It SNOWED!

I am so exited that we finally got some snow. I love it! This is one of the cards we made in the Advanced Copic class I taught on Thursday evening. Lots of Magnolia fans in that group! I cute the scalloped ovals out using Nestabilities and then we airbrushed the blue background and then colored in the grass. After coloring both Tilda and the bench with Copic markers, we cut them out and then assembled everything onto our ovals. You can't really tell in this photo, but there are actually two butterflies in different shades of pink and I glued the centers together so it has a 3-D effect. The paper is Making Memories, the ribbon from Hobby Lobby and the stamp is from Magnolia. I got the bench and the Tilda from All that Scraps. 

This is a snow picture I took last night. It continued to snow during the night so there is a little more now. I just love snow and we rarely get very much. Normally when we get any there is just enough to barely coat the grass. Have a great day and stay warm!

Twisted Thursday--Chocolate Twist

Welcome to another S2g Twisted Thursday! I hope you had fun touring the Indulgence Blog Hop last week. Did you enjoy all those INDULGENCE images? I couldn't pick a favorite if I had to, each one I looked at was my new favorite. Are you ready to play along with us? Here is the sketch for this weeks challenge and the twist is CHOCOLATE! 
Here is the card I made with Digi 120 PURSES. As soon as I saw this, I knew I wanted to make purses with blinged out handles. I tweaked the sketch just a little so that I could make the digi large enough to show the detail on each purse handle. For my twist I added the chocolate brown base and circles and that yummy chocolate colored ribbon. The DP is one of the INDULGENCE digi papers. To finish my card, I added some rhinestones and some pearl dew drops. One purse has metallic gold finished, one has pearls made with liquid pearl paint and the other has sparkly rhinestones.  
Be sure to go through the rest of the DT's blogs, they all do amazing work! After you visit everyone else, be sure to head over to the S2G Challenge Blog and link your card to Mr. Linky. Remember there are two winners chosen each week that get their choice of a free digi.

Ann

Anne

Carlie

Cat

Deanne

Debbie

Georgia

Jana

Jane

Jeanne

Jennifer

Judy

Lisa

Day 3 TGF CHA Relay

For the S2G INDULGENCE BLOG HOP please scroll down or click here.

It is Day 3 of The Greeting Farm's CHA Relay challenge. I have been having fun with this even though it really is a challenge for me to get a new image and then have to come up with an idea for a card and then follow through with getting the card done and posted in such a short span of time. This little cub is named Toby and as soon as I saw him I thought he would be perfect for a baby card or maybe for a birthday card for a little boy. I usually wait until I am ready to send a card before I add any kind of sentiment so I am still not sure which I will use this for. After sizing and printing my digi image, I colored it with Copics. The papers are DCWV, the buttons and ribbon are both from American Crafts and the thread is DMC. I have been seeing lots of people playing along with the challenge out in blogland and it is interesting to see so many cards each day using the same image.

I have to brag just a little. I went to the grocery store today and by combining coupons with sales I brought out grocery bill from $190.00 down to $111.00. I was quite proud of myself, that's the most I have been able to shave off the total in a long time. I buy almost all cleaning supplies, personal care items (including my make up) and paper goods at the grocery store too. Since my local store doubles coupons I have found this to be the most economical thing for us to do. And you know what? Less money at the grocery store means more money for stamps and Copics!

TGF Day 2 CHA Relay

The Shirley's 2 Girls INDULGENCE Blog Hop is here.

So are you playing along with The Greeting Farm's CHA Relay contest? Here is the second digi that we were given to play along with and her name is Charlotte. Isn't she just adorable? I thought she would look cute colored with one of my favorite color combos. I printed her on my Epson printer and then colored her with Copic markers. I used brads from the Paper Studio and paper from DCWV. 

I spent some time in my LSS this afternoon shopping around. New stamps just arrived so of course I had to look at all of them. I was looking for the perfect paper for my Valentine project for my hubby. Unbelievable as it sounds, in the ten million sheets of paper that I do have, I didn't have the piece that I wanted! I was talking to the lady that works in there, she only works part time and I have missed her the past few times I was shopping. We are chatting about what products and things that we have and I think we came to the conclusion that in addition to all the cool toys that we have, we also have a problem with collecting paper! I know some of you reading this can identify. Thanks for stopping by!

Mer Ian

If you are here for the S2G Blog Hop, please scroll down or click here.

