Such fun!

Does anyone remember these bouncy balls?  We had them as kids and I never could master playing on one! It's time for a bit of Inspiration over at The Little Miss Muffet Challenge Blog for our Challenge 167 which is ANYTHING GOES.  This week and I've used this very cute image named Polka Dot Pals Sally.

I colored her with Copics and added a bit of glitter to the butterfly on her shirt.

Challenge 167 is entering it's second and final week so if you have a card you'd like to enter in the challenge, the time to do it is now.  One lucky winner will be awarded a $10.00 Gift Voucher to the LMMS Shop!

                                                                                       Thanks for stopping by!

                                                                        Gail

Love love love

It's that time of the month for a new challenge at The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog.  The challenge this month is #108 and the topic is SIMPLY LOVE. I used this adorable image from Sasayaki Glitter named Lucy's Flowers. 

I colored my image with Copics and added a touch of glitter on the stars around the sentiment.

Our sponsor is Sasayaki Glitter and one winner will be awarded one non-colored digi image!

I hope you'll join us at The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog for our challenge this month with the topic of SIMPLY LOVE! 
                                                                                                              Gail
This card is entered in the following challenges:
In the Pink Challenge 112
Creative Corner Challenge Perfectly Pink
Naughty or Nice Challenge Challenge 36
Angie's Digital Stamps Challenge 6

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is my official first post on the Little Miss Muffet Stamps Challenge Blog. Last week I participated in the "Inspiration" post on Facebook and now it's officially announced that I am a member of the LMMS GD Team. You'll be seeing my posts every Thursday for 7 whole months! I'm thrilled to have been invited to join the Team and hope you'll be inspired by my cards. Challenge 156 at LMMS Challenge Blog for the next 2 weeks is ANYTHING GOES.


For this card I used this adorable imaged named Marley Be Mine. I colored him with Copics and added just a touch of glitter on the heart he's holding. You might be thinking that this card looks a little plain compared to some of my creations, and you're right. I'm working very hard at being more versatile and creative. That doesn't mean I'm giving up my beautiful flowers, lace, pearls, jewels, die cuts, though! 




Here's what this adorable little Marley looks like close-up. I haven't colored many animals and am hoping to improve and welcome your ideas for improvement. Feel free to e-mail me at the address at the top right side of my blog.

 One lucky winner will be awarded a $10.00 Gift Voucher to the LMMS shop!

I hope you'll join us for this challenge at LMMS Challenge Blog!


                                                                                                                 Gail


I've entered this card in the following challenges:
Come and Get It Challenge 4
Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 181
Glitter 'n Sparkle Challenge 224
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Challenge Cute
AAA Cards Challenge 83
Inky Chicks Challenge 78
Get Creative Challenges Challenge 55
Crafty Girls Creations Challenge 33
Crafting With An Attitude Challenge 24
Making Memories Crafting Challenge 2
Love To Scrap Challenge 94

Shake shake shake your birdies!

Well, this may be the last blog hop at Craft-Dee BowZ for a bit, but it will surely be one of the best you've seen. First of all, the DT is a total of 4 designers...making it more time manageable to do the hop. I don't know about you, but when I see a list of blogs I need to hop through, I almost always pass up the hop. I just don't have that kind of time. Which is why you really need to do this hop with only 4 projects to look at and leave a comment on each as well as on the Craft-Dee BowZ challenge blog. And, it's easy to leave a comment on a great card or project, which I promise you will see.

 

My card is made with a stamp by Our Daily Bread and the sentiment was included with the cardinals. I also bought the 'matching' dies with the stamp set. I attempted another Clean and Simple card! I love the little scene inside the 'ornament'. I used a plastic shaker from Impression Obsession and filled it with Martha Stewart glitter. I'm a collector of glitter, all kinds, and I've had this MS glitter for years and years when it first arrived in Michael's Craft stores.

 

I took a Stampin' Up Metal library index frame and coated it with Versamark ink and then used embossed it with Sweet Stamps White Fine Detail Embossing Powder. These Stampin' Up metal embellishments came in cute metal cases years ago and I bought the antique gold case and silver case. It's about time I used some of them, and embossing them with white, black or whatever color embossing powder is a great way to incorporate them into my art when just gold or silver won't work! 

 

 

I used a 6x6 embossing folder by Die'Sire, of holly and berries, for my background which fit in my Cuttlebug with no problem! 

And this perfect green triple looped bow was made with my Craft-Dee BowZ tool.  Would you like to make a bow this perfect the first time?  Well, if you've read this post (click on the word 'post') you know what I've offered you. If you haven't read my post, I suggest you go and read it since there's an offer you shouldn't pass up!

