Last giveaway in 2008!

Today is Card Giveaway Day, and it's the last one for this year! If you leave a comment on today's post by noon tomorrow you will be in the running to receive today's card along with an envelope so you can send it to someone if you choose.



I loved this image Chesney drew for squigglefly, but I had a hard time thinking of a greeting to go with it. Then I was helping a friend who said she was making a card for a family who had a son or daughter going away to Korea and I thought this would be a good card to let someone know you missed them because the little girl looks sort of lonely or bored. One thing I really like about this is that it's a long image. There aren't a lot of those around, and they make for a change up from the regular A2 size cards.

I colored the image with copic markers and again chalked the background. I know you probably get tired of hearing that, but there it is anyway. :)
If you'd like to win this card, just comment on this post by noon tomorrow and I'll have random.org pick a number. I'll be back with the winner tomorrow!

Back before Christmas I was given this award from Heather.



The rules for this award:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you've nominated.

Rule #3 is one reason it's taken me so long to post about this because it's taken me a while to visit some new (to me) blogs and nominate them. Without further ado, please pay a visit to the following blogs and maybe you will be as inspired by them as I am.

1. Linanna Designs
2. Ink N Rubba
3. Chrissie's Creations
4. Craftroom Creations
5. Lazy Dog Blog
6. The Domestic Briefcase
7. Ali's Stamping Heaven

Also, as long as you're visiting blogs you may want to go by Emma's because she's got an awesome blog candy give away going on right now!

Any big plans to see the New Year tonight? We are going to pop some popcorn and watch a couple of movies but we won't be going out. Hopefully I can stay up to welcome in 2009! Whatever you do, please be safe and have fun! Thanks for looking!

This Much!

Every image I look at these days I try to see how I can make it into a Valentine because Valentine's Day will be here before I know it. I really need to make some birthday cards too though because my stash is getting low, so be warned that you will see Valentine's and birthday cards for a while!
Today I made a Valentine using this cute little girl my sister Lynne drew for squigglefly. Her arms could be reaching out for a hug, or you could make her hold something in her hands like a string of hearts, but I see her saying "This Much!"





The background is chalked and the image is colored with copic markers. I used a bit of lace that has little hearts in it along the bottom, and I printed the saying out on the computer using a font called Juice.
Tomorrow is card giveaway day, so please be sure to come back for that! Thanks for looking!

Three Blind Mice

Well, okay maybe only one of these mice is blind...blind in love! Isn't this just the cutest little image? My daughter Chesney drew this, and it's one of Squigglefly's new releases. If you haven't checked them out lately you should because they've added some great new images! I thought of saying "Best friends always have your back", but in the end just went with a simple "for you". Click on the picture for a better view.





I colored with copics and chalked the sky. The background is embossed with a swiss dots folder and I used some purple rain dots above the words.
Did any of you have a hard time getting back into the swing of things and going back to work today? The hardest part for me was getting up as early as I needed to. I think I'll be going to bed a little early tonight!
Thanks for stopping by!

Simple Thanks

You can always use a thank you card or twelve after Christmas! This one was one that was sort of started at a stamp camp I went to earlier in the summer. I stopped making the card at the stamp camp and just brought the pieces home to make my own version. The pieces were set aside and I didn't do anything with them until now.



Because of this I have no idea what the stamp set used is, I just know that it's from Stampin Up. I have lots of things to do today because tomorrow I have to go back to work and I'm not ready! At least it's going to be a short week. Thanks for looking!

Ooh ooh! Aah Aah!

Last week I went with my best friend to her daughter's house. They had just moved and it was my first time to see their new house. While I was there, their little three year old daugther Katelyn showed me her room and she asked me to read her a story. While I was reading about the Sneetches on the beaches, she pulled a little folded letter off of her dresser and said it was a letter her Nana had written her. She asked me if I would write her a letter sometime. I told her that I would love to write her a letter, but that I liked to send cards to people. I said "What would you like to see on your card from me?" and she said "Ooh ooh! Aah Aah!" I laughed and said "What is ooh ooh aah aah?" and she smiled real big and said "A monkey silly!" Now how could I not have known that!? So this card is going to Katelyn.



