Warm winter

This is not my first card of the year. Or even my first project for that matter...
It IS my first blog post of 2015!


I'm so thankful that the foggy morning burned off and left a beautiful, sunny day to take photos. 


I colored this entirely with my brand-new Faber-Castell pencils. This time I decided to try blending with gamsol.

It's a pretty cute job and I'm sure I'm the only one fixating on the few "oopsie" moments.* LOL.

*like I just realized the buttons weren't colored. That is fixed now...




This is my card for the January "Stamp of the Month" at FTHS: Little Snowman.


Isn't this such a cute little guy (or girl).

As you can see, the cute sentiment comes with the digi-stamp.

I also used the weekly sketch challenge (FTH I Heart Sketches Challenge#95) for this card.

May February bring even more blessings and warm thoughts than January has...  Cozy days to count your blessings.

Entry for the following challenges:
From the Heart January SOTM challenge
FTH I heart sketches #95 challenge

That's A Wrap...on cards

Here's my last card for 2014 challenges...

 I still plan to update my blog with a Misc. Project re-cap for everything that was not blogged about previously...But that will wait for another day.  :)

I'm especially grateful for a sunny day. It makes for much nicer photos. 

I colored this mostly with my brand-new Faber-Castell pencils. They are fab-u-lous...even if my skills are not...LOL.
(The nose I colored with my copic markers)




I decided to go for a post-Christmas card to use this month's fun "Stamp of the Month" at FTHS: Christmas Spirit Birdbrain

...Once again, I found inspiration in this week's sketch challenge .

You can't tell from the photo, but the scalloped circle of design paper has stitching on it.


The sentiment comes from another of Faith's fun digi-stamps, "Gift Stack Birdbrain". I thought it fit perfectly with this image as well.

May you all have a wonderous and joyful New Year in 2015!!


Entry for the following challenges:
From the Heart December SOTM challenge
FTH I heart sketches #91 challenge
 

Double the Joy

One of these months I will get a card made and blog post finished in the very first week.
This  is not the month.  I've been working on several very special projects (including a quilt for my darling new niece), so it's been a bit of a juggling act.

As I mulled over my options with this month's beautiful "Stamp of the Month" at FTHS: Faithful Friends Angel Joy

...I found great inspiration in this week's sketch challenge.

It let me do one of my favorite things...combine elements to create "a scene".

Without further ado, here are my 2 takes on trimming the tree joyfully:

Entry for the following challenges:
From the Heart November SOTM challenge
FTH I heart sketches #88 challenge

Autumn wishes

Autumn Wishes

Autumn brings so many lovely things...This month's From the Heart SOTM digi happens to be one of them.  :)

I mean can't you just smell the apple crisp baking as these cute critters wait patiently for a treat?!

The October SOTM image from FromTheHeartStamps is called "Apple Market".  You can BUY it here.








Here is the card I created for this month's challenge. Please forgive the photo's quality...with autumn days in the Northwest, comes rain and darker skies...

I turned it into an easel card...I love that it is fun and still keeps the CAS design.

The wonderful wordart is by Paulette at CreateWithTLC.

The fun sketch challenge this week at FTHS  (#84) came with the "twist" of using the inspiration picture/colors.



If you know me, you know I love CAS cards...so I was really excited to see this sketch.









What beautiful Autumn hues the twist gave me to work with!




 I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
If it's gloomy or chilly outside, it's just another reason to snuggle up and enjoy the indoors.  :)






Entry for the following challenges:
From the Heart October SOTM challenge
FTH I heart sketches #84 challenge

Party time at The Outlawz challenges.

There's a party at The Outlawz challenges this week!!
WooHoo!
I can't wait to see what fun is in store.

Join the Fun at The Outlawz this week, click here

Don't you want to join in too??

A Tale of Two...Birthday Cards

This is the story of 2 cards...made using similar elements...but with drastically different results.
Both cards used the same sketch, digi-stamp and design paper pack...and that is where the similarities end.

Apparently, I need deadlines to help me get things done, even with creative projects. I just hadn't carved out the time to create something with this month's cute-patootie SOTM image from FromTheHeartStamps: Flappy Birthday.  You can BUY it here.

That is, until this weekend rolled around and the deadline for this month's challenge was merely days away.

Looking back:
It is Friday and about 1/2 an hour until my DD needs to be at a birthday party for 2 great friends. She is busy "wrapping" the present in a gift bag...when I hear, "Mom, we need a card and we need to leave in 10 minutes."  I holler for my older DD to come help me out. "Please color this while I cut out everything else."
"With what?"
"Just grab the colored pencils and go!  Pleeease...Thank you!"

Here is our group effort in horrible lighting. (And yes, I did make us a few minutes late just to grab a photo....LOL).








I decided that I wanted to try again in a less rushed manner. I think I like it.  It's a little "busy" but a fun(ny) card to keep on hand. Maybe it will save me the stress of last-minute creations before the next birthday party.   :)

The wonderful sketch challenge this week at FTHS  (#80) came with the "twist" of making your own embellishments. I popped up some cupcakes that I cut from the coordinating design papers.


So, I hope I did justice to Faith's fun birdbrain image.  They just make me smile!!

Have a wonderful week.




**Details:
Colored with Colored pencils and Copic markers.
"Birthday Extravaganza" paper pack by thePaperStudio (I bought it at HL)

Entry for the following challenges:
From the Heart September SOTM challenge
FTH I heart sketches #80 challenge

Fall Fun...at the end of summer

While I've been doing a lot of projects and activities this summer, I have not made very many cards.

This card is an entry for the August FTHS "Free Stamp of the Month" Challenge.
It's been in the works (in my head) for a long time. hehehe

It's a grey, rainy Saturday, so my photo isn't the best.
Sorry for that.

Faith has a progressive "Stamp of the Month" challenge each month on the From the Heart blog (participation earns you a free stamp for the next month's challenge).

If you missed participating in the July's challenge,  head over to Faith's "From the Heart Stamps" Shop and purchase this fine little pig.

The featured digi stamp for August is Pumpkin PigWit .

Don't you just love this stamp...It's so cute!


You'll notice that there are other components of my card's "stamp" image...That's because I merged 3 of Faith's wonderful digis to make a festive fall scene.


Along with PigWit, I used Apple Harvest and Autumn Harvest (both "retired" DesignedtoDelight digis by Faith).  I've had these images for years now and love how well they coordinate with Faith's current designs.

Faith has similar stamps in her current store that you could use to make a scene/collage. Just check under the Thanksgiving/Fall category.

Using the Print-n-cut feature in my Silhouette Cameo's software, I traced and offset the images and then the Cameo did all the cutting work. :)
The sentiment is from the Silhouette store.


I colored the image with Copic markers (base layers) and then added shading/details with colored pencils.


While I knew from the first week in August, that I wanted to combine the digi stamps...It took me a while before I found the card sketch I wanted to use. I decided that this week's FTHS' I {heart} Sketches- sketch077 challenge was a perfect fit!

In a way, I did use both the sketch and the "twist"  for this week. The Twist was "Flower Power".


I added the digi with the Sunflowers, but I did not use the "flower elements" of the sketch. I just felt it would be a little too busy.








Hmmmm, the other details:
I printed and cut the DP and elements with my Silhouette Cameo. They all came from the Silhouette Store.
I colored the brads with my Copic markers to mirror the flags at the bottom.





Challenges Entered:
From the Heart August SOTM challenge
FTH I heart sketches #77 challenge