Creative Knockouts #107 - Happy Fall Y'all!

Happy Fall Y'all is the theme for this week's Creative Knockouts challenge.   Our sponsor is Sami Stamps and her beautiful image, Bird Beauty is featured.  Aren't these fall colors lovely?!?  Using an idea I learned from an Online Card Class on creating backgrounds, I took a striped patterned paper and stamped a background stamp on top of it with Versa Mark and brown embossing powder.
Break out your fall colors and join our challenge this week!  The DT has some inspiration for you at the Creative Knockouts Blog.

Challenges Entered:
Dream Valley #115 - Autumn Colors
Craft Your Passion #279 - AG
Clear It Out - Autumn - stash: foliage/leaves
Little Red Wagon #307 - Try Something New (background technique)
Simon Says Stamp - Die Crazy
Sami Stamps #29 - Frame It

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #330

Carla has created this week's sketch to go along with our sponsor, Little Miss Muffet.  I used their image, Swings 'N Slides Lil' Spook for my card.  I am taking a Copic Markers for Cardmakers Class from Online Card Class and used a technique Sandy Alnook demonstrated using Ws and Cs next to each other.  I usually use those colors for shading, but not necessarily for coloring and certainly not together!  It was fun to experiment.  Frankie's hair and the night sky background are in Cs; his shirt and pants use Ws.  I also colored in the larger dots on the background paper.  Too bad I didn't wait one more night to color the background because she had a tutorial for creating night skies!

Take a peek at what the other DT members did with Carla's sketch here, and then play along with us!

























Challenges Entered:
Clear it Out - Use Gray
Divas By Design - Spooky Creations
Creative Moments #52 - Use three Layers
Cute Card Thursday #341 - Spots and Dots
Crafty Girls #28  - AG
Scribble and Scrap #28 - AG

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #328

DeeDee Designs is this week's sketch challenge at Sketch Saturday.  I am using one of the images from their Autumn Blessings set.  All three digis were so appealing, I had a hard time choosing which one to color this week!  The sketch guided my choice - I thought the wreath would be perfect for the circle focal point.  My table was covered in Copics as I colored the leaves, trying to get the colors I am so fond of seeing in the fall.  Check out what the DT has for you here and join us this week!
















Challenges Entered:
Inky Chicks #38 - AG
The Card Concept #19 - Clean and Layered
Creative Moments #51/ - Fall colors
Cute Card Thursday #339/ - Awesome Autumn
4CCC #212 /- Fall
Creative Knockouts #55/ - Fall

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #325

Happy Saturday, Sketch Fans!  This week is a sketcher's choice!  You are able to choose any sketch from #215 or higher to use for your card.  I love these kind of weeks!!  I chose Sketch #226 (and so did my teamie, Carla! - what a fun coincidence!)

Bugaboo Stamps is sponsoring this week's challenge.  I used one of their Flower Gals images, called Sunflower.   Come and play along this week!  Check out what the Sketch Saturday DT has created here.

Challenges Entered:
The Pink Elephant #265/ - AG
Through the Craft Room Door/ - AG
Tuesday Throwdown #210 /- AG
Color Q #256/
Little Red Wagon #252/ - Girl Power
Creative Inspirations #278/- Flower Power
Divas By Design/ - Birthday
Cute Card Thursday #336 /- AG
Crafty Girls Challenge #25 /- AG

Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes for August

Hi Everyone,
Back with another Anything Goes challenge from Crafty Sentiments.  I decided to use the same image as last time, Pat with Flowers, but give her a different look.  Instead of the CAS card, this one has some embellishments, a plaid skirt, and a little lace trim!  The "hello" was already on my desk and gave the perfect little something tying the turquoise from the bouquet back into the card.  Play along with the challenge this week and show us your creativity!

Challenges Entered:
Through the Craft Room Door - AG
613 Avenue Create #84 - AG with summer/senses
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #48 - AG

Crafty Sentiments - Christmas in July Challenge + DT Announcement

This Crafty Sentiments challenge is for all of you folks who like to get a head start on your Christmas cards.  I admire you, but I can barely get my act together on December 1st, let along in July!
I'm on vacation right now, so I'm crafting in the morning rather than my usual night routine.  My hands were so shakey as I was cutting out this CSDimage, Cold Christmas, I decided I really need to cut back my coffee consumption!  Yikes!  Once I drank a liter of water, I was better!  I decided to use the sketch from the Friday Sketch Challenge for my card.  The partial circles are cut from glitter paper, there's some WInk of Stella on the tree branched, in the snow, and on the white part of her clothing.  The sentiment is from PTI; the tree is IO, and the stitched flag is from Lil' Inkers.

Crafty Sentiments is offering a freebie for you to use to join the challenge, but you need to request it by the 19th.  Stop by the challenge blog for more details and see what the DT is up to!  This week's winner chooses 3 digis from the Crafty Sentiments shop! 

