Ugly Christmas Sweater..52CCT March 2014 Color Challenge

Hi friends thanks for stopping by! Did the title of this post grab your attention?  In a moment it will become clear - lol.  This week at 52CCT is our color challenge and our March hostess, Patricia, has chosen a goody for us to use. Take a look:

To play along and be eligible for our TOP HONOURS you need to use at least 3 of these colors on your Christmas creation - but it's fine if you use more too :o).  I used 5 of the 6 on my card (all but the light blue).  Without any more anticipation, I present to you... my Ugly Sweater card.  Hope you like it :o)

As soon as I saw this great stamp and die cut set I knew that I just MUST have it. It's just too cute and you can make your sweater many different ways.  This is one of the sentiments in the set - and my favorite one. I stamped the sweaters on some DSP called Sweater Weather (how perfect is that).  When you zoom in on the photo you can see that it almost likes as if it has fibers.  Then I decorated the sweaters with stamps and one of the die cuts (reindeer) using Navy Blue ink.  I wanted one of them to look kind of ugly and the other one to look "cute"ugly (if that makes sense - lol).   A quick, CAS card - and perfect for someone with a sense of humor about the holiday season :o)

This past season our family attended our first Ugly Christmas Sweater party.  We were on the hunt through the local thrift stores to find the awfulest (is that a word?) most hideous sweaters we could for the event as we were pretty sure that there must be some kind of prize for the ugliest one.  We laughed and laughed while we tried on sweaters.  People were stopping to laugh with us and help us hunt. It was quite funny really.  My husband and son couldn't find a man's sweater to fit them so they ended up with ladies sweaters. Guess you can probably figure out that they both have very good senses of humor about them.  Quite comical really :o) I found one that really wasn't that bad - but I'm pretty sure my darling Grandma donated it about 25 years ago.  Everyone kept calling me "Grandma Hester" when I had it on :o)  I don't feel so bad about that though as she is the cutest, tiniest little grandma around - so it's a compliment (big smile).  Ok... so here's the really funny part about my ugly sweater story...MOST of the people didn't even bother to show up in an ugly sweater. Can you believe it?!  We felt kind of silly - especially my husband and son.  Oh well... we had a very good time as a family shopping for our ugly sweaters so it was worth it!

So..time for you to go visit the other lovely ladies on the 52CCT DT and see what they have come up with for Patricia's March Color Challenge.  We have a talented Guest Designer - Scraplady - joining us this time too. She makes really lovely cards and we are happy to have her with us.  I hope that you will decide to join us this week!  I can't wait to see what you make.

Til next time friends...hugs and happy crafting! D

Tobi says Thank you

Hello friends and followers - happy almost Friday!  Today I've made this card using a digital image that I just won from the Your Next Stamp March Blog Hop.  It's called "Tobi watering the roses".  I think she is just too cute and I'm soooo excited to have gotten her.

I quickly colored her up and am entering her in the YNS Fun Friday Challenge #9 using this sketch.

Still practicing my shading and hair and skin coloring techniques with my copic markers.  I can see some improvement - especially in the hair on this one - quite happy with how it turned out!  Hope you like her too :o) She kind of reminds me of my daughter when she was smaller and liked to "help" me with the flowers.  Oh hey - did  you notice the little blue birds in the patterned paper?  I was tickled to have found that to use.

I'm also entering this card in these challenges:

Papertake Weekly Challenges - Anything Goes (option: make your own paper flowers)

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Cute

The Paper Players Challenge #185 - Thank You cards

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Til next time friends...hugs and happy crafting! D

ATS&M Challenge #85 - Photo Inspiration

Hello friends! Time for another weekly challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More! We have a new guest designer joining us for the next two challenges.  

Welcome to Darnell - we love your gorgeous creations and are happy to have you joining us.  

