Crafting Forever - Housework Whenever!!!

Today's design team post for Lemon Shortbread Digital stamps was made on a 5" x 7" white card base and uses Painter Artist Girl from the Lemon Shortbread Etsy Store. I will be entering her for "Anything Goes" @ the following challenges...Dare2BArtzy, Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends, Catch the Bug, Creative Fingers,  and Polkadoodles. 

To make the background, I used a splatter stamp set from Close To My Heart along with some Sparkle Silk from Fun Stamper's Journey. 

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up and I sponged on some blue ink around the edges after cutting it apart. The holographic oval behind the artist is from a paper pack made by Die Cuts with a View. I colored her up first with Spectrum Noir markers and then layered in some depth and shading using Prismacolor Pencils. 

Until next time...

Peaceful Spirit

Today's design team project with Happy Little Stampers is for their Christmas Challenge where the optional theme is "Sequins" this month.

This 2 piece stamp set is an oldie from Stampin' Up and I colored it with pencils on kraft cardstock. The vellum frame was added to help ground the design and draw the eye into the depth of the scene.

The iridescent sequins are meant to imitate the dreamy quality of a soft snowfall...not sure if I captured that exactly the way that I had originally intended too, but I guess not every card can be our favorite once the creative process is finished, lol. 

That's it for me today...Until next time~

Hey Hedgie!

Today's design team post with Lemon Shortbread Digital Stamps using Hedgehog Leaves was a fun change of pace from summer themed cards! 

The background papers all came from Stampin' Up and the card base is a 5 x 7. Coloring was done using a mixture of Spectrum Noir markers with Prismacolor pencils over the top. Accents with a Star Dust gel pen finished everything off nicely. The light blue background was done with decorator chalk and distress ink along the edges.

Until next time~

Flapper Twirl Girl

Today's design team project with Lemon Shortbread Digital Stamps uses the gorgeous Flapper Twirl Girl. I will also be entering her @ Southern Girls Challenge for " Tic Tac Toe" (using the middle horizontal row), @ Craftaholics R Us for "Turquoise", @ Unicorn Challenge for "Stitching Real or Faux", @ Pile it On for "Vintage/Retro" and @ Crafty Calendar for "Totally Girly".

I used a square punch to cut the patterned paper squares, die cut and layered the "amazing" and hand stamped the "you are". 

The faux stitching around the oval was done with a die cut and Distress ink was blended around the image to help with the vintage/retro look. 

I used Prismacolor pencils to color the Flapper Twirl Girl image in shades of turquoise and highlighted her jewelry with a sparkle gel pen.

The card base is a flecked and speckled ivory card stock cut to 5 x 7.

Until next time~

Let's Celebrate, Party Girl

Today's card with Lemon shortbread Digital Stamps was a fun one to make using the Party Girl Digi stamp from Lemon Shortbread and a center step pop up card template from Hot Off The Press.

I will also be entering it @  Aurora Wings for "Joyous Occasions", @ Star In My Pocket for "2 or More Patterned Papers", @ DL ART for "Birthday", @ Crafting with Dragonflies for "Birthday Card" and @ Allsorts Challenge for "Happy Birthday". 

I colored this little cutie up with Prisma Colored pencils on white cardstock.

The sentiment is a stacked diecut from Spellbinders and the patterned paper is from my stash and probably about a decade old, lol.

That's all for me today...I've been having trouble with my phone and it's camera...it was well past time for a new one anyway! But now that it's been replaced over the weekend, all I have to do is figure out how to operate the new one, lol! Wish me luck~ until next time...happy crafting!

Just A Walkin' the Dog...

Today's design team project is with Lemon Shortbread Digital Stamps. I will also be entering her @ Tic Tac Toe Card Challenge  for #044 (using the far right vertical row...add dimension -ink -patterned paper), 

@ Dragonfly Dreams for "Pink", @ Di's Digi Challenge for "Add An Animal", @ Simply Create Too for "Use Die Cuts" and @ Double "D" Challenges for @ "Friendship".

The focal image is this cute little Dog Walker and I colored her up using Spectrum Noir markers with some colored pencil highlights.

 I used several die cuts...both from cardstock and chipboard. The chipboard pieces I inked up directly with ink pads and mounted with skinny foam tape.

Until next time~

Hummingbird Wishes

Today's card was designed for this month's optional challenge of "Make Your Own Background" over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog and is a soft, subtle example of making your own background using the chalk marbling technique.

 Here is a great video (but it's not mine!) that explains the chalk marbling process...enjoy. There's just something so magical and mysterious about pulling the paper back out of the water...you never know what you are gonna get, lol! 

All the images came from a beautiful stamp set that was a freebie from one of my recent crafting magazines from Great Britian and were stamped using Memento Black ink and coloring was done with Prismacolor pencils.

Sequins in two colors and a "happy" diecut from aqua glimmer paper complete the front of this A2 card. Until next time ~ happy crafting!

My First Attempt at "No Line Coloring"...

Today's card is my very first attempt at the "No Line Coloring" technique that is so popular right now and while I love the way the card itself turned out, I think it is fair to say that I still need to practice the technique a bit more until I get it to my liking, lol! I did use the sketch from Paper Craft Crew, the inspiration photo from The Card Concept and the technique challenge from ModSquad for my inspirations and I will also be entering it @ heARTful Stamping for "Anything Goes".

The papers I used on this project are all from Close To My Heart and the stamp is from STAMPlorations. I chose my patterned papers to mimic the textures of the bag and the door in The Card Concept's inspiration photo. The card base is A7, to accommodate the generous size of the stamp. I did all my stamping on the front of the card in Antique Linen Distress Ink.

Using the sketch as the visual on how to trim my layers, I then stamped the Zinnia repeatedly on a white scrap to make a coordinating background paper...stamping off the edge with it etc. Then I stamped it once more on a separate piece for my main image that I colored with Spectrum Noir markers...filling in some details using Prismacolor pencils, white gel pen and clear Wink of Stella before I fussy cut it out.

Using several die cuts from my monthly Spellbinder's Club Collection, I cut 2 vines in green, 2 sprigs from vellum and the word "HI" out of the wood print paper before layering it on top of the coral cardstock. Other accents were done with self adhesive Sea Foam Shimmer Trim from CTMH and some Twine from SU wrapped around the card base. I then also "colored" the 2 letters in with the Wink of Stella Pen and now it shimmers just like the sparkle trim -love it! Wish the camera would capture that the way the naked eye does.

I also highlighted the stems of the vine tendrils using the Wink of Stella pen and I was able to capture a bit of that detail in this photo here...

The layers were adhered using my ATG gun, the BGE from ScraPerfect and the beautiful self adhesive sequins from CTMH came with the mini glue dots already attached! Mini foam dots were used to give the focal flower it's added dimension.

I wanted the front of the card to steal the show, so I simply stamped a sentiment from TAC inside in a Memento gray ink.

If you have yet to try "no-line coloring"... what are you waiting for??? Give it a shot! 

Until next time~