Drop and run!

Look, here are those two cards I made earlier, that I told you about in my last (very short) post. I know, I know....just say it...FINALLY.

This first one was for a wonderful friend's amazing daughter, for her birthday.

This is such a cute Maggie. I don't own her, unfortunately. I got her in a card kit swap through the Magnolia-Licious group on Yahoo. I colored her up with my copics and used this adorable lady bug die cut (also in the card kit). I added my own ladybug button from my stash. I wrote a note to Kyra in the card and sent her birthday present off in good faith that our USPS would deliver it. Alas, they did not. The package has been lost for over a month now. Sigh...

 

Anyway, this second card went to my gram following a surgical procedure that kept her in the hospital for a few days. She may be in her 80's, but she's strong and stubborn, so now she's home and recovering with aplomb. Purple is her favorite color, and she likes feminine touches, flowers, and birds. This is another image that I don't own and was supplied to me in a card kit. She was so much fun to color, though, that I might have to hit Diana's store.

 I've gotten a bit closer to making more cards than just these two. I've colored some images and signed up for a crop in November. Yeah, I haven't gotten much further than that. Baby steps, right? Christmas is fast approaching, though, and I've got to make a few cards for those people that won't ever shut up if I don't. LOL. Thanks for stopping by and I'll just hope to have more to show you in the upcoming weeks.

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

TAG, you're it!

It's time for another challenge at Guylou's Inimitability. This one's easy peasy for most, but not so much for me. All you gotta do is make a tag. That's all. For some reason, this teeny, tiny task always gets blown out of proportion for me. I just have a hard time making them. This time, though, everything seemed to come together. I picked my image, found some fabric and fun embellishments, and broke out my new distress markers to color. They will definitely take some practice!!! I'm so used to copics, and these are a whole different animal altogether. Anyway, here's what I've got:

I used Nounours, printed him on watercolor paper, colored with distress markers, and added glossy accents to his nose and eyes. The tag was cut with a Magnolia doohickey die. Fabric is from my stash. The button ringed in brown is an antique one that I got in a lot in Gettysburg. For once, that's all I've got to say. I know, you are not used to short posts from me, are you? Now it's your turn. Go make a tag and post it to Guylou's Inimitability. Details are on the blog.

I'd like to enter this card in the Cutie Pie Challenge Blog to use punches or die cuts. The tag itself is a die from Magnolia. The key printed tissue paper behind the bear was punched with a Creative Memories square stamp-looking punch. I can't remember what it's called; I've had it for what seems like a gazillion years!

Go ahead, it's okay! Clutch your pearls!!!

It's time for another challenge at Guylou's Inimitability. This time around, we WANT you to clutch your pearls. Yeah, I know, it's often a derogatory term to call someone a "pearl clutcher." In this case, though, we will applaud you for it. My dear friend Brenda is hosting our challenge and she wants us to make a project using lace, and...you guessed it...pearls! Now, we're calling this a "girly girl" kind of challenge, but only because it involves pearls and lace. You don't have to make a feminine card. In fact, I challenge you to think outside the box.

Here's my example:

As you can see, I used both lace and pearls, but my card is not about being girlie. It's a bit early, but Merry Christmas! LOL. I keep thinking to myself that if I can make a few Christmas cards per month, I might actually have enough made by December to actually send them this year. We'll see.

My card uses one of Guylou's wreaths that I cut with a spellbinders circle die, then added another spellbinders die behind it. I colored the image with watercolor pencils, so the leaves are a very light green. Then I used liquid pearls to make the berries. I used my copic opaque paint a bit liberally on this card, too. It has a bit of a vintage feel, I think.

Now it's your turn. Go ahead, clutch your pearls! Upload your project to Guylou's Inimitability by March 1 at 10 pm EST. See the GI blog for details on prizes and rules.