ATS&M Challenge #85 is a Photo Inspiration Challenge based on this image:

I used the colors and the theme of strong women for my DT card. Take a look please:

This is a skinny card (3 3/4" x 6") as I wanted as much of the panel to show as possible.  I made the main panel by using a watercolor technique.  I pounced 3 different pink stamp pads  (Pink Pirouette, Calypso Coral and Melon Mambo) down on a plastic sheet and then spritzed with water.  Then I placed my watercolor paper over that and kind of mushed it down and around a bit.  I lifted it and then spritzed again and then put it down one more time.  I heat set it and then let it set over night before adding the embossed sentiment (drat - I got it a bit crooked).  Then I used my gorgeous grunge set to add a few extra spots by using Basic Grey (stamped off once first) to the panel.  Really  happy with how it turned out and plan to show my card group this technique later this month.  Messy but fun, and the results are stunning. 

The other lovely ladies on the ATS&M DT have made some beautiful creations to share with you based on the photo inspiration.  A big thank you to Kathryne for being our prize sponsor this week.

The challenge winner will receive 5 digital images of their choice.

Updated to add that I am also entering this card in the following challenges:
Virginia's View Challenge #1 - Watercoloring


and
STAMPlorations Bi-Weekly Sketch Challenge #7 - Sketch
(thanks Nonni for telling me about this).


Thanks so much for stopping by to visit me today! I'm sure glad that you did.  I hope that you will decide to join us this week at ATSM for Challenge #85. Til next time...hugs and happy crafting! D

One Short Weekend - Two Completed Cards (Take 2)

Hi again! Hopefully you've read my first post from this evening so that you don't wonder why this one is so short :o)  It's getting to be past my bedtime and I need my beauty rest after all the tossing and turning I did last night.  So, without too much chit-chat this time, here's the second card I completed this weekend:

Isn't she just the cutest?  I just realized  that I didn't use any patterned paper on this card - that's somewhat unusual for me.  However, that strip of embossed cardstock was left over from another card I made recently (now I feel a bit better and not so wasteful :o)).   I used the following copic markers to color this darling  image from Bugaboo (sentiment is from Bugaboo too): W00, W02, W04 (wool) and W07 (hooves). V04, V06 and V09 (accessories). N7 (sunglasses frame). N00, N02 N04 (shades).  

I'm learning shading techniques and was happy with how this turned out :o)

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

Catch the Bug Blog - Stella Says Sketch Challenge #204

Crazy 4 Challenges 225 - Color Challenge (Orchid)

Corrosive Challenge Blog #194 - Animals

and 

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Cute.

Hey...thanks so much for stopping by to visit me today. I'm sure glad that you did! 

Til next time...hugs and happy crafting! D

One Short Weekend - Two Completed Cards (Take 1)

Hello friends! Here it is almost the end of the weekend already.   I was a homebody for most of the weekend due to the cold and snow - it was nice and it sure went by quickly. How does that happen so fast?

I had high hopes to get a lot of crafting time in - which I did, but unfortunately my mojo seemed to be on vacation (probably somewhere warm and sunny) as I only got a couple of cards done in that whole time.  The ideas were there, but there seemed to be a hiccup in the process and end result.  I completely tore apart 2 cards yesterday.  I'm the kind of person who saves every little bit of paper and the discarded elements from cards that did materialize. I hate when it happens that I actually tear it up and toss it - I feel so wasteful!  So...I took a break and tried again this afternoon and was successful in making a couple cards that I'm happy with.    Here's the first one I made with some specific challenges in mind:

I seem to have baby on the brain since finding out that one of the ladies from my card group is having a baby.  She doesn't know if it's a boy or girl.  I made a boy card recently and decided to keep this one generic in case she has a shower before the baby arrives. Now I just have to make a baby girl card and I've covered all possibilities (except twins - but she said she is only having one) :o)/

I stamped the image w/Memento ink (black) and then colored it in with copic markers.  

I hadn't originally intended on fussy cutting around the intricate image but I dropped an inked stamp on the outer edge of the first circle as I was moving things around on my desk and it got messed up.  

Ohhhh...I wanted to cry as I was really happy with how it had turned out. 

And... it wasn't easy coloring those tiny little parts and staying in the lines.   

