Sketch Saturday's 6th Anniversary Blog Hop!

If you are popping over from the Sketch Saturday Blog, Welcome!  You are in the right place.

Sketch Saturday is celebrating our 6th Anniversary this week with a blog hop! And who doesn't love a blog hop?

Little Miss Muffet Stamps is sponsoring the Hop and members of their DT are joining us this week.  My card uses LMMS, Sonny Honeycloud My Way.  Sketch #312 is a choice sketch!  You can pick any sketch from # 215 - 311 to use on your card.  I knew the patterned papers I wanted to use, so I reused sketch #295.

Little Miss Muffet is generously offering a $25 challenge prize and there are hidden prizes along the hop!  All you have to do is leave comments at each stop on the hop.  All of the prize winners will be posted next week!  Have fun hopping and thanks for playing along with us this week.  Good luck!

Challenges Entered:
The Card Concept - color challenge/ style - lots of layers 6/9
4 Crafty Chicks - AG/
Little Red Wagon - Buttons and Bows/
Creative Moments #43 - AG/with twine/

An InLinkz Link-up

Sister Act Challenge #59

This week's  Sister Act Challenge is sponsored by the Etsy shop, All Dressed Up.  Wendy Burns draws all of the cute images.  I love her  style and follow the members of her talented DT as well ADU's Facebook page.  Our DT is featuring a few of ADU's images.  I dug into my own stash and made a card using one of the images from her Three Little Autumn Girls digi.  This is actually a four-in-one set.  Each girl comes as a single digi and the fourth stamp is all three girls together.  If you are new to ADU, spend a little time at the shop - I bet you'll find a digi you can't live without!










Copics Used:
Hair - E51, 53, 55, 44
Skin - E000, 21, 11, R11
Shirt - Y000, 00
Shorts/boots - YR 65, 68
Purse - YR 65, 68, BG 02, 06

Challenges Entered:
The Pink Elephant #252 - AG/
Through the Craftroom Door - AG/
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #37 - AG/
Part Time Tuesdays #174 - AG/
Simon Says Stamp - AG/
Inky Impressions - AG/
Divas By Design - AG/
4 Crafty Chicks - AG/

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #311

It's time for a new sketch from Sketch Saturday.  It's one of my designs, so I hope you have fun with this one.
Bugaboo Stamps is our sponsor and graciously provided the DT with images to use for the challenge.  My choice was  Snowglobe Butterfly.
I wanted to challenge myself to create the water-look of a snowglobe.  I added glitter at the bottom and Stickles around the butterflies to replicate the glitter in the bottom of a snowglobe.  Do you know regular white Elmers glue is a perfect adhesive for glitter to paper?!?  I have tried a variety of specialty "papercrafting" glues and not always been happy.  I'm not too proud to say I can be a little slow sometimes!!
The embellishment on the bow is a big, flat sequin with a rhinestone on top.  I love that it's flatter than a button.

Stop by the Sketch Saturday blog and take a peek at the rest of the DT's work and then join us in creating something with your own take on the sketch.

Pile it On - Shabby Chic
Crafting By Designs - Friendship makes the World go Round
Tuesday Throwdown #196 - Teacher Appreciation
Divas By Design - AG
Creative Moments - AG
Crafty Girls Challenge #18 - AG
Stampin' For the Weekend - For the Girls
Aurora Wings - Butterflies

Sister Act Challenge #58

My post for Sister Act is another card I made without pulling out my Copics.  I channeled my friend Maura's style and kept the card more clean-lined using an embossing folder and two PTI stamp sets and dies.  The background candles are stamped and the center candle is a die cut from patterned paper.

This week, the Sister Act Challenge Blog is sponsored by Eureka Stamps.  I hope you will join us and play along!

I'm So Happy!

Hi Friends,
This special Tuesday post is to share some more exciting news - I have a 6 month DT position with Crafty Sentiments Designs and their weekly challenge blog.  I saw their DT call in the Splitcoast Stampers Forum a few weeks ago and applied.  I am so happy to have the opportunity to color up their fun images and work with the ladies of Team B.  Surprisingly, there is another Cathy, spelled with a C on Team A, so lucky me, I get a star after my name on the challenge blog - Cathy*!  You'll see a post from me every other Tuesday.

