Picking Apples, Sugarbowl challenge 18

I am trying to think forward to Fall that is just around the corner. This Sugar Nellie image makes me think of Fall because of the apples in her basket. Right after the start of school the kids in the classroom are always coming in after a weekend and bringing an apple for me because they have gone apple picking with their family and know I am always eating apples.

Because I love the Sugar Nellie images and I had fun playing in the Sugar Bowl last challenge I decided to play again. It is a sketch challenge 18, and you needed to use buttons. I NEVER use buttons though I have a lot of them. It took me so long to finish the card because I kept changing my mind on which looked best. I finally made my own by using clear buttons and putting DP behind them so they would match the card. I tried to use Fall colors and green is definitely not my color of choice most times but I thought she would look Fallish in green and I love this Basic Grey DP.

Supplies
Stamps: Sugar Nellie
Paper: SU Close to Cocoa, River Rock, Papertrey White, and DP Basic Grey
Inks: Copics, SU Bashful Blue
Accessories: Cloudmaker, MS Punch, EK Success Corner Punch, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, CTMH Flowers, Clear Buttons, LSS Ribbon

I hope you like this card as much as I do. I have just ordered the new fall set of Home Grown Sugar Nellies and they are on their way here. I can't wait to ink them up they look wonderful in the pics.

Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate your comments about my creations.

Have a great Day,

Mary

Tea For Two, TSSC84, Basic Grey Week 2 Challenge

This is the last week of my summer vacation. I head back to school on Monday and the kiddos start on Tuesday. I have been just relaxing and creating this week. This card was made for two different challenges. The first one is the Monday lunchtime sketch challenge, TSSC84. Mary Jo's sketches are always fun to do. The only thing I altered was the strip in the center I angled instead of leaving it straight. I fell in love with this Penny Black mice stamp when I saw it at the convention in Springfield this past June. I just got around to inking it up yesterday.

The second challenge this card was made for is the Basic Grey week 2 colour combo, pink, brown and yellow. It was a bit of a challenge to figure out were to fit in the yellow because I had already colored the image when I decided to do the challenge. I love using the Basic Grey paper packs so it wasn't tough to pick out papers I liked for it!

Supplies

Stamps: Penny Black

Paper: SU Choc. Chip, Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink, Papertrey White and DP Basic Grey

Ink: Copics, Memento Black, Pretty in Pink

Accessories: Nesties, SU Corner Punch, Kaiser Pearls, Prima Roses

I am really glad you stopped by to see my creation. Thank you for for wonderful comments, I really appreciate them.

Enjoy your day,

Mary

Sugar Nellie Challenge 17

I have had a lot of time and felt creative lately. I really liked the Sugar Nellie sketch challenge 17 and had just finished coloring this image and decided to play. The challenge was to follow the sketch and also make your own flowers for it, no Primas. I have about six different flower punches so that wasn't a problem.

I used some of my favorite colors to make this card this is why I liked the way it came out I think. Also I don't think you can make a you don't like using Sugar Nellie images, they are all so cute! Some of the card has shimmer to it, the Striped DP, the white paper and the center of the flowers. I knew I wanted to use a scalloped oval around her but I had to cut out the image with my Coluzzle Cutter, my Nesties weren't big enough. When it came time for the scalloped oval I cut two using my biggest Nestie then proceeded to cut them apart and then enlarging it using pieces from both. I don't think you can tell much and I really like having the scalloped oval around the image.

Supplies

Stamps: Sugar Nellie, SU

Ink: Copics, SU Bashful Blue, Memento Black

Paper: SU Lovely Lilac, Cool Carribean, Papertry White, The Paper Co. Iridescent White, Origami paper, DP Melissa Frances and Reminisce

Accessories: Cloudmaker, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Coluzzle Cutter, Nesties, MS Punch, SU flower Punch and Tab Punch, EK Success Flower Punches, Michaels Sticker Pearls and Misc. Brads

Thanks for stopping by to see my latest creation. I really appreciate all your nice comments about my cards.

Have a wonderful day,

Mary

Miss You, Copic Creations Challenge, Basic Grey Week 1 Challenge

I found two wonderful blog challenges that were using two of my favorite creative tools, Copics and Basic grey DP. This is the card that I ended up creating . The first challenge was for
Copic Creations, your card or project had to be red, pink and hearts. These aren't two colors that I would normally use together except at Valentine's Day. I just couldn't seem to find a lot to color red on the image so I used it as a accent color on the card.