I used two images that I received in a package I got from Catt earlier in the year when I won some blog candy from her. I originally planned on having the monkey hanging in the tree and I was going to make him swing back and forth by attaching him with a brad. That didn't work out though because the monkey was too big for the tree. I found myself thinking "If these were digital images I could make the tree bigger or the monkey smaller!"
Anyway, I hope Katelyn remembers that she asked for a monkey card!

Still making some Valentine cards too. I used the same image from yesterday, but made this card using some really cool paper that I got in a swap. I wish I could find this paper around here! It feels spongy, but it's sparkly and has this embossed design on it. The ribbon is just a bunch of loops all tied together. Click on the picture for a better look.




Thanks for looking!

Purrfect Valentine

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families! I certainly enjoyed having my family here. We all ate way too much, but there was lots of laughter. My daughter Ashley came from Memphis with her fiance and their two standard poodle dogs. It was fun watching Riley interact with them. We took them to the park one day while they were here. It was raining and freezing cold, but the dogs didn't mind a bit. They ran and played and got muddy and generally had a blast. It was fun watching them. I haven't had time to stamp much, but I did make a valentine card using a cute little cat image Ashley drew for squigglefly. I think this image will be among some other cute new images they plan on releasing in January!



I embossed the background with an Ellison texture sheet. The image is colored (what little coloring it takes) with copics and chalked around the outside. The words are computer generated using ajile font, and then I added a little heart shaped eyelet.

Never Ending Story

A couple of very special people are celebrating over 50 years of marriage this very day. I wanted to make them an anniversary card that let them know what a wonderful couple I think they are. I rummaged through some images that I've received in trades and found this cute Hanglar one. I think it's perfect with the saying.



The saying is printed out on my computer in a font called Liberty.
I colored with copics and added some chalk to the background and glitter pen to the wings. I notched the corners of the main image with a punch and then wrapped some metallic thread that has some pink undertones to it around the edges. I added a little bit of highlights to the cheeks with a white gel pen. Magnolia says to do that with their images, so I tried it!

We have had such wonderful weather the last couple of days, but they are calling for a drastic drop in temps tonight. I'm looking forward to it; cold weather outside and a nice warm fire inside! I hope you are all staying warm and enjoying your Sunday!

I will be taking a break from blogging during the next week so that I can celebrate Christmas with my family. I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas and I promise to have some fun stuff to show you when I come back! Thanks for looking!

Doggone it!

Well I had hoped to get this card in the mail a lot earlier but our couple of days of ice kept me from getting this in the mail box (we have a very steep drive way and I couldn't walk to the mailbox!) so the person it went to will probably see it here before it gets to their house!



I didn't really miss the birthday because I didn't know it was her birthday until it was her birthday! LOL! But it's always fun to make a late birthday card because there are such cute late cards you can make! I once deliberately let someone's birthday pass so I could make her a card with a lot of bumble bees on it and use the phrase "Bee lated Birthday!" LOL! I did it though because she is a real fan of anything with bees on it.
Anyway, the card uses the Scottie In A Scarf image from squigglefly. I colored the scarf and then added a little bit of shading to the dog with my copic markers. Then I had some fun by adding white flocking all over the dog and I put some crystal effects on the nose and eyes. Here's a close up so you can see the flocking and the cute nose!



I printed the greeting in a font called Batang. That's another good thing about digital images; if you are adding your own words to the image, you can do it at the same time so you know they will be in the right place before you print. With regular stamps you either have to print your words first and then make the stamp fit in next to the words, or stamp first and then calculate where the printing needs to go before you add the text.
The inside of the card says "Hope it was tee-ruff-ic!" I know, you can groan but I love puns no matter how bad. :P
I hope you have a really fantastic day! Thanks for stopping by!

Cake?

I found myself in need of a birthday card for someone who I didn't know when their birthday was until just a short while ago, so I didn't have one made ahead of time!



I colored with copic markers and added touches of silver to her belt and necklace. Speaking of the necklace, check out that pearl!
That is a little flat back self stick pearl from Keiser that I picked up at a stamp store last time I was in Memphis visiting my daughter. The font has the fun name Pupcat. When I was about 13 years old I babysat for these people who had a cat, and they named it Puppycat because the youngest daughter kept confusing kitty cat and puppy dog and said puppycat! LOL!
Quick post today as I have many miles to go before I sleep today!
Thanks for looking!

card giveaway winner

We have a winner! Random.org picked #7 which makes Emma the winner of yesterday's card. Emma, let me know which one you want and I'll get it in the mail to you pronto!
Thanks for commenting everyone!