Good Morning! It's a very rare early morning post from me today. I usually get up in just enough time to get myself ready for work, make coffee and squeal into the parking lot right at 8:00. The Greeting Farm is having a fun challenge right now called CHA Relay. You can find the details HERE. I want to thank my friend Angela for calling to make sure I didn't forget yesterday. Although I am getting better at remembering the dates since I have been doing more and more challenges lately. I printed out this digital Mer Ian image and then colored him with Copic Markers and then cut him out. I used the paper from the Basic Grey Origins line but can't remember the name of this particular pattern. Since this Basic Grey paper is double sided, I simply used the alternate side for the second pattern behind Ian. Then I added some little acrylic baubles that were in my stash. Have a great day!

Care for a Spot of Tea?

If you are looking for the S2G Blog Hop, please scroll down to the entry below this one.

Good afternoon! It's another day filled with craft time for me, so it is a good day. Well I need to be doing some housework too, but a girl has to have priorities!! How would you like to have this digi stamp for free? All you have to do is go to the Shirley's 2 Girls group on Paper Craft Planet and join the group. This was the 50 member free digi and we are closing in on having 100 members in our group which means another FREE digi! If you haven't tried digital stamps yet this would be a good time to try and see how you like them. 

I used the sketch on the Mojo Monday challenge site. My image panel is just a little larger than the one on the sketch though. I forgot to load a picture of the sketch, but if you want to play along you can go to their blog. If you read my blog very often, you know I love me some polka dots! The image is from Shirley's 2 Girls and was colored with Copics. The image was cut out with Nestabilities, I used paper from DCWV (I think) and the ribbon is from American Crafts.  This also fits the challenge on the Corrosive Challenge Blog  which was to use a digital image. I hope you are having a great, crafty weekend too!

S2G Indulgence Blog Hop!

ETA: The S2G Blog Hop will continue until 1/27! You also have until then to link your project on the S2G Challenge Website.

INDULGENCE, what is yours?

Want a day all about PAMPERING?

Want to INDULGE yourself a little?

Well then join us for a Fabulously, Decadent Blog Hop of New Digital Stamps and Digital Papers!

The new line os stamps is called "INDULGENCE" and we are g

oing to treat you to a Sweet Tour through our personal blogs and have we got some exciting projects to show you! The line has everything a girl desires; from images of partying with your girlfriends, going on a hopping spree, taking a bubble bath...to a delicious spread of desserts.

So please come INDULGE yourself a little, who deserves a little pampering more than you?

We have 3 different prizes you can win! There is one GRAND PRIZE, a second prize and a third prize of a gift certificate hidden in amongst the DT's Blogs. So sit back, grab a latte, relax and enjoy the TOUR.

****Before you leave to go on the INDULGENCE TOUR leave us a comment about one of your favorite ways to pamper yourself. 

You must do this in order to be eligible to win.

Here is a picture of the Grand Prize:

Hopefully you arrived here from Lisa's blog, if not you will want to go to the S2G challenge Blog and start from the beginning. For me, nothing is betting than getting together with good friends and talking and laughing. If there is a bottle of wine involved, even better! I used the Digi Image Friends, which comes with the sentiment on my card as well as two others. I love that a lot of the S2G digis come with not only a sentiment, but there is often a selection to choose from. After sizing my image to fit on my 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 card, I colored it with Copic markers and added a little glitz from a glitter pen. I added some flowers from Making Memories and some rhinestones in the center of each one. My polka dot paper is one of the new Digital papers from the INDULGENCE line.

I have one more thing to show you before you head to the next stop on the tour. I took another sentiment from this set, sized it to fir my purposes and made a gift tag to go onto a bottle of wine to be taken for a girls night out. Don't forget to leave a comment telling us your favorite way to pamper yourself!! Your next stop on the tour is Jana's blog.

If your want to see the entire list of participants, please head over to the S2G Challenge Blog.

Christmas Through the Year

Over on Paper World, we have a challenge to work on our Christmas cards throughout the year. I thought that if I issued the challenge that I would feel more obligated to participate and to actually get all my cards done this year! I did better last year, but I still ran out before everyone got one. I used this image that Kathy sent me and I believe it is from High Hopes. She actually stamped me a huge assortment of various images that I have been having fun coloring. I colored the image with Copic markers and used foam dots to attach it to my scalloped ovals. I used the Martha Stewart branch punch to decorate around the bow. The papers are from DCWV and the ribbon came from Big Lots. I have been lucky enough to find ribbon there several times and I have been very happy with it. The quality is good and there is always a lot of ribbon on the spool and it usually only costs $1.00. Have a great night!

