Daily artwork post

I hope you're enjoying all the artwork posts this week. Don't get too used to it - I am just celebrating my birthday week with you all. Don't you celebrate for a whole week when it's your birthday? If not, you definitely should!

And be sure to tune in tomorrow when I announce a birthday give-away! It's my birthday but I'm giving away the presents!

Ok on to today's creation:

Just a simple, sweet card featuring the lovely Miss Anya (from The Greeting Farm) sitting along the edge of the die cut mat. DP is from Basic Grey. Wrinkle ribbon was tied along the edges and a couple of pearls were added for embellishments.

I'm still boring everyone with my life story over at Ridiculous Lab. Not to worry, that will end tomorrow too :)

Thanks for visiting and I'll see you back here tomorrow!

DT Search - Paper Romance

Paper Romance is hosting a DT search and I am throwing my hat in the ring!

One of the samples I sent with my application is the following creation that is one of my all-time favorites so I am revisiting it with you today on the old blog-a-roo!

This was such a fun project to put together as a little back to school gift for a very special girl. The papers are all from PaperTrey Ink and Dressy Anya is from The Greeting Farm. The tote template itself is also from PaperTrey Ink (Lauren Meader). Here's a close-up of that cutie, Anya:

Want to see everything I packed inside the tote? Take a look:

A mini spiral notebook, a mini composition book, a dozen + crayons, some little pencils- what little girl wouldn't love to carry this along with her to school? Or use at home while playing "school"? Did you do that when you were a kid? My friends and I always played school - so much so that I was sure I would eventually be a teacher someday!

So that's a little look back  - I hope you enjoyed it! And stay tuned for a new creation on Friday! Until then, have a creative day!

Color Challenge with Die Cuts R Us

Today I am playing along with the Die Cuts R Us color challenge. The challenge was to use their logo and the colors represented in it.

Isn't that cute? And the colors are some of my favorites!!! So I picked up the green, aqua and bright pink and added a dark haired beauty from The Greeting Farm for my entry:

(Click the picture for a larger view). This is one of the Anya's from the Miss Anya Love Collection (available at Die Cuts R Us). I think she is a cutie and has a lot of attitude - in a shy, quiet way. I colored her with Copics using the challenge colors - the only one missing was the purple and I colored the center of her heart pendant in purple. A little sparkle pen highlights her boots and necklace and the pink mat is studded with tiny aqua/turquoise rhinestones. You can see a little cluster of the same rhinestones on the Prima flower embellishment on this gorgeous DP.

I will be taking a little break from stamping this week as I will be playing nursemaid to my husband as he recovers from surgery tomorrow but I have posts ready to go so there will still be some inspiration for you to enjoy over the next few days. Have a wonderful week everyone and I will check in again soon!

"Up" Movie card for Corrosive Challenges

EDIT: The post at Corrosive Challlenges for this week's challenge will be up later today - sorry for the delay!
This week at Corrosive Challenges, we are challenging you to make a card inspired by a movie. I decided to go with the movie "Up" as I had the perfect stamp to use from The Greeting Farm - here it is:

I love this card and while it looks like a lot was involved, it was so easy! The paper is from Prima and had all of the stitching already on it - dreamy! I trimmed it to the size of the card front and then stamped my balloon image with brown Memento ink. I stamped it a second time on cream cardstock, colored it and cut out the balloon portion and the basket. The basket was simply adhered but the balloon was added with foam tape.

Then to make the tiny bows on the balloon's tail, I used embroidery floss, as ribbon would have been too wide. So the Big Idea for the week is to try floss for teeny, tiny bows...these worked perfectly!

I hope you'll play along with us this week! Just look through your stamps and you'll be surprised how many different movies you might "see"....then create your card and post it online (at your blog or other online gallery), then come over to Corrosive Challenges and leave a link so we can see what you created! Oh, and be sure to see what the rest of the team created with a movie theme!

I am hoping to get a couple more closets cleaned out today (I spent the day yesterday raking and putting up our outdoor lights). Then some regular cleaning and the house might be in shape for Thanksgiving dinner! Have a great day today, however you spend it!

Fangtastic!

* This is my second post for the day so be sure to scroll down for another cute sneak peek of a new Sherrod Studio stamp set!

This card was created based on a sketch from Lauren Meader and was to incorporate a frame. So here's my attempt:



Isn't he spooktacular? To create his frame, I first stamped the black cardstock with a spider web and white ink and allowed that to dry. Then I tore sections from the center out, removing some of the cardstock and curling other portions to create a frame.

My vampire, from The Greeting Farm, was stamped with Memento black ink and colored with Copics. He is stamped on Soft Stone cardstock from PTI and so, since he's a vampire and all, I didn't color his skin so he would remain gray looking. The card was all assembled, sentiment added and Dew Drops in place for a little subtle bling.

I have more artwork to share with you all weekend so be sure to stop again. Thanks for dropping by and have a fangtastic day!

Take Along Tote for Back to School

I am so happy with the results of this project and I can't wait to share it with you!