Featured Stamper Card

There's still time to comment on yesterday's card to be in the running to win your choice of the two cheetah cards! Christmas is officially one week away. Wow, the year has flown hasn't it?

Well since I wasn't able to go to work on Tuesday I was able to participate in the Featured Stamper challed on splitcoast stampers! I love doing these! Here is the card I made



and it's based on this card. I changed the colors and used different stamps, but I used her layout and the same embossing folder. It was fun and easy and I know the perfect person to give this too! The stamps are from Stampin Up's Bud Basics and Sincere Salutations set.
I gotta run! I'm way behind this morning! Yea, tomorrow is Friday!

Wild Card Giveaway

Happy hump day! Today is card giveaway day, so leave a comment by noon tomorrow and I will have random.org pick a number to see who gets today's card.
The card uses the baby cheetah image from squigglelfy. I colored with copics and then used a texture sheet from Ellison that has a leopard print on it. I sponged some black on the embossed area to bring out the spots better.



The front of the card is cut shorter than the back, so I added a double row of borders along the bottom of it. The words are computer generated, and inside it says "You make my heart sing!" because I thought this would make a cute Valentine card. The font I used is called Hurry Up.
Then I thought that since it was a Valentine, I should go pink so I made this one.



On this one I added some of the realistic cat eyes, and used a heart texture sheet from Ellison. The winner of the card giveaway can have their choice! Thanks for looking!

Milestones

Sorry about the video not uploading correctly yesterday. It finally did go through though, so if you feel like a fun 43 seconds that will make you giggle, I suggest you go back to yesterday's post and watch it!

A couple of days ago I was awarded this Kreative Blogger award from Catt at Cat's Scratching Post



and I'd love to thank her for it and pass it on to these five people:

1. Tracey
2. Kerri
3. Karin
4. Angie
5. Kristin

I hope you will go by their blogs and see how creative each of them are!
While I was at Catt's blog though I saw this post where she has made all of these wonderful cards with squigglefly images. You really need to go see what she's done! It's so nice to hear people talk about how much fun they have coloring them.

Okay, on with today's card!
I made this card for someone I know who is celebrating a personal milestone this December. It uses the Stampin Up set Good For U.
Not much to say about this card; it was simple to make but I think it will please the person who gets it! It's always nice when someone else notices your accomplishments.



The little paper flowers at the bottom are from Martha Stewart, and I used some of my beloved rain dots from Cloud Nine.
I'm going through all of my Christmas gifts and trying to get it all wrapped. I'm still waiting on one thing that I ordered to arrive. This time of year my house feels so un-organized because of everything that is out. I did get a surprise day off of work though due to some ice that we got last night. It sounds like a perfect day to get some of this stuff wrapped and stacked under the tree! I hope you're all staying warm!
Tomorrow is card give away day, so be sure to come back for that!

Sweet Gift Card Holder

I have a few people I'm giving gift cards to for Christmas and instead of just giving the gift card in a card I thought I'd wrap up some giant candy bars and attach the gift card to the candy bar. I also like to make these candy bars for the mailman at my house and our office. Here are the two kinds I made this year. SANTA BAR SNOWMAN BAR The snowman one is a free graphic being offered by Laurie Furnell at her blog. Isn't it cute? She put a real knit hat on hers, but I made mine out of paper and glued a pom pom to the top. Little baby socks with the toe cut out would probably make a cute hat for it, or a small knit glove! Remember the video clip of our dog Riley getting the remote control car that I shared a while back? Well she has gotten a lot better at catching that thing! She grabs it and swings it around in a circle! Watch this short clip of her at the park this weekend. sorry about that...the video never loaded. I'll try again when I get home from work! okay, here it is (I hope!)


That's all I have time for this morning! I'm in a rush; the weekend went by way to fast! Hope you all have happy Monday, and thanks for looking!

