Little Christmas Angel

It's Christmas Eve in July!!! Can you believe that Christmas is only 5 months away? Yikes!

At Craft Us Crazy it's everyone's FAVorite Challenge.......ANYTHING GOES!!!! YAY!!! Easy Peasy!!! So come on over & join us in our 13th challenge!

I created this card using one of Crissy Armstrong's adorable digis called Little Christmas Angel. Doesn't she have the sweetest...most angelic face. Crissy's digital images print out so beautifully & are easy to color with my Copics. (tip: I gently heat set the images after printing on my ink jet printer with my heat tool just to make sure the ink doesn't bleed when I start coloring.)

I decided to paper piece her beautiful long gown & the holly berries & leaves in her hair (I offset it a bit to add interest). It reminds me of when I was a young girl playing with my paper dolls. I had a Vera Miles one. LOL Boy does that show my age! LOL I guess I've been paper crafting most of my life. My paper dolls & coloring with Crayola crayons were my FAVorite hobbies.

Anywho.........back to the paper piecing.....(I get a little side tracked, don't I? LOL).......I haven't done that (paper piecing) in a while since I did the little bear quilt with all of those itty bitty teeny weeny pieces. LOL This was MUCH easier. I used Bearly Mine Designs DP & manipulated the paper in my Print Shop to show a snowflake border on the bottom of her dress. Can you see it? I hope it showed up. I then went over the dress with my Copic marker E30 for added dimension.

Another side note about Crissy's digital images. Not all digital images are created equal. Some only come in a jpg which makes it difficult (if not impossible for me) to paper piece. Crissy gives you a transparent image as well as a jpg to make paper piecing super easy.

I wanted to give this card an antique feel so I added some beautiful antique buttons. One or two of the buttons are actually antiques. Can you guess which ones? LOL And the little tag ws something I picked up online & then cut it out with a new Nestie I won recently. She hasn't started her Wish List yet. If it were my list, it would be full of Nesties. LOL

I distressed my edges with my Tim Holtz' distressing tool (love it & couldn't live w/o it) & of course Distress Inks 'Brushed Corduroy' and 'Old Paper' to give it that antique look. I also used a teeny bit of seam binding from Tim's Idea-ology 'Trimmings' to thread one of my buttons. I used the same ribbon I used to make the bow (with my 'Bow Easy') to thread the other one. (I had to push it thru the holes with my tweezers. LOL We crafters just have way too much fun. LOL)

My card recipe:
Crissy Armstrong's digital image "Little Christmas Angel"
Bearly Mine Designs DP "Damask Delight"
Tag was snagged from a Google search
Buttons, ribbon, feathers & lace from my stash
I used a long rectangle scalloped Nestie & cut it apart for scalloped edges

Copics used:
Skin: E000, E00, R20
Hair: E31, E32 (one other but I can't remember)
Birdie & Holly berries: R22, R24
Wings: W00, W0, W1, C0
Leaves: G40, G94

Challenges I'm entering:
Ribbon Carousel Challenge Blog: RCC12 Buttons
DYSU Challenge Blog: #29 Wings
Paper Play Challenges: Week 29 Ribbon, Lace & Buttons
Stamp Something: Something Embellished
Frosted Designs: Fab Friday ~ Buttons
Stamp and Create: Ribbons & Bows
Bearly Mine Challenges: Tag You're It
A Spoon Full of Sugar: #161 Create a tag
Lollipop Crafts: Anything Goes
Sparkles Forum Challenges: #16 Elegance & Lace
Sugar Creek Hollow: Let's Play Tag
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge: #92 No pink or blue
Paper Cutz Challenge: #101 Anything Goes
The Stamp Man: #27 Anything by T!m!
Wags 'n Whiskers Stamps: #59 Buttons & Bows
Winter Wonderland: Use Holly or Ivy
Flutter By Wednesday's: #163 Butterfly, Fairy or Angel
Sketch Saturday: Follow this Sketch
Thanks so much for visiting me today. I hope you're having a wonderful day wherever you may be. This card will be going to my dear friend Nora.

