It's already Thursday?!

I can't believe that another Thursday has rolled around. We were gone this past weekend visiting my daughter for her college's family weekend. It was so much fun seeing her plus our other daughter joined us for a day. A double shot for this Mom!

Today we are doing a sketch for the Thursday's Digi Shack challenge. I hope you like my take (below) and I hope you can play along too. Check out the sketch here.

Recipe:
Image: Christmas Bells (The Digi Shack)
Paper: Mellow Moss, Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke, WW (SU!); DP- Wassil (Basic Grey)
Ink: Mellow Moss, Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke (SU!); gold spika pen (Too Marker)
Accessories: Blender pen, Riding Hood Red striped ribbon, gold brad, Boho Blossoms punch (SU!); Colluzzle ovals (ProvoCraft), frond punch (Martha Stewart)

TDS Challenge Card

Another Digi Shack Thursday challenge, and once again, I am preparing for the upcoming holidays. Today the challenge is "Fall in Love" challenge where you use only fall colors. I chose to add to my Thanksgiving cards and I picked this adorable little squirrel with a pumpkin from The Digi Shack (another $1 image).

I am not much of a CAS girl (clean and simple), but I am trying to adapt from my usual many layers and DSP and sometimes complicated sketches to a CAS style...at least every now and then. The stretching outside my comfort zone really helps my creativity and well...challenges me. However, my CAS cards always look "naked" to me so probably I add more than a purest would. But hey, you can only change a little at a time. Anyway, I am not sure if I pulled the CAS technique off, but this is definitely simpler than my usual card. But I like it mainly because of this adorable squirrel image. Hop on over and play.

Recipe:
Image: Squirrel with Pumpkin (The Digi Shack), Sentiment- Occasions Collection (retired hostess- Stampin' Up)
Paper: Craft, Whisper White, Dusty Durango (Stampin' Up)
Ink: Markers- Creamy Caramel, Dusty Durange, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Ribbon- Jersey (retired Stampin' Up), Bow-Easy

TDS Challenge Card

Here we are with another Thursday challenge from The Digi Shack. I just love these challenges because it is never the same...sometimes its a recipe challenge, sometimes a color challenge and today it is a sketch challenge. You just never know, but one thing you can count on is that it will be FUN! Yesterday the TDS hosted the sketch challenge over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday.
And that is the challenge for The Digi Shack today...two in one!

Here is a picture of the sketch, but you will want to check out the Sweet Sketch Wednesday and The Digi Shack blog for all the deets.

Below is my take on the challenge. I used TDS's Santa Baby image (which is now only $1 as are all TDS images except Lani and the packs). I did some serious distressing and added some gold pearl-ex. See my previous post on how I make a pearl-ex spray.

Recipe:
Image: Santa Baby (The Digi Shack), Sentiment-Teeny Tiny Wishes (Stampin' Up)
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White (SU!), DP- Christmas Stack (DCWV)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red; Markers: Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink, Brillant Blue, Basic Black; Watercolor Pencils-White (all Stampin' Up)
Accessories: Circle and Scallop circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Cuttlebug (ProvoCraft), Modern Label Punch (SU!), Pearl-ex (Jacquard products for SU! {retired}), Cutter Kit (Stampin' Up), Sponges (stash)

Digi Shack Thursday Challenge Card

Happy Thursday! I can hardly believe that another week has flown by. I chose this pretty cherry blossom image for the challenge over at the Digi Shack because I just returned from Washington, D.C. Monday evening. Even though the cherry blossoms aren't blooming this time of year, it reminds me of the trip this past spring where I did get to see the trees in full bloom. Gorgeous! I am fortunate to participate in a volunteer professional organization and they are headquartered in D.C. and had the opportunity to do some work at headquarters.

The challenge was to use two DP, 3 brads and one ribbon. I chose the pretty DSP from SU! called Razzleberry Lemonade which coordinates with the new in-color Melon Mambo as well as the Crushed Curry and Rich Razzleberry products.

Check out the fun challenge here. Hope you have a great day!