Man's Best Friend

Papercraft Planet had a lot of challenges last week involving the 12 days of Christmas. On the 10th day it was to make a card that had a boy on it. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? I chose an image from squigglefly that could be a boy or a girl (sneaky aren't I?) because this child is all bundled up in a coat and hat so he can play with his dog!



Truth be told, my sister Lynne drew this picture and I think she said it was a girl in her mind when she drew it so I guess I kind of cheated.

I colored with copics and added some blue chalk for the sky. I flocked the cuff and pom pom on his hat with white flocking, and used yellow flocking on the mittens. I have to say that I am enjoying using flocking on things a lot more than I used to. I think it's because now I've got one of those quickie glue pens that makes it so easy to put glue in little places. I've looked for these pens at my local Michaels and Hobby Lobby but haven't found them. My daughter picked mine up for me at a local stamp store in her area, but I found them on line here for less than $2.00 and they last a long time.

Of course the snow on this is liquid applique that I puffed up with a heat gun after it dried. I tied a ribbon around the top and attached a holographic snow flake with a glue dot in the center of the knot. I got a whole bag of these holographic snow flakes at Pier One Imports after Christmas last year for 25 cents! They had them as table confetti.
I'm off to make my weekly grocery list now. I hope you all have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Christmas Overload

Happy Saturday everyone! Remember a while back I told you I made so many Christmas cards last year that I didn't need to make any this year? Well I got to thinking that I'd share them with you and maybe you could get some ideas for cards yourself.
There's a lot of them, so grab your coffee and get ready for Christmas Overload!

I think this was the very first card I ever used copic markers on!



This one is so sparkly in real life!



These were all made using a technique called one sheet wonder. You stamp all over a sheet of cardstock and then cut the cardstock up into different pieces and use the pieces to make a bunch of cards.
This is a really great way to mass produce without doing the same thing over and over.



This one uses a used dryer sheet over the stamped image.



This one uses snowflake and flower punches to make a wreath. I added red glitter dots to decorate the wreath and some curly gold wire.



And my all time favorite Christmas card is this one




When the card is opened this is what you see




LOL! What you see on the inside is actually what the stamp looks like. I drew the continuing hill line and stamped a different tree on the left side of the card. Anyone with a dog knows how important the right tree is!
All together I had 55 cards left over from last year, so when I combine those with the ones I've made this year I think I should have enough to send out!
Enjoy your Saturday everyone, and thanks for looking!

You're So Sweet!

The featured stamper on Splitcoast stampers was Sunday and I made this card



based on this card.

This image is one of the new released images at Squigglefly, and is one my sister Lynne drew. I just think this little girl is so precious! This would make a good thank you card or even Valentine's Day card. I colored with copic markers and chalked the background. The words are computer generated in Bradley Hand font.

I'm so glad that today is Friday! I don't know how the week can go by so slow yet the month flies by. Do you have any fun plans for the weekend? I'm going to try to get my Christmas cards addressed and ready to mail out on Monday. I also need to go through my Christmas list and see who else I need to get something for. Are you all finished with your Christmas shopping or gift making?
Speaking of Christmas, someone on one of my rubber stamping lists shared this poem that I thought was funny and want to share with you. I'm sure most of you can relate!

Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace?
Or a Cricut, I thought, with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him, "Hi Santa," I said
"You know....good little girls should be in their beds."
"I know I should Santa, and now I've got caught.
but I was just so excited to see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look in this room where you work.
He shook his head quickly, and left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear.
"You've got enough crap, I'll see you next year!"

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog today!

Just Whistle

I was going to save this card to post later, but today's challenge at cute card Thursday was to make a card using punches, and since this card has a lot of punched circles on it I decided to go ahead and post it today. This is the 2nd post of the day, so if you missed the first one be sure to scroll down and take a look. With this card I wanted to show you that you can combine digital images to create a scene just like you can with rubber stamps. If you are really good with your photo programs you can even one image behind another like masking with rubber stamps. I'm not that good with my photo program though, so my card doesn't have that. I used the scottie dog and the whistling girl from squigglefly. I sized the girl down to be a good size for a card and then shrank the little scottie dog way down to be appropriate for her size.