The second challenge, Basic Grey Challenge 1 was to make a card using their sketch and it had to have a least on Basic Grey product used on the card. This was not hard for me since I really liked the sketch and I own almost every 6x6 pack of Basic Grey DP.

The card did take me a while to make because of matching the DP to the sketch and image. I used 3 different DPs and embossed and sanded one of them. I didn't have any red flowers so I colored a while one with my Copics. I may never buy a colored flower again because the white flower colored and dried so fast and easy. If you like challenges these blogs are both wonderful and a lot of fun to do.

Supplies
Stamps: Sugar Nellie, Rubber Stamp Tapestry
Paper: SU Real Red, CTMH textured white, Papertry white, DP Basic Grey
Inks: Copics, Memento and SU
Accessories: Cloudmaker, SU tag punch, Punch Bunch leaf punch, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, CTMH flowers, Michaels ribbon, JoAnns pearl ribbon, MM heart brad, Fashion Sense Pins and misc brads

Thanks for stopping by to check out what I did for the challenges.
I really appreciate your wonderful comments on my card.

Have a wonderful day and stop by again soon,

Mary

3CTC27, A Special Birthday!

I made this birthday card for my son Bryan. He likes handcrafted cards a lot. He has even taken some my things and made his girlfriends (past and present) cards for special occasions. He really likes the color blue so I try to use it when I make him a card. This card also works for Kerry's Thursday challenge, 3CTC27, use a vehicle of some sort.

This card started out with the High Hopes ant carrying the plant because I thought it fit him being a landscaper. As you can see I couldn't make it work without being corny or too flowery so on to plan B. I went for a bit of a retro look with this card, a classic truck that has been chopped and tubbed out like they use to do in the 40's and 50's. When I Cuttlebugged the panel in the back I went for a cobblestone street look. The plaid DP added a timeless, classic look sort of.

When Peggy and I went to the stamping convention in Springfield we found a booth that was selling all links of the charms the car package had this hub cap so it went with the whole them of this card. A perfect finishing touch. Male cards are so hard to put embellishments on, bling and flowers just don't seem to work.

I am happy with the way the card looked when it was done. I am sure Bryan will like it because I made it, he is such a sweetie. I need to give it to him soon or I'll keep adding to it or changing it, I can never leave a card alone most of the time when I want it perfect.

Supplies

Stamps: SU, The Artful Stamper

Paper: SU Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, DP SU

Inks Memento black, Copics

Accessories: Cuttlebug Folder, MM brads, SU silver cording, Michaels ribbon and Karen Foster Charm

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look a my birthday card. I really appreciate you leaving me such wonderful comments on my creations.

Have a wonderful day,

Mary

Family Vacation, 3CTC26

It is hot, hot, hot here today. I like the heat but this is too much! I have been working to try to use up all the summer images that I have done and not put on a card yet. This cute bear family looks like any average family on vacation at Cape Cod right? The image is one of Dustin Pike's.
This is a second card that I made for Kerry's Thursday Challenge, 3CTC26, use a digi image or paper on your card.

I like that he didn't put in a lot of detail so I could add it myself. On Papa Bear's shirt I added the white lines with my white Signo pen. On Brother Bear's swimsuit I added the stripes and little Sis got a polka dot bikini and bow. I decided to go this route instead of paper piecing so as not to waste DP running it through the printer. I also tried to give the impression that the sister wore her sunglasses in the sun and when she took off the glasses the outline was left. I also tried to give most of the family a pink tint from a day in the sun!

The whole back round was colored except the towels. The top half of the bears is double popped up to give them a real 3D effect. I made the card itself a little different this time. I knew I wanted to use my cheesecloth BG stamp. It didn't show up so well behind the stamped back round so I made the card front, mounted it on the blue card and then backed the blue card on the stamped cheesecloth back round. The only thing doing it this way is the card doesn't stand up on its own.

Supplies
Stamps: Dustin Pike, SU, Rubber Stamp Tapestry, All Night Media, Amuse and Seaside Stampin' Ink
Ink: SU Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and Copics
Accessories: Cloudmaker, White Signo Pen, White Pearl Paint, SU Glitter, Hero Arts Star Jewels and Crab Punch

Thanks so much for stopping by to see my creation. I hope it made you smile and maybe brought back a memory of a day at the beach with your family.