Recipe:
Image: Cherry Blossom (The Digi Shack)
Paper: Melon Mambo, Black, White, DSP- Razzleberry Lemonade (all SU!)
Ink: SU! markers
Accessories: Rose Red ribbon (SU!), jewel brads (stash)

TDSC20

Update: 8:45pm Thursday- Things have settled down a bit so I wanted to let you know just a few things about this card that may not be obvious. First the layer under the teal with white dot layer started as Bella Rose DSP (retired SU!). Because the challenge required copper, I covered the DSP with copper glitter glue. This took a while to dry but I like the effects of a glittered layer just peeking out of the teal. The other not so obvious thing is the corner embellishment. This is a paper epoxy button like accent from Colorbok's Friendly Forest line. I punched a 3/4 circle from Taken with Teal and layered it on top of the button and threaded the ribbon through both. The rest is pretty much self explanatory.

It is a crazy hectic week so I won't be able to post the details of my card until late this week or early next but I would be remiss if I did not remind you of the fun challenge over at The Digi Shack. This week's challenge is a color challenge- chocolate, caramel. teal, and copper. You can see the challenge and the other DT members creations here.

Recipe:
Image: Apples (The Digi Shack)
Paper: Chocolate, Close to Cocoa, Taken with Teal, WW, DSP- Bella Rose (Stampin' Up)
Ink: Green Galore, Taken with Teal, Close to Cocoa. Bashful Blue, Summer Sun, Garden Green, Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up)
Accessories: White gel pen (Uniball-Signo); Mat pack, 3/4 circle punch, Scallop punch (Stampin' Up), Epoxy accent (Friendly Forest-Colorbok), Ribbon (offray), copper glitter glue (Hampton Arts)

TDS Challenge Card

Time for the challenge over at The Digi Shack. This week's challenge is an inspirational challenge; use one of the handbags from the Toni, the Digi Shack's owner, Etsy store. I chose this Gabby bag with Amy Butler fabric.

Be sure to stop by The Digi Shack. There is some awesome Shack Candy...I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I can tell you that you definitely don't want to miss this!

I love Tempting Turquoise and this new color, Bermunda Bay from SU! together. It might be a little hard to see but the left Tempting Turquoise panel was embossed with the small dots texturz background plate from SU!. I used last week's sketch challenge from SCS as the design (SC241), but I took the liberty of adding the sentiment panel. The image is the birthday balloon by artist Tracey Malnofski for TDS. I love having a balloon image and especially love that it is for birthdays; and since it is an open stamp that is colored, I will be able to pair it up with any color combo and DSP.

Have a great Thursday!

Recipe:
Image: Birthday Balloon (The Digi Shack), All holidays (SU!)
Papers: Bermuda Bay, Tempting Turquoise, BB, WW (SU!); DSP- Indian Summer Fall Matstack (DCWV)
Ink: SU markers
Accessories: Prisma pencils, Gamsol, belnding stumps, Small dots texturz plate (SU!), photo anchors (Creative Impressions), Brads (Queen &Co.)

Digi Diva Challenge

Happy Thursday! I love Thursdays. Why you may ask? One reason is that there is only one more day of the work week to have to wake up & start the sprint to get ready. {A slower wake up, sipping coffee is more my style, which is what the weekends allow most often}. The other reason I love Thursday's is the Digi Shack's weekly challenge. I love seeing what everyone creates & the variety of cards that are made while adhering to specific criteria.

{I think I already blabbed on an earlier post how much I like challenges}.

This week Joni challenged us to make a card using handbags or shoes to salute the new images at The Digi Shack. I started with a 6X6 square of Brocade Blue and used my Scor-Pal to create the scores across the top. Next, using my sewing machine, I stitched the DSP together to create the lower layer. My shoe images were colored or paper pierced. The bow was created using the bow easy.

Have a great day!

Images: Shoes (The Digi Shack), Sentiment-First in Fashion (retired Stampin Up!)
Paper: Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, Garden Green, WW (SU!), DSP- Prestwick (retired SU!)
Ink: Garden Green, Night of Navy, Brocade Blue
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Brocade Blue 5/8" grossgrain ribbon, Bow Easy, ScorPal

Triple Challenge

I combined three challenges for this card- the Splitcoaststampers (SCS) color challenge from Tuesday, the SCS sketch challenge from Wednesday, and today's challenge from The Digi Shack. The color challenge colors are Certainly Celery, Pixie Pink, Apricot Appeal and any neutral. The Digi Shack challenge is "Say it with Flowers" by using a digi flower image.

