Color Me Creative - Retro Challenge

It's the end of August and that means a new challenge at Color Me Creative.  Our new challenge is sponsored by Digi My World.  I had a chance to use their 50's Burger Stand set.  There was lots of fussy cutting with the girl and the stools.  I thought this would make a fun birthday card for one of my friends who is getting up there in years.

Challenges entered:

In the Pink Challenge
Party Time Tuesdays - anything goes
Crafty Sentiments - make it girlie
Desert Island Crafts - Itinerary #2, 8, 10

Sketch Saturday - Sketch # 274

My post needs to start with a fond farewell to Susie.  This is her last week as part of the DT - although she promises to come back as a guest.  Susie started the Sketch Saturday blog and has been with it through 274 weekly sketches (five years!).   I admire her vision and am indebted to her for selecting me to join the DT last spring.  Best wishes to Susie in the next chapter of her life.  There is good news, Sketch Saturday fans - Deb has volunteered to take on Susie's role, so the blog will continue!  Hurrah!

Onto the challenge post . . . Milk Coffee is this week's sponsor.  I am using one of their images called Soya and Dandelion.  Soya is colored with Copics and her wings are Stickled for sparkle.  Jen has another great sketch for us this week.  I hope you will play along.  Link up a card as a farewell thank you to Susie!


















Challenges entered:
Paper Playtime - Use pearls
Use It Tuesday - Trends (the swirl die cut - I still can't really figure them out!)
Party Time Tuesdays - anything goes
Creative Inspirations - fairies
Cute Card Thurdays - things with wings
Southern Girls Challenge - warm fuzzies

Sister Act Challenge #22

Friday means a new Sister Act Challenge.  It's a week that we have two sponsors - Digi Darla and Ink and Whimsy 2.  

My card started with an old wooden Penny Black stamp that I bought it at my friend's annual stamp sale.  This year there were 8 -10 long tables piled with stamps that other people were getting rid of.  What a goldmine! You wouldn't believe how many stamps I "had to have" - especially when they were just a couple of dollars! Who can pass up a good deal when it comes to stamping?!?! I sold stamps too, so it all worked out.

After coloring so many digi images the past few months, it was refreshing to get back to inking up some red rubber!  The pattern in the pot and the daisies made this card fun and fast to color.

It's been a long, hot week in MN, so I'm looking forward to the three-day holiday weekend and the cool temps of my basement craft room.

Hope you find time to play and then link up one of your creations with us at Sister Act this week!

Challenges entered:

Make it Monday - anything goes
Tuesday Throwndown - school colors (blue and gold)
Little Red Wagon - Polka dots
Crafting by Design - anything goes

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #273

Jen has created another fun sketch for us this week at Sketch Saturday.  I enjoyed puttering around with papers from my scrap drawers for those little flags at the bottom!

 My four year old granddaughter is crazy about mermaids, so when I saw this one on the Doodle Garden Etsy site, I knew it was perfect for her and bought it right away.  As a matter of fact, when Maya saw the card, she told her mom that she wanted to be a mermaid in real life!! Oh, to be four again!


The mermaid is fussy cut and mounted with pop dots onto the circle.  Lots of Stickles were added for shine!  Her hair flower, bottom half, and sea star are glittered.  So are the white strips across the line of flags.  It looks super-cute IRL!


This week's sketch challenge is sponsored by Prairie Fairy.   Stop by the Sketch Saturday Blog and see what the other members of the DT have created this week!  Hope you will play along.



Challenges Entered:
Creative Fingers - anything goes
A.R.T. Challenge - anything goes 
Alphabet Challenge - newest stamp 
Crazy 4 Challenges - animal stamps (A mermaid is half fish!)
Avenue 613 Create - anything goes
Marker POP!  - the blues
Oozak - sea inspiration

Sister Act Challenge #21

We have two sponsors this week at the Sister Act Challenge Blog.  I used this Pure Innocence image from the Etsy site Digi Stamp Characters.  Heather Ellis is the artist of the Pure Innocence kids.  I have several of her stamps and was so thrilled to discover her Etsy store!

