Fishing you a fabulous birthday

This wonderful fish and sentiment were digital freebies from Claire of Hope Jacare. http://hopejacare.blogspot.com/ (Thanks for asking Sandy! I could no longer find the freebie there but did find it here- http://nannieflash.blogspot.com/2010/05/cards-for-men-challenge-ten-outdoors.html ) It is a fun image and I really enjoyed creating this card with it. The background print is from Making Memories.

Happy birthday to my oldest friend!

Missing you

This Basset Hound is the saddest looking guy don't you think? It is easy to believe he is missing someone. The Digi Doodle Shop kindly made him available to the OWH Stars and Stamps blog so we could make cards for OWH. http://www.digidoodleshop.com/ I added in the text before printing the image and then colored him with Prismacolor pencils.

This card combines digital freebies from 2 bloggers. The oval star frame is by Bird.
http://www.birdscards.com/ Look in her free sentiments. I swapped sentiments as she had a different one in her freebie oval. The word art is from Toni

http://kharliebug.typepad.com/the_digi_shack/2010/05/owh-blog-hop.html

I so appreciate the generosity of bloggers!

Gift card box, Michael Strong design

On Michael Strong's blog he has a tutorial including measurements for making a gift box for handmade cards.

http://strongstamps.blogspot.com/2010/05/star-box-with-note-cards.html I used posterboard for my box and increased the size just slightly. It hold a set of 6 cards and envelopes. My cards were lumpy and bumpy but do fit in the box.

The paisley stamps are Michael Strong Designs and the sequin waste looking background stamp is from Cornish Heritage Farms. I went with a ribbon tie rather than the narrow cardstock sleeve Michael used. It just seemed right for this box.

S&S sketch challenge#18

Here is this week's sketch from OWH's Stars and Stamps blog. Kate created a fun, interesting sketch. Thanks Kate! I went for a folk art look on this card. The houses are a stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms. The sentiment is an Anna Griffin design. On both cards I used the Black Magic technique which is this week's Try a New Technique challenge on Split Coast Stampers. I had never done it before and loved it!

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=492082 I tried the Black Magic technique on this dark red paper and was pretty happy with how that looks too. I did color with white Prismacolor pencil directly on the red paper for the stars and stripes. The flag is an oldie from Stampendous. The cancellation stamps by an unknown maker.

A couple of SFYTT cards

I did a couple of takes on Jen del Muro's sketch for this week.

http://iheart2stamp.com/2010/05/22/sketch-for-you-to-try-39/ I used some old epoxy stickers, a digitally composed sentiment, and die cuts by Cuttlebug. The background stamp is so light you might not be able to tell what it looks like but it is a Backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms. I used more epoxy stickers on this version plus Diamond Glaze on the stamped birdie and die cut flower.

Stars & Stamps challenges

Here is the Stars and Stamps sketch for this week. Lora came up with a fun one!

The background pieces are embossed resist using dollar stamps from The Dollar Tree and Michaels. The focal image is from Hero Arts stamped with a rainbow pad. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the red layer and inked it up to highlight the embossing.

The Wednesday Stash challenge on the Stars and Stamps blog was to use stars. Guess this does the trick!

Recently I lucked into some Cuttlebug dies and folders at Big Lots. It's been fun playing with them. The stripe/ladder piece is from one set and the Thanks is from another. The blue background papers are envelope liners. The blue stars are punched and glued on. The ribbons are from my stash.

I decided to use a tag as the long panel on the sketch for this one. The tag itself is dry embossed, inked and heat embossed. The back sections are gold wrapping paper. I used some punches and die cuts for embellishments. The flowers are made using organza with the edges melted using a heat tool. I'm sorry the photo isn't good enough to show the details :-(

Mo's Challenge #31

Here is my card for Mo's Digital Challenge. http://mosdigitalchallenge.blogspot.com/ This is Baby Fairy Yuriko who is giving a sweet treat to that hummingbird. A fun fantasy!

I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils. The background was stamped with Versamark and clear embossed before being colored with Brilliance and Distress inks. The flower is felt.

Stars and Stamps sketch challenge #16

Here is this week's sketch. It was a digital image fest on these cards ;-)

This silly looking stretch dog is a digital image and sentiment I put together in PSE. I used my Quickutz embossing folder for the first time. It is very handsome IMHO.

I love this digital image from Bird's Cards blog!
http://www.birdscards.com/Default.aspx?tabid=65 My sister had a VW bus like this one except for the surfing stuff. The paper and sentiment stamp are way old so they went perfectly with the bus, LOL.

The counting page image is a freebie from
http://1stfloorflatfreebies.blogspot.com/ The numbers and sentiment were stamped using a child's alphabet set.

All the images were colored with Prismacolor pencils. Distress inks were used on the papers' edges.

Stars and Stamps sketch challenge #15

This week's sketch is nice and simple. It lets you focus on your pretty stamps :-)

This passion flower image is from Stamp Camp and it is a knock out image in my opinion. I used Prismacolor pencils and Glaze pen to color it. The tiny leaf stamp I used on the green section is from Cornish Heritage Farms. I love the tone on tone look it gives stamped with Pealed Paint Distress look on top of that green cardstock.

a sketch and a challenge

Here is one of Jen del Muro's great sketches. I'm addicted to them :-D And here is a card I made for this week's challenge on Mo's Digital Challenge blog.

http://mosdigitalchallenge.blogspot.com/ It was to make a masculine card using one of Mo's digital images. I love this super dude! He is colored with Prismacolor pencils. This beautiful Russian Princess from a story book is a freebie image from Cora's blog-
http://digitaltuesday.blogspot.com/ The printed papers are from Basic Grey and Lasting Impressions. I distressed them with stamps and inks. The princess was colored a bit digitally then with Prismacolor pencils and gel pen.