Where did the time go?

For the LAST Sketch Challenge of the YEAR(!!) at The Outlawz I made the card above. I colored this image last January during a snow storm... I know I'm not the only one who colors things then takes forever to get them on cards! ;D  The cute girl and her pup are from Michelle Perkett, our sponsor for December. The sentiment was made with Sally's ABCs from Lawn Fawn. (Got 'em at Oozak...) If you'd like to play along for a chance to win some digis from Michelle Perkett or one of the site-wide prizes ($50 at Oozak.com, $25 GC to SCACD, and more!), here is the sketch:

If sketches aren't your thing, you can also join one of the other days' challenges to be entered for the site-wide prizes...

Don't forget to pick up some stamps at the Boxing Day Sale at Guylou's Inimitability and to go get your free Saffron digi from Little Miss Muffet!

Repeat for the Sketch Challenge!

I ran away for the weekend and didn't make my card for this week's Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz before I left. I was really happy to see that I had a card from last year that was kind of close to the sketch. Even better was that the card featured a digi from our sponsor this month at the Sketch Challenge, Michelle Perkett!

Here are the sketch and my card:

I hope to see you in the challenge! Remember, we have Michelle Perkett sponsoring the Sketch Challenge, plus Oozak, SCACD, Paper Temptress, Gilli Rubber Stamps, and Anita Be Stampin are our site-wide sponsors for December!! I saw that Tiddly Inks and EK Success are also sponsoring challenges this month. You'll have to poke around the site to figure out where they are!

And just in case you haven't been to The Outlawz in a minute, Sandi and Anne from the DT have been putting out great FREE digis. We also have an active blogging group full of encouraging crafters who check in and comment at each others' blogs and an ever-growing list of tutorials! See you around!

Oh, before I forget again... Thank you Shonda (former Secret Pal) for that awesome Christmas card! My bf was over here trying to work out the mechanics behind that wobble you used for Santa! And thank you Naomi for the surprise card and GC! I'll be posting your cards later this week! :D

My Cousin Made a Card!

So, my cousin is visiting as we gear up for my grandma's 90th birthday and decided she wanted to make a card or two. Yesterday, she made her first card! And it's awesome!

I gave her a quick tour of my supplies and an overview on how some things are used, and she got to work! I left and told her to send me a picture when she finished... And a few hours later, I got a pic of this awesome card on my phone! She used a stamp from Michele Perkett Studio, colored pencils & OMS, some brads from Eyelet Outlet, Prima flowers, hemp, and some letter stickers I got during after-Christmas clearance...

Party at The Outlawz!

First off, let me say that the humidity here is killing my crafting! I made a project two days ago that, after a few hours, looked like I stuck it together with prayers! Half of the project had come apart, and I used "Permanent" adhesive! Then last night, my other dotty adhesive was pulling up all the paper I tried to roll it on. Plus, I inked something that was still majorly wet after about ten minutes. I didn't notice that while I was sticking foam adhesive on the back, I was smearing ink all over the front. I just had to arrange the piece for a (raggedy) picture. Thankfully, the sun was out this morning and I was able to redo the smeared piece and make it even better! The card is for the Sketch Challenge at the Outlawz. You did remember it's party week, right? :D

The sketch challenge is being sponsored by two great digi companies, Michelle Perkett Studio (MPS) and Glitterbabe's Digis! And to make it easier for you to jump in the challenge for a chance to win the awesomeness they're giving away, we decided to let you use any sketch we've used so far this year!

Here's my card using the April 20 sketch and the Harmony Mermaid digi from MPS:

The mermaid was colored with Copic markers and accented with pearls by Recollections. The big rhinestones in the corner are also from Recollections. The sentiment and little shells are from My Favorite Things' By the Seashore set. (Got that for a great price during the unfortunate closing of  Addicted to Rubber Stamps...)  The paper is by Making Memories; they're from the Just Chillin' pack.

**We have some digis drawn by two of our DT members located in the Free Digis section of the site. These ladies are seriously talented; both have recently won the Digi Drawing Challenge on CDAC! Check it out!

***Since I can't play for the amazing prizes being offered during party week, I'm entering the following challenges: Deep Ocean Challenge - Anything Goes, Craft Room Challenge - Anything Goes, Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes, Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes, Cupcake Craft Challenges - Things with Tails, Pile It On - Summer Heaven

Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz!

So yesterday was the start of the color challenge at The Outlawz. The colors for the week are pink, red, and white. If you're busy working on your Valentine cards, this might be the challenge for you!!

Since today is Wednesday, the challenge that starts today is a sketch challenge. I'm on the sketch DT, and would be SO happy if some of you joined in this week! Here's the card I made for the week:

 

I'm going to send this card to my grandmother for her birthday. Before you ask, that is not a young lady with gray hair; this girl represents my grandmother. Kind of... Her hair isn't long and hasn't been naturally gray in years, but she is about this color and wears gray wigs...  (Don't y'all tell her I put her business out in the street like that!!) The image is Flying Birthday Girl from Michelle Perkett Studio and has been colored with Copics. All the paper is from The Paper Studio; the cupcake paper is from the Sugar and Spice stack. The heart brads are from Making Memories. They were also colored with Copics. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. You guys know I don't have a a Cuttlebug or a neat Cricut or Silhouette, right? That border at the bottom is really the top of a piece of paper that was hit with the Heartbeat MS punch! I was trying to use it on the front but couldn't figure out how to make that work, so...

Don't forget to stop by The Outlawz! And if you enter challenges, don't forget that Guylou's Inimitability's challenge is Anything Goes!

