Progressive Challenge for chocolate and book lovers.

     Today's post is another bookmark using a Bugaboo freebie image from Creative Digital Arts Center's (CDAC) Progressive Challenge. You can join this series for $1 here and as long as you participate, the next set of images are free. I colored the image in PhotoShop Elements and got the reflective effect on the glasses by using the plastic wrap effect that's available in the Filters in PhotoShop. The print fabric was made by using the Abstract Flower brush which comes in PhotoShop. The background paper is Jenni Bowlin's Brown and Cream Collection from Core Impressions. I sanded it to bring out the design. The sentiment was done digitally in PhotoShop as well using the font SNF Jester Curls. You can find Scrap N Fonts here. I inked both the image and the sentiment (the sentiment more heavily) to knock down the whiteness of the paper with Tea Dye Distress Ink. I think this will make a great gift for a friend, shhhh ;- )

     Thanks for dropping in and checking out my newest challenge entry. Hope you had a great day. Please leave a comment before you go. they really make my day ;- )

The Outlawz freebie challenge - a day early ;- 0

     Today's post is a bookmark using Anne's image from The Outlawz Freebie Challenge here. You can find Anne's blog here. I colored the image in PhotoShop Elements. I added appropriate romantic titles to the book spines (fonts are Love Store in Nickelodeon, Love Poems in SNF Infinity and Sonnets in SNF Sunday Alternate - Nickelodeon (a freebie) can be found here and Scrap n Fonts can be found here (about $5, but they go on sale))  and added artwork using PhotoShop brushes that I'd picked up as freebies. The one on the top book (which is hard to see and you might want to click the photo to make it bigger to see any of this ;- ) is from the Heart brush set by Pop the bubble wrap, the middle book (on the spine) Heart brushes by Cassie and the bottom one by Hero Arts at 2peas Background stone etchings. The best way to find them would be to google Photoshop brushes + hearts or do browse over at Brusheeezy or deviantART. I added Diamond Lace stickles to the heart. The square mat was sprayed with Crafters Companion Spray and Sparkle Iridescent Glitter Varnish. The pattern paper is from Paper Studio. I experimented at the bottom and used a scalloped circle die from Quick Kutz to cut the edge. I added some card stock to the area above where I didn't want it cut, in case I went to far when I put it throughout the Big Kicks. I had just wanted a softer end on the bookmark.

     The nice thing about doing the image digitally is that I can make multiples. I'm thinking of using this to make some note cards for my librarian friend, with maybe a change of titles. She works in a school library, so I'll change them to children's lit ;- ) This one is for me though.

     Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a relaxing and creative weekend. I will be back soon with the other image and another bookmark. please leave me a comment before you go.

Using the flower bouquet.

     I wasn't sure I was going to get today's card posted. I got a notice from my online photo company that they are going out of business, so I've been busy editing photos, to get some printed before they close. They are going to transfer all of my photos, that are stored on their site,  to Snapfish, but I like the quality of this company better and they were cheaper. I've gotten a large batch done,  and I have until April 4th.

     I made today's card using the flowers I made with flower soft, a number of posts ago. You can see them here. I purchased the lacy mat, the cone for the bouquet and the ribbon from Flowersoft. Custom Crops has them in different colors. I colored the pearls and  rhinestones with copics (E11 Barely Beige & Y17 Golden Yellow and B05 Process Blue & R29 Lipstick Red).  The sentiment is from Cricut's Storybook Cartridge. This is an anniversary card for a friend of mine that I've known since grammar school. She is my son's Godmother.

The inside was done digitally on Photoshop Elements 3, with a free brush called Valentine Clip Art 3 (to make the beautiful heart.) I think it's found here. If not, there a number of other cool free heart brushes at this site, including vol. 4. (I got it a long time ago, sorry.)  The font is from Scrap n Fonts, called  SNF Classy Charm.  They are having Dollar Days right now, too. Lettering Delights is having a contest for the Silhouette, electronic diecut machine, on their site. Their link is on my right sidebar. The 2 small flowers are stickers from Jolee, that a friend gave me for my birthday. 

     What would I do differently? The bouquet could have used 2 more flowers, but I decided this after I had glued them in and made it too difficult to add more. I meant to do more inking, but I always remember after I've glued the piece down. Why is that? What would you have done differently? Well, I have another boy birthday card to do. thanks for stopping by and sharing your time. Please share your thoughts as well. I truly appreciate hearing from you. Have a blessed weekend ;- )

  

Friends are turning 65?!