Look here to see all the creations from The Digi Shack's Design Team..my sister Maui-Wowies. :)

The image is called Bud Vase. I colored the flower with my SU! Pixie Pink marker; the dimension was added by applying more marker color along the flower lines and the small inside part of the flower. I also colored more heavily along the lines of the leaves. If the receiver looks real close, this will be obvious but when looking from a normal distance at the card, it looks natural and dimensional. I enjoy spending time coloring, but there are many occasions when I want a quick card and nothing beats this technique with markers especially the high quality of the SU! markers.

I did not add many embellishments so as not to detract from the image; and I hope to send it without extra postage. ;) I hope you like it.

Have a great Thursday!

Recipe:
Image: Bud Vase (The Digi Shack)
Paper: Apricot Appeal, Pixie Pink, Sahara Sand, WW, DSP- Apricot Apeal from 2007 prints pack (all SU!)
Ink: Markers- Apricot Appeal, Pixie Pink, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue (SU!)
Accessories: Apricot Appeal brads (SU!)

TDSC14

Here's my take on The Digi Shack Challenge for the week (TDSC14). The challenge is to use clouds in your design. My clouds are in the form of designer paper. The digi image used was the gerber daisy image. To get four in a row, I used my picture editing software to resize the original image smaller. I kept the dimensions or ratio the same as the large daisy so the image wasn't distorted. Then I requested printing of 4 copies of the image on the same page. {I use Adobe Photo Shop elements, but any program will work}. Ta-da...4 daisies in a row and all perfectly aligned.
Even though I colored these daisies in the monochromatic purple shades, I can't help but want to do a 'crazy daisy' card in four different bright, bold colors. This was a super simple and fast card!
Hope you can join the challenge this week.

Recipe:
Image: Gerber Daisy- The Digi Shack
Paper: Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac, Black, DSP-page from travel scrapbook kit (DCWV)
Ink: Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac
Accessories: Lavender stickles, gold rhinestone stickers (Michaels)

Cowboy Boots

Happy 4th of July! We had a full day at our home so I am just now finishing up the Inspirational Challenge at SCS and the Digi Day Sketch Challenge at SNR Card Universe. First, about the Inspirational Challenge #187. I really enjoyed this challenge as this poster website called posters.com was such an inspiration. I have many more card ideas from browsing there. A super big thanks to Stephanie for chosing this for the challenge today and to PrincessHeather for submitting the suggestion. I finally chose this one called Sepia Boots by Jennifer Goldberger. http://www.posters.com/pv-500869_Sepia-Boots-I-HI.html

I also made this card for the sketch challenge sponsored by The Digi Shack for the SNR Digi Day; tag it TDSC0704. See here: http://snrcardiverse.ning.com/events/digi-day-digishack. It is a great sketch with all sorts of possibilities too. Hop on over to see how you can get a free image. A big thanks to Toni for the sketch.

About the card~ the digi boot image from The Digi Shack (of course) was colored with SU! markers including the new incolor, Crushed Curry along with Creamy Caramel and Close to Cocoa. I distressed the white background with More Mustard sponging. It was mounted on Crushed Curry and textured Chocolate Chip. The star brads were mounted on a 3/4" circle of Crushed Curry and a small block of textured Chocolate Chip. The jute is from my stash and was wrapped three time around the DSP called Vagabond Mustard from Basic Grey. The DSP has been in my stash for quite a while so I am not sure if it is even available anymore. I do like it for western and masculine cards as it has a distressed appearance and the colors of browns, mustard and touches of green in shades of Handsome Hunter and Always Artichoke, makes for a great backgound.

I made this card with my father-in-law in mind as his birthday is later this month. He just loves his cowboy boots and hat. He even wears a bolo tie when it it time to dress up a little. We are mid-western city dwellers, so this cowboy clothing theme makes him unique in the suburban area where we live. But who cares? If it makes him happy, it's all good.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th

Happy 4th!
I am so grateful to live in this wonderful country! And grateful to all those before me and those now who protect our freedom! Thank you!

The 4th of July is a favorite holiday around our house. Fireworks, BBQ, picnics, fun in the sun, outdoor lawn games, summer drinks, including my personal favorite sun tea, are just the many things that make this holiday fun. {Having an extra day off work isn't too bad either ;)}

My tent card celebrates the great holiday. The Digi Shack's weekly challenge is to make a card with Red, Navy, Bashful Blue (or light blue), White. Lani is colored with Copic markers. Isn't she adorable?! Some of my Design team sisters have colored her with brown hair and she is just as gorgoeus. {Hop over to the challenge to see all the cards}

The tent part of the card was made with 1/2 of an oval (instead of a circle) using my colluzzle. It is one of those old tools that I still love and use. The beaded arc was made by using Tombo multi liquid glue and then the beads were sprinkled and allowed to dry. The powder pal trays from SU! keep the beads off the work surface and floor.