 

Since this is a blog hop, you'll want to leave comments at each of the stops.  We've got a small team here at Craft-Dee BowZ, so doing our hop is super easy!  Here are the links to follow:

Vicki
Gail (this is me!)

Tracey

Barbara

Craft-Dee BowZ

It's always fun to participate in a blog hop where there's a prize...and the prize here is a 25' spool of ribbon. You'll need to leave a comment on each of the stops above, though, to be included in the drawing.  On December 7 a name will be drawn, so please check back at the Craft-Dee BowZ Challenge Blog to see if you've won!  

 

Thanks for participating in the hop and I hope you like our creations. Good luck in the drawing!

                                                                                      Hugs,

                                                          Gail

This card is entered in the following challenges:

Creative Craft Cottage, AAA Cards, Fantasy Stampers, Weekly Christmas Card Challenges, 613 Avenue Create, Glitter n Sparkle, Paperminutes, Creative Card Crew, Sweet Stamps, Crafting from the Heart, Jo's Scrap Shack, Incy Wincy Designs, Artistic Inspirations, Vintage Stamping Challenge, Not Just Cards, CuttlebugMania, Cardz4Guys, Clear It Out, Papertake Weekly, Crafty Sentiments, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, Crafting for all Seasons, Craft Your Passion, Hiding in my Craft Room, Inky Impressions, Mod Squad (recipe: Ribbon/Rubber Stamp/Die Cut/Embossing/Glitter), Li'l Red Wagon, Crafty Gals Corner, Inspiration Destination, Creative Moments, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Art by Miran, Wags 'n Whiskers, The Glory of Christmas, Lemon Shortbread, DL. Art, Get Creative, Creatalicious Challenge, A Snowflakes Promise, Whimsy Inspires, Little Miss Muffet, Crafty Girls Creations, Digital Delights, Craft Rocket, Craft Heaven, 2 Creative Chicks, Petal Lu Challenge, The Sisters of Craft, Inky Chicks, Crafts Galore Encore, One Crazy Stamper, Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge 2, Animal Friends, Noor Designs, Just Keep on Creating, Crafting by Designs, Fresh Brewed Designs, Natalie and Amy's, Unicorn Challenge, The Crafty Addicts, Bunny Zoe's Crafts, Crafting with an Attitude, 4 Crafty Chicks, Scrap and Craft Inspiration

Here Comes Santa and Rudolph!

This is it...December. The last month of the year. It's a time to review the past year of what we've done well and what we've done not so well and think about what we want to work at improving next year. I don't do New Year's Resolutions, but I do attempt to try and make each year better in some way. In 2016 I'd like to improve my card making abilities to include more clean and simple designs. I have a tendency to put everything except the kitchen sink on some cards and I'd like to quit feeling like more is better.

There's a new challenge on the 1st of every month at Craft-Dee BowZ and for this month the challenge is ANYTHING GOES AND INCLUDE A HAND MADE BOW.  The challenge has been this for a long time now and why?  Well, we're a team of 4 who LOVE bows. For those who don't make many bows because they don't "come out right" with your different ribbons, your goal for 2016 is to improve your bow making ability.  And, to meet that goal, Santa needs to bring you a Craft-Dee BowZ tool. It's an inexpensive tool that you will have forever and use all the time. There's absolutely no reason you can't make a bow with this simple tool. And no, I don't work on commission and get a percentage of any sales. ;) 

I promise you will like making bows a whole lot more than you do now if you use the Craft-Dee BowZ tool. I'm so confident that you'll like making bows with this tool that if you purchase a Craft-Dee BowZ tool in December, I'll send you ribbon so you can practice your bows. Just e-mail me after you place your order, I'll confirm your order (or send me the confirmation e-mail) and send me your address. That will be my Christmas present to you! Your present to me could be that you enter our challenge each month, at least once, with an awesome bow on your project.

For the challenge this month I used the most adorable, not just adorable but most adorable, stamp by Wild Rose. This image is ranking at the top of my favorites right now. I looked at this and started humming:  Santa Clause is coming to town...He's making a list, checking it twice....

I LOVE making Christmas cards and I love winter. Our weather is terribly hot here in the desert of Arizona in the summer and in the winter we're one of the places that everyone wants to visit!  Our temperatures are beautiful in the winter, even on the cold side to us who have gotten accustomed to warmer than usual temperatures!

The image is colored with Copics and I used Glossy Accents as my adhesive and applied Sparkle n Sprinkle Crystal Ice Glitter on Santa's beard and Susie Sparkle Crystal Rainbow Glitter on his coat and hat. I used Glossy Accents on my Rudolph's nose but didn't add any glitter to it.

