Teensy weensy

It's me again. Check it out...two posts in less than a month. I'm getting back to this blogging thing. Don't fall over from the shock of it or anything.

CC Designs was having a challenge in their Facebook group to make twinchies. I confess, I had no flipping idea what in the heck a "twinchie" could be. My brain automatically went to food. I don't like twinkies, so my initial reaction was not a good one (sorry, Christine). However, I was also intrigued. I love to learn and discover new things. One of the DT had posted their card as an example, but let's be honest: unless there's a ruler involved, it's hard to tell scale from a photo. But....Google is my friend. Google had an answer, as usual.

In case you are woefully uninformed like me, a twinchie is a 2x2 card. That's two inches by two inches, folks! That is one TINY card. I've made 4x4 cards before, but never a teensy weensy 2x2 card. I confess that I was flummoxed. I started going through my images in Evernote, trying to figure out which one I wanted to use. Then...DUH...it smacked me upside the head. I had the cute little turtle I'd colored when making my last card (see previous blog post). Then I didn't use him, and he was sad and alone.

Now he's happy and having fun on a twinchie, with a bunch of dies and some bubbles. Look at him, he's practically dancing!

See what I mean about scale? No way you can tell this little dude is on a 2x2 card. I've figured out a way I'm going to use this whole twinchie on a bigger card and share him with a friend, though. As always, thanks for stopping by.

I'm so excited...

...and I just can't hide it (and now the song will be stuck in my head all day. Not sure I did myself any favors there).

CC Designs is having a DT call. I love their stamps and dies! Love, love, love them. They're too cute and so much fun to color. I could have applied when the call was first opened about two weeks ago, but I had to make another card. I couldn't just use "old" cards from ages ago, could I?

Turns out, I ended up making TWO cards, although the first one was actually in process when the call came out. She's for a friend who loves mermaids. This is one of my absolute favorite sets from CC Designs, and also one of the first I ever purchased. It's called Under the Sea and you can find it here. Anyway, let's get to the card, shall we?

 I went on layering and die cut overload, but I so love when I get to do that. Lots of dies, alcohol inks, beads, embellishments! So much fun to make!

I recently purchased the adorable Puppy Power set and Puppy Accessories Dies. I really wanted to play with them, and I've been seeing these great inside shadow box cards, so I decided to try to make one. There's some trial and error involved there, but overall, it was much easier than I thought it would be. The problem? There are too many cute puppies. I couldn't decide which to use! lol. I finally came up with this card front:

  

And this fun interior/inside:





 

Then this guy happened, because I couldn't stop once I started playing with them. I find CAS to be an art form that I have a difficult time mastering, but I like to try on occasion. He's got a big shadow around him because he's on an action wobbler. I've got another card to send to the team for consideration, too, but I think I've gone picture happy enough for now. Thanks for looking and have a fabulous, crafty day!

 

 

Christmas with Mari Ko creations and more

It's official. I'm terrible about this Christmas card thing. Every year, I buy more stamps; I buy more stamps than I could possibly use on several years' worth of Christmas cards. I buy paper. I buy embellishments. I plan cards. I make lists of where I'll send them. I color images (or at least stamp them off). That, my friends, is where it stops. If I get ten cards together, I'm lucky. I don't know what's happening with me. Maybe it's the holiday hubbub and getting caught up in other stuff. This year, I could even use the excuse that the need for sympathy cards jumped to the top of the list (unfortunately). It's just an excuse, though. I need to admit it. Here. Publicly. I am terrible about the Christmas card thing. I wholeheartedly suck at it.

That being said, I did manage a few this year. I joined a few swaps and a card was a requirement, so I knocked some out for that. I also wanted to play with my box card die from Lawn Fawn. I needed to make some cards for the Mari Ko DT (always fun to do). Every single image I used on the below cards was new to me this year. I have images from last year (and years prior) that I have yet to use, but everyone needs something new, right? lol

Here goes:

Let's start with this little guy because...Oh my. How stinkin' cute. This is an adorable little Unicorn from Mari Ko creations. You can find her right here. I colored her up with copics, adding Journey Glaze to her eyes and the lights. I did the background with Distress Inks (I need more oxides. It's a NEED, I tell you!). I wanted to keep her kind of simple. I think I managed that, although it's difficult for me.

