There She Goes

This weeks sponser at Tuesday Morning Sketches is There She Goes clear stamps.  The fabulous Theresa who is on the DT here at TMS is also a designer for There She Goes. In addition to those accomplishments, Theresa also designed this weeks sketch. She's one multi-talented person. Be sure to stop by her blog and give her some comment love and please stop by the other DT members blogs. They love comments as much as you do!

Here is Theresa marvelous sketch.

If you're ready for another wonderful challenge grab some papers and play along. As usual there are prizes! This is my intrepertation of this sketch.

I used the Garden of Life set to create this card. Some of the clouds were embossed, then stamped, others were just stamped. Cloud dies and stamps are from PTI.  A torn paper towel and a stipple brush were used to create the sky behind the tree and birdhouse. A Martha Stewart edger was used to create the mini white fence and the cats were glued on to this after they were colored and fancy cut. All coloring was done with Copic markers. Flowersoft was added to the tree and center of the sunflower for added dimension. A Cuttlebug embossing folder was used on the four green squares on the bottom, the paper was centered to capture a bird in each square.  The raised image was highlighted with Fresh Snow PTI ink.

It is said that the early bird catches the worm but I think these cats have something else in mind!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

CR84FN39

Hello all my wonderful cyber friends. I value YOU, your comments and your consistent visits.  I read each and every comment. Thank you so much for your support I really appreciate YOU.

By now your probably wondering what prompted this opening dialogue.  Well if you scroll down and read the inspirational message on this week CR84FN challenge you will understand.

Take the time today to tell your friends how much you value them.

Aren't these colors just fabulous this week.  The beautiful bouquet is courtesy of Squidoo, wreath photo is courtesy of Etsy and those delicious looking pops are from BeauCoup.  The best part of Autumn is the marvelous colors that mother nature provides.  Very soon these colors will be on display through out the area where I live. So for a sneak peek at what lies ahead here is my card for the Orange, Yellow and Brown challenge.

The stamp is a Tina Wenke stamp. The image, tips of the flower and the pearls were colored with Copic markers.  The edger is from E K Success and the dies are Nesties.  Lovely papers are from a DCVW pad. The ribbon was dyed with a Vintage Photo re-inker.

Stop by CR84FN to see the marvelous creations from this superb Design Team.

Mona * Suzanne * Deborah * Heather * Stephanie * Sue * Andrea * Lisa 

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Last Hydrangea

I love Hydrangeas and this past summer I finally found an area in my yard that was big enough to plant some.  I just finished making a card with my Hydrangea stamp from Hero Arts. Before the stamp was put away, I decided to make a gift set...always good to have a gift or two in reserve.

I used the CarlaCraft Binding System to make these adorable journals. The idea came from the Inky Antics Blog Hop last June.  I'm just now catching up.....there are so many great ideas on Jackie's blog. I used my new Nestabilities Edger (WOW love this edger so versatile and takes up so little space!)  :-) Coloring was done with Copic markers.

A small dot of Gold Liquid Pearls was placed into the center of each individual flower. The script background was stamped with a Hampton Arts stamp using Vivid Taupe dye ink.

The taller journal on the left has a calendar inside.

The shorter journal on the right is a journal for keeping track of all those pesky "passwords". You know...the ones we always forget!

The first page of this journal has the "PASSWORD" title but the remaining pages have room for 4 entries on each page.  These would make great Christmas gifts.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

TMS Week #3

This is week three of being a Guest Designer at Tuesday Morning Sketches. This week DRS Designs is the sponsor. The lovely Melissa designed the sketch that we are working with this week. Great sketch Melissa!

Here is my interpretation of Melissa's sketch.  I used DRS Design stamps to create this card.

A Cuttlebug folder was used to emboss an image on each side of the verse and then dye ink was sponge onto the raised surfaces. The large daisies were colored with Copic markers and fancy cut to fit the corners of the card. Rhinestones were added to the daisy centers for a touch of bling.

Come and play with us...there are prizes! For added inspiration please check out the cards created by the talented Design Team at TMS.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Animals

It's back to nature this week at The Paper Players. The challenge is to use an animal or plant on your Clean and Simple card.

All stamps are from Inky Antics. They have the most delightful, fun loving stamps. The image was colored with Prisma Colored pencils, then Gamsol was used to blend the colors. The dies are from SB, striped paper from a DCWV pad and the embossing folder is Sizzix.

I didn't have a cute embellishment so I stamped the turtle image (from the set) onto a piece of Shrinky Dink paper,  cut the image and then shrunk it with my heat gun.




But wait the best is yet to come....Are you ready for the surprise?......Wait for it!.....