I used my QuicKutz Nesting Circles Dies on my card and the beautiful embossing folder is by Nellie Snellen. This is a brand new embossing folder that I just bought in November at the Mesa Stamp Convention (and I used my Cuttlebug). I love it because it's 6"x6" and that's my favorite size card. The silver glitter flat back embellishments in the corners are from Michael's. For those who think I shouldn't have put them on the card since this is a CAS card, I ask for patience and understanding. ;)

Thank you, Donna, for the beautiful silver ribbon. I made a triple looped bow with my Craft-Dee BowZ tool and I am so please with this bow. Notice there's no little doo-dad in the middle of my bow? Two reasons: the bow came out so wonderful that I didn't want to cover it up AT ALL; and the other reason is because I've attempted a CAS card!

If you've come from the Craft-Dee BowZ challenge blog, then you've seen the other gorgeous Christmas cards by Barbara, Vicki and Tracey already. If you haven't seen them, click on over and take a look. The challenge for December is ANYTHING GOES AND INCLUDE A HAND MADE BOW and I hope you'll join us for the last challenge of the year.

                                                                                          Hugs,

                                                            Gail

This card is entered in the following challenges:
7 Kids College Fund, Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, The Crafty Addicts, Crafty Gals Corner, Fab n Funky, The Paper Shelter, As You Like It, C.R.A.F.T., DRS Designs, Inspiration Destination, Crafty Girls Creations, Creative Fingers, Winter Wonderland, Crafty Ribbons, Crafting with Friends, Simply Paper Crafts, Pink Gems, Digi Designs, Creative Craft Cottage, Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge, Clean and Simple on Sunday, AAA Cards, Vintage Stamping Challenge, Crafting From the Heart, Creative Card Crew, Jo's Scrap Shack, Cuttlebug Mania, Crafting for all Seasons, Hiding in my Craft Room, Inky Impressions, Creative Moments, Craft Your Passion, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Christmas Stampin' All Year Long, Art by Miran, Wags n Whiskers, Inkspirational Challenges, Lemon Shortbread, DL. Art, Creatalicious, Whimsy Inspires, Crazy 4 Challenges, Suzy Bee's, World Wide Open Design Team Challenge, Bunny Zoe's Crafts, Get Creative, Artistic Inspirations, Petal Lu Challenge, Sweet Stamps, Weekly Christmas Card Challenge, Glitter n Sparkle, Fantasy Stampers, Not Just Cards, 613 Avenue Create

Clean, Simple, Cute and Christmassy

Oh, the name of this post gave me nightmares. This is the new challenge for November at The Cutie Pie challenge blog!  I don't do simple...I mean, I work so hard at doing simple that it's not just a challenge, it's punishment. So when I saw this on my challenge list, I groaned.  I sat for a couple of hours in my craft room going through my rubber stamps and then my digitals, then my sentiments, then just sitting and thinking...and here's what I came up with. This sentiment and image are such a wonderful play on the story:  The Night Before Christmas.

Now that you've looked at it, you're thinking: that's so simple it only took her 15 minutes to make. HA! Go ahead and believe that...but if you know me or follow my blog, you'll see I don't do CAS cards.

I've had this stamp for years and have never used him. He's from High Hopes, and so is the sentiment. I colored him with Copics and I used Sparkle n Sprinkle Crystal Ice Glitter on his robe and nightcap. What I love about this image are his bunny slippers! I've had this red metallic paper that I used for my base and guess what...that's it. I know, it's so unlike me to not have a list of supplies. I love using the color red at the holidays...it's cheerful and happy and this little moose is just perfect in a red robe with green sash. Very traditional colors, and my favorite this time of year.

We are sponsored this month by:

and



The Team at The Cutie Pie Challenge are so talented and their cards for this CLEAN, SIMPLE, CUTE AND CHRISTMASSY challenge are outstanding. I looked at them as they posted them and they were all so cute and here I was struggling. As the queen of gems, pearls, lace, ribbon and bows, this card is one of the only ones you'll ever see me make that is clean and simple.

Take a look at the Design Team's cards for inspiration and I hope you'll join us this month at The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog.

                                                                         Hugs,

                                                Gail

This card is entered in the following challenges:
ABC Christmas Challenge, Inspiration Destination, Crafty Catz, Card and Scrap, Christmas Card Challenges, A Snowflake's Promise, Whimsy Inspires, Glitter n Sparkle, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Crafty Girls Creations, Art by Miran, Simply Paper Crafts, Crafting with Friends, A Gem of a Challenge, Corrosive Challenges, Crazy 4 Challenges, Crafting by Designs, Sparkle n Sprinkle, Ching-Chou Kuik's Challenge, High Hopes, One Crazy Stamper, My Whimsical Little World, 2 Creative Chicks, Crazyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge Extra, Unicorn Challenge, Digi Stamps 4 Joy, The Sisters of Craft, Animal Friends, Crafting With an Attitude, CMD Challenge, Penny Black and More, Scrapbook Blessings, Sweet Stamps, Where the Heart Is, Not Just Cards, Colouring in ScrapLand, Paper Take Weekly, Word Art Wednesday, Creative Fingers

Santa's Transportation!

