Lucky & Blessed

WooHooo!
Here is my newest challenge entry card:  

For a last minute photo, this is as good as it gets... ;)

The center of the card is popped up on a larger white card base (hence the shadow on the left and bottom). 

I love participating in FromThe HeartStamps monthly image challenges. 

They help me take time to do something creative with paper.

Faith created a Cutie for March's SOTM image: Lucky Lil Bird.

Doesn't that birdie look happy!!

My inspiration came when I combined it with FTHS' weekly Sketch Challenge #168: Go For It!

I love that the new FTHS weekly sketch challenges have 3 aspects to choose from: Sketch, color palette and/or Twist element. For this card, I incorporated both the color palette and the "twist" from I {heart} Sketches with a Twist #168 . 


I decided to "Go For It" by trying out ombre backgrounds with Distress Inks.
I'm pretty happy with it for a first attempt.  :)
I colored the bird with Copics.


 I think this card will find a good home soon. ;)

Entering my card in the following Challenges:
March 2017 From the Heart Stamps SOTM challenge
FTHS I Heart Sketches challenges#168

Hogs and Kisses

Well, It's been another long break from my blog. ~sigh

I'm glad that challenges are back at From the Heart Stamps because it prompts me to actually post things that I have created. It's also kind of fun to have a record to look back on.  :)
Here is my newest challenge entry card:  

From the angle of this photo,
You can't see that the tree and the pigs are actually popped up. IRL, the card has depth and shadows.
:)


Faith came back with a super cute image for February's SOTM challenge: Hogs and Kisses PigWit.
I just love it!


I combined the new PigWit with some older FTH stamps for my challenge card: Hamlet Pigwit Being Shy,  Lovely Flowers and Lovely Tree (from a retired/old FTHS set: Lovely Day).

 

I love that the new FTHS weekly sketch challenges have 3 aspects to choose from: Sketch, color palette and/or Twist element.

For this card, I incorporated both the sketch and the color palette from I {heart} Sketches with a tWist #162   



I colored the Pigs with Copics and FaberCastell pencils. The tree is colored with Chameleon Markers (A valentine's gift that I am learning to use).  The kisses are colored with gel pens. I used my Wink of Stella markers to add a bit of sparkly accents throughout the card.

I think this card will find a good home soon. ;)

Entering my card in the following Challenges:
February 2017 From the Heart Stamps SOTM challenge
FTHS I Heart Sketches challenges#162

I'm baack!

Wow. It's been nearly a year since I posted a card or something to my blog.

Life has been a whirlwind of activities the past year as my oldest  finished/graduated high school, the middles survived middle school and freshman year (HS) and the youngest finished elementary school...

Creative projects took place the whole time, but it certainly wasn't documented.  :)


I may try to do a recap, but today I'll stick with my SOTM card for June's "From the Heart Stamps" challenge.

inside of card

Front of card

I combined the super tempting ice cream from June's SOTM "Ice cream Line-up" with 2 Pigwit images.  ("Hamlet Pigwit Cold Suds" and "Hamlet Pigwit Pig Out").

The front images are a sampling of 3 mediums: Inktense pencils, Copic markers,  and then Faber-castell pencils (blended w/gamsol)....I was trying to get back some coloring skills that were quite rusty. I love all three but haven't practiced in a very long time.
For the inside, I went for a simple outline and color highlight for the inside image...and then overlaid the ice cream cup.The inside image was colored with Staedler fineliner pens.

I think it made a fantastic birthday card for my Father in Law.

I also was inspired by the FTH weekly sketch challenge, but I missed the deadline for posting.
If you need inspiration, the FTH blog is a great place to start.

** Entry for the From the Heart Stamps' June SOTM challenge

Summer Fun

We've been a busy family with lots of summer adventures...

On a warm hot afternoon, my 10-yr old daughter asked for something to do.
"Mom, what's the challenge image this month?"
       (re:  From the Heart Stamps' "Free Stamp of the Month Challenge"

She immediately wanted to make a card and so I printed the different versions of the "Inner Tube Birdbrain" digistamp.  

Note: We missed participating in the June SOTM challenge, so I just headed to Faith's FTHS store and purchased this fun cutie!

After raiding my paper stash, L. set to work coloring with her promarkers and designing 2 cards in a flash..
"Ok mom, it's ready to post"

That was 3 weeks ago...

 I decided to finally sit down and try making one myself this week.
After looking at the FTHS sketch challenge (#114) and the ColorThrowDown Challenge (ctd353), I'd found some additional inspiration.

