I'm twisted!!!

As if you didn't know that already, huh? It's okay; I embrace my neuroses. I'm in my own little world, but they know me here and it's all good. Anyway, it's time for another challenge at Guylou's. It's time for a twisted Christmas, courtesy of our host and awesome illustrator (as well as my good friend), Guylou. The twist? Make a Christmas card using non-traditional Christmas colors.

When I think of "traditional" Christmas colors, I think of reds and greens, even silver and gold. I don't tend to associate brown with Christmas, so when I found this brown paper in my stash, it called to me for this challenge. And what looks better in brown than puppy fur? Heck, who doesn't love a cute little puppy? Check it out:

I colored the image with copics. The fur is E51, 53, 55, and 57. The bow is B91, 93, 95, and 97. Then I grounded him with some greys. I am trying to make some cards that are flat and won't cost extra shipping. Everyone knows how hard that is for me, the embellie-happy queen. (Ok, so the title a friend gave me was actually "the embellishment queen", but in true embellishment-loving fashion, I...well...embellished it).

Now it's your turn to be twisted! Post your card to Guylou's Inimitability for your chance to win a $10 gift card to her store (so you can get your own cute puppy) as well as a chance to be a guest DT on a future challenge. And while you're add it, check out the blogs of my fellow DT members. There's some fabulous, inspiring work to be found!

Veteran's Day RAK

It's Sunday and it's Veteran's Day here in the US, when we honor all of our military, past and present, for their dedication, commitment, courage and sacrifice. As you all know, I like to support military causes. Today, I finished packing up my care package for my soldier and yesterday, I ordered some girl scout cookies that I'm going to send out his way, too. Who doesn't love Girl Scout cookies? Tell me something you have done for our military in the last few months. I don't just mean sending cards or care packages (although that's awesome, too), I also mean any kind of support - are you a military mom, aunt, grandma, dad or grandpa? Did you verbally thank a soldier that you saw in the mall? Did you hug a soldier's family member or listen while they vented their fears? Are you a soldier yourself? Tell me what you did for a soldier and I'm going to randomly draw a special RAK for one lucky person on Saturday, November 17th at 8:00 pm. No need to be a follower of my blog, although that's nice. No need to post anything on your sidebar. No need to have a blog of your own. Just post a comment about how you support our military (include your email, so I can contact you if you win). Anyone who knows me knows that my RAKs aren't small. I like to shop and the scrapbook store down the street is having a killer sale...

***okay, ladies! The winner is Kim!!! I will be sending you the RAK within the next few days, I hope. Roxann, Tracy, and Trina, there might be a little something coming your way, too (although Kim wins the larger RAK, I wanted to show my appreciation to you guys, as well)***

Always so thankful...

...for our troops! On Veteran's Day, I was putting the finishing touches on my care package for my adopted soldier. I needed a card to send, as well. I'm so thankful to our troops for all that they do for us, plus his care package should get there right around Thanksgiving, so a thank you card seemed very appropriate. Luckily for me, Carla is challenging us to make a thank you card for this fortnight's challenge at Guylou's. I love when things fall into place like that.

Every once in a great while, I get the chance to search out some blogs that are new to me. I love to learn from and be inspired by other people. This time, I lucked upon Mariska's blog. Talk about some serious talent. She does this really cool technique where she paper pieces and layers different parts of a stamped image for this awesome 3D effect. I decided to try it, but I don't have the patience she has. She cuts each and every tiny piece and layers it. I mean, every tiny piece! For the image I chose, she would have probably cut the hat band, collar, and arms into separate pieces. Yeah, not happening in my house. I've got patience, but not that much. LOL. So, I left the hat as one big piece. I kept the two arms together rather than separating them, etc. I still think it turned out pretty cool, though. If you want to try it, she has videos on youtube giving step-by-step instructions.

It was a really fun technique to try, too. I didn't have the kind of glue she uses, so I used my always faithful KI Gloo. I think I need something a bit thicker and less runny, though. Maybe I just need more practice (that is the most likely explanation).