     Having my son home is making  it hard to get a card done, every other day. I am soooo glad he is home. I'm just not getting as much done ;- )  I have to have this card done for a party, so I thought I'd better do it today. I used my Expression and Create a Critter. The background paper is from Basic Grey's Granola 12 x 12 paper pad. The bear is cut at 2 1/14 inches and popped up on the card. I used a bunch of scraps for the layers. I used a white gel pen to highlight his eyes. The pinwheel and hat are from the page with the cat from the same cartridge. I used Blueberry Pie paper from Archivers and some scrap yellow pattern paper with white swirls in it. They didn't show up well  in the picture and I was too tired to re-do them, sorry. I went over the swirls with the clear glitter gel pen and added a button with Martha Stewart twine. I also added yellow Viva Decor Pearl Pen to the ball at the top of the hat. The hat and pinwheel were popped up twice as high as the bear. The words were cut from the Phrase on the page with the cat at 2 inches with paper from Basic Grey's Granola and the Blueberry Pie. The top layer was run through the Big Shot with Swiss Dots and popped up. The dots have glitter added by the clear glitter pen as well.

     On the inside, I used the Blueberry Pie paper and a striped pattern from the Basic Grey Granola pad to form a mat for the computer generated sentiment. The fonts I used are SNF Jester Fool (from Scrap n Fonts), Rasp (for the word "age") and Tabitha. The embellishment at the center top, is from JoAnn Craft Essentials Birthday adhesive bubble icons. The candles on either side of it were give to me by a friend as part of a present with a number of other mixed embellishments.

     What would I do different? Maybe add some inking. What do you think? Thanks for stopping by and sharing some of your precious time with me. If you have a moment more, I'd really love to hear from you, so please leave a comment. Thanks!

Imagine card for 2 year old boy

     Well, I thought I wouldn't get today's card finished, phew ;- ) Right in the middle of it, DH and I had to finish up the taxes, in order to finish the forms for next years college financial aid. At least this time DH, started out in my guest chair and I was able to do two things at once, but about 1/2 way through, he took over my desk and that caused card making to grind to a halt. We eventually finished the taxes, but then the cranky printer needed some coaxing to print out the inside sentiment, before I could call the card finished and take it's lovely photo.
     Here are the directions for today's card. I used the Imagine and Nursery Tales. The background is one of the patterns from the cart, cut in a 5 1/4 inch square, that I then  cut to to 5 1/4 X 4 on the paper cutter (I sure wish Provo Craft had realized that this was an important ratio and included it).  I used the bunny on the mushroom image cut in layers at 4 1/2 inches.  I cut a Nursery Tales pattern circle at 1 inch and one at .8 inches, as well as a number "2" from the Birthday Blast cart that I filled with the pattern from Nursery Tales that I used in the background paper, cutting it at .8 inches.  I added 1/16 in. high dimensionals to the second layer of mushrooms and the number "2." I used 1/8 in. high dimensionals to the bunny and the flower.  I added the butterfly from the layer of the bunny image and attached to the number "2." I also cut out a sentiment from Birthday Bash, which was on page 25, (the main image is a birthday cake) and was the shifted sentiment on that page. I filled it with a light green color from Nursery Tales. I used glitter pens to add accents, as well as adding Judi Kins Diamond Glaze, on the large mushroom and Perfect Pearls on most of the images to give them some sparkle (hard to see in the photos, but very nice in person). I used Martha Stewart brown flocking on the cattail.

 This photo kind of shows the Perfect Pearls. Click on photos for a larger view.

This photo shows a close-up of some of the details.

     The inside, is matted with the dark patten, cut on the Imagine at 5 1/4 square inches and recut to 5/14 X 4 inches and a light green pattern cut on the Imagine at 5 inches square and recut to 5 x 3 3/4 inches (both from Nursery Tales). I made a digital sentiment in PrintShop, using the font SNF Jester Curls and cut it to 4 3/4 x 3 1/2 inches, adding images of the bunny, flower and butterfly all cut at 4 inches relative.

     What would I do different? I should have rounded the corners, at least the two, right ones. I don't like how the pens looked on the flower and I should have just added the Perfect Pearls and used a Viva Decor Pearl Pen for the center or a gem. Well, I'm glad you were able to stop by and am always excited when you leave comments. Thanks for sharing your valuable time with me. Have a great week!

It's the weekend?

     I can't believe it's the Saturday already. I don't know how these weeks fly by so fast. Here we are at the last week of January and mentally, I'm just ready for last Christmas (but that would be too long a story). Let me show you today's card.