Huggies & Blessings ~♥♥♥~

Shabby Chic

Recognize this heart? It's the same beautiful 'Floral Heart' image designed by the FABulous artist Crissy Armstrong that I used on my previous post. This style is a little more "me".......okay........it's a lot more me. LOL I love love love my PINK! This could be a wedding card or a baby card or a card for a special girl friend. AND.......as Crissy pointed out to me.....this would make a great Valentine card (Thanks a bunch, Crissy). I wanted to use this heart in another color to show you (or remind you) that you can change the color on digital images to reflect the color palette of your design. So go ahead......feel free to change that digi from black to a pretty pretty pink. The possibilities are endless.

The background paper for my card is from Bearly Mine Designs. I adore their papers. They print up so beautifully. The lace, ribbon, flowers (folded in half & tucked on the sides of the Love sign) & bling are from my stash. The butterflies were made with a Martha Stewart '3 in 1 butterfly' punch.

All distressing was done with my FAVorite tool......the Tim Holtz' little distressing tool. It was then inked with my 'Brushed Corduroy' Distress Ink. Of course a card wouldn't be complete without using a Nestie diecut. I used ovals & circles & the matching scallops.

The sentiment circle is from Bird's Cards freebies. "Love" is computer generated using the font 'Chopin Script'. The corner embellie is from a Cuttlebug small "Vintage" die set of corners & frames that was on clearance at Michael's. I can tell I'll be using these a lot. I love a good sale!

Challenges I'm entering:
Cute Card Thursday: Lace
Cupcake Craft Challenges: Your fav challenge ~ #1 flowers
Whoopsi Daisy Challenge: We love Pink (& so do I)
The Shabby Tea Room: #70 Flower power
Bearly Mine Challenges: #14 Anything Goes (use their DP)
Simon Says: Anything Goes
Ribbon Carousel Challenge Blog: Get Inspired (shabby tag)
The Pixie Cottage: #78 Wrap it in Ribbon
Scrap-Creations: Recipe: use at least 2 DP's ~ (I used 3) & use at least 2 embellies ~ (I used way more...lol)
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge: #90 A Vintage Look
Digi Doodles Shop's Best: #66 Butterflies
Stampin' for the Weekend: Wings & Things
Stamp Something: Something with Bugs or Butterflies
Stamp & Create: July challenge ~ Ribbons & Bows
The ABC Challenge: Y is for Yesterday (vintage)
Crop Stop: #27 Follow this Sketch (YAY! I won!)

As always.......thank you so much for taking the time to leave me some love (I know I must sound like a broken record but I truly appreciate your comments).

Huggies & Blessings ~♥♥♥~

Floral heart card

As soon as I saw this beautiful Floral Heart image by Crissy Armstrong I knew that I wanted to do a classic black & white card. I love this clean look. I just had to add my new Tim Holtz yummy trimmings across the bottom of the card. I had found some metal corners in the jewelry dept at Michael's so I painted this one black to match (it was kind of bronze looking). I couldn't decide on the bow cuz I didn't have any plain black ribbon that was wide enough to make a pretty bow. That's next on my 'must have' list.

The rest of my card recipe:
Bling from my stash
Black cardstock was dry embossed with my CB Swiss Dots
Nestie: Labels One

I'm entering these challenges:
Digital Tuesday Challenge: Bling
Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes
Stampin' Sisters in Christ: #96 Clean & Simple
Stamp & Create: July challenge ~ Ribbons & Bows

Thanks a bunch for looking & for taking the time to comment! You know how excited I get to read your lovely compliments. This card will be going to my special & dear friend Cyndi.