I created this for 2 reasons - one is for Lauren Meader's weekly challenge - this time, to use one of her My Timeless Templates.

The other reason I created it is for a submission to The Greeting Farm/Club Anya as part of an application for their next Design Team. I plan on applying every time they have a call - eventually, I'll wear them down and they'll have to take me, right? LOL

Ok here is the Back to School Take Along Tote I created:

I have a few other views so take a look:

From the side

The inside. Look how much I could fit in the pockets! There's a spiral notepad, a mini composition book, crayons and pencils.

And here's a close-up of that sweet Dressy Anya - isn't she just the most adorable gal! I am in LOVE with these stamps - they are just so cute and so much fun to color!

Here's some more details about the tote:

All of the paper is from PaperTrey Ink. I added the red color to the floral DP with a Copic pen. I also cut the tote pattern down a little so it is a little smaller than the actual pattern. The ribbon is from PTI also. It was very easy to follow the direction to assemble the tote and I just love the results!

So that's my Friday Feature - I hope you liked it! I am off to watch a movie with hubby (our son is off with our daughter for the night - a rare treat). Have a great weekend and be sure to check back on Sunday for more artwork!

MyGrafico, TGF Halloween goodness and Taylor's sketch

Unfortunately, the MyGrafico servers are not back up yet so there is no Monday challenge this week. I have artwork to share as soon as they are back to normal though so stay tuned!

What I do have to share is some drop-dead cuteness from The Greeting Farm! Now let me first say, I am not much of a Halloween person. Here's why...1st, my children are grown, they don't trick or treat any more. Jacob (my youngest) never liked trick or treating anyhow as it isn't much fun in wheelchair, not being able to get on people's porches, out in the cold (usually) or rain (quite often) and then getting home to find half the candy is stuff you don't like! Plus he's pretty jumpy and scares easily so it's not his holiday.

2nd, where we now live, we get very few trick or treaters - maybe 50 or so. Big deal. Not as much fun as getting bunches of kids.

3rd, I always buy too much candy that we get stuck with and I have to eat up. Oh wait, that's what I LIKE about Halloween....

Anyhow, I saw these Halloween stamps from The Greeting Farm and I just HAD to have them because, as I said before, they are drop-dead CUTE! So here's my 1st 2 cards created with this new set called Spooktacular, which is what they really are:



This background image was stamped a few years ago but I never used it on a card (not sure why). But when I saw this cutie-patootie witch, I knew she had to go with this background. She is cut out and added to the card with foam tape.



This card was based on Taylor's weekly sketch and features the Bride of Frankenstein. I mean, how adorable is she?? I stamped her on Stone cardstock from PaperTrey Ink and colored her with Copics. I also added a little Stickles to her hair for a touch of glamour. She is then cut with Nestabilities Labels 4 *(as is the saying) and both pieces are then mounted to oval cut pieces of black cardstock. The DP is also from PaperTrey Ink and while it is Halloweeny colors of orange and purple, it is softer than what you would normally see and I think that really emphasizes the image. A couple of Dew Drops finish off the card spooktacularly!

So we made it through the 1st day back to school and all went well. Yeah. It's gonna take me a week to get back in the swing of a routine with Jake but, why am I telling you? I'm sure you know EXACTLY how it feels. Good luck to everyone going back to school!

Until next time - have a creative day!

Your Next Stamp 1st Design Team Call

I am excited to find a great new stamp line at Your Next Stamp. They have some cute, cute, cute images and I would love an opportunity to be on their Design Team! There's a call open for DT members until August 28th and this is my application. Wish me luck!

I am sharing two cards tonight that exemplify my "style" and creativity. These are a couple of my very favorites and I'll explain why below each photo:

I love this adorable fairy from The Greeting Farm. Not only is it a great image to color but it's also a wonderful image to cut out and layer onto a project! This card incorporates so many fun elements that I love - ribbon, which is one of my favorite embellishments, rhinestones (second only to ribbon!), die cuts, staples and of course, incredible papers!

I adore gorgeous papers and love finding just the right patterns and colors for the image and design that I want to create. Most often, the papers are the first source of inspiration for the piece I will work on.

Don your shades - those are some shiny wings! This card features some more of my favorites: buttons, matting cut with nestabilities, and elements popped up with foam tape - it's all about dimension! Of course, the Ketto image from Stamping Bella is the center of attention on this card! And those wings are sparkled with Stickles. Maybe I'm feeling a fairy vibe here, what do you think?

And just to show that I do stamp things other than fairies, here's a third offering just for fun:

This card is all about the image (although the DP is pretty darn cool!) Granny is all about summer and I can just picture her heading to an umbrella covered beach chair to relax and read a book. I love the embossed border on this card that creates a grounding line for the image and the brads that are incorporated into the paper, adding some dimension without being over-done.

So that's a quick look at a few of my favorites! Thanks for visiting and please leave me a comment and let me know which one you like best.

Have a creative weekend!