     This card is for a friend of mine, who doesn't know I blog. It's A2 size (5 1/2 x 4 1/4), and I embossed the front with the Hero Arts cling stamp, Flower Wallpaper and kaleidoscope powder. I cut grey Core'dinations from the Super Assortment Pack sold by Hobby Lobby, at just under 2 inches. I added a pink strip of paper under it and another grey piece of the Core'diantions,  that I had punched with a Fiskers border punch and put underneath the other two. I used my plain oval and oval scallop nestibilities and a Hero Arts stamp for the sentiment. I then took a glitter pen and added some clear glitter to the scallops. The flowers are from Archiver's and the top one is embossed with more kaleidoscope embossing powder.
     Inside I just matted with the grey paper and made the writing digitally. I used Archiver flowers with a Paper Studio Spare Parts brad and a Cupcake sticker from K & Company to embellish it.
     What would I change? Well, seeing the front and inside together, I know I have a font from ScrapNfonts that would match the stamp on the front better called SNF Classy Charm. I probably would choose that for the inside. I also would straighten the cupcake a bit, though at the time I deliberately made it askew. I have used this style before, changing the colors for other occasions such as wedding and even sympathy cards. It's very versatile. I have in the past switched out the flowers for butterflies.
     My friend's birthday, who reads this blog, is Tuesday, so I can post that card here late Mon. I'm still trying to come up with the vases I'm suppose to use for the pasta dinner, so that I know what size to make the centerpieces. My husband has come up with some ides for them, so I'm looking forward to getting started on them.  Thanks for stopping by and giving me some of your time! Your comments are greatly appreciated as well.

Birthday card for a Friend

     Today's card is a more typical card for me. It's for my friend Gywn. Typically when I make a card for a friend I try to tie it to that person. I don't make many general cards. In this case the image will be a penguin, because Gwyn has often considered that her symbol. She uses the word penguin to tell people how to pronounce her name, so that they don't mispronounce it Gwen. So it's convenient that she has a January birthday. Let me show you the card and then I'll tell you how I made it.

     I used the penguin from the Cricut Create A Critter cartridge. I cut the penguin with the layers at
2 1/4 inches on my Cricut Expression. I used the Gypsy to lay the whole card out first to make sure the words would fit in the space of an A2 card. After I had all of the penguin layers set out, I choose the phrase, "chillin'" from the same cartridge. I sized it at 2.5 inches wide and it was cut out of the DCWV Holiday Collection Christmas Stack. I realized it would be too similar to the background paper and since it was already the shadow cut, I made a second cut out of black and sized it 1.45 inches high. The original cut was 1.35 inches high, so I went up one tenth of an inch to make  the background cut. Due to the fact that the cuts are curved, it's not really a shadow, but I placed it so that it shadows as if the light were below it. I used the Cricut cart Lyrical Letters to type out "on your Birthday" at 1 inch high on the Gypsy and then welded the letters of each word except for the B. I tried the letters smaller, but the smaller letters didn't cut well, esp. welded. The orange cardstock is from Cord'inations. the rest was scraps, so I'm not sure. I used a pearl gem to dot the "i".  I used the Cuttlebug Divine Swirls folder to emboss the background layer with my Big Shot. I embellished the "chillin'" with Diamond Stickles, even adding icicles. here is a close-up.

     I had meant to try the icicles before the card was put together, in case they didn't work out, but as usual, I forgot my smart idea and had the whole thing put together first. Still, I tried my icicle idea and was happy with the way they turned out. On the inside, I matted 2 pieces of patterned paper from DCWV Holiday Collection Christmas Stack  (one at 5 1/4 x 4 and the other 5 X 3 3/4) and added the birthday wishes which I had done on my computer using Print Shop. The fonts I used were Snowcaps by Simply the Best Fonts and SNF Jester Play by ScrapNfonts. Snowcaps is a free font and SNF Jester Play is currently $5, but they often have sales and I think I got it for $1 or $2. I then added  a cute penguin dimensional sticker from Recollections and an epoxy bubble icon from Craft Essentials. What would I have done different? I had meant to tear some white paper to look like a snowy base for the penguin on the front to stand on to ground him, but forgot. I probably would have used Stickles on that as well. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the way this card turned out.
     I've been asked by a friend to do a card for a 100th birthday. Time to put my thinking cap on. If anyone has any ideas, please chime in. Thanks for looking in.