Whimsy DT Application for March

So, as you can see, I decided to keep this title free of puns or otherwise potentially confusing wording. For once, my title is very cut-and-dried, can't-miss-what-I-mean. I didn't want anyone on the Whimsy Team to miss it. :)

If you can't guess from the straightforward title (I know, it's confusing because I'm just not usually so...well...dry with my titles, unless we're discussing dry humor), I am applying to be on the Whimsy DT as a guest designer for March.

I've been a fan of Whimsy Stamps for a while. I love the fact that you can find so many things there, from beautiful digi papers, to adorable and fun stamps in both rubber and digi to shaped sentiments with special dies just to cut them out. How cool is that, and so super easy, too? They even have personalized stamps, as I know because I just got one. LOVE! I used it for the first time on the back of my card below. I think it was appropriate to break it in with a Whimsy image, don't you?

So, this is my brand spankin' new card that I just made tonight, with this DT call and my friend Barb in mind. This sweet girl is from Elisabeth Bell's Cottage Cuties collection and her name is SkippyDee. We can't forget her furry little friend, too. That's Bella. I'm a cat person, so I love when Elisabeth puts Bella with her images.

The design is based on sketch #54 at CLP Challenge Blog. Papers are Prima Songbird that I distressed and inked. Embellishments from my stash. I colored SkippyDee and Bella with copics. Here goes with the colors (I tend to use a lot, so this could take a while):

Skin: E11, E00, E000 and R20 for the cheeks

Hair: E25, E31, E50

Hat: E40, E41, E42

Scarf: R20, R21, R22 and a green spica pen for the polka dots

Shirt: G20, G21, G24 (it's a lot more muted than it looks like in this pic)

Pants: E41, E42, E44

Bella: Y28 (bell), C1, C3, C5

Log: E23, E57, E59

 

I think it would be so much fun to participate as a guest DT for the March new release. Not only because I'd get to work alongside some amazing artists (truth, not brown-nosing, just so you know), but let's be honest - I'd get a huge kick out of being one of the first to see the new products. Don't fib; you know you'd want to have that honor, too. Plus, their products always inspire me to create. I wasn't much good at work today; I kept picturing cards to make in my head. Good thing it was a slow Friday.

 

Just in case my new card doesn't showcase enough of my crafting style for the DT to make a decision, here are two of my older creations:



I recently purchased some Sylvia Zet stamps, too, and hope to create with those later this weekend, so keep your eyes peeled!

Pssssstttt....Whimsy Team, March is my birthday month. Don't you think it'd be a great gift to let me design for your team? Not that there's any pressure or guilt tripping going on or anything. Really.

My first card is also for the following challenges:
CLP: sketch 54
Elphine House: vintage
Elisabeth Bell's World: vintage Valentine

Deja Vu all over again

In the last few months, I was in Toys-R-Us way too many times to count, purchasing gifts for various children. I was taken by surprise with all of the toys that have been re-released from my childhood, like the Smurfs, Holly Hobbie, and Strawberry Shortcake. It was strange to see my old friends again, but fun at the same time. It sure brought back lots of memories, like the ones of playing records on my big record player. You know the kind that was in a suitcase sort of configuration, with a handle for carrying? My parents covered mine with Holly Hobbie paper for me. Yeah, I was spoiled like that. I also had tons of dolls representing all manner of shows like the Smurfs and Strawberry Shortcake. My dear friend Sara's twins love Strawberry Shortcake and have a movie called "Strawberry Shortcake: Adventures on Ice Cream Island." I decided to use this movie as my inspiration for a card to enter in Saturated Canary's challenge #34: Movie Inspiration.

I have several of Krista's images. They are so cute and fun. I chose to use free hugs, simply because I needed a birthday card for my wonderful friend Tracy, and she will laugh because she knows how I am about hugs. As mentioned in a prior post, I'm a grab 'em and go girl. If you get an extended (or better yet - unsolicited AND extended) hug from me, you'd better recognize that you are damned special. Tracy will get lots of them if I ever get my butt down to Texas to see her!