I'll be blogging around this weekend; looking forward to some extra time cardmaking, playing challenges and seeing all your super creations. Happy 4th!

PS The new Stampin' Up catalog is out. To see - click on my sidebar link.

PSS Dont forget about The Digi Shack's Design Team call - due 7/10/09

Recipe:
Image: Patriotic Lani, Sentiment- All Year Cheer II
Paper: Brillant Blue, Real Red, DSP- SU! Print pack
Ink: Copic Markers, SU! White Craft ink
Accessories: Colluzzle, Tombo glue, red beads from stash, Bow Easy, ribbon from Target $1 bin

Mermaid Wishes TDSC11

This time of year in St. Louis the temperatures have been near 100; and with our humidity the heat index is well over 100. It is days like this that make me wish I was a mermaid, swimming in the cold ocean water all day long! This beauty is another one from The Digi Shack and for the sketch challenge happening over there today.

This also qualifies for the WT224 challenge or the Ways to use it challenge over at SCS. The challenge was to use bold, bright colors.

I had a lot of fun sponging with Baja Breeze after I colored the mermaid, Lani. Her tail fins are one of the new SU! colors called Bermada Bay. I love that SU! is offering the new in colors in markers this year.


Recipe:
Image: Mermaid- The Digi Shack
Paper: Bermada Bay, Baja Breeze, Gable Green, DSP- Basic Grey-Euphoria pack
Ink: Bermada Bay, Baja Breeze, Green Gable, Green Galore, Creamy Caramel, Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink, Blush Blossom
Accessories: SU! Texturz plate- backgrounds 1, primas from stash

The Digi Shack Challenge 11

Thanks Mandy for another great challenge. Hop over to The Digi Shack for more deets.

Chillin'

Here's my take on today's Splitcoaststamper's sketch challenge. And a sneak peek of The Digi Shack's weekly challenge which will be posted tomorrow (Thursday). {Hint: it's a color challenge} http://thedigishack.wordpress.com/

This Chillin' image is great for guy cards, don't you think? This card will be for DH {dear husband} for Father's Day. When our kids were little we spent a lot of time at the neighborhood pool where for several years in a row he volunteered hundreds of hours as board president. He worked really hard so that the pool would remain financially solvent and open. It's still open today giving joy to families and especially the kids.

The card is fairly plain- I like to make my guy cards without a lot of fuss. That is why I really liked this sketch because it is more than simple and adds a lot of dimension without a lot of embellishments.

I used SU! retired DSP called Prestwick. That DSP is the best for guy cards- greens, blues and grays. There are some equally great ones in the current catty like Manchester and Jackpot. And before you know it the new SU! catty will be coming out (July 1). I just love all the new trends in this hobby!

The big black brad was purchased at the CK convention in STL from Eyelet outlet {also avaliable on line}. One last little thing which is difficult to see in the pic is the glaze on shades, drink, and waves. In real life, it looks pretty cool!

Have a great Thursday!

TDSC05 Lani arrives

Here's my take on The Digi Shack's challenge this week. Mandy gave us an awesome sketch; you can see it on The Digi Shack website. I chose Lani this week- she a beauty don't you think? I love her pretty little face.

I rarely make square cards, but it just seemed to fit this week's sketch. I colored Lani with markers this week for the Splitcoast color challenge (CC218- only orange, summer sun, old olive). The paper is from the new Basic Grey series called offbeat. I just love this pad- it has some fun and funky designs including some little birds. The orange rick rack was obtained from the sewing section at my local craft store (LCS). I actually purchased it to use with some SU! DSP which is on the list of 'things I want to make'. Is your list as long as mine?!!
I have had the flowers and the little acrylic brads (called 'scrapbook nails') in my stash for quite some time. The last little thing I did was to paper pierce in a semi-circle in the upper left corner. I used my coluzzle as a arc pattern and free-lanced the spacing between paper piercings.

postscript: image updated 5.19.09 with daylight shot
Recipe:
Image: Digi Shack - Lani
Paper: Old olive, summer sun, ww (all SU!), DSP- offbeat (basic grey)
Ink: markers- old olive, summer sun, only orange, cameo coral, creamy caramel
Embellishments- orange rick rack (Wright), flowers (stash), 'scrapbook nails'- Scrapbook interiors (old- from stash), colluzle circles

The Digi Shack Color Challenge

Hi everyone! It has been a very busy week here at my house. Lots of end of year activities for the 'kids', then birthdays and upcoming Mother's Day. How wonderful it is to have so many fabulous busy things to fill my life and such a great family to enjoy those blessings!

