watermelon, bathing suits, flip flops, etc.

Don't have an image from Guylou's you say? No problem, you can use any image, but if you would like to use a Guylou's Inimitibility Image, you can find a whole bunch of wonderful images in her store here.

Will there be a prize you're asking? Well of course there's going to be a prize, and what a prize it is! The winner of this challege will win a $5 gift certificate from Guylou's Inimitibility to spend on anything they like in the store. You will also get the chance to be a Guest Designer on an upcoming challenge!!! How totally fabulous is that? So what are you waiting for...head on over to Guylou's challenge blog. You have nothing to loose and lots to gain!

Supplies:

Uncolored Image - Guylou's Inimitibility

Sentiment on bottom of card - By Tracy (Present Storm), Sentiment on top by me

DP - Create with TLC

CS - SU

Colored with Prisma Scholars and oms and Silver and Pink Metalic Gelly rollers

Flatbacked green pearls - Recollections

Ribbon - From my stash

Challenges Entered:

Pattie's Creations - #24 - Summertime - Inspiration Photo...Friends and summertime
Stampin With the Dragon - Friendship Challenge
Scrap Creations - Anything Goes
The Crafty Pad - Just Because You Can
Pink Room Therapy - Kaboodle Doodles Challenge #71 - Flower Power

Happy Father's Day

Hey all...so Father's Day is coming up and Digistamps4Joy has a great challenge to get those juices flowing for making a guy card. It's called Boys, Boys, Boys! The idea is to make a card for a guy...any kind of card as long as it's for a guy. Seemed like the perfect excuse to get working on my dad's Father's Day card.

So I went with an image that I've used once before...but it just seemed perfect for a Father's Day card. It's the Mark Twain image from Nicecrane Designs. I just love this image...I'm totally into scenary and so is my dad. I'm hoping that the flowers and pearls don't make it look too girly...but I just love the look of it with them lol. The fold that I went with is called a Funky Fold and you can find the tutorial for it here.

 The challenge is still running for another 4 days, so what are you waiting for...get over there and check it out. The winner of the DT Choice award (must be a Digistamps4Joy image) will receive a $6 gift voucher for in the store. There will also be 2 runners up that the DT feels deserve a spot in the top 3. So what are you waiting for...head on over and check out the challenge...and while you're there, have a look in their store...you won't be disappointed! They have something for all your cardmaking needs!

Supplies used:

CS - Bazzil
DP - Colorbok
Pearls - Recollections
Sentiment - My own
Flowers - Recollections Mulberry Mini Roses, homemade white one`s, and polkadot one`s from my stash
Colored with Prisma Scholar pencil crayons and oms

Challenges entered:

Digistamps4Joy - Challenge #19 - Boys, Boys, Boys.
Digi Doodle`s Best - Challenge #60 - Anything Goes

A 50th Birthday and St. Patrick's Day!

So, it's St. Patrick's Day...and it's also my girlfriend's 50th Birthday! Can you imagine having your birthday on St. Patrick's Day? At least no one will forget it lol. So because it was her 50th, and she was born on St. Patrick's Day, I wanted to make her a card that not only celebrated such an incredible milestone, but also brought a bit of the Irish luck in with it. I found the best sentiment for this at Wendy Made and All Things Crafty. Now I had this sentiment that talked about Irish luck but what to do with it? Well as it so happens Vickie, of Nana Vic's, just gave away a fabulous freebie 2 weeks ago for her challenge. It is no longer free, but she should be putting it in her store soon. Anyways, so now I had this fabulous image and a terrific sentiment to go with it. I decided to do a Twisted Easle card for something different. I found a tutorial at Deb's Stamping Corner   that was really easy to follow. It is done in metric so if you need to convert it to inches, you can find an easy converter here. Now you will have to excuse me, but I found this card a little more difficult to take a picture of...probably because I was in a hurry and wasn't taking the time I needed to to get it right lol. So I hope that you can get the idea of what I did.

Now there are 9 different colors of green on this card. What good would a Birthday/St. Patricks Day card be without lots of green? The base is an almost sage color, then there is pink dp, then a dp with 2 different shades of green, the 2 different shades of green in the image (the frameand the rose leaves). The mini roses have a different shade of green for the leaves and their stems are a different color again. The pearls in the corner are also different than all the other greens lol. I used my Stampin Up Pastels (chalk) to color in the background behind the sentiment and around the outer edges of the image. Here's a close up for you to see.

I just noticed that the leaves on the pink dp also have a different shade of green lol. For the base I chose a beautiful sentiment also from Nana Vic. It's in her Birthday Set 1 and can be found here . I printed it out and put it on pop dots to raise it up as a stopper for the easel card. The flower by this sentiment was made by me using a flower punch, punching 3 flowers out and then shaping them and glueing them together. I added a green pearl for the center. For leaves I used 3 sequin flowers that I glued together and then added the flower on top. On all of the flowers I added some stickles with green glitter in it. Then I added some self sticking silver pearls and small self sticking clear rhinestones and it was done!

This just in..... Nana Vic's just posted her new Vickie Quickie Challenge  and you can find it here.
Now Vickie is just about the most generous person you will ever meet. Every two weeks she posts what's called her "Vickie Quickie" for the members of her group. These are a members only treat that all of us look forward to with "bated breath". Some of us have been known to have a virtual party on her front lawn while waiting for the new image to be revealed (but that's another story that I won't get into right now lol).  Now this is not a challenge in the regular sense of the word...you don't win another image, but who cares...she always posts another image after the challenge period is over...so we all win!!! Anyways, life was a little on the busy side for Vickie this time and she didn't have time to make us a new image. So being the wonderful person she is, instead of telling us that there would be no image this time, she has opened the doors to her shop and told us that we are welcome to pick out an image of our choice from her store!!! Yes, you heard right....your choice! It can be one of her absolutely incredible images or her fantastic word art....whatever you would like! Now how could it be any better? The only thing she does ask is that if you have No Intention  of trying to make a project, please do not ask for one of her images. And her images are totally fabulous....take a few minutes and check them out...you won't be disappointed.

Supplies:


Uncolored image - Nana Vic's (see above for direct link)
Sentiments - Nana Vic's and Wendy Made and All Things Crafty (see above for links)
CS - Green: Stuff I bought at my local craft store (sorry I don't remember the name and the tag got left on the card...ooops....lol). The white is from Michael's.
DP - Make It Special scrapbooking sheets found at my local dollar store.
Mini Roses - Recollections Boutique Fleur Mulberry Paper Mini Roses
Pearls and rhinestones - Recollections
Green sequin flowers used for leaves - Bought at our local Dollar Mania (sorry, I don't remember who made them as I threw away the tag.)
Pink Chalk background - Stampin Up Pastels
Image colored with - Prisma Scholar pencil crayons and oms

Challenges entered:

Nana Vic's Vickie Quickie - 4/5 March
Outlaws Tuesday Color Challenge - Three shades of green and glitter
Outlaws Thursday Pom - March 17 -Green
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Triple Tastic: 3 of something
All Sorts - Week 94 -  Luck o' the Irish
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Green
Shelly's Images - Anything Goes
Pattie's Creations Design Challenge - Green
Daisy Doodles - Challenge 29 - Green

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

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