Magical Monday - A Christmas Card, including snowflakes

This week's challenge over at Paper Cupcakes Challenge blog is brought to us by Pat Pedder. With Christmas just around the corner she wants us to make a Christmas card and use some snowflakes somewhere on our card. Well, I love making Christmas cards and I am crazy about snowflakes as long as they are on my cards and not on the ground outside! :O)

I used the image "Snowman with Cane" by Paper Cupcakes which is a new release. I used dp which was scraps for my background and I colored my image in my Bic Mark-its. Athough the snowman's snow was colored with chalks for the softness. I made all my snowflakes with various punches and added some Stickles and a rhinestone in the middle of each. My sentiment is computer generated. Really a quick and easy card.




The following cards I made for the CDAC blog hop. The images are also all new releases from Paper Cupcakes. This first image is "Jingles" and I colored the black and orange with my Bic-Mark-its and used chalk for his tummy, fins and his hat because I just love how chalk just adds such a soft feel. I used scraps for this card as well. It is actually an easel card, but I only took a picture of the main part.


This image is called "Oh Deer, It's Christmas". I must say this is one of my favs. I colored this image with my Bic Mark-its as well. Some think I use copics, but I only own a few skin tone copics because bic does not have a great choice when it comes to skin tones, but I think I am getting really good at blending them. I haven't invested in copics because I just still love the way my Bic Mark-its look.


This image is "Bed Time Stories". I think this image could be used for other things besides Christmas, but I just did a Christmas card since Christmas is just around the corner. I think it would make a great baby card as well. I also colored it with my Bic Mark-its. :o) I kept this card clean and simple


This image is called "Sunflowers in Vase". I love love love using floral images. They are so versatile . I loved coloring this image because sunflowers come in so many colors so I chose to color them in many colors. This too was colored with my Bic Mark-its. I kept this simple as well and used scraps on this card too. Yay me! I think this one is much prettier in real life with the Stickles around the edges and it being so simple as well. I love the torn paper look and it just seemed like the way to go with this image. It just felt kind of rustic.

Well, that's it for me card wise. We have had the flu running though our house for the last 2 weeks going into three. First it was me for 3 days, then Morgan, then Avery ending last week with it. We came home from church yesterday and Eric started coming down with it and has now been in bed since noon yesterday. Rachel came running upstairs about 8:30PM thinking she was going to hurl... but didn't... so hopefully she will make it through the night.... let's just say I am ready for it to be summer again and all this yuck out of our house! OK.. maybe that was TOO much information into my personal life, so if you don't see me around or commenting it is mostly likely I am just way busy in some manner, but please know I love visiting and will hopefully be by sometime in the near future! OK... hoping for a good nights sleep!

So, have a feel good kind of day!

Magical Monday - Be Inspired

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's challenge blog Patti Painter brings us this weeks challenge. It was be inspired by a fall picture. I just love making seasonal cards and I was sick for most of the first part of the week, busy getting new images out for the second part of the week and so Sunday evening, which surprised me that I actually made 3!

My first image is called "Sweet Encounter". I think this is perfect for a little boy like my son who just loves bugs, spiders and anything creepy crawly! I colored it with my colored pencils and chalked my sky. I punched my leaves and added some inks to them and crumpled them all up to give them some leaf like looks. They look more awesome in real life. My sentiment cracks me up and is computer generated.




This image "Too Sweet to Spook" I colored also with my colored pencils and I did my background sky with all chalks as well. I dropped a wet leaf on the right side of the moon, but oh well. I love how this one turned out with the moon and shadows. I made several of those leaves and used them on this card as well. Added a few rhinestones and thought it was cute. The green around the edges is not part of the card. The image actually sticks up past the yellow which is the card base.




For this image "Autumn Solitude" I used color pencils as well. I love adding some pinks and purples to the fall colors so I thought I would switch this card up and add some of those lovely colors. I cut my image out and tore my dp from Dove of East to give it a more interesting look. I love how the black just pops in the background and the moon just looks awesome in the dark sky. I made this into an easel card and added all the flowers to add some interest, texture and color. I also added Stickles around both the edges of the color mats to add some sparkle.