I pieced the little girl's dress and colored the rest of her.  With all of the back-to-school activities, I thought I would keep her bold with primary colors.  I turned the sketch from a monthly challenge called A Die for a Sketch to put the card together.  All of the paper except for the red polka dot is from my scrap drawer, which means thankfully that means there's less in the drawers and unusable scraps in the garbage!

I am looking forward to your creations!  Look for my comment on your blog.

Challenges entered:
A Die for a Sketch - sketch and using a minimum of two dies
Make it Monday - anything goes
Use It Tuesday - use your scraps
Party Time Tuesday - color challenge/ back to school
Shopping Your Stash - use your oldest hardware (the ribbon was an old discard from years ago)
Cute Card Thursday - back to school
A.R.T. Challenge - anything goes
Friday Mash-Up - back to school and/or sketch
Card Crafters Circle - bright colors

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Color Me Creative Challenge - Anything Goes!

It's an anything goes challenge at Color Me Creative (CMC).  No limits, no boundaries - a free and easy challenge - much like the Wryn Hanging Around digi from Tiddly Inks.  I'm using her as a B-day card for a friend who is one year shy of 60!

I'm not trained in art at all (not even an art class in elementary school).  I've taken a Copic class online, attended Copic Certification two summers ago. I've tried to relax and give myself permission to learn, practice and develop my skills. It's helped by concentrating on one thing at a time in my Copic coloring.  Hair has been my most recent focus.  I thought I had it down - until I came across this girl!  I am really happy with the end result because I was able to give her hair the movement I was going for.  Let me tell you that it took a while to get there!




Here's a close up of the final version.

But she started out looking like the girl to the right.   I didn't like the color and because there wasn't much variation in her hair color, the movement I was trying to achieve was missing.  (The photo looks better than she does IRL.)






Then, I got out my pencil and tried to 
think more strategically about light and shading and where the sun would reflect
on Wryn's hair.  After I put the pencil in, I got out my markers and just messed around.




I still wasn't happy, so at that point, I went to my favorite tutorial spot "Google - images" - and typed in the name of the digi and looked at what other people had done. This allowed me to really study ideas for Wryn's hair.  I found a card that Amy H. posted on her blog.  From her work, I used a new image to pencil in the shading I saw on Amy's card.





Then I got out my markers and tried again.  This time was a lot closer! Woo!  Some of the shading needed to be adjusted.  I was in the ballpark and gave it another try. . .   




 
. . .  and here she is!  So for those of you who are working on your coloring, hang in there - and keep practicing.  I actually love to play around like I did here.  It's so satisfying to have an idea in my mind and be able to get it on the page.  

I hope you will find an image to color and play along with us at Color Me Creative.  The anything goes challenge runs through August 30th - that's two weeks! Check out the DT inspiration and join us.  Our sponsor is MarkerPOP! 


Copics used:
Skin:  E11, 00, 000 & R20
Hair:  E37, 35, 31, & YR21
Shorts:  W5, 3, 1
Shirt:  Y02, 07, 26 & YR 04, 07

Challenges Entered:

Creative Fingers - anything goes

Crafting by Designs - anything goes

Cute Card Thursday - Button Up

Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog - Birthday 

DL Art Thankful Thursday - August challenge

613 Avenue Create - anything goes

7 Kids College Fund - anything goes

Make It Monday - anything goes

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #272

Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo Stamps and they are offering your choice of 7 digis as a prize! Woo!



I decided to go humorous, courtesy of a From the Heart Stamps digi called Flower Pot Chick.  It will add a smile to the life of a dear one who has had a rough go of it lately.  I love the sleepy eyes of this chicken and the sentiment that comes with the digi!

I used a flower punch and leaves from a PTI flower die to add the flowers around the left side of the pot.  I wanted the pot to be bright, and what is better than red with white polka dots?!?

I used a simple palette of Copics for my coloring.
flower pot - R24, 26, 29
chicken - Y13, 15, 24
leaves - YG 11, 13, 67

The flower centers are finished off with some liquid pearls in the centers.  I don't use them very often and was pleased with how easy it was to make very small dots for the flowers around the chicken and bigger dots for the punched flowers.