Enjoy the day,
Mary

You're Invited, Copic Creations #9, 3CTC26

I have been having a lot of fun being able to just play most of the day.I have three weeks until school starts again for the year. I decided I would combine two challenges this week. When I saw that the Copic Creations challenge #9 was eyes I started going through all my stamps and realized that I didn't have any stamps with great eyes except this Dustin Pike image. This was one of the many great images that I got during his super sale. It was so much fun to color and make it seem like it was jumping out at you. I read all the tutorials about doing eyes and they were very helpful. I did decide that I wanted his eyes to reflect the idea that they are submerged in the swampy water a lot, that is why I did orange on the sides of the eyes.

I also realized that this card was perfect for Kerry's Thursday challenge this week, 3CTC26, to use a digital image or back round. I have hundreds of stamps some that haven't even seen ink yet but I still find myself using digital images a lot. There are so many wonderful ones out there now. I will always love my rubber but am happy to find a new way to create with paper and color!

I really had a lot of fun making this card. The whole card is colored with Copics except the saying. I even colored on my stamp with Copics and then misted it with alcohol and stamped it over the water colored with Copics. It worked really well. The cat n' nine tails were made with a new set of Spellbinder dies I bought a stamping convention in June. They are supposed to be for words but they worked for these also.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU, Dustin Pike Digi Stamps
Paper: Papertrey white SU Summer Sun, Kiwi Kiss,Choc. Chip
Ink: Copics
Accessories: Spellbinder dies, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Cloudmaker, Dragonfly punch

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this card. I really appreciate all your wonderful comments, they really make my day.

Mary

Hot Days, Cool Treats, 3CTC25

I have been playing a lot this week since summer school ended. I have three weeks until we start school for the fall. I have had this cute Sugar Nellie stamp for a while now and just got around to using her. When I saw Kerry weekly challenge, 3CTC25, was summery I knew she would be perfect for it, after all who doesn't cool off with an ice cream when it's hot like right now.

The colors that I used for this card are definitely not colors that are in my comfort zone. I thought this paper screamed summer though and luckily it matched the colors enough that I colored the image with. Did you notice the flowers in the corner? Rubber Stamp Tapestry's blog showed how to fold regular Prima type flowers to get a totally different effect with them. I used my CTMH flowers because they came with these leaves. I really like the look that you get without having to spend money on new flowers! The brad in the center of the circle is a SU Build a Brad. I stamped a RST flower and colored it, punched it out and put on the brad. I have had these brads for a long time I just never think to use them, unfortunately I have a lot of stuff that I forget about using.

Supplies:
Stamps: Sugar Nellie, SU, Rubber Stamp Tapestry
Paper: SU Old Olive, The Paper Co. Shimmer white, Papertrey White and DP Basic Grey, Sassafras
Ink: Copics, Memento Black, SU Bashful Blue and Pixie Pink
Accessories: Nesties, MS Punch, SU Build a Brad, CTMH flowers, Stickles, Crystal Effects, Michaels pearl stickers and ribbon

I hope you enjoyed my card. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, it is very much appreciated.
Enjoy your day,
Mary

Thinking of Christmas!

I have been seeing so many Christmas cards lately that I couldn't resist making my own. I used some of my Dustin Pike's images that I got a short time ago. I combined two different images to make the card. I originally did the fireplace with the dino peeking up it, then decided it needed to be grounded so I printed out this wonderful hardwood floor that I found on SCS that Michelle Bartnet graciously posted for anyone who would like it, thanks so much it is perfect. I did color it with Copics and added Crystal Effects to give it a realistic look.

I was going to stamp a wreath above the mantle but there wasn't enough room so I ended up punching out a bunch of branches and put liquid snow on them and added the Dew Drops to look like glass ornaments. I paper pieced the stockings and added flock to the tops. The rug is made from Nestie circles that I stamped on with Rubber Stamp Tapestry peg stamps and glittered.

When I was putting the card all together I still felt something was missing, I finally added the dino bringing in the perfect tree! The card finally looked festive and familyish. KWIM? It was a lot of cutting( I'm not a fan of cutting out things), the fireplace, the stockings and the dino carrying the tree are popped up.

I love all of Dustin Pike's whimsical digi stamps. I think they really let you use your imagination. What do you think? He a free image every Wednesday on his blog and all his other images are priced great. If you haven't checked them out you should.

Supplies:
Stamps: Dustin Pike Digi Stamps, Michelle Bartnett Digi Stamp, Rubber Stamp Tapestry
CS: CTMH, Papertrey white, DP Imaginisce
Ink: Copics, Misc SU inks
Accessories: Nesties, MS Punch, Dew Drops, Flock, Liquid Snow, Art Institute Glitter, Crystal Effects and misc. brads

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my Christmas creation. I hope it put a smile on your face.

Have a wonderful day,

Mary