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Sunday, February 1, 2015

My Little Valentine

I made this card for the Craft-Dee BowZ monthly challenge. I LOVE being on this team. I mean, if there is a team better suited for me, I've yet to see one.  The challenge this month is ANYTHING GOES AND INCLUDE A HANDMADE BOW. I love this little image by A Random Fan. I thought this was the perfect Valentine image due to the heart 'steam' on her hot chocolate, the heart tag on the dog, and the hearts on her blanket, oh and the heart background paper, too.


 I used my Cuttlebug to cut out the circle around my image and also the beautiful Whimsy double scallop doily die that I've had since 2013. I also added a La-La Land diecut in the bottom left corner which reminds me of a butterfly. The sentiment is by Whimsy and I used 2 different circle punches. My paper is by American Crafters. The white ribbon is from Craft-Dee Bowz and the white embroidered lace and the green lace are from my stash. I love the layered look of the ribbons and lace.


You can see the 5 beautiful Prima cut green iridescent jewels nice here. Often photos don't show the true color, the glitter, the shine...but these 5 jewels photographed beautifully and this is how they actually look in person! I've saved these for over 3 years in my stash of supplies. I have such a hard time using beautiful embellishments and papers, and why is that? I mean, who will ever enjoy them if I don't use them? Who follows in my footsteps?

You can also see my flower arrangement and the gorgeous orchid smack dab in the middle of it. My flowers are all from Wild Orchid Crafts and the orchid came to me as a Christmas present. I also have them in purple, but this pink one was perfect to use here. I added a dab of glitter on the petals of each flower for extra shine. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the leaves. The tip I'd like to share about this card is to use a paper you have already used on the card for the leaves. Because the paper you punch for your leaves is the same that you've used on the base of the card, you're not introducing another paper or color, so the eye isn't drawn to the leaves, but only notices them as part of the flower arrangement.

And as for my image...there is a reason the dog is colored the way he is. This is what my new baby beagle, Linus, looks like. He's all caramel and cream color, no black, no brown...he's called a Lemon Beagle. I've posted Linus' picture with my traditional colored beagle, Lucy, up on the right side of my blog. He is an adorable beagle who is currently going through his doggie two's which means we are working on our patience with him and have paper towels and floor/carpet cleaner throughout the 'key' areas, toys scattered throughout the entire house, he likes to play tug with everything and his little teeth leave holes...sigh...but I love him. Darn good thing I do, too, or he'd be tied to the light pole out front with a sign that says FREE.


The three dots in the corner are Pebbles Pink Candy Dots, and again, I love them so I've never used any out of the package! And my bow was made using my Craft-Dee BowZ tool. It is so easy to make perfect bows with this little tool. I made a double bow here and it took all of 30 seconds on the first try. I love bows on my cards and I've always sat and made them by hand. Those days are over since this little bow tool is saving me time and ribbon since I never waste any ribbon 'trying' for a good bow. It comes out great every time. Even the middle of my bow, the knot, is great, but I had this little flower and it matched my corner candy dots so perfect that I couldn't resist gluing it on the center with a tiny piece of ribbon around the knot.

This is a fabulous month to join in the challenge at Craft-Dee Bowz. For one thing, we all make at least one Valentine card for someone, so why not add a bow to it so it meets our challenge of  ANYTHING GOES AND INCLUDE A HANDMADE BOW!  I'd love to see you enter this challenge and wish each of you the best of luck in the drawing!

                                                                        Hugs,
                                                                        Gail  

This card is entered in the following challenges:
Crafty Boots, Not Just Cards, Penny's Challenges, Scrap-Creations (fav embellishment: flowers), Crafting for All Seasons, Top Tip Tuesday (TIP), Tuesday Throwdown, Craft Your Passion, Through The Craft Room Door, Crafty Creations (new and old listed in my post), Love to Scrap, Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, C.R.A.F.T., Scrap & Craft, Inspiration Destination, 4 Crafty Chicks, Brown Sugar (3 diff embellishments: ribbon, flowers, jewels), Reasonable Ribbon, Bunny Zoe's Crafts, Aud Sentiments, Simple Create Too, Fairytale Challenge, Sister Act Card Challenge, We Do Doobadoo, My Creative Moments, Wonderful Wednesdays, Digitally Sweet, A Gem of a Challenge, Di's Digi Designs, Dragonfly Dreams

30 comments:

  1. I just love all your card creations, Gail -- you put so much love and effort into all those "little" touches and point out the details. I did notice this little pup's coloring from the get-go, and said to myself, "hm, this sure reminds me of baby Linus" -- haha, and on reading further, I was right !! Gorgeous - from the perfectly colored/shaded image, to the flower bouquet, the bow, gems, dies, lace . . . well, stunningly awesome, as all your "artwork" is !! Good luck on the challenges listed - this has to be a Winner somewhere.