Well, I really liked how all three of these cards turned out this evening and I wish I had more time to make some more, because I felt like my mojo was working well tonight, but my bed is calling and for once I am going to listen to it!

Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think I always love reading your lovins! If you like any of the images you see here you can head on over to Paper Cupcakes and check out all the images HERE.
Have a Sweet Day!

CDAC Blog Hop

Hi Everyone, I am running a bit behind giving this a shout out, because I had the flu. However, this is exciting... Crafter's Digital Art Center is having their first blog hop! This is a hop of several digital image companies that are coming together to highlight their new releases. You won't want to miss it. You have a chance to win through random drawings a free digi on every blog and a grand prize over at CDAC. The only requirement to win is that you leave a message on every one's blog throughout the hop and that you are a member over at CDAC. Now, of course you don't have to be a member to do the hop. CDAC is free to join this wonderful center for digital art and it has lot of great tutorials and lots of fun people and great challenges as well as some freebies from the companies sponsored there. So I would encourage you to join. You can find the site HERE. Paper Cupcakes will be part of this hop and we can also be found at CDAC as a group, so we would love for you to come by and join us in our group over there. The hop starts next Friday, Oct. 1st and goes through Sunday Oct. 3rd.



Help us spread the word and grab the icon and post it on your blog or even make a posting about it, we certainly would love that! We hop you can carve out some time to make it. Hope to see you there!

Magical Monday - PCC Image & Bling

This weeks challenge over on the Paper Cupcakes challenge blog Patti Nelson brings us this week's challenge of using the freebie "Easy Does It" by Paper Cupcakes and also wants us to use some bling. Easy Peasy and who doesn't love some bling!? I kept my bling a little toned down. I so wanted to make my card lean towards more masculine so I kind of used some masculine bling! LOL.. OK... I am sure there is such a thing a masculine bling, so if you have never seen it before, well you can locate it on my card! :O)

I colored my image with my colored pencils (my fav) and used some scraps out of my big 'ole box of scraps. I just love this Martha Stewart border punch "Gothic Arches" that I used and I had some odd chipboard pieces which is where I got the "dream big" piece. I thought if you could balance that many cupcakes at one time without dropping any you had to be dreaming big. I usually always place my image straight on my cards so I thought I would try tilting it some and I must say I had a hard time leaving it that way initially, but I kept telling myself in the end it would be alright! HA! I think it did turn out alright as well. So what do you think?

Well, thanks for stopping by and realize just how much I love your luvins if you leave some! Also, don't forget to dream a little dream today and if you're going to dream a little dream think twice and dream big!

Magical Monday - Sketch & PCC image

This weeks challenge over at the Paper Cupcake's blog is brought to us by Melanie Newby and she brings us a sketch with a PCC image. I so love sketches because it takes a lot of the thinking out of it for me. The image I chose was "Girl with Heart" from Paper Cupcakes. She fit this sketch perfectly and I pretty much just followed the sketch. I colored with my color pencils and then punched my flowers and added Stickles along the edges of them. The pp is from the DCWV Natural Stack. I did her in fall colors and really loved how the card turned out. I am thinking about sending this to a friend that just had heart surgery. I really like how clean this looks as well.



Well, that's it for me today, short and sweet.... thanks for stopping by and thanks for leaving me some luvins if you did!

remember to smile and make it a good day!

Magical Monday - Recipe Challenge

Today the Paper Cupcake blog's challenge is a recipe challenge brought to us by Nilla Berglie. The recipe was 1 ribbon, 2 embellishments, 3 pattern papers and 4 flowers. I used the image "Hello There" by Paper Cupcakes
and colored it with my color pencils. I really do love the softness of the color pencils and I must said they are one of my favorite mediums to color with. The papers are from DCWV, Natural Stack.