Here is a side view, to show you a bit better about how many layers there are:

 

So, the arms are a bit lower than the shirt, which is layer lower than the hat, with the face and hair on the uppermost layer. I tried to puff up each piece like she does, but it doesn't show as well in my pic; I think I needed to go over the pieces a bit harder before gluing them down next time. Anyway, this little guy is Dominique from Guylou's Inimitability digi shop. He's also the mascot for her store. I love how he can be placed on top of things, to look like he's leaning on them with his folder arms. Now it's your turn to show us a project to share your thanks! You have until November 29th to enter to win a gift card to G's store. While you're at it, don't forget to enter my Veteran's Day RAK. If you've done something good for a soldier, just leave me a comment with your email by Saturday, November 17th, telling me about it and you'll be entered to win my RAK.

Hearty Thanksgiving

I planned to spend a good bit of today creating more Christmas cards. Well, the best laid plans and all of that...

What I am getting at is that it didn't happen. Instead, I spent a bunch of time stamping off my loose sentiments so that I could put them in a binder and thereby, see what I have more easily (rather than having to root through a pile of stamps each time to jog my memory). While doing so, I came across this "so thankful" stamp. My aunt hosts Thanksgiving at her house each year, and it is customary that I bring her a hostess gift. I decided to make her a quick and simple card to go along with this gift.

This stamp is another Elisabeth Bell image, this time from Belles n' Whistles, and it's called "Hearty Thanksgiving". I have so many Elisabeth Bell stamps, I could probably make cards with them every night of several weeks. I happened to color this one up so long ago (probably over a year!). It just seemed to fit the purpose I wanted so well that even though the coloring is not up to snuff, the image is so cute it carries it off, anyway. I added some flower soft for more texture.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Elphine House: fall colors with Elisabeth Bell image

Paper Play: thanks a bunch

Merry, Bright, Green, Pink and White

A friend of mine was supposed to come over today and make some Christmas cards. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to make it. However, just the thought of crafting got me impatient to work on some Christmas cards again. So, I sat around last night and colored up one of my adorable Sweet Pea images. This one is from the very talented Elisabeth Bell. What do you think?

I think she's so cute with her little pom poms on her tiny boots. Apparently, my cat Athena thinks she's cute, too, because she is sitting right next to the card, purring away. This might mean a few typos here and there, as she tries to get my attention so I'll put her opinions on my blog post here. Sorry about that. She's a chatty thing who likes to express herself in the loudest way possible.

Anyway, I colored this cutie with my copics, using my favorite pinks: R85, 83, 81. I used my new snow marker that I got at the stamp show a bit ago. It isn't quite as thick and puffy as liquid applique. It comes out much thinner and much faster. Thank goodness I started with the snow on the ground, not any of the smaller spots like her earmuffs! I chalked in some clouds, then added some clear glitter around the edges. I colored the holly berries and her heart locket with a red spica, then added clear glitter overtop. The large snowflake is from a pack of them that I on clearance last year at Target, with hopes that I could figure out a use for them on my cards. It's hard to tell, but the snowflake is covered in glitter. The lace is from my friend Sara's mother-in-law. The card still looked rather plain, so I tossed on some pink rhinestones and some cute little buttons. I think it's done. One more Christmas card down; I'm scared to count how many more to go!

 

This card is for the following challenges:

Oozak: winter

Elisabeth Bell's World: glimmer, shimmer and shine

That tickles!!!

Happy Friday, everybody. Let me tell you, after the stress of Hurricane Sandy and then rushing to get a grant submitted at work this week, I am really ready for the weekend. I am beat! What I am feeling is nothing compared to what the people in NY and NJ are going through, though. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

I'm digressing again. Let me get to the point of this post. You know that's hard for me. LOL. Anyway, it's time for another challenge at Guylou's. This time around, Roxann challenged us to make things a bit tickly by putting a feather on our projects. Well, I bought a bag of feathers from AC Moore ages ago. I cannot find that sucker to save my life. What I could find, though, was this tiny wreath that I paid a whopping two bucks for about 2-3 years ago. One of the store owners in Gettysburg has a corner where she allows her young grandchild to sell things and make her own money. I bought the little wreath thinking maybe I could pull the feathers off and use them. Lo and behold, I finally tried it!

Unfortunately, I had a hard time deciding how to use it. I am in full-on Christmas card-making mode. It took me a while, but I finally figured out how to incorporate a feather onto a Christmas card. What do you think?

I paper pieced the image, using metallic blue paper that I then added some stickles to. The little mouse is colored with copics. I used a Magnolia corner stamp on the sentiment border area, and made little rosebud out of felt.

Now it's your turn. Upload your project to Guylou's (details on the blog. Get over there and check it out!) Tickle, tickle, tickle!