myasperations 6-30-23

This cute card features an All Dressed Up digi stamp that fits the theme of their current challenge, “For the Boys.” I don't see this digi, named Dino, in the ADU Etsy shop, so he might be retired. (If you’d like to add him to your digi collection, email artist Wendy Burns to see if he is still available. She is a wonderful person and might be able to bring him out of retirement just for you!) I sketched the RAWR from the inside sentiment onto scrap paper to create the large bubble lettering on the front. I also  printed off a small version of Dino, which I had planned to use as an embellishment on the inside. Instead, I tucked him under Dino’s arm, giving him a sweet Mini Me! (For some reason the photo makes the little guy look bright pink. In reality, he is close to the red shade on the plaid paper.) I'm also tucking a few sheets of dino stickers into this card when I send it to a friends little boy who LOVES all things dinosaur! 

Supplies: 

·   Digi- All Dressed Up Digital Stamp (Dino)  Digi appears to be retired

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Front Sentiment- Cut from patterned paper)

·   Inside Sentiment- Freebie from Love SVG (Rawr Means…) A slightly different version can be found HERE.

·   Sheets of dinosaur stickers and other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

All Dressed Up FB Challenge- June (For the Boys)                      

All Dressed Up- #141 Anything Goes (June)

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #601-602 Anything Goes   

I don’t use pre-colored digis very often, but artist Beccy Muir’s stellar coloring on her sweet snowman won me over. The fact that the little cutie is a free digi makes him even more attractive! I did add a bit of shading and highlighting with markers and a white gel pen, plus a few details on  the bauble and scarf. I then added a bit of bling to the bauble and snowflakes.

I’m entering this card into several challenges including Double D’s Challenge- Color Choice (I chose blue, plus my card has snowflakes, which mimic the crystal- salt, or possibly sugar-  on the edge of the glass bowl.) 

Supplies: 

·   Digi-Beccy’s Place Freebie-colored version (Snowman with Bauble)

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Front Sentiment- DDDoodles Freebie (Oh Happy Day)  (I trimmed it to fit the space)

·   Inside Sentiment- “Thinking of You at Christmas” sentiment- from a Beccy’s Place Digi Set (Christmas Cardinals)

·   Patterned paper, small diamond rhinestones, and other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

{BYSHC} Sketch Challenge FB- #34 June 2023

Double D’s Challenge- Color Choice (use 1, all or a couple)  

Beccy’s Place Challenge-July     Since I’m a Contributor for Beccy’s Place, I’m entering just for fun!

Path Of Positivity Challenge- Challenge #113 

I had fun entering several cards into the recent MerMay celebration hosted by Friends of Sweet November Stamps (SNS) FB page. I did find time to post several of the cards I entered during the month to my blog … but didn’t have time to post all of them. So, I plan to occasionally post the new ones in my blog… and also share some of my favorite entries that I didn’t get posted during May. (Since I know that I can’t enter cards that I’ve already posted to social media, I will note this and not enter them into any new challenges.)

      This first card features a SNS mermaid named Skipper. My printer acted up when I was printing the digis, and Skippers body was smeared and ripped. However,  her head and hair printed just fine, so, I decided to create Skippers beautiful face with a circular frame. Perched on the sentiment, adhered to a beach scene from an upcycled calendar, and surrounded by some bright blue bling, Skipper is the center attraction.  

Supplies: 

·   Digi- Sweet November Stamps (Skipper)

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Background Scene- Upcycled Calendar Page

·   Front Sentiment- “Mermaid Wishes and Starfish Kisses” (source unknown)

·   Inside Sentiment- Desert Diva Freebie (Happy Birthday).

·   All other items from my stash.

Entered into:  
Friends of Sweet November (FB) May/June Challenge 
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge- Anything Goes
The Sisterhood of Crafters- Beach  
Outlawz Challenges- Monday Greeting Challenge- Fairytale Wishes  (Add sparkle)
Outlawz Challenge- Festive Friday (Water)
Outlawz Challenge- June 2023 Linky

This second card features the same sweet little Skipper with bling, but this time you can see the entire digi. She is such a cutie! The sentiment is also from SNS… and comes attached to a beautiful Mermaid named Capri. (She’s one of my favorites from their mermaid collection!)

