Awesomeness!

I have two quick pieces of awesomeness to share...

First, I want to thank Penny over at Highland Monkeys for sending me the cutest little sock monkey I've ever seen! I'm very tardy in thanking her, and I hope she forgives me. Here are some pictures of him!

You can see just how small he really is by shooting over to this post on Highland Monkeys... Thank you again!!

Second, The Outlawz is gearing up for another party! We have some great sponsors and prizes lined up for this one. The party doesn't start until June 5, but you can get entries for one of the prizes already! Marti Wills (Pez-a-Doodle, Through the Craft Room Door) is going to give one of our party goers a customized blog banner, watermark, and signature! All you have to do to be in the running is put the party flyer in a blog post (or two or ten) and put the post's URL in a linky list on the site. Every time you include the flyer in a post and add the post's URL to the list, you get another entry into the drawing for this prize!

What?! No card? No digi?

Well, I'm still battling my sinuses, but I finally managed to get back into my craft area and make some things. One project was for this week's sketch challenge at The Outlawz. Here's the sketch:

And here's my project:

I know, right... Where's the digi and the coloring? I mean, this isn't even a card!  Whose blog are you reading right now because this so isn't Trina!

Well, here's the deal... I went to the beach last weekend. We (boyfriend's family and I) went for a happy/sad reason, but it was such a perfect afternoon that I think we enjoyed ourselves in spite of... Part of what made the beach awesome was my bf's nephew. He is the most adorable thing, and he's at that stage when babies start to become people (you know, with personalities and what not)... Plus, it was his first time at the beach! Since I had no swimwear, I was on picture duty and decided I would put together a little mini album for his parents. (I know his grandma is going to beat me for not making one for her too!) I've never made any thing scrap-ish, so even though I thought the sketch would work for a cover, I had to watch some videos to figure out what I was going to make. So, here's the beginning of a CD cover mini! I apologize for the glare; it's practically impossible to photo a CD case without something reflecting in it. I thought about taking the sheet out for a picture (since it isn't glued in  - glue dots missing, two way glue pen shows on plastic...), but some of you might think I just decorated a piece of paper and tried to pass it off as a project! :D

In case you are wondering, the orange paper is from the Summer set of cardstock from American Crafts, the other papers are from Colorbok's Sun Kissed collection, the shells are by My Favorite Things and have been stamped using Colorbox Chalk Ink, and stitching/highlighting done with atyou Spica pens. Oh, and the font is from kevinandamanda.com.

Boo! Hiss! Boo!

All that is directed at my sinuses, which have been seriously crappy since a low pressure system moved through my area last week. I'm about 90% sure that last week's general garbage has become a full-fledged sinus infection, and I am so not happy. When I haven't been at work, I've wanted to do nothing more than close my eyes to ease the headaches and slow the post-nasal drip... (TMI?) Anyway, as a result, I don't have any of my projects finished for this week! But, I still want you to know what's going on, so...

This is the sketch for this week at The Outlawz!

Remember, we have a prize from 7 Kids College Fund for this month's sketch challenges! The site also has prizes from Oozak.com, SCACD, and Color Me Creative Classroom! You want to play along!!

Also, the new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability is May Flowers! You need to use this beautiful palette chosen by Brenda and include some flowers on your creation!

PLEASE check out the DT's projects! They are super! These colors really look wonderful together!

And lastly, this isn't a project that I missed, but I still wanted to share with you... The Odd Girl herself, Kristy, chibi'd me!

Check out the awesome job she did capturing my extra curly hair and my usual headband/scarf! LOVE it! If you want to get yourself chibi'd, click the badge in the sidebar or go straight over to Kristy's blog!

New Sketch at The Outlawz

I'm supposed to be getting ready for work, so this will be really short. Maybe I'll come back and edit later this evening...

This week's sketch at The Outlawz:

 My card using digis from Tiddly Inks:

I think I'm going to have to take this card's picture again. It looks like it has a big red area in the middle...  See you in the challenge! We have prizes... :D

GI is having EVERYthing! New Releases, A Challenge, and a Blog Hop!!

That is one long title, but Guylou's Inimitability does seem to be having everything! To start, there are a couple of brand new releases which we are celebrating with a blog hop! Guylou’s Inimitability is where you need to start and end the blog hop. Since I'm first on the list, if you came here from Guylou’s Inimitability, you are going in the right direction! If you're here because you're one of my amazing followers, I encourage you to hop along! If you get lost along the way, you can use the list at the end of this post to get you on the right track. The hop starts today and ends at 9:00pm EST on Sunday, May 8th.

The first set of new releases is called "Leah in her Garden" and contains the following super cute images of Leah. Each image is sold separately or as a series.

The second series is "Dysfunctional Fish Family." These are some characters! They're definitely smile-makers! Please visit Guylou's Inimitability Store for more details.

Prizes, Prizes, Prizes!!
Guylou's Inimitability and my DT buddy Gina are offering three awesome prizes for this blog hop. Make sure you leave a comment on all the stops to qualify to win. I'm hoping you actually went to/go to Guylou's Inimitability to see the prizes. I mean, this post is already super long! :D

On to the new challenge!

The new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability is to create a shaker card. If you're like me, you've seen these and thought they looked nice, BUT you never thought of making your own. Well, this challenge is perfect whether you're a pro or beginner. (Here's an awesome video to help you get going...)) The challenge will be open until May 19 at 10 p.m. EST, and the the winner will be awarded two digistamps of her or his choice from the Guylou's Inimitability Store and be invited to be a Guest Designer on an upcoming challenge.

I used Leah Raking for my card. To get my leaves for the shaker, I folded a piece of patterned paper, glued it together, then punched some leaves using a MS border punch.

I probably should have watched the video again so I would have remembered how to make this look pretty on the outside. Right now, I can see all the scrap adhesive I used to attach the frame! Plus, my inside oval is too small... :D Live and learn, right?

Alrighty, please leave me a comment below and jump on over to Kim's blog . Good luck! And don't forget the shaker card challenge!

Blog hop list:

Starts at Guylou’s Inimitability Blog
Trina <-- That's Me!
Kim
Sara
Guylou
Brenda
Gina
Guylou's Inimitability

**Nice and short! This hop won't take up your whole day! :D

It's not Wednesday!

Yeah, I should have just posted my card for this week's sketch at The Outlawz on Tuesday; the post accidentally went up that day, and I wouldn't have missed all Wednesday... Oh well...

Here's the sketch for this week:

Here's my card using a freebie from Guylou's Inimitability that was available on CDAC:

You definitely want to play with this month's sketches! 7 Kids College Fund has donated a $20 gift certificate, and there's a digi from one of the artists at Digistamps 4 Joy! Also, the site-wide prizes for this month are a $50 gift certificate to Oozak.com, a $25 gift certificate to SCACD, and a free Copic class at Color Me Creative Classroom!

There's also another party coming to The Outlawz! If you were there for the last one, you know this one will be awesome! If you weren't, get ready! We party hard! :)

P.S. Guylou's Inimitability has new images coming out tomorrow!