Crafty Creations Challenge #179 - Tag Bear

Hi everyone!  This week the Crafty Creations Challenge #179 is to create a tag or use a tag on your card.  Well, I don't know about you but I adore these big, long ribbon tags that are so popular right now!!  And this one looks so sweet next to this lovely image from Meljens Designs, our sponser this week!!

I coloured the bear and berry with a combination of Copics and pencil crayons.  See that awesome baker's twine .. it is grey and white and compliments of a former Secret Sister (thanks Vickie - LoVE it!!).  I did a bunch of faux stitching on this card - seemed approrpriate due to the stitched bear :-)

Now off you go to upload your tag at Crafty Creations Challenge for your chance to be the winner!!

See you there.

Donelda

Image Swap - April

Hello!  Today I am sharing the card I created for a swap I am in.  This image, from Tanja is so cute.  She added the challenge to use red and blue, which I think was a perfect choice for the image.

While you can't see it in the photo, the stars are all painted with Twinkling H2O and looks really shimmery in real life! 

And see my sentiment bubble ... made with felt!  So fun!!

Thanks for dropping by.

Donelda

CASual Friday #48 and Less is More #63 - Hugs

Hello.  Nice to see you again LOL!

Today I have a card that again (2 days in a row) fits for 2 challenges.  The first one is CASual Friday #48 where we were to use opposite colours on the colour wheel for our Clean and Simple card.  I chose orange and green.   The second challenge is the Less Is More Challenge #63 - doodling.  Well, I love to doodle and I had seen Godelieve do some amazing doodled birds a while ago .. and the idea popped into my head to make an orange doodled bird.

And here is my card.  The picture didn't turn out so great, for some reason he is really shy and did not want to cooperate and take a nice photo. 

The sentiment is from Jibber Jabber - The Alley Way Stamps and all the other images are hand drawn ... or doodled!!  FUN!!

Okay, off to see everyone else's doodles....

Donelda

Christmas cards - Post 6

I adore this little snowman with his sweet birdie friends.  I received the image from a friend.

He is coloured with pencil crayons.  What a great layout ... placing the 3 blocks of colours behind an image is a wonderful way to add colour but keep the focus on the main image.

It is Christmas eve eve ... LOL!  We have really slowed down and are now really just enjoying our time together as a family! 

Just 2 more sleeps......

Donelda

September Image Swap

This month, Pat sent us this awesome Lockhart image to create with!  Look at those awesome pumpkins and apples and corn cobs~  It was so much fun to create with this image.

The background papers are from BasicGrey - I'm happy to say that I am continuing to use them and stop all this crazy hoarding!!  LOL!!  A piece of rafia and some simple tearing was all the addition this lovely image needed!

Thanks for dropping by!
Donelda

Make It Monday #31 - Backgrounds

I really like the Make It Monday video's over on Nichole Heady's blog but rarely have found the time to create and post in time.  (as I type there is a card sitting on my desk using the technique from last week's vidoe ... you'll see it someday!  LOL)

This week, Dawn McVey demonstrated using "non-background stamps" to create a background.  I love doing this so decided to play along.   The little acorn stamp I chose is from the Limitless Labels set - an old set that has not seen near enough use!!

I also used Autumn Abundance for the focal image and a mini sentiment from Mixed Messages. 

Off to see what everyone else has done so far.

Donelda

Miss You Monkey

I picked up this cute Changito stamp a few months ago from my local scrapbooking store.  I still hadn't used it so decided I'd better get at it.

The pant leg is paper pieced so that it matched that yummy polka dot patterned paper.  And Changito is colored with my pencil crayons (Prismacolor).

Papers are from BasicGrey. 

Thanks for dropping by. 

Donelda

April Image Swap cards

Yup, I ended up with 2 cards!  And the reason is because I forgot to use the lovely white ribbon and silver cord that Joanna was nice enough to include!!  Sheesh, I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached (and anyone who knows me knows that that is really the truth!! LOL)

Enjoy both and don't forget to check out our whole gallery over on SCS that you can link to HERE.

Donelda

A Moo or Two - Easter

When I saw the latest challenge for the Moo or Two site I knew I needed to pull out this smARTworks set!  It is my favorite for Easter cards! 

Here are my moos.  I stamped the images onto kraft cardstock and then colored them in using my Prismacolor pencil crayons!  Not sure why but I love to do that with these images becuase the bunnies are so fun to color in white!  Added a few strips of designer paper.  The swirls are a Memory Box stamp a bought a few years ago and seem to forget about!

Off to see what everyone created for the last challenge (too bad I was away - script would have been fun!) and for this one so far!

Have a great Sunday!
Donelda

Stupendous Scene

I saw this stamp used on a card by the most talented Kim Crawford and knew I had to have it! 