I just couldn't bring myself to scrap the whole image.  

Sadly, there was no way I was going to be able to hide the boo-boo.  

So... I grabbed my scissors and began the process of fussy cutting and redoing the main circle piece.  

I think I saved it and it's still pretty cute - but what a bummer when that happens :o(.  

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Addicted to CAS (ATCAS) where the code word is BABY

CAS - Colours and Sketches - Sketch Challenge #63

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #216  - Clean And Simple

 To save you from having to read through a really long post - I'm going to put my second card from today on a separate post.  Isn't that sweet of me - lol.  

Stay tuned for Part 2.  Til next time...hugs and happy crafting! D  

My Time to Craft Challenge Blog - Challenge #237 - Cats and Dogs

Hello friends - so excited to share with you today that I was accepted as a guest designer on the My Time To Craft Challenge Blog for the month of March. Whoo Hoo!!  What an honor for me to craft with this DT - thank you :o)

So... the first challenge of March is - "Cats and Dogs".  The lovely DT would like to see you use cats and dogs - both or either - on your crafty creation.  I have stamps or digital images of one or the other but nothing with both together - so I went with a cute little dog. Take a look please:

A sweet lady who is part of my card group is having a baby in May.  After having two darling daughters she and her hubby decided that it might be fun to be surprised and they aren't going to find out if this new baby is a boy or girl until it's born.  I have a feeling (or maybe it's a hope) that this time she's going to have a boy, so I made this card with her in mind. Why do I hope for a son for her?  Well...I have been blessed to have one of each myself and I think it would be really fun for her to have a little boy after having two precious girls.  I've so enjoyed having the experience of a son and a daughter (so different).  It's just the best of both worlds and they are the very best of friends.  Never fear though - I do have another one in mind to quickly put together if she has another girl :o).  

I stamped the little puppy on crumb cake (kraft) cardstock and then colored with copics.  That's the first time I've done it and I really like how the color turned out.  

I hope that you will decide to join the My Time to Craft Challenge #237 "Cats and Dogs".  The MTTC Design Team members have made some gorgeous creations to share with and inspire you as well so please pop in and give them a little love - and then link up for goodness sake so we can see what you did too :o)  

Thanks for stopping by to visit me today. Til next time...hugs and happy crafting! D

Holiday Wishes...52CCT - March 2014 Sketch Challenge

Hello lovelies! Hope this first day of March finds you healthy and happy.
Today's forecast is below zero and more snow.
A good day to stay in and make Christmas cards for me :o).

Time for a new month of challenges and a new DT hostess at 52CCT.
Patricia will be our hostess this month and she has some great challenges for us.

The first week of each month is a sketch challenge - take a look:

So many possibilities with this great sketch.
You can use any shape you like (hexagons, circles, flowers, snowflakes, etc.).
Just make sure that we can still see the bones of the sketch -
oh and of course, that it's Christmas themed.

I must have changed my mind about 5 times on what I wanted to do with this sketch.
Eventually I decided on ornaments as my main shape (for the larger circles)
and a mix of circles and snowflakes for the smaller circles in the sketch.
Here's what I have to share with you today:

One of my ornaments was stamped and then embossed in silver.  

All three were punched using my ornament punch.  

I remembered that I had these silver rub ons from ages ago (probably 5 or 6 years) 

that would coordinate with the punched shape.  

I used to be addicted to rub ons. Still have quite a stash that I probably should use more :o). 

Anyway... lots of different textures on this card. The dry embossed snowflake panel,

the glittery silver, the shiny silver, the matt silver and the pearls.  

I am entering my card in the following challenges: 

Merry Monday #97  (where I got the color inspiration for aqua, silver and white) 

and

Divas by Design - Make it Sparkle

I sure hope that you will decide to join us this week at 52CCT for the March 2014 Sketch Challenge. 

The rest of our wonderful DT members have made some beautiful Christmas cards to inspire you.  

So fun to see our different interpretations of this sketch. 

Please pop into their blogs and say "hi".

Til next time friends...hugs and happy crafting! D