Whatever weather it happens to be...

in your life, it's time to craft about it! Whether you like summer, spring, winter or fall, it doesn't matter. I guess I should back up and explain. It's Trina's turn to host this time around at Guylou's. Now, we all know that Trina likes to think of unusual things, because she's creative that way. She's decided that we need to do a weather challenge. So, make a card about anything pertaining to the weather, post it over at Guylou's Inimitability, and you could win a gift card to the store as well as a chance to appear as a guest designer in a future challenge! Here's what I came up with:

The image is called "Jessica". I can't tell you what papers I used, since I snagged them from my scrap stash. The cardstock is Bazzill. The sentiment and sun are from a set by Technique Tuesday. I cut the clouds with a Spellbinders die. The ribbon is from the Dollar Tree.

Jessica is colored with the following copics:
Hair: E29, E25, E31
Outfit: R20, R21, R22, BG 11, BG13, BG15, BG0000, Y000, Y00, Y11
Boots: N3, N5, N7
Umbrella: N1, N3, N5 with signo for polka dots

I figured Jessica's got her umbrella down, but is still dancing in puddles, so the rain must have just stopped and the sun is coming out. If that's not how it goes in your brain, well, it's your turn to show us what you'd think with any of G's weather-inspired images. You can even use one that just makes you think of the weather; as long as you convey your idea well enough to suit the challenge, that's all good! Challenge details are on the GI blog. Check it out!

For Eli and his new family

My friends Tiffani and Dave have been trying to adopt their son, Eli, for months and months. It's a long, drawn out story full of hope, disappointment, love, fear, and determination. Right now, Eli is stuck in Africa due to some government upheaval and policy changes. He is growing up in an orphanage, just waiting for the day when his parents can come pick him up and bring him home with them.

The adoption costs are astronomical, but well worth it. A bunch of us got together to provide a gift to help offset some of the costs, and I was asked to decorate the envelope. Eli's mom loves elephants. They are decorating his room in blue and brown, with baby elephants here and there. This image from Mo Manning has been hiding away in my files, literally just waiting for the chance to get on a card for my friends. I added the image to my collection specifically for them, knowing there would come a time that I'd use it, and here it is!

I only used part of the image because I like how he looks peeking up from the bottom of the envelope. I printed him directly on the envelope. Then I colored him with watercolor pencils that I didn't blend overly much because the envelope wasn't doing too well at holding the printer ink without smearing it. There's a hint of pink in his ears that didn't show up in the pic, but it's there. I gave him little freckles with a journaling pen, because, well, I have a thing for freckles. I added some buttons and a little house, since this gift goes towards the fund to bring Eli home. She's probably going to laugh at me for all of this effort on an envelope, but oh, well. She can put it in his baby book and use it to hold special notes or locks of hair, or whatever she chooses.

Now it's time to watch "The Voice." I am so addicted to that show, and it sure as heck doesn't hurt to see the hotness that is Adam Levine, either. Goodnight and as always, thanks for coming by!

Who wants cake?

Yeah, yeah, me too. However, I think if I ate any, my trainer might kick my butt. They had a client appreciation day at the gym the other day. Chick-Fil-A donated some chicken nuggets in their yummy breading. Matt (my trainer) put a sign in front of it that said, "If you train with Matt, TURN AROUND!" It cracked me up. One of the other trainers convinced me to pretend to eat a piece while she pointed to the sign with this shocked look on her face. Good thing for us that Matt has an awesome sense of humor. Now, after that story, we won't tell Matt that I did eat a small piece of carrot cake at a wedding yesterday. I left most of the frosting and just ate the cake-y part. Still bad. The treadmill calls....

And I am digressing again. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm good at that. My mother-in-law's birthday is tomorrow. I can't be there for dinner, cake and ice cream but I am going to drop a card and gift in her mailbox. Here's the card I made:

She loves orange, so I knew that Recollections Neopolitan Collection would be perfect. The image is House Mouse. I love them, especially when they have big, fat, overstuffed bellies. It just makes me smile. I got this one at Hobby Lobby, I think. I used my Creative Memories cutting system to cut the circle around the image, then my cutterbees for a little bit of fussy cutting. The scalloped circle is a Spellbinders die. Let's see, what else? Oh, yeah. The most important part! The copics!!!

Candle: R22, R20, R11 then covered with glossy accents for shine
Mouse: E000, E00, E02, E25, E31
Cake: Y23, Y21, YR0000, then liquid applique for the frosting. It burnt a little under the heat gun, but I think that just makes it look like toasted marshmallow or coconut. At least, I hope so!
Plate: C00, C3, C5

Thanks for popping in!

Moving forward

I've known Heidi since 7th grade. Ok, so that reveals my age when I tell you that was something like 28 years ago. Anyway, Heidi married Steve, had several children and was planning a future when Steve suddenly passed away a few years ago. He died 9 months before Rick, if I remember correctly (although I must admit that my memory of that time is kind of foggy). I am very happy for her that she has since found new love and happiness. I wish them all of the best and it makes my heart glad to see her smile again. Her wedding to Ray is this upcoming weekend, so I set about making them a card.

I colored the image at a crop I attended yesterday, but I was having a hard time determining how to design the card. Enter the wonderful Mojo Monday sketch 257. It is perfect! Here's what the sketch inspired me to do:

Papers are My Mind's Eye Breeze, which I picked up on a shopping trip with my friend Sara back in August. I didn't really like grey and yellow when I first started seeing that color combination, but it has since grown on me and now I'm loving it. Of course, this paper pack helped. :)

I colored the image with copics. My copics were a huge hit at the crop. I have quite a collection and I was sitting right next to the door. It seemed like someone was stopping at my table every 15 minutes or so to comment on the copics and ask what you can do with them. I sent quite a few people to Oozak for some shopping!