Stamp Something Blue and White

I hope you have had a great weekend. I have! I taught two beginner Copic classed at my LSS yesterday and then today I have had plenty of time to play around in my craft room. Any weekend that allows me to have that much free crafting time is a good one. This afternoon, I had time to just play, no classes to prep for, no holiday approaching too fast, just a day playing with my stamps and markers. I like to play along with the challenges on Stamp Something and the challenge this week was to use the colors blue and white. I think I could use other colors on my image as long as the main colors were blue and white. I have been wanting to play with this Shirley's 2 Girls stamp for a while.  Here's a glimpse into how my mind works: I saw a challenge for blue and white which made me thing of gingham, gingham made me think of baby cards but I don't have need of one of those and then this image came to mind. Then I realized I didn't even have any blue and white gingham paper but I found this that was close enough. I stamped the image with Memento ink and then colored it with Copics and the shoes with red glitter glue. The bow was made with ribbon that I had left over from my wedding programs and the paper and card stock is from DCWV. Thanks for visiting, I love reading your comments!

Classes

Good evening! Tomorrow I am teaching my first Copic classes at my LSS, The Scrap Room. I have two beginning classes scheduled for tomorrow and this is one of the cards we will be making. One of the reasons that I chose this image was because of the size of it, I thought it might be easier for beginners to learn to shade on something that wasn't teeny tiny. The stamp is from Hero Arts and I cannot remember who makes that polka dot paper. I just looked at it right before I came upstarts to start this post too! I am going to blame it on being tired and not getting older, so play along with me. The image was colored with Copic markers, I added some rhinestones from Hobby Lobby to the center, and the ribbon and red card stock are from Jo-Ann's.

Speaking of classes at my LSS, I was able to take a class there last night and had a great time. The class was taught by Courtney, who has recently released her first stamp set. You can find Courtney's blog here and the store where you can purchase the stamps here. The name of the set is Key to My Heart. I liked the fact that even though they are kind of Valentiny that they will work for any love notes or anniversary type cards. I also liked the fact that we made cards that weren't in traditional Valentine colors and to me that made the stamp set more versatile. Not only did we make the three cards, she also taught me how to make those ribbon ruffles!

Thanks for stopping in and visiting with me!

S2G Twisted Thursday Challenge-ABC Challenge

Welcome to this week's Twisted Thursday Challenge! The challenge this week is an ABC Challenge--anything but a card--with a Twist of a valentine's Day project. Ready to play along? Head on over to the Shirley's 2 Girls Challenge Blog and post your link to Mr. Linky and you will have a chance to win your own Digi image. 

For my ABC project I used the Digi image Fancy. I decided to make a wall hanging that I can use for decor in my house. I enlarged the image quite a bit, printed it and colored it with Copic markers. For my wall hanging, I started with a 12 x 12 canvas and painted it first with Gesso. As I applied the Gesso, I did so thicker in some places than others so that I could get some texture on my painting. After that dried, I painted the canvas with pinks and white acrylic paints. I spelled out LOVE with some epoxy letters and added the giant pink and white flowers. The swirls were plain chipboard and I sponged them with white metallic paint and then airbrushed them with Copic RV 17.
Project Recipe: Stamp S2G Digital image, Paper: DCWV       

                            Flowers, Epoxy Letters, paints and canvas: Joann's

                            Chipboard Swirls I think are from a Sizzix die and were give to me by Angela.

Don't forget to check out all the other LADIES with ATTITUDE blogs:

Ann English

Anne Ray

Carlie Mays

Cat Darling

Deanne Burton

Debbie Daniels

Georgia McDonald

Jana Mays

Jane Wetzel

Jeannie Thomas

Jennifer Scull

Judy Applegarth

Lisa Futch

Birthday Challenge

The challenge this week on Mo's Challenge Blog was to make  a project for a birthday. I have had this image for several months now. I bought it with the intention of making a birthday card for my brother for his birthday this year. When we were little, we spent hours and hours riding our big wheels down the hill by my parents house, running back up and then racing back down again. We wore those things out and between the three of us kids we went through several big wheels. Seth did have one that has these same colors on it which is where I got my color inspiration. I chose that star paper too, because it reminded me of Evil Knievel. We would try to come up with crazy stunts too, pretending to be that famous dare devil.  My parents lived on a hill that ran perpendicular to another street and on the other side of that street was a ditch and then a field. The goal was always to get airborne for a couple of seconds to jump that ditch. So my brother will get the meaning behind this card and hopefully it will bring back some of the same fond memories for him as it did for me.

Thanks for walking down memory lane with me! This is a digital image from Mo's Digital Pencil and was printed with my Epson printer and ink and them colored with Copic markers. The sentiment is from Clear Dollar  Stamps and was stamped with CTMH Star Spangled Blue ink. Paper and card stock is from DCWV. I left this card unembellished because that is more my brother's style!