Our DT has some great ideas for inspiration.  Take a look over at the Sketch Saturday Blog and then play along.  You have a week to upload your card.  Remember the winner receives 7 digis from Bugaboo Stamps.


                                           


Challenges:

Make It Monday - anything goes
Desert Island Crafts - "B-list" - blue, blooms, boy (the chicken)
Marker POP! Challenge #28 - anything goes
Paper Playtime - lots of yellow
Crafty Sentiments - dies and punches
Crafting by Designs - anything goes

Sister Act Challenge #20

I needed a card for my niece's wedding shower and wanted to make it look elegant.  Unfortunately, I waited until the last minute to make it, so I didn't have time for something elaborate.  That is where my sizeable stash of patterned papers came in handy!! I recently bought this delicious Authentique paper.  Unfortunately, between this card and another one I made, I have used more than half of it.  I most definitely need to buy another piece!   The combination of colors is simply gorgeous.  I paired the paper with a stamp that hasn't been inked in a few years from American Art Stamp.  It's called "Bouquet" by artist Karen Stolper.  Karen's stamps are quick to color and easy to use in creating a gorgeous focal point.  A few Copic Ws, YRs, and Es are all that were needed!

Hope you will enter a card in the Sister Act Challenge Blog this week.   Our sponsor is Wings and Willows.


Challenges Entered:
Make It Monday - anything goes
Use It Tuesday - uninked stamp
ColorQ #202 - red (mine is more of an orange-red), yellow, gray, white
Totally Papercrafts - favorite colors
613 Avenue Create - anything goes
Marker POP! Challenge #28 - anything goes
Papertake Weekly - Occasion - ally
Paper Playtime - lots of yellow
Crafting by Designs - anything goes
DL Art Thankful Thursday - August challenge

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #271

It's another Sketch Saturday challenge sponsored by Simon Says Stamps!  $25 to use in their online shop may have your name on it.  You just have to play along with our sketch this week!


I am using a digi from Sassy Cheryl Stamps.  It's called Patience Secret.  I think this is the cutest! The sentiment comes with it and the second line is, "for her secret is patience."  It's a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I seem to be on a blonde hair coloring kick lately.  I used a new color combination on this girl.  I started with Y23, Y11, E50 and then added some E33.  I like to see contrast rather than blended hair, so the E33 helped bring in some darker tones.

This sketch was a tricky one for me!  I had to draw the shape.  My years as a first grade teacher came in handy.  I remembered our container of pattern blocks and that the hexagon can be made with 6 triangles, so all I had to do was create the right sized triangle.  Don't look too closely though, because all of my sides aren't even.


Since you aren't looking too closely - I'd be grateful if you didn't notice the bleeding around the hair ribbon from my Copics.  I tried to push the ink with my colorless blender, but I am using Walmart cardstock and it's trickier to do.  I promise you don't notice it much on the card.  (Darn that camera eye!)

I pulled our my V00 for shading on her face because her shirt any bow use violets.  The other colors I used were E000, E00, E11 & R20.  The grass is an assortment of YG Copics -YG67 is the darkest.

Have fun with the sketch; I can't wait to see your creations!

Challenges Entered:
Divas by Design - BINGO challenge (distressing, pearls, embossing)
Creative Inspirations - something old (the blue dotted paper) and something new - (the digi image)
Totally Papercrafts - summer fun
The Alphabet Challenge - micro/mini - (the ladybugs and the ladybug dot on the sentiment)

Sister Act Challenge # 19

Do you ever have one of those days where you spend entirely too much time trying to put a card together and nothing looks right?  It was one of those days for me, so I decided to take a break and came back to the card after a couple of hours. A fresh set of eyes led me in the direction of taking a more clean and simple route.  The other card base is waiting on my desk to be used another day. Some days are like that, aren't they?!?

Today's Sister Act Challenge is sponsored by Doodle Pantry Digi Stamps.  This is one of their freebies called Tweet House.  They have both an outline version and an already colored version.  It was a quick one to color.  I finished off the card with a few sequins and an Impressabilities EF. Too bad the card design wasn't as easy to master!! Hope you will play along with our anything goes challenge this week.