Anyway, the image is an Elisabeth Bell from Sweet Pea Stamps. I stamped him in Memento ink on Copic XPress It paper. Colors used:
Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20 (cheeks), then a sepia multiliner pen for his freckles
Hair: E31, E29, E25
Shirt: Y11, Y13, Y15
Hat, Pants, Shoes: N0, N1, N3, N5, N7
Heart: R25, R27, R29, R0000
Grass: YG67, G24
Sky: Very lightly chalked with blue chalk (hard to see in this pic, but it's there, I promise)

This card is for the following challenges:
Sketch 257 at Mojo Monday
Sparkle at Oozak: I used copic spica pens on the image (the airplane on his t-shirt), and added some blingy gems in the upper left above the image and in the heart
Fall colors at One Sweet Challenge and Cute Card Thursday: lots of yellow/gold!

Yeah, I'm a pokebutt for my own challenge

Sorry that my post for Guylou's Inimitability is so late this time around! What makes it even worse is that it's my challenge this time. I think I just need to get back into the groove of creating and posting and all of that hunky dory stuff. I apologize for the delay and promise to try to get my stuff together on time for our next challenge, which will be hosted by my fun teamie, Trina.

While you wait for Trina's challenge, how about taking a shot at mine? The challenge this time around at Guylou's Inimitability is an ABC Primer challenge. Basically, to enter the challenge, make a project with Apple red, Bling, and at least one Charm and post it to Guylou's Inimitability by September 20th. Details on the GI blog.

Guylou, being her usual generous self, is also giving away a freebie for 48 hours! Go check it all out at the site. Come on, do it.

Oh, wait. Are you waiting for me to actually post my card? Ok, here goes:

I used Leah because she is one of my favorite characters. I just love her sweet face, I think. As always, thanks for stopping by!

Oops, sorry!

If you're here looking for my Guylou's Inimitability project, I'm sorry about that. I forgot to post it last night and I don't have the image saved here at work. I'll come back to my blog later tonight, after I get home from errands and the gym. Please come back this weekend and check it out!

Missing the little guy already

As I mentioned in my last post, two of my aunts lost their furbabies in the last 10 days or so. This past Friday, my Aunt Connie lost her rescue dog, Tigger. He picked her. Literally. He was running up and down the road. A bunch of cars stopped to try to catch him so he didn't get hit. When my aunt opened her car door, he hopped right in and jumped into her lap before she even had a chance to exit the car. She did everything the state required to find his owner, but no one came forward. When he found her, Tigger was in a mess: he was underweight and extremely dirty. She took him to the vet for a check-up, where more than half of his teeth had to be removed. He was a bit food aggressive, but otherwise, one of the sweetest dogs you'd ever want to meet. He went on vacations with my aunt and uncle. In fact, the pic on the card is from a vacation we took to Myrtle Beach. Tigger lived with my aunt, uncle, and grandma for several years before his passing. I miss the little guy already! He had this way of prancing that cracked me up.

This is the card I made for my aunt. And before anyone says it, yes, Tigger was a boy. But pink is my aunt's fave color, and Tigger had a pink towel that he snuggled in. Anyway, I printed a pic of Tigger on linen canvas from CTMH. The background is a doily I got in a lot on ebay. I scrunched up some lace kindly given to me by a friend's mother-in-law, added a button and a prima flower, matted some cardstock and tied twine around it (you can just see a bit of it in the bottom left corner), wrote a note inside, and it's ready to find its way into the mail.

Whoa, that was a heck of a hiatus

Sorry about that. Not that anyone noticed! LOL. I haven't been creating at all. Tonight was the first night that I plopped my fluffy butt at my scrap desk in ages. Unfortunately, it wasn't to make a fun, happy card. Two of my aunts lost their dogs in the last week and a half. First, my Aunt Fleabites' dog Bear died from lung cancer. Then my Aunt Connie's dog Tigger's kidneys failed and she had to make the tough decision to put him down on Friday. I know from personal experience how hard it is to lose our children in the fur coats. I still miss my cat Boo (a.k.a. Wolhemina Pretty Face - don't ask), even though she's been gone since 2006. Anyway, I wanted to send cards to both of them, to let them know I was thinking of them and sending them a hug.

This is the first card, for my Aunt Freda (Fleabites).

Papers are Memory Box "Minuet". Image is a Magnolia stamp, stamped in black Memento ink on Cryogen and colored with copics. The ribbon is just some stuff I got at Michael's. I used baby blue liquid pearls because I couldn't find any light blue pearls in my stash (I know, surprising, right? Especially given that I have a HUGE stash).

For once, I didn't use an image I had precolored, so I can tell you the copics I used. Here goes:
Skin: E11, E00, E000, R20 for cheeks
Hair and puppy: E25, E31, E50
Shirt: Y15, Y11, Y000, RV23, RV21, RV000
Jumper: G24, G21, YG11
Shoes: E25, E23, E31

Now I have to make a card for my other aunt. I'm trying to decide if I want to use a stamp or a really cute pic I have of her dog.

I hope it doesn't take me forever to post again. I've got a crop next weekend, plus some events coming up for which I'll need cards, so you might actually see me again before too long!