This is the surprise on the inside of the card. The turtle shell was made with a HoneyPOP Tissue paper pad. Isn't that a fantastic 3D effect? Notice the bird sliding on the turtle shell? Looks like he's having fun....just as much fun as I had making this card.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Not Big On Pink

Sharon at Our Creative Corner has a great challenge this week. She writes:  for this paper craft challenge, I want you to use any shade of blue, and just a touch of pink. If you need a number, think 1/5 or less in pink. You must also incorporate some texture, (ie: fabric, ribbon, floss, etc) and a metal piece (ie: brad, push pin, charm, etc.). Make something pretty without going over the top in pinks! 

Blue is my favorite color so of course I had to play along with this challenge.

I stamped the Hero Arts Hydrangea on a piece of white card stock with Vintage Photo. I stamped off on a piece of scrap paper first because I wanted a lighter image.  The same process was used with the PTI text stamp. On a separate piece of paper the Hydrangea was stamped without stamping off first. The image and the pearls were colored with Copic markers. The Hydrangea was fancy cut and foam mounted. White PTI ink was sponged over the embossing.  A Vivid Sky Blue reinker was used to dye the seam binding.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Final Days of Summer

Just wanted to start by saying "THANK YOU" to everyone who left me such wonderful comments last week. You made me feel so welcome.

As summer comes to an end, you still have a week left to play with some bright colors at CR84FN.  Grab some bright pink papers, accent with black & gray and enjoy these colors before we change to the Autumn hues.

I fell in love with Tina Wenke stamps while on a trip to Hawaii in February. Yes, I visited stamps store in Hawaii and yes, my DH came with me. How great is that! My souvenirs were stamps and embellishments and papers, no T-shirts for me! Recently Tina added some sweet little girl images to her repertoire and I had to add them to the adorable critters that I already owned. Whenever I stamp an image for coloring, I usually stamp it 2 or 3 times. If I don't like the coloring on the first one I have a few more chances to "fix it".

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Isn't she the cutest? Appropriately this stamp is called "Tu Tu Cute".  I used part of SB tag for the adornment above the image. It almost gives the illusion of her looking into an ornate mirror. Rather than cover up her "stylish" boots, I cut a slit at each side of the boots and wove the ribbon behind them. The black rose was made with a MFT die. The cutie was colored with Copic markers. A bit of glitter on the rose, some black lace and pink pearls were added for a touch of bling.

This time I liked the coloring on both of the images I colored (that's extremely rare), so I made a second card with a different layout.

I couldn't decide which card to send to Mona so I literally flipped a coin. Which is your favorite?

In case you forgot the inspirational photo here it is.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Just For Fun

There is another sketch challenge at Card Patterns. It is, as usual, a real interesting challenge. I just finished my card. It is not elegant, vintage, retro, sophisticated, refined, shabby, amazing, beautiful, gorgeous or any other adjective you can think of. This card is just adorable! You see I have many grandchildren and kids are people, too!!!! So I dedicate this card to children everywhere and to those who are just kids at heart.

The stamps and HoneyPOP paper are from Inky Antics.  The embossed paper in the background is from my stash. I highlighted the raised areas with white dye ink, a white gel pen and a Sakura Stardust pen. The button party hat is from Michael's. Various gel pens were used to draw the confetti on the white background.


This is the sketch that I used to create this card.

 Hope you enjoyed by fun, adorable, primary card.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Through the Looking Glass

The challenge at Our Creative Corner this week is to make a papercraft item that uses a window as a focal point. I love the look of window type cards, they can sometimes transport you to fun, colorful places. I love flowers so I am looking out my window at some beautiful daises. Come look out the window with me.

The stamp is Lazy Susan Buggies from High Hopes which was colored with Copic markers. Nesties were used to create the window, a Sizzix die for the foliage and Marvy punches for the flowers. The DP is from a K & Co, pad.  An Outlines Stamp was used for the sentiment. Faux stitching was done with a fine detail pen.

For an added twist I chose to turn my window into a shaker card. You can see the beads, fibers and holographic hearts in the above photo. I also stamped a few extra bees, one is foam mounted in the center of the flower on the left. Rhinestones, pearls, and a Sakura gel pen (bees wings) added just  a touch of bling.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Whimsie Doodles

Well it's week two of my Guest Designer fun at Tuesday Morning Sketches. This week the sponser is Whimsie Doodles. If you're not familiar with digi images, please check out the new "Hootenannies"!!! They are a "hoot" :-) so take a peek if you dare.

I was fortunate enough to work with their new image "School Jayson". He is the most adorable little boy you ever did see. He looks so angellic, and of course we know that all boys are 'angellic' (wink).

