Stars and Stripes

Do you ever have something in mind for a challenge and then when that doesn't work out you just lose your mojo?  I had the perfect paper picked out for today's challenge over at Guylou's Inimitability.  After I colored up my image I could not get that paper to work for it.  I pulled out some My Mind's Eye paper and a sentiment from CTMH and made it work.  I love this image called Leah at the beach.  If you can't tell I love Leah.  Now you are probably wanting to know where my stripes are aren't you?  Well, I decided since it just wasn't working out that the stripes were on the towel.  Or the waves.  Or perhaps the beach ball or umbrella.  You pick! :)

The star paper is from My Mind's Eye, but the waves are from Echo Park.  I think this was the first time I used these blues.  B-23,26,28 and Y-11,13,15. Reds used were R-21,22,24,27.  I decided to cut my image out and pop dot it.

I don't know about you but as we Celebrate this weekend I am thankful for a lot.  Happy Canada Day to all my friends and family in Canada.  And Happy 4th to all my friends and family here in the United States. 

Now, I hope you will join us in the challenge.  And I hope you can find the perfect paper for your stars and stripes project!!  You should check out the other design team creations to see what fabulous projects they have come up with.  Now the challenge is open until July 14th at 10PM EST.

Anita Be Stampin Recipe Challenge

This is my second post for today.  If you are here for the Outlawz, that is in the post below.
 But now it is time for another Challenge at Anita Be Stampin.  This week we have a Recipe for you.

How fun is that?  I rarely do recipe challenges, now I am wondering why.  This one was a lot of fun.  I used the fabulous Busty Betsy.  From the site:

100% of the proceeds from Busty Betsy digi image sales will benefit Susan G. Komen For The Cure.  By purchasing this digi you are not only supporting a cause close to all of our hearts (literally!), you are receiving a super cute digi to play with.  It's a win, win!

I think that is fabulous!!!  If you have ever gone through Breast Cancer with someone you love this cause becomes near and dear to your heart.  

All the papers here are Making Memories.  I had to cut that background paper so that Believe would be in the corner of the card.  The tag is a magnolia tag.  I put a little R-81 reinker with some blending solution on the little felt pad and stained my tag with that.  Then added another believe stamp to that tag. 

I added a gorgeous Wild Orchids flower to the bow.  I used my favorite colors this week.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Don't forget to check out the other design team members inspiration cards today.  And join us in the challenge.  

Tuesday Color Challenge at the Outlawz

Not only is it Tuesday again, but already the last Tuesday in June. Unbelievable how time flies the older I get. Part of that I suspect is the fact that every Monday I wish for Friday!  LOL, I wish my life away one week at a time!!   Anyways, it is time for another color challenge at the Outlawz.  Our color challenge this week is brought to us by Jenn.   red,white & yellow June Jolt: add fabric( felt, fabric flowers, burlap, etc.) 

And the inspiration photo.

You know our pastor has been talking about using your "gifts" and I have been wanting to start using this gift and making cards that I can donate to the Church that can be given out when a card is needed.  I think I told you how when I had surgery 5 women brought us meals.  It was an amazing ministry.  And where it is hard for me to make meals because I work so much I thought this was something I could do.  That being said, I went looking for Scripture or encouraging stamps and this is the one I found.  So this is a start to my stash!  

What a fabulous verse is that?  I know I will use this stamp a lot.  I also used Tim Holtz bird and cut it out with Kraft paper.  The buttons are a sizzix die cut as well.  I just used a little red twine in the center.  And the felt is cut out with my nestie and is stitched around the edges, though it is hard to see in the picture.  I also stitched the edges with my sewing machine. 

Now, I want you to take some time to check out the main page on the Outlawz.  Do you see that Oozak is sponsoring us again with a $50 gift card.  I want to win that!!  But I can't so I want you to!!  I get all my Copics from there!   All you need to do is head on over and play in at least one challenge!!
Now, do you like to create with Digi's?  We have some fabulous artists at the Outlawz that have started a Freebies page.   You should check out the talent of Anne and Sandi.  They are so talented!  

