Reindeer Holly

Wow, it's the last day of November and where did the month go? We have a great showcase of inspiration and a new challenge for you at Sweet Sketch Wednesday today.  Let's get started....

First the terrific sketch by Arlana.  I love this one - even though I say that every week! It's got those great layers and it's fast and easy to put together but looks very finished.  Give it a try!

Our sponsor is Di's Digi Downloads and what a shop filled with adorable digi stamps! The Grand Prize winner of the sketch challenge this week will receive a $10 gift certificate to use in the Di's Digi Downloads store.  Thanks Diane for your generous sponsorship!

On my card this week, I've used the adorable "Reindeer Holly" image from Di's Digi Downloads. Isn't this so precious?  It was colored with Copics and the reindeer was cut out and popped up for a little more dimension.  I added lots of stickles on the fur trim of Holly's outfit and as the bottom snow.  The paper - with reindeer on it too - is from Prima's North Country collection. And I added two glittered reindeer baubles from Recollections as my embellishments and keeping with the theme!

Now take a minute to stop by Sweet Sketch Wednesday and see the wonderful creations from the design team with the sketch this week.  And I hope you'll take a moment to play along. I promise lots of fun if you do!

Thanks for stopping by!

Molly Winter and Snowflakes

Happy Friday folks! I hope everyone in the U.S. had a wonderful Thanksgiving - we did and I'm still full on turkey, dressing and all the other delicious food that was prepared. So we officially begin our holiday season and there's no better way to do that than with a new release at StampFairy!

 Here's today's release with our favorite new character Molly.  These are terrific images and with the snowy bench available in this collection you can create a number of different winter scenes.  You can find these new images at the StampFairy Shop.  The fun snowflake is today's freebie.

This Molly image is so sweet as she starts to build her snowman that I glittered up with Stickles. She was colored with Copics, cut out and popped up on the panel for dimension.  Lots of sparkly snowflakes are on this card so it's quite dazzling in real life!  The papers are digital from My Grafico called Mod Xmas.

Now stop on over to Gerda's blog StampFairy World to see the collection of cards the StampFairies created to inspire you today.

Here are the challenges I'm submitting my card for:

Crafter's Cafe - Sketch (above)
CES Challenges #62 - Snowflakes
PanPastel UK Challenge #9 - Frosty and Bright
I Did It Creations Challenge #82 - Snowmen
Kaboodle Doodles Challenge #94 - Baby It's Cold Outside
Charisma Cardz Challenges #46 - Snowflakes
4 Crafty Chicks - 4CCC65 - Snowflakes
Repeat Impressions DCC1123 Designer’s Choice Challenge - Christmas with Snowflakes
Digital Tuesday Challenge #138  - Sparkle and Shine
Party Time Tuesday Challenge #43 - Snow Us What You Got!
Blog-A-Doodle - It's Snow Time

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hangin' with my Gnomies

Happy Wednesday followers, fans and bloggers! It's time for another Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge starting today.  We have a terrific sketch this week and our wonderful and popular sponsor is Whimsie Doodles with a special surprise for all of you so let's get started shall we?!

Here's the sketch by our own Arlana for this week's challenge. Once a month we bring back a favorite sketch from the past and this one is from week 33.  This is a fun sketch that I know you'll love to work with. I especially like that it provides a spot for a sentiment.

We're so lucky to have Whimsie Doodles as the sponsor this week. Melyssa, the owner and artist, is generously providing a $10 gift certificate to the Whimsie Doodles store to the Grand Prize winner of the challenge this week.  Here's more info about Whimsie Doodles:

Whimsie Doodles is so excited to be sponsoring the new challenge!  In March of 2009, Melyssa Connolly, artist and owner, began turning her whimsical hand-drawn images into digital files for sale online.  Whimsie Doodles' digital stamp line features images that range from cute little boy and girls, to punny stuff, and everything in-between.  We enjoy sharing lots of samples on our company blog, where we also post challenges and tutorials.

Special Offer for Sweet Sketch Wednesday fans:  Use the discount code SwtWed10 at the Whimsie Doodles online store and receive 10% off your next order!  Code expires 30 days from today.  So we're all winners with an offer like this - hooray!

For my DT card this week, I selected this Whimsie Doodles image called "My Gnomies" because it just brought a smile and I loved it's punny and funny sentiment which comes with the image.  These darling gnomes were brought to life with Copic markers to match the Stampin Up DP that I had selected for it's warm, earthy fall colors.  They were all cut out and then positioned on the DP focal panel using foam tape for some dimension. Easy peasy with this terrific sketch to follow.