Sketch #73

Challenges Entered:
Friday Sketch Challenge #73
Inky Chicks #33 - Christmas in July
Simply Create Too #65 - Christmas in July
4 Crafty Chicks #202 - Inspired By A Song (Let it Snow)
Crafting from the Heart #27- AG
Scribble and Scrap #22 - AG






On another note, I can finally announce I have been invited to be on the Southern Girls Challenge Design Team.  The challenge started in New Zealand, and the current DT is made up of crafters - across the globe.  There are two DTs, with new challenges posted two Thursdays a month, so that means one monthly card for me.  It has been fun becoming acquainted with the other gals and learning some slang from "down under".  Oy, Mate!!  I hope you'll stop by the Southern Girls Challenge blog and play along.

Sister Act Challenge #60

It's the 60th Anything Goes challenge this week for Sister Act!  Milk Coffee Stamps is the sponsor.

I chose a Dr. Digi image this week, called BBQ Bill.  This guy looks a little like my husband! I chose to give him a mustache and a goatee.  It's the one area of my coloring that I wish I could do over.  It's a little too gray and I was going for more white.  I added a second hot dog on the grill and used a computer generated sentiment.

Stop by the Sister Act blog to see what the rest of the DT cooked up!  :>

Challenges Entered:
Pile It On -  Humor/
Naughty or Nice #5- For the Men
Allsorts Challenges #61 - For the Guys/
SPD05 - Make it Masculine

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

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 #307

 Hello Sketch Saturday Fans!  We have a new sketch for you from Vannessa this week.  Milk Coffee Stamps is our sponsor.  My card features their digi called, Fairy Princess.  She's got Stickles on her wings and is fussy cut and mounted on pop dots in front of the banners.  This cutie is going to special girl who is crazy about pink and princesses!  The camera doesn't capture how she looks IRL - the shading of her hair and face is so much smoother,  My favorite part is the contrast in her dress.  I'm waiting for refill ink for my RV00, so I had to make due with other pink Copics.


Challenges Entered:
Tuesday Throwdown #192 - Lots of Sparkle-
Creative Inspirations #262 - Cute Character-
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes (5/6)
Simply Create Too #60 - Stack 'em up! (4/30)
Milk Coffee Challenge - Bright Colors-




Copics Used:
Skin- E000, 21, 11, R20
Hair- E50, 53, 55, 57
Dress- R81, 83, RV000
Skirt- BV0000, 000, 10   Wings- C0, C1

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #306/A Day for Daisies

Happy Saturday, Everyone!  The second April snowfall we had in MN on Thursday should be but a memory by the end of the weekend.  Our temps are scheduled to be mid 60s.  Hopes of an outdoor Easter egg hunt with my grandkids inspired the colors of this card.

Deb is our sketch designer and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect sketch to use with the image from our sponsor, A Day for Daisies.  This little beauty is called Breeze in Spring and was simply divine to work with!  I loved it so much, I want to get back in my craftroom to color another one.  I masked around her to stamp SU's French Script in the background and used a WPlus9 mini flower to add the flowers to her top.  Don't look too closely for my little flub!

ADFD artist, Tammy Thompson generously provided the DT with our choice of images, so stop by the Sketch Saturday blog and take a look at the eye candy the DT gals have in store for you this week.

Copics used:                                       Sentiment: WPlus9
Hair:  E50, 53, 55, 57, 29
Skin: E00, 21, 11, R20
Top:  RV000, 00, 21
Pants: C3, 0
Shading: BV0000, 000
Challenges Entered:
Pause Dream Enjoy #8 - AG
Color Throwdown #288 - pink, green, gray
Creative Inspirations #261 - Lots of layers
In the Pink #42 - Digital Delight
4 Crafty Girls - AG
Card Makin' Mamas - Earth Friendly (reuse or recycle)
Challenges 4 Everybody #40 - AG (5/2)
Crafty Hands Challenge Blog #12 - AG-
Creative Moments #40 - AG/girlie-
A Gem of A Challenge #117 - Spring is in the Air-
ABC Challenge - J=Just as you like (5/1)
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards #63 - Spring (5/2)

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #305

Jen is the brains behind this week's sketch at Sketch Saturday.  I thought the paper and sweet image were a great compliment to the sketch's simplicity.  I found this gorgeous girl by Greek artist, Chrishanthi on Cristina Valenzuela's blog and knew I had to have it.  Cristina's coloring is gorgeous and helped guide me as I was coloring, especially the eyes.  I have several big-eye girl images from different artists, and haven't been quite sure about how to shade them so light is reflected.

Stop by the Sketch Saturday blog to see what the rest of the DT has in store for you this week and then play along!