Onto this week's challenge . . . the theme is "Inspired by a Song".  I saw this Lollipop Dream image called, Petal Fairy and knew right away the song would be Pharrell WIlliam's hit, "Happy"!  It's become my new favorite song.  I always feel happy when I hear it!  I've been trying to use colors other than pink in my cards lately, so when I settled on yellow flower petals, I didn't consider the idea they might look like potato chips! It works either way though!


You have to stop by the store to see all of the cute things Crafty Sentiments Designs offers, as well as their month new releases.  I can't wait to get my hands on some of these guys from June's release of "One For the Boyz" collection!

There's also a new stamp release on May 22nd!  Love that little boy with the flower pot!













Copics Used:
Hair - E51, 44, hint of 11, Y21, 26
Skin - E00, 21, 11, R20
Skirt- YG 00, 01, 03
Tank top and basket - R02, YR65, 68
Shoes, polka dots, waist band - BG 11, 32
Flower Petals (or potato chips!) - Y11, 21, 23
Socks & shading - W0, 1, 3
Wings - BG000, 11

Challenges Entered:
4 Crafty Girls Challenge - AG
Southern Girls Challenge - Dots and Spots
Creative Fingers Challenge - AG/ Girly
Digi Haven - Spring
Card Makin' Mamas - Over the Rainbow
Hiding in My Craftroom - Embossing (dry)
ABC Challenge - L is for Lots of Layers
613 Avenue Create - AG - shapes/oval, circle, rectangle

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #310 and Paper Trail Canada News!

Today is a double-dip post.  The first part of the post is dedicated to Sketch Saturday.  Alex is the creator of sketch #310 and it was a fun one to work with! Bunny Zoe's Crafts is sponsoring this week's challenge.


















The second part of my post is to announce I am thrilled to be a guest DT member for a company called the Paper Trail Canada.  Chelsea, the owner, is wonderful to work with and dedicated to carrying good products, great prices and customer service.  I used the Gorjuss Girls "Collector" stamp, available in the "Pre Order Shop"section of the Paper Trail.  I love this stamp.  The hair has lines showing where the shading and highlights go.  I didn't have to experiment with a whole page of trial and error images as I typically do!   I'd buy another image in a heartbeat, too.  These girls are cuties!  I used a PTI set to create little flowers on her shirt and added some shading to the punched-flower embellishments.

As part of the talented Paper Trail crew, I am super-excited to be working again with Marilyn Scheller of One Stamping Fool - a talented, fabulous card-maker I had fun getting to know when she was my guest DT member for Sketch Saturday earlier this year.  Take a look at this new company (especially if you live in Canada), their Paper Trail Blog, and follow The Paper Trail on Facebook.

Challenges Entered:
Through the Craftroom Door - AG
Crafty Bloggers Network - May AG
Clear It Out-  Mother's Day/Female; Stash - flowers
Color Q #241 - gold, turquoise, pool party, chocolate chip
Creative Inspirations #265 - AG
Creative Moments #42 - Bingo (flower, sentiment, more than two layers)
Crafty Girls Challenge #18 - AG
Creative Fingers #36 - AG

Sister Act - Challenge #57

I've been working on some simple CAS invitations for a bridal shower we are hosting for my nephew's fiance.  I loved the main image so much, I decided to work with it on a Mother's Day card for my daughter.  I used an old PTI stamp from one of their first anniversary sets.

This week's sponsor for the Sister Act Card Challenge is Deasy Designs.  Check out their site and then take a look at what the DT has in store for you here.  Have a great week!

Challenges Entered:
Tuesday Throwdown #195 - Spring Blossoms
Fan-Tastic Tuesday - CAS
Inky Chicks #29 - CAS
Creative Inspirations #265 - AG

Color Me Creative Challenge #92 - Pretty Pastels

This Color Me Creative's Pretty Pastels challenge was an interesting one for me because even though I love pink, I rarely use pastels in my card-making!  Finding pastel colored BG paper wasn't easy.  Luckily I had this pale pink sheet from Lasting Impressions - and it was a perfect choice.  The image is a big-eyed girl named Autumn Mindy from our sponsor, Art by Miran.    I love the versatility of this digi; it certainly doesn't have to be an autumn scene.  I had fun coloring her hair and playing with shading her eyes.  The card also features two new toys I've added to my craft supplies - stitched dies (Anytime Tags and Stitched Mats- Rectangles) from Lil' Inkers Designs.  Love 'em!