Come visit us at Sweet Sketch Wednesday and see all the wonderful inspiration from the design team using Whimsie Doodles digi stamps this week.  And we'd love to have you participate in the challenge too!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Thanksgiving Imagery

Welcome! We're in the home stretch for Thanksgiving and this is my favorite time of year.  I love the warm colors of fall and the cozy and comforting symbols and imagery of the Thanksgiving holiday like this digi stamp collection from Doodle Pantry that I'm showcasing today.

I thought it would be nice to use this image for Thanksgiving cards for a more elegant and earthy look.  The images used here are from the Doodle Pantry collection called "Maize Corn". 

Copic markers were used with a bit of Prismacolor pencils too for certain highlights and light touches of color here and there.

The colors were inspired not only by Indian Corn in real life but also this photo from the Color Q Challenge #111. I love this rich color combination.

I'd also like to enter this card in these challenges as well:

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #179 - Thanksgiving
Catch The Bug Challenge - Thanks / Thanksgiving
My Sheri Crafts Challenge #73 - Be Thankful
Card Makin' Mamas #33 - Thanks / Be Thankful
Pattie's Creations Challenge #33 - Birthdays or Thanksgiving
Aud Sentiments Challenge #41 - Thanksgiving / Thank You
Crafting For All Seasons #14 - Thanksgiving, Thank You or Sketch
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Thanksgiving / Thanks
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Giving Thanks
Whimsical Wednesday Challenge - Happy Turkey Day
Scrap-Creations Challenge - Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and thanks for stopping by today.

Here Comes Santa to StampFairy!

Happy Friday StampFairy fans! It's a new release at StampFairy today with a new "Tommy Here Comes Santa" collection and they sure are adorable!

Here's the full collection released today. You can find them here in the StampFairy Shop. Isn't the one with Tommy swinging on the candy cane sooooo cute!  The Santa hat is today's freebie and how perfect is that?  You can use the hat on any of the StampFairy characters through photo editing software.  What a terrific freebie!

This Tommy Here Comes Santa image came to life through the use of Copic markers and lots and lots of diamond Stickles.  I cut him out and perched him on the rooftop of this house I created with papers from Bo Bunny's Blitzen Collection and Crate Paper's Peppermint Collection.  The background snowflake paper is digital from My Time Made Easy called 12 Days of Snowflakes.  I printed the Ho Ho Ho image directly on the digital paper - it's another StampFairy freebie that you can find here in the StampFairy Shop.  The flourish is also digital from my computer stash of freebies somewhere from the blog world. 

The edges of the rooftop and chimney are glittered also to appear as though snow had settled there - harder to see in the photo.  So in real life this is quite sparkly and festive for Christmas.

Now stop on by Gerda's blog at StampFairy World to see the rest of the inspiration my fellow StampFairies created with today release images.  You'll be glad you did!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Dear Daughter

Thirteen years ago at exactly this precise hour of the day, my daughter came screaming into this world and would delight my life forever.  This is her special birthday card and I'm so happy to share it with all of you today. 

Hilary Alexandra Basel

Hilary has always loved bunnies - actually any animal at all for that matter.  So when I saw this rubber stamp called "Smell the Flowers" by Chrissy Armstrong released at Whimsy Stamps earlier this year it reminded me of my dear daughter and I knew it would be perfect for her.  I first saw this stamp on Whimsey DT's Annika Ryan's blog and her card was my inspiration for this one.

I've colored the image with Copics and added little bits of soft color on top of that with Prismacolor pencils.  The background was watercolored using SU Marina Mist and Avocado stamp pad ink.  And I've used the beautiful papers from Basic Grey's Picadilly and Sweet Threads collections.  Spellbinders Labels #17 dies were used to create the frame around the image and Beaded Circles Nesties for the blue doily diecuts.  The glittered butterfly, flowers and pearl swirls embellish the card and it's finished off with an off-white satin ribbon.

We have a wonderful celebration planned for Hilary - suiting her official entry into her teens. I think she'll adore this card and will know the love that went into creating it for her. Happy Birthday my dear beloved daughter!