I colored the image with copics and chalked the sky and grass, and then added a little more depth to the grass with a rubber stamp. After I had the image finished and was ready to actually make a card with it, I couldn't find any patterned paper to go with it! That's why I should go through my papers first and color to match instead of the other way around. Anyway, I ended up creating my own background paper by punching out different sized dots in yellow to match the dots I colored on her dress.
I hand drew the music notes and I know absolutely nothing about music, so I don't know what she's whistling! LOL!
Also, I colored some black on the dog's nose and then added embossing powder to make it look shiny. The words are computer generated in a font called Arno Pro Display.

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

My Give-A-Damn's Busted

Well another week is almost over and Christmas is only two weeks away. Amazing isn't it? Something else that's amazing (and a little disappointing to me) is how much the number of comments dwindled once the blog candy winner was announced. Oh well, maybe the comments dwindled but people are still coming. I know I visit a lot of blogs and I don't commment on every single one either.
Speaking of the blog candy winner, Kathleen if you are reading this you need to contact me so I can send you the box. If I don't hear from Kathleen by Monday, I will go back to random.org and get a new number.

Anyone who likes country music may recognize the title of this post as a Jo Dee Messina song, but it's also a favorite new saying of my boss's wife so I thought I'd make her this card.



I used another image from Squigglefly and colored it with copics. The background paper is from Basic Grey's Mellow paper pack. I wrapped the ribbon around the paper and then tied a bow separately and attached it with a glue dot.
The words are computer generated with a font called Cooper Std. Black, and after cutting them out with an oval nestabilities die I sponged around the edges and attached it with pop dots.
A very quick card to make, but it's sure to make her smile!
I hope it made you smile too!
Thanks for looking!

Little Ballerina & Stuffed Stocking

I've got a cute card to show you today; at least I think it's cute! LOL! What do you think?



The image is one my sister drew and is available at squigglefly.
I printed her out and after heat setting, I colored with copic markers. Then I added some glue to the tutu and sprinkled glitter all over it.

The words are computer generated and then I cut it out with an oval nestability. Do you see my bow!? I was really happy with the way that turned out. I made it following a fantastic video tutorial that Kittie Caracciolo made here.

I also wanted to show you this little treat holder I made using the stocking image at Squigglefly.



The stocking (if you go look at it on the site) has a little holly leaf and berries image on it. One of the beauties of using digital images is that you can erase the holly berries if you don't want them and then print it, or add something besides holly before printing. On this one, I erased the holly leaf and stamped snowflakes on it instead. I printed the image on green and white and then cut out the white parts and glued them to the green stocking. I cut a slit in the stocking to hold the candy cane. With the flipped image I could have easily made the back of the stocking, but this will be glued to a package so I didn't do that here. I just wanted to give you an idea of the versatility you have with digital images.

Also, since it's getting close to Christmas and some of you weren't looking at my blog when I first started it, I thought I'd mention the video I put on you tube for making a Kirigami Christmas tree. Origami is paper folding, and Kirigami is paper folding with cuts too. Anyway, it's a fun tree to make and it always gets a smile from people when they see the star pop out. You can see the video here.

I've got a lot to do today, so I need to get moving! Thanks for looking!


oh, I'll bet you all thought I forgot about announcing the winner of the blog candy! No, I didn't forget. The day I picked in advance was December 4th. On that day 30 comments were made. Random.org picked #28 as the winner. When I went to count, I saw one person commented twice, so that was only counted as one which makes Kathleen the winner of the blog candy! Kathleen, please send me your address and I'll get this package sent off to you. I hope you enjoy your goodies!
And those of you who came to visit for the chance to win, I hope you will continue to come see me!

Best Friends

sticky - Today is the last day to get in the blog candy giveaway. Tomorrow I announce the winner!
I have picked a day between November 18th and December 9th. The day that I have picked I will have random.org pick a number out of the comments left and that person will win the blog candy I am giving away to celebrate reaching 20,000 hits. The thing you don't know is which day between now and then that I've picked, so it's best to come by every day and leave a comment. (if you are joining in late you need to go back to November 18th to start leaving comments)
If you have a blog let your readers know about my blog candy too! Wanna see what the blog candy is?


I've already added more to this than shows in the picture including a few of the images from Squigglefly and some ribbon, and embellishments!