Now I just want to remind you that the Color Challenge this month is being sponsored by Delicious Doodles.  They have some amazing digital images to choose from. 

Wedding

Well yesterday was a beautiful day here in Oregon. I know I have complained a bit about the weather this year.  Well, me and every other blogger!!  We finally had a sunshiny day.  And what a blessing that was as we went to an outside wedding.  It was a beautiful wedding.  It was the wedding that I made the mini album as a gift for.  I thought I would go ahead and post the little card I made to go with it.  I used a Lili of the Valley stamp called I Do.  I used the same Close To My Heart paper pack that I had used for the mini album and the Blessings Box.  Which I will share when I get a picture of it!!  That is what I get for sending something to the Bride for her to approve before I took a picture!!  My daughter was the photographer for the wedding and promised to take some pics.

I just love these papers, hope I can find some more. I think they are just perfect for a wedding theme. And don't you just love that little wedding cake charm? 

I just added a touch of R-0000 to the dress.  And the inside is also simple.  After spending so much time on the other two projects I didn't do anything too elaborate. 

The Bride is Tongan and the Groom is African American.  I hope I did their skin tones justice.  At the wedding yesterday they dug a pit and roasted a pig.  Yummo!! 

Don't forget to come back on Tuesday!!  I have a new Anita Be Stampin Challenge card for you and a new Tuesday Color Challenge at the Outlawz card!  I hope you are joining in and adding yourself to the linkie for a chance to win $50 in product from Oozak!! If you think about it and you are ordering, click the link from the Outlawz, it helps Rusty track if he wants to keep sponsoring the site!!

Happy Fathers Day with Some Odd Girl

Yup I know Father's Day is over, I am late with a couple of cards. I always have good intentions!!  I started early, even ordered 2 stamps.  One from LOTV and one from Some Odd Girl.  You know what always cracks me up is that people that do not craft actually think you save money by making cards instead of buying.  Yup, you are laughing with me aren't you?  Anyways, the challenge over at Some Odd Girl this week is to use Kraft or white and only 2 pops of color.  I hope my card qualifies.  I used Tobie and his Puppy. I really tried to color the puppy Kraft like, but needed to not get it too close to the color of his hair/face/other browns!!!  So my pops of color are denim blue and lime green.

Ok, do you see it?  If you saw my Monday post then you know I just got Copic Certified,  Yup, do you see that new little blinkie up on the right there?  Anyways, Maryanne Walker was my instructor and she shared about depth in the shading and shadowing.  What do you think about his face?  Shaded or playing in a mud puddle? LOL!!! 

I used a cuttlebug embossing folder, some ribbon stash that I stapled on.  Yup, if you are gonna add ribbon to a Man Card, staple it!!  The sentiment is from LOTV.  The paper is both Kraft and My Mind's Eye and some denim stash.  I did some sloppy stitching on the card.  Cuz again, it is a Man Card!!

And of course the inside.

Super simple, denim blue CTMH ink on denim blue cardstock!

And some Challenges:

Crafts and Me has Stitches.

My mums Craft shop is for the boys.

Tuesday throwdown is to create a masculine card.

Thanks as always for stopping by.  Would love to share a cup of coffee with you some time!!

Wedding Gift

I have been wanting for some time to do a mini album.  What better theme than a wedding album.  I live in the most amazing neighborhood.  We have wonderful neighbors that we can honestly call friends.  This mini album is for 2 of our neighbors.  My oldest daughter is also an amazing self taught photographer and took some fabulous engagement shots that I thought I could incorporate into a gift for the newlyweds.  The wedding is this Saturday and this is their gift.  I have used some papers from a kit from Close to my Heart.  I have been hoarding these papers.  I also used these papers to make a Blessings Box for the reception.  I will share that later as my daughter took it down to show the bride to make sure she likes it.
                                                                        The Cover

                                                                       Inside Cover

                                                                            Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

And then I have left several pages for the new couple to add some pictures of the wedding. 