I offer this card in the following challenges today:

Whimsey Inspiration Challenge #15 - Flower Power - Flowers and a Sentiment

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #138 - Punch It - Punches and Diecuts

Hooked on Craft Challenges #12 - Something Punched - Punches and Diecuts

Paperminutes Challenge #191 - Children's Birthday

City Crafter Challenge #83 - Four-Legged Friend

Flutterby Wednesday Challenge #180 - Open Challenge

Polka Doodle Challenge #45 - Swirls and Pearls

Pattie's Creations Challenge #33 - Birthday or Thanksgiving

Cuddly Buddly Challenge #20 - Double Trouble - Feature two characters

Basic Grey Challenges #57 - Mix 'n Match - Use multiple BG paper collections

Penny Black Allsorts Challenge - November Monthly - All Creatures Great and Small

Crafting When We Can Challenges #6 - Female Birthday

2 Sister Challenges #65 - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Winter Sports at ABC Christmas Challenge

StampFairy is sponsoring the ABC Christmas Challenge and I'm showcasing this card this week over at the challenge blog.  The theme is "W" for Winter Sports - isn't that fun!

This is Al the penguin getting ready to ski down the slopes!  You can find Al Winter Fun at the StampFairy Shop.  He was brought to life with Copic markers, lots of glitter and some fantastic digital papers from Shery K Designs.  Why don't you join in the ABC Christmas Challenge fun this week?

Thanks for stopping by!

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch #128

Happy Wednesday and you know what Wednesday brings....another challenge at Sweet Sketch Wednesday!  Today we have another fun sketch for you and our monthly sponsor Digi Stamp Boutique.

Here's the sketch to follow this week - lots of wonderful layers and room for some fun embellishments.  Hard to believe we're on sketch #128 - wow! 

We're sponsored this week by Digi Stamp Boutique who is our monthly sponsor and has been from the very beginning of SSW.  The Grand Prize winner of the sketch challenge this week will receive 6 digi stamps of their choice from the Digi Stamp Boutique store.  Thanks Sally Ann for the wonderful prize package!

I've used the adorable "Winter Hattie" from Digi Stamp Boutique on my card this week. She was colored with Copics to match the Kaiser Craft papers I've used here.  I've added some red and diamond Stickles to the image to match the sparkle from the star embellishments (Recollections) I chose for the sketch.  Only by luck did my star embellishment match the same size as the star in the digi image - love it when that happens! I think it adds some great dimension to the focal point of the card.

Now stop on by Sweet Sketch Wednesday and check out the fun cards the DT created with Digi Stamp Boutique images.  And remember when you play along in the challenge, leave a comment on the SSW blog to be eligible for the Grand Prize.

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Scenes

Running a day late to get this posted - why won't life slow down so I can catch up?!!!  Anyway, I'm showcasing the new release of digi stamps at StampFairy this week featuring everyone's favorite Lenny bear.  This time Lenny is created in Christmas scenes, perfect for your holiday card making.

Here's the full selection of new digis.  Aren't these just terrific?  The sentiment circle is the freebie today. The Lenny Christmas Scenes collection can be found HERE in the StampFairy Shop.

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This Christmas scene was colored with Copics and Prismacolor pencils blended with gamsol. My fellow StampFairy designer Anita does some amazing coloring blending Copics with Prismacolor pencils.  I've failed miserably here but I'm going to keep on trying!!!!  The papers used here are favorites of mine from my stash and I'm down to just a few small pieces now!  I added pearly snow-like stickles to the lamp and at the bear's feet for snow.  Adorable digi isn't it?! 

And finally, my card layout used the sketch from the StampFairy Challenge that is still going on through the weekend.  There's still plenty of time to play along and I sure hope you'll give it a try.  Just create a card using the sketch and a StampFairy image and enter to win free StampFairy digi stamps. Hope to see your creation over at the StampFairy Challenge blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Two of my Favorite Things

Happy Wednesday! This week is just flying by - but that's okay because I have some vacation time coming up next week so the quicker it gets here the better!  It's time for another Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge today and it's a great sketch this week with one of favorite sponsors. So today I'm featuring two of my favorite things - Sweet Sketch Wednesday and StampFairy!

Isn't this a fun sketch? I love the oval within the circle - it frames the image you use so well. This one has lots of layers too which I always love.  Great job Arlana!

StampFairy is our sponsor of the challenge this week and I don't need to tell you how much I adore Gerda's whimsical images! It's always fun to create with these digi stamps!  The Grand Prize winner of the challenge will receive four free StampFairy images of your choice.  To be eligible, just create a card using the sketch and make sure you comment on the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog.  Thanks Gerda for the wonderful prize package this week!

I've used the new Molly Winter stamps from StampFairy on my card this week.  Molly is adorable isn't she?  This image is a combination of Molly Winter and a bench image from the Spring Scenes collection.  You can find these fabulous images in the StampFairy Shop. 

Now stop on by the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog to see the wonderful cards of the design team using various different StampFairy images.  Lots of inspiration for you there!

Thanks for stopping by!