The Secret's Out!

The day has finally arrived when I can share the news with you that I am part of another DT.  Even more exciting is that this one is all about coloring!  Can you hear me squeal with excitement?!?!  Color Me Creative Classroom is a site created by Suzanne Dean - who is masterful when it comes to coloring with Copics.  I happened on the site a few months ago and was crazy for their biweekly challenges.  When a DT call was posted, I applied and here I am!!  I am thrilled and honored to be on the team,  It's a great group of talented, inspiring gals, so I hope you check them out!



The new CMC challenge (#74) is easy (and you have 2 weeks to post) - just use PINK in your card.  I kind of went crazy with the idea.  The sweet little girl is from Lili of the Valley's Fairy collection of their black and white sketch pads.  This one was so much fun to color! I tried a new hair color using E 50, 53 & 25.  I like how it turned out and will be using this combo again!  Her tutu skirt uses RV 63, 55, 19, with a little V05 & 09 for the dark areas.  The shirt and wings are colored with RV000, 00 & 63.  I also used V09 in the corners of her wings and V05 on the shirt to add contrast.  Skin colors - E000, 00, 11 & R20. For the grass, I stayed with G40. 43, 47 and YG23.







I added some pink Stickles to the dots on her shirt and the bottom portion of her wings and icicle Stickles to the top part of her wings, her wand, and the flowers in her hair (along with two mini pink rhinestones).   The flowers are from W Plus 9's Fresh Cut Florals.

So now, it's your turn!  Break out your favorite coloring medium and join us at CMC for our PINK challenge.  Suzanne is sponsoring the challenge with a Copic class of your choice from the CMC site.  Upload your card by August 16th.  I'm looking forward to seeing your creations.  There has to be a challenge winner; it may be you!




P.S.  I am crazy about Lili of the Valley.  (It's a company from the UK and the owner is wonderful.)  In case you are interested in their sketch pads, I made a couple other cards back in June from the Fairy sketch pad - the one to the right (check out the pink!!) and another one.  The pads are reasonably priced and come printed on paper that is great for coloring with your Copics!

Challenges entered:
Tuesday Throwdown - birthday
Party Time Tuesday's - anything goes
Creative Inspirations - anything goes
Simon Says Stamps - anything goes
Cute Card Thursday - anything goes
In the Pink - hot pink
Lili's Little Fairies - here come the girls
Really Reasonable Ribbon - things with wings
Alphabet Challenge - micro/mini -the rhinestones in her headband & die cut flowers
Creative Fingers - anything goes

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #270

 Sparkle is this week's sketch master.  Her company, Sparkle Creations is also sponsoring this week's challenge!  I am using her digi, Chit Chat Lucy.   I can't wait to use this card - after all, who doesn't need a healthy dose of girl talk?!?!

The papers are a 6x6 pad from Basic Gray called Hey Girl!  The felt flower is an old offering from Stampin' Up! and the rhinestones are from Michael's.  Lucy is colored with Copics.

Copics used:
Hair:  E33, 35, 37, 49
Skin:  E00, 11, 13 & R20
Tank:  BG000, 11, 32
Bottoms and slippers: R11, 20, 22, 24
Phone:  Y000, 11, 13 & YR 24
Shading:  W0, 1, 3







Check out what the other DT members have created and play along with us this week.  Sparkle has some great images for the challenge winner.

Challenges entered:
Creative Inspirations - anything goes
Cute Card Thursday - anything goes
Five Simple things - anything goes

Sister Act Challenge #18

Digi Stamps 4 Joy is the sponsor for this week's Sister Act Card Challenge.  They have a wide variety of images to choose from at their site.

Their image called, Potted Orchid is what I chose for my card. I used "Google Images" to find pictures of Phalaenopsis orchids to help me decide how to color this beautiful.  IRL, I love these orchids.  The flowers last so long and they don't need much care, just my kind of potted plant! No green thumb here - luckily my husband does.

Hope you take a peek at what the other DT members created and join us this week for our anything goes challenge.