Well, I going to keep this short and sweet today, because we have been running all weekend long and I am just ready to chill today away, but not on the computer, because it is so lovely out today! So I hope everyone in the US has enjoyed a great Labor Day weekend and everyone else had great weekend as well. Now off to a great week! Thanks for stopping by and make sure you leave me a note, I always love your comments! Have a magical day!

Magical Monday - PCC Image & No Store Bought Pattern Paper

This week's challenge over at the Paper Cupcake's Challege Blog Marie Bridgeman brings us this weeks challenge. She wants us to use a Paper Cupcake image and no store bought pattern paper. This week I decided to mess around and do something I haven't tried before as a technique. So, I thought I would attempt to antique my image. I am not so sure I liked exactly how it turned out and I think I would do it a little differently the next time, but I decided to go ahead and used what I did.

The image that I started with is called "Orchid Tea Cup with Bird" by Paper Cupcakes. After I colored the image I crinkled it all up, then smoothed it out. I then sponged on some inks, pink and then a brownish color. It kind of adhered to the crinkles in the paper. I then added the clear crackle and let that dry and then went back and sponged back over that with a little darker brown to fill in the crackles. I think if I was to do this again I would just crinkle the paper, add the crackle, let it dry then rub the ink on and over the dry crackle. So, I will try that the next time and see what I like best. I don't hate this, but not sure I am thrilled with it either.

I made my flower with lace that I just twisted and glued to a card stock circle and then added a bead to the center to finish it off. The lace you see running up and down the card is the same lace I made to use the flower. Added the rhinestones and called it complete and then headed out weekend away to the water park.

I like this card much better in real life. My image doesn't really lay flat and I liked that and so it is not adhered flat to the card, but you really can't see that here at all.



Have a Heartfelt day!

Magical Monday - PCC Image & Punch It

Well, here it is again.. Monday and of course it's a Magical Monday over at the Paper Cupcake's Blog! Not so magical for my kids, because it is their first day of back to school. Although, I think truth be known they are pretty excited to be back to see all their friends, not so glad when homework kicks in!

Any how, this week's challenge is brought to us by Jessie Fitzhenry and she wants us to use our punches! I personally love my punches so it is no big deal to pull mine out, because most likely some are already out. We are to use the freebie this week given to us by Paper Cupcakes called "Joyful Ride". I was going towards a masculine card with this image, but then I started punches some flowers and the rest is history! Pretty simple card and I colored my image with my colored pencils and chalked my sky.



Well, that's it for me for today, I have lots to get accomplished with the kids back in school, now I need to get back into my own routine again! Thanks for stopping by and have a joyful week!

Magical Monday - PPC Image & Let's make a flower

This week's challenge over at Paper Cupcakes is brought to us by Gloria Westerman. She wants us to use any acquire Paper Cupcake image and make a flower of some type. I used the image Mouse Cupcake and colored it with my Bic Mark-its. I stickles my dots on my cupcake and now that I did it, I wish I hadn't, but oh well. The ink kind of smeared as it dried. I cut the image out and popped it on top of the Labels 5 Spellbinder and then matted it on black.

I used the embossing folders Swiss Dots, Spots & Dots & Organic.






For my flower I cut 5 pieces of ribbon the same length and then double each over and made a 5 petal flower with the ribbon placing a stitch in the center of them to hold them together.

Then I made a ribbon rose:



I then added this ribbon rose on top of my 5 petal ribbon flower and placed a stitch through both to hold them together, I suppose you could glue it, but I wanted to make sure they stayed united and added a little pearl bead. That is how I made my flower. Pretty easy peasy!

Well, that is it for me today, if you haven't hopped our Tea Party ~ Sketch blog hop why don't you take the time to join us you can find the beginning of the hop here. I don't think you will be disappointed and you get 13 new sketches and Kim also has some blog candy to give away as well! So, have a great week!