Sweet Little Bunny

I hope you have had a great weekend. Ours has been great, lots of relaxing time. We spent some time together and then we both had time to do our own thing too. It was pretty much a perfect weekend! I am really getting into the digital stamps and this is from a company that I just discovered, I think Jennifer was the first one to point me in their direction. Anyway the name of the company is Phindy's Place and this was a free image that she gave us for reaching 200 members on Paper Craft Planet. Isn't that little bunny just adorable? I know this card will end up going to my niece for Easter because she is like me and loves bunny rabbits. After sizing and printing the image, I colored everything with Copics. The paper is from Making Memories. I am not sure where the chipboard flower came from, it was plain white and I covered it with the same paper that is on the edge of the card. I added a border of ric rak and the button to finish the card, both of those came from my stash and I no longer remember where I purchased them. Thanks for taking the time to stop by today!

Gardening Riley

I haven't had my Rileys out in a while! We have had a little bit of snowy weather over the past couple of days so I have spent a lot of time sitting at my craft table. Some of that time was devoted to cleaning up all the Christmas card making supplies and I also got a chance to play with my new air compressor. What fun that thing is! Kip wanted a demo and as soon as  started it, he said "Now I know why you wanted that for Christmas!". I could also see the little wheels turning in his head thinking of what he could airbrush. Hmmm, maybe I can get more markers and refills if they are for both of us. While I was coloring, I decided to pull out Gardening Riley, which happens to be one of my favorite Riley stamps. I mean, I love them all but for some reason this does happen to be one of my favorites. I colored him with Copic markers. The paper is from BasicGrey and is called Seaweed Wrap, the card stocks are DCWV. To finis my card, I added a few acrylic drops. 

Another thing I did today while I was at my desk was to go though all my card stock scraps, throwing away the ones that were two small to do anything with and separating the rest into color families and then filing them into folders. It looks nice and I can actually find the different colors. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Twisted Thursday--Add Hearts

Welcome to the first S2G Twisted Thursday Challenge of 2010!! Are you ready to get started with a new year and all new sketches and twists? We also have a brand new team to WOW you so be sure to check out all the Ladies with Attitude blogs.

We've got lots planned for you over the next few month so stay tuned! Ready for this week's sketch....and TWIST? To play along with us, just follow the sketch below with the TWIST to use HEARTS on your card. Then head over to the Shirley's 2 Girls Challenge Blog and post your link to Mr. Linky and you will have a chance to win your very own digi image.
I am so excited to be playing along with my first Challenge as a DT member!! Ready to see my card? I used a brand new digi called Zola Fetch (DG98). Oh, La, La!! The paper with the foiled hearts is from the DCWV Rock Star stack and the pink foil paper in the background on the larger scalloped circle is actually Origami paper from Jo-Ann's and the black paper is also DCWV. I colored Zola with Copic markers and to give her stockings a little shimmer, I painted them with a thin coat of Oyster Twinkling H20 paint. The ribbons were pre-made from an Offray pack of ribbons and the glittery heart in the center of my scalloped circles came from Hobby Lobby.
Now that you have the sketch and the TWIST you are ready to play along with us. But before you go you need to check out all the LADIES with ATTITUDE blogs! You will be in awe when you see all their fabulous work. Don't forget to head over to the S2G Challenge Blog and post your work. We can't wait to see what you do this week!

Ann English 

Anne Ray 

Carlie Mays 

Cat Darling 

Deanne Burton

Debbie Daniels

 Georgia McDonald 

Jana Mays 

Jane Wetzel 

Jeannie Thomas 

Jennifer Scull

 Judy Applegarth 

Lisa Futch

Valentine Challenge

I have been having so much fun playing along with challenges lately! On the Digital Tuesday Challenge blog the challenge is to create a Valentine's card for a loved one. The challenge this week is sponsored by Shirley's 2 Girls and this is one of their oh-so-cute Valentine images. You really need to go check them out! I have never been one to really make Valentine cards, but after seeing some of the Valentine images available now, I think my soon to be growing Valentine images are going to rival my Halloween image collection! After sizing and printing my image, I colored everything with Copic markers and then added a little glitz with various colored Spica pens. I picked the colors that I used from the patchwork paper that I had already picked out. For some reason the patchwork paper just seemed to go with the elephants. The heart brads used to be silver, but I colored them red using a Copic marker. 

