Heart Balloons at The Outlawz

     Today's card uses Sandi Huggert's image for The Outlaws Creative Freebie Challenge here. You can find Sandi's blog and images here. I decided to make this for a friend's daughter who didn't go away to college, so she doesn't usually get cards when I do my mailings to those away at college. I decided she could use a card too ;- ) My original vision was to paint the whole image with glitter and early on, I did some tests on that, but put it aside (which is never a good thing with me.) So here I am coloring in PhotoShop (which I would have done anyway so there would be color under the glitter ;- ) I tried to stay true to my vision/inspiration and went over the part I had planned to use silver glitter on with the Stardust glitter pen by Sakura. I did paint the red hearts with Martha Stewart glitter. I used black gel pen on the purple balloon. I added red Martha Stewart twine for the balloon strings. The circle and scalloped circle were cut with the Quick Kuts die set made to go with some of the Hero Arts stamps. The sentiment is from Hero Arts Sweet Wonderful You and was embossed with Red Dragon embossing powder from Stampendous. I inked it with Dusty Concord Distress ink. The rick rack was cut with a die from The Scrapping Cottage. Those of you with keen eyes will notice that I put the border on upside down >.< Just shows how things are going in my current state of craziness. I also should have rounded the corners.

     Thanks for stopping by two days in a row. I've have another progressive due on Mon. So I better get to work ;- ) Have a great rest of your weekend!

Elves have been sighted ;- )

     Elves have been getting busy. One is working on the tree and the college elf has been spraying glitter for the Christmas cards and has learned to use a corner rounder ;- ) Amazing growth, that college brings, ha ha. However, today's item, is still not our Christmas card. Instead, it is a square tag that I made using the image from the Freebie Challenge at The Outlaws due, surprise, today!

     The image is from Anne's Digital Design by Anne Fenton. You can find her blog here, where she often offers some great freebies. I colored it digitally in PhotoShop. The red cardstock is from Core'dinattions and the pattern paper is from DCWV Holiday Christmas Stack. I just happened to pick up the ribbon this week from Michael's this week, on sale. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado and I embossed it with Kaleidoscope embossing powder.  I went over the sign with a glitter gel pen and added Diamond Glaze to the berries (it appears it's not dry >.<) A nice, very simple tag, where you can put the To: and From: info on the back.

     I'd like to go back to cutting down our tree next year. Just shopping for it, as we have the past couple of years (partly due to the surgeries) causes us to go out for it later and the pickings are slimmer and I don't get to enjoy looking at it as much.  Hope your holiday preparations are coming along on schedule. Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Please leave a comment before you dash off. I really appreciate them. Have a holly, jolly weekend ;- )

Tag, you're it ;- )

     Well, for the Creative Freebie Challenge at The Outlawz, I decided to due another tag, especially with the Christmas Party being tomorrow. It would have been done yesterday, except for needing to let the glitter glue dry. Then today, a piece went missing :- p Kind of figures, doesn't it ;- ) So after searching for way too long, I remembered that the DCWV Christmas Stack (which all of the papers are from) has another sheet with the element on it and just re-did it. The image is from Sandi Huggett and you can find Sandi's work at Sandi's Samples here. I used Diamond Stickles on the candy canes, Sparkly Fluff on the top, heel and toe of the stocking,  Perfect Pearls on the body of the stocking. I applied a line of Crayola Pip Squeak glitter on the line between the  papers and glitter gel pen to the gift box that was cut out from the DCWV paper. There is also white gel pen added to the NOEL. The stocking image was printed twice and popped up. I'm not sure whose the holographic snowflakes are, because the company name is cut off of the package > . >

     I was out decorating for the birds, ha ha ;- ) and ... 

     The sun is setting way, way to early and it's way to far south :- ( 

     Well, back to work for me. Thanks for dropping in. Drop in over at the Outlawz and join the next round of the Freebie Challenge. Check it out here. Please leave a comment before you go. It means so much to me to hear from you ;- ) Have a wonderful weekend!

A Painted Garden Using Embossed Resist.

     Today's card is for my dear friend and neighbor.  I had purchased the stamp Flower Bird Garden by Hero Arts a number of months ago and hadn't even opened it yet. I thought it would be perfect for Linda, because she always has beautiful flowers around her house and I often visit while she gardens and I sometimes help pull weeds. We also water each others plants when the other travels ;- ) I was feeling a bit artistic, so I stamped it with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and clear embossed it. Then I hand painted in the flowers and hummingbirds with Distress Inks. Yes, I did get out my Field Guide to do the painting on the hummingbirds ;- ) I colored in the light color washes first then added the darker details with a fine brush after it dried a bit. I created an embossed border with Cuttlebug's Frills Embossing Borders, then hand cut a pennant shape for the sentiment. The sentiment is from Clear Stamps (stamped with Marvey Brush markers)  and the shape was inked with Tumbled Glass.

     On the inside, I used a PhotoShop brush from Japanese Brush Pack 3 by darkgarden, to stamp the branch with the bird. You can find the brush set free here . The font for the text is LDJ Jilligraphy from Lettering Delights. You can find the link to Lettering Delights on my side bar.

     I zoomed to finish this up before her birthday because I've had a crazy week. I did get it delivered tonight though, phew!

Entered in the Sunday CAS Challenge at The Outlawz. Join us for the 1000 member Party going on this week!


     Many blogs are reminding you to schedule your mammogram, I'd like to remind you to have a colonoscopy, if you have a family history of colon cancer or are over 50. It's a screening test that can prevent cancer, though no one likes to think about the actual procedure >.< I finally had mine done and my husband goes next week, so if the shoe fits... so to speak ;- ) It can save your life or the life of someone you love <3 I have scheduled my mammogram too ;- )