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9 and 10

This was a lot of fun and of course a lot of time.  I really hope they enjoy it. 

Now that birdcage is from Tim Holtz and yup I ran it through my Cuttlebug with 2 B plates.  The bling is from recollections and there is some Making Memories metal tags and some charms from my stash. There are some dollar spot stamps, and one from AmyR from All That Scraps.  Some lace and a few flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts.  As well as a Magnolia tag.  I am sure I have probably missed some of my stash!

Now, to add this to some challenges.

Use it Tuesday wants us to use a die cut we haven't used before. I used the bird cage and the tag for the first time. But I will be using both of these a lot. Love them both!!

The Cheerful Stamp Pad is themed things with wings.  I hope the bird on the front cover qualifies. 

The Crazy Challenge is themed Weddings. 

Digi Design House has pearls and lace as its theme. 

Hooked on Craft Challenges has anything goes. 

Make it Monday has Anything goes. 

Simon Says Stamp and Show says to use Metal. I have used charms and metal tags in this journal.

Etsy Inspired is Weddings. 

Totally Gorjuss is Pearls and Swirls

Prairie Fairy Fridays is Weddings.

OK, that is enough challenges!!  Thanks as always for taking the time to visit my blog.  

Outlawz Tuesday Color Challenge

It is time for another color challenge from the Outlawz.  Today's colors were a lot of fun to play with.  Don't forget our June Jolt twist.  We want you to add some geometric shapes, as in circles, squares, triangles.  Sounds like fun now doesn't it?




Gotta love these bright primary colors.  For this challenge I made a gift for a co-worker.  Her and her husband are having their first child, a boy.  I wanted to make something for his nursery.  The baby will be named Keith, after her father who passed away several years ago.  The frame is actually 13X10.  It did not photograph well at this size.

I painted the frame an ivory color.  After 2 coats of paint I used these fabulous rub ons from Fancy Pants.  It has been a while since I used any rub ons.  Then I Mod Podged over the entire frame.  I then used super glue to add a large K to the front of it.

I hope I have given you a little inspiration to try something new, I have been using my Mod Podge a lot lately.   Now I need to remind you that this month's challenge is sponsored by Delicious Doodles.

 They have some pretty fabulous images over there, you should head on over to check them out.  I hope you can find some time to break out your primary colors and join us this week at the Outlawz!

Copic Certification

I am so excited to tell you about the wonderful time I had at my Copic Certification this weekend in Coos Bay, OR.  I was so excited to have the Marianne Walker as our teacher.  She is not only an amazing artist, but she was an amazing teacher as well.  Marianne has some fabulous tutorials on her blog, I like markers.  But was even better in person!!!  I can not wait for the intermediate class.  I had better start saving my money now!!!   I had to get a picture with her of course!!

Gosh, I know better than to have my chin down like that in photos, dang it!! It really shows off my double chin.  but since it is the only one I got well I have to post it!!!  One of the highlights of my day was during lunch time I hung around.  Since my hubby had gone to a Bow Shoot I was stuck without a vehicle and don't you know the Red Lion did not have a place for lunch! But since I hung out I got to chat a bit with Marianne and I asked her about faces.  I always thought I did a pretty good job, but wow, she really showed me dimension.  Lucky me, she colored in my journal.   And now I get to share that with you.

I am so glad that I had stamped some pages before I went.  I had this image from Some Odd Girl stamped in my journal and she colored the face for me.  Then I wrote the colors that she used on the page.  It was fun to watch her grabbing colors and adding. When she grabbed the BV's I was concerned! And an E-51 for a white girl?  Really!! LOL, I would have never gone there myself!!!

Isn't that amazing?  I am really looking forward to some time in my craft room just coloring!!  I can not get over the depth she achieved with these colors!
Now on Facebook I "like" the Some Odd Girl page and when I first found Some Odd Girl I remember seeing a post about a husband that had bought up half the store to give to his wife who loves the images.  Well, I met that wife at the certification class.  Too funny!!  Her name is Melissa and her blog is MelissaMade.  She is also a very talented crafter!!  And a member of the Tiddly Ink design team.  I chatted with her a bit and got a picture with her as well!!

