Magical Monday - Lets be Thankful Challenge

This week over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge Blog Jessie Fitzhenry brings us this weeks challenge. She wants us to make either a "thank you" card or a "Thanksgiving" card. I made both.

For this first card I used the image "Tulips in Bottles" by Paper Cupcakes. I kept this clean and simple as I love this image. I stamped the sentiment which is from Hero Arts in a soft pink. I colored the image with my colored pencils and Stickles the edges of the die. The background paper is from a DCWV stack. Yep, clean and simple. I love the softness to this card.

The next two cards I used the image "Fall Angel; Give Thanks" by Paper Cupcakes. I colored these images with my Bic Mark-its and used some Stickles on some parts of the image which you can't really see. These are really pretty in real life. My mom came over last week and I made these. The idea for this card was in a book she brought with her. The top right side of the card that you see with the pattern paper is actually the inside of the card which I thought was cool. I just cut the front top of the card at an angle which left the left side bottom half attached at the fold. Then you place your image like I did and then the inside paper is what you see behind the image. I should have taken a picture with it open so you could see it better. I will place the sentiment behind where the image sets which will work perfectly. The sentiment on this first card is "Gratitude" and was stamped and I wish I could tell you who's it was, but I am too tired to go look at the moment.

Well, I am thankful for you today for stopping by my little corner of the blog world and even more grateful if you left me some love. I really need to make my rounds again soon, seems like I just can't find enough time to visit everyone like I love visiting, so hopefully in the next week or two I can work a round of blogs in! And wow, can you believe it is now November? Geeze, I am not a big winter season kind of person so November never thrills me, but I do love the Holidays it brings which is the upside! Have a great week and I challenge you to notice things in your life to be thankful for!

Magical Monday...

This week Gloria Westerman brings us the challenge over at the Paper Cupcakes challenge blog. She wanted us to use die cuts on our project. I used the "Asterisks" Cuttlebug die cuts. I have always liked these, but sadly I rarely use them so I decided to pull them out tonight and use them. I am glad I did, because I think they look great layered in the different colors with some stickles on them. I used the image "Girl with Present" by Paper Cupcakes. I colored her with my Bic Mark-its and her skin tone with a copic since Bic doesn't have a great skin tone color. I used a Martha Stewart and Fiskers border punch and my sentiment is computer generated. I also used some pretty photo corners I had hanging out in my stash as well.





Well, we are all feeling much better going into this week and I must say "YIPPEE"! So, here's to a good week! Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is good as well!

Magical Monday - Tag

This week over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge blog, Dru Cabral brings us this weeks challenge. She wants us to make a tag of any kind, free range. I personally love making tags, but some people find it challenging because of the space. I made two; an Autumn one and a Christmas one.

The Autumn one I used the image "Pumpkin Cupcake" from Paper Cupcakes and colored it with my Bic-Mark-its and then added some stickles and cut it out. I embossed the background and then added the floral rub-ons added a folded paper strip and a layered flower. I added copper stickles and the folded paper, flower and the edges of the tag. Stamped my sentiment and added the coppery metallic ribbon, some soft fiber and a little leaf. Really pretty quick and easy peasy!

For my Christmas tag I used the image "Holiday Cheer" by Paper Cupcakes. I colored it with my Bic Mark-its as well. I messed her eyes up. I didn't mean to make them all black, but I started talking to Avery and ended up coloring them all black and oh well, so I attempted to fix them with my souffle pens, but now she looks a little odd, but I didn't feel like doing it all over, so it is what it is. I stamped my sentiment, I believe it was one of those you get for a dollar somewhere. I added stickles to the image and punched out my snowflakes from a glitter stack and added jewels to them. The flower, present and candy were out of an opened packet of stickers I had opened. I added pink and purple fibers and added a red bow with a snowflake on that and called it compete. I really like both my tags, well, my owls eyes I am not so pleased with, but let's just write it off as an "oops, I wasn't paying that close attention to my detail at the moment". Sorry about the top two pics being kind of gloomy and dark, but that is because I ended up retaking the pics after I fixed the eyes and it was ummm like 10:00PM and the first ones prior to fixing the eyes I took outside with the natural sunlight.

I believe we are finally passed all the flu! Thank goodness 4 weeks of that stuff is just TOO much. Although now some of this allergy/hey fever stuff has kicked in for me and Avery's asthma. Although, I must say today (Sunday) has been the best I have felt in a long time over this past 4-5 weeks. So I am hoping for a good week!

Well, I would tell you to have yourself a Merry Little Christmas if it was closer to Christmas, but it isn't, so have yourself a merry week, find some joy and count your blessings.

Magical Monday - Frame it out

This week over at Paper Cupcakes Carol West bring us the challenge of framing it out. She wanted us to frame out our image. My images are Deco Flower Vase 2 and Flower Cupcake with Butterfly by Paper Cupcakes. I colored my flower and cupcake with my Bic Mark-its and then I used chalk on the vase and background. I also used some Stickles on my cupcake. I framed out my image with ric-rac and then added some sequins. Kept this fairly simple as I didn't think it needed a lot.



This second card I made in between being sick, it too is very simple and I bet you can figure it all out. :O) The background paper for both cards is from Prima; Sasha Collection.



Needless to say I keep hoping we are over this flu bug, but it seems like it is set on some kind of time release. I was in bed all day again on Saturday, but feel better today, still tired though, so who knows if we are over this or not. I am hoping all the children will be back in school tomorrow, well, except my oldest which was sick Saturday as well, her first round. Let's just say I will be glad when this is totally out of our house, we keep thinking it is and then BAM someone else comes down with a different symptom. Honestly I would just assume get it all at once then different symptoms days apart which is what we have seen happen over this 3 week spread of it being in our home. Well, that's it for me I think I will go lay down for a bit now. Have a good week and thanks for stopping by.

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!