I colored the image in with my Prismacolor pencil crayons.  Added lots of vibrant color and did a bunch of shading.  Nice to get back to using them again.  They are still my favorite medium for coloring.

Then added some of the BasicGrey papers I bought a while ago.  I didn't add a sentiment but I still might. 

I have 1 of the other scenes also that I have stamped and hope to get colored to create with soon. 

Hope you have a great day!
Donelda

Monthly Image Challenge Swap - Linda's Image - Feb

Well, Linda and I are at it again and this time we have invited a bunch of friends!!  Linda mailed this adorable Tilda image out to all of us and then we created our own version of the cards.  I was able to take a peek at some of the others' cards and decided that I wanted to create something really different from everything  that the other very talented ladies had done. 

Here is my first card.  I colored it using my Prisma Pencilcolors.  And I attempted to make it a SEPIA colored card.   And then, I decided to go with my clean and simple style!  I was tempted to add some of those lovely flowers like everyone else did ... but I am sure that mine would pale in comparison so I just added some lace along the bottom and a small thin strip of satin ribbon. 

Here's a little close up of the coloring.  Remember you can click on the image to make it a bit bigger if you'd like.  








And of course I couldn't just stop there ... I had to create a second card (thank goodness Linda sent a few images!).  This time, I created a card that is a bit more typically "Tilda" :-)

I colored this Tilda with my Copic markers (I have so few so I just make do with what I have!).   I wanted this Tilda to look like she was peeking out, so I cut it down and added a piece of this seam binding ribbon.  Last night I spritzed it with some Gimmer Mist (Tattered Angels) in Electric Blue and Shimmer Silver and then squanched it all up to dry!! 

The rest of the card is pretty straight forward! 

Well, there you have it!!  If you are interested in seeing everyone's final cards you can go HERE where they are all together!  This is so much fun.  And the best part is that we are doing it again ... every month for the next year!!  Can't wait to recieve my next image so we can see how different everyone's card ends up!!!

Thanks for dropping in!  Have a great rest of your weekend!
Donelda

Sleeping with Strawberries with Bookmark

I have been on a totally Strawberry kick the last few days so I thought I would bring you a week of Strawberry Inspiration!! Each day this week I have a strawberry card. You should see all the different styles that I have in store!! This is a wonderful project to do with large images like the big House Mouse Stamps. I started out by stamping the image twice. I colored one in full using my colored pencils and 'gamsol'. On the other image, I only colored in the main part of the image. I created the card with the full image. Then the fun part. I cut the partially colored image, matted it onto a piece of cardstock that was folded in half. I adhered magnets inside the 2 bottom parts of the folded cardstock so that it becomes a bookmark. When mailing it to the recipient the bookmark stays on the card. Upon recieving the card they can use the bookmark! My 'strawberry kick' started with the creating of this card for the Cards Blog challenge last week (which didn't get picked for). Strawberries are one of my very favorite summer time treats and I think they are beautiful images to create with!! Do you love strawberries too??? Thanks for dropping in for a visit today! Make sure you drop back in the rest of the week to see all the other strawberry cards!! Donelda

Spring Bunnies

I love using my Prismacolor pencil crayons on Kraft paper. I stamped these cute little bunnies (smARTworks) onto some scrap Kraft paper and colored it in with my pencil crayons. Then, I cut them out with the 'Joy' sentiment. I stamped some swirly-gigs from the smARTworks set of the same name using Versamark ink. I popped the small images up using dimensionals!! I love that layout!!! I hope you have an enjoyable day!! Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 21

It's finally here, the very last day of my Christmas Card countdown. 21 days of christmas creativity!! Today I have some beautiful House Mouse and Happy Hopper cards to share with you!! I love them, they make me smile!!

The kissing bunnies were sent to many of the gals I met by joining the House Mouse swaps on SCS. I haven't been able to participate lately, but keep in contact with many of them still!!

I hope you enjoyed my Christmas Card Reveal Countdown! I sure did enjoy sharing all my Christmas cards with you!!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and the best in the New Year!

Donelda

Coloring on Dark Cardstock

Sorry I've not been around....I was away since Wed for work!! I was just playing around trying to use up some of the item in my "USE UP" basket. You know, the place where you put stamped images you didn't us, pieces of background that were left over from other projects, punched shapes that didn't get included.... sheesh, my basket it soooo full it is overflowing!! Well, this image had been stamped on Mellow Moss cardstock and was a leftover piece from a technique I taught at our SCS get together last summer. The technique is Coloring on Dark Cardstock and you can another card I have made using this techique HERE. It is pretty simple to do but is a dramatic effect. It is nice to do something different like this once in a while! Behind the flower is a frame stamped and inside that I smudged Pastels to blend with the image colors and the background paper! The flower image is popped up on a few pieces of cardstock glued together. Supplies: Cardstock-Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss (SU!); Designer Paper-Stella Ruby (Basic Grey), Stamps-flower (Magenta), Paper Tray (Papertrey Ink), Around and About(SU!); Ink-Basic Black (SU!); Accessories-Prismacolor Pencil Crayons, Pastels (SU!). Thanks for visiting.