Really, I don't have a huge head.  I am just shorter and closer to the camera!! LOL
After the class my hubby took me to a fabulous LSS that gave all of us at the cert class 20% off our purchases.  It was a fabulous store.  It carries so much awesome stuff that I only find on line. I wish I had more time to just drool over everything.  I did get a couple stamps and a die cut and some of that mounting stuff for my unmounted stamps.  That store is Memories of Time.  All in all it was a fabulous weekend.  Oh yes, on my way home I also stopped at M's in Eugene as I am hearing that M's is starting to sell Copics.  Well, that M's had a total of 23 colors to choose from.  Yup, not going to be making any special trips for that!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, I can't wait to get back in coloring and seeing how much more depth I can get to my images.  Are any of you brave enough to add some BV to your faces?

Sweet Summertime Challenge

Is it finally Summertime where you are?  We are having some nicer days, not quite summer but a move in the right direction at last!  Seems like it was a long winter, barely spring and now we are moving into Summer.
This next 2 weeks at Guylou's Inimitability our challenge is Sweet Summertime.  The challenge is to do a Summer themed card with the word SWEET on the front of the card.  I am pretty sure that when they added the part that it has to be on the front of the card that was for me!! LOL, I tend to get carried away with what I am working on and then forget parts of the challenge and then you often will find me putting part of the challenge on the inside as I can't find a place on the outside!!!  I used some new papers this challenge.  New yes, but still My Mind's Eye!  I just love the colors of these papers!
I have to tell you that I just love all these gorgeous Leah images.  Today Guylou has brought us another one. This is Leah eating watermelon.  My first thought was that it just screams 4th of July.  But nope, I used lime and red instead!!  The colors reminded me of a watermelon!  I distressed my edges and used a Nestie to cut her out.

This awesome sentiment is from our very own Tracy.  

Now, this challenge goes for 2 weeks. It starts now and ends June 30th at 10 PM EST.  You'll want to check out the rest of the Design Team's creations.  They are always awesome.  Would you like to be a Guest Design Team member?  The winner is asked back just for that!!  As well as winning some images from Guylou's store.  

Now I am going to enter this in some challenges.

Crafting for all seasons has the challenge of Summer

For fun challenges is summer fun. Is there more fun than eating watermelon in the Summer?

Little Darling Challenges theme is summer!

Anything Goes Challenge is also Summer.  See how I am on a role here?

Anita Be Stampin Challenge 23~Shaped Card

Hey there everyone, here we are for another Anita Be Stampin Challenge.  This week we are challenging you to make a Shaped card.  There is a twist this week, to add buttons.  Now I know not all of the Design Team Members did this, so it is up to you.   I love to do shaped cards.  I love to use my Grand Calibur, just wish I had more Grand Nesties!!  They are on my wish list for sure!!  This challenge I used Tallulah.  

Don't you just love this GORGEOUS paper by Cosmo Cricket?  I love the purses and the gorgeous colors in this paper.  I started with my image, picked my papers and then my colors to match the paper.   The Happy Birthday stamp is  LOTV circular sentiments.  And that gorgeous lace is Wild Orchid Crafts.   Love it!!

I distressed all the edges of the card.  Do you see the cute paper on the inside?  So cute.  I recently hit a sale where all those 6X6 paper pads were $3.99.  Yup, I got a few!!!  Here are the Copic colors I used on this card.  

I hope you can find some time to join us in the challenge at Anita Be Stampin.  We are still on the Bi~weekly schedule, so you have some time!!

I am adding this card to the challenge over at Paper Sundaes Challenge~Girly Girl.

Clearlyistamp challenge is distressing.

Tuesday Color Challenge at the Outlaws

Happy Tuesday everyone.  It is time for another Color Challenge over at the Outlawz.  Are you all playing at the Party this week?  There are so many fabulous prizes I wish I could play!!!!  This weeks color inspiration is brought to us by Rox.  This challenge was right up my alley!!  Let me tell you! I love these colors! And the inspiration photo makes me thirsty! I love my Coffee!!  With these colors the June Jolt twist is to use a stamp.  My stamp is a SU sentiment.

