Little Best Friends - SSW117

Three things for today:  It's the last day of August - where did this month go?  It's my birthday and I'm not even going to go there on the topic of age - it really is a matter of mind right?!  And my favorite of all it's a Wednesday and that means another Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge! We have a new sponsor this week and that's exciting too.

Elisabeth Bell Designs is the sponsor and I have just loved creating my card this week with the beautiful images this company has.  The lucky Grand Prize Winner of the challenge will receive both of the following images from Elisabeth Bell Designs:

You'll have to be sure to stop by the Sweet Sketch Wedneday blog to see what the design team created with these prize images.

And here is the sketch for this week. I love the combination of squares and the circle in this sketch - it has lots of layers which always adds interest to a card.

Now some of you might have thought you were on the wrong blog since my colors on this card are so pale and pastel but I can assure you I have not gone faint on this one.  I intentionally chose to go with softer colors because of the sweet delicate image of these toddlers on the beach.  I'm not going to say it was easy - you know I generally go for the bold and bright, vibrant color.  But I like how it turned out.  The sweet papers helped a lot here - they're by My Mind's Eye, the "Everyday Flair" collection.  The Elisabeth Bell image is called "Little Best Friends" and it reminds me of my daughter and niece when they were toddlers.  They are ony two months apart in age and totally inseparable even still today. 

And finally, I just have to mention the crocheted flower.  I made this little beauty and so proud of it too! I've always wanted to learn how to crochet something other than just chain stitches!  So I Googled crochet flowers, found a terrific video tailored to a total beginner (and it used normal everyday language-LOL) and this is what I came up with. Sort of...  I used white cotton yarn and colored this one with my Copics to get it to match my card colors.  I'm happy how it turned out for me! 

So that's it for today's post. Please join us this week in the Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge - we just love to see what you can create!  Thanks for stopping by!

Going Buggy at Digital Tuesday

Well we're going to the bugs today!  But they're the cute kind of bugs you find at Doodle Pantry - the kind that bring a smile to your face!  Doodle Pantry is the sponsor of the challenge at Digital Tuesday this week and their theme is "Going Buggy".  So I wanted to show support and play along in the challenge.

I used this adorable Doodle Pantry digi released last month called "Balloon Ants". I digitally paper pieced the balloon and sponged clouds in the background.  The papers are digital from Shery K Designs.  I just love this image - it's so great for birthday cards of all ages and gender.

I hope I've inspired you enough to enter the Digital Tuesday challenge this week.  You just never know - you might end up the winner of the Doodle Pantry gift certificate. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Quirky Kangaroo

Happy Monday to you! There is no better way to start the week than a day with Doodle Pantry. And Monday's can be kind of quirky so how perfect it is to feature this darling "Quirky Kangaroo" - one of the new digi stamp releases this month at Doodle Pantry.

I just couldn't resist coloring this cutie in a quirky color palette too. She looks pretty in blue with those red and pink flowers!  This is a terrific set of digis - you get a pre-colored version too, three fun sentiments and three coordinated digi papers - a real deal! 

The Doodle Pantry "Stock the Pantry" challenge is going on with about a day left to create a card and enter.  All you have to do is create a card with a Doodle Pantry image to play in the challenge.  I hope to see your creation there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sugar Creek Hollow - Masculine Cards

It's a beautiful Saturday morning here and another Sugar Creek Hollow challenge.  This week we're looking for masculine themed cards.

Create a card in vintage or shabby chic style with a masculine theme and enter the challenge this week!

 I used Stampin Up! Artifacts stamp set - an older one that I love for masculine cards.  I created the sentiment that is the focal point of my card on my computer.  I thought it was good sentiment for a retirement card.  Lot's of dry embossing on this for the rich textures I was trying to achieve.  Tell me what you think.

Be sure to hop over to Sugar Creek Hollow and see the design team's card inspirations this week - they are terrific.

I'd like to enter this card in the male theme card challenge this week at Crazy 4 Challenges C4C102.

Thanks for stopping by!

Poor Sick Lenny!

Happy Friday everyone! It's time for a new release today at StampFairy featuring our poor sick Lenny.  We just have to send him get well wishes for a speedy recovery!

Here's the new collection of digis called Lenny Get Well Soon. You can find these darling stamps HERE in the StampFairy Shop.  And yes, there's a freebie with this set - you can see it in the bottom right corner of the preview above.

Here's a little closer view of Lenny.  He must have a pretty bad bump on the head to be sporting the ice pack that I paper pieced!  You can see that I used the freebie image and enlarged it as part of the sketch I was following from The Sweet Stop SSS122. 

Here's a closeup of the fabulous fibers I incorporated into my card using bakers twine in red and turquoise - the fibers are the added requirement with the sketch challenge this week at The Sweet Stop.

I'm also entering this card in the Crazy 4 Challenges Bingo challenge this week (C4C101).  I chose the paper piecing (Lenny's ice pack), ribbon (black) and 2 or more designer papers.  My DP is from the new Echo Park line called Happy Days.

To see more of these new digis at StampFairy, just hop on over to StampFairy World and our design team has lots of inspiration for you there.

Thanks for stopping by!