The DP is from a HOTP "school pad", the embossing folder is from Cuttlebug, crayon button from Michael's, edger is EK Success, and the image was colored with Copic markers.

The second week of the month is the 'judged challenge' so for an added twist you have to do the outside and the inside of the card. The DT has some wonderful samples for you to look at to get those should get creative juices flowing. Check out their cards and please leave them a little 'comment love' they will appreciate it.

I repeated the outside images on the inside but shrunk them a bit and added an Inky Antics HoneyPOP apple. The sentiment was computer generated for a very special teacher.

This week marvelous sketch was drawn by Kathy Curry. I mentioned last week that these ladies were super talented.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

NEWS ALERT at CR84FN38

I'm interrupting my posting to share this news bulletin with you! Mona at CR84FN has invited me to be a Guest Designer for the month of September. (Yippie, Hooray, I'm screaming with excitement.) Thank you, Mona for giving me this opportunity. It is an honor to be associated with this very talented Design Team.

I'm very excited about this color combo...bright pink, black and gray! When I first started doing challenges I would stay away from colors that were outside my comfort zone. I love earth tones. Thanks to the inspiration from the DT and for constant encouragement from my cyber friend in Texas...I'm not shying away from bold colors. If it was easy it wouldn't be called a 'challenge' :-)

The patterned papers are from two different K and Co. pads; the stamp and die cut are both from MFT; ribbon, pearls and flower are from Michael's and shapes are Nesties. Flower Soft was added to give the image some dimension. Copics were used to color the image, the Flower Soft, the pearls and the flower. Is there anything you can't do with Copic markers?

This is the inspirational photo courtesy of Creative Mint. Please take time to read the quote from Allan Chalmers. What are your special "somethings"?

Check out the creative cards from the other Design Team members:

Mona * Deborah * Suzanne * Heather * Stephanie * Sue * Andrea * Lisa

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Wishing for Blue Skies

Today is another cool (62 F), rainy, gray, dreary day. What happened to last week's beautiful blue skies? To chase away the cold, nothing warms my heart more that inking up some stamps, cutting papers and designing some cards. Since the forecast for the next 3 or 4 days is a repeat of today...there will probably be a lot of card making in my Butterfly Garden. This is my third posting in two days so I am starting to warm up a little.

The colors at CR84FN are lt. blue, turquoise and neutral. There is still time to make cards for this challenge so get out your papers and play along. The DT has made some remarkable cards for the second week of this challenge. Please stop by for a visit and be sure to leave them a little 'comment love'.

The DP is from a DCWV pad, dies are PTI and MFT (alphabet soup, anyone?), stamps are also from PTI, the pearls and ribbon came from Hobby Lobby and the large pearl brad is from the Eyelet Outlet.

In case you forgot the inspirational photo here it is.

Hope the rest of your week is lovely.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

White on White

There is another great sketch at Card Patterns this week. Take a few minutes and check out the creative cards from the DT. Grab some paper and play along. There are some great prizes, so why not give this challenge a try?

I decided to do a white on white card. Never tried one before, but I always admired the clean and elegant look that people were able to achieve. This is my first attempt so let me know what you think?

I got my new Nestabilities in the mail today so I tried the Edgeabilities and the Anemone flower on this card. Boy I think I'm gonna love these Edgeabilities! The embossing folders were from Sizzix and Cuttlebug, ribbon and pearls from Hobby Lobby, foliage die is Sizzix and the large pearl brad is from the Eyelet Outlet.

Here is the sketch that I used to design this card.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Extra Read All About It

WOW......... am I elated! Hear me roar! Theresa asked me to be the guest designer for September at TMS. Can you read the excitement in my posting? I am delighted to be a associated with this talented Design Team. In addition to designing cards they also design the sketches that are used for their cards. Talk about multi-tasking...these ladies do it all. This week we have the pleasure to work with some digi images from Bugaboo.

It is never too early to start celebrating Halloween. Other than Christmas...this is my favorite holiday. Begin by coloring the images with Copic Markers; fancy cut the brooms; add a little floss on the broom handles; a spider lurking above the books; a small button with green floss; glitter at the edges of the brooms, on the crystal ball and above the shelf; a ribbon from Michael's; a few Nesties and the sentiment from Sizzix. Place all these ingredients in a cauldron, stir swiftly, say the magic spell and "POOF" one Halloween card.

Here is Jessics's sketch that was used to create this card. Great sketch, Jessica. Make sure you visit Tuesday Morning Sketches to see the wonderful cards from the DT. Grab some paper and play along. There are some very generous prizes.

Hope you have a bewitching Halloween!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.