 







Copics Used:
Skin - E000, 00, 21, R20
Eyes - B000, 41, 44
Dress - R81, 84, 59, RV34
Hair - Y23, YR21, 24, E35, 37

Challenges Entered:
The Pink Elephant #235 - photo inspiration
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #30 - ATG
Crafty Girls Challenge #15 - ATG
Pile It On #14 - Feminine
Through the Craftroom Door - ATG
2 Cute Ink #103 - ATG
Challenges 4 Everybody #40 - ATG  (5/2)
Doodle Garden Challenge #2 - color challenge  (4/30)

Crafting By Designs - Guest Designer!

I have some exciting news for this post.  A while back, one of my cards won a challenge at Crafting By Designs.  In addition to digis from the challenge sponsor, Milk Coffee, I was asked to be a guest designer for this week's challenge which is lace/doilies.  Woo!  I love playing along with the challenges at Crafting by Designs and being inspired by their talented DT, so it was an honor to be asked to join their team this week.

I chose another of the sweet images Wendy Burns creates over at All Dressed Up for my card.  This one is called Happy Christmas Little Star.  I was able to crop out the sentiment and create a birthday card.  I just love these papers with the image.  A quick stop at Michael's and a package of 4" doilies from the baking aisle gave me the doilies for the card.  I popped on some rhinestones, added a sentiment and ribbon and the card came together.

Head on over to the Crafting by Designs blog and play along with the lace/doily challenge.

Copics Used:
Skin - E000, 21, 11, R20
Hair - YR20, 23, E35, 37
Tutu - R81, 83, RV34, hint of R59
Wings - BG0000, 000, 11







Challenges Entered:
Crafty Girls #15 - anything goes
Challenges 4 Everybody #40 - anything goes
Crafts Galore Encore April Challenge - favorite color (pinks)
Creative Moments #40 - anything goes/girly
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #30 - anything goes
Clear It Out - anything goes

Stick It Down - April Sketch

Stick It Down is back with our April sketch.  I chose this sweet digi from All Dressed Up called Little Bookworm.  Like all of the ADU gals, this was fun to color.  I used my Copics and the patterned paper comes from my scrap drawer!



















Copics used:
Dress - Y21, 23, 24
Hair - E50, 53, 57
Skin - E00, E11, E21, R20
Stool - R22, 24, 27
Book - BG0000, 000, 11

Challenges Entered:
Stampin' for the Weekend - Spring Colors
Pile It On #14 - Feminine
Crafty Girls Challenge #15 - anything goes
Just Be Creative Crazy April Challenge - Anything Goes

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #304

YIKES . . . How can it be the first Saturday of April already?!?!  Honestly, sometimes calendar pages flip too fast for me!

On to the business of the day - since it's Saturday, that means a new sketch from Sketch Saturday.  This one is Lesley's.  I took a little license with it.  I know she won't mind.  I dug through my stash and used another of my hoarded jumbo eyelets.  It seemed a perfect addition to this little boy card.

Mo's Digital Pencil is this week's sponsor, so I went to my Mo's digi file and found Eli.  It reminded me of when my grandson made a garbage truck out of a box and drove it around the house.  What fun!  He's 13 now and still loves cardboard boxes - last week he tried to construct a coffee table for his mom out of some Ikea boxes.  He spent hours on the project!  (Better than on video games or his iPhone!)


Copics Used:
Dog:  E50, 53
Skin:  E00, 11, R20, E41 inside his ear
Hair:  E50, 31, 33, 35, 37
Cardboard box:  E41, 42 44 & when dry 51, 53 to warm up the color
Floor:  YR65, 68
Shirt:  BG 11, 15, 57

Motor on over to the Sketch Saturday blog and see what the rest of the DT did with Lesley's                                                                              fun sketch.

Challenges Entered:
Clear It Out - theme -male, stash-sticker
Little Red Wagon #231 - Make It Masculine
4 Crafty Chicks #188 - Color a stamp or digi
Mo's Challenge Blog #226 - K is for . . .  (kid)

Sister Act Challenge #51

TGIF!  It's the end of my first week back at work after a long and restful vacation.  A perfect time to share these gorgeous poppies from Stitchy Bear Stamps - this week's Sister Act Challenge sponsor.  The digi is in gray tones (almost like a pencil sketch) which made the shading super-easy!  I love how this turned out.  I paired it with a background stamp from my MFT poppy set, and popped on a few sequins.

Speaking of popping- stop by the Sister Act Blog and look at the variety of Stitchy Bear images our DT used.

Copics:
Poppies:  R20, 22, 24, 27
Leaves:  G40, 43
Shading and background:  W1, R0000, 000


Challenges Entered:
One Stitch At A Time - anything goes
Pile It On #13 - Floral Fantasy
Party Time Tuesdays #166 - Color challenge
Divas By Design - anything goes
Crafting By Designs - anything goes