Morning Person

It's time for another challenge at Sweet Sketch Wednesday - boy the week has flown by so far. There's so much going on at home and work right now that I'm not sure I like time going by so fast!  And of late I feel just like this image - worn out before I even get the morning started just thinking of everything I have to do!!!  I definitely am not a morning person like the sentiment says.  I'm more a late night crafter working into the wee hours like right now :)  And no doubt, I'll look like this in the morning too!

We have a terrific sketch for this week at Sweet Sketch Wednesday.  Lots of layers and interest in this one - it's fun to put together so give it a try!

And of course, the hysterical image I've used is from our sponsor of the Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge this week - the fabulous Bugaboo Stamps!  Jodie, the owner and illustrator of Bugaboo Stamps, is generously providing 7 digi stamps worth $21 to the lucky Grand Prize winner of the challenge.  I would love for one of my wonderful followers to win so get on over to Sweet Sketch Wednesday and play along!

This is Stella, one of the many characters at Bugaboo Stamps.  You can check out all the Stella digis HERE at the Bugaboo store.  She was colored with Copics and paired with the new "A Happy Heart" papers from My Minds Eye. The flower was made using the MS cornflower punch with many, many layers. The sentiment (closeup below) comes with the digi and I just simply printed it directly onto the patterned paper.

Hopefully I've inspired you to play along this week at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. You'll find even more inspiration from the rest of the design team over at the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog - go check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Quirky Crab

Happy Monday! Oh it's hard to leave the weekends behind when you know summer is in its last days and school is about ready to begin.  Just over two weeks and the kids will be back piled with homework and school activities and sports.  I like these last days of summer - they just seem more relaxing to me.  Or maybe that's because I had quite a bit of time in my craft room this weekend to create this card for Doodle Pantry.

This is one of the August release sets called Quirky Crab.  I think he's a friendly looking fellow!  This is the precolored version of the digi and I've used the two coordinating digital papers available with this collection.  Such fun, bright colors that speak of summer don't you think?  You can find this wonderful set HERE in the Doodle Pantry Store.

Hope you all are enjoying the last few weeks of summer yourself.  Thanks for stopping by!

Buttons and Bows at SCH

Today begins a new challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow and this week we're looking for cards or paper projects with buttons and bows. We have a terrific sponsor this week with a great prize package for a lucky winner.

The Stamping Boutique is our sponsor and Tracey Malnofski, the owner, is providing a prize package of 3 digi stamps and 1 digi paper pack as the weekly challenge prize. There is a wonderful selection of beautiful stamps at The Stamping Boutique - take a peek at the store. 

To be eligible for the terrific prize, just enter a card created in a vintage or shabby chic style with buttons and bows on it.  We'll select a winner at random of all the entries for the prize.  The design team will also select a favorite and that person will be eligible to be a guest designer with our team.

On my card this week, I've used the "Apron" digi from The Stamping Boutique and paper pieced it with digital papers from Shabby Miss Jenn Designs "Seaside Picnic" digi kit. I added a bow and some buttons and that was it. An interesting card that was so fun and easy to create.

I hope you'll join us in the challenge this week. In the meantime, stop on over to Sugar Creek Hollow and see the other fun images we're highlighting from The Stamping Boutique on the design team inspiration cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Spooky Friday at StampFairy!

Happy Friday everyone!  It's time for a new release at StampFairy and it's a Friday fright this week with the introduction of new Halloween images. For me, I'm just not ready to give up summer just yet but who can resist this adorable image?

This collection is called Barry Spooky Bats and you can find it right HERE at the StampFairy Shop.  And lucky for all of us, it comes with a freebie too.  I know you can find a lot of uses for the moon/bats/cloud image in the bottom right corner. 

You can see that I used the freebie on my card with one of the new Barry Spooky Bats images. Everything on my card this week was cut out and pasted on the digital paper circle. I wanted to have lots of dimension.  I paper pieced the moon, clouds and the grass.  Barry and the fence were colored with Copic markers.  The papers I used are from a digital kit called "Little Dudes" from Shabby Miss Jenn Designs. The embellishment I used is part of the set and I added the "boo" with my software.

Now this week the design team was super creative with this new StampFairy collection so you really must visit StampFairy World and check out those wonderful cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers To You!

Cheers to you my faithful followers and bloggers! It's Wednesday and you all know what that means... another Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge and the return of our monthly sponsor Digi Stamp Boutique.

Here's the fun sketch this week - another favorite pulled from the past. It's a quick and easy one to put together but with enough detail to really showcase your image.

Digi Stamp Boutique is this week's sponsor and the owner, Sally Ann Hancock is providing the Grand Prize winner of the challenge with 6 digi images of your choice from the Digi Stamp Boutique store. Thanks Sally Ann - we love your images and your monthly sponsorship of Sweet Sketch Wednesday!

I just couldn't resist this fun image of Alf with his beer. I thought this was a perfect card for a friend that just recently got promoted.  He was colored with Copics and I used the fun, bright papers from My Mind's Eye "Fly a Kite" collection.  The orange braid border was created with an EK Success border punch. The Party Time stamp used as the sketch embellishment is from Stampin Up.

Now be sure to stop by the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog and see the rest of the design team creations this week. I do hope you'll find some time to play along in our challenge this week.

Thanks for stopping by!