Today I made a card using one of the new Squigglefly images my sister drew. I remember a best friend I had when I was younger and lived in Chicago. Her name was Debbie and we shared absolutely everything. One time my mother sewed us dresses that matched and we loved wearing them to school on the same day. That is the memory I had in my mind when I created this.



I printed the image twice; once on cardstock and once on a piece of decorative paper. After coloring the image on the cardstock I cut out their dresses from the one printed on the paper and glued it over the image. This isn't new to most seasoned stampers, but for you new stampers this technique is called paper piecing.
The saying is printed out on my computer in a font called Dotum.
I love the wide eyed expression on the one girl's face.
A little tip I have for you when you cut images out, if you run a marker the same color around the edges it makes such a difference because the little white edge doesn't show. On this image, I ran a flesh toned marker around the edges of their legs, and a green marker around the edges of their socks, and so on. Try it the next time you cut something out!
Something else I thought I'd mention here since I thought it was such a good idea and I know many of you are SAHM (stay at home moms), my daughter said she thought the 8x10 images Squigglefly has would be great to print out for kids to color. What a great thing to let your child color the same image you are using to create a card or scrapbook page! Can you imagine making a scrapbook page with an image, and then tucking in the same image that the child colored while you were making the page? A real mommy and me project! Anyway, it was something I hadn't thought of and wanted to pass along to you.

I've got something funny to share with you now that is not stamping related at all. We take our dog out to the park every day and she runs, and trys her best to hunt up rabbits, birds, squirrels, mice, moles, etc. Yesterday she played hard, came home and ate dinner and crashed in the living room on her pillow. My husband called me in to see her because she was dreaming and kicking her legs like she was chasing something in her dreams. I had to get a picture of her. Forgive the blurriness and the lighting because the room was dim and I didn't want to turn up the light and disturb her.





LOL! Don't you love that smile?! I'll tell you this dog was aptly named because she sure lives the life of "Riley"!
I hope you all have a wonderful day and I thank you for stopping by!

Being Old

sticky - this will remain on top until December 9th
I have picked a day between November 18th and December 9th. The day that I have picked I will have random.org pick a number out of the comments left and that person will win the blog candy I am giving away to celebrate reaching 20,000 hits. The thing you don't know is which day between now and then that I've picked, so it's best to come by every day and leave a comment. (if you are joining in late you need to go back to November 18th to start leaving comments)
If you have a blog let your readers know about my blog candy too! Wanna see what the blog candy is?


I've already added more to this than shows in the picture including a few of the images from Squigglefly!

Hey did any of you happen see this card that Kittie Caracciolo made using the carolers image from Squigglefly? She is a watercolor expert and she watercolored this image. I love all the details she put in it and the glow around the lamplight and in the window is amazing! The carolers image is on sale right now too. If you are not familiar with Kittie's work, you should swing by her blog and be inspired.

Also, the ever fabulous Lauren Meader has a wonderful blog post today featuring a squigglefly image! Go see what she's done with the Pigtail Cutie image here

Today's card is a fun one. I used an image called Estelle from squigglefly.



I colored her with copic markers and computer generated the words. I can't be sure, but I think the font I used is called Taglet.
I thought this would make a humerous birthday card for someone who doesn't mind having a little fun poked at their age.
Only two more days until I announce the winner of the blog candy! The pile of stuff seems to be growing daily!
Hope you have a good Monday! Thanks for stopping by!

True Friend

sticky - this will remain on top until December 9th
I have picked a day between November 18th and December 9th. The day that I have picked I will have random.org pick a number out of the comments left and that person will win the blog candy I am giving away to celebrate reaching 20,000 hits. The thing you don't know is which day between now and then that I've picked, so it's best to come by every day and leave a comment. (if you are joining in late you need to go back to November 18th to start leaving comments)
If you have a blog let your readers know about my blog candy too! Wanna see what the blog candy is?


I've already added more to this than shows in the picture including a few of the images from Squigglefly!


Today's card uses a squigglefly image called Anime Girl. I colord her with copic markers and chalked the background.



I printed the verse out on my computer with a font called Pea Steph. It is so much fun coloring these girls.
Oh,yesterday I went to a friend's house and we worked on making peanut butter cup angels. She is recovering from knee surgery so I distracted her by getting her to help me! We had a good time though. Want to see the choir?