Challenges: The Crafty Pad - Anything Goes, Blackleaf Studios - Fun Food, Top Tip Tuesday - #17 Anything Goes, Kaboodle Doodles - #49 Do it with Digis, The Sisterhood of Crafters - Birthdays

Not My Babies!!

No, not any real babies - my cards. I just started making cards in the summer, and while I hadn't planned for them to live with me forever, parting with them is so hard! There are cards I've made for specific people; I don't mind giving them up. It's the cards that I made just because I loved an image or wanted to try a technique that I have a problem handing over. Last week, my bf asked me to make some cards for people at his job. (First commission gig!!) I made extra cards but gave him the option to pick from all of the winter-y/Christmas cards I've ever made. Some of the ones he picked were my favorites, and I'm sad that I'll never be able to go to hold them again.  :)  Is this just me? Do you ever make cards that you love so much you want to keep?

So, one of the cards I made especially for him that he picked is this one:

The digi stamp is Holly the Christmas Friendship Fairy from Michelle Perkett Studio. She's colored with Copics and outlined with colored pencil + OMS. There are a gang of Stickles, but I don't know what colors they are. I got the multipack of big bottles from Michaels, but they don't have any name or other indicator of color on them. (Help me out. They're both white in the bottle. One has gold glitter; the other has blue. The other one from the pack has green glitter.) The little pearls just arrived the other day as part of a Christmas present from my friend Theresa... I really like how this card came out and hope you do too!

Challenges: Michelle Perkett Studio Challenge - Let it Snow, Pollycraft Monday Challenge - #74 All White or Snowy Scene, Bunny Zoe's Crafts - #7 Sparkle and Shine, Bizzy Becs Store Challenge - Christmas

Snow Goddess x2

So after I shared my card with Michelle Perkett's Snow Goddess with her group on CDAC, the ladies there were encouraging me to enter the challenge on her blog. The challenge for this week is "Girlie with Bling." Well, I posted my card a little too early for that challenge, and I didn't want people to feel like I cheated. I told them I'd just make another card... Well, I made two cards! (And now I don't know which one to enter into the challenge...)

This is the first one. I colored the image practically the same as the first one. I was trying to use sketch #61 from Tuesday Morning Sketches; hopefully, I stayed true enough to the sketch for them. I'm also throwing this card into this week's challenge at Tuesday Throwdown. The challenge is punches, and I'm adding it even though I only used one punch... The Creative Cottage Challenge Blog's theme this week is "Bling," and I even though you can't see the sparkle well (she looks freckled), she's glittery! (The snowflake and ribbon too...) Creative Inspirations' Challenge is Christmas in September; I don't have a sentiment, but this is Christmas for me.

Supplies: Snow Goddess (digi) - Michelle Perkett Studio, Copic markers, Staedtler colored pencils, Celebrate It ribbon from Michael's, Stickopatomus stickers, Marvy Uchida Giga Snowflake punch, DCWV paper, MS Circle Cutter

This is the second card I made today with Michelle's Snow Goddess digi. I thought the woman looked like a winter bride, and I wanted to give her some bright colors to make this not look like a Christmas card. I used sketch #73 from priscillastyles's Midnight Madness Challenge blog. My card is somewhere between the fancy and CAS sketches.

I'm putting this card into the Midnight Madness challenge, as well as 365 Cards - #212 Girl, Green, Glisten, Crazy 4 Challenges - #56 Bling and Simple Doodles #27 - Pink & Green Photo Challenge.

Supplies: Snow Goddess (digi) - Michelle Perkett Studio, Copic markers, Staedtler colored pencils, Prima flower, DCWV paper (Nana's Nursery & something else?), Prima Sasha Collection Paper, Flat-backed pearls (colored with Copic marker) - a present from Theresa, Glossy Accents on holly leaves

Did You Watch...

When I was younger, I lived outside of the US for a few years. Luckily, there was a television station that played shows from the States. I remember waiting every week for a new episode of Fairie Tale Theater to come on... Oh, how I loved that show! Anyway, the other day I picked up some digis from Michelle Perkett, and this one, Snow Goddess, reminded me of the Snow Queen. Well, kind of... The Snow Queen wasn't the exactly the nicest, and Michelle's digi looks like a sweetie. But I wanted to color her Snow Queen style. Here's a close-up...

You may be able to see that she's got glitter covered skin, and some of her flowers have Glossy Accents on them to make them extra special... :)

In order to make the rest of the card I used a Marvy Uchida Giga Snowflake punch and a Martha Stewart snowflake punch. All of the snowflakes were cut out of DCWV Glitter Cardstock, and the background paper is also DCWV. I used sketch # 186 from Card Positioning Systems and plan to throw this card in a bunch of challenges. Here's the whole card...

Challenges:
CPS Card Sketch #186, The Crafty Pad - #90 Christmas Sparkle, Sundays With Crissy - #9 Sparkle & Shine, Aimee's Challenge - #12 Christmas Wishes, One Stitch at a Time - #32 Anything Goes, Delightful Challenges - Make it Sparkle, Charisma Cardz - Anything Goes (Good night! Who didn't enter this one?), Little Red Wagon - #47 Glitter, Incy Wincy - Anything Goes, One Stop Craft Challenge - #99 Snowflakes in September, and Lollipop Crafts - #9 Glitter, Sparkle, Gems.

Uh, I think I said everything about the card's supplies except that the digi was colored with a combo of Copics and Staedtler colored pencils, and the background was tinted with a pastel. There's a hint of Sakura Gelly Roll white pen, and the ribbon is from Michael's. TFL!