Challenge and challenge

Well, I did these cards to meet 2 different challenges. One was Beate's weekend sketch challenge #36. It was a great sketch, just the style I love to do!

The other challenge was one that I made for myself. I have wanted to make a birthday "set" for a while. Well, and now that I think about it, I am consisitently trying to use the stuff I already have! And I've had this wonderful Basic Grey paper - Stella Ruby - for a very long time and need to start using it! So, I did!!

Here is a close up of the coloring. I did it using my Prisma pencil crayons and then blending them with a stump and odorless thinner. This is my very favorite way of coloring in images that are detailed! You can't go wrong, it looks beautiful every time!! At Splitcoaststampers, this technique is called Gamsol Magic (the name Gamsol is a brand name which some believe to be the best, however, I've had great luck with the brand I've bought from Michaels).

Thanks for dropping in for a visit!

Donelda

GREEN

Well, here is a card that I made for the Arty Girlz Challenge -- "GREEN". Do you think I used enough green - hehehe.

I love this image from Cornish Heritage Farms!! However, I think that it is retired -- sorry!!

The image is colored with prisma color pencil crayons and then blended with odorless thinner. That is my favorite way of coloring my images!! If you haven't tried it and want a tutorial, it is called Gamsol Magic on Splitcoaststampers. Have fun.

I made the card extremely simple so that it didn't distract from the awesome image!!

Thanks or visiting!!

Donelda

House Mouse ATC - the distraction!

I love house mouse stamps!! And I especially love adding things to these individual stamped guys -- put a hat on them, make them hold something...what ever!! You can see a few of my other exampes HERE and HERE.

Jessica is the infamous House Mouse ATC swap leader!! She is on her 4th HMATC swap!! and I've joined every one of them!! She is just the best hostess in the world and the quality of ATCs in the swap is just amazing!!

This time I am not all that pleased with my results. You see, I got really stuck on using light modeling paste for the ice cream... then I felt I needed to add the words to clarify the story..... any way, I'm not overly pleased with the end results. I can't wait to get all the great ATCs back in the swap...these ladies are SERIOUSLY talented!!

Supplies: Cardstock - Whisper White (SU), light cardboard (unknown); Ink-Basic Black, Creamy Caramel (SU), Stamps- Mudpie Tells, What? (House Mouse), Icecream (Michael's $1.50 bin), Faux Ribbon (Papertrey Ink); Accessories - Light modeling paste, red acrylic paint, rhinstones, printer, prisma pencil colors, odorless thinner.

Thanks or visiting.

Donelda

Gloved Hello

I made this card for Julia's Ways to Use It challenge today at Splitcoaststampers!! She challenged us to use Leather on our cards!!

Well, coincidently enough, I just cut up an old leather purse since I got a new one for Christmas. I knew that leather would come in handy some day!!

The card is a 3x3. I am really enjoying that size these days!! The glove is colored in using Prisma Colorpencils and blended with odorless thinner (one brand name is Gamsol, hence the technique name "Gamsol Magic" over at SCS).

I sewed the strip of leather on with my sewing machine. I didn't realize it was going to be that difficult...but it was!!

Supplies: Cardstock-Whisper White and Real Red (SU); Ink-Basic Black (SU); Stamps-Toy Box (SU), Paper Tray (Papertrey Ink); Accessories-Leather (from my old purse), sewing machine and brown thread, Prisma Colorpencils, Odorless Thinner, blending stumps, black marker

Apples and God

A number of weeks ago, I found out that I was the lucky winner of some Blog Candy from Dina Kowal's blog Mama Dini's Stamperia. I received the stamps a few days ago, all the way from Indonesia!! They are verse stamps from My Heart Stamps For You.

I really liked this one that reads "Anyone can count the seeds in an apple...but only God can count the apples in the seed" Wow, how cool is that!!

I wanted to use it right away and I knew I could pair it with this apple stamp from Year Around Fun 2 (SU). I popped over to Dina's site to let her know my stamps had arrived and found a link to this sketch challenge posted by Susan Trask from Smart Works.

Simple and clean card. Apples are stamped with Close to Cocoa, colored with prismacolor pencil crayons, shaded with grey pencil crayon for a shadow, faux stitching with Close to Cocoa marker all on Very Vanilla cardstock. Sentiment is stamped in Close to Cocoa on VV cardstock and matted with Mellow Moss. All this put on Ruby Red card front and the whole thing attached to a Mellow Moss card base.

If you'd like to try the sketch, post a link so I can check it out too!!

Thanks for visiting.