Well you all know that I have some fabulous Coffee Ribbon so I started there!!  Then I printed out an image by our sponsor, Delicious Doodles.

So my friend Tracy is always talking about how her markers react differently when it is muggy.  I finally saw what she means!!  It was really muggy when I was coloring this image and for the life of me I could not get a smooth layer.  

The added silver is in the brads.  I love this swirly embossing folder and I had a scrap of my favorite coffee print paper to add to it.

Now, I would really like to brew up a pot of coffee and sit and chat a bit!  Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, I always enjoy the company!

I am going to enter this in the Monochromatic challenge at The Crazy Challenge

Stamping Scrapping Challenge central has embossing as its challenge this week.

Craft your days away challenge is Monochrome.

Saturday Playing and a Copic Journal

Are you getting to do something crafty today?  My husband went off to a bow shoot today so I got some laundry in, a load in the dishwasher, vacuumed the floors and headed into my scraproom.  Not sure I should keep calling it a Scraproom as I rarely scrap anymore.  My passion has become card-making.  I have recently invested in a bind it all machine though and my plan is to start doing some mini albums for the grand babies.   So maybe I will keep referring to it as that for now!!!  Anywhoooo, as I said I got to play a bit this morning.  I have been working on a project for ME!!!  I am pretty excited about that really, as I am usually making a card for someone else.  Have you heard of Pinterest?  Dana got me started on it recently, it is a type of bookmarking however, you get to put them on your board and you can find things easily.  I am loving it.  Recently I found this project and "pinned" it so I could go back and find it.  It is a Copic Marker Journal.  Well her journal led me to Copic Munkies where you can download all the PDF files for this journal.  Now all that being said I am excited to show you my creation.  I wanted to make this journal to take with me to my Copic Certification Class next weekend.  I am beyond excited to go.

I started with some of my favorite papers by My Mind's Eye.  These are from the Stella Rose collection. I love the aqua and brown colors in this line.  Don't you just love this image from Some Odd Girl?  You all know how I love my coffee, so when I was browsing through their digital images I couldn't resist these images called Going Out for Coffee.   This one is Coffee Mae.  I thought she was fitting for the front of my journal. 

I recently won a prize package over at Really Reasonable Ribbon.  I was super excited to win.  With it I won this ribbon and a package of Glubers.  I made this flower with it and some of the ribbon from the May package that I received.  The metal sentiment is from Making Memories.  The little create charm is from CTMH.

On the inside cover I made a pocket with the Labels One Grand Nestie Die.  I sewed 2 together to make a pocket for some extra images.  I plan on taking some to the class and I am always coloring some up for the next project. 

There are 4 sections.  The first is for my Copic Inventory. I mark the Ciaos with a C and the Re-inkers I have with an R.

The next section is Hair and Skin.  I have just started my book so only have one page colored in.  I had to get at least one done before I posted my project!!

And some pages.

I love these Some Odd Girl Images for coloring hair and skin.  They are just so much fun.  

The next section is Color Combos.  

We all have some favorites.  I have just begun, but started with 2 of my favorite Red combos. I will be filling this section up, believe me!!!

The next section is Marker Families

I haven't started this section yet.  I will though!!

Here is what the back looks like.  And a close ups of the front.  Hard to see but I used glossy accents on her eyes, her headband, and her coffee cup.

Thanks so much for bearing with me for all these photos.  I am really looking forward to playing with my journal and I really hope you were inspired as well.  Thanks again for stopping by, wish I could put a pot of coffee on and we could sit and chat a while!

I am entering this at the Wee Memories~ Anything goes Challenge.

Frosted Designs has use stitching on your project. I did that with the inside envelope.

At Joyful stamper~Inspire me Fridays~Anything Goes

Moving Along with the times~Anything other then a card

Papertake weekly challenge is Anything Goes.