It's time for a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and this month the topic is TRANSPORTATION.  Remember, we're a Christmas challenge, so the card has to be winter oriented transportation. I chose a die cut by Marianne showing Santa being transported by his reindeer.

I'm not a fan of all white cards and making them is a bigger challenge than I normally like, but I like this card and MIGHT, just might, try another one with some of the embossing folders I've collected and have never used.  This embossing folder is by Nellie Snellen and it's a 6"x6" folder, and the two reindeer die on the bottom of the card are by Impression Obsession. The snow drifts are a border die by Spellbinders.

I took this side pic since the forward pic doesn't show the Cool Glitter Ritz on the pine trees and snow (I tried to make them glittery like snow).  I also used Glossy Accents on the deciduous trees (to represent ice on the trees). I did try to get creative with this all white picture!

I love the red and white candy cane striped paper I found in a paper pack and I've been hoarding this red metallic paper for years now. The 5 red metallic flat backed dots are from Wal-Mart and I couldn't resist giving Rudolph a tiny red pearl for his nose. Red is such a festive Christmas color and although I like the non-traditional colors, too, I think a red and white Christmas card is eye catching.

Our sponsor this month is All Dressed Up who has donated two images to the lucky winner randomly drawn.

The team at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' have made some totally gorgeous creations for this challenge of winter TRANSPORATION and I hope you'll stop by the challenge blog, get inspired, and make a card for our monthly challenge.

                                                                                    Hugs,

                                                        Gail

This card is entered in the following challenges:
Crafty Catz, Christmas Card Challenges, 613 Avenue Create, Crafting from the Heart, A Snowflakes Promise, Through the Craft Room Door, Crafty Girls Creations, Simply Paper Crafts, Crafting with Friends, A Gem of a Challenge, Digi Choosday, Sparkle n Sprinkle, The Sisters of Craft, Crafting by Designs, One Crazy Stamper, Crafts Galore Encore, Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge Extra, Sweet Stamps, Christmas Cards All Year Around, Lia Stamps, Colouring in Scrapland, Not Just Cards, Crafting with an Attitude, Suzy Bee's (S is for  Santa, Sleigh, Stripes, Snow), Creative Craft Cottage

A Magical Birthday

There's a new challenge at The Paper Shelter Challenge Blog and the topic is FOR THE BOYS.  This isn't the easiest topic for those of us who do girly cards 99.9% of the time, but there are so many awesome boy images at The Paper Shelter that I know you can find one that you'll like! I used this adorable image named The Cutest Wizard. This little image reminds me so much of the Disney movie, Fantasia featuring Mickey Mouse as The Sorcerer's Apprentice and I can hear the music playing as I colored this.

Just a little note: We have beautiful lights at the Phoenix Zoo each Christmas and since our winter season is mild enough to walk around outside at night, we often go and watch the lights that are in sync with music there. At the farthest back area of the zoo there are some really tall trees that are decked out in Christmas lights and the music they blink to is Fantasia.  It's absolutely wonderful!

I not only made a 'boy' card, I made a CAS card...which is something I have trouble achieving!  I respect those of you who can make CAS cards. I can't manage it, so this card is one I am very proud of. Proud that I didn't 'load' it up! 

The image was colored with Copics and I used Glossy Accents on the crystal of his staff and the stars around his hand and then sprinkled Cool Glitter Ritz on the wet Glossy Accents. And I used my Sakura clear glitter pen on his belt buckle. I used light yellow chalk around the image and aqua and purple chalk around the computer generated sentiment.

We're sponsored by The Paper Shelter and they have an awesome weekly prize. Remember to use an image from The Paper Shelter so you win the maximum prize of a $30 voucher to the store. If you use another stamp and your card is chosen, you win three images of your choice.

The Design Team at The Paper Shelter Challenge Blog would like you to take a look at their creations and join our challenge this week of FOR THE BOYS.

                                                                                    Hugs,

                                                                           Gail

 

This card is entered in the following challenges:

Simply Papercraft Challenges, Glitter n Sparkle, Aloha Friday, The Paper Girls, The Pink Elephant,

Top Tip Tuesday (song is in the first paragraph of this post with a link to the song), Tuesday Throwdown, Craft Your Passion, Crafty Cardmakers, Bastel-Traum, Art by Miran, Come and Get It, Creative Card Crew, Everybody Art