I used a lot of orange because it's a favorite color of Tracy's. To bring in the ice cream inspiration, I added ice cream patterned paper, sherbet colors, and a little ice cream sundae button. This darling image was colored in copics, with some glossy accents added to her eyes and lips for shine. Paper is Recollections "Neopolitan" collection. Tag is a die from Magnolia. The tulle was actually a gift from Tracy at one point in time, so I figured it'd be appropriate to use on her card. Plus, the glitter adds a festive touch, don't you think?

Happy birthday to my friend Tracy! Love you, girl!

P.S. Many, many thanks to Sara for having me at her house once again, and providing her valuable input and advice regarding coloring. It's so much fun to color with someone else and bounce ideas off of them, especially when that person is Sara!

Supporting our Soldiers

I joined Soldier's Angels a while ago, because I believe that supporting the men and women who sacrifice for us every day is a wonderful cause and something we should all do. It really helps boost the morale of our troops when they are reminded that those of us back home are thinking of them, thankful for all that they do, and will always wish for their continued safety.

I am on my third "adopted" soldier. That's nothing compared to my soldier's "third": Paul is on his third deployment in the last six years. I've been sending him care packages but he only recently revealed that his birthday was back in December. I decided to make him a card and send him an extra-big care package this month. I've been wanting to try a tutorial by Sandy Allnock of Operation Write Home (another awesome cause to help support our troops). She has a great video on her blog showing how to color camo. You can check it out here. It was a lot easier than I expected, although I definitely need practice.

The image is "soldier Ian" by the Greeting Farm. Isn't he precious? He's colored with copics. For exact colors, watch Sandy's video. My memory for that stuff sucks! I did deviate from her tutorial on the skin colors, though. His skin is not as well shaded as I'd like, because my skin tone E's are getting dry and I don't have refills for two of them. Time to place another order with Oozak! The buttons are ones that I was gifted at a recent crop. Papers are the Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby.

Thanks for looking, leaving any comments, and hopefully, for taking a minute to do something for our amazing military. Links in my sidebar to both Soldier's Angels and Operation Write Home (hint, hint, shove, shove).

Shoot. I almost forgot. The card is based on this week's sketch at Mojo Monday. It's sketch 276. It is also for the Farm Fresh Friday challenge to Punch It! I used two spellbinders dies around the image, then a corner punch for the little photo corners.

There's no place like gnome!!

(Sorry for the lateness of this post. I had issues with blogger today).

It's time for another challenge at Guylou's! G has challenged us to add spots/dots to our projects this time around. That's an easy one, since I love polka dots. The hard part was picking the paper to use, because I've got lots of polka dotted paper. I let the image inspire me, which helped. I have a love of cutesy gnomes. Not so much that I actually have any of the little guys at my house, but enough that every little gnome embellishment comes home with me and I smile at every gnome-laden card I see on blogs and in online galleries. For some reason, G's new image of this little house just reminded me of a gnome's cottage. I decided to paper piece the heck out of it to make it even more gnome-friendly. Check it out:

As previously stated (that sounds so pompous, doesn't it? But once again, I digress...), I paper pieced the house. I popped up the windows and door for dimension, added flower soft on the windowsills, and used some stickers from Barnes and Noble. I have entirely too many stickers left in my stash, and just when I thought I had weeded them all out, too! Anyway, the sentiment is from Stampin' Up. The doily came in a pack of 500 that I got on ebay. Okay, it was probably closer to 100, but the stack was so high it looked more like 500. I always sucked at those "how many gumballs are in the jar" games.

Now it's your turn to play with some spots. Enter your project at Guylou's for the chance to win a gift card to her store and be a guest designer on a future challenge. You can also head by the store to pick up this cute little house as a freebie! How cool is that? Go on. Get over there. Go! Go! Go! (Yeah, I know I'm bossy. And when I forget, my baby brother reminds me).