Here is my take on the color challenge for The Digi Shack. We were challenged by fellow design team member Mandy to make a card with Chocolate Chip, Not Quite Navy, Kraft and Vanilla (or White). Here is my take; I kept it quite simple since I have quite a few more cards to make tonight.

I used the image of 'Ruff Day'. I colored the dog image using my Burnt Sienna Copic marker; the grass and sky were created with SU! markers and classic ink (bordering blue and old olive). The Chocolate Chip ribbon looks great with this not quite navy, chocolate chip and kraft cardstock, don't you think?

Hope you can join the fun. There are some fun contests and some NEW images. There's a brand new line of images just released (with MANY more to come) by a super talented artist named Lindsay Dyer. Wait to you see Lani the new Wahine. I'll be making some cards this weekend with her image so check back later.

Gotta' run! Catch up with y'all later!

Recipe:

Image: Ruff Day- The Digi SHack

Paper: Not quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Vanilla (SU)

Ink: Burnt Sienna (Copic), Bordering Blue, OLd Olive (SU)

Accessories: Choc Chip ribbon (SU) vintage brads (SU)

The Digi Shack Sketch Challenge (TDSC03)

Here's my take on the sketch challenge over at The Digi Shack. I had a lot of fun making this card because I got to play with some of my new things from the Creating Keepsakes Convention in St. Louis. I walked around the showroom in a heavenly daze. I just loved everything & it was very hard to limit my purchases. Plus this fun image from the Digi Shack is just adorable, don't you think?

Fellow design team member, Mandy, gave us this sketch to create a card. Won't you play along too?

Here is the deets on my card:

The DP is a newer one from Basic Grey called Euphoria; summer patterns of lavender and pinks mixed with "willow green and lagoon blue". Although I don't usually go for purples, this set of papers struck my fancy. It was mounted on Perfect Plum cardstock. The image is from The Digi Shack; it was colored and cut out. Glitter was added to the nexklace and glaze to the nail polish. The hair flowers had crushed velvet flock. The brad seemed to match perfect although it was made by a different company. The purple twill was covered with lavender sheer ribbon to soften the intense color. What do you think?

Recipe:

Image: Birthday Ellie (The Digi Shack)

Paper: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum (SU!), DP- Euphoria (Basic Grey)
Ink: Markers- Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Tempting Turquoise, Going Gray

Accessories: Purple Twill (Karen Foster), Flower Brad (Creative Imaginations), Sheer lavender ribbon, Turquoise and Purple Crushed velvet flock for flowers (Doodlebug), glitter and glaze pens (jelly roll-Sakura)

Challenges!

Here's a card I made for this week's SCS sketch challenge (SC225) and the color challenge (TDSC02) going on over at The Digi Shack. Mandy hosted this week; she choose going gray, summer sun and certainly celery. My immediate reaction was 'yuk' {sorry Mandy} but the cards are really quite pretty. And that is why I like color challenges so much; it gets me out of the same 'ole rut. It's a pretty combo after all, Mandy...sorry for doubting you.

The image is from The Digi Shack. It is called 'dog-gone b-day'. I colored the dog with my SU going gray marker. Added a little color to his hat and cupcake with SS & CC. The dog was masked and then the white background was distressed with Summer Sun.

If you haven't already, make a comment on my blog candy. I'll be picking a winner on Saturday. I stopped by Michael's this evening after work and have a few more small things to add so you don't want to miss out. I'll update the blog candy picture tomorrow.

Have a great Friday!

Recipe:

Digital Image: Dog-gone b-day (The Digi Shack)
Paper: Summer Sun, Basic Gray, Certainly Celery, WW, DP- Cornflower (We R Memory Keepers)
Ink: Markers- Going Gray, Basic Gray, Summer Sun, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Corduroy Buttons
Techniques: Masking