Copics used:
Skin - E000, 21, 11 & R20
Hair - E50, 51, 53, 55, 44
Leaves - YG01, 67 & G40, 43
Eyes - B0000, 41, 45
Scarf - RV0000, 00, 21
Coat - C0, 01


Challenges Entered:
xArt by Miran Challenge #5 - AG
xThrough the Craftroom Door - AG
xTuesday Throwdown #194 - Special Lady
xDivas By Design - In the Pink
Creative Moments #42 - Bingo (flowers, sentiment, more than 2 layers)
x4 CCC #193 - Flowers
xCrafty Girls Challenge #17 - AG
Seize the Birthday - AG/Flowers (5/21)
xCreative Fingers #35 - AG
Crazy 4 Challenges #235 - Bingo (flowers, sentiment, bling)
Crafty Bloggers Network - May AG

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #309

Happy Mother's Day (a day early) to all of the mothers visiting my blog.  I hope you are surrounded by love and joy.  Motherhood is one of the hardest things we undertake.  The only thing better than being a mother is being a grandmother!

 I decided on a whole different take on Deb's sketch this week and used kites (nothing remotely related to Mother's Day)!  There was just something about the sketch that made me think of kites, so I went with it. The kites are from an old Stampin' Up! set.  I used my Copics to color the twine on two of the kite strings and created the cloud background by cutting a couple of cloud shapes and using Distress Ink and a sponge dauber.   For those of you who stopped by my blog last week and read about the number of "hello" dies I acquired, this is #2 - from W Plus 9.

Simon Says Stamp! is sponsoring Sketch Saturday this week.  That means the winner receives $25 to use in their shop.  Take a look at the sketch ideas from the rest of the DT here.

Challenges Entered:
Through the Craftroom Door - AG
Party Time Tuesdays #171 - Polka Dots
Little Red Wagon #236 - Seeing Spots
ABC Challenge - K is for Keep It Simple
Desert Island Crafts - stencil, song (Let's go Fly a Kite), text #9,5,4

Sister Act Challenge #56

Happy Friday - another work week has come to an end - and just in time from my perspective!  There's nothing like a good card challenge to keep a day bright - and that's what we have for you at the Sister Act Challenge Blog. This week we are sponsored by Stamp and Create.

My card is fairly simple, but I love it.  The colors are bright and cheery. It uses a combination of dry embossing and heat embossing.

Stop by the Sister Act Blog and check out the inspiration from the other DT members.

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #308

I've been on a shaker card kick lately and decided to incorporate one into this week's sketch. Inspiration came from Pretty Pink Posh's sequin shaker blog hop, today's sketch, and Splitcoast's Featured Stamper Challenge.  I had the idea to use the jar as my shaker, and had fun working on making it.  I used my PTI die and Friendship Jar stamp set and paired it with an old Stampendous stamp (I'm not sure that it's ever seen ink before!).  I did a little easy masking around the flowers and colored both the flowers and the inside of the jar with my Copics.  A few pearls, some rhinestones and Stickles finished things off.  I have used a lot of pink in my cards lately, so I decided to go in a different direction, hence the kraft and yellow combination.









Clearly Whimsy from Whimsy Stamps is this week's Sketch Saturday sponsor. Stop by the blog and prepare to be inspired by the DT and our guests from Whimsy Stamps!

Pssst - Keep your eyes out at the end of the month . . .  we're having blog hop with hidden surprises.  This time it's celebrating Sketch Saturday's 6th Anniversary.

Challenges Entered:
Through the Craftroom Door - AG (5/5)
Created with Love #80 - In the Garden (5/3)
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #33 - Floral

Stamps At Play

Inky Chicks #28 - From the Heart (5/6)
Creative Inspirations #263 - Spring Flowers (5/7)
Inky Impressions #157 - AG
Crafty Girls Challenge #17 - AG
Seize the Birthday - AG

Sister Act Challenge #55

In a moment of weakness, I did some online shopping at Simon Says Stamp.  The package arrived over to weekend.  Much to my chagrin, the $80 of product all fit into a padded envelope.  Anyway, I now have three different "hello" dies (all different sizes).  Shhh - don't tell my husband!!  I broke out the biggest one (SSS Big Hello) and whipped up this card with paper from my scrap drawers.  It was quick to make, but didn't come out quite like I pictured it would. I ended up adding some Stickles in the letters of the die cut.  It looks cute IRL.  If you want to see a sequin shaker card I made using this die, take a peek here.

The Sister Act Blog is sponsored by Fitztown Digi Stamps this week.  Hope you will play along with the new week of our anything goes challenge.