Supplies: 

·   Digi- Sweet November Stamps (Skipper)

·   Front Sentiment- Sweet November Stamps (Capri with reflection)

myasperations 6-28-23

I am honored to have served as a Guest Designer for Beccy Muir at Beccy’s Place and am now one of her “Contributors” (which means that she provides me with digis or clear stamp sets several times a year and I get to create cards or other items with them!) It is always fun to see the images Beccy invites me to use.  This time I had such fun using 2 digis, 2 sentiments and 3 patterned papers from one of Beccy’s new coffee-themed sets named “Café Elements”! A gatefold base, and a scrap of vellum fussy-cut into a puff of steam helped create a scene that almost makes my mouth water. So yummy! 

Supplies: 

·   2 Digis, 2 sentiments and 3 patterned papers from 1 Beccy’s Place Digi Set (Café Elements)

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Scraps of vellum and other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends- #208 Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #601-602 Anything Goes   
Paper Funday- #54 Anything Goes      

I had fun making another card using one of my newest digis from Patties Creations. A colorful strip of bee-patterned ribbon, plus a scrap of sheer black and white dotted ribbon provides a nice background for Blinky the Bee Keeper. 

Supplies: 

·   Digi- Patties Creations (Blinky The Bee Keeper)

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Sentiments from SnapClickSupply Company (Sweet as can be Word Art)

·   Stickles- Diamonds (on bee wings)

·   Bee Ribbon-Hobby Lobby

·  Sheer B&W ribbon-JoAnnes 

·   All other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG #257
Double D’s Challenge- Color Choice (Yellow) 
Path Of Positivity Challenge- Challenge #113                
Patties Challenge- Anything Goes (June #207)

This card was inspired by a sketch from the Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers Group {BYSHC} I found this great group on FB a few years ago and, although I don’t use sketches very often, I do like the ones that they offer, and I LOVE that they host Linky parties several times a year. (I don’t think I’ve missed one of their linky parties since I joined. They offer lots of wonderful prizes and the sponsor is so gracious and kind!) 

This unusual Christmas card features a paper-pieced Cowboy Boot as the focal point. I used a coloring page created by artist and author of children's books, Jan Brett, to develop the template for the boot. I sized the boot to fit on the front of an A2 card, printed off two copies, and cut one copy along the outline to use as the boot base (which I traced onto kraft brown cardstock.) I then cut the other copy into the three boot leather sections (which I traced onto old scraps of embossed wallpaper that resembled “tooled leather.”) After fussy-cutting the boot base and leather sections, I adhered them together double-stick tape. The ginal touches were to shade and highlight the boot heel and add a fun sentiment to the inside. YeHaw and Boy Howdy... I do like how this card turned out!

Supplies:

·   Boot Template- Created with a Jan Brett Coloring page you can find HERE.
·   Boot heel colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and white colored pencil.
·   Digital Papers- We Are 3 Digital Papers (Howdy) and scraps from my stash.
·   Front Sentiment- “Merry Christmas Y’all” from 2 Cute Digi Stamp Set (Country Snowman)
·   Digi- “Kick Up Up Your Heels” from QKR Stampede (Company currently closed)
·   Small star punch, silver paper, Kraft and other assorted papers from my stash
Entered into:  

{BYSHC} Sketch Challenge FB- #34 June 2023
Park Hopping-My Happy Place (June) Related Amusement Park=Wild West City   
Rudolph Days Challenge- June
Outlawz Challenges- Tuesday Color Challenge-June  
Outlawz Challenge- Festive Friday (Christmas)
Outlawz Challenge- June 2023 Linky

myasperations 6-20-23

This month’s Sheepski Designs FB Challenge theme is “For the Boys” and I used one of my favorite digis from Andrea’s beautiful artwork named “Taking Pics.” Every time I use this digi I enjoy picking out the reflection in the lens of what the photographer is capturing. This one was especially fun because the 4^th of July was a favorite family holiday, for both the boys and the girls (of all ages) in the family. This card reminds me of the many times we ooh’d and ahhh’d as the night sky exploded with sparkly blooms of color.