You might notice that some of the wings are different than I when I showed you my first peanut butter cup angel. If you look here you will see the wings are a half scalloped circle. Today we found that if we cut a V shape out of the scalloped circle half we liked the way they looked better. You can see a good example of that wing if you look at the last angel on the right in the far back. Do you like it better too?
Well, I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday. I've got to get a grocery list made and head to the store. Thanks for looking!

Peanut Butter Angel

sticky - this will remain on top until December 9th
I have picked a day between November 18th and December 9th. The day that I have picked I will have random.org pick a number out of the comments left and that person will win the blog candy I am giving away to celebrate reaching 20,000 hits. The thing you don't know is which day between now and then that I've picked, so it's best to come by every day and leave a comment. (if you are joining in late you need to go back to November 18th to start leaving comments)
If you have a blog let your readers know about my blog candy too! Wanna see what the blog candy is?


I've already added more to this than shows in the picture including a few of the images from Squigglefly!

I want to give a big shout out to Rhonda for all the support she's given Squigglefly. She even gave a mini tutorial on how to download and print the images on her blog!
Hey! They've got the first newsletter out, and there is a ton of new images plus the free download is up and ready for you to try out! Hurry over to Squigglefly. I'd love to see what you do with the free download. Send a link to your work if you make anything with any of their images.

I've got something really cute to show you today. I saw this on Samantha Parisi's blog and thought they were so cute that I wanted to make my own.



The body is a circle cut in half, the sleeves are an oval punch cut in half, her hands are the word window punch cut in half, the wings are a scallop circle cut in half, and her head and hair are circles. I used some wire for her halo and added stickles to her wings. I drew her face on. Samantha said she made the angel after seeing witch's hats being made for halloween. Tamarra has a little tutorial on her blog that shows you how to do the witch's hats that may help you if you want to make an angel!
Here's a picture of it in my hand so you can see how small it is.



but, the really sweet thing about this angel is that she holds a little treat!



That is a miniature Reeses peanut butter cup! Isn't that cute?! Once the candy's gone they can be hung from a tree or set on a mantle or window ledge. It really is fun to see what shapes you can get with your punches. I'm planning on making about ten of these to take to my dentist's office. They always enjoy seeing the cards I make and I think they'll certainly enjoy this little treat. Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Bo Peep Valentine

sticky - this will remain on top until December 9th
I have picked a day between November 18th and December 9th. The day that I have picked I will have random.org pick a number out of the comments left and that person will win the blog candy I am giving away to celebrate reaching 20,000 hits. The thing you don't know is which day between now and then that I've picked, so it's best to come by every day and leave a comment. (if you are joining in late you need to go back to November 18th to start leaving comments)
If you have a blog let your readers know about my blog candy too! Wanna see what the blog candy is?


I've already added more to this than shows in the picture including a few of the images from Squigglefly!

Yesterday I talked a little more about using digital images and a few of you mentioned some things that I thought I'd go ahead and clear up here. The digital images can be used with a mac as well as a windows based pc. You can watercolor images just as you would any stamped image on cardstock, but cardstock can only take so much water before it buckles. My printer will not take watercolor paper, but if you have a printer that will print on watercolor paper, then water color away like normal!
Also, the images at Squigglefly come with the image as two 8x10's and two 4x6's with one of each flipped right and left. For example a girl facing to the right and to the left in two different sizes. The sizing can still be changed to your personal preference, but the flipped images and the different sizes are just there as a convenience. Also, this does not mean you only get four images and that's it; once you download the images you can print them out as many times as you want and they are yours forever. If your computer crashes and you lose your files and you didn't save your images to a CD, you can go and download the images again.
Some of you have downloaded clip art from the internet and tried to color them for use on your cards but you may have found that the images don't hold their crispness when you re-size them. The images you download from Squigglefly will remain the same no matter the size you make them.
I hope this answers some of the questions you had, and I hope you will feel free to let me know any concerns you may have about using digital images. Now, on to today's card!