While working with Mari Ko's images already, I decided I just had to throw another one into the mix.

The front closes so it looks like an iphone case. lol. Again, rather simple but hopefully effective and fun for the recipient.

I placed an order with CC Designs this year. They have some of my favorite images right now. Beyond precious stuff over there. Go see here.

This one was for one of my secret sister swaps. I wanted to make a little snow scene like these cuties were playing in the snow together. They were so easy to color and I love their little frolicking selves. What's not to love about them? You know you need them. They have so many cute Christmas images over there. I might have bought a few more (or maybe more than a few).











Then I had another secret sister. She's big into camping. I mean, loves it! I didn't have any camping stamps. At first, nothing grabbed me when I hit the great and powerful Google. And then....

Come on! Look at him!!!! He's roasting marshmallows with his own fire. It's no secret that I love cutesy dragon images. I have loved dragons since I was young (I'm going to digress here, but hello, Game of Thrones and dragon awesomeness). I pulled out some pink and green Christmas paper and embellies, and went to town with him. I just love him! He is calling to me to try a black or purple dragon. Maybe dark grey with purple stripes?!?! My brother's birthday is on Jan 3. He is also a huge dragon fan. Hmmmmmm.....





And finally, I pulled out my Lawn Fawn scalloped box die. I am so in love with it that I haven't even used my magic slider or shadow box dies yet. They're calling out to me from their packages! I made four of these guys, just moving the characters around a bit. They are from a set at Simon Says Stamp. Take a peek:

If you read through this whole long post, I am impressed and appreciative. Thank you so much for taking the time. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays! I hope your days are full of love, family, friends and laughter. Oh, and crafty goodness!!! Yay for crafty goodness!!!!

Seas the Day

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. I normally spend Easter Sunday at my aunt's house, then rush over to my inlaws' for dinner. Unfortunately, my aunt was not able to host this year due to multiple circumstances beyond her control. I was pretty disappointed, but totally understood her dilemma. I decided to turn the day into something good, which means I slept in, lazed around a bit, and did some crafting.

I have awesome friends who remind me in many ways of how amazing and thoughtful they are. My friend Sara is one of those. For my birthday, she gifted me with two stamps that I really wanted from a recent release at Whimsy. Shelly is one of those. She just makes me smile, chillin' on the rock with her little turtle friend. I was able to visit Sara a few weeks ago, where I stamped off my new images and colored them up. However, I didn't get the time until yesterday to put her on a card. Check her out:

Isn't she precious? As usual, she's stamped with Memento Ink on XPress It paper, then colored with copics. Patterned papers are a mix of American Crafts and Simple Stories. The cardstock is Bazzill. Sentiments are from CC Designs and Whimsy. I also used multiple dies on this card, some magic mesh, ribbon from my stash, and cheesecloth.  

Here's a close-up of the image, because she's just too cute:

I added bling to her hair and fins, glossy accents to the turtle shell, and liquid pearls to her hair and the rock. I also threw on a few adhesive pearls and used a sharpie pen on their cheeks.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Pretty Little Ribbon - spring is in the air (to me, this image says warm weather and I hope the colors make you think of spring)
Cutie Pie Challenge Blog - Favorite Film (I love anything by Disney, so the Little Mermaid it is!)
Simon Says - Anything Goes
Sweet Stampin' - Go Girly


As always, thanks for stopping by! Happy spring!

Hugs for my friend

I'm scheduling this post to show up on Saturday evening, so let's hope it works! Blogger hasn't really been showing me much love lately, so I have my concerns.

Anyway, I'm off to go see my friend Sara this weekend. I was in the mood to play with an image I colored a while ago and when I found this sentiment in my stash, it just seemed perfect to go with her. What do you think?

This is one of those instances where I can't share the copic colors with you, because I colored this cutie from CC Designs over a year ago. Sorry about that! It's also one of those cases where I threw everything but the kitchen sink at the card and just decided to see what looked right enough to stick it down. Who am I kidding? That's my usual tendency! It's how my craft room ends up being such a hot mess after I make one lousy card!!!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a fabulous weekend!!!