I     I'm entering this card into several challenges including Cupcake Inspirations: Fathers Day/Masculine (I noted in a recent posting that my Father is the person who really made our 4th of July such a celebration. Every year when we stopped by a fireworks stand to pick our out “supplies” he was as excited as a young child in a toy store. I think he enjoyed it more than Christmas…which meant that we got to enjoy TWO major holidays each year. So fun!), and Park Hopping-My Happy Place: Inspired by a theme park (although fireworks are part of theme parks excitement across the globe, a photo of fireworks about Cinderella’s Castle immediately transports my mind back to watching “The Wonderful World of Disney” every Sunday night. I enjoyed this even more than watching Saturday morning cartoonst!!) 

 Supplies:

·   Digi- Sheepski Designs (Taking Pics

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers, Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen, and Marvy Silver pen

·   Background image- Pngtree-free download-cartoon distant fireworks bursting (HERE)

·   Inside Sentiment- Eureka Digital Stamp (Celebrate with Fireworks) 

·   Stickles- Diamonds

·   Pioneer Black Photo corners- available from several sources

·   All other items from my stash.

Entered into: 

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends- #208 Anything Goes

Cupcake Inspirations- #571 Inspiration Challenge  

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG #257

Park Hopping-My Happy Place (June)  

Paper Funday- #54 Anything Goes   

I had fun entering several cards into last month's MerMay celebration hosted by Friends of 

Sweet November Stamps FB page. I did find time to post several of the cards I entered during 

the month to my blog … but didn’t have time to post all of them. So, over the next few weeks, I

plan to post the new ones on my blog… and also share some of my favorite entries that I didn’t

get posted during May. (Since I know that I can’t enter cards that I’ve already posted to social

media, I will note this and not enter them into any new challenges.)

This first card features a mermaid that I purchased for the MerMay challenge, and I love

both the beautiful Shimmer RedKelp and her little friend Otto! She was so much fun to play

with! I colored and fussy-cut Shimmer and Otto and set them aside. After a bit of

experimenting, I decided to use scraps of cloudy sky and underwater patterned paper to create

a slimline card that would fit into a standard #6¾ envelope (which cost just 2 cents each!)

When finished with this card base, I attached the two stars of the card with small strips of

double-stick tape. Deciding that the card needed texture,  depth, and more color, I trimmed a

piece of a  blue plastic index divider sheet to serve as semi-transparent “water.”  (Note- if you

follow my blog, you’ll know that I use this form embellishment quite often. These wonderful

items-sometimes called document file folders- come in a pack of assorted colors and can be

found in the office supply section of most stores. They're cheaper than colored vellum and

more translucent. Punches and dies don’t work on these sheets, but they are easy to fussy-cut

with a sharp pair of scissors. I adhered them to the printed image with small, very thin pieces

of double-stick tape. (Note- the sentiment comes as a single digi, but  I printed it as a “two

parter” so the punch line could be on the inside of the card!)  

I’m entering this card into several challenges including Outlawz Monday Greeting Challenge-

Fairytale Wishes: (Shimmer reminds me of the fairytale “The Little Mermaid.”),  Outlawz

Festive Friday (my card features two of the options- Water and Animals), and Papercraft

Challenges: Girls, Girls, Girls (I don’t think I’ve ever met a little girl who wasn’t fascinated by

mermaids!)

 

Supplies: 

·   Digi- Sweet November Stamps (Shimmer RedKelp and Otto)

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Sentiment from Sweet November Stamps (Empowering Sentiments Pack)

·   Patterned papers, blue plastic index divider sheet, and other items from my stash.

Entered into: 

 Friends of Sweet November (FB) May/June Challenge 

Outlawz Challenges- Monday Greeting Challenge- Fairytale Wishes  

Outlawz Challenge- Festive Friday (Christmas, Sports, Water, Animals)

Outlawz Challenge- June 2023 Linky

Papercraft Challenges- Challenge #95-Girls, Girls, Girls

This second card features the same pair of cute swimmers, this time investigating an

underwater cave, created with a Sweet November background digi. The humorous sentiment

just begged to be added to finish the fun card!

Supplies: 
·   Background Digi (printed on Kraft paper)- Sweet November Stamps (Vampire Cavern)
·   Sentiments- Computer Generated
·   All other items from my stash.