Tea Party ~ Sketch Blog Hop

I hope you have enjoyed this Tea Party Hop!! If you arrived from Nilla's blog and have visited all 13 other blogs; you have now arrived on the last blog of the hop. If you did not arrive from Nilla's blog you will want to start at the beginning of the hop which is the Paper Cupcakes Challenge Blog which you can find here; as not to miss anything and to be eligible for the random drawings!

The image that I bring you is called "Tea Party Princess" I truly love this image. I really don't enjoy drawing people too much, but I really like how she turned out. I colored my image with colored pencils and kept my card fairly simple as to really showcase the image. I used both the Garden Trellis and the Hydrangea Petal punches by Martha Stewart to do the side of my card. Then of course I finished it off with pearls and rhinestones. It turned out just how I had envisioned it.


My Card:





My card is actually a Joy Fold Card. Because I have made this type card before I didn't follow these instructions. I think my card is actually bigger. My card is a 5x7. I have a little flower on the bottom left side holding my flap in place. If you haven't tried one of these, you should. They are easy peasy!

My Sketch: My sketch will work for a joy fold card or a regular card.


I hope you have enjoyed our Tea Party~Sketch Hop; the new releases and enjoyed collecting some fun sketches to work from. We would love it if you would come back and join us for our Magical Monday Challenges as well; every Monday. Big thanks to the Designer Team and of course to all of you hoppers who took the time to hop along with us this week and left us some luvins along the way!

PLEASE make sure you read:

I will pick 2 participants in a random drawings August 18th to receive 5 images of their choice from Paper Cupcakes. To be eligible for the random drawings you must have visited all 14 blogs and left a message on each. If you have completed that and want to be eligible for the drawings place your name here in Mr. Linky with any link and you will be placed in the drawing. Make sure you check back August 18th on the Paper Cupcakes Blog to see if you won.

Now don't forget to leave me a quick note below as well as leave your name on Mr. Linky!





Here's to good friends who craft and of course a good cup of tea! Thanks for being part of our tea party with us today! You can find all the images you seen today here under New Arrivals. XOXO



Just in case you got lost along the way!

Paper Cupcakes Blog
Amber
Dru
Gloria
Jessie
Marie
Malenie
Pat
Patti N.
Patti P.
Kim
Carol
Nilla
Nina (leave your name and a message & any link here)

Magical Monday - Sewing

This weeks challenge over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge blog Dru Cabral brings us the challenge. She wants us to use sewing. Well, I personally love sewing on cards and projects, but rarely do it. So I was excited to have this as the challenge. My machine has not been in good working order for a while so I usually will hand sew with some embroidery thread, which is what I did here. For this challenge I decided to stray from making a card and decided to make this cute single cupcake box. I wish I would have made some cupcakes so I could place one in the box, but just didn't have the time. I did however make some muffins, but they were all eaten before I could slip one in the box and take the picture!

I started out with double sided thick paper more like card stock since I wanted a design inside and outside, but a good card stock would work just fine. I read this template somewhere and only had the measurements and so I made my own template. You need to use a 12x12 piece of paper to use the template, mainly because my template does not include the little flap that goes into the box and then there are 2 little flaps on the inside top of the box. I did my template on an 8.5x11 piece of paper minus these flaps so you could easily make your own template by tracing mine onto a 12x12 piece of paper and then you can add/extend those 3 little areas that are the flaps onto your own template, which I thought would be easy (hope that makes sense).

After I had my box together I did my stitching on the front 2 corners of the box and around the lid with embroidery thread. I colored my image in my Bic Mark-its. I seen this little saying "Cupcake Taste Tester" "Somebody has to do it" and thought it would be perfect for my little box. I put the first phrase on the tag on top and the rest on the front with my image "just ducky". I added a few yellow butterflies on the sides and thought it turned out super cute.





You can download my template I made for this here. But make sure you add the little flaps that are not on my template or you won't be able to close your box lid. It is all in the instructions, but if you have questions just email me and I will try my best to explain anything.

Also, make sure you join us over on the Paper Cupcake Blog for our blog hop this week. It starts Wednesday and runs a week you won't want to miss out on all the great sketches and new releases!



Have a great creative week!