Since I already have my Christmas cards done this year, I looked ahead to the next big holiday I'll need cards for and that is Valentine's Day. I picked the Little Bo Peep image from Squigglefly and printed out a punny saying on my computer. I'm sorry though that I can't remember what the name of this font is.



I colored the image with both copic markers and colored pencils. The background is chalked. I added some white flocking to the sheep. I love using that stuff; it's such a fun touch!
I used an ornare piercing template to pierce a scroll on the side of the card and then I added a couple of prima flowers in the center with a flower brad.
As always thanks for stopping by!

card giveaway winner

Thanks for all the comments! Random.org picked #12 as the winner which makes watchlady the winner of yesterday's Skating Tilda card. See ya tomorrow!

Who You Gonna Call?

sticky - this will remain on top until December 9th
I have picked a day between November 18th and December 9th. The day that I have picked I will have random.org pick a number out of the comments left and that person will win the blog candy I am giving away to celebrate reaching 20,000 hits. The thing you don't know is which day between now and then that I've picked, so it's best to come by every day and leave a comment. (if you are joining in late you need to go back to November 18th to start leaving comments)
If you have a blog let your readers know about my blog candy too! Wanna see what the blog candy is?


I've already added more to this than shows in the picture including a few of the images from Squigglefly!

If you haven't yet left a comment on yesterday's card, you have until noon today to do so. At noon I'll have random.org pick a commenter to win the card.

Today's card uses a cute fat cat my daughter drew for Squigglefly. A friend of mine
Kerri was talking about how much she's learned she can do with her husband deployed; but she still can't kill a mouse! When I saw this image making this card for her immediately came to mind.



I colored her with copic markers and then cut her out and made the mouse swing freely by using some black thread for his tail. The greeting is printed on my computer in a font called Freestyle Script. The inside of the card says "Who you gonna call?" I had to stop myself from adding "I ain't afraid of no mice!"
I love this cat's beauty mark! LOL!
One thing I'd like to do today since I'm using a digital image available from squigglefly is talk about some concerns some of you may have. Of course a lot of this depends on the type of ink your printer uses, but I have found that if I heat set the image with my heat gun that I am able to color my images with copic markers, water based markers, colored pencils, colored pencils with odorless mineral spirits, and chalks. I can even use watercolors if don't soak the paper, but that's because I'm using cardstock and not watercolor paper. Watercolor paper won't go through my printer; it's too thick. Using a digital image is pretty much the same as using any stamp image that someone may have stamped and given to you in a trade. I will never stop using good old rubber stamps and go all digital, but there are several advantages to digital images. One is the price; you can get a lot more images for the money, but my favorite reason is storage. They take up no drawer or shelf space!
Soon there will be a free download available at squigglefly so those who are new to digital images can try them out before they buy one. I know they also plan on showing you how to open and print your images using word because there are a lot of you who don't have photo programs and everyone has a word processing program on their computers. I really want to take the fear out of it and encourage you to try it! If you haven't already done so, I urge you to go sign up for the newsletter so you don't miss out on seeing what's coming.
Okay, I'll be back at noon with a winner of yesterday's card. If you haven't commented yet, scoot!
Thanks for looking!

Not Waltzing Matilda!

sticky - this will remain on top until December 9th
I have picked a day between November 18th and December 9th. The day that I have picked I will have random.org pick a number out of the comments left and that person will win the blog candy I am giving away to celebrate reaching 20,000 hits. The thing you don't know is which day between now and then that I've picked, so it's best to come by every day and leave a comment. (if you are joining in late you need to go back to November 18th to start leaving comments)
If you have a blog let your readers know about my blog candy too! Wanna see what the blog candy is?


I've already added more to this than shows in the picture including a few of the images from Squigglefly!


Did you ever know that song "Waltzing Matilda"? Well this Tilda on today's card isn't waltzing she's skating!



I colored her with copics and used chalk on the sky and ice. I wanted to give the sky a real gray cloudy look so I covered the whole background with gray and then used an eraser to remove some of it for the cloudy look. The snowflakes and the words are from Printworks and I embossed the snowflakes with Winter Wonderland embossing powder.
No ice for skating on here, and no snowfall either unfortunately. I love snow!
Today is card give away day, so leave a comment on this post by noon tomorrow for a chance to win it! Thanks for stopping by today!