I have to say, I am enjoying the world of Digital Images far more than I thought I would. I really like being able to see an image and it be available for me to use almost immediately. That appeals to me even more than being able to resize the images. Not to mention the fact that I am limited on how much space I have to store wooden stamps. Clear is better, but I would eventually run out of room there too! I think the problem at first was an issue with my printer, not the images themselves. For some reason, the printer would only print my images about half the time. Then it got to where it would not print anything for about four or five days. We did nothing to alter the settings or anything else on the printer (well, except for me calling it some very ugly names and mentioning how close Staples is to the house). Since then it has worked beautifully, no problems. With no printer issues, the Digital images are quickly becoming a favorite of mine. I appreciate your visits and kind comments!

Another Thank You

I am trying to finish up my thank you cards for Christmas. This year I am doing something a little different. Instead of making one style card or something still Christmasy looking, I am trying to make each card more of a reflection of the gift that was given. Like my parents gave us the coffee maker so they got this card. Kip's aunt gave us a really nice electric wok, complete with steamer basket and everything. Since I use a wok for mainly Asian cooking, I decided to go with an Asian inspired card for her. This is a stamp from Simon Says Stamp and it was colored with Copic markers. This is one of my favorite Asian stamp sets too, the images are cute and it has a boy in it instead of just girl images. The paper is from the DCWV set Far East.  The gold brads are from Jo-Ann's I believe. I found these a couple of weeks ago as I was going through my storage drawers and they were buried in the very bottom because I rarely use gold on anything, I almost always prefer silver. But since I found these they have been on at least three different cards.

It is COLD here, I think when I left the house it was 13 degrees. There was a little bit of snow flurries when I left for work but they didn't last. I love snow, or at least once a year I do! We have only had flurries a couple of times this year, but I think they are predicting a little closer to the weekend. Stay warm!!

Grandparents Anniversary

Another goal I have for myself this year is to make sure that the cards I make actually make it to their intended recipient and that they arrive on or before the event I have made the card for. Not a week after! I am great about remembering birthdays, anniversaries and other important days. I am not good about putting said cards in an envelope, attaching a stamp and then making sure they get mailed. My first test of the new year is my grandparents anniversary which is on Wednesday. The card is made and ready to drop in the mail in the morning. They are celebrating what I believe is their sixty fourth wedding anniversary, isn't that just amazing? I decided to make this card more in my Grandmother's taste so it is fairly simple and has flowers on it. A lot of my childhood memories of spending time with both of them at their house revolved around the garden and the flower beds. The papers I chose are from DCWV and the stamps are from an old Provo Craft set that I have had for a long time. The paper flowers are from Joilee's and they originally had a silver center but I wanted them to be pink so I took my pink Spica pen and changed them.

I have spent part of the afternoon going through things in my craft room. I swear I have enough paper to cover all of the southern states! I keep trying to convince myself that I do not have to buy paper in every store I walk into. Last week I went to my LSS and she had new Basic Grey paper out and I had to have a sheet or two. Ok, maybe 6 or 7 but who's counting? I found most of my Christmas themed paper today. Just a little late, but, hey I will be ready for next year. I am starting to work on some Valentine's Day projects and didn't think I had any paper for that, but I found about 60 sheets. Organization is our household goal for the year and since we will be moving my crafting area soon, I am trying to sort my things and pass along the things I no longer use. Thanks for stopping by tonight!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!! What an exciting year that just ended and I looking forward to an even better year in 2010. My card today is celebrating the new year. This is an image from Mo's Digital Pencil, isn't it just adorable? I have been admiring these images for the longest time, especially on Peggy's blog. They really are a lot of fun to color, which is one of my favorite things to do. After printing my image, I colored it with Copic markers. I used DCWV card stocks, the silver and purple came from the Metallic Stack. The stars came from Jo-Ann's. This card fits the challenge for this week on the Mo's Challenge Blog.

Does anyone make resolutions for the new year? Does anyone keep the resolutions that they make? I don't really do resolutions, I just try to set a goal and give myself the entire year to get it done! It's also normally a pretty open ended goal too so I am more likely to stick with it. One of my goals for the past year was to try and be a little more outgoing and I think I met that goal. Anyone that knows me in real life knows that I am a little on the shy, withdrawn side, but over the past year I have tried many new things and in a lot of different situations. I have gone to classes at different LSS, joined a couple of different cropping groups, took the Copic Certification class and applied for a design team. I have learned a lot, got my Copic Certification, met so many new friends and was selected to be on the design team for one of my favorite stamp companies, Shirley's 2 Girls. It was definitely a great year. Moving into the new year, I am going to continue it, and I have already scheduled to teach some Copic classes at my LSS. So here's to you as you try to reach your own goals or resolutions!