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  2. Oh, Gail, this is so beautiful! I love how you detailed all the products used! You know I am also one who tends to hoard her crafty treasures - I like that you are using yours and I am hoping I can use more of mine LOL! The little Linus beagle is so cute! You've coloured him beautifully! The flowers are stunning! A gorgeous card, my friend! Have a wonderful day!

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  3. Really cute card, lovely sweet image and fab design. Thank you for sharing your work with all of us at Crafty Boots Challenges.

    Dionne

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  4. Very beautiful!! Thank you for joining us at Scrap&Craft!

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  5. What a sweet image, Gail ! Love your fab coloring. Darling photo of your new Beagle baby. :-D I just want to thank you for choosing our "Anything Goes" challenge at Through the Craft Room Door for one of your entries this week. Good luck and I hope you're going to play again soon.
    NanaConnie DT

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  6. Love the colour combo on this one Gail, the image, perfectly coloured, and I love the lush bow, gorgeous!
    hugs Jacee
    Simply Paper Card Design

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  7. Absolutely adorable Gail! Your colouring is spot on and that image is soooo cute! So many gorgeous details... the bow, gems, flowers, sentiment.. perfection!

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  8. Gail, this card is adorable! The pink and green compliment each other so well and your coloring is amazing! I want to color like that when I grow up!

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  9. hello Gail! this is darlin, your coloring is amazing...WOW! so glad you played along with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!

    add a little glimmer to your life....sparkle & shine! *~*

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  10. Adorable card Gail. Thank you for playing along with our Challenge at Penny's Paper-Crafty. We would love to see you again ... Anet DTx

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  11. I am in love with your beautiful CARD....CUTE......
    Love
    Bego

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  12. I love dogs...I love begles, the are precious.
    I have 4 dogs... adorables...

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  13. lovely cute card Thanks for sharing with brown sugar Rachel dt

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  14. Stunning card and absolutely beautiful colouring!! Thank you for sharing with us at Scrap & Craft and good luck!
    Lady E Scrap & Craft DT
    www.scrapartbyladye.blogspot.co.uk

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  15. Now this is one gorgeous card - love the colour combo, the sweet image and all the delightful details :-)

    It's a good job Linus is so cute so you can forgive him all the misdemeanours!

    Thanks for sharing with us at Top Tip Tuesday Challenge!

    Big hugs, Kat xx

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  16. Oh wow, this is so pretty, love this. Great job, so pretty, the image is colored wonderfully. I love the flowers and the ribbon so pretty. Awesomeness! Thanks again for playing at 4 Crafty Chicks!

    Leanne DT
    4 Crafty Chicks

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  17. Adorable card Gail! Thanks so much for participating in our Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge.

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  18. I've been doing a lot of tidying on my blog and found I wasn't following you - how did that happen! This is so adorable - I love your image and gorgeous bow - I too just love ribbons! - Lucy and linus are so cute - good luck with the puppy training I remember it well!! hugs Judith

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  19. The layout and design of this card is just perfect! I especially love the doily and flower spray.

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  20. I am glad i got to stop over and see your adorable card and your super cute puppies too that help you! Thank you for sharing your card with us on the RRR Challenge this month and hope to see you again.

    Teresa
    Really Reasonable Ribbon

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  21. Sweet image and love all the hearts. I like the layout of your card. fun. Thanks for joining us at Inspiration Destination.

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  22. Hi Gail
    I am visiting with my other DT hat on...I love this sweet girly creation ,it is just sooo pretty and I love that image
    Thanks for joining us at Auds Sentiment Designs...AND GOOD LUCK
    Tracey x

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  23. Cute card, beautifully coloured. Many thanks for joining in with We Do Doobadoo Challenges . Lou (DT)

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  24. So much beautiful detail - a gorgeous card. Thank you for joining us at Aud Sentiments.
    Ann xxx

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  25. Hi Gail, its always a trial getting dogs house trained I know it took till Missy was 8 months before we started to believe we were getting somewhere, but even then of course we have her first season to come, anyway luckily by the time she was 1 year old she was over the worse, though occasionally she had a mishap. Stunning card love that image and your choice of colour. hugs Shirleyxxxxx

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  26. This is so cute....love everything about it. Your bow is fabulous an your coloring is fantastic!

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  27. Beautiful project, thanks so much for joining our Romance challenge at http://wedodoobadoo.blogspot.co.uk/
    Claire xx

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  28. Beautiful card.....loved the way you colored the girl and the dog...Thanks for joining in our Simply Create too Challenge 78 .
    Anuja DT
    craftcollage.blogspot.in

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  29. This is so cute and beautifully colored!
    So happy you played along in my Monday Morning challenge!
    xEllie from "My Creative Moments"

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  30. Beautiful colouring and design, great colour combo too. Thank you for joining us at Digitally Sweet!

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