Huggies & Blessings ~♥♥♥~

Nose to Nose

I had so much fun making this card. I used Crissy Armstrong's adorable digi "Nose to Nose" that you can find at Whimsy Stamps. Doesn't that image just make you happy inside. So I just had to use my new ticket stamp set "Happy everything". (btw......Whimsy Stamps is having a great 25% off sale on their digis for the month of July. I always love to share a good sale with my friends. I'm such an enabler....lol)

Lately I've been trying to get out of my comfort zone by trying some new things. Well.......new to me anyway. My last card I tried my Tim Holtz crackle paint. For this card I used my new Friendship Ticket Sentiments & matching Ticket die cut. I also used my lacing brads & scrapper's floss for the first time (I've had them forever). And......I also did some "stitching" lines with some free images I've had forever & a day & have never used. Aren't I a big, big girl now. LOL

This is my card recipe:
DP is my very FAVorite......Bearly Mine Designs
Flowers, bling & swirl are from my stash
Nestie: Long Classic Scalloped Rectangles Small

Copics used to color this little darling are:
Skin: E000, E00, R20
Hair: E53, E34, E35
Blouse & bow: Y00, Y11, Y13
Jeans: B91, B93, B95
Puppy: E31, E34, E53, E57
Puppy collar: C0, C1, C3

These are the challenges I'm entering:
Bearly Mine Designs: Anything Goes
Paper Sundaes: Stitching
Sentimental Sundays: Anything Goes plus a Sentiment
OLLCB: #83 Summer Flowers
A Spoon Full of Sugar: #159 Sewing
Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: A Stitch in Time
Digital Tuesday Challenge: #118 Bling it up
CLP Challenge Blog: #38 This Sketch
As always........thanks so much for visiting with me & for leaving such amazing comments. You are such a blessing to my life.

Huggies & Blessings ~♥♥♥~

A reason to smile

This vintage card made with this super sweet Peggy Loves Vintage image just gives me a reason to smile.....cuz I'm really a vintage girl at heart. The amazingly talented Sharon Caudle had given me a card a long time ago using this image so I just had to get it for myself at Peggy's lovely store. It comes with other delish images too. I loved Sharon's card so much that I have it sitting in a special place overlooking my desk. (Thanks a bunch, Girlie)

Craft Us Crazy is having our 12th challenge. Can ya believe it? Boy this year is flying by. Anywho........this time we want to see your "Christmas in July and/or Distressed/Vintage". Our sponsors are Peggy Loves Vintage and Crop Chocolate. Head on over to the Craft Us Crazy challenge blog to play along for some great prizes.

Now back to my card...........This was my very first time using the Tim Holtz Distress crackle paint 'picket fence' & I was scared to death of ruining my card. LOL But I decided to just go for it & I love the results. I'll definitely play with it again. First I used Tim's FABulous little distressing tool (love that thing) & then I painted the crackle paint on. I was afraid to use the brush that comes with it (it's attached to the cap) cuz it was soooooo BIG.....so I used a small brush of my own. Clean up was easy with soap & water. Love that cuz I just hate to get my hands dirty. I could never ever garden cuz of that. Am I a sissy lala or what. I would be like that little girl in the picture......watching every one else work while I sat on the fence. LOL

Did you notice something new on my photo?????????? I finally made myself a WATERMARK!!! WooHoo!!! I'm a big big girl now. LOL Seriously though........a friend from Color Me Creative gave us all a link to a PSE6 tutorial on how to create your own. So I followed it to the letter & voila.............easy peasy.........(once ya know how, that is.....lol). Thanks a bunch, Jo!

Thanks so much for visiting me. Here is the Card recipe:

Background DP is from Bearly Mine Designs
Ribbon, lace, button, bling & pearls from my stash
Pennant Sentiment is from Ann Vento's Raindrop Echo Designs available at Whimsy Stamps.
Tim Holtz crackle paint 'picket fence' white
Nesties used: Curved Rectangles & Big Scalloped Squares

Challenges I'm entering:
Bearly Mine Designs: lucky #13 Summer
Really Reasonable Ribbon: Summer fun (she looks like she's having fun to me...lol)
Pile It On: Time to Relax
Sentimental Sundays: #62 Anything Goes plus a Sentiment
OOLCB: #83 Summer flowers (my daisies)
Whoopsi Daisy Challenge: Hot, hot, hot (I interpret this to be outdoors in the sun)
Creative Inspirations: #118 Summer
Digi Doodle Shop's Best: Anything Goes
Totally Paper Crafts: Bingo (Die Cuts, Flowers & Gems)
Craft Your Days Away: #23 Vintage

Have a FABulous day! I truly treasure every single one of your sweet comments.

Huggies & Blessings ~♥♥♥~