I know that blue is not technically a "neutral" but I hope this still works for the color challenge. I didn't want the bird to be floating in purple, green, yellow or tan/brown "water" (ewww, yuck).
Also, I really wanted needed to set them as cut-outs on some other background to hide any mishaps with the water coloring.  ;)

I tried to use both the Sketch and the Twist from the FTHS challenge.
 
Yikes! Watercolor was even harder than I  thought.  *see below.

In place of the washi tape, I used twine. My daughter thinks it looks like the lane buoys at the pool (yes, we've spent a LOT of time in swimming lessons lately).

I like the end results, but it was quite the learning experience trying out a new medium for the first time.


*I've had a set of FC Aquarelle pencils for a while but never really tried using them on a specific project.
I knew I should try printing on some watercolor paper. I assumed laser printing would be less disastrous than inkjet... but I should have loaded the paper in to the printer with the smooth side receiving the images. I ended up having to trace over some lines with a pen after I smudged them with the watercolors. My first attempts were also hideous due to too much water. I turned that page over and water-colored the "background" while adding some SmoochSpritz just for fun.
On the next try, I learned to let everything dry between colors and that seemed to lessen the bleed-through effect.

Entering my card in the following Challenges:
July From the Heart Stamps SOTM challenge
FTHS I Heart Sketches challenges#114
Color ThrowDown Challenge #353

Sweet Spring

We've been enjoying fairly nice weather the past week or so.
Which means we were out and about, rather than being inside...so my creative time took to gardening and not cards. 
I remedied that this afternoon.  :)

Here is my entry for the May Stamp of the Month challenge over at From the Heart Stamps.


I love this sweet image: "Apple Blossom Birds" that Faith created this month. It really is so versatile and can be used for "just thinking of you," Mother's day, or even birthday cards
 


I also incorporated this week's FTHS sketch challenge #110 into my card.

It was such a fun sketch and I even used the "twist" thanks to a little help from Color ThrowDown challenge#344. 
My twist of "three things" is the color palette trio: pretty coral pink, pale yellow and spring green. 

Isn't that such a happy, gorgeous color palette.  It just makes me smile.

I colored the image with my Copic markers. It's been a while since I've used them and I needed some practice.  :)  I'm pretty happy with the results.


Entries for the following challenges:
FTHS May Stamp of the Month challenge
FTHS Sketch Challenge#110
ColorThrowdown Challenge #344

Crazy Friends

I've had the wonderful chance to spend time with my lovely friends lately.
We always have a FAB-U-LOUS time in our own crazy way.  : )

So I used our adventures and laughs as inspiration for my entry in the April SOTM FromTheHeartStamps monthly challenge.

The star of the show this month is the adorable Hamlet PigWit Being Shy.

But of course he's needs a friend, so I added PigWit Cheer. (She's a cutie too)!

It's funny how some things just work really well together...When I saw the following wordart from Ginger'sHouse
("LIFE is all about finding people who are your kind of Crazy") I knew exactly what I wanted to convey on my card. A shy friend & an outgoing friend who will cheer you on to great adventures.

**Ginger has AWESOME wordart that just makes me giggle. Love her quirky sense of humor...I guess that makes my humor quirky, too!  ;)

This weeks sketch challenge#107 at FTHS was another great source of ideas...

I used both the sketch and the twist: No designer paper.  :) Such a fun challenge.

The scalloped pieces and the other elements were cut with my trusty Silhouette Cameo.
I used the Cameo's "print and cut" feature to print/cut the Piggies on pink cardstock . I then shaded them with my FaberCastell pencils and gamsol.

Lastly, I took color palette inspiration from Color Throwdown's Challenge#340

Aren't those just gorgeous Spring colors that go perfectly with sweet little piggies?? I think so.


Thanks for taking a peek at my latest creation! I hope to get back in the creative mode more often.


Entries for the following challenges:
FTHS April Stamp of the Month challenge
FTHS Sketch Challenge#107
ColorThrowdown Challenge #340

3 views of 1 sketch

I was reading through blog posts this morning and when I saw this week's challenge for Freshly Made Sketches, I knew it was time to make some cards!

I opened up my Silhouette Cameo design software and imported the sketch along with some favorite Sassy Cheryl's colored illustrations.  These are just awesome colored digistamps...especially when I don't have the time to sit and color leisurely.

Here are the 3 versions I made from this sketch (love it).  I just wish I had turned the sentiments a little better.  *The sentiments are from Sassy Cheryls too.

 

Entry for:

Sassy Cheryl's Neighborhood -April Challenge

Fresh Made Sketches #181 challenge